{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_44420/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_44420","id":"gutenberg_44420","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44420","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Sermons"],"text":"Transcriber's note:\n\nText enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\nText enclosed by equal signs is in bold (=bold=).\n\nSmall capital text has been replaced with all capitals.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Illustration: cover]\n\n\n\n\n  _The World's Great Sermons_\n\n  VOLUME V\n\n  GUTHRIE TO MOZLEY\n\n  THE\n  WORLD'S\n  GREAT\n  SERMONS\n\n  COMPILED BY\n\n  GRENVILLE KLEISER\n\n  Formerly of Yale Divinity School Faculty;\n  Author of \"How to Speak\n  in Public,\" Etc.\n\n  With Assistance from Many of the Foremost\n  Living Preachers and Other Theologians\n\n  INTRODUCTION BY\n\n  LEWIS O. BRASTOW, D.D.\n\n  Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology\n  in Yale University\n\n  IN TEN VOLUMES\n\n  VOLUME V--GUTHRIE TO MOZLEY\n\n  FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY\n  NEW YORK and LONDON\n\n  COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY\n  FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY\n  _Printed in the United States of America_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nVOLUME V\n\n  GUTHRIE (1803-1873).                   _Page_\n  The New Heart                               1\n\n  MAURICE (1805-1872).\n  The Valley of Dry Bones                    23\n\n  MARTINEAU (1805-1900).\n  Parting Words                              45\n\n  MANNING (1808-1892).\n  The Triumph of the Church                  61\n\n  PARK (1808-1900).\n  The Prominence of the Atonement            87\n\n  SIMPSON (1810-1884).\n  The Resurrection of Our Lord              119\n\n  THEODORE PARKER (1810-1860).\n  The Transient and Permanent in\n  Christianity                              147\n\n  MACLEOD (1812-1872).\n  The True Christian Ministry               177\n\n  MOZLEY (1813-1878).\n  The Reversal of Human Judgment            205\n\n\n\n\nGUTHRIE\n\nTHE NEW HEART\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\nTHOMAS GUTHRIE, preacher, philanthropist, and social reformer, was\nborn at Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland, in 1803. He spent ten years\nat the University of Edinburgh and was licensed to preach by the\nPresbytery of Brechin in 1825. In 1830 he was ordained minister of\nArbirlot. After a valuable experience in evangelical preaching among\nthe farmers, weavers and peasants of his congregation, he became one\nof the ministers of Old Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh, in 1827. Lord\nCockburn described his sermons in that city as appealing equally\n\"to the poor woman on the steps of the pulpit\" as to the \"stranger\nattracted solely by his eloquence.\" He was a great temperance\nadvocate, becoming a total abstainer in 1844, and has been styled\n\"the apostle of the ragged school movement.\" Retiring from the\nactive work of the ministry in 1864, he still remained in public\nlife until he died in 1873. Through long practise, Dr. Guthrie\ndelivered his memorized discourses as tho they fell spontaneously\nfrom his lips. His voice has been described as powerful and musical.\nHe was fond of vivid illustration, and even on his death bed, as\nhe lay dying in the arms of his sons, he exclaimed: \"I am just as\nhelpless in your arms now as you once were in mine.\"\n\n\n\n\nGUTHRIE\n\n1803-1873\n\nTHE NEW HEART\n\n_A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put\nwithin you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,\nand I will give you an heart of flesh._--Ezekiel xxxvi., 26.\n\n\nAs in a machine where the parts all fit each other, and, bathed in\noil, move without din or discord, the most perfect harmony reigns\nthroughout the kingdom of grace. Jesus Christ is the \"wisdom,\" as\nwell as the \"power\" of God; nor in this kingdom is anything found\ncorresponding to the anomalies and incongruities of the world lying\nwithout. There we sometimes see a high station disgraced by a man of\nlow habits; while others are doomed to an inferior condition, who\nwould shine like gilded ornaments on the very pinnacles of society.\nThat beautiful congruity in Christ's kingdom is secured by those who\nare the objects of saving mercy being so renewed and sanctified that\ntheir nature is in harmony with their position, and the man within\ncorresponds to all without.\n\nObserve how this property of \"new\" runs through the whole economy\nof grace. When mercy first rose upon this world, an attribute of\nDivinity appeared which was new to the eyes of men and angels.\nAgain, the Savior was born of a virgin; and He who came forth from a\nwomb where no child had been previously conceived, was sepulchered\nin a tomb where no man had been previously interred. The infant had\na new birthplace, the crucified had a new burial-place. Again, Jesus\nis the mediator of a new covenant, the author of a new testament,\nthe founder of a new faith. Again, the redeemed receive a new name;\nthey sing a new song; their home is not to be in the old, but in\nthe new, Jerusalem, where they shall dwell on a new earth, and walk\nin glory beneath a new heaven. Now it were surely strange, when\nall things else are new, if they themselves were not to partake of\nthis general renovation. Nor strange only, for such a change is\nindispensable. A new name without a new nature were an imposture.\nIt were not more an untruth to call a lion a lamb, or the rapacious\nvulture by the name of the gentle dove, than to give the title of\nsons of God to the venomous seed of the serpent.\n\nThen, again, unless man received a new nature, how could he sing the\nnew song? The raven, perched on the rock, where she whets her bloody\nbeak, and impatiently watches the dying struggles of some unhappy\nlamb can not tune her croaking voice to the rich, mellow music of a\nthrush; and, since it is out of the abundance of the heart that the\nmouth speaketh, how could a sinner take up the strain and sing the\nsong of saints? Besides, unless a man were a new creature, he were\nout of place in the new creation. In circumstances neither adapted\nto his nature, nor fitted to minister to his happiness, a sinner\nin heaven would find himself as much out of his element as a finny\ninhabitant of the deep, or a sightless burrower in the soil, beside\nan eagle, soaring in the sky, or surveying her wide domain from the\nmountain crag.\n\nIn the works of God we see nothing more beautiful than the divine\nskill with which He suits His creatures to their condition. He\ngives wings to birds, fins to fishes, sails to the thistle-seed, a\nlamp to light the glowworm, great roots to moor the cedar, and to\nthe aspiring ivy her thousand hands to climb the wall. Nor is the\nwisdom so conspicuous in nature, less remarkable and adorable in the\nkingdom of grace. He forms a holy people for a holy heaven--fits\nheaven for them, and them for heaven. And calling up His Son to\nprepare the mansions for their tenants, and sending down His Spirit\nto prepare the tenants for their mansions, He thus establishes a\nperfect harmony between the new creature and the new creation.\n\nYou can not have two hearts beating in the same bosom, else you\nwould be, not a man, but a monster. Therefore, the very first thing\nto be done, in order to make things new, is just to take that which\nis old out of the way. And the taking away of the old heart is,\nafter all, but a preparatory process. It is a means, but not the\nend. For, strange as it may at first sound, he is not religious who\nis without sin. A dead man is without sin; and he is sinless, who\nlies buried in dreamless slumber, so long as his eyes are sealed.\nNow, God requires more than a negative religion. Piety, like fire,\nlight, electricity, magnetism, is an active, not a passive element;\nit has a positive, not merely a negative existence. For how is pure\nand undefiled religion defined? \"Pure religion and undefiled is to\nvisit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.\" And on whom\ndoes Jesus pronounce His beatitude? \"If ye know these things, happy\nare ye if ye do them.\" And what is the sum of practical piety--the\nmost portable form in which you can put an answer to Saul's\nquestion, \"Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?\" What but this,\n\"Depart from evil, and do good.\" Therefore, while God promises to\ntake the stony heart out of our flesh, He promises more. In taking\naway one heart, He engages to supply us with another; and to this\nfurther change and onward stage in the process of redemption, I now\nproceed to turn your attention.\n\nBy way of general observation, I remark that our affections are\nengaged in religion. An oak--not as it stands choked up in the\ncrowded wood, with room neither to spread nor breathe, but as it\nstands in the open field, swelling out below where it anchors its\nroots in the ground, and swelling out above where it stretches\nits arms into the air,--presents us with the most perfect form of\nfirmness, self-support, stout and sturdy independence. So perfectly\nformed, indeed, is the monarch of the forest to stand alone, and\nfight its own battles with the elements, that the architect of\nthe Bell Rock lighthouse is said to have borrowed his idea of its\nform from God in nature, and that, copying the work of a divine\nArchitect, he took the trunk of the oak as the model of a building\nwhich was to stand the blast of the storm, and the swell of the\nwinter seas.\n\nObserve, that although the state of the natural affections does\nnot furnish any certain evidence of conversion, it is the glory\nof piety that these are strengthened, elevated, sanctified by the\nchange. The lover of God will be the kindest, best, wisest lover\nof his fellow-creatures. The heart that has room in it for God,\ngrows so large, that it finds room for all God's train, for all\nthat He loves, and for all that He has made; so that the Church,\nwith all its denominations of true Christians, the world, with all\nits perishing sinners, nay, all the worlds which He has created,\nfind orbit-room to move, as in an expansive universe, within the\ncapacious enlargement of a believer's heart. For while the love of\nsin acts as an astringent--contracting the dimensions of the natural\nheart, shutting and shriveling it up--the love of God expands and\nenlarges its capacity. Piety quickens the pulse of love, warms and\nstrengthens our heart, and sends forth fuller streams of natural\naffection toward all that have a claim on us, just as a strong and\nhealthy heart sends tides of blood along the elastic arteries to\nevery extremity of the body.\n\nThis new heart, however, mainly consists in a change of the\naffections as they regard spiritual objects. Without again traveling\nover ground which we have already surveyed, just look at the heart\nand feelings of an unconverted man. His mind being carnal, is enmity\nor hatred against God. This may be latent, not at first sight\napparent, nor suspected, but how soon does it appear when put to the\nproof? Fairly tried, it comes out like those unseen elements which\nchemical tests reveal. Let God, for instance, by His providences or\nlaws, thwart the wishes or cross the propensities of our unrenewed\nnature--let there be a collision between His will and ours--and the\nlatent enmity flashes out like latent fire when the cold black flint\nis struck with steel.\n\nIn conversion God gives a new spirit. Conversion does not bestow\nnew faculties. It does not turn a weak man into a philosopher.\nYet, along with our affections, the temper, the will, the judgment\npartake of this great and holy change. Thus, while the heart ceases\nto be dead, the head, illuminated by a light within, ceases to be\ndark; the understanding is enlightened; the will is renewed; and our\nwhole temper is sweetened and sanctified by the Spirit of God. To\nconsider these in their order, I remark--\n\nBy this change the understanding and judgment are enlightened.\nSin is the greatest folly, and the sinner the greatest fool in\nthe world. There is no such madness in the most fitful lunacy.\nThink of a man risking eternity and his everlasting happiness on\nthe uncertain chance of surviving another year. Think of a man\npurchasing a momentary pleasure at the cost of endless pain. Think\nof a dying man living as if he were never to die. Is there a convert\nto God who looks back upon his unconverted state, and does not say\nwith David, \"Lord, I was as a beast before Thee.\"\n\nNow conversion not only restores God to the heart, but reason\nalso to her throne. Time and eternity are now seen in their just\nproportions--in their right relative dimensions; the one in its\nlittleness, and the other in its greatness. When the light of heaven\nrises on the soul, what grand discoveries does she make--of the\nexceeding evil of sin, of the holiness of the divine law, of the\ninfinite purity of divine justice, of the grace and greatness of\ndivine love. On Sinai's summit and on Calvary's cross, what new,\nsublime, affecting scenes open on her astonished eyes! She now, as\nby one convulsive bound, leaps to the conclusion that salvation is\nthe one thing needful, and that if a man will give all he hath for\nthe life that now is, much more should he part with all for the life\nto come. The Savior and Satan, the soul and body, holiness and sin,\nhave competing claims. Between these reason now holds the balance\neven, and man finds, in the visit of converting grace, what the\ndemoniac found in Jesus' advent. The man whose dwelling was among\nthe tombs, whom no chains could bind, is seated at the feet of\nJesus, \"clothed, and in his right mind.\"\n\nBy this change the will is renewed. Bad men are worse, and good men\nare better than they appear. In conversion the will is so changed\nand sanctified, that altho a pious man is in some respects less,\nin other respects he is more holy than the world gives him credit\nfor. The attainments of a believer are always beneath his aims; his\ndesires are nobler than his deeds; his wishes are holier than his\nworks. Give other men their will, full swing to their passions, and\nthey would be worse than they are; give that to him, and he would be\nbetter than he is. And if you have experienced the gracious change,\nit will be your daily grief that you are not what you not only know\nyou should be, but what you wish to be. To be complaining with\nPaul, \"When I would do good, evil is present with me; that which I\nwould I do not, and what I would not, that I do,\" is one of the best\nevidences of a gracious, saving change.\n\nChildren of God! let not your souls be cast down. This struggle\nbetween the new will and the old man--painful and prolonged altho\nit be--proves beyond all doubt the advent of the Holy Spirit. Until\nthe Savior appeared there was no sword drawn, nor blood shed in\nBethlehem, nor murderous decree issued against its innocents--they\nslept safely in their mothers' bosoms, Herod enjoyed his security\nand pleasure, and Rachel rose not from her grave to weep for her\nchildren because they were not. Christ's coming rouses all the\ndevil in the soul. The fruits of holy peace are reaped with swords\non the fields of war; and this struggle within your breast proves\nthat grace, even in its infancy a cradled Savior, is engaged in\nstrangling the old Serpent. When the shadow of calamity falls on\nmany homes, and the tidings of victory come with sad news to many\na family, and the brave are lying thick in the deadly breach, men\ncomfort us by saying, that there are things worse than war. That is\nemphatically true of this holy war. Rejoice that the peace of death\nis gone.\n\nBy conversion the temper and disposition are changed and sanctified.\nChristians are occasionally to be found with a tone of mind and a\ntemper as little calculated to recommend their faith as to promote\ntheir happiness. I believe that there are cases in which this is\ndue to a deranged condition of the nervous system, or the presence\nof disease in some other vital organ. These unhappy persons are\nmore deserving of our pity than our censure. This is not only the\njudgment of Christian charity, but of sound philosophy, and is a\nconclusion to which we are conducted in studying the union between\nmind and body, and the manner in which they act and re-act upon each\nother. So long as grace dwells in a \"vile body,\" which is the seat\nof frequent disorder and many diseases--these infirmities of temper\nadmit no more, perhaps, of being entirely removed, than a defect of\nspeech, or any physical deformity. The good temper for which some\ntake credit may be the result of good health and a well-developed\nframe--a physical more than a moral virtue; and an ill temper,\nspringing from bad health, or an imperfect organization, may be a\nphysical rather than a moral defect--giving its victim a claim on\nour charity and forbearance. But, admitting this apology for the\nunhappy tone and temper of some pious men, the true Christian will\nbitterly bewail his defect, and, regretting his infirmity more than\nothers do a deformity, he will carefully guard and earnestly pray\nagainst it. Considering it as a thorn in his flesh, a messenger\nof Satan sent to buffet him, it will often send him to his knees\nin prayer to God, that the grace which conquers nature may be made\n\"sufficient for him.\"\n\nI pray you to cultivate the temper that was in Jesus Christ. Is he\nlike a follower of the Lamb who is raging like a roaring lion? Is\nhe like a pardoned criminal who sits moping with a cloud upon his\nbrow? Is he like an heir of heaven, like a man destined to a crown,\nwho is vexed and fretted with some petty loss? Is he like one in\nwhose bosom the dove of heaven is nestling, who is full of all\nmanner of bile and bitterness? Oh, let the same mind be in you that\nwas in Jesus. A kind, catholic, gentle, loving temper is one of the\nmost winning features of religion; and by its silent and softening\ninfluence you will do more real service to Christianity than by\nthe loudest professions, or the exhibition of a cold and skeleton\northodoxy. Let it appear in you, that it is with the believer under\nthe influence of the Spirit as with fruit ripened beneath the genial\ninfluences of heaven's dews and sunbeams. At first hard, it grows\nsoft; at first sour, it becomes sweet; at first green, it assumes\nin time a rich and mellow color; at first adhering tenaciously to\nthe tree, when it becomes ripe, it is ready to drop at the slightest\ntouch. So with the man who is ripening for heaven. His affections\nand temper grow sweet, soft, mellow, loose from earth and earthly\nthings. He comes away readily to the hand of death, and leaves the\nworld without a wrench.\n\nIn conversion God gives a heart of flesh. \"I will give you a heart\nof flesh.\"\n\nNear by a stone, a mass of rock that had fallen from the overhanging\ncrag, which had some wild flowers growing in its fissures, and\non its top the foxglove, with its spike of beautiful but deadly\nflowers, we once came upon an adder as it lay in ribbon coil,\nbasking on the sunny ground. At our approach the reptile stirred,\nuncoiled itself, and raising its venomous head, with eyes like\nburning coals, it shook its cloven tongue, and, hissing, gave\nsigns of battle. Attacked, it retreated; and, making for that gray\nstone, wormed itself into a hole in its side. Its nest and home\nwere there. And in looking on that shattered rock--fallen from its\nprimeval elevation--with its flowery but fatal charms, the home\nand nest of the adder, where nothing grew but poisoned beauty, and\nnothing dwelt but a poisoned brood, it seemed to us an emblem of\nthat heart which the text describes as a stone, which experience\nproves is a habitation of devils, and which the prophet pronounces\nto be desperately wicked. I have already explained why the heart\nis described as a stone. It is cold as a stone; hard as a stone;\ndead and insensible as a stone. Now, as by the term \"flesh\" we\nunderstand qualities the very opposite of these, I therefore remark\nthat--\n\nIn conversion a man gets a warm heart.\n\nLet us restrict ourselves to a single example. When faith receives\nthe Savior, how does the heart warm to Jesus Christ! There is music\nin His name. \"His name is an ointment poured forth.\" All the old\nindifference to His cause, His people, and the interests of His\nkingdom, has passed away; and now these have the warmest place in a\nbeliever's bosom, and are the object of its strongest and tenderest\naffections. The only place, alas! that religion has in the hearts\nof many is a burial-place; but the believer can say with Paul,\n\"Christ liveth in me.\" Nor is his heart like the cottage of Bethany,\nfavored only with occasional visits. Jesus abides there in the\ndouble character of guest and master, its most loving and best loved\ninmate; and there is a difference as great between that heart as it\nis, and that heart as it was, as between the warm bosom where the\nInfant slept or smiled in Mary's arms and the dark, cold sepulcher\nwhere weeping followers laid and left the Crucified.\n\nIs there such a heart in you? Do you appreciate Christ's matchless\nexcellences? Having cast away every sin to embrace him, do you set\nhim above your chiefest joy? Would you leave father, mother, wife,\nchildren, to follow Him, with bleeding feet, over life's roughest\npath? Rather than part with Him, would you part with a thousand\nworlds? Were He now on earth, would you leave a throne to stoop\nand tie His latchet? If I might so speak, would you be proud to\ncarry His shoes? Then, indeed, you have got the new, warm heart\nof flesh. The new love of Christ, and the old love of the world,\nmay still meet in opposing currents; but in the war and strife of\nthese antagonistic principles, the celestial shall overpower the\nterrestrial, as, at the river's mouth, I have seen the ocean tide,\nwhen it came rolling in with a thousand billows at its back, fill\nall the channel, carry all before its conquering swell, dam up the\nfresh water of the land, and drive it back with resistless power.\n\nIn conversion a man gets a soft heart.\n\nAs \"flesh,\" it is soft and sensitive. It is flesh, and can be\nwounded or healed. It is flesh, and feels alike the kiss of kindness\nand the rod of correction. It is flesh; and no longer a stone,\nhard, obdurate, impenetrable to the genial influences of heaven.\nA hard block of ice, it has yielded to the beams of the sun, and\nbeen melted into flowing water. How are you moved now, stirred now,\nquickened now, sanctified now, by truths once felt no more than\ndews falling out of starry heavens, in soft silence upon rugged\nrock. The heart of grace is endowed with a delicate sensibility, and\nvibrates to the slightest touch of a Savior's fingers. How does the\ntruth of God affect it now! A stone no longer, it melts under the\nheavenly fire--a stone no longer, it bends beneath the hammer of the\nword; no longer like the rugged rock, on which rains and sunbeams\nwere wasted, it receives the impression of God's power, and retains\nthe footprints of His presence. Like the flowers that close their\neyes at night, but waken at the voice of morning, like the earth\nthat gapes in summer drought, the new heart opens to receive the\nbounties of grace and the gifts of heaven. Have you experienced such\na change? In proof and evidence of its reality, is David's language\nyours--\"I have stretched out my hands unto thee. My soul thirsteth\nafter thee as a thirsty land\"?\n\nIn conversion a man gets a living heart.\n\nThe perfection of this life is death--it is dead to be sin, but\nalive to righteousness, alive to Christ, alive to everything which\ntouches His honor, and crown, and kingdom. With Christ living in\nhis heart, the believer feels that now he is not himself, not his\nown; and, as another's, the grand object of his life is to live to\nChrist. He reckons him an object worth living for, had he a thousand\nlives to live; worth dying for, had he a thousand deaths to die. He\nsays with Paul, \"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.\"\nIn the highest sense alive, he is dead, dead to things he was once\nalive to; and he wishes that he were more dead to them, thoroughly\ndead. He wishes that he could look on the seductions of the world,\nand sin's voluptuous charms, with the cold, unmoved stare of death,\nand that these had no more power to kindle a desire in him than in\nthe icy bosom of a corpse. \"Understandest thou what thou readest?\"\n\nIt is a mark of grace that the believer, in his progress heavenward,\ngrows more and more alive to the claims of Jesus. If you \"know the\nlove of Christ,\" His is the latest name you will desire to utter;\nHis is the latest thought you will desire to form; upon Him you will\nfix your last look on earth; upon Him your first in heaven. When\nmemory is oblivious of all other objects--when all that attracted\nthe natural eye is wrapt in the mists of death, when the tongue is\ncleaving to the roof of our mouth, and speech is gone, and sight is\ngone, and hearing gone, and the right hand, lying powerless by our\nside, has lost its cunning, Jesus! then may we remember Thee! If the\nshadows of death are to be thrown in deepest darkness on the valley,\nwhen we are passing along it to glory, may it be ours to die like\nthat saint, beside whose bed wife and children once stood, weeping\nover the wreck of faded faculties, and a blank, departed memory. One\nhad asked him, \"Father, do you remember me?\" and received no answer;\nand another, and another, but still no answer. And then, all making\nway for the venerable companion of a long and loving pilgrimage--the\ntender partner of many a past joy and sorrow, his wife draws near.\nShe bends over him, and as her tears fall thick upon his face, she\ncries, \"Do you not remember me?\" A stare, but it is vacant. There\nis no soul in that filmy eye; and the seal of death lies upon these\nlips. The sun is down, and life's brief twilight is darkening fast\ninto a starless night. At this moment, one calm enough to remember\nhow the love of Christ's spouse is \"strong as death,\" a love that\n\"many waters can not quench,\" stooped to his ear, and said, \"Do\nyou remember Jesus Christ?\" The word was no sooner uttered than it\nseemed to recall the spirit, hovering for a moment, ere it took\nwing to heaven. Touched as by an electric influence, the heart beat\nonce more to the name of Jesus; the features, fixt in death, relax;\nthe countenance, dark in death, flushes up like the last gleam of\nday; and, with a smile in which the soul passed away to glory, he\nreplied, \"Remember Jesus Christ! dear Jesus Christ! He is all my\nsalvation, and all my desire.\"\n\nBy conversion man is ennobled.\n\nWhile infidelity regards man as a mere animal, to be dissolved at\ndeath into ashes and air, and vice changes man into a brute or\ndevil, Mammon enslaves him. She makes him a serf, and condemns him\nto be a gold-digger for life in the mines. She puts her collar\non his neck, and locks it; and bending his head to the soil, and\nbathing his brow in sweat, she says, Toil, toil, toil; as if this\ncreature, originally made in the image of God, this dethroned and\nexiled monarch, to save whom the Son of God descended from the\nskies, and bled on Calvary, were a living machine, constructed of\nsinew, bone, and muscle, and made for no higher end than to work to\nlive, and live to work.\n\nContrast with these the benign aspect in which the gospel looks\non man. Religion descends from heaven to break our chains. She\nalone raises me from degradation, and bids me lift my drooping\nhead, and look up to heaven. Yes; it is that very gospel which by\nsome is supposed to present such dark, degrading, gloomy views of\nman and his destiny, which lifts me from the dust to set me among\nprinces--on a level with angels--in a sense above them. To say\nnothing of the divine nobility grace imparts to a soul which is\nstamped anew with the likeness and image of God, how sacred and\nvenerable does even this body appear in the eye of piety! No longer\na form of animated dust; no longer the subject of passions shared in\ncommon with the brutes; no longer the drudge and slave of Mammon,\nthe once \"vile body\" rises into a temple of the Holy Ghost. Vile in\none sense it may be; yet what, although it be covered with sores?\nWhat, although it be clothed in rags? What, although, in unseemly\ndecrepitude, it want its fair proportions? That poor, sickly,\nshattered form is the casket of a precious jewel. This mean and\ncrumbling tabernacle lodges a guest nobler than palaces may boast\nof; angels hover around its walls; the Spirit of God dwells within\nit. What an incentive to holiness, to purity of life and conduct,\nlies in the fact that the body of a saint is the temple of God,\na truer, nobler temple than that which Solomon dedicated by his\nprayers, and Jesus consecrated His presence! In popish cathedrals,\nwhere the light streamed through painted window, and the organ\npealed along lofty aisles, and candles gleamed on golden cups and\nsilver crosses, and incense floated in fragrant clouds, we have\nseen the blinded worshiper uncover his head, drop reverently on his\nknees, and raise his awestruck eye on the imposing spectacle; we\nhave seen him kiss the marble floor, and knew that sooner would he\nbe smitten dead upon that floor than be guilty of defiling it. How\ndoes this devotee rebuke us! We wonder at his superstition; how may\nhe wonder at our profanity! Can we look on the lowly veneration he\nexpresses for an edifice which has been erected by some dead man's\ngenius, which holds but some image of a deified virgin, or bones of\na canonized saint, and which, proudly as it raises its cathedral\ntowers, time shall one day cast to the ground, and bury in the\ndust; can we, I say, look on that, and, if sensible to rebuke,\nnot feel reproved by the spectacle? In how much more respect, in\nhow much holier veneration should we hold this body? The shrine\nof immortality, and a temple dedicated to the Son of God, it is\nconsecrated by the presence of the Spirit--a living temple, over\nwhose porch the eye of piety reads what the finger of inspiration\nhas written: \"If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God\ndestroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAURICE\n\nTHE VALLEY OF DRY BONES\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\nFREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, English divine and author, was born in\n1805. He was the son of a Unitarian clergyman, and after studying\nin Cambridge began a literary career in London, where his friend\nColeridge and others persuaded him to take orders in the Church of\nEngland. In 1836 he was appointed chaplain to Guy's Hospital. In\n1840 he was elected professor of English literature and history\nand in 1846 of divinity at King's College, London, but lost both\npositions in 1853 because of his radical views. He was professor of\nmoral philosophy at Cambridge from 1860 until his death in 1872.\n\n\n\n\nMAURICE\n\n1805-1872\n\nTHE VALLEY OF DRY BONES\n\n_The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit\nof the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was\nfull of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about. And behold\nthere were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very\ndry. And he said unto me, \"Son of man, can these bones live?\" And I\nanswered, \"O Lord God, thou knowest.\"_--EZEK. xxxvii., 1-3.\n\n\nWe are naturally curious to know whether two contemporary prophets\never conversed with each other. In Micah we found such evident\nindications of sympathy with the mind of Isaiah as warranted the\nsupposition that he was his pupil. I can not trace any signs of\na similar relation, or indeed of any personal relation, between\nJeremiah and Ezekiel. Tho they were passing through the same crisis;\ntho they had both to witness the evils which were destroying their\nnation; both to share its miseries; tho the false prophets were the\ncommon enemies of both; yet their circumstances, their character,\nand their work were entirely distinct, in some points even\ncontrasted. Their very differences, however, show us that they were\nboth alike prophets and priests.\n\nThe Book of Lamentations exhibits the spirit of the individual man\nJeremiah more transparently than his longer book, which is so mixed\nup with historical details, with anticipations of a ruin not yet\naccomplished, with hopes, however faint and soon dispelled, of a\nnational repentance. Most of those whom the prophet had denounced\nwere banished or dead. Men could talk no more about the temple of\nthe Lord, could boast no more that the word of the Lord was with\nthem; the vessel which the potter was shaping had been broken to\npieces. The sadness of the prophet, which had been checked sometimes\nby indignation, sometimes by the consciousness of a word which must\nstill be spoken, of a work which must be done, became complete and\nabsorbing. Heretofore his intense sympathy with his country might\nseem to be qualified by his lively apprehension of its crimes;\nnow both feelings were blended into one. When he looked upon the\ndesolation of the city there sat upon his soul a weight of sorrow\nand evil, as if he were representing his whole people, as if there\nwas no wrong which they had committed, no evil habits which they\nhad contracted, which did not cling to him, for which he was not\nresponsible. And this was no imaginary fictitious state of mind into\nwhich he had worked himself. God had made him inwardly conscious of\nthe very corruptions which had destroyed the land. If he had made\nany fight against them; if they did not actually overpower him and\nenslave him, this was God's work and not his; the promise of the\ncovenant made with his fathers, which was as good for every one as\nfor himself, was fulfilled to him. And now he was realizing the full\neffect of this discipline. The third chapter of the Lamentations,\nbeginning \"I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His\nwrath,\" contains the climax of his experience. In the memorable\npassages which follow, the history of a life is gathered up. \"I\nsaid, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord; remembering\nmine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul\nhath them still in remembrance. This I recall to mind, therefore\nhave I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.\nThey are new every morning; great is thy faithlessness. The Lord is\nmy portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord\nis good unto them that wait for him. It is good that a man should\nboth hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good\nfor a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and\nkeepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his\nmouth in the dust if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to\nhim that smiteth him, he is filled full with reproach. The Lord will\nnot cast off for ever; but tho he cause grief, yet will he have\ncompassion according to the multitude of his mercies for he doth not\nafflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.\"\n\nAnything more individual than these utterances it is impossible\nto conceive; and yet it is just by these that one understands the\nsacerdotal work to which Jeremiah was called. There was no longer\nany temple. The priests as well as the princes had been for the most\npart carried away by Nebuchadnezzar. But there was a man walking\nabout in the deserted city to which the twelve tribes had come\nup,--in the midst of the ruins of the holy place into which the\nsons of Aaron had gone with the memorial of their names on their\nbreastplates,--who really entered into the meaning of that function,\nwho really bore the iniquities of the children of Israel before the\nLord;--one to whom it was given to translate the ceremonies and\nservices of the divine house into life and reality. He had been\ntaught more perfectly, perhaps, than anyone who had served in the\ntemple, what was implied in its worship and sacrifices. He felt the\nburden to which those sacrifices pointed, the burden of individual\nand national sins. Yet, with that burden resting upon him, he could\nenter into the presence of the Holy One of Israel. He was sure there\nwas a deliverance for his people as well as for himself; that there\ncould not be one for him if there was not also one for them. Thus\nwhen part of his work was over, when he had nothing more to say in\nthe ears of kings or priests or people, this office,--which had been\nso closely connected with his prophetical office, and which, if it\nhad depended upon outward conditions, must have been more entirely\nat an end than that,--still remained in all its original power. And\nthe words of the prophet remained to explain to all generations the\nspiritual character and acts of the priest.\n\nThe office of the priest must have seemed to be more utterly extinct\nfor Ezekiel than even for Jeremiah. He was forcibly removed from\nall the associations of the temple while it was yet standing. When\nhe was called to be a prophet to the captives by the river Chebar,\nhe might have supposed that the earlier designation which belonged\nto him as one of the Levitical family, had been extinguished in\nthe later one. Yet we have seen how he was instructed, at the\nvery commencement of his work as a prophet, that the glory of\nHim who filled the temple was surrounding him in Mesopotamia as\nit surrounded him when he went up to present the morning or the\nevening sacrifice in Jerusalem. Such a vision was given him of\nthat glory as he had never beheld in the holy place. He found that\nthe earth,--that common, profane, Babylonian earth upon which he\ndwelt,--was filled with it. All the powers of nature, the forms of\nanimals, man as the highest of the animals, the motions and order\nof the outward world and of human society, were pointing towards it.\nAnd the central object, the highest object which he could behold,\ntho there was an ineffable brightness beyond, was a Man upon a\nthrone, One who could command him, in whose name he was to go forth,\nwhose words he was to speak.\n\nThis was no isolated revelation or dream. The very name which the\nprophet thenceforth bore, the name by which he was to know himself,\ndepended upon it. \"Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak\nunto thee,\" were the first words which he heard after he fell upon\nhis face. That great title is bestowed upon him through all the time\nin which he was prophesying. It was in many ways more suitable to\nhim than to those who had gone before him. There was now no Hezekiah\nor Josiah to represent the Divine king. The witnesses for the\nkingdom seemed to be at an end. Nebuchadnezzar was the lord of the\nearth. At such a time the natural position of the Jewish seer became\na human position. The Israelite's glory was to be a \"Son of man.\"\n\nYet he was not absolved from any of the obligations of the older\nprophets; he was not to expect a more willing or attentive audience\namong captives than they had found at home; briars, thorns would be\nwith him; he must dwell among scorpions. Lamentations and mourning\nand woe filled his roll as much as that which Baruch wrote out for\nJeremiah. And he must eat this roll; it must become a part of his\nvery soul; its words must come forth living and burning out of\nhimself.\n\nHe must understand, besides, all the fearful responsibilities of\nthe prophet. He was to speak whether the men about him would hear\nor whether they would forbear. There were times when his tongue\nwould cleave to the roof of his mouth, when he should be dumb and\nshould not be to them a reprover. But when God opened his lips,\nthe blood of those to whom he was sent was upon him; it would be\nrequired at his hands if they died in their iniquity and he had\nnot warned them. He must submit to do all symbolical acts, however\nstrange and fantastical they might seem in themselves, which might\nbring the feeling of coming judgments home to a sense-bound people.\nHe must act a mimic siege, he must eat defiled bread; he must cut\noff his hair and weigh it in balances, if so the people could be\nmade to understand,--in spite of their false prophets who spoke of\ncoming peace and enacted their signs, which of course involved no\ndiscomfort or humiliation to themselves,--that the city would really\nbe destroyed and the sanctuary laid waste. He was to persuade his\nbrother captives that they were a remnant in which the nation still\nlived, a stock out of which it should hereafter grow and flourish,\neven tho they were most rebellious, dreaming of good things which\nwould never come, not waiting for that good which God had designed\nfor them. There was to be the same end in all the punishments which\nwere coming upon the land and in all its deliverances. God was\nsaying in all \"I am the Lord.\"\n\nThis sentence recurs again and again in the prophecies of Ezekiel.\nIt is the thought of his mind, the one which gives all the sublimity\nand all the practical worth to his discourses,--that the knowledge\nof God is the supreme good of man, and that the desolation of his\ncountrymen has come from their not liking to retain it. He is\ntransported in spirit to the temple. There the same vision of the\nglory of God which he had seen by the river returns to him. The\nlight of it shows him, portrayed upon the wall of the temple round\nabout, the abominable beasts and creeping things, and the idols\nof the house of Israel; what the ancients of the house of Israel\ndid in the dark, every one in the chambers of his imagery; how the\nwomen were weeping for Tammuz; how the men were worshiping the sun\ntowards the east. Whether such abominations as these were actually\nto be seen in the temple, or whether the prophet's eye opened by the\ndivine Spirit saw that they were possessing the hearts of those who\nseemed to others, perhaps to themselves, to be worshiping the God\nof their fathers, it is clear that the mind of Ezekiel was led back\nto the place in which he had ministered, that he might be taught\nhow little the sacred building could preserve the truth which was\nenshrined in it.\n\nWhat Ezekiel has seen in the temple enables him to answer the elders\nof Israel when they come to consult him in his own house. Just what\nwas going on among those who worshiped in Jerusalem, was going on\nin the hearts of those who sought his oracles. They were setting\nup idols there. They wanted to know what God would do with them or\nagainst them; they did not want to know Him. And therefore Ezekiel\nannounces to them a great and eternal moral law, one of the most\nvaried application; \"God will answer you according to your idols.\"\nThe truth which is presented to you, will be colored, distorted,\ninverted by the eye which receives it. The covetousness which you\nare cherishing will make the best and divinest word you hear, a\nminister of covetousness. Your pride and your lust will make it a\nminister of lust and pride. No bolder or more awful paradox was ever\nenunciated than this, nor one which the conscience of everyone will\nmore surely verify. And there was this special proof of courage in\nmaking such an announcement, that it must have destroyed Ezekiel's\nreputation as a prophet. The elders came in terror, feeling that\nthey wanted guidance and expecting some ready-made answer, such as\nthe regular traders in prophecy could always furnish. The truly\ninspired man answers, \"I can tell you nothing,--nothing at least\nthat will not deceive you and become a lie in your minds. For you\nbring lies in your minds, and except they be extirpated, they\nmust convert whatever is added to them from without, to their own\nquality.\"\n\nEzekiel himself illustrates in another case this great principle.\nNo commandment had established itself more completely by the\nexperience of the people to whom it was addrest, than the second.\nThe idolatries of the land had accumulated with each generation.\nEach had cause to complain of the last as bequeathing it a stock\nof corrupt habits and traditions; the sins of the fathers had been\nvisited upon the children. These were facts not to be gainsaid. The\ncaptives had leisure to reflect upon them. It might have been a most\nprofound and profitable reflection.\n\nThe use they made of it was to prove they were under a necessary law\nof degeneracy. How could they help themselves? The fathers had eaten\nsour grapes, and their teeth were set on edge. Who dared dispute it?\nThere was God's own word for it. Had he not told them the plan and\nmethod of His own government? Such language addrest to one of the\nfavorite preachers or prophets of the people, would have silenced\nhim altogether. He would have said, \"It is a mystery, no doubt; we\nmust take the words of the commandment tho we can not understand\nthem. God is Sovereign; He can do what He likes. If it pleases\nHim that each generation should be more corrupt than the last, we\nmust submit and not dispute His will.\" Others there would be who\nwould complain boldly and with good reason of a will that compelled\nto evil, but yet would lazily submit to it, supposing it to be\ninevitable, tho feeling the absurdity of calling it divine. Ezekiel\nboldly stands forth to dispute and deny the whole principle. He does\nnot dispute or deny the second commandment,--that was probably the\ntext of his discourse. But he will not let the second commandment\nor any other words in the world be pleaded against the character of\nGod. Righteousness and equity he maintains to be the foundations\nof the divine character and of the divine acts. He will tolerate\nno resolution of them into a heathenish notion of sovereignty or\nself-will. \"The ways of God are equal,\" he says, \"and your ways are\nunequal.\" The sins of the father only descend upon the son, they\nare only punished in the son, when the son accepts them, entertains\nthem, makes them his own. At any time he may turn round and\nrepudiate them and cleave to the God who doth not will the death of\nthe sinner, but desires that he should return and live. The doctrine\nof the second commandment and of the whole law, is that a man is\nrighteous so long as he cleaves to the righteous God who has made\na covenant with him, unrighteous when he forsakes that covenant\nand acts independently. Therefore the notion of any perpetuity in\nrighteousness, or in evil, is equally cut off. Every man has the\ncapacity of righteousness, the capacity of evil. Let him be ever so\nrighteous, he must become evil the moment he ceases to trust in God\nand begins to trust in himself. Let him be ever so evil, he must\nbecome righteous the moment he begins to trust in God and ceases to\ntrust in himself.\n\nThe enunciation of laws or principles seems more especially to\nbelong to Ezekiel, as the experience of personal evil and the\nsympathy with national sorrow belong more to the tender and womanly\nnature of Jeremiah. Nevertheless, Ezekiel was to be a priest in this\nsense also, as well as in that higher sense of beholding the glory\nof God and proclaiming His name. Suffering was not the destination\nof one prophet; it was the badge of all the tribe. Ezekiel's life\nwas to be a continual parable, illustrative of the life of the\nnation. A man scrupulously careful of the law, was to violate the\nprecepts of it respecting food, and to eat what was loathsome. A man\nsensitive probably as to his reputation, and with that kind of lofty\nimagination which makes attention to details and all petty acts\nunspeakably painful, must submit, for the sake of his countrymen,\nto such as seemed most ignominious to himself and perplexing to\nthem. Finally, the desire of his eyes must be taken from him with a\nstroke, and he must not mourn or weep. Even at such a time he must\nbe a sign to the people, tho by doing so he should seem to refuse\nthe sympathy that he most wants, and should only lead the captives\nto say, \"Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us that thou\ndoest so?\"\n\nApart from these sufferings which concern him individually and\ndomestically, the vision of the desolation of Israel became every\nday more overwhelming to him. Nor was it only the desolation of\nIsrael. He who was called \"Son of man,\" was not likely to speak less\nof Egypt and Tyrus and the land in which he was himself dwelling,\nthan those older prophets who had so many more reasons for regarding\nJudea as the one garden of the Lord. The arms of Nebuchadnezzar had\nbeen turning the earth upside down and making it waste. Everything\nmust have seemed to him disjointed, incoherent, withered. Could it\never be renovated? Was it possible even for that country which God\nhad blest above all others and man had curst above all others, to\nbreathe and live again?\n\nThis was the question which was proposed to the prophet on that day\nwhen the hand of the Lord was upon him, and he was carried into\nthe valley which was full of bones. The vision, clear as it is in\nitself, must not be read apart from the context of the prophecy.\nYou should remember where Ezekiel was dwelling; by what kind of\npeople he was surrounded; what was the condition of his own land;\nwhat had come and was coming upon all lands; or you will not\nunderstand the picture which now rose up before him. You should\nthink, too, of the man himself, of the heat of his spirit, of the\nwords which he had uttered in vain, of the acts which had only\nmade the captives stare vacantly, of the desolation of his house\nand his heart. You should think of those other visions he had of\nthe ascending scale of creatures, of the mysterious order of the\nuniverse, of the glory of God, before you place yourself beside\nhim in the valley, and walk with him round about it, and look at\nthe different bones, and see how each separately how altogether,\nthey expound to him the condition of the house of Israel. It was\ndead,--that body from which he had believed that life was to go\nforth to quicken the universe. It had none of the beauty of a corpse\nin which there is still form, on which the spirit has left its\nimpression. There had been a time of gradual decay, a time when the\npulses of the nation beat feebly and faintly, but when they might\nstill be felt; a time after that when you knew it had ceased to\nbreathe, but when you could still speak of it as entire. But another\nstage had come, the stage of utter dissolution, when each limb\nlooked as if it had nothing to do with any other, when you could\nscarcely force yourself to believe that they had ever been joined\ntogether. Can these bones live? what a thought to come into the\nmind of any man gazing on such a scene! It could not have come from\nhimself, certainly, nor from any of these relics. God must have sent\nit to him; He must have led him to dream that such a resurrection\nwas possible. And now the process of it is also revealed to him. The\nprophet is commanded to speak. His speech seems a mere sound in the\nair. But there is a noise and a shaking; then a frightful movement\nof the bones towards each other, each claiming its fellow to which\nit had once belonged. This strange effort at a union of dead things\nbetokens a power that has not yet declared itself. And soon the\nsinews and the flesh come up upon them. They have acquired a form,\ntho they have no life. \"Then said he unto me, 'Prophesy unto the\nwind; Thus saith the Lord God: come from the four winds, O breath,\nand breathe upon these slain that they may live.' So I prophesied\nas he commanded. And the breath came unto them, and they lived, and\nstood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.\"\n\n\"Doth he not speak parables?\" was the phrase by which the Jews\nof the captivity exprest their dislike and contempt for the\ntroublesome and mystical prophet who was among them. \"Doth he not\nspeak parables?\" is a question which men, looking round with weary\nhearts upon the condition of Christ's Church in various periods\nof its existence, have asked themselves, with a very different\nintention and spirit, when they have read this vision of the valley\nof dry bones. \"Is not this written,\" they have said, \"for the ages\nto come? Is not this one of parables concerning the kingdom of\nGod?\" Yes, brethren, if we will first read it fairly and honestly,\nas describing what Ezekiel says it described to him,--if we will\nnot search for a distant application till we have acknowledged the\nimmediate one,--we shall find that here, as everywhere, Ezekiel is\nexhibiting facts which belong to other times as well as his own, and\nlaws and methods of a divine government which belong to all times as\nwell as his own.\n\nAnd that I may not waste your time in enumerating different crises\nof history in which the facts may be discerned, and by which the\nlaw and the method may be tested, I say at once, they are all for\nus; the vision and the interpretation are of this day. Do you not\nhear men on all sides of you crying, \"The Church which we read of\nin books exists only in them. Christendom consists of Romanists,\nGreeks, Protestants, divided from each other, disputing about\nquestions to which nineteen-twentieths of those who belong to their\ncommunions are indifferent. And meantime what is becoming of the\ncountries in which these different confessions are established?\nWhat populations are growing up in them? Does the present generation\nbelieve that which its fathers believed? Will the next generation\nbelieve anything?\" Brethren, you hear such words as these spoken. I\ndo not mean to inquire how much there is of truth in them, how much\nof exaggeration, what evidences there are on the other side which\nhave been overlooked; what signs of life there are anywhere in the\nmidst of apparent death. But this I must say; Christians in general\nare far too eager to urge special exceptions when they hear these\ncharges preferred; far too ready to make out a case for themselves\nwhile they admit their application to others; far too ready to think\nthat the cause of God is interested in this suppression of facts.\nThe prophets should have taught us a different lesson. They should\nhave led us to feel that it was a solemn duty, not to conceal,\nbut to bring forward all the evidence which proves, not that one\ncountry is better than another, or one portion of the Church better\nthan another, but that there is a principle of decay, a tendency\nto apostasy in all, and that no comfort can come from merely\nbalancing symptoms of good here against symptoms of evil there, no\ncomfort from considering whether we are a little less contentious,\na little less idolatrous than our neighbors. Alas, for this Church,\nor for any church, if its existence now, if its prospects for the\nfuture, are to be determined by such calculations as these! No,\nbrethren, our hope has a deeper foundation. It is this; that when\nthe bones have become most dry, when they are lying most scattered\nand separate from each other, there is still a word going forth, if\nnot through the lips of any prophet on this earth, then through the\nlips of those who have left it,--yet not proceeding from them, but\nfrom Him who liveth for ever and ever, the voice which says, \"These\nbones shall rise.\" It is this; that every shaking among the bones,\neverything which seems at first a sign of terror,--men leaving the\nchurches in which they have been born, forsaking all the affections\nand sympathies and traditions of their childhood,--infidel\nquestionings, doubts whether the world is left to itself or whether\nit is governed by an evil spirit,--are themselves not indeed signs\nof life, but at least movements in the midst of death which are\nbetter than the silence of the charnel-house, which foretell the\napproach of that which they can not produce. It is this; that all\nstruggles after union, tho they may be of the most abortive kind,\ntho they may produce fresh sects and fresh divisions, tho they must\ndo so as long as they rest on the notion that unity is something\nvisible and material, yet indicate a deep and divine necessity\nwhich men could not be conscious of in their dreams if they were\nnot beginning to awake. It is this; that there are other visions\ntrue for us, as they were for Ezekiel, besides the vision of dry\nbones. The name of a Father has not ceased to be a true name because\nbaptized men do not own themselves as His children. The name of the\nSon has not ceased to be a true name, because men are setting up\nsome earthly ruler in place of Him, or are thinking that they can\nrealize a human fellowship without confessing a Man on the throne\nabove the firmament. The name of the Spirit has not ceased to be\na true name because we are thinking that we can form combinations\nand sects and churches without His quickening presence, because we\ndeny that He is really in the midst of us. It is this; that when\nall earthly priests have been banished or have lost their faith,\ntho there should be none to mourn over the ruins of Jerusalem, or\nto feel its sin as his own, yet there is a High Priest, the great\nSin-Bearer, ever presenting His perfect and accepted sacrifice\nwithin the veil, a High Priest not of a nation, but of humanity. It\nis this; that tho all earthly temples, in which God has been pleased\nto dwell, should become desecrated and abominable, tho all foul\nworship should go on in the midst of them, and tho what is portrayed\non their walls should too faithfully represent what is passing in\nthe more secret chambers of imagery, tho at last the shrines that\nhave been supposed to contain the mystery which they set forth\nshould be utterly destroyed, and a voice should be heard out of the\nmidst of them, saying, \"Let us depart,\"--yet that this will not be\nthe sign that the Church of God has perished, only the sign that the\ntemple of God has been opened in Heaven, and that from thence must\ncome forth the glory that is to fill the whole earth.\n\n\n\n\nMARTINEAU\n\nPARTING WORDS\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\n\nJAMES MARTINEAU, an English Unitarian divine, was born at Norwich\nin 1805. He was educated for the Unitarian ministry at Manchester\nCollege, and in 1828 ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in\nDublin. Resigning his pastorate in Ireland, he took charge of the\nParadise Street Chapel in Liverpool, but on being elected to the\nchair of mental and moral philosophy in Manchester New College\nfollowed it to London 1853, succeeding J. J. Taylor as principal of\nthe institution in 1868.\n\nHis sermons, delivered in the course of four years in the chapel\nof Manchester New College are specimens of combined eloquence and\nphilosophical profundity, yet are, perhaps, most valuable for their\nethical quality. He preached in Dublin, Liverpool, and London.\nHe was a lofty and earnest soul, given to mysticism, a master of\nEnglish style, and has been widely read. He died in 1900.\n\n\n\n\nMARTINEAU\n\n1805-1900\n\nPARTING WORDS\n\n_Peace I leave with you: My peace I give unto you: not as the world\ngiveth, give I unto you._--John xiv., 27.\n\n\nThis is a strange benediction to proceed from the Man of Sorrows,\nat the dreariest moment of His life; strange at least to those who\nlook only to His outward career, His incessant contact with misery\nand sin, His absolute solitude of purpose, His lot stricken with\nsadness ever new from temptation to the cross; but not strange\nperhaps to those who heard the deep and quiet tones in which this\noracle of promise went forth--the divinest music from the center\nof the darkest fate. He was on the bosom of the beloved disciple\nand in the midst of those who should have cheered Him in that hour\nwith such comfort as fidelity can always offer; but who, failing in\ntheir duty to His griefs, found the sadness creep upon themselves;\nwhile He, seeking to give peace to them, found it Himself profusely\nin the gift. It was not till He had finished this interview and\neffort of affection, and from the warmth of that evening meal and\nthe flush of its deep converse they had issued into the chill and\nsilent midnight air, nor till the sanctity of moonlight (never to be\nseen by Him again) had invested Him, and coarse fatigue had sunk His\ndisciples into sleep upon the grass, that having none to comfort, He\nfound anguish fall upon Himself. Deprived of the embrace of John,\nHe flew to the bosom of the Father; and after a momentary strife,\nrecovered in trust the serenity He had found in toil; and while His\nfollowers lie stretched in earthly slumber, He reaches a divine\nrepose; while they, yielding to nature, gain neither strength nor\ncourage for the morrow, He, through the vigils of agony, rises to\nthat godlike power, on which mockery and insult beat in vain, and\nwhich has made the cross, then the emblem of abjectness and guilt,\nthe everlasting symbol of whatever is holy and sublime.\n\nThe peace of Christ, then, was the fruit of combined toil and trust;\nin the one case diffusing itself from the center of His active life,\nin the other from that of His passive emotions; enabling Him in\nthe one case to do things tranquilly; in the other, to see things\ntranquilly. Two things only can make life go wrong and painfully\nwith us; when we suffer or suspect misdirection and feebleness in\nthe energies of love and duty within us, or in the providence of\nthe world without us: bringing, in the one case, the lassitude of\nan unsatisfied and discordant nature; in the other, the melancholy\nof hopeless views. From these Christ delivers us by a summons to\nmingled toil and trust. And herein does His peace differ from that\nwhich \"the world giveth\"--that its prime essential is not ease, but\nstrife; not self-indulgence, but self-sacrifice; not acquiescence\nin evil for the sake of quiet, but conflict with it for the sake\nof God; not, in short, a prudent accommodation of the mind to\nthe world, but a resolute subjugation of the world to the best\nconceptions of the mind. Amply has the promise to leave behind Him\nsuch a peace been since fulfilled. It was fulfilled to the apostles\nwho first received it; and has been realized again by a succession\nof faithful men to whom they have delivered it.\n\nThe word \"peace\" denotes the absence of jar and conflict; a\ncondition free from the restlessness of fruitless desire, the\nforebodings of anxiety, the stings of enmity. It may be destroyed\nby discordance between the lot without and the mind within, where\nthe human being is in an obviously false position--an evil rare and\nusually self-curative; or by a discordance wholly internal, among\nthe desires and affections themselves. The first impulse of \"the\nnatural man\" is to seek peace by mending his external condition;\nto quiet desire by increase of ease; to banish anxiety by increase\nof wealth; to guard against hostility by making himself too strong\nfor it; to build up his life into a fortress of security and a\npalace of comfort, where he may softly lie, tho tempests beat and\nrain descends. The spirit of Christianity casts away at once this\nwhole theory of peace; declares it the most chimerical of dreams;\nand proclaims it impossible even to make this kind of reconciliation\nbetween the soul and the life wherein it acts. As well might the\nathlete demand a victory without a foe. To the noblest faculties of\nsoul rest is disease and torture. The understanding is commissioned\nto grapple with ignorance, the conscience to confront the powers of\nmoral evil, the affections to labor for the wretched and opprest;\nnor shall any peace be found, till these, which reproach and fret us\nin our most elaborate ease, put forth an incessant and satisfying\nenergy; till, instead of conciliating the world, we vanquish it; and\nrather than sit still, in the sickness of luxury, for it to amuse\nour perceptions, we precipitate ourselves upon it to mold it into a\nnew creation. Attempt to make all smooth and pleasant without, and\nyou thereby create the most corroding of anxieties, and stimulate\nthe most insatiable of appetites within. But let there be harmony\nwithin, let no clamors of self drown the voice which is entitled\nto authority there; let us set forth on the mission of duty,\nresolved to live for it alone, to close with every resistance that\nobstructs it, and march through every peril that awaits it; and in\nthe consciousness of immortal power, the sense of mortal ill will\nvanish; and the peace of God well nigh extinguish the sufferings of\nthe man. \"In the world we may have tribulation; in Christ we shall\nhave peace.\"\n\nThis peace, so remote from torpor, arising, indeed, from the intense\naction of the greatest of all ideas, those of duty, of immortality,\nof God, fell, according to the promise, on the first disciples. Not\nin vain did Jesus tell them in their sorrows that the Comforter\nwould come; nor falsely did He define the blessed visitant, as\n\"the spirit of truth\"--the soul reverentially faithful to its\nconvictions, and expressing clearly in action its highest aspirings.\nSuch peace had Stephen, when before the Sanhedrim that was striving\nto hush up the recent story of the cross, he proclaimed aloud the\nsequel of the ascension; and priests and elders arose and stopped\ntheir ears, and thrust him out to death; he had his peace; else how,\nif heaven of divinest tranquility had not opened to him and revealed\nto him the proximity of Christ to God, how as the stone struck his\nuncovered and uplifted head, could he have so calmly said, \"Lord,\nlay not this sin to their charge\"? Such peace had Paul--at least\nwhen he ceased to rebel against his noble nature, and became,\ninstead of the emissary of persecution, the ambassador of God. Was\nthere ever a life of less ease and security, yet of more buoyant\nand rejoicing spirit than his? What weight did he not cast aside,\nto run the race that was set before him? What tie of home or nation\ndid he not break, that he might join in one of the whole family of\nGod? For forty years the scoff of synagogues and the outcast of his\npeople, he forgot the privations of the exile in the labors of the\nmissionary; flying from charges of sedition he disseminated the\nprinciples of peace; persecuted from city to city, yet he created\nin each a center of pure worship and Christian civilization, and\nalong the coasts of Asia, and colonies of Macedonia, and citadels\nof Greece, dropped link after link of the great chain of truth that\nshall yet embrace the world. Amid the joy of making converts, he had\nalso the affliction of making martyrs; to witness the sufferings,\nperhaps to bear the reproaches, of survivors; with weeping heart to\nrebuke the fears, and sustain the faith of many a doubter; and in\nsolitude and bonds to send forth the effusions of his earnest spirit\nto quicken the life, and renovate the gladness, of the confederate\nchurches. Yet when did speculation at its ease ever speak with\nvigor so noble and cheerfulness so fresh as his glorious letters;\nwhich recount his perils by land and sea, his sorrows with friend\nand foe, and declare that \"none of these things move\" him; which\nshow him projecting incessant work, yet ready for instant rest;\nconscious that already he has fought the good fight, and willing\nto finish his course and resign the field; but prepared, if needs\nbe, to grasp again the sword of the Spirit, and go forth in quest\nof wider victories. Does any one suppose that it would have been\nmore peaceful to look back on a life less exposed and adventurous,\non a lot sheltered and secure, on soft-bedded comfort, and unbroken\nplenty, and conventional compliance? No! it is only beforehand that\nwe mistake these things for peace; in the retrospect we know them\nbetter, and would exchange them all for one vanquished temptation\nin the desert, for one patient bearing of the cross! What--when all\nis over, and we lie upon the last bed--what is the worth to us of\nall our guilty compromises, of all the moments stolen from duty to\nbe given to ease? If Paul had cowered before the tribunal of Nero,\nand trembled at his comrade's blood, and, instead of baring his neck\nto the imperial sword, had purchased by poor evasions another year\nof life--where would that year have been now--a lost drop in the\ndeep waters of time--yet not lost, but rather mingled as a poison\nin the refreshing stream of good men's goodness by which Providence\nfertilizes the ages.\n\nThe peace of Christ, thus inherited by His disciples, and growing\nout a living spirit of duty and of love, contrasts not merely with\nguilty ease, but with that mere mechanical facility in blameless\naction which habit gives. There is something faithless and ignoble\nin the very reasonings sometimes employed to recommend virtuous\nhabits. They are urged upon us, because they smooth the way of\nright; we are invited to them for the sake of ease. Adopted in such\na temper, duty after all makes its bargain with indulgence, and is\nnot yet pursued for its own sake and with the allegiance of a loving\nheart. Moreover, whoever has true conscience sees that there is a\nfallacy in this persuasion; for whenever habits become mechanical,\nthey cease to satisfy the requirements of duty; the obligations of\nwhich enlarge definitely with our powers, demanding an undiminished\ntension of the will, and an ever-constant life of the affections.\nIt can never be, that a soul which has a heaven open to its view,\nwhich is stationed here, not simply to accommodate itself to the\narrangement of this world, but also to school itself for the spirit\nof another, is intended to rest in mere automatic regularities.\nWhen the mind is thrown into other scenes, and finds itself in the\nsociety of the world invisible, suddenly introduced to the heavenly\nwise and the sainted good--what peace can it expect from mere dry\ntendencies to acts no longer practicable and blameless things now\nleft behind? No; it must have that pure love which is nowhere a\nstranger, in earth or heaven; that vital goodness of the affections,\nthat adjusts itself at once to every scene where there is truth and\nholiness to venerate; that conscience, wakeful and devout, which\nenters with instant joy on any career of duty and progress opened\nto its aspirations. And even in \"the life that now is,\" the mere\nmechanist of virtue, who copies precepts with mimetic accuracy,\nis too frequently at fault, to have even the poor peace which\ncustom promises. He is at home only on his own beat. An emergency\nperplexes him, and too often tempts him disgracefully to fly. He\nwants the inventiveness by which a living heart of duty seizes the\nresources of good, and uses them to the last; and the courage by\nwhich love, like honor, starts to the post of noble danger, and\nmaintains it till, by such fidelity, it becomes a place of danger\nno more. It is a vain attempt to comprize in rules and aphorisms\nall the various moral exigencies of life. Hardly does such legality\nsuffice to define the small portion of right and wrong contemplated\nin human jurisprudence. But the true instincts of a pure mind, like\nthe creative genius of art, frames rules most perfect in the act\nof obeying them, and throws the materials of life into the fairest\nattitudes and the justest proportions. He whose allegiance is paid\nto the mere perceptive system, shapes and carves his duty into the\nhomeliest of wooden idols; he who has the spirit of Christ turns it\ninto an image breathing and divine. Children of God in the noblest\nsense, we are not without something of His creative spirit in our\nhearts. The power is there to separate the light from the darkness\nwithin us, and set in the firmament of the soul luminaries to guide\nand gladden us, for seasons and for years; power to make the herbage\ngreen beneath our feet, and beckon happy creatures into existence\naround our path; power to mold the clay of our earthly nature into\nthe likeness of God most high; and thus only have we power to look\nback in peace upon our work, and find a Sabbath rest upon the\nthought that, morning and evening, all is good.\n\nBut the peace which Christ left and bequeathed was the result of\ntrust, no less than toil. However immersed in action, and engaged\nin enterprises of conscience, every life has its passive moments,\nwhen the operation is reversed, and power, instead of going from us,\nreturns upon us; and the scenes of our existence present themselves\nto us as objects of speculation and emotion. Sometimes we are forced\ninto quietude in pauses of exhaustion or of grief; stretched upon\nthe bed of pain, to hear the great world murmuring and rolling by;\nor lifted into the watch-tower of solitude, to look over the vast\nplain of humanity, and from a height that covers it with silence\nobserve its groups shifting and traversing like spirits in a city\nof the dead. At such times our peace must depend on the view under\nwhich our faith or our fears may exhibit this mighty \"field of\nthe world\"; on the forces of evil, of fortuity, or of God, which\nwe suppose to be secretly directing the changes on the scene, and\ncalling up the brief apparition of generation after generation. And\nso great and terrible is the amount of evil, physical and moral, in\nthe great community of men; so vast the numbers sunk in barbarism,\ncompared with the few who more nobly represent our nature; so\nmany and piercing (could we but hear them) the cries of unpitied\nwretchedness, that with every beat of the pendulum wander unnoticed\ninto the air; so dense the crowds that are thrust together in the\ndeepest recesses of want, and that crawl through the loathsome hives\nof sin; that only two men can look through the world without dismay;\nhe, on the one hand, who suffering himself to be bewildered with\nmomentary horror, and in the confusion of his emotions, to mistake\nwhat he sees for the moral chaos, turns his back in the despair of\nfatalism, crying, \"Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die\"; and\nhe, on the other, who, with the discernment of a deeper wisdom,\npenetrates through the shell of evil to the kernel and the seed\nof good; who perceives in suffering and temptation the resistance\nwhich alone can render virtue manifest, and conscience great, and\nexistence venerable; who recognizes, even in the gigantic growth\nof guilt, the grasp of infinite desires, and the perseverance of\ngodlike capacities; who sees how soon, were God to take up His\nomnipotence, and snatch from His creature \"man\" the care of the\nworld and the work of self-perfection, all that deforms might\nbe swept away, and the meanest lifted through the interval that\nseparates them from the noblest; and who therefore holds fast to the\ntheory of hope and the kindred duty of effort; takes shelter beneath\nthe universal Providence of God; and seeing time enough in His vast\ncycles for the growth and consummation of every blessing can be\npatient as well as trust; can resign the selfish vanity of doing all\nthings himself, and making a finish before he dies; and cheerfully\ngive up his life to build up the mighty temple of human improvement,\ntho no inscription mark it for glory, and it be as one of the hidden\nstones of the sanctuary, visible only to the eye of God. Such was\nthe spirit and the faith which Jesus left, and in which His first\ndisciples found their rest. Within the infinitude of the divine\nmercy trouble did but fold them closer; the perversity of man did\nbut provide them to put forth a more conquering love; and tho none\nwere ever more the sport of the selfish interests and prejudices of\nmankind, or came into contact with a more desolate portion of the\ngreat wastes of humanity, they constructed no melancholy theories;\nbut having planted many a rose of Sharon, and made their little\nportion of the desert smile, departed in the faith that the green\nmargin would spread as the seasons of God came round, till the\nmantle of heaven covered the earth, and it ended with Eden as it had\nbegun.\n\nBetween these two sources of Christian peace, virtuous toil, and\nholy trust, there is an intimate connection. The desponding are\ngenerally the indolent and useless; not the tried and struggling,\nbut speculators at a distance from the scene of things, and far from\ndestitute of comforts themselves. Barren of the most blest of human\nsympathies, strangers to the light that best gladdens the heart of\nman, they are without the materials of a bright and hopeful faith.\nBut he who consecrates himself sees at once how God may sanctify\nthe world; he whose mind is rich in the memory of moral victories\nwill not easily believe the world a scene of moral defeats; nor was\nit ever known that one who, like Paul, labored for the good of man,\ndespaired of the benevolence of God.\n\nWhoever then would have the peace of Christ, let him seek first the\nspirit of Christ. Let him not fret against the conditions which God\nassigns to his being, but reverently conform himself to them, and do\nand enjoy the good which they allow. Let him cast himself freely on\nthe career to which the secret persuasion of duty points, without\nreservation of happiness or self; and in the exercise which its\ndifficulties give to his understanding, its conflicts to his will,\nits humanities to his affections, he shall find that united action\nof his whole and best nature, that inward harmony, that moral order,\nwhich emancipates from the anxieties of self, and unconsciously\nyields the divinest repose. The shadows of darkest affliction\ncannot blot out the inner radiance of such a mind; the most tedious\nyears move lightly and with briefest step across its history; for\nit is conscious of its immortality, and hastening to its heavens.\nAnd there shall its peace be consummated at length; its griefs\ntransmuted into delicious retrospects; its affections fresh and\nready for a new and nobler career; and its praise confessing that\nthis final \"peace of God\" doth indeed surpass its understanding.\n\n\n\n\nMANNING\n\nTHE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\n\nHENRY EDWARD MANNING, Roman Catholic prelate, was born 1808 at\nTotteridge in Hertfordshire and educated at Harrow and Oxford.\nAfter graduation in 1830, he studied for holy orders in the Church\nof England and was ordained in 1833. The Tractarian Movement\nwas then at its height and Manning took a leading part in it.\nAppointed Archdeacon of Chichester in 1840 he took a commanding\nplace as a preacher and leader. Newman's recession did not shake\nhis allegiance, but the decision in the Gorham case, which gave the\nCrown the power of deciding doctrinal questions, drove him to seek\nrefuge in the Roman Catholic fold in 1851.\n\nHe was ordained priest by Cardinal Wiseman and to the end of his\nlife devoted himself to religious and philanthropic work in London.\nHe was appointed to succeed Wiseman as Archbishop of Westminster in\n1865. He was made cardinal in 1875. As a preacher he was logical and\ndogmatic, but his style is imaginative and his flights of eloquence\ntinged with poetic coloring and passion. He died in 1892.\n\n\n\n\nMANNING\n\n1808-1892\n\nTHE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH\n\n_We give thanks unto God, who maketh us always to triumph in Christ\nJesus, and manifesteth the odor of the knowledge of Him by us in\nevery place. For we are a good odor of Christ unto God, both in them\nthat are saved and in them that perish; in the one indeed an odor of\nlife, in the other an odor of death unto death._--2 Cor. ii., 14-16.\n(Douay Version.)\n\n\nSuch was the confidence of the Apostle in the face of all that was\nmost hostile, mighty, and triumphant in the judgment of this world.\nHe was confident that through God his mission in the world was being\naccomplished, that the Word of God was triumphing over all the\npower of man. They may well have said to him, \"What is this triumph\nyou speak of? If this be triumph, what is defeat? You were stoned\nthe other day in Lystra; you were imprisoned at Philippi; you were\nscourged at Jerusalem; you were saved out of the hands of the people\nonly by Roman soldiers; you were confounded by the philosophers\nat Athens; and you were refuted out of the holy Scriptures by the\nJews of Berea. If this is triumph, you are welcome to it.\" Such,\nno doubt, was the lordly and confident language of men in the face\nof the apostles of Jesus Christ then, and such is the language of\nconfidence with which the world looks on the Catholic Church at\nthis hour. It counts it to be a comedy played out, a stale medieval\nsuperstition, and a name that is trampled in the earth. In every age\nthe Church has been militant and in warfare. It is under the same\nlaw of suffering which crucified its divine Head. His throne was\na cross, and His crown was of thorns. Nevertheless He triumphed,\nand He triumphs still, and shall triumph to the end. And so at\nthis moment, in this nineteenth century, in the century of modern\ncivilization, of light, of progress, of scientific affectation,\nthe Catholic Church is derided. They say to us, \"Look at the\nCatholic Church in Germany; look at it in Italy; the head of the\nChurch dethroned; and not a spot on earth for the incarnation to\nset its foot upon. If this be triumph you are welcome to it.\" Our\nanswer is: \"Yes, even now we triumph always and in every place.\nThe Catholic Church is triumphing now in America, and in Ireland,\nand in the colonies of the British empire; aye, and in the midst\nof the confusions in Spain, and in France through revolution after\nrevolution, and in the furnace of infidelity; aye, and in Germany,\nin the midst of all that the might of man can do against it; and in\nItaly too, where the head of the Church is morally a prisoner, it\nis triumphing even now.\"\n\nBut how can I verify this assertion? It would be enough indeed to\nquote the words of the apostle, but I hope to do more. The world\nesteems the triumph of the Church to be in wealth, power, glory,\nhonor, public sway over empires and nations. There was a time indeed\nwhen the world laid these things at the feet of the apostles of\nJesus Christ. There was a time when the Catholic Church and the\nChristian world knew how to sanctify the society of men; but there\nis this difference--the world then believed, and the world now is\napostate. Nevertheless, there is a triumph in the Christian world\nand there is a triumph in the anti-Christian world; and what is it?\nIt is that the Church in every age and in every condition, and in\nthe midst of all antagonists, fulfils its mission and accomplishes\nits work, and no power of man can hinder it. Men may, as we shall\nsee hereafter, to their own destruction, resist the mission of\nthe Church, but its work will be accomplished nevertheless, and\naccomplished even in them; and its work will be a good odor of\nChrist unto God both in those that are saved and in those that\nperish. The world has neither tests nor measures by which to\nunderstand what the mission and the work of the Church are; but they\nwho see by the light of faith have both. Let us examine, then, what\nis its mission, what is its work, and how it is fulfilled.\n\nFirst of all, the mission of the Church among men is this--to be\na witness for God, and for the incarnation of God in the face of\nthe world. Our Divine Lord said of Himself: \"For this was I born,\nand for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony\nunto the truth.\" As it was with Him, so it is with His Church; and\ntherefore He said to His apostles: \"You shall be witnesses unto\nme,\" and St. John said: \"That which was from the beginning, which\nwe have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have\nlooked upon, and our hands handled, of the word of life; for the\nlife was manifested, and we have seen it, and do bear witness, and\ndeclare unto you, the life eternal which was with the Father, and\nhath appeared unto us; that is to say, the manifestation of God in\nthe flesh, the incarnation of the Son of God.\" The Church was the\nwitness of this divine fact to the world, and it is witness to this\nhour. I may say it is an eye-witness. It was eye-witness of what it\ndeclares. It was an ear-witness of what it affirms. I may say in\ntruth that the Church of God, which testifies at this hour, saw the\nSon of God, and heard His words, and was witness of His miracles.\nSo St. Peter expressly declares, speaking of His transfiguration:\n\"We have not, by artificial fables, made known to you the power and\npresence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we were eye-witnesses of his\ngreatness. For he received from God the Father honor and glory,\nthis voice coming down to him from the excellent glory: This is my\nbeloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And his voice\nwe heard brought from heaven, when we were with him in the holy\nmount.\" More than this: it was a witness of the day of Pentecost,\nand upon it the Holy Ghost descended. It heard the sound of the\nmighty wind and it saw the tongues of fire. The Church therefore\ntestifies at this day as an ear-witness and an eye-witness of the\ndivine facts which it declares. And how can this be said? Because\nthat which the apostles saw and heard they delivered to others who\nbelieved in them upon a full test and knowledge of their truth, and\nthose who received their testimony held it as a sacred trust and\ndeclared it to those who came after. From age to age the testimony\nof the apostles has descended unbroken. The intrinsic certainty of\ntheir witness, resting on their own eye-witness and ear-witness of\nthe facts, has not diminished by a shade, jot, or tittle in the\nlapse of time, and the external evidence of that fact has multiplied\nand extended throughout all time and throughout the world. Therefore\nthe testimony of the apostles to these divine realities and truths\nis as living and fresh at this day as it was in the beginning.\nThen twelve men testified; now the nations of the world, united\nin one body by faith and by baptism, take up and perpetuate that\ntestimony. And part of that testimony is this--that when the Son of\nGod ascended into heaven, as they saw Him ascend, He fulfilled His\npromise that He would send the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost, to\nabide with them forever; that when one divine Teacher had gone up\nto His Father's throne, another should come in His stead; that the\nworld should never be without a divine Person and a divine Teacher\nin the midst of it; and that the Spirit of Truth by which they\nwere united to their divine Head in heaven should unite them also\nto each other as His members in one mystical body, and should form\nto Himself a dwelling-place in which to abide forever. As the soul\nabides in the body of the man, so the Holy Ghost abides in the body\nof the Church. It is the sanctuary in which He dwells; the organ by\nwhich He speaks, so that the words of our Divine Lord are fulfilled\nto the very letter--\"He that heareth you heareth me;\" for the voice\nof the head and that of the body, as St. Augustine says, are one and\nthe same voice. As they make one moral person, so their voice is\nidentical, and the assistance of the Holy Spirit keeps the voice of\nthe Church always in perfect harmony with the voice of its divine\nHead, fulfilling the promise of the Lord by His prophet: \"My spirit\nwhich is upon thee and my word which I put in thy mouth, shall never\ndepart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor\nout of the mouth of thy seed's seed from this time and forever.\"\nThus, then, the mission of the Church is fulfilled always; whether\nthe world believe or disbelieve, whether it gainsay or assent, it\nmatters not; the testimony of the Church forever triumphs in every\nplace.\n\nAnother part of the mission of the Church is this--to teach the\ndoctrines of Jesus Christ in the midst of all the controversies and\ncontradictions of men. In the face of all the errors and heresies\nof men there is one divine Teacher perpetually declaring the same\nimmutable truth. In the clamor and confusion of the human voices\nof philosophers and human guides, of the scribes and Pharisees of\nthe new laws, there is one divine voice--articulate, clear, and\npiercing--which cleaves through all the confusion, and is to be\nheard above the clamor of men and of nations--the voice of that\none holy, Catholic, and Roman Church, spreading from the sunrise\nto the sunset, immutable in its doctrine, teaching the same truths\nidentically in every place, and abiding always the same unchanging\nteacher in every age. This is a fact legible in human history. I\nneed not offer proof of it from histories written by ourselves; it\nis proved by histories and controversies of those who are most\nopposed to us. There is an accusation which is repeated from age\nto age against the Catholic and Roman Church; and what is it? That\nit always persists in its old errors. I accept the accusation. Its\npersistence proves its immutability, and that which they account\nerror we know to be the doctrine of Jesus Christ; because, as I have\nalready shown from the Word of God, neither can the Catholic Church\never err in believing, nor can the Catholic Church err in teaching.\nThese are two impossibilities, and they descend from one and the\nsame divine truth. God, the Holy Ghost, abiding forever in the\nmystical body of Christ, illuminates the whole body of the faithful\nfrom the time of their baptism. From the time that the graces of\nfaith, hope, and charity are infused into their souls, they are\nilluminated with the light of faith as the world is illuminated by\nthe splendor of the sun at noonday; and the faithful throughout\nthe world continue passively in their persistence in that one\nbaptismal faith wherewith they were enlightened from their earliest\nconsciousness. And further, they can never err in believing,\nbecause the Church which teaches them can never err in teaching.\nThe episcopate throughout the world, which is the college of the\napostles multiplied and expanded among all nations, has always the\nassistance of the Spirit of Truth to guide and preserve it, so that\nthe errors of men and infirmities of our intellect never prevail\nover the light of faith by which the whole Episcopate and the Church\nis sustained in the revelation of the day of Pentecost. And more\nthan this: nineteen general councils, from the first which declared\nthe coequality and consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and\nthe Holy Ghost, down to the last which declared the infallibility\nof the vicar of Jesus Christ,--those nineteen councils have been\nthe organ of the Holy Ghost, preserving the truth in all ages; and\nthe pontiffs, two hundred and fifty-seven in number, have also been\nguided and assisted by the same Spirit of Truth; so that no doctrine\nof faith and morals from their hand and from their lips has been out\nof harmony with the revelation of Jesus Christ. For these reasons\nthe Church is fulfilling its mission, always and in every place, and\nit can say in every age, with a divine certainty of knowledge and\nwith a divine authority of teaching: \"It seemed good to the Holy\nGhost and to us.\"\n\nOnce more, and lastly: there is another part of the mission of the\nChurch which never fails, and is never baffled--and that is, that\nthe Church judges between the truth of God and the errors of men,\nand gives decision with divine certainty what is truth, what is\nfalsehood, what is light and what is darkness. Here again the world,\nin the confusion of its discordant witnesses, bears testimony to\nour truth. The world disclaims altogether the presence of any divine\nteacher in the midst of us. It derides the very notion. There is\nnot a sect or a communion, or a so-called church, which lays claim\nto this divine guidance. They say infallibility exists nowhere but\nin God. As the Pharisees said: \"Who can forgive sins but God only?\"\nthereby acknowledging the divinity of Him who forgave the palsied\nman. And while they say: \"We have no infallibility in us; we do\nnot claim it; we deny its existence on the face of the earth,\" the\none Teacher, who never varies in His voice, says: \"He that heareth\nme heareth him that sent me.\" It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and\nunto us that we should claim that infallibility, and we cite you\nbefore the tribunal of God to answer for your denial of that truth.\nWe say further that no man knows that any revelation was ever made\nto man except through our testimony. You never saw the Word made\nflesh, you nor your forefathers; and you have no unbroken succession\nof witnesses who trace upward these eighteen hundred years to the\nday when the Holy Ghost descended with wind and fire; you are not\nin contact with the original revelation of God. How can you rise\nup and say: \"This was revealed upwards of eighteen hundred years\nago,\" when you have no proof to give, except that which you borrow\nfrom me, that the Son of God ever came into the world? You take my\nwitness for the fact of Christianity, and you then contradict me\nwhen I teach you what the doctrines of Christianity are. And if\nmen appeal to the Scriptures, our answer is the same. How do you\nknow the Scriptures were ever written? How can you prove that there\never was a book called the Word of God? You had it from me; you\nsnatched it out of my hand, and you then read it and interpret it\nin contradiction to my teaching. How do you know that there were\nfour greater prophets and twelve lesser in the Old Testament; that\nthere were four evangelists and fourteen epistles of St. Paul in the\nNew? Who told you all these things? You had them all from me--from\nme alone, to whom these Scriptures were committed in custody and\nin guardianship; from me, who preserved and handed them on to this\nday. You, who are denying the inspiration of this book and of that,\nof this text and of that text, and who are gnawing away, as a moth\nfretteth a garment, the whole written word of God, you rise up and\ntell us: \"This is the meaning of the holy Scriptures,\" and you\nreject the holy Catholic faith.\n\nDear brethren, it needs great patience to hear these things;\nnevertheless, the judge is always calm and patient while he is\nfulfilling his work among men, and that because it is a grave\nthing to be the odor of life unto life and of death unto death to\nthe eternal souls of men. And when men appeal to antiquity and tell\nus that \"this is not the primitive tradition,\" the Church answers:\nWere you ever in antiquity, or anyone that belongs to you? I was\nthere, and as a perpetual witness antiquity is to me nothing but my\nearly days. Antiquity exists in my consciousness to this hour, as\nmen grown to riper years remember their childhood. Men of the world\nknow that the contemporaneous interpretation of a law is the most\nauthentic and certain interpretation. But I have the contemporaneous\ninterpretation of holy Scripture; and more than this, men who\npractise before human tribunals know that the continuous usage of a\ncountry is the interpretation of its laws written and unwritten. But\nI have the contemporaneous and the continuous usage of the Church\nof God. The seven sacraments are institutions of Jesus Christ and\nevery one of them interprets a cluster of truths. The existence\nof the Church itself is an interpretation of the words: \"Thou art\nPeter, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of\nhell shall not prevail against it.\" The jurisdiction that I have\nover the world, which the hearts of men recognize and to which their\nconsciences respond, is the interpretation of the words: \"Receive\nye the Holy Ghost, whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven\nunto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.\"\n\nBut lastly there is another appeal which men make in this day. We\nare now told that scientific history is the test of truth; and I saw\nthe other day in a document having great pretension from a certain\nbody of men who are troubling Germany and attempting to trouble even\nEngland with the name of Old Catholics, that the way to know the\npure faith of Jesus Christ is to interpret history by science. Alas,\nas I said before, the world is full of pretensions to science; but\nthose who claim to be Catholics, and who yet appeal from the living\nvoice of the Catholic Church to any other tribunal whatsoever, are\nall of them identical in their principle, and that principle is\nheresy. Luther appealed from the voice of the Catholic Church to\nScripture, and thereby became a heretic. There are others who appeal\nto antiquity, and the appeal is the same--it is an appeal from the\nliving voice, from the divine authority of the Church, to something\nof their own choice and creation. It matters not to what the appeal\nis made. That which constitutes both the treason of the act and the\nheresy of the principle is that they appeal from the living voice,\nthat is from the divine voice. This it is that is being done at this\nmoment by a body of men who profess to be and to intend to live and\ndie Catholics; and what is more, to purify and reform the Church by\nstaying in it. What is their appeal? Their appeal is to history, to\nscientific history; that is, to history interpreted by themselves.\nLuther was much more direct and much wiser. He appealed to a book\nwhich is certainly written by the Holy Ghost; they appeal to I know\nnot what books, but to books certainly written only by men, and not\nby the Spirit of God; to human history, the authenticity of which\nand the purity of the text of which no one can guarantee; and even\nthis they interpret for themselves.\n\nNow bear with me further if I dwell a few moments longer upon this.\nAt the time I speak, in the old Catholic city of Cologne there\nis assembled together a number of these men--some four or five\nhundred--with a handful of unhappy priests, perhaps six or eight,\nof whom the greater part had already the note of unsoundness upon\nthem before they took their deadly step. And what are they? What\nare these men who are rising up to purify the Church? What do they\nbelieve? Some believe all the Council of Trent, but not the Council\nof the Vatican. Some believe the Church to be infallible, but not\nits Head; others propose to reject the invocation of saints, and\npurgatory, and compulsory confession, and I know not what. Others\nask for either half or altogether rationalism. And who have they to\nassist them? Excommunicated Jansenists from Holland, and members, I\ngrieve to say, of the Established Church from England; and those\nchosen, as it were, by a happy fatality, one the most extreme of\nold-fashioned high-church orthodoxy--an estimable and excellent man,\nwhose person I both respect and love; and another whose advanced\nrationalism is such that even his own brethren can hardly forbear\nprotesting against him. So that we have assembled in this congress,\nwhich is to reform and purify the Catholic and Roman Church of all\nages, men so irreconcilably in contradiction with themselves that\nthey cannot touch a religious doctrine without discord, and they\ncannot find anything on which to unite except in opposition to the\none immutable truth. There was a day when all the Scribes, and all\nthe Pharisees, and all the Herodians, and all the hypocrites, and\nall the men who could agree in anything else or at any other time,\nwere united together in one conspiracy, and tho their witnesses did\nnot agree together and their discordant voices could not be combined\nthey all had one will and one purpose against the Son of God and\nagainst His truth. These men, I bear witness--many of them at\nleast--have no such intention; but we know from the Word of God that\nneither had they who crucified our divine Master a knowledge of what\nthey did: \"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\"\n\"Which none of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known\nit they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.\" But they are\nat this moment fulfilling the very words of the apostles: \"And to\nsome the testimony of the Church is life unto life, to others death\nunto death.\"\n\nSuch then, is the mission and the work of the Church--to bear its\nwitness, to teach and to judge; and in doing this, whether men\nwill believe or whether men will not believe, it is accomplishing\nits triumph in the world. The world forgets that there is not only\nsalvation, but there is also judgment; and God, the just judge of\nall, is putting men on their trial. The Church is fulfilling its\noffice by proposing the way of salvation to men, visibly to the\neye by its own presence, audibly to the ear by its own teachings,\nclearly to the intellect by the evident truth of its doctrines. It\nis putting men upon trial and applying the test to their hearts. It\ntests their faith to see whether men will believe; it tests their\ncandor to see whether they will choose God above all things; it\ntests their courage to know whether they are ready to take up their\ncross and follow their divine Master. The Church says to the men of\nthis day: \"Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever\nshall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it.\" And\nin saying this God is separating between nation and nation and\nbetween man and man. His \"fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly\npurge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff\nwill be burnt with unquenchable fire.\" \"He that believeth and is\nbaptized will be saved; but he that believeth not is condemned.\"\n\"We thank God, who always maketh us to triumph in Christ Jesus and\nmanifesteth the odor of him by us in every place;\" for we now, at\nthis hour, in the midst of the nineteenth century, in the midst\nof science and progress, are the odor of life unto life and the\nodor of death unto death. For the purpose of God in the world is\nthis--to gather out, as He did of old, a people for His name. Among\nthe Gentiles of the old world He chose Israel; so now amongst the\nnations of the new world He chooses those that believe. He knows the\nnumber of His elect and He calls them by their name. He proposes to\nthem the way of salvation and puts all things necessary--truth and\ngrace--within their reach. God is putting them on trial, and the\nChurch in this is fulfilling its mission and accomplishing its work.\n\nThe world is on its probation now. It has been for generations\nand generations driving God and Christianity out of its public\nlife. Christianity is cancelled from its public law; Christianity\nis silent in the legislature; Christianity at this moment lingers\nin education, but men are endeavoring to close the doors of the\nschools against it and so to shut Christianity out of the knowledge\nof the rising generation. Wo to the people the tradition of whose\nChristian education is cut asunder! Wo to your children and to\nyour posterity, if they are brought up without the knowledge of\nChristianity! The world is laboring with all its might, and all\nits fraud, and all its riches, and all its public authority, to\naccomplish this end. I do not say that the men who are doing it\nknow what they do; but I affirm that they are doing what I say.\nUnbelievers like those who created the infidel revolution of France\nin the last century knew well what they were doing. \"Let us destroy\nthe accurst one,\" was the language in which they frankly spoke of\nJesus Christ. Men are more refined in the present day. They talk\nonly of the religious difficulty. \"Let us evade or get around the\nreligious difficulty;\" and, under this plea of evading the religious\ndifficulty, Christianity is to be excluded from our schools; that\nis to say, because grown men choose to controvert and contradict\neach other as to what is the truth of God, the little ones of\nJesus Christ are to be robbed of their faith. Again, the world is\nseparating its civil powers, its public authority from the unity of\nthe faith and of the Church everywhere. It is making it a part of\nhigh and perfect legislation, of what we hear called in these days\n\"progress and modern civilization,\" to separate the Church from the\nState, and the school from the Church. Progress has deposed the Head\nof the Church; it has put in derision a crown of thorns upon his\nhead; and it believes that at last it has the whole world to itself.\n\nThis indeed is the triumph of the world. But meanwhile the Church\nis triumphing, tho men know it not. The Church was never more\nwidespread than at this moment; never more luminous in the eyes of\nmen, never more explicitly known in its faith; never more united,\nvigorous, pure, and confident in its work. Its kingdom is not of\nthis world: that is, it is not derived from it; the foundation of\nits jurisdiction is in eternity; the source of its truth is in the\nHoly Ghost, and its imperishable Head is the Son of God at the right\nhand of the Father. His kingdom is in the world, but not of it. The\nworld may prosper and go its way; it may stop its ears against the\nvoice of the divine witness to the truth; nevertheless that witness\nwill be the odor of death unto death.\n\nAnd England also is on its probation. I bear witness that in England\nerrors are vanishing away, as the snow melts before the sun--passing\naway, as the hard frosts before the coming of the spring. The errors\nwhich were once dominant, lordly, confident, and persecuting--where\nare they now? At this day men are proclaiming that they are not\ncertain of what their forefathers bequeathed to them; that they\ncannot precisely tell what was the doctrine which was intended in\nthe Thirty-nine Articles, and was incorporated in statute laws.\nThey are no longer certain of these things; and I bear them witness\nthat a gentler spirit and a kindlier disposition is working in the\nhearts of many. In the midst of this darkness, truth is rising\nagain, and the old Catholic Church and faith, for which Ireland has\nstood inflexible as a martyr, with the aureola upon her head, at\nthis day is multiplying the children of faith here and throughout\nthe world. Here too in Lancashire, where the faith of England has\nnever been extinct--where to this day the little children of our\nflock are the descendants of those who were martyrs and confessors\nsome three hundred years ago--the lingering tradition of faith once\nmore is embodied in the perfect hierarchy of the Church of God, in\nits perfect order, perfect unity, perfect jurisdiction, perfect\nauthority. And, what is more, the men of England have learned to\nknow it better. They have heard it speak; they have seen it worship;\nthey have even knelt together with us before the same altar, perhaps\nhardly knowing what they did; and that because the Spirit of God is\nworking for His truth, and multitudes will be saved. We are only in\nthe twilight of the morning; but we can see Jesus standing on the\nshore, and there is a net in the hands of His apostles let down in\nthe water. But when we are long gone to our rest, who can say what\nshall be the great draft of souls which shall be miraculously taken\nin England?\n\nI must bear witness that in England there are tokens full of hope.\nEngland never rejected the holy Catholic faith. A tyrannous and\nguilty king, a corrupt and covetous court, men full of the conceit\nof false learning, schemers and intriguers, men that hungered to\nspoil the Church for their own enrichment--these tyrannized over\nthe people of England. The people of England held to their faith\nand died for it. The people of England never rejected it. They were\nrobbed of it; they were deprived of their inheritance, and their\nchildren were born disinherited of their faith; every century from\nthat hour to this they have gone farther and farther from the light\nof the one truth. Poor English people! Bear with them--I speak as an\nEnglishman--bear with them; they know not what they do in believing\nthat we worship images, that we imbrued our hands in the massacre of\nSt. Bartholomew. Let the men who write these things look at their\nown hands; there is blood enough upon them. But the English people\ndo not believe these things now; they are passed away. And there has\ncome in the place of these impostures a desire after truth--\"Only\nlet me find it;\" a craving after unity--\"Can we never make an end\nof these divisions?\" a thirsting for the presence of Jesus Christ\nupon the altar--\"Where can I find Him?\" And what are all these\naspirations? They are the evidences of the good odor of life unto\nlife.\n\nAnd if so, then, dear brethren, you that have the inheritance of\nfaith are on your probation too. You are called to let the light of\nyour faith shine like the day. The silent, penetrating, convincing\nlight of a man who, knowing the faith, speaks it calmly, without\ncontroversy, without bickering, without contention, sheds a grace\naround him. As men that possess the greatest gift of God, and who\ndesire to make everybody else share it to the full, so let your\nfaith shine. And next, as you have faith, so you ought to have\nthe warmth of charity. Where there is light, there is warmth; and\nwhere there is greater light there is greater warmth. Where there\nis perfect truth, there ought to be perfect charity. You who have\nthe whole revelation of God ought to have the whole charity of God\nin you. Let your neighbors who are round about, even those who are\nnot of the faith, feel that there is something in you--a warmth,\na kindness, a sympathy and generosity which they find in no other\nman. And, lastly, let there be the fragrance of a holy life. This is\nthe good odor of Christ unto God, and this diffuses life unto life\nwherever you go. You are upon this probation. Be worthy of the great\ngift which has been given to you. You have it in its fulness. Be\nthen, worthy of its fulness, in faith and in charity.\n\nAnd now, dear brethren, in the midst of all the lordly triumph of\nthe world, of all that which no doubt we shall hear to-morrow, be\nof good heart. As they said to the apostles so they will say to us:\n\"If this be triumph, what can be defeat? We do not quarrel if you\nare content with these victories.\" Overhead there is a throne, and\nround about it are those whom no man can number; the powers and\nprerogatives of Him who sits upon that throne are working mightily\nin the world. There is one who sits above the water-flood, with all\nits confusions, whose voice penetrates through all the jangling\ncontradictions of men. He is bringing to its fulfilment the purpose\nwhich from all eternity He has predestined. He knows His own by\nnumber and by name, and He will gather them out as the shepherd\ngathers his flock, and He will separate the goats from the sheep.\nHe will reign until the whole of that work is accomplished. When\nit is done, and when the last of His elect has been gathered in,\nand the last of His redeemed has been made perfect, then He will\nmanifest Himself to all men, and the world shall then know that He\nhas triumphed always and in every place.\n\n\n\n\nPARK\n\nTHE PROMINENCE OF THE ATONEMENT\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\n\nEDWARDS AMASA PARK was born at Providence, R. I., in 1808. After a\nshort pastorate of two years he became professor at Amherst, and\nsubsequently at Andover Theological Seminary. He was one of the\nwell-known exponents of the New England Calvinism, and his teachings\nhad a wide influence over the ministers of his generation. His\nsermons, frequently rewritten, were marked by elegance of style\nand great moral force. Both as a preacher and teacher he showed\nlargeness of view, depth of thought, and a rare facility of clear\nand powerful expression. He wrote a number of biographies and other\nworks. He died in 1900.\n\n\n\n\nPARK\n\n1808-1900\n\nTHE PROMINENCE OF THE ATONEMENT[1]\n\n  [1] Printed here by kind permission of Messrs. W. F. Draper & Co.,\n  Andover Publishing House, Andover, Mass.\n\n_For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ,\nand him crucified._--1 Corinthians ii., 2.\n\n\nShould the apostle who penned this eloquent expression resume his\nministry on earth, and should he deign to hold converse with us on\nthe principles of his high calling, and should he repeat his strong\nwords, I am now, as of old, determined not to know anything among\nyou save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, some of us would feel an\nimpulse to ask him:\n\n\"Can your words mean what they appear to imply? You are learned in\nRabbinical literature; you have read the Grecian poets, and even\nquoted from Aratus; you have examined the statuary of Greece, and\nhave made a permanent record of an inscription upon an altar in\nancient Athens; you have reasoned on the principles of Aristotle\nfrom effect to cause, and have taken rank with the philosophers,\nas well as orators of the world; and now, you seem to utter your\ndetermination to abandon all knowledge save that which concerns the\nJew who was crucified. You once said that you had rather speak five\nwords with the understanding, than ten thousand words in an unknown\ntongue; and here, lest the pithy language of this text should fail\nof being truly apprehended, we desire to learn its precise meaning\nin three particulars:\n\n\"In the first place, do you intend to assert that our knowledge is\ncontrolled by our will? You determined not to know anything save\none. Can you by mere choice expel all but one of your old ideas, and\nmake your mind like a chart of white paper in reference to the vast\nmajority of your familiar objects of thought?\"\n\n\"I am ready to concede,\" is the reply, \"that much of our knowledge\nis involuntary; still a part of it is dependent on our will. In some\ndegree, at some times, we may attend to a theme or not attend to\nit, as we choose, and thus our choice may influence our belief, and\nthus are we responsible, in a certain measure, for our knowledge.\nBesides, the word 'know' is used by us Hebraistic writers to include\nnot only a mental apprehension, but also a moral feeling. When we\nknow Christ, we feel a hearty complacence in Him. Again, to 'know'\noften signifies to manifest, as well as to possess, both knowledge\nand love. We do not know an old acquaintance when we of set purpose\nwithhold all public recognition of him, and act outwardly as if\nwe were inwardly ignorant of his being. But I, Paul, say to you,\nas I said to the Corinthians, that I shall make the atonement of\nChrist, and nothing but the atonement of Christ, the main theme of\nmy regard, of my loving regard, and such loving regard as is openly\navowed.\"\n\nThus our first query is answered; but there is a second inquiry\nwhich some of us would propose to the apostle, were he uttering to\nus personally the words which he wrote to the Corinthians. It is\nthis:\n\n\"Should a Christian minister out of the pulpit, as well as in the\npulpit, know nothing save the Crucified One? Did you not know how to\nsustain yourself by the manufacture of tents; and did you not say to\nthe circle of elders at Ephesus, 'These hands have ministered to my\nnecessities'? Did you not dispute with the Roman sergeants, plead\nyour cause before the Roman courts? Must not every minister cease\nfor a time to converse on the word of Jesus; and must he not think\nof providing for his own household, lest he become worse than an\ninfidel?\"\n\n\"I am willing to admit,\" is the reply, \"that the pulpit is the\nplace where the minister should speak of Christ with more uniform\ndistinctness than in other places; but there are no places, and no\ntimes, in which he should fail to manifest, more or less obviously,\nhis interest in his Redeemer. Wherever he goes he has a pulpit.\nWhether he eat, or drink, or whatever he do, he must do all for\nthe glory of God, and the highest glory of God is Christ, and the\nhighest honor of Christ is in Him crucified. A minister must always\nrespect the proprieties of life; in honoring them he knows that\nappropriate model Man who, rising from the tomb, wrapped up the\nnapkin that was about His head, and laid it in a place by itself.\nNow the proprieties of life do require a minister to speak in the\npulpit on themes more plainly and more easily connected with the\natonement, than are various themes on which he must speak in the\nmarket-place or in the schools. But all subjects on which he may\ndiscourse do lead, sooner or later, more or less obviously and\neasily, to the great work of Jesus; and he should converse on them\nwith the intent of seizing every hint they give him, following out\nevery line to which they point him, in the direction of the cross. I\nhave been in many synagogues, and in the temple, and on Mars' Hill,\nand on a Mediterranean ship-deck; and once I was hurried along in a\nnight ride from Jerusalem to C\u00e6sarea with four hundred and seventy\nsoldiers, horsemen and spearmen. I have resided at leisure with my\narm chained to a Roman guard in a prison at the capital of the Roman\nEmpire; but in all such places I have felt, and everywhere I do\nfeel, bound to speak out, and to act out, all the interest which\nthe fitness of the occasion admits, in the atonement of Jesus; and\nnot to manifest, and not to feel, any interest in any theme which\nmay lessen my regard for this, the chiefest among ten thousand!\"\n\nBut there is a third question which some of us would propose to the\napostle, were he to speak in our hearing the words of the text:\n\n\"Should every man, as well as every minister, cherish and exhibit no\ninterest in anything but Christ? Should a sailor at the masthead,\na surgeon in the extirpation of the clavicle, a warrior in the\ncritical moment of the last charge, look at nothing, and hear of\nnothing, but the cross? Must not everyone conduct business, and\nsustain cares, which draw his mind away from the atonement?\"\n\n\"I am ready to grant,\" is the reply, \"that some duties are less\nplainly and less intimately connected than others with the work of\nJesus; but all of them are connected with it in some degree, and\nthis connection may be seen by all who choose to gain the fitting\ninsight. The great principle of duty belonging to the minister in\nthe pulpit, belongs to him everywhere; and the great principle of\nduty belonging to the minister, belongs to every man, woman, and\nchild. There is not one religion for the man when he is in the\ntemple, and another religion for the man when he is in the parlor\nor in the street. There is not one law for ordained pastor, and\nanother law for the tradesman or the mechanic. The same law and no\ndifferent one, the same religion and no different one, are the law\nand religion for the apostles, and publicans, and prophets, and tax\ngatherers, and patriarchs, and children, and nobles, and beggars.\nEvery man is bidden to refuse everything, if it be the nearest\nfriend, who interferes with the claims of the Messiah; and therefore\nevery man, layman as well as clergyman, must keep his eye fixed\nprimarily upon the cross. He may see other things within the range\nof that cross, but he must keep the cross directly at the angle of\nhis vision, and allow nothing else, when placed side by side with\nthe tree of Calvary, to allure his eye away from that central,\nengrossing object.\"\n\nHere, then, is our third question answered; and in these three\nreplies to these three queries, we perceive the meaning of our text\nto be: that not on the first day only, but on every day likewise,\nnot in the religious assembly only, but in all assemblies, and\nin all solitudes likewise, not the preacher only, but the hearer\nlikewise, every man must adopt the rule, to give his voluntary, his\nloving, his secret and open regard to nothing so much as to the\ncharacter and work of his Redeemer.\n\nHaving inquired into the meaning of the apostle's words, let us\nproceed, in the next place, to inquire into the importance of\nmaking the atonement of Christ the only great object of our\nthought, speech and action.\n\nAnd here, did we hold a personal interview with the author of our\ntext, we should be prompted to put three additional queries before\nhim. Our first inquiry would be:\n\n\"Is not your theme too contracted? It is well to know Christ, but\nin all the varying scenes of life is it well not to know anything\nelse? Will not the pulpit become wearisome if, spring and autumn,\nsummer and winter, it confine itself to a single topic? We have\nknown men preach themselves out by incessant repetitions of the\nscene at Calvary,--a scene thrilling in itself, and on that very\naccount not bearing to be presented in its details, every Sabbath\nday. How much less will the varying sensibilities of the soul\nendure the reiteration of this tragic tale every day and at every\ninterview! Such extreme familiarity induces irreverence. The\nBible is not confined to this theme. It is rich in ecclesiastical\nhistory, political history, ethical rules, metaphysical discussion,\ncomprehensive theology. It contains one book of ten chapters which\nhas not a single allusion to God, and several books which do not\nmention Christ; why then do you shut us up to a doctrine which will\ncircumscribe the minds of good men, and result in making their\nconversation insipid?\"\n\n\"Contracted!\"--this is the reply--\"and you consider this topic a\nlimited one, whose height, depth, length, breadth, no finite mind\ncan measure? Of what would you speak?\"\n\n\"We would speak of the divine existence.\"\n\n\"But Christ is the 'I am.'\"\n\n\"We would speak of the divine attributes.\"\n\n\"But Christ is the Alpha and Omega; He searcheth the reins and\ntrieth the hearts of men; He is the same yesterday, to-day, and\nforever; full of grace and truth; to Him belong wisdom and power and\nglory and honor; of His dominion is no end. Of what, then, would you\nspeak?\"\n\n\"We would speak of the divine sovereignty.\"\n\n\"But Christ taught us to say: Even so, Father, for so it seemed good\nin Thy sight--and He and His Father are one.\"\n\n\"We would converse on the divine decrees.\"\n\n\"But all things are planned for His praise who was in Christ, and in\nwhom Christ was at the beginning.\"\n\n\"We would discourse on electing love.\"\n\n\"But the saints are elect in Christ Jesus.\"\n\n\"We would utter many words on the creation of men and angels.\"\n\n\"Now by our Redeemer were all things created that are in heaven and\nthat are in the earth, visible and invisible.\"\n\n\"We would converse on the preservation of what has been created.\"\n\n\"Now Christ upholdeth all things by the word of His power. What\nwould you have, then, for your theme?\"\n\n\"We would take the flowers of the field for our theme.\"\n\n\"But they are the delight, as well as the contrivance of the\nRedeemer.\"\n\n\"We would take for our theme the globes in space.\"\n\n\"But they are the work of His fingers.\"\n\n\"Then we would take the very winds of heaven for our theme, lawless\nand erratic as they are.\"\n\n\"But Jesus taught us to comment upon these as an illustration of\nHis truth. His poetic mind gave us the conception that the wind\nbloweth where it chooseth to blow; and we look on, wondering whence\nit cometh, and whither it goeth, knowing only that it is the breath\nof the wonderful, the counselor, who arouseth it as He listeth, or\nsaith, Peace, be still. What else, then, do you prefer for your\ntopic of conversation?\"\n\n\"We prefer the laws of nature for our topic.\"\n\n\"But in them the Father worketh and Christ worketh equally.\"\n\n\"If it be so, we will select the fine and useful arts for our\nsubject.\"\n\n\"But all the materials of these arts and all the laws which\ncompact them, and all the ingenuity which arranges them are of\nHis architectonic plan. He is the guide of the sculptor, painter,\nmusician, poet. He is the contriver of all the graces which we\nin our idolatry ascribe to the human discoverer, as if man had\noriginally invented them. The history of the arts is the history of\nChrist's government on earth. Will you propose, then, some other\ntheme for your remark?\"\n\n\"Do let us converse on the moral law.\"\n\n\"You may; but Christ gave this law and came to magnify it.\"\n\n\"Then let us comment on the ceremonial law.\"\n\n\"You may; but all its types are prophecies of Jesus.\"\n\n\"Then we will expatiate on virtue in the general.\"\n\n\"Do so; but Christ is the first exemplar, the brightest\nrepresentative of all abstract goodness, of all your virtue in the\ngeneral.\"\n\n\"Then we will take up the ethical maxims.\"\n\n\"Take them up; but they are embodied in Him who is the way, the\ntruth, the life.\"\n\n\"We will resort, then, to human responsibility for our subject of\ndiscourse.\"\n\n\"But we must all appear before the judgment seat of that fair-minded\narbiter who is man as well as God.\"\n\n\"May we not speak of eternal blessedness?\"\n\n\"Yes; but it is Christ who welcomes His chosen into life.\"\n\n\"Shall we not converse, then, on endless misery?\"\n\n\"Yes; but it is Christ who will proclaim: Depart, ye cursed.\"\n\n\"The human body; we would utter some words on that.\"\n\n\"But your present body is the image of what your Lord wore once, and\nthe body that you will have, if you die in the faith, is the image\nof what your Lord wears now; the image of the body slain for our\noffenses and raised again for our justification. And have you still\na favorite theme which you have not suggested?\"\n\n\"The pleasures of life are our favorite theme.\"\n\n\"Yes, and Jesus provided them and graced them at Cana.\"\n\n\"The duties of the household are our favorite theme.\"\n\n\"Yes, and Jesus has prescribed them and disciplines you by them,\nand will judge you for your manner of regarding them. What would\nyou have, then, what can you think of for your choice topic of\ndiscourse?\"\n\n\"We love to talk of our brethren in the faith.\"\n\n\"But they are the indices of Christ, and He is represented by them.\"\n\n\"We choose to converse on our Redeemer's indigent, imprisoned,\ndiseased, agonized followers.\"\n\n\"And He is anhungered, athirst, penniless, afflicted in them, and\nwhatsoever we do to one of them we do to Him, and what we say of one\nof them we say of Him.\"\n\n\"May we speak in the pulpit of slaves?\"\n\n\"Of slaves! Can you not speak of Medes and Parthians, Indians and\nArabians? Why not then of Africans? Have they, or have they not,\nimmortal souls? Was Jesus, or was He not, crucified for them? Was\nHe ashamed of the lowly and the down-trodden, and those who have\nbecome the reproach of men and the despised of the people? You may\nspeak of all for whom Christ died; as all men, bond or free, and all\nthings, globes or atoms, suggest thoughts leading in a right line\nor in a curved line to the cross of Christ. All things, being thus\nnearly or remotely suggestive of the atonement, are for your sakes;\nwhether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,\nor things present, or things to come,--all are yours, for your\nthoughts, for your words. If things pertain to the divine essence,\nthe whole of that is the essence of Jesus; if they pertain to the\ndivine relations, all of them are the relations of Jesus; if they\npertain to the noblest and brightest features of seraphs, all the\nangels of God bow down before Jesus; if they pertain to the minutest\nchanges of human life, in all our vicissitudes Jesus keeps up His\nbrotherhood with us; if they pertain to the vilest and darkest spot\nof our depravity, they pertain to Jesus,--for to speak aright of sin\nis to be determined to speak of Christ and of Him crucified for sin.\n\n\"And is this the doctrine which men call a contracted one? Narrow!\nThe very suspicion of its being narrow has now suggested the first\nreason why you should place it and keep it as the crown of all\nyour words and deeds--it is so large, so rich, so boundless, that\nyou need nothing which excludes it. And therefore,\" continues\nthe apostle, \"I mean to know and to love nothing, and to make\nit manifest that I care for nothing, in comparison with, and\ndisconnected from, the God-man, as He develops all His attributes\nand all His relations on the cross.\"\n\nBut were the author of these laconic words in a familiar conference\nwith us, we might be tempted to address to him a second inquiry:\n\n\"Is not your theme too large? At first we deemed it too small, but\nnow it swells out before us into such colossal dimensions that we\nchange our ground, and ask: Can the narrow mind of man take in this\nmultiplicity of relations, comprehended in both the natures, and in\nthe redemptive, as well as all the other works of Christ? Do not\nfrail powers need one day as a day of rest, and one place as a\nsanctuary of repose, from every thought less tender than that of the\natoning death itself? Must we not call in our minds from Christ and\nHim crucified, so as to concentrate all our emotions on the simple\nfact of Christ crucified?\"\n\n\"Too large a theme!\" this is the reply, \"it is a large theme, too\nlarge to be fully comprehended by finite intelligences. Men have\ndreamed of exhausting the atonement by defining it to be a plan for\nremoving the obstacles which stand in the way of our pardon. It is\ntoo large for that definition, as the atonement also persuades the\nMost High to forgive us. Then men have thought to mark it round\nabout by saying that it is a scheme for inducing God to interpose in\nour aid. But the atonement is too large for that defining clause,\nas it also presents motives to man for accepting the interposition\nof God. Then some have thought to define it exactly, by saying\nthat the atonement is both an appeal to the Lawgiver and also an\nappeal to the sinner. Too large still is the atonement for that\nexplanation. It is an appeal to both God and man, but it is more. It\nis an appeal to the universe, and is as many-sided as the universe\nitself is to be variously affected. Can we by searching find out the\nwhole of atoning love? It is the love of Him who stretched out His\narms on the fatal wood, and pointed to the right hand and to the\nleft hand, and raised His eyes upward, and cast them downward; and\nthus all things above and below, and on either side, He embraced\nin His comprehensive love. It is a large theme, but not too large\nto operate as a motive upon us. The immeasurable reach of a motive\nis the hiding of its power. The mind of man is itself expansive,\nand requires and will have something immense and infinite of truth\nor error, either overpowering it for good or overmastering it for\nevil. The atonement is a great theme, but not too great; and for\nthe additional reason, its greatness lies, in part, in its reducing\nall other doctrines to a unity, its arranging them around itself in\nan order which makes them all easily understood. We know in other\nthings the power of unity amid variety. We know how simple the\ngeography of a land becomes by remembering that its rivers, altho\nmeandering in unnumbered circuits around the hills and through\nthe vales, yet pursue one main direction from one mountain to one\nsea. Now all the truths of God flow into the atonement. They are\nunderstood by means of it, because their tendencies are toward it;\nand it is understood by means of them, because it receives and\ncomprehends them.\n\n\"Consider more fully the first part of this sentence; all other\ntruths are understood by means of the atonement. It gives to them\nall a unity by illustrating them all. Other truths are not so much\nindependent themes, as they are branches growing up or sidewise\nout of this one root, and they need this single theme in order that\ntheir relations may be rightly understood. What, for example, can\nwe know in its most important bearings, unless we know the history\nand office of our Redeemer? Begin from whatever point we may examine\nthe uses of things, we can never measure their full utility until we\nview them from the cross. The trees bud and blossom. Why? To bear\nfruit for the sustenance of the human body. But is this an ultimate\nobject? The nourishment of the body favors the growth of the mind.\nBut is the human mind an end worthy of all the contrivances in\nnature? Does the sun, with all its retinue of stars, pursue its\ndaily course with no aim ulterior to man's welfare? Do we adopt a\nPtolemaic theory in morals, that man is the center of the system,\nand other worlds revolve round him? All things were made of God, as\nthe Being in whom they all terminate. Do they exist for elucidating\nHis power? This is not his chief attribute. His knowledge? There is\na nobler perfection than omniscience. His love? But there is one\nvirtue imbedded as a gem in His love, and His love is but a shining\ncasket for this pearl of infinite price. This pearl is grace. This\nis the central ornament of the character of Jehovah. But there is no\ngrace in Jehovah save as it beams forth in Christ; not in Christ as\na mere Divinity, nor in Christ as a mere spotless humanity, but in\nthe two united, and in that God-man crucified. All things were made\nby Him and for Him, rising from the cross to the throne. Without\nreference to Him in His atoning love has nothing been made that was\nmade in this world. The star in the East led wise men once to the\nmanger where the Redeemer lay; and all the stars of heaven lead\nwise men now to Him who had risen above the stars, and whose glory\nillumines them all. He is termed the Sun of righteousness; and, as\nthe material sun binds all the planets around it in an intelligible\norder, so does Christ shine over, and under, and into, and through\nall other objects, attract them all to Himself, marshal them all\ninto one clear and grand array, showing them all to be His works,\nall suggestive of our duty, our sin, our need of atonement, our\ndependence on the one God, and the one Mediator between God and man.\n\n\"The first part of my sentence was, All other truths are understood\nby means of the atonement. Consider next the second part: The\natonement is understood by means of other truths. It crystallizes\nthem around itself, and reduces them into a system, not only because\nit explains them, but also because it makes them explain it. It is\nnot too large a theme, for all the sciences and the arts bring their\ncontributions to make it orderly and plain. Our text is a simple\none, because its words are interpreted by a thousand facts shining\nupon it, and making themselves and it luminous in their radiations\naround and over it. Listen again to its suggestive words:\n\n\"'For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ,\nand him crucified.'\n\n\"Now, what is the meaning of this plain term 'Christ'? It means a\n'King.' But how can we appreciate the King, unless we learn the\nnature of the beings over whom He rules? He reigns over the heavens;\ntherefore we investigate the heavens. The whole earth is full of\nHis glory; therefore we study the earth. He is the Lord over the\nangels; when we reflect on them, we catch a glimpse of Him in His\nregal state. He is the King of the Jews and the Gentiles. When we\nmeditate on men, we enjoy a glance at Him who was born for this\nend, that He might have dominion over our race. When we contemplate\nthe material worlds, all the vastness and the grandeur included in\nthem--the sphere of mind, all the refinement and energy involved\nin it--we are overpowered by the reality, surpassing fable, that\nHe who superintends all the movements of matter and first spake it\ninto being and once framed, as He now governs, the souls of His\ncreatures--He is the King who atoned for us; and the more we know of\nthe stars in their courses, and of the spirit in its mysteries, so\nmuch the deeper is our awe in view of the condescending pity which\nmoved their Creator to become one with a lowly creature acquainted\nwith grief for you and me. So much is involved in the word 'Christ.'\n\n\"But our text speaks of Jesus Christ. That word 'Jesus!' What is\nthe meaning of it? It means a 'deliverer,' and in the view of some\ninterpreters it means 'God, the deliverer.' Deliverer? From what? We\ndo not understand the power of His great office, unless we learn the\nnature and the vileness of sin; and we have no conception how mean,\nhow detestable, sin is, unless we know the needlessness of it, the\nnobleness of the will which degrades itself into it, the excellence\nof the law which is dishonored by it. All our studies, then, in\nregard to the nature of the will, the unforced voluntariness of\ndepravity, the extent of it through our race, the depth of it, the\npurity of the commands aiming to prevent it, the attractions of\nvirtue, the strangeness of their not prevailing over the temptations\nof vice--they are not mere metaphysics; they are studies concerning\nthe truth and the grace of Immanuel, who is God with us, and whose\nname is 'Deliverer' because He delivers His people from their sins;\nsins involving the power and the penalty of free wrong choice;\na penalty including the everlasting punishment of the soul; a\npunishment suggesting the nature and the character of the divine\nlaw, and the divine Lawgiver, in their relation to the conscience\nand all the sensibilities of the mind; and that mind, as undying as\nits Maker. All these things are comprehended in the word 'Jesus.'\n\n\"But our text speaks of Jesus Christ and Him crucified: and this\nthird term, 'crucified,' adds an emphasis to the two preceding\nterms, and stirs us up to examine our own capabilities--to learn\nthe skill pervading our physical organism, so exquisitely qualified\nfor pain as well as pleasure; the wisdom apparent in our mental\nstructure, so keenly sensitive to all that can annoy as well as\ngratify; and thus we catch a glimpse of the truth, that He who\ncombines all of our dignity with none of our guilt, and with all\nof the divine glory, and who thus develops all that is fit to be\nexplained in man, and all that can be explained in God--He it is who\nchose to hang and linger with aching nerve and bleeding heart upon\nthe cross for you and me. This cross makes out an atonement of the\nsciences and the arts and brings them also, as well as devout men,\nat one with God; all of them tributary to the doctrine that we are\nbought with a price--that we are redeemed, not with silver and gold,\nbut with the precious blood of a man, who was God manifest in the\nflesh. Too large a theme is the atonement? But it breaks down the\nmiddle wall of partition that has kept apart the different studies\nof men; and it brings them together as illustrations of the truth,\nwhich in their light becomes as simple as it is great.\n\n\"The very objection, then, that the redemptive work is too extensive\nfor our familiar converse, has suggested the second reason why it\nshould be the main thing for us to think upon, and speak upon, and\nact upon: It systematizes all other themes, and gains from them a\nunity which becomes the plainer because it is set off by a luminous\nvariety; and for this cause,\" continues the apostle, \"I intend to\nknow nothing with supreme love, except this centralizing doctrine\nwhich combines all other truths into a constellation of glories.\"\n\nThere is still a third inquiry which we might present to the author\nof our text, could we meet him in a personal colloquy:\n\n\"Your words all converge toward one point; will they not then become\nmonotonous, and inapposite to the varying wants of various, or even\nthe same, individuals?\"\n\n\"A monotonous theme!\" this is the reply: \"What can be more\ndiversified than the character and work of Him who is at one time\ndesignated as the omniscient God, and at another time as a Mechanic;\nat one time as a Judge, and at another time as an Intercessor; now\na Lion, and then a Lamb; here a Vine, a Tree, there a Way, a Door;\nagain a Stone, a Rock, still again a Star, a Sun; here without sin,\nand there He was made sin for us.\n\n\"Monotonous is this theme? Then it is sadly wronged, and the mind of\nman is sadly harmed; for this mind shoots out its tendrils to grasp\nall the branches of the tree of life, and the tree in its healthy\ngrowth has branches to which every sensibility of the human mind\nmay cling. The judgment is addrest by the atonement, concerning the\nnature of law of distributive justice, the mode of expressing this\njustice either by punishing the guilty or by inflicting pain as a\nsubstitute for punishment, the influence of this substitution on\nthe transgressor, on the surety, on the created universe, on God\nHimself. There is more of profound and even abstruse philosophy\ninvolved in the specific doctrine of the atonement, than in any\nother branch of knowledge; and there has been or will be more of\ndiscussion upon it, than upon all other branches of knowledge; for\nsacred science is the most fruitful of all sciences in logical\ndeduction, and this specific part of the science is the richest of\nall its parts.\n\n\"Here, then, is the first method in which you may keep up the habit\nof making 'Jesus and Him crucified' the soul of your activity: Bring\nto your help the force of a resolute determination. There is a\ntendency in this resolute spirit to divert your thoughts from other\nthemes, to turn the current of your sensibilities into the right\nchannel, to invigorate your choice, to exert a direct and reflex\ninfluence in confirming the whole soul in Jesus. God is in that\ndetermination. He inspires it. He invigorates it. He works with it\nand by it. There is a power in it, but the power is not yours; it is\nthe power of God. God is in every holy resolve of man.\"\n\nIn our interview with the apostle we should address to him a second\ninquiry:\n\n\"In what method can we avoid both the fact and the appearance of\nbeing slavishly coerced into the habit of conversing on Christ\nand on Christ alone? You speak of taking your stand, adhering to\nyour decision; but this dry, stiff resolve-comes any genial spirit\nfrom it? Will you not be a slave to your unswerving purpose? Your\ninflexible rule, will it not be a hard one, wearisome to yourself,\ndisagreeable to others? You hold up a weighty theme by a dead lift.\"\n\n\"I am determined\"--this is the reply--\"and it is not only a strong\nbut it is a loving resolve. For the love of Christ constraineth\nme; whom having not seen in the flesh I love; in whom, though now\nI see him not, yet believing, I rejoice with the joy unspeakable\nand full of glory. It is not a business-like resolution. It is\nnot a diplomatic purpose. It is not a mechanical force. It is an\naffectionate decision. It is a joyous rule. It is the effluence of a\nsupreme attachment to the Redeemer.\n\n\"And this is the second method in which you may retain Jesus Christ\nas the jewel of your speech and life: Cherish a loving purpose to\ndo so. A man has strength to accomplish what with a full soul he\nlongs to accomplish. Your Christian toil will be irksome to you, if\nit be not your cordial preference; but if your undeviating resolve\nspring out of a hearty choice of your Savior, then will it be ever\nrefreshed and enlivened by your outflowing, genial preference; then\nwill your pious work be the repose of your soul. There is a power in\nyour love to your work. It is a power to make your labor easy for\nyourself and attractive to others. This is not your power; it is the\npower of God. He enkindles the love within you. He enlivens it. He\ngives it warmth. He makes it instinct with energy. God is in all the\nholy joy of man.\"\n\nIn our conference with the author of our text we might suggest to\nhim our third and last inquiry:\n\n\"In what method can we feel sure of persevering in this habitual\nexaltation of Christ? You speak of your stern purpose, but can you\ndepend upon the continuance of it? You speak of your cordial as well\nas set resolve. But who are you? (forgive our pertinacious query).\nJesus we know. But His disciples, His chief apostles--is not every\none of them a reed shaken with the wind, tossed hither and thither,\nunstable as a wave upon the sea?\"\n\n\"I know it is so\"--this is the reply. \"Often am I afraid lest,\nhaving preached the gospel to others, I should be a castaway. And\nafter all I am persuaded that nothing--height depth, life, death,\nnothing--shall be able to separate me from the love of Christ; for\nI put my confidence in Him, and while my purpose is inflexible and\naffectionate, it is also inwrought with trust in the atonement and\nthe intercession. I do pursue my Christian life in weakness and in\nfear and in much trembling. For all the piety of the best of men\nis in itself as grass, and the goodliness thereof as the flower of\nthe field. Therefore serve I the Lord with all humility of mind\nand with many tears and temptations. Yet I am determined with a\nconfiding love. I am troubled on every side; my flesh has no rest;\nwithout are fightings, within are fears; in presence I am base among\nyou, my bodily presence is weak and my speech contemptible; and if\nI must needs glory, I will glory in the things which concern my\ninfirmities. Still, after all, I am determined, my right hand being\nenfolded in the hand of my Redeemer. I know whom I have believed,\nand am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed\nunto Him against that day. For my conversation is in heaven, from\nwhence I am to look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall\nchange our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious\nbody, according to the mighty working whereby He is able to subdue\nall things unto Himself. I say the truth in Christ; I lie not; I am\nthe least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle,\nbecause I injured the Church of God; I am less than the least of all\nsaints. Still I am determined; for by the grace of God I am what I\nam; and this grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but\nI labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I but the grace of\nGod which was with me; for I can do all things through Christ which\nstrengtheneth me, and therefore I am determined.\n\n\"Borne onward, therefore, by your fixed plan, and no one can succeed\nin anything without a plan, yet you must never rely ultimately\nupon your determined spirit. Allured further and further onward\nby your delight in your plan, and no one can work as a master in\nanything without enthusiasm in his prescribed course, still you\nmust not place your final dependence upon your affectionate spirit;\nfor if you take, for your last prop, either the sternness or the\ncheerfulness of your own determination, then you will know your\ndetermination, and you are not to know anything save Jesus Christ\nand Him crucified. Here, then, is the third method in which you may\ngive the fitting prominence to the best of themes: You must rest for\nyour chief and final support on Him and only on Him, from whom all\nwise plans start, by whom they hold out, and to whom they all tend,\nwho is all and in all, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.\"\n\nMy Christian brethren, you are all apostles. Every man, every woman,\nevery child, the richest and the poorest, the most learned and the\nmost ignorant of you--who have come up hither to dedicate yourselves\nand this sanctuary to your Lord, all being sent of Him to serve Him,\nhave in fact and in essence the same responsibility resting on you\nas weighed on the author of our text. And he was burdened by the\nsame kind of temptations and fears which oppress your spirit. But he\nwas held up from failing in his work by a threefold cord; and that\nwas his resolute determination, as loving as it was resolute, and as\ntrustful as it was loving, to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him\ncrucified. The last that you hear of him as an impenitent man is in\nthe words: \"And Saul, yet breathing out threatening and slaughter\nagainst the disciples of the Lord.\" It was Christ whom the proud Jew\nlast opposed. The first that you hear of him as a convicted man is\nin the words: \"Who art thou, Lord?\" It was Christ whom the inquiring\nJew first studied. And the first that you hear of him as a penitent\nman is: \"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?\" It was Christ to whom\nthe humble disciple first surrendered his will. And the first that\nyou hear of him as a Christian minister is: \"And straightway he\npreached Christ in the synagogs that he is the Son of God.\" And the\nlast that you hear of him as a Christian hero is: \"I have fought\nthe good fight, I have finished my course. I have kept the faith;\nhenceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.\" And\nthe secret of this victorious career is in words like those of our\ntext: \"I adhered to my plan (when among the fickle Corinthians), I\nwas decided (when among the vacillating Galatians) to know nothing\n(when among the learned at Athens and them of C\u00e6sar's household at\nRome) save Jesus Christ (when I was among my own kinsmen who scorned\nHim), and Him crucified (when I was among the pupils of Gamaliel,\nall of whom despised my chosen theme); still I was determined to\ncling to that theme among the Greeks and the Barbarians, before\nOnesimus the slave and Philemon the proud master; for I loved my\ntheme, and, suffering according to the will of God, I committed the\nkeeping of my soul to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator.\"\n\nAnd herein is it to be your plan, my brethren, and your joy, not to\nmake this sanctuary the resort of wealth and of fashion, but rather\nof humble suppliants, who by their prayers may divert all the wealth\nand fashion of the world into the service of your Lord; not to make\nthis temple the resting-place of hearers who shall idly listen to\nthe words of an orator, but a temple of earnest coworkers with\nChrist--thinking of Him, speaking of Him, loving Him first, and\nlast, and midst, and without end. As you come to this house of God\non the Sabbath, as you go from it, as your week-day recollections\ngather around it, may you renew and confirm your plan to know your\nRedeemer, and not only to shut yourselves up to the supreme love\nof nothing except Christ, but also--His grace will be sufficient\nfor you--to worship and serve Christ in the central relation of Him\ncrucified. Knowing Him alone, He will sustain you as fully as if He\nknew you alone. He will come to you in this temple as frequently\nas if He had no other servants to befriend. He will listen to your\nprayers as intently as if no supplications came up to Him from\nother altars, and He will intercede for you as entirely as if He\ninterceded in behalf of no one else; for remember, that when He\nhung upon the cross, He thought of you, and died for you, just as\nfully as if He had been determined to think of no one, and to die\nfor no one, save you, whom He now calls to the solemn service of\nconsecrating your own souls, and your \"holy and beautiful house\" to\nthe glory of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.\n\n\n\n\nSIMPSON\n\nTHE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\nMATTHEW SIMPSON, Methodist Episcopal Bishop, was born at Cadiz,\nOhio, in 1810. He early distinguished himself as an orator, his\nstyle being that of spontaneous unpremeditated eloquence, in which\nhe carried his congregation to heights of spiritual fervor and\nenthusiasm. He visited Europe in 1878 as delegate to the World's\nEvangelical Alliance in Berlin, which served to widen his reputation\nas a public speaker. He officiated at the funeral of Abraham Lincoln\nat Springfield, Illinois. His \"Lectures on Preaching\" delivered\nbefore the divinity students at Yale have been widely read. He died\nin 1884.\n\n\n\n\nSIMPSON\n\n1810-1884\n\nTHE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD\n\n_But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits\nof them that slept._--1 Cor. xv., 20.\n\n\nA little more than eighteen hundred years ago, as the light of the\nmorning was breaking around the walls of Jerusalem, there was a\nguard placed about a sepulcher in a small garden near the walls\nof the city. They were guarding a grave. Some strange scenes had\noccurred on the Friday before. While a man whom they had taken from\nthe hills of Galilee and around the little lake of Capernaum had\nbeen hanging on the cross crucified as a malefactor, strange signs\nappeared in the heavens, and on the earth and in the temple.\n\nIt was rumored that he had said he would rise the third morning.\nThe third morning was coming, and as the light began to break in\nthe East, there came two women silently and sadly wending their way\namong the tents that were pitched all around the city of Jerusalem;\nthey had sojourned all night in the tents, for as yet the gates of\nthe city had not been opened. They came to see the sepulcher and\nwere bringing spices in their hands. They loved the man who had been\ncrucified as a malefactor, because of his goodness, his purity, and\nhis compassion. They seemed to be almost the only hearts on earth\nthat did love him deeply, save the small circle of friends who had\ngathered around him. There had been curses upon his head as he hung\non the cross--curses from the by-standers, curses from the soldiers,\ncurses from the people. They cried: \"Away with him; his blood be on\nus and on our children!\" and on that morning there were none but a\nfew feeble, obscure, heart-broken friends that dared to come near\nhis grave.\n\nA little more than eighteen hundred years have passed and on the\nanniversary of that day, the morning of the first day of the week,\nthe first Sabbath after the full moon and the vernal equinox, at the\nsame season, the whole world comes to visit that grave. The eyes of\nprinces and of statesmen, the eyes of the poor and the humble in all\nparts of the earth are turned toward that sepulcher.\n\nAll through Europe men and women are thinking of that grave and of\nHim who lay in it. All over western lands, from ocean to ocean, on\nmountain top and in valley, over broad prairies and deep ravines,\nthe eyes and hearts of the people are gathered round that grave. In\nthe darkness of Africa, here and there, we see them stretching out\ntheir hands toward it. Along the coasts of India and the heights of\nthe Himalayas they have heard of that grave and are bending toward\nit. The Chinese, laying aside their prejudices, have turned their\neyes westward and are looking toward that sepulcher. Along the\nshores of the seas, over the mountain tops and in the valleys, the\nhearts of the people have not only been gathering around that grave,\nbut they have caught a glimpse of the rising inmate who ascended in\nHis glory toward heaven.\n\nThe song of jubilee has gone forth, and the old men are saying, \"The\nLord is risen from the dead.\" The young men and matrons catch up the\nglowing theme, and the little children around our festive boards,\nscarcely comprehending the source of their joy, with glad hearts\nare now joyful, because Jesus has risen from the dead. All over the\nearth tidings of joy have gone forth, and as the valleys have been\nringing out their praises on this bright Sabbath morning how many\nhearts have been singing--\n\n  \"Our Jesus is going up on high!\"\n\nWhy this change? What hath produced such a wonderful difference in\npublic feeling? The malefactor once curst, now honored; the obscure\nand despised, now sought for; the rising Redeemer, not then regarded\nby men, now universally worshiped. What is the cause of this great\nchange?--how brought about? The subject of this morning, taken from\nthe associations of this day, call us to consider as briefly as we\nmay the fact of the resurrection of Christ from the dead and some of\nthe consequences which flow to us from that resurrection.\n\nIt is important for us to fix clearly in our minds the fact that\nthis is one reason why such days are remembered in the annals of\nthe Church as well as in the annals of nations; for our faith\nrests on facts, and the mind should clearly embrace the facts\nthat we may feel that we are standing on firm ground. This fact\nof the resurrection of Christ is the foundation of the Christian\nsystem; for the apostle says: \"And if Christ be not raised, your\nfaith is vain, ye are yet in your sins; then they also which are\nfallen asleep in Christ will perish.\" If Christ be not risen, we\nshall never see the fathers and the mothers who have fallen asleep\nin Jesus; we shall never see the little ones who have gone up to\nbe, as we believe, angels before the throne of God. If Christ be\nnot raised, we are of all men the most miserable, because we are\nfancying future enjoyment, which never can be realized; but if\nChrist be raised, then shall we also rise, and them that sleep in\nJesus will God bring with Him. And that our minds may rest as to the\nfact of Christ's resurrection, let us notice how God hath arranged\nthe evidences to secure the knowledge of this fact clearly to man.\n\nThe first point to which our attention is invited is the fact of\nChrist's death. Were not this fact clearly established it would\nbe in vain to try to prove His resurrection from the dead. Christ\nmight have suffered for man in some obscure place; He might have\nlaid down His life as a ransom, and yet there would have been\nno legal evidence of it. God allowed the wrath of man to become\nthe instrument of praising Him, in that He suffered Christ to be\ntaken under what was then the legal process--arrested first by\nthe great council of the Jews, and then by the authority of the\nRoman governor, so that the matter became of public record--a\nlegal transaction. The highest power, both of the Jewish and Roman\ngovernments, united in this fact of His arrest, His trial, and His\ncondemnation to death.\n\nNot only was this permitted, but the time of the occurrence was\nwisely arranged. It was at the feast of the Jews, the Passover, when\nall the Jews came up to keep the Passover. They came not only from\nEgypt but from all the country through which they were scattered.\nJerusalem could not hold the people that came together; they pitched\ntheir tents all around the city, on the hills and in the valleys.\nIt was the time of full moon, when there was brightness all night,\nand they came together with safety and security. The multitude,\nthen, was there to witness the scene, so that it might be attested\nby people from all parts of Judea and from all countries round about\nJudea.\n\nThen, again, the form of the death was such as to be not a sudden\none, but one of torture, passing through many hours. Had the\nexecution been a very sudden one, as it might have been, the death\nwould have been equally efficacious, yet it would not have been\nwitnessed by so many; but as He hung those dreadful hours, from\nnine until three, the sun being darkened, what an opportunity was\ngiven to the people passing by to be imprest with the scene! The\ncrucifixion was near the city; the crowd was there; the temple\nworship was in process; the strangers were there; and as one great\nstream passes on some festive day through the great thoroughfare of\nyour city, so passed the stream of men, women, and children by that\ncross on which the Savior hung. They wagged their heads and reviled\nas they passed by. The very ones whom Jesus had healed, whose\nfathers had been cured of leprosy or fever, whose mothers' eyes had\nbeen opened; the ones who had been raised up from beds of sickness\nby the touch of that Savior, passed by and reviled, and said: \"He\nsaved others, Himself He cannot save.\" The multitude saw Him as He\nhung suffering on the cross.\n\nThen, again, the circumstances attending His death were such as\nto invite universal attention. It was not designed that the death\nshould be a private one; not merely a legal transaction, a matter\nsoon over, but a protracted and agonizing spectacle--one to be seen\nand known by the multitude; but, in addition, that man's attention\nshould be drawn to something to be connected with that wonderful\nscene; hence God called upon the heavens and the earth, the air and\nthe graves, and the temple itself for testimony. It is said that\nbefore the coronation of a prince in olden time in Europe--and in\nsome kingdoms the custom is still observed--there is sent forth\na herald, sometimes three days in advance, at different periods\naccording to the custom, to issue a challenge to anyone that dares\nto claim the kingdom to come and prove his right, and to announce\nthat the coronation of this prince is to take place.\n\nMethinks it was such a challenge God gave to all the powers of\nhumanity and to all the powers of darkness. There hung suffering on\nthe cross He who died for human wo, and as He hung God was about\nto crown Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords on the morning of the\nthird day. He sends forth His voice of challenge, and as He speaks\nthe earth rocks to its center; that ground, shaking and convulsing,\nwas a call to man to witness what was about to occur.\n\nNot only is there a voice of earth. Yonder the sun clothed himself\nin sackcloth for three hours, as much as to say: \"There may be gloom\nfor three days; the great Source of light hath veiled Himself, as in\na mantle of night, for three days. As for three hours this darkness\nhangs, but as out of the darkness the light shines forth, so at\nthe end of the three days shall the Sun of Righteousness shine out\nagain, the great center of glory, with that glory which He had with\nthe Father from the foundation of the world.\" It was the herald's\nvoice that passed through the heavens, and that spoke through all\nthe orbs of light, \"Give attention, ye created beings, to what is\nto happen!\" But it was not alone in the earth, which is the great\ncenter, nor in the heavens, which is the great source of light, that\nthe tidings were proclaimed.\n\nLook in yonder valley. The tombs are there; the prophets have been\nburied there. Yon hillside is full of the resting-places of the\ndead; generations on generations have been buried there; friends are\nwalking in it, and they are saying, \"Yonder is a mighty judge in\nIsrael; there is the tomb of a prophet.\" They were passing to and\nfro through that valley of death when the earthquake's tread was\nheard, and behold! the tombs were opened, the graves displayed the\ndead within, and there was a voice that seemed to call from the very\ndepths of the graves, \"Hear, O sons of men!\"\n\nWhat feelings must have thrilled through the hearts of those who\nstood by those monuments and bended over those graves, when, thrown\nwide open, the doors bursting, and the rocks giving way, they saw\nthe forms of death come forth and recognized friends that once they\nhad known. What was to occur? What could all this mean? Then the\ngreat sacrifice was offered. It was three o'clock in the afternoon\nwhen Christ was to give up the ghost. Yonder the multitude of pious\npeople were gathered toward the temple. The outer court was full;\nthe doors and gates which lead into the sanctuary were crowded; the\nlamb was before the altar; the priest in his vestments had taken the\nsacrificial knife; the blood was to be shed at the hour of three;\nthe multitude were looking.\n\nYonder hangs a veil; it hides that inner sanctuary; there are\ncherubim in yonder with their wings spread over the mercy-seat; the\nshekinah once dwelt there; God Himself in His glory was there and\nthe people are bending to look in. No one enters into that veil save\nthe high priest, and he, with blood and in the midst of incense, but\nonce a year; but it was the mercy-seat and the eye of every pious\nJew was directed toward that veil, thinking of the greater glory\nwhich lay beyond it.\n\nAs the hour of three came and as the priest was taking the\nsacrificial knife from the altar and was about to slay the lamb,\nbehold! an unseen hand takes hold of that veil and tears it apart\nfrom top to bottom, and has thrown open the mercy-seat, not before\nseen by men. The cherubim are there; the altar with its covering\nof blood is there; the resting-place of the ark is there; it is\nthe holiest of holies. Methinks the priest drops the knife, the\nlamb goes free, for the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of\nthe world is suffering for man. The way to the holy of holies is\nopen,--a new and living way, which men may not close, which priest\nalone can not enter; but a way is open whereby humanity, opprest and\ndowntrodden, from all parts of the earth, may find its way to the\nmercy-seat of God. There was a call to the pious worshiper by voices\nwhich seemed to say: \"An end to all the sacrifices, an end to all\nthe suffering victims, an end to all the sprinkled hyssop that is\nused in purification, for One has come to do the will of God on whom\nthe burden of man had been laid.\"\n\nNow here were all these calls to humanity from all parts, as if to\nannounce the great transaction. While all this was occurring Christ\nwas on the cross, suffering the agony of crucifixion. How deep that\nagony we need not attempt to tell you; it was fearful; and yet no\ncomplaint escaped His lips, no murmuring was there. He bore the sins\nof many in His own flesh on the tree. He heard the multitudes revile\nHim; He saw them wag their heads; He remembered that the disciples\nhad fled from Him--one followed afar off, but the rest had gone; and\nyet He complained not. Friends and kindred had all left Him and He\ntrod the wine-press alone. He drank the cup in all its bitterness\nand no complaint escaped from Him. One left Him that had never\nforsaken Him before. \"The world is gone, the disciples I have fed\nand taught have all fled and passed away,--all have forsaken Me.\"\n\nBut there was no time until that moment of fearful darkness came,\nwhen all the load of guilt was upon Him and for our sins He was\nsmitten, that His spirit was crusht, and He called out, \"My God, my\nGod, why hast thou forsaken me?\" All else might go--it were little;\n\"Why hast thou forsaken me?\" But it is over; the darkness is past;\nthe load is borne; and I hear Him say, \"It is finished\"; He bows His\nhead and dies.\n\nNow there is publicity for the transaction. It demanded public\ninvestigation, it received it. There was not only the mental agony\nunited with the agony of crucifixion, but there was the voluntary\ngiving up of His life; yet, lest there might be some suspicion, to\nall this was added the proof of the fact of His death. When the\nlimbs of the others were broken and He was perceived to be dead, the\nsoldier thrust the spear into His side and there came out of that\nside both water and blood.\n\nThere is a peculiarity in the sacred writings. A little incident\nthat seems to be mentioned without care becomes the strongest\npossible proof, not only of the fact of Christ's death, but of the\nnature of His death. When that sentence was written the human frame\nwas not understood, the circulation of the blood was not understood.\nAnatomists had not then, as they have now, unveiled the human\nsystem; the great science of pathology had not yet been clearly\ntaught to man; and yet in that sentence we have almost a world of\nmeaning. For it is well attested now that where persons die from\nviolent mental emotion, by what is termed a broken heart, a crusht\nspirit, there is always formed a watery secretion around the heart.\nIt was not known then to the soldier who lifted up the spear and\npierced the body; but so much of that water had secreted around the\nheart that he saw it issuing forth from the pierced side, unstained\nby blood, which showed that the great heart had been crusht by agony\nwithin.\n\nWhen taken from the cross He was put in the sepulcher. His friends\nhad given Him up, His disciples had forsaken Him; some of them saw\nHim die; they knew that He was crucified and they abandoned Him.\nThey were returning to their former employments; but His enemies\nremembered He had said He would rise the third day, and they put\na guard around Him. The Roman soldiers were there; the king's\nseal was on the stone rolled over the mouth of the sepulcher; they\nmade everything secure. Here again God ordered that we should have\nabundant proof of Christ's crucifixion.\n\nHe was crucified on Friday, which was to them the last day of the\nweek, resting in the grave on our Saturday, which is their Sabbath,\nand then comes the first day of the week, our Sabbath morning, made\nour Sabbath because of Christ's resurrection from the dead. There\ncame an humble visitant to the tomb, Mary Magdalene; she had been\nhealed of much, forgiven much and she loved Him. Mary, the mother of\nJames, came also and beheld the scenes that occurred; but there had\nbeen strange commotions elsewhere.\n\nHeaven had been gathering around that grave. Angels had been\nwatching there; they had seen the Roman guard; they had seen the\nshining spear and polished shield; they had seen that Christ was\nheld as a prisoner by the greatest powers on earth. Methinks I see\nthe angelic host as they gathered round the throne of God and looked\nup into the face of Omnipotence, and if ever there was a time when\nthere was silence in heaven for half an hour, it was before the\nmorning light of the third day dawned. I hear them say \"How long\nshall man triumph? How long shall human power exalt itself? How long\nshall the powers of darkness hold jubilee? Let us away and roll\naway the stone; let us away and frighten yonder Roman guard and\ndrive them from the sepulcher.\"\n\nThey waited until permission was given. I see the angel coming down\nfrom the opening doors of glory; he hastens outside the walls of\nJerusalem and down to the sepulcher; when they saw him coming the\nkeepers shook, they became like dead men; he rolls away the stone\nand sets himself by the mouth of the sepulcher. Christ, girding\nHimself with all the power of His divinity, rises from the grave.\nHe leads captivity captive, tears the crown from the head of death,\nand makes light the darkness of the grave. Behold Him as He rises\njust preparatory to His rising up to glory. Oh, what a moment was\nthat! Hell was preparing for its jubilee; the powers of earth were\npreparing for a triumph; but as the grave yields its prey, Christ,\ncharged with being an impostor, is proved to be the Son of God with\npower; it is the power of His resurrection from the dead.\n\nThere was Christ's resurrection from the dead. He became the first\nfruits of them that slept. But to give the amplest proofs of His\nresurrection He lingered on earth to be seen of men, and to be seen\nin such a manner as to show that He was still the Savior Christ.\nIn my younger days I used to often wonder why was it that Mary\nMagdalene came first to the sepulcher, and the mother of James that\nstood there--why He should appear to them; but in later days I have\nsaid it was to show that He was the Savior still; that the same\nnature was there which had made Him stoop to the lowliest of the\nlow--the power that enabled Him to heal the guiltiest of the guilty;\nthat that power, that compassion, were with Him still.\n\nTho now raised beyond death and triumphing over hell, He still had\nwithin Him the Savior's heart. Methinks I see, when Peter had run\nin anxiety to tell the news, Mary remained there; she could not\nfully comprehend it; the grave was open, the napkins were there;\nit was said He was not there, but He was risen. And yet, there was\na darkness upon her; she could not fully conceive, it seems to me,\nthe resurrection of the dead. She stood wondering, when she heard a\nvoice behind her which said, \"Woman, why weepest thou?\" Bathed in\ntears as she was, she turned round and saw the man standing, and\ntaking him to be the gardener, and supposing that he had taken the\nbody and carried it away as not fit to lie in that tomb or be in\nthat garden, she said: \"If thou hast taken, him away, tell me where\nthou hast laid him, and I will take him away.\" If He must not lie in\nthis tomb, if He can not lie in the garden, if as a malefactor He\nmust be cast out from man, tell me where the body is and I will take\nit away. It was a proof of her affection.\n\nA voice said, \"Mary, Mary.\" Oh, she recognized it, and her heart\ncried out: \"Rabboni, my Lord and my God!\" and then she would have\nthrown herself at His feet and bathed those feet again with her\ntears, but He said, \"Touch me not, I am not ascended to my Father;\ngo and tell the disciples and Peter that I am risen from the dead.\"\nSee the compassion of the Savior! and then that message! \"Tell the\ndisciples and Peter.\" Why send a message to him? Because he curst\nand swore and denied the Master. The other disciples might have\nsaid, \"If Christ is risen, He may receive and bless us all; but\nPeter is gone, hopelessly and irretrievably gone; he that forsook\nhis Master and denied Him, there is no hope for him.\" And yet said\nJesus, \"Go and tell the disciples and Peter\"--poor backslidden Peter.\n\nJesus knew his sorrow and anguish and almost felt the throbbings\nof his broken heart, and He sent a message to Peter. He may be a\ndisciple still--may come back and be saved through the boundless\nlove of Christ. Oh, the compassion of the Son of God! Thank God that\nPeter's Savior is on the throne this morning!\n\nNot only was He seen by these, but He met with the disciples\njourneying by the way and explained the Scriptures to them; and\nas they met in the upper room He was there. When the doors were\nunopened He came in their midst and said, \"Peace!\" breathed on them\nand said, \"Receive ye the Holy Ghost.\" Thus He met with them and\nsaid to Thomas, \"Reach hither thy fingers, and be not faithless but\nbelieving.\"\n\nThen afterward He was seen by five hundred, and from the Mount\nof Olives, while the disciples were gathered around Him, He was\nreceived up into glory. They saw Him and as He went He blest\nthem. The last vision that ever humanity had of the Son of God\nere he ascended to heaven was that of spreading out His hands\nin blessing. Oh, my Savior hath thus gone up, and He dropt from\nthose outstretched hands a blessing which falls to-day like the\ngentle dew all over the earth; it reaches heart after heart. It\nhath reached patriarchs, apostles, martyrs, fathers, and mothers\nand little children, and, thank God, the heavenly dew, as from\nthose outstretched hands, is coming down on our assembly this very\nmorning. On this glad day blessings are dropping from the throne of\nGod upon us from this risen Savior. He hath ascended up on high, the\ngates have opened for Him, and He hath gone to His throne in glory.\n\nLet us look at a few of the results that flow to us from these facts\nthus sustained of His death and resurrection from the dead!\n\nIn the first place it established all Bible declarations. It had\nbeen predicted that He should not stay in the grave, and when He\narose it put the seal to the Old Testament as the Word of God. The\nprophecy in Him fulfilled gave glorious proof that the other parts\nof it should be also fulfilled as the word of an unchanging God.\n\nAgain, in His resurrection we see a proof of His divine power. No\nman hath been raised from the dead by his own power. All died, from\nAdam to Moses, with the exception of Enoch and Elijah, who, because\nof their devotion and acknowledgment of the divine head, themselves\nbecame prophets of a coming Savior. He rose by His own power. He\nconquered death itself, the grave, and the whole powers of humanity.\n\nJupiter is represented by an old classic writer as saying to the\nlesser gods that if all of them combined together and should\nendeavor to throw down his throne--if all power was arrayed against\nhim--he, by his own might, would be able to overcome them all.\nWhat was fiction with the ancients becomes gloriously realized in\nChrist. Take all the powers of humanity--the Jewish power, the\nRoman power; the power of learning, of art, of public opinion; take\nall the powers of earth and hell, death and the grave, and combine\nthem all against the Savior and, without one effort, without one\nsingle apparent movement--the Sleeper lies in death, His eyes are\nsealed, and, as if all unconscious, for the warning had not been\ngiven before--in an instant those eyes were opened, that frame\nrises, the grave yields up its prey, death retires conquered, and\nChrist demonstrates Himself to be the ruler of the whole universe.\nHe made the earth to tremble, the sun to put on sackcloth, the very\nair to grow dark, the graves to open, the dead to come forth, and\nproclaimed Himself to be the conqueror of death and hell. So we have\nproof of His being the Son of God with power.\n\nIn that resurrection from the dead we have a pledge of our own\nresurrection. Christ has become the first-fruits of them that slept.\nYou know the figure of the first-fruits as understood by the Jews.\nTheir religion was connected with the seasons of the year--with\nthe harvest crops; one of their feasts was called the feast of the\nfirst-fruits, and was on this wise: When the first heads of grain\nbegan to ripen in the field, and there was thus a pledge of harvest,\nthey cut off those first ripened heads and went up to Jerusalem.\n\nBefore that the grain was not crusht, no bread was baked out of\nit, and nothing was done to appropriate that crop to man's use\nuntil those ripened heads of grain were brought up to Jerusalem\nand presented to the Lord as a thank-offering. He was acknowledged\nas Lord of the harvest and they were laid up as a kind of\nthank-offering before God. They were the first-fruits. Then they\nwent away to the fields and all through Judea the sickle was thrust\nin, the grain was reaped and gathered into sheaves, and when the\nharvest was secured they baked the bread for their children out of\nthis first grain. They came up to the temple, where the first-fruits\nhad been laid, and they held a feast of thanksgiving and shouted\nharvest home. The old harvest feast seems to be descended from this\nancient custom.\n\nChrist rose as the first-fruits, and there is to be a glorious\nresurrection. Christ came, the first man to rise in this respect,\nby His own power, from the grave, having snatched the crown from\ndeath, having thrown light into the grave, having Himself ascended\nup toward glory. He goes up in the midst of the shouts of angels;\nthe heavens open before Him; yonder is the altar; there is the\nthrone, and around it stand the seraphim and the cherubim; and\nChrist enters, the victor, and sits down upon the throne, from\nhenceforth expecting until His enemies be made His footstool. He is\nthe first-fruits of the harvest, but the angels are to be sent out\nlike the reapers, and by and by humanity is coming.\n\nAs Christ, the first-fruits, passed through the grave and went up\nto glory, so there shall come forth from their sleeping dust in\nAsia, in Africa, in Europe, and in America, from every mountain\ntop, from the depths of the sea, from deep ravines, and from plains\noutspread--oh, there shall come in the time of the glorious\nharvest--the uprising of humanity, when all the nations, waking from\ntheir long sleep, shall rise and shall shout the harvest home! Thank\nGod! At that time none shall be wanting.\n\nOh, they come, they come, from the nations of the past and from the\ngenerations yet unborn! I see the crowd gathering there. Behold the\nangels are waiting, and as the hosts rise from the dead they gather\nround the throne. Christ invites His followers to overcome and sit\ndown with Him on His throne, as He overcame and sat down with the\nFather on His throne. In that is the pledge of our resurrection from\nthe dead. Can I not suffer, since Christ suffered? Can I not die,\nsince Christ died? Let the grave be my resting-place, for Christ\nrested there. Is it cold? The warmth of His animation is in it. He\nshall be beside me in all His spirit's power. Does the load of earth\nabove me and beneath which I am placed press upon me? Christ hath\npower to burst the tomb, tho deep it be, and I shall rise through\nHis almighty power.\n\nYet, let the malice of men be directed against me; let me be taken,\nif it must be, as a martyr and be bound to the stake; let the fagots\nbe kindled, let the flame ascend, let my body be burned; gather\nmy ashes, grind my bones to powder, scatter them on the ocean's\nsurface; or carry those ashes to the top of yonder volcano and throw\nthem within its consuming fire--let them be given to the dust--and\nyet I can sing:\n\n    \"God my Redeemer lives,\n       And ever from the skies\n     Looks down and watches all my dust,\n       Till He shall bid it rise.\"\n\nThank God! it may be scattered on the wings of the wind--Christ is\neverywhere present; He has marked every particle and it shall rise\nagain by His own almighty power. And what is it to sleep awhile if I\nam Christ's? To die, if I am like Christ in dying? and be buried, if\nI am like Christ in being buried? I trust I shall be like Him when\nHe comes forth in His glory. I shall be like Him, for the apostle\nsays, \"We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is\"; \"We\nshall be changed from glory into glory, into the same image as by\nthe Spirit of God.\"\n\nIt would be a great change to be changed from glory to glory,\nfrom saints to angels, from angels to cherubim, from cherubim to\nseraphim, from glory to glory; but, thank God! we shall not stop\nbeing changed; for the change shall go on from glory to glory\nuntil we shall be transformed into the likeness of the Son of God,\nbrighter than angels ever shone, more glorious than were ever\ncherubim.\n\nWe shall be near the throne; we shall sit beside Him, for He hath\nmade room for us there. Then, if we can calmly look at death and\nface him, because his strength has been overcome, it reconciles us\nto parting a little while with friends. A father or a mother may be\ntaken from us, but we shall see them again; they shall not sleep\nforever. The little ones that drop from our arms, we can almost see\nthem this morning; some of us can almost feel them in our arms--can\nsee the glance of that beautiful eye and hear the sound of that\nlittle prattling lip; they seem to be with us now, as a little while\nago they dropt from out of our arms. We followed them to the grave\nand left them there, where the winter's storm has been howling\naround them.\n\nSometimes loneliness like that terrible storm has swept over our\nhearts and left them almost in despair; but through Christ's\nresurrection we see our children yonder in glory, safe in the\nSavior's arms. Their little forms shall rise all-glorious from the\ntomb in the morning of the resurrection; we shall find them, for\nJesus is the resurrection and the life.\n\nAll this comes to us from the resurrection of Christ from the dead.\nHe died once; He dies no more; the condemnation of death is forever\ngone; He sits on the throne of everlasting dominion; His kingdom\nis an eternal kingdom; and as He died once and has risen to die no\nmore, so when we have died once and gone to the grave and entered\nthe dark valley and shadow of death, and we come up safely on the\nother side, thank God! death is passed forever; we shall then put\nour feet on the neck of the monster and shall be able to say:\n\n    \"Oh death, where is thy sting?\n     Oh grave, where is thy victory?\"\n\nLooking at the resurrection of Christ we exclaim, Thanks be unto God\nwho hath given us the victory! Such is the eternity and blessedness\nthat awaits us. Thank God for a spiritual body! Here some of us long\nto triumph over nature. We would grasp, if we could, angelic wisdom;\nbut our brows will ache with pain, our frames decay, our eyes grow\ndim, our hearing fail. This flesh of ours will not stand hours of\npainful study and seasons of protracted labor; but, thank God! when\nthe body that now oppresses us is laid in the grave a spiritual\nbody will be given to us, pure, ethereal, and holy. Oh, what an\nextent of knowledge shall flash upon us; what light and glory; what\nspirituality and power! Then we shall not need to ask an angel\nanything. We shall know as we are known. Jesus will be our teacher;\nthe Everlasting God, the Man whose name is Wonderful, the Counselor,\nthe Prince of Peace. He Himself shall be our Leader. We shall know\nthen as also we are known.\n\nThen rejoice in God. Dry up those tears. Cast away that downcast\nlook. Child of the dust, you are an heir of glory. There is a crown\nall burnished for you; there is a mansion all ready for you; there\nis a white robe prepared for you; there is eternal glory for you;\nangels are to be your servants and you are to reign with the King\nof Kings forever. But while you wait on earth, be witnesses for\nGod; attest the glory of your Master; rise in the greatness of His\nstrength; bind sin captive to your chariot wheels; go onward in your\nheavenly career, and be as pure as your ascended Head is pure. Be\nactive in works of mercy; be angels of light; be names of fire; go\non your mission of mercy and convert the world unto God before you\ngo up higher. When you go, not only go forward to present yourself,\nbut may every one of you be able to say: \"Here am I and those which\nThou hast given me.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHEODORE PARKER\n\nTHE TRANSIENT AND PERMANENT IN CHRISTIANITY\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\n\nTHEODORE PARKER, American divine and reformer, was born at\nLexington, Mass., in 1810. He was educated at Harvard and graduated\nfrom the Divinity School of that University in 1836. The following\nyear he was ordained pastor of Roxbury Christian Church, and first\nattracted attention by his sermon on the \"Transient and Permanent\nin Christianity,\" preached in 1841. This sermon was ultimately the\ncause of his practical exclusion from the Unitarian body, and in\n1846 he became minister to the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society\nin Boston.\n\nIn this pastorate he became well known to all denominations from\nthe remarkable sermons he preached for seven years in Music\nHall. He died of consumption at Florence, Italy, in 1860. His\npowerful intellect and vigorous eloquence were exhibited in the\nmany controversial sermons he preached, both as a believer in the\nnonsupernaturalism of present Christianity and as a practical\nhumanitarian. He figured as one of the leading abolitionists of New\nEngland.\n\n\n\n\nTHEODORE PARKER\n\n1810-1860\n\nTHE TRANSIENT AND PERMANENT IN CHRISTIANITY\n\n_Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass\naway._--Luke xxi., 33.\n\n\nIn this sentence we have a very clear indication that Jesus of\nNazareth believed the religion He taught would be eternal, that\nthe substance of it would last forever. Yet there are some who\nare affrighted by the faintest rustle which a heretic makes among\nthe dry leaves of theology; they tremble lest Christianity itself\nshould perish without hope. Ever and anon the cry is raised, \"The\nPhilistines be upon us, and Christianity is in danger.\" The least\ndoubt respecting the popular theology, or the existing machinery\nof the Church; the least sign of distrust in the religion of the\npulpit, or the religion of the street, is by some good men supposed\nto be at enmity with faith in Christ, and capable of shaking\nChristianity itself. On the other hand, a few bad men, and a few\npious men, it is said, on both sides of the water, tell us the day\nof Christianity is past. The latter, it is alleged, would persuade\nus that hereafter piety must take a new form; the teachings of Jesus\nare to be passed by; that religion is to wing her way sublime,\nabove the flight of Christianity, far away, toward heaven, as the\nfledged eaglet leaves forever the nest which sheltered his callow\nyouth. Let us therefore devote a few moments to this subject, and\nconsider what is transient in Christianity, and what is permanent\ntherein.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn actual Christianity,--that is, in that portion of Christianity\nwhich is preached and believed,--there seems to have been, ever\nsince the time of its earthly Founder, two elements, the one\ntransient, the other permanent. The one is the thought, the folly,\nthe uncertain wisdom, the theological notions, the impiety of man;\nthe other, the eternal truth of God. These two bear, perhaps, the\nsame relation to each other that the phenomena of outward nature,\nsuch as sunshine and cloud, growth, decay and reproduction, bear\nto the great law of nature, which underlies and supports them all.\nAs in that case more attention is commonly paid to the particular\nphenomena than to the general law, so in this case more is generally\ngiven to the transient in Christianity than to the permanent therein.\n\nIt must be confest, tho with sorrow, that transient things form a\ngreat part of what is commonly taught as religion. An undue place\nhas often been assigned to forms and doctrines, while too little\nstress has been laid on the divine life of the soul, love to God,\nand love to man. Religious forms may be useful and beautiful. They\nare so, whenever they speak to the soul, and answer a want thereof.\nIn our present state some forms are perhaps necessary. But they are\nonly the accident of Christianity, not its substance. They are the\nrobe, not the angel, who may take another robe quite as becoming\nand useful. One sect has many forms; another, none. Yet both may be\nequally Christian, in spite of the redundance or the deficiency.\nThey are a part of the language in which religion speaks, and exist,\nwith few exceptions, wherever man is found. In our calculating\nnation, in our rationalizing sect, we have retained but two of the\nrites so numerous in the early Christian Church, and even these\nwe have attenuated to the last degree, leaving them little more\nthan a specter of the ancient form. Another age may continue or\nforsake both; may revive old forms, or invent new ones to suit the\naltered circumstances of the times, and yet be Christians quite as\ngood as we, or our fathers of the dark ages. Whether the apostles\ndesigned these rites to be perpetual seems a question which belongs\nto scholars and antiquarians,--not to us, as Christian men and\nwomen. So long as they satisfy or help the pious heart, so long they\nare good. Looking behind or around us, we see that the forms and\nrites of the Christians are quite as fluctuating as those of the\nheathens, from whom some of them have been, not unwisely, adopted by\nthe earlier Church.\n\nAny one, who traces the history of what is called Christianity, will\nsee that nothing changes more from age to age than the doctrines\ntaught as Christian, and insisted on as essential to Christianity\nand personal salvation. What is falsehood in one province passes\nfor truth in another. The heresy of one age is the orthodox\nbelief and \"only infallible rule\" of the next. Now Arius, and now\nAthanasius, is lord of the ascendant. Both were excommunicated\nin their turn, each for affirming what the other denied. Men are\nburned for professing what men are burned for denying. For centuries\nthe doctrines of the Christians were no better, to say the least,\nthan those of their contemporary pagans. The theological doctrines\nderived from our fathers seem to have come from Judaism, heathenism,\nand the caprice of philosophers, far more than they have come\nfrom the principle and sentiment of Christianity. The doctrine of\nthe Trinity, the very Achilles of theological dogmas, belongs to\nphilosophy and not religion; its subtleties cannot even be expressed\nin our tongue. As old religions became superannuated, and died out,\nthey left to the rising faith, as to a residuary legatee, their\nforms and their doctrines; or rather, as the giant in the fable left\nhis poisoned garment to work the overthrow of his conqueror. Many\ntenets that pass current in our theology seem to be the refuse of\nidol temples, the offscourings of Jewish and heathen cities rather\nthan the sands of virgin gold which the stream of Christianity\nhas worn off from the rock of ages, and brought in its bosom for\nus. It is wood, hay, and stubble, wherewith men have built on the\ncorner-stone Christ laid. What wonder the fabric is in peril when\ntried by fire? The stream of Christianity, as men receive it, has\ncaught a stain from every soil it has filtered through, so that now\nit is not the pure water from the well of life which is offered\nto our lips, but streams troubled and polluted by man with mire\nand dirt. If Paul and Jesus could read our books of theological\ndoctrines, would they accept as their teaching what men have vented\nin their name? Never, till the letters of Paul had faded out of\nhis memory, never, till the words of Jesus had been torn out from\nthe book of life. It is their notions about Christianity men have\ntaught as the only living word of God. They have piled their own\nrubbish against the temple of truth where piety comes up to worship;\nwhat wonder the pile seems unshapely and like to fall? But these\ntheological doctrines are fleeting as the leaves on the trees. They--\n\n                            \"Are found\n    Now green in youth, now withered on the ground;\n    Another race the following spring supplies;\n    They fall successive, and successive rise.\"\n\nLike the clouds of the sky, they are here to-day; to-morrow, all\nswept off and vanished; while Christianity itself, like the heaven\nabove, with its sun, and moon, and uncounted stars, is always over\nour head, tho the cloud sometimes debars us of the needed light. It\nmust of necessity be the case that our reasonings, and therefore\nour theological doctrines, are imperfect, and so perishing. It is\nonly gradually that we approach to the true system of nature by\nobservation and reasoning, and work out our philosophy and theology\nby the toil of the brain. But meantime, if we are faithful, the\ngreat truths of mortality and religion, the deep sentiment of love\nto man and love to God, are perceived intuitively, and by instinct,\nas it were, tho our theology be imperfect and miserable. The\ntheological notions of Abraham, to take the story as it stands, were\nexceedingly gross, yet a greater than Abraham has told us, \"Abraham\ndesired to see my day, saw it, and was glad.\" Since these notions\nare so fleeting, why need we accept the commandment of men as the\ndoctrine of God?\n\nThis transitoriness of doctrines appears in many instances, of which\ntwo may be selected for a more attentive consideration. First, the\ndoctrine respecting the origin and authority of the Old and New\nTestaments. There has been a time when men were burned for asserting\ndoctrines of natural philosophy which rested on evidence the most\nincontestable, because those doctrines conflicted with sentences in\nthe Old Testament. Every word of that Jewish record was regarded\nas miraculously inspired, and therefore as infallibly true. It was\nbelieved that the Christian religion itself rested thereon, and must\nstand or fall with the immaculate Hebrew text. He was deemed no\nsmall sinner who found mistakes in the manuscripts. On the authority\nof the written word man was taught to believe impossible legends,\nconflicting assertions; to take fiction for fact, a dream for a\nmiraculous revelation of God, an Oriental poem for a grave history\nof miraculous events, a collection of amatory idyls for a serious\ndiscourse \"touching the mutual love of Christ and the Church\";\nthey have been taught to accept a picture sketched by some glowing\nEastern imagination, never intended to be taken for a reality,\nas a proof that the infinite God spoke in human words, appeared\nin the shape of a cloud, a flaming bush, or a man who ate, and\ndrank, and vanished into smoke; that He gave counsels to-day, and\nthe opposite to-morrow; that He violated His own laws, was angry,\nand was only dissuaded by a mortal man from destroying at once a\nwhole nation,--millions of men who rebelled against their leader\nin a moment of anguish. Questions in philosophy, questions in the\nChristian religion, have been settled by an appeal to that book.\nThe inspiration of its authors has been assumed as infallible.\nEvery fact in the early Jewish history has been taken as a type of\nsome analogous fact in Christian history. The most distant events,\neven such as are still in the arms of time, were supposed to be\nclearly foreseen and foretold by pious Hebrews several centuries\nbefore Christ. It has been assumed at the outset, with no shadow of\nevidence, that those writers held a miraculous communication with\nGod, such as He has granted to no other man. What was originally\na presumption of bigoted Jews became an article of faith, which\nChristians were burned for not believing. This has been for\ncenturies the general opinion of the Christian Church, both Catholic\nand Protestant, tho the former never accepted the Bible as the\nonly source of religious truth. It has been so. Still worse, it is\nnow the general opinion of religious sects at this day. Hence the\nattempt, which always fails, to reconcile the philosophy of our\ntimes with the poems in Genesis writ a thousand years before Christ.\nHence the attempt to conceal the contradictions in the record\nitself. Matters have come to such a pass that even now he is deemed\nan infidel, if not by implication an atheist, whose reverence for\nthe Most High forbids him to believe that God commanded Abraham to\nsacrifice his son,--a thought at which the flesh creeps with horror;\nto believe it solely on the authority of an Oriental story, written\ndown nobody knows when or by whom, or for what purpose; which may\nbe a poem, but can not be the record of a fact, unless God is the\nauthor of confusion and a lie.\n\nNow, this idolatry of the Old Testament has not always existed.\nJesus says that none born of a woman is greater than John the\nBaptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than\nJohn. Paul tells us the law--the very crown of the old Hebrew\nrevelation--is a shadow of good things which have now come; only a\nschoolmaster to bring us to Christ; and when faith has come, that\nwe are no longer under the schoolmaster; that it was a law of sin\nand death, from which we are made free by the law of the spirit of\nlife. Christian teachers themselves have differed so widely in their\nnotion of the doctrines and meaning of those books that it makes one\nweep to think of the follies deduced therefrom. But modern criticism\nis fast breaking to pieces this idol which men have made out of the\nScriptures. It has shown that here are the most different works\nthrown together; that their authors, wise as they sometimes were,\npious as we feel often their spirit to have been, had only that\ninspiration which is common to other men equally pious and wise;\nthat they were by no means infallible, but were mistaken in facts or\nin reasoning,--uttered predictions which time has not fulfilled; men\nwho in some measure partook of the darkness and limited notions of\ntheir age, and were not always above its mistakes or its corruptions.\n\nThe history of opinions on the New Testament is quite similar. It\nhas been assumed at the outset, it would seem with no sufficient\nreason, without the smallest pretense on its writers' part, that\nall of its authors were infallibly and miraculously inspired, so\nthat they could commit no error of doctrine or fact. Men have been\nbid to close their eyes at the obvious difference between Luke and\nJohn, the serious disagreement between Paul and Peter; to believe,\non the smallest evidence, accounts which shock the moral sense and\nrevolt the reason, and tend to place Jesus in the same series with\nthe Hercules and Appollonius of Tyana; accounts which Paul in the\nEpistles never mentions, tho he also had a vein of the miraculous\nrunning quite through him. Men have been told that all these things\nmust be taken as part of Christianity, and if they accepted the\nreligion, they must take all these accessories along with it; that\nthe living spirit could not be had without the killing letter. All\nthe books which caprice or accident had brought together between\nthe lids of the Bible were declared to be the infallible Word of\nGod, the only certain rule of religious faith and practise. Thus the\nBible was made not a single channel, but the only certain rule of\nreligious faith and practise. To disbelieve any of its statements,\nor even the common interpretation put upon those statements by\nthe particular age or church in which the man belonged, was held\nto be infidelity, if not atheism. In the name of Him who forbids\nus to judge our brother, good men and pious men have applied these\nterms to others, good and pious as themselves. That state of things\nhas by no means passed away. Men who cry down the absurdities of\npaganism in the worst spirit of the French \"free thinkers\" call\nothers infidels and atheists, who point out, tho reverently, other\nabsurdities which men have piled upon Christianity. So the world\ngoes. An idolatrous regard for the imperfect scripture of God's word\nis the apple of Atalanta, which defeats theologians running for the\nhand of divine truth.\n\nBut the current notions respecting the infallible inspiration of\nthe Bible have no foundation in the Bible itself. Which evangelist,\nwhich apostle of the New Testament, what prophet or psalmist of the\nOld Testament, ever claims infallible authority for himself or for\nothers? Which of them does not in his own writings show that he was\nfinite, and, with all his zeal and piety, possest but a limited\ninspiration, the bound whereof we can sometimes discover? Did Christ\never demand that men should assent to the doctrines of the Old\nTestament, credit its stories, and take its poems for histories, and\nbelieve equally two accounts that contradict one another? Has He\never told you that all the truths of His religion, all the beauty\nof a Christian life should be contained in the writings of those\nmen who, even after His resurrection, expected Him to be a Jewish\nking; of men who were sometimes at variance with one another, and\nmisunderstood His divine teachings? Would not those modest writers\nthemselves be confounded at the idolatry we pay them? Opinions may\nchange on these points, as they have often changed--changed greatly\nand for the worse since the days of Paul. They are changing now, and\nwe may hope for the better; for God makes man's folly as well his\nwrath to praise Him, and continually brings good out of evil.\n\nAnother instance of the transitoriness of doctrines taught as\nChristian is found in those which relate to the nature and authority\nof Christ. One ancient party has told us that He is the infinite\nGod; another, that He is both God and man; a third, that He was\na man, the son of Joseph and Mary, born as we are; tempted like\nourselves; inspired as we may be, if we will pay the price. Each of\nthe former parties believed its doctrine on this head was infallibly\ntrue, and formed the very substance of Christianity, and was one\nof the essential conditions of salvation, tho scarce any two\ndistinguished teachers, of ancient or modern times, agree in their\nexpression of this truth.\n\nAlmost every sect that has ever been, makes Christianity rest on\nthe personal authority of Jesus, and not the immutable truth of the\ndoctrines themselves, or the authority of God, who sent Him into\nthe world. Yet it seems difficult to conceive any reason why moral\nand religious truths should rest for their support on the personal\nauthority of their revealer, any more than the truths of science on\nthat of him who makes them known first or most clearly. It is hard\nto see why the great truths of Christianity rest on the personal\nauthority of Jesus, more than the axioms of geometry rest on the\npersonal authority of Euclid or Archimedes. The authority of Jesus\nas of all teachers, one would naturally think, must rest on the\ntruth of His words, and not their truth on His authority.\n\nOpinions respecting the nature of Christ seem to be constantly\nchanging. In the three first centuries after Christ, it appears,\ngreat latitude of speculation prevailed. Some said He was God, with\nnothing of human nature, His body only an illusion; others that He\nwas man, with nothing of the divine nature, His miraculous birth\nhaving no foundation in fact. In a few centuries it was decreed by\ncouncils that He was God, thus honoring the divine element; next,\nthat He was man also, thus admitting the human side. For some ages\nthe Catholic Church seems to have dwelt chiefly on the divine\nnature that was in Him, leaving the human element to mystics and\nother heretical persons, whose bodies served to flesh the swords of\northodox believers. The stream of Christianity has come to us in two\nchannels,--one within the Church, the other without the Church,--and\nit is not hazarding too much to say that since the fourth century\nthe true Christian life has been out of the established Church,\nand not in it, but rather in the ranks of dissenters. From the\nReformation till the latter part of the last century, we are told,\nthe Protestant Church dwelt chiefly on the human side of Christ,\nand since that time many works have been written to show how\nthe two--perfect Deity and perfect manhood--were united in His\ncharacter. But, all this time, scarce any two eminent teachers\nagree on these points, however orthodox they may be called. What a\ndifference between the Christ of John Gerson and John Calvin,--yet\nwere both accepted teachers and pious men. What a difference between\nthe Christ of the Unitarians and the Methodists,--yet may men of\nboth sects be true Christians and acceptable with God. What a\ndifference between the Christ of Matthew and John,--yet both were\ndisciples, and their influence is wide as Christendom and deep as\nthe heart of man. But on this there is not time to enlarge.\n\nNow, it seems clear that the notions men form about the origin and\nnature of the Scriptures, respecting the nature and authority of\nChrist, have nothing to do with Christianity except as its aids or\nits adversaries; they are not the foundation of its truths. These\nare theological questions, not religious questions. Their connection\nwith Christianity appears accidental; for if Jesus had taught at\nAthens, and not at Jerusalem; if He had wrought no miracle, and\nnone but the human nature had ever been ascribed to them; if the\nOld Testament had forever perished at His birth,--Christianity\nwould still have been the word of God; it would have lost none of\nits truths. It would be just as true, just as beautiful, just as\nlasting, as now it is; tho we should have lost so many a blessed\nword, and the work of Christianity itself would have been, perhaps,\na long time retarded.\n\nTo judge the future by the past, the former authority of the Old\nTestament can never return. Its present authority can not stand. It\nmust be taken for what it is worth. The occasional folly and impiety\nof its authors must pass for no more than their value; while the\nreligion, the wisdom, the love, which make fragrant its leaves, will\nstill speak to the best hearts as hitherto, and in accents even more\ndivine when reason is allowed her rights. The ancient belief in the\ninfallible inspiration of each sentence of the New Testament is fast\nchanging, very fast. One writer, not a skeptic, but a Christian of\nunquestioned piety, sweeps off the beginning of Matthew; another,\nof a different church and equally religious, the end of John.\nNumerous critics strike off several epistles. The Apocalypse itself\nis not spared, notwithstanding its concluding curse. Who shall\ntell us the work of retrenchment is to stop here; that others will\nnot demonstrate what some pious hearts have long felt, that errors\nof doctrine and errors of fact may be found in many parts of the\nrecord, here and there, from the beginning of Matthew to the end\nof Acts? We see how opinions have changed ever since the apostles'\ntime; and who shall assure us that they were not sometimes mistaken\nin historical as well as doctrinal matters; did not sometimes\nconfound the actual with the imaginary; and that the fancy of these\npious writers never stood in the place of their recollection?\n\nBut what if this should take place? Is Christianity then to perish\nout of the heart of the nations, and vanish from the memory of the\nworld, like the religions that were before Abraham? It must be so,\nif it rest on a foundation which a scoffer may shake, and a score of\npious critics shake down. But this is the foundation of a theology,\nnot of Christianity. That does not rest on the decision of councils.\nIt is not to stand or fall with the infallible inspiration of a\nfew Jewish fishermen, who have writ their names in characters of\nlight all over the world. It does not continue to stand through\nthe forbearance of some critic, who can cut when he will the\nthread on which its life depends. Christianity does not rest on\nthe infallible authority of the New Testament. It depends on this\ncollection of books for the historical statement of its facts. In\nthis we do not require infallible inspiration on the part of the\nwriters, more than in the record of other historical facts. To me it\nseems as presumptuous, on the one hand, for the believer to claim\nthis evidence for the truth of Christianity, as it is absurd, on\nthe other hand, for the skeptic to demand such evidence to support\nthese historical statements. I can not see that it depends on the\npersonal authority of Jesus. He was the organ through which the\nInfinite spoke. It is God that was manifested in the flesh by Him,\non whom rests the truth which Jesus brought to light, and made clear\nand beautiful in His life; and if Christianity be true, it seems\nuseless to look for any other authority to uphold it, as for some\none to support Almighty God. So if it could be proved--as it can\nnot--in opposition to the greatest amount of historical evidence\never collected on any similar point, that the Gospels were the\nfabrication of designing and artful men, that Jesus of Nazareth had\nnever lived, still Christianity would stand firm, and fear no evil.\nNone of the doctrines of that religion would fall to the ground;\nfor, if true, they stand by themselves. But we should lose--oh,\nirreparable loss!--the example of that character, so beautiful, so\ndivine, that no human genius could have conceived it, as none, after\nall the progress and refinement of eighteen centuries, seems fully\nto have comprehended its lustrous life. If Christianity were true,\nwe should still think it was so, not because its record was written\nby infallible pens, nor because it was lived out by an infallible\nteacher; but that it is true, like the axioms of geometry, because\nit is true and is to be tried, by the oracle God places in the\nbreast. If it rest on the personal authority of Jesus alone, then\nthere is no certainty of its truth if He were ever mistaken in\nthe smallest matter,--as some Christians have thought He was in\npredicting His second coming.\n\nThese doctrines respecting the Scriptures have often changed, and\nare but fleeting. Yet men lay much stress on them. Some cling to\nthese notions as if they were Christianity itself. It is about\nthese and similar points that theological battles are fought from\nage to age. Men sometimes use worst the choicest treasure which God\nbestows. This is especially true of the use men make of the Bible.\nSome men have regarded it as the heathen their idol, or the savage\nhis fetish. They have subordinated reason, conscience, and religion\nto this. Thus have they lost half the treasure it bears in its\nbosom. No doubt the time will come when its true character shall be\nfelt. Then it will be seen that, amid all the contradictions of the\nOld Testament,--its legends, so beautiful as fictions, so appalling\nas facts; amid its predictions that have never been fulfilled; amid\nthe puerile conceptions of God which sometimes occur, and the cruel\ndenunciations that disfigure both psalm and prophecy,--there is a\nreverence for man's nature, a sublime trust in God, and a depth of\npiety, rarely felt in these cold northern hearts of ours. Then the\ndevotion of its authors, the loftiness of their aim, and the majesty\nof their life, will appear doubly fair, and prophet and psalmist\nwill warm our hearts as never before. Their voice will cheer the\nyoung, and sanctify the gray-headed; will charm us in the toil of\nlife, and sweeten the cup death gives us when he comes to shake\noff this mantle of flesh. Then will it be seen that the words of\nJesus are the music of heaven sung in an earthly voice, and that\nthe echo of these words in John and Paul owe their efficacy to\ntheir truth and their depth, and to no accidental matter connected\ntherewith. Then can the Word, which was in the beginning and now is,\nfind access to the innermost heart of man, and speak there as now\nit seldom speaks. Then shall the Bible--which is a whole library\nof the deepest and most earnest thoughts and feelings, and piety,\nand love, ever recorded in human speech--be read oftener than ever\nbefore,--not with superstition, but with reason, conscience, and\nfaith, fully active. Then shall it sustain men bowed down with many\nsorrows; rebuke sin, encourage virtue, sow the world broadcast and\nquick with the seed of love, that man may reap a harvest for life\neverlasting.\n\nWith all the obstacles men have thrown in its path, how much has\nthe Bible done for mankind! No abuse has deprived us of all its\nblessings. You trace its path across the world from the day of\nPentecost to this day. As a river springs up in the heart of a\nsandy continent, having its father in the skies, and its birthplace\nin distant unknown mountains; as the stream rolls on, enlarging\nitself, making in that arid waste a belt of verdure wherever it\nturns its way; creating palm groves and fertile plains, where the\nsmoke of the cottager curls up at eventide, and marble cities send\nthe gleam of their splendor far into the sky,--such has been the\ncourse of the Bible on the earth. Despite of idolaters bowing to\nthe dust before it, it has made a deeper mark on the world than the\nrich and beautiful literature of all the heathen. The first book\nof the Old Testament tells man he is made in the image of God; the\nfirst of the New Testament gives us the motto, Be perfect as your\nFather in heaven. Higher words were never spoken. How the truths of\nthe Bible have blest us! There is not a boy on all the hills of New\nEngland; not a girl born in the filthiest cellar which disgraces a\ncapital in Europe, and cries to God against the barbarism of modern\ncivilization; not a boy nor a girl all Christendom through, but\ntheir lot is made better by that great book.\n\nDoubtless the time will come when men shall see Christ also as He\nis. Well might He still say, \"Have I been so long with you, and yet\nhast thou not known me?\" No! we have made Him an idol, have bowed\nthe knee before Him, saying, \"Hail, king of the Jews!\" called Him\n\"Lord, Lord!\" but done not the things which He said. The history\nof the Christian world might well be summed up in one word of the\nevangelist--\"and there they crucified him\"; for there has never\nbeen an age when the men did not crucify the Son of God afresh.\nBut if error prevail for a time and grow old in the world, truth\nwill triumph at the last, and then we shall see the Son of God as\nHe is. Lifted up, He shall draw all nations unto Him. Then will\nmen understand the word of Jesus, which shall not pass away. Then\nshall we see and love the divine life that He lived. How vast has\nHis influence been! How His spirit wrought in the hearts of His\ndisciples, rude, selfish, bigoted, as at first they were! How it\nhas wrought in the world! His words judge the nations. The wisest\nson of man has not measured their height. They speak to what is\ndeepest in profound men, what is holiest in good men, what is\ndivinest in religious men. They kindle anew the flame of devotion\nin hearts long cold. They are spirit and life. His truth was not\nderived from Moses and Solomon; but the light of God shone through\nHim, not colored, not bent aside. His life is the perpetual rebuke\nof all time since. It condemns ancient civilization; it condemns\nmodern civilization. Wise men we have since had, and good men;\nbut this Galilean youth strode before the whole world thousands\nof years, so much of divinity was in Him. His words solve the\nquestion of this present age. In Him the Godlike and the human\nmet and embraced, and a divine life was born. Measure Him by the\nworld's greatest sons--how poor they are! Try Him by the best of\nmen--how little and low they appear! Exalt Him as much as we may,\nwe shall yet perhaps come short of the mark. But still was He\nnot our brother; the son of man, as we are; the son of God, like\nourselves? His excellence--was it not human excellence? His wisdom,\nlove, piety,--sweet and celestial as they were,--are they not what\nwe also may attain? In Him, as in a mirror, we may see the image of\nGod, and go on from glory to glory, till we are changed into the\nsame image, led by the spirit which enlightens the humble. Viewed\nin this way, how beautiful is the life of Jesus! Heaven has come\ndown to earth, or rather, earth has become heaven. The Son of God,\ncome of age, has taken possession of His birthright. The brightest\nrevelation is this of what is possible for all men,--if not now, at\nleast hereafter. How pure is His spirit, and how encouraging its\nwords! \"Lowly sufferer,\" he seems to say, \"see how I bore the cross.\nPatient laborer, be strong; see how I toiled for the unthankful and\nthe merciless. Mistaken sinner, see of what thou art capable. Rise\nup, and be blest.\"\n\nBut if, as some early Christians began to do, you take a heathen\nview, and make Him a God, the Son of God in a peculiar and exclusive\nsense, much of the significance of His character is gone. His virtue\nhas no merit, His love no feeling, His cross no burthen, His agony\nno pain. His death is an illusion, His resurrection but a show. For\nif He were not a man, but a god, what are all these things? What His\nwords, His life, His excellence of achievement? It is all nothing,\nweighed against the illimitable greatness of Him who created the\nworlds and fills up all time and space! Then His resignation is no\nlesson, His life no model, His death no triumph to you or me, who\nare not gods, but mortal men, that know not what a day shall bring\nforth, and walk by faith \"dim sounding on our perilous way.\" Alas!\nwe have despaired of man, and so cut off his brightest hope.\n\nIn respect of doctrines as well as forms, we see all is transitory.\n\"Everywhere is instability and insecurity.\" Opinions have changed\nmost on points deemed most vital. Could we bring up a Christian\nteacher of any age, from the sixth to the fourteenth century, for\nexample, tho a teacher of undoubted soundness of faith, whose word\nfilled the churches of Christendom, clergymen would scarce allow\nhim to kneel at their altar, or sit down with them at the Lord's\ntable. His notions of Christianity could not be exprest in our\nforms, nor could our notions be made intelligible to his ears.\nThe questions of his age, those on which Christianity was thought\nto depend,--questions which perplexed and divided the subtle\ndoctors,--are no questions to us. The quarrels which then drove\nwise men mad now only excite a smile or a tear, as we are disposed\nto laugh or weep at the frailty of man. We have other straws of our\nown to quarrel for. Their ancient books of devotion do not speak\nto us; their theology is a vain word. To look back but a short\nperiod,--the theological speculations of our fathers during the last\ntwo centuries, their \"practical divinity,\" even the sermons written\nby genius and piety are, with rare exceptions, found unreadable;\nsuch a change is there in the doctrines.\n\nNow who shall tell us that the change is to stop here; that this\nsect or that, or even all sects united, have exhausted the river of\nlife, and received it all in their canonized urns, so that we need\ndraw no more out of the eternal well, but get refreshment nearer\nat hand? Who shall tell us that another age will not smile at our\ndoctrines, disputes, and unchristian quarrels about Christianity,\nand make wide the mouth at men who walked brave in orthodox raiment,\ndelighting to blacken the names of heretics, and repeat again the\nold charge, \"He hath blasphemed\"? Who shall tell us they will not\nweep at the folly of all such as fancied truth shone only into the\ncontracted nook of their school, or sect, or coterie? Men of other\ntimes may look down equally on the heresy-hunters, and men hunted\nfor heresy, and wonder at both. The men of all ages before us\nwere quite as confident as we, that their opinion was truth, that\ntheir notion was Christianity and the whole thereof. The men who\nlit the fires of persecution, from the first martyr to Christian\nbigotry down to the last murder of the innocents, had no doubt their\nopinion was divine. The contest about transubstantiation and the\nimmaculate purity of the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Scriptures\nwas waged with bitterness unequaled in these days. The Protestant\nsmiles at one, the Catholic at the other, and men of sense wonder\nat both. It might teach us all a lesson, at least of forbearance.\nNo doubt an age will come in which ours shall be reckoned a period\nof darkness, like the sixth century,--when men groped for the wall,\nbut stumbled and fell, because they trusted a transient notion,\nnot an eternal truth; an age when temples were full of idols,\nset up by human folly; an age in which Christian light had scarce\nbegun to shine into men's hearts. But while this change goes on,\nwhile one generation of opinions passes away, and another rises up,\nChristianity itself, that pure religion, which exists eternal in the\nconstitution of the soul and the mind of God, is always the same.\nThe Word that was before Abraham, in the very beginning, will not\nchange, for that Word is truth. From this Jesus subtracted nothing;\nto this He added nothing. But He came to reveal it as the secret of\nGod, that cunning men could not understand, but which filled the\nsouls of men meek and lowly of heart. This truth we owe to God; the\nrevelation thereof to Jesus, our elder brother, God's chosen son.\n\nTo turn away from the disputes of the Catholics and the Protestants,\nof the Unitarian and the Trinitarian, of old school and new school,\nand come to the plain words of Jesus of Nazareth,--Christianity is a\nsimple thing, very simple. It is absolute, pure morality; absolute,\npure religion,--the love of man; the love of God acting without let\nor hindrance. The only creed it lays down is the great truth which\nsprings up spontaneous in the holy heart,--there is a God. Its\nwatchword is, Be perfect as your Father in heaven. The only form it\ndemands is a divine life,--doing the best thing in the best way,\nfrom the highest motives; perfect obedience to the great law of\nGod. Its sanction is the voice of God in your heart; the perpetual\npresence of Him who made us and the stars over our head; Christ and\nthe Father abiding within us. All this is very simple--a little\nchild can understand it; very beautiful--the loftiest mind can find\nnothing so lovely. Try it by reason, conscience, and faith,--things\nhighest in man's nature,--we see no redundance, we feel no\ndeficiency. Examine the particular duties it enjoins,--humility,\nreverence, sobriety, gentleness, charity, forgiveness, fortitude,\nresignation, faith, and active love; try the whole extent of\nChristianity, so well summed up in the command, \"Thou shalt love\nthe Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and\nwith all thy mind; thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself\"; and is\nthere anything therein that can perish? No, the very opponents of\nChristianity have rarely found fault with the teachings of Jesus.\nThe end of Christianity seems to be to make all men one with God as\nChrist was one with Him; to bring them to such a state of obedience\nand goodness that we shall think divine thoughts and feel divine\nsentiments, and so keep the law of God by living a life of truth\nand love. Its means are purity and prayer; getting strength from\nGod, and using it for our fellow-men as well as ourselves. It allows\nperfect freedom. It does not demand all men to think alike, but to\nthink uprightly, and get as near as possible at truth; not all men\nto live alike, but to live holy, and get as near as possible to a\nlife perfectly divine. Christ set up no Pillars of Hercules, beyond\nwhich men must not sail the sea in quest of truth. He says, \"I have\nmany things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.... Greater\nworks than these shall ye do.\" Christianity lays no rude hand on the\nsacred peculiarity of individual genius and character. But there is\nno Christian sect which does not fetter a man. It would make all\nmen think alike, or smother their conviction in silence. Were all\nmen Quakers or Catholics, Unitarians or Baptists, there would be\nmuch less diversity of thought, character, and life, less of truth\nactive in the world, than now. But Christianity gives us the largest\nliberty of the sons of God; and were all men Christians after the\nfashion of Jesus, this variety would be a thousand times greater\nthan now; for Christianity is not a system of doctrines, but rather\na method of attaining oneness with God. It demands, therefore, a\ngood life of piety within, of purity without, and gives the promise\nthat whoso does God's will shall know of God's doctrine.\n\n\n\n\nMACLEOD\n\nTHE TRUE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\n\nNORMAN MACLEOD, the eminent Scotch preacher, was born at\nCampbeltown, in Argyleshire, in 1812. In his preaching he departed\nfrom the rigid conventionality of the Scottish Church. His\nlarge vision and broad culture gave unusual distinction both to\nhis writings and to his pulpit oratory. He was conspicuous for\nphilanthropic efforts, and frequently held evening services for\nworkingmen. He distinguished himself by his popular Christian\nwriting and by his pulpit oratory. He was practical and manly, of\ngodly nature, with extreme adaptability, and greatly esteemed by\nQueen Victoria, who made him her chaplain in 1857. He died in 1872.\n\n\n\n\nMACLEOD\n\n1812-1872\n\nTHE TRUE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY[2]\n\n  [2] Printed here by permission of the publishers, Messrs. Wm.\n  Blackwood & Sons.\n\n_Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall\nbelieve on me through their word;_\n\n_That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,\nthat they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that\nthou hast sent me._--John xvii., 20, 21.\n\n\"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and\nsaid, Father, the hour is come!\" The hour was indeed come for which\nthe whole world had been in travail since creation, and which was\nfor ever to mark a new era in the history of the universe. The hour\nwas come when, having finished the work given Him to do, He was to\nreturn to His Father, but only after ending His earthly journey\nalong the awful path on which He was now entering, and which led\nthrough Gethsemane, the cross, and the grave. At such a moment in\nHis life He lifted up His eyes in perfect peace, from the sinful\nand sorrowful world, to the heavens glorious in their harmony and\nsoothing in their silence, and said, \"Father!\" One feels a solemn\nawe, as if entering the holy of holies, in seeking to enter into\nthe mind of Christ as exprest in this prayer. Never were such words\nspoken on earth, never were such words heard in heaven. I ask no\nother evidence to satisfy my spirit that they are the truth of God\nthan the evidence of their own light, revealing as it does the\nspeaker as being Himself light and life, who verily came from God\nand went to God.\n\nBut let me in all reverence endeavor to express a few thoughts,\nas to the general meaning of this prayer, with reference more\nespecially to that portion of it which I have selected as the\nsubject of my discourse.\n\nThe one all-absorbing desire of our Lord, as here exprest--the\nultimate end sought to be realized by Him--is that God might be\nglorified as a Father, and that by the world seeing His love\nrevealed in sending His Son into the world to save sinners. \"God\nis love,\" but \"In this was manifested the love of God toward us,\nbecause that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we\nmight live through him\"--a love which, when spiritually seen and\npossest by us, is itself life eternal; for \"This is life eternal\nthat they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom\nthou hast sent;\" but \"He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God\nis love.\"\n\nAll \"religion\" accordingly, all good, all righteousness, peace,\njoy, glory, to man and to the universe, are bound up in this one\nthing, knowing God as a Father. Out of this right condition of love\nto God, must necessarily come our right condition towards man,\nthat of love to man as a brother with special love, the love of\ncharacter, to Christian brethren. Such a religion as this was never\npossest as an idea even by the greatest thinkers among the civilized\nheathen nations; far less was it realized by any. Whatever knowledge\nmany had about God, they knew Him not as a Father to be loved and\ntrusted, and therefore obeyed. When St. Paul addrest the Athenians,\nhe could find such a thought exprest by a poet only, who had said,\n\"We are also His offspring.\" It is only in the line of supernatural\nrevelation of God to man, as given to and received by Abraham, \"the\nfriend,\" and perfected by Christ the Son, that this knowledge of\nGod has been possest by man. But even among those to whom this true\nrevelation was given about God, how few truly knew Him!\n\nThe want of this religion, whatever else might exist that was called\nby that name, was the complaint made by God against His people of\nold, \"They do not know me!\" \"They proceed from evil to evil,\" He\ncries, for \"they know not me, saith the Lord.\" \"Through deceit they\nrefuse to know me, saith the Lord;\" and again: \"Thus saith the Lord,\nLet not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty\nman glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches;\nbut let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and\nknoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness,\njudgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I\ndelight, saith the Lord.\" (Jer. ix., 23, 24.)\n\nThis was the sorrowing cry of Christ, \"O righteous Father, the world\nhath not known thee!\" This was His joy, \"I have known thee, and\nthese have known that thou hast sent me!\"\n\nBut if Christ desired that His Father's name should be glorified,\nhow was this to be accomplished? By what medium, or means? Now I\nwould here observe that God's method of revealing Himself to man has\never been to do so by living men; and the Bible is a true record of\nsuch revelations in the past. Christianity is not the philosophy of\nlife, but life itself; and is a revelation, not of abstract truth,\nbut of the living personal God to living persons as His children,\nwhom He hath created to glorify and enjoy Him for ever. The first\ngrand medium of this revelation is the eternal Son of God. The very\nessence of God's character being love, He did not exist from all\neternity with a mere capacity of loving, but without an object to\nlove; like an eye capable of seeing light, but with no light to\nsee. The object of His love was His Son, who from all eternity\nresponded to that love and rejoiced in His Father. This eternal\nSon, when manifested in the flesh, revealed His Father directly,\nso that He could say, in all He was, and in all He did, and, in a\ntrue sense, in all He suffered, \"He that hath seen me, hath seen the\nFather;\" and men could say of Him, \"We beheld His glory, the glory\nas of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth;\"\n\"The glory of God\" was \"in the face of Jesus Christ.\" Again, He had\nalso, as the Son of Man, glorified His Father; and, by His reverence\nfor, confidence in, and obedience to, Him, and by His joy in Him,\nhad indirectly revealed what he knew God to be to Him and to all\nas a Father. \"I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished\nthe work which Thou gavest me to do.\" Such was His finished work.\nBut something more was yet to be accomplished. Ere He descends to\nGethsemane, He desires anew to have the joy of revealing a Father's\nheart by revealing to the world His own heart of love as a Son to\nthat Father. Hence His prayer, \"Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also\nmay glorify thee.\" He does not prescribe the new circumstances in\nwhich His long-tried and perfect filial confidence and love as a\nSon were to be manifested. With the absolute consecration of true\nsonship He leaves these circumstances to be determined by His\nFather. Now, as on the cross, He commits His spirit, as a little\nchild, into His Father's hands. He desires only that in any way, by\nany means, He may have the joy of showing forth the reality, the\nendurance, and the triumph of His Sonship. His Father may fill His\ncup according to His own will, the Son will drink it. The Father\nmay permit a crown of thorns to be placed on His brow, and every\nconceivable horror of great darkness from the hate of men and devils\nto be cast over Him like a funeral-pall; He may be rejected by all\nHis brethren and by the Church and by the State--\"Amen!\" He cries.\nLet His body be broken and His blood shed, He will give thanks! One\nthing only He prays for, \"Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may\nglorify thee!\" As a further end to be accomplished, He prays that\nHe may have the joy of making others share the same divine love and\njoy, and therefore adds, \"As thou hast given him power over all\nflesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast\ngiven him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the\nonly true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.\"\n\nBut while He as the Son was to be the first revealer of God the\nFather, He was not, therefore, to be the only revealer. He was\nthe firstborn of many brethren in whom the same love was to be\nreproduced, and by whom the same high duty was to be performed. If\nthe light of the glory of God shone directly in the face of Jesus\nChrist, that light was to be transmitted to those who were to shine\nas lights in the world, that others seeing them might glorify the\nsame God. For now, as ever, God in a real sense manifests Himself\nin the flesh. Hence our Lord's desire that His brethren should, as\nsons, reveal the Father, like Himself the Son. He says accordingly,\n\"As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them\ninto the world.\" Sent whom? Not apostles only, but those also who\nshould believe through their word; not ministers of the Church only,\nbut members also; all, in short, who were qualified to convince the\nworld that God was a Father, by convincing it of this truth, that\nGod had sent His Son to save sinners--the \"faithful saying, worthy\nof all acceptation.\"\n\nBut the question is further suggested, What is this qualification?\nWhat is this which men must possess in order to accomplish Christ's\npurpose of inducing the world to believe? What is this evidence of\nChristianity which they are to present to the eyes of unbelieving\nmen, by seeing which these are to know and glorify God as their\nFather in Christ? We reply, it is the oneness of those who are to\nbe ambassadors from God and fellow-workers with Christ. \"I pray for\nthem,\" He says, and not for them only, but \"for them also who shall\nbelieve on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou,\nFather, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us; that\nthe world may believe that thou hast sent me.\"\n\nNow this leads me to consider more particularly the nature of this\noneness which is essential for such a successful mission as will\nconvince the world of the truth of Christ's mission from the Father.\nWhat is meant by this oneness, or this union?\n\nWe are guided in our inquiry by three features which characterize\nit. First, It is a oneness such as subsists between Christ and God;\nsecondly, It is a oneness which can be seen or appreciated; thirdly,\nIt is a oneness which is calculated from its nature to convince the\nworld of the truth of Christ's mission.\n\nNow there are many kinds of union among men, which, however\nwonderful or excellent, may be set aside as obviously not fulfilling\nthese conditions, and not such, therefore, as Christ prayed for.\nThere is, e. g., the unity of an army which marches as one man,\nimplicitly obeying its commander even unto death and without a\nquestion. Yet, however grand this is, and however illustrative of\nthe character of good soldiers of Jesus Christ, it does not fulfil\nthe conditions specified. Nor does the wonderful unity of a State,\nwhich makes and imposes laws, proclaims war or peace, administers\njustice, and executes its judgments. In neither case is there any\nunion such as subsists betwixt God and Christ; nor such as is\nin any sense adapted to convince the world that God has sent His\nSon to save sinners. The same may be alleged of any outward and\nvisible unity of a body of men which might be called a Church. Its\norganization might be as wonderful, and its members as disciplined,\nand its power as remarkable, as those of an army; it might be held\ntogether like a state by its laws and its enactments, its rewards\nand punishments, and might energetically advance until it possest\nthe dominion of the world, and attracted such attention as that all\nmen might marvel at it; its members might assent to all the details\nof a creed however large; the same rights and ceremonies and modes\nof worship might be repeated throughout all its parts; and it might\nbe able to continue its organized existence from age to age,--yet it\nwould by no means follow that any such system, however remarkable,\npossest that inward spiritual unity desired in Christ's prayer, no\nmore than the compact unity of Brahminism does, nor the still more\nextraordinary unity of Buddhism, with its temples, its priesthood,\nits creed, its rites and ceremonies, continuing unchanged during\nteeming centuries, and dominating over hundreds of millions of the\nhuman race. May not all these and many similar unities be fully\nand satisfactorily accounted for by principles in human nature,\naltogether irrespective of the fact of a supernatural power having\ncome into the world to which their origin or continuance is owing?\nFor there is a oneness in the churchyard as well as in the church.\nThere might be a oneness of assent amongst a deaf multitude with\nregard to the beauty of music, because determined by the fiat of\nauthority, but not as the result of hearing and of taste; and the\nsame kind of oneness of judgment as to the beauty of pictures, on\nthe part of those who were blind. Unity alone proves nothing, apart\nfrom its nature and its origin.\n\nThere is but one kind of unity or oneness which fulfils the\nspecified conditions, and that is, oneness of character or of\nspiritual life--in one word, the oneness of love;--for this is the\nhighest condition of a personal spirit. It is such love as God had\nand has to Christ; \"That the love wherewith thou has loved me may\nbe in them;\" such love as the Son has to the Father, and such as He\nmanifested to His disciples that very evening when, conscious of\nHis divine glory, and \"knowing that he was come from God, and went\nto God,\" He girded Himself with a towel and washed His disciples'\nfeet. Hence the declaration, \"The glory,\" that is, of character,\n\"which thou gavest me I have given them, that they,\" through its\npossession, \"may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in\nme.\" Hence again His saying, \"They are not of the world, even as I\nam not of the world;\" and His prayer, \"I pray not that thou shouldst\ntake them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from\nthe evil.\" Such love as this, when in the soul of ordinary men, does\nnot originate in their own hearts, however naturally benevolent or\naffectionate these may be. Our Lord in this prayer recognizes it\nas inseparable from faith in His own teaching, and from personal\nconviction of the truth which they themselves were to preach; for\nthey had received His words, and had \"known surely that I came out\nfrom thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me\"; and so\nHe prays, \"Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.\"\n\nNow, if we would divide, as with a prism, this pure light of love,\nwe might discern it as being composed, as it were, of at least two\ncolors, or features--first, love to God, exprest in the desire that\nHe should be known; secondly, love to man, exprest in self-sacrifice\nthat all should share this true love. But these very features we\ndiscern as first existing in God the Father and in Christ the Son;\nfor God desires, from the necessity of His own nature, that He\nshould be known, and that all His rational creatures should see\nthe glory of His character, and, in seeing it, should live. God\nhas also manifested His love, according to the law of love, by\ngiving and by self-sacrifice, inasmuch as He \"spared not his own\nSon, but delivered him up for us all.\" In like manner, the Son\ndesired that His Father might be known, and to accomplish this He\nbecame incarnate. He has manifested His love also in the form of\nself-sacrifice, in that His whole life and death were an offering\nup of Himself as a sacrifice unto God, and as an atonement for the\nsins of the world, in order that all men might be made partakers\nof His own eternal life in God. This, too, is the \"mind\" of the\nHoly Spirit, for He glorifies the Son, that the Son may glorify the\nFather, and glorifies Him in and by His true Church. Hence, wherever\ntrue love exists in man, it will manifest itself in these two forms;\nit will ever desire that God may be known, and will never \"seek its\nown,\" but sacrifice itself that this end may be attained. In such\noneness as this of mind, spirit, character--in one word, love--there\nis realized the first condition of that oneness for which our Lord\nprayed.\n\nSecondly, This unity of character fulfils the second condition in\nits being such as the world can in some degree see and appreciate.\nBlind as the world is, it can see love in the form of self-sacrifice\nat least, seeking its good, even tho it may not at once see in\nthis a revelation of such love as has its origin in the love of\nGod to man. The world's heart can perceive more things and greater\nthings than can its intellect. The child of the statesman or man\nof science may not be able to comprehend the world-politics of the\none or the scientific discoveries of the other; but it can see and\nfeel the love revealed in the glance of the eye, in the smile on\nthe lips, or in the arms that clasp it to the bosom; and in seeing\nthis, it sees an infinitely greater thing than the politics of the\none or the scientific discoveries of the other. It sees, too, in\nthis, tho unconsciously, the love of the Father's heart which fills\nthe universe with glory, even as its eye, when opened to a little\nlight, sees the same light which illumines a thousand worlds. And\nthus can the world see the light of love. Those who are in prison,\nin nakedness, or in thirst, are quite able to see and to appreciate\nthe love that, for Christ's sake, visits them, clothes them, and\ngives them drink. The wretched lepers in the lazar-house, into which\nno one could enter and ever return to the world, could see and\nappreciate the love of the Moravian missionary who visited them,\nand who shut the door for ever between him and all he knew and\nloved, that he might share and alleviate the horrors of his wretched\nbrethren whom he loved more than all. Blind as the world is, it can\nsee this or nothing; bad as it is, it can appreciate this goodness\nor none.\n\nThirdly, Such a character is calculated also to convince the world\nthat God has sent Christ to save sinners. Observe again what is\nour Lord's idea of the mission which was to convert the world; it\nis this, that those whom He sends, even as God had sent Himself,\nwhether as apostles or as disciples, should give to their fellow men\nwhat they have first received from their living Head, Jesus Christ.\nThey were to give \"the words\" which they received from Him, and\nwhich He had received from God--they were to give \"the truth\" which\nthey received from Him, and which He Himself had glorified in His\nlife and death, that God had sent Him to be the Savior of the world.\nThey were also to manifest that life which they had received from\nHim, and which He had received from God, and which in them was the\nnecessary result of their faith. Now, it is in the seeing of this\nlife in those who proclaim the truth that the truth itself appears\nworthy of all acceptation, and that God verily, who has sent His Son\nto save sinners, is love. It is thus, you perceive, that the mission\nof the Church, whether of its ministers or its members, is not only\nto preach glad tidings, but to show their reality in their actual\nresults; not only to preach salvation, but to preach it by saved\nmen; not only to preach eternal life, but to preach it by those who\npossess it; not only to preach about a Father, but to reveal also\nthat Father through His regenerated sons, who themselves know and\nlove Him. Further, the idea of a Church is that of a society whose\nmembers are united through faith in the same truth, and are in\npossession of the same life. Such a society necessarily springs out\nof faith and love, and its members cannot choose but unite outwardly\nbecause united inwardly. Our Lord assumes its future existence and\nprovides for its continuance. A Church realizing Christ's ideal\nwould, therefore, possess, as its creed this, at least, of believing\nChrist's words, and the truth that \"God had sent his Son to be the\nSavior of the world.\" For \"every spirit that confesseth not that\nChrist hath come in the flesh is not of God.\" \"And whosoever shall\nconfess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in\nGod.\" Its initiatory sacrament, that of baptism, does but express\nthe nature of this society--viz., that its members are the children\nof God the Father through Christ the Son, and by the indwelling of\nthe Holy Spirit--their character being a spiritual baptism into the\npossession of \"God's name,\" which is \"love.\"\n\nAnother characteristic of it is their possession of that eternal\nlife which is exprest as well as maintained by the \"communion\" in\nwhich its members meet together as brethren, their bond of union\nbeing a common union with God in Christ and one another, through\nthe constant partaking of Him, the living bread; eating His flesh\nand drinking His blood--that is, His whole life of self-sacrifice\nand love becoming a part of their very being. Worship in spirit\nand in truth is also necessarily involved in the idea of such a\nsociety; and I might add, worship, not from a command merely, but\nas a necessary result of spiritual character, becoming in a true\nsense \"infallible\" as to religion; but religion in this sense,--that\nof knowing God because of its members being able to say, \"We know\nthat he dwelleth in us, and we in him, because he hath given us\nhis Spirit, and we know and testify that he sent his Son to be\nthe Savior of the world.\" Such a Church would likewise, in a true\nsense, have an apostolical succession--that is, a succession of\nteachers and members who had the apostolic spirit, or the oneness as\ndescribed by our Lord; for it would be able, from its possessing the\nSpirit of God, to discern those who were like-minded, and to select\nsuch as were specially fitted for the work of the ministry. This is\nthe ideal of the Church.\n\nBut has such a Church been realized? Has there ever been a visible\norganized body of men who carried out this sublime purpose? Once,\nindeed, there was. For we perceive, more or less clearly, all these\nfeatures in the early Church when it had received the Spirit on the\nday of Pentecost, and when its members met together and \"had all\nthings in common,\" and manifested such sonship towards God, and\nbrotherhood towards each other; and sent forth everywhere its public\nminister and its members also to bring men into the same blessed\nunity. But supposing the ideal had no more been realized since that\ntime than God's ideal as described by Moses had been fully realized\nin the Jewish Church;--yet must the ideal, nevertheless, be ever\nkept before the spiritual eye. For we do not produce high art by\nkeeping a low rather than a high standard before the artist; neither\ncan we reach to great things in the Church unless we keep a high\nstandard before its members. It is unnecessary here to inquire how\nit came to pass that the Church, to such a great extent, lost this\nideal as one visible society, and became so corrupt as to substitute\ninnumerable vain appearances of spiritual realities for that which\nalone could satisfy a true and righteous God. But as things now are,\nthe \"Church\" is broken up into various \"churches\" or societies,\nstriving more or less to realize the ideal. Each society does so\njust in proportion as it is able to carry out our Lord's purpose\nas to its ministry being one in faith, believing Christ's words,\nin its knowing truly that He came from God to save sinners, and in\nits seeking, from love to God and man, to make all men know their\nFather, in the knowledge of whom is salvation.\n\nBut to confine myself to our own particular duties, let me remind\nyou, fathers and brethren, of our high calling as profest ministers\nof Christ's Church. The cry of earnest souls, weary of their many\nburthens, unsatisfied with their husks, conscious of being in a\ndistant land, and finding nothing which men can give to allay\ntheir hungering and thirsting, is this: \"Show us the Father, and it\nsufficeth us!\" Now supposing an earnest spirit, seeking after the\nFather, comes to us as His profest ministers in order to discover\nthe truth of what we preach, he might very naturally say, \"You\npreach to me a Savior who came a long time ago into the world\nprofessing to save sinners, and you tell me that He is coming again\nat some future period to judge the world and to bestow salvation\nupon many; but I want to know whether there is a Savior now; or\nis it all empty space between that past and that future? You tell\nme about salvation from the suffering of sin; I ask, 'Is there\nsalvation from sin itself, without which I feel there can be no\ndeliverance from suffering'? You tell me about a medicine that is an\ninfallible cure for 'this ineradicable taint of sin,' and describe\nthe terrible consequences of the disease to me if I be not cured,\nand the blessed results of joyous spiritual health and peace; but\n'Can you show me any person who has actually been restored from\ndisease to health by this divine medicine'? Is all this preaching a\nmere idle theory of life? Or if not, where is the life itself? Art\nthou thyself saved? If not--'physician, heal thyself'; for until\nthen thou canst not cure me.\" But suppose, further, that this same\nperson comes into close contact with the mind of the preacher, and\nthat the more he sees and knows it the more he discerns in the man\nsuch thoughts regarding God, such a knowledge of Him, such a love\nto Him, as convince him that here at least is a reality and not a\npretense; suppose that the more he discerns his whole inner life,\nthe things which give him pain and joy, the things which he desires\nand loves, with his whole feelings towards his fellow-men--feelings\nexpressed in a life of action, which, in spite of infirmities and\nshortcomings belonging to all human beings, the questioner cannot\nbut recognize as a kind of life he never saw before--a life, too,\nwhich commends itself, from what it is, as being the most real\nand the most satisfactory to reason, conscience, and heart: can\nanything, I ask, be more calculated to convince him of the account\nwhich its possessor gives him as to its origin, when he says, \"The\nlife I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God,\nwho loved me, and gave himself for me.\" \"It is a faithful saying,\nand worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to\nsave sinners, of whom I am the chief.\" What then? What else must\nbe the result of such a vision of true life than the conviction\nthat God is our Father and that God is love, because it is evident\nfrom observation as well as from testimony that He hath sent His\nSon to save men, not in the past only, but to save them now--not\nto save only those who are called \"good,\" but to save those who\nare the chief of sinners? If a man truly believes all this, then\ndoes he know God, and in so doing possesses eternal life. But more\nthan this, how will his convictions be deepened if, in searching\nfor others who may have the same life, and if, tho failing to\ndiscover any one visible body of Christians that show it forth in\nthe unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace, he is yet able\nto satisfy himself that there have been, during the last eighteen\ncenturies, and that there are now, in every church, in every land,\namong all races of men, among those of different temperaments,\ndifferent culture, and amidst a variety of all possible outward\ncircumstances, men with like passions as himself, who have faith in\nthe same Lord, and are thereby possest of a true love of God and\nof one another--how will this, I say, deepen in him the conviction\nthat God is a Father, because a Savior, who \"gave his Son, not that\nany should perish, but that all should possess everlasting life?\"\nWill he not be thus led to \"believe the record that God has given\nus eternal life, and that this life is in his Son?\" I am persuaded\nthat a man of the highest intellectual culture and the greatest\nlearning, earnestly searching after God and Christ, and the truth\nof Christianity, would be more convinced of the love of the one\nas manifested in the truth of the other, by coming into contact\nwith one true soul which, without perhaps intellectual culture or\nlearning, yet truly loved God and man, than he would be by all the\nvolumes on the evidence of Christianity ever written, without such a\nspiritual vision of a holy life.\n\nOn the other hand, supposing that no such evidence of the truth of\nChristianity could be discovered in the preacher of Christianity;\nnay, if his character contradicted his preaching; if, while\nhe preached love to God and man, he manifested neither, but\nindifference, to say the least of it, to both; if, while he preached\nthe necessity and the excellence of the Christian life, he himself\nrevealed its very opposite--what effect would this have upon an\nearnest spirit, but that Christianity was a mere ideal system\nunsuited to the world, a philosophy of life that might be believed\nin, but not a life itself that might be possest?\n\nThis want of personal character, however imperfect, yet real, may\naccount for the want of success in the mission of the Church to\nconvince the world, whether at home or abroad. We may give religion\nbut not godliness; the means of grace, as they are called, but not\nthe grace seen and exprest in the living man. We would thus hear of\nChristianity without seeing it; hear about the love of God, and the\nlove of Christ as a Savior, without being convinced even by those\nwho send missionaries to India, who, altho they may individually\nreveal this life, yet how often are looked upon as mere official\nteachers; while the \"Christians\" from \"Christendom\" may, in coming\ninto contact with the heathen, show by their denial of Christianity\nthat it is a matter for the priesthood, not for all men; a book\ntheology, but not an actual power working in humanity: and of such\npersons it may be said that they have profaned God's great name\namong the heathen.\n\nAnd this, too, may also account for the secret of success by many\na minister of whom the world knows nothing: \"For greatest minds\nare those of whom the noisy world hears least.\" They may not be\ngreat in the ordinary sense of the word--great as thinkers, great\nas orators, or great in the possession of any remarkable gifts; but\nthey are nevertheless great in the kingdom of heaven; great because\nlittle children--great in meekness, in patience, in humility, in\nlove of God and man, and who carry this music in their heart,\n\"through dusky land and wrangling mart.\" What is the secret of their\npower? What but an eternal reality! the reality of a godly, godlike\nlife obtained from God, and sustained by God, and seen in the eye,\nfelt in the hand, heard in the words--a light of life which shines\nbeside many a dying bed in many a home of sorrow, as well as in the\npulpit. This is a kind of life whose biography will be written with\nthe tears of the grateful orphan and widow, and of many a saved\nsoul which remembers its possessor as its spiritual father. Such a\nministry as this can no more fail than the love of God which gives\nit birth. Let us thank God, therefore, that such a secret power as\nthis is within the reach of us all. We may not be men of talent,\nand for that we are not responsible; but we may be good men because\nlittle children towards God, and for that we are responsible: \"I\nthank thee, heavenly Father, that thou hast hid these things from\nthe wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes.\"\n\nAnd now, fathers and brethren, such is our high calling, to proclaim\nthe glad tidings that God has sent Christ into the world to save\nsinners. Our chief authority for doing this is that we know it to be\ntrue; and if so, no one can deprive us of the high privilege and joy\nof proclaiming it. A glorious work is thus given us to do; we are\nambassadors for God, beseeching men to be reconciled to Him, and we\nare fellow-workers with our Lord Himself. But this involves a great\nresponsibility, corresponding to the greatness of our calling. For\nit is at once a glorious and a tremendous thought that Christ perils\nthe chief evidence of the truth of Christianity, not upon what we\nsay, but more upon what we are; and what we are is neither more nor\nless than what God knows us to be. Our preaching may, nevertheless,\nfail in some cases to convince the world, as it has done before; for\nthe glory of Christ Himself was not seen by Judas. Indeed the light\nof life, when it shines, requires the single eye to see it. But in\nso far as the ministry of men, as an instrumentality, can convince\nthe world, let our ministry be such as is calculated according to\nChrist's purpose to produce this result. Let it consist of those who\ncan say, \"We know whom we have believed.\" \"We know and believe the\nlove that God hath to us.\" \"We testify that he sent his Son to be\nthe Savior of the world.\"\n\nBut I must bring my sermon to a close.\n\nPardon me, my brethren, if I have appeared to address you in any\nother spirit than that of one who would with you confess his sins\nand shortcomings, and lament with shame and sorrow how much time and\npower have been lost never to be regained; how many gifts and noble\nopportunities have been neglected and perverted through unbelief and\nsloth, which might have been used for our own good and that of our\nfellow-men. Verily the day is far spent with many of us, and the\nnight is near in which no man can work. Whatever our hands find to\ndo must be done now or never. Let us pray that the living Spirit of\nGod, given to all who seek Him, and whose work it is to glorify the\nSon, may take of His things and show them to our souls, and open\nour spiritual eye to see the glory of God in the face of Christ, so\nthat we may be changed into the same glory. May we strive to keep\nthe unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and be enabled so\nto preach and so to live that the world may be convinced, by what\nit sees and hears, of the reality of the love of God the Father in\ngiving us and all men eternal life through Jesus Christ His Son! May\nHe who makes us sons of God enable us, as sons, to be glorified in\nthe perfection and revelation of our characters, so that with our\nelder Brother we may glorify His Father and our Father!\n\nAnd now, to Father, Son and Holy Ghost, one God, be glory, dominion,\nand praise for evermore. Amen!\n\n\n\n\nMOZLEY\n\nTHE REVERSAL OF HUMAN JUDGMENT\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\n\nJAMES B. MOZLEY, English divine and philosopher, was born at\nGainsborough, Lincolnshire, in 1813. He was educated at Oxford,\nand is particularly known for his discourses on Baptism and\nPredestination. Gladstone appointed him as professor of divinity at\nOxford. His Bampton Lectures on Miracles (1863) are still considered\nof classical authority. Dr. Brastow, in speaking of his clear and\nwell-ordered thought, says: \"He was intent upon getting at the heart\nof all subjects investigated, and his slowness in clearing up a\nsubject and his deliberation and fastidiousness with respect to his\ndiction embarrassed him. The result was a mastery of thought and an\nexactness and clearness and strength of speech that are more than an\noffset for the difficulties he encountered; and one can hardly fail\nto see that this patient, self-poised mental habit saved him from\none-sidedness and kept the balance of his judgement and made him\nthe safer guide. We see here the immense value of thorough mental\ntraining.\" He died in 1878.\n\n\n\n\nMOZLEY\n\n1813-1878\n\nTHE REVERSAL OF HUMAN JUDGMENT[3]\n\n  [3] By permission of the publishers, Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co.\n\n_Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be\nfirst._--Matthew xix., 30.\n\n\nPerhaps there is hardly any person of reflection to whom the thought\nhas not occurred at times, of the final judgment turning out to\nbe a great subversion of human estimates of men. Society forms\nits opinions of men, and places some on a high pinnacle; they are\nfavorites with it, religious and moral favorites. Such judgments are\na necessary and proper part of the present state of things; they\nare so, quite independently of the question whether they are true\nor not; it is proper that there should be this sort of expression\nof the voice of the day; the world is not nothing, because it is\ntransient; it must judge and speak upon such evidence as it has,\nand is capable of seeing. Therefore those characters of men are by\nall means to be respected by us, as members of this world; they\nhave their place, they are a part of the system. But does the idea\nstrike us of some enormous subversion of human judgments in the next\nworld, some vast rectification, to realize which now, even if we\ncould, would not be good for us? Such an idea would not be without\nsupport from some of those characteristic prophetic sayings of our\nLord, which, like the slanting strokes of the sun's rays across\nthe clouds, throw forward a tract of mysterious light athwart the\ndarkness of the future. Such is that saying in which a shadow of the\nEternal Judgment seems to come over us--\"Many that are first shall\nbe last; and the last shall be first.\" It is impossible to read this\nsaying without an understanding that it was intended to throw an\nelement of wholesome scepticism into the present estimate of human\ncharacter, and to check the idolatry of the human heart which lifts\nup its favorites with as much of self-complacency as of enthusiasm,\nand in its worship of others flatters itself.\n\nIndeed, this language of Scripture, which speaks of the subversion\nof human judgments in another world, comes in connection with\nanother language with which it most remarkably fits in, language\nwhich speaks very decidedly of a great deception of human judgments\nin this world. It is observable that the gospel prophecy of the\nearthly future of Christianity is hardly what we should have\nexpected it beforehand to be; there is a great absence of brightness\nin it; the sky is overcast with clouds, and birds of evil omen fly\nto and fro; there is an agitation of the air, as if dark elements\nwere at work in it; or it is as if a fog rose up before our eyes,\nand treacherous lights were moving to and fro in it, which we could\nnot trust. Prophecy would fain presage auspiciously, but as soon as\nshe casts her eye forward, her note saddens, and the chords issue\nin melancholy and sinister cadences which depress the hearer's\nmind. And what is the burden of her strain? It is this. As soon as\never Christianity is cast into the world to begin its history, that\nmoment there begins a great deception. It is a pervading thought\nin gospel prophecy--the extraordinary capacity for deceiving and\nbeing deceived that would arise under the gospel; it is spoken of\nas something peculiar in the world. There are to be false Christs\nand false prophets, false signs and wonders; many that will come in\nChrist's name, saying, I am Christ, and deceive many; so that it\nis the parting admonition of Christ to His disciples--\"Take heed,\nlest any man deceive you\"--as if that would be the greater danger.\nAnd this great quantity of deception was to culminate in that one\nin whom all power of signs and lying wonders should reside, even\nthat Antichrist, who as God should sit in the temple of God, showing\nhimself that he is God. Thus before the true Christ was known to the\nworld, the prophecy of the false one was implanted deep in the heart\nof Christianity.\n\nWhen we come to the explanation of this mass of deception as it\napplies to the Christian society, and the conduct of Christians,\nwe find that it consists of a great growth of specious and showy\neffects, which will in fact issue out of Christianity, not implying\nsterling goodness. Christianity will act as a great excitement to\nhuman nature, it will communicate a great impulse, it will move\nand stir man's feelings and intellect; this impulse will issue in\na great variety of high gifts and activities, much zeal and ardor.\nBut this brilliant manifestation will be to a large extent lacking\nin the substance of the Christian character. It will be a great\nshow. That is to say, there will be underneath it the deceitful\nhuman heart--the _natura callida_, as Thomas \u00e0 Kempis calls it,\n_qu\u00e6 se semper pro fine habet_. We have even in the early Christian\nChurch that specious display of gifts which put aside as secondary\nthe more solid part of religion, and which St. Paul had so strongly\nto check. Gospel prophecy goes remarkably in this direction, as to\nwhat Christianity would do in the world; that it would not only\nbring out the truth of human nature, but would, like some powerful\nalchemy, elicit and extract the falsehood of it; that it would not\nonly develop what was sincere and sterling in man, but what was\ncounterfeit in him too. Not that Christianity favors falsehood, any\nmore than the law favored sin because it brought out sin. The law,\nas St. Paul says, brought out sin because it was spiritual, and\nforced sin to be sin against light. So in the case of Christianity.\nIf a very high, pure, and heart-searching religion is brought into\ncontact with a corrupt nature, the nature grasps at the greatness\nof the religion, but will not give up itself; yet to unite the two\nrequires a self-deception the more subtle and potent in proportion\nto the purity of the religion. And certainly, comparing the\nhypocrisy of the Christian with that of the old world, we see that\nthe one was a weak production in comparison with the other, which is\nindeed a very powerful creation; throwing itself into feeling and\nlanguage with an astonishing freedom and elasticity, and possessing\nwonderful spring and largeness.\n\nThere is, however, one very remarkable utterance of our Lord Himself\nupon this subject, which deserves special attention. \"Many will say\nto me 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 I will profess unto them, I never knew you.\" Now\nthis is a very remarkable prophecy, for one reason, that in the\nvery first start of Christianity, upon the very threshold of its\nentrance into the world, it looks through its success and universal\nreception, into an ulterior result of that victory--a counterfeit\nprofession of it. It sees, before the first nakedness of its birth\nis over, a prosperous and flourishing religion, which it is worth\nwhile for others to pay homage to, because it reflects credit on\nits champions. Our Lord anticipates the time when active zeal for\nHimself will be no guaranty. And we may observe the difference\nbetween Christ and human founders. The latter are too glad of any\nzeal in their favor, to examine very strictly the tone and quality\nof it. They grasp at it at once; not so our Lord. He does not want\nit even for Himself, unless it is pure in the individual. But\nthis statement of our Lord's is principally important, as being\na prophecy relating to the earthly future of Christianity. It\nplaces before us public religious leaders, men of influence in the\nreligious world, who spread and push forward by gifts of eloquence\nand powers of mind, the truths of His religion, whom yet He will\nnot accept, because of a secret corruptness in the aim and spirit\nwith which they did their work. The prophecy puts forth before us\nthe fact of a great deal of work being done in the Church, and\noutwardly good zealous work, upon the same motive in substance, upon\nwhich worldly men do their work in the world, and stamps it as the\nactivity of corrupt nature. The rejection of this class of religious\nworkers is complete, altho they have been, as the language itself\ndeclares, forward and active for spiritual objects, and not only had\nthem on their lips.\n\nHere then we have a remarkable subversion of human judgments in the\nnext world foretold by our Lord Himself; for those men certainly\ncome forward with established religious characters to which they\nappeal; they have no doubt of their position in God's kingdom, and\nthey speak with the air of men whose claims have been acquiesced\nin by others, and by numbers. And thus a false Christian growth is\nlooked to in gospel prophecy, which will be able to meet even the\nreligious tests of the current day, and sustain its pretensions, but\nwhich will not satisfy the tests of the last day.\n\nWe are then perhaps at first surprized at the sternness of their\nsentence, and are ready to say with the trembling disciple, \"Who\nthen shall be saved?\" But when we reflect upon it, we shall see\nthat it is not more than what meets the case; i. e., that we know\nof sources of error in the estimate of human character which will\naccount for great mistakes being made; which mistakes will have to\nbe rectified.\n\nOne source of mistakes then is, that while the gospel keeps to one\npoint of its classification of men,--viz., the motive, by which\nalone it decides their character, the mass of men in fact find it\ndifficult to do so. They have not that firm hold of the moral idea\nwhich prevents them from wandering from it, and being diverted by\nirrelevant considerations, they think of the spirituality of a\nman as belonging to the department to which he is attached, the\nprofession he makes, the subject matter he works upon, the habitual\nlanguage he has to use. The sphere of these men, of whom the\nestimate was to be finally reversed, was a religious one,--viz., the\nChurch, and this was a remarkable prop to them. Now, with respect\nto this, it must be observed that the Church is undoubtedly in its\ndesign a spiritual society, but it is also a society of this world\nas well; and it depends upon the inward motive of a man whether it\nis to him a spiritual society or a worldly one. The Church, as soon\nas ever it is embodied in a visible collection or society of men,\nwho bring into it human nature, with human influences, regards,\npoints of view, estimates, aims, and objects--I say the Church,\nfrom the moment it thus embodies itself in a human society, is\nthe world. Individual souls in it convert into reality the high\nprofest principles of the body, but the active stock of motives in\nit are the motives of human nature. Can the visible Church indeed\nafford to do without these motives? Of course it cannot. It must\ndo its work by means of these to a great extent, just as the world\ndoes its work. Religion itself is beautiful and heavenly, but the\nmachinery for it is very like the machinery for anything else. I\nspeak of the apparatus for conducting and administering the visible\nsystem of it. Is not the machinery for all causes and objects\nmuch the same, communication with others, management, contrivance,\ncombination, adaptation of means to end? Religion then is itself a\npainful struggle, but religious machinery provides as pleasant a\nform of activity as any other machinery possesses; and it counts\nfor and exercises much the same kind of talents and gifts that\nthe machinery of any other department does, that of a government\noffice, or a public institution, or a large business. The Church,\nas a part of the work, must have active-minded persons to conduct\nits policy and affairs; which persons must, by their very situation,\nconnect themselves with spiritual subjects, as being the subjects\nof the society; they must express spiritual joys, hopes, and\nfears, apprehensions, troubles, trials, aims, and wishes. These\nare topics which belong to the Church as a department. A religious\nsociety, then, or religious sphere of action, or religious sphere\nof subjects, is irrelevant as regards the spirituality of the\nindividual person, which is a matter of inward motive.\n\nOne would not of course exclude from the sphere of religion the\nmotive of _esprit de corps_: it is undoubtedly a great stimulus, and\nin its measure is consistent with all simplicity and singleness of\nheart; but in an intense form, when the individual is absorbed in\na blind obedience to a body, it corrupts the quality of religion;\nit ensnares the man in a kind of self-interest; and he sees in\nthe success of the body the reflection of himself. It becomes an\negotistic motive. There has been certainly an immense produce from\nit; but the type of religion it has produced is a deflection from\nsimplicity; it may possess striking and powerful qualities, but\nit is not like the free religion of the heart; and there is that\ndifference between the two, which there is between what comes from\na second-hand source and from the fountain head. It has not that\nnaturalness (in the highest sense) which alone gives beauty to\nreligion.\n\nAgain, those who feel that they have a mission may convert it into a\nsnare to themselves. Doubtless, if, according to St. Paul, \"he who\ndesireth the office of a bishop desireth a good work,\" so one who\nhas a mission to do some particular work has a good office given\nhim. Still, where life is too prominently regarded in this light,\nthe view of life as a mission tends to supersede the view of it as\ntrial and probation. The mission becomes the final cause of life.\nThe generality may be born to do their duty in that station of life\nin which it has pleased God to call them; but in their own case the\nmission overtops and puts into the shade the general purpose of\nlife as probation; the generality are sent into the world for their\nown moral benefit, but they are rather sent into the world for the\nbenefit of that world itself. The outward object with its display\nand machinery is apt to reduce to a kind of insignificance the\ninward individual end of life. It appears small and commonplace. The\nsuccess of their own individual probation is assumed in embarking\nupon the larger work, as the less is included in the greater; it\nfigures as a preliminary in their eyes, which may be taken for\ngranted; it appears an easy thing to them to save their own souls, a\nthing, so to speak, for anybody to do.\n\nWhat has been dwelt upon hitherto as a source of false magnifying\nand exaltation of human character, has been the invisibility of\nmen's motives. But let us take another source of mistake in human\njudgment.\n\nNothing is easier, when we take gifts of the intellect and\nimagination in the abstract, than to see that these do not\nconstitute moral goodness. This is indeed a mere truism; and yet,\nin the concrete, it is impossible not to see how nearly they border\nupon counting as such; to what advantage they set off any moral\ngood there may be in a man; sometimes even supplying the absence of\nreal good with what looks extremely like it. On paper these mental\ngifts are a mere string of terms; we see exactly what these terms\ndenote, and we cannot mistake it for something else. It is plain\nthat eloquence, imagination, poetical talent, are no more moral\ngoodness than riches are, or than health and strength are, or than\nnoble birth is. We know that bad men have possest them just as much\nas good men. Nevertheless, take them in actual life, in the actual\neffect and impression they make, as they express a man's best moods\nand highest perceptions and feelings, and what a wonderful likeness\nand image of what is moral do they produce. Think of the effect of\nrefined power of expression, of a keen and vivid imagination as\napplied to the illustration and enrichment of moral subjects,--to\nbringing out, e. g., with the whole force of intellectual sympathy,\nthe delicate and high regions of character,--does not one who can\ndo this seem to have all the goodness which he expresses? And it is\nquite possible he may have; but this does not prove it. There is\nnothing more in this than the faculty of imagination and intelligent\nappreciation of moral things. There enters thus unavoidably often\ninto a great religious reputation a good deal which is not religion,\nbut power.\n\nLet us take the character which St. Paul draws. It is difficult to\nbelieve that one who had the tongue of men and of angels would not\nbe able to persuade the world that he himself was extraordinarily\ngood. Rather it is part of the fascination of the gift, that the\ngrace of it is reflected in the possessor. But St. Paul gives him,\nbesides thrilling speech which masters men's spirits and carries\nthem away, those profound depths of imagination which still and\nsolemnize them; which lead them to the edge of the unseen world,\nand excite the sense of the awful and supernatural; he has the\nunderstanding of all mysteries. And again, knowledge unfolds all its\nstores to him with which to illustrate and enrich spiritual truths.\nLet one then, so wonderful in mental gifts, combine them with the\nutmost fervor, with boundless faith, before which everything gives\nway; boundless zeal, ready to make even splendid sacrifices; has\nthere been any age in which such a man would have been set down as\nsounding and empty? St. Paul could see that such a man might yet be\nwithout the true substance--goodness; and that all his gifts could\nnot guarantee it to him; but to the mass his own eloquence would\ninterpret him, the gifts would carry the day, and the brilliant\npartial virtues would disguise the absence of the general grace of\nlove.\n\nGifts of intellect and imagination, poetical power, and the like,\nare indeed in themselves a department of worldly prosperity. It\nis a very narrow view of prosperity that it consists only in\nhaving property; a certain kind of gifts are just as much worldly\nprosperity as riches; nor are they less so if they belong to a\nreligious man, any more than riches are less prosperity because\na religious man is rich. We call these gifts worldly prosperity,\nbecause they are in themselves a great advantage, and create\nsuccess, influence, credit, and all which man so much values; and\nat the same time they are not moral goodness, because the most\ncorrupt men may have them.\n\nBut even the gifts of outward fortune themselves have much of the\neffect of gifts of mind in having the semblance of something moral.\nThey set off what goodness a man has to such immense advantage,\nand heighten the effect of it. Take some well-disposed person,\nand suppose him suddenly to be left an enormous fortune, he would\nfeel himself immediately so much better a man. He would seem to\nhimself to become suddenly endowed with a new large-heartedness and\nbenevolence. He would picture himself the generous patron, the large\ndispenser of charity, the promoter of all good in the world. The\npower to become such would look like a new disposition. And in the\neyes of the others, too, his goodness would appear to have taken a\nfresh start. Even serious piety is recognized more as such; it is\nbrought out and placed in high relief, when connected with outward\nadvantages; and so the gifts of fortune become a kind of moral\naddition to a man.\n\nAction, then, on a large scale, and the overpowering effect of\ngreat gifts, are what produce, in a great degree, what we call\nthe canonization of men--the popular judgment which sets them up\nmorally and spiritually upon the pinnacle of the temple, and which\nprofesses to be a forestalment, through the mouth of the Church\nor of religious society, of the final judgment. How decisive is\nthe world's, and, not less confident, the visible Church's note of\npraise. It is just that trumpet note which does not bear a doubt.\nHow it is trusted! With what certainty it speaks! How large a part\nof the world's and Church's voice is praise! It is an immense and\nceaseless volume of utterance. And by all means let man praise\nman, and not do it grudgingly either; let there be an echo of that\nvast action which goes on in the world, provided we only speak of\nwhat we know. But if we begin to speak of what we do not know,\nand which only a higher judgment can decide, we are going beyond\nour province. On this question we are like men who are deciding\nirreversibly on some matter in which everything depends upon one\nelement in the case, which element they cannot get at. We appear\nto know a great deal of one another, and yet, if we reflect, what\na vast system of secrecy the moral world is. How low down in a man\nsometimes (not always) lies the fundamental motive which sways his\nlife? But this is what everything depends on. Is it an unspiritual\nmotive? Is there some keen passion connected with this world at\nthe bottom? Then it corrupts the whole body of action. There is a\ngood deal of prominent religion then, which keeps up its character,\neven when this motive betrays itself; great gifts fortify it, and\npeople do not see because they will not. But at any rate there is a\nvast quantity of religious position which has this one great point\nundecided beneath it; and we know of tremendous dangers to which it\nis exposed. Action upon a theater may doubtless be as simple-minded\naction as any other; it has often been; it has been often even\nchildlike action; the apostles acted on a theater; they were a\nspectacle to men and to angels. Still, what dangers in a spiritual\npoint of view does it ordinarily include--dangers to simplicity,\ninward probity, sincerity! How does action on this scale and of\nthis kind seem, notwithstanding its religious object, to pass over\npeople, not touching one of their faults, leaving--more than their\ninfirmities--the dark veins of evil in their character as fixed\nas ever. How will persons sacrifice themselves to their objects?\nThey would benefit the world, it would appear, at their own moral\nexpense; but this is a kind of generosity which is perilous policy\nfor the soul, and is indeed the very mint in which the great mass of\nfalse spiritual coinage is made.\n\nOn the other hand, while the open theater of spiritual power and\nenergy is so accessible to corrupt motives, which, tho undermining\nits truthfulness, leave standing all the brilliance of the outer\nmanifestation; let it be considered what a strength and power of\ngoodness may be accumulating in unseen quarters. The way in which\nman bears temptation is what decides his character; yet how secret\nis the system of temptation? Who knows what is going on? What the\nreal ordeal has been? What its issue was? So with respect to the\ntrial of griefs and sorrows, the world is again a system of secrecy.\nThere is something particularly penetrating, and which strikes home,\nin those disappointments which are especially not extraordinary, and\nmake no show. What comes naturally and as a part of our situation\nhas a probing force grander strokes have not; there is a solemnity\nand stateliness in these, but the blow which is nearest to common\nlife gets the stronger hold. Is there any particular event which\nseems to have, if we may say so, a kind of malice in it which\nprovokes the Manichean feeling in our nature, it is something which\nwe should have a difficulty in making appear to any one else any\nspecial trial. Compared with this inner grasp of some stroke of\nprovidence, voluntary sacrifice stands outside of us. After all, the\nself-made trial is a poor disciplinarian weapon; there is a subtle\nmasterly irritant and provoking point in the genuine natural trial,\nand in the natural crossness of events, which the artificial thing\ncannot manage; we can no more make our trials than we can make our\nfeelings. In this way moderate deprivations are in some cases more\ndifficult to bear than extreme ones. \"I can bear total obscurity,\"\nsays Pascal, \"well enough; what disgusts me is semi-obscurity; I\ncan make an idol of the whole, but no great merit of the half.\" And\nso it is often the case that what we must do as simply right, and\nwhich would not strike even ourselves, and still less anybody else,\nis just the hardest thing to do. A work of supererogation would be\nmuch easier. All this points in the direction of great work going\non under common outsides where it is not noticed; it hints at a\nsecret sphere of growth and progress; and as such it is an augury\nand presage of a harvest which may come some day suddenly to light,\nwhich human judgments had not counted on.\n\nIt is upon such a train of thought as this which has been passing\nthrough our minds that we raise ourselves to the reception of that\nsolemn sentence which Scripture has inscribed on the curtain which\nhangs down before the judgment-seat--\"The first shall be last, and\nthe last shall be first.\" The secrets of the tribunal are guarded,\nand yet a finger points which seems to say--\"Beyond, in this\ndirection, behind this veil, things are different from what you will\nhave looked for.\"\n\nSuppose, e. g., any supernatural judge should appear in the world\nnow, and it is evident that the scene he would create would be one\nto startle us; we should not soon be used to it; it would look\nstrange; it would shock and appal; and that from no other cause\nthan simply its reductions; that it presented characters stripped\nbare, denuded of what was irrelevant to goodness, and only with\ntheir moral substance left. The judge would take no cognizance of a\nrich imagination, power of language, poetical gifts and the like,\nin themselves, as parts of goodness, any more than he would of\nriches and prosperity; and the moral residuum would appear perhaps\na bare result. The first look of divine justice would strike us\nas injustice; it would be too pure a justice for us; we should\nbe long in reconciling ourselves to it. Justice would appear,\nlike the painter's gaunt skeleton of emblematic meaning, to be\nstalking through the world, smiting with attenuation luxuriating\nforms of virtue. Forms, changed from what we knew, would meet\nus, strange unaccustomed forms, and we should have to ask them\nwho they are--\"You were flourishing but a short while ago, what\nhas happened to you now?\" And the answer, if it spoke the truth,\nwould be--\"Nothing, except that now, much which lately counted as\ngoodness, counts as such no longer; we are tried by a new moral\nmeasure, out of which we issue different men; gifts which have\nfigured as goodness remain as gifts, but cease to be goodness.\" Thus\nwould the large sweep made of human canonizations act like blight or\nvolcanic fire upon some rich landscape, converting the luxury of\nnature into a dried-up scene of bare stems and scorched vegetation.\n\nSo may the scrutiny of the last day, by discovering the irrelevant\nmaterial in men's goodness, reduce to a shadow much exalted earthly\ncharacter. Men are made up of professions, gifts, and talents,\nand also of themselves, but all so mixed together that we cannot\nseparate one element from another; but another day must show what\nthe moral substance is, and what is only the brightness and setting\noff of gifts. On the other hand, the same day may show where, tho\nthe setting off of gifts is less, the substance is more. If there\nwill be reversal of human judgment for evil, there will be reversal\nof it for good too. The solid work which has gone on in secret,\nunder common exteriors, will then spring into light, and come out\nin a glorious aspect. Do we not meet with surprizes of this kind\nhere, which look like auguries of a greater surprize in the next\nworld, a surprize on a vast scale. Those who have lived under an\nexterior of rule, when they come to a trying moment sometimes\ndisappoint us; they are not equal to the act required from them;\nbecause their forms of duty, whatever they are, have not touched\nin reality their deeper fault of character, meanness, or jealousy,\nor the like, but have left them where they were; they have gone\non thinking themselves good because they did particular things,\nand used certain language, and adopted certain ways of thought,\nand have been utterly unconscious all the time of a corroding sin\nwithin them. On the other hand, some one who did not promise much,\ncomes out at a moment of trial strikingly and favorably. This is\na surprize, then, which sometimes happens, nay, and sometimes a\ngreater surprize still, when out of the eater comes forth meat, and\nout of a state of sin there springs the soul of virtue. The act of\nthe thief on the cross is a surprize. Up to the time when he was\njudged he was a thief, and from a thief he became a saint. For even\nin the dark labyrinth of evil there are unexpected outlets; sin is\nestablished by the habit in the man, but the good principle which\nis in him also, but kept down and supprest, may be secretly growing\ntoo; it may be undermining it, and extracting the life and force\nfrom it. In this man, then, sin becomes more and more, tho holding\nits place by custom, an outside and a coating, just as virtue does\nin the deteriorating man, till at last, by a sudden effort and the\ninspiration of an opportunity, the strong good casts off the weak\ncrust of evil and comes out free. We witness a conversion.\n\nBut this is a large and mysterious subject--the foundation for high\nvirtue to become apparent in a future world, which hardly rises up\nabove the ground here. We cannot think of the enormous trial which\nis undergone in this world by vast masses without the thought\nalso of some sublime fruit to come of it some day. True, it may\nnot emerge from the struggle of bare endurance here, but has not\nthe seed been sown? Think of the burden of toil and sorrow borne\nby the crowds of poor: we know that pain does not of itself make\npeople good; but what we observe is, that even in those in whom\nthe trial seems to do something, it yet seems such a failure. What\ninconstancy, violence, untruths! The pathos in it all moves you.\nWhat a tempest of character it is! And yet when such trial has been\npassed we involuntarily say--has not a foundation been laid? And so\nin the life of a soldier, what agonies must nature pass through in\nit! While the present result of such a trial is so disappointing,\nso little seems to come of it! Yet we cannot think of what has been\ngone through by countless multitudes in war, of the dreadful altar\nof sacrifice, and the lingering victims, without the involuntary\nidea arising that in some, even of the irregular and undisciplined,\nthe foundation of some great purification has been laid. We hear\nsometimes of single remarkable acts of virtue, which spring from\nminds in which there is not the habit of virtue. Such acts point to\na foundation, a root of virtue in man, deeper than habit; they are\nsudden leaps which show an unseen spring, which are able to compress\nin a moment the growth of years.\n\nTo conclude. The gospel language throws doubt upon the final\nstability of much that passes current here with respect to\ncharacter, upon established judgments, and the elevations of the\noutward sanctuary. It lays down a wholesome scepticism. We do not\ndo justice to the spirit of the gospel by making it enthusiastic\nsimply, or even benevolent simply. It is sagacious, too. It is a\nbook of judgment. Man is judged in it. Our Lord is Judge. We cannot\nseparate our Lord's divinity from His humanity; and yet we must be\nblind if we do not see a great judicial side of our Lord's human\ncharacter;--that severe type of understanding, in relation to the\nworldly man, which has had its imperfect representation in great\nhuman minds. He was unspeakably benevolent, kind, compassionate;\ntrue, but He was a Judge. It was indeed of His very completeness\nas man that He should know man; and to know is to judge. He must\nbe blind who, in the significant acts and sayings of our Lord as\nthey unroll themselves in the pregnant page of the gospel, does\nnot thus read His character; he sees it in that insight into\npretensions, exposure of motives, laying bare of disguises; in the\nsayings--\"Believe it not\"; \"Take heed that no man deceive you\";\n\"Behold, I have told you\"; in all that profoundness of reflection\nin regard to man, which great observing minds among mankind have\nshown, tho accompanied by much of frailty, anger, impatience, or\nmelancholy. His human character is not benevolence only; there\nis in it wise distrust--that moral sagacity which belongs to the\nperfection of man.\n\nNow then, as has been said, this scepticism with regard to human\ncharacter has had, as a line of thought, certain well-known\nrepresentatives in great minds, who have discovered a root of\nselfishness in men's actions, have probed motives, extracted aims,\nand placed man before himself denuded and exposed; they judged\nhim, and in the frigid sententiousness or the wild force of their\nutterances, we hear that of which we cannot but say, how true! But\nknowledge is a goad to those who have it; a disturbing power; a\nkeenness which distorts; and in the sight it gives it partly blinds\nalso. The fault of these minds was that in exposing evil they did\nnot really believe in goodness; goodness was to them but an airy\nideal, the dispirited echo of perplexed hearts,--returned to them\nfrom the rocks of the desert, without bearing hope with it. They\nhad no genuine belief in any world which was different from theirs;\nthey availed themselves of an ideal indeed to judge this world, and\nthey could not have judged it without; for anything, whatever it\nis, is good, if we have no idea of anything better; and therefore\nthe conception of a good world was necessary to judge the bad\none. But the ideal held loose to their minds--not anything to be\nsubstantiated, not as a type in which a real world was to be cast,\nnot as anything of structural power, able to gather into it, form\nround it, and build up upon itself; not, in short, as anything of\npower at all, able to make anything, or do anything, but only like\nsome fragrant scent in the air, which comes and goes, loses itself,\nreturns again in faint breaths, and rises and falls in imperceptive\nwaves. Such was goodness to these minds; it was a dream. But the\ngospel distrust is not disbelief in goodness. It raises a great\nsuspense, indeed, it shows a curtain not yet drawn up, it checks\nweak enthusiasm, it appends a warning note to the pomp and flattery\nof human judgments, to the erection of idols; and points to a day of\ngreat reversal; a day of the Lord of Hosts; the day of pulling down\nand plucking up, of planting and building. But, together with the\nlaw of sin, the root of evil in the world, and the false goodness in\nit, it announces a fount of true natures; it tells us of a breath of\nHeaven of which we know not whence it cometh and whither it goeth;\nwhich inspires single individual hearts, that spring up here and\nthere, and everywhere, like broken gleams of the supreme goodness.\nAnd it recognizes in the renewed heart of man an instinct which\ncan discern true goodness and distinguish it from false; a secret\ndiscrimination in the good by which they know the good. It does not\ntherefore stand in the way of that natural and quiet reliance which\nwe are designed by God to have in one another, and that trust in\nthose whose hearts we know. \"Wisdom is justified of her children\";\n\"My sheep hear my voice, but a stranger will they not follow, for\nthey know not the voice of strangers.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: ad page 1]\n\n  From the Pen of\n  ALPHONSO A. HOPKINS, Ph.D.,\n\n_Professor of Political Economy and Prohibition in the American\nTemperance University._\n\n=Wealth and Waste=\n\n     The Principles of Political Economy In their Application to the\n     Present Problems of Labor, Law, and the Liquor Traffic.\n\n     In a broad, philosophic, and patriotic spirit the author seeks\n     to apply, in this volume, the accepted principles of Political\n     Economy, as to Production and Wealth, Consumption and Waste.\n\n     \"A book which contains very much of great value.\"--_Herald and\n     Presbyter_, Cincinnati.\n\n     \"The argument is impressive, and well buttressed with statistics\n     and apt citations.\"--_The Watchman_, Boston.\n\n     \"Dr. Hopkins contributes to the literature of political\n     economy a volume worth the attention of students and\n     thinkers.\"--_Christian Herald._\n\n     \"Dr. Hopkins brings thorough preparation to this work on the\n     particular line of reform in which he has labored.\"--_Christian\n     Observer_, Louisville.\n\n     \"Unquestionably the ablest book upon Political Economy in its\n     various relations which has been put upon the market.\"--_Herald\n     of the Coming One_, Boston.\n\n     \"Dr. A. A. Hopkins's 'Wealth and Waste' will prove itself\n     one of the most effective contributions to the literature of\n     reform.\"--_Western Christian Advocate._\n\n     \"It is a book both for scholars and students and plain laboring\n     men, with clear, concise definitions and practical illustrations\n     for all these classes.\"--_The Religious Herald_, Hartford, Conn.\n\n     \"Unique, fascinating, and suggestive.... No one assuming the\n     attitude of a reformer can fail of being quickened in his great\n     work by an earnest review of the book.\"--_Baltimore Methodist._\n\n     \"The incisive mind and rare culture of Professor Hopkins have\n     never been more signally set forth than in his new book entitled\n     'Wealth and Waste.' It comes as a much needed reinforcement\n     to the literature of the temperance propaganda.\"--_Frances E.\n     Willard._\n\n12mo, Cloth, 286 pp.----Price, $1.00.\n\n=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers,=\n=NEW YORK and LONDON=\n\n\n[Illustration: ad page 2]\n\n_=\"Ranks Next to a Concordance.\"--SPURGEON.=_\n\n=Biblical Lights and Side Lights=\n\nA cyclopedia of ten thousand illustrations and thirty thousand\ncross-references, consisting of fact, incident, and remarkable\ndeclarations taken from the Bible; for the use of those in every\nprofession who, for illustrative purpose, desire ready access to the\nnumerous incidents and striking statements contained in the Bible,\nstudents, teachers, public speakers, lawyers, ministers, and others,\nas also for the family library. Prepared by Rev. Charles E. Little\n(author of \"Historical Lights,\" etc.).\n\n=Royal 8vo, 620 pp. Price, Cloth, $4.00; Library Sheep, $5.50.=\n\n     \"'Biblical Lights and Side Lights' is a specially useful\n     book.... It ranks next to a concordance.... Mr. Little's work is\n     a great success.\"--_Rev. C. H. Spurgeon._\n\n     \"We have never seen a work on Bible reference so thoroughly\n     systematized.... Admirably arranged.... =Topics are taken from\n     the demands of religion, philosophy, science, art, social life,\n     and politics.... Has great value for educated persons in every\n     calling.=\"--_National Baptist, Phila._\n\n     \"'Biblical Lights' may be welcomed to a place among the very\n     useful books which few can afford to put aside.\"--_Presbyterian\n     Review._\n\n     \"Will unquestionably prove a mine of information and of\n     illustration.\"--_Observer, N. Y._\n\n     \"A work of great solidity and merit.\"--_Lutheran Church Review,\n     Philadelphia._\n\n=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY,=\n=NEW YORK and LONDON=\n\n\n[Illustration: ad page 3]\n\n     _The Outlook (Edited by Lyman Abbott., D.D., successor\n     to Henry Ward Beecher as pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn,\n     New York):_ \"It is with the aspect of Mr. Beecher as a reformer,\n     rather than as a theologian, author, or preacher, that Mr.\n     Barrows deals.... It gives the story of Mr. Beecher's life in\n     less space and in handier form than any other volume with which\n     we are acquainted.\"\n\n\nHenry Ward Beecher\n\n=THE SHAKESPEARE OF THE PULPIT=\n\n=By JOHN HENRY BARROWS.=\n\n=12mo, Cloth; 557 pp.; With Portrait. Price, $1.50. Post-free.=\n\nThe certified points of merits of this work conclusively place it\nforemost as the standard popular biography of Henry Ward Beecher.\n\n     \"=Altogether it is= a valued contribution to Beecher\n     literature.\"--=_New York Herald.=_\n\n     \"=It will give= to many a far better and truer conception\n     of Mr. Beecher than they before possessed.\"--=_Christian\n     Inquirer,=_ New York.\n\n     \"=All in all= it is the best summing up of the life and\n     character of this great preacher and orator that I have ever\n     read.\"--=_Hon. Nelson Dingley,=_ Washington, D. C.\n\n     \"=I am especially pleased= with the chapters relating to\n     the famous trial. The subject is handled very delicately, and\n     at the same time thoroughly vindicates the pastor of Plymouth\n     Church from all intentional wrong doing.\"--_=Francis M. Clark,\n     D.D.,= Pres. Soc. of Christian Endeavor,_ Boston.\n\n=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers,=\n=NEW YORK and LONDON=\n\n\n[Illustration: ad page 4]\n\n     \"A well written biography.\"--_=New York Sun.=_\n\n     \"Lucid and sympathetic.\"--_=New York Tribune.=_\n\n\n=William E. Dodge=\n\nTHE CHRISTIAN MERCHANT\n\nBy CARLOS MARTYN\n\n=12mo, Cloth; 349 pp.; With Portrait. Price, $1.50. Post-free.=\n\nThis biography of one of New York's most successful merchants, whose\npublic acts gave him a national reputation, is largely interspersed\nwith the history of events happening in the stirring times of his\ngreatest activity.\n\n     \"=Such books as these= are of incalculable value to the\n     young, and an inspiration to all who are seeking to do good as\n     well as get gain in this world.\"--=_The Gospel Banner_=,\n     Augusta, Me.\n\n     \"=The Editor= has handled his subject in so able a manner\n     that the reader is entranced, and is carried on and on until\n     with a sigh of regret the book is laid down.\"--_=The Chicago\n     Herald.=_\n\n     \"=Many of the passages= are taken from the lectures and\n     speeches delivered by him in his lifetime which give a vivid\n     impression of the home, business, and public life of the great\n     merchant and philanthropist.\"--_=The Plaindealer=_,\n     Cleveland, Ohio.\n\n=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers,=\n=NEW YORK and LONDON=\n\n[Illustration: ad page 5]\n\n     _=The Commercial Gazette=_, Cincinnati, says: \"This volume\n     contains considerable matter never before published, is full of\n     fascinating reading, and is of inestimable historic value.\"\n\n\n=John Brown And His Men=\n\nWITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ROADS THEY TRAVELED TO REACH HARPER'S FERRY.\n\n=By COL. RICHARD J. HINTON,=\n\nA Contemporary of John Brown.\n\n=12mo, Cloth; 752 pp.; 22 Portraits. Price,=\n=$1.50. Post-free.=\n\nIn an Appendix are given the principal and more important documents\nprepared by John Brown, or relating directly to the enterprises\nagainst American slavery in which he was actively engaged; also a\ncopious Index to the volume.\n\n=EXTRACTS FROM A COUPLE OF LETTERS.=\n\n  ANACOSTIA, D. C., CEDAR HILL, Feb. 11, 1895.\n\n     MY DEAR COLONEL HINTON:\n\n     Your History of the raid upon Harper's Ferry, by John Brown\n     and his men, leaves nothing in that line to be desired.... You\n     were in the center of the circle, and hence have had an inside\n     view of the whole transaction. You have done for John Brown and\n     his men, and for the truth of history, a magnificent service.\n     _=Frederick Douglass.=_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Feb. 14, 1895.\n\n     MY DEAR COLONEL HINTON:\n\n     Your work on 'John Brown and His Men' is most strongly and\n     vividly done. In fact, wherever I open the book, I find it alive\n     with the undying interest of the greatest hour of our history.\n     Perhaps mankind must yet make another struggle; but so far Brown\n     remains the hero of the supreme endeavor for freedom, and this\n     is what you make your readers feel, without weakening any fact\n     concerning him.\n\n     _=William Dean Howells.=_\n\n=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers,=\n=NEW YORK and LONDON=\n\n\n[Illustration: ad page 6]\n\nWho Wrote the Hymns we Love so Well?\n\nCONSULT\n\n=ENGLISH HYMNS;=\n\nTHEIR\n\n_AUTHORS and HISTORY_\n\n=By REV. SAMUEL W. DUFFIELD.=\n\n8vo, 675 pp., Cloth, Price, $3.00, Postpaid.\n\nIt cites in alphabetical order the first lines of over _=1,500\nhymns=_. Under each is given a brief biographical sketch of the\nauthor, circumstances attending its composition, and incidents in\nconnection with its use. Exhaustive indexes to authors, to first\nlines, and to topics, are appended. To Leaders of Praise-meetings,\nSunday-school Teachers, Parents, Pastors, and the general\nhymn-loving public, it will be found invaluable. The selection of\nhymns has been made with great care, and only well-authenticated\nincidents are given. American as well as English hymnology has been\ndrawn upon. Honey has been gathered from the choicest flowers of the\ngarden.\n\n=REPRESENTATIVE OPINIONS.=\n\n     \"It pleases me altogether. It is full of information, ranging\n     from positive erudition down to racy anecdote.\"--_Charles S.\n     Robinson, D.D._\n\n     \"This is by far the most complete, accurate, and thorough work\n     of its kind on either side of the Atlantic.\"--_Theodore L.\n     Cuyler, D.D._\n\n     \"Bears evidence of immense research and years of labor.... The\n     full and admirable sketch of the author of 'Lead, Kindly Light,'\n     is worth the cost of the book.\"--_Hon. Edwards Pierrepont._\n\n     \"A noble volume; a monument to the author's tact, learning, and\n     faithful industry.\"--E. C. Stedman.\n\n=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY,=\n=NEW YORK and LONDON=\n\n\n[Illustration: ad page 7]\n\n     =_\"Should reach its hundred-thousandth edition.\"--Chicago\n     Journal._=\n\n\n=Ethics of Marriage=\n\n=A Most Valuable Book=\n\nBy H. S. Pomeroy, M.D. Prefatory note by Thos. Addis Emmet, M.S.,\nLL.D., and introduction by Rev. J. T. Duryea, D.D., Boston. With\nan Appendix showing the laws of most of the States and Territories\nregarding certain forms of crime.\n\n=12mo, Cloth, 197 pp., Price, $1.00,=\n\nPOSTAGE FREE.\n\n     \"To the earnest man and woman everywhere, who has watched the\n     reckless manner in which marriages are contracted, the wicked\n     way in which responsibilities are shifted and ignored, and the\n     slow and sure defilement of society because the criminal classes\n     are allowed to propagate their vile species, while Christian\n     households and moral parents ignore their duty to this and to\n     the next world, this book is almost like a voice from Heaven.\n     Should reach its hundred-thousandth edition.\"--_Chicago Journal._\n\n     \"It deserves to lie alongside the Bible in the foundation of\n     each home.\"--_Rev. O. P. Gifford, Boston._\n\n     \"I have read your book with deep interest and heartily concur in\n     it.... May God bless your words.\"--_Elizabeth A. Tobey, Pres.\n     Mass. W. C. T. U._\n\n     \"A subject of great delicacy and yet commanding present\n     importance is treated with the utmost propriety of tone and\n     expression; with adequate knowledge, both theoretical and\n     practical; with unflinching thoroughness and courage in the\n     exposure of the evil, and with a reformatory purpose worthy of\n     both the man of science and the Christian.\"--_Rev. Joseph Cook._\n\n=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers,=\n=NEW YORK and LONDON=\n\n\n[Illustration: ad page 8]\n\n_A UNIQUE CYCLOPEDIA._\n\n\nHistorical Lights;\n\nOr, Six Thousand Historical Articles, illustrating Thirty Thousand\nTopics. Especially arranged for the Family Library, as also for\nConversationalists, Lecturers, Public Speakers, Writers for\nthe Press, Lawyers, Students, and all who have occasion to use\nillustrations drawn from History. Compiled by REV. CHARLES E.\nLITTLE, author of \"Biblical Lights and Side-lights.\"\n\n     \"These 'Lights' are a galaxy taken exclusively from standard\n     Histories and Biographies. They consist of Facts, Incidents,\n     Examples and Precedents, selected for illustrative purposes, and\n     chiefly from the Civilized Races of Antiquity and the American\n     and English people. The Subjects relate to Religious, Social,\n     and Political Life, to Moral and Civil Government, etc. The\n     historian's name is appended to every quotation. _There are no\n     fugitive anecdotes in the work._\"\n\nComplete in one volume, 8vo, 900 pages.\n\nPrices, Cloth, $5; Sheep, $6.50; transportation free.\n\n     Peculiar Value of the Work:\n\n     It is unique in design--no other publication occupying this\n     field in literature. It meets a want common to the large class\n     who desire ready access to historical precedents, examples and\n     incidents. It furnishes a mass of choice illustrations drawn\n     from History, which are immensely more valuable than statements,\n     anecdotes or incidents which cannot be vouched for.\n\n=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY,=\n=NEW YORK and LONDON=\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\nMinor typographical errors have been corrected without note.\nIrregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as\nprinted.\n\nMissing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the\noriginal text.\n\nPage 116: The transcriber has supplied the missing closing\nbracket--\"and Him crucified (when I was among the pupils of\nGamaliel, all of whom despised my chosen theme)\".","title":"The World's Great Sermons, Volume 05: Guthrie to Mozley","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":54847}