{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_10116/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_10116","id":"gutenberg_10116","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10116","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Church of England -- Sermons","Sermons, English -- 19th century"],"text":"ALL SAINTS' DAY AND OTHER SERMONS\n\n\n\n\n      \"Inheriting the zeal\nAnd from the sanctity of elder times\nNot deviating;--a priest, the like of whom\nIf multiplied, and in their stations set,\nWould o'er the bosom of a joyful land\nSpread true religion, and her genuine fruits.\"\nThe excursion--Book vi.\n\n\n\nPREFATORY NOTE {1}\n\n\n\nThe following Sermons could not be arranged according to any proper\nsequence.  Those, however, which refer to doctrine and the Church Seasons\nwill mostly be found at the beginning of the volume, whilst those which\ndeal with practical subjects are placed at the close.\n\nA few of the Sermons have already appeared in \"Good Words;\" but by far\nthe greater number were never prepared by their author for the press.\nThey were written out very roughly--sometimes at an hour's notice, as\noccasion demanded--and were only intended for delivery from the pulpit.\n\nThe original MSS. have been adhered to as closely as possible.\n\nIt is thought that many to whom the late Rector of Eversley was dear will\nwelcome the publication of these earnest words, and find them helpful in\nthe Christian life.\n\n\"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:  Yea, saith\nthe Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do\nfollow them.\"\n\n\n\nSERMON I.  ALL SAINTS' DAY\n\n\n\nWestminster Abbey.  November 1, 1874.\n\nRevelation vii. 9-12.  \"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude,\nwhich no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and\ntongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white\nrobes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying,\nSalvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.\nAnd all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and\nthe four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and\nworshipped God, saying, Amen:  Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and\nthanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever\nand ever.  Amen.\"\n\nTo-day is All Saints' Day.  On this day we commemorate--and, as far as\nour dull minds will let us, contemplate--the saints; the holy ones of\nGod; the pure and the triumphant--be they who they may, or whence they\nmay, or where they may.  We are not bidden to define and limit their\nnumber.  We are expressly told that they are a great multitude, which no\nman could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues;\nand most blessed news that is for all who love God and man.  We are not\ntold, again--and I beg you all to mark this well--that this great\nmultitude consists merely of those who, according to the popular notion,\nhave \"gone to heaven,\" as it is called, simply because they have not gone\nto hell.  Not so, not so!  The great multitude whom we commemorate on All\nSaints' Day, are SAINTS.  They are the holy ones, the heroes and heroines\nof mankind, the elect, the aristocracy of grace.  These are they who have\nkept themselves unspotted from the world.  They are the pure who have\nwashed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, which\nis the spirit of self-sacrifice.  They are those who carry the palm-\nbranch of triumph, who have come out of great tribulation, who have\ndared, and fought, and suffered for God, and truth, and right.  Nay,\nthere are those among them, and many, thank God--weak women, too, among\nthem--who have resisted unto blood, striving against sin.\n\nAnd who are easy-going folk like you and me, that we should arrogate to\nourselves a place in that grand company?  Not so!  What we should do on\nAll Saints' Day is to place ourselves, with all humility, if but for an\nhour, where we can look afar off upon our betters, and see what they are\nlike, and what they do.\n\nAnd what are they like, those blessed beings of whom the text speaks?\nThe Gospel for this day describes them to us; and we may look on that\ndescription as complete, for He who gives it is none other than our Lord\nHimself.  \"Blessed are the poor in spirit; for their's is the kingdom of\nheaven.  Blessed are they that mourn:  for they shall be comforted.\nBlessed are the meek:  for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are\nthey who hunger and thirst after righteousness:  for they shall be\nfilled.  Blessed are the merciful:  for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed\nare the pure in heart:  for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peace-\nmakers:  for they shall be called the children of God.  Blessed are they\nwhich are persecuted for righteousness' sake:  for their's is the kingdom\nof heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you,\nand shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.\nRejoice, and be exceeding glad:  for great is your reward in heaven.\"\n\nThis is what they are like; and what we, I fear, too many of us, are not\nlike.  But in proportion as we grow like them, by the grace of God, just\nso far shall we enter into the communion of saints, and understand the\nbliss of that everlasting All Saints' Day which St John saw in heaven.\n\nAnd what do they do, those blessed beings?  Whatever else they do, or do\nnot do, this we are told they do--they worship.  They satisfy, it would\nseem, in perfection, that mysterious instinct of devotion--that inborn\ncraving to look upward and adore, which, let false philosophy say what it\nwill, proves the most benighted idolater to be a man, and not a brute--a\nspirit, and not a merely natural thing.\n\nThey have worshipped, and so are blest.  They have hungered and thirsted\nafter righteousness, and now they are filled.  They have longed for,\ntoiled for, it may be died for, the true, the beautiful, and the good;\nand now they can gaze upward at the perfect reality of that which they\nsaw on earth, only as in a glass darkly, dimly, and afar; and can\ncontemplate the utterly free, the utterly beautiful, and the utterly good\nin the character of God and the face of Jesus Christ.  They entered while\non earth into the mystery and the glory of self-sacrifice; and now they\nfind their bliss in gazing on the one perfect and eternal sacrifice, and\nrejoicing in the thought that it is the cause and ground of the whole\nuniverse, even the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.\n\nI say not that all things are clear to them.  How can they be to any\nfinite and created being?  They, and indeed angels and archangels, must\nwalk for ever by faith, and not by sight.  But if there be mysteries in\nthe universe still hidden from them, they know who has opened the sealed\nbook of God's secret counsels, even the Lamb who is the Lion, and the\nLion who is the Lamb; and therefore, if all things are not clear to them,\nall things at least are bright, for they can trust that Lamb and His\nself-sacrifice.  In Him, and through Him, light will conquer darkness,\njustice injustice, truth ignorance, order disorder, love hate, till God\nbe all in all, and pain and sorrow and evil shall have been exterminated\nout of a world for which Christ stooped to die.  Therefore they worship;\nand the very act of worship--understand it well--is that great reward in\nheaven which our Lord promised them.  Adoration is their very bliss and\nlife.  It must be so.  For what keener, what nobler enjoyment for\nrational and moral beings, than satisfaction with, and admiration of, a\nBeing better than themselves?  Therefore they worship; and their worship\nfinds a natural vent in words most fit though few, but all expressing\nutter trust and utter satisfaction in the worthiness of God.  Therefore\nthey worship; and by worship enter into communion and harmony not only\nwith each other, not only with angels and archangels, but with all the\npowers of nature, the four beings which are around the throne, and with\nevery creature which is in heaven and in earth, and under the earth, and\nin the sea.  For them, likewise, St John heard saying, \"Blessing and\nglory, and honour, and power, be unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and\nto the Lamb for ever and ever.\"\n\nAnd why?  I think, with all humility, that the key to all these hymns--\nwhether of angels or of men, or of mere natural things--is the first hymn\nof all; the hymn which shows that, however grateful to God for what He\nhas done for them those are whom the Lamb has redeemed by His blood to\nGod, out of every kindred, and nation, and tongue; yet, nevertheless, the\nhymn of hymns is that which speaks not of gratitude, but of absolute\nmoral admiration--the hymn which glorifies God, not for that which He is\nto man, not for that which He is to the universe, but for that which He\nis absolutely and in Himself--that which He was before all worlds, and\nwould be still, though the whole universe, all created things, and time,\nand space, and matter, and every created spirit likewise, should be\nannihilated for ever.  And what is that?\n\n\"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.\"\n\nAh! what a Gospel lies within those words!  A Gospel?  Ay, if you will\nreceive it, the root of all other possible Gospels, and good news for all\ncreated beings.  What a Gospel! and what an everlasting fount of comfort!\nSurely of those words it is true, \"blessed are they who, going through\nthe vale of misery, find therein a well, and the pools are filled with\nwater.\"  Know you not what I mean?  Happier, perhaps, are you--the young\nat least among you--if you do not know.  But some of you must know too\nwell.  It is to them I speak.  Were you never not merely puzzled--all\nthinking men are that--but crushed and sickened at moments by the mystery\nof evil?  Sickened by the follies, the failures, the ferocities, the\nfoulnesses of mankind, for ages upon ages past?  Sickened by the sins of\nthe unholy many--sickened, alas! by the imperfections even of the holiest\nfew?  And have you never cried in your hearts with longing, almost with\nimpatience, Surely, surely, there is an ideal Holy One somewhere, or else\nhow could have arisen in my mind the conception, however faint, of an\nideal holiness?  But where, oh where?  Not in the world around, strewed\nwith unholiness.  Not in myself--unholy too, without and within--seeming\nto myself sometimes the very worst company of all the bad company I meet,\nbecause it is the only bad company from which I cannot escape.  Oh, is\nthere a Holy One, whom I may contemplate with utter delight? and if so,\nwhere is He?  Oh, that I might behold, if but for a moment, His perfect\nbeauty, even though, as in the fable of Semele of old, the lightning of\nHis glance were death.  Nay, more, has it not happened to some here--to\nclergyman, lawyer, physician, perhaps, alas! to some pure-minded, noble-\nhearted woman--to be brought in contact perforce with that which truly\nsickens them--with some case of human folly, baseness, foulness--which,\nhowever much their soul revolts from it, they must handle, they must toil\nover many weeks and months, in hope that that which is crooked may be\nmade somewhat straight, till their whole soul was distempered, all but\ndegraded, by the continual sight of sin, till their eyes seemed full of\nnothing but the dance of death, and their ears of the gibbering of\nmadmen, and their nostrils with the odours of the charnel house, and they\nlonged for one breath of pure air, one gleam of pure light, one strain of\npure music, to wash their spirits clean from those foul elements into\nwhich their duty had thrust them down perforce?\n\nAnd then, oh then, has there not come to such an one--I know that it has\ncome--that for which his spirit was athirst, the very breath of pure air,\nthe very gleam of pure light, the very strain of pure music, for it is\nthe very music of the spheres, in those same words, \"Holy, holy, holy,\nLord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come;\" and he has\nanswered, with a flush of keenest joy, Yes.  Whatever else is unholy,\nthere is an Holy One, spotless and undefiled, serene and self-contained.\nWhatever else I cannot trust, there is One whom I can trust utterly.\nWhatever else I am dissatisfied with, there is One whom I can contemplate\nwith utter satisfaction, and bathe my stained soul in that eternal fount\nof purity.  And who is He?  Who save the Cause and Maker, and Ruler of\nall things, past, present, and to come?  Ah, Gospel of all gospels, that\nGod Himself, the Almighty God, is the eternal and unchangeable\nrealisation of all that I and all mankind, in our purest and our noblest\nmoments, have ever dreamed concerning the true, the beautiful, and the\ngood.  Even though He slay me, the unholy, yet will I trust in Him.  For\nHe is Holy, Holy, Holy, and can do nothing to me, or any creature, save\nwhat He OUGHT.  For He has created all things, and for His pleasure they\nare and were created.\n\nWhosoever has entered, though but for a moment, however faintly,\npartially, stupidly, into that thought of thoughts, has entered in so far\ninto the communion of the elect; and has had his share in the everlasting\nAll Saints' Day which is in heaven.  He has been, though but for a\nmoment, in harmony with the polity of the Living God, the heavenly\nJerusalem; and with an innumerable company of angels, and the church of\nthe first-born who are written in heaven; and with the spirits of just\nmen made perfect, and with all past, present, and to come, in this and in\nall other worlds, of whom it is written, \"Blessed are the poor in spirit:\nfor theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are they who hunger and\nthirst after righteousness:  for they shall be filled.  Blessed are the\npure in heart:  for they shall see God.  Blessed are they who are\npersecuted for righteousness' sake:  for their's is the kingdom of\nheaven.\"  Great indeed is their reward, for it is no less than the very\nbeatific vision to contemplate and adore.  That supreme moral beauty, of\nwhich all earthly beauty, all nature, all art, all poetry, all music, are\nbut phantoms and parables, hints and hopes, dim reflected rays of the\nclear light of that everlasting day, of which it is written--that \"the\ncity had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it:  for\nthe glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.\"\n\n\n\nSERMON II.  PREPARATION FOR ADVENT\n\n\n\nWestminster Abbey.  November 15, 1874.\n\nAmos iv. 12.  \"Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.\"\n\nWe read to-day, for the first lesson, parts of the prophecy of Amos.\nThey are somewhat difficult, here and there, to understand; but\nnevertheless Amos is perhaps the grandest of the Hebrew prophets, next to\nIsaiah.  Rough and homely as his words are, there is a strength, a\nmajesty, and a terrible earnestness in them, which it is good to listen\nto; and specially good now that Advent draws near, and we have to think\nof the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and what His coming means.\n\"Prepare to meet thy God,\" says Amos in the text.  Perhaps he will tell\nus how to meet our God.\n\nAmos is specially the poor man's prophet, for he was a poor man himself;\nnot a courtier like Isaiah, or a priest like Jeremiah, or a sage like\nDaniel; but a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit in Tekoa, near\nBethlehem, where Amos was born.  Yet to this poor man, looking after\nsheep and cattle on the downs, and pondering on the wrongs and misery\naround, the word of the Lord came, and he knew that God had spoken to\nhim, and that he must go and speak to men, at the risk of his life, what\nGod had bidden, against all the nations round and their kings, and\nagainst the king and nobles and priests of Israel, and the king and\nnobles and priests of Judah, and tell them that the day of the Lord is at\nhand, and that they must prepare to meet their God.  And he said what he\nfelt he must say with a noble freedom, with a true independence such as\nthe grace of God alone can give.  Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, who was\nworshipping (absurd as it may seem to us) God and the golden calf at the\nsame time in King Jeroboam's court, complained loudly, it would seem, of\nAmos's plain speaking.  How uncourteous to prophesy that Jeroboam should\ndie by the sword, and Israel be carried captive out of their own land!\nLet him go home into his own land of Judah, and prophesy there; but not\nprophesy at Bethel, for it was the king's chapel and the king's court.\nAmos went, I presume, in fear of his life.  But he left noble words\nbehind him.  \"I was no prophet,\" he said to Amaziah, \"nor a prophet's\nson, but a herdsman, and a gatherer of wild figs.  And the Lord took me\nas I followed the flock, and said, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.\"\nAnd then he turned on that smooth court-priest Amaziah, and pronounced\nagainst him, in the name of the Lord, a curse too terrible to be repeated\nhere.\n\nNow what was the secret of this inspired herdsman's strength?  What\nhelped him to face priests, nobles, and kings?  What did he believe?\nWhat did he preach?  He believed and preached the kingdom of God and His\nrighteousness; the simple but infinite difference between right and\nwrong; and the certain doom of wrong, if wrong was persisted in.  He\nbelieved in the kingdom of God.  He told the kings and the people of all\nthe nations round, that they had committed cruel and outrageous sins, not\nagainst the Jews merely, but against each other.  In the case of Moab,\nthe culminating crime was an insult to the dead.  He had burned the bones\nof the king of Edom into lime.  In the case of Ammon, it was brutal\ncruelty to captive women; but in the cases of Gaza, of Tyre, and of Edom,\nit was slave-making and slave-trading invasions of Palestine.  \"Thus\nsaith the Lord:  For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will\nnot turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive\nthe whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom.  But I will send a fire\nupon the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof.\"\n\nYes.  Slave-hunting and slave-trading wars--that was and is an iniquity\nwhich the just and merciful Ruler of the earth would not, and will not,\npardon.  And honour to those who, as in Africa of late, put down those\nfoul deeds, wheresoever they are done; who, at the risk of their own\nlives, dare free the captives from their chains; and who, if interfered\nwith in their pious work, dare execute on armed murderers and manstealers\nthe vengeance of a righteous God.  For the Lord God was their King, and\ntheir Judge, whether they knew it or not.  And for three transgressions\nof theirs, and for four, the Lord would not turn away their punishment,\nbut would send fire and sword among them, and they should be carried away\ncaptive, as they had carried others away.  But to go back.  Amos next\nturns to his own countrymen--to Judah and Israel, who were then two\nseparate nations.  For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, the\nLord would not turn away their punishment, because they had despised the\nlaw of the Lord, and had not walked in His commandments.  Therefore He\nwould send a fire on Judah, and it should devour the palaces of\nJerusalem.  But Amos is most bitter against Israel, against the court of\nKing Jeroboam at Samaria, and against the rich men of Israel, the bulls\nof Bashan, as he calls them.  For three transgressions, and for four, the\nLord would not turn away their punishment.  And why?\n\nNow see what I meant when I said that Amos believed not only in the\nkingdom of God, but in the righteousness of God.  It was not merely that\nthey were worshipping idols--golden calves at Dan, and Bethel, and\nSamaria, at the same time that they worshipped the true God.  That was\nbad, but there was more behind.  These men were bad, proud, luxurious,\ncruel; they were selling their countrymen for slaves--selling, he says so\ntwice, as if it was some notorious and special case, an honest man for\nsilver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.  They were lying down on\nclothes taken on pledge by every altar.  They were breaking the seventh\ncommandment in an abominable way.  They were falsifying weights and\nmeasures, and selling the refuse of the wheat.  They stored up the fruits\nof violence and robbery in their palaces.  They hated him who rebuked\nthem, and abhorred him that spoke uprightly.  They trod upon the poor and\ncrushed the needy, and then said to their stewards, \"Bring wine, and let\nus drink.\"  Therefore though they had built houses of hewn stone, they\nshould not live in them.  They had planted pleasant vineyards, but should\nnot drink of them.  And all the while these superstitious and wicked rich\nmen were talking of the day of the Lord, and hoping that the day of the\nLord would appear.\n\nYou, if you have read your Bibles carefully and reverently, must surely\nbe aware that the day of the Lord, either in the Old Testament or in the\nNew, does not mean merely the final day of judgment, but any striking\nevent, any great crisis in the world's history, which throws a divine\nlight upon that history, and shows to men--at least to those who have\neyes wherewith to see--that verily there is a God who judges the earth in\nrighteousness, and ministers true judgment among the people;--a God whom\nmen, and all their institutions, should always be prepared to meet, lest\ncoming suddenly, He find them sleeping.  If you are not aware of this,\nthe real meaning of a day of the Lord, a day of the Son of Man, let me\nentreat you to go and search the Scriptures for yourselves; for in them\nye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of the\nLord, of that Eternal Son of whom the second Psalm speaks, in words which\nmobs and tyrants, the atheist and the superstitious, are alike willing to\nforget.\n\nIn the time of Amos, the rich tyrants of Israel seem to have meant by the\nday of the Lord some vague hope that, in those dark and threatening\ntimes, God would interfere to save them, if they were attacked by foreign\narmies.  But woe to you that desire the day of the Lord, says Amos the\nherdsman.  What do you want with it?  You will find it very different\nfrom what you expect.  There is a day of the Lord coming, he says,\ntherefore prepare to meet your God.  But you are unprepared, and you will\nfind the day of the Lord very different from what you expect.  It will be\na day in which you will learn the righteousness of God.  Because He is\nrighteous He will not suffer your unrighteousness.  Because He is good,\nHe will not permit you to be bad.  The day of the Lord to you will be\ndarkness and not light, not as you dream deliverance from the invaders,\nbut ruin by the invaders, from which will be no escape.  \"As if a man did\nflee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned\nhis hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.\"  There will be no escape\nfor those wicked men.  Though they dug into hell, God's hand would take\nthem; though they climbed up into heaven, God would fetch them down;\nthough they hid in the bottom of the sea, God would command the serpent,\nand it should bite them.  He would sift the house of Israel among all\nnations like corn in a sieve, and not a grain should fall to the earth.\nAnd all the sinners among God's people should die by the sword, who say,\n\"The evil shall not overtake us.\"\n\nThis was Amos's notion of the kingdom of God and His righteousness.\nThese Israelites would not obey the laws of God's kingdom, and be\nrighteous and good.  But Amos told them, they could not get rid of God's\nkingdom.  The Lord was King, in spite of them, and they would find it out\nto their sorrow.  If they would not seek His kingdom and His government,\nHis government would seek them and find them, and find their evil-doings\nout.  If they would not seek God's righteousness, His righteousness would\nseek them, and execute righteous judgment on them.  No wonder that the\nIsraelites thought Amos a most troublesome and insolent person.  No\nwonder that the smooth priest Amaziah begged him to begone and talk in\nthat way somewhere else.  He saw plainly enough that either Amos must\nleave Samaria, or he must leave it.  The two could no more work together\nthan fire and water.  Amos wanted to make men repent of their sins, while\nAmaziah wanted only to make them easy in their minds; and no man can do\nboth at once.\n\nSo it was then, my friends, and so it will be till the end of this wicked\nworld.  The way to please men, and be popular, always was, and always\nwill be, Amaziah's way; to tell men that they may worship God and the\ngolden calf at the same time, that they may worship God and money,\nworship God and follow the ways of this wicked world which suit their\nfancy and their interest; to tell them the kingdom of God is not over you\nnow, Christ is not ruling the world now; that the kingdom of God will\nonly come, when Christ comes at the last day, and meanwhile, if people\nwill only believe what they are told, and live tolerably respectable\nlives, they may behave in all things else as if there was no God, and no\njudgments of God.  Seeking the righteousness of God, say these preachers\nof Amaziah's school, only means, that if Christ's righteousness is\nimputed to you need not be righteous yourselves, but will go to heaven\nwithout having been good men here on earth.  That is the comfortable\nmessage which the world delights to hear, and for which the world will\npay a high price to its flatterers.\n\nBut if any man dares to tell his fellow-men what Amos told them, and say,\nThe kingdom of God is among you, and within you, and over you, whether\nyou like or not, and you are in it; the Lord is King, be the people never\nso unquiet; and all power is given to Him in heaven and earth already;\nand at the last great day, when He comes in glory, He will show that He\nhas been governing the world and the inhabitants thereof all along,\nwhether they cared to obey Him or not:--if he tell men, that the\nrighteousness of God means this--to pray for the Spirit of God and of\nChrist, that they may be perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect,\nand holy as Christ is holy, for without holiness no man shall see the\nLord:  if he tell men, that the wrath of God was revealed from heaven at\nthe fall of man, and has been revealed continuously ever since, against\nall ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, that indignation and wrath,\ntribulation and anguish will fall upon every soul of man that doeth evil;\nand glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good:--when a man\ndares to preach that, he is no more likely to be popular with the wicked\nworld (for it is a wicked world) than Amos was popular, or St Paul was\npopular, or our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave both to Amos and to St Paul\ntheir messages, was popular.  False preachers will dislike that man,\nbecause he wishes to make sinners uneasy, while they wish to make them\neasy.  Philosophers, falsely so-called, will dislike that man, because he\ntalks of the kingdom of God, the providence of God, and they are busy--at\nleast, just now--in telling men that there is no providence and no God--\nat least, no living God.  The covetous and worldly will dislike that man,\nfor they believe that the world is governed, not by God, but by money.\nPoliticians will dislike that man, because they think that not God, but\nthey, govern the world, by those very politics and knavish tricks, which\nwe pray God to confound, whenever we sing \"God save the Queen.\"  And the\ncommon people--the masses--who ought to hear such a man gladly, for his\nwords are to them, if they would understand them, a gospel, and good news\nof divine hope and deliverance from sin and ignorance, oppression and\nmisery--the masses, I say, will dislike that man, because he tells them\nthat God's will is law, and must be obeyed at all risks:  and the poor\nfools have got into their heads just now that not God's will, but the\nwill of the people, is law, and that not the eternal likeness of God, but\nwhatever they happen to decide by the majority of the moment, is right.\n\nAnd so such a preacher will not be popular with the many.  They will\ndismiss him, at best, as they might a public singer or lecturer, with\ncompliments and thanks, and so excuse themselves from doing what he tells\nthem.  And he must look for his sincere hearers in the hearts of those--\nand there are such, I verily believe, in this congregation--who have a\ntrue love and a true fear of Christ, their incarnate God--who believe,\nindeed, that Christ is their King, and the King of all the earth; who\nthink that to please Him is the most blessed, as well as the most\nprofitable, thing which man can do; to displease Him the most horrible,\nas well as the most dangerous, thing which man can do; and who,\ntherefore, try to please Him by becoming like Him, by really renouncing\nthe world and all its mean and false and selfish ways, and putting on His\nnew pattern of man, which is created after God's likeness in\nrighteousness and true holiness.  Blessed are they, for of them it is\nwritten, \"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after\nrighteousness, for they shall be filled.\"  Even Christ Himself shall fill\nthem.  Blessed are they, and all that they take in hand, for of them it\nis written, \"Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, and walk in His\nways.  For thou shalt eat the labours of thine hands.\"  \"The Lord is\nrighteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.  The Lord is nigh\nunto all them that call upon Him, yea, all such as call upon Him\nfaithfully.  He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him.  He also\nwill hear their cry\"--ay, \"and will help them.\"\n\nHappy, ay, blest will such souls be, let the day of the Lord appear when\nit will, or how it will.  It may appear--the day of the Lord, as it has\nappeared again and again in history--in the thunder of some mighty war.\nIt may appear after some irresistible, though often silent revolution,\nwhether religious or intellectual, social or political.  It will appear\nat last, as that great day of days, which will conclude, so we believe,\nthe drama of human history, and all men shall give account for their own\nworks.  But, however and whenever it shall appear, they at least will\nwatch its dawning, neither with the selfish assurance of modern\nPharisaism, nor with the abject terror of mediaeval superstition; but\nwith that manful faith with which he who sang the 98th Psalm saw the day\nof the Lord dawn once in the far east, more than two thousand years ago,\nand cried with solemn joy, in the glorious words which you have just\nheard sung--words which the Church of England has embodied in her daily\nevening service, in order, I presume, to show her true children how they\nought to look at days of judgment; and so prepare to meet their God:--\n\n\"Show yourselves joyful unto the Lord, all ye lands:  sing, rejoice, and\ngive thanks.\n\n\"Let the sea make a noise, and all that therein is:  the round world, and\nthey that dwell therein.\n\n\"Let the floods clap their hands, and let the hills be joyful together\nbefore the Lord:  for He cometh to judge the earth.\n\n\"With righteousness shall He judge the world:  and the people with\nequity.\n\n\"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;\n\n\"As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.\nAmen.\"\n\n\n\nSERMON III.  THE PURIFYING HOPE\n\n\n\nEversley, 1869.  Windsor Castle, 1869.\n\n1 John iii. 2.  \"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet\nappear what we shall be:  but we know that, when he shall appear, we\nshall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  And every man that\nhath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.\"\n\nLet us consider this noble text, and see something, at least, of what it\nhas to tell us.  It is, like all God's messages, all God's laws, ay, like\nGod's world in which we live and breathe, at once beautiful and awful;\nfull of life-giving hope; but full, too, of chastening fear.  Hope for\nthe glorious future which it opens to poor human beings like us; fear,\nlest so great a promise being left us, we should fall short of it by our\nown fault.  Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us,\nthat we should be called the sons of God.\n\nThere is the root and beginning of all Christianity,--of all true\nreligion.  We are the sons of God, and the infinite, absolute, eternal\nBeing who made this world, and all worlds, is our Father.  We are the\nchildren of God.  It is not for us to say who are not God's children.\nThat is God's concern, not ours.  All that we have to do with, is the\nawful and blessed fact that we are.  We were baptised into God's kingdom,\nin the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Let us\nbelieve the Gospel and good news which baptism brings us, and say each of\nus;--Not for our own goodness and deserving; not for our own faith or\nassurance; not for anything which we have thought, felt, or done, but\nsimply out of the free grace and love of God, seeking out us unconscious\ninfants, we are children of God.  \"Beloved now are we the sons of God,\nand it doth not yet appear what we shall be.\"  It doth not yet appear\nwhat the next life will be like, or what we shall be like in it.  That\nthere will be a next life,--that death does not end all for us, the New\nTestament tells us.  Yea, our own hearts and reasons tell us.  That\nsentiment of immortality, that instinct that the death of our body will\nnot, cannot destroy our souls, or ourselves--all men have had that,\nexcept a few; and it is a question whether they had it not once, and have\nonly lost it by giving way to their brute animal nature.  But be that as\nit may, it concerns us, I think, very little.  For we at least believe\nthat we shall live again.  That we shall live again in some state or\nother, is as certain to our minds as it was to the minds of our\nforefathers, even while they were heathens; as certain to us as it is\nthat we are alive now.  But in that future state, what we shall be like,\nwe know not.  St. John says that he did not know; and we certainly have\nno more means of knowing than St. John.\n\nTherefore let us not feed our fancies with pictures of what the next\nworld will be like,--pictures, I say, which are but waking dreams of men,\nintruding into those things which they have not seen, vainly puffed up in\ntheir fleshly minds--that is in their animal and mortal brain.  Let us be\ncontent with what St. John tells us, which is a matter not for our\nbrains, but for our hearts; not for our imaginations, but for our\nconscience, which is indeed our highest reason.  Whatever we do not know\nabout the next world, this, he says, we do know,--that when God in Christ\nshall appear, we shall be like Him.  Like God.  No more:  No:  but no\nless.  To be like God, it appears, is the very end and aim of our being.\nThat we might be like God, God our Father sent us forth from His eternal\nbosom, which is the ground of all life, in heaven and in earth.  That we\nmight be like God, He clothed us in mortal flesh, and sent us into this\nworld of sense.  That we might be like God, He called us, from our\ninfancy, into His Church.  That we might be like God, He gave us the\ndivine sense of right and wrong; and more, by the inspiration of His holy\nspirit, that inward witness, that Light of God, which lightens every man\nthat cometh into the world, He taught us to love the right and hate the\nwrong.  That we might be like God, God is educating us from our cradle to\nour grave, by every event, even the smallest, which happens to us.  That\nwe might be like God, it is in God that we live, and move, and have our\nbeing; that as the raindrop which falls from heaven, rises again surely,\nsoon or late, to heaven again; so each soul of man, coming forth from God\nat first, should return again to God, as many of them as have eternal\nlife, having become like to God from whom it came at first.  And how\nshall we become like God? or rather like Christ who is both God and man?\nTo become like God the Father,--that is impossible for finite and created\nbeings as we are.  But to become somewhat, at least, like God the Son,\nlike Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the brightness of His Father's glory,\nand the express image of His person, that is not impossible.  For He has\nrevealed Himself as a man, in the soul and body of a man, that our sinful\nsouls might be made like His pure soul; our sinful bodies like His\nglorious body; and that so He might be the first born among many\nbrethren.  And how?  \"We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him,\nfor we shall see Him as He is.\"\n\nFor we shall see Him as He is.  Herein is a great mystery, and one which\nI do not pretend to fathom.  Only this I can try to do--to shew how it\nmay seem possible and reasonable, from what is called analogy, that is by\njudging of an unknown thing from a known thing, which is, at least,\nsomething like it.  Now do we not all know how apt we are to become like\nthose whom we see, with whom we spend our hours--and, above all, like\nthose whom we admire and honour?  For good and for evil, alas!  For evil-\n-for those who associate with evil or frivolous persons are too apt to\ncatch not only their low tone, but their very manner, their very\nexpression of face, speaking, and thinking, and acting.  Not only do they\nbecome scornful, if they live with scorners; false, if they live with\nliars; mean, if they live with covetous men; but they will actually catch\nthe very look of their faces.  The companions of affected, frivolous\npeople, men or women, grow to look affected frivolous.  Indulging in the\nsame passions, they mould their own countenances and their very walk,\nalso the very tones of their voice, as well as their dress, into the\nlikeness of those with whom they associate, nay, of those whose fashions\n(as they are called) they know merely by books and pictures.  But thank\nGod, who has put into the hearts of Christian people the tendency towards\nGod--just in the same way does good company tend to make men good; high-\nminded company to make them high-minded; kindly company to make them\nkindly; modest company to make them modest; honourable company to make\nthem honourable; and pure company to make them pure.  If the young man or\nwoman live with such, look up to such as their ideal, that is, the\npattern which they ought to emulate--then, as a fact, the Spirit of God\nworking in them does mould them into something of the likeness of those\nwhom they admire and love.  I have lived long enough to see more than one\nman of real genius stamp his own character, thought, even his very manner\nof speaking, for good or for evil, on a whole school or party of his\ndisciples.  It has been said, and truly, I believe, that children cannot\nbe brought up among beautiful pictures,--I believe, even among any\nbeautiful sights and sounds,--without the very expression of their faces\nbecoming more beautiful, purer, gentler, nobler; so that in them are\nfulfilled the words of the great and holy Poet concerning the maiden\nbrought up according to God, and the laws of God--\n\n\n   \"And she shall bend her ear\n   In many a secret place,\nWhere rivulets dance their wayward round,\nAnd beauty, born of murmuring sound,\n   Shall pass into her face.\"\n\n\nBut if mere human beings can have this \"personal influence,\" as it is\ncalled, over each others' characters, if even inanimate things, if they\nbe beautiful, can have it--what must be the personal influence of our\nLord Jesus Christ?  Of Him, who is the Man of all men, the Son of Man,\nthe perfect and ideal Man--and more, who is very God of very God; the\nAuthor of all life, power, wisdom, genius, in every human being, whether\nthey use to good, or abuse to ill, His divine gifts; the Author, too, of\nall natural beauty, from the sun over our heads to the flower beneath our\nfeet?  Think of that steadily, accurately, rationally.  Think of who\nChrist is, and what Christ is--and then think what His personal influence\nmust be--quite infinite, boundless, miraculous.  So that the very\nblessedness of heaven will not be merely the sight of our Lord; it will\nbe the being made holy, and kept holy, by that sight.  If only we be fit\nfor it.  For let us ask ourselves the question,--If St John's words come\ntrue of us, if we should see Him as He is, would the sight of His all-\nglorious countenance warm us into such life, love, longing for virtue and\nusefulness, as we never felt before?  Or would it crush us into the very\nearth with utter shame and humiliation, full and awful knowledge of how\nweak and foolish, sinful and unworthy we were?--as it does to Gerontius\nin the poem, when he dreams that, after death, he demanded, rashly and\nambitiously, to see our Lord, and had his wish.\n\nThat is the question which every one must try to answer for himself in\nfear and trembling, for, he that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself,\neven as He is pure.  The common sense of men--which is often their\nconscience and highest reason--has taught them this, more or less\nclearly, in all countries and all ages.  There are very few religions\nwhich have not made purifying of some kind a part of their duty.  The\nvery savage, when he enters (as he fancies) the presence of his god, will\nwash and adorn himself that he may be fit, poor creature, for meeting the\npaltry god which he has invented out of his own brain; and he is right as\nfar as he goes.  The Englishman, when he dresses himself in his best to\ngo to church, obeys the same reasonable instinct.  And, indeed, is not\nholy baptism a sign that this instinct is a true one?--that if God be\npure, he who enters the presence of God must purify himself, even as God\nis pure?  Else why, when each person, whether infant or adult, is\nreceived into Christ's Church, is washing with water, whether by\nsprinkling, as now, or, as of old, by immersion, the very sign and\nsacrament of his being received into God's kingdom?  The instinct, I say,\nis reasonable, and has its root in the very heart of man.  Whatsoever we\nrespect and admire we shall also try to copy, if it be only for a time.\nIf we are going into the presence of a wiser man than ourselves, we shall\nsurely recollect and summon up what little wisdom or knowledge we may\nhave; if into the presence of a holier person, we shall try to call up in\nourselves those better and more serious thoughts which we so often\nforget, that we may be, even for a few minutes, fit for that good\ncompany.  And if we go into the presence of a purer person than\nourselves, we shall surely (unless we be base and brutal) call up our\npurest and noblest thoughts, and try to purify ourselves, even as they\nare pure.  It is true what poets have said again and again, that there\nare women whose mere presence, whose mere look, drives all bad thoughts\naway--women before whom men dare no more speak, or act, nay, even think,\nbasely, than they would dare before the angels of God.\n\nBut if it be so--and so it is--what must we be, to be fit to appear\nbefore Him who is Purity itself?--before that spotless Christ in whom is\nno sin and who knows what is in man; who is quick and piercing as a two-\nedged sword, even to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow, so\nthat all things are naked and open in the sight of Him with whom we have\nto do?  What purity can we bring into His presence which will not seem\nimpure to Him?  What wisdom which will not seem folly?  What humility\nwhich will not seem self-conceit?  What justice which will not seem\nunjust?  What love which will not seem hardness of heart, in the sight of\nHim who charges His angels with folly, and the very heavens are not clean\nin His sight?  Who loved Him better, and whom did He love better, than St\nJohn?  Yet, what befel St John when, in the spirit, he saw Him even\nsomewhat as He is?--\"And I fell at His feet as dead.\"  If St John himself\nwas struck down with awe, what shall we feel, even the best and purest\namong us?  All we can do is to cast ourselves, now and for ever, in life,\nin death, and in the day of judgment, on His boundless mercy and love--\nwho stooped from heaven to die for us and cry, God be merciful to me a\nsinner.\n\nTherefore, I have many fears for some who are ready enough to talk of\ntheir fulness of hope and their assurance of salvation, and to join in\nhymns which express weariness of this life and longings for the joys of\nheaven, and prayers that they may depart and be with Christ.  If they are\nnot in earnest in such words they mock God; but if they are in earnest,\nsome of them, I fear much, tempt God.  What if He took them at their\nword?  What if He gave them their wish?  What if they departed and\nentered the presence of Christ, only to meet with a worse fate than that\nof Gerontius?  Only to be overwhelmed with shame and terror, because,\nthough they have been talking of being with Christ, they have not been\ntrying to be like Christ; because they have not sought after holiness,\nwithout which no man shall see the Lord; because they have not tried to\npurify themselves, even as He is pure; and have, poor, heedless souls,\ngone out of the world, with all their sins upon their head, to enter a\nplace for which they will find themselves utterly unfit, because it is a\nplace into which nothing can enter which defileth, or committeth\nabomination, or maketh a lie, and from which the covetous are specially\nexcluded; and in which will be fulfilled the parable of the man who came\nto the feast, not having on a wedding garment,--Take him, bind him hand\nand foot, and cast him into the outer darkness.  There shall be wailing\nand gnashing of teeth.\n\nAssurance, my friends, may be reasonable enough when it is founded on\nrepentance and hatred of evil, and love and practice of what is good.\nBut, again, assurance may be as unreasonable as it is offensive.  We\nblame a man who has too much assurance about earthly things.  Let us\nbeware that we have not too much assurance about heavenly things.  For\nour assurance will surely be too great, unreasonable, built upon the\nsand, if it be built on mere self-conceit of our own orthodoxy, and our\nown privileges, or our own special connection with God.\n\nMeanwhile it has been my comfort to meet with some--would God they were\nmore numerous--who, instead of talking of their assurance of salvation,\nlived in a state of noble self-discontent and holy humility; who could\nsee nothing but their own faults and failings; who, though they were\nholier than others, considered themselves as unholy; though they were\ndoing more good than others, thought themselves useless; whose standard\nof duty was so lofty, that they could think of nothing, but how far they\nhad failed in reaching it; who measured themselves, not by other men, but\nby Christ Himself; and, doing that, had nought to say, save, \"God be\nmerciful to me a sinner.\"  And for such people I have had full assurance,\njust because they had no assurance themselves.  And I have said in my\nheart, These are worthy, just because they think themselves unworthy.\nThese are fit to appear in the presence of God, just because they believe\nthemselves unfit.  These are they who will cry at the day of judgment, in\nwondering humility,--Lord, when saw we Thee hungry, or thirsty, or naked,\nor in prison, and visited Thee?  And will receive for answer,--\"Inasmuch\nas ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have\ndone it unto Me.\"  \"Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will\nmake thee ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of thy Lord.\"\n\nTo which end may God of His mercy bring us, and all we love.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON IV.  THE LORD COMING TO HIS TEMPLE\n\n\n\nWestminster Abbey.  November, 1874.\n\nMalachi iii. 1, 2.  \"The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His\ntemple. . . .  But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall\nstand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like\nfuller's sope.\"\n\nWe believe that this prophecy was fulfilled at the first coming of our\nLord Jesus Christ.  We believe that it will be fulfilled again, in that\ngreat day when He shall judge the quick and the dead.  But it is of\nneither of these events I wish to speak to you just now.  I wish to speak\nof an event which has not (as far as we know) happened; which will\nprobably never happen; but which is still perfectly possible; and one,\ntoo, which it is good for us to face now and then, and ask ourselves, If\nthis thing came to pass, what should I think, and what should I do?\n\nI shall touch the question with all reverence and caution.  I shall try\nto tread lightly, as one who is indeed on hallowed ground.  For the\nquestion which I have dared to ask you and myself is none other than\nthis--If the Lord suddenly came to this temple, or any other in this\nland; if He appeared among us, as He did in Judea eighteen hundred years\nago, what should we think of Him?  Should we recognise, or should we\nreject, our Saviour and our Lord?  It is an awful thought, the more we\nlook at it.  But for that very reason it may be the more fit to be asked,\nonce and for all.\n\nNow, to put this question safely and honestly, we must keep within those\nwords which I just said--as He appeared in Judea eighteen hundred years\nago.  We must limit our fancy to the historic Christ, to the sayings,\ndoings, character which are handed down to us in the four Gospels; and\nask ourselves nothing but--What should I think if such a personage were\nto meet me now?  To imagine Him--as has been too often done--as doing\ndeeds, speaking words, and even worse, entertaining motives, which are\nnot written in the four Gospels, is as unfair morally, as it is illogical\ncritically.  It creates a phantom, a fictitious character, and calls that\nChrist.  It makes each writer, each thinker--or rather dreamer--however\nshallow his heart and stupid his brain--and all our hearts are but too\nshallow, and all our brains too stupid--the measure of a personage so\nvast and so unique, that all Christendom for eighteen hundred years has\nseen in Him, and we of course hold seen truly, the Incarnate God.  No; we\nmust think of nothing save what is set down in Holy Writ.\n\nAnd yet, alas! we cannot use in our days, that which eighteen hundred\nyears ago was the most simple and obvious test of our Lord's\ntruthfulness, namely His miraculous powers.  The folly and sin of man\nhave robbed us of what is, as it were, one of the natural rights of\nreasoning, man.  Lying prodigies and juggleries, forged and pretended\nmiracles, even--oh, shame!--imitations of His most sacred wounds, have,\nup to our own time, made all rational men more and more afraid of aught\nwhich seems to savour of the miraculous; till most of us, I think, would\nhave to ask forgiveness--as I myself should have to ask,--if, tantalized\nand insulted again and again by counterfeit miracles, we failed to\nrecognise real miracles, and Him who performed them.  Therefore, for good\nor evil, we should be driven back upon that test alone, which, after all,\nperhaps, is the most sure as well as the most convincing--the moral test-\n-the test of character.  What manner of personage would He be did He\ncondescend to appear among us?  Of that, thank God, the Gospels ought to\nleave us in no doubt.  What acts He might condescend to perform, what\nwords He might condescend to speak, it is not for such beings as we to\nguess.  But how He would demean Himself we know; for Holy Writ has told\nus how He demeaned Himself in Judea eighteen hundred years ago; and He is\nthe same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and can be only like Himself.\nBut should we know Him merely by His bearing and character?  Should we\nsee in Him an utterly ideal personage--The Son of Man, and therefore, ere\nwe lost sight of Him once more, the Son of God?  Let us think.  First,\ntherefore, we must believe that--as in Judea of old--Christ would meet\nmen with all consideration and courtesy.  He would not break the bruised\nreed, nor quench the smoking flax.  He would not strive, nor cry, nor let\nHis voice be heard in the streets.  He would not cause any of God's\nlittle ones to offend, to stumble.  In plain words, He would not shock\nand repel them by any conduct of His.  Therefore, as in Judea of old, He\nwould be careful of, even indulgent to, the usages of society, as long as\nthey were innocent.  He would never outrage the code of manners, however\nimperfect, however conventional, which this or any other civilised nation\nmay have agreed on, to express and keep up respect, self-restraint,\ndelicacy, of man toward man, of man toward woman, of the young ward the\nold, of the living toward the dead.  No.\n\nAs I said just now, He would never cause, by any act or word of His, one\nof God's little ones to stumble and fall away.\n\nI used just now that word MANNERS.  Let me beg your very serious\nattention to it.  I use it, remember, in its true, its ancient--that is,\nin its moral and spiritual sense.  I use it as the old Greeks, the old\nRomans, used their corresponding words; as our wise forefathers used it,\nwhen they said well, that \"Manners maketh man;\" that manners are at once\nthe efficient cause of a man's success, and the proof of his deserving to\nsucceed:  the outward and visible sign of whatsoever inward and spiritual\ngrace, or disgrace, there may be in him.  I mean by the word what our\nLord meant when He reproved the pushing and vulgar arrogance of the\nScribes and Pharisees, and laid down the golden rule of all good manners,\n\"Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and\nwhosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.\"\n\nNext, I beg you to remember that all, or almost all, good manners which\nwe have among us--courtesies, refinements, self-restraint, and mutual\nrespect--all which raises us, socially and morally, above our forefathers\nof fifteen hundred years ago--deep-hearted men, valiant and noble, but\ncoarse, and arrogant, and quarrelsome--all that, or almost all, we owe to\nChrist, to the influence of His example, and to that Bible which\ntestifies of Him.  Yes, the Bible has been for Christendom, in the\ncottage as much as in the palace, the school of manners; and the saying\nthat he who becomes a true Christian becomes a true gentleman, is no\nrhetorical boast, but a solid historic fact.\n\nNow imagine Christ to reappear on earth, with that perfect outward beauty\nof character--with what Greeks and Romans, and our own ancestors, would\nhave called those perfect manners--which, if we are to believe the\nGospels, He shewed in Judea of old, which won then so many hearts,\nespecially of the common people, sounder judges often of true nobility\nthan many who fancy themselves their betters.  Conceive--but which of us\ncan conceive?--His perfect tenderness, patience, sympathy, graciousness,\nand grace, combined with perfect strength, stateliness, even awfulness,\nwhen awe was needed.  Remember that, if, again, the Gospels are to be\nbelieved.  He alone, of all personages of whom history tells us, solved\nin His own words and deeds the most difficult paradox of human character-\n-to be at once utterly conscious, and yet utterly unconscious, of self;\nto combine with perfect self-sacrifice a perfect self-assertion.  Whether\nor not His being able to do that proved Him to have been that which He\nwas, the Son of God, it proves Him at least to have been the Son of Man--\nthe unique and unapproachable ideal of humanity, utterly inspired by the\nHoly Spirit of God.\n\nBut again:  He condescended, in His teaching of old, to the level of\nJewish, knowledge at that time.  We may, therefore, believe that He would\ncondescend to the level of our modern knowledge; and what would that\ninvolve?  It would leave Him, however less than Himself, at least master\nof all that the human race has thought or discovered in the last eighteen\nhundred years.  Think of that.  And think again, that if He condescended,\nas in Judea of old, to employ that knowledge in teaching men--He who knew\nwhat was in man, and needed not that any should bear witness to Him of\nman--He would manifest a knowledge of human nature to which that of a\nShakspeare would be purblind and dull; a knowledge of which the Scripture\nnobly says that \"The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than\nany two-edged sword, even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and\nof the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents\nof the heart;\" so that all \"things are naked and opened unto the eyes of\nHim with whom we have to do.\"  And consider that, in the light of that\nknowledge, He might adapt himself as perfectly to us of this great city,\nas He did to the villagers of Galilee, or to the townsmen of Jerusalem.\n\nConsider, again, that He who spoke as never man yet spake in Jerusalem,\nmight speak as man never yet spoke on English soil; that He who was\nlistened to gladly once, because He spake with authority, and not as the\nscribes, at second hand, and by rule and precedent, might be listened to\ngladly here once more.  For He might speak here, not as we poor scribes\ncan speak at best, but with an authority, originality, earnestness, as\nwell as an eloquence, which might exercise a fascination, which would be,\nto all with whom He came in contact, what Malachi calls it, \"a refiner's\nfire\"--most purifying, though often most painful to the very best; a\nfascination which might be to every one who came under its spell a\nveritable Judgment and Day of the Lord, shewing each man with fearful\nclearness to which side he really inclined at heart in the struggle\nbetween truth and falsehood, good and evil; a fascination, therefore,\nequally attractive to those who wished to do right, and intolerable to\nthose who wished to do wrong.\n\nConsider that last thought.  And consider, too, that those to whom the\nfascination of such a personage might be so intolerable, that it might\nturn to utter hate, would probably be those whose moral sense was so\nperverted, that they thought they were doing right when they were doing\nwrong, and speaking truth when they were telling lies.  It is an awful\nthought.  But we know that there were such men, and too many, among the\nscribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem.  And human nature is the same in\nevery age.  Be that as it may--however retired His life, He could not\nlong be hid.  He would shortly exercise, almost without attempting it, an\nenormous public influence.\n\nBut yet, as in Judea of old, would He not be only too successful?  Would\nHe not be at once too liberal for some, and too exacting for others?\nWould He not, as in Judea of old, encounter not merely the active envy of\nthe vain and the ambitious, which would follow one who spoke as never man\nspoke; not merely the active malignity of those who wish their fellow-\ncreatures to be bad and not good; not merely the bigotry of every sect\nand party; but that mere restless love of new excitements, and that dull\nfear and suspicion of new truths, and even of old truths in new words,\nwhich beset the uneducated of every rank and class, and in no age more\nthan in our own?  And therefore I must ask, in sober sadness, how long\nwould His influence last?  It lasted, we know, in Judea of old, for some\nthree years.  And then--.  But I am not going to say that any such\ntragedy is possible now.  It would be an insult to Him; an insult to the\ngracious influences of His Spirit, the gracious teaching of His Church,\nto say that of our generation, however unworthy we may be of our high\ncalling in Christ.  And yet, if He had appeared in any country of\nChristendom only four hundred years ago, might He not have endured an\neven more dreadful death than that of the cross?\n\nBut doubtless, no personal harm would happen to Him here.  Only there\nmight come a day, in which, as in Judea of old, \"after He had said these\nthings, many were offended, and walked no more with Him:\" when his\nhearers and admirers would grow fewer and more few, some through bigotry,\nsome through envy, some through fickleness, some through cowardice, till\nHe was left alone with a little knot of earnest disciples; who might\ndiminish, alas, but too rapidly, when they found at He, as in Judea of\nold, did not intend to become the head of a new sect, and to gratify\ntheir ambition and vanity by making them His delegates.  And so the\nworld, the religious world as well as the rest, might let Him go His way,\nand vanish from the eyes and minds of men, leaving behind little more\nthan a regret that one so gifted and so fascinating should have proved--I\nhardly like to say the words, and yet they must be said--so unsafe and so\nunsound a teacher.\n\nI shall not give now the reasons which have led me, and not in haste, to\nthis melancholy conclusion.  I shall only say that I have come to it,\nwith pain, and shame, and fear.  With shame and fear.  For when I ask you\nthe solemn question, Would you know Christ if He came among you? do I not\nask myself a question which I dare not answer?  How can I tell whether I\nshould recognise, after all, my Saviour and my Lord?  How do I know that\nif He said (as He but too certainly might), something which clashed\nseriously with my preconceived notions of what He ought to say, I should\nnot be offended, and walk no more with Him?  How do I know that if He\nsaid, as in Judea of old, \"Will ye too go away?\" I should answer with St\nPeter, \"Lord, to whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of eternal life,\nand we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the\nliving God?\"  I dare not ask that question of myself.  How then dare I\nask it of you?  I know not.  I can only say, \"Lord, I believe:  help thou\nmine unbelief.\"  I know not.  But this I know--that in this or any other\nworld, if you or I did recognise Him, it would be with utter shame and\nterror, unless we had studied and had striven to copy either Himself, or\nwhatsoever seems to us most like Him.  Yes; to study the good, the\nbeautiful, and the true in Him, and wheresoever else we find it--for all\nthat is good, beautiful, and true throughout the universe are nought but\nrays from Him, the central sun--to obey St. Paul of old, and \"whatsoever\nthings are true, venerable, just, pure, lovely, and of good report--if\nthere be any virtue and if there be any praise, to think on these\nthings,\"--on these scattered fragmentary sacraments of Him whose number\nis not two, nor seven, \"but seventy-times seven;\" that is the way--I\nthink, the only way--to be ready to recognise our Saviour, and to prepare\nto meet our God; that He may be to us, too, as a refiner's fire, and\nrefine us--our thoughts, our deeds, our characters throughout.\n\nAnd I think, too, that this is the way, perhaps the only way, to rid\nourselves of the fancy that we can be accounted righteous before God for\nany works or deservings of our own.  Those in whom that fancy lingers\nmust have but a paltry standard of what righteousness is, a mean\nconception of moral--that is, spiritual--perfection.  But those who look\nnot inwards, but upwards; not at themselves, but at Christ and all\nspiritual perfection--they become more and more painfully aware of their\nown imperfections.  The beauty of Christ's character shows them the\nugliness of their own.  His purity shows them their own foulness.  His\nlove their own hardness.  His wisdom their own folly.  His strength their\nown weakness.  The higher their standard rises, the lower falls their\nestimate of themselves; till, in utter humiliation and self-distrust,\nthey seek comfort ere alone it can be found--in FAITH--in utter faith and\ntrust in that very moral perfection of Christ which shames and dazzles\nthem, and yet is their only hope.  To trust in Him for themselves and all\nthey love.  To trust that, just because Christ is so magnificent, He will\npity, and not despise, our meanness.  Just because He is so pure, and\nrighteous, and true, and lovely, He will appreciate, and not abhor, our\nstruggles after purity, righteousness, truth, love, however imperfect,\nhowever soiled with failure--and with worse.  Just because He is so\nunlike us, He will smile graciously upon out feeblest attempts to be like\nHim.  Just because He has borne the sins and carried the sorrows of\nmankind, therefore those who come to Him He will in no wise cast out.\nAmen.\n\n\n\nSERMON V.  ADVENT LESSONS\n\n\n\nWestminster Abbey, First Sunday in Advent, 1873.\n\nRomans vii. 22-25.  \"I delight in the law of God after the inward man:\nbut I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,\nand bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.\nO wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this\ndeath?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.\"\n\nThis is the first Sunday in Advent.  To-day we have prayed that God would\ngive us grace to put away the works of darkness, and put on us the armour\nof light.  Next Sunday we shall pray that, by true understanding of the\nScriptures, we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting\nlife.  The Sunday after that the ministers and stewards of God's\nmysteries may prepare His way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to\nthe wisdom of the just--the next, that His grace and mercy may speedily\nhelp and deliver us from the sins which hinder us in running the race set\nbefore us.  But I do not think that we shall understand those collects,\nor indeed the meaning of Advent itself, or the reason why we keep the\nseason of Advent year by year, unless we first understand the prayer\nwhich we offered up last Sunday, \"Stir up, O Lord, the wills of Thy\nfaithful people,\"--and we shall understand that prayer just in proportion\nas we have in us the Spirit of God, or the spirit of the world, which is\nthe spirit of unbelief.\n\nWorldly people say--and say openly, just now--that this prayer is all a\ndream.  They say God will not stir up men's wills to do good any more\nthan to do harm.  He leaves men to themselves to get through life as they\ncan.  This Heavenly Father of whom you speak will not give His holy\nspirit to those who ask Him.  He does not, as one of your Collects says,\nput into men's minds good desires--they come to a man entirely from\noutside a man, from his early teaching, his youthful impressions, as they\nare called now-a-days.  He does not either give men grace and power to\nput these desires into practice.  That depends entirely on the natural\nstrength of a man's character; and that, again, depends principally on\nthe state of his brain.  So, says the world, if you wish your own\ncharacter to improve, you must improve it yourself, for God will not\nimprove it for you.  But, after all, why should you try to improve? why\nnot be content to be just what you are? you did not make yourself, and\nyou are not responsible for being merely what God has chosen to make you.\n\nThis is what worldly men say, or at least what they believe and act on;\nand this is the reason why there is so little improvement in the world,\nbecause men do not ask God to improve their hearts and stir up their\nwills.  I say, very little improvement.  Men talk loudly of the\nenlightenment of the age, and the progress of the species, and the spread\nof civilisation, and so forth:  but when I read old books, and compare\nold times with these, I confess I do not see so much of it as all this\nhopeful talk would lead me to expect.  Men in general have grown more\nprudent, more cunning, from long experience.  They have found out that\ncertain sins do not pay--that is, they interfere with people's comfort\nand their power of making money, and therefore they prudently avoid them\nthemselves, and put them down by law in other men's cases.  Men have\ncertainly grown more good-natured, in some countries, in that they\ndislike more than their ancestors did, to inflict bodily torture on human\nbeings; but they are just as ready, or even more ready, to inflict on\nthose whom they dislike that moral and mental torture which to noble\nsouls is worse than any bodily pain.  As for any real improvement in\nhuman nature--where is it?  There is just as much falsehood, cheating,\nand covetousness, I believe, in the world as ever there was; just as much\ncant and hypocrisy, and perhaps more; just as much envy, hatred, malice\nand all uncharitableness.  Is not the condition of the masses in many\ngreat cities as degraded and as sad as ever was that of the serfs in the\nmiddle ages?  Do not the poor still die by tens of thousands of fevers,\ncholeras, and other diseases, which we know perfectly how to prevent, and\nyet have not the will to prevent?  Is not the adulteration of food just\nnow as scandalous as it is unchecked?  The sins and follies of human\nnature have been repressed in one direction only to break out another.\nAnd as for open and coarse sin, people complain even now, and I fear with\njustice, that there is more drunkenness in England at this moment than\nthere ever was.  So much for our boasted improvement.\n\nLook again at the wars of the world.  Five-and-twenty years ago, one used\nto be told that the human race was grown too wise to go to war any more,\nand that we were to have an advent of universal peace and plenty, and\nsince then we have seen some seven great wars, the last the most terrible\nof all,--and ever since, all the nations of Europe have been watching\neach other in distrust and dread, increasing their armaments, working\noften night and day at forging improved engines of destruction, wherewith\nto kill their fellow-men.  Not that I blame that.  It is necessary.  Yes!\nbut the hideous thing is, that it should be necessary.  Does that state\nof things look much like progress of the human race?  Can we say that\nmankind is much improved, either in wisdom or in love, while all the\nnations of Europe are spending millions merely to be ready to fight they\nknow not whom, they know not why?\n\nNo, my good friends, obey the wise man, and clear your minds of cant--\nman's pretensions, man's boastfulness, man's power of blinding his own\neyes to plain facts--above all, to the plain fact that he does not\nsucceed, even in this world of which he fancies himself the master,\nbecause he lives without God in the world.  All this saddens, I had\nalmost said, sickens, a thoughtful man, till he turns away from this\nnoisy sham improvement of mankind--the wages of sin, which are death, to\nSt John's account of the true improvement of mankind, the true progress\nof the species,--the gift of God which is eternal life.  \"And I saw a new\nheaven and a new earth:  for the first heaven and the first earth were\npassed away.  And I saw the Holy City--New Jerusalem, coming down from\nGod out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I\nheard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God\nis with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,\nand God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe\naway all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither\nsorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:  for the former\nthings are passed away.\"\n\nDoes that sound much like a general increase of armaments? or like bills\nfor the prevention of pestilence, or of drunkenness,--which, even if they\npass, will both probably fail to do the good which they propose?  No.\nAnd if this wicked world is to be mended, then God must stir up the wills\nof His faithful people, and we must pray without ceasing for ourselves,\nand for all for whom we are bound to pray, that He would stir them up.\nFor what we want is not knowledge; we have enough of that, and too much.\nToo much; for knowing so much and doing so little, what an account will\nbe required of us at the last day!\n\nNo.  It is the will which we want, in a hundred cases.  Take that of\npestilential dwelling-houses in our great towns.  Every one knows that\nthey ought to be made healthy; every one knows that they can be made\nhealthy.  But the will to make them healthy is not here, and they are\nleft to breed disease and death.  And so, as in a hundred instances,\nshallow philosophers are proved, by facts, to be mistaken, when they tell\nus that man will act up to the best of his knowledge without God's help.\nFor that is exactly what man does not.  What is wrong with the world in\ngeneral, is wrong likewise more or less with you and me, and with all\nhuman beings; for after all, the world is made up of human beings; and\nthe sin of the world is nothing save the sins of each and all human\nbeings put together; and the world will be renewed and come right again,\njust as far and no farther, as each human being is renewed and comes\nright.  The only sure method, therefore, of setting the world right, is\nto begin by setting our own little part of the world right--in a word,\nsetting ourselves right.\n\nBut if we begin to try, that, we find, is just what we cannot do.  When a\nman begins to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and, discontented\nwith himself, attempts to improve himself, he soon begins to find a\npainful truth in many a word of the Bible and the Prayer Book to which he\ngave little heed, as long as he was contented with himself, and with\ndoing just what pleased him, right or wrong.  He soon finds out that he\nhas no power of himself to help himself, that he is tied and bound with\nthe burden of his sins, and that he cannot, by reason of his frailty,\nstand upright--that he actually is sore let and hindered by his own sins,\nfrom running the race set before him, and doing his duty where God has\nput him.  All these sayings come home to him as actual facts, most\npainful facts, but facts which he cannot deny.  He soon finds out the\nmeaning and the truth of that terrible struggle between the good in him\nand the evil in him, of which St Paul speaks so bitterly in the text.\nHow, when he tries to do good, evil is present with him.  How he delights\nin the law of God with his inward mind, and yet finds another law in his\nbody, warring against the law of God, and bringing him into captivity to\nthe law of sin.  How he is crippled by old bad habits, weakened by\ncowardice, by laziness, by vanity, by general inability of will, till he\nis ready,--disgusted at himself and his own weakness,--to cry, Who shall\ndeliver me from the body of this death?\n\nLet him but utter that cry honestly.  Let him once find out that he wants\nsomething outside himself to help him, to deliver him, to strengthen him,\nto stir up his weak will, to give him grace and power to do what he knows\ninstead of merely admiring it, and leaving it undone.  Let a man only\nfind out that.  Let him see that he needs a helper, a deliverer, a\nstrengthener--in one word, a Saviour--and he will find one.  I verily\nbelieve that, sooner or later, the Lord Jesus Christ will reveal to that\nman what He revealed to St Paul; that He Himself will deliver him; and\nthat, like St Paul, after crying \"O wretched man that I am, who shall\ndeliver me from the body of this death?\" he will be able to answer\nhimself, I thank God--God will, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Christ\nwill deliver me from the bonds of my sins, Christ will stir up this weak\nwill of mine, Christ will give me strength and power, faithfully to\nfulfil all my good desires, because He Himself has put them into my heart\nnot to mock me, not to disappoint me--not to make me wretched with the\nsight of noble graces and virtues to which I cannot attain, but to fulfil\nHis work in me.  What He has begun in me He will carry on in me.  He has\nsown the seed in me, and He will make it bear fruit, if only I pray to\nHim, day by day, for strength to do what I know I ought to do, and cry\nmorning and night to Him, the fount of life, Stir up my will, O Lord,\nthat I may bring forth the fruit of good works, for then by Thee I shall\nbe plentifully rewarded.\n\nSo the man gains hope and heart for himself, and so, if he will but think\nrationally and humbly, he may gain hope and heart for this poor sinful\nworld.  For what has come true for him may come true for any man.  Who is\nhe that God should care more for him than for others?  Who is he that God\nshould help him when he prays, more than He will help His whole church if\nit will but pray?  He says to himself, all this knowledge of what is\nright; all these good desires, all these longings after a juster, purer,\nnobler, happier state of things; there they are up and down the world\nalready, though, alas! they have borne little enough fruit as yet.  Be it\nso.  But God put them into my heart.  And who save God has put them into\nthe world's heart?  It was God who sowed the seed in me; surely it is God\nwho has sowed it in other men?  And if God has made it bear even the\npoorest fruit in me, why should He not make it bear fruit in other men\nand in all the world?  All they need is that God should stir up their\nwills, that they may do the good they know, and attain the blessedness\nafter which they long.\n\nAnd then, if the man have a truly human, truly reasonable heart in him--\nhe feels that he can pray for others as well as for himself.  He feels\nthat he must pray for them, and cry,--Thou alone canst make men strong to\ndo the right thing, and Thou wilt make them.  Stir up their wills, O\nLord!  Thou canst not mean that all the good seed which is sown about the\nworld should die and wither, and bring no fruit to perfection.  Surely\nThy word will not return to Thee void, but be like the rain which comes\ndown from heaven, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater.\nOh, strengthen such as stand, and comfort and help the weak-hearted, and\nraise up them that fall, and, finally, beat down Satan and all the powers\nof evil under our feet, and pour out thy spirit on all flesh, that so\ntheir Father's name may be hallowed, His kingdom come, His will be done\non earth as it is in heaven.  And so will come the one and only true\nprogress of the human race--which is, that all men should become faithful\nand obedient citizens of the holy city, the kingdom of God, which is the\nChurch of Christ.  To which may God in His mercy bring us all, and our\nchildren after us.  Amen.\n\nThis, then, is the lesson why we are met together this Advent day.  We\nare met to pray that God would so help us by His grace and mercy that we\nmay bring forth the fruit of good works, and that when our Lord Jesus\nChrist shall come in His glorious majesty to judge the quick and the\ndead, we, and our descendants after us, may be found an acceptable people\nin His sight.\n\nWe are met to pray, in a National Church, for the whole nation of\nEngland, that all orders and degrees therein may, each in his place and\nstation, help forward the hallowing of God's name, the coming of His\nkingdom, the doing of His will on earth.  We are met to pray for the\nQueen and all that are in authority, that these Advent collects may be\nfulfilled in them, and by them, for the good of the whole people; for the\nministers and stewards of Christ's mysteries, that the same collects may\nbe fulfilled by them and in them, till they turn the hearts of the\ndisobedient to the wisdom of the just; for the Commons of this nation,\nthat each man may he delivered, by God's grace and mercy, from the\nspecial sin which besets him in this faithless and worldly generation and\nhinders him from running the race of duty which is set before him, and\nget strength from God so to live that in that dread day he may meet his\nJudge and King, not in tenor and in shame, but in loyalty and in humble\nhope.\n\nBut more--we are here to worship God in Christ, both God and man.  To\nconfess that without Him we can do nothing, that unless He enlighten our\nunderstandings we are dark, unless He stir up our wills we are powerless\nfor good.  To confess that though we have forgotten Him, yet He has not\nforgotten us.   That He is the same gracious and generous Giver and\nSaviour.  That though we deny Him He cannot deny Himself.  That He is the\nsame yesterday, to-day, and for ever as when He came to visit this earth\nin great humility.  That the Lord is King, though the earth be moved.  He\nsitteth upon His throne, be the nations never so unquiet.  We are here to\ndeclare to ourselves and all men, and the whole universe, that we at\nleast believe that the heavens and earth are full of His glory.  We are\nhere to declare that, whether or not the kings of the earth are wise\nenough, or the judges of it learned enough, to acknowledge Christ for\ntheir king, we at least will worship the Son lest He be angry, and so we\nperish from the right way; for if His wrath be kindled, yea but a little,\nthen blessed are they, and they only, who put their trust in Him.  We are\nhere to join our songs with angels round the throne, and with those pure\nand mighty beings who, in some central sanctuary of the universe, cry for\never, \"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power:\nfor Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were\ncreated.\"\n\nWe do so in ancient words, ancient music, ancient ceremonies, for a token\nthat Christ's rule and glory is an ancient rule and an eternal glory;\nthat it is no new discovery of our own, and depends not on our own\npassing notions and feelings about it, but is like Christ, the same now\nas in the days of our forefathers, the same as it was fifteen hundred\nyears ago, the same as it has been since the day that He stooped to be\nborn of the Virgin Mary, the same that it will be till He shall come in\nHis glory to judge the quick and the dead.  Therefore we delight in the\nancient ceremonial, as like as we can make it, to that of the earlier and\npurer ages of the Church, when Christianity was still, as it were, fresh\nfrom the hand of its Creator, ere yet it had been debased and defiled by\nthe idolatrous innovations of the Church of Rome.  For so we confess\nourselves bound by links of gratitude to the Apostles, and the successors\nof the Apostles, and to all which has been best, purest, and truest in\nthe ages since.  So we confess that we worship the same God-man of whom\nApostles preached, of whom fathers philosophised, and for whom martyrs\ndied.  That we believe, like them, that He alone is King of kings and\nLord of lords; that there is no progress, civilization, or salvation in\nthis life or the life to come, but through His undeserved mercy and His\nstrengthening grace; that He has reigned from the creation of the world,\nreigns now, and will reign unto that last dread day, when He shall have\nput all enemies under His feet, and delivered up the kingdom to God, even\nthe Father, that God may be all in all.  Unto which day may He in His\nmercy bring us all through faith and good works:  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON VI.  CAPITAL PUNISHMENT\n\n\n\nEversley.  Quinquagesima Sunday, 1872.\n\nGenesis ix. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6.  \"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said\nunto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. . . .\nEvery moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you . . .  But flesh\nwith the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.  And\nsurely your blood of your lives will I require:  at the hand of every\nbeast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every\nman's brother will I require the life of man.  Whoso sheddeth man's\nblood, by man shall his blood be shed:  for in the image of God made he\nman.\"\n\nThis is God's blessing on mankind.  This is our charter from God, who\nmade and rules this earth.  This is the end and duty of our mortal life:-\n-to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it.  But\nis that all?  Is there no hint in this blessing of God of something more\nthan our mortal life--something beyond our mortal life?  Surely there is.\nThose words--\"in the image of God made He man,\" must mean, if they mean\nanything, that man can, if he will but be a true man, share the eternal\nlife of God.  But I will not speak of that to-day, but rather of a\nquestion about his mortal life in this world, which is this:--What is the\nreason why man has a right over the lives of animals? why he may use them\nfor his food? and at the same time, what is the reason why he has not the\nsame right over the lives of his fellow-men? why he may not use them for\nfood?\n\nIt is this--that \"in the image of God made He man.\"  Man is made in the\nimage and likeness of God, therefore he is a sacred creature; a creature,\nnot merely an animal, and the highest of all animals, only cunninger than\nall animals, more highly organised, more delicately formed than all\nanimals; but something beyond an animal.  He is in the likeness of God,\ntherefore he is consecrated to God.  He is the one creature on earth whom\nGod, so far as we know, is trying to make like Himself.  Therefore,\nwhosoever kills a man, sins not only against that man, nor against\nsociety:  he sins against God.  And God will require that man's blood at\nthe hand of him who slays him.  But how?  At the hand of every beast will\nHe require it, and at the hand of every man.\n\nWhat that first part of the law means I cannot tell.  How God will\nrequire from the lion, or the crocodile, or the shark, who eats a human\nbeing, the blood of their victims, is more than I can say.  But this I\ncan say--that the feeling, not only of horror and pity, but of real rage\nand indignation, with which men see (what God grant you never may see) a\nwild beast kill a man, is a witness in man's conscience that the text is\ntrue somehow, though how we know not.  I received a letter a few weeks\nsince from an officer, a very remarkable person, in which he described\nhis horror and indignation at seeing a friend of his struck down and\neaten by a tiger, and how, when next day he stood over what had been but\nthe day before a human being, he looked up to heaven, and kept repeating\nthe words of the text, \"in the image of God made He man,\" in rage and\nshame, and almost accusing God for allowing His image to be eaten by a\nbrute beast.  It shook, for the moment, his faith in God's justice and\ngoodness.  That man was young then, and has grown calmer and wiser now,\nand has regained a deeper and sounder faith in God.  But the shock, he\nsaid, was dreadful to him.  He felt that the matter was not merely\npainful and pitiable, but that it was a wrong and a crime; and on the\nfaith of this very text, a wrong and a crime I believe it to be, and one\nwhich God knows how to avenge and to correct when man cannot.  Somehow--\nfor He has ways of which we poor mortals do not dream--at the hand of\nevery beast will He require the blood of man.\n\nBut more; at the hand of every man will He require it.  And how?  The\ntext tells us, \"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be\nshed:  for in the image of God made He man.\"  Now, I do not doubt but\nthat the all-seeing God, looking back on what had most probably happened\non this earth already, and looking forward to what would happen, and\nhappens, alas! too often now, meant to warn men against the awful crime\nof cannibalism, of eating their fellow-men as they would eat an animal.\nBy so doing, they not only treated their fellow-men as beasts, but they\nbehaved like beasts themselves.  They denied that their victim was made\nin the likeness of God; they denied that they were made in the likeness\nof God; they willingly and deliberately put on the likeness of beasts,\nand as beasts they were to perish.  Now, this is certain, that savages\nwho eat men--and alas! there are thousands even now who do so--usually\nknow in their hearts that they are doing wrong.  As soon as their\nconsciences are the least awakened, they are ashamed of their\ncannibalism; they lie about it, try to conceal it; and as soon as God's\ngrace begins to work on them, it is the very first sin that they give up.\nAnd next, this is certain, that there is a curse upon it.  No cannibal\npeople, so far as I can find, have ever risen or prospered in the world;\nand the cannibal peoples now-a-days, and for the last three hundred\nyears, have been dying out.  By their own vices, diseases, and wars, they\nperish off the face of the earth, in the midst of comfort and plenty;\nand, in spite of all the efforts of missionaries, even their children and\ngrand-children, after giving up the horrid crime, and becoming\nChristians, seem to have no power of living and increasing, but dwindle\naway, and perish off the earth.  Yes, God's laws work in strange and\nsubtle ways; so darkly, so slowly, that the ungodly and sinners often\nbelieve that there are no laws of God, and say--\"Tush, how should God\nperceive it?  Is there knowledge in the Most High?\"  But the laws work,\nnevertheless, whether men are aware of them or not.  \"The mills of God\ngrind slowly,\" but sooner or later they grind the sinner to powder.\n\nAnd now I will leave this hateful subject and go on to another, on which\nI am moved to speak once and for all, because it is much in men's minds\njust now--I mean what is vulgarly called \"capital punishment,\" the\npunishing of murder by death.  Now the text, which is the ancient\ncovenant of God with man, speaks very clearly on this point.  \"Whosoever\nsheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.\"  Man is made in\nthe likeness of God.  That is the ground of our law about murder, as it\nis the ground of all just and merciful law; that gives man his right to\nslay the murderer; that makes it his duty to slay the murderer.  He has\nto be jealous of God's likeness, and to slay, in the name of God, the man\nwho, by murder, outrages the likeness of God in himself and in his\nvictim.\n\nYou all know that there is now-a-days a strong feeling among some persons\nabout capital punishment; that there are those who will move heaven and\nearth to interfere with the course of justice, and beg off the worst of\nmurderers, on any grounds, however unreasonable, fanciful, even unfair;\nsimply because they have a dislike to human beings being hanged.  I\nbelieve, from long consideration, that these persons' strange dislike\nproceeds from their not believing sufficiently that man is made in the\nimage of God.  And, alas! it proceeds, I fear, in some of them, from not\nbelieving in a God at all--believing, perhaps, in some mere maker of the\nworld, but not in the living God which Scripture sets forth.  For how\nelse can they say, as I have known some say, that capital punishment is\nwrong, because \"we have no right to usher a man into the presence of his\nMaker.\"\n\nInto the presence of his Maker!  Why, where else is every man, you and I,\nheathen and Christian, bad and good, save in the presence of his Maker\nalready?  Do we not live and move and have our being in God?  Whither can\nwe go from His spirit, or whither can we flee from His presence?  If we\nascend into heaven, He is there.  If we go down to hell He is there also.\nAnd if the law puts a man to death, it does not usher him into the\npresence of his Maker, for he is there already.  It simply says to him,\n\"God has judged you on earth, not we.  God will judge you in the next\nworld, not we.  All we know is, that you are not fit to live in this\nworld.  All our duty is to send you out of it.  Where you will go in the\nother world is God's matter, not ours, and the Lord have mercy on your\nsoul.\"\n\nAnd this want of faith in a living God lies at the bottom of another\nobjection.  We are to keep murderers alive in order to convert and\ninstruct and amend them.  The answer is, We shall be most happy to amend\nanybody of any fault, however great:  but the experience of ages is that\nmurderers are past mending; that the fact of a man's murdering another is\na plain proof that he has no moral sense, and has become simply a brute\nanimal Our duty is to punish not to amend, and to say to the murderer,\n\"If you can be amended; God will amend you, and so have mercy on your\nsoul.  God must amend you, if you are to be amended.  If God cannot amend\nyou, we cannot.  If God will not amend you, certainly we cannot force Him\nto do so, if we kept you alive for a thousand years.\"  That would seem\nreasonable, as well as reverent and faithful to God.  But men now-a-days\nfancy that they love their fellow creatures far better than God loves\nthem, and can deal far more wisely and lovingly with them than God is\nwilling to deal.  Of these objections I take little heed.  I look on them\nas merely loose cant, which does not quite understand the meaning of its\nown words, and I trust to sound, hard, English common sense to put them\naside.\n\nBut there is another objection to capital punishment, which we must deal\nwith much more respectfully and tenderly; for it is made by certain good\npeople, people whom we must honour, though we differ from them, for no\nset of people have done more (according to their numbers) for education,\nfor active charity, and for benevolence, and for peace and good will\namong the nations of the earth.  And they say, you must not take the life\nof a murderer, just because he is made in God's image.  Well, I should\nhave thought that God Himself was the best judge of that.  That, if God\ntruly said that man was made in His image, and said, moreover, as it were\nat the same moment, that, therefore, whoso sheds man's blood, by man\nshall his blood be shed--our duty was to trust God, to obey God, and to\ndo our duty against the murderer, however painful to our feelings it\nmight be.  But I believe these good people make their mistake from\nforgetting this; that if the murderer be made in God's image and\nlikeness, so is the man whom he murders; and so also is the jury who\nconvict him, the judge who condemns him, and the nation (the society of\nmen) for whom they act.\n\nAnd this, my dear friends, brings us to the very root of the meaning of\nlaw.  Man has sense to make laws (which animals cannot do), just because\nhe is made in the likeness of God, and has the sense of right and wrong.\nMan has the right to enforce laws, to see right done and wrong punished,\njust because he is made in the likeness of God.  The laws of a country,\nas far as they are just and righteous, are the copy of what the men of\nthat country have found out about right and wrong, and about how much\nright they can get done, and how much wrong punished.  So, just as the\nmen of a country are (in spite of all their sins) made in the likeness of\nGod, so the laws of a country (in spite of all their defects) are a copy\nof God's will, as to what men should or should not do.  And that, and no\nother, is the true reason why the judge or magistrate has authority over\neither property, liberty, or life.  He is God's servant, the servant of\nChrist, who is King of this land and of all lands, and of all\ngovernments, and all kings and rulers of the earth.  He sits there in\nGod's name, to see God's will done, as far as poor fallible human beings\ncan get it done.  And, because he is, not merely as a man, but, by his\nspecial authority, in the likeness of God, who has power over life and\ndeath, therefore he also, as far as his authority goes, has power over\nlife and death.  That is my opinion, and that was the opinion of St.\nPaul.  For what does he say--and say not (remember always) of Christian\nmagistrates in a Christian country, but actually of heathen Roman\nmagistrates?  \"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For\nthere is no power but of God:  the powers that be are ordained of God.\nWhosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God:\nand they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.\"  Thus spoke\nout the tenderest-hearted, most Christ-like human being, perhaps, who\never trod this earth, who, in his intense longing to save sinners,\nendured a life of misery and danger, and finished it by martyrdom.  But\nthere was no sentimentality, no soft indulgence in him.  He knew right\nfrom wrong; common sense from cant; duty from public opinion; and divine\ncharity from the mere cowardly dislike of witnessing pain, not so much\nbecause it pains the person punished, as because it pains the spectator.\nHe knew that Christ was King of kings, and what Christ's kingdom was\nlike.  He had discovered the divine and wonderful order of men and\nangels.  He saw that one part of that order was--\"the soul that sinneth,\nit shall die.\"\n\nBut some say that capital punishment is inconsistent with the mild\nreligion of Christ--the religion of mercy and love.  \"The mild religion\nof Christ!\"  Do these men know of Whom they talk?  Do they know that, if\nthe Bible be true, the God who said, \"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man\nshall his blood be shed,\" is the very same Being, the very same God, who\nwas born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate--the very\nsame Christ who took little children up in His arms and blessed them, the\nvery same Word of God, too, of whom it is written, that out of His mouth\ngoeth a two-edged sword, that He may smite the nations, and He shall rule\nthem with a rod of iron, and He treadeth the wine press of the fierceness\nand wrath of Almighty God?  These are awful words, but, my dear friends,\nI can only ask you if you think them too awful to be true?  Do you\nbelieve the Christian religion?  Do you believe the Creeds?  Do you\nbelieve the Bible?  For if you do, then you believe that the Lord Christ,\nwho was born of the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate, is\nthe Maker, the Master, the Ruler of this world, and of all worlds.  By\nwhat laws He rules other worlds we know not, save that they are, because\nthey must be--just and merciful laws.  But of the laws by which He rules\nthis world we do know, by experience, that His laws are of most terrible\nand unbending severity, as I have warned you again and again, and shall\nwarn you, as long as there is a liar or an idler, a drunkard or an\nadulteress in this parish.\n\nAnd if this be so--if Christ be a God of severity as well as a God of\nlove, a God who punishes sinners as well as a God who forgives penitents-\n-what then?  We are, He tells us, made in His likeness.  Then, according\nto His likeness we must behave.  We must copy His love, by helping the\npoor and afflicted, the weak and the oppressed.  But we must copy His\nseverity, by punishing whenever we have the power, without cowardice or\nindulgence, all wilful offenders; and, above all, the man who destroys\nGod's image in himself, by murdering and destroying the mortal life of a\nman made in the image of God.  And more; if we be made in the likeness of\nGod and of Christ, we must remember, morning and night, and all day long,\nthat most awful and most blessed fact.  We must say to ourselves, again\nand again, \"I am not a mere animal, and like a mere animal I must not\nbehave; I dare not behave like a mere animal, for I was made in the\nlikeness of God; and when I was baptised the Spirit of God took\npossession of me to restore me to God's likeness, and to call out and\nperfect God's likeness in me all my life long.  Therefore, I am no mere\nanimal; and never was intended to be.  I am the temple of God; my body\nand soul belong to God, and not to my own fancies and passions and lusts,\nand whosoever defiles the temple of God, him will God destroy.\"\n\nTherefore, this is our duty, this is our only hope or safety--to do our\nbest to keep alive and strong the likeness of God in ourselves; to try to\ngrow, not more and more mean, and brutal, and carnal, but more and more\nnoble, and human, and spiritual; to crush down our base passions, our\nselfish inclinations, by the help of the Spirit of God, and to think of\nand to pray for, whatsoever is like Christ and like God; to pray for a\nnoble love of what is good and noble, for a noble hate of what is bad;\nand whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report to think of\nthese things.  And to pray, too, for forgiveness from Christ, and for the\nsake of Christ, whenever we have yielded to our low passions, and defiled\nthe likeness of God in us, and grieved His Spirit, lest at the last day\nit be said to us, if not in words yet in acts, which there will be no\nmistaking, no escaping,--\"I made thee in My likeness in the beginning of\nthe creation, I redeemed thee into My likeness on the cross, I baptised\nthee into My likeness by my Holy Spirit; and what hast thou hast done\nwith My likeness?  Thou hast cast it away, thou hast let it die out in\nthee, thou hast lived after the flesh and not after the spirit, and hast\nput on the likeness of the carnal man, the likeness of the brute.  Thou\nhast copied the vanity of the peacock, the silliness of the ape, the\ncunning of the fox, the rapacity of the tiger, the sensuality of the\nswine; but thou hast not copied God, thy God, who died that thou mightest\nlive, and be a man.  Then, thou hast destroyed God's likeness, for thou\nhast destroyed it in thyself.  Thou hast slain a man, for thou hast slain\nthy own manhood, and art thine own murderer, and thine own blood shall be\nrequired at thy hand.  That which thou hast done to God's likeness in\nthee, shall be done to that which remains of thee in a second death.\"\n\nAnd from that may Christ in His mercy deliver us all.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON VII.  TEMPTATION\n\n\n\nEversley, 1872.  Chester Cathedral, 1872.\n\nSt Matt. iv. 3.  \"And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If Thou be\nthe Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.\"\n\nLet me say a few words to-day about a solemn subject, namely, Temptation.\nI do not mean the temptations of the flesh--the temptations which all men\nhave to yield to the low animal nature in them, and behave like brutes.\nI mean those deeper and more terrible temptations, which our Lord\nconquered in that great struggle with evil which is commonly called His\ntemptation in the wilderness.  These were temptations of an evil spirit--\nthe temptations which entice some men, at least, to behave like devils.\n\nNow these temptations specially beset religious men--men who are, or\nfancy themselves, superior to their fellow-men, more favoured by God, and\nwith nobler powers, and grander work to do, than the common average of\nmankind.  But specially, I say, they beset those who are, or fancy\nthemselves, the children of God.  And, therefore, I humbly suppose our\nLord had to endure and to conquer these very temptations because He was\nnot merely a child of God, but the Son of God--the perfect Man, made in\nthe perfect likeness of His Father.  He had to endure these temptations,\nand to conquer them, that He might be able to succour us when we are\ntempted, seeing that He was tempted in like manner as we are, yet without\nsin.\n\nNow it has been said, and, I think, well said, that what proves our\nLord's three temptations to have been very subtle and dangerous and\nterrible, is this--that we cannot see at first sight that they were\ntemptations at all.  The first two do not look to us to be wrong.  If our\nLord could make stones into bread to satisfy His hunger, why should He\nnot do so?  If He could prove to the Jews that He was the Son of God,\ntheir divine King and Saviour, by casting Himself down from the pinnacle\nof the temple, and being miraculously supported in the air by angels--if\nHe could do that, why should He not do it?  And lastly, the third\ntemptation looks at first sight so preposterous that it seems silly of\nthe evil spirit to have hinted at it.  To ask any man of piety, much less\nthe Son of God Himself, to fall down and worship the devil, seems\nperfectly absurd--a request not to be listened to for a moment, but put\naside with contempt.\n\nWell, my friends, and the very danger of these spiritual temptations is--\nthat they do not look like temptations.  They do not look ugly, absurd,\nwrong, they look pleasant, reasonable, right.\n\nThe devil, says the apostle, transforms himself at times into an angel of\nlight.  If so, then he is certainly far more dangerous than if he came as\nan angel of darkness and horror.  If you met some venomous snake, with\nloathsome spots upon his scales, his eyes full of rage and cunning, his\nhead raised to strike at you, hissing and showing his fangs, there would\nbe no temptation to have to do with him.  You would know that you had to\ndeal with an evil beast, and must either kill him or escape from him at\nonce.  But if, again, you met, as you may meet in the tropics, a lovely\nlittle coral snake, braided with red and white, its mouth so small that\nit seems impossible that it can bite, and so gentle that children may\ntake it up and play with it, then you might be tempted, as many a poor\nchild has been ere now, to admire it, fondle it, wreathe it round the\nneck for a necklace, or round the arm for a bracelet, till the play goes\none step too far, the snake loses its temper, gives one tiny scratch upon\nthe lip or finger, and that scratch is certain death.  That would be a\ntemptation indeed; one all the more dangerous because there is, I am\ntold, another sort of coral snake perfectly harmless, which is so exactly\nlike the deadly one, that no child, and few grown people, can know them\napart.\n\nEven so it is with our worst temptations.  They look sometimes so exactly\nlike what is good and noble and useful and religious, that we mistake the\nevil for the good, and play with it till it stings us, and we find out\ntoo late that the wages of sin are death.  Thus religious people, just\nbecause they are religious, are apt to be specially tempted to mistake\nevil for good, to do something specially wrong, when they think they are\ndoing something specially right, and so give occasion to the enemies of\nthe Lord to blaspheme; till, as a hard and experienced man of the world\nonce said:  \"Whenever I hear a man talking of his conscience, I know that\nhe is going to do something particularly foolish; whenever I hear of a\nman talking of his duty, I know that he is going to do something\nparticularly cruel.\"\n\nDo I say this to frighten you away from being religious?  God forbid.\nBetter to be religious and to fear and love God, though you were tempted\nby all the devils out of the pit, than to be irreligious and a mere\nanimal, and be tempted only by your own carnal nature, as the animals\nare.  Better to be tempted, like the hermits of old, and even to fall and\nrise again, singing, \"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, when I fall I\nshall arise;\" than to live the life of the flesh, \"like a beast with\nlower pleasures, like a beast with lower pains.\"  It is the price a man\nmust pay for hungering and thirsting after righteousness, for longing to\nbe a child of God in spirit and in truth.  \"The devil,\" says a wise man\nof old, \"does not tempt bad men, because he has got them already; he\ntempts good men, because he has NOT got them, and wants to get them.\"\n\nBut how shall we know these temptations?  God knows, my friends, better\nthan I; and I trust that He will teach you to know, according to what\neach of you needs to know.  But as far as my small experience goes, the\nroot of them all is pride and self-conceit.  Whatsoever thoughts or\nfeelings tempt us to pride and self-conceit are of the devil, not of God.\nThe devil is specially the spirit of pride; and, therefore, whatever\ntempts you to fancy yourself something different from your fellow-men,\nsuperior to your fellow men, safer than them, more favoured by God than\nthem, that is a temptation of the spirit of pride.  Whatever tempts you\nto think that you can do without God's help and God's providence;\nwhatever tempts you to do anything extraordinary, and show yourself off,\nthat you may make a figure in the world; and above all, whatever tempts\nyou to antinomianism, that is, to fancy that God will overlook sins in\nyou which He will not overlook in other men--all these are temptations\nfrom the spirit of pride.  They are temptations like our Lord's\ntemptations.  These temptations came on our Lord more terribly than they\never can on you and me, just because He was the Son of Man, the perfect\nMan, and, therefore, had more real reason for being proud (if such a\nthing could be) than any man, or than all men put together.  But He\nconquered the temptations because He was perfect Man, led by the Spirit\nof God; and, therefore, He knew that the only way to be a perfect man was\nnot to be proud, however powerful, wise, and glorious He might be; but to\nsubmit Himself humbly and utterly, as every man should do, to the will of\nHis Father in Heaven, from whom alone His greatness came.\n\nNow the spirit of pride cannot understand the beauty of humility, and the\nspirit of self-will cannot understand the beauty of obedience; and,\ntherefore, it is reasonable to suppose the devil could not understand our\nLord.  If He be the Son of God, so might Satan argue, He has all the more\nreason to be proud; and, therefore, it is all the more easy to tempt Him\ninto shewing His pride, into proving Himself a conceited, self-willed,\nrebellious being--in one word, an evil spirit.\n\nAnd therefore (as you will see at first sight) the first two temptations\nwere clearly meant to tempt our Lord to pride; for would they not tempt\nyou and me to pride?  If we could feed ourselves by making bread of\nstones, would not that make us proud enough?  So proud, I fear, that we\nshould soon fancy that we could do without God and His providence, and\nwere masters of nature and all her secrets.  If you and I could make the\nwhole city worship and obey us, by casting ourselves off this cathedral\nunhurt, would not that make us proud enough?  So proud, I fear, that we\nshould end in committing some great folly, or great crime in our conceit\nand vainglory.\n\nNow, whether our Lord could or could not have done these wonderful deeds,\none thing is plain--that He would not do them; and, therefore, we may\npresume that He ought not to have done them.  It seems as if He did not\nwish to be a wonderful man:  but only a perfectly good man, and He would\ndo nothing to help Himself but what any other man could do.  He answered\nthe evil spirit simply out of Scripture, as any other pious man might\nhave done.  When He was bidden to make the stones into bread, He answers\nnot as the Eternal Son of God, but simply as a man.  \"It is written:\"--it\nis the belief of Moses and the old prophets of my people that man doth\nnot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the\nmouth of God:--as much as to say, If I am to be delivered out of this\nneed, God will deliver me by some means or other, just as He delivers\nother men out of their needs.  When He was bidden cast Himself from the\ntemple, and so save Himself, probably from sorrow, poverty, persecution,\nand the death on the cross, He answers out of Scripture as any other Jew\nwould have done.  \"It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy\nGod.\"  He says nothing--this is most important--of His being the eternal\nSon of God.  He keeps that in the background.  There the fact was; but He\nveiled the glory of His godhead, that He might assert the rights of His\nmanhood, and shew that mere man, by the help of the Spirit of God, could\nobey God, and keep His commandments.\n\nI say these last words with all diffidence and humility, and trusting\nthat the Lord will pardon any mistake which I may make about His Divine\nWords.  I only say them because wiser men than I have often taken the\nsame view already.  Of course there is more, far more, in this wonderful\nsaying than we can understand, or ever will understand.  But this I think\nis plain--that our Lord determined to behave as any and every other man\nought to have done in His place; in order to shew all God's children the\nexample of perfect humility and perfect obedience to God.\n\nBut again, the devil asked our Lord to fall down and worship him.  Now\nhow could that be a temptation to pride?  Surely that was asking our Lord\nto do anything but a proud action, rather the most humiliating and most\nbase of all actions.  My friends, it seems to me that if our Lord had\nfallen down and worshipped the evil spirit, He would have given way to\nthe spirit of pride utterly and boundlessly; and I will tell you why.\n\nThe devil wanted our Lord to do evil that good might come.  It would have\nbeen a blessing, that all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of man\nshould be our Lord's,--the very blessing for this poor earth which He\ncame to buy, and which He bought with His own precious blood.  And here\nthe devil offered Him the very prize for which He came down on earth,\nwithout struggle or difficulty, if He would but do, for one moment, one\nwrong thing.  What temptation that would be to our Lord as God, I dare\nnot say.  But that to our Lord as Man, it must have been the most\nterrible of all temptations, I can well believe:  because history shews\nus, and, alas! our own experience in modern times shews us, persons\nyielding to that temptation perpetually; pious people, benevolent people,\npeople who long to spread the Bible, to convert sinners, to found\ncharities, to amend laws, to set the world right in some way or other,\nand who fancy that therefore, in carrying out their fine projects, they\nhave a right to do evil that good may come.\n\nThis is a very painful subject; all the more painful just now, because I\nsometimes think it is the special sin of this country and this\ngeneration, and that God will bring on us some heavy punishment for it.\nBut all who know the world in its various phases, and especially what are\ncalled the religious world, and the philanthropic world, and the\npolitical world, know too well that men, not otherwise bad men, will do\nthings and say things, to carry out some favourite project or movement,\nor to support some party, religious or other, which they would (I hope)\nbe ashamed to say and do for their own private gain.  Now what is this,\nbut worshipping the evil spirit, in order to get power over this world,\nthat they may (as they fancy) amend it?  And what is this but self-\nconceit--ruinous, I had almost said, blasphemous?  These people think\nthemselves so certainly in the right, and their plans so absolutely\nnecessary to the good of the world, that God has given them a special\nlicence to do what they like in carrying them out; that He will excuse in\nthem falsehoods and meannesses, even tyranny and violences which He will\nexcuse in no one else.\n\nNow, is not this self-conceit?  What would you think of a servant who\ndisobeyed you, cheated you, and yet said to himself--No matter, my master\ndare not turn me off:  I am so useful that he cannot do without me.  Even\nso in all ages, and now as much as, or more than ever, have men said, We\nare so necessary to God and God's cause, that He cannot do without us;\nand therefore though He hates sin in everyone else, He will excuse sin in\nus, as long as we are about His business.\n\nTherefore, my dear friends, whenever we are tempted to do or say anything\nrash, or vain, or mean, because we are the children of God; whenever we\nare inclined to be puffed up with spiritual pride, and to fancy that we\nmay take liberties which other men must not take, because we are the\nchildren of God; let us remember the words of the text, and answer the\ntempter, when he says, If thou be the Son of God, do this and that, as\nour Lord answered him--\"If I be the Child of God, what then?  This--that\nI must behave as if God were my Father.  I must trust my God utterly, and\nI must obey Him utterly.  I must do no rash or vain thing to tempt God,\neven though it looks as if I should have a great success, and do much\ngood thereby.  I must do no mean or base thing, nor give way for a moment\nto the wicked ways of this wicked world, even though again it looks as if\nI should have a great success, and do much good thereby.  In one word, I\nmust worship my Father in heaven, and Him only must I serve.  If He wants\nme, He will use me.  If He does not want me, He will use some one else.\nWho am I, that God cannot govern the world without my help?  My business\nis to refrain my soul, and keep it low, even as a weaned child, and not\nto meddle with matters too high for me.  My business is to do the little,\nsimple, everyday duties which lie nearest me, and be faithful in a few\nthings; and then, if Christ will, He may make me some day ruler over many\nthings, and I shall enter into the joy of my Lord, which is the joy of\ndoing good to my fellow men.  But I shall never enter into that by\nthrusting myself into Christ's way, with grand schemes and hasty\nprojects, as if I knew better than He how to make His kingdom come.  If I\ndo, my pride will have a fall.  Because I would not be faithful over a\nfew things, I shall be tempted to be unfaithful over many things; and\ninstead of entering into the joy of my Lord, I shall be in danger of the\nawful judgment pronounced on those who do evil that good may come, who\nshall say in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?\nand in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful\nworks?  And then will He protest unto them--I never knew you.  Depart\nfrom me, ye that work iniquity.\"\n\nOh, my friends, in all your projects for good, as in all other matters\nwhich come before you in your mortal life, keep innocence and take heed\nto the thing that is right.  For that, and that alone, shall bring a man\npeace at the last.\n\nTo which, may God in His mercy bring us all.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON VIII.  MOTHER'S LOVE\n\n\n\nEversley, Second Sunday in Lent, 1872.\n\nSt Matthew xv. 22-28.  \"And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the\nsame coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou\nson of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.  But he\nanswered her not a word.  And his disciples came and besought him,\nsaying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.  But he answered and\nsaid, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  Then\ncame she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.  But he answered and\nsaid, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to\ndogs.  And she said, Truth, Lord:  yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which\nfall from their master's table.  Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O\nwoman, great is thy faith:  be it unto thee even as thou wilt.  And her\ndaughter was made whole from that very hour.\"\n\nIf you want a proof from Scripture that there are two sides to our\nblessed Lord's character--that He is a Judge and an Avenger as well as a\nSaviour and a Pardoner--that He is infinitely severe as well as\ninfinitely merciful--that, while we may come boldly to His throne of\ngrace to find help and mercy in time of need, we must, at the same time,\ntremble before His throne of justice--if you want a proof of all this, I\nsay, then look at the Epistle and the Gospel for this day.  Put them side\nby side, and compare them, and you will see how perfectly they shew, one\nafter the other, the two sides.\n\nThe Epistle for the day tells men and women that they must lead moral,\npure, and modest lives.  It does not advise them to do so.  It does not\nsay, It will be better to do so, more proper and conducive to the good of\nsociety, more likely to bring you to heaven at last.  It says, You must,\nfor it is the commandment of the Lord Jesus, and the will of God.  Let no\nman encroach on or defraud his brother in the matter, says St Paul; by\nwhich he means, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.  And why?\n\"Because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have\nforewarned you and testified.\"\n\nMy friends, people talk loosely of the Thunder of Sinai and the rigour of\nMoses' law, and set them against what they call the gentle voice of the\nGospel, and the mild religion of Christ.  Why, here are the Thunders of\nSinai uttered as loud as ever, from the very foot of the Cross of Christ;\nand the terrible, \"Thou shalt not,\" of Moses' law, with the curse of God\nfor a penalty on the sinner, uttered by the Apostle of Faith, and\nFreedom, in the name of Christ and of God.  St Paul is not afraid to call\nChrist an Avenger.  How could he be?  He believed that it was Christ who\nspoke to Moses on Sinai--the very same Christ who prayed for His\nmurderers, \"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\"  And\nhe knew that Christ was the eternal Son of God, the same yesterday, to-\nday, and for ever; that He had not changed since Moses' time, and could\nnever change; that what He forbade in Moses' time, hated in Moses' time,\nand avenged in Moses' time, He would forbid, and hate, and avenge for\never.  And that, therefore, he who despises the warnings of the Law\ndespises not man merely, but God, who has also given to us His Holy\nSpirit to know what is unchangeable, the everlastingly right, from what\nis everlastingly wrong.  So much for that side of our Lord's character;\nso much for sinners who, after their hardness and impenitent hearts,\ntreasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation\nof the righteous judgment of God, in the day when God shall judge the\nsecrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to St Paul's Gospel.\n\nBut, when we turn to the Gospel for the day, we see the other side of our\nLord's character, boundless condescension and boundless charity.  We see\nHim there still a Judge, as He always is and always will be, judging the\nsecrets of a poor woman's heart, and that woman a heathen.  He judges her\nopenly, in public, before His disciples.  But He is a Judge who judges\nrighteous judgment, and not according to appearances; who is no respecter\nof persons; who is perfectly fair, even though the woman be a heathen:\nand, instead of condemning her and driving her away, He acquits her, He\ngrants her prayer, He heals her daughter, even though that daughter was\nalso a heathen, and one who knew Him not.  I say our Lord judged the\nwoman after He had tried her, as gold is tried in the fire.  Why He did\nso, we cannot tell.  Perhaps He wanted, by the trial, to make her a\nbetter woman, to bring out something noble which lay in her heart unknown\nto her, though not to Him who knew what was in man.  Perhaps He wished to\nshew his disciples, who looked down on her as a heathen dog, that a\nheathen, too, could have faith, humility, nobleness, and grace of heart.\nBe that as it may, when the poor woman came crying to Him, He answered\nher not a word.  His disciples besought Him to send her away--and I am\ninclined to think that they wished Him to grant her what she asked,\nsimply to be rid of her.  \"Send her away,\" they said, \"for she crieth\nafter us.\"  Our Lord, we learn from St Mark, did not wish to be known in\nthat place just then.  The poor woman, with her crying, was drawing\nattention to them, and, perhaps, gathering a crowd.  Somewhat noisy and\ntroublesome, perhaps she was, in her motherly eagerness.  But our Lord\nwas still seemingly stern.  He would not listen, it seemed, to His\ndisciples any more than to the heathen woman.  \"I am not sent but unto\nthe lost sheep of the house of Israel.\"  So our Lord said, and (what is\nworth remembering) if He said so, what He said was true.  He was the King\nof the people of Israel, the Royal Prince of David's line; and, as a man,\nHis duty was only to His own people.  And this woman was a Greek, a Syro-\nphenician by nation--of a mixed race of people, notoriously low and\nprofligate, and old enemies of the Jews.\n\nThen, it seems, He went into a house, and would have no man know it.\nBut, says St Mark, \"He could not be hid.\"  The mother's wit found our\nLord out, and the mother's heart urged her on, and, in spite of all His\nrebuffs, she seems to have got into the house and worshipped Him.  She\n\"fell at His feet,\" says St Mark--doubtless bowing her forehead to the\nground, in the fashion of those lands--an honour which was paid, I\nbelieve, only to persons who were royal or divine.  So she confessed that\nHe was a king--perhaps a God come down on earth--and again she cried to\nHim.  \"Lord, help me.\"  And what was our Lord's answer--seemingly more\nstern than ever?  \"Let the children first be filled:  for it is not meet\nto take the children's bread and cast it unto the dogs.\"  Hard words.\nYes:  but all depends on how they were spoken.  All depends on our Lord's\nlook as He spoke them, and, even more, on the tone of His voice.  We all\nknow that two men may use the very same words to us;--and the one shall\nspeak sneeringly, brutally, and raise in us indignation or despair;\nanother shall use the same words, but solemnly, tenderly, and raise in us\nconfidence and hope.  And so it may have been--so, I fancy, it must have\nbeen--with the tone of our Lord's voice, with the expression of His face.\nDid He speak with a frown, or with something like a smile?  There must\nhave been some tenderness, meaningness, pity in His voice which the quick\nwoman's wit caught instantly, and the quick mother's heart interpreted as\na sign of hope.\n\nLet Him call her a dog if He would.  What matter to a mother to be called\na dog, if she could thereby save her child from a devil?  Perhaps she was\nlittle better than a dog.  They were a bad people these Syrians, quick-\nwitted, highly civilised, but vicious, and teaching vice to other\nnations, till some of the wisest Romans cursed the day when the Syrians\nfirst spread into Rome, and debauched the sturdy Romans with their new-\nfangled, foreign sins.  They were a bad people, and, perhaps, she had\nbeen as bad as the rest.  But if she were a dog, at least she felt that\nthe dog had found its Master, and must fawn on Him, if it were but for\nthe hope of getting something from Him.\n\nAnd so, in the poor heathen mother's heart, there rose up a whole heaven\nof perfect humility, faith, adoration.  If she were base and mean, yet\nour Lord was great, and wise, and good; and that was all the more reason\nwhy He should be magnanimous, generous, condescending, like a true King,\nto the basest and meanest of His subjects.  She asked not for money, or\nhonour, or this world's fine things:  but simply for her child's health,\nher child's deliverance from some mysterious and degrading illness.\nSurely there was no harm in asking for that.  It was simply a mother's\nprayer, a simply human prayer, which our Lord must grant, if He were\nindeed a man of woman born, if He had a mother, and could feel for a\nmother, if He had human tenderness, human pity in Him.  And so, with her\nquick Syrian wit, she answers our Lord with those wonderful words--\nperhaps the most pathetic words in the whole Bible--so full of humility,\nof reverence, and yet with a certain archness, almost playfulness, in\nthem, as it were, turning our Lord's words against Him; and, by that very\nthing, shewing how utterly she trusted Him,--\"Truth, Lord:  yet the dogs\neat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.\"\n\nThose were the beautiful words--more beautiful to me than whole volumes\nof poetry--which our Lord had as it were crushed out of the woman's\nheart.  Doubtless, He knew all the while that they were in her heart,\nthough not as yet shaped into words.  Doubtless, He was trying her, to\nshew His disciples--and all Christians who should ever read the Bible--\nwhat was in her heart, what she was capable of saying when it came to the\npoint.  So He tried her, and judged her, and acquitted her.  Out of the\nabundance of her heart her mouth had spoken.  By her words she was\njustified.  By those few words she proved her utter faith in our Lord's\npower and goodness--perhaps her faith in His godhead.  By those words she\nproved the gentleness and humility, the graciousness and gracefulness of\nher own character.  By those words she proved, too,--and oh, you that are\nmothers, is that nothing?--the perfect disinterestedness of her mother's\nlove.  And so she conquered--as the blessed Lord loves to be conquered--\nas all noble souls who are like their blessed Lord, love to be conquered-\n-by the prayer of faith, of humility, of confidence, of earnestness, and\nshe had her reward.  \"O woman,\" said He, the Maker of all heaven and\nearth, \"great is thy faith.  For this saying go thy way.  Be it unto thee\neven as thou wilt.  The devil is gone out of thy daughter.\"  She went,\nfull of faith; and when she was come to her house, she found the devil\ngone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.\n\nOne word more, and I have done.  I do not think that any one who really\ntook in the full meaning of this beautiful story, would ever care to pray\nto Saints, or to the Blessed Virgin, for help; fancying that they, and\nspecially the Blessed Virgin, being a woman, are more humane than our\nLord, and can feel more quickly, if not more keenly, for poor creatures\nin distress.  We are not here to judge these people, or any people.  To\ntheir own master they stand or fall.  But for the honour of our Lord, we\nmay say, Does not this story shew that the Lord is humane enough, tender\nenough, to satisfy all mankind?  Does not this story shew that even if He\nseem silent at first, and does not grant our prayers, yet still He may be\nkeeping us waiting, as He kept this heathen woman, only that He may be\ngracious to us at last?  Does not this story shew us especially that our\nLord can feel for mothers and with mothers; that He actually allowed\nHimself to be won over--if I may use such a word in all reverence--by the\nwit and grace of a mother pleading for her child?  Was it not so?  \"O\nwoman, great is thy faith.  For this saying go thy way.  Be it unto thee\neven as thou wilt.\"  Ah! are not those gracious words a comfort to every\nmother, bidding her, in the Lord's own name, to come boldly where\nmothers--of all human beings--have oftenest need to come, to the throne\nof Christ's grace, to find mercy, and grace to help in time of need?\n\nYes, my friends, such is our Lord, and such is our God.  Infinite in\nseverity to the scornful, the proud, the disobedient:  infinite in\ntenderness to the earnest, the humble, the obedient.  Let us come to Him,\nearnest, humble, obedient, and we shall find Him, indeed, a refuge of the\nsoul and body in spirit and in truth.\n\n\nThou, O Lord, art all I want.\nAll and more in thee I find.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON IX.  GOOD FRIDAY\n\n\n\nEversley, 1856.\n\nSt. Luke xxiv. 5, 6.  \"Why seek ye the living among the dead?  He is not\nhere, but is risen.\"\n\nThis is a very solemn day; for on this day the Lord Jesus Christ was\ncrucified.  The question for us is, how ought we to keep it? that is,\nwhat sort of thoughts ought to be in our minds upon this day?  Now, many\nmost excellent and pious persons, and most pious books, seem to think\nthat we ought to-day to think as much as possible of the sufferings of\nour Blessed Lord; and because we cannot, of course, understand or imagine\nthe sufferings of His Spirit, to think of what we can, that is, His\nbodily sufferings.  They, therefore, seem to wish to fill our minds with\nthe most painful pictures of agony, and shame, and death, and sorrow; and\nnot only with our Lord's sorrows, but with those of His Blessed Mother,\nand of the disciples, and the holy women who stood by His cross; they\nwish to stir us up to pity and horror, and to bring before us the saddest\nparts of Holy Scripture, such as the Lamentations of Jeremiah; as well as\ndwell at great length upon very painful details, which may be all quite\ntrue, but of which Scripture says nothing; as so to make this day a day\nof darkness, and sorrow, and horror, just such as it would have been to\nus if we had stood by Christ's cross, like these holy women, without\nexpecting Him to rise again, and believing that all was over--that all\nhope of Israel's being redeemed was gone, and that the wicked Jews had\nreally conquered that perfectly good, and admirable Saviour, and put Him\nout of the world for ever.\n\nNow, I judge no man; to his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, and\nhe shall stand, for God is able to make him stand.  But it does seem to\nme that these good people are seeking the living among the dead, and\nforgetting that Christ is neither on the cross nor in the tomb, but that\nHe is risen; and it seems to me better to bid you follow to-day the Bible\nand the Church Service, and to think of what they tell you to think of.\n\nNow the Bible, it is most remarkable, never enlarges anywhere upon even\nthe bodily sufferings of our dear and blessed Lord.  The evangelists keep\na silence on that point which is most lofty, dignified, and delicate.\nWhat sad and dreadful things might not St. John, the beloved apostle as\nhe was, have said, if he had chosen, about what he saw and what he felt,\nas he stood by that cross on Calvary--words which would have stirred to\npity the most cruel, and drawn tears from a heart of stone?  And yet all\nhe says is, \"They crucified Him, and two other with him, on either side\none, and Jesus in the midst.\"  He passes it over, as it were, as a thing\nwhich he ought not to dwell on; and why should we put words into St.\nJohn's mouth which he did not think fit to put into his own?  He wrote by\nthe Spirit of God; and therefore he knew best what to say, and what not\nto say.  Why should we try and say anything more for him?  Scripture is\nperfect.  Let us be content with it.  The apostles, too, in their\nEpistles, never dwell on Christ's sufferings.  I entreat you to remark\nthis.  They never mention His death except in words of cheerfulness and\ntriumph.  They seem so full of the glorious fruits of His death, that\nthey have, as it were, no time to speak of the death itself.  \"Who, for\nthe joy which was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame,\nand is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.\"  That is the\napostles' key-note.  For God's sake let it be ours too, unless we fancy\nthat we can improve on Scripture, or that we can feel more for our Lord\nthan St. Paul did.  In the Lessons, the Psalms, the Epistle, and Gospel\nfor this day, you find just the same spirit.  All except one Psalm are\nsongs of hope, joy, deliverance, triumph.  The Collects for this day,\nwhich are particularly remarkable, being three in number, and evidently\nmeant to teach us the key-note of Good Friday, make no mention of our\nLord's sufferings, save to say that He was CONTENTED, \"contented to be\nbetrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death\nupon the cross,\" but are full of prayers that the glorious fruits of His\ndeath may be fulfilled, not only in us and all Christians, but in the\nvery heathen who have not known Him; drawing us away, as it were, from\nlooking too closely upon the cross itself, lest we should forget what the\ncross meant, what the cross conquered, what the cross gained, for us and\nmankind.\n\nSurely, this was not done without a reason.  And I cannot but think the\nreason was to keep us from seeking the living among the dead; to keep us\nfrom knowing Christ any longer after the flesh, and spending tears and\nemotions over His bodily sufferings; to keep us from thinking and\nsorrowing too much over the dead Christ, lest we should forget, as some\ndo, that He is alive for evermore; and while they weep over the dead\nChrist or the crucifix, go to the blessed Virgin and the saints to do for\nthem all that the living Christ is longing to do for them, if they would\nbut go straight to Him to whom all power is given in heaven and earth;\nwhom St John saw, no longer hanging on the accursed tree, but with His\nhair as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire, and His voice\nlike the sound of many waters, and His countenance as the sun when he\nshineth in his strength, saying unto him, \"Fear not, I am the first and\nthe last; I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for\nevermore.\"  This is what Christ is now.  In this shape He is looking at\nus now.  In this shape He is hearing me speak.  In this shape He is\nwatching every feeling of your hearts, discerning your most secret\nintents, seeing through and through the thoughts which you would confess\nto no human being, hardly even to yourselves.  This is He, a living\nChrist, an almighty Christ, an all-seeing Christ, and yet a most patient\nand loving Christ.  He needs not our pity; but our gratitude, our\nobedience, our worship.  Why seek Him among the dead?  He is not there,\nHe is risen!  He is not there, He is here!  Bow yourselves before Him\nnow; for He is in the midst of you; and those eyes of His, more piercing\nthan the mid-day sunbeams, are upon you, and your hearts, and your\nthoughts, and upon mine also.  God have mercy upon me a sinner.\n\nYes, my friends, why seek the living among the dead?  He is not there,\nbut here.  We may try to put ourselves in the place of the disciples and\nthe Virgin Mary, as they stood by Jesus' cross; but we cannot do it, for\nthey saw Him on the cross, and thought that He was lost to them for ever;\nthey saw Him die, and gave up all hope of His rising again.  And we know\nthat Christ is not lost to us for ever.  We know Christ is not on the\ncross, but at the right hand of God in bliss and glory unspeakable.  We\nmay be told to watch with the three Maries at the tomb of Christ:  but we\ncannot do as they did, for they thought that all was over, and brought\nsweet spices to embalm His body, which they thought was in the tomb; and\nwe know that all was not over, that His body is not in the tomb, that the\ngrave could not hold Him, that His body is ascended into heaven; that\ninstead of His body needing spices to embalm it, it is His body which\nembalms all heaven and earth, and is the very life of the world, and food\nwhich preserves our souls and bodies to everlasting life.  We are not in\nthe place of those blessed women; God has not put us in their place, and\nwe cannot put ourselves into their place; and if we could and did, by any\nimaginations of our own, we should only tell ourselves a lie.  Good\nFriday was to them indeed a day of darkness, horror, disappointment, all\nbut despair; because Easter Day had not yet come, and Christ had not yet\nrisen.  But Good Friday cannot be a day of darkness to us, because Christ\nhas risen, and we know it, and cannot forget it; we cannot forget that\nEaster dawn, when the Sun of Righteousness arose, never to set again.\nHas not the light of that Resurrection morning filled with glory the\ncross and the grave, yea the very agony in the Garden, and hell itself,\nwhich Christ harrowed for us?  Has it not risen a light to lighten the\nGentiles, a joy to angels and archangels, and saints, and all the elect\nof God; ay, to the whole universe of God, so that the very stars in their\ncourses, the trees as they bud each spring, yea, the very birds upon the\nbough, are singing for ever, in the ears of those who have ears to hear,\n\"Christ is risen?\"  And shall we, under pretence of honouring Christ and\nof bestowing on Him a pity which He needs least of all, try to spend Good\nFriday and Passion Week in forgetting Easter Day; try to think of\nChrist's death as we should if He had not risen, and try to make out\nourselves and the world infinitely worse off than we really know that we\nare?  Christ has died, but He has risen again; and we must not think of\none without the other.  Heavenly things are too important, too true, too\nreal--Christ is too near us, and too loving to us, too earnest about our\nsalvation, for us to spend our thoughts on any such attempts (however\nreverently meant) at imaginative play-acting in our own minds about His\nhanging on His cross, while we know that He is not on His cross; and\nabout watching by His tomb, when we know that He is not in His tomb.  Let\nus thank Him, bless Him, serve Him, die for Him, if need be, in return\nfor all He endured for us:  but let us keep our sorrow and our pity, and\nour tears, for our own daily sins--we have enough of them to employ all\nour sorrow, and more;--and not in voluntary humility and will-worship,\nagainst which St Paul warns us, lose sight of our real Christ, of Him who\nwas dead and is alive for evermore, and dwells in us by faith; now and\nfor ever, amen; and hath the keys of death and hell, and has opened them\nfor us, and for our fathers before us, and for our children after us, and\nfor nations yet unborn.\n\nTrue, this is a solemn day, for on it the Son of God fought such a fight,\nthat He could only win it at the price of His own life's blood; and a\nhumiliating day, for our sins helped to nail Him on the cross--and\ntherefore a day of humiliation and of humility.  Proud, self-willed\nthoughts are surely out of place to-day (and what day are they in place?)\nOn this day God agonised for man:  but it is a day of triumph and\ndeliverance; and we must go home as men who have stood by and seen a\nfearful fight--a fight which makes the blood of him who watches it run\ncold; but we have seen, too, a glorious victory--such a victory as never\nwas won on earth before or since; and we therefore must think cheerfully\nof the battle, for the sake of the victory that was won; and remember\nthat on this day death was indeed swallowed up in victory--because death\nwas the victory itself.\n\nThe question on which the fate of the whole world depended was, whether\nChrist dare die; and He dared die.  Whether Christ would endure to the\nend; and He did endure.  Whether He would utterly drink the cup which His\nFather had given Him; and He drank it to the dregs; and so by His very\nagony He showed Himself noble, beautiful, glorious, adorable, beyond all\nthat words can express.  And so the cross was His throne of glory; the\nprints of the nails in His hands and feet were the very tokens of His\ntriumph; His very sorrows were His bliss; and those last words, \"It is\nfinished,\" were no cry of despair, but a trumpet-call of triumph, which\nrang from the highest heaven to the lowest hell, proclaiming to all\ncreated things, that the very fountain of life, by dying, had conquered\ndeath, that good had conquered evil, love had conquered selfishness, God\nhad conquered man, and all the enemies of man; and that He who died was\nthe first begotten from the dead, and the King of all the princes of the\nearth, who was going to fulfil, more and more, as the years and the ages\nrolled on, the glorious prayer which we have prayed this day, graciously\nto behold that family for whom He had been contented to die; and wisely\nand orderly to call each man to a vocation and a ministry, in which he\nmight duly serve God and be a blessing to all around him, by the\ninspiration of Christ's Holy Spirit; and to have mercy, in His own good\ntime, upon all Jews, Turks, heathens, and infidels, and bring them home\nto His flock, that they may be saved, and made one fold under one\nShepherd--Him who was dead and is alive for evermore.\n\nTherefore, my dear friends, if we wish to keep Good Friday in spirit and\nin truth, we cannot do so better than by trying to carry out the very end\nfor which Christ died on this day; and doing our part, small though it\nbe, toward bringing those poor heathens home into Christ's fold, and\nteaching them the gospel and good news that for them, too, Christ died,\nand over them, too, Christ reigns alive for evermore; and bringing them\nhome into His flock, that they, too, may find a place in His great\nfamily, and have their calling and ministry appointed to them among the\nnations of those who are saved and walk in the light of God and of the\nLamb.\n\nI have refrained till now from speaking to you much about missionaries,\nand the duty which lies on us all of helping missions.  It seemed to me\nthat I must first teach you to understand these first and second collects\nbefore I went on. to the third; that I must first teach you that you\nbelonged to Christ's family, and that He had called each of you, and\nappointed each of you to some order and degree in His Holy Church.  But\nnow, if indeed you have learnt that--if my preaching here for fourteen\nyears has had any effect to teach you who and what you are, and what your\nduty is, let me entreat you to go on, and take the lesson of that third\ncollect, and think of those poor Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, who\nstill--many a million of them--sit, or rather wander, and fall, and lie,\nmiserably wallowing in darkness and the shadow of death, and think\nwhether you cannot do something toward helping them.  What you can do,\nand how it is to be done, I will tell you hereafter; and, by God's grace,\nI hope to see men of God in this pulpit, who having been missionaries\nthemselves, can tell you better than I, what remains to be done, and how\nyou can help to do it.  But take home this one thought with you, this\nGood Friday,--Christ, who liveth and was dead, and behold He is alive for\nevermore, if He be indeed precious to you, if you indeed feel for His\nsufferings, if you indeed believe that what He bought by those sufferings\nwas a right to all the souls on earth, then do what you can toward\nrepaying Him for His sufferings, by seeing of the travail of His soul,\nand being satisfied.  All the reward He asks, or ever asked, is the\nhearts of sinners, that He may convert them; the souls of sinners, that\nHe may save them; and they belong to Him already, for He bought them this\nday with His own most precious blood.  Do something, then, toward helping\nChrist to His own.\n\n\n\nSERMON X.  THE IMAGE OF THE EARTHLY AND THE HEAVENLY\n\n\n\nEversley, Easter Day, 1871.\n\n1 Cor. xv. 49.  \"As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also\nbear the image of the heavenly.\"\n\nThis season of Easter is the most joyful of all the year.  It is the most\ncomfortable time, in the true old sense of that word; for it is the\nseason which ought to comfort us most--that is, it gives us strength;\nstrength to live like men, and strength to die like men, when our time\ncomes.  Strength to live like men.  Strength to fight against the\ntemptation which Solomon felt when he said:  \"I have seen all the works\nwhich are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of\nspirit.  For what has a man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his\nheart, wherein he has laboured under the sun?  For all his days are\nsorrow, and his travail grief.  Yea, his heart taketh not rest in the\nnight.  This also is vanity.  For that which befalleth the sons of men\nbefalleth beasts:  as the one dieth, so dieth the other:  yea, they have\nall one breath:  so that a man has no pre-eminence over a beast; for all\nis vanity.  All go to one place:  all are of the dust, and all turn to\ndust again.  Who knoweth the spirit of man that it goeth upward, and the\nspirit of the beast that it goeth downward to the earth?\"  So thought\nSolomon in his temptation, and made up his mind that there was nothing\nbetter for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul\nenjoy good in his labour.\n\nSo thought Solomon, in spite of all his wisdom, because he had not heard\nthe good news of Easter day.  And so think many now, who are called wise\nmen and philosophers; because they, alas! for them, will not believe the\ngood news of Easter day.\n\nBut what says Easter day?  Easter day says, Man has pre-eminence over a\nbeast.  The man is redeemed from the death of the beasts by Christ, who\nrose on Easter day.  Easter day says, Wherever the spirit of the beast\ngoes, wherever the spirit of the brutal and the wicked man goes, the\nspirit of the true Christian goes upward, to Christ, who bought it with\nHis precious blood.  Easter day says, The body may turn to the dust from\nwhich it was taken, but the spirit lives for ever before God, who shall\ngive it another body, as it shall please Him, as He gives to every seed\nits own body.  And, therefore, Easter day says, There is something better\nfor a man than to eat and drink and enjoy himself, for to-morrow he may\ndie, and all be over; and that something is, to labour not merely for the\nmeat which perishes with the perishing body, but to labour after the\nfruits of the spirit--love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,\ngoodness, faith, meekness, temperance.  These the life of the body does\nnot give us; and these the death of the body not take away from us; for\nthey are spiritual and heavenly, eternal and divine; and he who has them\ncannot die for ever.  And therefore, we may comfort ourselves in all our\nlabour, if only we labour at the one useful work on earth, to be good,\nand to do good, and to make others good likewise.\n\nTrue it is, as St. Paul says, that if in this life only we have hope in\nChrist we are of all men most miserable.  For we do not care to be of the\nearth, earthy:  we long to be of the heaven, heavenly.  We do not care to\nspend our time in eating and drinking, mean covetousness, ambition, and\nthe base pleasures of the flesh:  we long after high and noble things,\nwhich we cannot get on earth, or at best only in fragments, and at rare\nmoments; after the holiness and the blessedness of ourselves and our\nfellow-creatures.  But we have hope in Christ for the next life as well\nas for this.  Hope that in the next life He will give us power to\nsucceed, where we failed here; that He will enable us to be good and to\ndo good, and, if not to make others good (for there, we trust, all will\nbe good together), to enjoy the fulness of that pleasure for which we\nhave been longing on earth--the pleasure of seeing others good, as Christ\nis good and perfect, as their Father in heaven is perfect.\n\nTo be good ourselves, and to live for ever in good company--ah my\nfriends, that is true bliss.  If we cannot reach that after death, it\nwere better for us that death should make an end of us, and that when our\nbody decays in the grave we should be annihilated, and become nothing for\never.\n\nBut Easter day says to us, If you labour to create good company in this\nlife, by trying to make other people round you good, you shall enjoy for\never in the next world the good company which you have helped to make.\nIf you labour to make yourself good in this life, you shall enjoy the\nfruit of your labour in the next life by being good, and, therefore,\nblessed for ever.  Easter day says, Your labour is not vanity and\nvexation of spirit.  It is solid work, which shall receive solid pay from\nGod hereafter.  Easter day is a pledge--I may say a sacrament--from God\nto us, that He will righteously reward all righteous work; and that,\ntherefore, it is worth any man's while to labour, to suffer, if need be\neven to die, in trying to be good, noble, useful, self-sacrificing, as\nChrist toiled and suffered and died and sacrificed Himself to do good.\nFor then he will share Christ's reward, as he has shared Christ's labour,\nand be rewarded, as Christ was, by resurrection to eternal life.\n\nAnd so Easter day should give us strength to live like men--the only\ntruly manly, truly human life; the life of being good and doing good.\n\nAnd strength to die.  Men are afraid of dying, principally, I believe,\nbecause they fear the unknown.  It is not that they are afraid of the\npain of dying.  It is not that they are afraid of going to hell; for in\nall my experience, at least, I have met with but one person who thought\nthat he was going to hell.  Neither is it that they are afraid of not\ngoing to heaven.  Their expectation almost always is, that they are going\nthither.  But they do not care much to go to heaven.  They are willing\nenough to go there, because they know that they must go somewhere.  But\ntheir notions of what heaven will be like are by no means clear.  They\nhave sung rapturous hymns in church or chapel about the heavenly\nJerusalem, and passing Jordan safe to Canaan's shore, with no very clear\nnotion of what the words meant--and small blame to them.\n\nBut when they think of actually dying, they feel as if to go into the\nnext world was to be turned out into the dark night, into an unknown\nland, away from house and home, and all they have known, and all they\nhave loved; and they are ready to say with the good old heathen emperor,\nwhen he lay a-dying--\n\n\n\"Little soul of mine, wandering, kindly,\nCompanion and guest of my body;\nInto what place art thou now departing,\nShivering, naked, and pale?\"\n\n\nAnd so they shrink from death.  They must shrink from death, unless they\nwill believe with their whole hearts the good news of Easter day.  The\nmore thoughtful and clever they are, the more they will shrink from\ndeath, and dread the thought of losing their bodies.  They have always\nhad bodies here on earth.  They only know themselves as souls embodied,\nliving in bodies; and they cannot think of themselves in the next world\nwith any comfort, if they may not think of themselves as having bodies.\n\nAnd the more loving and affectionate they are, the more they will shrink\nfrom death, unless they believe with their whole hearts the good news of\nEaster day.  For those whom they have loved on earth have bodies.\nThrough their bodies--through their voices, their looks, their actions,\nthey have known them, and thus they have loved them; and if their beloved\nones are to have no bodies in the world to come, how shall they see them?\nhow shall they know them? how shall they converse with them?  It seems to\nthem in that case neither they, nor those they love, would be the same\npersons in the world to come they are here; and that thought is lonely\nand dreadful, till they accept the good news of Easter day, the thrice\nblessed words of St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, which they\nhear at the burial of those whom they love and lose.  Oh, blessed news\nfor us, and for those we love; those without whose company the world to\ncome would be lonely and cheerless to us.  For now we can say, Tell me\nnot that as the beast dies, so dies the man.  Tell me not that as Adam\ndied because of sin, so must I die, and all I love.  Tell me not that it\nis the universal law of nature that all things born in time must die in\ntime; and that every human being, animal, and plant carries in itself\nfrom its beginning to its end a law of death, the seed of its own\ndestruction.  I know all that; but I care little for it, because I know\nmore than that.  I know that the man's body dies as the beast's body\ndies; but I know that the body is not the man, but only the husk, the\nshell of the man; that the true man, the true woman, lives on after the\nloss of his mortal body; and that there is an eternal law of life, which\nconquers the law of death; and by that law a fresh body will grow up\nround the true man, the immortal spirit, and will be as fit--ay, far\nfitter--to do his work, than this poor mortal body which has turned to\ndeath on earth.  Tell me not that because I am descended from a mortal\nand sinful old Adam, of whom it is written that he was of the earth,\nearthly, therefore my soul is a part of my body, and dies when my body\ndies.  I belong not to the old Adam, but to the new Adam--the new Head of\nmen, who is the Lord from heaven, the author of eternal life to all who\nobey Him.  Do not tell me that I have nothing in me but the likeness of\nthe old Adam, for that seems to me and to St. Paul nothing but the\nlikeness of the fallen savage and the brute in human form.  I know I have\nmore in me--infinitely more--than that.  What may be in store for the\nsavage, the brutal, the wicked, is God's concern, not mine.  But what is\nin store for me I know--that as I have borne the image of the earthly, so\nshall I bear the image of the heavenly, if only the Spirit of Christ, the\nnew Adam, be in me.  For if Christ be in us, \"the body is dead because of\nsin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.\"  And if the Spirit\nof Him which raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, He that raised up\nChrist from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit\nthat dwelleth in us.  How He will do it I know not; neither do I care to\nknow.  When He will do it I know not; but it will be when it ought to be;\nand that is enough for me.  That He can do it I know, for He is the Maker\nof the universe, and to Him all power is given in heaven and earth; and\nas for its being strange, wonderful, past understanding, that matters\nlittle to me.  That will be but one wonder more in a world where all is\nwonderful--one more mystery in an utterly mysterious universe.\n\nAnd so, as Easter day has given us strength to live, let Easter day, too,\ngive us strength to die.\n\n\n\nSERMON XI.  EASTER DAY\n\n\n\nChester Cathedral. 1870.\n\nSt John xii. 24, 25.  \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of\nwheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone:  but if it die, it\nbringeth forth much fruit.  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he\nthat hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.\"\n\nThis is our Lord's own parable.  In it He tells us that His death, His\nresurrection, His ascension, is a mystery which we may believe, not only\nbecause the Bible tells us of it, but because it is reasonable, and\naccording to the laws of His universe; a fulfilment, rather say the\nhighest fulfilment, of one of those laws which runs through the world of\nnature, and through the spiritual and heavenly world likewise.  \"Except a\ncorn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone;\"--barren,\nuseless, and truly dead to the rest of the world around it, because it is\nshut up in itself, and its hidden life, with all its wondrous powers of\ngrowth and fertility, remains undeveloped, and will remain so, till it\ndecays away, a worthless thing, into worthless dust.  But if it be buried\nin the earth a while, then the rich life which lay hid in it is called\nout by that seeming death, and it sprouts, tillers, and flowers, and\nripens its grain--forty-fold, sixty-fold, an hundred-fold; and so it\nshows God's mind and will concerning it.  It shows what is really in it,\nand develops the full capabilities of its being.  Even so, says our Lord,\nwould His death, His resurrection, His ascension be.\n\nHe speaks of His own resurrection and ascension; yes, but He speaks first\nof His own death.  Before the corn can bring forth fruit, and show what\nis in it, fulfilling the law of its being, it must fall into the ground\nand die.  Before our Lord could fulfil the prophecy, \"Thou wilt not leave\nmy soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see\ncorruption,\" He must fulfil the darker prophecy of that awful 88th Psalm,\nthe only one of all the psalms which ends in sorrow, in all but despair,\n\"My soul is full of trouble, and my life draweth nigh unto hell.  I am\ncounted as one of them that go down into the pit:  and I have been even\nas a man that hath no strength.  Free among the dead, like unto them that\nare wounded and lie in the grave, who are out of remembrance, and are cut\naway from thy hand.\"  So it was to be.  So, we may believe, it needed to\nbe.  Christ must suffer before He entered into His glory.  He must die,\nbefore He could rise.  He must descend into hell, before He ascended into\nheaven.  For this is the law of God's kingdom.  Without a Good Friday,\nthere can be no Easter Day.  Without self-sacrifice, there can be no\nblessedness, neither in earth nor in heaven.  He that loveth his life\nwill lose it.  He that hateth his life in this paltry, selfish,\nluxurious, hypocritical world, shall keep it to life eternal.  Our Lord\nJesus Christ fulfilled that law; because it is the law, the law not of\nMoses, but of the kingdom of heaven, and must be fulfilled by him who\nwould fulfil all righteousness, and be perfect, even as his Father in\nheaven is perfect.\n\nBear this in mind, I pray you, and whenever you think of our Lord's\nresurrection and ascension, remember always that the background to His\ntriumph is--a tomb.  Remember that it is the triumph over suffering; a\ntriumph of One who still bears the prints of the nails in His hands and\nin His feet, and the wound of the spear in His side; like many a poor\nsoul who has followed Him triumphant at last, and yet scarred, and only\nnot maimed in the hard battle of life.  Remember for ever the adorable\nwounds of Christ.  Remember for ever that St John saw in the midst of the\nthrone of God the likeness of a lamb, as it had been slain.  For so alone\nyou will learn what our Lord's resurrection and ascension are to all who\nhave to suffer and to toil on earth.  For if our Lord's triumph had had\nno suffering before it,--if He had conquered as the Hindoos represent\ntheir gods as conquering their enemies, without effort, without pain,\ndestroying them, with careless ease, by lightnings, hurled by a hundred\nhands and aided by innumerable armies of spirits,--what would such a\ntriumph have been to us?  What comfort, what example to us here\nstruggling, often sinning, in this piecemeal world?  We want--and blessed\nbe God, we have--a Captain of our salvation, who has been made perfect by\nsufferings.  We want--and blessed be God, we have--an High Priest who can\nbe touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because He has been\ntempted in all things like as we are, yet without sin.  We want--and\nblessed be God, we have--a King who was glorified by suffering, that, if\nwe are ever called on to sacrifice ourselves, we may hope, by suffering,\nto share His glory.  And when we have remembered this, and fixed it in\nour minds, we may go on safely to think of His glory, and see that (as I\nsaid at first) His resurrection and ascension satisfy our consciences,--\nsatisfy that highest reason and moral sense within us, which is none\nother than the voice of the Holy Spirit of God.\n\nFor see.  Our Lord proved Himself to be the perfectly righteous Being, by\nHis very passion.  He proved it by being righteous utterly against His\nown interest; by enduring shame, torment, death, for righteousness' sake.\nBut we feel that our Lord's history could not, must not, end there.  Our\nconscience, which is our highest reason, shrinks from that thought.  If\nour Lord had died and never risen, then would His history be full of\nnothing but despair to all who long to copy Him and do right at all\ncosts.  Our consciences demand that God should be just.  We say with\nAbraham, \"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?\"  Shall not He,\nwho suffered without hope of reward, have His reward nevertheless?  Shall\nnot He who cried, \"My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?\" be\njustified by having it proved to all the world that God had not forsaken\nHim?  But we surely cannot be more just than God.  If we expect God to do\nright, we shall surely \"find that He has done right, and more right than\nwe could expect or dream.  Therefore we may believe--I say that we must\nbelieve, if we be truly reasonable beings--what the Bible tells us; that\nChrist, who suffered more than all, was rewarded more than all; that\nChrist, who humbled Himself more than all, was exalted more than all; and\nthat His resurrection and ascension, as St Paul tells us again and again,\nwas meant to show men this,--to show them that God the Father has been\ninfinitely just to the infinite merits of God the Son, Jesus Christ our\nLord,--to justify our Lord to all mankind by His triumph over death and\nhell, and in justifying Him to justify His Father and our Father, his God\nand our God.\n\nAnd what is true of Christ must be true of us, the members of Christ.  He\nis entered into His rest, and you desire to enter into it likewise.  You\nhave a right to desire it, for it is written, \"There remaineth a rest for\nthe people of God.\"  Remember, then, that true rest can only be attained\nas He attained it, through labour.  You desire to be glorified with\nChrist.  Remember that true glory can only be attained in earth or heaven\nthrough self-sacrifice.  Whosoever will save his life shall lose it;\nwhosoever will lose his life shall save it.  If that eternal moral law\nheld good enough for the sinless Christ, who, though He were a son, yet\nlearned obedience by the things which He suffered, how much more must it\nhold good of you and me and all moral and rational beings,--yea, for the\nvery angels in heaven.  They have not sinned.  That we know; and we do\nnot know; and I presume cannot know, that they have ever suffered.  But\nthis at least we know, that they have submitted.  They have obeyed and\nhave given up their own wills to be the ministers of God's will.  In them\nis neither self-will nor selfishness; and therefore by faith, that is, by\ntrust and loyalty, they stand.  And so, by consenting to lose their\nindividual life of selfishness, they have saved their eternal life in\nGod, the life of blessedness and holiness; just as all evil spirits have\nlost their eternal life by trying to save their selfish life, and be\nsomething in themselves and of themselves without respect to God.\n\nThis is a great mystery; indeed, it is the mystery of the eternal,\ndivine, and blessed life, to which God of His mercy bring us all.  And\ntherefore Good Friday, Easter Day, Ascension Day, are set as great lights\nin the firmament of the spiritual year,--to remind us that we are not\nanimals, born to do what we like, and fulfil the sinful lusts of the\nflesh, the ways whereof are death; but that we are moral and rational\nbeings, members of Christ, children of God, inheritors of the kingdom of\nheaven; and that, therefore, I say it again, like Christ our Lord, we\nmust die in order to live, stoop in order to conquer.  They remind us\nthat honour must grow out of humility; that freedom must grow out of\ndiscipline; that sure conquest must be born of heavy struggles; righteous\njoy out of righteous sorrow; pure laughter out of pure tears; true\nstrength out of the true knowledge of our own weakness; sound peace of\nmind out of sound contrition; and that the heart which has a right to\ncry, \"The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man doeth unto me,\"\nmust be born out of the heart which has cried, \"God be merciful to me a\nsinner!\" They remind us that in all things, as says our Lord, there\ncannot be joy, because a man is born into the world, unless there first\nbe sorrow, because the hour of birth is come; and that he who would be\nplanted into the likeness of Christ's resurrection, must, like the corn\nof wheat, be first planted into the likeness of His death, and die to sin\nand self, that he may live to righteousness and to God; and, like the\ncorn of wheat, become truly living, truly strong, truly rich, truly\nuseful, and develop the hidden capabilities of his being, fulfilling the\nmind and will of God concerning him.  Again, I say, this is a great\nmystery.  But again, I say, this is the law, not Moses' law, but the\nGospel law;--the law of liberty, by which a man becomes truly free,\nbecause he has trampled under foot the passions of his own selfish flesh,\ntill his immortal spirit can ascend free into the light of God, and into\nthe love of God, and into the beneficence of God.  My dear friends,\nremember these words, for they are true.  Remember that St Paul always\ncouples with the resurrection and ascension of our bodies in the next\nlife the resurrection and ascension of our souls in this life; for\nwithout that, the resurrection of our bodies would be but a resurrection\nto fresh sin, and therefore to fresh misery and ruin.  Remember his great\nwords about that moral resurrection and ascension of our wills, our\nhearts, our characters, our actions.  \"God,\" he says, \"who is rich in\nmercy, for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead\nin sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;)\nand hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly\nplaces in Christ Jesus.\"\n\nAnd what are those heavenly places?  And what is our duty in them?  Let\nSt Paul himself answer.  \"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those\nthings which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.\"\n\nAnd what are they?  Let St Paul answer once more; who should know better\nthan he, save Christ alone?  \"Whatsoever things are true, honest, just,\npure, lovely, of good report.  If there be any virtue, and if there be\nany praise, think on these things.\"\n\nYes, think of these things,--and, thinking of them, ask the Holy Spirit\nof God to inspire you, and make a Whitsuntide in your hearts, even as He\nhas made, I trust, a Good Friday and an Eastertide and an Ascension Day;\nthat so, knowing these things, you may be blessed in doing them; that so-\n-and so only--may be fulfilled in you and me or any rational being, those\nblessed promises which were fulfilled in Christ our Lord.  \"They that sow\nin tears shall reap in joy.\"  \"He that now goeth on his way weeping, and\nbeareth forth good seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring\nhis sheaves with him.\"  \"Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee, in\nwhose heart are Thy ways; who going through the vale of misery, use it\nfor a well, and the pools are filled with water.  They will go from\nstrength to strength:  and unto the God of gods appeareth every one of\nthem in Sion.\"  To which may God in His great mercy bring us all.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON XII.  PRESENCE IN ABSENCE\n\n\n\nEversley, third Sunday after Easter. 1862.\n\nSt John xvi. 16.  \"A little while, and ye shall not see me:  and again, a\nlittle while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.\"\n\nDivines differ, and, perhaps, have always differed, about the meaning of\nthese words.  Some think that our Lord speaks in them of His death and\nresurrection.  Others that He speaks of His ascension and coming again in\nglory.  I cannot decide which is right.  I dare not decide.  It is a very\nsolemn thing--too solemn for me--to say of any words of our Lord's they\nmean exactly this or that, and no more.  For if wise men's words have (as\nthey often have) more meanings than one, and yet all true, then surely\nthe words of Jesus, the Son of God, who spake as never man spake--His\nwords, I say, may have many meanings; yea, meanings without end, meanings\nwhich we shall never fully understand, perhaps even in heaven, and yet\nall alike true.\n\nBut I think it is certain that most of the early Christians understood\nthese words of our Lord's ascension and coming again in glory.  They\nbelieved that He was coming again in a very little while during their own\nlife-time, in a few months or years, to make an end of the world and to\njudge the quick and the dead.  And as they waited for His coming, one\ngeneration after another, and yet He did not come, a sadness fell upon\nthem.  Christ seemed to have left the world.  The little while that He\nhad promised to be away seemed to have become a very long while.\nHundreds of years passed, and yet Christ did not come in glory.  And, as\nI said, a sadness fell on all the Church.  Surely, they said, this is the\ntime of which Christ said we were to weep and lament till we saw Him\nagain--this is the time of which He said that the bridegroom should be\ntaken from us, and we should fast in those days.  And they did fast, and\nweep, and lament; and their religion became a very sad and melancholy\none--most sad in those who were most holy, and loved their Lord best, and\nlonged most for His coming in glory.\n\nWhat happened after that again I could tell you, but we have nothing to\ndo with it to-day.  We will rather go back, and see what the Lord's\ndisciples thought He meant when He said,--\"A little while, and ye shall\nnot see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go\nto the Father.\"  One would think, surely, that they must have taken those\nwords to mean His death and resurrection.  They heard Him speak them on\nthe very night that He was betrayed.  They saw Him taken from them that\nvery night.  In horror and agony they saw Him mocked and scourged,\ncrucified, dead, and buried, as they thought for ever, and the world\naround rejoicing over His death.  Surely they wept and lamented then.\nSurely they thought that He had gone away and left them then.\n\nAnd the third day, beyond all hope or expectation, they beheld Him alive\nagain, unchanged, perfect, and glorious--as near them and as faithful to\nthem as ever.  Surely that was seeing Him again after a little while.\nSurely then their sorrow was turned to joy.  Surely then a man, the man\nof all men, was born into the world a second time, and in them was\nfulfilled our Lord's most exquisite parable--most human and yet most\ndivine--of the mother remembering no more her anguish for joy that a man\nis born into the world.\n\nI think, too, that we may see, by the disciples' conduct, that they took\nthese words of the text to speak of Christ's death and resurrection.  For\nwhen He ascended to heaven out of their sight, did they consider that was\nseeing Him no more?  Did they think that He had gone away and left them?\nDid they, therefore, as would have been natural, weep and lament?  On the\ncontrary, we are told expressly by St Luke that they \"returned to\nJerusalem with great joy; and were continually in the temple,\" not\nweeping and lamenting, but praising and blessing God.  Plainly they did\nnot consider that Christ was parted from them when He ascended into\nheaven.  He had been training them during the forty days between Easter\nDay and Ascension Day to think of Him as continually near them, whether\nthey saw Him or not.  Suddenly He came and went again.  Mysteriously He\nappeared and disappeared.  He showed them that though they saw not Him,\nHe saw them, heard their words, knew the thoughts and intents of their\nhearts.  He was always near them they felt; with them to the end of the\nworld, whether in sight or out of sight.  And when they saw Him ascend\ninto heaven, it seemed to them no separation, no calamity, no change in\nHis relation to them.  He was gone to heaven.  Surely He had been in\nheaven during those forty days, whenever they had not seen Him.  He had\ngone to the Father.  Might He not have been with the Father during those\nforty days, whenever they had not seen Him?  Nay; was He not always in\nheaven?  Was not heaven very near them?  Did not Christ bring heaven with\nHim whithersoever He went?  Was He not always with the Father, the Father\nwho fills all things, in whom all created things live, and move, and have\ntheir being?  How could they have thought otherwise about our Lord, when\nalmost His last words to them were not, Lo, I leave you alone, but, \"Lo,\nI am with you alway, even to the end of the world.\"\n\nMy friends, these may seem deep words to some--doubtless they are, for\nthey are the words of the Bible--so deep that plain, unlearned people can\nmake no use of them, and draw no lesson from them.  I do not think so.  I\nthink it is of endless use and endless importance to you how you think\nabout Christ; and, therefore, how you think about these forty days\nbetween our Lord's resurrection and ascension.  You may think of our Lord\nin two ways.  You may think of Him as having gone very far away, millions\nof millions of miles into the sky, and not to return till the last day,--\nand then, I do not say that you will weep and lament.  There are not many\nwho have that notion about our Lord, and yet love Him enough to weep and\nlament at the thought of His having gone away.  But your religion, when\nit wakes up in you, will be a melancholy and terrifying one.  I say, when\nit wakes up in you--for you will be tempted continually to let it go to\nsleep.  There will come over you the feeling--God forgive us, does it not\ncome over us all but too often?--Christ is far away.  Does He see me?\nDoes He hear me?  Will He find me out?  Does it matter very much what I\nsay and do now, provided I make my peace with Him before I die?  And so\nwill come over you not merely a carelessness about religious duties,\nabout prayer, reading, church-going, but worse still, a carelessness\nabout right and wrong.  You will be in danger of caring little about\ncontrolling your passions, about speaking the truth, about being just and\nmerciful to your fellow-men.  And then, when your conscience wakes you up\nat times, and cries, Prepare to meet thy God! you will be terrified and\nanxious at the thought of judgment, and shrink from the thought of\nChrist's seeing you.  My friends, that is a fearful state, though a very\ncommon one.  What is it but a foretaste of that dreadful terror in which\nthose who would not see in Christ their Lord and Saviour will call on the\nmountains to fall on them, and the hills to cover them, from Him that\nsitteth on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb?\n\nBut, again:  you may think of Christ as His truest servants, though they\nmight have been long in darkness, in all ages and countries have thought\nof Him, sooner or later.  And they thought of Him, as the disciples did;\nas of One who was about their path and about their bed, and spying out\nall their ways; as One who was in heaven, but who, for that very reason,\nwas bringing heaven down to earth continually in the gracious\ninspirations of His Holy Spirit; as One who brought heaven down to them\nas often as He visited their hearts and comforted them with sweet\nassurance of His love, His faithfulness, His power--as God grant that He\nmay comfort those of you who need comfort.  And that thought, that Christ\nwas always with them, even to the end of the world, sobered and steadied\nthem, and yet refreshed and comforted them.  It sobered them.  What else\ncould it do?  Does it not sober us to see even a picture of Christ\ncrucified?  How must it have sobered them to carry, as good St Ignatius\nused to say of himself, Christ crucified in his heart.  A man to whom\nChrist, as it were, showed perpetually His most blessed wounds, and said,\nBehold what I have endured--how dare he give way to his passion?  How\ndare he be covetous, ambitious, revengeful, false?  And yet it cheered\nand comforted them.  How could it do otherwise, to know all day long that\nHe who was wounded for their iniquities, and by whose stripes they were\nhealed, was near them day and night, watching over them as a father over\nhis child, saying to them,--\"Fear not, I am He that was dead, and am\nalive for evermore, and I hold the keys of death and hell.  Though thou\nwalkest through the fires, I will be with thee.  I will never leave thee\nnor forsake thee.\"  Yes, my friends, if you wish your life--and therefore\nyour religion, which ought to be the very life of your life--to be at\nonce sober and cheerful, full of earnestness and full of hope, believe\nour Lord's words which He spoke during these very forty days,--\"Lo, I am\nwith you alway, even to the end of the world.\"  Believe that heaven has\nnot taken Him away from you, but brought Him nearer to you; and that He\nhas ascended up on high, not that He, in whom alone is life, might empty\nthis earth of His presence, but that He might fill all things, not this\nearth only, but all worlds, past, present, and to come.  Believe that\nwherever two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, there He is\nin the midst of them; that the holy communion is the sign of His\nperpetual presence; and that when you kneel to receive the bread and\nwine, Christ is as near you--spiritually, indeed, and invisibly, but\nreally and truly--as near you as those who are kneeling by your side.\n\nAnd if it be so with Christ, then it is so with those who are Christ's,\nwith those whom we love.  It is the Christ in them which we love; and\nthat Christ in them is their hope of glory; and that glory is the glory\nof Christ.  They are partakers of His death, therefore they are partakers\nof His resurrection.  Let us believe that blessed news in all its\nfulness, and be at peace.  A little while and we see them; and again a\nlittle while and we do not see them.  But why?  Because they are gone to\nthe Father, to the source and fount of all life and power, all light and\nlove, that they may gain life from His life, power from His power, light\nfrom His light, love from His love--and surely not for nought?\n\nSurely not for nought, my friends.  For if they were like Christ on\nearth, and did not use their powers for themselves alone, if they are to\nbe like Christ when they shall see Him as He is, then, more surely, will\nthey not use their powers for themselves, but, as Christ uses His, for\nthose they love.\n\nSurely, like Christ, they may come and go, even now, unseen.  Like\nChrist, they may breathe upon our restless hearts and say, Peace be unto\nyou--and not in vain.  For what they did for us when they were on earth\nthey can more fully do now that they are in heaven.  They may seem to\nhave left us, and we, like the disciples, may weep and lament.  But the\nday will come when the veil shall be taken from our eyes, and we shall\nsee them as they are, with Christ, and in Christ for ever; and remember\nno more our anguish for joy that a man is born into the world, that\nanother human being has entered that one true, real, and eternal world,\nwherein is neither disease, disorder, change, decay, nor death, for it is\nnone other than the Bosom of the Father.\n\n\n\nSERMON XIII.  ASCENSION DAY\n\n\n\nEversley.  Chester Cathedral. 1872.\n\nSt John viii. 58.  \"Before Abraham was, I am.\"\n\nLet us consider these words awhile.  They are most fit for our thoughts\non this glorious day, on which the Lord Jesus ascended to His Father, and\nto our Father, to His God, and to our God, that He might be glorified\nwith the glory which He had with the Father before the making of the\nworld.  For it is clear that we shall better understand Ascension Day,\njust as we shall better understand Christmas or Eastertide, the better we\nunderstand Who it was who was born at Christmas, suffered and rose at\nEastertide, and, as on this day, ascended into heaven.  Who, then, was He\nwhose ascent we celebrate?  What was that glory which, as far as we can\njudge of divine things, He resumed as on this day?\n\nLet us think a few minutes, with all humility, not rashly intruding\nourselves into the things we have not seen, or meddling with divine\nmatters which are too hard for us, but taking our Lord's words simply as\nthey stand, and where we do not understand them, believing them\nnevertheless.\n\nNow it is clear that the book of Exodus and our Lord's words speak of the\nsame person.  The Old Testament tells of a personage who appeared to\nMoses in the wilderness, and who called Himself \"the Lord God of Abraham,\nIsaac and Jacob.\"  But this personage also calls Himself \"I AM.\"  \"I AM\nTHAT I AM:\" \"and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of\nIsrael, I AM hath sent me unto you.\"\n\nIn the New Testament we read of a personage who calls Himself the Son of\nGod, is continually called the Lord, and who tells His disciples to call\nHim by that name without reproving them, though they and He knew well\nwhat it meant--that it meant no less than this, that He, Jesus of\nNazareth, poor mortal man as He seemed, was still the Lord, the God of\nAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  I do not say that the disciples saw that at\nfirst, clearly or fully, till after our Lord's resurrection.  But there\nwas one moment shortly before His death, when they could have had no\ndoubt who He assumed Himself to be.  For the unbelieving Jews had no\ndoubt, and considered Him a blasphemer; and these were His awful and\nwonderful words,--I do not pretend to understand them--I take them simply\nas I find them, and believe and adore.  \"Your father Abraham rejoiced to\nsee my day, and he saw it, and was glad.  Then said the Jews unto Him,\nThou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?\"  One\ncannot blame them for asking that question, for Abraham had been dead\nthen nearly two thousand years.  But what is our Lord's solemn answer?\n\"Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.\"\n\n\"I Am.\"  The same name by which our Lord God had revealed Himself to\nMoses in the wilderness, some sixteen hundred years before.  If these\nwords were true,--and the Lord prefaces them with Verily, verily, Amen,\nAmen, which was as solemn an asseveration as any oath could be--then the\nLord Jesus Christ is none other than the God of Abraham, the God of\nMoses, the God of the Jews, the God of the whole universe, past, present,\nand to come.\n\nLet us think awhile over this wonder of all wonders.  The more we think\nover it, we shall find it not only the wonder of all wonders, but the\ngood news of all good news.\n\nThe deepest and soundest philosophers will tell us that there must be an\n\"I Am.\"  That is, as they would say, a self-existent Being; neither made\nnor created, but who has made and created all things; who is without\nparts and passions, and is incomprehensible, that is cannot be\ncomprehended, limited, made smaller or weaker, or acted on in any way by\nany of the things that He has made.  So that this self-existing Being\nwhom we call God, would be exactly what He is now, if the whole universe,\nsun, moon, and stars, were destroyed this moment; and would be exactly\nwhat He is now, if there had never been any universe at all, or any thing\nor being except His own perfect and self-existent Self.  For He lives and\nmoves and has His being in nothing.  But all things live and move and\nhave their being in Him.  He was before all things, and by Him all things\nconsist.  And this is the Catholic Faith; and not only that, this is\naccording to sound and right reason.  But more:  the soundest\nphilosophers will tell you that God must be not merely a self-existent\nBeing, but the \"I Am:\" that if God is a Spirit, and not merely a name for\nsome powers and laws of brute nature and matter, He must be able to say\nto Himself, \"I Am:\" that He must know Himself, that He must be conscious\nof Himself, of who and what He is, as you and I are conscious of\nourselves, and more or less of who and what we are.  And this, also, I\nbelieve to be true, and rational, and necessary to the Catholic Faith.\n\nBut they will tell you again--and this, too, is surely true--that I Am\nmust be the very name of God, because God alone can say perfectly, \"I\nAm,\" and no more.  You and I dare not, if we think accurately, say of\nourselves, \"I am.\"  We may say, I am this or that; I am a man; I am an\nEnglishman; but we must not say, \"I am;\" that is, \"I exist of myself.\"\nWe must say--not I am; but I become, or have become; I was made; I was\ncreated; I am growing, changing; I depend for my very existence on God\nand God's will, and if He willed, I should be nothing and nowhere in a\nmoment.  God alone can say, I Am, and there is none beside Me, and never\nhas, nor can be.  I exist, absolutely, and simply; because I choose to\nexist, and get life from nothing; for I Am the Life, and give life to all\nthings.  But you may say, What is all this to us?  It is very difficult\nto understand, and dreary, and even awful.  Why should we care for it,\neven if it be true?  Yes, my friends; philosophy may be true, and yet be\ndreary, and awful, and have no gospel and good news in it at all.  I\nbelieve it never can have; that only in Revelation, and in the Revelation\nof our Lord Jesus Christ, can poor human beings find any gospel and good\nnews at all.  And sure I am, that that is an awful thought, a dreary\nthought, a crushing thought, which makes a man feel as small, and\nworthless, and helpless, and hopeless, as a grain of dust, or a mote in\nthe sunbeam--that thought of God for ever contained in Himself, and\nsaying for ever to Himself, \"I Am, and there is none beside Me.\"\n\nBut the Gospel, the good news of the Old Testament, the Gospel, the good\nnews of the New Testament, is the Revelation of God and God's ways, which\nbegan on Christmas Day, and finished on Ascension Day:  and what is that?\nWhat but this?  That God does not merely say to Himself in Majesty, \"I\nAm;\" but that He goes out of Himself in Love, and says to men, \"I Am.\"\nThat He is a God who has spoken to poor human beings, and told them who\nHe was; and that He, the I Am, the self-existent One, the Cause of life,\nof all things, even the Maker and Ruler of the Universe, can stoop to\nman--and not merely to perfect men, righteous men, holy men, wise men,\nbut to the enslaved, the sinful, the brutish--that He may deliver them,\nand teach them, and raise them from the death of sin, to His own life of\nrighteousness.\n\nDo you not see the difference, the infinite difference, and the good news\nin that?  Do you not see a whole heaven of new hope and new duty is\nopened to mankind in that one fact--God has spoken to man.  He, the I Am,\nthe Self-Existent, who needs no one, and no thing, has turned aside, as\nit were, and stooped from the throne of heaven, again and again, during\nthousands of years, to say to you, and me, and millions of mankind, I Am\nyour God.  How do you prosper?--what do you need?--what are you doing?--\nfor if you are doing justice to yourself and your fellow-men, then fear\nnot that I shall be just to you.\n\nAnd more.  When that I Am, the self-existent God, could not set sinful\nmen right by saying this, then did He stoop once more from the throne of\nthe heavens to do that infinite deed of love, of which it is written,\nthat He who called Himself \"I Am,\" the God of Abraham, was conceived of\nthe Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate,\nrose again the third day, and ascended into heaven,--that He might send\ndown the Spirit of the \"I Am,\" the Holy Spirit who proceedeth from the\nFather and the Son, upon all who ask Him; that they may be holy as God is\nholy, and perfect as God is perfect.  Yes, my dear friends, remember\nthat, and live in the light of that; the gospel of good news of the\nIncarnation of Jesus Christ, very God of very God begotten.  Know that\nGod has spoken to you as He spoke to Abraham, and said,--I am the\nAlmighty God, walk before Me, and be thou perfect.  Know that He has\nspoken to you as He spoke to Moses, saying,--I am the Lord thy God, who\nhave brought you, and your fathers before you, out of the spiritual Egypt\nof heathendom, and ignorance, sin, and wickedness, into the knowledge of\nthe one, true, and righteous God.  But know more, that He has spoken to\nyou by the mouth of Jesus Christ, saying,--I am He that died in the form\nof mortal man upon the cross for you.  And, behold, I am alive for\nevermore; and to me all power is given in heaven and earth.\n\nYes, my friends, let us lay to heart, even upon this joyful day, the\nawful warnings of the Epistle to the Hebrews,--God, the I Am, has spoken\nto us; God, the I Am, is speaking to us now.  See that you refuse not Him\nthat speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused Moses that spake on\nearth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from Him that\nspeaketh from heaven; wherefore follow peace with all men, and holiness,\nwithout which no man shall see the Lord, and have grace, whereby we may\nserve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.  For our God is a\nconsuming fire.  To those who disobey Him, eternal wrath; to those who\nlove Him, eternal love.\n\nYes, my friends.  Let us believe that, and live in the light of that,\nwith reverence and godly fear, all the year round.  But let us specially\nto-day, as far as our dull feelings and poor imaginations will allow us;\nlet us, I say, adore the ascended Saviour, who rules for ever, a Man in\nthe midst of the throne of the universe, and that Man--oh, wonder of\nwonders!--slain for us; and let us say with St Paul of old, with all our\nhearts and minds and souls:--Now to the King of the Ages, immortal,\ninvisible, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, for\never and ever.  Amen!\n\n\n\nSERMON XIV.  THE COMFORTER\n\n\n\nEversley.  Sunday after Ascension Day. 1868.\n\nSt John xv. 26.  \"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you\nfrom the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the\nFather, he shall testify of me.\"\n\nSome writers, especially when they are writing hymns, have fallen now-a-\ndays into a habit of writing of the Holy Spirit of God, in a tone of\nwhich I dare not say that it is wrong or untrue; but of which I must say,\nthat it is one-sided.  And if there are two sides to a matter, it must do\nus harm to look at only one of them.  And I think that it does people\nharm to hear the Holy Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter,\nspoken of in terms, not of reverence, but of endearment.  For consider:\nHe is the\n\n\n   \"Creator-Spirit, by whose aid\nThe world's foundations first were laid,\"\n\n\nthe life-giving Spirit of whom it is written, Thou sendest forth Thy\nSpirit, and things live, and Thou renewest the face of the earth.\n\nBut He is the destroying Spirit too; who can, when He will, produce not\nmerely life, but death; who can, and does send earthquakes, storm, and\npestilence; of whom Isaiah writes--\"All flesh is as grass, and all the\ngoodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.  The grass withereth,\nthe flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.\"  I\nthink it does people harm to hear this awful and almighty being, I say,\nspoken of merely as the \"sweet Spirit,\" and \"gentle dove\"--words which\nare true, but only true, if we remember other truths, equally true of\nHim, concerning whom they are spoken.  The Spirit of God, it seems to me,\nis too majestic a being to be talked of hastily as \"sweet.\"  Words may be\ntrue, and yet it may not be always quite reverent to use them.  An\nearthly sovereign may be full of all human sweetness and tenderness, yet\nwe should not dare to address him as \"sweet.\"\n\nBut, indeed, some of this talk about the Holy Spirit is not warranted by\nScripture at all.  In one of the hymns, for instance, in our hymn-book--\nan excellent hymn in other respects, there is a line which speaks of the\nHoly Spirit as possessing \"The brooding of the gentle dove.\"\n\nNow, this line is really little but pretty sentiment, made up of false\nuses of Scripture.  The Scripture speaks once of the Holy Spirit of God\nbrooding like a bird over its nest.  But where?  In one of the most\nmysterious, awful, and important of all texts.  \"And the earth was\nwithout form and void.  And the Spirit of God moved (brooded) over the\nface of the deep.\"  What has this--the magnificent picture of the Life-\ngiving Spirit brooding over the dead world, to bring it into life again,\nand create from it sea and land, heat and fire, and cattle and creeping\nthings after their kind, and at last man himself, the flower and crown of\nthings;--what has that to do with the brooding of a gentle dove?\n\nBut the Holy Spirit is spoken of in Scripture under the likeness of a\ndove?  True, and here is another confusion.  The Dove is not the emblem\nof gentleness in the Bible:  but the Lamb.  The dove is the emblem of\nsomething else, pure and holy, but not of gentleness; and therefore the\nHoly Spirit is not spoken of in Scripture as brooding as a gentle dove;\nbut very differently, as it seems to me.  St Matthew and St John say,\nthat at our Lord's baptism the Holy Spirit was seen, not brooding, but\ndescending from heaven as a dove.  To any one who knows anything of\ndoves, who will merely go out into the field or the farm-yard and look at\nthem, and who will use his own eyes, that figure is striking enough, and\ngrand enough.  It is the swiftness of the dove, and not its fancied\ngentleness that is spoken of.  The dove appearing, as you may see it\nagain and again, like a speck in the far off sky, rushing down with a\nswiftness which outstrips the very eagle; returning surely to the very\nspot from which it set forth, though it may have flown over hundreds of\nmiles of land, and through the very clouds of heaven.  It is the sky-\ncleaving force and swiftness, the unerring instinct of the dove, and not\na sentimental gentleness to which Scripture likens that Holy Spirit,\nwhich like the rushing mighty wind bloweth whither it listeth, and thou\nhearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or\nwhither it goeth;--that Holy Spirit who, when He fell on the apostles,\nfell in tongues of fire, and shook all the house where they were sitting;\nthat Holy Spirit of whom one of the wisest Christians who ever lived, who\nknew well enough the work of the Spirit, arguing just as I am now against\nthe fancy of associating the Holy Spirit merely with pretty thoughts of\nour own, and pleasant feelings of our own, and sentimental raptures of\nour own, said, \"Wouldst thou know the manner of spiritual converse?  Of\nthe way in which the Spirit of God works in man?  Then it is this:  He\nhath taken me up and dashed me down.  Like a lion, I look, that He will\nbreak all my bones.  From morning till evening, Thou wilt make an end of\nme.\"\n\nBut people are apt to forget this.  And therefore they fall into two\nmistakes.  They think of the Holy Spirit as only a gentle, and what they\ncall a dove-like being; and they forget what a powerful, awful, literally\nformidable being He is.  They lose respect for the Holy Spirit.  They\ntrifle with Him; and while they sing hymns about His gentleness and\nsweetness, they do things which grieve and shock Him; forgetting the\nawful warning which He, at the very outset of the Christian Church, gave\nagainst such taking of liberties with God the Holy Ghost:--how Ananias\nand Sapphira thought that the Holy Spirit was One whom they might honour\nwith their lips, and more, with their outward actions, but who did not\nrequire truth in the inward parts, and did not care for their telling a\nslight falsehood that they might appear more generous than they really\nwere in the eyes of men; and how the answer of the Holy Spirit of God was\nthat He struck them both dead there and then for a warning to all such\ntriflers, till the end of time.\n\nAnother mistake which really pious and good people commit, is, that they\nthink the Holy Spirit of God to be merely, or little beside, certain\npleasant frames, and feelings, and comfortable assurances, in their own\nminds.  They do not know that these pleasant frames and feelings really\ndepend principally on their own health:  and, then, when they get out of\nhealth, or when their brain is overworked, and the pleasant feelings go,\nthey are terrified and disheartened, and complain of spiritual dryness,\nand cry out that God's Spirit has deserted them, and are afraid that God\nis angry with them, or even that they have committed the unpardonable\nsin:  not knowing that God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of\nman that He should repent; that God is as near them in the darkness as in\nthe light; that whatever their own health, or their own feelings may be,\nyet still in God they live, and move, and have their being; that to God's\nSpirit they owe all which raises them above the dumb animals; that\nnothing can separate them from the love of Him who promised that He would\nnot leave us comfortless, but send to us His Holy Ghost to comfort us,\nand exalt us to the same place whither He has gone before.\n\nNow, why do I say all this?  To take away comfort from you?  To make you\nfear and dread the Spirit of God?  God forbid!  Who am I, to take away\ncomfort from any human being!  I say it to give yon true comfort, to make\nyou trust and love the Holy Spirit utterly, to know Him--His strength and\nHis wisdom as well as His tenderness and gentleness.\n\nYou know that afflictions do come--terrible bereavements, sorrows sad and\nstrange.  My sermon does not make them come.  There they are, God help us\nall, and too many of them, in this world.  But from whom do they come?\nWho is Lord of life and death?  Who is Lord of joy and sorrow?  Is not\nthat the question of all questions?  And is not the answer the most\nessential of all answers?  It is the Holy Spirit of God; the Spirit who\nproceedeth from the Father and the Son; the Spirit of the Father who so\nloved the world that He spared not His only begotten Son; the Spirit of\nthe Son who so loved the world, that He stooped to die for it upon the\nCross; the Spirit who is promised to lead you into all truth, that you\nmay know God, and in the knowledge of Him find everlasting life; the\nSpirit who is the Comforter, and says, I have seen thy ways and will heal\nthee, I will lead thee also, and restore comforts to thee and to thy\nmourners.  I speak peace to him that is near, and to him that is far off,\nsaith the Lord; and I will heal him.  Is it not the most blessed news,\nthat He who takes away, is the very same as He who gives?  That He who\nafflicts is the very same as He who comforts?  That He of whom it is\nwritten that, \"as a lion, so will He break all my bones; from day even to\nnight wilt Thou make an end of me;\" is the same as He of whom it is\nwritten, \"He shall gather the lambs in His arms, and carry them, and\nshall gently lead those that are with young;\" and, again, \"as a beast\ngoeth down into the valley, so the Spirit of the Lord caused him to\nrest?\"  That He of whom it is written, \"Our God is a consuming fire,\" is\nthe same as He who has said, \"When thou walkest through the fire, thou\nshalt not be burned?\"  That He who brings us into \"the valley of the\nshadow of death,\" is the same as He of whom it is said, \"Thy rod and Thy\nstaff they comfort me?\"  Is not that blessed news?  Is it not the news of\nthe Gospel; and the only good news which people will really care for,\nwhen they are tormented, not with superstitious fears and doctrines of\ndevils which man's diseased conscience has originated, but tormented with\nthe real sorrows, the rational fears of this stormy human life.\n\nWe all like comfort.  But what kind of comfort do we not merely like but\nneed?  Merely to be comfortable?--To be free from pain, anxiety, sorrow?-\n-To have only pleasant faces round us, and pleasant things said to us?\nIf we want that comfort, we shall very seldom have it.  It will be very\nseldom good for us to have it.  The comfort which poor human beings want\nin such a world as this, is not the comfort of ease, but the comfort of\nstrength.  The comforter whom we need is not one who will merely say kind\nthings, but give help--help to the weary and heavy laden heart which has\nno time to rest.  We need not the sunny and smiling face, but the strong\nand helping arm.  For we may be in that state that smiles are shocking to\nus, and mere kindness,--though we may be grateful for it--of no more\ncomfort to us than sweet music to a drowning man.  We may be miserable,\nand unable to help being miserable, and unwilling to help it too.  We do\nnot wish to flee from our sorrow, we do not wish to forget our sorrow.\nWe dare not; it is so awful, so heartrending, so plain spoken, that God,\nthe master and tutor of our hearts must wish us to face it and endure it.\nOur Father has given us the cup--shall we not drink it?  But who will\nhelp us to drink the bitter cup?  Who will be the comforter, and give us\nnot mere kind words, but strength?  Who will give us the faith to say\nwith Job, \"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him?\"  Who will give us\nthe firm reason to look steadily at our grief, and learn the lesson it\nwas meant to teach?  Who will give us the temperate will, to keep sober\nand calm amid the shocks and changes of mortal life?  Above all, I may\nsay--Who will lead us into all truth?  How much is our sorrow increased--\nhow much of it is caused by simple ignorance!  Why has our anxiety come?\nHow are we to look at it?  What are we to do?  Oh, that we had a\ncomforter who would lead us into all truth:--not make us infallible, or\nall knowing, but lead us into truth; at least put us in the way of truth,\nput things in their true light to us, and give us sound and rational\nviews of life and duty.  Oh, for a comforter who would give us the spirit\nof wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength,\nthe spirit of knowledge and true godliness, and fill us with that spirit\nof God's holy fear, which would make us not superstitious, not slavish,\nnot anxious, but simply obedient, loyal and resigned.\n\nIf we had such a Comforter as that, could we not take evil from his\nhands, as well as good?  We have had fathers of our flesh who corrected\nus, and we gave them reverence.  They chastised us, but we loved and\ntrusted them, because we knew that they loved and trusted us--chastised\nus to make us better--chastised us because they trusted us to become\nbetter.  But if we can find a Father of our spirits, of our souls, shall\nwe not rather be in subjection to Him and live?  If He sent us a\nComforter, to comfort and guide, and inspire, and strengthen us, shall we\nnot say of that Comforter--\"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.\"\n\nIf we had such a Comforter as that, we should not care, if He seemed at\ntimes stern, as well as kind; we could endure rebuke and chastisement\nfrom Him, if we could only get from Him wisdom to understand the rebuke,\nand courage to bear the chastisement.  Where is that Comforter?  God\nanswers:--That Comforter am I, the God of heaven and earth.  There are\ncomforters on earth who can help thee with wise words and noble counsel,\ncan be strong as man, and tender as woman.  Then God can be more strong\nthan man, and more tender than woman likewise.  And when the strong arm\nof man supports thee no longer, yet under thee are the everlasting arms\nof God.\n\nOh, blessed news, that God Himself is the Comforter.  Blessed news, that\nHe who strikes will also heal:  that He who gives the cup of sorrow, will\nalso give the strength to drink it.  Blessed news, that chastisement is\nnot punishment, but the education of a Father.  Blessed news, that our\nwhole duty is the duty of a child--of the Son who said in His own agony,\n\"Father, not my will, but thine be done.\"  Blessed news, that our\nComforter is the Spirit who comforted Christ the Son Himself; who\nproceeds both from the Father and from the Son; and who will therefore\ntestify to us both of the Father and the Son, and tell us that in Christ\nwe are indeed, really and literally, the children of God who may cry to\nHim, \"Father,\" with full understanding of all that that royal word\ncontains.  Blessed, too, to find that in the power of the Divine Majesty,\nwe can acknowledge the unity, and know and feel that the Father, Son and\nHoly Ghost are all one in love to the creatures whom they have made--\ntheir glory equal, for the glory of each and all is perfect charity, and\ntheir majesty co-eternal, because it is a perfect majesty; whose justice\nis mercy, whose power is goodness, its very sternness love, love which\ngives hope and counsel, and help and strength, and the true life which\nthis world's death cannot destroy.\n\n\n\nSERMON XV.  THOU ART WORTHY\n\n\nEversley, 1869.  Chester Cathedral, 1870.  Trinity Sunday.\n\nRevelation iv. 11.  \"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour\nand power:  for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they\nare and were created.\"\n\nI am going to speak to you on a deep matter, the deepest and most\nimportant of all matters, and yet I hope to speak simply.  I shall say\nnothing which you cannot understand, if you will attend.  I shall say\nnothing, indeed, which you could not find out for yourselves, if you will\nthink, and use your own common sense.  I wish to speak to you of\nTheology--of God Himself.  For this Trinity Sunday of all the Sundays of\nthe year, is set apart for thinking of God Himself--not merely of our own\nsouls, though we must never forget them, nor of what God has done for our\nsouls, though we must never forget that--but of what God is Himself, what\nHe would be if we had no souls--if there were, and had been from the\nbeginning, no human beings at all upon the earth.\n\nNow, if we look at any living thing--an animal, say, or a flower, and\nconsider how curiously it is contrived, our common sense will tell us at\nonce that some one has made it; and if any one answers--Oh! the flower\nwas not made, it grew--our common sense would tell us that that was only\na still more wonderful contrivance, and that there must be some one who\ngave it the power of growing, and who makes it grow.  And so our common\nsense would tell us, as it told the heathens of old, that there must be\nGODS--beings whom we cannot see, who made the world.  But if we watch\nthings more closely, we should find out that all things are made more or\nless upon the same plan; that (and I tell you that this is true, strange\nas it may seem) all animals, however different they may seem to our eyes,\nare made upon the same plan; all plants and flowers, however different\nthey may seem, are made upon the same plan; all stones, and minerals, and\nearths, however different they may seem, are made upon the same plan.\nThen common sense would surely tell us, one God made all the animals, one\nGod made all the plants, one God made all the earths and stones.  But if\nwe watch more closely still, we should find that the plants could not\nlive without the animals, nor the animals without the plants, nor either\nof them without the soil beneath our feet, and the air and rain above our\nheads.  That everything in the world worked together on one plan, and\neach thing depended on everything else.  Then common sense would tell us,\none God must have made the whole world.  But if we watched more closely\nagain, or rather, if we asked the astronomers, who study the stars and\nheavens, they would tell us that all the worlds over our heads, all the\nstars that spangle the sky at night, were made upon the same plan as our\nearth--that sun and moon, and all the host of heaven, move according to\nthe same laws by which our earth moves, and as far as we can find out,\nhave been made in the same way as our earth has been made, and that these\nsame laws must have been going on, making worlds after worlds, for\nhundreds of thousands of years, and ages beyond counting, and will, in\nall probability, go on for countless ages more.  Then common sense will\ntell us, the same God has made all worlds, past, present, and to come.\nThere is but one God, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.\n\nSo we should learn something of how all things were made; and then would\ncome a second question, why all things were made?  Why did God make the\nworlds?\n\nLet us begin with a very simple example.  Simple things will often teach\nus most.  You see a flower growing, not in a garden, but wild in a field\nor wood.  You admire its beautiful colours, or if it is fragrant, its\nsweet scent.  Now, why was that flower put there?  You may answer, \"to\nplease me.\"  My dear friends, I should be the last person to deny that.\nI can never see a child picking a nosegay, much less a little London\nchild, born and bred and shut up among bricks and mortar, when it gets\nfor the first time into a green field, and throws itself instinctively\nupon the buttercups and daisies, as if they were precious jewels and\ngold;--I never can see that sight, I say, without feeling that there are\nsuch things as final causes--I mean that the great Father in heaven put\nthose flowers into that field on purpose to give pleasure to His human\nchildren.  But then comes the question, Of all the flowers in a single\nfield, is one in ten thousand ever looked at by child or by men?  And yet\nthey are just as beautiful as the rest; and God has, so to speak, taken\njust as much pains with the many beautiful things which men will never\nsee, as with the few, very few, which men may see.  And when one thinks\nfurther about this--when one thinks of the vast forests in other lands\nwhich the foot of man has seldom or never trod, and which, when they are\nentered, are found to be full of trees, flowers, birds, butterflies, so\nbeautiful and glorious, that anything which we see in these islands is\npoor and plain in comparison with them; and when we remember that these\nbeautiful creatures have been going on generation after generation, age\nafter age, unseen and unenjoyed by any human eyes, one must ask, Why has\nGod been creating all that beauty? simply to let it all, as it were, run\nto waste, till after thousands of years one traveller comes, and has a\nhasty glimpse of it?  Impossible.  Or again--and this is an example still\nmore strange, and yet it is true.  We used to think till within a very\nfew years past, that at the bottom of the deep sea there were no living\nthings--that miles below the surface of the ocean, in total darkness, and\nunder such a weight of water as would crush us to a jelly, there could be\nnothing, except stones, and sand, and mud.  But now it is found out that\nthe bottom of the deepest seas, and the utter darkness into which no ray\nof light can ever pierce, are alive and swarming with millions of\ncreatures as cunningly and exquisitely formed, and in many cases as\nbrilliantly coloured, as those which live in the sunlight along the\nshallow shores.\n\nNow, my dear friends,--surely beautiful things were made to be seen by\nsome one, else why were they made beautiful?  Common sense tells us that.\nBut who has seen those countless tribes, which have been living down, in\nutter darkness, since the making of the world?  Common sense, I think,\ncan give but one answer--GOD.  He, and He only, to whom the night is as\nclear as the day, to whom the darkness and the light are both alike.  But\nmore--God has not only made things beautiful; He has made things happy;\nwhatever misery there may be in the world, there is no denying that.\nHowever sorrow may have come into the world, there is a great deal more\nhappiness than misery in it.  Misery is the exception; happiness is the\nrule.  No rational man ever heard a bird sing, without feeling that that\nbird was happy; and, if so, his common sense ought to tell him that if\nGod made that bird, He made it to be happy; He intended it to be happy,\nand He takes pleasure in its happiness, though no human ear should ever\nhear its song, no human heart should ever share in its joy.  Yes, the\nworld was not made for man; but man, like all the world, was made for\nGod.  Not for man's pleasure merely, not for man's use, but for God's\npleasure all things are, and for God's pleasure they were created.\n\nAnd now, surely, common sense will tell us why God made all things.  For\nHis own pleasure.  God is pleased to make them, and pleased with what He\nhas made, because what He has made is worth being pleased with.  He has\nseen all things that He has made, and, behold, they are very good, and\nright, and wise, and beautiful, and happy, each after its kind.  So that,\nas the Psalmist says, \"The Lord shall rejoice in His works.\"  And\nScripture tells that it must be so, if we only recollect and believe one\nword of St. John's that \"God is Love\"--for it is the very essence of\nlove, that it cannot be content to love itself.  It must have something\nwhich is not itself to love that it may go out of itself, and forget\nitself, and spend itself in the good and in the happiness of what it\nloves.  All true love of husband and wife, mother and child, sister and\nbrother, friend and friend, man to his country,--what does it mean but\nthis?  Forgetting one's selfish happiness in doing good to others, and\nfinding a deeper, higher happiness in that.  The man who only loves\nhimself knows not what Love means.  In truth, he does not even love\nhimself.  He is his own worst enemy:  his selfishness torments him with\ndiscontent, disgust, pride, fear, and all evil passions and lusts; and in\nhim is fulfilled our Lord's saying, that he that will save his life shall\nlose it.  But the man who is full of love, as God is full of love, who\nforgets himself in making others happy, who lives the eternal life of\nGod, which is alone worth living, he is the only truly happy man; and in\nhim is fulfilled that other saying of our Lord, that he who loseth his\nlife shall save it.\n\nAnd the loving, unselfish man too is the only sound theologian, for he\nwho dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.  He alone will\nunderstand the mystery of who God is, and why He made all things.  The\nloving man alone, I say, will understand the mystery--how because God is\nlove He could not live alone in the abyss, but must create all things,\nall worlds and heavens, yea, and the heaven of heavens, that He might\nhave something beside Himself, whereon to spend His boundless love.  And\nwhy?  Because love can only love what is somewhat like itself, He made\nall things according to the idea of His own eternal mind.  Because He is\nunchangeable, and a God of order and of law, He made all things according\nto one order, and gave them a law which cannot be broken, that they might\ncontinue this day as they were at the beginning, serving Him and\nfulfilling His word.  Because He is a God of justice, He made all things\njust, depending on each other, helping each other, and compelled to\nsacrifice themselves for each other, and minister to each other whether\nthey will or not.  Because He is a God of beauty, He made all things\nbeautiful, of a variety and a richness unspeakable, that He might rejoice\nin all His works, and find a divine delight in every moss which grows\nupon the moor, and every gnat which dances in the sun.  Because He is a\nGod of love, He gave to every creature a power of happiness according to\nits kind, that He might rejoice in the happiness of His creatures.  And\nlastly, because God is a spirit--a moral and a rational Being--therefore\nHe created rational beings to be more like Him than any other creatures,\nand constituted the services of men and angels in a most wonderful order,\nthat they might reverence law as He does, and justice as He does--that\nthey might love to be loving as He loves, and to be useful as He is\nuseful--that they might rejoice in the beauty of His works as He rejoices\nin them Himself; and, catching from time to time fuller and fuller\nglimpses of that Divine and wonderful order according to which He has\nmade all things and all worlds, may see more and more clearly, as the\nyears roll on, that all things are just, and beautiful, and good; and\njoin more and more heartily in the hymn which goes up for ever from every\nsun, and star, and world, and from the tiniest creature in these worlds:\n\"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for Thou\nhast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.\"\n\nNow, to God the Father, who, out of His boundless love, ordains the\nmaking of all things; and to God the Son, who, out of His boundless love,\nperforms the making of all things; and to God the Holy Spirit, who, out\nof His boundless love, breathes law and kind, life and growth into all\nthings, three Persons in one, ever-blessed Trinity, be all glory, and\nhonour, and praise, for ever and ever.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON XVI.  THE GLORY OF THE TRINITY\n\n\n\nEversley, 1868.  St Mary's Chester, 1871.  Trinity Sunday.\n\nPsalm civ. 31, 33.  \"The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever:  The\nLord shall rejoice in his works.  I will sing unto the Lord as long as I\nlive:  I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.\"\n\nThis is Trinity Sunday, on which we think especially of the name of God.\nA day which, to a wise man, may well be one of the most solemn, and the\nmost humiliating days of the whole year.  For is it not humiliating to\nlook stedfastly, even for a moment, at God's greatness, and then at our\nown littleness; at God's strength and at our own weakness; at God's\nwisdom, and at our own ignorance; and, most of all, at God's\nrighteousness, and at our own sins?\n\nI do not say that it should not be so.  Rather, I say, it should be so.\nFor what is more wholesome for you and me, and any man, than to be\nhumiliated--humbled--and brought to our own level--that all may see who,\nwhat, and where we are?  What more wholesome than to be made holy and\nhumble men of heart?  What more wholesome for us, who are each of us\ntempted to behave as if we were the centre of the universe, to judge\nourselves the most important personages in the world, and to judge of\neverything according as it is pleasant or unpleasant to us, each in our\nown family, our own sect, our own neighbourhood; what more wholesome than\nto be brought now and then face to face with God Himself, and see what\npoor, little, contemptible atoms we are at best, compared with Him who\nmade heaven and earth?--to see how well God and God's world have gone on\nfor thousands of years without our help;--how well they will go on after\nwe are dead and gone?\n\nFace to face with God!  And how far shall we have to go to find ourselves\nface to face with God?  Not very far, according to St Paul.  God, he\nsays, is \"not far from every one of us; for in Him we live, and move, and\nhave our being.\"\n\nIn God, in the ever blessed Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost--we, and\nnot we only, but every living thing--each flower, each insect--lives, and\nmoves, and has its being.  So it is--strange as it may seem, and we\ncannot make it otherwise.  You fancy God far off--somewhere in the skies,\nbeyond suns and stars.  Know that the heavens, and the heaven of heavens,\ncannot contain Him.  Rather, in the very deepest sense, He contains them.\nIn God, suns and stars, and all the host of heaven, live, and move, and\nhave their being; and if God destroyed them all at this very moment, and\nthe whole universe became nothing once more, as it was nothing at first,\nstill God would remain, neither greater nor less, neither stronger nor\nweaker, neither richer nor poorer, than He was before.  For He is the\nself-existent I Am; who needs nought save Himself, and who needs nought\nsave to assert Himself in His Word, Jesus Christ our Lord, and say \"I\nAm,\" in order to create all things and beings, save Himself.  He is the\ninfinite; whom nothing, however huge, and vast, or strong, can\ncomprehend--that is, take in and limit.  He takes in and limits all\nthings; giving to each thing, form according to its own kind, and life\nand growth according to its own law; appointing to all (as says St Paul)\ntheir times, and the bounds of their habitation; that if they be rational\ncreatures, as we are, they may feel after the Lord and find Him; and if\nthey be irrational creatures, like the animals and the plants, mountains\nand streams, clouds and tempests, sun and stars, they may serve God's\ngracious purposes in the economy of His world.\n\nTherefore, everything which you see, is, as it were, a thought of God's,\nan action of God's; a message to you from God.  Therefore you can look at\nnothing in the earth without seeing God Himself at work thereon.  As our\nLord said, \"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.\"  You can look\nneither at the sun in the sky, nor at the grass beneath your feet,\nwithout being brought face to face with God, the ever blessed Trinity.\nThe tiniest gnat which dances in the sun, was conceived by God the\nFather, in whose eternal bosom are the ideas and patterns of all things,\npast, present, and to come; it was created by God the Son, by whom the\nFather made all things, and without whom nothing is made:  and it is kept\nalive by God the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, of whom it is\nwritten, \"Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou\nrenewest the face of the earth.\"\n\nOh that we could all remember this.  That when we walk across the field,\nor look out into the garden, we could have the wisdom to remember,\nWhither, O God, can I go from Thy presence?  For Thou art looking down on\nthe opening of every bud and flower, and without Thee not a sparrow falls\nto the ground.  Whither can I flee from Thy Spirit?  For Thy Spirit is\ngiving life perpetually, alike to me and to the insect at my feet;\nwithout Thy Spirit my lungs could not breathe one breath, my heart could\nnot beat one pulse.  In Thee, I and all things live, move, and have our\nbeing.  And shall I forget Thee, disobey Thee, neglect to praise, and\nhonour, and worship Thee, and thank Thee day and night, for Thy great\nglory?\n\nIf we could but remember that, there would be no fear of our being\nungodly, irreligious, undevout.  We look too often, day after day, month\nafter month, on the world around us just as the dumb beasts do, as a\nplace out of which we can get something to eat, and forget that it is\nalso a place out of which we can get, daily and hourly, something to\nadmire, to adore, to worship, even the thought of God's wisdom, God's\npower, God's goodness, God's glory.  Oh blind and heedless that we are.\nTruly said the wise man--\"An undevout astronomer is mad.\"  And truly said\nanother wise man, an Englishman--the saintly philosopher Faraday, now\nwith God,--\"How could he be otherwise than religious; when at every step\nhe found himself brought more closely face to face with the signs of a\nmind constructed like his own, with an aim and a purpose which he could\nunderstand, employing ways and means, and tending clearly to an end, and\nmethodically following out a system which he could both perceive and\ngrasp.\"  Such a man's whole life is one act of reverence to that God in\nwhose inner presence he finds himself illuminated and strengthened; and\nif there be revelation of divine things on earth, it is when the hidden\nsecrets of nature are disclosed to the sincere and self-denying seeker\nafter truth.\n\nYes, that is true.  The more you look into the world around you, and\nconsider every flower, and bird, and stone, the more you will see that a\nMind planned them, even the mind of God; a Mind like yours and mine; but\nhow infinitely different, how much deeper, wiser, vaster.  Before that\nthought we shrink into the nothingness from whence He called us out at\nfirst.  The difference between our minds and the Mind of God is--to what\nshall I liken it?  Say, to the difference between a flake of soot and a\nmountain of pure diamond.  That soot and that diamond are actually the\nsame substance; of that there is no doubt whatsoever; but as the light,\ndirty, almost useless soot is to the pure, and clear, hard diamond, ay,\nto a mountain, a world, a whole universe made of pure diamond--if such a\nthing were possible--so is the mind of man compared with that Mind of the\never blessed Trinity, which made the worlds, and sustains them in life\nand order to this day.\n\nMy friends, it is not in great things only, but in the very smallest,\nthat the greatest glory of the ever blessed Trinity is seen.  Ay, most,\nperhaps, in the smallest, when one considers the utterly inconceivable\nwisdom, which can make the smallest animal--so made as to be almost\ninvisible under the strongest microscope--as perfect in all its organs as\nthe hugest elephant.  Ay, more, which can not only make these tiny living\nthings, but, more wonderful still, make them make themselves?  For what\nis growth, but a thing making itself?  What is the seed growing into a\nplant, the plant into a flower, the flower to a seed again, but that\nthing making itself, transforming itself, by an inward law of life which\nGod's Spirit gives it.  I tell you the more earnestly and carefully you\nexamine into the creation, birth, growth of any living thing, even of the\ndaisy on the grass outside; the more you inquire what it really is, how\nit came to be like what it is, how it got where it is, and so forth; you\nwill be led away into questions which may well make you dizzy with\nthinking, so strange, so vast, so truly miraculous is the history of\nevery organised creature upon earth.  And when you recollect (as you are\nbound to do on this day), that each of these things is the work of the\never blessed Trinity; that upon every flower and every insect, generation\nafter generation of them, since the world was made, the ever blessed\nTrinity has been at work, God the Father thinking and conceiving each\nthing, in His eternal Mind, God the Son creating it and putting it into\nthe world, each thing according to the law of its life, God the Holy\nGhost inspiring it with life and law, that it may grow and thrive after\nits kind--when such thoughts as these crowd upon you, and they ought to\ncrowd upon you, this day of all the year, at sight of the meanest insect\nunder your feet; then what can a rational man do, but bow his head and\nworship in awful silence, adoring humbly Him who sits upon the throne of\nthe universe, and who says to us in all His works, even as He said to Job\nof old, \"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?  When\nthe morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?\nHast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou seen the\ndoors of the shadow of death?  Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?\nCanst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may\ncover thee?  Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto\nthee, Here we are?  Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the\nappetite of the young lions?  Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the\npeacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?  Hast thou given the\nhorse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?  Doth the hawk\nfly by thy wisdom? doth the eagle mount up at thy command?\"\n\nWhen God speaks thus to us--and He does thus speak to us, by every cloud\nand shower, and by every lightning flash and ray of sunshine, and by\nevery living thing which flies in air, or swims in water, or creeps upon\nthe earth--what can we say, save what Job said--\"Behold, I am vile; what\nshall I answer thee?  I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.\"\n\nBut if God be so awful in the material world, of which our five senses\ntell us, how much more awful is He in that spiritual and moral world, of\nwhich our senses tell us nought?  That unseen world of justice and\ntruthfulness, of honour and duty, of reverence and loyalty, of love and\ncharity, of purity and self-sacrifice; that spiritual world, I say, which\ncan be only seen by the spiritual eye of the soul, and felt by the\nspiritual heart of the soul?  How awful is God in that eternal world of\nright and wrong; wherein cherubim, seraphim, angel and archangel cry to\nHim for ever, not merely Mighty, mighty, mighty, but \"Holy, holy, holy.\"\nHow awful to poor creatures like us.  For then comes in the question--not\nmerely is God good? but, am not I bad?  Is God sinless? but, am not I a\nsinner?  Is God pure? but am not I impure?  Is God wise? then am not I a\nfool?  And when once that thought has crossed our minds, must we not\ntremble, must we not say with Isaiah of old, \"Woe is me! for I am undone;\nbecause I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people\nof unclean lips:  for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.\"\n\nYes; awful as is the thought of God's perfection in the material world\nabout us, more awful still is the thought of His perfection in the\nspiritual world.  So awful, that we might well be overwhelmed with dread\nand horror at the sight of God's righteousness and our sinfulness; were\nit not for the gracious message of revelation that tells us, that God,\nthe Father of heaven, is OUR Father likewise, who so loved us that He\ngave for us His only begotten, God the Son; that for His sake our sins\nmight be freely forgiven us; that God the Son is our Atonement, our\nRedeemer, our King, our Intercessor, our Example, our Saviour in life and\ndeath; and God the Holy Ghost, our Comforter, our Guide, our Inspirer,\nwho will give to our souls the eternal life which will never perish, even\nas He gives to our bodies the mortal life which must perish.\n\nOn the mercy and the love of the ever blessed Trinity, shown forth in\nChrist upon His cross, we can cast ourselves with all our sins; we can\ncry to Him, and not in vain, for forgiveness and for sanctification; for\na clean heart and a right spirit; and that we may become holy and humble\nmen of heart.  We can join our feeble praises to that hymn of praise\nwhich goes up for ever to God from suns and stars, clouds and showers,\nbeasts and birds, and every living thing, giving Him thanks for ever for\nHis great glory.  O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise\nHim and magnify Him for ever.  O ye holy and humble Men of heart, bless\nye the Lord; praise Him and magnify Him for ever.\n\n\n\nSERMON XVII.  LOVE OF GOD AND MAN\n\n\n\nFIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.\n\nEversley.  Chester Cathedral, 1872.\n\n1 John iv. 16, 21.  \"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth\nin God, and God in him. . . .  And this commandment have we from Him,\nThat he who loveth God love his brother also.\"\n\nThis is the first Sunday after Trinity.  On it the Church begins to teach\nus morals,--that is, how to live a good life; and therefore she begins by\nteaching us the foundation of all morals,--which is love,--love to God\nand love to man.\n\nBut which is to come first,--love to God, or love to man?\n\nOn this point men in different ages have differed, and will differ to the\nend.  One party has said, You must love God first, and let love to man\ncome after as it can; and others have contradicted that and said, You\nmust love all mankind, and let love to God take its chance.  But St John\nsays, neither of the two is before or after the other; you cannot truly\nlove God without loving man, or love man without loving God.  St John\nsays so, being full of the Spirit of God:  but alas! men, who are not\nfull of the Spirit of God, but only let themselves be taught by Him now\nand then and here and there, have found it very difficult to understand\nSt John, and still more difficult to obey him; and therefore there always\nhave been in God's Church these two parties; one saying, You must love\nGod first, and the other, You must love your neighbour first,--and each,\nof course, quoting Scripture to prove that they are in the right.\n\nThe great leader of the first party--perhaps the founder of it, as far as\nI am aware--was the famous St Augustine.  He first taught Christians that\nthey ought to love God with the same passionate affection with which they\nlove husband or wife, mother or child; and to use towards God the same\nwords of affection which those who love really utter one to each other.\nI will not say much of that; still less will I mention any of the words\nwhich good men and women who are of that way of thinking use towards God.\nI should be sorry to hold up such language to blame, even if I do not\nagree with it; and still more sorry to hold it up to ridicule from\nvulgar-minded persons if there be any in this Church.  All I say is, that\nall which has been written since about this passionate and rapturous love\ntoward God by the old monks and nuns, and by the Protestant Pietists,\nboth English and foreign, is all in St Augustine better said than it ever\nhas been since.  Some of the Pietist hymns, as we know, are very\nbeautiful; but there are things in them which one wishes left out; which\nseem, or ought to seem, irreverent when used toward God; which hurt, or\nought to hurt, our plain, cool, honest English common-sense.  A true\nEnglishman does not like to say more than he feels; and the more he\nfeels, the more he likes to keep it to himself, instead of parading it\nand talking of it before men.  Still waters run deep, he holds; and he is\nright for himself; only he must not judge others, or think that because\nhe cannot speak to God in such passionate language as St Augustine, who\nwas an African, a southern man, with much stronger feelings than we\nEnglishmen usually have, that therefore St Augustine, or those who copy\nhim now, do not really feel what they say.  But, nevertheless, plain\ncommon-sense people, such as most Englishmen are, are afraid of this\nenthusiastical religion.  They say, We do not pretend to feel this\nrapturous love to God, how much-soever we may reverence Him, and wish to\nkeep His commandments; and we do not desire to feel it.  For we see that\npeople who have talked in this way about God have been almost always\nmonks and nuns; or brain-sick, disappointed persons, who have no natural\nand wholesome bent for their affections.  And even though this kind of\nreligion may be very well for them, it is not the religion for a plain\nhonest man who has a wife and family and his bread to earn in the world,\nand has children to provide for, and his duty to do in the State as well\nas in the Church.  And more, they say, these enthusiastic, rapturous\nfeelings do not seem to make people better, and more charitable, and more\nloving.  Some really good and charitable people say that they have these\nfeelings, but for all that we can see they would be just as good and\ncharitable without the feelings, while most persons who take up with this\nsort of religion are not the better for it.  They do not control their\ntempers; they can be full,--as they say,--of love and devotion to God one\nminute, but why are they the next minute peevish, proud, self-willed,\nharsh and cruel to those who differ from them?  Their religion does not\nmake them love their neighbours.  In old times (when persecution was\nallowed), it made them, or at least allowed them, to persecute, torment,\nand kill their neighbours, and fancy that by such conduct they did God\nservice; and now it tempts them to despise their neighbours--to look on\nevery one who has not these strange, intense feelings which they say they\nhave, as unconverted, and lost, and doomed to everlasting destruction.\nNot, says the plain man, that we are more satisfied with the mere\nphilanthropist of modern times,--the man who professes to love the whole\nhuman race without loving God, or indeed often believing that there is a\nGod to love.  To us he seems as unloving a person as the mere fanatic.\nMeanwhile, plain people say, we will have nothing to do with either\nfanaticism or philanthropy,--we will try to do our duty where God has put\nus, and to behave justly and charitably by our neighbours; but beyond\nthat we cannot go.  We will not pretend to what we do not feel.\n\nMy friends, there is, as usual, truth on both sides,--both are partly\nright, and both are partly wrong.  And both may go on arguing against\neach other, and quoting texts of Scripture against each other till the\nlast day; if they will not listen to St John's message in the text.  One\nparty will say, It is written, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all\nthy heart, and soul, and strength, and mind; and if thou doest that, and\nthy soul is filled with love for the Creator, thou canst have no love\nleft for the creature; or if thy heart is filled with love for the\ncreature, there is no room left for love to God.  And then thou wilt find\nthat God is a jealous God, and will take from thee what thou lovest,\nbecause He will not have His honour given to another.\n\nAnd to that the other party will answer, Has not God said, \"Thou shalt\nlove thy neighbour as thyself?\"  Has He not commanded us to love our\nwives, our children?  And even if He had not, would not common sense tell\nus that He intended us to do so?  Do you think that God is a tempter and\na deceiver?  He has given us feelings and powers.  Has He not meant us to\nuse them?  He has given us wife and child.  Did He mean us not to love\nthem, after He has made us love them, we know not how or why?  You say\nthat God is a jealous God.  Yes, jealous He may be of our worshipping\nfalse gods, and idols, saints, or anything or person save Himself,--\njealous of our doing wrong, and ruining ourselves, and wandering out of\nthe path of His commandments, in which alone is life; but jealous of our\nloving our fellow creature as well as Himself, never.  That sort of\njealousy is a base and wicked passion in man, and dare we attribute it to\nGod?  What a thing to say of the loving God, that He takes away people's\nchildren, husbands, and friends, because they love them too much!\n\nThen the first party will say, But is it not written, \"Love not the\nworld, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the\nworld, the love of the Father is not in him?\"  And to that, the second\nparty will answer, And do you say that we are not to love this fair and\nwonderful earth which God has made for our use, and put us into it?  Why\ndid He make it lovely?  Why did He put us into it, if He did not mean us\nto enjoy it?  That is contrary to common sense, and contrary to the whole\nteaching of the Old Testament.  But if by the world you mean the world of\nman, the society in which we live--dare you compare a Christian and\ncivilized country like England with that detestable Roman world, sunk in\nall abominable vices, against which St John and St Paul prophesied?  Are\nnot such thoughts unjust and uncharitable to your neighbours, to your\ncountry, to all mankind?  Then the first party will say, But you do away\nwith all devoutness; and the second party will answer, And you do away\nwith all morality, for you tell people that the only way to please God is\nto feel about Him in a way which not one person in a thousand can feel;\nand therefore what will come, and does come, of your binding heavy\nburdens and grievous to be borne and laying them on men's shoulders is\nthis,--that the generality of people will care nothing about being good\nor doing right, because you teach them that it will not please God, and\nwill leave all religion to a few who have these peculiar fancies and\nfeelings.\n\nAnd so they may argue on for ever, unless they will take honestly the\nplain words of St John, and see that to love their neighbour is to love\nGod, and to love God is to love their neighbour.  So says St John clearly\nenough twice over.  \"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth\nin God, and God in him.\"  The two things are one, and the one cannot be\nwithout the other.\n\nDoes this seem strange to you?  Oh, my friends, it need not seem strange,\nif you will but consider who God is, and who man is.  Thou lovest God?\nThen, if thou lovest Him, thou must needs love all that He has made.  And\nwhat has He made?  All things, except sin; and what sin is He has told\nthee.  He has given thee ten commandments, and let no man give thee an\neleventh commandment out of his own conceit and will worship; calling\nunclean what God hath made clean, and cursing what God hath blessed.\nThou lovest God?  Then thou lovest all that is good; for God is good, and\nfrom Him all good things come.  But what is good?  All is good except\nsin; for it is written, \"God saw every thing that He had made, and,\nbehold, it was very good.\"  Therefore, if thou lovest God, thou must love\nall things, for all things are of Him, and by Him, and through Him; and\nin Him all live and move and have their being.  Then thou wilt truly love\nGod.  Thou wilt be content with God; and so thy love will cast out fear.\nThou wilt trust God; thou wilt have the mind of God; thou wilt be\nsatisfied with God's working, from the rise and fall of great nations to\nthe life and death of the smallest gnat which dances in the sun; thou\nwilt say for ever, and concerning all things, I know in whom I have\nbelieved.  It is the good Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good.\n\nAgain.  Thou lovest thy neighbour; thou lovest wife and child; thou\nlovest thy friends; thou lovest or wishest to love all men, and to do\nthem good.  Then thou lovest God.  For what is it that thou lovest in thy\nneighbour?  Not that which is bad in him?  No, but that which is good.\nThou lovest him for his kindliness, his honesty, his helpfulness,--for\nsome good quality in him.  But from whom does that good come, save from\nChrist and from the Spirit of Christ, from whom alone come all good\ngifts?  Yes, if you will receive it;--when we love our neighbours, it is\nGod in them, Christ in them, whom we love,--Christ in them, the hope of\nglory.\n\nWhat, some one will ask, when a man loves a fair face, does he love\nChrist then?  Ah! my friends, that is not true love, as all know well\nenough if they will let their own hearts tell them truth.  True love is\nwhen two people love each other for the goodness which is in them.  True\nlove is the love which endures after beauty has faded, and youth, and\nhealth, and all that seems to make life worth having is gone.  Have we\nnot seen ere now two old people, worn, crippled, diseased, yet living on\ntogether, helping each other, nursing each other, tottering on hand in\nhand to the grave, dying, perhaps, almost together,--because neither\ncared to live when the other is gone before, and loving all the while as\ntruly and tenderly as in the days of youth?  They know not why.  No; but\nGod knows why.  It is Christ in each other whom they love;--Christ, the\nhope of glory.  Yes, we have seen that, surely; and seen in it one of the\nmost beautiful, the most divine sights upon earth,--one which should\nteach us, if we will look at it aright, that when we love our neighbour\ntruly, it is the divine part in him, the spark of eternal goodness in\nhim,--what St Paul says is Christ in him,--which we admire, and cling to,\nand love.\n\nBut by that rule we cannot love every one, for every one is not good.  Be\nnot too sure of that.  All are not good, alas! but in all there is some\ngood.  It may be a very little,--a hope of glory in them, even though\nthat hope be very faint.  It may be dying out; it may die altogether, and\ntheir souls may become utterly base and evil, and be lost for ever.\nStill, while there is life there is hope, even for the worst; and just as\nfar as our hearts are full of the Spirit of God, we shall see the Spirit\nof God striving with the souls even of the worst men, and love them for\nthat.  Just as far as we have the likeness of Christ in us, we shall be\nquick to catch the least gleam of His likeness in our neighbours, and\nlove them for that.  Just as far as our hearts are full of love we shall\nsee something worth loving in every human being we meet, and love them\nfor that.  I know it is difficult.  It is not gotten in a day, that wide\nand deep spirit of love to all mankind which St Paul had; which made him\nweep with those who wept and rejoice with those who rejoiced, and become\nall things to all men, if by any means he might save some.  Before our\neyes are cleansed and purged to see some trace of good in every man, our\nhearts must be cleansed and purged from all selfishness, and bigotry, and\npride, and fancifulness, and anger, so that they may be filled with the\nloving Spirit of God.  As long as a taint of selfishness or pride remains\nin us, we shall be in continual danger of hating those whom God does not\nhate, despising those whom God does not despise, and condemning those\nwhom God does not condemn.  But if self is cast out of us, and the Spirit\nof God and of Christ enthroned in our hearts, then we shall love our\nbrother, and in loving him love God, who made him; and so, dwelling in\nlove, we shall dwell in God, and God in us:--to which true and only\neverlasting life may He of His mercy bring us, either in this world or in\nthe world to come.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON XVIII.  COURAGE\n\n\n\nChester Cathedral, 1871.\n\nActs iv. 13, 18-20.  \"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,\nand perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled;\nand they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. . . .\nAnd they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in\nthe name of Jesus.  But Peter and John answered and said unto them,\nWhether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than\nunto God, judge ye.  For we cannot but speak the things which we have\nseen and heard.\"\n\nLast Thursday was St Peter's Day.  The congregation on that day was, as\nfar as I could perceive, no larger than usual; and this is not a matter\nof surprise.  Since we gave up at the Reformation the superstitious\npractice of praying to the saints, saints' days have sunk--and indeed\nsunk too much--into neglect.  For most men's religion has a touch of\nself-interest in it; and therefore when people discovered that they could\nget nothing out of St Peter or St John by praying to them, they began to\nforget the very memory, many of them, of St Peter, St John, and other\nsaints and apostles.  They forget, too often, still, that though praying\nto any saint, or angel, or other created being, is contrary both to\nreason and to Scripture; yet it is according to reason and to Scripture\nto commemorate them.  That is to remember them, to study their\ncharacters, and to thank God for them--both for the virtues which He\nbestowed on them, and the example which He has given us in them.\n\nFor these old saints lived and died for our example.  They are, next of\ncourse to the Lord Himself, the ideals, the patterns, of Christian life--\nthe primeval heroes of our holy faith.  They shew to us of what stuff the\nearly Christians were made; what sort of stone--to use St Paul's own\nfigure,--the Lord chose wherewith to build up His Church.  They are our\nspiritual ancestors, for they spread the Gospel into all lands; and they\nspread it, remember always, not only by preaching what they knew, but by\nbeing what they were.  Their characters, their personal histories, are as\nimportant to us as their writings; nay, in the case of St Peter, even\nmore important.  For if these two epistles of his had been lost, and\nnever handed down to us, St Peter himself would have remained, as he is\ndrawn in the Gospels and the Acts, a grand and colossal human figure,\nevery line and feature of which is full of meaning and full of teaching\nto us.\n\nNow I think that the quality--the grace of God--which St Peter's\ncharacter and story specially force on our notice, is, the true courage\nwhich comes by faith.  I say, the courage which comes by faith.  There is\na courage which does not come by faith.  There is brute courage, which\ncomes from hardness of heart, from stupidity, obstinacy, or anger, which\ndoes not see danger, or does not feel pain.  That is the courage of the\nbrute.  One does not blame it, or call it wrong.  It is good in its\nplace, as all natural things are, which God has made.  It is good enough\nfor the brutes, but it is not good enough for man.  You cannot trust it\nin man.  And the more a man is what a man should be, the less he can\ntrust it.  The more mind and understanding a man has, so as to be able to\nforesee danger, and measure it, the more chance there is of his brute\ncourage giving way.  The more feeling a man has, the more keenly he feels\npain of body, or pain of mind, such as shame, loneliness, the dislike,\nridicule, and contempt of his fellow men; in a word, the more of a man he\nis, and the less of a mere brute, the more chance there is of his brute\ncourage breaking down, just when he wants it most to keep him up, by\nleaving him to play the coward and come to shame.  Yes.  To go through\nwith a difficult and dangerous undertaking, a man wants more than brute\ncourage.  He wants spiritual courage--the courage which comes by faith.\nHe needs to have faith in what he is doing; to be certain that he is\ndoing his duty, to be certain that he is in the right.  Certain that\nright will conquer, certain that God will make it conquer, by him or by\nsome one else; certain that he will either conquer honourably, or fail\nhonourably, for God is with him.  In a word, to have true courage, man\nneeds faith in God.\n\nTo give one example.  Look at the class of men who, in all England,\nundergo the most fearful dangers; who know not at what hour of any night\nthey may not be called up to the most serious labour and responsibility,\nwith the chance of a horrible and torturing death.  I mean the firemen of\nour great cities, than whom there are no steadier, braver, nobler-hearted\nmen.  Not a week passes without one or more of these firemen, in trying\nto save life and property, doing things which are altogether heroic.\nWhat do you fancy keeps them up to their work?  High pay?  The amusement\nand excitement of fires?  The vanity of being praised for their courage?\nMy friends, those would be but paltry weak motives, which would not keep\na man's heart calm and his head clear under such responsibility and\ndanger as theirs.  No.  It is the sense of duty,--the knowledge that they\nare doing a good and a noble work in saving the lives of human beings and\nthe wealth of the nation,--the knowledge that they are in God's hands,\nand that no real evil can happen to him who is doing right,--that to him\neven death at his post is not a loss, but a gain.  In short, faith in\nGod, more or less clear, is what gives those men their strong and quiet\ncourage.  God grant that you and I, if ever we have dangerous work to do,\nmay get true courage from the same fountain of ghostly strength.\n\nNow, St Peter's history is, I think, a special example of this.  He was\nnaturally, it seems, a daring man,--a man of great brute courage.  So far\nso good; but he had to be taught, by severe lessons, that his brute\ncourage was not enough,--that he wanted spiritual courage, the courage\nwhich came by faith, and that if that failed him, the brute courage would\nfail too.\n\nHe throws himself into the lake, to walk upon the water to Christ; and as\nsoon as he is afraid he begins to sink.  The Lord saves him, and tells\nhim why he had sank.  Because he had doubted, his faith had failed him.\nSo he found out the weakness of courage without faith.  Then, again, he\ntells our Lord, \"Though all men shall be offended of Thee, yet will I\nnever be offended.  I am ready to go with Thee both into prison, and to\ndeath.\"  And shortly after, his mere animal courage breaks out again, and\ndoes what little it can do, and little enough.  He draws sword, single-\nhanded, on the soldiers in the garden, and cuts down a servant of the\nhigh priest's, and perhaps would have flung his life away, desperately\nand uselessly, had not our Lord restrained him.  But when the fit of\nexcitement is past, his animal courage deserts him, and his moral courage\ntoo, and he denies his Lord.  So he found out that he was like too many,-\n-full of bodily courage, perhaps, but morally weak.  He had to undergo a\ngreat change.  He had to be converted by the Holy Spirit of God, and\nstrengthened by that Spirit, to have a boldness which no worldly courage\ncan give.  Then, when he was strong himself, he was able to strengthen\nhis brethren.  Then he was able, ignorant and unlearned man as he was, to\nstand up before the high priests and rulers of his nation, and to say,\nsimply and firmly, without boasting, without defiance, \"Whether it be\nright in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge\nye.  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.\"\nYes, my friends, it is the courage which comes by faith which makes truly\nbrave men,--men like St Peter and St John.  He who can say, I am right,\ncan say likewise, God is on my side, and I will not fear what man can do\nto me.\n\n\"We will not fear,\" said the Psalmist, \"though the earth be removed, and\nthough the hills be carried into the midst of the sea.\"  \"The just man,\nwho holds firm to his purpose,\" says a wise old heathen, \"he will not be\nshaken from his solid mind by the rage of the mob bidding him do base\nthings or the frowns of the tyrant who persecutes him.  Though the world\nwere to crumble to pieces round him, its ruins would strike him without\nmaking him tremble.\"  \"Whether it be right,\" said Peter and John to the\ngreat men and judges of the Jews, \"to hearken to God more than to you,\njudge ye.  We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.\"\nWe cannot but speak what we know to be true.\n\nIt was that courage which enabled our forefathers,--and not the great men\namong them, not the rich, not even the learned, save a few valiant\nbishops and clergy, but for the most part poor, unlearned, labouring men\nand women,--to throw off the yoke of Popery, and say, \"Reason and\nScripture tell us that it is absurd and wrong to worship images and pray\nto saints,--tell us that your doctrines are not true.  And we will say so\nin spite of the Pope and all his power,--in spite of torture and a fiery\ndeath.  We cannot palter; we cannot dissemble; we cannot shelter\nourselves under half-truths, and make a covenant with lies. 'Whether it\nbe right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than to God, judge\nye.  We cannot but speak the things which we know to be true.'\"\n\nSo it has been in all ages, and so it will be for ever.  Faith, the\ncertainty that a man is right, will give him a courage which will enable\nhim to resist, if need be, the rich ones, the strong ones, the learned\nones of the earth.  It has made poor unlearned men heroes and deliverers\nof their countrymen from slavery and ignorance.  It has made weak women\nmartyrs and saints.  It has enabled men who made great discoveries to\nface unbelief, ridicule, neglect, poverty; knowing that their worth would\nbe acknowledged at last, their names honoured at last as benefactors by\nthe very men who laughed at them and reviled them.  It has made men, shut\nup in prison for long weary years for doing what was right and saying\nwhat was true, endure manfully for the sake of some good cause, and say,-\n-\n\n\n   \"Stone walls do not a prison make,\n   Nor iron bars a cage;\nMinds innocent and quiet take\n   That for an hermitage.\nIf I have freedom in my thought,\n   And in my love am free,\nAngels alone, that soar above,\n   Enjoy such liberty.\"\n\n\nYes; settle it in your hearts, all of you.  There is but one thing which\nyou have to fear in earth or heaven,--being untrue to your better selves,\nand therefore untrue to God.  If you will not do the thing you know to be\nright, and say the thing you know to be true, then indeed you are weak.\nYou are a coward, and sin against God, and suffer the penalty of your\ncowardice.  You desert God, and therefore you cannot expect Him to stand\nby you.\n\nBut if you will do the thing you know to be right, and say the thing you\nknow to be true, then what can harm you?  Who will harm you, asks St\nPeter himself, \"if you be followers of that which is good?  For the eyes\nof the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their\nprayers.  But if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye; and be\nnot afraid of those who try to terrify you, neither be troubled, but\nsanctify the Lord God in your hearts.  Remember that He is just and holy,\nand a rewarder of all who diligently seek Him.  Worship Him in your\nhearts, and all will be well.  For says David again, \"Lord, who shall\ndwell in Thy tabernacle, or who shall rest upon Thy holy hill?  Even he\nthat leadeth an uncorrupt life, and doeth the thing which is right, and\nspeaketh the truth from his heart.  Whoso doeth these things shall never\nfall.\"\n\nYes, my friends; there is a tabernacle of God in which, even in this\nlife, He will hide us from the strife of tongues.  There is a hill of God\non which, even in the midst of labour and anxiety, we may rest both day\nand night.  Even Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages,--He who is the\nRighteousness itself, the Truth itself; and whosoever does righteousness\nand speaks truth dwells in Christ in this life, as well as in the life to\ncome; and Christ will strengthen him by His Holy Spirit to stand in the\nevil day, if it shall come, and having done all, to stand.  My dear\nfriends, if any of you are minded to be good men and women, pray for the\nHoly Spirit of God.  First for the spirit of love to give you good\ndesires; then the spirit of faith, to make you believe deeply in the\nliving God, who rewards every man according to his work; and then for the\nspirit of strength, to enable you to bring these desires to good effect.\n\nPray for that spirit, I say; for we all need help.  There are too many\npeople in the world--too many, perhaps, among us here--who are not what\nthey ought to be, and what they really wish to be, because they are weak.\nThey see what is right, and admire it; but they have not courage or\ndetermination to do it.  Most sad and pitiable it is to see how much\nweakness of heart there is in the world--how little true moral courage.\nI suppose that the reason is, that there is so little faith; that people\ndo not believe heartily and deeply enough in the absolute necessity of\ndoing right and being honest.  They do not believe heartily and deeply\nenough in God to trust Him to defend and reward them, if they will but be\ntrue to Him, and to themselves.  And therefore they have no moral\ncourage.  They are weak.  They are kind, perhaps, and easy; easily led\nright; but, alas! just as easily led wrong.  Their good resolutions are\nnot carried out; their right doctrines not acted up to; and they live\npitiful, confused, useless, inconsistent lives; talking about religion,\nand yet denying the power of religion in their daily lives; playing with\nholy and noble thoughts and feelings, without giving themselves up to\nthem in earnest, to be led by the Spirit of God, to do all the good works\nwhich God has prepared for them to walk in.  Pray all of you, then, for\nthe spirit of faith, to believe really in God; and for the spirit of\nghostly strength, to obey God honestly.  No man ever asked earnestly for\nthat spirit but what he gained it at last.  And no man ever gained it but\nwhat he found the truth of St Peter's own words, \"Who will harm you if ye\nbe followers of that which is good?\"\n\n\n\nSERMON XIX.  GOOD DAYS\n\n\n\nEversley, 1867.  Westminster, Sept. 27, 1872.\n\n1 Peter iii. 8-12.  \"Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of\nanother, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:  Not rendering evil\nfor evil, or railing for railing:  but contrariwise blessing; knowing\nthat ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.  For he\nthat will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from\nevil, and his lips that they speak no guile:  Let him eschew evil, and do\ngood; let him seek peace, and ensue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are\nover the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers:  but the\nface of the Lord is against them that do evil.\"\n\nThis is one of the texts which is apt to puzzle people who do not read\ntheir Bibles carefully enough.  They cannot see what the latter part of\nit has to do with the former.\n\nSt. Peter says that we Christians are called that we should inherit a\nblessing.  That means, of course, they say, the blessing of salvation,\neverlasting life in heaven.  But then St. Peter quotes from the 34th\nPsalm.  \"For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain\nhis tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.\"  Now that\nPsalm, they say, speaks of blessing and happiness in this life.  Then why\ndoes St. Peter give it as a reason for expecting blessing and happiness\nin the life to come?  And then, they say, to make it fit in, it must be\nunderstood spiritually; and what they mean by that, I do not clearly\nknow.\n\nTheir notion is, that the promises of the Old Testament are more or less\ncarnal, because they speak of God's rewarding men in this life; and that\nthe promises of the New Testament are spiritual, because they speak of\nGod's rewarding men in the next life; and what they mean by that, again,\nI do not clearly know.\n\nFor is not the Old Testament spiritual as well as the New?  I trust so,\nmy friends.  Is not the Old Testament inspired, and that by the Spirit of\nGod? and if it be inspired by the Spirit, what can it be but spiritual?\nTherefore, if we want to find the spiritual meaning of Old Testament\npromises, we need not to alter them to suit any fancies of our own; like\nthose monks of the fourth and succeeding centuries, who saw no sanctity\nin family or national life; no sanctity in the natural world, and,\ntherefore, were forced to travesty the Hebrew historians, psalmists, and\nprophets, with all their simple, healthy objective humanity, and\npolitics, and poetry, into metaphorical and subjective, or, as they\nmiscalled them, spiritual meanings, to make the Old Testament mean\nanything at all.  No; if we have any real reverence for the Holy\nScriptures, we must take them word for word in their plain meaning, and\nfind the message of God's Spirit in that plain meaning, instead of trying\nto put it in for ourselves.  Therefore it is that the VII. Article bids\nus beware of playing with Scripture in this way.  It says the Old\nTestament is not contrary to the New, for both in the Old and New\nTestament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ.  Wherefore\nthey are not to be heard who feign that the old fathers did look only for\ntransitory promises, that is temporary promises, promises which would be\nfulfilled only in this life, and end and pass away when they died.\n\nBut some one will say, how can that be, when so many of the old Hebrews\nseem to have known nothing about the next life?  Moses, for instance,\nalways promises the Children of Israel that if they do right, and obey\nGod, they shall be rewarded in this life, with peace and prosperity,\nfruitfulness and wealth; but of their being rewarded in the next life he\nnever says one word--which last statement is undeniably true.\n\nIs not then the Old Testament contrary to the New, if the Old Testament\nteaches men to look for their reward in this life, and the New Testament\nin the next?  No, it is not, my friends.  And I think we shall see that\nit is not, and why it is not, if we will look honestly at this very\nimportant text.  If we do that we shall see that what St. Peter meant--\nwhat the VII.  Article means is the only meaning which will make sense of\neither one or the other; is simply this--that what causes a man to enjoy\nthis life, is the same that will cause him to enjoy the life to come.\nThat what will bring a blessing on him in this life, will bring a\nblessing on him in the life to come.  That what blessed the old Jews,\nwill bless us Christians.  That if we refrain our tongue from evil, and\nour lips from speaking deceit; it we avoid evil and do good; if we seek\npeace and follow earnestly after it; then shall we enjoy life, and see\ngood days, and inherit a blessing; whether in this life or in the life to\ncome.\n\nAnd why?  Because then we shall be living the one and only everlasting\nlife of goodness, which alone brings blessings; alone gives good days;\nand is the only life worth living, whether in earth or heaven.\n\nMy dear friends, lay this seriously to heart, in these days especially,\nwhen people and preachers alike have taken to part earth and heaven, in a\nfashion which we never find in Holy Scripture.  Lay it to heart, I say,\nand believe that what is right, and therefore good, for the next life, is\nright, and therefore good, for this.  That the next life is not contrary\nto this life.  That the same moral laws hold good in heaven, as on earth.\nMark this well; for it must be so, if morality, that is right and\ngoodness, is of the eternal and immutable essence of God.  And therefore,\nmark this well again, there is but one true, real, and right life for\nrational beings, one only life worth living, and worth living in this\nworld or in any other life, past, present, or to come.  And that is the\neternal life which was before all worlds, and will be after all are\npassed away--and that is neither more nor less than a good life; a life\nof good feelings, good thoughts, good words, good deeds, the life of\nChrist and of God.\n\nIt is needful, I say, to bear this in mind just now.  People are, as I\ntold you, too apt to say that the Old Testament saints got their rewards\nin this life, while we shall get them in the next.  Do they find that in\nScripture?  If they will read their Bible they will find that the Old\nTestament saints were men whom God was training and educating, as He does\nus, by experience and by suffering.  That David, so far from having his\nreward at once in this life, had his bitter sorrows and trials; that\nMoses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Job, all, indeed, of the old prophets, had to be\nmade perfect by suffering, and (as St. Paul says) died in faith NOT\nhaving received the promises.  So that if they had their reward in this\nlife, it must have been a spiritual reward, the reward of a good\nconscience, and of the favour of Almighty God.  And that is no transitory\nor passing reward, but enduring as immortality itself.  But people do not\nusually care for that spiritual reward.  Their notion of reward and\nhappiness is that they are to have all sorts of pleasures, they know not\nwhat, and know not really why.  And because they cannot get pleasant\nthings enough to satisfy them in this life, they look forward greedily to\ngetting them in the next life; and meanwhile are discontented with God's\nProvidence, and talk of God's good world as if some fiend and not the\nLord Jesus Christ was the maker and ruler thereof.  Do not misunderstand\nme.  I am no optimist.  I know well that things happen in this world\nwhich must, which ought to make us sad--so sad that at moments we envy\nthe dead, who are gone home to their rest; real tragedies, real griefs,\ndivine and Christlike griefs, which only loving hearts know--the\nsuffering of those we love, the loss of those we love, and, last and\nworst, the sin of those we love.  Ah! if any of those swords have pierced\nthe heart of any soul here, shall I blame that man, that woman, if they\ncry at times, \"Father, take me home, this earth is no place for me.\"\nShall I bid them do aught but cling to the feet of Christ and cry, \"If it\nbe possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but\nas Thou wilt.\"  Oh, not of such do I speak; not of such sharers of\nChrist's unselfish suffering here, that they may be sharers of His\nunselfish joy hereafter.  Not of them do I speak; but of those who only\nwish to make up for selfish discomforts and disappointments in this life\nby selfish comforts and satisfaction in the next; and who therefore take\nup (let me use the honest English word) some maundering form of religion,\nwhich, to judge from their own conduct, they usually only half believe;\nthose who seem, on six days of the week, as fond of finery and frivolity\nas any other gay worldlings, and on the seventh join eagerly in hymns in\nwhich (in one case at least) they inform the Almighty God of truth, who\nwill not be mocked, that they lie awake at night, weeping because they\ncannot die and see \"Jerusalem the golden,\" and so forth.  Or those,\nagain, who for six days in the week are absorbed in making money--\nhonestly if they can, no doubt, but still making money, and living\nluxuriously on their profits--and on the seventh listen with satisfaction\nto preachers and hymns which tell them that this world is all a howling\nwilderness, full of snares and pitfalls; and that in this wretched place\nthe Christian can expect nothing but tribulation and persecution till he\n\"crosses Jordan, and is landed safe on Canaan's store,\" and so forth.\n\nMy friends, my friends, as long as a man talks so, blaspheming God's\nworld--which, when He made it, behold it was all very good--and laying\nthe blame of their own ignorance and peevishness on God who made them,\nthey must expect nothing but tribulation and sorrow.  But the tribulation\nand the sorrow will be their own fault, and not God's.  If religious\nprofessors will not take St. Peter's advice and the Psalmist's advice; if\nthey will go on coveting and scheming about money, and how they may get\nmoney; if they will go on being neither pitiful, courteous, nor\nforgiving, and hating and maligning whether it be those who differ from\nthem in doctrine, or those who they fancy have injured them, or those who\nmerely are their rivals in the race of life; then they are but too likely\nto find this world a thorny place, because they themselves raise the\nthorns; and a disorderly place, because their own tempers and desires are\ndisorderly; and a wilderness, because they themselves have run wild,\nbarbarians at heart, however civilised in dress and outward manners.  St.\nJames tells them that of old.  \"From whence,\" he says, \"come wars and\nquarrels among you?  Come they not hence, even of the lusts which war in\nyour members?  You long, and have not.  You fight and war, yet you have\nnot, because you ask not.  You ask, and have not.  You pray for this and\nthat, and God does not give it you.  Because you ask amiss, selfishly to\nconsume it on your lusts.\"  And then you say, This world is an evil\nplace, full of temptations.  What says St. James to that?  \"Let no man\nsay when he is tempted, I am tempted of God:  for God cannot be tempted\nwith evil, neither tempteth He any man.  But every man is tempted, when\nhe is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.\"\n\nSo it was in the Old Testament times, and so it is in these Christian\ntimes.  God is good, and God's world is good; and the evil is not in the\nworld around us, but in our own foolish hearts.  If we follow our own\nfoolish hearts, we shall find this world a bad place, as the old Jews\nfound it--whenever they went wrong and sinned against God--because we are\nbreaking its laws, and they will punish us.  If we follow the\ncommandments of God, we shall find this world a good place, as the old\nJews found it--whenever they went right, and obeyed God--because we shall\nbe obeying its laws, and they will reward us.  This is God's promise\nalike to the old Jewish fathers and to us Christian men.  And this is no\ntransitory or passing promise, but is founded on the eternal and\neverlasting law of right, by which God has made all worlds, and which He\nHimself cannot alter, for it springs out of His own essence and His own\neternal being.  Hear, then, the conclusion of the whole matter:  God hath\ncalled you that you might inherit a blessing.\n\nHe hath made you of a blessed race, created in His own likeness, to whom\nHe hath put all things in subjection, making man a little lower than the\nangels, that He might crown him with glory and worship:  a race so\nprecious in God's eyes--we know not why--that when mankind had fallen,\nand seemed ready to perish from their own sin and ignorance, God spared\nnot His only begotten Son, but freely gave Him for us, that the world by\nHim might be saved.  And God hath put you in a blessed place, even His\nwondrous and fruitful world, which praises God day and night, fulfilling\nHis word; for it continues this day as in the beginning, and He has given\nit a law which cannot be broken.  He has made you citizens of a blessed\nkingdom, even the kingdom of heaven, into which you were baptised; and\nhas given you the Holy Bible, that you might learn the laws of the\nkingdom, and live for ever, blessing and blest.\n\nAnd the Head of this blessed race, the Maker of this blessed world, the\nKing of this blessed kingdom, is the most blessed of all beings, Jesus\nChrist, the only-begotten Son, both God and man.  He has washed you\nfreely from your sins in His own blood; He has poured out on you freely\nHis renewing Spirit.  And He asks you to enter into your inheritance;\nthat you may love your life, and see good days, by living the blessed\nlife, which is the life of self-sacrifice.  But not such self-sacrifices\nas too many have fancied who did not believe that mankind was a blessed\nrace, and this earth a blessed place.  He does not ask you to give up\nwife, child, property, or any of the good things of this life.  He only\nasks you to give up that selfishness which will prevent you enjoying\nwife, child, or property, or anything else in earth, or in heaven either.\nHe asks you not to give up anything which is AROUND you, for that which\ncometh from without defileth not a man; but to give up something which is\nwithin you, for that which cometh from within, that defileth a man.\n\nHe asks you to give up selfishness and all the evil tempers which that\nselfishness breeds.  To give up the tongue which speaks evil of your\nfellow-men; and the lips which utter deceit; and the brain which imagines\ncunning; and the heart which quarrels with your neighbour.  To give these\nup and to seek peace, and pursue it by all means reasonable or\nhonourable; peace with all around you, which comes by having first peace\nwith God; next, peace with your own conscience.  This is the peace which\npasseth understanding; for if you have it, men will not be able to\nunderstand why you have it.  They will see you at peace when men admire\nyou and praise you, and at peace also when they insult you and injure\nyou; at peace when you are prosperous and thriving, and at peace also\nwhen you are poor and desolate.  And that inward peace of yours will pass\ntheir understanding as it will pass your own understanding also.  You\nwill know that God sends you the peace, and sends it you the more the\nmore you pray for it:  but how He sends it you will not understand; for\nit springs out of those inner depths of your being which are beyond the\nnarrow range of consciousness, and is spiritual and a mystery, and comes\nby the inspiration of the holy Spirit of God.\n\nBut remember that all your prayers will not get that peace if your heart\nbe tainted with malice and selfishness and covetousness, falsehood and\npride and vanity.  You must ask God first to root those foul seeds out of\nyour heart, or the seed of His Spirit will not spring up and bear fruit\nin you to the everlasting life of love and peace and joy in the holy\nSpirit.  But if your heart be purged and cleansed of self, then indeed\nwill the holy Spirit enter in and dwell there; and you will abide in\npeace, through all the chances and changes of this mortal life, for you\nwill abide in God, who is for ever at peace.  And you will inherit a\nblessing; for you will inherit Christ, your light and your life, who is\nblessed for ever.  And you will love life; for life will be full to you\nof hope, of work, of duty, of interest, of lessons without number.  And\nyou will see good days; for all days will seem good to you, even those\nwhich seem to the world bad days of affliction and distress.  And so the\npeace of God will keep you in Jesus Christ, in this life, and in the life\nto come.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON XX.  GRACE\n\n\n\nEversley. 1856.\n\nSt. John i. 16, 17.  \"Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for\ngrace.  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus\nChrist.\"\n\nI wish you to mind particularly this word GRACE.  You meet it very often\nin the Bible.  You hear often said, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be\nwith you all.  Now, what does this word grace mean?  It is really worth\nyour while to know; for if a man or a woman has not grace, they will be\nvery unhappy people, and very disagreeable people also; a torment to\nthemselves, and a torment to their neighbours also; and if they live\nwithout grace, they will live but a poor life; if they die without grace,\nthey will come to a very bad end indeed.  What, then, does this word\nmean?  Some of you will answer that grace means God's Holy Spirit, or\nthat it means what God gives to our souls by His Spirit.  But what does\nthat mean?  What does God's Spirit give us?  What is the grace of Jesus\nChrist like, and how is it the same as the grace of God's Spirit?\n\nNow, to know what grace means, we must know what St John and St Paul\nmeant by it, and what the word meant in their time, and what the\nEphesians, and Corinthians, and Romans, to whom they wrote, would have\nunderstood by this word grace.\n\nNow these heathens, to whom the apostles preached, before they heard the\ngospel, knew that word grace very well indeed, often used it; and saw it\nwritten up in their heathen temples all about them.  And they meant by it\njust what we mean, when we talk of a graceful person, or a graceful tree\nor flower; and what we mean, too, when we say that any one is gracious;\nthat they do things gracefully, and have a great deal of grace in their\nway of speaking and behaving.  We mean by that that they are handsome,\nagreeable, amiable, pleasant to look at, and talk to, and deal with.  And\nso these heathens meant, before they were Christians.  The Romans used to\ntalk about some one called a Grace.  The Greeks called her CHARIS; which\nis exactly the word which St John and St Paul use, and from it come our\nwords charity and charitable.  But more; they used to talk of three\nGraces:  they fancied that they were goddesses--spirits of some kind in\nthe shape of beautiful, and amiable, and innocent maidens, who took\ndelight in going about the world and making people happy and amiable like\nthemselves; and they used to make images of these graces, and pray to\nthem to make them lovely, and happy, and agreeable.  And painters and\nstatuaries, too, used to pray to these graces, and ask them to put\nbeautiful fancies into their minds, that they might be able to paint\nbeautiful pictures, and carve beautiful statues.  So when St Paul or St\nJohn talked to these heathens about grace, or Charis (as the Testament\ncalls it), they knew quite well what the apostles meant.\n\nDid the apostles, then, believe in these three goddesses?  Heaven forbid.\nThey came to teach these heathens to turn from those very vanities, and\nworship the living-God.  And so they told them,--You are quite right in\nthinking that grace comes from heaven, and is God's gift; that it is God\nwho makes people amiable, cheerful, lovely, and honourable; that it is\nGod who gives happiness and all the joys of life:  but which god?  Not\nthose three maidens; they are but a dream and fancy.  All that is lovely\nand pleasant in men and women--and our life here, and our everlasting\nlife after death, in this world and in all worlds to come--all comes from\nJesus Christ and from Him alone.  God has gathered together all things in\nHim, whether things in heaven or things on earth; and He bestows\nblessings and graces on all who will ask Him, to each as much as is good\nfor him.  He is full of grace--more full of it than all the human beings\nin the world put together.  All the goodness and sweetness, and all the\ngraciousness which you ever saw in all the men and women whom you ever\nmet; all the goodness and sweetness which you ever fancied for\nyourselves, all put together is not to be compared to Him.  For He is the\nperfect brightness of God's glory, and the express image of God's person;\nand in Him is gathered together all grace, all goodness, all which makes\nmen or angels good, and lovely, and loving.  All is in Him, and He gives\nit freely to all, said the apostles; we know that He speaks truth, we\nhave seen Him; our eyes saw Him, our hands touched Him, and there was a\nglory about Him such as there never could be about any other person.  A\nglory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  A\nperson whom we could not help loving; could not help admiring; could not\nhelp trusting; could not help giving ourselves up to--to live for Him,\nand if need be, die for Him.\n\nAnd, said the apostles, there was a grace of truth in another of your\nheathen fancies.  You thought that these goddesses, because they were\namiable and innocent themselves, liked to make every one amiable,\ninnocent, and happy also.  Your conscience, your reason were right there.\nThat is the very nature of grace, not to keep itself to itself, but to\nspend itself on every one round it, and try to make every one like\nitself.  If a man be good, he will long to make others good; if tender,\nhe will long to make others tender; if gentle, he will long to make\nothers gentle; if cheerful, he will long to make others cheerful; if\nforgiving, he will long to make others forgiving; if happy, he will long\nto make others happy.  Then said the apostles, only believe that the Lord\nJesus Christ, just because He is full of grace, wishes to fill you with\ngrace, ten thousand times better grace than you ever fancied those false\ngoddesses could give you--of His fulness you may all receive, and grace\nfor grace.  All the grace of this world comes from Him--health, and\nyouth, and happiness, and all the innocent pleasures of life, and He\ndelights in giving you them.  But, over and above that, comes a deeper\nand nobler grace--spiritual grace, the grace of the immortal soul, which\nwill last on, and make you loving and loveable, pure and true, gracious\nand generous, honourable and worthy of respect, when the grace of the\nbody is gone, and the eye is grown dim, and the hair is grey, and the\nlimbs, feeble; a grace which will make you gracious in old age, gracious\nin death, gracious for ever and ever, after the body has crumbled again\nto its dust.  Whatsoever things are honourable, lovely, and of good\nreport; whatsoever tempers of mind make you a comfort to yourselves and\nall around you; Christ has them all, and He can give you them all, one\nafter the other, till Christ be formed in you, till you come to be\nperfect men and women, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of\nChrist.  Come, then, boldly to His throne of grace, to find mercy, and\ngrace to help you in the time of need.\n\nThis was what the apostles taught the heathen, and their words were true.\nYou may see them come true round you every day.  For, my friends, just as\nfar as people pray for Christ's grace, and give themselves up to be led\nby God's Spirit, they become full of grace themselves, courteous and\ncivil, loving and amiable, true and honourable--a pleasure to themselves\nand to all round them.  While, on the other hand; all rudeness, all ill-\ntemper, all selfishness, all greediness are just so many sins against the\ngrace of Christ, which grieve the Spirit of God, at the same time that\nthey grieve our neighbours for whom Christ died, and cut us off, as long\nas we give way to them, from the communion of saints.\n\nWell would it be for married people, if they would but remember this.\nWell for them, for their own sake and for their children's.  \"Heirs\ntogether,\" St Peter says they are, \"of the grace of life.\"  Think of\nthose words; for in them lies the true secret of happiness.  Not in the\nmere grace of youth, which pleases the fancy at first; that must soon\nfade; and then comes, too often, coldness between man and wife; neglect,\nrudeness, ill-temper, because the grace of life is not there--the grace\nof the inner life, of the immortal soul, which alone makes life pleasant,\neven tolerable, to two people who are bound together for better or for\nworse.  But yet, unless St Peter be mistaken, the fault in such sad case\nis on the man's side.  Yes, we must face that truth, we men; and face it\nlike men.  If we are unhappy in our marriage it is our own fault.  It is\nthe woman who is the weaker, says St Peter, and selfish men are apt to\nsay, \"Then it is the woman's fault, if we are not happy.\"  St Peter says\nexactly the opposite.  He says,--Because she is the weaker you are the\nstronger; and therefore it is your fault if she is not what she should\nbe; for you are able to help her, and lead her; you took her to your\nheart for that very purpose, you swore to cherish her.  Because she is\nthe weaker, you can teach her, help her, improve her character, if you\nwill.  You have more knowledge of life and the world than she has.  Dwell\nwith her according to knowledge, says St Peter; use your experience to\nset her right if she be wrong; and use your experience and your strength,\ntoo, to keep down your own temper and your own selfishness toward her, to\nbear and forbear, to give and forgive, live and let live.  Remember that\nyou are heirs TOGETHER of the grace of life; and if the grace of life is\nnot in you, you cannot expect it to be in her.  And what is the grace of\nlife?  It must be the grace of Christ.  St John says that Christ IS the\nLife.  And what is the grace of Christ?  Christ's grace, Christ's\ngracefulness, Christ's beautiful and noble and loving character--the\ngrace of Christ is Christ's likeness.  Do you ask what will Christ give\nme?  He will give you Himself.  He will make you like Himself, partaker\nof His grace; and what is that?  It is this--to be loving, gentle,\ntemperate, courteous, condescending, self-sacrificing.  Giving honour to\nthose who are weaker than yourself, just because they are weaker; ready\nand willing, ay, and counting it an honour to take trouble for other\npeople, to be of use to other people, to give way to other people; and,\nabove all, to the woman who has given herself to you, body and soul.\nThat is the grace of Christ; that is the grace of life; that is what\nmakes life worth having:  ay, makes it a foretaste of heaven upon earth;\nwhen man and wife are heirs together of the grace of life, of all those\ntempers which make life graceful and pleasant, giving way to each other\nin everything which is not wrong; studying each other's comfort, taking\neach other's advice, shutting their eyes to each other's little failings,\nand correcting each other's great failings, not by harsh words, but\nsilently and kindly, by example.  And if the man will do that, there is\nlittle fear but that the woman will do it also.  And so, their prayers\nare not hindered.\n\nMarried people cannot pray, they have no heart to pray, while they are\ndiscontented with each other.  They feel themselves wrong, and because\nthey are parted from each other, they feel parted from God too; and their\nselfishness or anger rises as a black wall, not merely between them, but\nbetween each of them and God.  And so the grace of life is indeed gone\naway from them, and the whole world looks dark and ugly to them, because\nit is not bright and cheerful in the light of Christ's grace, which makes\nall the world full of sunshine and joy.  But it need not be so, friends.\nIt would not be so, if married people would take the advice which the\nPrayer Book gives them, and come to Holy communion.  Would to God, my\nfriends, that all married people would understand what that Holy\ncommunion says to them; and come together Sunday after Sunday to that\nthrone of grace, there to receive of Christ's fulness, and grace upon\ngrace.  For that Table says to you:  You are heirs together of the grace\nof life; you are not meant merely to feed together for a few short years,\nat the same table, on the bread which perishes, but to feed for ever\ntogether on the bread which comes down from heaven, even on Christ\nHimself, the life of the world; to receive life from His life, that you\nmay live together such a life as He lived, and lives still; to receive\ngrace from the fulness of His grace, that you may be full of grace as He\nis.  That Table tells you that because you both must live by the same\nlife of Christ, you must live the same life as each other, and grow more\nand more like each other year by year; that as you both receive the same\ngrace of Christ, you will become more and more gracious to each other\nyear by year, and both grow together, nearer and dearer to each other,\nmore worthy of each other's respect, more worthy of each other's trust,\nmore worthy of each other's love.  And then \"till death us do part\" may\nmean what it will.  Let death part what of them he can part, the\nperishing mortal body; he has no power over the soul, or over the body\nwhich shall rise to life eternal.  Let death do his worst.  They belong\nto Christ who conquered death, and they live by His everlasting life, and\ntheir life is hid with Christ in God, where death cannot reach it or find\nit; and therefore their life and their love, and the grace of it, will\nlast as long as Christ's life and Christ's love, and Christ's grace last-\n-and that will be for ever and ever.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXI.  FATHER AND CHILD\n\n\n\nEversley. 1861.\n\n1 Cor. i. 4, 5, 7.  \"I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace\nof God which is given you by Jesus Christ.  That in every thing ye are\nenriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge . . .  So that ye\ncome behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nWho shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the\nday of our Lord Jesus Christ.\"\n\nThis text is a very important one.  It ought to teach me how I should\ntreat you.  It ought to teach you how you should treat your children.  It\nought to teach you how God, your heavenly Father, treats you.  You see at\nthe first glance how cheerful and hopeful St Paul is about these\nCorinthians.  He is always thanking God, he says, about them, for the\ngrace of God which was given them by Jesus Christ, that in everything\nthey were enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge.  And he\nhas good hope for them.  Nay, he seems to be certain about them, that\nthey will persevere, and conquer, and be saved; for Christ Himself will\nconfirm them (that is strengthen them) to the end, that they may be\nblameless in the way of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nIf we knew no more of these Corinthians than what these words tell us, we\nshould suppose that they were very great saints, leading holy and\nirreproachable lives before God and man.  But we know that it was not so.\nThat they were going on very ill.  That this is the beginning of an\nepistle in which St Paul is going to rebuke them very severely; and to\ntell them, that unless they mend, they will surely become reprobates, and\nbe lost after all.  He is going to rebuke them for having heresies among\nthem, that is religious parties and religious quarrels--very much as we\nhave now; for being puffed up with spiritual self-conceit; for despising\nand disparaging him; for loose lives, allowing (in one case) such a crime\namong them as even the heathen did not allow; for profaning the Lord's\nSupper, to such an extent that some seem even to have got drunk at it;\nfor want of charity to each other; for indulging in fanatical excitement;\nfor denying, some of them, the resurrection of the dead; on the whole,\nfor being in so unwholesome a state of mind that he has to warn them\nsolemnly of the fearful example of the old Israelites, who perished in\nthe wilderness for their sins--as they will perish, he hints, unless they\nmend.\n\nAnd yet he begins by thanking God for them, by speaking of them, and to\nthem, in this cheerful and hopeful tone.\n\nDoes that seem strange?  Why should it seem strange, my friends, to us,\nif we are in the habit of training our children, and rebuking our\nchildren, as we ought?  If we have to rebuke our children for doing\nwrong, do we begin by trying to break their hearts? by raking up old\noffences, by reproaching them with all the wrong they ever did in their\nlives, and giving them to understand that they are thoroughly bad, and\nhave altogether lost our love, so that we will have nothing more to do\nwith them unless they mend?  Or do we begin by making them feel that\nhowever grieved we are with them, we love them still; that however wrong\nthey have been, there is right feeling left in them still; and by giving\nthem credit for whatever good there is in them--by appealing to that;\ncalling on them to act up to that; to be true to themselves, and to their\nbetter nature; saying, You can do right in one thing--then do right in\nanother--and do right in all?  If we do not do this we do wrong; we\ndestroy our children's self-respect, we make them despair of improving,\nwe make them fancy themselves bad children:  that is the very surest plan\nwe can take to make them bad children, by making them reckless.\n\nBut if we be wise parents--such parents to our children as St Paul was to\nhis spiritual children, the Corinthians--we shall do by them just what St\nPaul did by these Corinthians.  Before he says one harsh word to them, he\nwill awaken in them faith and love.  He will make them trust him and love\nhim, all the more because he knows that through false teaching they do\nnot trust and love him as they used to do.  But till they do, he knows\nthat there is no use in rebuking them.  Till they trust him and love him,\nthey will not listen to him.  And how does he try to bring them round to\nhim?  By praising them:--by telling them that he trusts them and loves\nthem, because in spite of all their faults there is something in them\nworthy to be loved and trusted.  He begins by giving them credit for\nwhatever good there is in them.  They are rich in all utterance and all\nknowledge; that is, they are very brilliant and eloquent talkers about\nspiritual things, and also very deep and subtle thinkers about spiritual\nthings.  So far so good.  These are great gifts--gifts of Christ, too,--\ntokens that God's spirit is with them, and that all they need is to be\ntrue to His gracious inspirations.  Then, when he has told them that, or\nrather made them understand that he knows that, and is delighted at it,\nthen he can go on safely and boldly to tell them of their sins also in\nthe plainest and sternest and yet the most tender and fatherly language.\n\nThis is very important, my friends.  I cannot tell you fully how\nimportant I think it, in more ways than one.  I am sure that if we took\nSt Paul's method with our children we should succeed with them far better\nthan we do.  And I think, I have thought long, that if we could see that\nSt Paul's method with those Corinthians was actually the same as God's\nmethod with us, we should have far truer notions of God, and God's\ndealings with us; and should reverence and value far more that Holy\nCatholic Church into which we have been, by God's infinite mercy,\nbaptized, and wherein we have been educated.\n\nFor, and now I entreat you to listen to me carefully, you who have sound\nheads and earnest hearts, ready and willing to know the truth about God\nand yourselves, if St Paul looked at the Corinthians in this light, may\nnot God have looked at them in the same light?  If St Paul accepted them\nfor the sake of the good which was in them, in spite of all their faults,\nmay not God have accepted them for the sake of the good which was in\nthem, in spite of all their faults? and may not He accept us likewise?  I\nthink it must be so.  For was not St Paul an inspired apostle? and are\nnot these words of his inspired by the Holy Spirit of God?  But if so,\nthen the Spirit of God must have looked at these Corinthians in the same\nlight as St Paul, and therefore God must do likewise, because the Holy\nSpirit is God.  Must it not be so?  Can we suppose that God would take\none view of these Corinthians, and then inspire St Paul to take another\nview?  What does being inspired mean at all, save having the mind of\nChrist and of God,--being taught to see men and things as God sees them,\nto feel for them and think of them as God does?  If inspiration does not\nmean that, what does it mean?  Therefore, I think, we have a right to\nbelieve that St Paul's words express the mind of God concerning these\nCorinthians; that God was pleased with their utterance and their\nknowledge, and accepted them for that; and that in the same way God is\npleased with whatsoever He sees good in us, and accepts us for that.\nBut, remember, not for our own works or deservings any more than these\nCorinthians.  They were, and we are accepted in Christ, and for the\nmerits of Christ.  And any good points in us, or in these Corinthians, as\nSt Paul says expressly (here and elsewhere), are not our own, but come\nfrom Christ, by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit.\n\nI know many people do not think thus.  They think of God as looking only\nat our faults; as extreme to mark what is done amiss; as never content\nwith us; as always crying to men, Yes, you have done this and that well,\nand yet not quite well, for even in what you have done there are blots\nand mistakes; but this and that you have not done, and therefore you are\nstill guilty, still under infinite displeasure.  And they think that they\nexalt God's holiness by such thoughts, and magnify His hatred of sin\nthereby.  And they invent arguments to prove themselves right, such as\nthis:  That because God is an infinite being, every sin committed against\nHim is infinite; and therefore deserves an infinite punishment; which is\na juggle of words of which any educated man ought to be ashamed.\n\nI do not know where, in the Bible, they find all this.  Certainly not in\nthe writings of St Paul.  They seem to me to find it, not in the Bible at\nall, but in their own hearts, judging that God must be as hard upon His\nchildren as they are apt to be upon their own.  I know that God is never\ncontent with us, or with any man.  How can He be?  But in what sense is\nHe not content?  In the sense in which a hard task-master is not content\nwith his slave, when he flogs him cruelly for the slightest fault?  Or in\nthe sense in which a loving father is not content with his child,\ngrieving over him, counselling him, as long as he sees him, even in the\nslightest matter, doing less well than he might do?  Think of that, and\nwhen you have thought of it, believe that in this grand text St Paul\nspeaks really by the Spirit of God, and according to the mind of God, and\nteaches not these old Corinthians merely, but you and your children after\nyou, what is the mind of God concerning you, what is the light in which\nGod looks upon you.  For, if you will but think over your own lives, and\nover the Catechism which you learned in your youth, has not God's way of\ndealing with you been just the same as St Paul's with those Corinthians,\nteaching you to love and trust Him almost before He taught you the\ndifference between right and wrong?  I know that some think otherwise.\nMany who do not belong to the Church, and many, alas! who profess to\nbelong to the Church, will tell you that God's method is, first to\nterrify men by the threats of the law and the sight of their sins and the\nfear of damnation, and afterwards to reveal to them the gospel and His\nmercy and salvation in Christ.  Now I can only answer that it is not so.\nNot so in fact.  These preachers themselves may do it; but that is no\nproof that God does it.  What God's plan is can only be known from facts,\nfrom experience, from what actually happens; first in God's kingdom of\nnature, and next in God's kingdom of grace, which is the Church.  And in\nthe kingdom of nature how does God begin with mankind?  What are a\nchild's first impressions of this life?  Does he hear voices from heaven\ntelling little children that they are lost sinners?  Does he see\nlightning come from heaven to strike sinners dead, or earthquakes rise\nand swallow them up?  Nothing of the kind.  A child's first impressions\nof this life, what are they but pleasure?  His mother's breast, warmth,\nlight, food, play, flowers, and all pleasant things,--by these God\neducates the child, even of the heathen and the savage:--and why?  If\nhaply he may feel after God and find Him, and find that He is a God of\nlove and mercy, a giver of good things, who knows men's necessities\nbefore they ask,--a good and loving God, and not a being such as I will\nnot, I dare not speak of.\n\nI say with the very heathen God deals thus.  We have plain Scripture for\nthat.  For we have, and thanks be to God that we have, in such times as\nthese, a missionary sermon preached by St Paul to the heathen at Lystra.\nAnd in that is not one word concerning these terrors of the law.  He\nsays, I preach to you God, whom you ought to have known of yourselves,\nbecause He has not left Himself without witness.  And what is this\nwitness of which the apostle speaks?  Wrath and terror and destruction?\nNot so, says St Paul.  This is His witness, that He has sent you rain and\nfruitful seasons, filling your heart with food and gladness.  His\ngoodness, His bounty,--it is the witness of God and of the character of\nGod.  There is wrath and terror enough, says St Paul elsewhere, awaiting\nthose who go on in sin.  But then what does he say is their sin?\nDespising the goodness of God, by which He has been trying to win mankind\nto love and trust Him, before He threatens and before He punishes at all.\nSo much for the terrors of the law coming before the good news of the\ngospel in God's kingdom of nature.\n\nAnd still less do the terrors of the law come first in God's kingdom of\ngrace, which is the Church.  They did not come first to you or to me, or\nto any one in His Church who has been taught, as churchmen should be,\ntheir Catechism.  If any have been, unhappily for them, brought up to\nlearn Catechisms and hymns which do not belong to the Church, and which\nterrify little children with horrible notions of God's wrath, and the\ntorments prepared not merely for wicked men, but for unconverted\nchildren, and then teach them to say,--\n\n\n\"Can such a wretch as I\nEscape this dreadful end?\"\n\n\nso much the worse for them.  We, who are Church people, are bound to\nbelieve that God speaks to us through the Church books, and that it was\nHis will that we should have been brought up to believe the Catechism.\nAnd in that Catechism we heard not one word of these terrors of the law\nor of God's wrath hanging over us.  We were taught that before we even\nknew right from wrong, God adopted us freely as His children, freely\nforgave us our original sin for the sake of Christ's blood, freely\nrenewed us by His Holy Spirit, freely placed us in His Church;--that we\nmight love Him, because He first loved us; trust Him because He has done\nall that even God could do to win our trust; and obey Him, because we are\nboundlessly in debt to Him for boundless mercies.  This is God's method\nwith us in His Church, and what is it but St Paul's method with these\nCorinthians?\n\nBelieve this, then, you who wish to be Churchmen in spirit and in truth.\nBelieve that St Paul's conduct is to you a type and pattern of what God\ndoes, and what you ought to do.  That God's method of winning you to do\nright is to make you love Him and trust Him; and that your method of\nwinning your children to do right is to make them love and trust you.\nLet us remember that if our children are not perfect, they at least\ninherited their imperfections from us; and if our Father in heaven, from\nwhom we inherit no sin, but only good, have patience with us, shall we\nnot have patience with our children, who owe to us their fallen nature?\n\nAh! cast thy bread upon the waters,--the bread which even the poorest can\ngive to their children abundantly and without stint,--the bread of\ncharity,--human tenderness, forbearance, hopefulness,--cast that bread\nupon the waters, and thou shalt find it after many days.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXII.  GOD IS OUR REFUGE\n\n\n\nWestminster Abbey, 1873.\n\nPsalm xlvi. 1.  \"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in\ntrouble.\"\n\nThis is a noble psalm, full of hope and comfort; and it will be more and\nmore full of hope and comfort, the more faithfully we believe in the\nincarnation, the passion, the resurrection, and the ascension of our Lord\nJesus Christ.  For if we are to give credit to His express words, and to\nthose of every book of the New Testament, and to the opinion of that\nChurch into which we are baptised, then Jesus Christ is none other than\nthe same Jehovah, Lord, and God who brought the Jews out of Egypt, who\nguided them and governed them through all their history--teaching,\njudging, rewarding, punishing them and all the nations of the earth.\nThis psalm, therefore, is concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all\npower is given in heaven and earth, and who ascended up on high; that He\nmight be as He had been from the beginning, King of kings and Lord of\nlords, the Master of this world and all the nations in it.  This psalm,\ntherefore, is a hymn concerning the kingdom of Christ and of God.  It\ntells us something of the government which Christ has been exercising\nover the world ever since the beginning of it, and which He is exercising\nover this world now.  It bids us be still, and know that He is God--that\nHe will be exalted among the nations, and will be exalted in the earth,\nwhether men like it or not; but that they ought to like it and rejoice in\nit, and find comfort in the thought that Christ Jesus is their refuge and\ntheir strength--a very present help in trouble--as the old Jew who wrote\nthis psalm found comfort.\n\nWhen this psalm was written, or what particular events it speaks of, I\ncannot tell, for I do not think we have any means of finding out.  It may\nhave been written in the time of David, or of Solomon, or of Hezekiah.\nIt may possibly have been written much later.  It seems to mo probably to\nrefer--but I speak with extreme diffidence--to that Assyrian invasion,\nand that preservation of Jerusalem, of which we heard in the magnificent\nfirst lesson for this morning and this afternoon; when, at the same time\nthat the Assyrians were crushing, one by one, every nation in the East,\nthere was, as the elder Isaiah and Micah tell us plainly, a great\nvolcanic outbreak in the Holy Land.  But all this matters very little to\nus; because events analogous to those of which it speaks have happened\nnot once only, but many times, and will happen often again.  And this\npsalm lays down a rule for judging of such startling and terrible events\nwhenever they happen, and for saying of them, \"God is our refuge and\nstrength, a very present help in trouble.\"  It seems from the beginning\nof the psalm that there had been earthquakes or hurricanes in Judea--more\nprobably earthquakes, which were and are now frequent there.  It seems as\nif the land had been shaken, and cliffs thrown into the sea, which had\nrolled back in a mighty wave, such as only too often accompanies an\nearthquake.  But the Psalmist knew that that was God's doing; and\ntherefore he would not fear, though the earth was moved, and though the\nhills were earned into the very midst of the sea.  It seems, moreover,\nthat Jerusalem itself had, as in Hezekiah's time, not been shaken, or at\nleast seriously injured, by the earthquake.  But why?  \"God is in the\nmidst of her, therefore shall she not be removed.\"  It seems, also, as if\nthe earthquake or hurricane had been actually a benefit to Jerusalem--\nwhich was often then, and has been often since, in want of water--that\neither fresh springs had broken out, or abundant rain had fallen, as\noccurs at times in such convulsions of nature.  But that, too, was God's\ndoing on behalf of His chosen city.  \"The rivers of the flood\" had made\n\"glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most\nhighest.\"\n\nMoreover, there seem to have been great disturbances and wars among the\nnations round.  The heathen had made much ado, and the kingdoms had been\nmoved.  But whatever their plans were, it was God who had brought them to\nnaught.  God had shewed His voice, and the earth melted away; and (we\nknow not how) discomfiture had fallen upon them, and a general peace had\nfollowed.  \"O come hither,\" says the Psalmist, \"and behold the works of\nthe Lord, what desolations He has made in the earth.\"  Not a desolation\nof cruelty and tyranny:  but a desolation of mercy and justice; putting\ndown the proud, the aggressive, the ruthless, and helping the meek, the\nsimple, the industrious, and the innocent.  It is He, says the Psalmist,\nwho has made wars to cease in all the world, who has broken the bow and\nsnapped the spear in sunder, and burned the chariots in the fire; and so,\nby the voice of fact, said to these kings and to their armies, if they\nwould but understand it, \"Be still, and know that I am God\"--that I, not\nyou, will be exalted among the nations--that I, not you, will be exalted\nin the earth.\n\nSuch is the 46th Psalm, one of the noblest utterances of the whole Old\nTestament.  And is it not as true for us now, ay, for all nations and all\nmankind now, as it was when it was uttered?  Is not Jesus Christ the same\nyesterday, to-day, and for ever?  Have His words passed away?  Did He say\nin vain, \"All power is given unto me in heaven and earth?\"  Did He say in\nvain, \"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world?\"  I trust\nnot.  I trust and I hope that you, or at least some here, believe that\nChrist is ruling and guiding the world, the church, and every individual\nsoul who trusts in Him toward--\n\n\n\"One far off divine event,\nTo which the whole creation moves.\"\n\n\nI hope you do have that trust, for your own sakes, for the sake of your\nown happiness, your own sound peace of mind; for then, and then only, you\ncan afford to be hopeful concerning yourselves, your families, your\ncountry, and the whole human race.  It must be so.  If you believe that\nHe who hung upon the cross for all mankind is your refuge and strength,\nand the refuge and strength of all mankind, then, amid all the changes\nand chances of this mortal life, you can afford to be still calm in\nsudden calamity, patient in long afflictions; for you know that He is\nGod, He is the Lord, He is the Redeemer, He is the King.  He knows best.\nHe must be right, whosoever else is wrong.  Let Him do what seemeth Him\ngood.\n\nNow I cannot but feel (what wiser and better men than I am feel more\ndeeply), that this old-fashioned faith in the living Christ is dying out\namong us.  That men do not believe as they used to do in the living Lord\nand in His government, in that perpetual divine providence which the\nScriptures call \"the kingdom of God.\"  They have lost faith in Christ's\nimmediate and personal government of the world and its nations; and,\ntherefore, they are tempted more and more, either to try to misgovern the\nworld themselves, or to fancy that Christ has entrusted His government,\nas to a substitute and vicar, to an aged priest at Rome.  They have lost\nfaith, likewise, in Christ's immediate government of themselves; their\nown fortunes, their own characters, and inmost souls; and, therefore,\nthey are tempted either to follow no rule or guidance save their own\ninstincts, passions, fancies; or else, in despair at their own inward\nanarchy, to commit the keeping of their souls to directors and\nconfessors, instead of to Christ Himself, the Lord of the spirits of all\nflesh.\n\nYes, the faith which keeps a man ever face to face with God and with\nChrist, in the least as well as in the greatest events of life; which\nsays in prosperity and in adversity, in plenty and scarcity, in joy and\nsorrow, in peace and war,--It is the Lord's doing, it is the Lord's\nsending, and therefore we can trust in the Lord--that faith is growing, I\nfear, very rare.  That faith was more common, I think, a generation or\ntwo back, in old-fashioned church people than in any other.  It could not\nhelp being so; for the good old Prayer-Book upon which they were brought\nup is more full of that simple and living faith in the Lord, from\nbeginning to end, than any other book on earth except the Bible.  It was\nmore common, too, and I suppose always will be, among the poor than among\nthe rich; for the poor soon find out how little they have to depend upon\nexcept the Lord and His good providence; while the rich are tempted, and\nalways will be, to depend upon their own wealth and their own power, to\ntrust in uncertain riches, and say, \"Soul, take thine ease, thou hast\nmuch goods laid up for many years.\"  It was more common, too, and I\nsuppose always will be, among the old than among the young; for the young\nare tempted to trust not in the Lord, but in their own health, strength,\nwit, courage, and to put their hopes, not on God's Providence, but on the\nunknown chapter of accidents in the future, most of which will never come\nto pass; while the old have learned by experience and disappointment the\nvanity of human riches, the helplessness of human endeavour, the\nblindness of human foresight, and are content to go where God leads them,\nand say, \"I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and will make\nmention of Thy righteousness only.  Thou, O God, hast taught me from my\nyouth up until now:  therefore will I tell of Thy wondrous works.\nForsake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am grey-headed; until I\nhave showed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power to all them\nwhich are yet for to come.\"\n\nBut, for some reason or other, this generation does not seem to care to\nsee God's strength; and those that are yet for to come seem likely to\nbelieve less and less in God's power--believe less and less that they are\nin Christ's kingdom, and that Christ is ruling over them and all the\nworld.  They have not faith in the Living Lord.  But they must get back\nthat faith, if they wish to keep that wealth and prosperity after which\nevery one scrambles so greedily now-a-days; for those who forget God are\ntreading, they and their children after them, not, as they fancy, the\nroad to riches--they are treading the road to ruin.  So it always was, so\nit always will be.  Yet the majority of mankind will not see it, and the\npreacher must not expect to be believed when he says it.  Nevertheless it\nis true.  Those who forget that they are in Christ's kingdom, Christ does\nnot go out of His way to punish them.  They simply punish themselves.\nThey earn their own ruin by the very laws of human nature.  They must\nfind hope in something and strength in something; and if they will not\nsee that God is their hope, they will hope to get rich as fast as\npossible, and make themselves safe so.  If they will not see that God is\ntheir strength, they will find strength in cunning, in intrigue, in\nflattery of the strong and tyranny over the weak, and in making\nthemselves strong so.  They want a present help in trouble; and if they\nwill not believe that God is a present help in trouble, they will try to\nhelp themselves out of their trouble by begging, lying, swindling,\nforging, and all those meannesses which fill our newspapers with shameful\nstories day by day, and which all arise simply out of want of faith in\nGod.\n\nMoreover, it is written, \"Be still, and know that I am God.\"  And if men\nwill not be still, they will not know that He is God.  And if they do not\nknow that the gracious Christ is God, they will not be still; and\ntherefore they will grow more and more restless, discontented, envious,\nviolent, irreverent, full of passions which injure their own souls, and\nsap the very foundations of order and society and civilised life.  And\nwhat can come out of all these selfish passions, when they are let loose,\nbut that in which selfishness must always end, but that same mistrust and\nanarchy, ending in that same poverty and wretchedness, under which so\nmany countries of the world now lie, as it were, weltering in the mire.\nAlas! say rather weltering in their own life-blood--and all because they\nhave forgotten the living God?\n\nOh, my dear friends, take these words solemnly to heart--for yourselves,\nand for your children after you.  If you wish to prosper on the earth,\nlet God be in all your thoughts.  Remember that the Lord is on your right\nhand; and then, and then alone, will you not be moved, either to terror\nor to sin, by any of the chances and changes of this mortal life.  \"Fret\nnot thyself,\" says the Psalmist, \"else shalt thou be moved to do evil.\"\nAnd the only way not to fret yourselves is to remember that God is your\nrefuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  \"He that\nbelieveth,\" saith the Prophet, \"shall not make haste\"--not hurry himself\ninto folly and disappointment and shame.  Why should you hurry, if you\nremember that you are in the kingdom of Christ and of God?  You cannot\nhurry God's Providence, if you would; you ought not, if you could.  God\nMUST know best; God's Laws MUST work at the right pace, and fulfil His\nWill in the right way and at the right time.  As for what that Will is,\nwe can know from the angels' song on Christmas Eve, which told us how\nGod's Will was a good will towards men.\n\nFor who is our Lord?  Who is our King?  Who is our Governor?  Who is our\nLawgiver?  Who is our Guide?  Christ, who died for us on Calvary; who\nrose again for us; who ascended into heaven for us; who sits at God's\nright hand for us; who sent down His Holy Spirit at the first\nWhitsuntide; and sends Him down for ever to us; that by His gracious\ninspiration we may both perceive and know what we ought to do, and also\nmay have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same.  With such a King\nover us, how can the world but go right?  With such a King over us, what\nrefuge or strength or help in trouble do we need but Him Himself?--His\nProvidence, which is Love, and His Laws, which are Life.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXIII.  PRIDE AND HUMILITY\n\n\n\nEversley, 1869.  Chester Cathedral, 1870.\n\n1st. Peter v. 5.  \"God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the\nhumble.\"\n\nLet me, this evening, say a few words to you on theology, that is, on the\nbeing and character of God.  You need not be afraid that I shall use long\nor difficult words.  Sound theology is simple enough, and I hope that my\nwords about it will be simple enough for the worst scholar here to\nunderstand.\n\n\"God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.\"  Now, this\nsaying is an old one.  It had been said, in different words, centuries\nbefore St Peter said it.  The old prophets and psalmists say it again and\nagain.  The idea of it runs through the whole of the Old Testament, as\nanyone must know who has read his Bible with common care.  But why should\nit be true?  What reason is there for it?  What is there in the character\nof God which makes it reasonable, probable, likely to be true?  That God\nwould give grace to the humble, and reward men for bowing down before His\nMajesty, seems not so difficult to understand.  But why should God resist\nthe proud?  How does a man's being proud injure God, who is \"I AM THAT I\nAM;\" perfectly self-sufficient, having neither parts nor passions, who\ntempteth no man, neither is tempted of any?  \"Why should God go out of\nHis way, as it were, to care for such a paltry folly as the pride of an\nignorant, weak, short-sighted creature like man?\n\nNow, let us take care that we do not give a wrong answer to this\nquestion--an answer which too many have given, in their hearts and minds,\nthough not perhaps in words, and so have fallen into abject and cruel\nsuperstitions, from which may God keep us, and our children after us.\nThey have said to themselves, God is proud, and has a right to be proud:\nand therefore He chooses no one to be proud but Himself.  Pride in man\ncalls out His pride, and makes Him angry.  They have thought of God as\nsome despotic Sultan of the Indies, who is surrounded, not by free men,\nbut by slaves; who will have those slaves at his beck and nod.  In one\nword, they have thought of God as a tyrant.  They have thought of God,\nand, may God forgive them, have talked of God as if He were like\nNebuchadnezzar of old, who, when the three young men refused to obey him,\nwas filled with rage and fury, and cast them into a burning fiery\nfurnace.  That is some men's God--a God who must be propitiated by\ncrouching and flattery, lest he should destroy them--a God who holds all\nmen as his slaves, and therefore hates pride in them.  For what has a\nslave to do with pride?\n\nBut that is not the God of the Bible, my friends, nor the God of Nature\neither, the God who made the world and man.  For He is not a tyrant, but\na Father.  He wishes men not to be His slaves, but His children.  And if\nHe resists the proud, it is because children have no right to be proud.\nIf He resists the proud, it is in fatherly love, because it is bad for\nthem to be proud.  Not because the proud are injuring God, but because\nthey are injuring themselves, does God resist them, and bring them low,\nand show them what they are, and where they are, that they may repent,\nand be converted, and turned back into the right way.\n\nRemember always that God is your Father.  This question, like all\nquestions between God and man, is a question between a father and a\nchild; and if you see it in any other light, and judge it by any other\nrule, you see it and judge it wrongly, and learn nothing about it, or\nworse than nothing.  If God were really angry with, really hated, the\nproud man, or any other man, would He need only to resist him? would He\nhave to wait till the next life to punish him?  My dear friends, if God\nreally hated you or me, do you not suppose that He would simply destroy\nus--get rid of us--abolish us and annihilate us off the face of the\nearth, just as we crush a gnat when it bites us?\n\nThat God can do; and more--He does it now and then.  He will endure with\nmuch long suffering vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction:  but a\nmoment sometimes comes when He will endure them no longer, and He\ndestroys them with the destruction for which they have fitted themselves.\nIn them is fulfilled the parable of the rich man, who said to himself,\n\"Soul, thou hast much good laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat,\ndrink, and be merry.  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy\nsoul shall be required of thee.\"\n\nBut for the most part, thanks to the mercy of our Heavenly Father, we are\nnot destroyed by our pride and for our pride.  We are only chastened, as\na father chastens his child.  And that we are chastised for pride, who\ndoes not know?  What proverb more common, what proverb more true, than\nthat after pride comes a fall?  Do we not know (if we do not, we shall\nknow sooner or later) that the surest way to fail in any undertaking is\nto set about it in self-will and self-conceit; that the surest way to do\na foolish thing, is to fancy that we are going to do a very wise one;\nthat the surest way to make ourselves ridiculous in the eyes of our\nfellow-men, is to assume airs, and boast, shew ourselves off, and end by\nshewing off only our own folly?\n\nWhy is it so?  Why has God so ordered the world and human nature, that\npride punishes itself?  Because, I presume, pride is begotten and born of\na lie, and God hates a lie, because all lies lead to ruin, and this lie\nof pride above all.  It is as it were the root lie of all lies.  The very\nlie by which, as old tales tell, Satan fell from heaven, and when he\ntried to become a god in his own right, found himself, to his surprise\nand disappointment, only a devil.  For pride and self-conceit contradict\nthe original constitution of man and the universe, which is this--that of\nGod are all things, and in God are all things, and for God are all\nthings.  Man depends on God.  Self tells him that he depends on himself.\nMan has nothing but what he receives from God.  Self tells him that what\nhe has is his own, and that he has a right to do with it what he likes.\nMan knows nothing but what God teaches him.  Self tells him that he has\nfound out everything for himself, and can say what he thinks fit without\nfear of God or man.  Therefore the proud, self-willed, self-conceited man\nmust come to harm, like Malvolio in the famous play, merely because he is\nin the blackest night of ignorance.  He has mistaken who he is, what he\nis, where he is.  He is fancying himself, as many mad men do, the centre\nof the universe; while God is the centre of the universe.  He is just as\ncertain to come to harm as a man would be on board a ship, who should\nfancy that he himself, and not the ship, was keeping him afloat, and step\noverboard to walk upon the sea.  We all know what would happen to that\nman.  Let us thank God our Father that He not only knows what would\nhappen to such men:  but desires to save them from the consequences of\ntheir own folly, by letting them feel the consequences of their own\nfolly.\n\nOh my friends, let us search our hearts, and pray to our Father in Heaven\nto take out of them, by whatever painful means, the poisonous root of\npride, self-conceit, self-will.  So only shall we be truly strong--truly\nwise.  So only shall we see what and where we are.\n\nDo we pride ourselves on being something?  Shall we pride ourselves on\nhealth and strength?  A tile falling off the roof, a little powder and\nlead in the hands of a careless child, can blast us out of this world in\na moment--whither, who can tell?  What is our cleverness--our strength of\nmind?  A tiny blood vessel bursting on the brain, will make us in one\nmoment paralytic, helpless, babblers, and idiots.  What is our knowledge\nof the world?  That of a man, who is forcing his way alone through a\nthick and pathless wood, where he has never been before, to a place which\nhe has never seen.  What is our wisdom--What does a wise man say of his?\n\n\n\"So runs my dream; but what am I?\nAn infant crying in the night;\nAn infant crying for the light;\nAnd with no language but a cry.\"\n\n\nYes.  Our true knowledge is to know our own ignorance.  Our true strength\nis to know our own weakness.  Our true dignity is to confess that we have\nno dignity, and are nobody, and nothing in ourselves, and to cast\nourselves down before the Dignity of God, under the shadow of whose\nwings, and in the smile of whose countenance, alone, is any created being\nsafe.  Let us cling to our Father in Heaven, as a child, walking in the\nnight, clings to his father's hand.  Let us take refuge on the lowest\nstep of the throne of Christ our Lord, and humble ourselves under His\nmighty hand; and, instead of exalting ourselves in undue time, leave Him\nto exalt us again in due time, when the chastisement has told on us, and\npatience had her perfect work; casting all our care on Him, who surely\ncares for us still, if He cared for us once, enough to die for us on the\ncross; caring for God's opinion and not for the opinion of the world.\nAnd then we shall be among the truly humble, to whom God gives grace--\nfirst grace in their own hearts, that they may live gracious lives,\nmodest and contented, dignified and independent, trusting in God and not\nin man; and then, grace in the eyes of their fellow-men, for what is more\ngraceful, what is more gracious, pleasant to see, pleasant to deal with,\nthan the humble man, the modest man?  I do not mean the cringing man, the\nflattering man, the man who apes humility for his own ends, because he\nwants to climb high, by pretending to be lowly.  He is neither graceful\nor gracious.  He is only contemptible, and he punishes himself.  He\nspoils his own game.  He defeats his own purpose.  For men despise him,\nand use him, and throw him away when they have done with him, as they\nthrow away a dirty worn-out tool.\n\nNot him do I mean by the humble man, the modest man.  I mean the man who,\nlike a good soldier, knows his place and keeps it, knows his duty, and\ndoes it; who expects to be treated as a man should be, with fairness,\nconsideration, respect, kindness--and God will always treat him so,\nwhether man does or not:  but who, beyond that, does not trouble his mind\nwith whether he be private or sergeant, lieutenant or colonel, but with\nwhether he can do his duty as private, his duty as sergeant, his duty as\nlieutenant, his duty as colonel; who has learnt the golden lesson, which\nso few learn in these struggling, envious, covetous, ambitious days,\nnamely, to abide in the calling to which he is called, and in whatsoever\nstate he is, therewith to be content.  To be sure that in God's world,\nthe only safe way to become ruler over many things is to be a good ruler\nover a few things; that if he is fit for better work than he is doing\nnow, God will find that out, sooner and more surely than he, or any man\nwill, and will set him about it; and that, meanwhile, God has set him\nabout work which he can do, and that the true wisdom is to do that and do\nit well, and so approve himself alike to man and God, humbling himself\nunder the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt him in good time, by\ngiving him grace and strength to do great things, as He has given him\ngrace and strength to do small things.\n\nAm I speaking almost to deaf ears?  I fear that few here will take my\nadvice.  I fear that many here will have excellent excuses and plain\nreasons, why they should not take it.  Be it so.  They cannot alter\neternal fact.  In one word, they cannot alter Theology.  They cannot\nalter the laws of God.  They cannot alter the character of God.  And\nsooner or later, in this world or in the next, they will find out that\nTheology is right:  and St Peter is right:  that God DOES resist the\nproud, that God DOES give grace to the humble.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXIV.  WORSHIP\n\n\n\nEversley, September 4, 1870.\n\nRevelation xi. 16, 17.  \"And the four and twenty elders, which sat before\nGod on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We\ngive thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to\ncome; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.\"\n\nMy dear friends,--I wish to speak a few plain words to you this morning,\non a matter which has been on my mind ever since I returned from Chester,\nnamely,--The duty of the congregation to make the responses in Church.\n\nNow I am not going to scold--even to blame.  To do so would be not only\nunjust, but ungrateful in me, to a congregation which is as attentive and\nas reverent as you are.  Indeed, I am the only person to blame, for I\nought to have spoken on the subject long ago.\n\nAs it is, coming fresh from Chester, and accustomed to hear\ncongregations, in that city and in the country round, reading the\nresponses aloud throughout the service with earnestness, and reverence, I\nwas painfully struck by the silence in this church.  I had before grown\nso accustomed to it that I did not perceive it, just as one grows\naccustomed to a great many things which ought not to be, till one forgets\nthat, however usual they may be, wrong they are, and ought to be amended.\n\nNow, it is always best to begin at the root of a matter.  So to begin at\nthe root of this.  Why do we come to church at all?\n\nSome will say, to hear the sermon.  That is often too true.  Some folks\ndo come to church to hear a man get up and preach, just as they go to a\nconcert to hear a man get up and sing, to amuse and interest them for\nhalf-an-hour.  Some go to hear sermons, doubtless, in order that they may\nlearn from them.  But are there not, especially in these days of cheap\nprinting, books of devotion, tracts, sermons, printed, which contain\nbetter preaching than any which they are likely to hear in church?  If\nTEACHING is all that they come to church for, they can get that in plenty\nat home.  Moreover, nine people out of ten who come to church need no\nteaching at all.  They know already, just as well as the preacher, what\nis right and what is wrong; they know their duty; they know how to do it.\nAnd if they do not intend to do it, all the talking in the world (as far\nas I have seen) will not make them do it.  Moreover, if the teaching in\nthe sermon be what we come to church for, why have we prayer-books full\nof prayers, thanksgivings, psalms, and so forth, which are not sermons at\nall?  What is the use of the service, as we call it, if the sermon is the\nonly or even the principal object for which we come?  I trust there are\nmany of you here who agree with me so fully, that you would come\nregularly to church, as I should, even if there were no sermon, knowing\nthat God preaches to every man, in the depths of his own heart and\nconscience, far more solemn and startling sermons than any mortal man can\nutter.\n\nOthers will answer that they come to church to say their prayers.  Well:\nthat is a wiser answer than the last.  But if that be all, why can they\nnot say their prayers at home?  God is everywhere.  God is all-seeing,\nall-hearing, about our path and about our bed, and spying out all our\nways.  Is He not as ready to hear in the field, and in the workshop and\nin the bed-chamber, as in the church?  \"When thou prayest,\" says our\nLord, \"enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to\nthy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall\nreward thee openly.\"  Those are not my words, they are the words of our\nLord Jesus Christ Himself; and none can gainsay them.  None dare take\nfrom them or add to them; and our coming to church, therefore, must be\nfor more reasons than for the mere saying of our prayers.\n\nOthers will answer--very many, indeed, will answer--we come to church\nbecause--because, we hardly know why, but because we ought to come to\nchurch.\n\nSome may call that a silly answer, only fit for children:  but I do not\nthink so.  It seems to me a very rational answer:  perhaps a very\nreverent and godly answer.  A man comes to church for reasons which he\ncannot explain to himself:  just so--and many of the deepest and best\nfeelings of our hearts, are just those that we cannot explain to\nourselves, though we believe in them, would fight for them, die for them.\nThe man who frankly confesses that he does not quite know why he comes to\nchurch is most likely to know at last why he does come; most likely to\nunderstand the answer which Scripture gives to the question why we come\nto church.  And what answer is that?  Strange to say, one which people\nnow-a-days, with their Bibles in their hands, have almost forgotten.  We\ncome to church, according to the Bible, to worship God.\n\nTo worship.  Think awhile what that ancient and deep and noble word\nsignifies.  So ancient is it, that man learnt to worship even before he\nlearnt to till the ground.  So deep, that even to this day no man\naltogether understands what worshipping means.  So noble, that the\nnoblest souls on earth delight most in worshipping; that the angels, and\narchangels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, find no nobler\noccupation, no higher enjoyment, in the heavenly world than worshipping\nfor ever Him whose glory fills all earth and heaven.  To worship.  That\npower of worship, that longing to worship, that instinct that it is his\nduty to worship something, is--if you will receive it--the true\ndistinction between men and brutes.  Philosophers have tried to define\nman as this sort of animal and that sort of animal.  The only sound\ndefinition is this:  man is THE one animal who worships; and he worships,\njust because he is NOT merely an animal, but a man, with an immortal soul\nwithin him.  Just in as far as man sinks down again to the level of the\nbrute--whether in some savage island of the South Seas, or in some\nequally savage alley of our own great cities--God forgive us that such\nhuman brutes should exist here in Christian England--just so far he feels\nno need to worship.  He thinks of no unseen God or powers above him.  He\ncares for nothing but what his five senses tell him of; he feels no need\nto go to church and worship.  Just in as far as a man rises to the true\nstandard of a man; just in as far as his heart and his mind are truly\ncultivated, truly developed, just so far does he become more and more\naware of an unseen world about him; more and more aware that in God he\nlives and moves and has his being--and so much the more he feels the\nlonging and the duty to worship that unseen God on whom he and the whole\nuniverse depend.\n\nI know what seeming exceptions there are to this rule, especially in\nthese days.  But I say that they are only seeming exceptions.  I never\nknew yet (and I have known many of them) a virtuous and high-minded\nunbeliever:  but what there was in him the instinct of worshipping--the\nlonging to worship--he knew not what, the spirit of reverence, which\nconfesses its own ignorance and weakness, and is ready to set up, like\nthe Athenians of old, an altar--in the heart at least--to the unknown\nGod.\n\nBut how to worship Him?  The word itself, if we consider what it means,\nwill tell us that.  Worship, without doubt, is the same word as worth-\nship.  It signifies the worth of Him whom we worship, that He is worthy,-\n-a worthy God, not merely because of what He has done, but because of\nwhat He is worth in Himself.  Good, excellent, and perfect in Himself,\nand therefore to be admired, praised, reverenced, adored, worshipped--\neven if He had never done a kindness to you or to any human being.\nRemember this last truth.  For true it is; and we remember it too little.\nOf course we know that God is good; first and mainly by His goodness to\nus.  Because He is good enough to give us life and breath and all things,\nwe conclude that He is a good being.  Because He is good enough to have\nnot spared His only begotten Son, but freely given Him for us, when we\nwere still sinners and rebels, we conclude Him to be the best of all\nbeings, a being of boundless goodness.  But it is because God is so\nperfectly and gloriously good in Himself, and not merely because He has\ndone US kindnesses, yea, heaped us with undeserved benefits, that we are\nto worship Him.  For His kindnesses we owe Him gratitude, and gratitude\nwithout end.  But for His excellent and glorious goodness, we owe Him\nworship, and worship without end.\n\nThere are some hearts, surely, among you here who know what I mean:  some\nhere who have felt reverence and admiration for some great and good human\nbeing, and who have felt, too, that that reverence and admiration is one\nof the most elevating and unselfish of all feelings, and quite distinct\nfrom any gratitude, however just, for favours done; who can say, in their\nhearts, of some noble human being:  \"If he never did me a kindness, never\nspoke to me, never knew of my existence, I should honour him and love him\njust the same, for the noble and good personage that he is, irrespective\nof little me, and my paltry wants.\"  Then, even such ought to be our\nfeeling toward God, our worship of God.  Even so should we adore Him who\nalone is worthy of glory, and honour, and praise, and thanksgiving,\nbecause He is good, and beautiful, and wise Himself, and the cause and\nsource of all goodness, and beauty, and wisdom, in all created beings,\nand in the whole universe, past, present, and to come.  Consider, I\nbeseech you, those glimpses of the Eternal Worship in heaven which St\nJohn gives us in the Book of Revelation--How he saw the elders fall down\nbefore Him who sat upon the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever,\nand cast their crowns before the throne, saying:  \"Thou art worthy, O\nLord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for Thou hast created all\nthings, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.\"\n\nConsider that--Those blessed spirits of just men made perfect, confessing\nthat they are nothing, but that Christ is all; that they have nothing,\nbut that they owe all to Christ; and declaring Him worthy--not merely for\nany special mercies and kindnesses to themselves, not even for that\ncrowning mercy of His incarnation, His death, His redemption; even that\nseems to have vanished from their minds at the sight of Him as He is.\nThey glorify Him and worship Him simply for what He is in Himself, for\nwhat He would have been even if--which God forbid--He had never stooped\nfrom heaven to live and die on earth--for what He is and was and will be\nthrough eternity, the Creator and the Ruler, who has made all things, and\nfor whose pleasure they are and were created.  Consider that one text.\nThe more I consider it, the more awful and yet most blessed depths of\nteaching do I find therein:  and consider this text also, another glimpse\nof the worship which is in heaven.\n\n\"I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, singing Alleluia;\nsalvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God; for\ntrue and righteous are His judgments.\"  What the special judgment was,\nfor which these blessed souls worshipped God, I shall not argue here.  It\nis enough for us that they worshipped God, as we should worship Him,\nbecause His judgments were righteous and true, were like Himself, proved\nHim to be what He was, worthy in Himself, because He is righteous and\ntrue.  And consider then, again--the text.  Before Him, the righteous and\ntrue Being who has created all things for His pleasure, and therefore has\nmade them wisely and well; before Him who reigns, and will reign till He\nhas put all His enemies under His foot; before Him, I say, bow down\nyourselves, and find true nobleness in confessing your own paltriness,\ntrue strength in confessing your own weakness, true wisdom in confessing\nyour own ignorance, true holiness in confessing your own sins.\n\nAnd not alone merely, each in your own chamber, or in your own heart.\nThat is the place for private confessions of sin, for private prayers for\nhelp; for all the secrets which we dare not, and need not tell to any\nhuman being.  They indeed are not out of place here in church.  Those who\ncomposed our Prayer Book felt that, and have filled our services, the\nLitany especially, with prayers in which each of us can offer up his own\ntroubles to God, if he but remember that he is offering up to God his\nneighbour's troubles also, and the troubles of all mankind.  For this is\nthe reason why we pray together in church; why all men, in all ages,\nheathen as well as Christian, have had the instinct of assembling\ntogether for public worship.  They may have fancied often that their\ndeity dwelt in one special spot, and that they must go thither to find\nhim.  They may have fancied that he or she dwelt in some particular\nimage, and that they must visit, and pray to that particular image, if\nthey wished their prayers to be heard.  All this, however, have men done\nin their foolishness; but beneath that foolishness there have been always\nmore rational ideas, sounder notions.  They felt that it was God who had\nmade them into families, and therefore whole families met together to\nworship in common Him of whom every family in heaven and earth is named.\nThat God had formed them into societies whether into tribes, as of old,\nor into parishes, as here now; and therefore whole parishes came together\nto worship God, whose laws they were bound to obey in their parochial\nsociety.  They felt that it was God who had made them into Nations (as\nthe psalm says which we repeat every Sunday morning), and not they\nthemselves; and therefore they conceived the grand idea of National\nchurches, in which the whole nation should, if possible, worship Sunday\nafter Sunday, at the same time, and in the same words, that God to whom\nthey owed their order, their freedom, their strength, their safety, their\nNational unity and life.  And not in silence merely.  These blessed souls\nin heaven are not silent.  They in heaven follow out the human instinct\nwhich they had on earth, which all men (when they recollect themselves,\nwill have), when they feel a thing deeply, when they believe a thing\nstrongly, to speak it--to speak it aloud.  They do not fancy in heaven,\nas the priests of Baal did on earth, that they must cry aloud, or God\ncould not hear them.  They do not fancy, as the heathen do, that they\nmust make vain repetitions, and say the same words over and over again by\nrote, because they will be heard for their much speaking; neither need\nyou and I.  But yet they spoke aloud, because out of the fulness of the\nheart the mouth speaketh; and so should you and I.\n\nAnd this brings me to the special object of my sermon.  I have told you\nwhat (as it seems to me) Worship means; why we worship; why we worship\ntogether; and why we ought to worship aloud.  Believe me, this last is\nyour duty just as much as mine.  The services of the Church of England\nare so constructed that the whole congregation may take part in them,\nthat they may answer aloud in the responses, that they may say Amen at\nthe end of each prayer, just as they read or chant aloud the alternate\nverses of the Psalms.  The minister does not say prayers for them, but\nwith them.  He is only their leader, their guide.  And if they are not to\njoin in with their voices, there is really no reason why he should use\nhis voice, why he should not say the prayers in silence and to himself,\nif the congregation are to say Amen in silence and to themselves.  Each\nperson in the congregation ought to join aloud, first for the sake of his\nneighbours, and then for his own sake.\n\nFor the sake of his neighbours:  for to hear each other's voices stirs up\nearnestness, stirs up attention, keeps off laziness, inattention, and by\na wholesome infection, makes all the congregation of one mind, as they\nare of one speech, in glorifying God.  And for his own sake, too.  For,\nbelieve me, when a man utters the responses aloud, he awakens his own\nthoughts and his own feelings, too.  He speaks to himself, and he hears\nhimself remind himself of God, and of his duty to God, and acknowledge\nhimself openly (as in confirmation) bound to believe and do what he, by\nhis own confession, has assented unto.\n\nBelieve me, my dear friends, this is no mere theory.  It is to me a\nmatter of fact and experience.  I cannot, I have long found, keep my\nattention steady during a service, if I do not make the responses aloud;-\n-if I do not join in with my voice, I find my thoughts wandering; and I\nam bound to suppose that the case is the same with you.  Do not,\ntherefore, think me impertinent or interfering, if I ask you all to take\nyour due share in worshipping God in this church with your voices, as\nwell as with your hearts.  Let these services be more lively, more\nearnest, more useful to us all than they have been, by making them more a\nworship of the whole congregation, and not of the minister alone.  I have\nread of a great church in the East, in days long, long ago, in which the\nresponses of the vast congregation were so unanimous, so loud, that they\nsounded (says the old writer) like a clap of thunder.  That is too much\nto expect in our little country church:  but at least, I beg you, take\nsuch an open part in the responses, that you shall all feel that you are\nreally worshipping together the same God and Christ, with the same heart\nand mind; and that if a stranger shall come in, he may say in his heart:\nHere are people who are in earnest, who know what they are about, and are\nnot ashamed of trying to do it; people who evidently mean what they say,\nand therefore say what they mean.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXV.  THE PEACE OF GOD\n\n\n\nBaltimore, U.S., 1874.  Westminster Abbey.  November 8, 1874.\n\nColossians. iii 15.  \"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.\"\n\nThe peace of God.  That is what the priest will invoke for you all, when\nyou leave this abbey.  Do you know what it is?  Whether you do or not,\nlet me tell you in a few words, what I seem to myself to have learned\nconcerning that peace.  What it is? how we can obtain it? and why so many\ndo not obtain it, and are, therefore, not at peace?\n\nIt is worth while to do so.  For these are not peaceful times.  The peace\nof God is rare among us.  Some say that it is rarer than it was.  I know\nnot how that may be; but I see all manner of causes at work around us\nwhich should make it rare.  We live faster than our forefathers.  We\nhurry, we bustle, we travel, we are eager for daily, almost for hourly\nnews from every quarter, as if the world could not get on without us, or\nwe without knowing a hundred facts which merely satisfy the curiosity of\nthe moment; and as if the great God could not take excellent care of us\nall meanwhile.  We are eager, too, to get money, and get more money\nstill--piercing ourselves through too often, as the Apostle warned us--\nwith many sorrows, and falling into foolish and hurtful lusts, which\ndrown men in destruction and perdition.  We are luxurious--more and more\nfond of show; more apt to live up to our incomes, and probably a little\nbeyond; more and more craving for this or that gew-gaw, especially in\ndress and ornament, which if our neighbour has, we must have too, or we\nshall be mortified, envious.  Nay, so strong is this temper of rivalry,\nof allowing no superiors, grown in us, that we have made now-a-days a god\nof what used to be considered the basest of all vices--the vice of envy--\nand dignify it with the names of equality and independence.  Men in this\ntemper of mind cannot be at peace.  They are not content; they cannot be\ncontent.\n\nBut with what are they not content?  That is a question worth asking.\nFor there is a discontent (as I have told you ere now) which is noble,\nmanful, heroic, and divine.  Just as there is a discontent which is base,\nmean, unmanly, earthly--sometimes devilish.  There is a discontent which\nis certain, sooner or later, to bring with it the peace of God.  There is\na discontent which drives the peace of God away, for ever and a day.  And\nthe noble and peace-bringing discontent is to be discontented with\nourselves, as very few are.  And the mean peace-destroying discontent is\nto be discontented with things around us, as too many are.  Now, my\nfriends, I cannot see into your hearts; and I ought not to see.  For if I\nsaw, I should be tempted to judge; and if I judged, I should most\ncertainly judge rashly, shallowly, and altogether wrong.  Therefore\nexamine yourselves, and judge yourselves in this matter.  Ask yourselves\neach, Am I at peace?  And if not, then apply to yourselves the rule of\nold Epictetus, the heroic slave, who, heathen though he was, sought God,\nand the peace of God, and found them, doubt it not, long, long ago.  Ask\nyourselves with Epictetus, Am I discontented with things which are in my\nown power, or with things which are not in my own power?--that is,\ndiscontented with myself, or with things which are not myself?  Am I\ndiscontented with myself, or with things about me, and outside of me?\nConsider this last question well, if you wish to be true Christians, true\nphilosophers, and, indeed, true men and women.\n\nBut what is it that troubles you?  What is it you want altered?  On what\nhave you set your heart and affections?  Is it something outside you?--\nsomething which is NOT you yourself?  If so, there is no use in\ntormenting your soul about it; for it is not in your own power, and you\nwill never alter it to your liking; and more, you need not alter it, for\nyou are not responsible for it.  God sends it as it is, for better, for\nworse, and you must make up your mind to what God sends.  Do I mean that\nwe are to submit slavishly to circumstances, like dumb animals?  Heaven\nforbid.  We are not, like Epictetus, slaves, but free men.  And we are\nmade in God's image, and have each our spark, however dim, of that\ncreative genius, that power of creating or of altering circumstances, by\nwhich God made all worlds; and to use that, is of our very birthright, or\nwhat would all education, progress, civilisation be, save rebellion\nagainst God?  But when we have done our utmost, how little shall we have\ndone!  Canst thou,--asks our Lord, looking with loving sadness on the\nhurry and the struggle of the human anthill--canst thou by taking thought\nadd one cubit to thy stature?  Why, is there a wise man or woman in this\nabbey, past fifty years of age, who does not know that, in spite of all\ntheir toil and struggle, they have gone not whither they willed, but\nwhither God willed?  Have they not found out that for one circumstance of\ntheir lives which they could alter, there have been twenty which they\ncould not, some born with them, some forced on them by an overruling\nProvidence, irresistible indeed--but, as I hold, most loving and most\nfatherly, though often severe--even to agony--but irresistible still--\ntill what they have really gained by fighting circumstance, however\nvaliantly, has been the MORAL gain, the gain in character?--the power to\nlive the heroic life, which\n\n\n   \"Is not as idle ore,\nBut heated hot with burning fears,\nAnd bathed in baths of hissing tears,\nAnd batter'd, with the shocks of doom,\nTo shape and use.\"\n\n\nAh! if a man be learning that lesson, which is the primer of eternal\nlife, then I hardly pity him, though I see him from youth to age tearing\nwith weak hands at the gates of brass, and beating his soul's wings to\npieces against the bars of the iron cage.  But, alas! the majority of\nmankind tear at the gates of brass, and beat against the iron cage, with\nno such good purpose, and therefore with no such good result.  They fight\nwith circumstances, not that they may become better themselves, not that\nthey may right the wrongs or elevate the souls of their fellow-men, not\neven that they may fulfil the sacred duty of maintaining, and educating,\nand providing for the children whom they have brought into the world, and\nfor whom they are responsible alike to God and to man; but simply because\ncircumstances are disagreeable to them; because the things around them do\nnot satisfy their covetousness, their luxury, their ambition, their\nvanity.  And therefore the majority of mankind want to be, and to do, and\nto have a hundred things which are not in their own power, and of which\nthey have no proof that God intends to give them; no proof either that if\nthey had them, they would make right use of them, and certainly no proof\nat all that if they had them they would find peace.  They war and fight,\nand have not, because they ask not.  They ask, and have not, because they\nask amiss, to consume it on their lusts; and so they spend their lives\nwithout peace, longing, struggling for things outside them, the greater\npart of which they do not get, because the getting them is not in their\nown power, and which if they got they could not keep, for they can carry\nnothing away with them when they die, neither can their pomp follow them.\nAnd therefore does man walk in a vain shadow, and disquiet himself in\nvain, looking for peace where it is not to be found--in everything and\nanything save in his own heart, in duty, and in God.\n\nBut happy are they who are discontented with the divine discontent,\ndiscontented with themselves.  Happy are they who hunger and thirst after\nrighteousness, that they may become righteous and good men.  Happy are\nthey who have set their hearts on the one thing which is in their own\npower--being better than they are, and doing better than they do.  Happy\nare they who long and labour after the true riches, which neither mobs\nnor tyrants, man nor devil, prosperity nor adversity, or any chance or\nchange of mortal life, can take from them--the true and eternal wealth,\nwhich is the Spirit of God.  The man, I say, who has set his heart on\nbeing good, has set his heart on the one thing which is in his own power;\nthe one thing which depends wholly and solely on his own will; the one\nthing which he can have if he chooses, for it is written, \"If ye then\nbeing evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more\nshall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?\"\nMoreover, he has set his heart on the one thing which cannot be taken\nfrom him.  God will not take it from him; and man, and fortune, and\nmisfortune, cannot take it from him.  Poverty, misery, disease, death\nitself, cannot make him a worse man, cannot make him less just, less\ntrue, less pure, less charitable, less high-minded, less like Christ, and\nless like God.\n\nTherefore he is at peace, for he is, as it were, intrenched in an\nimpregnable fortress, against all men and all evil influences.  And that\ncastle is his own soul.  And the keeper of that castle is none other than\nAlmighty God, Jesus Christ our Lord, to whose keeping he has committed\nhis soul, as unto a faithful and merciful Saviour, able to keep to the\nuttermost that which is committed to Him in faith and holiness.\n\nTherefore that man is at peace with himself, for his conscience tells him\nthat he is, if not doing his best, yet trying to do his best, better and\nbetter day by day.  He is at peace with all the world; for most men are\nlonging and quarrelling for pleasant things outside them, for which he\ndoes not greatly care, while he is longing and striving for good things\ninside him in his own heart and soul; and so the world goes one way, and\nhe another, and their desires do not interfere with each other.\n\nBut, more, that man is at peace with God.  He is at peace with God the\nFather; for he is behaving as the Father wishes His children to behave.\nHe is at peace with God the Son; for he is trying to do that which God\nthe Son did when He came not to do His own will, but His Father's; not to\ngrasp at anything for himself, but simply to sacrifice himself for duty,\nfor the good of man.  And he is at peace with God the Holy Spirit; for he\nis obeying the gracious inspirations of that Spirit, and growing a better\nman day by day.  And so the peace of God keeps that man's heart free from\nvain desires and angry passions, and his mind from those false and\nfoolish judgments which make the world think things important which are\nquite unimportant; and, again, fancy things unimportant which are more\nimportant to them than the riches of the whole world.\n\nMy dear friends, take my words home with you, and if you wish for the\nonly true and sound peace, which is the peace of God, do your duty.  Try\nto be as good as you can, each in his station in life.  So help you God.\n\nTake an example from the soldier on the march; and if you do that, you\nwill all understand what I mean.  The bad soldier has no peace, just\nbecause he troubles himself about things outside himself, and not in his\nown power.  \"Will the officers lead us right?\" That is not in his power.\nLet him go where the officers lead him, and do his own duty.  \"Will he\nget food enough, water enough, care enough, if he is wounded?\"  I hope\nand trust in God he will; but that is not in his own power.  Let him take\nthat, too, as it comes, and do his duty.  \"Will he be praised, rewarded,\nmentioned in the newspapers, if he fights well?\"  That, too, is not in\nhis own power.  Let him take that, too, as it comes, and do his duty; and\nso of everything else.  If the soldier on the march torments himself with\nthese matters which are not in his own power, he is the man who will be\ntroublesome and mutinous in time of peace, and in time of war will be the\nfirst to run away.  He will tell you, \"A man must have justice done him;\na man must see fair play for himself; a man must think of himself.\"  Poor\nfool!  He is not thinking of himself all the while, but of a number of\nthings which are outside him, circumstances which stand round him, and\noutside him, and are not himself at all.  Because he thinks of them--the\nthings outside him--he is a coward or a mutineer, while he fancies he is\ntaking care of himself--as it is written, \"Whosoever shall seek to save\nhis life shall lose it.\"\n\nBut if the man will really think of himself, of that which is inside him,\nof his own character, his own honour, his own duty--then he will say,\nWell fed or ill fed, well led or ill led, praised and covered with\nmedals, or neglected and forgotten, and dying in a ditch, I, by myself I,\nam the same man, and I have the same work to do.  I have to be--myself,\nand I have to do--my duty.  So help me God.  And therefore, so help me\nGod, I will be discontented with no person or thing, save only with\nmyself; and I will be discontented with myself, not when I have left\nundone something extraordinary, which I know I could not have done, but\nonly when I have left undone something ordinary, some plain duty which I\nknow I could have done, had I asked God to help me to do it.  Then in\nthat soldier would be fulfilled--has been fulfilled, thank God, a\nthousand times, by men who lie in this abbey, and by men, too, of whom we\nnever heard, \"whose graves are scattered far and wide, by mount, by\nstream, by sea,\"--in him would be fulfilled, I say, the words, \"He that\nwill lose his life shall save it.\"  Then would he have in his heart, and\nin his mind likewise, a peace which victory and safety cannot give, and\nwhich defeat, and wounds, ay, death itself, can never take away.\n\nAnd are not you, too, soldiers--soldiers of Jesus Christ?  Then even as\nthat good soldier, you may be at peace, through all the battles,\nvictories, defeats of mortal life, if you will be discontented with\nnothing save yourselves, and vow, in spirit and in truth, the one oath\nwhich is no blasphemy, but an act of faith, and an act of prayer, and a\nconfession of the true theology--So help me God.  For then God will help\nyou.  Neither you nor I know how; and I am sure neither you nor I know\nwhy--save that God is utterly good.  God, I say, will help you, by His\nHoly Spirit the Comforter, to do your duty, and to be at peace.  And then\nthe peace of God will rule in your hearts and make you kings to God.  For\nHe will enable YOU each to rule, serene, though weary, over a kingdom--\nor, alas! rather a mob, the most unruly, the most unreasonable, the most\nunstable, and often the most fierce, which you are like to meet on earth.\nTo rule, I say, over a mob, of which you each must needs be king or\nslave, according as you choose.  And what is that mob?  What but your own\nfaculties, your own emotions, your own passions--in one word, your own\nselves?  Yes, with the peace of God ruling in your hearts, you will be\nable to become what without it you will never be--and that is--masters of\nyourselves.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXVI.  SINS OF PARENTS VISITED\n\n\n\nEversley. 19th Sunday after Trinity, 1868.\n\nEzekiel xviii. 1-4.  \"The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,\nWhat mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel,\nsaying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are\nset on edge?  As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion\nany more to use this proverb in Israel.  Behold, all souls are mine; as\nthe soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine:  the soul\nthat sinneth, it shall die.\"\n\nThis is a precious chapter, and a comfortable chapter likewise, for it\nhelps us to clear up a puzzle which has tormented the minds of men in all\nages whenever they have thought of God, and of whether God meant them\nwell, or meant them ill.\n\nFor all men have been tempted.  We are tempted at times to say,--The\nfathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.\nThat is, we are punished not for what we have done wrong, but for what\nour fathers did wrong.  One man says,--My forefathers squandered their\nmoney, and I am punished by being poor.  Or, my forefathers ruined their\nconstitutions, and, therefore, I am weakly and sickly.  My forefathers\nwere ignorant and reckless, and, therefore, I was brought up ignorant,\nand in all sorts of temptation.  And so men complain of their ill-luck\nand bad chance, as they call it, till they complain of God, and say, as\nthe Jews said in Ezekiel's time, God's ways are unequal--partial--unfair.\nHe is a respecter of persons.  He has not the same rule for all men.  He\nstarts men unequally in the race of life--some heavily weighted with\ntheir father's sins and misfortunes, some helped in every way by their\nfather's virtue and good fortune--and then He expects them all to run\nalike.  God is not just and equal.  And then some go on,--men who think\nthemselves philosophers, but are none--to say things concerning God of\nwhich I shall say nothing here, lest I put into your minds foolish\nthoughts, which had best be kept out of them.\n\nBut, some of you may say, Is it not so after all?  Is it not true?  Is\nnot God harder on some than on others?  Does not God punish men every day\nfor their father's sins?  Does He not say in the Second Commandment that\nHe will do so, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children to the\nthird and fourth generation; and how can you make that agree with what\nEzekiel says,--\"The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.\"  My\ndear friends, I know that this is a puzzle, and always has been one.\nLike the old puzzle of God's foreknowledge and our free will, which seem\nto contradict each other.  Like the puzzle that we must help ourselves,\nand yet that God must help us, which seem to contradict each other.  So\nwith this.  I believe of it, as of the two others I just mentioned, that\nthere is no real contradiction between the two cases; and that some-when,\nsomehow, somewhere, in the world to come, we shall see them clearly\nreconciled; and justify God in all His dealings, and glorify Him in all\nHis ways.  But surely already, here, now, we may see our way somewhat\ninto the depths of this mystery.  For Christ has come to give us light,\nand in His light we may see light, even into this dark matter.\n\nFor see:  God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the\nthird and fourth generation--but of whom?--of them that hate Him.  Now,\nby those who hate God is meant, those who break His commandments, and are\nbad men.  If so, then, I say that God is not only just but merciful, in\nvisiting the sins of the fathers on the children.\n\nFor, consider two cases.  Suppose these bad men, from father to son, and\nfrom son to grandson, go on in the same evil ways, and are incorrigible.\nThen is not God merciful to the world in punishing them, even in\ndestroying them out of the world, where they only do harm?  The world\ndoes not want fools, it wants wise men.  The world does not want bad men,\nit wants good men; and we ought to thank God, if, by His eternal laws, He\ngets rid of bad men for us; and, as the saying is, civilizes them off the\nface of the earth in the third or fourth generation.  And God does so.\nIf a family, or a class, or a whole nation becomes incorrigibly\nprofligate, foolish, base, in three or four generations they will either\ndie out or vanish.  They will sink to the bottom of society, and become\nmiserably poor, weak, and of no influence, and so unable to do harm to\nany but themselves.  Whole families will sink thus, I have seen it; you\nmay have seen it.  Whole nations will sink thus; as the Jews sank in\nEzekiel's time, and again in our Lord's time; and be conquered, trampled\non, counted for nothing, because they were worth nothing.\n\nBut now suppose, again, that the children, when their father's sins are\nvisited on them, are NOT incorrigible.  Suppose they are like the wise\nson of whom Ezekiel speaks, in the 14th verse, who seeth all his father's\nsins, and considereth, and doeth not such like--then has not God been\nmerciful and kind to him in visiting his father's sins on him?  He has.\nGod is justified therein.  His eternal laws of natural retribution,\nsevere as they are, have worked in love and in mercy, if they have taught\nthe young man the ruinousness, the deadliness of sin.  Have the father's\nsins made the son poor?  Then he learns not to make his children poor by\nhis sin.  Have his father's sins made him unhealthy?  Then he learns not\nto injure his children's health.  Have his father's sins kept him\nignorant, or in anywise hindered his rise in life?  Then he learns the\nvalue of a good education, and, perhaps, stints himself to give his\nchildren advantages which he had not himself--and, as sure as he does so,\nthe family begins to rise again after its fall.  This is no fancy, it is\nfact.  You may see it.  I have seen it, thank God.  How some of the\npurest and noblest women, some of the ablest and most right-minded men,\nwill spring from families, will be reared in households, where everything\nwas against them--where there was everything to make them profligate,\nfalse, reckless, in a word--bad--except the grace of God, which was\ntrying to make them good, and succeeded in making them good; and how,\nthough they have felt the punishment of their parents' sins upon them in\nmany ways during their whole life, yet that has been to them not a mere\npunishment, but a chastisement, a purifying medicine, a cross to be\nborne, which only stirred them up to greater watchfulness against sin, to\ngreater earnestness in educating their children, to greater activity and\nenergy in doing right, and giving their children the advantages which\nthey had not themselves.  And so were fulfilled in them two laws of God.\nThe one which Ezekiel lays down--that the bad man's son who executes\nGod's judgments and walks in God's statutes shall not die for the\niniquity of his father, but surely live; and the other law which Moses\nlays down--that God shews mercy unto thousands of generations, as I\nbelieve it means--that is, to son after father, and son after father\nagain, without end--as long as they love Him and keep His commandments.\n\nI do not, therefore, see that there is any real contradiction between\nwhat Moses says in the second commandment and what Ezekiel says in this\nchapter.  They are but two different sides of the same truth; and Moses\nis shewing the Jews one side, because they needed most to be taught that\nin his time, and Ezekiel showing them the other, because that was the\nteaching which they needed most then.  For they were fancying themselves,\nin their calamities, the victims of some blind and cruel fate, and had\nforgotten that, when God said that He visited the sins of the fathers on\nthe children, He qualified it by saying, \"of them that hate Me.\"\n\nTherefore, be hopeful about yourselves, and hopeful about your children\nafter you.  If any one here feels--I am fallen very low in the world--\nhere all has been so much against me--my parents were the ruin of me--Let\nhim remember this one word of Ezekiel.  \"Have I any pleasure at all that\nthe wicked should die? saith the Lord God:  and not that he should return\nfrom his ways, and live?\"  Let him turn from his father's evil ways, and\ndo that which is lawful and right, and then he can say with the Prophet,\nin answer to all the strokes of fortune and the miseries of circumstance,\n\"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy:  when I fall I shall arise.\"\nProvided he will remember that God requires of all men something, which\nis, to be as good as they can be; then he may remember also that our Lord\nHimself says, \"Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be\nrequired;\" implying that to whom little is given, of him will little be\nrequired.  God's ways are not unequal.  He has one equal, fair, and just\nrule for every human being; and that is perfect understanding, perfect\nsympathy, perfect good will, and therefore perfect justice and perfect\nlove.\n\nAnd if any one of you answers in his heart--these are good words, and all\nvery well:  but they come too late.  I am too far gone.  I ate the sour\ngrapes in my youth, and my teeth must be on edge for ever and ever.  I\nhave been a bad man, or I have been a foolish woman too many years to\nmend now.  I am down, and down I must be.  I have made my bed, and I must\nlie on it, and die on it too.  Oh my dear brother or sister in Christ,\nwhoever you are who says that, unsay it again for it is not true.\nEzekiel tells you that it is not true, and one greater than Ezekiel,\nJesus Christ, your Saviour, your Lord, your God, tells you it is not\ntrue.\n\nFor what happens, by God's eternal and unchangeable laws of retribution,\nto a whole nation, or a whole family, may happen to you--to each\nindividual man.  They fall by sin; they rise again by repentance and\namendment.  They may rise punished by their sins, and punished for a long\ntime, heavily weighted by the consequences of their own folly, and\nheavily weighted for a long time.  But they rise--they enter into their\nnew life weak and wounded, from their own fault.  But they enter in.  And\nfrom that day things begin to mend--the weather begins to clear, the soil\nbegins to yield again--punishment gradually ceases when it has done its\nwork, the weight lightens, the wounds heal, the weakness strengthens, and\nby God's grace within them, and by God's providence outside them, they\nare made men of again, and saved.  So you will surely find it in the\nexperience of life.\n\nNo doubt in general, in most cases,\n\n\nThe child is father of the man\n\n\nfor good and evil.  A pious and virtuous youth helps, by sure laws of\nGod, towards a pious and virtuous old age.  And on the other hand, an\nungodly and profligate youth leads, by the same laws, toward an ungodly\nand profligate old age.  That is the law.  But there is another law which\nmay stop that law--just as the stone falls to the ground by the natural\nlaw of weight, and yet you may stop that law by using the law of bodily\nstrength, and holding it up in your hand.  And what is the gracious law\nwhich will save you from the terrible law which will make you go on from\nworse to worse?\n\nIt is this,--\"when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that\nhe hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall\nsave his soul alive.\"  It is not said that his soul shall come in a\nmoment to perfect health and strength.  No.  There are old bad habits to\nbe got rid of, old ties to be broken, old debts (often worse debts than\nany money debts) to be paid.  But he shall save his soul alive.  His soul\nshall not die of its disease.  It shall be saved.  It shall come to life,\nand gradually mend and be cured, and grow from strength to strength, as a\nsick man mends day by day after a deadly illness, slowly it may be, but\nsurely:--for how can you fail of being cured if your physician is none\nother than Jesus Christ your Lord and your God?\n\nOh, recollect that last word.  If you will but recollect that, you will\nnever despair.  How dare any man say--Bad I am, and bad I must remain--\nwhile the God who made heaven and earth offers to make you good?  Who\ndare say,--I cannot amend--when God Himself offers to amend you?  Who\ndare say,--I have no strength to amend--when God offers to give you\nstrength, strength of His strength, and life of His life, even His Holy\nSpirit?  Who dare say,--God has given me up; He has a grudge against me\nwhich He will not lay by, an anger against me which cannot be appeased, a\nscore against me which will never be wiped out of His book?  Oh foolish\nand faint-hearted soul.  Look, look at Christ hanging on His cross, and\nsee there what God's grudge, God's anger, God's score of your sins is\nlike.  Like love unspeakable, and nothing else.  To wash out your sins,\nHe spared not His only begotten Son, but freely gave Him for you, to shew\nyou that God, so far from hating you, has loved you; that so far from\nbeing your enemy, He was your father; that so far from willing the death\nof a sinner, He willed that you and every sinner should turn from his\nwickedness and live.  For that, Jesus the only begotten Son of God, came\ndown and preached, and sorrowed, and suffered, and died upon the cross.\nHe died that you may live; He suffered that you may be saved; He paid the\ndebt, because you could never pay it; He bore your sins upon the cross,\nthat you might not have to bear them for ever and for ever in eternal\ndeath.  Now, even if you suffer somewhat in this life for your sins, that\nsuffering is not punishment, but wholesome chastisement, as when a father\nchastens the son in whom he delighteth.  All He asks of you is to long\nand try to give up your sins, for He will help you to give them up.  All\nHe asks of you is to long and try to lead a new life, for He will give\nyou power to lead a new life.  Oh, say not--I cannot--when Christ who\ndied for you says you can.  Say not--I dare not--when Christ bids you\ndare come boldly to His throne of grace.  Say not--I must be as I am--\nwhen Christ died that you should NOT be as you are.  Say not--there is no\nhope--when Christ died and rose again, and reigns for ever, to give hope\nto you and all mankind, that when the wicked man turns away from his\nwickedness that he has committed, and doeth that which is lawful and\nright, he shall save his soul alive, and all his transgressions shall not\nbe mentioned unto him, but in his righteousness that he hath done shall\nhe live.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXVII.  AGREE WITH THINE ADVERSARY\n\n\n\nEversley, 1861.  Windsor Castle, 1867.\n\nSt. Matthew v. 25, 26.  \"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou\nart in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to\nthe judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast\ninto prison.  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out\nthence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.\"\n\nThis parable our Lord seems to have spoken at least twice, as He did\nseveral others.  For we find it also in the 12th chapter of St. Luke.\nBut it is there part of quite a different discourse.  I think that by\nseeing what it means there, we shall see more clearly what it means here.\n\nOur Lord there is speaking of the sins of the whole Jewish nation.  Here\nHe is speaking rather of each man's private sins.  But He applies the\nsame parable to both.  He gives the same warning to both.  Not to go too\nfar on the wrong road, lest they come to a point where they cannot turn\nback, but must go on to just punishment, if not to utter destruction.\n\nThat is what He warned the Jews all through the latter part of the 12th\nchapter of Luke.  He will come again, He says, at an hour they do not\nthink of, and then if their elders, the Scribes and Pharisees, are going\non as they are now, beating the man-servants and maid-servants, and\neating and drinking with the drunken, oppressing the people, and living\nin luxury and profligacy, He will cut them asunder, and appoint them\ntheir portion with the unbelievers.\n\nIn this, and in many other parables, He had been warning them that their\nruin was near; and, at last, turning to the whole crowd, He appeals to\nthem, to their common sense.  \"When ye see a cloud rise out of the west,\nstraightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.  And when ye see\nthe south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.\nYe hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but\nhow is it that ye do not discern this time?\"  If God can give you common\nsense about one thing, why not about another?  Why can you not open your\neyes and of yourselves judge what is right?  \"Agree with thine adversary\nquickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the\nadversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the\nofficer, and thou be cast into prison.  Verily I say unto thee, Thou\nshalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost\nfarthing.\"\n\nSo He spoke; and they did not fully understand what He meant.  They\nthought that by their adversary He meant the Roman governor.  For they\nimmediately began to talk to Him about some Galileans whose blood Pilate,\nthe Roman governor, had mingled with their sacrifices (I suppose in some\nof those wars which were continually breaking out in Judea).  I think He\nmeant more than that.  \"Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners\nabove all the Galilaeans?  Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise\nperish.\"  As much as to say, though ye did not rebel against the Romans\nlike these Galilaeans, you have your sins, which will ruin YOU.  As long\nas you are hypocrites, with your mouths full of the cant of religion, and\nyour hearts full of all mean and spiteful passions; as long as you cannot\nof yourselves discern what is right, and have lost conscience, and the\neverlasting distinction between right and wrong, so long are you walking\nblindfold to ruin.  There is an adversary against you, who will surely\ndeliver you to the judge some day, and then it will be too late to cry\nfor mercy.  And who was that adversary?  Who but the everlasting law of\nGod, which says, Thou shalt do justly?--and you Jews are utterly unjust,\nfalse, covetous, and unrighteous.  Thou shalt love all men; and you are\ncruel and spiteful, hating each other, and making all mankind hate you.\nThou shalt walk humbly with thy God; and you Jews are walking proudly\nwith God; fancying that God belongs only to you; that because you are His\nchosen people, He will let you commit every sin you choose, as long as\nyou keep His name on your lips, and keep up an empty worship of Him in\nthe temple.  That is your adversary, the everlasting moral law of God.\nAnd who is the Judge but God Himself, who is set on His throne judging\nright, while you are doing wrong?  And who is the officer, to whom that\njudge will deliver you?  There indeed the Jews were right.  It was the\nRomans whom God appointed to punish them for their sins.  All which our\nLord had foretold, as all the world knows, came true forty years after in\nthat horrible siege of Jerusalem, which the Jews brought on themselves\nentirely by their own folly, and pride, and wicked lawlessness.  In that\nsiege, by famine and pestilence, by the Romans' swords, by crucifixion,\nand by each other's hands (for the different factions were murdering each\nother wholesale up to the very day Jerusalem was taken), thousands of\nJews perished horribly, and the rest were sold as slaves over the face of\nthe whole earth, and led away into a captivity from which they could not\nescape till they had paid the uttermost farthing.\n\nNow let us look at this same parable in the 5th chapter of St Matthew.\nRemember first that it is part of the sermon on the Mount, which is all\nabout not doctrine, but morality, the law of right and wrong, the law of\njustice and mercy.  You will see then that our Lord is preaching against\nthe same sins as in the 12th chapter of St. Luke.  Against a hypocritical\nreligion, joined with a cruel and unjust heart.  Those of old time, the\nScribes and Pharisees, said merely, Thou shalt not kill.  And as long as\nthou dost not kill thy brother, thou mayest hate him in thy heart and\nspeak evil of him with thy lips.  But our Lord says, Not so.  Whosoever\nis angry with his brother without a cause is in danger of the judgment.\nWhosoever shall say to him Raca, or worthless fellow, shall speak\ninsolently, brutally, cruelly, scornfully to him, is in danger of the\ncouncil.  But whosoever shall say unto him, Thou fool, is in danger of\nhell fire.  For using that word to the Jews, so says the Talmudic\ntradition, Moses and Aaron were shut out of the land of promise, for it\nmeans an infidel, an atheist, a godless man, or rebel against God, as it\nis written, \"The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.\"  Whosoever\nshall curse his brother, who is trying to be a good Christian man to the\nbest of his light and power, because he does not happen to agree with him\nin all things, and call him a heretic, and an infidel, and an atheist,\nand an enemy of God--he is in danger of hell fire.  Let him agree with\nhis adversary quickly, whiles he is in the way with him, lest he be\ndelivered to God the judge, and to the just punishment of him who has not\ndone justly, not loved mercy, not walked humbly with his God.\n\nBut who is the adversary of that man, and who is the judge, and who is\nthe officer?  Our adversary in every case, whenever we do wrong,\nknowingly or unknowingly, is the Law of God, the everlasting laws, by\nwhich God has ordered every thing in heaven and earth; and as often as we\nbreak one of these laws, let us agree with it again as quickly as we can,\nlest it hale us before God, the judge of all, and He deliver us over to\nHis officer--to those powers of nature and powers of spirit, which He has\nappointed as ministers of His vengeance, and they cast us into some\nprison of necessary and unavoidable misery, from which we shall never\nescape till we have paid the uttermost farthing.\n\nDo you not understand me?  Then I will give you an example.  Suppose the\ncase of a man hurting his health by self-indulgence of any kind.  Then\nhis adversaries are the laws of health.  Let him agree with them quickly,\nwhile he has the power of conquering his bad habits, by recovering his\nhealth, lest the time come when his own sins deliver him up to God his\njudge; and God to His terrible officers of punishment, the laws of\nDisease; and they cast him into a prison of shame and misery from which\nthere is no escape--shame and misery, most common perhaps among the lower\nclasses:  but not altogether confined to them--the weakened body, the\nbleared eye, the stupified brain, the premature death, the children\nunhealthy from their parents' sins, despising their parents, and perhaps\ncopying their vices at the same time.  Many a man have I seen in that\nprison, fast bound with misery though not with iron, and how he was to\npay his debt and escape out of it I know not, though I hope that God does\nknow.\n\nAre any of you, again, in the habit of cheating your neighbours, or\ndealing unfairly by them?  Your adversary is the everlasting law of\njustice, which says, Do as you would be done by, for with what measure\nyou mete to others, it shall be measured to you again.\n\nThis may show you how a bodily sin, like self-indulgence punishes itself\nby bringing a man into bondage of bodily misery, from which he cannot\nescape; and in the same way a spiritual sin, like want of charity, will\nbring a man into spiritual bondage from which he cannot escape.  And\nthis, as in bodily sins, it will do by virtue of that mysterious and\nterrible officer of God, which we call Habit.  Habit, by which, we cannot\ntell how, our having done a thing once becomes a reason for our doing it\nagain, and again after that, till, if the habit be once formed, we cannot\nhelp doing that thing, and become enslaved to it, and fast bound by it,\nin a prison from which there is no escape.  Look for instance at the case\nof the untruthful man.  Let him beware in time.  Who is his adversary?\nFacts are his adversary.  He says one thing, and Fact says another, and a\nvery stubborn and terrible adversary Fact is.  The day will come, most\nprobably in this life, when Facts will bring that untruthful man before\nGod and before men likewise--and cry,--Judge between us which of us is\nright; and there will come to that false man exposure and shame, and a\nworse punishment still, perhaps, if he have let the habit grow too strong\non him, and have not agreed with his adversary in time.\n\nFor have you not seen (alas, you have too surely seen) men who had\ncontracted such a habit of falsehood that they could not shake it off--\nwho had played with their sense of truth so long that they had almost\nforgotten what truth meant; men who could not speak without mystery,\nconcealment, prevarication, half-statements; who were afraid of the plain\ntruth, not because there was any present prospect of its hurting them,\nbut simply because it was the plain truth--children of darkness, who,\nfrom long habit, hated the light--and who, though they had been found out\nand exposed, could not amend--could not become simple, honest, and\ntruthful--could not escape from the prison of their own bad habits, and\nthe net of lies which they had spread round their own path, till they had\npaid the uttermost penalty for their deceit?\n\nLook, again, at the case of the uncharitable man, in the habit of forming\nharsh and cruel judgments of his neighbours.  Then his adversary is the\neverlasting law of Love, which will surely at last punish him, by the\nmost terrible of all punishments--loss of love to man, and therefore to\nGod.  Are we not (I am, I know, may God forgive me for it) apt to be\nangry with our brethren without a cause, out of mere peevishness?  Let us\nbeware in time.  Are we not apt to say to them \"Raca\"--to speak cruelly,\ncontemptuously, fiercely of them, if they thwart us?  Let us beware in\ntime still more.  Are we not worst of all, tempted (as I too often am) to\nsay to them \"Thou fool;\" to call better men, more useful men more pure\nmen, more pious men than ourselves, hard and cruel names, names from\nwhich they would shrink with horror because they cannot see Christian\ntruth in just exactly the same light that we do?  Oh! let us beware then.\nBeware lest the everlasting laws of justice and fairness between man and\nman, of love and charity between man and man, which we have broken,\nshould some day deliver us up, as they delivered those bigoted Jews of\nold to God our Judge, and He deliver our souls to His most terrible\nofficers, who are called envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness;\nand they thrust us into that blackest of all prisons, on the gate of\nwhich is written, Hardness of heart, and Contempt of God's Word and\ncommandments, and within which is the outer darkness into which if a man\nfalls, he cannot see the difference between right and wrong:  but calls\nevil good, and good evil, like his companions in the outer darkness--\nnamely, the devil and his angels.  Oh! let us who are coming to lay our\ngift upon God's altar at this approaching Christmas tide, consider\nwhether our brother hath aught against us in any of these matters, and,\nif so, let us leave our gift upon the altar, and be first reconciled to\nour brother, in heart at least, and with inward shame, and confession,\nand contrition, and resolution to amend.  But we can only do that by\nrecollecting what gift we are to leave on Christ's altar,--that it is the\ngift of SELF, the sacrifice of ourselves, with all our selfishness,\npride, conceit, spite, cruelty.  Ourselves, with all our sins, we are to\nlay upon Christ's altar, that our sins may be nailed to His cross, and\nwashed clean in His blood, everlastingly consumed in the fire of His\nSpirit, the pure spirit of love, which is the Charity of God, that so,\nself being purged out of us, we may become holy and lively sacrifices to\nGod, parts and parcels of that perfect sacrifice which Christ offered up\nfor the sins of the whole world--even the sacrifice of Himself.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXVIII.  ST JOHN THE BAPTIST\n\n\n\nChester Cathedral. 1872.\n\nSt Luke iii. 2, 3, 7, 9-14.  \"The Word of God came unto John the son of\nZacharias in the wilderness.  And he came into all the country about\nJordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. .\n. . Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him,\nO generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to\ncome?  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. . . .  And now\nalso the axe is laid unto the root of the trees:  every tree therefore\nthat bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.\nAnd the people asked him saying, What shall we do then?  He answereth and\nsaith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath\nnone; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.  Then came also\npublicans to be baptized unto them, and said unto him, Master, what shall\nwe do?  And he said, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.  And\nthe soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do?  And\nhe said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and\nbe content with your wages.\"\n\nThis is St John Baptist's day.  Let me say a very few words--where many\nmight be said--about one of the noblest personages who ever has appeared\non this earth.\n\nOur blessed Lord said, \"Among them that are born of women there hath not\nrisen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding, he that is least\nin the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.\"  These are serious words;\nfor which of us dare to say that we are greater than John the Baptist?\n\nBut let us at least think a while what John the Baptist was like.  So we\nshall gain at least the sight of an ideal man.  It is not the highest\nideal.  Our Lord tells us that plainly; and we, as Christians, should\nknow that it is not.  The ideal man is our Lord Christ Himself, and none\nother.  Still, he that has not mounted the lower step of the heavenly\nstair, has certainly not mounted the higher; and therefore, if we have\nnot attained to the likeness of John the Baptist, still more, we have not\nattained to the likeness of Christ.  What, then, was John the Baptist\nlike?  What picture of him and his character can we form to ourselves in\nour own imaginations? for that is all we have to picture him by--helped--\nalways remember that--by the Holy Spirit of God, who helps the\nimagination, the poetic and dramatic faculty of men; just as much as He\nhelps the logical and argumentative faculty to see things and men as they\nreally are, by the spirit of love, which also is the spirit of true\nunderstanding.\n\nHow, then, shall we picture John the Baptist to ourselves?  Great\npainters, greater than the world seems likely to see again, have\nexercised their fancy upon his face, his figure, his actions.  We must\nput out of our minds, I fear, at once, many of the loveliest of them all:\nthose in which Raffaelle and others have depicted the child John, in his\ncamel's hair raiment, with a child's cross in his hand, worshipping the\ninfant Christ.  There is also one exquisite picture, by Annibale Caracci,\nif I recollect rightly, in which the blessed babe is lying asleep, and\nthe blessed Virgin signs to St John, pressing forward to adore him, not\nto awaken his sleeping Lord and God.  But such imaginations, beautiful as\nthey are, and true in a heavenly and spiritual sense, which therefore is\ntrue eternally for you, and me, and all mankind, are not historic fact.\nFor St John the Baptist said himself, \"and I knew him not.\"\n\nHe may have been, we must almost say, he must have been, brought up with\nor near our Lord.  He may have seen in Him such a child (we must believe\nthat), as he never saw before.  He knew Him at least to be a princely\nchild, of David's royal line.  But he was not conscious of who and what\nHe was, till the mysterious inner voice, of whom he gives only the\ndarkest hints, said to him, \"Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit\ndescending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the\nHoly Ghost.  And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.\"  But\nwhat manner of man was St John the Baptist in the meantime?  Painters\nhave tried their hands at drawing him, and we thank them.  Pictures, says\nSt Augustine, are the books of the unlearned.  And, my friends, when\ngreat painters paint, they are the books of the too-learned likewise.\nThey bring us back, bring us home, by one glance at a human face, a human\nfigure, a human scene of action, out of our philosophies, and criticisms,\nand doctrines, which narrow our hearts, without widening our heads, to\nthe deeper facts of humanity, and therefore to the deeper facts of\ntheology likewise.  But what picture of St John the Baptist shall we\nchoose whereby to represent him to ourselves, as the forerunner of the\nincarnate God?\n\nThe best which I can recollect is the great picture by Guido--ah, that he\nhad painted always as wisely and as well--of the magnificent lad sitting\non the rock, half clad in his camel's hair robe, his stalwart hand lifted\nup to denounce he hardly knows what, save that things are going all\nwrong, utterly wrong to him; his beautiful mouth open to preach, he\nhardly knows what, save that he has a message from God, of which he is\nhalf-conscious as yet--that he is a forerunner, a prophet, a foreteller\nof something and some one which is to come, and which yet is very near at\nhand.  The wild rocks are round him, the clear sky is over him, and\nnothing more.  He, the gentleman born, the clergyman born--for you must\nrecollect who and what St John the Baptist was, and that he was neither\ndemocrat nor vulgar demagogue, nor flatterer of ignorant mobs, but a man\nof an ancestry as ancient and illustrious as it was civilised, and bound\nby long ties of duty, of patriotism, of religion, and of the temple\nworship of God:--he, the noble and the priest, has thrown off--not in\ndiscontent and desperation, but in hope and awe--all his family\nprivileges, all that seems to make life worth having; and there aloft and\nin the mountains, alone with nature and with God, feeding on locusts and\nwild honey and whatsoever God shall send, and clothed in skins, he, like\nElijah of old, renews not merely the habits, but the spirit and power of\nElijah, and preaches to a generation sunk in covetousness and\nsuperstition, party spirit, and the rest of the seven devils which\nbrought on the fall of his native land, and which will bring on the fall\nof every land on earth, preaches to them, I say--What?\n\nThe most common, let me say boldly, the most vulgar--in the good old\nsense of the word--the most vulgar morality.  He tells them that an awful\nruin was coming unless they repented and mended.  How fearfully true his\nwords were, the next fifty years proved.  The axe, he said, was laid to\nthe root of the tree; and the axe was the heathen Roman, even then master\nof the land.  But God, not the Roman Caesar merely, was laying the axe.\nAnd He was a good God, who only wanted goodness, which He would preserve;\nnot badness, which He would destroy.  Therefore men must not merely\nrepent and do penance, they must bring forth fruits meet for penance; do\nright instead of doing wrong, lest they be found barren trees, and be cut\ndown, and cast into that everlasting fire of God, which, thanks be to His\nHoly name, burns for ever--unquenchable by all men's politics, and\nsystems, and political or other economies, to destroy out of God's\nKingdom all that offendeth and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie--\noppressors, quacks, cheats, hypocrites, and the rest.\n\nThe people--the farming class--came to him with \"What shall we do?\"  The\nyoung priest and nobleman, in his garment of camel's hair, has nothing\nbut plain morality for them.  \"He that hath two coats, let him impart to\nhim that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.\"  The\npublicans, the renegades, who were farming the taxes of the Roman\nconquerors, and making their base profit out of their countrymen's\nslavery, came to him,--\"Master, what shall we do?\"  He does not tell them\nnot to be publicans.  He does not tell his countrymen to rebel, though he\nmust have been sorely tempted to do it.  All he says is, Make the bad and\nbase arrangement as good as you can; exact no more than that which is\nappointed you.  The soldiers, poor fellows, come to him.  Whether they\nwere Herod's mercenaries, or real gallant Roman soldiers, we are not\ntold.  Either had unlimited power under a military despotism, in an\nanarchic and half-enslaved country; but whichever they were, he has the\nsame answer to them of common morality.  You are what you are; you are\nwhere you are.  Do it as well as you can.  Do no violence to any man,\nneither accuse any man falsely, and be content with your wages.\n\nAh, wise politician, ah, clear and rational spirit, who knows and tells\nothers to do the duty which lies nearest them; who sees (as old Greek\nHesiod says), how much bigger the half is than the whole; who, in the\nhour of his country's deepest degradation, had divine courage to say, our\ndeliverance lies, not in rebellion, but in doing right.  But he has\nsterner words.  Pharisees, the separatists, the religious men, who think\nthemselves holier than any one else; and Sadducees, materialist men of\nthe world, who sneer at the unseen, the unknown, the heroic, come to him.\nAnd for Pharisee and Sadducee--for the man who prides himself on\nbelieving more than his neighbours, and for the man who prides himself on\nbelieving less--he has the same answer.  Both are exclusives, inhuman,\nwhile they are pretending to be more than human.  He knew them well, for\nhe was born and bred among them, and he forestalls our Lord's words to\nthem, \"O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath\nto come?\"\n\nAt last his preaching of common morality is put to the highest test.  The\nking--the tyrant as we should call him--the Herod of the day, an usurper,\nneither a son of David, nor a king chosen by the people, tries to\npatronize him.  The old spirit of his forefather Aaron, of his forefather\nPhineas, the spirit of Levi, which (rightly understood), is the Spirit of\nGod, flashes up in the young priestly prophet, in the old form of common\nmorality.  \"It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.\"  We\nknow the rest; how, at the request of Herodias' daughter, Herod sent and\nbeheaded John in prison, and how she took his head in a charger and\nbrought it to her mother.  Great painters have shown us again and again\nthe last act--outwardly hideous, but really beautiful--of St John's\nheroic drama, in a picture of the lovely dancing girl with the prophet's\nhead in a charger--a dreadful picture; and yet one which needed to be\npainted, for it was a terrible fact, and is still, and will be till this\nwicked world's end, a matter for pity and tears rather than for\nindignation.  The most perfect representations, certainly the most\ntragical I know of it, are those which are remarkable, not for their\nexpression, but for their want of expression--the young girl in brocade\nand jewels, with the gory head in her hands, thinking of nothing out of\nthose wide vacant foolish eyes, save the triumph of self-satisfied\nvanity; for the spite and revenge is not in her, but in her wicked\nmother.  She is just the very creature, who, if she had been better\ntrained, and taught what John the Baptist really was, might have\nreverenced him, worshipped him, and ministered unto him.  Alas! alas! how\ndo the follies of poor humanity repeat themselves in every age.  The\nbutterfly has killed the lion, without after all meaning much harm.  Ah,\nthat such human butterflies would take warning by the fate of Herodias'\ndaughter, and see how mere vanity will lead, if indulged too long and too\nfreely, to awful crime.\n\nOne knows the old stories,--how Herod, and Herodias, and the vain foolish\ngirl fell into disgrace with the Emperor, and were banished into\nProvence, and died in want and misery.  One knows too the old legends,\nhow Herodias' daughter reappears in South Europe--even in old German\nlegends--as the witch-goddess, fair and ruinous, sweeping for ever\nthrough wood and wold at night with her troop of fiends, tempting the\ntraveller to dance with them till he dies; a name for ever accursed\nthrough its own vanity rather than its own deliberate sin, from which may\nGod preserve us all, men as well as women.  So two women, one wicked and\none vain, did all they could to destroy one of the noblest human beings\nwho ever walked this earth.  And what did they do?  They did not prevent\nhis being the forerunner and prophet of the incarnate Son of God.  They\ndid not prevent his being the master and teacher of the blessed Apostle\nSt John, who was his spiritual son and heir.  They did not prevent his\nteaching all men and women, to whom God gives grace to understand him,\nthat the true repentance, the true conversion, the true deliverance from\nthe wrath to come, the true entrance into the kingdom of heaven, the true\nway to Christ and to God, is common morality.\n\nAnd now let us bless God's holy name for all His servants departed in His\nfaith and fear, and especially for His servant St John the Baptist,\nbeseeching Him to give us grace, so to follow his doctrine and holy life,\nthat we may truly repent after his preaching and after his example.  May\nthe Lord forgive our exceeding cowardice, and help us constantly to speak\nthe truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake;\nthrough Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXIX.  THE PRESENT RECOMPENSE\n\n\n\nChester Cathedral, Nave Service, Evening.  May 1872.\n\nProverbs xi. 31.  \"Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the\nearth:  much more the wicked and the sinner.\"\n\nThis is the key-note of the Book of Proverbs--that men are punished or\nrewarded according to their deeds in this life; nay, it is the key-note\nof the whole Old Testament.  \"The eyes of the Lord are over the\nrighteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers; the countenance of\nthe Lord is against them that do evil, to root out the remembrance of\nthem from the earth.\"\n\nBut here, at the beginning of my sermon, I can fancy some one ready to\ncry--Stay! you have spoken too strongly.  That is not the key-note of the\nwhole Old Testament.  There are words in it of quite a different note--\nwords which complain to God that the good are not rewarded, and the\nwicked are not punished:  as for instance, when the Psalmist says how the\nungodly men of this evil world are filled with God's hid treasure, and\nhow they have children at their desire, and leave the rest of their\nsubstance for their babes.  And again, \"I was envious at the foolish,\nwhen I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  For there are no bands in their\ndeath; but their strength is firm.  They are not in trouble as other men;\nneither are they plagued like other men. . . .  They set their mouth\nagainst the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.\nTherefore his people return hither; and waters of a full cup are wrung\nout to them.  And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in\nthe most High?\"  And though the Psalmist says that such persons will come\nto a sudden and fearful end, yet he confesses that so long as they live\nthey have prospered, while he had been punished all day long, and\nchastened every morning.  And do we not know that so it is?  Is it not\nobvious now, and has it not been notorious in every country, and in all\ntimes, that so it is?  Do not good men often lead lives of poverty and\naffliction?  Do not men make large fortunes, or rise to fame and power,\nby base and wicked means? and do not those same men often enough die in\ntheir beds, and leave children behind them, and found families, who\nprosper for generations after they are dead?  How were they recompensed\nin the earth?  Now this is one of the puzzles of life, which tries a\nman's faith in God, as it tried the psalmists and prophets in old time.\nBut that the text speaks truth I do not doubt.  I believe that the\nprosperous bad man is recompensed in the earth--is punished in this life-\n-often with the most terrible of all punishments--Impunity; the not being\npunished at all; which is the worst thing in this life which can happen\nto a sinner.  But I am not going to speak of that, but rather of the\nfirst part of the text, \"The righteous shall be recompensed in the\nearth.\"\n\nNow is not the answer to the puzzle this:  That God is impartial; that He\nis no respecter of persons, but causing His sun to shine on the evil and\non the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust; and so\nrewarding every man according to his work, paying him for all work done,\nof whatever kind it may be?  Some work for this world, which we do see,\nand God gives them what they earn in this life; some work for the world\nabove, which we cannot see, and God gives them what they earn in this\nlife, for ever and ever likewise.  If a man wishes for treasure on earth,\nhe can have it if he will, and enjoy it as long as it lasts.  If a man\nwishes for treasure in heaven, he can have it if he will, and enjoy it as\nlong as it lasts.  God deals fairly with both, and pays both what they\nhave earned.\n\nSome set their hearts on this world; some want money, some want power,\nsome want fame and admiration from their fellow-men, some want merely to\namuse themselves.  Then they will have what they want if they will take\nthe right way to get it.  If a man wishes to make a large fortune, and\ndie rich, he will very probably succeed, if he will only follow\ndiligently the laws and rules by which God has appointed that money\nshould be made.  If a man longs for power and glory, and must needs be\nadmired and obeyed by his fellow-men, he can have his wish, if he will go\nthe right way to get what he longs for; especially in a free country like\nthis, he will get most probably just as much of them as he deserves--that\nis, as much as he has talent and knowledge enough to earn.  So did the\nPharisees in our Lord's time.  They wanted power, fame, and money as\nreligious leaders, and they knew how to get them as well as any men who\never lived; and they got them.  Our Lord did not deny that.  They had\ntheir reward, He said.  They succeeded--those old Pharisees--in being\nlooked up to as the masters of the Jewish mob, and in crucifying our Lord\nHimself.  They had their reward; and so may you and I.  If we want any\nearthly thing, and have knowledge of the way to get it, and have ability\nand perseverance enough, then we shall very probably get it, and much\ngood it will do us when we have got it after all.  We shall have had our\ntreasure upon earth and our hearts likewise; and when we come to die we\nshall leave both our treasure and our hearts behind us, and the Lord have\nmercy on our souls.\n\nBut again, there are those, thank God, who have, or are at least trying\nto get, treasure in heaven, which they may carry away with them when they\ndie, and keep for ever.  And who are they?  Those who are longing and\ntrying to be true and to be good; who have seen how beautiful it is to be\ntrue and to be good; to know God and the will of God; to love God and the\nwill of God; and therefore to copy His likeness and to do His will.\nThose who long for sanctification, and who desire to be holy, even as\ntheir Father in heaven is holy, and perfect, even as their Father in\nheaven is perfect; and who therefore think, as St Paul bade them, of\nwhatsoever things are just, true, pure, lovely, and of good report, if\nthere be any true manhood, and if there be any just praise--in three\nwords--who seek after whatsoever is true, beautiful, and good.  These are\nthey that have treasure in heaven.  For what is really true, really\nbeautiful, really good, is also really heavenly.  God alone is perfect,\ngood, beautiful, and true; and heaven is heaven because it is filled with\nthe glory of His goodness, His beauty, and His truth.  But wherever there\nis a soul on earth led by the Spirit of God, and filled by the Spirit of\nGod with good and beautiful and true graces and inspirations, there is a\nsoul which, as St Paul says, is sitting in heavenly places with Christ\nJesus--a soul which is already in heaven though still on earth.  We\nconfess it by our own words.  We speak of a heavenly character; we speak\neven of a heavenly countenance; and we speak right.  We see that that\ncharacter, though it be still imperfect, and marred by human weaknesses,\nis already good with the goodness which comes down from heaven; and that\nthat countenance, though it may be mean and plain, is already beautiful\nwith the beauty which comes down from heaven.\n\nBut how are such souls recompensed in the earth?  Oh! my friends, is not\na man recompensed in the earth whenever he can lift up his heart above\nthe earth?--whenever he can lift up his heart unto the Lord, and behold\nHis glory above all the earth?  Does not this earth look brighter to him\nthen?  The world of man looks brighter to him, in spite of all its sins\nand sorrows, for he sees the Lord ruling it, the Lord forgiving it, the\nLord saving it.  He sees, by the eye of faith, the Lord fulfilling His\nown promise--\"where two or three are gathered together in my name, there\nam I in the midst of them\"; and he takes heart and hope for the poor\nearth, and says, The earth is not deserted; mankind is not without a\nFather, a Saviour, a Teacher, a King.  Bad men and bad spirits are not\nthe masters of the world; and men are not as creeping things, as the\nfishes of the sea, which have no ruler over them.  For Christ has not\nleft His church.  He reigns, and will reign, till He has put all enemies\nunder His feet, and cast out of His kingdom all that offend, and\nwhatsoever loveth and maketh a lie; and then the heavenly treasure will\nbe the only treasure; for whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things\nare true, pure, lovely, and of good report, if there be any valour, and\nif there be any praise, those things, and they alone, will be left in the\nkingdom of Christ and of God.  Is not that man recompensed in the earth?\nMust he not rise each morning to go about his daily work with a more\ncheerful heart, saying, with Jeremiah, in like case, \"Upon this I awaked,\nand beheld, and my sleep was sweet to me?\"\n\nYes, I see in experience that the righteous man is recompensed in the\nearth, every day, and all day long.  In proportion as a man's mind is\nheavenly, just so much will he enjoy this beautiful earth, and all that\nis therein.  I believe that if a man walks with God, then he can walk\nnowhither without seeing and hearing what the ungodly and bad man will\nnever see and hear, because his eyes are blinded, and his heart hardened\nfrom thinking of himself, his own selfish wants, his own selfish sins.\nWhich, for instance, was the happier man--which the man who was the more\nrecompensed in the earth this very day--the poor man who went for his\nSunday walk into the country, thinking of little but the sins and the\nfollies of the week past, and probably of the sins and the follies of the\nweek to come; or the man who went with a clear conscience, and had the\nheart to thank God for the green grass, and the shining river, and the\nmisty mountains sleeping far away, and notice the song of the birds, and\nthe scent of the flowers, as a little child might do, and know that his\nFather in heaven had made all these?\n\nYes, my friends, Christ is very near us, though our eyes are holden by\nour own sins, and therefore we see Him not.  But just in proportion as a\nman walks with God, just in proportion as the eyes of his soul are opened\nby the Spirit of God, he recovers, I believe, the privilege which Adam\nlost when he fell.  He hears the Word of the Lord walking among the trees\nof the garden in the cool of the day; and instead of trying, like guilty\nAdam, to hide himself from his Maker, answers, with reverence and yet\nwith joy, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.\n\nNay, I would go further still, and say, Is not the righteous man\nrecompensed on the earth every time he hears a strain of noble music?  To\nhim who has his treasure in heaven, music speaks about that treasure\nthings far too deep for words.  Music speaks to him of whatsoever is\njust, true, pure, lovely, and of good report, of whatsoever is manful and\nennobling, of whatsoever is worthy of praise and honour.  Music, to that\nman, speaks of a divine order and a divine proportion; of a divine\nharmony, through all the discords and confusions of men; of a divine\nmelody, through all the cries and groans of sin and sorrow.  What says a\nwiser and a better man than I shall ever be, and that not of noble music,\nbut of such as we may hear any day in any street?  \"Even that vulgar\nmusic,\" he says, \"which makes one man merry, another mad, strikes in me a\ndeep fit of devotion, and a profound contemplation of God, the first\ncomposer.  There is something more of divinity in it than the ear\ndiscovers.  It is an hieroglyphical and shadowed lesson of the whole\nworld, and of the creatures of God.  Such a melody to the ear as the\nwhole world, well understood, would afford to the understanding.\"  That\nman, I insist, was indeed recompensed on the earth, when music, which is\nto the ungodly and unrighteous the most earthly of all arts, which to the\nheathens and the savages, to frivolous and profligate persons, only\ntempts to silly excitement or to brutal passion, was to him as the speech\nof angels, a remembrancer to him of that eternal and ever-present heaven,\nfrom which all beauty, truth, and goodness are shed forth over the\nuniverse, from the glory of the ever-blessed Trinity--Father, Son, and\nHoly Spirit.\n\nDoes any one say--These things are too high for me; I cannot understand\nthem?  My dear friends, are they not too high for me likewise?  Do you\nfancy that I understand them, though my reason, as well as Holy\nScripture, tells me that they are true?  I understand them no more than I\nunderstand how I draw a single breath, or think a single thought.  But it\nis good for you, and for me, and for every man, now and then, to hear\nthings which we do NOT understand; that so we may learn our own\nignorance, and be lifted up above ourselves, and renounce our fancied\nworldly wisdom, and think within ourselves:--Would it not be wiser to\nconfess ourselves fools, and take our Lord's advice, and be converted,\nand become as little children?  For otherwise, our Lord says, we shall in\nnowise enter into this very kingdom of heaven of which I have been\ntelling you.  For this is one of the things which God hides from the wise\nand prudent, and yet revealeth unto babes.  Yes, that is the way to\nunderstand all things, however deep--to become as little children.  A\nlittle child proves that all I say is true, and that it knows that all I\nsay is true.  Though it cannot put its feelings into words, it acts on\nthem by a mere instinct, which is the gift of God.  Why does a little\nchild pick flowers?  Why does a little child dance when it hears a strain\nof music?  And deeper still, why does a little child know when it has\ndone wrong?  Why does it love to hear of things beautiful and noble, and\nshrink from things foul and mean, if what I say is not true?  The child\ndoes so, because it is nearer heaven, not further off, than we grown\nfolk.\n\nAh! that we would all lay to heart what one said of old, who walked with\nGod:--\n\n\n\"Dear soul, could'st thou become a child,\nOnce more on earth, meek, undefiled,\nThen Paradise were round thee here,\nAnd God Himself for ever near.\"\n\n\n\nSERMON XXX.  THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN\n\n\n\nChapel Royal, St James'. 1873.\n\nSt. Matt. xxii. 2-7.  \"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king,\nwhich made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call\nthem that were bidden to the wedding:  and they would not come.  Again,\nhe sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold,\nI have prepared my dinner:  my oxen and fatlings are killed, and all\nthings are ready:  come unto the marriage.  But they made light of it,\nand went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:  And\nthe remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew\nthem.  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth:  and he sent forth\nhis armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.\"\n\nThis parable, if we understand it aright, will help to teach us theology-\n-that is, the knowledge of God, and of the character of God.  For it is a\nparable concerning the kingdom of heaven, and the laws and customs of the\nkingdom of heaven--that is, the spiritual and eternal laws by which God\ngoverns men.\n\nNow, what any kingdom or government is like must needs depend on what the\nking or governor of it is like; at least if that king is all-powerful,\nand can do what he likes.  His laws will be like his character.  If he be\ngood, he will make good laws.  If he be bad, he will make bad laws.  If\nhe be harsh and cruel--if he be careless and indulgent--so will his laws\nbe.  If he be loving and generous, delighting in seeing his subjects\nhappy, then his laws will be so shaped that his subjects will be happy,\nif they obey those laws.  But also--and this is a very serious matter,\nand one to which foolish people in all ages have tried to shut their\neyes, and false preachers in all ages have tried to blind men's eyes--\nalso, I say, if his laws be good, and bountiful, and sure to make men\nhappy, then the good king will have those laws obeyed.  He will not be an\nindulgent king, for in his case to be indulgent will be cruelty, and\nnothing less.  The good king will not say,--I have given you laws by\nwhich you may live happy; but I do not care whether you obey them or not.\nI have, as it were, set you up, in life, and given you advantages by\nwhich you may prosper if you use them; but I do not care whether you use\nthem or not.  For to say that would be as much as to say that I do not\ncare if you make yourselves miserable, and make others miserable\nlikewise.  The good king will say,--You shall obey my laws, for they are\nfor your good.  You shall use my gifts, for they are for your good.  And\nif you do not, I will punish you.  You shall respect my authority.  And\nif you do not--if you go too far, if you become wanton and cruel, and\ndestroy your fellow-subjects unjustly off the face of the earth; then I\nwill destroy you off the face of he earth, and burn up your city.  I will\ndestroy any government or system of society which you set up in\nopposition to my good and just laws.  And if you merely despise the\ngifts, and refuse to use them--then I will cast you out of my kingdom,\ninside which is freedom and happiness, and light and knowledge, into the\ndarkness outside, bound hand and foot, into the ignorance and brutal\nslavery which you have chosen, where you may reconsider yourself, weeping\nand gnashing your teeth as you discover what a fool you have been.\n\nOur Lord's parable has fulfilled itself again and again in history, and\nwill fulfil itself as long as foolish and rebellious persons exist on\nearth.  This is one of the laws of the kingdom of heaven.  It must be so,\nfor it arises by necessity out of the character of Christ, the king of\nheaven.--Infinite bounty and generosity; but if that bounty be despised\nand insulted, or still more, if it be outraged by wanton tyranny or\ncruelty, then--for the benefit of the rest of mankind--awful severity.\nSo it is, and so it must be; simply because God is good.\n\nAt least, this is the kind of king which the parable shows to us.  The\nking in it begins, not by asking his subjects to pay him taxes, or even\nto do him service, but to come to a great feast--a high court ceremonial-\n-the marriage of his son.  Whatsoever else that may mean, it certainly\nmeans this--that the king intended to treat these men, not as his slaves,\nbut as his guests and friends.  They will not come.  They are too busy;\none over his farm, another over his merchandise.  They owe, remember,\nsafe possession of their farm, and safe transit for their merchandise, to\nthe king, who governs and guards the land.  But they forget that, and\nrefuse his invitation.  Some of them, seemingly out of mere insolence,\nand the spirit of rebellion against authority, just because it is\nauthority, go a step too far.  To show that they are their own masters,\nand intend to do what they like, they take the king's messengers, and\ntreat them spitefully, and kill them.\n\nThen there arises in that king a noble indignation.  We do not read that\nthe king sentimentalised over these rebels, and said,--\"After all, their\nevil, like all evil, is only a lower form of good.  They had a fine\ninstinct of freedom and independence latent in them, only it was in this\ncase somewhat perverted.  They are really only to be pitied for knowing\nno better; but I trust, by careful education, to bring them to a clearer\nsense of their own interests.  I shall therefore send them to a\nreformatory, where, in consideration of the depressing circumstances of\ntheir imprisonment, they will be better looked after, and have lighter\nwork, than the average of my honest and peaceable subjects.\"  If the king\nhad spoken thus, he would have won high applause in these days; at least\ntill the farms and the merchandise, the property and the profits of the\nrest of his subjects, were endangered by these favoured objects of his\nphilanthropy; who, having found that rebellion and even murder was\npardonable in one case, would naturally try whether it was not pardonable\nin other cases likewise.  But what we read of the king--and we must\nreally remember, in fear and trembling, who spoke this parable, even our\nLord Himself,--is this--He sent forth his armies, soldiers, men\ndisciplined to do their duty at all risks, and sworn to carry out the\nlaw, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.\n\nYes, the king was very angry, as he had a right to be.  Yes, let us lay\nthat to heart, and tremble, from the very worst of us all to the very\nbest of us all.  There is an anger in God.  There is indignation in God.\nOur highest reason ought to tell us that there must be anger in God, as\nlong as sin and wrong exist in any corner of the universe.  For all that\nis good in man is of the likeness of God.  And is it not a good feeling,\na noble feeling, in man, to be indignant, or to cry for vengeance on the\noffender, whenever we hear of cruelty, injustice, or violence?  Is that\nnot noble?  I say it is.  I say that the man whose heart does not burn\nwithin him at the sight of tyranny and cruelty, of baseness and deceit,\nwho is not ready to say, Take him, and do to him as he has done to\nothers; that man's heart is not right with God, or with man either.  His\nmoral sense is stunted.  He is on the way to become, first, if he can, a\ntyrant, and then a slave.\n\nAnd shall there be no noble indignation in God when He beholds all the\nwrong which is done on earth?  Shall the just and holy God look on\ncarelessly and satisfied at injustice and unholiness which vexes even\npoor sinful man?  God forbid!  To think that, would, to my mind, be to\nfancy God less just, less merciful, than man.  And if any one says, Anger\nis a passion, a suffering from something outside oneself, and God can\nhave no passions; God cannot be moved by the sins and follies of such\npaltry atoms as we human beings are:  the answer is, Man's anger--even\njust anger--is, too often, a passion; weak-minded persons, ill-educated\npersons, especially when they get together in mobs, and excite each\nother, are carried away when they hear even a false report of cruelty or\ninjustice, by their really wholesome indignation, and say and do foolish,\nand cruel, and unjust things, the victims of their own passion.  But even\namong men, the wiser a man is, the purer, the stronger-minded, so much\nthe more can he control his indignation, and not let it rise into\npassion, but punish the offender calmly, though sternly, according to\nlaw.  Even so, our reason bids us believe, does God, who does all things\nby law.  His eternal laws punish of themselves, just as they reward of\nthemselves.  The same law of God may be the messenger of His anger to the\nbad, while it is the messenger of His love to the good.  For God has not\nonly no passions, but no parts; and therefore His anger and His love are\nnot different, but the same.  And His love is His anger, and His anger is\nHis love.\n\nAn awful thought and yet a blessed thought.  Think of it, my friends--\nthink of it day and night.  Under God's anger, or under God's love, we\nmust be, whether we will or not.  We cannot flee from His presence.  We\ncannot go from His spirit.  If we are loving, and so rise up to heaven,\nGod is there--in love.  If we are cruel, and wrathful, and so go down to\nhell, God is there also--in wrath:  with the clean He will be clean, with\nthe froward man He will be froward.  In God we live and move, and have\nour being.  On us, and on us alone, it depends, what sort of a life we\nshall live, and whether our being shall be happy or miserable.  On us,\nand on us alone, it depends, whether we shall live under God's anger, or\nlive under God's love.  On us, and on us alone, it depends whether the\neternal and unchangeable God shall be to us a consuming fire, or light,\nand life, and bliss for evermore.\n\nWe never had more need to think of this than now; for there has spread\nover the greater part of the civilised world a strong spirit of disbelief\nin the living God.  Men do not believe that God punishes sin and wrong-\ndoing, either in this world or in the world to come.  And it is not\nconfined to those who are called infidels, who disbelieve in the\nincarnation and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Would to God it were\nso!  Everywhere we find Christians of all creeds and denominations alike,\nholding the very same ruinous notion, and saying to themselves, God does\nnot govern this present world.  God does not punish or reward in this\npresent life.  This world is all wrong, and the devil's world, and\ntherefore I cannot prosper in the world unless I am a little wrong\nlikewise, and do a little of the devil's work.  So one lies, another\ncheats, another oppresses, another neglects his plainest social duties,\nanother defiles himself with base political or religious intrigues,\nanother breaks the seventh commandment, or, indeed, any and every one of\nthe commandments which he finds troublesome.  And when one asks in\nastonishment--You call yourselves Christians?  You believe in God, and\nthe Bible, and Christianity?  Do you not think that God will punish YOU\nfor all this?  Do you not hear from the psalmists, and prophets, and\napostles, of a God who judges and punishes such generations as this?  Of\na wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness\nof men, who, like you, hold down the truth in unrighteousness, knowing\nwhat is right and yet doing what is wrong?  Then they answer, at least in\ntheir hearts, Oh dear no!  God does not govern men now, or judge men now.\nHe only did so, our preachers tell us, under the old Jewish dispensation;\nand such words as you quote from our Lord, or St Paul, have only to do\nwith the day of judgment, and the next life, and we have made it all\nright for the next life.  I, says one, regularly perform my religious\nduties; and I, says another, build churches and chapels, and give large\nsums in charity; and I, says another, am converted, and a member of a\nchurch; and I, says another, am elect, and predestined to everlasting\nlife--and so forth, and so forth.  Each man turning the grace of God into\na cloak for licentiousness, and deluding himself into the notion that he\nmay break the eternal laws of God, and yet go to heaven, as he calls it,\nwhen he dies:  not knowing, poor foolish man, that as the noble\ncommination service well says, the dreadful judgments of God are not\nwaiting for certain people at the last day, thousands of years hence, but\nhanging over all our heads already, and always ready to fall on us.  Not\nknowing that it is as true now as it was two thousand years ago, that\n\"God is a righteous judge, strong and patient.\"  \"If a man will not turn,\nHe will whet His sword; He hath bent His bow, and made it ready,\" against\nthose who travail with mischief, who conceive sorrow, and bring forth\nungodliness.  They dig up pits for their neighbours, and fall themselves\ninto the destruction which they have made for others; not knowing that it\nis as true now as it was two thousand years ago, that God is for ever\nsaying to the ungodly, \"Why dost thou preach my laws, and takest my\ncovenant in thy mouth; whereas thou hatest to be reformed, and hast cast\nmy words behind thee?  Thou hast let thy mouth speak wickedness, and with\nthy tongue thou hast set forth deceit.  These things hast thou done, and\nI held my tongue, and thou thoughtest, wickedly, that I am even such a\none as thyself.  But I will reprove thee, and set before thee the things\nwhich thou hast done.  O consider this, ye that forget God:  lest I pluck\nyou away, and there be none to deliver you.\"\n\nLet us lay this to heart, and say, there can be no doubt--I at least have\nnone--that there is growing up among us a serious divorce between faith\nand practice; a serious disbelief that the kingdom of heaven is about us,\nand that Christ is ruling us, as He told us plainly enough in His\nparables, by the laws of the kingdom of heaven; and that He does, and\nwill punish and reward each man according to those laws, and according to\nnothing else.\n\nWe pride ourselves on our superior light, and our improved civilisation,\nand look down on the old Roman Catholic missionaries, who converted our\nforefathers from heathendom in the Middle Ages.  Now, I am a Protestant,\nif ever there was one, and I know well that these men had their\nsuperstitions and false doctrines.  They made mistakes, and often worse\nthan mistakes, for they were but men.  But this I tell you, that if they\nhad not had a deep and sound belief that they were in the kingdom of God,\nthe kingdom of heaven; and that they and all men must obey the laws of\nthe kingdom of heaven; and that the first law of it was, that wrongdoing\nwould be punished, and rightdoing rewarded, in this life, every day, and\nall day long, as sure as Christ the living Lord reigned in righteousness\nover all the earth; if they had not believed that, I say, and acted on\nit, we should probably have been heathen at this day.  As it is, unless\nwe Protestants get back the old belief, that God is a living God, and\nthat His judgments are abroad in the earth, and that only in keeping His\ncommandments can we get life, and not perish, we shall be seriously in\ndanger of sinking at last into that hopeless state of popular feeling,\ninto which more than one nation in our own time has fallen,--that, as the\nprophet of old says, a wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the\nland; the prophets--that is, the preachers and teachers--prophesy\nfalsely; and the priests--the ministers of religion--bear rule by their\nmeans; and my people love to have it so--love to have their consciences\ndrugged by the news that they may live bad lives, and yet die good\ndeaths.\n\n\"And what will ye do in the end thereof?\" asks Jeremiah.  What indeed!\nWhat the Jews did in the end thereof you may read in the book of the\nprophet Jeremiah.  They did nothing, and could do nothing--with their\nmorality their manhood was gone.  Sin had borne its certain fruit of\nanarchy and decrepitude.  The wrath of God revealed itself as usual, by\nno miracle, but through inscrutable social laws.  They had to submit,\ncowardly and broken-hearted, to an invasion, a siege, and an utter ruin.\nI do not say, God forbid, that we shall ever sink so low, and have to\nendure so terrible a chastisement:  but this I say, that the only way in\nwhich any nation of which I ever read in history, can escape, sooner or\nlater, from such a fate, is to remember every day, and all day long, that\nthe wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ill-doing of men,\nwho hold the truth in unrighteousness, knowing what is true and what is\nright, yet telling lies, and doing wrong.\n\nLet us lay this to heart, with seriousness and godly fear.  For so we\nshall look up with reverence, and yet with hope, to Christ the ascended\nking, to whom all power is given in heaven and earth; for ever asking Him\nfor His Holy Spirit, to put into our minds good desires, and to enable us\nto bring these desires to good effect.  And so we shall live for ever\nunder our great taskmaster's eye, and find out that that eye is not\nmerely the eye of a just judge, not merely the eye of a bountiful king,\nbut more the eye of a loving and merciful Saviour, in whose presence is\nlife even here on earth; and at whose right hand, even in this sinful\nworld, are pleasures for evermore.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXI.  THE UNCHANGEABLE CHRIST\n\n\n\nEversley. 1845.\n\nHebrews xiii. 8.  \"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for\never.\"\n\nLet me first briefly remind you, as the truth upon which my whole\nexplanation of this text is built, that man is not meant either for\nsolitude or independence.  He is meant to live WITH his fellow-men, to\nlive BY them, and to live FOR them.  He is healthy and godly, only when\nhe knows all men for his brothers; and himself, in some way or other, as\nthe servant of all, and bound in ties of love and duty to every one\naround him.\n\nIt is not, however, my intention to dwell upon this truth, deep and\nnecessary as it is, but to turn your attention to one of its\nconsequences; I mean to the disappointment and regret of which so many\ncomplain, who try, more or less healthily, to keep that truth before\nthem, and shew it forth in their daily life.\n\nIt has been, and is now, a common complaint with many who interest\nthemselves about their fellow-creatures, and the welfare of the human\nrace, that nothing in this world is sure,--nothing is permanent; a\ncontinual ebb and flow seems to be the only law of human life.  Men\nchange, they say; their friendships are fickle; their minds, like their\nbodies, alter from day to day.  The heart whom you trust to-day, to-\nmorrow may deceive; the friend for whom you have sacrificed so much, will\nnot in his turn endure the trial of his friendship.  The child on whom\nyou may have reposed your whole affection for years, grows up and goes\nforth into the world, and forms new ties, and you are left alone.  Why\nthen love man?  Why care for any born of woman, if the happiness which\ndepends on them is exposed to a thousand chances--a thousand changes?\nAgain; we hear the complaint that not only men, but circumstances change.\nWhy knit myself, people will ask, to one who to-morrow may be whirled\naway from me by some eddy of circumstances, and so go on his way, while I\nsee him no more?  Why relieve distress which fresh accidents may bring\nback again to-morrow, with all its miseries?  Why attach ourselves to a\nhome which we may leave to-morrow,--to pursuits which fortune may force\nus to relinquish,--to bright hopes which the rolling clouds may shut out\nfrom us,--to opinions which the next generation may find to have been\nutterly mistaken,--to a circle of acquaintances who must in a few years\nbe lying silent and solitary, each in his grave?  Why, in short, set our\naffections on anything in this earth, or struggle to improve or settle\naught in a world where all seems so temporary, changeful, and uncertain,\nthat \"nought doth endure but mutability?\"\n\nSuch is and has been the complaint, mixed up of truth and falsehood,\npoured out for ages by thousands who have loved (as the world would say)\n\"too well\"--who have tried to build up for themselves homes in this\nworld; forgetting that they were strangers and pilgrims in it; and so,\nwhen the floods came, and swept away that small fool's paradise of\ntheirs, repined, and were astonished, as though some strange thing had\nhappened to them.\n\nThe time would fail me did I try fully to lay before you how this dread\nand terror of change, and this unsatisfied craving after an eternal home\nand an unchanging friendship embittered the minds of all the more\nthoughtful heathens before the coming of Christ, who, as the apostle\nsays, all their lives were in bondage to the fear of death.  How all\ntheir schemes and conceptions of the course of this world, resolved\nthemselves into one dark picture of the terrible river of time, restless,\npitiless, devouring all life and beauty as fast as it arose, ready to\noverwhelm the speakers themselves also with the coming wave, as it had\ndone all they loved before them, and then roll onward for ever, none knew\nwhither!  The time would fail me, too, did I try to explain how after He\nhad appeared, Who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, men have\nstill found the same disappointment in all the paths of life.  Many, not\nseeing that the manifestation of an incarnate God was the answer to all\nsuch doubts, the healer of all such wounds, have sickened at this same\nchange and uncertainty, and attempted self-deliverance by all kinds of\nuncouth and most useless methods.  Some have shielded themselves, or\ntried to shield themselves, in an armour of stoical indifference--of\nutter selfishness, being sure that at all events there was one friendship\nin the world which could neither change nor fade--Self-love.\n\nOthers, again, have withdrawn themselves in disgust, not indeed from\ntheir God and Saviour, but from their fellow-men, and buried themselves\nin deserts, hoping thereby to escape what they despaired of conquering,\nthe chances and changes of this mortal life.  Thus they, alas, threw away\nthe gold of human affections among the dross of this world's comfort and\nhonour.  Wiser they were, indeed, than those last mentioned; but yet shew\nI you a more excellent way.\n\nIt is strange, and mournful, too, that this complaint, of unsatisfied\nhopes and longings should still be often heard from Christian lips!\nStrange, indeed, when the object and founder of our religion, the king\nand head of all our race, the God whom we are bound to worship, the\neldest brother whom we are bound to love, the Saviour who died upon the\ncross for us, is \"the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever!\"\nStrange, indeed, when we remember that God was manifest in the flesh,\nthat He might save humanity and its hopes from perpetual change and final\ndestruction, and satisfy all those cravings after an immutable object of\nman's loyalty and man's love.\n\nYes, He has given us, in Himself, a king who can never misgovern, a\nteacher who can never mislead, a priest whose sacrifice can never be\nunaccepted, a protector who can never grow weary, a friend who can never\nbetray.  And all that this earth has in it really worth loving,--the ties\nof family, of country, of universal brotherhood--the beauties and wonders\nof God's mysterious universe--all true love, all useful labour, all\ninnocent enjoyment--the marriage bed, and the fireside circle--the\nbounties of harvest, and the smiles of spring, and all that makes life\nbright and this earth dear--all these things He has restored to man,\nspiritual and holy, deep with new meaning, bright with purer enjoyment,\nrich with usefulness, not merely for time, but for eternity, after they\nhad become, through the accumulated sin and folly of ages, foul, dead,\nand well nigh forgotten.  He has united these common duties and pleasures\nof man's life to Himself, by taking them on Himself on earth; by giving\nus His spirit to understand and fulfil those duties; by making it a duty\nto Him to cultivate them to the uttermost.  He has sanctified them for\never, by shewing us that they are types and patterns of still higher\nrelations to Himself, and to His Father and our Father, from whom they\ncame.\n\nChrist our Lord and Saviour is a witness to us of the enduring, the\neverlasting nature of all that human life contains of beauty and\nholiness, and real value.  He is a witness to us that Wisdom is eternal;\nthat that all-embracing sight, that all-guiding counsel, which the Lord\n\"possessed in the beginning of His way, before His works of old,\" He who\n\"was set up from everlasting,\" who was with Him when He made the world,\nstill exists, and ever shall exist, unchanged.  The word of the Lord\nstandeth sure!  That Word which was \"in the beginning,\" and \"was with\nGod,\" and \"was God!\"  Glorious truth! that, amid all the inventions which\nman has sought out, while every new philosopher has been starting some\nnew method of happiness, some new theory of human life and its destinies,\nGod has still been working onward, unchecked, unaltered, \"the same\nyesterday, and to-day, and for ever.\"  O, sons of men! perplexed by all\nthe apparent contradictions and cross purposes and opposing powers and\nprinciples of this strange, dark, noisy time, remember to your comfort\nthat your King, a man like you, yet very God, now sits above, seeing\nthrough all which you cannot see through; unravelling surely all this\ntangled web of time, while under His guiding eye all things are moving\nsilently onward, like the stars in their courses above you, toward their\nappointed end, \"when He shall have put down all rule and all authority,\nand power, for He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His\nfeet.\"  And then, at last, this cloudy sky shall be all clear and bright,\nfor He, the Lamb, shall be the light thereof.\n\nChrist is the witness to us also of the eternity of Love,--Of God's love-\n-the love of the Father who wills, of Himself who has purchased, of the\nHoly Ghost who works in us our salvation; and of the eternity of all\nlove; that true love is not of the flesh, but of the spirit, and\ntherefore hath its root in the spiritual world, above all change and\naccidents of time or circumstance.  Think, think, my friends.  For what\nis life that we should make such ado about it, and hug it so closely, and\nlook to it to fill our hearts?  What is all earthly life with all its bad\nand good luck, its riches and its poverty, but a vapour that passes\naway?--noise and smoke overclouding the enduring light of heaven.  A man\nmay be very happy and blest in this life; yet he may feel that, however\npleasant it is, at root it is no reality, but only a shadow of realities\nwhich are eternal and infinite in the bosom of God, a piecemeal pattern,\nof the Light Kingdom--the city not made with hands--eternal in the\nheavens.  For all this time-world, as a wise man says, is but like an\nimage, beautifully and fearfully emblematic, but still only an emblem,\nlike an air image, which plays and flickers in the grand, still mirror of\neternity.  Out of nothing, into time and space we all came into noisy\nday; and out of time and space into the silent night shall we all return\ninto the spirit world--the everlasting twofold mystery--into the light-\nworld of God's love, or the fire-world of His anger--every like unto its\nlike, and every man to his own place.\n\n\n\"Choose well, your choice is\nBrief but yet endless;\nFrom Heaven, eyes behold you\nIn eternity's stillness.\nThere all is fullness,\nYe brave to reward you;\nWork and despair not.\"\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXII.  REFORMATION LESSONS\n\n\n\nEversley. 1861.\n\n2 Kings xxiii. 3, 4, 25, 26.  \"And the king stood by a pillar, and made a\ncovenant before the Lord, to \"walk after the Lord, and to keep his\ncommandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart\nand all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were\nwritten in this book.  And all the people stood to the covenant.  And the\nking commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second\norder, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of\nthe Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and\nfor all the host of heaven:  and he burned them without Jerusalem in the\nfields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el. . . .  And\nlike unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with\nall his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according\nto all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.\nNotwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great\nwrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the\nprovocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.\"\n\nYou heard this chapter read as the first lesson for this afternoon's\nservice; and a lesson it is indeed--a lesson for you and for me, as it\nwas a lesson for our forefathers.  If you had been worshipping in this\nchurch three hundred years ago, you would have understood, without my\ntelling you, why the good and wise men who shaped our prayer-book chose\nthis chapter to be read in church.  You would have applied the words of\nit to the times in which you were living.  You would have felt that the\nchapter spoke to you at once of joy and hope, and of sorrow and fear.\n\nThere is no doubt at all what our forefathers would have thought of, and\ndid think of, when they read this chapter.  The glorious reformation\nwhich young King Josiah made was to them the pattern of the equally\nglorious Reformation which was made in England somewhat more than three\nhundred years ago.  Young King Josiah, swearing to govern according to\nthe law of the Lord, was to them the pattern of young King Edward VI.\ndetermining to govern according to the laws of the Bible.  The finding of\nthe law of the Lord in Josiah's time, after it had been long lost, was to\nthem the pattern of the sudden spread among them of the Bible, which had\nbeen practically hidden from them for hundreds of years, and was then\ntranslated into English and printed, and put freely into the hands of\nevery man, rich and poor, who was able to read it.  King Josiah's\ndestruction of the idols, and the temples of the false gods, and driving\nout the wizards and workers with familiar spirits, were to them a pattern\nof the destruction of the monasteries and miraculous images and popish\nsuperstitions of every kind, the turning the monks out of their convents,\nand forcing them to set to honest work--which had just taken place\nthroughout England.  And the hearts of all true Englishmen were stirred\nup in those days to copy Josiah and the people of Jerusalem, and turn to\nthe Lord with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all\ntheir might, according to God's law and gospel, in the two Testaments,\nboth Old and New.\n\nOne would have thought that at such a time the hearts of our forefathers\nwould be full of nothing but hope and joy, content and thankfulness.  And\nyet it was not so.  One cannot help seeing that in the prayer-book, which\nwas put together in those days, there is a great deal of fear and\nsadness.  You see it especially in the Litany, which was to be said not\nonly on Sundays, but on Wednesdays and Fridays also.  Some people think\nthe Litany painfully sad--too sad.  It was not too sad for the time in\nwhich it was written.  Our forefathers, three hundred years ago, meant\nwhat they said when they cried to God to have mercy upon them, miserable\nsinners, and not to remember their offences nor the offences of their\nforefathers, &c.  They meant, and had good reason to mean, what they\nsaid, when they cried to God that those evils which the craft and\nsubtilty of the devil and men were working against them might be brought\nto nought, and by the providence of His goodness be dispersed--to arise\nand help and deliver them for His name's sake and for His honour; and to\nturn from them, for the glory of His name, all those evils which they\nrighteously had deserved.  They were in danger and in terror, our\nforefathers, three hundred years ago.  And when they heard this lesson\nread in church, it was not likely to make their terror less.\n\nFor what says the 26th verse of this chapter?  \"Notwithstanding,\" in\nspite of all this reformation, and putting away of idols and determining\nto walk according to the law of the Lord, \"the Lord turned not from the\nfierceness of His great wrath, wherewith His anger was kindled against\nJudah.\"  And what followed?  Josiah was killed in battle--by his own\nfault too--by Pharaoh Nechoh, King of Egypt.  And then followed nothing\nbut disaster and misery.  The Jews were conquered first by the King of\nEgypt, and taxed to pay to him an enormous tribute; and then, in the wars\nbetween Egypt and Babylon, conquered a second time by the King of\nBabylon, the famous Nebuchadnezzar, in that dreadful siege in which it is\nsaid mothers ate their own children through extremity of famine.  And\nthen after seventy years, after every one of that idolatrous and corrupt\ngeneration had died in captivity, the poor Jews were allowed to go back\nto their native land, chastened and purged in the fire of affliction, and\nhaving learnt a lesson which, to do them justice, they never forgot\nagain, and have not forgotten to this day; that to worship a graven\nimage, as well as to work unrighteousness, is abomination to the Lord--\nthat God, and God alone, is to be worshipped, and worshipped in holiness\nand purity, in mercy and in justice.\n\nAnd it was some such fate as this, some terrible ruin like that of the\nJews of old, that our forefathers feared three hundred years ago.  Their\nhearts were not yet altogether right with God.  They had not shaken off\nthe bad habits of mind, or the bad morals either, which they had learnt\nin the old Romish times--too many of them were using their liberty as a\ncloak of licentiousness; and, under pretence of religion, plundering not\nonly God's Church, but God's poor.  And many other evils were rife in\nEngland then, as there are sure to be great evils side by side with great\ngood in any country in times of change and revolution.  And so our\nforefathers needed chastisement, and they had it.  King Edward, upon whom\nthe Protestants had set their hopes, died young; and then came times\nwhich tried them literally as by fire.  First came the terrible\npersecutions in Queen Mary's time, when hundreds of good men and women\nwere burnt alive for their religion.  And even after her death, for\nthirty years, came times, such as Hezekiah speaks of--times of trouble\nand rebuke and blasphemy, plots, rebellions, civil war, at home and\nabroad; dangers that grew ever more and more terrible, till it seemed at\nlast certain that England would be conquered, in the Pope's name, by the\nKing of Spain:  and if that had come to pass (and it all but came to pass\nin the famous year 1588), the King of Spain would have become King of\nEngland; the best blood of England would have been shed upon the\nscaffold; the best estates parted among Spaniards and traitors; England\nenslaved to the most cruel nation of those times; and the Inquisition set\nup to persecute, torture, and burn all who believed in what they called,\nand what is, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That was to have happened, and\nit was only, as our forefathers confessed, by the infinite mercy of God\nthat it did not happen.  They were delivered strangely and suddenly, as\nthe Jews were.  For forty years they had been, chastised, and purged and\nhumbled for their sins; and then, and not till then, came times of safety\nand prosperity, honour and glory, which have lasted, thanks be to God,\never since.\n\n\nAnd now, my dear friends, what has this to do with us?  If this chapter\nwas a lesson to our forefathers, how is it to be a lesson to us likewise?\n\nI have always told you (as those who have really understood their Bibles\nin all ages have told men) that the Bible sets forth the eternal laws of\nGod's kingdom--the laws by which God, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ,\ngoverns nations and kingdoms--and not only nations and kingdoms, but you\nand me, and every individual Christian man; \"all these things,\" says St\nPaul, are \"written for our admonition.\"  The history of the Jews is, or\nmay be, your history or mine, for good or for evil; as God dealt with\nthem, so is He dealing with you and me.  By their experience we must\nlearn.  By their chastisements we must be warned.  So says St Paul.  So\nhave all preachers said who have understood St Paul--and so say I to you.\nAnd the lesson that we may learn from this chapter is, that we may repent\nand yet be punished.\n\nI know people do not like to believe that; I know that it is much more\nconvenient to fancy that when a man repents, and, as he says, turns over\na new leaf, he need trouble himself no more about his past sins.  But it\nis a mistake; not only is the letter and spirit of Scripture against him,\nbut facts are against him.  He may not choose to trouble himself about\nhis past sins; but he will find that his past sins trouble him, whether\nhe chooses or not,--and that often in a very terrible way, as they\ntroubled those poor Jews in their day, and our forefathers after the\nReformation.\n\n\"What?\" some will say, \"is it not expressly written in Scripture that\n'when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath\ncommitted, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his\nsoul alive?' and 'all his transgressions that he hath committed they\nshall not be mentioned unto him,' but that 'in his righteousness which he\nhath done he shall live?'\"\n\nNo doubt it is so written, my friends.  And no doubt it is perfectly and\nliterally true:  but answer me this, when does the wicked man do that\nwhich is lawful and right?  The minute after he has repented? or the day\nafter? or even seven years after?--the minute after he is forgiven, and\nreceived freely back again as God's child, as he will be, for the sake of\nthat precious blood which Christ poured out upon the cross?  Would to God\nit were so, my friends.  Would to God it were so easy to do right, after\nhaving been accustomed to do wrong.  Would to God it were so easy to get\na clean heart and a right spirit.  Would to God it were so easy to break\nthrough all the old bad habits--perhaps the habits of a whole life-time.\nBut it is in vain to expect this sudden change of character.  As well may\nwe expect a man, who has been laid low with fever, to get up and go about\nto his work the moment his disease takes a favourable turn.\n\nNo.  After the forgiveness of sin must come the cure of sin.  And that\ncure, like most cures, is a long and a painful process.  The sin may have\nbeen some animal sin, like drunkenness; and we all know how difficult it\nis to cure that.  Or it may have been a spiritual sin--pride, vanity,\ncovetousness.  Can any man put off these bad habits in a moment, as he\nputs off his coat?  Those who so fancy, can know very little of human\nnature, and have observed their own hearts and their fellow creatures\nvery carelessly.  If you will look at facts, what you will find is this:-\n-that all sins and bad habits fill the soul with evil humours, just as a\nfever or any other severe disease fills the body; and that, as in the\ncase of a fever, those evil humours remain after the acute disease is\npast, and are but too apt to break out again, to cause relapses, to\ntorment the poor patient, perhaps to leave his character crippled and\ndisfigured all his life--certainly to require long and often severe\ntreatment by the heavenly physician, Christ, the purifier as well as the\nredeemer of our sin-sick souls.  Heavy, therefore, and bitter and\nshameful is the burden which many a man has to bear after he has turned\nfrom self to God, from sin to holiness.  He is haunted, as it were, by\nthe ghosts of his old follies.  He finds out the bitter truth of St\nPaul's words, that there is another law in his body warring against the\nlaw of his mind, of his conscience, and his reason; so that when he would\ndo good, evil is present with him.  The good that he would do he does not\ndo; and the evil that he would not do he does.  Till he cries with St\nPaul, \"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of\nthis death?\" and feels that none can deliver him, save Jesus Christ our\nLord.\n\nYes.  But there is our comfort, there is our hope--Christ, the great\nhealer, the great physician, can deliver us, and will deliver us from the\nremains of our old sins, the consequences of our own follies.  Not,\nindeed, at once, or by miracle; but by slow education in new and nobler\nmotives, in purer and more unselfish habits.  And better for us, perhaps,\nthat He should not cure us at once, lest we should fancy that sin was a\nlight thing, which we could throw off whenever we chose; and not what it\nis, an inward disease, corroding and corrupting, the wages whereof are\ndeath.  Therefore it is, that because Christ loves us He hates our sins,\nand cannot abide or endure them, will punish them, and is merciful and\nloving in punishing them, as long as a tincture or remnant of sin is left\nin us.\n\nLet us then, if our consciences condemn us of living evil lives, turn and\nrepent before it be too late; before our consciences are hardened; before\nthe purer and nobler feelings which we learnt at our mothers' knees are\nstifled by the ways of the world; before we are hardened into bad habits,\nand grown frivolous, sensual, selfish and worldly.  Let us repent.  Let\nus put ourselves into the hands of Christ, the great physician, and ask\nHim to heal our wounded souls, and purge our corrupted souls; and leave\nto Him the choice of how He will do it.  Let us be content to be punished\nand chastised.  If we deserve punishment, let us bear it, and bear it\nlike men; as we should bear the surgeon's knife, knowing that it is for\nour good, and that the hand which inflicts pain is the hand of one who so\nloves us, that He stooped to die for us on the cross.  Let Him deal with\nus, if He see fit, as He dealt with David of old, when He forgave his\nsin, and yet punished it by the death of his child.  Let Him do what He\nwill by us, provided He does--what He will do--make us good men.\n\nThat is what we need to be--just, merciful, pure, faithful, loyal,\nuseful, honourable with true honour, in the sight of God and man.  That\nis what we need to be.  That is what we shall be at last, if we put\nourselves into Christ's hand, and ask Him for the clean heart and the\nright spirit, which is His own spirit, the spirit of all goodness.  And\nprovided we attain, at last, to that--provided we attain, at last, to the\ntruly heroic and divine life, which is the life of virtue, it will matter\nlittle to us by what wild and weary ways, or through what painful and\nhumiliating processes, we have arrived thither.  If God has loved us, if\nGod will receive us, then let us submit loyally and humbly to His law.\n\n\"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He\nreceiveth.\"\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXIII.  HUMAN SOOT\n\n\n\nPreached for the Kirkdale Ragged Schools, Liverpool, 1870.\n\nSt Matt, xviii. 14.  \"It is not the will of your Father which is in\nheaven, that one of these little ones should perish.\"\n\nI am here to plead for the Kirkdale Industrial Ragged School, and Free\nSchool-room Church.  The great majority of children who attend this\nschool belong to the class of \"street arabs,\" as they are now called; and\neither already belong to, or are likely to sink into, the dangerous\nclasses--professional law-breakers, profligates, and barbarians.  How\nthese children have been fed, civilized, christianized, taught trades and\ndomestic employments, and saved from ruin of body and soul, I leave to\nyou to read in the report.  Let us take hold of these little ones at\nonce.  They are now soft, plastic, mouldable; a tone will stir their\nyoung souls to the very depths, a look will affect them for ever.  But a\nhardening process has commenced within them, and if they are not seized\nat once, they will become harder than adamant; and then scalding tears,\nand the most earnest trials, will be all but useless.\n\nThis report contains full and pleasant proof of the success of the\nschools; but it contains also full proof of a fact which is anything but\npleasant--of the existence in Liverpool of a need for such an\ninstitution.  How is it that when a ragged school like this is opened, it\nis filled at once:  that it is enlarged year after year, and yet is\nfilled and filled again?  Whence comes this large population of children\nwho are needy, if not destitute; and who are, or are in a fair way to\nbecome, dangerous?  And whence comes the population of parents whom these\nchildren represent?  How is it that in Liverpool, if I am rightly\ninformed, more than four hundred and fifty children were committed by the\nmagistrates last year for various offences; almost every one of whom, of\ncourse, represents several more, brothers, sisters, companions, corrupted\nby him, or corrupting him.  You have your reformatories, your training\nships, like your Akbar, which I visited with deep satisfaction yesterday-\n-institutions which are an honour to the town of Liverpool, at least to\nmany of its citizens.  But how is it that they are ever needed?  How is\nit--and this, if correct, or only half correct, is a fact altogether\nhorrible--that there are now between ten and twelve thousand children in\nLiverpool who attend no school--twelve thousand children in ignorance of\ntheir duty to God and man, in training for that dangerous class, which\nyou have, it seems, contrived to create in this once small and quiet port\nduring a century of wonderful prosperity.  And consider this, I beseech\nyou--how is it that the experiment of giving these children a fair\nchance, when it is tried (as it has been in these schools) has succeeded?\nI do not wonder, of course, that it has succeeded, for I know Who made\nthese children, and Who redeemed them, and Who cares for them more than\nyou or I, or their best friends, can care for them.  But do you not see\nthat the very fact of their having improved, when they had a fair chance,\nis proof positive that they had not had a fair chance before?  How is\nthat, my friends?\n\nAnd this leads me to ask you plainly--what do you consider to be your\nduty toward those children; what is your duty toward those dangerous and\ndegraded classes, from which too many of them spring?  You all know the\nparable of the Good Samaritan.  You all know how he found the poor\nwounded Jew by the wayside; and for the mere sake of their common\nhumanity, simply because he was a man, though he would have scornfully\ndisclaimed the name of brother, bound up his wounds, set him on his own\nbeast, led him to an inn, and took care of him.\n\nIs yours the duty which the good Samaritan felt?--the duty of mere\nhumanity?  How is it your duty to deal, then, with these poor children?\nThat, and I think a little more.  Let me say boldly, I think these\nchildren have a deeper and a nearer claim on you; and that you must not\npride yourselves, here in Liverpool, on acting the good Samaritan, when\nyou help a ragged school.  We do not read that the good Samaritan was a\nmerchant, on his march, at the head of his own caravan.  We do not read\nthat the wounded man was one of his own servants, or a child of one of\nhis servants, who had been left behind, unable from weakness or weariness\nto keep pace with the rest, and had dropped by the wayside, till the\nvultures and the jackals should pick his bones.  Neither do we read that\nhe was a general, at the head of an advancing army, and that the poor\nsufferer was one of his own rank and file, crippled by wounds or by\ndisease, watching, as many a poor soldier does, his comrades march past\nto victory, while he is left alone to die.  Still less do we hear that\nthe sufferer was the child of some poor soldier's wife, or even of some\ndrunken camp-follower, who had lost her place on the baggage-waggon, and\ntrudged on with the child at her back, through dust and mire, till, in\ndespair, she dropped her little one, and left it to the mercies of the\nGod who gave it her.\n\nIn either case, that good Samaritan would have known what his duty was.\nI trust that you will know, in like case, what your duty is.  For is not\nthis, and none other, your relation to these children in your streets,\nragged, dirty, profligate, sinking and perishing, of whom our Lord has\nsaid--\"It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of\nthese little ones should perish?\"  It is not His will.  I am sure that it\nis not your will either.  I believe that, with all my heart.  I do not\nblame you, or the people of Liverpool, nor the people of any city on\nearth, in our present imperfect state of civilisation, for the existence\namong them of brutal, ignorant, degraded, helpless people.  It is no\none's fault, just because it is every one's fault--the fault of the\nsystem.  But it is not the will of God; and therefore the existence of\nsuch an evil is proof patent and sufficient that we have not yet\ndiscovered the whole will of God about this matter; that we have not yet\nmastered the laws of true political economy, which (like all other\nnatural laws) are that will of God revealed in facts.  Our processes are\nhasty, imperfect, barbaric--and their result is vast and rapid\nproduction:  but also waste, refuse, in the shape of a dangerous class.\nWe know well how, in some manufactures, a certain amount of waste is\nprofitable--that it pays better to let certain substances run to refuse,\nthan to use every product of the manufacture; as in a steam mill, where\nit pays better not to consume the whole fuel, to let the soot escape,\nthough every atom of soot is so much wasted fuel.  So it is in our\npresent social system.  It pays better, capital is accumulated more\nrapidly, by wasting a certain amount of human life, human health, human\nintellect, human morals, by producing and throwing away a regular\npercentage of human soot--of that thinking, acting dirt, which lies\nabout, and, alas! breeds and perpetuates itself in foul alleys and low\npublic houses, and all dens and dark places of the earth.\n\nBut, as in the case of the manufactures, the Nemesis comes, swift and\nsure.  As the foul vapours of the mine and the manufactory destroy\nvegetation and injure health, so does the Nemesis fall on the world of\nman; so does that human soot, these human poison gases, infect the whole\nsociety which has allowed them to fester under its feet.\n\nSad, but not hopeless!  Dark, but not without a gleam of light on the\nhorizon!  For I can conceive a time when, by improved chemical science,\nevery foul vapour which now escapes from the chimney of a manufactory,\npolluting the air, destroying the vegetation, shall be seized, utilised,\nconverted into some profitable substance; till the black country shall be\nblack no longer, the streams once more crystal clear, the trees once more\nluxuriant, and the desert which man has created in his haste and greed\nshall, in literal fact, once more blossom as the rose.  And just so can I\nconceive a time when, by a higher civilisation, formed on a political\neconomy more truly scientific, because more truly according to the will\nof God, our human refuse shall be utilised, like our material refuse,\nwhen man, as man, even down to the weakest and most ignorant, shall be\nfound to be (as he really is) so valuable, that it will be worth while to\npreserve his health, to develop his capabilities, to save him alive,\nbody, intellect, and character, at any cost; because men will see that a\nman is, after all, the most precious and useful thing on the earth, and\nthat no cost spent on the development of human beings can possibly be\nthrown away.\n\nI appeal, then, to you, the commercial men of Liverpool, if there are any\nsuch in this congregation.  If not, I appeal to their wives and\ndaughters, who are kept in wealth, luxury, refinement, by the honourable\nlabours of their husbands, fathers, brothers, on behalf of this human\nsoot.  Merchants are (and I believe that they deserve to be) the leaders\nof the great caravan, which goes forth to replenish the earth and subdue\nit.  They are among the generals of the great army which wages war\nagainst the brute powers of nature all over the world, to ward off\npoverty and starvation from the ever-teeming millions of mankind.  Have\nthey no time--I take for granted that they have the heart--to pick up the\nfootsore and weary, who have fallen out of the march, that they may\nrejoin the caravan, and be of use once more?  Have they no time--I am\nsure they have the heart--to tend the wounded and the fever-stricken,\nthat they may rise and fight once more?  If not, then must not the pace\nof their march be somewhat too rapid, the plan of their campaign somewhat\nprecipitate and ill-directed, their ambulance train and their medical\narrangements somewhat defective?  We are all ready enough to complain of\nwaste of human bodies, brought about by such defects in the British army.\nShall we pass over the waste, the hereditary waste of human souls,\nbrought about by similar defects in every great city in the world?\n\nWaste of human souls, human intellects, human characters--waste, saddest\nof all, of the image of God in little children.  That cannot be\nnecessary.  There must be a fault somewhere.  It cannot be the will of\nGod that one little one should perish by commerce, or by manufacture, any\nmore than by slavery, or by war.\n\nAs surely as I believe that there is a God, so surely do I believe that\ncommerce is the ordinance of God; that the great army of producers and\ndistributors is God's army.  But for that very reason I must believe that\nthe production of human refuse, the waste of human character, is not part\nof God's plan; not according to His ideal of what our social state should\nbe; and therefore what our social state can be.  For God asks no\nimpossibilities of any human being.\n\nBut as things are, one has only to go into the streets of this, or any\ngreat city, to see how we, with all our boasted civilisation, are, as\nyet, but one step removed from barbarism.  Is that a hard word?  Why,\nthere are the barbarians around us at every street corner!  Grown\nbarbarians--it may be now all but past saving--but bringing into the\nworld young barbarians, whom we may yet save, for God wishes us to save\nthem.  It is not the will of their Father which is in heaven that one of\nthem should perish.  And for that very reason He has given them\ncapabilities, powers, instincts, by virtue of which they need not perish.\nDo not deceive yourselves about the little dirty, offensive children in\nthe street.  If they be offensive to you, they are not to Him who made\nthem.  \"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say\nunto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my\nFather which is in heaven.\"  Is there not in every one of them, as in\nyou, the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world?  And\nknow you not Who that Light is, and what He said of little children?\nThen, take heed, I say, lest you despise one of these little ones.\nListen not to the Pharisee when he says, Except the little child be\nconverted, and become as I am, he shall in nowise enter into the kingdom\nof heaven.  But listen to the voice of Him who knew what was in man, when\nHe said, \"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall\nnot enter into the kingdom of heaven.\"  Their souls are like their\nbodies, not perfect, but beautiful enough, and fresh enough, to shame any\none who shall dare to look down on them.  Their souls are like their\nbodies, hidden by the rags, foul with the dirt of what we miscall\ncivilisation.  But take them to the pure stream, strip off the ugly,\nshapeless rags, wash the young limbs again, and you shall find them, body\nand soul, fresh and lithe, graceful and capable--capable of how much, God\nalone who made them knows.  Well said of such, the great Christian poet\nof your northern hills--\n\n\n\"Not in entire forgetfulness,\nAnd not in utter nakedness,\nBut trailing clouds of glory do we come\nFrom God, who is our home.\"\n\n\nTruly, and too truly, alas! he goes on to say--\n\n\n\"Shades of the prison-house begin to close\nUpon the growing boy.\"\n\n\nWill you let the shades of that prison-house of mortality be peopled with\nlittle save obscene phantoms?  Truly, and too truly, he goes on--\n\n\n\"The youth, who daily further from the east\nMust travel, still is Nature's priest,\nAnd by the vision splendid,\nIs on his way attended.\"\n\n\nWill you leave the youth to know nature only in the sense in which an ape\nor a swine knows it; and to conceive of no more splendid vision than that\nwhich he may behold at a penny theatre?  Truly again, and too truly, he\ngoes on--\n\n\n\"At length the man perceives it die away,\nAnd fade into the light of common day.\"\n\n\nYes, to weak, mortal man the prosaic age of manhood must needs come, for\ngood as well as for evil.  But will you let that age be--to any of your\nfellow citizens--not even an age of rational prose, but an age of brutal\nrecklessness; while the light of common day, for him, has sunk into the\ndarkness of a common sewer?\n\nAnd all the while it was not the will of their Father in heaven that one\nof these little ones should perish.  Is it your will, my friends; or is\nit not?  If it be not, the means of saving them, or at least the great\nmajority of them, is easier than you think.  Circumstances drag downward\nfrom childhood, poor, weak, fallen, human nature.  Circumstances must\nhelp it upward again once more.  Do your best to surround the wild\nchildren of Liverpool with such circumstances as you put round your own\nchildren.  Deal with them as you wish God to deal with your beloved.\nRemember that, as the wise man says, the human plant, like the vegetable,\nthrives best in light; and you will discover, by the irresistible logic\nof facts, by the success of your own endeavours, by seeing these young\nsouls grow, and not wither, live, and not die--that it is not the will of\nyour Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should\nperish.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXIV.  NATIONAL SORROWS AND NATIONAL LESSONS\n\n\n\nOn the illness or the Prince of Wales.\n\nChapel Royal, St James's, December 17th, 1871.\n\n2 Sam. xix. 14.  \"He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the\nheart of one man.\"\n\nNo circumstances can be more different, thank God, than those under which\nthe heart of the men of Judah was bowed when their king commander\nappealed to them, and those which have, in the last few days, bowed the\nheart of this nation as the heart of one man.  But the feeling called out\nin each case was the same--Loyalty, spontaneous, contagious, some would\nsay unreasoning:  but it may be all the deeper and nobler, because for\nonce it did not wait to reason, but was content to be human, and to feel.\n\nIf those men who have been so heartily loyal of late--respectable,\nbusiness-like, manful persons, of a race in nowise given to sentimental\nexcitement--had been asked the cause of the intense feeling which they\nhave shown during the last few days, they would probably, most of them,\nfind some difficulty in giving it.  Many would talk frankly of their\ndread lest business should be interfered with; and no shame to them, if\nthey live by business.  Others would speak of possible political\ncomplications; and certainly no blame to them for dreading such.  But\nthey would most of them speak, as frankly, of a deeper and less selfish\nemotion.  They would speak, not eloquently it may be, but earnestly, of\nsympathy with a mother and a wife; of sympathy with youth and health\nfighting untimely with disease and death--they would plead their common\nhumanity, and not be ashamed to have yielded to that touch of nature,\nwhich makes the whole world kin.  And that would be altogether to their\nhonour.  Honourably and gracefully has that sympathy showed itself in\nthese realms of late.  It has proved that in spite of all our\ncovetousness, all our luxury, all our frivolity, we are not cynics yet,\nnor likely, thanks be to Almighty God, to become cynics; that however\nencrusted and cankered with the cares and riches of this world, and\nbringing, alas, very little fruit to perfection, the old British oak is\nsound at the root--still human, still humane.\n\nBut there is, I believe, another and an almost deeper reason for the\nstrong emotion which has possessed these men; one most intimately bound\nup with our national life, national unity, national history; one which\nthey can hardly express to themselves; one which some of them are half\nashamed to express, because they cannot render a reason for it; but which\nis still there, deeply rooted in their souls; one of those old hereditary\ninstincts by which the histories of whole nations, whole races, are\nguided, often half-unconsciously, and almost in spite of themselves; and\nthat is Loyalty, pure and simple Loyalty--the attachment to some royal\nrace, whom they conceived to be set over them by God.  An attachment,\nmark it well, founded not on their own will, but on grounds very complex,\nand quite independent of them; an attachment which they did not make, but\nfound; an attachment which their forefathers had transmitted to them, and\nwhich they must transmit to their children as a national inheritance,--at\nonce a symbol of and a support to the national unity of the whole people,\nrunning back to the time when, in dim and mythic ages, it emerged into\nthe light of history as a wandering tribe.  This instinct, as a historic\nfact, has been strong in all the progressive European nations; especially\nstrong in the Teutonic; in none more than in the English and the Scotch.\nIt has helped to put them in the forefront of the nations.  It has been a\nrallying point for all their highest national instincts.  Their Sovereign\nwas to them the divinely appointed symbol of the unity of their country.\nIn defending him, they defended it.  It did not interfere, that instinct\nof loyalty, with their mature manhood, freedom, independence.  They knew\nthat if royalty were indeed God's ordinance, it had its duties as well as\nits rights.  And when their kings broke the law, they changed their\nkings.  But a king they must have, for their own sakes; not merely for\nthe sake of the nation's security and peace, but for the sake of their\nown self-respect.  They felt, those old forefathers of ours, that loyalty\nwas not a degrading, but an ennobling influence; that a free man can give\nup his independence without losing it; that--as the example of that\nmighty German army has just shown an astounded world--independence is\nnever more called out than by subordination; and that a free man never\nfeels himself so free as when obeying those whom the laws of his country\nhave set over him; an able man never feels himself so able as when he is\nfollowing the lead of an abler man than himself.  And what if, as needs\nmust happen at whiles, the sovereign were not a man, but a woman or a\nchild?  Then was added to loyalty in the hearts of our forefathers, and\nof many another nation in Europe, an instinct even deeper, and tenderer,\nand more unselfish--the instinct of chivalry; and the widowed queen, or\nthe prince, became to them a precious jewel committed to their charge by\nthe will of their forefathers and the providence of God; an heirloom for\nwhich they were responsible to God, and to their forefathers, and to\ntheir children after them, lest their names should be stained to all\nfuture generations by the crime of baseness toward the weak.\n\nThis was the instinct of the old Teutonic races.  They were often\nunfaithful to it--as all men are to their higher instincts; and fulfilled\nit very imperfectly--as all men fulfil their duties.  But it was there--\nin their heart of hearts.  It helped to make them; and, therefore, it\nhelped to make us.  It ennobled them; it called out in them the sense of\nunity, order, discipline, and a lofty and unselfish affection.  And I\nthank God, as an Englishman, for any event, however exquisitely painful,\nwhich may call out those true graces in us, their descendants.  And,\ntherefore, my good friends, if any cynic shall sneer, as he may, after\nthe present danger is past, at this sudden outburst of loyalty, and speak\nof it as unreasoning and childish, answer not him.  \"Give not that which\nis holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest\nthey trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.\"  But\nanswer yourselves, and answer too your children, when they ask you what\nhas moved you thus--answer, I say, not childishly, but childlike:  \"We\nhave gone back, for a moment at least, to England's childhood--to the\nmood of England when she was still young.  And we are showing thereby\nthat we are not yet decayed into old age.  That if we be men, and not\nstill children, yet the child is father to the man; and the child's heart\nstill beats underneath all the sins and all the cares and all the greeds\nof our manhood.\"\n\nMore than one foreign nation is looking on in wonder and in envy at that\nsight.  God grant that they may understand all that it means.  God grant\nthat they may understand of how wide and deep an application is the great\nlaw, \"Except ye be converted,\" changed, and turned round utterly, \"and\nbecome as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of\nheaven.\"  God grant that they may recover the childlike heart, and\nreplace with it that childish heart which pulls to pieces at its own\nirreverent fancy the most ancient and sacred institutions, to build up\never fresh baby-houses out of the fragments, as a child does with its\nbroken toys.\n\nTherefore, my friends, be not ashamed to have felt acutely.  Be not\nashamed to feel acutely still, till all danger is past, or even long\nafter all danger is past; when you look back on what might have been, and\nwhat it might have brought, ay, must have brought, if not to you, still\nto your children after you.  For so you will show yourselves worthy\ndescendants of your forefathers:  so you will show yourselves worthy\ncitizens of this British empire.  So you will show yourselves, as I\nbelieve, worthy Christian men and women.  For Christ, the King of kings\nand subjects, sends all sorrow, to make us feel acutely.  We do not, the\ngreat majority of us, feel enough.  Our hearts are dull and hard and\nlight, God forgive us; and we forget continually what an earnest, awful\nworld we live in--a whole eternity waiting for us to be born, and a whole\neternity waiting to see what we shall do now we are born.  Yes; our\nhearts are dull and hard and light; and, therefore, Christ sends\nsuffering on us to teach us what we always gladly forget in comfort and\nprosperity--what an awful capacity of suffering we have; and more, what\nan awful capacity of suffering our fellow-creatures have likewise.  We\nsit at ease too often in a fool's paradise, till God awakens us and\ntortures us into pity for the torture of others.  And so, if we will not\nacknowledge our brotherhood by any other teaching, He knits us together\nby the brotherhood of common suffering.\n\nBut if God thus sends sorrow to ennoble us, to call out in us pity,\nsympathy, unselfishness, most surely does He send for that end such a\nsorrow as this, which touches in all alike every source of pity, of\nsympathy, of unselfishness at once.  Surely He meant to bow our hearts as\nthe heart of one man; and He has, I trust and hope, done that which He\nmeant to do.  God grant that the effect may be permanent.  God grant that\nit may call out in us all an abiding loyalty.  God grant that it may fill\nus with some of that charity which bears all things, hopes all things,\nbelieves all things, which rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the\ntruth; and make us thrust aside henceforth, in dignified disgust, the\ncynic and the slanderer, the ribald and the rebel.\n\nBut more.  God grant that the very sight of the calamity with which we\nhave stood face to face, may call out in us some valiant practical\nresolve, which may benefit this whole nation, and bow all hearts as the\nheart of one man, to do some one right thing.  And what right thing?\nWhat but the thing which is pointed to by plain and terrible fact, as the\nlesson which God must mean us to learn, if He means us to learn any, from\nwhat has so nearly befallen?  Let our hearts be bowed as the heart of one\nman, to say--that so far as we have power, so help us God, no man, woman,\nor child in Britain, be he prince or be he beggar, shall die henceforth\nof preventable disease.  Let us repent of and amend that scandalous\nneglect of the now well-known laws of health and cleanliness which\ndestroys thousands of lives yearly in this kingdom, without need and\nreason; in defiance alike of science, of humanity, and of our Christian\nprofession.  Two hundred thousand persons, I am told, have died of\npreventable fever since the Prince Consort's death ten years ago.  Is\nthat not a sin to bow our hearts as the heart of one man?  Ah, if this\nfoul and needless disease, by striking once at the very highest, shall\nbring home to us the often told, seldom heeded fact that it is striking\nperpetually at hundreds among the very lowest, whom we leave to sicken\nand die in dens unfit for men--unfit for dogs; if this tragedy shall\nawaken all loyal citizens to demand and to enforce, as a duty to their\nsovereign, their country, and their God, a sanatory reform in town and\ncountry, immediate, wholesale, imperative; if it shall awaken the\nministers of religion to preach about that, and hardly aught but that--\ntill there is not a fever ally or a malarious ditch left in any British\ncity;--then indeed this fair and precious life will not have been\nimperilled in vain, and generations yet unborn will bless the memory of a\nprince who sickened as poor men sicken, and all but died, as poor men\ndie, that his example--and, it may be hereafter, his exertions--might\ndeliver the poor from dirt, disease, and death.\n\nFor him himself I have no fear.  We have committed him to God.  It may be\nthat he has committed himself to God.  It may be that he has already\nlearned lessons which God alone can teach.  It may be that those lessons\nwill bring forth hereafter royal fruit right worthy of a royal root.  At\nleast we can trust him in God's hands, and believe that if this great woe\nwas meant to ennoble us it was meant to ennoble him; that if it was meant\nto educate us it was meant to educate him; that God is teaching him; and\nthat in God's school-house he is safe.  For think, my friends, if we, who\nknow him partly, love him much; then God, who knows him wholly, loves him\nmore.  And so God be with him, and with you, and with your prayers for\nhim.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXV.  GRACE AND GLORY\n\n\n\nChapel Royal, Whitehall. 1865.  For the consumptive hospital.\n\nSt John ii. 11.  \"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of\nGalilee, and manifested forth his glory.\"\n\nThis word glory, whether in its Greek or its Roman shape, had a very\ndefinite meaning in the days of the Apostles.  It meant the admiration of\nmen.  The Greek word, as every scholar knows, is derived from a root\nsignifying to seem, and expresses that which a man seems, and appears to\nhis fellow men.  The Latin word glory is expressly defined by Cicero to\nmean the love, trust, and admiration of the multitude; and a consequent\nopinion that the man is worthy of honour.  Glory, in fact, is a relative\nword, and can be only used of any being in relation to other rational\nbeings, and their opinion of him.\n\nThe glory of God, therefore, in Scripture, must needs mean that\nadmiration which men feel, or ought to feel for God.  There is a deeper,\nan altogether abysmal meaning for that word:  \"And now, O Father, glorify\nthou me with thy own self, with the glory which I had with thee before\nthe world was.\"  But on that text, speaking of the majesty of the ever-\nblessed Trinity, I dare not attempt to comment; though, could I explain\nit, I should.  When St. John says that Christ manifested forth His glory,\nand His disciples believed on Him, it is plain that He means by His glory\nthat which produced admiration and satisfaction, not alone in the mind of\nGod the Father, but in the minds of men.\n\nNow, what the Romans thought glorious in their days is notorious enough.\nNo one can look upon the picture of a Roman triumph without seeing that\ntheir idea of glory was force, power, brute force, self-willed dominion,\nselfish aggrandizement.  But this was not the glory which St. John saw in\nChrist, for His glory was full of grace, which is incompatible with self-\nwill and selfishness.\n\nThe Greek's meaning of glory is equally notorious.  He called it wisdom.\nWe call it craft--the glory of the sophist, who could prove or disprove\nanything for gain or display; the glory of the successful adventurer,\nwhose shrewdness made its market out of the stupidity and vice of the\nbarbarian.  But this is not the glory of Christ, for St. John saw that it\nwas full of truth.\n\nTherefore, neither strength nor craft are the glory of Christ; and,\ntherefore, they are not the glory of God.  For the glory of Christ is the\nglory of God, and none other, because He is very God, of very God\nbegotten.  In Christ, man sees the unseen, and absolute, and eternal God\nas He is, was, and ever will be.  \"No man hath seen God at any time; the\nonly begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared\nHim:\"--and that perfectly and utterly; for in Him dwells all the fulness\nof the Godhead bodily, so that He Himself could say, \"He that hath seen\nme hath seen the Father.\"  This is the Catholic Faith.  God grant that I\nmay believe it with my whole heart.  God grant that you may believe it\nwith your whole hearts likewise, and not merely with your intellects and\nbrains.\n\nBut, it may be said, though God be not glorious and admirable for selfish\nforce, which it were blasphemous to attribute to Him, He is still\nadmirable for His power.  Though He be not glorious for craft, He is\nstill glorious for His wisdom.  I deny both.  I deny that power is any\nobject of admiration, unless it be used well for good ends.  To admire\npower for its own sake is one of those errors, which has been well called\nTitanolatry, the worship of giants.  Neither is wisdom an object of\nadmiration, unless it be used for good ends.  To worship it for its own\nsake is a common error enough--the idolatry of Intellect.  But it is none\nthe less an error, and a grievous one.  God's power and wisdom are\nglorious only in as far as they are used (as they are utterly) for good\nends; only, in plain words, as far as God is (as He is perfectly) good.\nAnd the true glory of God is that God is good.  So says the Scripture;\nand so I bid you all remember, for it is a truth which you and I and all\nmankind are perpetually ready to forget.\n\nLet me but ask you one question as a test whether or not I am right.  If\nthe Supreme Being used His power, as the Roman Caesar used his; if He\nused His wisdom as the Greek sophist used his, would He be glorious then\nand worthy of admiration?  The old heathen AEschylus answered that\nquestion for mankind long ago on the Athenian stage.  I should be ashamed\nto answer it again in a Christian pulpit.  And when I say GOOD, I mean\ngood, even as man can be, and ought to be, and is, more or less, good.\nThe theory that because God's morality is absolute, it may, therefore, be\ndifferent from man's morality, in KIND as well as in DEGREE, is equally\ncontrary to the letter and to the spirit of Scripture.  Man, according to\nScripture, is made in God's moral image and likeness, and however fallen\nand degraded that image may be, still the ultimate standard of right and\nwrong is the same in God and in man.  How else dare Abraham ask of God,\n\"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?\"  How else has God's\ncommand to the old Jews any meaning, \"Be ye holy, for I am holy?\"  How\nelse have all the passages in the Psalms, Prophets, Evangelists,\nApostles, which speak of God's justice, mercy, faithfulness, any honest\nor practical meaning to human beings?  How else can they be aught but a\nmockery, a delusion, and a snare to the tens of thousands who have found\nin them hope and trust, that God would deliver them and the world from\nevil?  What means the command to be perfect as our Father in heaven is\nperfect?  What mean the words that we partake of a divine nature?  How\nelse is the command to love God anything but an arbitrary and impossible\ndemand,--demanding love, which every writer of fiction tells you, and\ntells you truly, cannot be compelled--can only go forth toward a being\nwho shows himself worthy of our love, by possessing those qualities which\nwe admire in our fellow men?  No.  Against such a theory I must quote, as\nembodying all that I would say, and corroborating, on entirely\nindependent ground, the Scriptural account of human morality--against\nsuch a theory, I say I must quote the words of our greatest living\nlogician.  \"Language has no meaning for the words Just, Merciful,\nBenevolent\" (he might have added truthful likewise) \"save that in which\nwe predicate them of our fellow creatures; and unless that is what we\nintend to express by them, we have no business to employ the words.  If\nin affirming them of God we do not mean to affirm these very qualities,\ndiffering only as greater in degree, we are neither philosophically nor\nmorally entitled to affirm them at all . . .  What belongs to\" God's\ngoodness \"as Infinite (or more properly Absolute) I do not pretend to\nknow; but I know that infinite goodness must be goodness, and that what\nis not consistent with goodness is not consistent with infinite goodness.\n. . . Besides,\" he says--and to this sound reductio ad absurdum I call\nthe attention of all who believe their Bibles--\"unless I believe God to\npossess the same moral attributes which I find, in however inferior a\ndegree, in a good man, what ground of assurance have I of God's veracity?\nAll trust in a Revelation presupposes a conviction that God's attributes\nare the same, in all but degree, with the best human attributes.  If,\ninstead of the 'glad tidings' that there exists a Being in whom all the\nexcellences which the highest human mind can conceive, exist in a degree\ninconceivable to us, I am informed that the world is ruled by a being\nwhose attributes are infinite, but what they are we cannot learn, nor\nwhat are the principles of his government, except that 'the highest human\nmorality which we are capable of conceiving' does not sanction them;\nconvince me of it and I will bear my fate as I may.  But when I am told\nthat I must believe this, and at the same time call this being by the\nnames which express and affirm the highest human morality, I say in plain\nterms that I will not.  Whatever power such a being may have over me,\nthere is one thing which he shall not do:  he shall not compel me to\nworship him.  I will call no being good, who is not what I mean when I\napply that epithet to my fellow creatures.\"\n\nThat St. John would have assented to these bold and honest words, that\nsuch is St. John's conception of human and divine morality, the story in\nthe text shows, to my mind, especially.  It is, so to speak, a crucial\nexperiment, by which the truth of the Scripture theory is verified.  The\ndifficulty in all ages about a standard of morality has been--How can we\nfix it?  Even if we agree that man's goodness ought to be the counterpart\nof God's goodness, we know that in practice it is not, as mankind has\ndiffered in all ages and countries about what is right and wrong.  The\nHindoo thinks it right to burn widows, wrong to eat animal food; and\nbetween such extremes there are numberless minor differences.  Hardly any\nact is conceivable which has not been thought by some man, somewhere,\nsomehow, morally right or morally wrong.  If all that we can do is, to\nchoose out those instances of morality which seem to us most right, and\nimpute them to God, shall we not have an ever-shifting, probably a merely\nconventional standard of right and wrong?  And worse--shall we not be\nalways in danger of deifying our own superstitions--perhaps our own\nvices:  of making a God in our own image, because we cannot know that God\nin whose image we are made?  Most true, unless \"we believe rightly the\nincarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ,\" \"perfect God and perfect man.\"  In\nHim, says the Bible, the perfect human morality is manifested, and shown\nby His life and conduct to be identical with the divine.  He bids us be\nperfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect; and He only has a right-\n-in the sense of a sound and fair reason--for so doing; because He can\nsay, and has said, \"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.\"\n\nAt least, such is the doctrine of St. John.  He tells us that the Word,\nwho was God, was made flesh, and dwelt in his land and neighbourhood; and\nthat he and his fellows beheld His glory; and saw that it was the glory\nof the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  And then,\nin the next chapter, he goes on to tell us how that glory was first\nmanifested forth--by turning water into wine at a marriage feast.  On the\ntruth of the story, I say simply, in passing, that I believe it fully and\nliterally; as I do also St. John's assertions about our Lord's Divinity.\nBut I only wish to point out to you why I called this miracle the crucial\nexperiment, which proved God's goodness to be identical with that which\nwe call (and rightly) goodness in man.  It is by the seeming\ninsignificance thereof, by the seeming non-necessity, by the seeming\nhumbleness of its circumstances, by the seeming smallness of its results,\nissuing merely (as far as Scripture tells us, and therefore as far as we\nneed know, or have a right to imagine) in the giving of a transitory and\nunnecessary physical pleasure.  In short, by the very absence of that\nDignus deo vindice nodus, that knot which only a God could untie, which\nheathens demanded ere a god was allowed to interfere in the plot of a\ntragedy; which too many who call themselves Christians demand before the\nliving God is allowed to interfere in that world in which without Him not\na sparrow falls to the ground.  In a moral case of this kind, if you will\nconsider, that which seems least is often the greatest.  That which seems\nthe lowest, because the simplest and meanest manifestation of a moral\nlaw, may be--probably is--the deepest, the highest, the most universal.\n\nLife is made up of little things, say the practically wise, and they say\ntrue, for our Lord says so likewise.  \"He that is faithful in that which\nis least is faithful also in much.\"  If you look on morality, virtue,\ngoodness, holiness, sanctification--call it what you will--as merely the\nobligation of an EXTERNAL law, you will be tempted to say, \"Let me be\nfaithful to it in its greater and more important cases, and that is\nenough.  The pettier ones must take care of themselves, I have not time\nenough to attend to them, and God will not, it may be, require them of\nme.\"  But if the morality, goodness, holiness be in you what it was in\nChrist, without measure--a SPIRIT, even the spirit of God--a spirit\nwithin you, possessing you, and working on you, and in you--then that\nwhich seems most petty and unimportant will often be most important, the\ntest of the soundness of your heart, of the reality of your feelings.\n\nWe all know--every writer of fiction, at least, should know--how true\nthis is in the case of love between man and woman, between parent and\nchild:  how the little kindnesses, the half-unconscious gestures, the\npetty labours of love, of which their object will never be aware, the\nscrupulousness which is able \"to greatly find quarrel in a straw, when\nhonour is at stake,\"--how these are the very things which show that the\naffection is neither the offspring of dry and legal duty, nor of selfish\nenjoyment, but lies far down in the unconscious abysses of the heart and\nbeing itself:--as Christ--to compare (for He Himself permits, nay\ncommands, us to do so in His parables) our littleness with His immensity-\n-as Christ, I say, showed, when He chose first to manifest His glory--the\nglory of His grace and truth--by increasing for a short hour the\npleasures of a village feast.\n\nI might say much more on the point; how He showed these by His truth; how\nHe proved that He, and therefore His Father and your Father, was not that\nDeus quidam deceptor, whom some suppose Him, mocking the intellect of His\ncreatures by the FACTS of nature which He has created, tempting the souls\nof His creatures by the very faculties and desires which He Himself has\ngiven them.\n\nBut I wish now to draw your minds rather to that one word GRACE--Grace,\nwhat it means, and how it is a manifestation of glory.  Few Scriptural\nexpressions have suffered more that this word Grace from the storms of\ntheological controversy.  Springing flesh in the minds of Apostles, as\ndid many other noble words in that heaven-enriched soil, the only\nadequate expressions of an idea which till then had never fully possessed\nthe mind of man, it meant more than we can now imagine; perhaps more that\nwe shall ever imagine again.  We, alas! only know the word with its\nfragrance battered out, its hues rubbed off, its very life anatomized out\nof it by the battles of rival divines, till its mere skeleton is left,\nand all that grace means to most of us is simply and dryly a certain\nspiritual gift of God.  Doubtless it means that; but if it meant nothing\nmore at first, why was not the plain word Gift enough for the Apostles?\nWhy did they use Grace?  Why did they use, too, in the sense of giving\nand gifts, nouns and verbs derived from that root-word, CHARIS, grace,\nwhich plainly signified so much to them?  A word, the root-meaning of\nwhich was neither more nor less than a certain heathen goddess, or\ngoddesses--the inspirer of beauty in art, the impersonation of all that\nis pure, charming, winning, bountiful--in one word, of all that is\ngraceful and gracious in the human character.  The fact is strange, but\nthe fact is there; and being there, we must face it and explain it.  Of\ncourse, the Apostles use the word grace in a far deeper and loftier\nmeaning; raise it, mathematically speaking, to a far higher power.  There\nis no need to remind you of that.  But why did they choose and use the\nword at all--a word whose old meaning every heathen knew--unless for some\ninnate fitness in it to express something in the character of God?  To\ntell men that there was in God a graciousness, as of the most gracious of\nall human beings, which gave to His character a moral beauty, a charm, a\nwinningness, which, as even the old Jewish prophet, before the\nIncarnation, could perceive and boldly declare, drew them with the cords\nof a man and with the bands of love, attracting them by the very human\ncharacter of its graciousness.\n\n\"The glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace.\"\nMeditate on those words.  \"Full of grace,\"--of that spirit which we, like\nthe old heathens, consider rather a feminine than a masculine excellence;\nthe spirit, which, as St. James says of God the Father, gives simply and\nupbraideth not; gives gracefully, as we ourselves say--in the right and\nhappy use of the adverb; does not spoil its gifts by throwing them in the\nteeth of the giver, but gives for mere giving's sake; pleases where it\ncan be done, without sin or harm, for mere pleasing's sake; most human\nand humane when it is most divine; the spirit by which Christ turned the\nwater into wine at the marriage feast, and so manifested forth His\nabsolute and eternal glory.  And how?  How?\n\nThus, if you will receive it; if you will believe a truth which is too\noften hidden from the wise and prudent, and yet revealed unto babes;\nwhich will never be understood by the proud Pharisee, the sour fanatic,\nthe ascetic who dreads and distrusts his Father in heaven; but which is\nclear and simple enough to many a clear and simple heart, honest and\nsingle-eyed, sunny itself, and bringing sunshine wherever it comes,\nbecause it is inspired by the gracious spirit of God, and delights to\nshow kindness for kindness' sake, and to make happy for happiness' sake,\ntaking no merit to itself for doing that, which is as instinctive as its\nvery breath.\n\nThis,--that the graciousness which Christ showed at that marriage feast\nis neither more nor less than the boundless love of God, who could not\nlive alone in the abyss, but must needs, out of His own Divine Charity,\ncreate the universe, that He might have somewhat beside Himself whereon\nto pour out the ocean of His love, which finds its own happiness in\ngiving happiness to all created things, from the loftiest of rational\nbeings down to the gnat which dances in the sun, and for aught we know,\nto the very lichen which nestles in the Alpine rock.\n\nThis is the character of God, unless Scripture be a dream of man's\nimagination.  Thus far you may know God; thus far you may see God as He\nis; and know and see that He is just with the justice of a man, only more\njust; merciful with the mercy of a man, only more merciful; truthful with\nthe truthfulness of a man, only more truthful; gracious with the\ngraciousness of a man, only more gracious; and loving?  That we dare not\nsay:  for if we say so much, the Scripture commands us to say more.  The\nScripture tells us that the whole absolute morality of God is summed up--\nas our own human morality ought to be--in His Love.  That love is the\nfulfilment of the Moral Law in Him as in us; that it is the root and\ncause and spirit of His justice, mercy, truth, and graciousness; that it\nbelongs not to His attributes, as they may be said to be, but to His\nessence and His spirit; that we must not, if we be careful of our words,\nsay, God is loving, because we are bidden to say, \"God is Love.\"\n\nThus, the commands, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God--and thy neighbour\nas thyself, are shown to be not arbitrary and impossible demands,\nmiscalled moral obligations, while they are merely legal and external\nones; but true moral obligations, in the moral sense, to which heart and\nspirit can answer, \"I rejoice to do thy will, O God; Thy law is within my\nheart.\"  You ought to love God, because He is supremely loveable and\nworthy of your love.  You can love God, because you can appreciate and\nknow God; for you are His child, made in His moral likeness, and capable\nof seeing Him as He is morally, and of seeing in Him the full perfection\nof all that attracts your moral sense, when it is manifested in any human\nbeing.  And you can love your neighbour as yourselves, because, and in as\nfar as you have in you the Spirit of God, the spirit of universal love,\nwhich proceedeth out for ever both from the Father and the Son to all\nbeings and things which They have made.\n\nAnd of one thing I am sure, that in proportion as you are led and\ninspired by that Spirit of God which showed in our Lord, in the very\ndeepest and truest sense, as the spirit of humanity, just so you will\nfeel a genial and hearty pleasure in lessening all human suffering,\nhowever slight; in increasing all harmless human pleasure, however\ntransitory; and in copying Him who, at the marriage feast, gracefully and\ngraciously turned the water into wine.  I do not, of course, mean that\nyou are to do no more than that; to prefer sentiment to duty, to amuse\nand glorify yourselves by paying tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, and\nneglect the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.\nBut I do mean that you are not to distrust your own sentiments, not to\ncrush your own instinctive sympathies.  The very lowest of them--that\nwhich makes you shrink at the sight of pain, and rejoice in the sight of\npleasure, is not natural, and common to you with the animals; it is\nsupernatural and divine.  It is a schoolmaster to bring you to Christ, to\nthat higher inspiration of His, which tells your heart to alleviate the\nunseen woes which will never come into painful contact with your\nsensibilities, to bestow pleasures in which you yourself have no\nimmediate share.  It will tell your hearts especially in the case of this\nvery Hospital for Consumption not to be slack in giving, because so much\nof what you will give--it is painful to recollect how much--will be\nspent, not in prevention, not even in cure, but in mere alleviation, mere\nincreased bodily ease, mere savoury food, even mere passing amusements\nfor wearied minds.  Be it so.  If (which God forbid) we could do nothing\nSAVE alleviate; if (which God forbid) permanent cure, even lengthening of\nlife, were impossible, I should say just as much, Give.  Give money to\nalleviate; give, even though what you give were, in the strictly economic\nsense, WASTED.  We are ready enough, most of us, to waste upon ourselves.\nIt is well for us to taste once in a way the luxury of wasting on others;\nthough I have yet to learn that anything can be called wasted which\nlessens, even for a moment, the amount of human suffering.  A plan, for\ninstance, is on foot for sending twenty of the patients to Madeira for\nthe winter.  The British Consul, to his honour, guarantees their\nmaintenance, if the Hospital will pay their passage out and home.  Some\nmay say--An unnecessary expense--a problematical benefit.  Be it so.  I\nbelieve that it will not be such; that it may save many lives--they may\nrevive:  but were it not so, I would still say Give.  Let them go, even\nif every soul in that ship were doomed.  Let them go.  Let them drink the\nfresh sea breeze before they die; let them see the green tropic world;\nlet them forget their sorrow for a while; let them feel springing up\nafresh in them the celestial fount of hope.  We let the guilty criminal\neat and drink well the morn ere he is led forth to die--shall we not do\nas much by those who are innocent?\n\nBut especially would I say, try to lessen such suffering as that for\nwhich I plead to-day, because it is undeserved in the true sense of that\nword--not earned by any act of their own.  These poor souls suffer for no\nsins of their own; they have done nothing to bring on themselves a\ndisease which attacks too often the fairest, the seemingly strongest and\nhealthiest, the most temperate and most pure.  They suffer, some it may\nbe for the sins of their forefathers, some from causes of disease which\nscience cannot as yet control, cannot even discover.  They are objects of\nunmixed pity and sympathy:  they should be so to us; for they are so to\nHim who made them.  On this disease God does bestow a special\nalleviation--a special mark of His pity, of His tenderness, in a word of\nHis grace.  That unclouded intellect, that unruffled temper, that\ncheerful resignation, that brave and yet calm facing of the inevitable\nfuture, that ever-fresh hope, which is no delusion but a token that God\nHimself has taken away the sting of death and the victory of the grave,\ntill the very thought of death has vanished, or is looked on merely as\nthe gate to a life of health, and strength, and peace, and joy:--all\nthese symptoms, so common, so normal, all but universal--this Euthanasia\nwhich God has provided for those who, humanly speaking, are innocent, yet\nmust, for the general good of humanity, leave this world for another;--\nwhat are they but the voice of God to us, telling that He loves, that He\npities, that He alleviates; and bidding us go and do likewise?  God has\nalleviated where we cannot.  He has bidden us thereby, if His likeness\nand spirit be indeed in us, to alleviate where we can; and believe that\nby every additional comfort, however petty, which we provide, we are\ncopying the Ideal Man, who, because He was very God of very God, could\ncondescend, at the marriage feast, to turn the water into wine.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXVI.  USELESS SACRIFICE\n\n\n\nPreached at Southsea for the Mission of the Good Shepherd.  October 1871.\n\nIsaiah i. 11-17.  \"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices\nunto me? saith the Lord:  . . .  When ye come to appear before me, who\nhath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?  Bring no more vain\noblations; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths,\nthe calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the\nsolemn meeting.  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth:\nthey are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them.  And when ye spread\nforth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:  yea, when ye make many\nprayers, I will not hear:  your hands are full of blood.  Wash you, make\nyou clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease\nto do evil; learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed,\njudge the fatherless, plead for the widow.\"\n\nI have been asked to plead to-day for the mission of the Good Shepherd in\nPortsea.\n\nI am informed that Portsea contains some thirteen thousand souls, divided\nbetween two parishes.  That they, as I feared, include some of the most\nignorant and vicious of both sexes which can be found in the kingdom;\nthat there are few or no rich people in the place; that the rich who have\nan interest in the labour of these masses live away from the place, and\nfrom the dwellings of those whom they employ--a social evil new to\nEngland; but growing, alas! fearfully common in it; and that vice, and\nunthrift, uncertain wages, and unhealthy dwellings produce there, as\nelsewhere, misery and savagery most deplorable.  I am told, too, that\nthis mission has been working, nobly and self-denyingly, among these\nunhappy people for some years past.  That it can, and ought to largely\nextend its operations; that it is in want of fresh funds; that it is\nproposed to build a new church, which, it is hoped, will be a centre of\ncivilization and organization, as well as of religion and morality, for\nthe district; and I am bidden to invite you, as close neighbours of\nPortsea, to help in the good work.  I, of course, know too little of\nlocal facts, or of the temper of the people of Southsea.  But I am bound\nto believe it to be the same as I have found it elsewhere.  And I\ntherefore shall confine myself to general questions, and shall treat this\ncase of Portsea, as what it is, alas! one among a hundred similar ones,\nand say to you simply what I have said for twenty-five years, wherever\nand whenever I can get a hearing.  And therefore if I seem here and there\nto speak sharply and sternly, recollect that I pay you a compliment in so\ndoing--first, that I speak not to you, but to all English men and women;\nand next, that I speak as to those who have noble instincts, if they will\nbe only true to them:--as to English people, who are not afraid of being\ntold the truth; to English people who do wrong rather from forgetfulness\nand luxury, than from meanness and cruelty aforethought; who, as far as I\nhave seen, need, for the most part, only to be reminded that they are\ndoing wrong, to reawaken them to their better selves, and set them trying\nhonestly and bravely to do right.\n\nLet me then begin this sermon with a parable.  Alas! that the parable\nshould represent a common and notorious fact.  Suppose yourselves in some\nstately palace, amid marbles and bronzes, statues and pictures, and all\nthat cunning brain and cunning hand, when wedded to the high instinct of\nbeauty, can produce.  The furniture is of the very richest, and kept with\nthe most fastidious cleanliness.  The floors of precious wood are\npolished like mirrors.  The rooms have every appliance for the ease of\nthe luxurious inmates.  Everywhere you see, not mere brute wealth, but\ntaste, purity, and comfort.  There is no lack of intellect either:--wise\nand learned books fill the library shelves; maps and scientific\ninstruments crowd the tables.  Nor of religion either;--for the house\ncontains a private chapel, fitted up in the richest style of mediaeval\necclesiastical art.  And as you walk along from polished floor to\npolished floor, you seem to pass in review every object which the body,\nor the mind, or the spirit, of the most civilized human being can need\nfor its satisfaction.\n\nBut, next to the chapel itself, a scent of carrion makes you start.  You\nlook, against the will of your smart and ostentatious guide, through a\nhalf-open door, and see another sight--a room, dark and foul, mildewed\nand ruinous; and, swept carelessly into a corner, a heap of dirt, rags,\nbones, waifs and strays of every kind, decaying all together.\n\nYou ask, with astonishment and disgust, how comes that there? and are\ntold, to your fresh astonishment and disgust, that that is only where the\nservants sweep the litter.  But crouching behind the litter, in the\ndarkest corner, something moves.  You go up to it, in spite of the\nentreaties of your guide, and find an aged idiot gibbering in her rags.\n\nWho is she?  Oh, an old servant--or a child, or possibly a grand-child,\nof some old servant--your guide does not remember which.  She is better\nout of the way there in the corner.  At all events she can find plenty to\neat among the dirt-heap; and as for her soul, if she has one, the\nclergyman is said to come and see her now and then, so probably it will\nbe saved.\n\nWould you not turn away from that palace with the contemptuous thought--\nCivilized?  Refined?  These people's civilization is but skin-deep.\nTheir refinement is but an outside show.  Look into the first back room,\nand you find that they are foul barbarians still.\n\nAnd yet such, literally such and no better, is the refinement of modern\nEngland; such, and no better, is the civilization of our great towns.\nSuch I fear from what I am told, is the civilization of Southsea, beside\nthe barbarism to be found in Portsea close at hand.  Dirt and squalor,\nbrutality and ignorance close beside such luxury as the world has not\nseen, it may be, since the bad days of Heathen Rome.\n\nBut more, if you turned away, you would say to yourselves, if you were\nthoughtful persons--not only what barbarism, but what folly.  The owner\nand his household are in daily danger.  The idiot in discontent, or even\nin mere folly, may seize a lighted candle, burn petroleum, as she did in\nParis of late, and set the whole palace on fire.  And more, the very dirt\nis in itself inflammable, and capable, as it festers, of spontaneous\ncombustion.  How many a stately house has been burnt down ere now, simply\nby the heating of greasy rags, thrust away in some neglected closet.  Let\nthe owner of the house beware.  He is living, voluntarily, over a volcano\nof his own making.\n\nBut more--what if you were told that the fault lay not so much in the\nnegligence of servants as in that of the owner himself, that the master\nof that palace had over him a King, to whom all that was foul,\nneglectful, cruel, was inexpressibly hateful, so hateful that He once had\nactually stepped off the throne of the universe to die for such creatures\nas that poor idiot and her forgotten parents?  Would you not question\nwhether the prayers offered up in that chapel would have any answer from\nHim, save that awful answer He once gave?  \"When ye spread forth your\nhands, I will hide mine eyes:  yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not\nhear; your hands are full of blood.\"\n\nOh, my friends, you who understand my parable, has the awful thought\nnever struck you that such may be God's answer to the prayers of a nation\nwhich leaves in its midst such barbarism, such heathenism, as exists in\nevery great town of this realm?  And what if you were told next that the\nlaws of His kingdom were eternal and inexorable, and that one of His\ncardinal laws is--that as a man sows, so shall he reap; that every sin\npunishes itself, even though the sinner does not know that he has sinned;\nthat he who knew not his master's will, and did it not, shall be beaten\nwith few stripes; that the innocent babe does not escape unburnt, because\nit knew not that fire burns; that the good man who lives in a malarious\nalley does not escape fever and cholera, because he does not know that\ndirt breeds pestilence; that, in a word, he who knew not his master's\nwill, and did it not, shall be beaten with few stripes; but that he who\nknew his master's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many\nstripes?  Then of how many and how heavy stripes, think you, will the\ninhabitant of that palace be counted worthy, who has been taught by\nChristianity for the last fifteen hundred years, and by physical science\nand political economy for the last fifty years, and yet persists, in\ndefiance of his own knowledge, in leaving his used-up servants, and their\nchildren and grand-children after them, to rot, body, mind, and soul, in\nthe very precincts of the palace, having no other excuse to offer for\nthis than that it is too much trouble to treat them better, and that, on\nthe whole, he can make money more rapidly by thus throwing away that\nhuman dirt, and leaving it to decay where it can, regardless what it\npollutes and poisons; just as the manufacturer can make money more\nrapidly by not consuming his own smoke, but letting it stream out of the\nchimney to poison with blackness and desolation the green fields where\nGod meant little children to gather flowers?\n\nLadies, to you I appeal, not merely as women, but as Ladies, if (as I am\nassured by those who know you), ladies you are, in the grand old meaning\nof that grand old word.\n\nIf so--you know then, what it is to be a lady and what not.  You know\nthat it is not to go, like the daughters of Zion in Isaiah's time, with\nmincing gait, and borrowed head-gear, and tasteless finery, the head\nwell-nigh empty, the heart full of little save vanity and vexation of\nspirit, busy all the week over cheap novels and expensive dresses, and on\nSunday over a little dilettante devotion.  You know, I take for granted,\nthat whatever the world may think or say, that to be that, is not to be a\nlady.\n\nFor you know, I take for granted, what that word lady meant at first.\nThat it meant she who gave out the loaves, the housewife who provided\nfood and clothes; the stewardess of her household and dependants; the\nspinner among her maidens; the almsgiver to the poor; the worshipper in\nthe chapel, praying for wild men away in battle.  The being from whom\nflowed forth all gracious influences of thought and order, of bounty and\ncompassion, of purity and piety, civilizing and Christianizing a whole\nfamily, a whole domain.  This it was to be a lady, in the old days when\ntoo many men had little care save to make war.  And this it is to be a\nlady still, in the new days in which too many men have little care save\nto make money.  Show then that you can be ladies still.  That the spirit\nis the spirit of your ancestresses, though the form in which it must show\nitself is changed with the change of society.\n\nTo you I appeal; to as many in this church as are ladies, not in name\nonly, but in spirit and in truth.  Say to your fathers, husbands,\nbrothers, sons, and say too, and that boldly, to the tradesmen with whom\nyou deal--Do you hear this?  Do you hear that there are savages and\nheathens, generations of them, within a rifle-shot of the house?  And you\ncannot exterminate them; cannot drive them out, much less kill them.  You\nmust convert them, improve them, make them civilized and Christian, if\nnot for their own sakes, at least for our sakes, and for our children.\n\nAnd if they should answer:  My dears, it is too true.  But we did not\nmake them or put them there, and they are not in our parish.  They are no\nconcern of ours, and besides they will not hurt us.\n\nAnswer them:  Not made by our fault!  True, our hands are more or less\nclean:  but what of that?  There they are.  If you had a tribe of Red\nIndians on the frontier of your settlement, would you take the less guard\nagainst them, because you did not put them there?  Not in our parish, and\nwhat of that?  They are in our county; they are in England.  Has man the\nright, has man the power in the sight of God to draw any imaginary line\nof demarcation between Englishman and Englishman, especially when that\nline is drawn between rich and poor?  England knows no line of\ndemarcation, save the shore of the great sea; and even that her\ngenerosity is overleaping at this moment at the call of mere humanity, in\nbounty to sufferers by the West Indian hurricane, and by the Chicago\nfire.  Will you send your help across the Atlantic; and deny it to the\nsufferers at your own doors?  At least, if the rich be confined by an\nimaginary line across, the poor on the other side will not--they will\ncross it freely enough; and what they will bring with them will be\nconcern enough of ours.  Would it not be our concern if there was small-\npox, scarlet fever, cholera among them?  Should we not fear lest that\nmight hurt us?  Would you not bestir yourselves then?  And do you not\nknow that it is among such people as these that pestilence is always\nbred?  And if not, is not the pestilence of the soul more subtle and more\ncontagious than any pestilence of the body?  What is the spreading power\nof fever to the spreading power of vice, which springs from tongue to\ntongue, from eye to eye, from heart to heart?  What matter whether they\nbe one mile off or five?  Will not they corrupt our servants; and those\nservants again our children?\n\nAnd say to them, if you be prudent and thrifty housewives, Do not tell us\nthat their condition costs you nothing.  Even in pocket you are suffering\nnow--as all England is suffering--from the existence of heathens and\nsavages, reckless, profligate, pauperized.  For if you pay no poor-rates\nfor their support, the shop-keepers with whom you deal pay poor-rates;\nand must and do repay themselves, out of your pockets, in the form of\nincreased prices for their goods.\n\nAnd when you have said all this, ladies, and more,--for more will suggest\nitself to your woman's wit,--say to them with St Paul--\"And yet show we\nunto you a more excellent way,\"--a nobler argument--and that is Charity.\n\nNot almsgiving.  I had almost said, anything but that; making bad worse,\nthe improvident more improvident, the liar more ready to lie, the idler\nmore ready to idle.  But the Charity which is Humanity, which is the\nspirit of pure pity, the Spirit of Christ and of God.\n\nSay then, Even if these poor creatures did us no harm, as they must and\nwill do--civilize and christianize them for their own sakes, simply\nbecause they must be so very miserable--miserable too often with acute\nand conscious misery; too often with a worse misery, dull and\nunconscious, which knows not, stupified by ignorance and vice, that it is\nmiserable, and ought to be more miserable still.  For who is so worthy of\nour pity, as he who knows not that he is pitiable?--who takes ignorance,\ndirt, vice, passion, and the wretchedness which vice and passion bring,\nas all in the day's work, as he takes the rain and hail, the frost and\nsnow,--as unavoidable necessities of mortal life, for which the only\ntemporary alleviation is--drink?\n\nIf the refined and pure-minded lady does not pity such beings as that, I\nknow not of what her refinement is made.  If the religious lady will not\nbestir herself, and make sacrifices to teach such people that that is not\nwhat God meant them to be--to stir up in them a noble self-discontent, a\nnoble self-abhorrence, which may be the beginning of repentance and\namendment of life--I know not of what her religion is made.\n\nOne word more--I know that such thoughts as I have put before you to-day\nare painful.  I know that we all--I as much as anyone in this church--are\ntempted to put them by, and say, I will think of things beautiful, not of\nthings ugly; of art, poetry, science--all that is orderly, graceful,\nennobling; and not of dirt, ignorance, vice, misery, all that is\ndisorderly, degrading.  Nay, even the most pious at times are tempted to\nsay, I will think of heaven and not of earth.  I will lift up my heart,\nand try to behold the glory and the goodness of God, and not the disgrace\nand sin of man.\n\nBut only for a time may they thus think and speak.  Happy if they can, at\nmoments, lift up their hearts unto the Lord, and catch one glimpse of Him\nenthroned in perfect serenity and perfect order, governing the worlds\nwith that all-embracing justice, which is at the same time all-embracing\nlove, and so, giving Him thanks for His great glory, gain heart and hope\nto--what?  To descend again, even were it from the beatific vision\nitself, to this disordered earth, to work a little--and, alas how little-\n-at lessening the sum of human ignorance, human vice, human misery--even\nas their Lord and Saviour stooped from the throne of the universe, and\nfrom the bosom of the Father, to toil and die for such as curse about the\nstreets outside.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXVII.  THE SURPRISE OF THE RIGHTEOUS\n\n\n\nPreached at Southsea for the Mission of the Good Shepherd.  October 1871.\n\nSt Matt. xxv. 34-37.  \"Then shall the King say unto them on his right\nhand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you\nfrom the foundation of the world:  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me\nmeat:  I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:  I was a stranger, and ye\ntook me in:  naked, and ye clothed me:  I was sick, and ye visited me:  I\nwas in prison, and ye came unto me.  Then shall the righteous answer him,\nsaying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and\ngave Thee drink?\"\n\nLet us consider awhile this magnificent parable, and consider it\ncarefully, lest we mistake its meaning.  And let us specially consider\none point about it, which is at first sight puzzling, and which has\ncaused, ere now, many to miss (as I believe, with some of the best\ncommentators, ) the meaning of the whole--which is this:  that the\nrighteous in the parable did not know that when they did good to their\nfellow-creatures, they did it to Christ the Lord.\n\nNow there are two kinds of people who do know that, because they have\nbeen taught it by Holy Scripture, who would make two very different\nanswers to the Lord, when He spoke in such words to them.  At least so we\nmay suppose, for they are ready to make such answers here on earth; and\ntherefore, we may suppose that if they dared, they would answer so at the\nday of judgment.  One party would--or at least might say, \"Yes, Lord, I\nknew that whatever I did to the poor, I did to Thee; and therefore I did\nall I could for the poor.  I started charitable institutions, I spoke at\nmissionary meetings, I put my name down for large sums in every\nsubscription list, I built churches and chapels, schools and hospitals; I\ngained the reputation among men of being a leading philanthropist,\nforemost in every good work.\"\n\nWhat answer the man who said that would receive from the Lord, I know\nnot; for who am I that I should put words into the mouth of my Creator\nand my God?  But I think that the awful majesty of the Lord's very\ncountenance might strike such a man dumb, ere he had time to say those\nvain proud words, and strike his conscience through with the thought,\nYes, I have been charitable:  but have I been humane?  I have been a\nphilanthropist:  but have I really loved my fellow-men?  Have I not made\nmy interest in the heathen whom I have not seen, an excuse for despising\nand hating my countrymen whom I have seen, if they dared to differ from\nme in religion or in politics?  I have given large sums in charity:  but\nhave I ever sacrificed anything for my fellow-men?  I have given Christ\nback a pound in every hundred--perhaps even out of every ten which He has\ngiven me:  but what did I do with the other nine pounds save spend them\non myself?  Is there a luxury in which a respectable man could safely\nindulge, which I have denied myself?  What have I been after all, with\nall my philanthropy and charity, but a selfish, luxurious, pompous\npersonage? an actor doing my alms to be seen of men?  I did my good works\nas unto Christ?--No; I did them as unto myself--to get honour from men\nwhile I lived, and to save my selfish soul when I died.  God be merciful\nto me a sinner!  That such thoughts ought to pass through too many\npersons' hearts in this generation, I fear is too certain.  God grant\nthat they may do so before it is too late.  But it is plain, at least,\nthat these are not the sheep of whom Christ speaks.\n\nAgain, there are another, and a very different kind of persons, who we\nhave a right to fancy, would answer the Lord somewhat thus:  \"Oh Lord,\nspeak not of it.  It may be I have tried to do a little good to a poor\nsuffering creature here and there; to feed a few hungry, clothe a few\nnaked, visit a few sick and prisoners.  But Lord, how could I do less?\nafter all that Thou hast done and suffered for me; and after Thy own\ngracious saying, that inasmuch as I did anything to the least of Thy\nbrethren, I did it to Thee.  What less could I do, Lord?--and after all,\nwhat a pitifully small amount I have done!  Thou did'st hunger for me--\nfor whom have I ever hungered?  Thou did'st suffer for me--for whom have\nI ever suffered?  Thou did'st die for me--for whom have I ever died?  And\nI did not--I fear in the depth of my heart--do what I did really for\nThee; but for the very pleasure of doing it.  I began to do good from a\nsense of duty to Thee; but after a while I did good, I fear, only because\nit was so pleasant--so pleasant to see human faces looking up into mine\nwith gratitude; so pleasant to have little children, even though they\nwere none of my own, clinging to me in trust; so pleasant when I went\nhome at night to feel that I had made one human being a little happier, a\nlittle better, even only a little more comfortable; so pleasant to give\nup my own pleasure, in order to give pleasure to others, that I fear I\nforgot Thee in my own enjoyment.  If I sinned in that, Lord forgive.  But\nat least, I have had my reward.  My work among Thy poor was its own\nreward, a reward of inward happiness beyond all that earth can give--and\nnow Thou speakest of rewarding me over and above, with I know not what of\nundeserved bliss.  Thou art too good, O Lord, as is Thy wont from all\neternity.  Let me go and hide myself--a more than unprofitable servant,\nwho has not done the hundredth part of that which it was my duty to do.\"\n\nWhat answer the Lord would make to the modest misgivings of that sweet\nsoul, I cannot say; for again, who am I, that I should put words into the\nmouth of my Creator and my God?  But this I know, that I had rather be--\nwhat I am not, and never shall be--such a soul as that in the last day,\nthan own all the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof.  Still, it\nis plain that such persons, however holy, however loving, are not those\nof whom our Lord speaks in this parable.  For they, too, know, and must\nknow, that inasmuch as they showed mercy unto one of the least of the\nLord's brethren, they showed it unto Him.  But the special peculiarity of\nthe persons of whom our Lord speaks, is that they did not know, that they\nhad no suspicion, that in showing kindness to men, they were showing\nkindness to Christ.  \"Lord,\" they answer, \"when saw we Thee?\"\n\nIt is a revelation to them, in the strictest and deepest sense of the\nword.  A revelation, that is an unveiling, a drawing away of a veil which\nwas before their eyes and hiding from them a divine and most blessed\nfact, of which they had been unaware.  But who are they?  I think we must\nagree with some of the best commentators, among others with that\nexcellent divine and excellent man, now lost to the Church on earth, the\nlate Dean of Canterbury, that they are persons who, till the day of\njudgment, have never heard of Christ; but who then, for the first time,\nas Dean Alford says, \"are overwhelmed with the sight of the grace which\nhas been working in and for them, and the glory which is now their\nblessed portion.\"  Such persons, perhaps, as those two poor negresses--to\nremind you of a story which was famous in our fathers' time--those two\npoor negresses, I say, who found the African traveller, Mungo Park, dying\nof fever and starvation, and saved his life, simply from human love--as\nthey sung to themselves by his bedside--\n\n\n\"Let us pity the poor white man;\nHe has no mother to make his bed,\nNo wife to grind his corn.\"\n\n\nPerhaps it is such as those, who have succoured human beings they knew\nnot why, simply from a divine instinct, from the voice of Christ within\ntheir hearts, which they felt they must obey, though they knew not whose\nvoice it was.  Perhaps, I say, it is such as those, that Christ will\nastonish at the last day by the words, \"Come ye blessed of my Father,\ninherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.\"\n\nIf this be the true meaning of our Lord's words, what comfort and hope\nthey may give us, when we think, as we are bound to think, if we have a\ntrue humanity in us, of the hundreds of millions of heathen now alive,\nand of the thousands of millions of heathen who have lived and died.\nSinful they are as a whole.  Sinning, it may be, without law, but\nperishing without law.  For the wages of sin are death, and can be\nnothing else.  But may not Christ have His elect among them?  May not His\nSpirit be working in some of them?  May He not have His sheep among them,\nwho hear His voice though they know not that it is His voice?  They hear\na voice within their hearts whispering to them, \"Be loving, be merciful,\nbe humane, in one word be just, and do to others as you would they should\ndo to you.\"  And whose voice can that be but the voice of Christ, and the\nSpirit of God?  Those loving instincts come not from the fleshly fallen\nnature, or natural man.  That says to us, \"Be selfish; do not be loving.\nDo to others not what you would they should do to you, but do to others\nwhatever is pleasant and profitable to yourselves.\"  And alas! the\nheathen, and too many who call themselves Christians, listen to that\ncarnal voice, and live the life of selfishness and pleasure, of anger and\nrevenge, of tyranny and cruelty--the end of which is death.\n\nBut if any among those heathen--hearing within their hearts the other\nvoice, the gracious voice which says, \"Do unto others as you would they\nshould do unto you,\"--feel that that voice is a good voice and a right\ncommand, which must be obeyed, and which it is beautiful and delightful\nto obey, and so obey it; may we not hope then, that Christ, who has\ncalled them, will perfect His own work; and in His own good way, and His\nown good time, deliver them from their sin and ignorance, and vouchsafe\nto them at last that knowledge of the true and holy God, Father, Son, and\nHoly Spirit, whom truly to know is everlasting life?  They are Christ's\nlost sheep:  but they are still His sheep who hear His voice.  May He not\nfulfil His own words to them, and go forth and seek such souls, and lay\nthem on His shoulder, and bring them home; saying to His Church on earth,\nand to His Church in heaven, \"Rejoice with Me:  for I have found my sheep\nwhich was lost?\"\n\nNow if we can thus have hope for some among the heathen abroad, shall we\nnot have hope, too, for some among the heathen at home? for some among\nthat mass of human corruption which welters around the walls of so many\nof our cities?  I am not going to make vain excuses for them; and say\nthey are but the victims of circumstance.  The great majority of them are\nthe victims of their own low instincts.  They have chosen the broad and\neasy road of animalism, which leads to destruction.  They have sown to\nthe flesh, and they will of the flesh reap corruption.  For the laws of\nGod are inexorable; and the curse of the law is sure, namely, \"The wages\nof sin are death.\"  Neither dare I encourage too vast hopes and say, If\nwe had money enough, if we had machinery enough, if we had zeal enough,\nwe might convert them all, and save them all.  I dare not believe it.\nThe many, I fear, will always go the broad road; the few the narrow one.\nAnd all we dare say is, if we have faith enough, we can convert some.  We\ncan at least fulfil our ordination vow.  We can seek out Christ's sheep\nscattered abroad about this naughty world, and tell them of His fold, and\ntry to bring them home.\n\nBut how shall we know Christ's sheep when we see them?  How, but by the\nvery test which Christ has laid down, it seems to me, in this very\nparable?  Is there in one of them the high instincts--even the desire to\ndo a merciful act?  Let us watch for that:  and when in the most brutal\nman, and--alas that I should have to use the words--in the most brutal\nwoman, we see any touch of nobleness, justice, benevolence, pity,\ntenderness--in one word, any touch, however momentary, of unselfishness,-\n-let us spring at that, knowing that there is the soul we seek; there is\na lost sheep of Christ; there is Christ Himself, working unknown upon a\nhuman soul; there is a soul ready for the gospel, and not far from the\nkingdom of God.  But what shall we say to that lost sheep?  Shall we\nterrify it by threats of hell?  Shall we even allure it by promises of\nheaven?  Not so--not so at least at first--for that would be to appeal to\nbodily fear and bodily pleasure, to the very selfishness from which\nChrist is trying to deliver it; and to neglect the very prevenient grace,\nthe very hold on the soul which Christ Himself offers us.  Let us\ndetermine with St. Paul to know nothing among our fellow-men but Christ\ncrucified.  Let us appeal just to that in the soul which is unselfish;\nnot to the instincts of loss and gain, but to those nobler instincts of\njustice and mercy; just because they are not the man's or the woman's\ninstincts; but Christ's within them, the light of Christ and the Spirit\nof Christ, the spirit of love and justice saying, \"Do unto others as you\nwould they should do unto you.\"  Do you doubt that?  I trust not.  For to\ndoubt that is to doubt whether God be truly the Giver of all good things.\nTo doubt that is to begin to disbelieve St. Paul's great saying, \"In me,\nthat is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.\"  To doubt that is to lay\nour hearts and minds open to the insidious poison of that Pelagian heresy\nwhich, received under new shapes and names, is becoming the cardinal\nheresy of modern disbelief.  No; we will have faith in Christ, faith in\nour creeds, faith in catholic doctrine; and will say to that man or that\nwoman, even as they wallow still in the darkness and the mire, \"Behold\nyour God!  That cup of cold water which you gave, you knew not why,--\nChrist told you to give it, and to Him you gave.  That night watch beside\nthe bed of a woman as fallen as yourself,--Christ bade you watch, and you\nwatched by Him.  For that drunken ruffian, whom you, a drunken ruffian\nyourself, leaped into the sea to save, Christ bade you leap, and like St.\nChristopher of old, you bore, though you knew it not, your Saviour and\nyour God to land.\"  And if they shall make answer, \"And who is He that I\ndid not know Him? who is He that I should know Him now?\"  Let us point\nthem--and whither else should we point them in heaven or earth?--to\nChrist upon the cross, and say, \"Behold your God!  This He did, this He\ncondescended, this He dared, this He suffered for you, and such as you.\nThis is what He, the Maker of the universe, is like.  This is what He has\nbeen trying to make you like, in your small degree, every time a noble, a\ngenerous, a pitiful, a merciful emotion crossed your heart; every time\nyou forgot yourself, even for a moment, and thought of the welfare of a\nfellow-man.\"\n\nIf that tale, if that sight, if that revelation and unveiling of Christ\nto the poor sinful soul does not work in it an abhorrence of past sin, a\ncraving after future holiness, an admiration and a reverence for Christ\nHimself, which is, ipso facto, saving faith; if that soul does not reply-\n-it may not be in words, but in feelings too deep for words,--\"Yes; this\nis indeed noble, indeed Godlike, worthy of a God, and worthy therefore to\nbe at once imitated and adored:\" then, indeed, the Cross of Christ must\nhave lost that miraculous power which it has possessed, for more than\neighteen hundred years, as the highest \"moral ideal\" which ever was seen,\nor ever can be seen, by the reason and the heart of man.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXVIII.  THE LORD'S PRAYER\n\n\n\nWindsor Castle, 1867.  Chester Cathedral, 1870.\n\nMatthew vi. 9, 10.  \"After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father\nwhich art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be\ndone, on earth as it is in heaven.\"\n\nLet us think for a while on these great words.  Let us remember that some\nday or other they will certainly be fulfilled.  Let us remember that\nChrist would not have bidden us use them, unless He intended that they\nshould be fulfilled.  And let us remember, likewise, that we must help to\nfulfil them.  We need to be reminded of this from time to time, for we\nare all inclined to forget it.  We are inclined to forget that mankind\nhas a Father in heaven, who is ruling, and guiding, and educating us, His\nhuman children, to\n\n\n   \"One far off divine event,\nToward which the whole creation moves.\"\n\n\nWe are apt to fancy that the world will always go on very much as it goes\non now; that it will be guided, not by the will of God, but by the will\nof man; by man's craft; by man's ambition; by man's self-interest; by\nman's cravings after the luxuries, and even after the mere necessities of\nthis life.  In a word, we are apt to fancy that man, not God, is the\nmaster of this earth on which we live, and that men have no king over\nthem in heaven.\n\nThe Lord's Prayer tells us that men HAVE a king over them in heaven, and\nthat that king is a Father likewise--a Father whose name will one day be\nhallowed above all names.  That the world will not always go on as it\ngoes on now, but that the Father's kingdom will come.  That above the\nwill of man, there is a will of God, which must be done, and therefore\nwill be done some day.  In a word, the Lord's Prayer tells us that this\nworld is under a Divine government; that the Lord, even Jesus Christ our\nSaviour, is King, be the people never so impatient.  That He sitteth\nbetween the cherubim, master of all the powers of nature, be the earth\nnever so unquiet.  That His power loves justice.  That He has prepared\nequity.  That He has executed, and therefore will execute to the end,\njudgment and righteousness in the earth.  That Christ reigns in justice\nand in love.  That He has for those who disobey His laws the most\nterrible penalties; for those who obey them blessings such as eye hath\nnot seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to\nconceive.  That He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet\nand delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father.  That on that great\nday He will prove His royalty, and His Father's royalty, in the sight of\nall heaven and earth, and make every soul of man aware, in a fashion\nwhich none shall mistake, that He is Lord and King.  This is the message\nwhich the Lord's Prayer brings--a message of mingled fear and joy.\n\nBut a message of more joy than fear.  Else why does our Lord bid us pray\nfor it that it may come to pass?--pray daily, before we even pray for our\ndaily bread, or the forgiveness of our sins--that His Father's name may\nbe hallowed, His Father's kingdom come, His Father's will be done?\n\nHe bids us pray for that because it will bring blessings.  Blessings to\nevery soul of man who desires to be good and true.  Because it will\nsatisfy every aspiration which has ever risen up from the heart of man\nafter what is noble, what is generous, what is just, what is useful, what\nis pure.  Surely it is so.  Consider but these short words of my text,\nand think what the world would be like if they were fulfilled; what the\nnext world will actually be like when they are fulfilled.\n\n\"Hallowed be thy name.\"  But what name?  The name of Father.  If that\nname were hallowed by men, there would be an end of all superstitions.\nThe root of all superstitions, fanaticisms, and false religions is this--\nthat they do not hallow the name of Father.  They do not see that it is a\nHoly name, a beautiful and tender as well as an awful and venerable name.\nThey think of fathers, like too many among themselves, proud, and\narbitrary, selfish and cruel.  They say in their hearts, even such\nfathers as we are, such is God.  Therefore, they shrink from God, and\nturn from Him to idols, to the Virgin Mary, or Saints, or any other\nbeings who can deliver them (as they fancy) out of the hands of their\nFather in heaven.  If men once learnt to hallow the name of Father, to\nthink of a father as one who not only possessed power but felt love, who\nnot only had rights which he would enforce, and issued commands which\nmust be obeyed, but who felt yearning sympathy for his children's\nweakness, an active interest in their education, and was ready to labour\nfor, to sacrifice himself for, his family--That would be truly to hallow\nthe name of Father, and look on it as a holy thing, whether in heaven\nabove or in earth beneath.\n\nTo hallow the Father's name would abolish all the superstition of the\nworld.  And so the coming of the Father's kingdom would abolish all the\nmisrule and anarchy of the world.  For the kingdom of God the Father is a\nkingdom of perfect order, perfect justice, perfect usefulness.  Surely\nthe first consequences of that kingdom's coming would be, that every one\nwould be exactly in his right place, and that every one would get his\nexact deserts.  That would indeed be the kingdom of God on earth.  The\nprospect of such a kingdom would be painful enough to those who were in\ntheir wrong place, to those who were undeserving.  All who were useless,\ntaking wages either from man or from God, without doing any work in\nreturn, all these would have but too good reason to dread the coming of\nthe kingdom of God.\n\nBut those who were trying earnestly to do their work, though amid many\nmistakes and failures, why should they dread the coming of the kingdom of\nGod?  Why should they shrink from remembering that, though God's kingdom\nis not come in perfection and fulness, it is here already, and they are\nin it?  Why should they shrink from that thought?  They will find it full\nof comfort, of strength, and hope, if they will but hallow their Father's\nname, and remember the fact of all facts--that they have a Father in\nheaven.  There are thousands on earth, from the highest to the lowest,\nwho can say honestly--to take the commonest instance--every parent can\nsay it--\"I have a heavy work to do, a heavy responsibility to fulfil.\nGod knows I did not seek it, thrust myself into it; it was thrust upon\nme.  It came to me in the course of nature or of society, and\ncircumstances over which I had no control.  In one word it was MY DUTY.\nBut now that I have my duty to do, behold I cannot do it.  I try my best,\nbut I fail.  I come short daily of my own low standard of duty.  How much\nmore of God's perfect standard of it!  And the burden of responsibility,\nthe regret for failure, is more than I can bear.\n\nTo such we may answer, hallow your Father's name, and be of good cheer.\nYOUR FATHER has given you your work.  Because He is a Father, He is\nsurely educating you for your work.  Because He is a Father, He will\nsurely set you no task which you are unable to fulfil.  Because He is a\nFather, He will help you to fulfil your task.  Your station and calling\nis His will; and because it is a Father's will it is a good will.\n\nAnd the Judge of your work--He is no stern taskmaster, no unfeeling\ntyrant, but Jesus Christ, your Lord, who died for you on the Cross.  He\nknows what is in man.  He remembereth that we are but dust.  Else the\nspirit would fail before Him and the souls which He has made.  He can be\ntouched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing that He was tempted\nin all things like as we are, yet without sin.  He can sympathise\nutterly; He can make all just allowances; He will judge not by outward\nresults, but by the inward will and desire.  He will judge not by the\nhearing of the ear, nor the seeing of the eye, as the shallow cruel world\njudges, but He will judge righteous judgment.  Trust your cause to Him,\nand trust yourself to Him.  Believe that if He can sympathise, He can\nalso help; for from Him, as well as from His Father, proceeds the Holy\nSpirit, the Lord and giver of life, the spirit of wisdom and\nunderstanding, the spirit of power and might, the spirit of knowledge and\nthe fear of the Lord, and He will inspire you to see your duty, and do\nyour duty, and rejoice in your duty, in spite of weariness and failure,\nand all the burdens of the flesh and of the spirit.\n\n\"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.\"  If that were done, it\nwould abolish all the vice of the world, and therefore the misery which\nsprings from vice.  Ah, that God's will were but done on earth as it is\nin the material heaven overhead, in perfect order and obedience, as the\nstars roll in their courses, without rest, yet without haste; as all\ncreated things, even the most awful, fire and hail, snow and vapour, wind\nand storm, fulfil God's word, who hath made them sure for ever and ever,\nand given them a law which shall not be broken.  But above them; above\nthe divine and wonderful order of the material universe, and the winds\nwhich are God's angels, and the flames of fire which are His messengers;\nabove all, the prophets and apostles have caught sight of another divine\nand wonderful order of RATIONAL beings, of races, loftier and purer than\nman--angels and archangels, thrones and dominions, principalities and\npowers, fulfilling God's will in heaven as it is not alas! fulfilled on\nearth.\n\nAnd beside them, beside the innumerable company of angels, are there not\nthe spirits of just men made perfect, freed from the fetters of the gross\nanimal body, and now somewhere in that boundless universe in which this\nearth is but a tiny speck, doing God's will, as they longed to do it on\nearth, with clearer light, fuller faith, deeper love, mightier powers of\nusefulness?  Ah, that we were like to them!  Ah, that we could perform\nthe least part of our day's work on earth as it is performed by saints\nand angels for ever in heaven!  When we think of what this poor confused\nworld is, and then what it might be, were God's will done therein as it\nis done in heaven; what it might be if even the little of God's will\nwhich we already know, the little of God's laws which are proved already\nto be certain, were carried out with any earnestness by the majority of\nmankind, or even of one civilized nation--when we think--to take the very\nlowest ground--of the health and wealth, the peace and happiness, which\nwould cover this earth did men only do the will of God; then, if we have\nhuman hearts within us--if we care at all for the welfare of our fellow-\nmen--ought not this to be the prayer of all our prayers, and ought we not\nto welcome any event, however awful, which would bring mankind to reason\nand to virtue, and to God, and abolish the sin and misery of this unhappy\nworld?\n\nTo abolish the superstition, the misrule, the vice, the misery of this\nworld.  That is what Christ will do in the day when He has put all\nenemies under His feet.  That is what Christ has been doing, step by\nstep, ever since that day when first He came to do His Father's will on\nearth in great humility.  Therefore, that is what we must do, each in our\nplace and station, if we be indeed His subjects, fellow-workers with Him\nin the improvement of the human race, fellow-soldiers with Him in the\nbattle against evil.\n\nBut what we wish to do for our fellow-creatures, we must do first for\nourselves.  We can give them nothing save what God has already given us.\nWe must become good before we can make them good, and wise before we can\nmake them wise.  Let us pray, then, the Lord's Prayer in spirit and in\ntruth.  Let us pray that we may hallow the name of God, our Father.  Let\nus pray that His kingdom may come in our own hearts.  Let us pray that we\nmay do His will on earth as those whom we love and honour do it in\nheaven.  Let us keep that before us, day and night, as the aim and\npurpose of our lives.  Let us pray for forgiveness of our failures in\nthat; for help to do that better as our years run on.  So we shall be\nready for the day in which Christ shall have accomplished the number of\nHis elect, and hastened His kingdom.  So we shall be found in that dread\nday, not on the side of evil, but of God; not on the side of darkness,\nanarchy, and vice, but on the side of light, of justice, and of virtue,\nwhich is the side of Christ and of God.  And so we, with all those that\nare departed in the faith of His holy name, shall have our perfect\nconsummation and bliss in His eternal and everlasting glory, to which may\nHe, of His great mercy, bring us all.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXIX.  THE DISTRACTED MIND\n\n\n\nEversley. 1871.\n\nMatthew vi. 34.  \"Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall\ntake thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the\nevil thereof.\"\n\nScholars will tell you that the words \"take no thought\" do not exactly\nexpress our Lord's meaning in this text.  That they should rather stand,\n\"Be not anxious about to-morrow.\"  And doubtless they are right on the\nwhole.  But the truth is, that we have no word in English which exactly\nexpresses the Greek word which St Matthew uses in his gospel, and which\nwe are bound to believe exactly expresses our Lord's meaning, in whatever\nlanguage He spoke.  The nearest English word, I believe, is--distracted.\nBe ye not distracted about to-morrow.  I do not mean the vulgar sense of\nthe word--which is losing one's senses.  But the old and true sense,\nwhich is still used by those who speak good English.\n\nTo distract, means literally to pull a thing two different ways--even to\npull it asunder.  We speak of distracting a man's attention, when we call\nhim off from looking at one thing to make him look at something else, and\nwe call anything which interrupts us in our business, or puts a thought\nsuddenly out of our heads, a distraction.  Now the Greek word which St\nMatthew uses, means very nearly this--Be not divided in your thoughts--do\nnot think of two things at once--do not distract your attention from to-\nday's work, by fearing and hoping about to-morrow.  Sufficient for the\nday is the evil thereof; and you will have quite trouble enough to get\nthrough to-day honestly and well, without troubling yourself with to-\nmorrow--which may turn out very unlike anything which you can dream.\nThis, I think, is the true meaning of the text; and with it, I think,\nagrees another word of our Lord's which St Luke gives--And be ye not of\ndoubtful mind.  Literally, Do not be up in the air--blown helpless hither\nand thither, by every gust of wind, instead of keeping on the firm\nground, and walking straight on about your business, stoutly and\npatiently, step after step.  Have no vain fears or vain hopes about the\nfuture; but do your duty here and now.  That is our Lord's command, and\nin it lies the secret of success in life.\n\nFor do we not find, do we not find, my friends, in practice, that our\nLord's words are true?  Who are the people who get through most work in\ntheir lives, with the least wear and tear, not merely to their bodily\nhealth, but to their tempers and their characters?  Are they the anxious\npeople?  Those who imagine to themselves possible misfortunes, and ask\ncontinually--What if this happened--or that?  What would become of me\nthen?  How should I be able to pull through such a trouble?  Where shall\nI find friends?  How shall I make myself safe against the chances and\nchanges of life?  Do we not know that those people are the very ones who\ndo little work, and often less than none, by thus distracting their\nattention and their strength from their daily duty, daily business?  That\nwhile they are looking anxiously for future opportunities, they are\nneglecting the opportunities which they have already.  While they are\nmaking interest with others to help them, they forget to help themselves.\nThat in proportion as they lose faith in God and His goodness, they lose\ncourage and lose cheerfulness; and have too often to find a false courage\nand a false cheerfulness, by drowning their cares in drink, or in mean\ncunning and plotting and planning, which usually ends in failure and in\nshame?\n\nAre those who do most work, either the plotting or intriguing people?  I\ndo not mean base false people.  Of them I do not speak here.  But really\ngood and kind people, honest at heart, who yet are full of distractions\nof another sort; who are of double mind--look two ways at once, and are\nafraid to be quite open, quite straightforward--who like to COMPASS their\nends, as the old saying is, that is to go round about, towards what they\nwant, instead of going boldly up to it; who like to try two or more ways\nof getting the same thing done; and, as the proverb has it, have many\nirons in the fire; who love little schemes, and plots, and mysteries,\neven when there is no need for them.  Do such people get most work done?\nFar, far from it.  They take more trouble about getting a little matter\ndone, than simpler and braver men take about getting great matters done.\nThey fret themselves, they weary themselves, they waste their brains and\nhearts--and sometimes their honesty besides--and if they fail, as in the\nchances and changes of this mortal life they must too often fail, have\nnothing for all their schemings save vanity and vexation of spirit.\n\nBut the man who will get most work done, and done with the least trouble,\nwhether for himself, for his family, or in the calling and duty to which\nGod has called him, will be the man who takes our Lord's advice.  Who\ntakes no thought for the morrow, and leaves the morrow to take thought\nfor itself.  That man will believe that this world is a well-ordered\nworld, as it needs must be, seeing that God made it, God redeemed it, God\ngoverns it; and that God is merciful in this--that He rewardeth every man\naccording to his works.  That man will take thought for to-day, earnestly\nand diligently, even at times anxiously and in fear and trembling; but he\nwill not distract, and divide, and weaken his mind by taking thought for\nto-morrow also.  Each day he will set about the duty which lies nearest\nhim, with a whole heart and with a single eye, giving himself to it for\nthe time, as if there was nothing else to be done in the world.  As for\nwhat he is to do next, he will think little of that.  Little, even, will\nhe think of whether his work will succeed or not.  That must be as God\nshall will.  All that he is bound to do is to do his best; and his best\nhe can only do by throwing his whole soul into his work.  As his day, he\ntrusts his strength will be; and he must not waste the strength which God\nhas given him for to-day on vain fears or vain dreams about to-morrow.\nTo-day is quite full enough of anxiety, of care, of toil, of ignorance.\nSufficient for the day is the evil thereof.  Yes; and sufficient for the\nday is the good thereof likewise.  To-day, and to-morrow, too, may end\nvery differently from what he hoped.  Yes; but they may end, too, very\ndifferently from what he feared.  Let him throw his whole soul into the\nthing which he is about, and leave the rest to God.\n\nFor so only will he come to the day's end in that wholesome and manful\ntemper, contented if not cheerful, satisfied with the work he has had to\ndo, if not satisfied with the way in which he has done it, which will\nleave his mind free to remember all his comforts, all his blessings, even\nto those commonest of all blessings, which we are all too apt to forget,\njust because they are as necessary as the air we breathe; which will show\nhim how much light there is, even on the darkest day.\n\nHe has not got this or that fine thing, it may be, for which he longed:\nbut he has at least his life, at least his reason, at least his\nconscience, at least his God.  Are not they enough to possess?  Are not\nthey enough wherewith to lie down at night in peace, and rise to-morrow\nto take what comes to-morrow, even as he took what came to-day?  And will\nhe not be most fit to take what comes to-morrow like a Christian man,\nwhether it be good or evil, with his spirit braced and yet chastened, by\nhonest and patient labour, instead of being weakened and irritated by\nidling over to-day, while he dreamed and fretted about to-morrow?\n\nAh!  I fancy that I hear some one say--perhaps a woman--\"So easy to\npreach, but so difficult to practise.  So difficult to think of one thing\nat a time.  So difficult not to plot, not to fret, with a whole family of\nchildren dependent on you!  What does the preacher know of a woman's\ntroubles?  How many things she has to think of, day by day, not one of\nwhich she dares forget--and yet can seldom or never, for all her\nrecollecting, contrive to get them all done?  How can she help being\ndistracted by the thought of to-morrow?  Can he feel for frail me?  Does\nhe know what I go through?\"  Yes.  I do know; and I wonder, and admire.\nTo me the sight of any poor woman managing her family respectably and\nthriftily, is one of the most surprising sights on earth, as it is one of\nthe most beautiful sights on earth.  How she finds time for it, wit for\nit, patience for it, courage for it, I cannot conceive.  I have wondered\noften why many a woman does not lie down and die, for sheer weariness of\nbody and soul.  I have fancied often that God must give some special\ngrace to all good mothers, to enable them to do all that they do, and\nbear all they bear.  But still, the women who do most, who bring up their\nfamilies best, are surely those who obey their Lord's command, who give\ntheir whole souls to each day's work, and think as little as they can of\nto-morrow.  With them, surely, the true wisdom is, not to fret, not to\nplot, to do the duty which lies nearest them, and leave the rest to God;\nto get each week's bill paid, trusting to God to send money for the week\nto come; to get their children every day to school; to correct in them\neach fault as it shews itself, without looking forward too much to how\nthe child will turn out at last.  For them, and for parents of all ranks,\nthe wisest plan, I believe, is to make no far-fetched plans for their\nchildren's future, certainly no ambitious intrigues for their marriage:\nbut simply to educate them--that is, to bring out in them, day by day,\nall that is purest and best, wisest and ablest, and leave the rest to\nGod; sure that if they are worth anything, their Father in heaven will\nfind them work to do, and a place at His table, in this life and in the\nlife to come.\n\nYes, my dear friends, this is the true philosophy, the philosophy which\nChrist preaches to us all--to old and young, rich and poor, ploughman and\nscholar, maid, wife, and widow, all alike.\n\nFret not.  Plot not.  Look not too far ahead.\n\nFret not--lest you lose temper, and be moved to do evil.  Plot not--lest\nyou lose faith in God, and be moved to be dishonest.  Look not too far\nahead--So far only, as to keep yourselves out of open and certain danger-\n-lest you see what is coming before you are ready for the sight.  If we\nforesaw the troubles which may be coming, perhaps it would break our\nhearts; and if we foresaw the happiness which is coming, perhaps it would\nturn our heads.  Let us not meddle with the future, and matters which are\ntoo high for us, but refrain our souls, and keep them low, like little\nchildren, content with the day's food, and the day's schooling, and the\nday's play-hours, sure that the Divine Master knows that all is right,\nand how to train us, and whither to lead us, though we know not, and need\nnot know, save this--that the path by which He is leading each of us--if\nwe will but obey and follow, step by step--leads up to Everlasting Life.\n\n\n\nSERMON XL.  THE LESSON OF LIFE\n\n\n\nFifth Sunday in Lent.\n\nChester Training College, 1870.  Windsor Castle, 1871.\n\nHebrews v. 7, 8.  \"Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up\nprayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was\nable to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He\nwere a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.\"\n\nThis is the lesson of life.  This is God's way of educating us, of making\nus men and women worthy of the name of men and women, worthy of the name\nof children of God.  As Christ learnt, so must we.  If it was necessary\nfor Him who know no sin, how much more for us who have sins enough and to\nspare.  Though He was the eternal Son of God, yet He learnt obedience by\nthe things which He suffered.  Though we are God's adopted children, we\nmust learn obedience by what we suffer.  He had to offer up prayer with\nstrong crying.  So shall we have to do again and again before we die.  He\nwas heard in that He feared God, and said, \"Father not my will, but Thine\nbe done.\"  And so shall we.  He was perfected by sufferings.  God grant\nthat we may be so likewise.  He had to do like us.  God grant that we may\ndo like Him.\n\nGod grant it.  That is all I can say.  I cannot be sure of it, for myself\nor for any of you.  I can only hope, and trust in God.  Life is hard\nwork--any life at least which is worth being called life, which is not\nthe life of a swine, who thinks of nothing but feeding himself, or of a\nbutterfly which thinks of nothing but enjoying itself.  Those are easy\nlives enough:  but the end thereof is death.  The swine goes to the\nslaughter.  The butterfly dies of the frost--and there is an end of them.\nBut the manly life, the life of good deeds and noble thoughts, and\nusefulness, and purity, the life which is discontented with itself, and\nwhich the better it is, longs the more to be better still; the life which\nwill endure through this world into the world to come, and on and upward\nfor ever and for ever.--That life is not an easy life to live; it is very\noften not a pleasant life; very often a sad life--so sad that that is\ntrue of it which the great poet says--\n\n\n\"Who ne'er his bread in sorrow ate,\nWho never in the midnight hours\nSat weeping on his lonely bed,\nHe knows you not, you Heavenly Powers.\"\n\n\nYou may say this is bad news.  I do not believe it is.  I believe it is\ngood news, and the very best of news:  but if it is bad news, I cannot\nhelp it.  I did not make it so.  God made it so.  And God must know best.\nGod is love.  And we are His children, and He loves us.  And therefore\nHis ways with us must be good and loving ways, and any news about them\nmust be good news, and a gospel, though we cannot see it so at first.\n\nIn any case, if it is so, it is better to remember that it is so.  And\nLent, and Passion Week, and Good Friday are meant to put us in mind of it\nyear by year, because we are all of us only too ready to forget it, and\nshut our eyes to it.  Lent and Passion Week, I say, are meant to put us\nin mind.  And the preacher is bound to put you in mind of it now and\nthen.  He is bound, not too often perhaps, lest he should discourage\nyoung hearts, but now and then, to put you in mind of the old Greek\nproverb, the very words of which St. Paul uses in the text, that ta\npa??\u00e6ata \u00e6a??\u00e6ata--sorrows are lessons; and that the most truly pitiable\npeople often are those who have no sorrows, and ask for no man's pity.\n\nFor so it is.  The very worst calamity, I should say, which could befall\nany human being would be this--To have his own way from his cradle to his\ngrave; to have everything he liked for the asking, or even for the\nbuying; never to be forced to say, \"I should like that:  but I cannot\nafford it.  I should like this:  but I must not do it\"--Never to deny\nhimself, never to exert himself, never to work, and never to want.  That\nman's soul would be in as great danger as if he were committing great\ncrimes.  Indeed, he would very probably before he died commit great\ncrimes--like certain negroes whom I have seen abroad, who live a life of\nsuch lazy comfort and safety, and superabundance of food, that they are\nbeginning more and more to live the life of animals rather than men.\nThey are like those of whom the Psalmist says, \"Their eyes swell out with\nfatness, and they do even what they lust.\"  So do they, and indulge in\ngross vices, which, if not checked in some way, will end in destroying\nthem off the face of the earth in a few generations more.  I had rather,\nfor the sake of my character, my manhood, my immortal soul, I had rather,\nI say, a hundred times over, be an English labourer, struggling on on\ntwelve shillings a week, and learning obedience, self-denial, self-\nrespect, and trust in God, by the things suffered in that hard life here\nat home, than be a Negro in Tropic islands, fattening himself in sloth\nunder that perpetual sunshine, and thinking nought of God, because, poor\nfool, he can get all he wants without God's help.\n\nNo, my dear young friends, this is good for a man.  It is necessary for a\nman, if he is to be a man and a child of God, and not a mere animal, to\nhave to work hard whether he likes or not.  It is good for a man to bear\nthe yoke in his youth, as Jeremiah told the Jews, when, because they\nwould not bear God's light yoke in their youth, but ran riot into luxury\nand wantonness, and superstition and idolatry which come thereof, they\nhad to bear the heavy yoke of the Babylonish captivity in their old age.\nIt is good for a man to be checked, crossed, disappointed, made to feel\nhis own ignorance, weakness, folly; made to feel his need of God; to feel\nthat, in spite of all his cunning and self-confidence, he is no better\noff in this world than a lost child in a dark forest, unless he has a\nFather in Heaven, who loves him with an eternal love, and a Holy Spirit\nin Heaven, who will give him a right judgment in all things; who will put\ninto his mind good desires, and enable him to bring those desires to good\neffect; and a Saviour in Heaven who can be touched with the feeling of\nhis infirmities, because He too was made perfect by sufferings; He too\nwas tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.\n\nAnd, therefore, my dear friends, those words which we read in the\nVisitation of the Sick about this matter are not mere kind words, meant\nto give comfort for the moment.  They are truth and fact and sound\nphilosophy.  They are as true for the young lad in health and spirits as\nfor the old folk crawling towards their graves.  It is true, and you will\nfind it true, that sickness and all sorts of troubles, are sent to\ncorrect and amend in us whatever doth offend the eyes of our Heavenly\nFather.  It is true, and you will find it true, that whom the Lord loveth\nHe chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.  It is true,\nand you will find it true (though God knows it is a difficult lesson\nenough to learn), that there should be no greater comfort to Christian\npersons, than to be made like Christ, by suffering patiently not only the\nhard work of every-day life, but adversities, troubles, and sicknesses,\nand our Heavenly Father's correction, whensoever, by any manner of\nadversity, it shall please His gracious goodness to visit them.  For\nChrist Himself went not up to joy, but first He suffered pain; He entered\nnot into His glory, before He was crucified.\n\nSo truly our way to eternal joy is to labour and to suffer here with\nChrist.  It is true, and you will find it true, when years hence you look\nback, as I trust you all will, calmly and intelligently, on the events of\nyour own lives--you will find, I say, that the very events in your lives\nwhich seemed at the time most trying, most vexing, most disastrous, have\nbeen those which wore most necessary for you, to call out what was good\nin you, and to purge out what was bad; that by those very troubles your\nLord, who knows the value of suffering, because He has suffered Himself,\nwas making true men, true women of you; hardening your heads, while He\nsoftened your hearts; teaching you to obey Him, while He taught you not\nto obey your own fancies and your own passions; refining and tempering\nyour characters in the furnace of trial, as the smith refines soft iron\ninto trusty steel; teaching you, as the great poet says--\n\n\n   \"That life is not as idle ore,\nBut heated hot with burning fears,\nAnd bathed in baths of hissing tears,\n   And battered with the strokes of doom,\n   To shape and use.\"\n\n\nYes, you will learn that, and more than that, and say in peace--\"Before I\nwas troubled I went wrong, but now have I kept thy commandments.\"  And to\nsuch an old age may our Lord Jesus Christ bring you and me and all we\nlove.  Amen.\n\n\n\nSERMON XLI.  SACRIFICE TO CAESAR OR TO GOD\n\n\n\nEversley, 1869.  Chester Cathedral, 1872.\n\nMatthew xxii. 21.  \"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are\nCaesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.\"\n\nMany a sermon has been preached, and many a pamphlet written, on this\ntext, and (as too often has happened to Holy Scripture), it has been made\nto mean the most opposite doctrines, and twisted in every direction, to\nsuit men's opinions and superstitions.  Some have found in it a command\nto obey tyrants, invaders, any and every government, just or unjust.\nOthers have found in it rules for drawing a line between the authority of\nthe State and of the Church, i.e., between what the Government have a\nright to command, and what the Clergy have a right to demand; and many\nmore matters have they fancied that they discovered in the text which I\ndo not believe are in it at all.\n\nFor to understand the original question--Is it lawful to pay tribute to\nCaesar or no? we must imagine to ourselves a state of things in Judea\nutterly different, thank God, from anything which has been in these\nrealms for now eight hundred years.  The Caesar, or Emperor of Rome, had\nobtained by conquest an authority over the Jews very like that which we\nhave over the Hindoos in India.  And what was working in the mind of the\nJews was very like that which was working in the minds of the Hindoos in\nthe Sepoy Rebellion--whether it was not a sacred and religious duty to\nrise against their conquerors and drive them out.  We know from the New\nTestament that both our Lord and His apostles again and again warned them\nnot to rebel, warned them that they would not succeed:  but ruin\nthemselves thereby; for that those who took the sword would perish by the\nsword.  And we know, too, that the Jews would not take our Lord's advice,\nnor the apostles', but did rise again and again, both in Judea and\nelsewhere, gallantly and desperately enough, poor creatures, in mad\nuseless rebellion, till the Romans all but destroyed them off the face of\nthe earth.  But what has that to do with us, free self-governed\nEnglishmen, in this peaceful and prosperous land?  In the early middle\nage, when the clergy represented and defended Roman pure Christianity and\ncivilization against the half-heathen and half-barbaric Teutons who had\nconquered the Roman Empire, then doubtless the text became once more full\nof meaning, and the clergy had again and again to defend the things which\nbelonged to God against the rapacity or the wilfulness of many a barbaric\nCaesar.  But what has that, again, to do with us?  Those who apply the\ntext to any questions which can at present arise between the Church and\nthe State, mistake alike, it seems to me, the nature and functions of an\nEstablished Church, and the nature and functions of a free Government.\n\nDo I mean, then, that the text has nothing to do with us?  God forbid!  I\nbelieve that every word of our Lord's has to do with us, and with every\nhuman being, for their meaning is infinite, eternal, and inexhaustible.\nAnd what the latter half of the text has to do with us, I will try to\nshow you, while I tell you openly, that the first half of it, about\nrendering to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, has nothing to do with\nus, and never need, save through our own cowardice and effeminacy, or\nfolly.\n\nWe have no Caesar over us in free England, and shall not have, while\nQueen Victoria, and her children after her reign; but if ever one, or\nmany (which God forbid!), should arise and try to set themselves up as\ndespots over us, I trust we shall know how to render them their due, be\nthey native or foreigner, in the same coin in which our forefathers have\nalways paid tyrants and invaders.  No.  The only Caesar which we have to\nfear--and he is a tyrant who seems ready, nowadays, to oppose and exalt\nhimself above all that is called God, or is worshipped,--patronizing, of\ncourse, Religion, as a harmless sanction for order and respectability,\nbut dictating morality, while telling us all day long, with a thousand\nvoices and a thousand pens--\"Right is not the eternal law of God.\nWhatever profits me, whatever I like, whatever I vote--that and that\nalone is right, and you must do it at your peril.\"  Do you know who that\nCaesar is, my friends?  He is called Public Opinion--the huge anonymous\nidol which we ourselves help to make, and then tremble before the\ncreation of our own cowardice; whereas, if we will but face him, in the\nfear of God and the faith of Christ, determined to say the thing which is\ntrue, and do the thing which is right, we shall find the modern Caesar\nbut a phantom of our own imagination; a tyrant, indeed, as long as he is\nfeared, but a coward as soon as he is defied.\n\nTo that Caesar let us never bow the knee.  Render to him all that he\ndeserves--the homage of common courtesy, common respectability, common\ncharity--not in reverence for his wisdom and strength, but in pity for\nhis ignorance and weakness.  But render always to God the things which\nare God's.  That duty, my good friends, lies on us, as on all mankind\nstill, from our cradle to our grave, and after that through all eternity.\nLet us go back, or rather, let us go home to the eternal laws of God,\nwhich were, ages before we were born, and will be, ages after we are\ndead--to the everlasting Rock on which we all stand, which is the will\nand mind of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, to whom all power is\ngiven (as He said Himself) in heaven and on earth.  And we have need to\ndo so, for in such times of change as these are, there will always be too\nmany who fancy that changes in society and government change their duty\nabout religion, and are, some of them, sorely puzzled as to their duty to\nGod:  and others ready to take advantage of the change to throw off their\nduty to God, and run into licence and schism and fanaticism.\n\nNow let all people clearly understand, and settle it in their hearts,\nthat no change in Church or in State can change in the least their duty\nto God and to man.  If the world were turned upside down, God would still\nbe where He is, and we where we are--in His presence.  Right would still\nbe right, my friends, and wrong wrong, though all the loud voices in the\nworld shouted that wrong is right and right wrong.  No change of time,\nplace, society, government, circumstance of any kind, can alter our duty\nto God, and our power of doing that duty.  Whatever the Caesar of the\nhour may require us to render to him, what we are bound to render to God\nremains the same.  The two things are different IN KIND, so different,\nthat they never need interfere with each other.\n\nEven if, which God forbid, the connection between Church and State were\ndissolved; even if, which God forbid, the Church of England were\ndestroyed for a while--if all Churches were destroyed--yea, if not a\nplace of worship were left for a while in this or any other land; yet\neven then, I say, we could still render to God the things which are\nGod's, and offer to Him spiritual sacrifices, more pleasing to Him than\nthe most gorgeous ceremonies which the devotion, and art, and wealth of\nman ever devised--sacrifices, by virtue of which the Church would arise\nout of her ruins, like the Jewish Church after the captivity, more pure,\nmore glorious, and more triumphant than ever.\n\nWhat do I mean?  I mean this--that there are three sacrifices which every\nman, woman, and child can offer, and should offer, however lowly, however\nuneducated in what the world calls education nowadays.  Those they can\noffer to God, and with them they can worship God, and render to God the\nthings which are God's, wherever they are, whatever they are doing,\nwhatever be the laws of their country, or the state of society round\nthem.  For of these sacrifices our Lord Himself said, The true\nworshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:  for the\nFather seeketh such to worship Him.\n\nNow what are these spiritual sacrifices?\n\nFirst and foremost, surely, the sacrifice of repentance, of which it is\nwritten, \"The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.  A broken and a\ncontrite heart, oh God, Thou wilt not despise.\"  Surely when we--even the\nbest of us--look back on our past lives; when we recollect, if not great\nand positive sins and crimes, yet the opportunities which we have\nneglected; the time, and often the money which we have wasted; the\nmeannesses, the tempers, the spite, the vanity, the selfishness, which we\nhave too often indulged--When we think of what we have been, and what we\nmight have been, what we are, and what we might be; when we measure\nourselves, not by the paltry, low, and often impure standard of the world\naround us, but by the pure, lofty, truly heroical standard of our Lord\nJesus Christ--what can we say, but that we are miserable--that is,\npitiful and pitiable sinners, who have left undone what we ought to have\ndone, and done that which we ought not to have done, till there is no\nhealth in us?\n\nAnd if you ask me, How is it a sacrifice to God to confess to Him that we\nare sinners? the answer is simple.  It is a sacrifice to God, and a\nsacrifice well-pleasing to Him, simply because it is The Truth.  God\nwants nothing from us; we can give Him nothing.  The wild beasts of the\nforest are His, and so are the cattle on a thousand hills.  If He be\nhungry He will not tell us for the whole world is His and all that is\ntherein.  But what He asks is, that for our own sakes we should see the\ntruth about ourselves, see what we really are, and sacrifice that self-\nconceit which prevents our seeing ourselves as God our Father sees us.\nAnd why does that please God?  Simply because it puts us in our right\nstate, and in our right place, where we can begin to become better men,\nlet us be as bad as we may.  If a man be a fool, the best possible thing\nfor him is that he should find out that he is a fool, and confess that he\nis a fool, as the first, and the absolutely necessary first step to\nbecoming wise.  Therefore repentance, contrition, humility, is the very\nfoundation-stone of all goodness, virtue, holiness, usefulness; and God\ndesires to see us contrite, simply because He desires to see us good men\nand good women.\n\nNext, the sacrifice of thankfulness, of which it is written, \"I will\noffer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name\nof the Lord.\"  And again--By Christ let us offer the sacrifice of praise\ncontinually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks unto His name.\nAh! my friends, if we offered that sacrifice oftener, we should have more\nseldom need to offer the first sacrifice of repentance.  I am astonished\nwhen I look at my own heart, by which alone I can judge the hearts of\nothers, to see how unthankful one is.  How one takes as a matter of\ncourse, without one aspiration of gratitude to our Father in heaven--how\none takes, as a matter of course, I say, life, health, reason, freedom,\neducation, comfort, safety, and all the blessings of humanity, and of\nthis favoured land.  How we never really feel that these are all God's\nundeserved and unearned mercies; and then, how, if we set our hearts on\nanything which we have not got, forget all that we have already, and\nbegin entreating God to give us something which, if we had, we know not\nwhether it would be good for us; like children crying peevishly for\nsweets, after their parents have given them all the wholesome food they\nneed.  Ah! that we would offer to God more frankly the sacrifice of\nthanksgiving!  So we should do God justice, by confessing all we owe to\nHim; and so, we must believe, we should please God; for if God be indeed\nour Father in heaven, as surely as a parent is pleased with the affection\nand gratitude of his child, so will our Father in heaven be pleased when\nHe sees us love Him, who first loved us.\n\nNext--the sacrifice of righteousness, of which it is written, \"Present\nyour bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your\nreasonable service.\"  To be good and to do good, even to long to be good\nand to long to do good, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, is the\nbest and highest sacrifice which any human being can offer to his Father\nin heaven.  For so he honours his father most truly; for he longs and\nstrives to be like that Father; to be good as God is good, holy as God is\nholy, beneficent and useful even as God is infinitely beneficent and\nuseful; being, in one word, perfect, as his Father in heaven is perfect.\nThis is the best and highest act of worship, the truest devotion.  For\npure worship (says St James), and undefiled before God and the Father, is\nthis, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep\nourselves unspotted from the world.\n\nYes--every time we perform an act of kindness to any human being, aye,\neven to a dumb animal; every time we conquer our own worldliness, love of\npleasure, ease, praise, ambition, money, for the sake of doing what our\nconscience tells us to be our duty, we are indeed worshipping God the\nFather in spirit and in truth, and offering him a sacrifice which He will\nsurely accept, for the sake of His beloved Son, by whose spirit all good\ndeeds and thoughts are inspired.\n\nThink of these things, my friends, always, but, above all, think of them\nas often as you come--as would to God all would come--to the altar of the\nLord, and the Holy Communion of His body and blood.  For there, indeed,\nyou render to God that which is God's--namely, yourselves; there you\noffer to God the true sacrifice, which is the sacrifice of yourselves--\nthe sacrifice of repentance, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the sacrifice\nof righteousness, or at least of hunger and thirst after righteousness;\nand there you receive in return your share of God's sacrifice, the\nsacrifice which you did not make for Him, but which He made for you, when\nHe spared not His only-begotten Son but freely gave Him for us.\n\nThat is the sacrifice of all sacrifices, the wonder of all wonders, the\nmystery of all mysteries; and it is also the righteousness of all\nrighteousness, the generosity of all generosity, the nobleness of all\nnobleness, the beauty of all beauty, the love of all love.  Thinking of\nthat, beholding in that bread and wine the tokens of the boundless love\nof God, then surely, surely, our repentance for past follies, our\nthankfulness for present blessings, our longing to be good, pure, useful,\nhumane, generous, high-minded--in one word, to be holy--ought to rise up\nin us, into a passion, as it were, of noble shame at our own selfishness,\nand admiration of God's unselfishness, a longing to follow His divine\nexample, and to live, not for ourselves, but for our fellow-men.  If we\ncould but once understand the full meaning of those awful yet glorious\nwords, \"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,\nhow shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?\" then, indeed,\nwe should understand that the one overpowering reason for being unselfish\nand doing good is this--that we are God's children, and that God our\nFather is utterly unselfish, and utterly does good, even at the sacrifice\nof Himself; and that therefore when we are unselfish, and do good, even\nat the sacrifice of ourselves, we do indeed, in spirit and in truth,\n\"render unto God the things that are God's.\"\n\n\n\nSERMON XLII.  THE UNJUST STEWARD\n\n\n\nEversley, 1866.  NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.\n\nLuke xvi. 8.  \"And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had\ndone wisely.\"\n\nNone of our Lord's parables has been as difficult to explain as this one.\nLearned and pious men have confessed freely, in all ages, that there is\nmuch in the parable which they cannot understand; and I am bound to\nconfess the same.  The puzzle is, plainly, why our Lord should SEEM to\nbid us to copy the conduct of a bad man and a cheat.  For this is the\nusual interpretation.  The steward has been cheating his master already.\nWhen he is found out and about to be dismissed, he cheats his master\nstill further, by telling his debtors to cheat, and so wins favour with\nthem.\n\nBut does our Lord bid us copy a cheat?  I cannot believe that; and the\ntext I should have said ought to give us a very different notion.  We\nread that the lord--that is, the steward's master--commended the unjust\nsteward.  What?  Commended him for cheating him a second time, and\nteaching his debtors to cheat him?  He must have been a man of a strange\ncharacter--very unlike any man whom we know, or, at all events, any man\nwhom we should wish to know--to have done that.  But it is said--he\ncommended him for having acted wisely.  Now that word \"wisely\" may merely\nmean prudently, sensibly, and with common sense.  But if the master\nthought that to cheat, or to teach others to cheat, was acting either\nwisely or prudently, then he was a very foolish and short-sighted man,\nand altogether mistaken.  For be sure and certain, and settle it in your\nminds, that neither falsehood or dishonesty is ever either wise or\nprudent, but short-sighted, foolish, certain to punish itself.  Such\nteaching is totally contrary to our Lord's own teaching.  Agree with\nthine adversary quickly, He says, while thou art in the way with him,\nlest he deliver thee to the Judge.  If thou hast done wrong, right it\nagain as soon as possible; for your sin will surely find you out, and\navenge itself.  Give the devil his due, says the good old proverb.  Pay\nhim at once and be done with him:  but never think to escape out of his\nclutches, as too many wretched and foolish sinners do, by running up a\nfresh score with him, and trying to hide old sins by new ones.  Be sure\nthat if the steward cheated his master a second time, the master was\nfoolish and mistaken, and as it were a partner in the steward's sin by\ncommending him.  But if so; why does our Lord mention it?  What had our\nLord to do, what have we to do, with the opinion of so foolish a man?\n\nIt seems to me that the only reason for our Lord's using the words of the\ntext, must be, that the master was right, not wrong, in commending the\nsteward.  But it seems to me, also, that the master could be right only,\nif the steward was right also--if the steward had done the right and just\nthing at last, and, instead of cheating his master a second time, had\ndone his best to make restitution for his own sins.\n\nBut how could that be?  We know nothing of what these debtors were.  All\nwe know is that one believed that he owed the Lord a hundred measures of\noil; and another believed that he owed him a hundred measures of wheat;\nand that the steward told one to put down in his bill eighty, and the\nother fifty.  Now suppose that the steward had been cheating and\noppressing these men, as was common enough in those days with stewards,\nand has been common enough since; suppose that he had been charging them\nmore than they really owed, and, it may be, putting the surplus into his\nown pocket, and so wasting his master's goods--that the one really owed\nonly eighty measures of oil, and the other really owed only fifty of\nwheat; what could be more simple, or more truly wise either, when he was\nfound out, than to do this--to go round to the debtors and confess:  I\nhave been overcharging you; you do not owe what I have demanded of you;\ntake your bill and write four-score, for that is what you really owe?\n\nThis is but a guess on my part.  But all other explanations are only\nguesses likewise, because we do not know how business was transacted in\nthose days and in that country.  We do not know whether these debtors\nwere tenants, paying rent in kind, or traders to whom goods had been\nadvanced, or what they were.  We do not know whether the steward was\nagent of the estate, or house steward, or what he was.  But this we do\nknow--that to mend one act of villainy by committing a fresh one, is not\nwisdom, but foolishness; and we may be sure that our Lord would never\nhave held up the unjust steward as an example to us, or quoted his\nmaster's opinion of him, if all he did was to commit fraud on fraud, and\nmake bad worse, thereby risking his own more utter ruin.  And this view\nof the parable surely agrees with our Lord's own lesson, which He draws\nfrom it.  \"And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon\nof righteousness.\"  But what does that mean?  Wise men have been puzzled\nby that text as much as by the parable; but surely our Lord Himself\nexplains it in the verses which follow:  \"He that is faithful in that\nwhich is least, is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in that\nwhich is least, is unjust also in much.\"  He that is FAITHFUL.  The\nunjust steward was commended for acting wisely.  Now, it seems the way to\nact wisely is to act faithfully--that is honestly.  Our Lord bids us copy\nthe unjust steward, and make ourselves friends of the mammon of\nunrighteousness.  Now, it seems, He tells us that the way to make friends\nof men by money transactions is to deal faithfully and honestly by them.\nThis then was perhaps why the Lord commended the unjust steward, because\nhe had been converted in time, and seen his true interest; and for once\nat least in his life become just.  He had found out that after all,\nhonesty is the best policy; as God grant all of us may find out if any of\nus have not found it out already.  Honesty is the best policy.\nFaithfulness, as our Lord calls it, is the true wisdom.  And in that, as\nour Lord says, the children of this world are wiser in their generation\nthan the children of light.  The children of this world, the plain\nworldly men of business, find that to conduct their business they must be\nfaithful, diligent, punctual, accurate, cautious, business-like.  They\nmust have practical common sense, which is itself a kind of honesty.\nThey must be men of their word, just and true in their dealings, or\nsooner or later, they will fail.  Their schemes, their money, their\ncredit, their character, will fail them, and they will be overwhelmed by\nruin.\n\nAnd that is just what too often the children of light forget.  The\nchildren of light have a higher light, a deeper teaching from God, than\nthe children of the world.  They have a great insight into what ought to\nbe; they see that mankind might be far wiser, happier, better, holier\nthan they are; they have noble and lofty hopes for the future; they\ndesire the welfare and the holiness of mankind.  But they are too apt to\nwant practical common sense.  And so they are laughed at (and deservedly)\nas dreamers, as fanatics, as foolish unpractical people, who are wasting\ntheir talents on impossible fancies.  Often while their minds are full of\nreally useful and noble schemes, they neglect their business, their\nfamilies, their common duties, till they cause misery to those around\nthem, and shame to themselves.  Often, too, they are tempted to be\nactually dishonest, to fancy that the means sanctify the end; that it is\nlawful to do evil that good may come; and so, in order to carry out some\nfine scheme of theirs, to say false things, or do mean or cruel things,\nnot for their own interest, but, as they fancy, for the cause of God:  as\nif God, and God's cause, could ever be helped by the devil and his works.\nAnd so they cast a scandal on religion, and give the enemies of the Lord\nreason to blaspheme.  So it was, it seems, in our Lord's time--so it has\nbeen too often since.  The children of light--those who ought to be of\nmost use to their own generation--are sometimes of least use to it,\nthrough their own weaknesses and follies.  They will not remember that he\nthat is not faithful in that which is least, in the every-day concerns of\nlife, is not likely to be faithful in that which is greatest; that if\nthey will not be faithful in the unrighteous mammon--that is, if they\ncannot resist the temptations to meanness and unfairness which come with\nall money transactions, God will not commit to them the true riches--the\npower of making their fellow creatures wiser, happier, better.  If they\nwill not be faithful in that which is another man's--in plain English, if\nthey will not pay their debts honestly, who will give them that which is\ntheir own--the inspiration of God's indwelling Spirit?  Would to God all\nhigh religious professors would recollect that, and be just and honest,\nbefore they pretend to higher graces and counsels of perfection.\n\nThis lesson, then, I think our Lord means to teach us.  I do not say it\nis the only lesson in the parable; God forbid.  But I think that our\nLord's own words show us that this IS one lesson.  That, however pious we\nare, however enlightened we are, however useful we wish to be; in one\nword, however much we are, or fancy ourselves to be, children of light,\nour first duty as Christian men is the duty which lies nearest us--that\nof which it is written:  \"If a man know not how to rule his own house,\nhow shall he take care of the Church of God?\"  And again, \"If any provide\nnot for his own and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied\nthe faith, and is worse than an infidel.\"  Our first duty, I say, as\nChristian men, is to be just and honest in money matters and every-day\nbusiness; and over and above that, to be generous and liberal therein.\nNot merely to pay--which the very publicans in our Lord's time did--but\nto give, generously, liberally; lending, if we can afford it, as our Lord\nbids us, hoping for nothing again; and remembering that he who giveth to\nthe poor lendeth to the Lord, and whatsoever he layeth out, it shall be\nrepaid him again.\n\nYes, my friends, we must all needs take our Lord's advice--make to\nyourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail,\nthey may receive you into everlasting habitations.  WHEN YE FAIL--\nliterally, when you are eclipsed, as the sun is eclipsed.  That must\nhappen to all of us, to the best, the wisest, the most famous.  Each must\nbe eclipsed, and passed in the race of life, and forgotten for some\nyounger man.  Each in turn must fail.  One may fail in money--the mammon\nfor which he toiled may take to itself wings and fly away; or he may fail\nin his plans, noble plans, and useful though they seemed; and he may\nfind, as he grows old, that the world has not gone HIS way, but quite\nanother one; or he may fail in health, and be cut down and crippled, and\nlaid by in the midst of his work.  And even if he escapes all these\ndisasters, he must needs fail at last, by mere old age, when the days\ncome \"when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;\" when the sun and\nthe light are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain, when the\nstrong men bow themselves, and those who look out of the windows are\ndark; and he shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and fears shall be in\nthe way, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail:\nbecause man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the\nstreets.  Think for yourselves.  What would you wish your end to be--\nlonely, unhappy, without the love, the respect, the care of your fellow-\nmen; or surrounded by friends who comfort your failing body and soul on\nearth, and receive you at last into everlasting habitations?\n\nMake friends, make friends against that day, whether or not you make them\nout of the mammon of unrighteousness.  If you have been unrighteous,\nbring friends back to you, as the steward did, by being just and fair, by\nconfessing your faults freely, by doing your best to atone for them.  And\nif you have no share in the mammon of unrighteousness, still make\nfriends.  Make them by truth and justice, make them by generosity and\nusefulness.  To ease every burden, and let the oppressed go free, to feed\nthe hungry, clothe the naked, and what the very poorest can do--comfort\nthe mourner; to nurse the sick, to visit the fatherless and widows in\ntheir affliction, and so keep ourselves unspotted from the selfishness of\nthe world--This is that true Religion, acceptable in the sight of God the\nFather--and happy he who has so served God.  Happy for him, when he\nbegins to fail, to see round him attached hearts, and grateful faces,\nhands ready to tend him, as he has tended others.  And happier still to\nremember that on the other side of the dark river of death are other\ngrateful faces, other loving hearts, ready to welcome him into\neverlasting habitations--and among them, and above them all, one whose\nform is as the Son of Man, full of all humanity Himself, and loving and\nrewarding all humanity in His creatures, saying, \"Inasmuch as ye did it\nto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.\"\n\n\n\nSERMON XLIII.  THE RICH AND THE POOR\n\n\n\nChapel Royal, Whitehall, 1871.\n\nProverbs xxii. 2.  \"The rich and poor meet together:  the Lord is the\nmaker of them all.\"\n\nI have been asked to preach here this afternoon on behalf of the\nParochial Mission Women's Fund.  I may best describe the object for which\nI plead, as an attempt to civilise and Christianise the women of the\nlower classes in the poorer districts of London and other great towns, by\nmeans of women of their own class--women, who have gone through the same\nstruggles as they have, and who will be trusted by them to understand and\nto sympathize with their needs and difficulties.  These mission women are\nin communication with lady-superintendents in each ecclesiastical\ndistrict.  These are, I understand, usually the wives of small tradesmen,\nor of clerks.  They, again, are in communication with ladies at the West\nEnd of London, who are willing to give personal help and money for\ncertain objects, but not indiscriminate alms.  And thus a series of links\nis established between the most prosperous and the least prosperous\nclasses, by means of which the rich and the poor may meet together, and\nlearn--to the infinite benefit of both--that the Lord is the maker of\nthem all.  Considering this excellent scheme, I could not help seeing as\na background to it, a very different and a far darker scene.  I could not\nhelp remembering that during these very days, the poorer classes of\nanother great city had taken up an attitude full of awful lessons to us,\nand to every civilized country upon earth.  We have been reading of a\nhundred thousand armed men encamped in the suburbs of Belleville and\nMontmartre, with cannon and mitrailleuses, uttering through their organs,\nthreats which leave no doubt that the meaning of this movement is--as\nsome of them boldly phrase it,--a war of the poor against the rich.\nThere is no mistaking what that means.  This madness has been stopped for\nthe time, we are told, principally (as was to be expected), by the\nsuperior common sense of their wives.  But only, I fear, for a time.\nSuch men will go far, if not this time, then some other time.  For they\nbelieve what they say, and know what they want.  They have done with\nphrases, done with illusions.  They are no longer deceived and hampered\nby party cries against this and that grievance, real or imaginary, the\nabolition of which the working classes demand so eagerly from time to\ntime, in the vain belief that if it were only got rid of the millennium\nwould be at hand.  They have done long ago with remedial half-measures.\nLanded aristocracy, Established Church, military classes, privileged\nclasses, restricted suffrage, and all the rest, have been abolished in\ntheir country for two generations and more:  but behold, the poor man\nfinds himself (or fancies himself, which is just as dangerous) no richer,\nsafer, happier after all, and begins to see a far simpler remedy for all\nhis ills.  He has too little of this world's goods, while others have too\nmuch.  What more fair, more simple, than that he should take some of the\nrich man's goods, and if he resists, kill him, crying, \"Thou sayest, let\nme eat and drink, for to-morrow I die.  Then I too will eat and drink,\nfor to-morrow _I_ die?\"  And so will the rich and poor meet together with\na vengeance, simply because neither of them has learnt that the Lord is\nthe maker of them all.\n\nThis is a hideous conclusion.  But it is one towards which the poor will\ntend in every country in which the rich are merely rich, spending their\nwealth in self-enjoyment, atoned for by a modicum of alms.\n\nI said a modicum of alms.  I ought to have said, any amount of alms, any\namount of charity.  Throughout the great cities of Europe--in London as\nmuch as anywhere--hundreds of thousands are saying, \"We want no alms.  We\nintend to reconstitute society, even at the expense of blood, so that no\nman, woman, or child, shall need the rich man's alms.  We do not choose,\nfor it is not just, that he should take credit to himself for giving us a\nshilling when he owes us a pound, ten, a hundred pounds--owes us, in\nfact, all by which he and his class are richer than us and our class.\nAnd we will make him pay his debt.\"\n\nI do not say that such words are wise.  I believe them to be foolish--\nsuicidal.  I believe that it is those who patiently wait on the Lord, and\nnot the discontented who fret themselves till they do evil, who will\ninherit the land, and be refreshed in peace.  I believe that all those\nwho take the sword will perish by the sword; that those who appeal to\nbrute force will always find it--just because it is brute force--always\nstrongest on the side of the rich, who can hire it for evil, as for good.\n\nI only say, that so hundreds of thousands think; so they speak, and will\nspeak more and more loudly, as long as the present tone of society\nendures,--good-natured and well meaning, but luxurious, covetous,\nignoble, frivolous, ignorant; believing--all classes alike, not only that\nmoney makes the man, but worse far--that money makes the woman also; and\nall the while half-ashamed of itself, half-distrustful of itself, and\ntrying to buy off man by alms, and God by superstition.\n\nSo long as the great mass of the poor of any city know nothing of the\ngreat mass of the rich of that city, save as folk who roll past them in\ntheir carriages, seemingly easy while they are struggling, seemingly\nhappy while they are wretched, so long will the rich of that city be\nsupposed, however falsely, to be what the French workmen used to call\nmangeurs d'hommes--exploiteurs d'hommes--to get their wealth by means of\nthe poverty, their comfort by means of the misery of their fellow-men;\nand so long will they be exposed to that mere envy and hatred which\npursues always the more prosperous, till, in some national crisis, when\nthe rich and poor meet together, both parties will be but too apt to\nbehave, through mutual fear and hate, as if not God, but the devil, was\nthe maker of them all.\n\nThese words are strong.  How can they be too strong, in face of what is\nnow passing in a neighbouring land?  Not too strong, either, in view of\nthe actual state of vast masses of the poor in London itself, and indeed\nof any one of our great cities.\n\nThat matter has been reported on, preached on, spoken on, till all other\ncivilized countries reproach Britain with the unique contrast between the\nexceeding wealth of some classes and the exceeding poverty of others;\ntill we, instead of being startled by the reproach, take the present\nstate of things as a matter of course, a physical necessity, a law of\nnature and society, that there should be, in the back streets of every\ngreat city, hordes of, must I say, savages? neither decently civilized\nnor decently Christianized, uncertain, most of them, of regular\nlivelihood, and therefore shiftless and reckless, extravagant in\nprosperity, and in adversity falling at once into want and pauperism.\nYou may ask any clergyman, any minister of religion of any denomination,\nwhether the thing is not so.  Or if you want to read the latest news\nabout the degradation of your fellow-subjects, read a little book called\n\"East and West,\" and judge for yourselves, whether such a population,\nnumbered by hundreds of thousands, are in a state pleasing to God, or\nsafe for those classes of whom they only know that they pay them wages,\nand that these wages are as small as they can be forced to take.  Read\nthat book; and then ask yourselves, is it wonderful that, in one\ndistrict, before the mission of the society for which I plead was\nestablished, the poor used seriously to believe that it was the wish and\nendeavour of the rich to grind them down, and keep them poor.  We, of\ncourse, know that the poor folk were mistaken but do we not know, too--\nsome of us--that there are political economists in the world, who, though\nthey would not willingly make the poor poorer than they are, are still of\nopinion that it is good for the nation, on the whole, that the present\nstate of things should continue; that there should be always a reserve of\nlabour, in plain English, a vast multitude who have not quite work enough\nto live on, ready to be called on in any emergency of business, and used,\nto beat down, by their competition, the wages of their fellow-workmen?\nIs this theory altogether novel and unheard of?  Or this theory also,\nthat for this very reason, Emigration, which looks the very simplest\nremedy for most of this want,--while nine-tenths of the bounteous earth\nis waiting to be subdued and replenished by the poor wretches who cannot\nget at it--that Emigration, I say, is an unnecessary movement--that the\npeople are all wanted at home--to be such as the parson and the mission\nwomen find them?\n\nAnd it may be that the poor folk have heard--for a bird of the air may\ncarry the matter in these days of a free press--that some rich folk, at\nleast, hold this opinion, and translate it freely out of the delicate\nlanguage of political economy, into the more vigorous dialect used in the\nfever alleys and smallpox courts in which the poor are left to wait for\nwork.  But if there be any rich persons in this congregation who hold\nthese peculiar economic doctrines, let me recommend to them, more than to\nany other persons present, that they would support a society which\nalleviates the hard pressure of their system; which helps to make it\ntolerable and prudent by teaching the poor to save; by teaching them, in\nLondon alone,--how to save \u009c54,000 in the last eleven years.  Let them\nhelp this society heartily.\n\nThe children of this world are--in their generation--wiser than the\nchildren of light.  But how long their generation will last, depends\nmainly (we are told) on how far they make themselves friends out of the\nmammon of unrighteousness.\n\nBut if, again, there be rich people in this congregation, as I trust\nthere are many and many, who start, indignant, at such an imputation, and\nutterly deny its truth--then,--if it be false, why in the name of God,\nand of humanity, and of common prudence, why do they not go to these\npeople and tell them so?  Why do they not prove that it is not so, by\nshowing a little more human sympathy, not merely for them behind their\nbacks, but sympathy with them face to face?  If they wish to know how\nmuch can be done by only a little active kindness, they have only to read\nthe pages of that painful, and yet pleasant, book--\"East and West,\"--\nwhich I have just quoted; and to read, also, an appendix to it--a Paper\noriginally read at the Church Congress, Manchester, by the present Lord\nChancellor--a document which it would be an impertinence in me to\nrecommend or praise.\n\nBring yourselves then boldly into contact with these classes, and\nespecially into contact with the women--with the wives and mothers.  For\nit is through the women, through them mainly, if not altogether, that\ncivilization and religion can be introduced among any degraded class.  It\nwas so in the Middle Age.  The legends which tell us how woman was then\nthe civilizer, the softener, the purifier, the perpetual witness to\nfierce and coarse men, that there were nobler aims in life than pleasure,\nand power, and the gratification of revenge; that not self-assertion, but\nself-sacrifice was the Divine ideal, toward which all must aspire.  These\nold legends are immortal; for they speak of facts and laws which will\nendure as long as there are women upon earth.  Through the woman, the\ncivilizer and the Christianizer must reach the man.  Through the wife, he\nmust reach the husband.  Through the mother, he must reach the children.\nI say he must.  It is easy to complain that the clergy in every age and\ncountry have tried to obtain influence over women.  They have been forced\nto do so, because otherwise they could obtain no influence at all.  And\nif a priesthood should arise hereafter, whose calling was to teach not\nreligion but irreligion, not the good news that there is a good God, and\nthat we can know Him; but the bad news that there is no God, or, if there\nis, we cannot know Him; then would that priesthood find it necessary to\nappeal like all other priesthoods, to the women, and to teach them how to\nteach their children.\n\nBut more.  It is not religion only which must be taught through the wives\nand mothers, but sound science also, and sound economy.  If you intend\n(as I trust some here intend) to teach the labouring classes those laws\nof health and life, on which depend the comfort, the wholesomeness, often\nthe decency and the morality of the poor man's home, then you must teach\nthose laws first to the house-mother, who brings the children into the\nworld, and brings them up, who puts them to bed at night, and prepares\ntheir food by day.  If you wish to teach habits of thrift, and sound\nnotions of economy to the labouring classes, you must teach them first to\nthe housewife, who has to make the weekly earnings cover, if possible,\nthe week's expenses.  If you wish to soften and to purify the man, you\nmust first soften and purify the woman, or at least encourage her not to\nlose what womanliness she has left, amid sights, and sounds, and habits\nwhich tend continually to destroy her womanhood.  You must encourage her,\nI say, to remember always that she is a woman still, and let her teach--\nas none can teach like her--true manfulness to her husband and her sons.\n\nAnd how can you best do that?  Not by giving her shillings, not by\npreaching at her, not by scolding her:  but by behaving to her as what\nshe is--a woman and a sister--and cheering her heavy heart by simple\nhuman kindliness.  What she wants amid all her poverty and toil, her\nchild-bearing and child-rearing, what she wants, I say, to keep her brave\nand strong, is to know by actual sight and speech that she is still not\nan outcast; not alone; that she is still a member of the human family,\nthat her fellow-woman has not forgotten her; and that, therefore, it may\nbe, He that was born of woman has not forgotten her either.  That she\nhas, after all, a God in heaven, who can be touched with the feeling of\nher infirmities, and can help her and those she loves, to struggle\nthrough all their temptations, seeing that He too was tempted in all\nthings like them, yet without sin.\n\nIt is only personal intercourse with them--only the meeting of the rich\nand poor together, in the belief that God is the maker of them all, that\nwill do that.  But it will do it.\n\nOnly personal intercourse will reconcile these people to their condition,\nin as far as they OUGHT to be reconciled to it.  But personal intercourse\nwill reconcile them to it, as far as it ought, but no further.  And I\nthink that the system of personal intercourse attempted by this Society\nis, on the whole, the best yet devised.  It is imperfect, as all attempts\nto make that straight which is crooked, and to number that which is\nwanting--to patch, in a word, a radically vicious system of society,--\nmust be imperfect; but it is the best plan which I have yet seen.  I find\nno fault with other plans, God forbid!  Wisdom is justified of all her\nchildren; and the amount of evil is so great, and (as I believe, so\ndangerous), that I must bid God-speed to any persons who will do\nanything, always saving and excepting indiscriminate almsgiving.\n\nBut it seems to me that the soothing and civilizing, and in due time\nChristianising, effect of personal intercourse cannot begin better than\nthrough a woman, herself of the working class, who has struggled as these\npoor souls have struggled, and conquered, more or less, where they are\nfailing.  That through her they should be brought in contact with women\nof the more comfortable and cultivated class, who are their immediate\nemployers, if not their immediate neighbours; and through them, again,\nbrought in contact with women of that class, of whom I shall only say,\nthat if they were not meant for some such noble work as this--and not for\nmere pleasure and mere display, then for what purpose, in heaven or\nearth, were they made? and why has Providence taken the trouble (as it\nwere) to elaborate, by long ages of civilization, that most exquisite of\nall products of nature and of art--A Lady?\n\nAh! what the ladies of England might do, and that without interfering in\nthe least with their duties as wives and mothers, if they would work\ntogether, as a class!  If they would work as well and humanly while they\nare in towns, as most of them do work while they are in the country; as\nsome of them do, to their honour, in the towns already!  But how many?\nwhat proportion do those who do good bear to those who do nothing?  What\na small amount of humanizing and civilizing intercourse with some women\nof the labouring class is there in the case of the wives of rich men who\ncome up to town, merely for the season, and forget that it is their\ntemporary and uncertain stay in London which causes much of the temporary\nand uncertain employment of the London poor, and their consequent\ntemptation to unthrift and recklessness!  How little humanizing and\ncivilizing intercourse with the poor is carried on by the wives of those\nemployers of labour who surely, surely owe something more to their\nhusband's work people, than to be aware (by hearsay) that they are duly\npaid every Saturday night?\n\nBut I shall be told:  We need not fear--we can justify ourselves before\nGod and man.  I shall be reminded of all that has been done, and done\nwell too, for the poor during the last generation, and bidden not to\ncalumniate my countrymen.  True, much has been done; and done well.  And\ntrue also it is that no effort to make the rich and poor meet together,\nto bring the different classes of society into contact with each other,\nbut has succeeded--has sown good seed--which I trust may bring forth good\nfruit in the day when every tree shall be judged by its fruit.  The\nevents of 1830, startling and warning, and those of 1848, more pregnant,\nif possible, with warning than the former, awakened a spirit of humanity\nin England, which was also a spirit of prudence and of common sense.\n\nBut I cannot conceal from myself, or you, that the earnestness which was\nawakened in those days is dying out in these.  The richer classes of\nevery country are tempted from time to time to fits of laziness--fits of\nfrivolity and luxury, surfeits, in which men say, with a shrug and a\nyawn--\"Why be very much in earnest?  Why take so much trouble?  Somebody\nmust always be rich, why should not I?  Somebody must enjoy the money,\nwhy should not I?  At all events, things will last my time.\"  And that\nsuch a surfeit has fallen upon the rich of this land, is a fact; for that\nthis is the tone of to-day, and that the tone increases, none can deny\nwho knows that which calls itself the WORLD, and calls itself so only too\ntruly; the world of which it is written, that all that is in the world--\nthe lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--\nis not of the Father, but of the world.  And the world passeth away, and\nthe lust thereof.  But he who doeth the will of God, he alone abideth for\never.\n\nGod grant that we, who have just seen the most cunningly organized and\ndaintily bedizened specimen of a world, which ever flaunted on the earth\nsince men began to build their towers of Babel, collapse and crumble at a\nsingle blow, may take God's hint, that the fashion of this world passeth\naway.  Let the idle, the frivolous, the sensual, and those who, like\nFigaro's Marquis, have earned all earthly happiness by only taking the\ntrouble to be born--let them look back on this last awful Christmas-tide,\nand hear, speaking in fact unmistakeable, the voice of the Lord.  Think\nye that they whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices were\nsinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?  I\ntell you, \"Nay:  but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.\"\n\nThere are those who will hear such words with a smile, even with a sneer,\nand say, Such wholesale judgments of God, even granting that there are\nsuch things, are, after all, very rare:  it is very seldom that a whole\nclass, a whole system of society, is punished in mass--and why then need\nwe trouble ourselves about so remote a probability?\n\nThen know this--that as surely as God sometimes punishes wholesale, so\nsurely is He always punishing in detail.  By that infinite concatenation\nof moral causes and effects, which makes the whole world one mass of\nspecial Providences, every sin of ours will punish itself, and probably\npunish itself in kind.  Are we selfish?  We shall call out selfishness in\nothers.  Do we neglect our duty?  Then others will neglect their duty to\nus.  Do we indulge our passions?  Then others, who depend on us, will\nindulge theirs, to our detriment and misery.  Do we squander our money?\nThen our children and our servants will squander our money for us.\n\nDo we?--but what use to go on reminding men of truths which no one\nbelieves, because they are too painful and searching to be believed in\ncomfort?  What use to tell men what they never will confess to be true--\nthat by every crime, folly, even neglect of theirs, they drive a thorn\ninto their own flesh, which will trouble them for years to come, it may\nbe to their dying day?  And yet so it is.\n\n\nThough the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;\nThough with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.\n\n\nAs those who neglect their fellow-creatures will discover, by the most\npatent undeniable proofs, in that last great day, when the rich and poor\nshall meet together, and then, at least, discover that the Lord is the\nmaker of them all.\n\n\n\nFootnotes:\n\n{1}  These sermons by the Rev. Charles Kingsley M.A., late rector of\nEversley and Canon of Westminster, were edited by the Rev. W. Harrison,\nM.A., rector of Brington.--DP.","title":"All Saints' Day and Other Sermons","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":116204}