{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_60592/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_60592","id":"gutenberg_60592","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60592","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Luke X, 42 -- Sermons","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons","Sermons, English -- 19th century","Welsh -- Ethnic identity"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1871 W. Spurrell edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n                        [Picture: Pamphlet Cover]\n\n\n\n\n\n                     WELSH NATIONALITY, AND HOW ALONE\n                            IT IS TO BE SAVED\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                    A\n                                  SERMON\n\n                             PREACHED IN THE\n\n                 Chapel of St. David\u2019s College, Lampeter\n\n                      ON THE MORNING AND EVENING OF\n\n                     _SUNDAY_, _OCTOBER_ 30_th_, 1870\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  BY THE\n                         REV. W. G. DAVIES, B.D.\n          _Chaplain of the Joint Counties Asylum_, _Abergavenny_\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                           PUBLISHED BY REQUEST\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                     LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL. & CO.\n                         CARMARTHEN: W. SPURRELL\n\n                                   1871\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n        \u201cThe Clergy everywhere should be emphatically \u2018the teachers of\n                   people,\u2019 and leaders of modern thought.\u201d\n\n                                                  _The Rector of Merthyr_.\n\n\n\n\nA SERMON.\nI.\n\n\n                                 LUKE x. 42.\n\n    \u201c_But one thing is needful_, _and Mary hath chosen that good part\n    which shall not be taken away from her_.\u201d\n\nTHE discourses which I have the privilege of delivering in this chapel,\nare specially addressed to my younger brethren, the undergraduates.  I\ncannot but dwell with pleasure upon the time when I was myself a student\nin this college.  This, together with the fact that I am a native of the\nlower part of this county, and was brought up among some of the most\nprimitive of the Welsh people, and consequently am familiar with their\nleading sentiments, manners, and customs, places me, I cannot help\nfeeling, in a state of close sympathy with the greater number of you.\nAssuming the existence of this fellow feeling, I have chosen, on this\noccasion, to investigate the social and religious condition of my\ncountrymen in a light which has not yet penetrated into the fastnesses of\nthe popular mind of Wales.  I have done this, because the subject is one\nthat elicits ideas of high import, which it is desirable you should know,\ninasmuch as they ought to prove of signal service to you in your future\nministrations.\n\nWe are living, you should be aware, in critical times.  Old institutions\nand dogmas are rudely assailed, and challenged to vindicate their right\nto respect before the tribunal of reason.  It is well then that you\nshould have some leading ideas implanted in your mind, so that you may\nthe better be able to comprehend the nature of the change that is coming\nover us.  As this change proceeds, you will probably hear cries of\ndespair from this party and from that, and harsh and uncharitable\naccusations will be flung by one at the other.  Be not therefore in\nperplexity, but of this be very certain, \u201cThe Lord hath prepared His\nthrone in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all;\u201d and though we\nmay see the pet schemes of men ending in signal failure, not for one\nmoment can we suppose that God\u2019s eternal purposes will come to nought,\nthat His word will return to Him void.\n\n\u201cThis,\u201d remarks the learned bishop of this diocese, \u201cis an age of\nrestless curiosity, and searching inquiry.  If we fail to come at the\ntruth, it is not because we ever shrink from approaching it; not because\nwe let ourselves be stopped by any conventional barriers of usage or\nauthority.  We admit no right in any one to judge for us on subjects\nwhich we are able to judge for ourselves.  We take no opinion upon trust,\nbecause it has come down to us with the stamp of an honoured name.  We\nadopt it only after we have made it our own by a rigid scrutiny of its\nintrinsic claims to our assent.  It is an age in which all pretensions to\nrespect and deference are jealously examined, and in which it is more\ndifficult than ever for any false pretences long to elude detection.\u201d {4}\n\nThe tendency here described by the bishop, ought to suggest to you the\nnecessity of making yourselves acquainted with the leading\ncharacteristics of the time, and urge you so to train your understanding,\nthat you shall be always ready, as the apostle enjoins, to give a reason\nfor the hope that is in you.  In Wales, however, owing to her isolated\ncondition, divided like a Milford Haven from the vast Atlantic, it is\nquite possible that it may be a considerable time before this restless\nand inquiring spirit will make itself so generally felt as elsewhere.\nThis may be an advantage to you; for, from your tranquil haven, you may\nbe able dispassionately to form a judicial opinion of the commotion which\nis being felt by others at a distance from you.\n\nFew things indicate more clearly the religious condition of the Welsh\npeople than the closeness with which, in so many respects, they apply,\nbut in a certain limited sense, the principle contained in the text, \u201cBut\none thing is needful;\u201d namely, to learn and to have the mind of Christ, a\nrequirement far more comprehensive than many seem to think; for does not\nthat good part which shall not be taken away, embrace all the knowledge\nwe can obtain of God\u2019s power, wisdom, and love?\n\nHow deeply the cares of life, the \u201cwhat shall we eat, or what shall we\ndrink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?\u201d the anxieties of business,\nthe wild fever of speculation and gambling, the frivolities of a life\ndevoted to the exclusive pursuit of pleasure and excitement, the arduous\nstrain endured in climbing giddy heights of fame, glory, and power; how\ndeeply are all such merely temporal pursuits, even were they innocent,\ncondemned as vanity of vanities, by that loving reproof of our Saviour,\n\u201cBut one thing is needful.\u201d  However unmindful we may be of the fact,\neternity surrounds and makes prisoners of us all; and what is the whole\nworld with all its pomp, wealth, greatness, and pleasures, viewed in the\ndimming light of that eternity?  What shall it profit a man if he gain\neverything but what is really needful, everything but the good part,\nsince \u201cwhen he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not\ndescend after him?\u201d  This indeed, is a most serious and awful\nconsideration, and no one possessed of proper feeling, can treat it with\nlevity.  The grave, without respect of persons, confronts us all with its\nawe-inspiring illimitable beyond; and we cannot, if we would, brought up\nas we have been to possess long-standing associations on the side of\nChristian truth, and in harmony with the voice of conscience and the\nhigher aspirations and presentiments of the soul, bring ourselves to\nbelieve that we shall not reap hereafter as we have sown here.\n\nHow often have the hills and valley of Wales resounded to stains like\nthese, and long may they do so.  But a most important question to ask is,\nwhat is comprised in the one thing needful?  Are science, literature, and\nart of only temporary value?  In the day of trial will they prove, even\nwhen true and pure, but \u201cwood, hay, and stubble,\u201d or will they turn out\nto be a portion of the \u201cgold, silver, and precious stones\u201d which we can\ncarry with us to the better land?\n\nI shall not, I presume, be far from the truth, when I declare that the\nWelsh are, on the whole, a God-fearing people; and that they are somewhat\nremarkable for the manner in which they put into practice the principle\ncontained in the text, \u201cBut one thing is needful.\u201d  If we except the\nvarious pursuits by which they gain their livelihood, the Welsh-speaking\nportion of my countrymen have few proclivities apart from religion.\nTheir reading is almost purely religious reading; their music, psalmody;\ntheir social gatherings, for the most part, clerical meetings, religious\ncamp meetings, and the assembling of Sabbath schools.  Their periodical\nliterature consists almost wholly of religious magazines.  Secular\nknowledge, secular music, and well nigh everything approaching to\nfiction, are by many of them deemed not only valueless but sinful.  _Y\ngwir yn erbyn y byd_, a motto of which the Welsh nation may justly be\nproud, expresses the intolerance with which many natives of the\nPrincipality regard everything but what they believe to be downright\nsober truth.  Is it the one thing needful?  If not, avoid it as\nmischievous; at all events, \u201cdo not spend your money for that which is\nnot bread, and your labour for that which profiteth not.\u201d  That the great\nmass of my country-people are remarkable for what many would consider the\nlogical reduction of Christianity into practice, is unquestionable; but\nare they therefore, any more than St. Anthony and the early pilgrims, who\nbelieved they did the same thing, to be pointed out as worthy the\nimitation of others in all respects?\n\nThe Welsh-speaking inhabitants of this country, it must be admitted, live\nin a manner which has its attractions for primitiveness and homeliness;\ntheir wants are few, their passions are much under control, they are\nself-denying, industrious, and provident; and throughout the\nPrincipality, much to its credit, criminal cases but seldom darken the\ncalendar.  Such being the social condition of the Welsh, but more\nespecially in the agricultural districts of what has been termed Welsh\nWales, though not indeed without exceptions as regards keeping the \u201cbody\nin temperance, soberness, and chastity,\u201d would it not be desirable to\ntake note of the influences which conduce to such a state of things, with\nthe view of bringing the same to bear upon communities, in which so many\nare deplorably corrupt, criminal, and profane?  When, however, we come to\nconsider that one of the leading causes of the peculiarities exhibited by\nthe Welsh, is the isolation resulting from their language, few\ndistinctive points remain in their social economy which admit of being\ncopied with advantage by other communities.  Influences which are rapidly\nchanging the character of the English, and the better educated classes in\nthese parts, exercise but a faint effect upon the primitive Welsh;\nbecause they are, by their language, shut out from the rest of the world.\nThey are like the river water, which is out of the main current.  Their\nmanners, customs, and ideas, all tend to permanency.  The sons follow\nwith little change in the steps of their fathers, and the daughters in\nthose of their mothers.  As a consequence of this, even in business\npursuits, they are, like the French Canadians, deficient in enterprise,\nand acquire property mostly by saving and self-denial.  Like the Chinese,\nthey give one the idea of a people whose development has been arrested at\na certain stage, whose inspiration is drawn from the past, and not, as by\nthe Israelites of old, from the future.  They love to dwell on the\nantiquity of their language, and its purity from foreign elements.  What\nthey were is to them a source of fond exultation.  What they are destined\nto become, they fear to contemplate.\n\nI claim to be a lover of my country.  I admire much the social and civic\nvirtues, and the religious enthusiasm of her people; but I am forced to\nadmit that among the Welsh, as such, there is no onward tendency.  That\nis a great and noble ambition of theirs which urges them to retain their\nlanguage; and they firmly believe in the prophecy, \u201c_Eu hiaith a\ngadwant_.\u201d  But to be equally bent on perpetuating certain peculiarities\nwhich unite them with the past as a race opposed to their English\nneighbours, this desire to surround themselves with a sort of Chinese\nwall, instead of letting \u201cthe dead past bury its dead,\u201d is not the part\nof true patriotism.  For, by blindly adhering to such a stationary\npolicy, they will eventually, as a distinct nation, be submerged by the\ntide of progress, instead of floating on its surface, and exist about as\nmuch in reality as their fabled Lowland Hundred.  In everything but\npolitical sectarianism, and this only because they are moved to it by\npolitical agitators, the Welsh are in fact a most conservative nation.\n\nThis primitive condition of the Welsh, however, is not singular.  It has\nexisted, and exists even now, in various parts of the world.  As an\ninstance with which we have lately been made acquainted, it may be\nmentioned, that Wallace has found, in some of the islands of the Malay\nArchipelago, several communities which have no intercourse with the world\nat large, leading an industrious, peaceful, moral life; committing little\nor no crime; \u201cshowing the work of the law written in their hearts;\u201d and a\npattern to many of the inhabitants of so called Christian and civilized\ncountries.  When we contemplate such beautiful simplicity and purity of\nlife, we must admit that these people \u201care not far from the kingdom of\nGod;\u201d and one is tempted to doubt whether civilization with its extremes\nof wealth and destitution, refinement and barbarism, culture and\nignorance, integrity and crime, saintliness and profanity, is the\nblessing that it is commonly held to be.  But yet if we compare the\nendowments of mankind with those of the more intelligent brutes, we find\nthat man has a capacity for being educated into a higher being in\nproportion as the race stores up knowledge, a power which opens the vast\ntreasury of nature; whereas the most intelligent of the brutes are but\nslightly educable, and therefore stationary.  While man, however, is\ngifted with this immense superiority, he does not always turn it to the\ngreatest advantage.  Some nations are rapidly advancing; some, having\nadvanced in time past up to a certain point, have either long ago halted,\nor have gone back to barbarism or worse.  Of these three tendencies, the\none strongly manifested by the Welsh is halting.  What forces there are\nurging them forward are almost entirely from a foreign source; and the\nfact that such influences are operating upon them is, by many of their\nnumber, regarded as a misfortune, by few as a blessing.  Painful,\nhowever, as it must be to Welsh patriotism, and high-wrought sentiment,\nyet it is not to be doubted that the genius of Wales is receding before\nthat of England, as is so clearly evident to those who dwell on the\nborder land, where the two rival powers are brought face to face.  And\nnow what I wish my country-people particularly to understand is, that as\nlong as they adopt a policy of stagnation, Cambria is sure to be worsted\nin the conflict for distinctive existence; because such is the law of\nevolution, a law which pervades all nature; and to this law I would now\ndraw your attention.\n\nWhat is called evolution or development in nature is a procedure from\nsimplicity to complexity of structure.  The more elaborate and special an\norgan is, the higher is the function which it has to perform.  To select\nan illustration from the animal kingdom: among the lowest kind of animals\ncalled the _hydra_ there is no distinction of parts such as seen in the\nhuman body; no nutritive, muscular, and nervous system; no senses, no\nbrain.  Each portion of them being complete in itself, these animals can\nbe propagated by simply cutting them into bits.  Each part is independent\nof every other part; as if in this country we had local government, but\nno central government.  The whole is a medley in which there is no\ndivision of labour and of responsibility, no interdependence.\n\nHow different the case in man\u2019s elevated and complex nature!  And how can\nI express this more forcibly, or in a way better adapted for conveying to\nyou the principle here held in view, than in these words of St.\nPaul:\u2014\u201cThere are many members, yet but one body.  And the eye cannot say\nunto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I\nhave no need of you.\u201d  The principle here enunciated is that of unity in\nvariety.  \u201cThe body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of\nthe body, though they be many, are one body.\u201d\n\nThe chapter from which these passages are taken demands your special\nnotice, in order that you may see how fully the Apostle\u2019s mind was\npossessed with the law of unity in variety\u2014many members, yet but one\nbody; and together with the sequel to it, the New Testament song of love,\nshould deeply impress upon our hearts the all important truth conveyed in\nthe words, \u201cNow ye are the body of Christ, and severally members\nthereof.\u201d  There will be diversities in the Church, there cannot be\nuniformity, but there must be unity.  \u201cFor as it is noted by one of the\nfathers,\u201d says Bacon, \u201cChrist\u2019s coat, indeed, had no seam, but the\nChurch\u2019s vesture was of divers colours; whereupon he saith, \u2018_In veste\nvarietas sit_, _scissura non sit_.\u2019\u201d\n\nThere was a time, even in the memory of living men, when Welsh households\nhad little need of aid from commerce, when almost every kind of food was\nhome grown, and almost every article of clothing home spun and home made.\nSome lament that this is not still the case.  Let these, however, console\nthemselves with the knowledge that as mankind progress, they are made, by\ndivision of labour, to become more dependent on each other, and that\nperforce the law of love, of mutual beneficence, is being propagated in\nthe world, not only by the Christian ministry, but by the agency of\ncommercial, scientific, and literary progress.  Not only the inhabitants\nof the same land, but the various nations of the earth are more and more\ncoming to this, that they can less and less do without each other\u2019s\nco-operation.\n\nAn early stage of society, like that of animal development, is a medley.\nIt is made up of families or tribes, each of which has its own separate\norganization; and the tendency is, where selfishness and a contentious\nspirit predominate, to split up into fragments; whereas, on the other\nhand, where the domestic virtues are highly advanced, and there is a\ngeneral disposition to sink private interest in public good, men will\ncling together, thus forming larger communities, exercising more advanced\nfunctions, and eventually absorb those weaker tribes which have not\nacquired these virtues; that is, have not realized, to the same extent,\nthe principle of many members in one body.\n\nIt is characteristic of the human mind, in its first attempts to pierce\nthe mists of ignorance and mystery, to embrace, in one view, the whole\nrealm of knowledge, and necessarily to suppose that it is much more\nlimited than it is.  The astrologers of old little dreamed that the\nstars, which were the objects of their superstitions contemplation, were\nbut a small portion of the illimitable universe of worlds.  We see at\nfirst of any subject which we study but about as much as we see of the\nstars without the aid of the telescope, or of minute objects near at hand\nwithout the aid of the microscope.  The realm of knowledge enlarges in\nproportion as we intimately explore it.  The more we discover\ndistinctions, which have been overlooked by previous observers, or the\nmore we differentiate, and at the same time assign the differences their\nright place in the class, the unity to which they belong, the more we\nadvance that branch of investigation towards which our efforts are\nturned.  In the infancy of knowledge, science, poetry, history, politics,\ntheology, form one medley, like the hydra in the animal world.\nPythagoras, because he possessed insufficient powers of abstraction,\ncould not keep mathematics apart from metaphysics, theology, and\n\u00e6sthetics.  And Xenophanes must needs, in the philosophical and\ntheological travail of his soul, give expression to his ideas in flowing\nhexameters.  The early ballads were not simply the minstrelsy, but the\nonly chronicles of the period.  Out of the medley state, which has now\nbeen described, the sciences file in the order of their simplicity,\ngenerality, and remoteness from religious, poetic, and political emotion.\n\nThe development of knowledge and of civilization, therefore, like that of\nthe animal kingdom, is commensurate with the degree in which labour is\ndivided, while perfect unity is retained.  \u201cNow hath God set the members\nevery one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him.  And if they were\nall one member, where were the body?\u201d (where were the multiplicity in the\nunity?)  \u201cBut now are they many members, yet but one body.\u201d  As a\nstriking instance of the manner in which civilization is effected by this\nlaw Guizot tells us that it is more advanced in modern than in ancient\ntimes, because it is more complex.  In ancient civilization, there was no\ncountry population existing as a class distinct from that of the towns,\nand exercising a power peculiar to itself.  By means of the feudal\nsystem, however, the country population has assumed a distinct character\nin modern times, and it wields an influence which greatly modifies the\npower of the great populous centres.  Here we have another instance of\ndifferentiation out of a prior medley state, such as existed in the\ncivilization of Greece and of Rome.\n\nSo much chiefly for the doctrine of differentiation; now more\nparticularly for that of unity.  Let us never forget that God has\nfashioned the body in such a perfect manner that there should be no\nschism among the different members, but that there should be \u201cthe same\ncare one for another.\u201d  Thus it is found to be throughout the region of\nanimal life.  There is, at first, no variety in the unity.  As animals\nascend in the scale of being, variety emerges; organs having special\nfunctions to perform are divided off from the structureless germinal\nmatter; but the oneness of the living being is perfectly preserved; there\nis no schism among the various parts of the body to which a special\nsphere of labour is allotted.  Now this is just what _ought_ to be the\ncase with the great social body.  If it advances from one stage to a\nhigher, it must be by division of labour combined with the union of love.\nIt is by division of labour that men acquire that skill and excellence in\nthe arts, that greater accuracy and extent of knowledge in general which\nenables them to surpass their forefathers.  But here we enter the sphere\nof will and of moral obligation, choice, and duty; and instead of\nwitnessing that harmonious action of many parts exhibited by the\ninvoluntary regions of organic life, we witness all those evils which, if\nthey do not have the effect of awakening a nation to the error of its\nways, eventually lead to anarchy and decay.  What, however, we mostly\nbehold in civilized communities is, that while some are in a highly\nadvanced state, the majority form an appalling mediocrity, while too many\nare but paupers and criminals.  Yea, the social body is seen to have many\nweak, many diseased parts; and is often, through strife and dissension,\nthreatened with dismemberment.  These are the great trials which\ncivilization has to encounter; and amidst great physical progress,\nnotably amidst and wealthy magnificence, there may be much rottenness at\nthe base.\n\nSince communities as they advance become more divided into members having\nspecial offices to perform, there is, where the higher emotions, the\nsource of union, are not in the ascendant, a tendency to an isolation of\nthe parts, to one-sidedness, to a want of \u201cthe same care one for\nanother,\u201d to those gross inequalities, those frightful extremes which too\noften reflect such discredit upon our large towns and cities; social\ndisorders which it is the province of the Church to counteract, laying a\nheavy weight of responsibility upon her, as well as upon the State; and\nwhich are found to exist to a far less extent among a Christian and\nprimitive people like the Welsh.\n\nThe lower animals exhibit a well-regulated constitution.  They fulfil the\npurpose of their being; there is no schism among their members.  \u201cIf we\nsaw the lion,\u201d says George Combe, \u201cone day tearing in pieces every animal\nthat crossed his path, and then oppressed with remorse for the death of\nhis victims, or compassionately healing those whom he had mangled, we\nshould exclaim, what an inconsistent creature, and conclude that he could\nnot by any possibility be happy, on account of this opposition between,\nthe principles of his nature.\u201d  Now this is just the opposition which\ndeforms human nature.  \u201cThe flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the\nspirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so\nthat ye cannot do the things that ye would.\u201d  How is this internal\ndiscord to be quelled but by the inner man having the mastery over the\ninferior propensities of our nature?  As long as these latter are not\nbrought under the wholesome restraints of the Gospel, the Master\u2019s easy\nyoke, the truth which makes us free from carnal bondage; as long as the\nraging waves of animal passion hear not the voice of Him who says,\n\u201cPeace, be still,\u201d in vain shall we look for those social and political\nvirtues which constitute the stability of a state; and which, therefore,\nsince self-preservation is the first law of nature, it should be a prime\nduty of the State to promote.  Without vital Christianity, without a\nlarge number on the side of God, and forming the salt of the earth, we\nmust expect nothing but general corruption and downfall.  We may pride\nourselves upon our railways, our steam navigation, our electric\ntelegraphs, and all the rest of our mechanical wonders; we may pride\nourselves upon our immense resources, our domestic comforts, our\nscientific and literary attainments, our proficiency in the fine arts;\nbut if the conscience of the nation be not adequately developed by a\ndevout and enlightened contemplation of God\u2019s holy will, the social body\nwill be constantly reminding us, by its feverish restlessness and by its\nterrible sores, that it is not nicely compacted together\u2014that \u201cwhere one\nmember suffers, all the members do not suffer with it,\u201d that we have not\npaid sufficient heed to \u201cthe one thing needful;\u201d and that we are, in\nconsequence, reaping, by way of warning, disquieting and painful\nintimations that though our progress is rapid, the rails on which we run\nare alarmingly insecure.\n\nNow among the Welsh people the elements of stability, of unity, are\nstrong, but those of progress or differentiation are weak.  Then as\nregards the people\u2019s social condition in general, it exhibits few of\nthose disheartening extremes which are so often to be met with in our\nlarge towns, but presents, with slight deviations, a general level of\nmoderate elevation.\n\nIn more civilized communities, and notably in one of them, while the\nelements of physical and intellectual advancement are in a state of\nvigorous existence, social virtue and political stability are in a very\nunsatisfactory condition indeed.  There are many members, but they have\nnot arrived at that stage of perfection in which they constitute one\nbody.  Let us hope, however, that as _chaos_ preceded _cosmos_, so it\nwill be with them.  Then as respects the various stages of development\nwhich exist side by side, they present all the inequalities of a mountain\nregion\u2014\n\n    A savage horde amid the civilized;\n       A servile band among the lordly free.\n\nNow these two requirements, variety and unity, when you go hence to\nproclaim the Gospel, it will be most important that you should promote.\nThe \u201cunity of the Spirit in the bond of peace\u201d will, doubtless, be to you\na prime object of cultivation.  But will you not also exert yourselves to\nkindle in the bosom of your country-people that spirit of progress which\nresults from always adding new truths to those of the past; and from\ncontinually realizing more and more the truth, beauty, purity, and\ngrandeur of the indwelling Word of God, namely, \u201cHis Word abiding in\nyou,\u201d that is, in the children of light, the only medium through which\nrevelation, as distinguished from the mere outward signs which alone can\nexist in the Book, is kept, by the Holy Spirit, a living saving power on\nearth.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n\n\u201cTHE world is moving on; the nation which stands still must be left\nbehind.  No people can now live upon its remembrances.  Like the runners\nin the ancient games, the nation which surrenders its torch to another,\nnot only loses the race, but loses the light.  The whole distinction of\nEnglish intellect has arisen from its continually looking forward,\nforgetting the past, and continually anticipating a new day of toils and\nof triumphs, of severer straggles, but of loftier splendours.\u201d  The\ndistinction here pointed out by Dr. Croly, in an essay entitled, \u201cThe\nCultivation of the Intellect, a Divine Duty of Man,\u201d does not exist to\nany extent among the great body of the Welsh people, many of whom attach\nbut slight importance to the acquisition of knowledge; because,\npossessing but little of it themselves, they are naturally disposed to\nregard it as a matter of mere temporary concern.  Even the majority of\ntheir religious teachers having, till of late years, no knowledge of any\nbooks but the Welsh and the English versions of the Bible, Matthew\nHenry\u2019s _Commentary_, and not many more, tacitly, if not openly,\nencouraged this tendency.  For uninformed minds are prone to disparage\nintellectual attainments, and to interpret the Holy Scriptures, so as to\nfind therein abundant confirmation of their primitive conceptions.  Yes,\neven in our own Church, which did make some pretensions to learning, was\nto be found, not fifty years ago, too many a parish priest without a\nlibrary, too many a Trulliber forgetful of the high responsibility of his\nsacred calling.\n\nBut is familiarity with aught but the Bible\u2014with philosophy, science,\nhistory, and \u00e6sthetics\u2014even remotely comprised in the good part which\nshall not be taken away from us when we go hence for ever?  Yea, is not\nsuch knowledge \u201cthe wisdom of the world, which is foolishness with God?\u201d\nand is it not written that \u201cnot many wise after the flesh are called?\u201d\nThese questions, I am strongly impressed, indicate the tone of too much\nof the preaching in Wales.  But we need not hesitate to reply that,\nthough the knowledge of evil and of science falsely so called is to be\navoided as most pernicious to the soul, the knowledge of good, in all its\nbearings, cannot be too diligently sought.  He who knows nothing but the\nBible, as Matthew Arnold reminds us, knows but little of the Bible.\nIndeed the knowledge of good, yea, and taken in the widest sense, cannot\nbe thought of slight value and of transient importance, without\nirreverence towards Him of whose existence, intelligence, power, and\ngoodness, it is the great exponent.\n\nThat the passion of acquiring a knowledge of God\u2019s works and ways in\ngeneral was strong in Solomon, we cannot doubt.  He, indeed, tells us\nthat in the exclusive pursuit of intellectual truth there is no real\nsatisfaction to be gained, \u201cthat a man cannot find out the work that is\ndone under the sun . . . yea, though a wise man think to know it, yet\nshall he not be able to find it.\u201d  All passionate seekers after\nundiscovered truth know that much mental toil, and probably years of\nwearisome watching, are demanded before any one can hope to snatch a new\nsecret from the close keeping of the unknown.  This must be humiliating\nto the man of sanguine temperament, but profitably so, because it\ncultivates within him a longing for the happy time when \u201cwe shall know as\nalso we are known.\u201d\n\nThen intellectual attainments, though calculated to satisfy the wants of\nthe perceptive and reasoning faculties, cannot still the cravings of the\nconscience, cannot meet the demands of the moral and religious emotions.\nThese can find in such food only a stone when hungering for bread, the\napple fair to the eye, but ashes under the teeth.  When Solomon,\ntherefore, sought for full satisfaction of soul in the exercise of his\nintellect, and the acquisition of its related knowledge, meanwhile\nstarving his moral and religious nature, it was only to be expected that\nsuch a course should be found to lead to \u201cvanity and vexation of spirit.\u201d\n\nBut while admitting to the full the humiliating limitations of the mind\nwhich Solomon deplores, and that the soul cannot live by intellectual\nfood only, even though it be contained in God\u2019s own Word, yet we fully\nbelieve that it is man\u2019s duty, as well as his privilege, to seek for\ntruth wherever to be found; and that he can so cultivate his intellect,\nand store his memory, as to ensure thereby a greater nearness of soul to\nhis Father in heaven.\n\nThe operations of the giant-intellect, we know, are not acceptable to\nGod, except they are imbued with that glow of soul which constitutes the\nbabe-like spirit.  But how can the giant-intellect, when thus wedded to\nthe love of holiness, better serve God than by ever realizing more and\nmore of His divine fulness as displayed in all his works and ways?\n\nAlthough we must allow that no one is so low in the scale of intellectual\nculture as to be out of the reach of that redemption which is not\nconceded to learning and talent, but to newness of heart, still we must\nnot forget that the apostle says, \u201cBrethren, be not children in\nunderstanding: howbeit in malice be ye children; but in understanding be\nmen.\u201d  Let the mental horizon of genius, joined to deepest piety, stretch\never so far away, it encircles but an insignificant portion of that which\nis open to the glance of Omniscience.  Under the most favourable\ncircumstances, the human mind, while in this present tabernacle, must\nmeet with many problems which it \u201ccannot know now, but shall know\nhereafter.\u201d  And now what we would with much stress insist upon is, in\nopposition to an opinion too prevalent in this part of the kingdom, that\nthe believer who has a mind of little grasp, scantily stored with\ninformation, has not the same command of spiritual blessings, does not\nlive so fully the Christian life, does not mount in heart and mind so\nnear to the Redeemer\u2019s throne in heaven, as the believer whose mind has\nattained a high degree of culture, and amassed large stores of knowledge.\nIt must be so, for the region of divine truth being boundless, he who is\never pushing further into it, and ever striving to embody its purity into\nhis life and practice, must be further advanced than the man who simply\nloiters near some one spot in this region, as soon as he has gained\nadmittance into it.  And now is it competent for the loiterer, say for\nthe man of one talent and little energy, to say to the more gifted and\ndiligent inquirer, \u201cYour labour is in vain; but one thing is needful; and\nthat is simply to pass over the border\u201d?\n\nIs this view, so disheartening to the Christian scholar, in accordance\nwith the teaching of the Word of God?  What does the most learned of the\napostles tell us in regard to his own experience?  \u201cBrethren, I count not\nmyself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things\nwhich are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,\nI press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ\nJesus.\u201d  Now this is exactly true to the experience, not only of the\nChristian yearning for perfect freedom from sin, and a feeling of\ncomplete incorporation with Christ, but of every one who longs to surpass\nhis past achievements, from Alexander pining for more worlds to conquer,\ndown to the miser who the richer he becomes the poorer he feels.  Thus\nthe great poet, artist, or musician, is never quite satisfied with his\naccomplished works, but always feels how much better they might be, his\never growing fastidiousness urging him to cry out, _Excelsior_,\n_excelsior_!  Highly cultivated minds, more especially if of an\nimaginative turn, are never satisfied with the real.  \u201cThe ideal, the\nideal,\u201d is their cry.  They push on to lay hold of it, but it ever\nrecedes before them.  The ideal will always shine far in advance of the\nreal.\n\nThis longing for the unattained, when sanctified by the Spirit of God,\nwill never permit the on-pressing Christian to feel that he has finally,\nand without occasion for further effort, laid hold of the one thing\nneedful.  Yea, in the life to come the same feeling will exist, for after\nages of looking into the wonders of God\u2019s love, wisdom, and power, the\nlanguage of the heart still will be, \u201cI count not myself to have laid\nhold of the divine ideal.\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nIt is recorded by those who have sought the conversion of the savage that\nhis capacity for receiving Christian truth is commentate only with the\ncontracted character of his intellect, and the low range of his\nattainments.  If he does become a Christian, it is only such views of the\nGospel find an abode in his heart as accord with the feeble mental powers\nwhich he possesses.  And now I would ask, is this degree of truth all\nthat is absolutely necessary for salvation in _every_ ease?  Being but a\nchild in intellect, the savage is not yet capable of putting away\nchildish things.  But you may think he can be educated, and be thus\nbrought into a state of mind in which the seed of the Word may grow with\nless stint.  But then it is found that his capacity for education, except\nin rare instances indeed, is very slight.  So again I ask, after an\nattempt has been made to enlarge his mind, is that measure of\nChristianity which he is capable of realizing all that is absolutely\nnecessary in every case?  I take it for granted that your answer to this\nquestion is in the negative.  Do you not believe that besides the\neducation of individuals, there is, as the result of this, the education\nof the race; that as the sins of the fathers descend unto the third and\nfourth generation of them who continue to hate God, the punishment for\nviolation of law increasing in intensity till the guilty race dies out;\nso God\u2019s mercies in the shape of increasing aptitude for knowledge,\nrefinement, and Christian elevation, are transmitted from generation to\ngeneration among those who stedfastly love the Lord?  At all events,\nsavage tribes when brought under the influence of civilized nations,\ninstead of becoming civilized themselves, disappear from off the face of\nthe earth.  For as the wind which makes the larger flame burn more\nbrightly, extinguishes the lesser and feebler flame, so the manners and\ncustoms of advanced life put upon savage nature a strain too heavy to be\nborne; and this because such a nature needs to undergo that gradual\nelevation of the race which it would take generations to accomplish.\n\nWhat is the drift of these remarks?  That the more the mind is developed,\nboth intellectually and emotionally, the greater becomes its power of\nrealizing the knowledge of good, and therefore of glorifying God\u2014the\nGood.\n\nWhen a gifted man stores his mind with truth, and at the same time\nstrives his utmost to attain purity of heart, his Christian experience\nmust needs be widened, and his whole soul elevated, in proportion to the\nnumber of distinct kinds of truth which combine with each other, and with\nthe ruling passion of his life, to form one grand result, many systems of\ntruth all threaded on that one cord, \u201cthe love of Christ constraining;\u201d\nmuch differentiation, but perfect unity; many members, yet but one body;\nin short, a state of mind similar in kind to the Son of Man\u2019s.  For is\nthere anything in the whole range of the sciences, physical, biological,\npolitical, social, and moral; anything connected with the theory and the\npractice of art; anything relating to the history of the past, even\neternity _ab ante_; in short, is there anything which is _not_ perfectly\nopen to the mind of Jesus?  And is He not our elder _Brother_, _and\ndivine_ Pattern in all things heavenly?  Is not the realization, in so\nfar as that privilege is extended to us of His mind, to be the grand\nobject of our life here and for evermore?\n\nTo be possessed of talents and of facilities for obtaining for them the\nhighest cultivation, what do these gifts involve?  That they should be\ndiligently used in promoting the glory of God who gave them.  Can the\nsavage mind know much of God?  Can he who knows no more of the infinite\nocean of truth than he has explored of it, so to speak, in his rude\ncanoe, know as much as is really essential for you and for me of the\nredeeming love of Christ?  The true answer to this question evidently is,\nthat in a babe\u2019s mind you can expect no more to exist than a babe\u2019s\nknowledge; it has \u201cneed of milk, and not of strong meat;\u201d but \u201cunto\nwhomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.\u201d\n\nThe Christian life then is not a fixed quantity, the same in the child,\nthe savage, the barbarian, and the Welsh peasant, as in the saintly\nscholars of the Christian Church; but answering to every advance in pure\nknowledge, there is, in the man after God\u2019s own heart, a corresponding\nadvance in moral and spiritual excellence.  For emotions are manifested\nonly in proportion as ideas form the branches round which emotions twine.\nNo well-defined emotion can exist without its related ideas.  True, ideas\nare countless, while emotions are comparatively few, and from age to age\nretain their identity and freshness, while ideas change and change.\nStill, however, emotion must enter into union with ideas in order to have\nany definite existence.  The more, therefore, the intellect is stored\nwith knowledge, the greater also must be the number of instances in which\nideas and sentiments become associated together.\n\nBut what is of more importance still to consider is, that certain ideas\ncan only exist when other ideas have been fully realized first.  The\nformer grow out of the latter as branch from trunk, and twig from branch.\nCertain twinings of feeling with thought must follow, therefore, the\nevolution of these various grades of ideas.  Now the notions in the\nsavage mind are of the lowest grade, and rest assured that his religious\nfeelings, however warmly manifested, cannot reach beyond the level of his\nknowledge.\n\nNow it must be almost superfluous to ask the question which these remarks\nsuggest.  Are all the thoughts and feelings which hold a higher elevation\nthan the lowest, to be deemed, not as the necessaries, but the luxuries\nof religion?  You cannot fail to perceive that the reply to this inquiry\nmust depend on the level you have been made to occupy.  If you have been\nplaced in a high position to start from, and if every advantage in the\nway of mental culture has been extended to you, the one thing needful for\nyou is clearly to push on higher, to enlarge the intellect by searching\nstill further for the true, which to the heart is the good and the\nbeautiful; and to enlarge the heart by cultivating for these latter, an\nevergrowing love.  Moreover, are you not justified in believing, that if\nyou do this, you will be choosing that good part which shall not be taken\naway from you when you die?  For if we are not to forget in heaven that\nwe were once on earth; if we are not to lose the feeling of identity\nwhich is to unite our heavenly with our earthly existence, why should it\nbe thought incredible that the knowledge of good which we acquire below\nshould not be one of the links in that chain of identity; more especially\nas it will be our supreme delight to be always extending such knowledge\nin the realms of light?  Yea, what a source of joy it will be in the\nbright spirit-land to discover that our mental powers are as compared\nwith their prior state, so much enlarged and strengthened, that we can\nacquire knowledge with so much more ease and precision than while on\nearth, and that questions which baffled solution then, are easily solved\nnow.  But does not this imply that the remembrance of the earthly life,\nwith its trials, miseries, infirmities, ignorances, and doubts, is the\ndark surface, which by contrast, heightens the splendour of celestial\nbliss?\n\nEven in heaven, then, knowledge will be progressively acquired.  \u201cNo\none,\u201d writes Dr. M\u2018Leod, \u201csurely imagines, that on entering heaven, we\ncan at once obtain perfect knowledge; perfect, I mean, not in the sense\nof accuracy, but of fully possessing all that can be known.  This is\npossible for Deity only.  For it may be asserted with confidence that\nGabriel knows more to-day than he knew yesterday.\u201d {23}\n\nThroughout these remarks, it has been supposed that the scholar\u2019s piety\nis great; for without piety, however extensive his learning, he will have\nless insight into divine truth than the dullest of God\u2019s own scholars.\nTruth also impels us to concede that the good qualities of the heart, and\nintellectual capacity, are frequently bestowed in an inverse proportion\nupon God\u2019s people; so that many that are first in the one, shall be last\nin the other, and the last in this shall be first in that.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nI have now, to the best of my endeavour, combated a too prevalent\npropensity, not only of my countrymen, but of most people of little or no\neducation; a sort of complacent resting in ignorance, as if it were the\npart of a wise man, and most in accordance with the teaching of Holy\nScripture, whereas it is, in fact, but the self-excusing Stoicism of the\nunfledged mind.\n\nBut surely since man is endowed with capacities for advancement in\nknowledge and righteousness, we must conclude that they are bestowed upon\nhim with the intention that he should use them to the greatest advantage.\nIn proof of this conclusion, we find that the nation which does not\nhighly esteem these gifts must be content to give place to one that does;\nmust, indeed, decay, while the other goes on from strength to strength.\n\nAnd now to apply these remarks more closely to you, my younger brethren,\nwhat does your presence in this college imply?  That in the estimation of\nthe wisest and best men of our communion, an ignorant ministry is an evil\nto be avoided, as not only discreditable and injurious to our Church, but\ndishonouring to Him who gives us talents in order that they may be made\nthe very most of in promoting His glory and His cause.\n\nPonder well over the fact, that without knowledge it will be impossible\nfor you to raise yourselves to a high level.  \u201cThe barbarian,\u201d remarks\nDr. Croly, \u201ccannot bring the past in aid of the present, cannot ascend a\nstep in civilization on the stone laid by the generation gone; he has\nvirtually no ancestors, and can have no posterity.  The red man of the\nWest is, at this moment, the same solitary, fierce, and miserable being\nthat he was a thousand years ago.  The Mongol is the same wild,\nmarauding, and miserable being as when he followed the trumpets of\nTamerlane.\u201d {24}  Now, what is the reason that these people do not\nadvance?  It is because they do not begin building the fabric of sound\nknowledge.  And do you not perceive that the same deficiency which keeps\nthem down as a nation, will also keep you down as individuals?  If, among\nthese people, one generation laid the foundation, and another and another\ncontinually built thereon, they would rise in proportion in civilization\nand power.  The scholar of to-day, therefore, owes his high position to\nthe accumulations of the giant-intellects of the past.  \u201cOther men\nlaboured, and ye are entered into their labours.\u201d  The modern scholar by\nmoderate effort, though no giant, stands upon an elevation which was\npiled up by one generation of learners and thinkers after another with\nslow, painstaking, and disinterested toil.  This rich heritage of\nknowledge, this grand moral leverage, this high energy of position,\nconstituting the imperative reason for not \u201cbreaking with the past\u201d\u2014of\nwhich the present is the outcome\u2014it should be your holy ambition to\nattain.  For how can you stretch out a hand to pull others up, unless you\noccupy higher ground than they?  Bear with me then while I tell you that\nunless you thus strive to fit yourselves for the onerous duties of the\nsacred calling which you hope to adopt, you will be doing nothing towards\naverting the downfall of Welsh nationality.  Of course, you will meet\nwith too many who will tell you that the only way to do this is to\nencourage the present fatal tendency of Cambria to live solely on her\nremembrances.  Meanwhile, however, the invincible army of progress, with\nthe tramp of doom to effete nationalities, marches steadily and\nirresistibly on; and the Welsh, as a distinct race, if not better led and\nadvised, will, by the deadly error of seeking \u201cthe living among the\ndead,\u201d simply become a people of the past.\n\nIt is my regard for my country that forces me to say what I do.  I hope\nshe will always retain a certain degree of individuality, and live to\nemulate in _her own Welsh way_ the other great nations of the kingdom.\nThe Scotch do this, why should not we?  Honesty, however, forces me to\naffirm that by clinging unwisely to her antiquated habits when she ought\nto have out-grown them, Cambria will be thrown down, the advancing host\nwill march over her prostrate form, and she will cease to be a living\npresence on the earth.  \u201cIn the strife of tribes, of races, and of\nnations, in the political as in the physical world,\u201d says the author of\n_Habit and Intelligence_, \u201ca process of natural selection goes on, of\nwhich the tendency is to give the victory to the best.\u201d {25a}  And Bishop\nButler {25b} foreshadowed the same law when he indicated that as power\nand reason united have proved themselves capable of prevailing over power\ndevoid of reason, as exhibited by the brute creation; so there is in\nsociety a tendency in power combined with reason and virtue, to overcome\nopposing power combined with reason and vice; and God be thanked that it\nis so, namely, that of the righteous it can be said, \u201cGreater is He that\nis in you than he that is in the world.\u201d  But now let me remind you that\nin such a combination as power, reason, and virtue, one very generally\nexisting among the people of Wales, there are several degrees of\ndevelopment, and that the higher degree, the more fully differentiated,\nthat which contains most members in one body, will, when brought into\ncompetition with it, always, in the course of time bear down or absorb\nthe lower.\n\nAs standard-bearers in the army of the great Captain, it will be your\nduty, therefore, both to God and your own people, while encouraging among\nthe latter that state of firm formation which already is so\ncharacteristic of them, to be urgent also in calling upon them to follow\nyou, as bravely you lead the way onward, upward, God-ward.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nConsiderable stress has been laid in this discourse upon that element of\nthe law of unity and variety\u2014division of labour.  Now, in concluding, I\nwould beg to guard you against a misconception on this point which may\nprove mischievous to you.  In my college days, it used to be a subject of\ncomplaint with many of the men, that they should have to spend so much of\ntheir time in studies, which, as they thought, had no direct connexion\nwith theological training; that is, they were earnest advocates for\ngreater division of labour.  I have no doubt there are many of a similar\nway of thinking among you now.  But are you not aware that those who have\nclimbed to a higher elevation than the one you have yet been able to\nreach, see clearly that all these studies are really necessary to make of\nyou ordinary scholars, gentlemen, and competent parish priests?\n\nArchbishop Whately, in early youth, threatened to become a calculating\nprodigy; and you may have read that many an intellectual prodigy has been\nimbecile in every direction but the one in which excellence was\nmanifested.  Well, Whately\u2019s parents, instead of being gratified at their\nson\u2019s passion for numbers, very wisely took alarm.  They sought competent\nadvice, and means were taken to prevent his mind taking an abnormal\ndevelopment in one direction, at the expense of its efficiency in others.\nThe result very probably was, that we lost another Colburn or Bidder, but\ngained an Archbishop Whately.\n\nThe conclusion to be drawn from the foregoing account is evident.  It is\nyour duty, if you would be well informed, average scholars and thinkers,\nto acquire more kinds of knowledge than one, and thereby to cultivate all\nthe intellectual faculties of your mind; remembering that the greater the\nvariety which the unity contains, the higher is its position in the scale\nof created being.  Up to a certain point, therefore, we must all try to\nbe universal scholars.  After this point has been reached, what makes\ndivision of labour necessary is the vast extent to which knowledge has\nnow attained, making it impossible for universal scholars like Leibnitz\nand the admirable Crichton to exist in these days; to which we must add\nthe limitations, and the variety of bent existing in the mind of men, not\nforgetting the shortness of time.  But then what individuals fail to\naccomplish the race can; and we have to consider, in the perfection of\nunselfishness, that we are members of that one body, the universal man;\nand that what is done by each is done for all.  If individuals,\ntherefore, are compelled by stern necessity to study a few branches, and\nlive in faith as regards the rest, yet the race, man, becomes thereby the\nuniversal scholar, a source of strength and happiness which makes itself\nfelt even down to the remotest member of the social body.\n\nMore especially, do not neglect, while cultivating the intellect, to\nimprove the heart.  This would, indeed, be division of labour which is\nvery much to be deprecated.  \u201cWith the heart man believeth unto\nrighteousness.\u201d  \u201cKnowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.\u201d  If knowledge\nis the great moving power that ensures progress, Christian love, love\nwhich fulfilleth the law, is the great source of political stability,\nsocial harmony, restoration of soul.  Therefore, in the eloquent words of\nthe Bishop of St. David\u2019s, words which in connexion with the present\nsubject well deserve to be quoted,\u2014\u201c\u2018SURSUM CORDA,\u2019 UPWARD,\nHEARTS,\u2014upward, above all paltry, sordid, grovelling aims and desires:\nupward, to a level with the dignity of your calling, the privileges and\nduties of your station, the importance and arduousness of your work:\nupward, to a fellowship with the wise and good of all ages and all\nnations: upward to the Father of Lights, the Fountain of all Goodness:\nLIFT UP YOUR HEARTS.  And from the inmost depth of many devoted wills\nthere rises the clear response, \u2018WE LIFT THEM UP UNTO THE LORD.\u2019\u201d {28}\n\nFinally, why should not the leading spirits among you, seriously and\nprayerfully studying the causes of the rise and fall of nations, band\ntogether in a holy alliance, under the title of Young Wales, to promote\namong your countrymen the spirit of true as opposed to false patriotism;\nnamely, a strong passion for _sound_ knowledge with its elevating,\nbuilding power, as opposed to mere erudition on the one hand, and on the\nother, to a complacent resting in ignorance with its heritage of national\ndecadence, and slight store of light and soul-culture laid by for heaven?\nSuch a movement as this, radiating from our chief Collegiate Institution,\nwould be an event, the value of which to the cause of Welsh nationality,\nit would be difficult to estimate in too high a strain.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n               SPURRELL, PRINTER, KING-STREET, CARMARTHEN.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n\n{4}  Sermon delivered on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of\nthe Welsh Educational Institution.\n\n{23}  _Parish Papers_, p. 109.\n\n{24}  The Cultivation of the Intellect, a Divine Duty of Man.\n\n{25a}  Vol. ii. p. 189.\n\n{25b}  The Analogy of Religion, part i., chapter iii.\n\n{28}  Sermon, on Sound Learning, delivered on the occasion of laying the\nfoundation-stone of the Welsh Educational Institution.","title":"Welsh Nationality, and How Alone It is to Be Saved: A Sermon","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":9456}