{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64735/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64735","id":"gutenberg_64735","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64735","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Galatians, VI, 2 -- Sermons","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - British","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons -- 19th century","Cotton famine, 1861-1864"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1862 William Skeffington edition by David Price.\n\n\n\n\n\n                     \u201cBEAR YE ONE ANOTHER\u2019S BURDENS.\u201d\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                              A PLAIN SERMON\n\n                                    ON\n\n                         THE LANCASHIRE DISTRESS.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  BY THE\n\n                        REV. JAMES GALLOWAY COWAN,\n\n         MINISTER OF ARCHBISHOP TENISON\u2019S CHAPEL, REGENT STREET.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n\n                  WILLIAM SKEFFINGTON, 163, PICCADILLY.\n\n                                  1862.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\n_By the same Author_.\n\n\n         _Just published_, _cloth_, 5_s._, _by post_, 5_s._ 4_d._\n\nPLAIN SERMONS.  Third Series.  Containing a Course for Advent, for Lent;\nalso Epiphany, Easter, and Miscellaneous Sermons.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n_Also_, _just out_, _price_ 1_d._, FOR DISTRIBUTION, _or_ 6_s._ _per_\n100, A FEW WORDS TO ALL ON THE PRESENT DISTRESS OF OUR BRETHREN IN\nLANCASHIRE.  II. Cor., viii, 14.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nA PLAIN SERMON.\n\n\n                              GALATIANS, vi., 2.\n\n      \u201cBear ye one another\u2019s burdens, and so fulfil the law of CHRIST.\u201d\n\nThere are certain burdens which every man must bear for himself, which\nnone can bear for him.  Such are the burdens brought upon him by\nsin\u2014fear, remorse, punishment.  Such again are the burdens of\nresponsibility which belong to his gifts and opportunities from GOD.  Of\nthese it is not the Divine will that he should be relieved by others.\nRightly is he made to eat the fruit of his own wilful doings; rightly is\nhe accountable to GOD for all that has been lent to him, for all that he\nhas been commanded to do.  It is true indeed that the co-operation or\nopposition of other men may, in some measure, affect the bearing of these\nburdens; but still mainly, if not entirely, is it a question between\n_him_ and his GOD\u2014with which a stranger intermeddleth not\u2014what he shall\nsuffer, what reckoning shall be made with him: \u201cThe son shall not bear\nthe iniquity of the father;\u201d \u201cEvery man shall receive his own reward\naccording to his own work;\u201d \u201cEvery one of us shall give an account of\n_himself to_ GOD.\u201d\n\nThese burdens may be considered _appropriate_ and _peculiar_ to the\nindividual or class of individuals upon whom they are laid: so that you\nmay anticipate, almost with certainty, the judgment which imposes them;\nmay observe without wonder or questioning who have to bear them; may\ntrace back the effect to its cause, the duty to its obligation, and\njustify and approve the law of their imposition.\n\nBut there are other burdens which seem to light \u201chap-hazard\u201d upon their\nbearers, incurred by no special misconduct, corresponding with no\nparticular powers and opportunities.  There is no reason that can be\ndiscerned why _these_ men should have them, and _those_ be free from\nthem.  Nay, there seems every reason why it should be otherwise: the back\nis weak upon which the heavy weight is laid; the understanding is simple\nwhich has perplexities to unravel; the life is upright which has been\nafflicted; the hand is willing which has no work to do.  These are the\nburdens, the \u201cheavy things,\u201d the _grievances_ of which the text speaks,\nburdens from beneath which the bearers may naturally cry, \u201cWhy am I\nthus?\u201d burdens the beholding whereof from afar should prompt the humble,\nadoring exclamation, \u201cWhy am I _not_ thus?\u201d\n\nThe last part of the text answers both classes of inquirers.  It is, that\nopportunity may be afforded for fulfilling \u201cthe law of CHRIST,\u201d the rule\nwhich He set Himself, that in His earthly course He should minister to\nothers, bearing their infirmities, taking on Himself their burdens,\nsupplying their wants, binding up their wounds, healing their sicknesses,\nand leaving us an example that we should follow his steps; the new\ncommandment that we should love one another as He has loved us, the\nexercise of that sympathy, for the working of which He made of Himself\nand Christians one body, binding them to mutual help and dependence, that\n\u201cwhether one member suffer all the members suffer with it, or one member\nbe honoured all the members rejoice with it.\u201d\n\nNo man ever came into this world, certainly none was ever incorporated in\nthe Christian Church with license or power to live to himself or by\nhimself.  CHRIST has constituted us all in Him members one of another.\nFaculties and gifts He has bestowed on some, which cannot be used but in\ncommunicating to others; needs He has created, and burdens imposed, for\nthe relief of which men must look to their brethren.  Hence the richly\nendowed are to hold their possessions in common, and to distribute them\nliberally according as every man has need; hence the burden of the\nsuffering and oppressed is to be borne by the free.  \u201cHere take of my\ngood things,\u201d we are to say to the needy, \u201cfor I hold them as a steward\nfor thee.  Here, give me of thy evil things, for they are laid upon thee\nthat I may take them off or bear them with thee.\u201d  This, brethren, is the\nlaw of CHRIST, a law to be observed as holy duty, as blessed privilege,\nin the full measure of the demand, or at least of the ability to meet it,\nin the spirit of love.\n\nWe may not refuse when there is a cry for help, and we have it to bestow;\nwe may not plead another\u2019s liability to exempt ourselves.  We may not\ngive just what we will, when more is wanted, and we possess more, or can\nget it.  We may not excuse ourselves from further care, where our utmost\neffort has failed to remove the oppressing load; we have then to add\n_taking_ to our _giving_, to go under the burden and help to bear it.\n\nLet these general remarks suffice to introduce and recommend the special\nappeal which I have to make to you to-day on behalf of your burdened\nbrethren, the distressed operatives of Lancashire.\n\nYou know their case.  The blockade of the American harbours has\nintercepted the large supply of cotton which till lately was regularly\nreceived from thence.  Consequently, the mill-owners have either\nsuspended work and closed their mills, or have reduced the number of\n\u201chands\u201d to a small fraction of that usually employed.  Thousands and\nthousands of able, active, industrious men and women are thus, with their\nfamilies, deprived of the means of subsistence.  Theirs is not the case,\nremember, of men who _will_ not work, and who, therefore, according to\nthe Apostolic rule, may justly be left to bear their own burden: \u201cIf any\nman will not work, neither shall he eat.\u201d  They want to work.  They are\ncompelled to be idle; the door of the factory is shut against them, and\nwere they qualified for other kind of work, it could not be found for\nthem.  What, then, is to be done for them?  And, who are to do it?  There\nhas been much talk, as you probably know, about the backwardness of the\nmill-owners generally to sustain the hands which built up their fortunes.\nAn increased rate, or a loan upon the rates, has been suggested.  The\nintervention of Government has been invoked.  But while men are disputing\nabout the agency which ought to remove the burden, it is lying sore upon\nthose beneath it\u2014it is crushing them to death!  It is true that \u201cprivate\ncharity\u201d has done something; according to the world\u2019s standard, has done\n_much_.  But, after all, the _present_ emergency has been mocked rather\nthan met, and day by day the crowd of sufferers is increasing, and the\ngrowing severity of the season is intensifying their suffering.  Surely,\nhere is a demand for the operation of the law of CHRIST.  Whoso seeth his\nbrother in _such_ need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how\ndwelleth the love of GOD in him?  If CHRIST, by and by, will reject with\nindignation those who have left the _least_ of his brethren unfed,\nunclad, unvisited, how will He treat those who have neglected these\nsufferers?  For, assuredly, _they_ are not the \u201cleast\u201d of His brethren.\nIt is no vicious or imprudent course that has brought them to this pass.\nIt is the deliberate policy of our nation which has forced upon them, all\nhelpless, their grievous burden.  It is what _we_ have done in self-love\nwhich has made _them_ miserable!  And how nobly, how heroically, how\nreligiously, are they bending to the burden!  There is no bitter outcry\nagainst the blockaders, no intemperate act or speech against the\nmill-owners, no riotous agitation for national intervention, no lawless\ndepredation, and desperate helping of themselves, no clamour for relief,\nno greedy grasping of what is offered.  Their very failings lean to\nvirtue\u2019s side.  They have struggled to be independent.  They have drawn\nfrom the savings\u2019 bank the little fruits of their prudence and frugality:\n\u201cone by one they have parted with their few luxuries, their half-dozen\nbooks, and their musical instrument, whatever it was; then the old clock\nceased its familiar ticking; then, lingeringly left behind, the old\nfamily Bible, with its little family record, and its many associations\nwith the past; and then their very clothing and bedding.\u201d  While they\ncould help themselves, they would not ask, they would not _have_, help\nfrom others, and even now, when all is gone, the spirit of independence,\nthe abhorrence of pauperism, the desire to bear their own burden, will\nhardly let them receive, on much persuasion and entreaty, the miserable\npittance which is called \u201crelief.\u201d\n\nMy brethren, shall such men with their wives and little ones be hungry\nand naked, and lie on bare boards, and shiver, and starve, and die, while\nwe have aught of money, food, or raiment that we can send them?\n\nI should do you much wrong, if I feared that you would not respond to\nsuch an appeal, if I did not feel confident that you would make now the\nvery largest offering you can, and go home with the burning resolution to\nrepeat it and surpass it if possible.  Your hearts must be touched, your\nhands must be ready.  You would not be _human_, much less _Christian_,\nwere it otherwise.\n\nBut, brethren, zeal and love often burn themselves out without affecting\nmuch around them, for want of direction and management.\n\nLet me, therefore, offer you a few practical suggestions whereby you may\nbe helped to sustain and make productive the feelings now aroused.\n\nRegard, then, the offering which you make to-day as the pledge that you\nwill give again and quickly, and at once set about redeeming the pledge.\nResolve to waste nothing, to spend nothing on amusement, on luxuries, on\nwhat is not absolutely necessary, till the hungry are all fed, and the\nnaked all clothed.  Infuse the same spirit into your household and all\nthat approach it.  Be a mouth to plead for those who will not ask for\nthemselves.  Let no one meet you and part from you without being stirred\nto respond to this most imperative call.  Hold out a ready and eager hand\nto receive what he will give, and what you receive be prompt to hand on.\n\nWhen you have scraped all that you can by direct means, look about for\nby-ways.  Part with everything that you can do without; ask your friend\nfor the _cost_ of his proffered hospitality (be sure he will generally\ngive you more); calculate what you have saved by \u201cgood\u201d bargains, and\nhand on the gains.\n\nThese directions may seem trivial and the fruits which may spring from\ntheir observance insignificant.  But remember, brethren, that where a\nloaf of bread may keep a fellow Christian from starvation, there cannot\nreally be anything trivial and insignificant.\n\nBesides, it is not merely the actual support for the body, but the moral\ninfluence of manifested sympathy which has to be considered.  We have\nread how a kind word has lighted up a careworn countenance and drawn\nforth the utterance, \u201cIt does us good to feel that we are cared for.\u201d\nWho knows what the message of brotherly interest told by our smallest\nofferings, blest by GOD, may effect?  How it may arouse from despondency,\nhow it may calm the troubled breast, how it may cheer the last sad hours,\nand prompt the wretched soul to bless GOD and us ere it depart!\n\nAnd this recalls to us another truth, that if we cannot remove the\nburden, we may help to bear it.  Let us make this our concern.  After all\nthat we can do, there will, alas! probably remain very much unrelieved.\nIf we cannot take it off, let us bear it up.  If we cannot wipe away our\nbrother\u2019s tears, let us weep with him.  If he must go forth bearing the\ncross even unto death, let us bear it with him, like Joseph of Arimathea,\nand give him the precious peace of knowing that he is not alone.  At the\nworst this shall keep his soul alive while the body is perishing; it\nshall make him walk calmly in the valley of the shadow of death; it shall\nbear good fruit in eternity, if not in time.\n\nOne other brief suggestion on this head.  Such an interest and effort as\nI have urged upon you must, if you are Christians, not only stretch forth\nyour desires to your brother Christian, but raise up your hearts to GOD.\nBear his burdens into the presence of the GOD that heareth prayer.  Tell\nout his wants, breathe your aspirations for him before the throne of\ngrace.  The prayer shall be heard and answered.  It shall return into\nyour own bosom; it shall enlist mighty intercession for you; if it does\nnot keep alive here, it shall save from death there.  It shall people\nheaven with expectants for your coming; with those who, when you fail,\nshall joy to receive you into everlasting habitations.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n              F. Shoberl, Printer, 37, Dean Street, Soho, W.","title":"\"Bear ye one another's burdens.\" A Plain Sermon on the Lancashire Distress","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2309}