{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64734/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64734","id":"gutenberg_64734","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64734","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Isaiah, XLV, 5, 7 -- Sermons","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons -- 19th century","Rinderpest -- Religious aspects"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1866 William Skeffington edition by David Price.\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   THE\n                              CAUSE AND CURE\n                                    OF\n                            THE CATTLE PLAGUE.\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                             A Plain Sermon.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                      BY JAMES GALLOWAY COWAN, M.A.,\n             _Perpetual Curate of St. John\u2019s_, _Hammersmith_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                   WILLIAM SKEFFINGTON, 163 PICCADILLY.\n\n                                  1866.\n\n\n\n\nA PLAIN SERMON.\n\n\n                            ISAIAH XLV., V. 5 & 7.\n\n    \u201cI am the Lord, and there is none else.  There is no God beside me .\n    . . I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create\n    evil: I, the Lord, do all these things.\u201d\n\nTHAT God is the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and\ninvisible; that He orders all things in heaven and earth according to His\nown will; that all parts of the universe have their origin, their\nfunctions, their capabilities from Him; that they operate or are\nsuspended at His word; that He exalts to prosperity, and lays low in\nadversity; that He kills and makes alive\u2014are truths which, asserted in a\n_general_ way, I suppose all of you would readily acknowledge.  But,\nbrethren, would it not be _only_ in this general way?  In particular and\nindividual instances of what are called nature\u2019s operations, is not the\ngreat moving or permitting power often lost sight of, ay, and virtually\ndenied to be at work?  Much of this oversight, this practical infidelity,\nis due, I doubt not, to our use of the word \u201cnature.\u201d  We talk of the law\nof _nature_, we admire and wonder at the works of _nature_, until we\nall-but deify nature, and dethrone nature\u2019s God.  Some may say that when\nwe speak of nature we mean God.  But do we?  Does not the expression\nsuggest to our minds some indescribable, some unknown essence, working in\na mechanical, perfunctory, necessary, inevitable, compulsory way, more\nfrequently than present to us any thought of the LORD JEHOVAH?\n\nAnd not less frequently are secondary or subordinate causes so\ncontemplated and insisted on as to exclude from our minds all\nconsideration of the great first cause.\n\nThere are indeed _laws_ by which all the movements and productions and\nchanges of the natural world are effected; but we often forget that it is\nGod who originally ordained these laws; that they are not, in themselves,\n_powers_, but only the _rules_ by which His power operates: that, in\nfact, these rules for the direction of His power resolve themselves\nsimply into the consistent motions of His infinite wisdom: that, as by\nHim everything was arranged at the beginning, so in conformity to the\nlaws suggested by His wisdom He has been superintending and directing all\nthings ever since\u2014the laws themselves being, of course, subject to their\nall-wise framer and, both by their regular operation and their occasional\nwonderful diversion or suspension, subserving the great purposes of His\nsovereign government.  Now, looking only into what is called the Book of\nNature, simply making our own observations on these laws without the aid\nof the light of revelation, we cannot fail to discern that they are good\nin themselves, and that they generally operate for good.  We see, indeed,\nthat they _can_ work for evil: the nipping of the frost, the blasting of\nthe lightning, the overwhelming of the flood, the withering of the\ndrought\u2014these are specimens of what power of destruction there is in\nGod\u2019s elements.  Yet they are not their general operations; frost and\nelectric fluid, and heat and water, and a drying sun or wind, being in\nthemselves good agents, agents only occasionally productive of injurious\nresults.  If now from these our own discoveries we turn to what God has\ndiscovered to us in the Book of His word, we shall have all our former\nobservations confirmed, and the reasons for the occasional evil tendency\nof what are called nature\u2019s operations fully and clearly explained.  Fire\nand hail, sun and vapour, and stormy wind fulfil His word.  He maketh the\nwinds His messengers, and flames of fire His servants.  He employs\nordinary agents to effect special ends.  Instead of sending forth new\nagents to perform His will, He diverts the old ones from their usual\ncourse and makes _them_ fulfil it.\n\nNow when God thus makes use of naturally beneficial agents to bring about\ndestructive ends He does so for some particular purpose.  Calamities are\nnever brought upon any of God\u2019s creatures from what we call caprice.  God\nnever _willingly_ afflicts or grieves; that is, He never does it simply\nto satisfy His own will, or to exhibit His own power.  God\u2019s thoughts and\nways are not as our thoughts and ways.  Man, if he knows himself to be\npossessed of a certain power, often exercises it without care or thought\nthat he is thereby injuring others, or for the bare purpose of display.\nBut not so God.  If He afflicts, it is because there is some need of,\nsome good in the affliction; most often, though by no means exclusively,\nit is to correct offenders, and to warn others (by their chastisement)\nnot to follow their example.  We have only to glance at the history of\nthe Israelites and the circumstances in which God afflicted them, to be\nconvinced that such visitations\u2014whether of consuming fire, of\noverwhelming water, of destroying sword, of famishing dearth, or of\nnoisome pestilence\u2014are called forth by the conduct of those on whom they\ncome.  We, therefore, call these visitations _judgments_, judgments of\npunishment, of correction or of warning.  They are chastisements which,\nafter all gentler methods have failed, our Gracious Father, desirous of\nour reformation and eternal safety, employs, and employs most\nreluctantly, as among the last efforts to recall us into His paths.  How\nsad it is to think that very many of the objects of these visitations\nallow them to come and go unheeded, and, therefore, of course,\nunimproved!  How much sadder that men who heed them and feel them, in the\ndeceitfulness and unbelief of their hearts, refuse themselves to learn\nand labour to unteach others the deep and salutary lessons which God, by\nHis judgments, arrests us to hear, and through them utters to us, as it\nwere, with an audible voice!  Amid these heaven-sprung calamities, there\nare to be found, not only _careless_, _heedless_ men everywhere, but\nalas! close observers, full of care, so-called philosophers (one begins\nalmost to hate the name from its constant mal-appropriation by the\nsophist and the infidel) who will observe these calamities, note the\nsigns of the times, speculate about what ought to be done, and yet not\ndream of recognising, yea, refuse to recognise when it is pointed out to\nthem, the interposition of their God!  How marvellous this is!  What\nutter folly is it!  They acknowledge that there is a God.  They believe\nthat he has charge of all the elements; they know the general tendency of\nthose elements to be for good; they see them working evil; yet they will\nnot perceive that God has done it.  Every cause is made mention of but\nthe great first cause.  Every influence is sooner believed in than His.\n\nHere are we, for instance, visited with a grievous plague among our herds\nand flocks.  Every one feels some measure of the calamity.  All are alive\nto the necessity of prompt and great efforts to stay the progress of and\ncure the murrain.  There are hundreds of sage suggestions as to the\norigin of such things; every conceivable precaution and pains is taken to\nprevent the communication of them, to remove local provocations and\nincentives, to discover remedies and cures.  But who says or imagines\n\u201cThe hand of the Lord hath wrought this\u201d?  Who exhorts, \u201cCome and let us\nreturn unto the Lord, for He hath torn and He will heal us\u201d?  I am not\nmaking this appeal to encourage disregard of natural causes and\ninfluences.  These being the agents and instruments which God uses for or\nagainst us, which he requires us to foster if they are good, to remove if\nthey are bad, it would be desperate folly, and most provoking sin, to\ndisregard them.  By all means let men follow on as they have begun, in\nscientific inquiry, sanitary precaution and improvement, and the like;\nbut, besides, let them do what hitherto they do not seem to have done at\nall sufficiently, namely, recognise and acknowledge the hand of the Lord\nin these plagues.  But you will say \u201cHave they not done this?  Is not our\npresence here to-day a proof that we, at least, have done it?  Are there\nnot thousands and thousands in the land who will assemble as we have\ndone, if their pastors invite them?  Has there been any objection to, has\nthere not been loud approval of, the special Collect which the\nauthorities in Church and State have appointed for daily use\u2014is not that\nCollect itself an acknowledgment, and a discerning acknowledgment, that\nthe Lord has sent the murrain among us?\u201d\n\nMy brethren, if I could have felt that men generally assented in _heart_\nto the doctrine of that Collect, and were endeavouring to act out its\nprayers in their life, I should have uttered none of the reproof that has\npassed my lips.  But is it not the fact that men are betaking themselves\nto God in this way only as one of possible remedies and preventives\u2014not\ntracing the infliction to Him, but merely asking the removal, of Him?:\n\u201c_Somehow_ we are in trouble; will God deliver us out of it?\u201d  Well is\nit, indeed, when men thus far believe in a God of Providence; for the\nhuman dogmas of our days about fixed laws, necessary and certain\nrevolutions or wars and plagues to keep down the population and so forth,\nhave reasoned and calculated too many into the belief that prayer for the\nalteration, at least of temporal circumstances, is altogether idle, if\nnot profane.  Well is it then, if we still believe that God _can_\ninterfere in the operations of the world, and that if we will call upon\nHim there is hope that He will.  But, my brethren, we shall not have\ndrawn near with acceptable prayer if we have only asked Him to heal us,\nif we have not also acknowledged that He has torn us.  The prayer will\nnot be acceptable, because He _will_ be acknowledged in all His ways,\nworshipped for His Majesty as well as His goodness; seen in His wrath, as\nwell as sought in His clemency.  And, moreover, it will not be effectual\nprayer; for His visitations always have a purpose (\u201cYe shall know that I\nhave not done without cause all that I have done\u201d), and how shall we have\nresponded to the purpose, if we have not recognised the visitation?\n\nDo you ask me what I suppose to be the purpose of this visitation\u2014and\nwhat, therefore, we have to do as a nation and as individuals by way of\nrepentance and amendment?  I venture not to answer _particularly_,\npicking out the precise sins which characterise us as a people, for which\nGod is provoked, to visit us with present wrath, or for which He is but\ngraciously chastising us, that we may cease from them ere they bring\nforth His displeasure.  I rather bid you consider for what reasons God\nsent His sore plagues among His people of old, and then ask yourselves\nwhat there is in us like unto them, what we lack that God thus laboured\nto produce in them.  I do not even venture to say that God is visiting\nsin at all.  He is the Judge, not I.  When I am called to the bedside of\na sick man, I am bidden by the Church to admonish him\u2014\u201cWhatsoever your\nsickness is, know you certainly that it is God\u2019s visitation.\u201d  There may\nbe a natural cause for it\u2014he may know it, and I may know it\u2014he may have\ninherited it, or \u201caccidentally and innocently,\u201d as we say, caught it, or\nby wicked conduct incurred it; he may be able to connect it throughout\nwith its earthly origin, tracing the effect clearly and completely to a\nnatural cause.  Nevertheless, I tell him \u201cIt is God\u2019s visitation.\u201d  I\nthen enumerate some of the purposes of God\u2019s visitations: to try\npatience, to increase faith, to correct what is amiss.  If I know his\nlife\u2014or he opens his mind to me and reveals it\u2014I point out what seem to\nbe provoking sins, or crying defects, and bid him consider whether these\nare not among the probable causes of his trouble\u2014anyhow, (I tell him)\nthey are things which he is now admonished to correct; and, if he accuses\nand condemns himself for all that he can discern as amiss, and resolves\nby all means to draw nearer to God, this will be accounted an\nacknowledgment of God\u2019s ownership and rule of him, which will cause the\nHoly One to return from His hiding-place, and show again the favour of\nHis countenance.\n\nSo would I speak, brethren, to you and to myself at this time.  Assuredly\nGod\u2019s visitation is upon us.  It may be all favour like Job\u2019s trials,\nnothing may have provoked His wrath, He may simply be fitting us for and\nleading us on to greater blessedness.  (We shall hardly, however,\npersuade ourselves that we are so righteous in His sight!)  It may be\nloving correction, meant to make us abandon certain paths that lead\ndownwards out of His favour.  Or it may be wrath that can no longer spare\nthe guilty.  From what we know of ourselves, brethren, do we not fancy\nthat there is a probable explanation of it all, in the growing contempt\nfor God\u2019s sanctions and restrictions in our law-making (as for instance\nin the marriage laws) in the wide-spreading persuasion that all that\nhappens on earth can be accounted for without supposing the intervention\nor even the existence of a God, in the self-sufficiency, self-reliance,\nself-laudation which characterise us in our living only for time and for\nourselves?  What is needed, then, is that we should turn indeed to God,\nthat we should see and acknowledge His hand in all our circumstances,\nthat we should live under His rule and by His laws, that we should\n_exhibit_ His rule and proclaim His praise, and spread far and wide His\nglory; that we should feel that we exist for these ends; that, if we\nforget God\u2019s purposes respecting us, we must expect Him to remind us of\nthem in the ways He has ever followed; that, if we frustrate His\npurposes, He will most surely visit us with His wrath.\n\nThis, my brethren, is our Nation\u2019s duty, and its several parts are ours\nto do.  Let each of us then set about examining ourselves; and, trying to\ndiscern what _in us_ provokes God\u2019s visitation, let us humble ourselves\nbefore Him on account of it and repent of it, and resolve to forsake it,\nand ask for grace to do so; let us pray to Him to make us think and speak\nand move henceforth in the remembrance that, in Him, we have our being;\nthat He is our God, and we are His people.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n       PRINTED BY C. W. 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To Parochial and Devotional Literature, so as to recommend the best\nbooks for Parochial and School Libraries, Confirmation, Communicant, or\nBible Classes, and for personal use; and,\n3.  General Literature, so as to be a guide to wholesome general reading\nin the family home.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nTRACTS FOR ALL.\n\n\nADVENT THOUGHTS.  Price 2d.\nCHRISTMAS THOUGHTS.  Price 2d.\nLENT THOUGHTS.  9th 1,000.  Price 2d.\nGOOD FRIDAY THOUGHTS.  Price 1d.\nEASTER THOUGHTS.  4th 1,000.  Price 1d.\nASCENSION THOUGHTS.  Price 1d.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n             London: WILLIAM SKEFFINGTON, 163 Piccadilly, W.","title":"The Cause and Cure of the Cattle Plague: A Plain Sermon","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2745}