{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_7051/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_7051","id":"gutenberg_7051","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7051","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons","Sermons, English -- 19th century"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1887 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\n THE\n GOOD NEWS OF GOD\n\n\n * * * * *\n\n SERMONS\n\n * * * * *\n\n BY\n\n CHARLES KINGSLEY M.A.\n\n * * * * *\n\n London\n MACMILLAN AND CO.\n AND NEW YORK\n 1887\n\n [_The Right of Translation is Reserved_]\n\n * * * * *\n\n Transferred from Messrs. LONGMAN & CO., 1863\n Reprinted, Fcap. 8vo, 1866, 1874, 1877, 1878\n Reprinted, Crown 8vo, 1878, 1880, 1881, 1883, 1885, 1887\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n SERMON PAGE\n I. THE BEATIFIC VISION 1\n II. THE GLORY OF THE CROSS 10\n III. THE LIFE OF GOD 16\n IV. THE SONG OF THE THREE CHILDREN 26\n V. THE ETERNAL GOODNESS 34\n VI. WORSHIP 43\n VII. GOD\u2019S INHERITANCE 51\n VIII. \u2018DE PROFUNDIS\u2019 57\n IX. THE LOVE OF GOD ITS OWN REWARD 67\n X. THE RACE OF LIFE 73\n XI. SELF-RESPECT AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS 84\n XII. TRUE REPENTANCE 94\n XIII. THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 105\n XIV. HEROES AND HEROINES 116\n XV. THE MEASURE OF THE CROSS 124\n XVI. THE PURE IN HEART 132\n XVII. MUSIC 140\n XVIII. THE CHRIST CHILD 148\n XIX. CHRIST\u2019S BOYHOOD 155\n XX. THE LOCUST-SWARMS 161\n XXI. SALVATION 169\n XXII. THE BEGINNING AND END OF WISDOM 174\n XXIII. HUMAN NATURE 181\n XXIV. THE CHARITY OF GOD 190\n XXV. THE DAYS OF THE WEEK 195\n XXVI. THE HEAVENLY FATHER 203\n XXVII. THE GOOD SHEPHERD 211\n XXVIII. DARK TIMES 219\n XXIX. GOD\u2019S CREATION 229\n XXX. TRUE PRUDENCE 236\n XXXI. THE PENITENT THIEF 249\n XXXII. THE TEMPER OF CHRIST 258\n XXXIII. THE FRIEND OF SINNERS 268\n XXXIV. THE SEA OF GLASS 278\n XXXV. A GOD IN PAIN 291\n XXXVI. ON THE FALL 297\n XXXVII. THE WORTHY COMMUNICANT 304\n XXXVIII. OUR DESERTS 310\n XXXIX. THE LOFTINESS OF GOD 317\n\n\n\n\nSERMON I.\nTHE BEATIFIC VISION.\n\n\n MATTHEW xxii. 27.\n\n Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy\n soul, and with all thy mind.\n\nTHESE words often puzzle and pain really good people, because they seem\nto put the hardest duty first. It seems, at times, so much more easy to\nlove one\u2019s neighbour than to love God. And strange as it may seem, that\nis partly true. St. John tells us so\u2014\u2018He that loves not his brother whom\nhe hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?\u2019 Therefore many\ngood people, who really do love God, are unhappy at times because they\nfeel that they do not love him enough. They say in their hearts\u2014\u2018I wish\nto do right, and I try to do it: but I am afraid I do not do it from love\nto God.\u2019\n\nI think that they are often too hard upon themselves. I believe that\nthey are very often loving God with their whole hearts, when they think\nthat they are not doing so. But still, it is well to be afraid of\noneself, and dissatisfied with oneself.\n\nI think, too\u2014nay, I am certain\u2014that many good people do not love God as\nthey ought, and as they would wish to do, because they have not been\nrightly taught who God is, and what He is like. They have not been\ntaught that God is loveable; they have been taught that God feels\nfeelings, and does deeds, which if a man felt, or did, we should call him\narbitrary, proud, revengeful, cruel: and yet they are told to love him;\nand they do not know how to love such a being as that. Nor do I either,\nmy friends.\n\nLet us therefore think over to-day for ourselves why we ought to love\nGod; and why both Bible and Catechism bid child as well as man to love\nthe Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, before they bid\nus love our neighbours. And keep this in mind all through, that the\nreason why we are to love God must depend upon what God\u2019s character is.\nFor you cannot love any one because you are told to love them. You can\nonly love them because they are loveable and worthy of your love. And\nthat they will not be, unless they are loving themselves; as it is\nwritten, we love God because he first loved us.\n\nNow, friends, look at this one thing first. When we see any man do a\njust action, or a kind action, do we not like to see it? Do we not like\nthe man the better for doing it? A man must be sunk very low in\nstupidity and ill-feeling\u2014dead in tresspasses and sins, as the Bible\ncalls it\u2014if he does not. Indeed, I never saw the man yet, however bad he\nwas himself, who did not, in his better moments, admire what was right\nand good; and say, \u2018Bad as I may be, that man is a good man, and I wish I\ncould do as he does.\u2019\n\nOne sees the same, but far more strongly, in little children. From their\nearliest years, as far as I have ever seen, children like and admire what\nis good, even though they be naughty themselves; and if you tell them of\nany very loving, generous, or brave action, their hearts leap up in\nanswer to it. They feel at once how beautiful goodness is.\n\nBut why?\n\nSt. John tells us. That feeling comes, he tells us, from Christ, the\nlight who is the life of men, and lights every man who comes into the\nworld; and that light in our hearts, which makes us see, and admire, and\nlove what is good, is none other than Christ himself shining in our\nhearts, and showing to us his own likeness, and the beauty thereof.\n\nBut if we stop there; if we only admire what is good, without trying to\ncopy it, we shall lose that light. Our corrupt and diseased nature (and\ncorrupt and diseased it is, as we shall surely find, as soon as we begin\nto try to do right) will quench that heavenly spark in us more and more,\ntill it dies out\u2014as God forbid that it should die out in any of us. For\nif it did die out, we should care no more for what is good. We should\nsee nothing beautiful, and noble, and glorious, in being just, and\nloving, and merciful. And then, indeed, we should see nothing worth\nloving in God himself:\u2014and it were better for us that we had never been\nborn.\n\nBut none of us, I trust, are fallen as low as that. We all, surely,\nadmire a good action, and love a good man. Surely we do. Then I will go\non, to ask you one question more.\n\nDid it ever strike you, that goodness is not merely _a_ beautiful thing,\nbut THE beautiful thing\u2014by far the most beautiful thing in the world; and\nthat badness is not merely _an_ ugly thing, but the ugliest thing in the\nworld?\u2014So that nothing is to be compared for value with goodness; that\nriches, honour, power, pleasure, learning, the whole world and all in it,\nare not worth having, in comparison with being good; and the utterly best\nthing for a man is to be good, even though he were never to be rewarded\nfor it: and the utterly worst thing for a man is to be bad, even though\nhe were never to be punished for it; and, in a word, goodness is the only\nthing worth loving, and badness the only thing worth hating.\n\nDid you ever feel this, my friends? Happy are those among you who have\nfelt it; for of you the Lord says, Blessed are they that hunger and\nthirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled. Ay, happy are you\nwho have felt it; for it is the sign, the very and true sign, that the\nHoly Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of goodness, is working in your\nhearts with power, revealing to you the exceeding beauty of holiness, and\nthe exceeding sinfulness of sin.\n\nBut did it never strike you besides, that goodness was one, and\neverlasting? Let me explain what I mean.\n\nDid you never see, that all good men show their goodness in the same way,\nby doing the same kind of good actions? Let them be English or French,\nblack or white, if they be good, there is the same honesty, the same\ntruthfulness, the same love, the same mercy in all; and what is right and\ngood for you and me, now and here, is right and good for every man,\neverywhere, and at all times for ever. Surely, surely, what is noble,\nand loveable, and admirable now, was so five thousand years ago, and will\nbe five thousand years hence. What is honourable for us here, would be\nequally honourable for us in America or Australia\u2014ay, or in the farthest\nstar in the skies.\n\nBut, some of you may say, men at different times and in different\ncountries have had very different notions\u2014indeed quite opposite notions,\nof what men ought to be.\n\nI know that some people say so. I can only answer that I differ from\nthem. True, some men have had less light than others, and, God knows,\nhave made fearful mistakes enough, and fancied that they could please God\nby behaving like devils: but on the first principles of goodness, all the\nworld has been pretty well agreed all along; for wherever men have been\ntaught what is really right, there have been plenty of hearts to answer,\n\u2018Yes, this is good! this is what we have wanted all along, though we knew\nit not.\u2019 And all the wisest men among the heathen\u2014the men who have been\nhonoured, and even worshipped as blessings to their fellow men, have\nagreed, one and all, in the great and golden rule, \u2018Thou shalt love God,\nwith all thy heart and soul, and thy neighbour as thyself.\u2019\n\nBelieve about this as you may, my friends, still I believe, and will\nbelieve; I preach, and will preach, this, and nought else but this:\u2014That\nthere is but one everlasting goodness, which is good in men, good in all\nrational beings\u2014yea, good in God himself.\n\nThese last are solemn words, but they are true; and the more you think\nover them, the more, I tell you, will you find them true. And to them I\nhave been trying to lead you; and will try once more.\n\nFor, did it never strike you, again\u2014as it has me\u2014and all the world has\nlooked different to me since I found it out\u2014that there must be ONE, in\nwhom all goodness is gathered together; ONE, who must be perfectly and\nabsolutely good? And did it never strike you, that all the goodness in\nthe world must, in some way or other, come from HIM? I believe that our\nhearts and reasons, if we will listen fairly to them, tell us that it\nmust be so; and I am certain that the Bible tells us so, from beginning\nto end. When we see the million rain-drops of the shower, we say, with\nreason, there must be one great sea from which all these drops have come.\nWhen we see the countless rays of light, we say, with reason, there must\nbe one great central sun from which all these are shed forth. And when\nwe see, as it were, countless drops, and countless rays of goodness\nscattered about in the world, a little good in this man, and a little\ngood in that, shall we not say, there must be one great sea, one central\nsun of goodness, from whence all human goodness comes? And where can\nthat centre of goodness be, but in the very character of God himself?\n\nYes, my friends; if you would know what God is, think of all the noble,\nbeautiful, loveable actions, tempers, feelings, which you ever saw or\nheard of. Think of all the good, and admirable, and loveable people whom\nyou ever met; and fancy to yourselves all that goodness, nobleness,\nadmirableness, loveableness, and millions of times more, gathered\ntogether in one, to make one perfectly good character\u2014and then you have\nsome faint notion of God, some dim sight of God, who is the eternal and\nperfect Goodness.\n\nIt is but a faint notion, no doubt, that the best man can have of God\u2019s\ngoodness, so dull has sin made our hearts and brains: but let us comfort\nourselves with this thought\u2014That the more we learn to love what is good,\nthe more we accustom ourselves to think of good people and good things,\nand to ask ourselves why and how this action and that is good, the more\nshall we be able to see the goodness of God. And to see that, even for a\nmoment, is worth all sights in earth or heaven.\n\nWorth all sights, indeed. No wonder that the saints of old called it the\n\u2018Beatific Vision,\u2019 that is, the sight which makes a man utterly blessed;\nnamely, to see, if but for a moment, with his mind\u2019s eye what God is\nlike, and behold he is utterly good!\n\nNo wonder that they said (and I doubt not that they spoke honestly and\nsimply what they felt) that while that thought was before them, this\nworld was utterly nothing to them; that they were as men in a dream, or\ndead, not caring to eat or to move, for fear of losing that glorious\nthought; but felt as if they were (as they were most really and truly)\ncaught up into heaven, and taken utterly out of themselves by the beauty\nand glory of God\u2019s perfect goodness. No wonder that they cried out with\nDavid, \u2018Whom have I in heaven, O Lord, but Thee? and there is none on\nearth whom I desire in comparison of Thee.\u2019 No wonder that they said\nwith St. Peter when he saw our Lord\u2019s glory, \u2018Lord, it is good for us to\nbe here,\u2019 and felt like men gazing upon some glorious picture or\nmagnificent show, off which they cannot take their eyes; and which makes\nthem forget for the time all beside in heaven and earth.\n\nAnd it was good for them to be there: but not too long. Man was sent\ninto this world not merely to see, but to do; and the more he sees, the\nmore he is bound to go and do accordingly. St. Peter had to come down\nfrom the mount, and preach the Gospel wearily for many a year, and die at\nlast upon the cross. St. Augustine, in like wise, though he would gladly\nhave lived and died doing nothing but fixing his soul\u2019s eye steadily on\nthe glory of God\u2019s goodness, had to come down from the mount likewise,\nand work, and preach, and teach, and wear himself out in daily drudgery\nfor that God whom he learnt to serve, even when he could not adore Him in\nthe press of business, and the bustle of a rotten and dying world.\n\nBut see, my dear friends, and consider it well\u2014Before a man can come to\nthat state of mind, or anything like it, he must have begun by loving\ngoodness wherever he saw it; and have settled in his heart that to be\ngood, and therefore to do good, is the most beautiful thing in the world.\nSo he will begin by loving his brother whom he has seen, and by taking\ndelight in good people, and in all honest, true, loving, merciful,\ngenerous words and actions, and in those who say and do them. And so he\nwill be fit to love God, whom he has not seen, when he finds out (as God\ngrant that you may all find out) that all goodness of which we can\nconceive, and far, far more, is gathered together in God, and flows out\nfrom him eternally over his whole creation, by that Holy Spirit who\nproceeds from the Father and the Son, and is the Lord and Giver of life,\nand therefore of goodness. For goodness is nothing else, if you will\nreceive it, but the eternal life of God, which he has lived, and lives\nnow, and will live for evermore, God blessed for ever. Amen.\n\nSo, my dear friends, it will not be so difficult for you to love God, if\nyou will only begin by loving goodness, which is God\u2019s likeness, and the\ninspiration of God\u2019s Holy Spirit. For you will be like a man who has\nlong admired a beautiful picture of some one whom he does not know, and\nat last meets the person for whom the picture was meant\u2014and behold the\nliving face is a thousand times more fair and noble than the painted one.\nYou will be like a child which has been brought up from its birth in a\nroom into which the sun never shone; and then goes out for the first\ntime, and sees the sun in all his splendour bathing the earth with glory.\nIf that child had loved to watch the dim narrow rays of light which shone\ninto his dark room, what will he not feel at the sight of that sun from\nwhich all those rays had come Just so will they feel who, having loved\ngoodness for its own sake, and loved their neighbours for the sake of\nwhat little goodness is in them, have their eyes opened at last to see\nall goodness, without flaw or failing, bound or end, in the character of\nGod, which he has shown forth in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the\nlikeness of his Father\u2019s glory, and the express image of his person; to\nwhom be glory and honour for ever. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON II.\nTHE GLORY OF THE CROSS.\n\n\n JOHN xvii. 1.\n\n Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may\n glorify thee.\n\nI spoke to you lately of the beatific vision of God. I will speak of it\nagain to-day; and say this.\n\nIf any man wishes to see God, truly and fully, with the eyes of his soul:\nif any man wishes for that beatific vision of God; that perfect sight of\nGod\u2019s perfect goodness; then must that man go, and sit down at the foot\nof Christ\u2019s cross, and look steadfastly upon him who hangs thereon. And\nthere he will see, what the wisest and best among the heathen, among the\nMussulmans, among all who are not Christian men, never have seen, and\ncannot see unto this day, however much they may feel (and some of them,\nthank God, do feel) that God is the Eternal Goodness, and must be loved\naccordingly.\n\nAnd what shall we see upon the cross?\n\nMany things, friends, and more than I, or all the preachers in the world,\nwill be able to explain to you, though we preached till the end of the\nworld. But one thing we shall see, if we will, which we have forgotten\nsadly, Christians though we be, in these very days; forgotten it, most of\nus, so utterly, that in order to bring you back to it, I must take a\nseemingly roundabout road.\n\nDoes it seem, or does it not seem, to you, that the finest thing in a man\nis magnanimity\u2014what we call in plain English, greatness of soul? And if\nit does seem to you to be so, what do you mean by greatness of soul?\nWhen you speak of a great soul, and of a great man, what manner of man do\nyou mean?\n\nDo you mean a very clever man, a very far-sighted man, a very determined\nman, a very powerful man, and therefore a very successful man? A man who\ncan manage everything, and every person whom he comes across, and turn\nand use them for his own ends, till he rises to be great and glorious\u2014a\nruler, king, or what you will?\n\nWell\u2014he is a great man: but I know a greater, and nobler, and more\nglorious stamp of man; and you do also. Let us try again, and think if\nwe can find his likeness, and draw it for ourselves. Would he not be\nsomewhat like this pattern?\u2014A man who was aware that he had vast power,\nand yet used that power not for himself but for others; not for ambition,\nbut for doing good? Surely the man who used his power for other people\nwould be the greater-souled man, would he not? Let us go on, then, to\nfind out more of his likeness. Would he be stern, or would he be tender?\nWould he be patient, or would he be fretful? Would he be a man who\nstands fiercely on his own rights, or would he be very careful of other\nmen\u2019s rights, and very ready to waive his own rights gracefully and\ngenerously? Would he be extreme to mark what was done amiss against him,\nor would he be very patient when he was wronged himself, though indignant\nenough if he saw others wronged? Would he be one who easily lost his\ntemper, and lost his head, and could be thrown off his balance by one\nfoolish man? Surely not. He would be a man whom no fool, nor all fools\ntogether could throw off his balance; a man who could not lose his\ntemper, could not lose his self-respect; a man who could bear with those\nwho are peevish, make allowances for those who are weak and ignorant,\nforgive those who are insolent, and conquer those who are ungrateful, not\nby punishment, but by fresh kindness, overcoming their evil by his\ngood.\u2014A man, in short, whom no ill-usage without, and no ill-temper\nwithin, could shake out of his even path of generosity and benevolence.\nIs not that the truly magnanimous man; the great and royal soul? Is not\nthat the stamp of man whom we should admire, if we met him on earth?\nShould we not reverence that man; esteem it an honour and a pleasure to\nwork under that man, to take him for our teacher, our leader, in hopes\nthat, by copying his example, our souls might become great like his?\n\nIs it so, my friends? Then know this, that in admiring that man, you\nadmire the likeness of God. In wishing to be like that man, you wish to\nbe like God.\n\nFor this is God\u2019s true greatness; this is God\u2019s true glory; this is God\u2019s\ntrue royalty; the greatness, glory, and royalty of loving, forgiving,\ngenerous power, which pours itself out, untiring and undisgusted, in help\nand mercy to all which he has made; the glory of a Father who is perfect\nin this, that he causeth his rain to fall on the evil and on the good,\nand his sun to shine upon the just and on the unjust, and is good to the\nunthankful and the evil; a Father who has not dealt with us after our\nsins, or rewarded us after our iniquities: a Father who is not extreme to\nmark what is done amiss, but whom it is worth while to fear, for with him\nis mercy and plenteous redemption;\u2014all this, and more\u2014a Father who so\nloved a world which had forgotten him, a world whose sins must have been\ndisgusting to him, that he spared not his only begotten Son, but freely\ngave him for us, and will with him freely give us all things; a Father,\nin one word, whose name and essence is love, even as it is the name and\nessence of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.\n\nThis, my friends, is the glory of God: but this glory never shone out in\nits full splendour till it shone upon the cross.\n\nFor\u2014that we may go back again, to that great-souled man, of whom I spoke\njust now\u2014did we not leave out one thing in his character? or at least,\none thing by which his character might be proved and tried? We said that\nhe should be generous and forgiving; we said that he should bear\npatiently folly, peevishness, ingratitude: but what if we asked of him,\nthat he should sacrifice himself utterly for the peevish, ungrateful men\nfor whose good he was toiling? What if we asked him to give up, for\nthem, not only all which made life worth having, but to give up life\nitself? To die for them; and, what is bitterest of all, to die by their\nhands\u2014to receive as their reward for all his goodness to them a shameful\ndeath? If he dare submit to that, then we should call his greatness of\nsoul perfect. Magnanimity, we should say, could rise no higher; in that\nwould be the perfection of goodness.\n\nSurely your hearts answer, that this is true. When you hear of a father\nsacrificing his own life for his children; when you hear of a soldier\ndying for his country; when you hear of a clergyman or a physician\nkilling himself by his work, while he is labouring to save the souls or\nthe bodies of his fellow-creatures; then you feel\u2014There is goodness in\nits highest shape. To give up our lives for others is one of the most\nbeautiful, and noble, and glorious things on earth. But to give up our\nlives, willingly, joyfully for men who misunderstand us, hate us, despise\nus, is, if possible, a more glorious action still, and the very\nperfection of perfect virtue. Then, looking at Christ\u2019s cross, we see\nthat, and even more\u2014ay, far more than that. The cross was the perfect\ntoken of the perfect greatness of God, and of the perfect glory of God.\n\nSo on the cross, the Father justified himself to man; yea, glorified\nhimself in the glory of his crucified Son. On the cross God proved\nhimself to be perfectly just, perfectly good, perfectly generous,\nperfectly glorious, beyond all that man could ever have dared to conceive\nor dream. That God must be good, the wise heathens knew; but that God\nwas so utterly good that he could stoop to suffer, to die, for men, and\nby men\u2014that they never dreamed. That was the mystery of God\u2019s love,\nwhich was hid in Christ from the foundation of the world, and which was\nrevealed at last upon the cross of Calvary by him who prayed for his\nmurderers\u2014\u2018Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u2019 That\ntruly blessed sight of a Saviour-God, who did not disdain to die the\nmeanest and the most fearful of deaths\u2014that, that came home at once, and\nhas come home ever since, to all hearts which had left in them any love\nand respect for goodness, and melted them with the fire of divine love;\nas God grant it may melt yours, this day, and henceforth for ever.\n\nI can say no more, my friends. If this good news does not come home to\nyour hearts by its own power, it will never be brought home to you by any\nwords of mine.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON III.\nTHE LIFE OF GOD.\n\n\n 1 JOHN i. 2.\n\n For the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness,\n and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and\n was manifested unto us!\n\nWHAT do we mean, when we speak of the Life everlasting?\n\nDo we mean that men\u2019s souls are immortal, and will live for ever after\ndeath, either in happiness or misery?\n\nWe must mean more than that. At least we ought to mean more than that,\nif we be Christian men. For the Bible tells us, that Christ brought life\nand immortality to light. Therefore they must have been in darkness\nbefore Christ\u2019s coming; and men did not know as much about life and\nimmortality before Christ\u2019s coming as they know\u2014or ought to know\u2014now.\n\nBut if we need only believe that we shall live for ever after death in\nhappiness or misery, then Christ has not brought life and immortality to\nlight. He has thrown no fresh light upon the matter.\n\nAnd why? For this simple reason, that the old heathen knew as much as\nthat before Christ came.\n\nThe old Greeks and Romans, and Persians, and our own forefathers before\nthey became Christians, believed that men\u2019s souls would live for ever\nhappy or miserable. The Mussulmans, Mahommedans, Turks as they are\ncalled in the Prayer-book, believe as much as that now. They believe\nthat men\u2019s souls live for ever after death, and go to \u2018heaven\u2019 or \u2018hell.\u2019\n\nSo those words \u2018everlasting Life\u2019 must needs mean something more than\nthat. What do they mean?\n\nFirst. What does everlasting mean?\n\nIt means exactly the same as eternal. The two words are the same: only\neverlasting is English, and eternal Latin. But they have the same sense.\n\nNow everlasting and eternal mean something which has neither beginning\nnor end. That is certain. The wisest of the heathen knew that: but we\nare apt to forget it. We are apt to think a thing may be everlasting,\nbecause it has no end, though it has a beginning. We are careless\nthinkers, if we fancy that. God is eternal because he has neither\nbeginning nor end.\n\nBut here come two puzzles.\n\nFirst. The Athanasian Creed says that there is but one Eternal, that is,\nGod; and never were truer words written.\n\nBut do we not make out two Eternals? For God is one Eternal; and eternal\nlife is another Eternal. Now which is right; we, or the Athanasian\nCreed? I shall hold by the Athanasian Creed, my friends, and ask you to\nthink again over the matter: thus\u2014If there be but one Eternal, there is\nbut one way of escaping out of our puzzle, which makes two Eternals; and\nthat is, to go back to the old doctrine of St. Paul, and St. John, and\nthe wisest of the Fathers, and say\u2014There is but one Eternal; and\ntherefore eternal life is in the Eternal God. And it is eternal Life\nbecause it is God\u2019s life; the life which God lives; and it is eternal\njust because, and only because, it is the life of God; and eternal death\nis nothing but the want of God\u2019s eternal life.\n\nCertainly, whether you think this true or not, St. John thought it true;\nfor he says so most positively in the text. He says that the Life was\nmanifested\u2014showed plainly upon earth, and that he had seen it. And he\nsays that he saw it in a man, whom his eyes had seen, and his hands had\nhandled. How could that be?\n\nMy friends, how else could it be? How can you see life, but by seeing\nsome one live it? You cannot see a man\u2019s life, unless you see him live\nsuch and such a life, or hear of his living such and such a life, and so\nknowing what his life, manners, character, are. And so no one could have\nseen God\u2019s life, or known what life God lived, and what character God\u2019s\nwas, had it not been for the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who\nwas made flesh, and dwelt among us, that by seeing him, the Son, we might\nsee the Father, whose likeness he was, and is, and ever will be.\n\nBut now, says St. John, we know what God\u2019s eternal life is; for we know\nwhat Christ\u2019s life was on earth. And more, we know that it is a life\nwhich men may live; for Christ lived it perfectly and utterly, though He\nwas a man.\n\nWhat sort of life, then, is everlasting life?\n\nWho can tell altogether and completely? And yet who cannot tell in part?\nUse the common sense, my friends, which God has given to you, and\nthink;\u2014If eternal life be the life of God, it must be a good life; for\nGod is good. That is the first, and the most certain thing which we can\nsay of it. It must be a righteous and just life; a loving and merciful\nlife; for God is righteous, just, loving, merciful; and more, it must be\nan useful life, a life of good works; for God is eternally useful, doing\ngood to all his creatures, working for ever for the benefit of all which\nhe has made.\n\nYes\u2014a life of good works. There is no good life without good works.\nWhen you talk of a man\u2019s life, you mean not only what he feels and\nthinks, but what he does. What is in his heart goes for nothing, unless\nhe brings it out in his actions, as far as he can.\n\nTherefore St. James says, \u2018Thou hast faith, and I have works. Shew me\nthy faith _without_ thy works,\u2019 (and who can do that?) \u2018and I will shew\nthee my faith by my works.\u2019\n\nAnd St. John says, there is no use _saying_ you love. \u2018Let us love not\nin word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth;\u2019 and again\u2014and would to\nGod that most people who talk so glibly about heaven and hell, and the\nways of getting thither, would recollect this one plain text\u2014\u2018Little\nchildren, let no man deceive you. He that _doeth_ righteousness is\nrighteous, even as God is righteous.\u2019 And therefore it is that St. Paul\nbids rich men \u2018be rich also in noble deeds,\u2019 generous and liberal of\ntheir money to all who want, that they may \u2018lay hold of that which is\nreally life,\u2019 namely, the eternal life of goodness.\n\nAnd therefore also, my friends, we may be sure that God loves in deed and\nin truth: because it is written that God is love.\n\nFor if a man loves, he longs to help those whom he loves. It is the very\nessence of love, that it cannot be still, cannot be idle, cannot be\nsatisfied with itself, cannot contain itself, but must go out to do good\nto those whom it loves, to seek and to save that which is lost. And\ntherefore God is perfect love, and his eternal life a life of eternal\nlove, because he sends his Son eternally to seek and to save that which\nis lost.\n\nThis, then, is eternal life; a life of everlasting love showing itself in\neverlasting good works; and whosoever lives that life, he lives the life\nof God, and hath eternal life.\n\nWhat I have just said will help you, I think, to understand another royal\ntext about eternal life.\n\nFor now\u2019 we may understand why it is written, that this is life eternal,\nto know the true and only God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. For if\neternal life be God\u2019s life, we must know God, and God\u2019s character, to\nknow what eternal life is like: and if no man has seen God at any time,\nand God\u2019s life can only be seen in the life of Christ, then we must know\nChrist, and Christ\u2019s life, to know God and God\u2019s life; that the saying\nmay be fulfilled in us, God hath given to us eternal life, and this life\nis in his Son.\n\nOne other royal text, did I say? We may understand many, perhaps all,\nthe texts which speak of life, and eternal life, if we will look at them\nin this way. We may see why St. Paul says that to be spiritually minded\nis life; and that the life of Jesus may be manifested in men: and how the\nsin of the old heathen lay in this, that they were alienated from the\nlife of God. We may understand how Christ\u2019s commandment is everlasting\nlife; how the water which he gives, can spring up within a man\u2019s heart to\neverlasting life\u2014all such texts we may, and shall, understand more and\nmore, if we will bear in mind that everlasting life is the life of God\nand of Christ, a life of love; a life of perfect, active,\nself-sacrificing goodness, which is the one only true life for all\nrational beings, whether on earth or in heaven.\n\nIn heaven, my friends, as well as on earth. Form your own notions, as\nyou will, about angels, and saints in heaven, for every one must have\nsome notions about them, and try to picture to himself what the souls of\nthose whom he has loved and lost are doing in the other world: but bear\nthis in mind: that if the saints in heaven live the everlasting life,\nthey must be living a life of usefulness, of love and of good works.\n\nAnd here I must say, friends, that however much the Roman Catholics may\nbe wrong on many points, they have remembered one thing about the life\neverlasting, which we are too apt to forget; and that is, that\neverlasting life cannot be a selfish, idle life, spent only in being\nhappy oneself. They believe that the saints in heaven are _not_ idle;\nthat they are eternally helping mankind; doing all sorts of good offices\nfor those souls who need them; that, as St. Paul says of the angels, they\nare ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of\nsalvation. And I cannot see why they should not be right. For if the\nsaints\u2019 delight was to do good on earth, much more will it be to do good\nin heaven. If they helped poor sufferers, if they taught the ignorant,\nif they comforted the afflicted, here on earth, much more will they be\nable, much more will they be willing, to help, comfort, teach them, now\nthat they are in the full power, the full freedom, the full love and zeal\nof the everlasting life. If their hearts were warmed and softened by the\nfire of God\u2019s love here, how much more there! If they lived God\u2019s life\nof love here, how much more there, before the throne of God, and the face\nof Christ!\n\nBut if any one shall say, that the souls of good men in heaven cannot\nhelp us who are here on earth, I answer, When did they ascend into\nheaven, to find out that? If they had ever been there, friends, be sure\nthey would have had better news to bring home than this\u2014that those whom\nwe have honoured and loved on earth have lost the power which they used\nto have, of comforting us who are struggling here below. That notion\nsprings altogether out of a superstitious fancy that heaven is a great\nmany millions of miles away from this earth\u2014which fancy, wherever men get\nit from, they certainly do not get it from the Bible. Moreover it seems\nto me, that if the saints in heaven cannot help men, then they cannot be\nhappy in heaven. Cannot be happy? Ay, must be miserable. For what\ngreater misery for really good men, than to see things going wrong, and\nnot to be able to mend them; to see poor creatures suffering, and not to\nbe able to comfort them? No, my friends, we will believe\u2014what every one\nwho loves a beloved friend comes sooner or later to believe\u2014that those\nwhom we have honoured and loved, though taken from our eyes, are near to\nour spirits; that they still fight for us, under the banner of their\nMaster Christ, and still work for us, by virtue of his life of love,\nwhich they live in him and by him for ever.\n\nPray to them, indeed, we need not, as if they would help us out of any\nself-will of their own. There, I think, the Roman Catholics are wrong.\nThey pray to the saints as if the saints had wills of their own, and\nfancies of their own, and were respecters of persons; and could have\nfavourites, and grant private favours to those who especially admired and\n(I fear I must say it) flattered them. But why should we do that? That\nis to lower God\u2019s saints in our own eyes. For if we believe that they\nare made perfect, and like perfectly the everlasting life, then we must\nbelieve that there is no self-will in them: but that they do God\u2019s will,\nand not their own, and go on God\u2019s errands, and not their own; that he,\nand not their own liking, sends them whithersoever he wills; and that if\nwe ask of _him_\u2014of God our Father himself, that is enough for us.\n\nAnd what shall we ask?\n\nAsk\u2014\u2018Father, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.\u2019\n\nFor in asking that, we ask for the best of all things. We ask for the\nhappiness, the power, the glory of saints and angels. We ask to be put\ninto tune with God\u2019s whole universe, from the meanest flower beneath our\nfeet, to the most glorious spirit whom God ever created. We ask for the\none everlasting life which can never die, fail, change, or disappoint:\nyea, for the everlasting life which Christ the only begotten Son lives\nfrom eternity to eternity, for ever saying to his Father, \u2018Thy will be\ndone.\u2019\n\nYes\u2014when we ask God to make us do his will, then indeed we ask for\neverlasting life.\n\nDoes that seem little? Would you rather ask for all manner of pleasant\nthings, if not in this life, at least in the life to come?\n\nOh, my friends, consider this. We were not put into this world to get\npleasant things; and we shall not be put into the next world, as it seems\nto me, to get pleasant things. We were put into this world to do God\u2019s\nwill. And we shall be put (I believe) into the next world for the very\nsame purpose\u2014to do God\u2019s will; and if we do that, we shall find pleasure\nenough in doing it. I do not doubt that in the next world all manner of\nharmless pleasure will come to us likewise; because that will be, we\nhope, a perfect and a just world, not a piecemeal, confused, often unjust\nworld, like this: but pleasant things will come to us in the next life,\nonly in proportion as we shall be doing God\u2019s will in the next life; and\nwe shall be happy and blessed, only because we shall be living that\neternal life of which I have been preaching to you all along, the life\nwhich Christ lives and has lived and will live for ever, saying to the\nEternal Father\u2014I come to do thy will\u2014not my will but thine be done.\n\nOh! may God give to us all his Spirit; the Spirit by which Christ did his\nFather\u2019s will, and lived his Father\u2019s life in the soul and body of a\nmortal man, that we may live here a life of obedience and of good works,\nwhich is the only true and living life of faith; and that when we die it\nmay be said of us\u2014\u2018Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; for they\nrest from their labours, and their works do follow them.\u2019\n\nThey rest from their labours. All their struggles, disappointments,\nfailures, backslidings, which made them unhappy here, because they could\nnot perfectly do the will of God, are past and over for ever. But their\nworks follow them. The good which they did on earth\u2014that is not past and\nover. It cannot die. It lives and grows for ever, following on in their\npath long after they are dead, and bearing fruit unto everlasting life,\nnot only in them, but in men whom they never saw, and in generations yet\nunborn.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON IV.\nTHE SONG OF THE THREE CHILDREN.\n\n\n DANIEL iii. 16, 17, 18.\n\n O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.\n If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the\n burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O\n king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not\n serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.\n\nWE read this morning, instead of the Te Deum, the Song of the Three\nChildren, beginning, \u2018Oh all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord:\npraise him, and magnify him for ever.\u2019 It was proper to do so: because\nthe Ananias, Azarias, and Misael mentioned in it, are the same as the\nShadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, whose story we heard in the first\nlesson; and because some of the old Jews held that this noble hymn was\ncomposed by them, and sung by them in the burning fiery furnace,\nwherefore it has been called \u2018The Song of the Three Children;\u2019 for child,\nin old English, meant a young man.\n\nBe that as it may, it is a glorious hymn, worthy of the Church of God,\nworthy of those three young men, worthy of all the noble army of martyrs;\nand if the three young men did not actually use the very words of it,\nstill it was what they believed; and, because they believed it, they had\ncourage to tell Nebuchadnezzar that they were not careful to answer\nhim\u2014had no manner of doubt or anxiety whatsoever as to what they were to\nsay, when he called on them to worship his gods. For his gods, we know,\nwere the sun, moon, and planets, and the angels who (as the Chaldeans\nbelieved) ruled over the heavenly bodies; and that image of gold is\nsupposed, by some learned men, to have been probably a sign or picture of\nthe wondrous power of life and growth which there is in all earthly\nthings\u2014and that a sign of which I need not speak, or you hear. So that\nthe meaning of this Song of the Three Children is simply this:\n\n\u2018You bid us worship the things about us, which we see with our bodily\neyes. We answer, that we know the one true God, who made all these\nthings; and that, therefore, instead of worshipping _them_, we will bid\nthem to worship _him_.\u2019\n\nNow let us spend a few minutes in looking into this hymn, and seeing what\nit teaches us.\n\nYou see at once, that it says that the one God, and not many gods, made\nall things: much more, that things did not make themselves, or grow up of\ntheir own accord, by any virtue or life of their own.\n\nBut it says more. It calls upon all things which God has made, to bless\nhim, praise him, and magnify him for ever. This is much more than merely\nsaying, \u2018One God made the world.\u2019 For this is saying something about\nGod\u2019s character; declaring what this one God is like.\n\nFor when you bless a person\u2014(I do not mean when you pray God to bless\nhim\u2014that is a different thing)\u2014when you bless any one, I say, you bless\nhim because he is blessed, and has done blessed things: because he has\nshown himself good, generous, merciful, useful. You praise a person\nbecause he is praiseworthy, noble, and admirable. You magnify a\nperson\u2014that is, speak of him to every one, and everywhere, in the highest\nterms\u2014because you think that every one ought to know how good and great\nhe is. And, therefore, when the hymn says, \u2018Bless God, praise him, and\nmagnify him for ever,\u2019 it does not merely confess God\u2019s power. No. It\nconfesses, too, God\u2019s wisdom, goodness, beauty, love, and calls on all\nheaven and earth to admire him, the alone admirable, and adore him, the\nalone adorable.\n\nFor this is really to believe in God. Not merely to believe that there\nis a God, but to know what God is like, and to know that He is worthy to\nbe believed in; worthy to be trusted, honoured, loved with heart and mind\nand soul, because we know that He is worthy of our love.\n\nAnd this, we have a right to say, these three young men did, or whosoever\nwrote this hymn; and that as a reward for their faith in God, there was\ngranted to them that deep insight into the meaning of the world about\nthem, which shines out through every verse of this hymn.\n\nDeep? I tell you, my friends, that this hymn is so deep, that it is too\ndeep for the shallow brains of which the world is full now-a-days, who\nfancy that they know all about heaven and earth, just because they happen\nto have been born now, and not two hundred years ago. To such this old\nhymn means nothing; it is in their eyes merely an old-fashioned figure of\nspeech to call on sun and stars, green herb and creeping thing, to praise\nand bless God. Nevertheless, the old hymn stands in our prayer-books, as\na precious heir-loom to our children; and long may it stand. Though we\nmay forget its meaning, yet perhaps our children after us will recollect\nit once more, and say with their hearts, what we now, I fear, only say\nwith our lips and should not say at all, if it was not put into our\nmonths by the Prayer-book.\n\nDo you not understand what I mean? Then think of this:\u2014\n\nIf we were writing a hymn about God, should we dare to say to the things\nabout us\u2014to the cattle feeding in the fields\u2014much less to the clouds over\nour heads, and to the wells of which we drink, \u2018Bless ye the Lord, praise\nhim, and magnify him for ever?\u2019\n\nWe should not dare; and for two reasons.\n\nFirst\u2014There is a notion abroad, borrowed from the old monks, that this\nearth is in some way bad, and cursed; that a curse is on it still for\nman\u2019s sake: but a notion which is contrary to plain fact; for if we till\nthe ground, it does _not_ bring forth thorns and thistles to us, as the\nScripture says it was to do for Adam, but wholesome food, and rich\nreturns for our labour: and which in the next place is flatly contrary to\nScripture: for we read in Genesis viii. 21, how the Lord said, \u2018I will\nnot again curse the ground any more for man\u2019s sake;\u2019 and the Psalms\nalways speak of this earth, and of all created things, as if there was no\ncurse at all on them; saying that \u2018all things serve God, and continue as\nthey were at the beginning,\u2019 and that \u2018He has given them a law which\ncannot be broken;\u2019 and in the face of those words, let who will talk of\nthe earth being cursed, I will not; and you shall not, if I can help it.\n\nAnother reason why we dare not talk of this earth as this hymn does is,\nthat we have got into the habit of saying, \u2018Cattle and creeping\nthings\u2014they are not rational beings. How can they praise God? Clouds\nand wells\u2014they are not even living things. How can they praise God? Why\nspeak of them in a hymn; much less speak to them?\u2019\n\nYet this hymn does speak to them; and so do the Psalms and the Prophets\nagain and again. And so will men do hereafter, when the fashions and the\nfancies of these days are past, and men have their eyes opened once more\nto see the glory which is around them from their cradle to their grave,\nand hear once more \u2018The Word of the Lord walking among the trees of the\ngarden.\u2019\n\nBut how can this be? How can not only dumb things, but even dead things,\npraise God?\n\nMy friends, this is a great mystery, of which the wisest men as yet know\nbut little, and confess freely how little they know. But this at least\nwe know already, and can say boldly\u2014all things praise God, by fulfilling\nthe law which our Lord himself declared, when he said \u2018Not every one who\nsaith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he\nthat doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.\u2019\n\nBy doing the will of the heavenly Father. By obeying the laws which God\nhas given them. By taking the shape which he has appointed for them. By\nbeing of the use for which he intended them. By multiplying each after\ntheir kind, by laws and means a thousand times more strange than any\nsigns and wonders of which man can fancy for himself; and by thus showing\nforth God\u2019s boundless wisdom, goodness, love, and tender care of all\nwhich he has made.\n\nYes, my friends, in this sense (and this is the true sense) all things\ncan serve and praise God, and all things do serve and praise Him. Not a\ncloud which fleets across the sky, not a clod of earth which crumbles\nunder the frost, not a blade of grass which breaks through the snow in\nspring, not a dead leaf which falls to the earth in autumn, but is doing\nGod\u2019s work, and showing forth God\u2019s glory. Not a tiny insect, too small\nto be seen by human eyes without the help of a microscope, but is as\nfearfully and wonderfully made as you and me, and has its proper food,\nhabitation, work, appointed for it, and not in vain. Nothing is idle,\nnothing is wasted, nothing goes wrong, in this wondrous world of God.\nThe very scum upon the standing pool, which seems mere dirt and dust, is\nall alive, peopled by millions of creatures, each full of beauty, full of\nuse, obeying laws of God too deep for us to do aught but dimly guess at\nthem; and as men see deeper and deeper into the mystery of God\u2019s\ncreation, they find in the commonest things about them wonder and glory,\nsuch as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the\nheart of man to conceive; and can only say with the Psalmist, \u2018Oh Lord,\nthy ways are infinite, thy thoughts are very deep;\u2019 and confess that the\ngrass beneath their feet, the clouds above their heads\u2014ay, every worm\nbeneath the sod and bird upon the bough, do, in very deed and truth,\nbless the Lord who made them, praise him, and magnify him for ever, not\nwith words indeed, but with works; and say to man all day long, \u2018Go thou,\nand do likewise.\u2019\n\nYes, my friends, let us go and do likewise. If we wish really to obey\nthe lesson of the Hymn of the Three Children, let us do the will of God:\nand so worship him in spirit and in truth. Do not fancy, as too many do,\nthat thou canst praise God by singing hymns to him in church once a week,\nand disobeying him all the week long, crying to him \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 and\nthen living as if he were not thy Lord, but thou wast thine own Lord, and\nhadst a right to do thine own will, and not his. If thou wilt really\nbless God, then try to live his blessed life of Goodness. If thou wilt\ntruly praise God, then behave as if God was praiseworthy, good, and right\nin what he bids thee do. If thou wouldest really magnify God, and\ndeclare his greatness, then behave as if he were indeed the Great God,\nwho ought to be obeyed\u2014ay, who _must_ be obeyed; for his commandment is\nlife, and it alone, to thee, as well as to all which He has made. Dost\nthou fancy as the heathen do, that God needs to be flattered with fine\nwords? or that thou wilt be heard for thy much speaking, and thy vain\nrepetitions? He asks of thee works, as well as words; and more, He asks\nof thee works first, and words after. And better it is to praise him\ntruly by works without words, than falsely by words without works.\n\nCry, if thou wilt, \u2018Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;\u2019 but show that\nthou believest him to be holy, by being holy thyself. Sing, if Thou\nwilt, of \u2018The Father of an Infinite Majesty:\u2019 but show that thou\nbelievest his majesty to be infinite, by obeying his commandments, like\nthose Three Children, let them cost thee what they may. Join, and join\nfreely, in the songs of the heavenly host; for God has given thee reason\nand speech, after the likeness of his only begotten Son, and thou mayest\nuse them, as well as every other gift, in the service of thy Father. But\ntake care lest, while thou art trying to copy the angels, thou art not\neven as righteous as the beasts of the field. For they bless and praise\nGod by obeying his laws; and till thou dost that, and obeyest God\u2019s laws\nlikewise, thou art not as good as the grass beneath thy feet.\n\nFor after all has been said and sung, my friends, the sum and substance\nof true religion remains what it was, and what it will be for ever; and\nlies in this one word, \u2018If ye love me, keep my commandments.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nSERMON V.\nTHE ETERNAL GOODNESS.\n\n\n MATTHEW xxii. 39.\n\n Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.\n\nWHY are wrong things wrong? Why, for instance, is it wrong to steal?\n\nBecause God has forbidden it, you may answer. But is it so? Whatsoever\nGod forbids must be wrong. But, is it wrong because God forbids it, or\ndoes God forbid it because it is wrong?\n\nFor instance, suppose that God had not forbidden us to steal, would it be\nright then to steal, or at least, not wrong?\n\nWe must really think of this. It is no mere question of words, it is a\nsolemn practical question, which has to do with our every-day conduct,\nand yet which goes down to the deepest of all matters, even to the depths\nof God himself.\n\nThe question is simply this. Did God, who made all things, make right\nand wrong? Many people think so. They think that God made goodness.\nBut how can that be? For if God made goodness, there could have been no\ngoodness before God made it. That is clear. But God was always good,\ngood from all eternity. But how could that be? How could God be good,\nbefore there was any goodness made? That notion will not do then. And\nall we can say is that goodness is eternal and everlasting, just as God\nis: because God was and is and ever will be eternally and always good.\n\nBut is eternal goodness one thing, and the eternal God, another? That\ncannot be, again; for as the Athanasian Creed tells us so wisely and\nwell, there are not many Eternals, but one Eternal. Therefore goodness\nmust be the Spirit of God; and God must be the Spirit of goodness; and\nright is nothing else but the character of the everlasting God, and of\nthose who are inspired by God.\n\nWhat is wrong, then? Whatever is unlike right; whatever is unlike\ngoodness; whatever is unlike God; that is wrong. And why does God forbid\nus to do wrong? Simply because wrong is unlike himself. He is perfectly\nbeautiful, perfectly blest and happy, because he is perfectly good; and\nhe wishes to see all his creatures beautiful, blest, and happy: but they\ncan only be so by being perfectly good; and they can only be perfectly\ngood by being perfectly like God their Father; and they can only be\nperfectly like God the Father by being full of love, loving their\nneighbour as themselves.\n\nFor what do we mean when we talk of right, righteousness, goodness?\n\nMany answers have been given to that question.\n\nThe old Romans, who were a stern, legal-minded people, used to say that\nrighteousness meant to hurt no man, and to give every man his own. The\nEastern people had a better answer still, which our blessed Lord used in\none place, when he told them that righteousness was to do to other people\nas we would they should do to us: but the best answer, the perfect\nanswer, is our Lord\u2019s in the text, \u2018Thou shalt love thy neighbour as\nthyself.\u2019 This is the true, eternal righteousness. Not a legal\nrighteousness, not a righteousness made up of forms and ceremonies, of\nkeeping days holy, and abstaining from meats, or any other arbitrary\ncommands, whether of God or of man. This is God\u2019s goodness, God\u2019s\nrighteousness, Christ\u2019s own goodness and righteousness. Do you not see\nwhat I mean? Remember only one word of St. John\u2019s. God is love. Love\nis the goodness of God. God is perfectly good, because he is perfect\nlove. Then if you are full of love, you are good with the same goodness\nwith which God is good, and righteous with Christ\u2019s righteousness. That\nas what St. Paul wished to be, when he wished to be found in Christ, not\nhaving his own righteousness, but the righteousness which is by faith in\nChrist. His own righteousness was the selfish and self-conceited\nrighteousness which he had before his conversion, made up of forms, and\nceremonies, and doctrines, which made him narrow-hearted, bigoted,\nself-conceited, fierce, cruel, a persecutor; the righteousness which made\nhim stand by in cold blood to see St. Stephen stoned. But the\nrighteousness which is by faith in Christ is a loving heart, and a loving\nlife, which every man will long to lead who believes really in Jesus\nChrist. For when he looks at Christ, Christ\u2019s humiliation, Christ\u2019s\nwork, Christ\u2019s agony, Christ\u2019s death, and sees in it nothing but utter\nand perfect _Love_ to poor sinful, undeserving man, then his heart makes\nanswer, Yes, I believe in that! I believe and am sure that that is the\nmost beautiful character in the world; that that is the utterly noble and\nright sort of person to be\u2014full of love as Christ was. I ought to be\nlike that. My conscience tells me that I ought. And I can be like that.\nChrist, who was so good himself, must wish to make me good like himself,\nand I can trust him to do it. I can have faith in him, that he will make\nme like himself, full of the Spirit of love, without which I shall be\nonly useless and miserable. And I trust him enough to be sure that, good\nas he is, he cannot mean to leave me useless or miserable. So, by true\nfaith in Christ, the man comes to have Christ\u2019s righteousness\u2014that is, to\nbe loving as Christ was. He believes that Christ\u2019s loving character is\nperfect beauty; that he must be the Son of God, if his character be like\nthat. He believes that Christ can and will fill him with the same spirit\nof love; and as he believes, so is it with him, and in him those words\nare fulfilled, \u2018Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God\ndwelleth in him, and he in God;\u2019 and that \u2018If a man love me,\u2019 says the\nLord, \u2018I and my Father will come to him, and take up our abode with him.\u2019\nThose are wonderful words: but if you will recollect what I have just\nsaid, you may understand a little of them. St. John puts the same thing\nvery simply, but very boldly. \u2018God is Love,\u2019 he says, \u2018and he that\ndwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.\u2019 Strange as it may\nseem, it must be so if God be love. Let us thank God that it is true,\nand keep in mind what awful and wonderful creatures we are, that God\nshould dwell in us; what blessed and glorious creatures we may become in\ntime, if we will only listen to the voice of God who speaks within our\nhearts.\n\nAnd what does that voice say? The old commandment, my friends, which was\nfrom the beginning, \u2018Love one another.\u2019 Whatever thoughts or feeling in\nyour hearts contradict that; whatever tempts you to despise your\nneighbour, to be angry with him, to suspect him, to fancy him shut out\nfrom God\u2019s love, that is not of God. No voice in our hearts is God\u2019s\nvoice, but what says in some shape or other, \u2018Love thy neighbour as\nthyself. Care for him, bear with him long, and try to do him good.\u2019\n\nFor love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth\nGod. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. Still less\ncan he who is not loving fulfil the law; for the law of God is the very\npattern and picture of God\u2019s character; and if a man does not know what\nGod is like, he will never know what God\u2019s law is like; and though he may\nread his Bible all day long, he will learn no more from it than a dumb\nanimal will, unless his heart is full of love. For love is the light by\nwhich we see God, by which we understand his Bible; by which we\nunderstand our duty, and God\u2019s dealings, in the world. Love is the light\nby which we understand our own hearts; by which we understand our\nneighbours\u2019 hearts. So it is. If you hate any man, or have a spite\nagainst him, you will never know what is in that man\u2019s heart, never be\nable to form a just opinion of his character. If you want to understand\nhuman beings, or to do justice to their feelings, you must begin by\nloving them heartily and freely, and the more you like them the better\nyou will understand them, and in general the better you will find them to\nbe at heart, the more worthy of your trust, at least the more worthy of\nyour compassion.\n\nAt least, so St. John says, \u2018He that saith he is in the light, and hates\nhis brother, is in darkness even till now, and knoweth not whither he\ngoeth. But he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is\nno occasion of stumbling in him.\u2019\n\nNo occasion of stumbling. That is of making mistakes in our behaviour to\nour neighbours, which cause scandal, drive them from us, and make them\nsuspect us, dislike us\u2014and perhaps with too good reason. Just think for\nyourselves. What does half the misery, and all the quarrelling in the\nworld come from, but from people\u2019s loving themselves better than their\nneighbours? Would children be disobedient and neglectful to their\nparents, if they did not love themselves better than their parents? Why\ndoes a man kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, covet his\nneighbour\u2019s goods, his neighbour\u2019s custom, his neighbour\u2019s rights, but\nbecause he loves his own pleasure or interest better than his\nneighbour\u2019s, loves himself better than the man whom he wrongs? Would a\nman take advantage of his neighbour if he loved him as well as himself?\nWould he be hard on his neighbour, and say, Pay me the uttermost\nfarthing, if he loved him as he loves himself? Would he speak evil of\nhis neighbour behind his back, if he loved him as himself? Would he\ncross his neighbour\u2019s temper, just because he _will_ have his own way,\nright or wrong, if he loved him as himself? Judge for yourselves. What\nwould the world become like this moment if every man loved his neighbour\nas himself, thought of his neighbour as much as he thinks of himself?\nWould it not become heaven on earth at once? There would be no need then\nfor soldiers and policemen, lawyers, rates and taxes, my friends, and all\nthe expensive and heavy machinery which is now needed to force people\ninto keeping something of God\u2019s law. Ay, there would be no need of\nsermons, preachers and prophets to tell men of God\u2019s law, and warn them\nof the misery of breaking it. They would keep the law of their own\nfree-will, by love. For love is the fulfilling of the law; and as St.\nAugustine says, \u2018Love you neighbour, and then do what you will\u2014because\nyou will be sure to will what is right.\u2019 So truly did our Lord say, that\non this one commandment hung all the law and the prophets.\n\nBut though that blessed state of things will not come to the whole world\ntill the day when Christ shall reign in that new heaven and new earth, in\nwhich Righteousness shall dwell, still it may come here, now, on earth,\nto each and every one of us, if we will but ask from God the blessed\ngift; to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.\n\nAnd then, my friends, whether we be rich or poor, fortunate or\nunfortunate, still that spirit of Love which is the Spirit of God, will\nbe its exceeding great reward.\n\nI say, its own reward.\n\nFor what is to be our reward, if we do our duty earnestly, however\nimperfectly? \u2018Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into\nthe joy of thy Lord.\u2019\n\nAnd what is the joy of our Lord? What is the joy of Christ? The joy and\ndelight which springs for ever in his great heart, from feeling that he\nis for ever doing good; from loving all, and living for all; from knowing\nthat if not all, yet millions on millions are grateful to him, and will\nbe for ever.\n\nMy friends, if you have ever done a kind action; if you have ever helped\nany one in distress, or given up a pleasure for the sake of others\u2014do you\nnot know that that deed gave you a peace, a self-content, a joy for the\nmoment at least, which nothing in this world could give, or take away?\nAnd if the person whom you helped thanked you; if you felt that you had\nmade that man your friend; that he trusted you now, looked on you now as\na brother\u2014did not that double the pleasure? I ask you, is there any\npleasure in the world like that of doing good, and being thanked for it?\nThen that is the joy of your Lord. That is the joy of Christ rising up\nin you, as often as you do good; the love which is in you rejoicing in\nitself, because it has found a loving thing to do, and has called out the\nlove of a human being in return.\n\nYes, if you will receive it, that is the joy of Christ\u2014the glorious\nknowledge that he is doing endless good, and calling out endless love to\nhimself and to the Father, till the day when he shall give up to his\nFather the kingdom which he has won back from sin and death, and God\nshall be all in all.\n\nThat is the joy of your Lord. If you wish for any different sort of joy\nafter you die, you must not ask me to tell you of it; for I know nothing\nabout the matter save what I find written in the Holy Scripture.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON VI.\nWORSHIP.\n\n\n ISAIAH i. 12, 13.\n\n When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your\n hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is\n an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of\n assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn\n meeting.\n\nTHIS is a very awful text; one of those which terrify us\u2014or at least\nought to terrify us\u2014and set us on asking ourselves seriously and\nhonestly\u2014\u2018What do I believe after all? What manner of man am I after\nall? What sort of show should I make after all, if the people round me\nknew my heart and all my secret thoughts? What sort of show, then, do I\nalready make, in the sight of Almighty God, who sees every man exactly as\nhe is?\u2019\n\nI say, such texts as this ought to terrify us. It is good to be\nterrified now and then; to be startled, and called to account, and set\nthinking, and sobered, as it were, now and then, that we may look at\nourselves honestly anti bravely, and see, if we can, what sort of men we\nare.\n\nAnd therefore, perhaps, it is that this chapter is chosen for the first\nAdvent Lesson; to prepare us for Christmas; to frighten us somewhat; at\nleast to set us thinking seriously, and to make us fit to keep Christmas\nin spirit and in truth.\n\nFor whom does this text speak of?\n\nIt speaks of religious people, and of a religious nation; and of a\nfearful mistake which they were making, and a fearful danger into which\nthey had fallen. Now we are religious people, and England is a religious\nnation; and therefore we may possibly make the same mistake, and fall\ninto the same danger, as these old Jews.\n\nI do not say that we have done so; but we may; for human nature is just\nthe same now as it was then; and therefore it is as well for us to look\nround\u2014at least once now and then, and see whether we too are in danger of\nfalling, while we think that we are standing safe.\n\nWhat does Isaiah, then, tell the religious Jews of his day?\n\nThat their worship of God, their church-going, their sabbaths, and their\nappointed feasts were a weariness and an abomination to him. That God\nloathed them, and would not listen to the prayers which were made in\nthem. That the whole matter was a mockery and a lie in his sight.\n\nThese are awful words enough\u2014that God should hate and loathe what he\nhimself had appointed; that what would be, one would think, one of the\nmost natural and most pleasant sights to a loving Father in\nheaven\u2014namely, his own children worshipping, blessing, and praising\nhim\u2014should be horrible in his sight. There is something very shocking in\nthat; at least to Church people like us. If we were Dissenters, who go\nto chapel chiefly to hear sermons, it would be easy for us to say\u2014\u2018Of\ncourse, forms and ceremonies and appointed feasts are nothing to begin\nwith; they are man\u2019s invention at best, and may therefore be easily\nenough an abomination to God.\u2019 But we know that they are not so; that\nforms and ceremonies and appointed feasts are good things as long as they\nhave spirit and truth in them; that whether or not they be of man\u2019s\ninvention, they spring out of the most simple, wholesome wants of our\nhuman nature, which is a good thing and not a bad one, for God made it in\nhis own likeness, and bestowed it on us. We know, or ought to know, that\nappointed feast days, like Christmas, are good and comfortable\nordinances, which cheer our hearts on our way through this world, and\ngive us something noble and lovely to look forward to month after month;\nthat they are like landmarks along the road of life, reminding us of what\nGod has done, and is doing, for us and all mankind. And if you do not\nknow, I know, that people who throw away ordinances and festivals end, at\nleast in a generation or two, in throwing away the Gospel truth which\nthat ordinance or festival reminds us of; just as too many who have\nthrown away Good Friday have thrown away the Good Friday good news, that\nChrist died for all mankind; and too many who have thrown away Christmas\nare throwing away\u2014often without meaning to do so\u2014the Christmas good news,\nthat Christ really took on himself the whole of our human nature, and\ntook the manhood into God.\n\nSo it is, my friends, and so it will be. For these forms and festivals\nare the old landmarks and beacons of the Gospel; and if a man will not\nlook at the landmarks, then he will lose his way.\n\nTherefore, to Church people like us, it ought to be a shocking thing even\nto suspect that God may be saying to us, \u2018Your appointed feasts my soul\nhateth;\u2019 and it ought to set them seriously thinking how such a thing may\nhappen, that they may guard against it. For if God be not pleased with\nour coming to his house, what right have we in his house at all?\n\nBut recollect this, my dear friends, that we are not to use this text to\nsearch and judge others\u2019 faults, but to search and judge our own.\n\nFor if a man, hearing this sermon, looks at his neighbour across the\nchurch, and says in his heart, \u2018Ay, such a bad one as he is\u2014what right\nhas he in church?\u2019\u2014then God answers that man, \u2018Who art thou who judgest\nanother? To his own master he standeth or falleth.\u2019 Yes, my friends,\nrecollect what the old tomb-stone outside says\u2014(and right good doctrine\nit is)\u2014and fit it to this sermon.\n\n When this you see, pray judge not me\n For sin enough I own.\n Judge yourselves; mend your lives;\n Leave other folks alone.\n\nBut if a man, hearing this sermon, begins to say to himself, Such a man\nas I am\u2014so full of faults as I am\u2014what right have I in church? So\nselfish\u2014so uncharitable\u2014so worldly\u2014so useless\u2014so unfair (or whatever\nother faults the man may feel guilty of)\u2014in one word, so unlike what I\nought to be\u2014so unlike Christ\u2014so unlike God whom I come to worship. How\nlittle I act up to what I believe! how little I really believe what I\nhave learnt! what right have I in church? What if God were saying the\nsame of me as he said of those old Jews, \u2018Thy church-going, thy coming to\ncommunion, thy Christmas-day, my soul hateth; I am weary to bear it. Who\nhath required this at thy hands, to tread my courts?\u2019 People round me\nmay think me good enough as men go now; but I know myself too well; and I\nknow that instead of saying with the Pharisee to any man here, \u2018I thank\nGod that I am not as this man or that,\u2019 I ought rather to stand afar off\nlike the publican, and not lift up so much as my eyes toward heaven,\ncrying only \u2018God, be merciful to me a sinner.\u2019\n\nIf a man should think thus, my friends, his thoughts may make him very\nserious for awhile; nay, very sad. But they need not make him miserable:\nneed still less make him despair.\n\nThey ought to set him on thinking\u2014Why do I come to church?\n\nBecause it is the fashion?\n\nBecause I want to hear the preacher?\n\nNo\u2014to worship God.\n\nBut what is worshipping God?\n\nThat must depend entirely my friends, upon who God is.\n\nAs I often tell you, most questions\u2014ay, if you will receive it, all\nquestions\u2014depend upon this one root question, who is God?\n\nBut certainly this question of worshipping God must depend upon who God\nis. For how he ought to be worshipped depends on what will please him.\nAnd what will please him, depends on what his character is.\n\nIf God be, as some fancy, hard and arbitrary, then you must worship him\nin a way in which a hard arbitrary person would like to be addressed;\nwith all crouching, and cringing, and slavish terror.\n\nIf God be again, as some fancy, cold, and hard of hearing, then you must\nworship him accordingly. You must cry aloud as Baal\u2019s priests did to\ncatch his notice, and put yourselves to torment (as they did, and as many\na Christian has done since) to move his pity; and you must use\nrepetitions as the heathen do, and believe that you will be heard for\nyour much speaking. The Lord Jesus called all such repetitions vain, and\nmuch speaking a fancy: but then, the Lord Jesus spoke to men of a Father\nin heaven, a very different God from such as I speak of\u2014and, alas! some\nChristian people believe in.\n\nBut, my friends, if you believe in your heavenly Father, the good God\nwhom your Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to you; and if you will consider\nthat he is good, and consider what that word good means, then you will\nnot have far to seek before you find what worship means, and how you can\nworship him in spirit and in truth.\n\nFor if God be good, worshipping him must mean praising and admiring\nhim\u2014adoring him, as we call it\u2014for being good.\n\nAnd nothing more?\n\nCertainly much more. Also to ask him to make us good. That, too, must\nbe a part of worshipping a good God. For the very property of goodness\nis, that it wishes to make others good. And if God be good, he must wish\nto make us good also.\n\nTo adore God, then, for his goodness, and to pray to him to make us good,\nis the sum and substance of all wholesome worship.\n\nAnd for that purpose a man may come to church, and worship God in spirit\nand in truth, though he be dissatisfied with himself, and ashamed of\nhimself; and knows that he is wrong in many things:\u2014provided always that\nhe wishes to be set right, and made good.\n\nFor he may come saying, \u2018O God, thou art good, and I am bad; and for that\nvery reason I come. I come to be made good. I admire thy goodness, and\nI long to copy it; but I cannot unless thou help me. Purge me; make me\nclean. Cleanse thou me from my secret faults, and give me truth in the\ninward parts. Do what thou wilt with me. Train me as thou wilt. Punish\nme if it be necessary. Only make me good.\u2019\n\nThen is the man fit indeed to come to church, sins and all:\u2014if he carry\nhis sins into church not to carry them out again safely and carefully, as\nwe are all too apt to do, but to cast them down at the foot of Christ\u2019s\ncross, in the hope (and no man ever hoped that hope in vain)\u2014that he will\nbe lightened of that burden, and leave some of them at least behind him.\nAy, no man, I say, ever hoped that in vain. No man ever yet felt the\nburden of his sins really intolerable and unbearable, but what the burden\nof his sins was taken off him before all was over, and Christ\u2019s\nrighteousness given to him instead.\n\nThen a man is fit, not only to come to church, but to come to Holy\nCommunion on Christmas-day, and all days. For then and there he will\nfind put into words for him the very deepest sorrows and longings of his\nheart. There he may say as heartily as he can (and the more heartily the\nbetter), \u2018I acknowledge and bewail my manifold sins and wickedness. The\nremembrance of them is grievous unto me; the burden of them is\nintolerable:\u2019 but there he will hear Christ promising in return to pardon\nand deliver him from all his sins, to confirm and strengthen him in all\ngoodness. That last is what he ought to want; and if he wants it, he\nwill surely find it.\n\nHe may join there with the whole universe of God in crying, \u2018Holy, holy,\nholy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory:\u2019 and\nstill in the same breath he may confess again his unworthiness so much as\nto gather up the crumbs under God\u2019s table, and cast himself simply and\nutterly upon the eternal property of God\u2019s eternal essence, which\nis\u2014always to have mercy. But he will hear forthwith Christ\u2019s own\nanswer\u2014\u2018If thou art bad, I can and will make thee good. My blood shall\nwash away thy sin: my body shall preserve thee, body, soul, and spirit,\nto the everlasting life of goodness.\u2019\n\nAnd so God will bless that man\u2019s communion to him; and bless to him his\nkeeping of Christmas-day; because out of a true penitent heart and lively\nfaith he will be offering to the good God the sacrifice of his own bad\nself, that God may take it, and make it good; and so will be worshipping\nthe everlasting and infinite Goodness, in spirit and in truth.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON VII.\nGOD\u2019S INHERITANCE.\n\n\n GAL. iv. 6, 7.\n\n Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into\n your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a\n servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.\n\nTHIS is the second good news of Christmas-day.\n\nThe first is, that the Son of God became man.\n\nThe second is, why he became man. That men might become the sons of God\nthrough him.\n\nTherefore St. Paul says, You are the sons of God. Not\u2014you may be, if you\nare very good: but you are, in order that you may become very good. Your\nbeing good does not tell you that you are the sons of God: your baptism\ntells you so. Your baptism gives you a right to say, I am the child of\nGod. How shall I behave then? What ought a child of God to be like?\nNow St. Paul, you see, knew well that we could not make ourselves God\u2019s\nchildren by any feelings, fancies, or experiences of our own. But he\nknew just as well that we cannot make ourselves behave as God\u2019s children\nshould, by any thoughts and trying of our own.\n\nGod alone made us His children; God alone can make us behave like his\nchildren.\n\nAnd therefore St. Paul says, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our\nhearts: by which we cry to God, Our Father.\n\nBut some will say, Have we that Spirit?\n\nSt. Paul says that you have: and surely he speaks truth.\n\nLet us search, then, and see where that Spirit is in us. It is a great\nand awful honour for sinful men: but I do believe that if we seek, we\nshall find that He is not far from any one of us, for in Him we live and\nmove, and have our being; and all in us which is not ignorance,\nfalsehood, folly, and filth, comes from Him.\n\nNow the Bible says that this Spirit is the Spirit of God\u2019s Son, the\nSpirit of Christ:\u2014and what sort of Spirit is that?\n\nWe may see by remembering what sort of a Spirit Christ had when on earth;\nfor He certainly has the same Spirit now\u2014the Spirit which proceedeth\neverlastingly from the Father and from the Son.\n\nAnd what was that Like? What was Christ Like? What was his Spirit Like?\nIt was a Spirit of Love, mercy, pity, generosity, usefulness,\nunselfishness. A spirit of truth, honour, fearless love of what was\nright: a spirit of duty and willing obedience, which made Him rejoice in\ndoing His Father\u2019s will. In all things the spirit of a perfect _Son_, in\nall things a lovely, noble, holy spirit.\n\nAnd now, my dear friends, is there nothing in you like that? You may\nforget it at times, you may disobey it very often: but is there not\nsomething in all your hearts more or less, which makes you love and\nadmire what is right?\n\nWhen you hear of a noble action, is there nothing in you which makes you\napprove and admire it? Is there nothing in your hearts which makes you\npity those who are in sorrow and long to help them? Nothing which stirs\nyour heart up when you hear of a man\u2019s nobly doing his duty, and dying\nrather than desert his post, or do a wrong or mean thing? Surely there\nis\u2014surely there is.\n\nThen, O my dear friends, when those feelings come into your hearts,\nrejoice with trembling, as men to whom God has given a great and precious\ngift. For they are none other than the Spirit of the Son of God,\nstriving with your hearts that He may form Christ in you, and raise up\nyour hearts to cry with full faith to God, \u2018My Father which art in\nheaven!\u2019\n\n\u2018Ah but,\u2019 you will say, \u2018we like what is right, but we do not always do\nit. We like to see pity and mercy: but we are very often proud and\nselfish and tyrannical. We like to see justice and honour: but we are\ntoo apt to be mean and unjust ourselves. We like to see other people\ndoing their duty: but we very often do not do ours.\u2019\n\nWell, my dear friends, perhaps that is true. If it be, confess your sins\nlike honest men, and they shall be forgiven you. If you can so complain\nof yourselves, I am sure I can of myself, ten times more.\n\nBut do you not see that this very thing is a sign to you that the good\nand noble thoughts in you are not your own but God\u2019s? If they came out\nof your own spirits, then you would have no difficulty in obeying them.\nBut they came out of God\u2019s Spirit; and our sinful and self-willed spirits\nare striving against his, and trying to turn away from God\u2019s light. What\ncan we do then? We can cherish those noble thoughts, those pure and\nhigher feelings, when they arise. We can welcome them as heavenly\nmedicine from our heavenly Father. We can resolve not to turn away from\nthem, even though they make us ashamed. Not to grieve the Spirit of the\nSon of God, even though he grieves us (as he ought to do and will do more\nand more), by showing us our own weakness and meanness, and how unlike we\nare to Christ, the only begotten Son.\n\nIf we shut our hearts to those good feelings, they will go away and leave\nus. And if they do, we shall neither respect our neighbours, nor respect\nourselves. We shall see no good in our neighbours, but become scornful\nand suspicious to them; and if we do that, we shall soon see no good in\nourselves. We shall become discontented with ourselves, more and more\ngiven up to angry thoughts and mean ways, which we hate and despise, all\nthe while that we go on in them.\n\nAnd then\u2014mark my words\u2014we shall lose all real feeling of God being our\nFather, and we his sons. We shall begin to fancy ourselves his slaves,\nand not his children; and God our taskmaster, and not our Father. We\nshall dislike the thought of God. We shall long to hide from God. We\nshall fall back into slavish terror, and a fearful looking forward to of\njudgment and fiery indignation, because we have trampled under foot the\ngrace of God, the noble, pure, tender, and truly graceful feelings which\nGod\u2019s Spirit bestowed on us, to fill us with the grace of Christ.\n\nTherefore, my dear friends, never check any good or right feelings in\nyourselves, or in your children; for they come from the spirit of the Son\nof God himself. But, as St. Paul says, Phil. iv. 3, \u2018Finally, brethren,\nwhatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things are just, what soever\nthings are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of\ngood report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on\nthese things\u2019, . . . \u2018and the God of peace shall be with you.\u2019 Avoid all\nwhich can make you mean, low, selfish, cruel. Cling to all which can\nfill your mind with lofty, kindly, generous, loyal thoughts; and so, in\nGod\u2019s good time, you will enter into the meaning of those great\nwords\u2014Abba, Father. The more you give up your hearts to such good\nfeelings, the more you will understand of God; the more nobleness there\nis in you, the more you will see God\u2019s nobleness, God\u2019s justice, God\u2019s\nlove, God\u2019s true glory. The more you become like God\u2019s Son, the more you\nwill understand how God can stoop to call himself your Father; and the\nmore you will understand what a Father, what a perfect Father God is.\nAnd in the world to come, I trust, you will enter into the glorious\nliberty of the sons of God\u2014that liberty which comes, as I told you last\nSunday, not from doing your own will, but the will of God; that glory\nwhich comes, not from having anything of your own to pride yourselves\nupon, but from being filled with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus\nChrist, by which you shall for ever look up freely, and yet reverently,\nto the Almighty God of heaven and earth, and say, \u2018Impossible as the\nhonour seems for man, yet thou, O God, hast said it, and it is true.\nThou, even thou art my Father, and I thy son in Jesus Christ, who became\nawhile the Son of man on earth, that I might become for ever the son of\nGod in heaven.\u2019\n\nAnd so will come true to us St. Paul\u2019s great words:\u2014If we be sons, then\nheirs of God, joint heirs with Christ.\n\nHeirs of God: but what is our inheritance? The same as Christ\u2019s.\n\nAnd what is Christ\u2019s inheritance? What but God himself?\u2014The knowledge of\nour Father in heaven, of his love to us, and of his eternal beauty and\nglory, which fills all heavens and all worlds with light and life.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON VIII.\n\u2018DE PROFUNDIS.\u2019\n\n\n PSALM cxxx. 1.\n\n Out of the deep have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice.\n\nWHAT is this deep of which David speaks so often? He knew it well, for\nhe had been in it often and long. He was just the sort of man to be in\nit often. A man with great good in him, and great evil; with very strong\npassions and feelings, dragging him down into the deep, and great light\nand understanding to show him the dark secrets of that horrible pit when\nhe was in it; and with great love of God too, and of order, and justice,\nand of all good and beautiful things, to make him feel the horribleness\nof that pit where he ought not to be, all the more from its difference,\nits contrast, with the beautiful world of light, and order, and\nrighteousness where he ought to be. Therefore he knew that deep well,\nand abhorred it, and he heaps together every ugly name, to try and\nexpress what no man can express, the horror of that place. It is a\nhorrible pit, mire and clay, where he can find no footing, but sinks all\nthe deeper for his struggling. It is a place of darkness and of storms,\na shoreless and bottomless sea, where he is drowning, and drowning, while\nall God\u2019s waves and billows go over him. It is a place of utter\nloneliness, where he sits like a sparrow on the housetop, or a doleful\nbird in the desert, while God has put his lovers and friends away from\nhim, and hid his acquaintance out of his sight, and no man cares for his\nsoul, and all men seem to him liars, and God himself seems to have\nforgotten him and forgotten all the world. It is a dreadful net which\nhas entangled his feet, a dark prison in which he is set so fast that he\ncannot get forth. It is a torturing disgusting disease, which gives his\nflesh no health, and his bones no rest, and his wounds are putrid and\ncorrupt. It is a battle-field after the fight, where he seems to lie\nstript among the dead, like those who are wounded and cut away from God\u2019s\nhand, and lies groaning in the dust of death, seeing nothing round him\nbut doleful shapes of destruction and misery, alone in the outer\ndarkness, while a horrible dread overwhelms him. Yea, it is hell itself,\nthe pit of hell, the nethermost hell, he says, where God\u2019s wrath burns\nlike fire, till his tongue cleaves to his gums, and his bones are burnt\nup like a firebrand, till he is weary of crying; his throat is dry, his\nheart fails him for waiting so long upon his God.\n\nYes. A dark and strange place is that same deep pit of God\u2014if, indeed,\nit be God\u2019s and God made it. Perhaps God did not make it. For God saw\neverything that he had made, and behold it was very good: and that pit\ncannot be very good; for all good things are orderly, and in shape; and\nin that pit is no shape, no order, nothing but contradiction and\nconfusion. When a man is in that pit, it will seem to him as if he were\nalone in the world, and longing above all things for company; and yet he\nwill hate to have any one to speak to him, and wrap himself up in himself\nto brood over his own misery. When he is in that pit he shall be so\nblind that he can see nothing, though his eyes be open in broad noon-day.\nWhen he is in that pit he will hate the thing which he loves most, and\nlove the thing which he hates most. When he is in that pit he will long\nto die, and yet cling to life desperately, and be horribly afraid of\ndying. When he is in that pit it will seem to him that God is awfully,\nhorribly near him, and he will try to hide from God, try to escape from\nunder God\u2019s hand: and yet all the while that God seems so dreadfully near\nhim, God will seem further off from him than ever, millions and millions\nof miles away, parted from him by walls of iron, and a great gulf which\nhe can never pass. There is nothing but contradiction in that pit: the\nman who is in it is of two minds about himself, and his kin and\nneighbours, and all heaven and earth; and knows not where to turn, or\nwhat to think, or even where he is at all.\n\nFor the food which he gets in that deep pit is very hunger of soul, and\nrage, and vain desires. And the ground which he stands on in that deep\nis a bottomless quagmire, and doubt, and change, and shapeless dread.\nAnd the air which he breathes in that deep is the very fire of God, which\nburns up everlastingly all the chalk and dross of the world.\n\nI said that that deep was not merely the deep of affliction. No: for you\nmay see men with every comfort which wealth and home can give, who are\ntormented day and night in that deep pit in the midst of all their\nprosperity, calling for a drop of water to cool their tongue, and finding\nnone. And you may see poor creatures dying in agony on lonely sick beds,\nwho are not in that pit at all, but in that better place whereof it is\nwritten, \u2018Blessed are they who, going through the vale of misery, use it\nfor a well, and the pools are filled with water;\u2019 and again, \u2018If any man\nthirst, let him come to me, and drink;\u2019 and \u2018the water that I shall give\nhim shall be in him a well of water, springing up to everlasting life.\u2019\n\nNo\u2014that deep pit is a far worse place; an utterly bad place; and yet it\nmay be good for a man to have fallen into it; and, strangely enough, if\nhe do fall in, the lower he sinks in it, the better for him at last.\nThat is another strange contradiction in that pit, which David found,\nthat though it was a bottomless pit, the deeper he sank in it, the more\nlikely he was to find his feet set on a rock; the further down in the\nnethermost hell he was, the nearer he was to being delivered from the\nnethermost hell.\n\nOf course, if he had staid in that pit, he must have died, body and soul.\nNo mortal man, or immortal soul could endure it long. No immortal soul\ncould; for he would lose all hope, all faith in God, all feeling of there\nbeing anything like justice and order in the world, all hope for himself,\nor for mankind, lying so in that living grave where no man can see God\u2019s\nrighteousness, or his faithfulness in that land where all things are\nforgotten.\n\nAnd his mere mortal body could not stand it. The misery and terror and\nconfusion of his soul would soon wear out his body, and he would die, as\nI have seen men actually die, when their souls have been left in that\ndeep somewhat too long; shrink together into dark melancholy, and pine\naway, and die. And I have seen sweet young creatures too, whom God for\nsome purpose of his own (which must be good and loving, for _He_ did it)\nhas let fall awhile into that deep of darkness; and then in compassion to\ntheir youth, and tenderness, and innocence, has lifted them gently out\nagain, and set their weary feet upon the everlasting Rock, which is\nChrist; and has filled them with the light of his countenance, and joy\nand peace in believing; and has led them by green pastures and made them\nrest by the waters of comfort; and yet, though their souls were healed,\ntheir bodies were not. That fearful struggle has been too much for frail\nhumanity, and they have drooped, and faded, and gone peacefully after a\nwhile home to their God, as a fair flower withers if the fire has but\nonce past over it.\n\nBut some I have seen, men and women, who have arisen, like David, out of\nthat strange deep, all the stronger for their fall; and have found out\nanother strange contradiction about that deep, and the fire of God which\nburns below in it. For that fire hardens a man and softens him at the\nsame time; and he comes out of it hardened to that hardness of which it\nis written, \u2018Do thou endure hardness like a good soldier of Jesus\nChrist;\u2019 and again, \u2018I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I\nhave finished my course:\u2019 yet softened to that softness of which it is\nwritten, \u2018Be ye tenderhearted, compassionate, forgiving one another, even\nas God for Christ\u2019s sake has forgiven you;\u2019\u2014and again, \u2018We have a High\nPriest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing\nthat he has been tempted in all things like as we are, yet without sin.\u2019\n\nHappy, thrice happy are they who have thus walked through the valley of\nthe shadow of death, and found it the path which leads to everlasting\nlife. Happy are they who have thus writhed awhile in the fierce fire of\nGod, and have had burnt out of them the chaff and dross, and all which\noffends, and makes them vain, light, and yet makes them dull, drags them\ndown at the same time; till only the pure gold of God\u2019s righteousness is\nleft, seven times tried in the fire, incorruptible, and precious in the\nsight of God and man. Such people need not regret\u2014they will not\nregret\u2014all that they have gone through. It has made them brave, made\nthem sober, made them patient. It has given them\n\n The reason firm, the temperate will,\n Endurance, foresight, strength and skill;\n\nand so has shaped them into the likeness of Christ, who was made perfect\nby suffering; and though he were a Son, yet in the days of his flesh,\nmade strong supplication and crying with tears to his Father, and was\nheard in that he feared; and so, though he died on the cross and\ndescended into hell, yet triumphed over death and hell, by dying and by\ndescending; and conquered them by submitting to them. And yet they have\nbeen softened in that fierce furnace of God\u2019s wrath, into another\nlikeness of Christ\u2014which after all is still the same; the character which\nhe showed when he wept by the grave of Lazarus, and over the sinful city\nof Jerusalem; which he showed when his heart yearned over the perishing\nmultitude, and over the leper, and the palsied man, and the maniac\npossessed with devils; the character which he showed when he said to the\nwoman taken in adultery, \u2018Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more;\u2019\nwhich he showed when he said to the sinful Magdalene, who washed his feet\nwith tears, and wiped them with her hair, \u2018her sins, which are many, are\nforgiven; for she loved much;\u2019 the likeness which he showed in his very\ndeath agony upon the torturing cross, when he prayed for his murderers,\n\u2018Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u2019 This is the\ncharacter which man may get in that dark deep.\u2014To feel for all, and feel\nwith all; to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who\nweep; to understand people\u2019s trials, and make allowances for their\ntemptations; to put oneself in their place, till we see with their eyes,\nand feel with their hearts, till we judge no man, and have hope for all;\nto be fair, and patient, and tender with every one we meet; to despise no\none, despair of no one, because Christ despises none, and despairs of\nnone; to look upon every one we meet with love, almost with pity, as\npeople who either have been down into the deep of horror, or may go down\ninto it any day; to see our own sins in other people\u2019s sins, and know\nthat we might do what they do, and feel as they feel, any moment, did God\ndesert us; to give and forgive, to live and let live, even as Christ\ngives to us, and forgives us, and lives for us, and lets us live, in\nspite of all our sins.\n\nAnd how shall we learn this? How shall the bottomless pit, if we fall\ninto it, be but a pathway to the everlasting rock?\n\nDavid tells us:\n\n\u2018Out of the deep have I cried unto thee, O Lord.\u2019\n\nHe cried to God.\n\nNot to himself, his own learning, talents, wealth, prudence, to pull him\nout of that pit. Not to princes, nobles, and great men. Not to\ndoctrines, books, church-goings. Not to the dearest friend he had on\nearth; for they had forsaken him, could not understand him, thought him\nperhaps beside himself. Not to his own good works, almsgivings,\nchurch-goings, church-buildings. Not to his own experiences, faith\u2019s\nassurances, frames or feelings. The matter was too terrible to be\nplastered over in that way, or in any way. He was face to face with God\nalone, in utter weakness, in utter nakedness of soul, He cried to God\nhimself. There was the lesson.\n\nGod took away from him all things, that he might have no one to cry to\nbut God.\n\nGod took him up, and cast him down: and there he sat all alone,\nastonished and confounded, like Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, when she\nsat alone upon the parching rock. Like Rizpah, he watched the dead\ncorpses of all his hopes and plans, all for which he had lived, and which\nmade life worth having, withering away there by his side. But it was\ntold David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had done. And it is told\nto one greater than David, even to Jesus Christ, the Son of David, what\nthe poor soul does when it sits alone in its despair. Or rather it need\nnot be told him; for he sees all, weeps over all, will comfort all: and\nit shall be to that poor soul as it was to poor deserted Hagar in the\nsandy desert, when the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast her\nchild\u2014the only thing she had left\u2014under one of the shrubs and hurried\naway; for she said, \u2018Let me not see the child die.\u2019 And the angel of the\nLord called to her out of heaven, saying, \u2018The Lord hath heard the voice\nof the lad where he is;\u2019 and God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of\nwater.\n\nIt shall be with that poor soul as it was with Moses, when he went up\nalone into the mount of God, and fasted forty days and forty nights amid\nthe earthquake and the thunderstorm, and the rocks which melted before\nthe Lord. And behold, when it was past, he talked face to face with God,\nas a man talketh with his friend, and his countenance shone with heavenly\nlight, when he came down triumphant out of the mount of God.\n\nSo shall it be with every soul of man who, being in the deep, cries out\nof that deep to God, whether in bloody India or in peaceful England. For\nHe with whom we have to do is not a tyrant, but a Father; not a\ntaskmaster, but a Giver and a Redeemer. We may ask him freely, as David\ndoes, to consider our complaint, because he will consider it well, and\nunderstand it, and do it justice. He is not extreme to mark what is done\namiss, and therefore we can abide his judgments. There is mercy with\nhim, and therefore it is worth while to fear him. He waits for us year\nafter year, with patience which cannot tire; therefore it is but fair\nthat we should wait a while for him. With him is plenteous redemption,\nand therefore redemption enough for us, and for those likewise whom we\nlove. He will redeem us from all our sins: and what do we need more? He\nwill make us perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect. Let him\nthen, if he must, make us perfect by sufferings. By sufferings Christ\nwas made perfect; and what was the best path for Jesus Christ is surely\ngood enough for us, even though it be a rough and a thorny one. Let us\nlie still beneath God\u2019s hand; for though his hand be heavy upon us, it is\nstrong and safe beneath us too; and none can pluck us out of his hand,\nfor in him we live and move and have our being; and though we go down\ninto hell with David, with David we shall find God there, and find, with\nDavid, that he will not leave our souls in hell, or suffer his holy ones\nto see corruption. Yes; have faith in God. Nothing in thee which he has\nmade shall see corruption; for it is a thought of God\u2019s, and no thought\nof his can perish. Nothing shall be purged out of thee but thy disease;\nnothing shall be burnt out of thee but thy dross; and that in thee shall\nbe saved, and live to all eternity, of which God said at the beginning,\nLet us make man in our own image. Yes. Have faith in God; and say to\nhim once for all, \u2018Though thou slay me, yet will I love thee; for thou\nlovedst me in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nSERMON IX.\nTHE LOVE OF GOD ITS OWN REWARD.\n\n\n DEUT. xxx. 19, 20.\n\n I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have\n set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose\n life that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love the\n Lord thy God, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy\n life and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land\n which the Lord God sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob\n to give them.\n\nI SPOKE to you last Sunday on this text. But there is something more in\nit, which I had not time to speak of then.\n\nMoses here tells the Israelites what will happen to them if they keep\nGod\u2019s law.\n\nThey will love God. That was to be their reward. They were to have\nother rewards beside. Beside loving God, it would be well with them and\ntheir children, and they would live long in the land which God had given\nthem. But their first reward, their great reward, would be that they\nwould love God.\n\nIf they obeyed God, they would have reason to love him.\n\nNow we commonly put this differently.\n\nWe say, If you love God, you will obey him; which is quite true. But\nwhat Moses says is truer still, and deeper still. Moses says, If you\nobey God, you will love him.\n\nAgain we say, If you love God, God will reward you; which is true; though\nnot always true in this life. But Moses says a truer and deeper thing.\nMoses says that loving God is our reward; that the greatest reward, the\ngreatest blessing which a man can have, is this\u2014that the man should love\nGod. Now does this seem strange? It is not strange, nevertheless.\n\nFor there are two sorts of faith; and one must always, I sometimes think,\ncome before the other.\n\nThe first is implicit faith\u2014blind faith\u2014the sort of faith a child has in\nwhat its parents tell it. A child, we know, believes its parents\nblindly, even though it does not understand what they tell it. It takes\nfor granted that they are right.\n\nThe second is experimental faith\u2014the faith which comes from experience\nand reason, when a man looks back upon his life, and on God\u2019s dealings\nwith him; and then sees from experience what reason he has for trusting\nand loving God, who has helped him onward through so many chances and\nchanges for so many years.\n\nNow some people cry out against blind implicit faith, as if it was\nchildish and unreasonable. But I cannot. I think every one learns to\nlove his neighbour, very much as Moses told the Jews they would learn to\nlove God; namely, by trusting them somewhat blindly at first.\n\nIs it not so? Is it not so always with young people, when they begin to\nbe fond of each other? They trust each other, they do not know why, or\nhow. Before they are married, they have little or no experience of each\nother; of each other\u2019s tempers and characters: and yet they trust each\nother, and say in their hearts, \u2018He can never be false to me;\u2019 and are\nready to put their honour and fortunes into each other\u2019s hands, to live\ntogether for better for worse, till death them part. It is a blind faith\nin each other, that, and those who will may laugh at it, and call it the\nfolly and rashness of youth. I do not believe that God laughs at it:\nthat God calls it folly and rashness. It surely comes from God.\n\nFor there is something in each of them worth trusting, worth loving.\nTrue, they may be disappointed in each other; but they need not be. If\nthey are true to themselves; if they will listen to the better voice\nwithin, and be true to their own better feelings, all will be well, and\nthey will find after marriage that they did not do a rash and a foolish\nthing, when they gave up themselves to each other, and cast in their lot\ntogether blindly to live and die.\n\nAnd then, after that first blind faith and love in each other which they\nhad before marriage, will come, as the years roll by, a deeper, sounder\nfaith and love from experience.\u2014An experience of which I shall not talk\nhere; for those who have not felt it for themselves would not know what I\nmean; and those who have felt it need no clumsy words of mine to describe\nit to them.\n\nNow, my dear friends, this is one of the things by which marriage is\nconsecrated to an excellent mystery, as the Prayer-book says. This is\none of the things in which marriage is a pattern and picture of the\nspiritual union which is between Christ and his Church.\n\nFirst, as I said, comes blind faith. A young person, setting out in\nlife, has little experience of God\u2019s love; he has little to make him sure\nthat the way of life, and honour, and peace, is to obey God\u2019s laws. But\nhe is told so. His Bible tells him so. Wiser and older people than he\ntell him so, and God himself tells him so. God himself makes up in the\nyoung person\u2019s heart a desire after goodness.\n\nThen he takes it for granted blindly. He says to himself, I can but try.\nThey tell me to taste and see whether the Lord is gracious. I will\ntaste. They tell me that the way of his commandments is the way to make\nlife worth loving, and to see good days. I will try. And so the years\ngo by. The young person has grown middle-aged, old. He or she has been\nthrough many trials, many disappointments; perhaps more than one bitter\nloss. But if they have held fast by God; if they have tried, however\nclumsily, to keep God\u2019s law, and walk in God\u2019s way, then there will have\ngrown up in them a trust in God, and a love for God, deeper and broader\nfar than any which they had in youth; a love grounded on experience.\nThey can point back to so many blessings which the Lord gave them\nunexpectedly; to so many sorrows which the Lord gave them strength to\nbear, though they seemed at first sight past bearing; to so many\ndisappointments which seemed ill luck at the time, and yet which turned\nout good for them in the end. And so comes a deep, reasonable love to\ntheir Heavenly Father. Now they have _tasted_ that the Lord is gracious.\nNow they can say, with the Samaritans, \u2018Now we believe, not because of\nthy saying, but because we have heard him ourselves, and know that this\nis indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.\u2019 And when sadness and\naffliction come on them, as it must come, they can look back, and so get\nstrength to look forward. They can say with David, \u2018I will go on in the\nstrength of the Lord God. I will make mention only of his righteousness.\nOh my God, thou hast taught me from my youth up until now; hitherto have\nI declared thy wondrous works. Now also, when I am old and grey-headed,\noh Lord, forsake me not, till I have showed thy strength unto this\ngeneration, and thy power to those whom I leave behind me.\u2019\n\nAnd so, by remembering what God _has_ been to them, they can face what is\ncoming. \u2018They will not be afraid of evil tidings,\u2019 as David says; \u2018for\ntheir heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.\u2019\n\nAnd when old age comes, and brings weakness and sickness, and low\nspirits, still they have comfort. They can say with David again, \u2018I have\nbeen young, and now am old, but never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor\nhis seed begging their bread.\u2019\n\nOh my dear friends, young people especially\u2014there are many things which\nyou may long for which you cannot have: much happiness which is _not_\nwithin your reach. But _this_ you can have, if you will but long for it:\nthis happiness _is_ within your reach, if you will but put out your hand\nand take it.\u2014The everlasting unfailing comfort of loving God, and of\nknowing that God loves you. Oh choose that now at once. Choose God\u2019s\nways which are pleasantness, and God\u2019s paths which are peace; and then in\nyour old age, whether you become rich or poor, whether you are left\nalone, or go down to your grave in peace with children and grandchildren\nto close your eyes, you will still have the one great reward, the true\nreward, the everlasting reward which Moses promised the old Israelites.\nYou will have reason to love God, who has carried you safe through life,\nand will carry you safe through death, and to say with all his saints and\nmartyrs, \u2018Many things I know not; and many things I have lost: but this I\nknow.\u2014I know in whom I have believed; and this I cannot lose; even God\nhimself, whose name is faithful and true.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nSERMON X.\nTHE RACE OF LIFE.\n\n\n JOHN i. 26.\n\n There standeth one among you whom ye know not.\n\nTHIS is a solemn text. It warns us, and yet it comforts us. It tells us\nthat there is a person standing among us so great, that John the Baptist,\nthe greatest of the prophets, was not worthy to unloose his shoes\u2019\nlatchet.\n\nSome of you know who he is. Some of you, perhaps, do not. If you know\nhim, you will be glad to be reminded of him to-day. If you do not know\nhim, I will tell you who he is.\n\nOnly bear this in mind, that whether you know him or not, he is standing\namong us. We have not driven him away, and cannot drive him away. Our\nnot seeing him will not prevent his seeing us. He is always near us;\nready, if we ask him, as the Collect bids us, to \u2018come among us, and with\ngreat might succour us.\u2019\n\nFor, my friends, this is the meaning of the text, as far as it has to do\nwith us. The noble Collect for to-day tells this, and explains to us\nwhat we are to think of the Epistle and the Gospel.\n\nThe Epistle tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is at hand, and that\ntherefore we are to fret about nothing, but make our requests known to\nhim. The Gospel tells us that he stands among us. The Collect tells us\nwhat we are to do, because he is at hand, because he stands among us.\n\nAnd what are we to do?\n\nRecollect my friends, what John the Baptist said, according to St.\nMatthew, after the words in the text\u2014\u2018He shall baptize you with the Holy\nGhost, and with fire.\u2019\n\nThe Collect asks him to do that\u2014the first half of it at least. To\nbaptize us with the Holy Ghost, lest he should need to baptize us with\nfire.\n\nFor the Collect says, we have all a race to run. We have all a journey\nto make through life. We have all so to get through this world, that we\nshall inherit the world to come; so to pass through the things of time\n(as one of the Collects says) that we finally lose not the things\neternal. God has given each of us our powers and character, marked out\nfor each of us our path in life, set each of us our duty to do.\n\nBut how shall we make the proper use of our powers?\n\nHow shall we keep to our path in life?\n\nHow shall we do our duty faithfully?\n\nIn short, so as St. Paul puts it\u2014How shall we run our race, so as not to\nlose, but to win it?\n\nFor the Collect says\u2014and we ought to have found it out for ourselves\nbefore now\u2014Our sins and wickedness hinder us sorely in running the race\nwhich is set before us.\n\nOur sins and wickedness. The Collect speaks of these as two different\nthings; and I believe rightly, for the New Testament speaks of them as\ntwo different things. Sin, in the New Testament, means strictly what we\ncall \u201cfailings,\u201d \u201cdefects\u201d a missing the mark, a falling short; as it is\nwritten\u2014All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, that is, of\nthe likeness of a perfect man. {75}\n\nThus, stupidity, laziness, cowardice, bad temper, greediness after\npleasure\u2014these are strictly speaking what the New Testament calls sins.\nWickedness\u2014iniquity\u2014seem to be harder words, and to mean worse offences.\nThey mean the evil things which a man does, not out of the weakness of\nhis mortal nature, but out of his own wicked will, and what the Bible\ncalls the naughtiness of his heart. So wickedness means, not merely open\ncrimes which are punishable by the law, but all which comes out of a\nman\u2019s own wilfulness and perverseness\u2014injustice (which is the first\nmeaning of iniquity), cunning, falsehood, covetousness, pride,\nself-conceit, tyranny, cruelty\u2014these seem to be what the Scripture calls\nwickedness. Of course one cannot draw the line exactly, in any matters\nso puzzling as questions about our own souls must always be: but on the\nwhole. I think you will find this rule not far wrong\u2014\n\nThat all which comes from the weakness of a man\u2019s soul, is sin: all which\ncomes from abusing its strength, is wickedness. All which drags a man\ndown, and makes him more like a brute animal, is sin: all which puffs him\nup, and makes him more like a devil, is wickedness. It is as well to\nbear this in mind, because a man may have a great horror of sin, and be\nhard enough, and too hard upon poor sinners; and yet all the time he may\nbe thoroughly, and to his heart\u2019s core, a wicked man. The Pharisees of\nold were so. So they are now. Take you care that you be not like to\nthem. Keep clear of sin: but keep clear of wickedness likewise.\n\nFor, says the Collect, both will hinder you in your race: perhaps cause\nyou to break down in it, and never reach the goal at all.\n\nSin will hinder you, by dragging you back.\n\nWickedness will hinder you, by putting you altogether out of the right\nroad.\n\nIf a man be laden with sins; stupid, lazy, careless, over fond of\npleasure;\u2014much more, if he be given up to enjoying himself in bad ways,\nabout which we all know too well\u2014then he is like a man who starts in a\nrace, weak, crippled, over-weighted, or not caring whether he wins or\nloses; and who therefore lags behind, or grows tired, or looks round, and\nwants to stop and amuse himself, instead of pushing on stoutly and\nbravely. And therefore St. Paul bids us lay aside every weight (that is\nevery bad habit which makes us lazy and careless), and the sin which does\nso easily beset us, and run with patience our appointed race, looking to\nJesus, the author of our faith\u2014who stands by to give us faith,\nconfidence, courage to go on\u2014Jesus, who has compassion on those who are\nignorant, and out of the way by no wilfulness of their own; who can be\ntouched with the feeling of our infirmities; who can help us, can deliver\nus, and who will do what he can, and do all he can.\n\nHe can and will strengthen us, freshen us, encourage us, inspirit us, by\ngiving us his Holy Spirit, that we may have spirit and power to run our\nrace, day by day, and tide by tide. And so, if he sees us weak and\nfainting over our work, he will baptize us with the Holy Ghost.\n\nAnd yet there are times when he will baptize a sinner not only with the\nHoly Ghost, but with fire\u2014I am still speaking, mind, of a sinner, not of\na wicked man.\n\nAnd when? When he sees the man sitting down by the roadside to play,\nwith no intention of moving on. I do not say\u2014if he sees the man sitting\ndown to play at all. God forbid! How can a man run his life-long\nrace\u2014how can he even keep up for a week, a day, at doing his best at the\nfull stretch of his power, without stopping to take breath? I cannot,\nGod knows. If any man can\u2014be it so. Some are stronger than others: but\nbe sure of this; that God counts it no sin in a man to stop and take\nbreath. \u2018Press forward toward the mark of your high calling,\u2019 St. Paul\nsays: but he does not forbid a man to refresh and amuse himself\nharmlessly and rationally, from time to time, with all the pleasant\nthings which God has put into this world. They do refresh us, and they\ndo amuse us, these pleasant things. And God made them, and put them\nhere. Surely he put them here to refresh and amuse us. He did not\nsurely put them here to trap us, and snare us, and tempt us not to run\nthe very race which he himself has set before us? No, no, my friends.\nHe made pleasant things to please us, amusing things to amuse us. Every\ngood gift comes from him.\n\nBut if a man thinks of nothing but amusing himself, he is like a horse\nwho stands still in the middle of a journey, and begins feeding. Let him\ndo his day\u2019s journey, and feed afterwards; and so get strength for his\nnext day\u2019s work. But if he will stand still, and feed; if he will forget\nthat he has any work at all to do; then we shall punish him, to make him\ngo on. And so will God do with us. He will strike us then; and sharply\ntoo. Much more, if a man gives himself up to sinful pleasure; if he\ngives himself up to a loose and profligate life, and, like many a young\nman, wastes his substance in riotous living, and devours his heavenly\nFather\u2019s gifts with harlots\u2014then God will strike that man; and all the\nmore sharply the more worth and power there is in the man. The more God\nhas given the man, the sharper will be God\u2019s stroke, if he deserves it.\n\nAnd why?\n\nAsk yourselves. Suppose that your horse had plunged into a deep ditch,\nand was lying there in mire and thorns; would you not strike him, and\nsharply too, to make him put out his whole strength, and rise, and by one\ngreat struggle clear himself?\n\nOf course you would: and the more spirited, the more powerful the animal\nwas, the sharper you would be with him, because the more sure you would\nbe that he could answer to your call if he chose.\n\nEven so does God with us. If he sees us lying down; forgetting utterly\nthat we have any work or duty to do; and wallowing in the mire of fleshly\nlusts, and thorns of worldly cares, then he will strike; and all the more\nsharply, the more real worth or power there is in us; that he may rouse\nus, and force us to exert ourselves and by one great struggle, like the\nmired horse, clear ourselves out of the sin which besets us, and holds us\ndown, and leap, as it were, once and for all, out of the death of sin,\ninto the life of righteousness.\n\nBut much more if there be not merely sin in us, but wickedness;\nself-will, self-conceit, and rebellion.\n\nFor see, my friends. If we were training a young animal, how should we\ntreat it? If it were merely weak, we should strengthen and exercise it.\nIf it were merely ignorant, we should teach it. If it were lazy, we\nshould begin to punish it; but gently, that it might still have\nconfidence, faith in us, and pleasure in its work.\n\nBut if we found wickedness in it\u2014vice, as we rightly call it\u2014if it became\nrestive, that is, rebellious and self-willed, then we should punish it\nindeed. Seldom, perhaps, but very sharply; that it might see clearly\nthat we were the stronger, and that rebellion was of no use at all.\n\nAnd so does the Lord with us, my friends. If we will not go his way by\nkindness, he will make us go by severity.\n\nFirst, when we are christened, and after that day by day, if we ask\nhim\u2014and often when we ask him not\u2014he gives us the gentle baptism of his\nHoly Spirit, freshening, strengthening, encouraging, inspiriting. But if\nwe will not go on well for that; if we will rebel, and try our own way,\nand rush out of God\u2019s road after this and that, in pride and self-will,\nas if we were our own masters; then, my friends\u2014then will God baptize us\nwith fire, and strike with a blow which goes nigh to cut a man in two.\nVery seldom he strikes; for he is pitiful, and of tender mercy: but with\na rod as of fire, of which it is written, that it is sharper than a\ntwo-edged sword, and pierces through the joints and marrow. Very seldom:\nbut very sharply, that there may be no mistake about what the blow means,\nand that the man may know, however cunning, or proud, or self-righteous\nhe may be, that God is the Lord, God is his Master, and will be obeyed;\nand woe to him, if he obey him not. And what can a man do then, but\nwrithe in the bitterness of his soul, and get back into God\u2019s highway as\nfast as he can, in fear and trembling lest the next blow cut him in\nasunder? And so, by the bitterness of disappointment, or bereavement, or\nsickness, or poverty, or worst of all, of shame, will the Lord baptize\nthe man with fire.\n\nBut all in love, my friends; and all for the man\u2019s good. Does God _like_\nto punish his creatures? _like_ to torment them? Some think that he\ndoes, and say that he finds what they call \u2018satisfaction\u2019 in punishing.\nI think that they mistake the devil for God. No, my friends; what does\nhe say himself? \u2018Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked; and not\nrather that he should turn from his ways, and live?\u2019 Surely he has not.\nIf he had, do you think that he would have sent us into this world at\nall? I do not. And I trust and hope that you will not. Believe that\neven when he cuts us to the heart\u2019s core, and baptizes us with fire, he\ndoes it only out of his eternal love, that he may help and deliver us all\nthe more speedily.\n\nFor God\u2019s sake\u2014for Christ\u2019s sake\u2014for your own sake\u2014keep that in mind,\nthat Christ\u2019s will, and therefore God\u2019s will, is to help and deliver us;\nthat he stands by us, and comes among us, for that very purpose.\nConsider St. Paul\u2019s parable, in which he talks of us as men running a\nrace, and of Christ as the judge who looks on to see how we run. But for\nwhat purpose does Christ look on? To catch us out, as we say? To mark\ndown every fault of ours, and punish wherever he has an opportunity or a\nreason? Does he stand there spying, frowning, fault-finding, accusing\nevery man in his turn, extreme to watch what is done amiss? If an\nearthly judge did that, we should call him\u2014what he would be\u2014an\nill-conditioned man. But dare we fancy anything ill-conditioned in God?\nGod forbid! His conditions are altogether good, and his will a good will\nto men; and therefore, say the Epistle and the Collect, we ought not to\nbe terrified, but to rejoice, at the thought that the Lord is looking on.\nHowever badly we are running our race, yet if we are trying to move\nforward at all, we ought to rejoice that God in Christ is looking on.\n\nAnd why?\n\nWhy? Because he is looking on, not to torment, but to help. Because he\nloves us better than we love ourselves. Because he is more anxious for\nus to get safely through this world than we are ourselves.\n\nWill you understand that, and believe that, once for all, my\nfriends?\u2014That God is not _against_ you, but _for_ you, in the struggles\nof life; that he _wants_ you to get through safe; _wants_ you to succeed;\n_wants_ you to win; and that therefore he will help you, and hear your\ncry.\n\nAnd therefore when you find yourselves wrong, utterly wrong, do not cry\nto this man or that man, \u2018Do _you_ help me; do you set me a little more\nright, before God comes and finds me in the wrong, and punishes me.\u2019 Cry\nto God himself, to Christ himself; ask _him_ to lift you up, ask him to\nset you right. Do not be like St. Peter before his conversion, and cry,\n\u2018Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord; wait a little, till I\nhave risen up, and washed off my stains, and made myself somewhat fit to\nbe seen.\u2019\u2014No. Cry, \u2018Come quickly, O Lord\u2014at once, just because I am a\nsinful man; just because I am sore let and hindered in running my race by\nmy own sins and wickedness; because I am lazy and stupid; because I am\nperverse and vicious, _therefore_ raise up thy power, and come to me, thy\nmiserable creature, thy lost child, and with thy great might succour me.\nLift me up for I have fallen very low; deliver me, for I have plunged out\nof thy sound and safe highway into deep mire, where no ground is. Help\nmyself I cannot, and if thou help me not, I am undone.\u2019\n\nDo so. Pray so. Let your sins and wickedness be to you not a reason for\nhiding from Christ who stands by; but a reason, the reason of all\nreasons, for crying to Christ who stands by.\n\nAnd then, whether he deliver you by kind means or by sharp ones, deliver\nyou he will; and set your feet on firm ground, and order your goings,\nthat you may run with patience the race which is set before you along the\nroad of life, and the pathway of God\u2019s commandments, wherein there is no\ndeath.\n\nThis, my friends, is one of the meanings of Advent. This is the meaning\nof the Collect, the Epistle, and the Gospel.\u2014That God in Christ stands by\nus, ready to help and deliver us; and that if we cry to him even out of\nthe lowest depth, he will hear our voice. And that then, when he has\nonce put us into the right road again, and sees us going bravely along it\nto the best of the power which he has given us, he will fulfil to us his\neternal promise, \u2018Thy sins\u2014and not only thy sins, but thine iniquities\u2014I\nwill remember no more.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XI.\nSELF-RESPECT AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.\n\n\n PSALM vii. 8.\n\n Give sentence for me, O Lord, according to my righteousness; and\n according to the innocency that is in me.\n\nIS this speech self-righteous? If so, it is a bad speech; for\nself-righteousness is a bad temper of mind; there are few worse. If we\nsay that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in\nus. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our\nsins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have\nnot sinned, we make him a liar.\n\nThis is plain enough; and true as God is true. But there is another\ntemper of mind which is right in its way; and which is not\nself-righteousness, though it may look like it at first sight. I mean\nthe temper of Job, when his friends were trying to prove to him that he\nmust be a bad man, and to make him accuse himself of all sorts of sins\nwhich he had not committed; and he answered that he would utter no\ndeceit, and tell no lies about himself. \u2018Till I die I will not remove\nmine integrity from me; my righteousness I will hold fast, and will not\nlet it go; my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.\u2019 I have, on\nthe whole, tried to be a good man, and I will not make myself out a bad\none.\n\nFor, my friends, with the Bible as with everything else, we must hear\nboth sides of the question, lest we understand neither side.\n\nWe may misuse St. John\u2019s doctrine, that if we say we have no sin, we\ndeceive ourselves. We may deceive ourselves in the very opposite way.\n\nIn the first place, some people, having learnt that it is right to\nconfess their sins, try to have as many sins as possible to confess. I\ndo not mean that they commit the sins, but that they try to fancy they\nhave committed them. This is very common now, and has been for many\nhundred years, especially among young women and lads who are of a weakly\nmelancholy temper, or who have suffered some great disappointment. They\nare fond of accusing themselves; of making little faults into great ones;\nof racking their memories to find themselves out in the wrong; of taking\nthe darkest possible view of themselves, and of what is going to happen\nto them. They forget that Solomon, the wise, when he says, \u2018Be not\nover-much wicked; neither be thou foolish\u2014why shouldst thou die before\nthy time?\u2019\u2014says also, \u2018Be not righteous over-much; neither make thyself\nover-wise. Why shouldst thou destroy thyself?\u2019\n\nFor such people do destroy themselves. I have seen them kill their own\nbodies, and die early, by this folly. And I have seen them kill their\nown souls, too, and enter into strong delusions, till they believe a lie,\nand many lies, from which one had hoped that the Bible would have\ndelivered any and every man.\n\nOne cannot be angry with such people. One can only pity them, and pity\nthem all the more, when one finds them generally the most innocent, the\nvery persons who have least to confess. One can but pity them, when one\nsees them applying to themselves God\u2019s warnings against sins of which\nthey never even heard the names, and fancying that God speaks to them, as\nSt. Paul says that he did to the old heathen Romans, when they were\nsteeped up to the lips in every crime.\n\nNo\u2014one can do more than pity them. One can pray for them that they may\nlearn to know God, and who he is: and by knowing him, may be delivered\nout of the hands of cunning and cruel teachers, who make a market of\ntheir melancholy, and hide from them the truth about God, lest the truth\nshould make them free, while their teachers wish to keep them slaves.\n\nThis is one misuse of St. John\u2019s doctrine. There is another and a far\nworse misuse of it.\n\nA man may be proud of confessing his sins; may become self-righteous and\nconceited, according to the number of the sins which he confesses.\n\nSo deceitful is this same human heart of ours, that so it is I have seen\npeople quite proud of calling themselves miserable sinners. I say, proud\nof it. For if they had really felt themselves miserable sinners, they\nwould have said less about their own feelings. If a man really feels\nwhat sin is\u2014if he feels what a miserable, pitiful, mean thing it is to be\ndoing wrong when one knows better, to be the slave of one\u2019s own tempers,\npassions, appetites\u2014oh, if man or woman ever knew the exceeding\nsinfulness of sin, he would hide his own shame in the depths of his\nheart, and tell it to God alone, or at most to none on earth save the\nholiest, the wisest, the trustiest, the nearest and the dearest.\n\nBut when one hears a man always talking about his own sinfulness, one\nsuspects\u2014and from experience one has only too much reason to suspect\u2014that\nhe is simply saying in a civil way, \u2018I am a better man than you; for I\ntalk about my sinfulness, and you do not.\u2019\n\nFor if you answer such a man, as old Job or David would have done, \u2018I\nwill not confess what I have not felt. I have tried and am trying to be\nan upright, respectable, sober, right-living man. Let God judge me\naccording to the innocency that is in me. I know that I am not perfect:\nno man is that: but I will not cant; I will not be a hypocrite; and if I\naccuse myself of sins which I have not committed, it seems to me that I\nshall be mocking God, and deceiving myself. I will trust to God to judge\nme fairly, to balance between the good and the evil which is in me, and\ndeal with me accordingly.\u2019\n\nIf you speak in that way, the other man will answer you plainly enough,\n\u2018Ah! you are utterly benighted. You are building on legality and\nmorality. You have not yet learnt the first principles of the Gospel.\u2019\nAnd with these, and other words, will give you to understand this\u2014That he\nthinks he is going to heaven, and you are going to hell.\n\nNow, my dear friends, you are partly right, and he is partly right. St.\nPaul will show you where you are right and where he is right. He does\nso, I think, in a certain noble text of his in which he says, \u2018I judge\nnot mine own self; for I know nothing against myself, yet am I not hereby\njustified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.\u2019\n\nNow remember that no man was less self-righteous than St. Paul. No man\never saw more clearly the sinfulness of sin. No man ever put into words\nso strongly the struggle between good and evil which goes on in the human\nheart. In one place, even, when speaking of his former life, he calls\nhimself the chief of sinners. Yet St. Paul, when he had done his duty,\nknew that he had done it, and was not afraid to say\u2014as no honest and\nupright man need be afraid to say\u2014\u2018I know nothing against myself.\u2019 For\nif you have done right, my friend, it is God who has helped you to do it;\nand it is difficult to see how you can honour God, by pretending instead\nthat he has left you to do wrong.\n\nThis, then, seems to be the rule. If you have done wrong, be not afraid\nto confess it. If you have done right, be not afraid to confess that\neither. And meanwhile keep up your self-respect. Try to do your duty.\nTry to keep your honour bright. Let no man be able to say that he is the\nworse for you. Still more let no woman be able to say that she is the\nworse for you; for if you treat another man\u2019s daughter as you would not\nlet him treat yours, where is your honour then, or your clear conscience?\nWhat cares man, what cares God, for your professions of uprightness and\nrespectability, if you take good care to behave well to men, who can\ndefend themselves, and take no care to behave well to a poor girl, who\ncannot defend herself? Recollect that when Job stood up for his own\nintegrity, and would not give up his belief that he was a righteous man,\nhe took care to justify himself in this matter, as well as on others. \u2018I\nmade a covenant with mine eyes,\u2019 he says; \u2018why then should I think upon a\nmaid? If mine heart have been deceived by a woman; or if I have laid\nwait at my neighbour\u2019s door;\u2019 \u2018Then,\u2019 he says in words too strong for me\nto repeat, \u2018let others do to my wife as I have done to theirs.\u2019\n\nAvoid this sin, and all sins. Let no man be able to say that you have\ndefrauded him, that you have tyrannized over him; that you have neglected\nto do your duty by him. Let no man be able to say that you have rewarded\nhim evil for evil. If possible, let him not be able to say that you have\neven lost your temper with him. Be generous; be forgiving. If you have\nan opportunity, be like David, and help him who without a cause is your\nenemy; and then you will have a right to say, like David, \u2018Give sentence\nwith me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to the\ncleanness of my hands in thy sight.\u2019\n\nTrue\u2014that will not justify you. In God\u2019s sight shall no man living be\njustified, if justification is to come by having no faults. What man is\nthere who lives, and sins not? Who is there among us, but knows that he\nis not the man he might be? Who does not know, that even if he seldom\ndoes what he ought not, he too often leaves undone what he ought? And\nmore than that\u2014none of us but does many a really wrong thing of which he\nnever knows, at least in this life. None of us but are blind, more or\nless, to our own faults; and often blind\u2014God forgive us!\u2014to our very\nworst faults.\n\nThen let us remember, that he who judges us _is the Lord_.\n\nNow is that a thought to be afraid of?\n\nDavid did not think so, when he had done right. For he says, in this\nPsalm, \u2018Judge me, O Lord!\u2019\n\nAnd when he has done wrong, he thinks so still less; for then he asks God\nall the more earnestly, not only to judge him, but to correct him\nlikewise. \u2018Purge me,\u2019 he says, \u2018and I shall be clean. Cleanse thou me\nfrom my secret faults, and make me to understand wisdom secretly. For\nthou requirest truth in the inward parts.\u2019\n\nThat is bravely spoken, and worthy of an honest man, who wishes above all\nthings to be right, whatsoever it may cost him.\n\nBut how did David get courage to ask that?\n\nBy knowing God, and who God was.\n\nFor this, my friends, is the key to the whole matter\u2014as it is to all\nmatters\u2014Who is God?\n\nIf you believe God to be a hard task-master, and a cruel being, extreme\nto mark what is done amiss, an accuser like the devil, instead of a\nforgiver and a Saviour, as he really is;\u2014then you will begin judging\nyourself wrongly and clumsily, instead of asking God to judge you wisely\nand well.\n\nYou will break both of the golden rules which St. Anthony, the famous\nhermit, used to give to his scholars.\u2014\u2018Regret not that which is past; and\ntrust not in thine own righteousness.\u2019 For you will lose time, and lose\nheart, in fretting over old sins and follies, instead of confessing them\nonce and for all to God, and going boldly to his throne of grace to find\nmercy and grace to help you in the time of need; that you may try again\nand do better for the future. And so it will be true of you\u2014I am sure I\nhave seen it come true of many a poor soul\u2014what David found, before he\nfound out the goodness of God\u2019s free pardon:\u2014\u2018While I held my tongue, my\nbones waxed old through my daily complaining. For thy hand was heavy\nupon me night and day; my moisture was like the drought in summer.\u2019\n\nAnd all that while (such contradictory creatures are we all), you may be\nbreaking St. Anthony\u2019s other golden rule, and trusting in your own\nrighteousness.\n\nYou will begin trying to cleanse yourself from little outside faults, and\nfancying that that is all you have to do, instead of asking God to\ncleanse you from your secret faults, from the deep inward faults which he\nalone can see; forgetting that they are the root, and the outside faults\nonly the fruit. And so you will be like a foolish sick man, who is\nafraid of the doctor, and therefore tries to physic himself. But what\ndoes he do? Only tamper and peddle with the outside symptoms of his\ncomplaint, instead of going to the physician, that he may find out and\ncure the complaint itself. Many a man has killed his own body in that\nway; and many a man more, I fear, has killed his own soul, because he was\nafraid of going to the Great Physician.\n\nBut if you will believe that God is good, and not evil; if you will\nbelieve that the heavenly Father is indeed _your_ Father; if you will\nbelieve that the Lord Jesus Christ really loves you, really died to save\nyou, really wishes to deliver you from your sins, and make you what you\nought to be, and what you can be: then you will have heart to do your\nduty; because you will be sure that God helps you to do your duty. You\nwill have heart to fight bravely against your bad habits, instead of\nfretting cowardly over them; because you know that God is fighting\nagainst them for you. You will not, on the other hand, trust in your own\nrighteousness; because you will soon learn that you have no righteousness\nof your own: but that all the good in you comes from God, who works in\nyou to will and to do of his good pleasure.\n\nAnd when you examine yourself, and think over your own life and\ncharacter, as every man ought to do, especially in Advent and Lent, you\nwill have heart to say, \u2018O God, thou knowest how far I am right, and how\nfar wrong. I leave myself in thy hand, certain that thou wilt deal\nfairly, justly, lovingly with me, as a Father with his son. I do not\npretend to be better than I am: neither will I pretend to be worse than I\nam. Truly, I know nothing about it. I, ignorant human being that I am,\ncan never fully know how far I am right, and how far wrong. I find light\nand darkness fighting together in my heart, and I cannot divide between\nthem. But thou canst. Thou knowest. Thou hast made me; thou lovest me;\nthou hast sent thy Son into the world to make me what I ought to be; and\ntherefore I believe that he will make me what I ought to be. Thou\nwillest not that I should perish, but come to the knowledge of the truth:\nand therefore I believe that I shall not perish, but come to the\nknowledge of the truth about thee, about my own character, my own duty,\nabout everything which it is needful for me to know. And therefore I\nwill go boldly on, doing my duty as well as I can, though not perfectly,\nday by day; and asking thee day by day to feed my soul with its daily\nbread. Thou feedest my soul with _its_ daily bread. How much more then\nwilt thou feed my mind and my heart, more precious by far than my body?\nYes, I will trust thee for soul and for body alike; and if I need\ncorrecting for my sins, I am sure at least of this, that the worst thing\nthat can happen to me or any man, is to do wrong and _not_ to be\ncorrected; and the best thing is to be set right, even by hard blows, as\noften as I stray out of the way. And therefore I will take my punishment\nquietly and manfully, and try to thank thee for it, as I ought; for I\nknow that thou wilt not punish me beyond what I deserve, but far below\nwhat I deserve; and that thou wilt punish me only to bring me to myself,\nand to correct me, and purge me, and strengthen me. For this I\nbelieve\u2014on the warrant of thine own word I believe it\u2014undeserved as the\nhonour is, that thou art my Father, and lovest me; and dost not afflict\nany man willingly, or grieve the children of men out of passion or out of\nspite; and that thou willest not that I should be damned, nor any man;\nbut willest have all men saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XII.\nTRUE REPENTANCE.\n\n\n EZEKIEL xviii. 27.\n\n When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath\n committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save\n his soul alive.\n\nWE hear a great deal about repentance, and how necessary it is for a man\nto repent of his sins; for unless a man repent, he cannot be forgiven.\nBut do we all of us really know what repentance means?\n\nI sometimes fear not. I sometimes fear, that though this text stands at\nthe opening of the Church service, and though people hear it as often as\nany text in the whole Bible, yet they have not really learnt the lesson\nwhich God sends them by it.\n\nWhat, then, does repentance mean?\n\n\u2018Being sorry for what we have done wrong,\u2019 say some.\n\nBut is that all? I suppose there are few wicked things done upon earth,\nfor which the doers of them are not sorry, sooner or later. A man does a\nwrong thing, and his conscience pricks him, and makes him uneasy, and he\nsays in his heart, \u2018I wish after all I had left that alone.\u2019 But the\nnext time he is tempted to do the same thing, he does it, and is ashamed\nof himself afterwards again: but that is not repentance. I suppose that\nthere have been few murders committed in the world, after which sooner or\nlater the murderer did not say in his heart\u2014\u2018Ah, that that man were alive\nand well again!\u2019 But that is not repentance.\n\nFor aught I can tell, the very devil is sorry for his sin;\u2014discontented,\nangry with himself, ashamed of himself for being a devil. He may be so\nto all eternity, and yet never repent. For the dark uneasy feeling which\ncomes over every man sooner or later, after doing wrong, is not\nrepentance; it is remorse; the most horrible and miserable of all\nfeelings, when it comes upon a man in its full strength; the feeling of\nhating oneself, being at war with oneself, and with all the world, and\nwith God who made it.\n\nBut that will save no man\u2019s soul alive. Repentance will save any and\nevery soul alive, then and there: but remorse will not. Remorse may only\nkill him. Kill his body, by making him, as many a poor creature has\ndone, put an end to himself in sheer despair: and kill his soul at least,\nby making him say in his heart, \u2018Well, if bad I am, bad I must be. I\nhate myself, and God hates me also. All I can do is, to forget my\nunhappiness if I can, in business, in pleasure, in drink, and drive\nremorse out of my head;\u2019 and often a man succeeds in so doing. The first\ntime he does a wrong thing, he feels sorry and ashamed after it. Then he\ntakes courage after awhile, and does it again; and feels less sorrow and\nshame; and so again and again, till the sin becomes easier and easier to\nhim, and his conscience grows more and more dull; till at last perhaps,\nthe feeling of its being wrong quite dies within\u2014and that is the death of\nhis soul.\n\nBut of true repentance, it is written, that he who repents shall save his\nsoul _alive_. And how?\n\nThe word for repentance in Scripture means simply a change of mind. To\nchange one\u2019s mind is, in Scripture words, to repent.\n\nNow if a man changes his mind, he changes his conduct also. If you set\nout to go to a place and change your mind, then you do not go there. If\nas you go on, you begin to have doubts about its being right to go, or to\nbe sorry that you are going, and still walk on in the same road, however\nslowly or unwillingly, that is not changing your mind about going. If\nyou do change your mind, you will change your steps. You will turn back,\nor turn off, and go some other road.\n\nThis may seem too simple to talk of. But if it be, why do not people act\nupon it? If a man finds that in his way through life he is on the wrong\nroad, the road which leads to shame, and sorrow, and death and hell, why\nwill he confess that he is on the wrong road, and say that he is very\nsorry (as perhaps he really may be) that he is going wrong, and yet go\non, and persevere on the wrong path? At least, as long as he keeps on\nthe road which leads to ruin, he has not changed his mind, or repented at\nall. He may find the road unpleasant, full of thorns, and briars, and\npit-falls; for believe me, however broad the road is which leads to\ndestruction, it is only the _gate_ of it which is easy and comfortable;\nit soon gets darker and rougher, that road of sin; and the further you\nwalk along it, the uglier and more wretched a road it is: but all the\nmisery which it gives to a man is only useless remorse, unless he fairly\nrepents, and turns out of that road into the path which leads to life.\n\nNow the one great business of foolish man in all times has been to save\nhis soul (as he calls it) without doing right; to go to heaven (as he\ncalls it) without walking the road which leads to heaven. It is a folly\nand a dream. For no man can get to heaven, unless he be heavenly; and\nbeing heavenly is simply being good, and neither more or less. And sin\nis death, and no man can save his soul alive, while it is dead in sin.\nStill men have been trying to do it in all ages and countries; and as\nsoon as one plan has failed, they have tried some new one; and have\ninvented some false repentance which was to serve instead of the true\none. The old Jews seem to have thought that the repentance which God\nrequired was burnt-offerings and sacrifices: that if they could only\noffer bullocks and goats enough on God\u2019s altar, he would forgive them\ntheir sins. But David, and Isaiah after him, and Ezekiel after him,\nfound out that _that_ was but a dream; that that sort of repentance would\nsave no man\u2019s soul; that God did not require burnt-offerings and\nsacrifice for sin: but simply that a man should do right and not wrong.\n\u2018When ye come before me,\u2019 saith the Lord, \u2018who has required this at your\nhand, to tread my courts?\u2019 They were to bring no more vain offerings:\nbut to put away the evil of their doings; to cease to do evil, to learn\nto do well; to seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,\nplead for the widow; and then, and then only, though their sins were as\nscarlet, they should be white as snow. For God would take them for what\nthey were\u2014as good, if they were good; as bad, if they were bad. And this\nagrees exactly with the text. \u2018When the wicked man turneth away from his\nwickedness which he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and\nright, he shall save his soul alive.\u2019\n\nThe Papists again, thought that the repentance which God required, was\nfor a man to punish himself bitterly for his sins; to starve and torture\nhimself, to give up all that makes life pleasant, and so to atone. And\ngood and pious men and women, with a real hatred and horror of sin, tried\nthis: but they found that making themselves miserable took away their\nsins no more than burnt-offerings and sacrifices would do it. Their\nconsciences were not relieved; they gained no feeling of comfort, no\nassurance of God\u2019s love. Then they said, \u2018I have not punished myself\nenough. I have not made myself miserable enough. I will try whether\nmore torture and misery will not wipe out my sins.\u2019 And so they tried\nagain, and failed again, and then tried harder still, till many a noble\nman and woman in old times killed themselves piecemeal by slow torments,\nin trying to atone for their sins, and wash out in their own blood what\nwas already washed out in the blood of Jesus Christ. But on the whole,\nthat was found to be a failure. And now the great mass of the Papists\nhave fallen back on the wretched notion that repentance merely means\nconfessing their sins to a priest, and receiving absolution from him, and\ndoing some little penance too childish to speak of here.\n\nBut is there no false repentance among us English, too, my friends? No\npaltry substitute for the only true repentance which God will accept,\nwhich is, turning round and doing right? How many there are, who feel\u2014\u2018I\nam very wrong. I am very sinful. I am on the road to hell. I am\nquarrelling and losing my temper, and using bad language.\u2014Or\u2014I am\ncheating my neighbour. Or\u2014I am living in adultery and drunkenness: I\nmust repent before it is too late.\u2019 But what do they mean by repenting?\nComing as often as they can to church or chapel, and reading all the\nreligious books which they can get hold of: till they come, from often\nreading and hearing about the Gospel promises, to some confused notion\nthat their sins are washed away in Christ\u2019s blood; or perhaps, on the\nstrength of some violent feelings, believe that they are converted all on\na sudden, and clothed with the robe of Christ\u2019s righteousness, and\nrenewed by God\u2019s Spirit, and that now they belong to the number of\nbelievers, and are among God\u2019s elect.\n\nNow, my dear friends, I complain of no one going to hear all the good\nthey can; I complain of no one reading all the religious books they can:\nbut I think\u2014and more, I know\u2014that hearing sermons and reading tracts may\nbe, and is often, turned into a complete snare of the devil by people who\ndo not wish to give up their sins and do right, but only want to be\ncomfortable in their sins.\n\nHear sermons if you will; read good books if you will: but bear in mind,\nthat you know already quite enough to lead you to _repentance_. You need\nneither book nor sermon to teach you those ten commandments which hang\nhere over the communion table: all that books and tracts and sermons can\ndo is to teach you how to _keep_ those commandments in spirit and in\ntruth: but I am sure I have seen people read books, and run about to\nsermons, in order to enable them to forget those ten commandments; in\norder to find excuses for not keeping them; and to find doctrines which\ntell them, that because Christ has done all, they need do nothing;\u2014only\n_feel_ a little thankfulness, and a little sorrow for sin, and a little\nliking to hear about religion: and call that repentance, and conversion,\nand the renewal of the Holy Spirit.\n\nNow, my dear friends, let me ask you as reasonable beings, Do you think\nthat hearing me or any man preach, can save your souls alive? Do you\nthink that sitting over a book for an hour a day, or all day long, will\nsave your souls alive? Do you think that your sins are washed away in\nChrist\u2019s blood, when they are there still, and you are committing them?\nWould they be here, and you doing them, if they were put away? Do you\nthink that your sins can be put away out of God\u2019s sight, if they are not\neven put out of your own sight? If you are doing wrong, do you think\nthat God will treat you as if you were doing right? Cannot God see in\nyou what you see in yourselves? Do you think a man can be clothed in\nChrist\u2019s righteousness at the very same time that he is clothed in his\nown unrighteousness? Can he be good and bad at once? Do you think a man\ncan be converted\u2014that is turned round\u2014when he is going on his old road\nthe whole week? Do you think that a man has repented\u2014that is, changed\nhis mind\u2014when he is in just the same mind as ever as to how he shall\nbehave to his family, his customers, and everybody with whom he has to\ndo? Do you think that a man is renewed by God\u2019s Spirit, when except for\na few religious phrases, and a little more outside respectability, he is\njust the old man, the same character at heart he ever was? Do you think\nthat there is any use in a man\u2019s belonging to the number of believers, if\nhe does not do what he believes; or any use in thinking that God has\nelected and chosen him, when he chooses not to do what God has chosen\nthat every man must do, or die?\n\nBe not deceived. God is not mocked. What a man sows, that shall he\nreap. Let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous,\neven as Christ is righteous, and no one else.\n\nHe who tries to do as Christ did, and he only, has Christ\u2019s righteousness\nimputed to him, because he is trying to do what Christ did, that which is\nlawful and right. He who does righteousness, and he only, has truly\nrepented, changed his mind about what he should do, and turned away from\nhis wickedness which he has committed, and is now doing that which is\nlawful and right. He who does righteousness, and he only, shall save his\nsoul alive: not by feeling this thing, or believing about that thing, but\nby doing that which is lawful and right.\n\nWe must face it, my dear friends. We cannot deceive God: and God will\ncertainly not deceive himself. He sees us as we are, and takes us for\nwhat we are. What is right in us, he accepts for the salvation of Jesus\nChrist, in whom we are created unto good works. What is wrong in us, he\nwill assuredly punish, and give us the exact reward of the deeds done in\nthe body, whether they be good or evil. Every work of ours shall come\ninto judgment, unless it be repented of, and put away by the only true\nrepentance\u2014not doing the thing any more.\n\nGod, I say, will judge righteous judgment, and take us as we are.\n\nFor the sake of Jesus the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,\nthere is full, free, and perfect forgiveness for every sin, when we give\nit up. As soon as a man turns round, and, instead of doing wrong, tries\nto do right, he need be under no manner of fear or terror any more. He\nis taken back into his Father\u2019s house as freely and graciously as the\nprodigal son in the parable was. Whatsoever dark score there was against\nhim in God\u2019s books is wiped out there and then, and he starts clear, a\nnew man, with a fresh chance of life. And whosoever tells him that the\nscore is not wiped out, lies, and contradicts flatly God\u2019s holy word.\nBut as long as a man does _not_ give up his sins, the dark score _does_\nstand against him in God\u2019s books; and no praying, reading, devoutness of\nany kind will wipe it out; and as long as he sins, he is still in his\nsins, and his sins will be his ruin. Whosoever tells him that they are\nwiped out, he too lies, and contradicts flatly God\u2019s holy word.\n\nFor God is just, and true; and therefore God takes us for what we are,\nand will do so to all eternity; and you will find it so, my dearest\nfriends. In spite of all doctrines which men have invented, and then\npretended to find in the Bible, to drug men\u2019s consciences, and confuse\nGod\u2019s clear light in their hearts, you will find, now and for ever, that\nif you do right you will be happy even in the midst of sorrow; if you do\nwrong, you will be miserable even in the midst of pleasure. Oh believe\nthis, my dear friends, and do not rashly count on some sudden magical\nchange happening to you as soon as you die to make you fit for heaven.\nThere is not one word in the Bible which gives us reason to suppose that\nwe shall not be in the next world the same persons which we have made\nourselves in this world. If we are unjust here, we shall, for aught we\nknow, or can know, try to be unjust there; if we be filthy here, we shall\nbe so there; if we be proud here, we shall be so there; if we be selfish\nhere, we shall be so there. What we sow here, we shall reap there. And\nit is good for us to know this, and face this. Anything is good for us,\nhowever unpleasant it may be, which drives us from the only real misery,\nwhich is sin and selfishness, to the only true happiness, which is the\neverlasting life of Christ; a pure, loving, just, generous, useful life\nof goodness, which is the righteousness of Christ, and the glory of\nChrist, and which will be our righteousness and our glory also for ever:\nbut only if we live it; only if we be useful as Christ was, generous as\nChrist was, just as Christ was, gentle as Christ was, pure as Christ was,\nloving as Christ was, and so put on Christ, not in name and in word, but\nin spirit and in truth, that having worn Christ\u2019s likeness in this world,\nwe may share his victory over all evil in the life to come.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XIII.\nTHE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT.\n\n\n (_Twelfth Sunday after Trinity_.)\n\n II COR. iii. 6.\n\n God, who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the\n letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit\n giveth life.\n\nWHEN we look at the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for to-day one after the\nother, we do not see, perhaps, what they have to do with each other. But\nthey have to do with each other. They agree with each other. They\nexplain each other. They all three tell us what God is like, and what we\nare to believe about God, and why we are to have faith in God.\n\nThe Collect tells of a God who is more ready to hear than we are to pray;\nand is \u2018wont to give\u2019\u2014that is, usually, and as a matter of course, every\nday and all day long, gives us\u2014\u2018more than either we desire or deserve,\u2019\nof a God who gives and forgives, abundant in mercy. It bids us, when we\npray to God, remember that we are praying to a perfectly bountiful,\nperfectly generous God.\n\nSome people worship quite a different God to that. They fancy that God\nis hard; that he sits judging each man by the letter of the law; watching\nand marking down every little fault which they commit; extreme to mark\nwhat is done amiss; and that in the very face of Scripture, which says\nthat God is _not_ extreme to mark what is done amiss; for if he were, who\ncould abide it?\n\nTheir notion of God is, that he is very like themselves; proud, grudging,\nhard to be entreated, expecting everything from men, but not willing to\ngive without a great deal of continued asking and begging, and outward\nreverence, and scrupulous fear lest he should be offended unexpectedly at\nthe least mistake; and they fancy, like the heathen, that they shall be\nheard for their much speaking. They forget altogether that God is their\nFather, and knows what they need before they ask, and their ignorance in\nasking, and has (as any father fit to be called a father would have)\ncompassion on their infirmities.\n\nThere is a great deal of this lip-service, and superstitious devoutness,\ncreeping in now-a-days; a spirit of bondage unto fear. St. Paul warns us\nagainst it, and calls it will-worship, and voluntary humility. And I\ntell you of it, that it is not Christian at all, but heathen; and I say\nto you, as St. Paul bids me say, God, who made the world, and all\ntherein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in\ntemples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men\u2019s hands, as\nthough he needed anything, seeing that he giveth to all life and breath,\nand all things. For in him we live and move, and have our being, and are\nthe offspring\u2014the children\u2014of God.\n\nAway, then, with this miserable spirit of bondage and fear, which insults\nthat good God which it pretends to honour; and in spirit and in truth,\nnot with slavish crouchings and cringings, copied from the old heathen,\nlet us worship _The Father_.\n\nBut this leads us to the Epistle.\n\nSt. Paul tells us how it is that God is wont to give us more than we\neither desire or deserve: because he is the Lord and Giver of life, in\nwhom all created things live and move and have their being. Therefore in\nthe Epistle he tells us of a Spirit which gives life.\n\nBut some may ask, \u2018What life?\u2019\n\nThe Gospel answers that, and says, \u2018All life.\u2019\n\nIt tells us that our Lord Christ cared not merely for the life of men\u2019s\nsouls, but for the life of their bodies. That wherever he went he\nbrought with him, not merely health for men\u2019s souls by his teaching, but\nhealth for their bodies by his miracles. That when he saw a man who was\ndeaf and had an impediment in his speech, he sighed over him in\ncompassion; and did not think it beneath him to cure that poor man of his\ninfirmity, though it was no such very great one.\n\nFor he wished to show men that his heavenly Father cared for them\naltogether, body as well as soul; that all health and strength whatsoever\ncame from him.\n\nWhen we hear, therefore, of the Spirit giving life, we are not to fancy\nthat means only some high devout spiritual life, or that God\u2019s Spirit has\nto do only with a few elect saints. That may be a very pleasant fancy\nfor those who believe themselves to be the elect saints; but the message\nof the Gospel is far wider and deeper than that, or any other of vain\nman\u2019s narrow notions. It tells us that life\u2014all life which we can see;\nall health, strength, beauty, order, use, power of doing good work in\nGod\u2019s earthly world, come from the Spirit of God, just as much as the\nspiritual life which we cannot see\u2014goodness, amiableness, purity,\njustice, virtue, power of doing work in God\u2019s heavenly world. This\nlatter is the higher life: and the former the lower, though good and\nnecessary in its place: but the lower, as well as the higher, is life;\nand comes from the Spirit of God, who gives life and breath to all\nthings.\n\nAnd now, perhaps, we may see what St. Paul meant, by his being a minister\n\u2018not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the\nSpirit giveth life.\u2019\n\nDo you not see yet, my friends? Then I will tell you.\n\nIf I were to get up in this pulpit, and preach the terrors of the law,\nand the wrath of God, and hell fire: if I tried to bind heavy burdens on\nyou, and grievous to be borne, crying\u2014You _must_ do this, you _must_ feel\nthat, you _must_ believe the other\u2014while I having fewer temptations and\nmore education than you, touched not those burdens with one of my\nfingers; if I tried to make out as many sins as I could against you,\ncrying continually, this was wrong, and that was wrong, making you\nbelieve that God is always on the watch to catch you tripping, and\ntelling you that the least of your sins deserved endless torment\u2014things\nwhich neither I nor any man can find in the Bible, nor in common justice,\nnor common humanity, nor elsewhere, save in the lying mouth of the great\ndevil himself;\u2014or if I put into your hands books of self-examination (as\nthey are called) full of long lists of sins, frightening poor innocents,\nand defiling their thoughts and consciences, and making the heart of the\nrighteous sad, whom God has not made sad;\u2014if I, in plain English, had my\nmouth full of cursing and bitterness, threatening and fault-finding, and\ndistrustful, and disrespectful, and insolent language about you my\nparishioners: why then I might fancy myself a Christian priest, and a\nminister of the Gospel, and a very able, and eloquent, and earnest one;\nand might perhaps gain for myself the credit of being a \u2018searching\npreacher,\u2019 by speaking evil of people who are most of them as good and\nbetter than I, and by taking a low, mean, false view of that human nature\nwhich God made in his own image, and Christ justified in his own man\u2019s\nflesh, and soul, and spirit; but instead of being an able minister of the\nNew Covenant, or of the Spirit of God, I should be no such man, but the\nvery opposite.\n\nNo. I should be one of those of whom the Psalmist says, \u2018Their mouths\nare full of cursing and bitterness\u2019\u2014and also, \u2018Their feet are swift to\nshed blood.\u2019\n\nTo shed blood; to kill with the letter which killeth; and your blood, if\nI did succeed in killing your souls, would be upon my foolish head.\n\nFor such preaching as that does kill.\n\nIt kills three things.\n\n1. It kills the Gospel. It turns the good news of God into the very\nworst news possible, and the ministration of righteousness into the\nministration of condemnation.\n\n2. It kills the souls of the congregation\u2014or would kill them, if God\u2019s\nwisdom and love were not stronger than his minister\u2019s folly and hardness.\nFor it kills in them self-respect and hope, and makes them say to\nthemselves, \u2018God has made me bad, and bad I must be. Let me eat and\ndrink, for to-morrow I die. God requires all this of me, and I cannot do\nit. I shall not try to do it. I shall take my chance of being saved at\nlast, I know not how.\u2019 It frightens people away from church, from\nreligion, from the very thought of God. It sets people on spying out\ntheir neighbours\u2019 faults, on judging and condemning, on fancying\nthemselves righteous and despising others; and so kills in them faith,\nhope, and charity, which are the very life of their spirits.\n\n3. And by a just judgment, it kills the soul of the preacher also. It\nmakes him forget who he is, what God has set him to do; and at last, even\nwho God is. It makes him fancy that he is doing God\u2019s work, while he is\nsimply doing the work of the devil, the slanderer and accuser of the\nbrethren; judging and condemning his congregation, when God has said,\n\u2018Judge not and ye shall not be judged, condemn not and ye shall not be\ncondemned.\u2019 It makes him at last like the false God whom he has been\npreaching (for every man at last copies the God in whom he believes),\ndark and deceiving, proud and cruel;\u2014and may the Lord have mercy upon his\nsoul!\n\nBut I will tell you how I can be an able minister of the New Testament,\nand of the Spirit who gives life.\n\nIf I say to you\u2014and I do say it now, and will say it as long as I am\nhere\u2014Trust God, because God is good; obey God, because God is good.\n\nI preach to you the good God of the Collect, even your heavenly Father;\nwho needs not be won over or appeased by anything which you can do, for\nhe loves you already for the sake of his dear Son, whose members you are.\nHe will not hear you the more for your much speaking, for he knows your\nnecessities before you ask, and your ignorance in asking. He will not\njudge you according to the letter of Moses\u2019 law, or any other law\nwhatsoever, but according to the spirit of your longings and struggles\nafter what is right. He will not be extreme to mark what you do amiss,\nbut will help you to mend it, if you desire to mend; setting you straight\nwhen you go wrong, and helping you up when you fall, if only your spirit\nis struggling after what is right.\n\nThis all-good heavenly Father I preach to you, and I say to you, Trust\n_him_.\n\nI preach to you a Spirit who is the Lord and Giver of life; who hates\ndeath, and therefore wills not that you should die; who has given you all\nthe life you have, all health and strength of body, all wit and power of\nmind, all right, pure, loving, noble feelings of heart and spirit, and\nwho is both able and willing to keep them alive and healthy in you for\never.\n\nThis all-good Spirit of life I preach to you; and I say to you, Trust\n_him_.\n\nI preach to you a Son of God, who is the likeness of his Father\u2019s glory,\nand the express image of his person; in order that by seeing him and how\ngood he is, you may see your heavenly Father, and how good he is\nlikewise; a Son of God who is your Saviour and your Judge; who judges you\nthat he may save you, and saves you by judging you; who has all power\ngiven to him in heaven and earth, and declares that almighty power most\nchiefly by showing mercy and pity; who, when he was upon earth, made the\ndeaf to hear, the lame to walk, the blind to see; who ate and drank with\npublicans and sinners, and was the friend of all mankind; a Son of God\nwho has declared everlasting war against disease, ignorance, sin, death,\nand all which makes men miserable. Those are his enemies; and he reigns,\nand will reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet, and there is\nnothing left in God\u2019s universe but order and usefulness, health and\nbeauty, knowledge and virtue, in the day when God shall be all in all.\n\nThis all-good Son of God I preach to you, and I say to you, Trust _him_,\nand obey him. Obey him, not lest he should become angry and harm you,\nlike the false gods of the heathen, but because his commandments are\nlife; because he has made them for your good.\n\nOh! when will people understand that\u2014that God has not made laws out of\nany arbitrariness, but for our good?\u2014That his commandments are _Life_?\nDavid of old knew as much as that. Why do not we know more, instead of\nknowing, most of us, much less? It is simple enough, if you will but\nlook at it with simple minds. God has made us; and if he had not loved\nus, he would not have made us at all. God has sent us into the world;\nand if he had not loved us, he would not have sent us into the world at\nall. In him we live, and move, and have our being, and are the offspring\nand children of God. And therefore God alone knows what is good for us;\nwhat is the good life, the wholesome, the safe, the right, the\neverlasting life for us. And he sends his Son to tell us\u2014This is the\nright life; a life like Christ\u2019s; a life according to God\u2019s Spirit; and\nif you do not live that life you will die, not only body but soul also,\nbecause you are not living the life which God meant for you when he made\nyou. Just as if you eat the wrong food, you will kill your bodies; so if\nyou think the wrong thoughts, and feel the wrong feelings, and therefore\ndo the wrong things, you will kill your own souls. God will not kill\nyou; you will kill yourselves. God grudges you nothing. God does not\nwish to hurt you, wish to punish you. He wishes you to live and be\nhappy; to live for ever, and be happy for ever. But as your body cannot\nlive unless it be healthy, so your soul cannot live unless it be healthy.\nAnd it cannot be healthy unless it live the right life. And it cannot\nlive the right life without the right spirit. And the only right spirit\nis the Spirit of God himself the Spirit of your Father in heaven, who\nwill make you, as children should be, like your Father.\n\nBut that Spirit is not far from any of you. In him you live, and move,\nand have your being already. Were he to leave you for a moment you would\ndie, and be turned again to your dust. From him comes all the good of\nbody and soul which you have already. Trust him for more. Ask him for\nmore. Go boldly to the throne of his grace, remembering that it is a\nthrone of _grace_, of kindness, tenderness, patience, bountiful love, and\nwealth without end. Do not think that he is hard of hearing, or hard of\ngiving. How can he be? For he is the Spirit of the all-generous Father\nand of the all-generous Son, and has given, and gives now; and delights\nto give, and delights to be asked. He is the charity of God; the\nboundless love by which all things consist; and, like all love, becomes\nmore rich by spending, and glorifies himself by giving himself away; and\nhas sworn by himself\u2014that is, by his own eternal and necessary character,\nwhich he cannot alter or unmake\u2014\u2018This is the new covenant which I will\nmake with my people. I will write my laws in their hearts, and in their\nminds will I write them; and I will dwell with them, and be their God.\u2019\n\nOh, my friends, take these words to yourselves; and trust in that good\nFather in heaven, whose love sent you into this world, and gave you the\npriceless blessing of life; whose love sent his Son to show you the\npattern of life, and to redeem you freely from all your sins; whose love\nsends his Spirit to give you the power of leading the everlasting life,\nand will raise you up again, body and soul, to that same everlasting life\nafter death. Trust him, for he is your Father. Whatever else he is, he\nis that. He has bid you call him that, and he will hear you. If you\nforget that he is your Father, you forget him, and worship a false God of\nyour own invention. And whenever you doubt; whenever the devil, or\nignorant preachers, or superstitious books, make you afraid, and tempt\nyou to fancy that God hates you, and watches to catch you tripping, take\nrefuge in that blessed name, and say, \u2018Satan, I defy thee; for the\nAlmighty God of heaven is my Father.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XIV.\nHEROES AND HEROINES.\n\n\n (_Whitsunday_.)\n\n PSALM xxxii. 8.\n\n I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I\n will guide thee with mine eye.\n\nTHIS is God\u2019s promise; which he fulfilled at sundry times and in\ndifferent manners to all the men of the old world who trusted in him. He\ninformed them; that is, he put them into right form, right shape, right\ncharacter, and made them the men which they were meant to be. He taught\nthem in the way in which they ought to go. He guided them where they\ncould not guide themselves.\n\nBut God fulfilled this promise utterly and completely on the first\nWhitsuntide, when the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles.\n\nThat was an extraordinary and special gift; because the apostles had to\ndo an extraordinary and special work. They had to preach the Gospel to\nall nations, and therefore they wanted tongues with which to speak to all\nnations; at least to those of their countrymen who came from foreign\nparts, and spoke foreign tongues, that they might carry home the good\nnews of Christ into all lands. And they wanted tongues of fire, too, to\nset their own hearts on fire with divine zeal and earnestness, and to set\non fire the hearts of those who heard them.\n\nBut that was an extraordinary gift. There was never anything like it\nbefore; nor has been, as far as we know, since; because it has not been\nneeded.\n\nIt is enough for us to know, that the apostles had what they needed. God\ncalled and sent them to do a great work: and therefore, being just and\nmerciful, he gave them the power which was wanted for that great work.\n\nBut if that is a special case; if there has been nothing like it since,\nwhat has Whitsuntide to do with us? We need no tongues of fire, and we\nshall have none on this Whitsunday or any Whitsunday. Has Whitsunday\nthen no blessing for us? Do we get nothing by it? God forbid, my\nfriends.\n\nWe get what the apostles got, and neither more nor less; though not in\nthe same shape as they did.\n\nGod called them to do a work: God calls us, each of us, to do some work.\n\nGod gave them the Holy Spirit to make them able to do their work. God\ngives _us_ the Holy Spirit, to make us able to do _our_ work, whatsoever\nthat may be.\n\nAs their day, so their strength was: as our day is, so our strength shall\nbe.\n\nFor instance.\u2014\n\nHow often one sees a person\u2014a woman, say\u2014easy and comfortable, enjoying\nlife, and taking little trouble about anything, because she has no need.\nAnd when one looks at such a woman, one is apt to say hastily in one\u2019s\nheart, \u2018Ah, she does not know what sorrow is\u2014and well for her she does\nnot; for she would make but a poor fight if trouble came on her; she\nwould make but a poor nurse if she had to sit months by a sick bed. She\nwould become down-hearted, and peevish, and useless. There is no\nstrength in her to stand in the evil day.\u2019\n\nAnd perhaps that woman would say so of herself. She might be painfully\nafraid of the thought of affliction; she might shrink from the notion of\nhaving to nurse any one; from having to give up her own pleasure and ease\nfor the sake of others; and she would say of herself, as you say of her,\n\u2018What would become of me if sorrow came? _I_ have no strength to stand\nin the evil day.\u2019\n\nYes, my friends, and you say true, and she says true. And yet not true\neither. She has no strength to stand: but she will stand nevertheless,\nfor God is able to make her stand. As her day, so her strength shall be.\nA day of suffering, anxiety, weariness, all but despair may come to her.\nBut in that day she shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire;\nand then you shall be astonished, and she shall be astonished, at what\nshe can do, and what she can endure; because God\u2019s Spirit will give her a\nright judgment in all things, and enable her, even in the midst of her\nsorrow, to rejoice in his holy comfort. And people will call her\u2014those\nat least who know her\u2014a \u2018heroine.\u2019 And they speak truly and well, and\ngive her the right and true name. Why, I will tell you presently.\n\nOr how often it happens to a man to be thrown into circumstances which he\nnever expected. An officer, perhaps, in war time in a foreign land\u2014in\nIndia now. He has a work to do: a heavy, dangerous, difficult, almost\nhopeless work. He does not like it. He is afraid of it. He wishes\nhimself anywhere but where he is. He has little or no hope of\nsucceeding; and if he fails, he fears that he will be blamed,\nmisunderstood, slandered. But he feels he must go through with it. He\ncannot turn back; he cannot escape. As the saying is, the bull is\nbrought to the stake, and he must bide the baiting.\n\nAt first, perhaps, he tries to buoy himself up. He begins his work in a\nlittle pride and self-conceit, and notion of his own courage and cunning.\nHe tries to fancy himself strong enough for anything. He feeds himself\nup with the thought of what people will say of him; the hope of gaining\nhonour and praise: and that is not altogether a wrong feeling\u2014God forbid!\n\nBut the further the man gets into his work, the more difficult it grows,\nand the more hopeless he grows. He finds himself weak, when he expected\nto be strong; puzzled when he thought himself cunning. He is not sure\nwhether he is doing right. He is afraid of responsibility. It is a\nheavy burden on him, too heavy to bear. His own honour and good name may\ndepend upon a single word which he speaks. The comfort, the fortune, the\nlives of human beings may depend on his making up his mind at an hour\u2019s\nnotice to do exactly the right thing at the right time. People round him\nmay be mistaking him, slandering him, plotting against him, rebelling\nagainst him, even while he is trying to do them all the good he can.\nLittle comfort does he get then from the thought of what people at home\nmay say of him. He is set in the snare, and he cannot find his way out.\nHe is at his own wits\u2019 end; and from whence shall he get fresh wits? Who\nwill give him a right judgment in all things? Who will give him a holy\ncomfort in which he can rejoice?\u2014a comfort which will make him cheerful,\nbecause he knows it is a right comfort, and that he is doing right? His\nheart is sinking within him, getting chill and cold with despair. Who\nwill put fresh fire and spirit into it?\n\nGod will. When he has learnt how weak he is in himself, how stupid he is\nin himself;\u2014ay, bitter as it is to a brave man to have to confess it, how\ncowardly he is in himself\u2014then, when he has learnt the golden lesson, God\nwill baptize him with the Holy Ghost and with fire.\n\nA time will come to that man, when, finding no help in himself, no help\nin man, he will go for help to God.\n\nOld words which he learnt at his mother\u2019s knee come back to him\u2014old words\nthat he almost forgot, perhaps, in the strength and gaiety of his youth\nand prosperity. And he prays. He prays clumsily enough, perhaps. He is\nnot accustomed to praying; and he hardly knows what to ask for, or how to\nask for it. Be it so. In that he is not so very much worse off than\nothers. What did St. Paul say, even of himself? \u2018We know not how to ask\nfor anything as we ought: but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with\ngroanings that cannot be uttered\u2019\u2014too deep for words. Yes, in every\nhonest heart there are longings too deep for words. A man knows he wants\nsomething: but knows not what he wants. He cannot find the right words\nto say to God. Let him take comfort. What he does not know, the Holy\nSpirit of Whitsuntide\u2014the Spirit of Jesus Christ\u2014does know. Christ knows\nwhat we want, and offers our clumsy prayers up to our heavenly Father,\nnot in the shape in which we put them, but as they ought to be, as we\nshould like them to be; and our Father hears them.\n\nYes. Our Father hears the man who cries to him, however clumsily, for\nlight and strength to do his duty. So it is; so it has been always; so\nit will be to the end. And then as the man\u2019s day, so his strength will\nbe. He may be utterly puzzled, utterly down-hearted, utterly hopeless:\nbut the day comes to him in which he is baptized with the Holy Ghost and\nwith fire. He begins to have a right judgment; to see clearly what he\nought to do, and how to do it. He grows more shrewd, more prompt, more\nsteady than he ever has been before. And there comes a fire into his\nheart, such as there never was before; a spirit and a determination which\nnothing can daunt or break, which makes him bold, cheerful, earnest, in\nthe face of the anxiety and danger which would have, at any other time,\nbroken his heart. The man is lifted up above himself, and carried on\nthrough his work, he hardly knows how, till he succeeds nobly, or if he\nfails, fails nobly; and be the end as it may, he gets the work done which\nGod has given him to do.\n\nAnd then when he looks back, he is astonished at himself. He wonders how\nhe could dare so much; wonders how he could endure so much; wonders how\nthe right thought came into his head at the right moment. He hardly\nknows himself again. It seems to him, when he thinks over it all, like a\ngrand and awful dream. And the world is astonished at him likewise.\nThey cry, \u2018Who would have thought there was so much in this man? who\nwould have expected such things of him?\u2019 And they call him a hero\u2014and so\nhe is.\n\nYes, the world is right, more right than it thinks in both sayings. Who\nwould have expected there was so much in the man? For there was not so\nmuch in him, till God put it there.\n\nAnd again they are right, too; more right than they think in calling that\nman a hero, or that woman a heroine.\n\nFor what is the old meaning, the true meaning of a hero or a heroine?\n\nIt meant\u2014and ought to mean\u2014one who is a son or a daughter of God, and\nwhom God informs and strengthens, and sends out to do noble work,\nteaching them the way wherein they should go. That was the right meaning\nof a hero and of a heroine even among the old heathens. Let it mean the\nsame among us Christians, when we talk of a hero; and let us give God the\nglory, and say\u2014There is a man who has entered, even if it be but for one\nday\u2019s danger and trial, into the blessings of Whitsuntide and the power\nof God\u2019s Spirit; a man whom God has informed and taught in the way\nwherein he should go. May that same God give him grace to abide herein\nall the days of his life!\n\nYes, my friends, may God give us all grace to under stand Whitsuntide,\nand feed on the blessings of Whitsuntide; not merely once in a way, in\nsome great sorrow, great danger, great struggle, great striving point of\nour lives; but every day and all day long, and to rejoice in the power of\nhis Spirit, till it becomes to us\u2014would that it could to-day become to\nus;\u2014like the air we breathe; till having got our life\u2019s work done, if not\ndone perfectly, yet still done, we may go hence to receive the due reward\nof our deeds.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XV.\nTHE MEASURE OF THE CROSS.\n\n\n EPHESIANS iii. 18, 19.\n\n That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the\n breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of\n Christ, which passeth knowledge.\n\nTHESE words are very deep, and difficult to understand; for St. Paul does\nnot tell us exactly of what he is speaking. He does not say what it is,\nthe breadth and length, and depth, and height of which we are to\ncomprehend and take in. Only he tells us afterwards what will come of\nour taking it in; we shall know the love of Christ.\n\nAnd therefore many great fathers and divines, whose names there is no\nneed for me to tell you, but whose opinions we must always respect, have\nsaid that what St. Paul is speaking of is, the Cross of Christ.\n\nOf course they do not mean the wood of which the actual cross was made.\nThey mean the thing of which the cross was a sign and token.\n\nNow of what is the cross a token?\n\nOf the love of Christ, which is the love of God.\n\nBut of what kind of love?\n\nNot the love which is satisfied with sitting still and enjoying itself,\nas long as nothing puts it out, and turns its love to anger\u2014what we call\nmere good nature and good temper; not that, not that, my friends: but\nlove which will dare, and do, and yearn, and mourn; love which cannot\nrest; love which sacrifices itself; love which will suffer, love which\nwill die, for what it loves;\u2014such love as a father has, who perishes\nhimself to save his drowning child.\n\nNow the cross of Christ is a token to us, that God\u2019s love to us is like\nthat: a love which will dare anything, and suffer anything, for the sake\nof saving sinful man.\n\nAnd therefore it is, that from the earliest times the cross has been the\nspecial sign of Christians. We keep it up still, when we make the sign\nof the cross on children\u2019s foreheads in baptism: but we have given up\nusing the sign of the cross commonly, because it was perverted, in old\ntimes, into a superstitious charm. Men worshipped the cross like an\nidol, or bits of wood which they fancied were pieces of the actual cross,\nwhile they were forgetting what the cross meant. So the use of the cross\nfell into disrepute, and was put down in England.\n\nBut that is no reason why we should forget what the cross meant, and\nmeans now, and will mean for ever. Indeed, the better Christians, the\nbetter men we are, the more will Christ\u2019s cross fill us with thoughts\nwhich nothing else can give us; thoughts which we are glad enough, often,\nto forget and put away; so bitterly do they remind us of our own\nlaziness, selfishness, and love of pleasure.\n\nBut still, the cross is our sign. It is God\u2019s everlasting token to us,\nthat he has told us Christians something about himself which none of the\nwisest among the heathen knew; which infidels now do not know; which\nnothing but the cross can teach to men.\n\nThere were men among the old heathens who believed in one God; and some\nof them saw that he must be, on the whole, a good and a just God. But\nthey could not help thinking of God (with very rare exceptions) as a\nrespecter of persons, a God who had favourites; and at least, that he was\na God who loved his friends, and hated his enemies. So the Mussulmans\nbelieve now. So do the Jews; indeed, so they did all along, though they\nought to have known better; for their prophets in the Old Testament told\nthem a very different tale about God\u2019s love.\n\nBut that was all they could believe\u2014in a God who was not unjust or\nwicked, but was at least hard, proud, unbending: while the notion that\nGod could love his enemies, and bless those who used him despitefully and\npersecuted him\u2014much less die for his enemies\u2014that would have seemed to\nthem impossible and absurd. They stumbled at the stumbling-block of the\ncross. God, they thought, would do to men as they did to him. If they\nloved him, he would love them. If they neglected him, he would hate and\ndestroy them.\n\nBut when the apostles preached the Gospel, the good news of Christ\ncrucified, they preached a very different tale; a tale quite new; utterly\ndifferent from any that mankind had ever heard before.\n\nSt. Paul calls it a mystery\u2014a secret\u2014which had been hidden from the\nfoundation of the world till then, and was then revealed by God\u2019s Spirit;\nnamely, this boundless love of God, shown by Christ\u2019s dying on the cross.\n\nAnd, he says, his great hope, his great business, the thing on which his\nheart was set, and which God had sent him into the world to do, was\nthis\u2014to make people know the love of Christ; to look at Christ\u2019s cross,\nand take in its breadth, and length, and depth, and height. It passes\nknowledge, he says. We shall never know the whole of it\u2014never know all\nthat God\u2019s love has done, and will do: but the more we know of it, the\nmore blessed and hopeful, the more strong and earnest, the more good and\nrighteous we shall become.\n\nAnd what is the breadth of Christ\u2019s cross? My friends, it is as broad as\nthe whole world; for he died for the whole world, as it is written, \u2018He\nis a propitiation not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole\nworld;\u2019 and again, \u2018God willeth that none should perish;\u2019 and again, \u2018As\nby the offence judgment came on all men to condemnation, even so by the\nrighteousness of one, the gift came upon all men to justification of\nlife.\u2019\n\nAnd that is the breadth of Christ\u2019s cross.\n\nAnd what is the length of Christ\u2019s cross? The length thereof, says an\nold father, signifies the time during which its virtue will last.\n\nHow long, then, is the cross of Christ? Long enough to last through all\ntime. As long as there is a sinner to be saved; as long as there is\nignorance, sorrow, pain, death, or anything else which is contrary to God\nand hurtful to man, in the universe of God, so long will Christ\u2019s cross\nlast. For it is written, he must reign till he hath put all enemies\nunder his feet; and God is all in all. And that is the length of the\ncross of Christ.\n\nAnd how high is Christ\u2019s cross? As high as the highest heaven, and the\nthrone of God, and the bosom of the Father\u2014that bosom out of which for\never proceed all created things. Ay, as high as the highest heaven;\nfor\u2014if you will receive it\u2014when Christ hung upon the cross, heaven came\ndown on earth, and earth ascended into heaven. Christ never showed forth\nhis Father\u2019s glory so perfectly as when, hanging upon the cross, he cried\nin his death-agony, \u2018Father, forgive them, for they know not what they\ndo.\u2019 Those words showed the true height of the cross; and caused St.\nJohn to know that his vision was true, and no dream, when he saw\nafterwards in the midst of the throne of God a lamb as it had been slain.\n\nAnd that is the height of the cross of Christ.\n\nAnd how deep is the cross of Christ?\n\nThis is a great mystery, and one which people in these days are afraid to\nlook at; and darken it of their own will, because they will neither\nbelieve their Bibles, nor the voice of their own hearts.\n\nBut if the cross of Christ be as high as heaven, then, it seems to me, it\nmust also be as deep as hell, deep enough to reach the deepest sinner in\nthe deepest pit to which he may fall. We know that Christ descended into\nhell. We know that he preached to the spirits in prison. We know that\nit is written, \u2018As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made\nalive.\u2019 We know that when the wicked man turns from his wickedness, and\ndoes what is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive. We know that\nin the very same chapter God tells us that his ways are not unequal\u2014that\nhe has not one law for one man, and another for another, or one law for\none year, and another for another. It is possible, therefore, that he\nhas not one law for this life, and another for the life to come. Let us\nhope, then, that David\u2019s words may be true after all, when speaking by\nthe Spirit of God, he says, not only, \u2018if I ascend up to heaven, thou art\nthere;\u2019 but \u2018if I go down to hell, thou art there also;\u2019 and let us hope\nthat _that_ is the depth of the cross of Christ.\n\nAt all events, my friends, I believe that we shall find St. Paul\u2019s words\ntrue, when he says, that Christ\u2019s love passes knowledge; and therefore\nthat we shall find this also;\u2014that however broad we may think Christ\u2019s\ncross, it is broader still. However long, it is longer still. However\nhigh, it is higher still. However deep, it is deeper still. Yes, we\nshall find that St. Paul spoke solemn truth when he said, that Christ had\nascended on high that he might fill all things; that Christ filled all in\nall; and that he must reign till the day when he shall give up the\nkingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all.\n\nAnd now do you take all this about the breadth and length of Christ\u2019s\ncross to be only ingenious fancies, and a pretty play of words?\n\nAh, my friends, the day will come when you will find that the measure of\nChrist\u2019s cross is the most important question upon earth.\n\nIn the hour of death, and in the day of judgment; then the one thing\nwhich you will care to think of (if you can think at all then, as too\nmany poor souls cannot, and therefore had best think of it now before\ntheir wits fail them)\u2014the one thing which you will care to think of, I\nsay, will be\u2014not, how clever you have been, how successful you have been,\nhow much admired you have been, how much money you have made:\u2014\u2018Of course\nnot,\u2019 you answer; \u2018I shall be thinking of the state of my soul; whether I\nam fit to die; whether I have faith enough to meet God; whether I have\ngood works enough to meet God.\u2019\n\nWill you, my friend? Then you will soon grow tired of thinking of that\nlikewise, at least I hope and trust that you will. For, however much\nfaith you may have had, you will find that you have not had enough.\nHowever so many good works you may have done, you will find that you have\nnot done enough. The better man you are, the more you will be\ndissatisfied with yourself; the more you will be ashamed of yourself;\ntill with all saints, Romanist or Protestant, or other, who have been\nworthy of the name of saints, you will be driven\u2014if you are in earnest\nabout your own soul\u2014to give up thinking of yourself, and to think only of\nthe cross of Christ, and of the love of Christ which shines thereon; and\nask\u2014Is it great enough to cover my sins? to save one as utterly unworthy\nto be saved as I. And so, after all, you will be forced to throw\nyourself\u2014where you ought to have thrown yourself at the outset\u2014at the\nfoot of Christ\u2019s cross; and say in spirit and in truth\u2014\n\n Nothing in my hand I bring,\n Simply to the cross I cling\u2014\n\nIn plain words, I throw myself, with all my sins, upon that absolute and\nboundless love of God which made all things, and me among them, and\nhateth nothing that he hath made; who redeemed all mankind, and me among\nthem, and hath said by the mouth of his only-begotten Son, \u2018Him that\ncometh to me I will in no wise cast out.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XVI.\nTHE PURE IN HEART.\n\n\n TITUS i. 15.\n\n Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and\n unbelieving is nothing pure: but even their mind and conscience is\n defiled.\n\nTHIS seems at first a strange and startling saying: but it is a true one;\nand the more we think over it, the more we shall find it true.\n\nAll things are pure in themselves; good in themselves; because God made\nthem. Is it not written, \u2018God saw all that he had made, and behold, it\nwas very good?\u2019 Therefore St. Paul says, that all things are ours; and\nthat Christ gives us all things richly to enjoy. All we need is, to use\nthings in the right way; that is, in the way in which God intended them\nto be used.\n\nFor God is a God of truth; a true, a faithful, and\u2014if I may so speak\u2014an\nhonest and honourable, and fair God: not a deceiving or unfair God, who\nlays snares for his creatures, or leads them into temptation. That would\nbe a bad God, a cruel God, very unlike the Father of our Lord Jesus\nChrist. He has put us into a good world, and not a wilderness, as some\npeople call it. If any part of this world be a wilderness, it is because\nmen have made it so, or left it so, by their own wilfulness, ignorance,\ncowardice, laziness, violence. No: God, I say, has put us into a good\nworld, and given us pure and harmless appetites, feelings, relations.\nTherefore all the relations of life are holy. To be a husband, a father,\na brother, a son, is pure and good. To have property and to use it: to\nenjoy ourselves in this life as far as we can, without hurting ourselves\nor our neighbours; all this is pure, and good, and holy. God does not\ngrudge or upbraid. He does not frown upon innocent pleasure. For God is\nlight, and in him is no darkness at all. Therefore he rejoices in seeing\nhis creatures healthy and happy. Therefore, as I believe, Christ smiles\nout of heaven upon the little children at their play; and the laugh of a\nbabe is heavenly music in his ears.\n\nAll things are pure which God has given to man. And therefore, if a man\nbe pure in heart, all which God has given him will not only do him no\nharm, but do him good. All the comforts and blessings of this life will\nhelp to make him a better man. They will teach him about his own\ncharacter; about human nature, and the people with whom he has to do;\nay\u2014about God himself, as it is written, \u2018Blessed are the pure in heart,\nfor they shall see God.\u2019\n\nAll the blessings and comforts of this life, my friends (as well as the\nanxieties which must come to those who have a family, or property, even\nif he do not meet with losses and afflictions), ought to help to improve\na man\u2019s temper, to call out in him right feelings, to teach him more and\nmore of the likeness of God.\n\nIf he be a married man, marriage ought to teach him not to live for\nhimself only, but to sacrifice his own fancies, his own ease, his own\nwill, for the sake of the woman whom God has given him; as Christ\nsacrificed himself, and his own life, for mankind. And so, by the\nfeelings of a husband, he may enter into the mystery of the love of\nChrist, and of the cross of Christ; and so, if only he be pure in heart,\nhe will see God.\n\nIf he have parents, he may learn by being a son how blessed it is to\nobey, how useful to a man\u2019s character to submit: ay, he will find out\nmore still. He will find out that not by being self-willed and\nindependent does the finest and noblest parts of his character come out,\nbut by copying his Father in everything; that going where his Father\nsends him; being jealous of his Father\u2019s honour; doing not his own will,\nbut his Father\u2019s; that all this, I say, is its own reward; for instead of\nlowering a man, it raises him, and calls out in him all that is purest,\ntenderest, soberest, bravest. I tell you this day\u2014Just as far as you are\ngood sons to your parents, so far will you be able to understand the\nmystery of the co-equal and co-eternal Son of God; who though he were in\nthe form of God, did not snatch greedily at being on the same footing\nwith his Father, but emptied himself, and took on him the form of a\nslave, that he might do his Father\u2019s will, and reveal his Father\u2019s glory.\nAnd so, if you be only pure in heart, you will see God.\n\nIf, again, a man have children\u2014how they ought to teach him, to train\nhim;\u2014teach him to restrain his own temper, lest he provoke them to anger;\nto be calm and moderate with them, lest he frighten them into lying; to\navoid bad language, gluttony, drunkenness, and every coarse sin, lest he\ntempt them to follow his example. I tell you, friends, that you will\nfind, if you choose, all the noblest, most generous, most Godlike parts\nof your character called out to your children; and by having the feelings\nof a father to your children, learn what feelings our Father in heaven\nhas toward us, his human offspring. And so, if only you be pure in\nheart, you will see God.\n\nIf again, a man has money, money can teach him (as it teaches hundreds of\npure-hearted men) that charity and generosity are not only a duty, but an\nhonour and a joy; that \u2018mercy is twice blest; it blesses him that gives,\nand him that takes;\u2019 that giving is the highest pleasure upon earth,\nbecause it is God\u2019s own pleasure; because the blessedness of God, and the\nglory of God is this, that he giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth\nnot. And so in his wealth\u2014if only he be pure in heart, a man will see\nGod.\n\nIf, again, a man has health, and strength, and high spirits, they too\nwill teach him, if his heart be pure. He will learn from them to look up\nto God as the Lord and Giver of life, health, strength; of the power to\nwork, and the power to delight in working: because God himself is ever\nfull of life, ever busy, ever rejoicing to put forth his almighty power\nfor the good of the whole universe, as it is written, \u2018My Father worketh\nhitherto, and I work.\u2019 And so\u2014in every relation of life\u2014if only a man\u2019s\nheart be pure, he will see God.\n\nHow, then, can we get the pure heart which will make all things pure to\nus? By asking for the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Pure Spirit,\nin whom is no selfishness.\n\nFor if our hearts be selfish, they cannot be pure. The pure in heart, is\nthe same as the man whose eye is single, and that is the man who is not\ncaring for himself, thinking of himself. If a man be thinking of\nhimself, he will never enjoy life. The pure blessings which God has\ngiven him will be no blessings to him; as it is written, \u2018He that saveth\nhis life shall lose it.\u2019\n\nDo you not know that that is true? Do not the miseries of life (I do not\nmean the afflictions, like loss of friends or kin), but the miseries of\nlife which make a man dark, and fretful, and prevent his enjoying God\u2019s\ngifts\u2014do they not come, nineteen-twentieths of them, from thinking about\noneself; from lusting and longing after this and that; from spite,\nvanity, bad temper, wounded pride, disappointed covetousness? \u2018I cannot\nget this or that; that money, that place; this or that fine thing or the\nother: and how can I be contented?\u2019 There is a man whose heart is not\npure. \u2018That man has used me ill, and I cannot help thinking of it,\nbrooding over it. I cannot forgive him. How can I be expected to\nforgive him?\u2019 There is a man whose heart is not pure; and more, there is\na man who is making himself miserable.\n\nSee again, how a man may make marriage a curse to him instead of a\nblessing, without being unfaithful to his wife (which we all know to be\nsimply abominable and unmanly, and far below anything of which I am\ntalking now). And how? Simply by bad temper, vanity, greediness, and\nselfish love of his own dignity, his own pleasure, his own this, that,\nand the other. So, too, he may make his children a torment to him,\ninstead of letting them be God\u2019s lesson-book to him, in which he may see\nthe likeness of the angels in heaven.\n\nHe may make his wealth a continual anxiety to him: ay, he may make it, by\nambition, covetousness, and wild speculation, the cause of his shame and\nruin; if only his heart be not pure.\n\nAy, there is not a blessing on earth which a man may not turn into a\ncurse. There is not a good gift of God out of which a man may not get\nharm, if only his heart be not pure; as it is written, \u2018To those who are\ndefiled and unbelieving nothing is pure: but even their mind and\nconscience are defiled.\u2019\n\nBut defiled with what? Fouled with what? There is the question. Many\nanswers have been invented by people who did not believe in that faithful\nand true God of whom I told you just now; people who fancied that this\nworld was a bad world, and that God laid snares for his creatures and\ntempted his creatures. But the true answer is only to be got, like most\ntrue answers, by observing; by using our eyes and ears, and seeing what\nreally makes people turn blessings into curses, and suck poison out of\nevery flower.\n\nAnd that is, simply, self.\n\nIf you want to spoil all that God gives you; if you want to be miserable\nyourself, and a maker of misery to others, the way is easy enough. Only\nbe selfish, and it is done at once. Be defiled and unbelieving. Defile\nand foul God\u2019s good gifts by self, and by loving yourself more than what\nis right. Do not believe that the good God knows your needs before you\nask, and will give you whatsoever is good for you. Think about yourself;\nabout what _you_ want, what _you_ like, what respect people ought to pay\n_you_, what people think of _you_: and then to you nothing will be pure.\nYou will spoil everything you touch; you will make sin and misery for\nyourself out of everything which God sends you; you will be as wretched\nas you choose on earth, or in heaven either.\n\nIn heaven either, I say. For that proud, greedy, selfish, self-seeking\nspirit would turn heaven into hell. It did turn heaven into hell, for\nthe great devil himself. It was by pride, by seeking his own glory\u2014(so,\nat least, wise men say)\u2014that he fell from heaven to hell. He was not\ncontent to give up his own will and do God\u2019s will, like the other angels.\nHe was not content to serve God, and rejoice in God\u2019s glory. He would be\na master himself, and set up for himself, and rejoice in his own glory;\nand so, when he wanted to make a private heaven of his own, he found that\nhe had made a hell. When he wanted to be a little God for himself, he\nlost the life of the true God, to lose which is eternal death. And why?\nBecause his heart was not pure, clean, honest, simple, unselfish.\nTherefore he saw God no more, and learnt to hate him whose name is love.\n\nMay God keep our hearts pure from that selfishness which is the root of\nall sin; from selfishness, out of which alone spring adultery, foul\nliving, drunkenness, evil speaking, lying, slandering, injustice,\noppression, cruelty, and all which makes man worse than the beasts. May\nGod give us those pure hearts of which it is written, that the fruit of\nthe Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,\nmeekness, temperance. Against such, St. Paul says, there is no law. And\nwhy? Because no law is needed. For, as a wise father says\u2014\u2018Love, and do\nwhat thou wilt;\u2019 for then thou wilt be sure to will what is right; and,\nas St. Paul says, If your heart be pure, all things will be pure to you.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XVII.\nMUSIC.\n\n\n (_Christmas Day_.)\n\n LUKE ii. 13, 14.\n\n And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly\n host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on\n earth peace, good will toward men.\n\nYOU have been just singing Christmas hymns; and my text speaks of the\nfirst Christmas hymn. Now what the words of that hymn meant; what Peace\non earth and good-will towards man meant, I have often told you. To-day\nI want you, for once, to think of this\u2014that it was a hymn; that these\nangels were singing, even as human beings sing.\n\nMusic.\u2014There is something very wonderful in music. Words are wonderful\nenough: but music is even more wonderful. It speaks not to our thoughts\nas words do: it speaks straight to our hearts and spirits, to the very\ncore and root of our souls. Music soothes us, stirs us up; it puts noble\nfeelings into us; it melts us to tears, we know not how:\u2014it is a language\nby itself, just as perfect, in its way, as speech, as words; just as\ndivine, just as blessed.\n\nMusic has been called the speech of angels; I will go further, and call\nit the speech of God himself\u2014and I will, with God\u2019s help, show you a\nlittle what I mean this Christmas day.\n\nMusic, I say, without words, is wonderful and blessed; one of God\u2019s best\ngifts to men. But in singing you have both the wonders together, music\nand words. Singing speaks at once to the head and to the heart, to our\nunderstanding and to our feelings; and therefore, perhaps, the most\nbeautiful way in which the reasonable soul of man can show itself\n(except, of course, doing _right_, which always is, and always will be,\nthe most beautiful thing) is singing.\n\nNow, why do we all enjoy music? Because it sounds sweet. But _why_ does\nit sound sweet?\n\nThat is a mystery known only to God.\n\nTwo things I may make you understand\u2014two things which help to make\nmusic\u2014melody and harmony. Now, as most of you know, there is melody in\nmusic when the different sounds of the same tune follow each other, so as\nto give us pleasure; there is harmony in music when different sounds,\ninstead of following each other, come at the same time, so as to give us\npleasure.\n\nBut why do they please us? and what is more, why do they please angels?\nand more still, why do they please God? Why is there music in heaven?\nConsider St. John\u2019s visions in the Revelations. Why did St. John hear\ntherein harpers with their harps, and the mystic beasts, and the elders,\nsinging a new song to God and to the Lamb; and the voices of many angels\nround about them, whose number was ten thousand times ten thousand?\n\nIn this is a great mystery. I will try to explain what little of it I\nseem to see.\n\nFirst\u2014There is music in heaven, because in music there is no self-will.\nMusic goes on certain laws and rules. Man did not make those laws of\nmusic; he has only found them out: and if he be self-willed and break\nthem, there is an end of his music instantly; all he brings out is\ndiscord and ugly sounds. The greatest musician in the world is as much\nbound by those laws as the learner in the school; and the greatest\nmusician is the one who, instead of fancying that, because he is clever,\nhe may throw aside the laws of music, knows the laws of music best, and\nobserves them most reverently. And therefore it was that the old Greeks,\nthe wisest of all the heathens, made a point of teaching their children\n_music_; because, they said, it taught them not to be self-willed and\nfanciful, but to see the beauty of order, the usefulness of rule, the\ndivineness of law.\n\nAnd therefore music is fit for heaven; therefore music is a pattern and\ntype of heaven, and of the everlasting life of God, which perfect spirits\nlive in heaven; a life of melody and order in themselves; a life of\nharmony with each other and with God. Music, I say, is a pattern of the\neverlasting life of heaven; because in heaven, as in music, is perfect\nfreedom and perfect pleasure; and yet that freedom comes not from\nthrowing away law, but from obeying God\u2019s law perfectly; and that\npleasure comes, not from self-will, and doing each what he likes, but\nfrom perfectly doing the will of the Father who is in heaven.\n\nAnd that in itself would be sweet music, even if there were neither voice\nnor sound in heaven. For wherever there is order and obedience, there is\nsweet music for the ears of Christ. Whatsoever does its duty, according\nto its kind which Christ has given it, makes melody in the ears of\nChrist. Whatsoever is useful to the things around it, makes harmony in\nthe ears of Christ. Therefore those wise old Greeks used to talk of the\nmusic of the spheres. They said that sun, moon, and stars, going round\neach in its appointed path, made as they rolled along across the heavens\neverlasting music before the throne of God. And so, too, the old Psalms\nsay. Do you not recollect that noble verse, which speaks of the stars of\nheaven, and says\u2014\n\n What though no human voice or sound\n Amid their radiant orbs be found?\n To Reason\u2019s ear they all rejoice,\n And utter forth a glorious voice;\n For ever singing as they shine,\n The hand that made us is divine.\n\nAnd therefore it is, that that noble Song of the Three Children calls\nupon sun and moon, and stars of heaven, to bless the Lord, praise him,\nand magnify him for ever: and not only upon them, but on the smallest\nthings on earth;\u2014on mountains and hills, green herbs and springs, cattle\nand feathered fowl; they too, he says, can bless the Lord, and magnify\nhim for ever. And how? By fulfilling the law which God has given them;\nand by living each after their kind, according to the wisdom wherewith\nChrist the Word of God created them, when he beheld all that he had made,\nand behold, it was very good.\n\nAnd so can we, my friends; so can we. Some of us may not be able to make\nmusic with our voices: but we can make it with our hearts, and join in\nthe angels\u2019 song this day, if not with our lips, yet in our lives.\n\nIf thou fulfillest the law which God has given thee, the law of love and\nliberty, then thou makest music before God, and thy life is a hymn of\npraise to God.\n\nIf thou art in love and charity with thy neighbours, thou art making\nsweeter harmony in the ears of the Lord Jesus Christ, than psaltery,\ndulcimer, and all kinds of music.\n\nIf thou art living a righteous and a useful life, doing thy duty orderly\nand cheerfully where God has put thee, then thou art making sweeter\nmelody in the ears of the Lord Jesus Christ, than if thou hadst the\nthroat of a nightingale; for then thou in thy humble place art humbly\ncopying the everlasting harmony and melody which is in heaven; the\neverlasting harmony and melody by which God made the world and all that\ntherein is, and behold it was very good, in the day when the morning\nstars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy over the\nnew-created earth, which God had made to be a pattern of his own\nperfection.\n\nFor this is that mystery of which I spoke just now, when I said that\nmusic was as it were the voice of God himself. Yes, I say it with all\nreverence: but I do say it. There is music in God. Not the music of\nvoice or sound; a music which no ears can hear, but only the spirit of a\nman, when awakened by the Holy Spirit, and taught to know God, Father,\nSon, and Holy Spirit.\n\nThere is one everlasting melody in heaven, which Christ, the Word of God,\nmakes for ever, when he does all things perfectly and wisely, and\nrighteously and gloriously, full of grace and truth: and from that all\nmelody comes, and is a dim pattern thereof here; and is beautiful only\nbecause it is a dim pattern thereof.\n\nAnd there is an everlasting harmony in God; which is the harmony between\nthe Father and the Son; who though he be co-equal and co-eternal with his\nFather, does nothing of himself, but only what he seeth his Father do;\nsaying for ever, \u2018Not my will, but thine be done,\u2019 and hears his Father\nanswer for ever, \u2018Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.\u2019\n\nTherefore, all melody and all harmony upon earth, whether in the song of\nbirds, the whisper of the wind, the concourse of voices, or the sounds of\nthose cunning instruments which man has learnt to create, because he is\nmade in the image of Christ, the Word of God, who creates all things; all\nmusic upon earth, I say, is beautiful in as far as it is a pattern and\ntype of the everlasting music which is in heaven; which was before all\nworlds, and shall be after them; for by its rules all worlds were made,\nand will be made for ever, even the everlasting melody of the wise and\nloving will of God, and the everlasting harmony of the Father toward the\nSon, and of the Son toward the Father, in one Holy Spirit who proceeds\nfrom them both, to give melody and harmony, order and beauty, life and\nlight, to all which God has made.\n\nTherefore music is a sacred, a divine, a Godlike thing, and was given to\nman by Christ to lift our hearts up to God, and make us feel something of\nthe glory and beauty of God and of all which God has made.\n\nTherefore, too, music is most fit for Christmas day, of all days in the\nyear. Christmas has always been a day of songs, of carols and of hymns;\nand so let it be for ever. If we had no music all the rest of the year\nin church or out of church, let us have it at least on Christmas day.\n\nFor on Christmas day most of all days (if I may talk of eternal things\naccording to the laws of time) was manifested on earth the everlasting\nmusic which is in heaven.\n\nOn Christmas day was fulfilled in time and space the everlasting harmony\nof God, when the Father sent the Son into the world, that the world\nthrough him might be saved; and the Son refused not, neither shrank back,\nthough he knew that sorrow, shame, and death awaited him, but answered,\n\u2018A body hast thou prepared me . . . I come to do thy will, oh God!\u2019 and\nso emptied himself, and took on himself the form of a slave, and was\nfound in fashion as a man, that he might fulfil not his own will, but the\nwill of the Father who sent him.\n\nOn this day began that perfect melody of the Son\u2019s life on earth; one\nsong and poem, as it were, of wise words, good deeds, spotless purity,\nand untiring love, which he perfected when he died, and rose again, and\nascended on high for ever to make intercession for us with music sweeter\nthan the song of angels and archangels, and all the heavenly host.\n\nGo home, then, remembering how divine and holy a thing music is, and\nrejoice before the Lord this day with psalms and hymns, and spiritual\nsongs (by which last I think the apostle means not merely church\nmusic\u2014for that he calls psalms and hymns\u2014but songs which have a good and\nwholesome spirit in them); and remembering, too, that music, like\nmarriage, and all other beautiful things which God has given to man, is\nnot to be taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly; but, even when\nit is most cheerful and joyful (as marriage is), reverently, discreetly,\nsoberly, and in the fear of God. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XVIII.\nTHE CHRIST CHILD.\n\n\n (_Christmas Day_.)\n\n LUKE ii. 7.\n\n And she brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapt him in swaddling\n clothes, and laid him in a manger.\n\nMOTHER and child.\u2014Think of it, my friends, on Christmas day. What more\nbeautiful sight is there in the world? What more beautiful sight, and\nwhat more wonderful sight?\n\nWhat more beautiful? That man must be very far from the kingdom of\nGod\u2014he is not worthy to be called a man at all\u2014whose heart has not been\ntouched by the sight of his first child in its mother\u2019s bosom.\n\nThe greatest painters who have ever lived have tried to paint the beauty\nof that simple thing\u2014a mother with her babe: and have failed. One of\nthem, Rafaelle by name, to whom God gave the spirit of beauty in a\nmeasure in which he never gave it, perhaps, to any other man, tried again\nand again, for years, painting over and over that simple subject\u2014the\nmother and her babe\u2014and could not satisfy himself. Each of his pictures\nis most beautiful\u2014each in a different way; and yet none of them is\nperfect. There is more beauty in that simple every-day sight than he or\nany man could express by his pencil and his colours. And yet it is a\nsight which we see every day.\n\nAnd as for the wonder of that sight\u2014the mystery of it\u2014I tell you this.\nThat physicians, and the wise men who look into the laws of nature, of\nflesh and blood, say that the mystery is past their finding out; that if\nthey could find out the whole meaning, and the true meaning of those two\nwords, mother and child, they could get the key to the deepest wonders of\nthe world: but they cannot.\n\nAnd philosophers, who look into the laws of soul and spirit, say the\nsame. The wiser men they are, the more they find in the soul of every\nnew-born babe, and its kindred to its mother, wonders and puzzles past\nman\u2019s understanding.\n\nI will say boldly, my friends, that if one could find out the full\nmeaning of those two words, mother and child, one would be the wisest\nphilosopher on earth, and see deeper than all who have ever yet lived,\ninto the secrets of this world of time which we can see, and of the\neternal world, which no man can see, save with the eyes of his reasonable\nsoul.\n\nAnd yet it is the most common, every-day sight. That only shows once\nmore what I so often try to show you, that the most common, every-day\nthings are the most wonderful. It shows us how we are to despise nothing\nwhich God has made; above all, to despise nothing which belongs to human\nnature, which is the likeness and image of God.\n\nAbove all, upon this Christmas day it is not merely ignorant and foolish,\nbut quite sinful and heretical, to despise anything which belongs to\nhuman nature. For on this day God appeared in human nature, and in the\nfirst and lowest shape of it\u2014in the form of a new-born babe, that by\nbeginning at the beginning, he might end at the end; and being made in\nall things like as his brethren, might perfectly and utterly take the\nmanhood into God.\n\nThis, then, we are to think of, at least on Christmas day\u2014God revealed,\nand shown to men, as a babe upon his mother\u2019s bosom.\n\nMen had pictured God to themselves already in many shapes\u2014some foolish,\nfoul, brutal\u2014God forgive them;\u2014some noble and majestic. Sometimes they\nthought of him as a mighty Lawgiver, sitting upon his throne in the\nheavens, with solemn face and awful eyes, looking down upon all the\nearth. That fancy was not a false one. St. John saw the Lord so.\n\n\u2018And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,\nclothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a\ngolden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as\nsnow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine\nbrass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many\nwaters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth\nwent a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shining\nin his strength.\u2019\n\nSometimes, again, they thought of him as the terrible warrior, going\nforth to conquer and destroy all which opposed him; to kill wicked\ntyrants, and devils, and all who rebelled against him, and who hurt human\nbeings.\n\nAnd that was not a false fancy either. St. John saw the Lord so.\n\n\u2018And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon\nhim was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and\nmake war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many\ncrowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself: and\nhe was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called,\nThe Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon\nwhite horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his\nmouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and\nhe shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of\nthe fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.\u2019\n\nBut all these were only, as it were, fancies about one side of God\u2019s\ncharacter. It was only in the Babe of Bethlehem that the _whole_ of\nGod\u2019s character shone forth, that men might not merely fear him and bow\nbefore him, but trust in him and love him, as one who could be touched\nwith the feeling of their infirmities. {151}\n\nIt was on Christmas day that God appeared among men as a child upon a\nmother\u2019s bosom. And why? Surely for this reason, among a thousand more,\nthat he might teach men to feel for him and with him, and to be sure that\nhe felt for them and with them. To teach them to feel for him and with\nhim, he took the shape of a little child, to draw out all their love, all\ntheir tenderness, and, if I may so say, all their pity.\n\nA God in need! A God weak! God fed by mortal woman! A God wrapt in\nswaddling clothes, and laid in a manger!\u2014If that sight will not touch our\nhearts, what will?\n\nAnd by that same sight he has taught men that he feels with them and for\nthem. God has been through the pains of infancy. God has hungered. God\nhas wept. God has been ignorant. God has grown, and increased in\nstature and in wisdom, and in favour both with God and man.\n\nAnd why? That he might take on him our human nature. Not merely the\nnature of a great man, of a wise man, of a grown up man only: but _all_\nhuman nature, from the nature of the babe on its mother\u2019s bosom, to the\nnature of the full-grown and full-souled man, fighting with all his\npowers against the evil of the world. All this is his, and he is all;\nthat no human being, from the strongest to the weakest, from the eldest\nto the youngest, but may be able to say, \u2018What I am, Christ has been.\u2019\n\nTake home with you, then, this thought, on this Christmas day, among all\nthe rest which Christmas ought to put into your minds. Respect your own\nchildren. Look on them as the likeness of Christ, and the image of God;\nand when you go home this day, believe that Christ is in them, the hope\nof glory to them hereafter. Draw them round you, and say to them\u2014each in\nyour own fashion\u2014\u2018My children, God was made like to you this day, that\nyou might be made like God. Children, this is your day, for on this day\nGod became a child; that God gives you leave to think of him as a child,\nthat you may be sure he loves children, sure he understands children,\nsure that a little child is as near and as dear to God as kings, nobles,\nscholars, and divines.\u2019\n\nYes, my dear children, you may think of God as a child, now and always.\nFor you Christ is always the Babe of Bethlehem. Do not say to\nyourselves, \u2018Christ is grown up long ago; he is a full-grown man.\u2019 He\nis, and yet he is not. His life is eternal in the heavens, above all\nchange of time and space; for time and space are but his creatures and\nhis tools. Therefore he can be all things to all men, because he is the\nSon of man.\n\nYes; all things to all men. Hearken to me, you children, and you\ngrown-up children also, if there be any in this church\u2014for if you will\nreceive it, such is the sacred heart of Jesus\u2014all things to all; and\nwherever there is the true heart of a true human being, there, beating in\nperfect answer to it, is the heart of Christ.\n\nTo the strong he can be strongest; and to the weak, weakest of all. With\nthe mighty he can be the King of kings; and yet with the poor he can\nwander, not having where to lay his head. With quiet Jacob he goes round\nthe farm, among the quiet sheep; and yet he ranges with wild Esau over\nbattle-field, and desert, and far unknown seas. With the mourner he\nweeps for ever; and yet he will sit as of old\u2014if he be but invited\u2014and\nbless the marriage-feast. For the penitent he hangs for ever on the\ncross; and yet with the man who works for God his Father he stands for\never in his glory, his eyes like a flame of fire, and out of his mouth a\ntwo-edged sword, judging the nations of the earth. With the aged and the\ndying he goes down for ever into the grave; and yet with you, children,\nChrist lies for ever on his mother\u2019s bosom, and looks up for ever into\nhis mother\u2019s face, full of young life, and happiness, and innocence, the\neverlasting Christ-child in whom you must believe, whom you must love, to\nwhom you must offer up your childish prayers.\n\nThe day will come when you can no longer think as a child, or pray as a\nchild, but put away childish things. I do not know whether you will be\nthe happier for that change. God grant that you may be the better for\nit. Meanwhile, go home, and think of the baby Jesus, _your_ Lord, _your_\npattern, _your_ Saviour; and ask him to make you such good children to\nyour mothers, as the little Jesus was to the Blessed Virgin, when he\nincreased in knowledge and in stature, and in favour both with God and\nman.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XIX.\nCHRIST\u2019S BOYHOOD.\n\n\n LUKE ii. 52.\n\n And Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour both\n with God and man.\n\nI DO not pretend to understand these words. I preach on them because the\nChurch has appointed them for this day. And most fitly. At Christmas we\nthink of our Lord\u2019s birth. What more reasonable, than that we should go\non to think of our Lord\u2019s boyhood? To think of this aright, even if we\ndo not altogether understand it, ought to help us to understand rightly\nthe incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; the right faith about which is,\nthat he was very man, of the substance of his mother. Now, if he were\nvery and real man, he must have been also very and real babe, very and\nreal boy, very and real youth, and then very and real full-grown man.\n\nNow it is not so easy to believe that as it may seem. It is not so easy\nto believe.\n\nI have heard many preachers preach (without knowing it), what used to be\ncalled the Apollinarian Heresy, which held that our Lord had not a real\nhuman soul, but only a human body; and that his Godhead served him\ninstead of a human soul, and a man\u2019s reason, man\u2019s feelings.\n\nAbout that the old fathers had great difficulty, before they could make\npeople understand that our Lord had been a real babe. It seemed to\npeople\u2019s unclean fancies something shocking that our Lord should have\nbeen born, as other children are born. They stumbled at the\nstumbling-block of the manger in Bethlehem, as they did at the\nstumbling-block of the cross on Calvary; and they wanted to make out that\nour Lord was born into the world in some strange way\u2014I know not how;\u2014I do\nnot choose to talk of it here:\u2014but they would fancy and invent anything,\nrather than believe that Jesus was really born of the Virgin Mary, made\nof the substance of his mother. So that it was hundreds of years before\nthe fathers of the Church set people\u2019s minds thoroughly at rest about\nthat.\n\nIn the same way, though not so much, people found it very hard to believe\nthat our Lord grew up as a real human child. They would not believe that\nhe went down to Nazareth, and was subject to his father and mother.\nPeople believe generally now\u2014the Roman Catholics as well as we\u2014that our\nLord worked at his father\u2019s trade\u2014that he himself handled the carpenter\u2019s\ntools. We have no certain proof of it: but it is so beautiful a thought,\nthat one hopes it is true. At least our believing it is a sign that we\ndo believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ more rightly than\nmost people did fifteen hundred years ago. For then, too many of them\nwould have been shocked at the notion.\n\nThey stumbled at the carpenter\u2019s shop, even as they did at the manger and\nat the cross. And they invented false gospels\u2014one of which especially,\nhad strange and fanciful stories about our Lord\u2019s childhood\u2014which tried\nto make him out.\n\nMost of these stories are so childish I do not like to repeat them. One\nof them may serve as a sample. Our Lord, it says, was playing with other\nchildren of his own age, and making little birds out of clay: but those\nwhich our Lord made became alive, and moved, and sang like real\nbirds.\u2014Stories put together just to give our Lord some magical power,\ndifferent from other children, and pretending that he worked signs and\nwonders: which were just what he refused to work.\n\nBut the old fathers rejected these false gospels and their childish\ntales, and commanded Christian men only to believe what the Bible tells\nus about our Lord\u2019s childhood; for that is enough for us, and that will\nhelp us better than any magical stories and childish fairy tales of man\u2019s\ninvention, to believe rightly that God was made man, and dwelt among us.\n\nAnd what does the Bible tell us? Very little indeed. And it tells us\nvery little, because we were meant to know very little. Trust your\nBibles always, my friends, and be sure, if you were meant to know more,\nthe Bible would tell you more.\n\nIt tells us that Jesus grew just as a human child grows, in body, soul,\nand spirit.\n\nThen it tells us of one case\u2014only one\u2014in which he seemed to act without\nhis parents\u2019 leave. And as the saying is, the exception proves the rule.\nIt is plain that his rule was to obey, except in this case; that he was\nalways subject to his parents, as other children are, except on this one\noccasion. And even in this case, he _went_ back with them, it is\nexpressly said, and was subject to them.\n\nNow, I do not pretend to explain _why_ our Lord stayed behind in the\ntemple.\n\nI cannot explain (who can?) the why and wherefore of what I see people do\nin common daily life.\n\nHow much less can one explain why our Lord did this and that, who was\nboth man and God.\n\nBut one reason, and one which seems to me to be plain, on the very face\nof St. Luke\u2019s words\u2014he stayed behind to learn; to learn all he could from\nthe Scribes and Pharisees, the doctors of the law.\n\nHe told the people after, when grown up, \u2018The Scribes and Pharisees sit\nin Moses\u2019 seat. All therefore which they command you, that observe and\ndo.\u2019 And he was a Jew himself, and came to fulfil all righteousness; and\ntherefore he fulfilled such righteousness as was customary among Jews\naccording to their law and religion.\n\nTherefore I do not like at all a great many pictures which I see in\nchildren\u2019s Sunday books, which set the child Jesus in the midst, as on a\nthrone, holding up his hand as if _he_ were laying down the law, and the\nScribes and Pharisees looking angry and confounded. The Bible says not\nthat they heard him, but that he heard them; that they were astonished at\nhis understanding, not that they were confounded and angry. No. I must\nbelieve that even those hard, proud Pharisees, looked with wonder and\nadmiration on the glorious Child; that they perhaps felt for the moment\nthat a prophet, another Samuel, had risen up among them. And surely that\nis much more like the right notion of the child Jesus, full of meekness\nand humility; of Jesus, who, though \u2018he were a Son, learnt obedience by\nthe things which he suffered;\u2019 of Jesus, who, while he increased in\nstature, increased in favour with _man_, as well as with God: and surely\nno child can increase in favour either with God or man, if he sets down\nhis elders, and contradicts and despises the teachers whom God has set\nover him. No let us believe that when he said, \u2018Know ye not that I must\nbe about my Father\u2019s business?\u2019 that a child\u2019s way of doing the work of\nhis Father in heaven is to learn all that he can understand from his\nteachers, spiritual pastors, and masters, whom God the Father has set\nover him.\n\nTherefore\u2014and do listen to this, children and young people\u2014if you wish\nreally to think what Christ has to do with _you_, you must remember that\nhe was once a real human child\u2014not different outwardly from other\nchildren, except in being a perfectly good child, in all things like as\nyou are, but without sin.\n\nThen, whatever happens to you, you will have the comfort of\nfeeling\u2014Christ understands this; Christ has been through this. Child\nthough I am, Christ can be touched with the feeling of my weakness, for\nhe was once a child like me.\n\nAnd then, if trouble, or sickness, or death come among you\u2014and you all\nknow how sickness and death _have_ come among you of late\u2014you may be\ncheerful and joyful still, if you will only try to be such children as\nJesus was. Obey your parents, and be subject to them, as he was; try to\nlearn from your teachers, pastors, and masters, as he did; try and pray\nto increase daily in favour both with God and man, as he did: and then,\neven if death should come and take you before your time, you need not be\nafraid, for Jesus Christ is with you.\n\nYour childish faults shall be forgiven you for Jesus\u2019 sake; your childish\ngood conduct shall be accepted for Jesus Christ\u2019s sake; and if you be\ntrying to be good children, doing your little work well where God has put\nyou, humble, obedient, and teachable, winning love from the people round\nyou, and from God your Father in heaven, then, I say, you need not be\nafraid of sickness, not even afraid of death, for whenever it takes you,\nit will find you about your Father\u2019s business.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XX.\nTHE LOCUST-SWARMS.\n\n\n JOEL ii. 12, 13.\n\n Therefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your\n heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and\n rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your\n God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great\n kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.\n\nTHIS is one of the grandest chapters in the whole Old Testament, and one\nwhich may teach us a great deal; and, above all, teach us to be thankful\nto God for the blessings which we have.\n\nI think I can explain what it means best by going back to the chapter\nbefore it.\n\nJoel begins his prophecy by bitter lamentation over the mischief which\nthe swarms of insects had done; such as had never been in his days, nor\nin the days of his fathers. What the palmer worm had left, the locust\nhad eaten; what the locust had left, the cankerworm had eaten; and what\nthe cankerworm had left, the caterpillar had eaten. Whether these names\nare rightly rendered, or whether they mean different sorts of locusts, or\nthe locusts in their different stages of growth, crawling at first and\nflying at last, matters little. What mischief they had done was plain\nenough. They had come up \u2018a nation strong and without number, whose\nteeth were like the teeth of a lion, and his cheek-teeth like those of a\nstrong lion. They had laid his vines waste, and barked his fig-tree, and\nmade its branches white; and all drunkards were howling and lamenting,\nfor the wine crop was utterly destroyed: and all other crops, it seems\nlikewise; the corn was wasted, the olives destroyed; the seed was rotten\nunder the clods, the granaries empty, the barns broken down, for the corn\nwas withered; the vine and fig, pomegranate, palm, and apple, were all\ngone; the green grass was all gone; the beasts groaned, the herds were\nperplexed, because they had no pasture; the flocks of sheep were\ndesolate.\u2019 There seems to have been a dry season also, to make matters\nworse; for Joel says the rivers of waters were dried up\u2014likely enough, if\nthen, as now, it is the dry seasons which bring the locust-swarms. Still\nthe locusts had done the chief mischief. They came just as they come now\n(only in smaller strength, thank God) in many parts of the East and of\nSouthern Russia, darkening the sky, and shutting out the very light of\nthe sun; the noise of their innumerable jaws like the noise of flame\ndevouring the stubble, as they settled upon every green thing, and gnawed\naway leaf and bark; and a fire devoured before them, and behind them a\nflame burned; the land was as the garden of Eden before them, and behind\nthem a desolate wilderness; {162} till there was not enough left to\nsupply the daily sacrifices, and the meat offering and the drink offering\nwere withheld from the house of God.\n\nBut what has all this to do with us? There have never, as far as we\nknow, been any locusts in England.\n\nAnd what has this to do with God? Why does Joel tell these Jews that God\nsent the locusts, and bid them cry to God to take them away? For these\nlocusts are natural things, and come by natural laws. And there is no\nneed that there should be locusts anywhere. For where the wild grass\nplains are broken up and properly cultivated, there the locusts, which\nlay their countless eggs in the old turf, disappear, and must disappear.\nWe know that now. We know that when the East is tilled (as God grant it\nmay be some day) as thoroughly as England is, locusts will be as unknown\nthere as here; and that is another comfortable proof to us that there is\nno real curse upon God\u2019s earth: but that just as far as man fulfils God\u2019s\ncommand to replenish the earth and subdue it, so far he gets rid of all\nmanner of terrible scourges and curses, which seemed to him in the days\nof his ignorance, necessary and supernatural.\n\nHow, then, was Joel right in saying that God sent the locusts?\n\nIn this way, my friends.\n\nSuppose you or I took cholera or fever. We know that cholera or fever is\npreventible; that man has no right to have these pestilences in a\ncountry, because they can be kept out and destroyed. But if you or I\ncaught cholera or fever by no fault or folly of our own, we are bound to\nsay, God sent me this sickness. It has some private lesson for _me_. It\nis part of my education, my schooling in God\u2019s school-house. It is meant\nto make me a wiser and better man; and that he can only do by teaching me\nmore about himself. So with these locusts, and still more so; for Joel\ndid not know, could not know, that these locusts could be prevented. But\neven if he had known that, it was not his fault or folly, or his\ncountrymen\u2019s which had brought the locusts. Most probably they were\ntilling the ground to the best of their knowledge. Most probably, too,\nthese locusts were not bred in Palestine at all; but came down upon the\nnorth-wind (as they are said to do now), from some land hundreds of miles\naway; and therefore Joel could say\u2014Whatever I do not know about these\nlocusts, this I know; that God, whose providence orders all things in\nheaven and earth, has sent them; that he means to teach you a lesson by\nthem; that they are part of his schooling to us Jews; that he intends to\nmake us wiser and better men by them: _and that he can only do by\nteaching us more about himself_.\n\nWhat, then, does Joel say about the locusts, which he might say to you or\nme, if we were laid down by cholera or fever? He does not say, these\ntroubles have come upon you from devils, or evil spirits, or by any blind\nchance of the world about you. He says, they have come on you from _the\nLord_; from the same good, loving, merciful Lord who brought your fathers\nout of Egypt, and made a great nation of you, and has preserved you to\nthis day. And do not fancy that he is changed. Do not fancy that he has\nforgotten you, or hates you, or has become cruel, or proud, or unlike\nhimself. It is you who have forgotten him, and have shown that by living\nbad lives; and all he wishes is, to drive you back to him, that you may\nlive good lives. Turn to him; and you will find him unchanged; the same\nloving, forgiving Lord as ever. He requires no sacrifices, no great\nofferings on your part to win him round. All he asks is, that you should\nconfess yourselves in the wrong, and turn and repent. Turn therefore to\nthe Lord with all your heart, and with weeping, and with fasting, and\nwith mourning\u2014(which was, and is still the Eastern fashion); and rend\nyour heart, and not your garments. And why? Because the Lord is very\ndreadful, angry and dark, and has determined to destroy you all? Not so:\nbut because he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great\nkindness, and repenteth him of the evil.\n\nYes, my friends: and this, you will find, is at the bottom of all true\nrepentance and turning to God. If you believe that God is dark, and\nhard, and cruel, you may be afraid of him: but you cannot repent, cannot\nturn to him. The more you think of him the more you will be terrified at\nhim, and turn from him. But if you believe that God is gracious and\nmerciful, then you can turn to him; then you can repent with a true\nrepentance, and a godly sorrow which breeds joy and peace of mind.\n\nSo Joel thought, at least; for he tells them, that if they will but turn\nto God, if they will but confess themselves in the wrong, all shall be\nwell again, and better than before.\n\nNow, if Joel had been a heathen, worshipping the false gods of the\nCanaanites, he would have spoken very differently; he would have said,\nperhaps\u2014Baal, the true God, is angry with you, and he has sent the\ndrought.\n\nOr, Ashtoreth, the Queen of Heaven, by whose power all seeds grow and all\ncreatures breed, is angry with you, and she has destroyed the seeds, and\nsent the locusts.\n\nOr, Ammon, the Lord of the sheep, is angry, and he has destroyed your\nflocks and herds.\n\nBut one thing we know he would have said\u2014These angry gods want _blood_.\nYou cannot pacify them without human blood. You must give them the most\ndear and precious things you have\u2014the most beautiful and pure. You must\nsacrifice boys and girls to them; and then, perhaps, they will be\nappeased.\n\nWe _know_ this. We know that the heathen, whenever they were in trouble,\ntook to human sacrifices.\n\nThe Canaanites\u2014and the Jews when they fell into idolatry\u2014used to burn\ntheir children in the fire to Moloch.\n\nWe know that the Carthaginians, who were of the same blood and language\nas the Canaanites, used human sacrifices; and that once when their city\nwas in great danger, they sacrificed at one time two hundred boys of\ntheir highest families.\n\nWe know that the Greeks and Romans, who had much more humane and rational\nnotions about their gods, were tempted, in times of great distress, to\nsacrifice human beings. It has always been so. The old Mexicans in\nAmerica used to sacrifice many thousands of men and women every year to\ntheir idols; and when the Spaniards came and destroyed them off the face\nof the earth in the name of the Lord\u2014as Joshua did the Canaanites of\nold\u2014they found the walls of the idol temples crusted inches thick with\nhuman blood. Even to this day, the wild Khonds in the Indian mountains,\nand the Red men of America, sacrifice human beings at times, and, I fear,\nvery often indeed; and believe that the gods will be the more pleased,\nand more certain to turn away their anger, the more horrible and\nlingering tortures they inflict upon their wretched victims. I say,\nthese things were; and were it not for the light of the Gospel, these\nthings would be still; and when we hear of them, we ought to bow our\nheads to our Father in heaven in thankfulness, and say\u2014what Joel the\nprophet taught the Jews to say dimly and in part\u2014what our Lord Jesus and\nhis apostles taught us to say fully and perfectly\u2014\n\nIt is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, at all times and in all\nplaces\u2014whether in joy or sorrow, in wealth or in want, to give thanks to\nthee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God.\n\nThrough Jesus Christ our Lord, according to whose most true promise the\nHoly Ghost came down from heaven upon the apostles, to teach them and to\nlead them into all truth, and give them fervent zeal, constantly to\npreach the Gospel to all nations, by which we have been brought out of\ndarkness and error into the clear light and true knowledge of thee and of\nthy Son Jesus Christ.\n\nYes, my friends, this is the lesson which we have to learn from Joel\u2019s\nprophecy, and from all prophecies. This lesson the old prophets learnt\nfor themselves, slowly and dimly, through many temptations and sorrows.\nThis lesson our Lord Jesus Christ revealed fully, and left behind him to\nhis apostles. This lesson men have been learning slowly but surely in\nall the hundreds of years which have past since; to know that there is\none Father in heaven, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ,\nby whom are all things; that they may, in all the chances and changes of\nthis mortal life, in weal and in woe, in light and in darkness, in plenty\nand in want, look up to that heavenly Father who so loved them that he\nspared not his only begotten Son, but freely gave him for them, and say,\n\u2018Father, not our will but thine be done. All things come from thy hand,\nand therefore all things come from thy love. We have received good from\nthy hand, and shall we not receive evil? Though thou slay us, yet will\nwe trust in thee. For thou art gracious and merciful, long-suffering and\nof great goodness. Thou art loving to every man, and thy mercy is over\nall thy works. Thou art righteous in all thy ways, and holy in all thy\ndoings. Thou art nigh to all that call on thee; thou wilt hear their\ncry, and wilt help them. For all thou desirest, when thou sendest\ntrouble on them, is to make them wiser and better men. _And that thou\ncanst only make them by teaching them more about thyself_.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXI.\nSALVATION.\n\n\n ISAIAH lix. 15, 16.\n\n And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no\n judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there\n was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and\n his righteousness it sustained him.\n\nTHIS text is often held to be a prophecy of the coming of our Lord Jesus\nChrist. I certainly believe that it is a prophecy of his coming, and of\nsomething better still; namely, his continual presence; and a very noble\nand deep one, and one from which we may learn a great deal.\n\nWe may learn from it what \u2018salvation\u2019 really is. What Christ came to\nsave men from, and how he saves them.\n\nThe common notion of salvation now-a-days is this. That salvation is\nsome arrangement or plan, by which people are to escape hell-fire by\nhaving Christ\u2019s righteousness imputed to them without their being\nrighteous themselves.\n\nNow, I have nothing to say about that this morning. It may be so; or,\nagain, it may not; I read a good many things in books every week the\nsense of which I cannot understand. At all events it is not the\nsalvation of which Isaiah speaks here.\n\nFor Isaiah tells us very plainly, from _what_ God was going to save these\nJews. Not from hell-fire\u2014nothing is said about it: but simply from their\n_sins_. As it is written, \u2018Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall\nsave his people from _their sins_.\u2019\n\nThe case is very simple, if you will look at Isaiah\u2019s own words. These\nJews had become thoroughly bad men. They were not ungodly men. They\nwere very religious, orthodox, devout men. They \u2018sought God daily, and\ndelighted to know his ways, like a nation that did righteousness, and\nforsook not the ordinances of their God: they asked of him the ordinances\nof justice; they took delight in approaching unto God.\u2019\n\nBut unfortunately for them, and for all with whom they had to do, after\nthey had asked of God the ordinances of justice, they never thought of\ndoing them; and in spite of all their religion, they were, Isaiah tells\nthem plainly, rogues and scoundrels, none of whom stood up for justice,\nor pleaded for truth, but trusted in vanity, and spoke lies. Their feet\nran to evil, and they made haste to shed innocent blood; the way of peace\nthey knew not, and they had made themselves crooked paths, speaking\noppression and revolt, and conceiving and uttering words of falsehood; so\nthat judgment was turned away backward, and justice stood afar off, for\ntruth was fallen in the street, and equity could not enter. Yea, truth\nfailed; and he that departed from evil made himself a prey (or as some\nrender it) was accounted mad.\n\nAnd this is in the face of all their religion and their church-going.\nVerily, my friends, fallen human beings were much the same then as now;\nand there are too many in England and elsewhere now who might sit for\nthat portrait.\n\nBut how was the Lord going to save these hypocritical, false, unjust men?\nWas he going to say to them, Believe certain doctrines about me, and you\nshall escape all punishment for your sins, and my righteousness shall be\nimputed to you? We do not read a word of that. We read\u2014not that the\nLord\u2019s righteousness was imputed to these bad men, but that it sustained\nthe Lord himself.\u2014Ah! there is a depth, if you will receive it\u2014a depth of\nhope and comfort\u2014a well-spring of salvation for us and all mankind.\n\nYou may be false and dishonest, saith the Lord, but I am honest and true.\nUnjust, but I am just; unrighteous, but I am righteous. If men will not\nset the world right, then I will, saith the Lord. My righteousness shall\nsustain me, and keep me up to my duty, though man may forget his. To me\nall power is given in heaven and earth, and I will use my power aright.\n\nIf men are bringing themselves and their country, their religion, their\nchurch to ruin by hypocrisy, falsehood, and injustice, as those Jews\nwere, then the Lord\u2019s arm will bring salvation. He will save them from\ntheir sins by the only possible way\u2014namely, by taking their sins away,\nand making those of them who will take his lesson good and righteous men\ninstead. It may be a very terrible lesson of vengeance and fury, as\nIsaiah says. It may unmask many a hypocrite, confound many a politic,\nand frustrate many a knavish trick, till the Lord\u2019s salvation may look at\nfirst sight much more like destruction and misery; for his fan is in his\nhand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into\nhis garner: but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.\n\nBut his purpose is, to _save_\u2014to save his people from their sins, to\npurge out of them all hypocrisy, falsehood, injustice, and make of them\nhonest men, true men, just men\u2014men created anew after his likeness. And\nthis is the meaning of his salvation; and is the only salvation worth\nhaving, for this life or the life to come.\n\nOh my friends, let us pray to God, whatsoever else he does for us, to\nmake honest men of us. For if we be not honest men, we shall surely come\nto ruin, and bring all we touch to ruin, past hope of salvation.\nWhatsoever denomination or church we belong to, it will be all the same:\nwe may call ourselves children of Abraham, of the Holy Catholic Church\n(which God preserve), or what we will: but when the axe is laid to the\nroot of the tree, every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn\ndown, and is cast into the fire; and woe to the foolish fowl who have\ntaken shelter under the branches of it.\n\nAnd we who are coming to the holy communion this day\u2014let us ask\nourselves, What do we want there? Do we want to be made good men, true,\nhonest, just? Do we want to be saved from our sins? or merely from the\npunishment of them after we die? Do we want to be made sharers in that\neverlasting righteousness of Christ, which sustains him, and sustains the\nwhole world too, and prevents it from becoming a cage of wild beasts,\ntearing each other to pieces by war and oppression, falsehood and\ninjustice? _Then_ we shall get what we want; and more. But if not, then\nwe shall not get what we want, not discerning that the Lord\u2019s body is a\nrighteous and just and good body; and his blood a purifying blood, which\npurifies not merely from the punishment of our sins, but from our sins\nthemselves.\n\nAnd bear in mind, my friends, when times grow evil, and rogues and\nhypocrites abound, and all the world seems going wrong, there is one arm\nto fall back upon, and one righteousness to fall back upon, which can\nnever fail you, or the world.\u2014\n\nThe arm of the Lord, which brings salvation to him, that he may give it\nto all who are faithful and true; which cannot weaken or grow weary, till\nit has cast out of his kingdom all which offends, and whosoever loveth or\nmaketh a lie.\u2014\n\nAnd the eternal righteousness of the Lord, which will do justice by every\nliving soul of man, and which will never fail or fade away, because it is\nhis own property, belonging to his own essence, which if he gave up for a\nmoment he would give up being God. Yes, God is good, though every man\nwere bad; God is just, though every man were a rogue; God is true, though\nevery man were a liar; and as long as that is so, all is safe for you and\nme, and the whole world:\u2014_if we will_.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXII.\nTHE BEGINNING AND END OF WISDOM.\n\n\n PROVERBS ii. 2, 3, 5.\n\n If thou incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thine heart to\n understanding; yea, if thou criest after wisdom, and liftest up thy\n voice for understanding; then shalt thou understand the fear of the\n Lord, and find the knowledge of God.\n\nWE shall see something curious in the last of these verses, when we\ncompare it with one in the chapter before. The chapter before says, that\nthe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That if we wish to be\nwise at all, we must _begin_ by fearing God. But this chapter says, that\nthe fear of the Lord is the _end_ of wisdom too; for it says, that if we\nseek earnestly after knowledge and understanding, _then_ we shall\nunderstand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.\n\nSo, according to Solomon, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of\nwisdom, and the end likewise. It is the starting point from which we are\nto set out, and the goal toward which we are to run.\n\nHow can that be?\n\nIf by wisdom Solomon meant high doctrines, what we call theology and\ndivinity, it would seem more easy to understand: but he does not mean\nthat, at least in our sense; for his rules and proverbs about wisdom are\nnot about divinity and high doctrines, but about plain practical\nevery-day life; shrewd maxims as to how to behave in this life, so as to\nthrive and prosper in it.\n\nAnd yet again they must be about divinity and theology in some sense.\nFor what does he say about wisdom in the text? \u2018If thou search after\nwisdom, thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord;\u2019 and is that all?\nNo. He says more than that. Thou shalt find, he says, the knowledge of\nGod. To know God.\u2014What higher theology can there be than that? It is\nthe end of all divinity, of all religion. It is eternal life itself, to\nknow God. If a man knows God, he is in heaven there and then, though he\nbe walking in flesh and blood upon this mortal earth.\n\nHow can all this be?\n\nLet us consider the words once again.\n\nSolomon does not say, To understand the fear of the Lord is the beginning\nof wisdom, but simply the fear of the Lord is the beginning of it. But\nthe end of wisdom, he says, is not merely to fear the Lord, but to\nunderstand the fear of the Lord.\n\nThis then, I suppose, is his meaning: We are to begin life by fearing\nGod, without understanding it: as a child obeys his parents without\nunderstanding the reason of their commands.\n\nTherefore, says Solomon to the young man, begin with that\u2014with the\nsolemn, earnest, industrious, God-fearing frame of mind\u2014without that you\nwill gain no wisdom. You may be as clever as you will, but if you are\nreckless and wild, you will gain no wisdom. If you are violent and\nimpatient; if you are selfish and self-conceited; if you are weak and\nself-indulgent, given up to your own pleasures, your cleverness will be\nof no use to you. It will be only hurtful to you and to others. A\nclever fool is common enough, and dangerous enough. For he is one who\nnever sees things as they really are, but as he would like them to be. A\nbad man, let him be as clever as he may, is like one in a fever, whose\nmind is wandering, who is continually seeing figures and visions, and\nmistaking them for actual and real things; and so with all his\ncleverness, he lives in a dream, and makes mistake upon mistake, because\nhe knows not things as they are, and sees nothing by the light of Christ,\nwho is the light of the world, from whom alone all true understanding\ncomes.\n\nBegin then with the fear of the Lord. Make up your mind to do what you\nare told is right, whether you know the reason of it or not. Take for\ngranted that your elders know better than you, and have faith in them, in\nyour teachers, in your Bible, in the words of wise men who have gone\nbefore you: and do right, whatever it costs you.\n\nIf you do not always know the reason at first, you will know it in due\ntime, and get, so Solomon says, to _understand_ the fear of the Lord. In\ndue time you will see from experience that you are in the path of life.\nYou will be able to say with St. Paul, I _know_ in whom I have believed;\nand with Job, \u2018Before I heard of thee, O Lord, with the hearing of the\near: but now mine eye seeth thee.\u2019\n\nAnd why? Because, says Solomon, God himself will show you, and teach you\nby his Holy Spirit. As our Lord says, \u2018The Holy Spirit shall take of\nmine, and show it unto you, and lead you into all truth.\u2019 And therefore\nSolomon talks of wisdom, who is the Holy Ghost the Comforter, as a person\nwho teaches men, whose delight is with the sons of men. He speaks of\nwisdom as calling to men. He speaks of her as a being who is seeking for\nthose that seek her, who will teach those who seek after her.\n\nYes, this, my friends, is, I believe, the secret of life. At least it is\nthe secret both of Solomon\u2019s teaching, and our Lord\u2019s, and St. Paul\u2019s,\nand St. John\u2019s, that true wisdom is not a thing which man finds out for\nhimself, but which God teaches him. This is the secret of life\u2014to\nbelieve that God is your Father, schooling and training you from your\ncradle to your grave; and then to please him and obey him in all things,\nlifting up daily your hands and thankful heart, entreating him to purge\nthe eyes of your soul, and give you the true wisdom, which is to see all\nthings as they really are, and as God himself sees them. If you do that,\nyou may believe that God will teach you more and more how to do, in all\nthe affairs of life, that which is right in his sight, and therefore good\nfor you. He will teach you more and more to see in all which happens to\nyou, all which goes on around you, his fatherly love, his patient mercy,\nhis providential care for all his creatures. He will reward you by\nmaking you more and more partaker of his Holy Spirit and of truth, by\nwhich, seeing everything as it really is, you will at last\u2014if not in this\nlife, still in the life to come\u2014grow to see God himself, who has made all\nthings according to his own eternal mind, that they may be a pattern of\nhis unspeakable glory; and beyond that, who needs to see? For to know\nGod, and to see God, is eternal life itself.\n\nAnd this true wisdom, which lies in knowing God, and understanding his\nlaws, is within the reach of the simplest person here. As I told you,\ncleverness without godliness will not give it you; but godliness without\ncleverness may.\n\nTherefore let no one say, \u2018We are no scholars, nor philosophers, and we\nnever can be. Are we, then, shut out from this heavenly wisdom?\u2019 God\nforbid, my friends. God is no respecter of persons. Only remember one\nthing; and by it you, too, may attain to the heavenly wisdom. I said\nthat the fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. I said that the\nfear of the Lord was the end of wisdom. Now let the fear of the Lord be\nthe middle of wisdom also, and walk in it from youth to old age, and all\nwill be well.\n\nThat is the short way, the royal road to wisdom. To be good and to do\ngood. To keep the single eye\u2014the eye which does not look two ways at\nonce, and want to go two ways at once, as too many do who want to serve\nGod and mammon, and to be good people and bad people too both at once.\nBut the single eye of the man, who looks straightforward at everything,\nand has made up his mind what it ought to do, and will do, so help him\nGod. As stout old Joshua said, \u2018Choose ye whom ye will serve: but as for\nme and my house, we will serve the Lord.\u2019 That is the single eye, which\nwants simply to know what is right, and do what is right.\n\nAnd if a man has that he may be a very wise man indeed, though he can\nneither read nor write.\n\nIt is good for a man, of course, to be able to read, that he may know\nwhat wiser men than he have said: above all, that he may know what his\nBible says. But, even if he cannot read, let him fear God, and set his\nheart earnestly to know and do his duty. Let him keep his soul pure, and\nhis body also (for nothing hinders that heavenly wisdom like loose\nliving), and he will be wise enough for this world, and for the world to\ncome likewise.\n\nI tell you, my friends, I have known women, who were neither clever\nwomen, nor learned women, nor anything except good women, whose souls\nwere pure and full of the Holy Spirit, and who lived lives of prayer, and\nsat all day long with Mary at the feet of Jesus.\u2014I have known such women\nto have at times a wisdom which all books and all sciences on earth\ncannot give. I have known them give opinions on deep matters which\nlearned and experienced men were glad enough to take. I have known them\nhave, in a wonderful degree, that wisdom which the Scripture calls\ndiscerning of spirits, being able to see into people\u2019s hearts; knowing at\na glance what they were thinking of, what made them unhappy, how to\nmanage and comfort them; knowing at a glance whether they were honest or\nnot, pure-minded or not\u2014a precious and heavenly wisdom, which comes, as I\nbelieve, from none other than the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ,\nwho is the discerner of the secret thoughts of all hearts: and when I\nhave seen such people, altogether simple and humble, and yet most wise\nand prudent, because they were full of the fear of the Lord, and of the\nknowledge of God, I could not but ask\u2014Why should we not be all like them?\n\nMy friends, I believe that we may all be more or less like them, if we\nwill make the fear of the Lord the beginning of our wisdom, and the\nmiddle of our wisdom, and the end of our wisdom.\n\nNine-tenths of the mistakes we make in life come from forgetting the fear\nof God and the law of God, and saying not, I will do what is right: but\u2014I\nwill do what will profit me; I will do what I like. If we would say to\nourselves manfully instead all our lives through, I will learn the will\nof God, and do it, whatsoever it cost me; we should find in our old age\nthat God\u2019s Holy Spirit was indeed a guide and a comforter, able and\nwilling to lead us into all truth which was needful for us. We should\nfind St. Paul had spoken truth, when he said that godliness has the\npromise of _this_ life, as well as of that which is to come.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXIII.\nHUMAN NATURE.\n\n\n (_Septuagesima Sunday_.)\n\n GENESIS i. 27.\n\n So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he\n him; male and female created he them.\n\nON this Sunday the Church bids us to begin to read the book of Genesis,\nand hear how the world was made, and how man was made, and what the world\nis, and who man is.\n\nAnd why?\n\nTo prepare us, I think, for Lent, and Passion week, Good Friday, and\nEaster day.\n\nFor you must know what a thing ought to be, before you can know what it\nought not to be; you must know what health is, before you can know what\ndisease is; you must know how and why a good man is good, before you can\nknow how and why a bad man is bad. You must know what man fell from,\nbefore you can know what man has fallen to; and so you must hear of man\u2019s\ncreation, before you can understand man\u2019s fall.\n\nNow in Lent we lament and humble ourselves for man\u2019s fall. In Passion\nweek we remember the death and suffering of our blessed Lord, by which he\nredeemed us from the fall. On Easter day we give him thanks and glory\nfor having conquered death and sin, and rising up as the new Adam, of\nwhom St. Paul writes, \u2018As in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all\nbe made alive.\u2019\n\nAnd therefore to prepare us for Lent and Passion week, and Easter day, we\nbegin this Sunday to read who the first man was, and what he was like\nwhen he came into the world.\n\nNow we all say that man was created good, righteous, innocent, holy. But\ndo you fancy that man had any goodness or righteousness of his own, so\nthat he could stand up and say, I am good; I can take care of myself; I\ncan do what is right in my own strength?\n\nIf you fancy so, you fancy wrong. The book of Genesis, and the text,\ntell us that it was not so. It tells us that man could not be good by\nhimself; that the Lord God had to tell him what to do, and what not to\ndo; that the Lord God visited him and spoke to him: so that he could only\ndo right by faith: by trusting the Lord, and believing him, and believing\nthat what the Lord told him was the right thing for him; and it tells us\nthat he fell for want of faith, by not believing the Lord and not\nbelieving that what the Lord told him was right for him. So he was holy,\nand stood safe, only as long as he did not stand alone: but the moment\nthat he tried to stand alone he fell. So that it was with Adam as it is\nwith you and me. The just man can only live by faith.\n\nAnd St. John explains this more fully, when he tells us that the voice of\nthe Lord, the Word of God whom Adam heard walking among the trees of the\ngarden, was our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who was the life of Adam and\nall men, and the light of Adam and all men. All death and misery, and\nall ignorance and darkness, come at first from forgetting the Lord Jesus\nChrist, and forgetting that he is about our path and about our bed, and\nspying out all our ways; as St. John says, that Christ\u2019s light is always\nshining in the darkness of this world, but the darkness comprehendeth it\nnot; that he came to his own, but his own received him not; but as many\nas received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, as he\ngave to man at first; for St. Luke says, that Adam was the Son of God.\nBut a son must depend on his father; and therefore man was sent into the\nworld to depend on God. So do not fancy that man before he fell could do\nwithout God\u2019s grace, though he cannot now. If man had never fallen, he\nwould have been just as much in need of God\u2019s grace to keep him from\nfalling. To deny that is the root of what is called the Pelagian heresy.\nTherefore the Church has generally said, and said most truly, that \u2018Adam\nstood by grace in Paradise;\u2019 and had a \u2018supernatural gift;\u2019 and that as\nlong as he used that gift, he was safe, and only so long.\n\nNow what does supernatural mean?\n\nIt means \u2018above nature.\u2019\n\nAdam had a human nature: but he wanted something to keep him above that\nnature, lest he should die, as all natural things on earth must. Trees\nand flowers, birds and beasts, yea, the great earth itself must die, and\nhave an end in time, because it has had a beginning.\n\nMan had and has still a human nature; the most beautiful, noble, and\nperfect nature in the world; high above the highest animals in rank,\nbeauty, understanding, and feelings. Human nature is made, so the Bible\ntells us, in some mysterious way, after the likeness of God; of Christ,\nthe eternal Son of man, who is in heaven; for the Bible speaks of the\nWord or Voice of God as appearing to man in something of a human voice:\nreasoning with him as man reasons with man; and feeling toward him human\nfeelings. That is the doctrine of the Bible; of David and the prophets,\njust as much as of Genesis or of St. Paul.\n\nThat is a great mystery and a great glory: but that alone could not make\nman good, could not even keep him alive.\n\nFor God made man for something more noble and blessed than to follow even\nhis own lofty human nature. God made the animals to follow their natures\neach after its kind, and to do each what it liked, without sin. But he\nmade man to do more than that; to do more than what he _likes_; namely,\nto do what he _ought_. God made man to love him, to obey him, to copy\nhim, by doing God\u2019s will, and living God\u2019s life, lovingly, joyfully, and\nof his own free will, as a son follows the father whose will he delights\nto do.\n\nAll animals God made to live and multiply, each after their kind: and man\nlikewise: but the animals he made to die again, and fresh generations,\nay, and fresh kinds of animals to take their place, and do their work, as\nwe know has happened again and again, both before and since man came upon\nthe earth. But of man the Bible says, that he was not meant to die: that\ninto him God breathed the breath, or spirit, of life: of that life of men\nwho is Jesus Christ the Lord; that in Christ man might be the Son of God.\nTo man he gave the life of the soul, the moral and spiritual life, which\nis\u2014to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God; the\nlife which is always tending upward to the source from which it came, and\nlonging to return to God who gave it, and to find rest in him. For in\nGod alone, in the assurance of God\u2019s love to us, and in the knowledge\nthat we are living the life of God, can a man\u2019s spirit find rest. So St.\nAugustine found, through so many bitter experiences, when (as he tells\nus) he tried to find rest and comfort in all God\u2019s creatures one after\nanother, and yet never found them till he found God, or rather was found\nby God, and illuminated (so he says himself) with that grace which by the\nfall he lost.\n\nWhat then does holy baptism mean? It means that God lifts us up again to\nthat honour from whence Adam fell. That as Adam lost the honour of being\nGod\u2019s son, so Jesus Christ restores to us that honour. That as Adam lost\nthe supernatural grace in which he stood, so God for Christ\u2019s sake freely\ngives us back that grace, that we may stand by faith in that Christ, the\nWord of God, whom Adam disbelieved and fell away.\n\nBaptism says, You are not true and right men by nature; you are only\nfallen men\u2014men in your wrong place: but by grace you become men indeed,\ntrue men; men living as man was meant to live, by faith, which is the\ngift of God. For without grace man is like a stream when the fountain\nhead is stopped; it stops too\u2014lies in foul puddles, decays, and at last\ndries up: to keep the stream pure and living and flowing, the fountain\nabove must flow, and feed it for ever.\n\nAnd so it is with man. Man is the stream, Christ is the fountain of\nlife. Parted from him mankind becomes foul and stagnant in sin and\nignorance, and at last dries up and perishes, because there is no life in\nthem. Joined to him in holy baptism, mankind lives, spreads, grows,\nbecomes stronger, better, wiser year by year, each generation of his\nchurch teaching the one which comes after, as our Lord says, not only,\n\u2018If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink;\u2019 but also, \u2018He that\nbelieveth in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water.\u2019\n\nYes, my brethren, if you want to see what man is, you must not look at\nthe heathens, who are in a state of fallen and corrupt nature, but at\nChristians, who are in a state of grace; for they only (those of them, I\nmean, who are true to God and themselves), give us any true notion of\nwhat man can be and should be.\n\nHeathendom is the foul and stagnant pool, parted from Christ, the Fount\nof life. Christendom, in spite of all its sins and short-comings, is the\nstream always fed from the heavenly Fountain. And holy baptism is the\nriver of the water of life, which St. John saw in the Revelations, clear\nas crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, the\ntrees of which are for the healing of the nations. And when that river\nshall have spread over the world, there shall be no more curse, but the\nthrone of God and of the Lamb shall be in the city of God; and the\nnations of them that are saved shall grow to glory and blessedness, such\nas eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of\nman to conceive, but God hath prepared for those who love him.\n\nOh, may God hasten that day! May he accomplish the number of his elect\nand hasten his kingdom, and the day when there shall not be a heathen\nsoul on earth, but all shall know him from the least to the greatest, and\nthe knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the\nsea!\n\nThen\u2014when all men are brought into the fold of Christ\u2019s holy Church\u2014then\nwill they be men indeed; men not after nature, but after grace, and the\nlikeness of Christ, and the stature of perfect men: and then what shall\nhappen to this earth matters little; no, not if the earth and all the\nworks therein, beautiful though they be, be burned up; for though this\nworld perish, man would still have his portion sure in the city of God\nwhich is eternal in the heavens, and before the face of the Son of man\nwho is in heaven.\n\nOh, my friends, think of this. Think of what you say when you say, \u2018I am\na man.\u2019 Remember that you are claiming for yourselves the very highest\nhonour\u2014an honour too great to make you proud; an honour so great that, if\nyou understand it rightly, it must fill you with awe, and trembling, and\nthe spirit of godly fear, lest, when God has put you up so high, you\nshould fall shamefully again. For the higher the place, the deeper the\nfall; and the greater the honour, the greater the shame of losing it.\nBut be sure that it was an honour before Adam fell. That ever since\nChrist has taken the manhood into God, it is an honour now to be a man.\nDo not let the devil or bad men ever tempt you to say, I am only a man,\nand therefore you cannot expect me to do right. I am but a man, and\ntherefore I cannot help being mean, and sinful, and covetous, and\nquarrelsome, and foul: for that is the devil\u2019s doctrine, though it is\ncommon enough. I have heard a story of a man in America\u2014where very few,\nI am sorry to say, have heard the true doctrine of the Catholic Church,\nand therefore do not know really that God made man in his own image, and\nredeemed him again into his own image by Jesus Christ\u2014and this man was\nrebuked for being a drunkard; and what do you fancy his excuse was?\n\u2018Ah,\u2019 he said, \u2018you should remember that there is a great deal of human\nnature in a man.\u2019 That was his excuse. He had been so ill-taught by his\nCalvinist preachers, that he had learnt to look on human nature as\nactually a bad thing; as if the devil, and not God, had made human\nnature, and as if Christ had not redeemed human nature. Because he was a\nman, he thought he was excused in being a bad man; because he had a human\nnature in him, he was to be a drunkard and a brute.\n\nMy friends, I trust that you have not so learned Christ. And if you\nhave, it is from no teaching of your Bible, of your Catechism, or your\nPrayer-book; and, I say boldly, from no teaching of mine. The Church\nbids you say, Yes; I have a human nature in me; and what nature is that\nbut the nature which the Son of God took on himself, and redeemed, and\njustified it, and glorified it, sitting for ever now in his human nature\nat the right hand of God, the Son of man who is in heaven? Yes, I am a\nman; and what is it to be a man, but to be the image and glory of God?\nWhat is it to be a man? To belong to that race whose Head is the\nco-equal and co-eternal Son of God. True, it is not enough to have only\na human nature which may sin, will sin, must sin, if left to itself a\nmoment. But you have, unless the Holy Spirit has left you, and your\nbaptism is of none effect, more than human nature in you: you have divine\ngrace\u2014that supernatural grace and Spirit of God by which man stood in\nParadise, and by neglecting which he fell.\n\nObey that Spirit; from him comes every right judgment of your minds,\nevery good desire of your hearts, every thought and feeling in you which\nraises you up, instead of dragging you down; which bids you do your duty,\nand live the life of God and Christ, instead of living the mere\ndeath-in-life of selfish pleasure and covetousness. Obey that Spirit,\nand be men: men indeed, that you may not come to shame in the day when\nChrist the Son of Man shall take account of you, how you have used your\nmanhood, body, soul, and spirit.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXIV.\nTHE CHARITY OF GOD.\n\n\n (_Quinquagesima Sunday_.)\n\n LUKE xviii. 31, 32, 33.\n\n All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man\n shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles,\n and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and\n they shall scourge him and put him to death; and the third day he\n shall rise again.\n\nTHIS is a solemn text, a solemn Gospel; but it is not its solemnity which\nI wish to speak of this morning, but this\u2014What has it to do with the\nEpistle, and with the Collect? The Epistle speaks of Charity; the\nCollect bids us pray for the Holy Spirit of Charity. What have they to\ndo with the Gospel?\n\nLet me try to show you.\n\nThe Epistle speaks of God\u2019s eternal charity. The Gospel tells us how\nthat eternal charity was revealed, and shown plainly in flesh and blood\non earth, in the life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord.\n\nBut you may ask, How does the Epistle talk of God\u2019s charity? It bids men\nbe charitable; but the name of God is never mentioned in it. Not so, my\nfriends. Look again at the Epistle, and you will see one word which\nshows us that this charity, which St. Paul says we must have, is God\u2019s\ncharity.\n\nFor, he says, Charity never faileth; that though prophecies shall fail,\ntongues cease, knowledge vanish away, charity shall never fail. Now, if\na thing never fail, it must be eternal. And if it be eternal, it must be\nin God. For, as I have reminded you before about other things, the\nAthanasian Creed tells us (and never was truer or wiser word written)\nthere is but one eternal.\n\nBut if charity be not in God, there must be two eternals; God must be one\neternal, and charity another eternal; which cannot be. Therefore charity\nmust be in God, and of God, part of God\u2019s essence and being; and not only\nGod\u2019s saints, but God himself\u2014suffereth long, and is kind; envieth not,\nis not puffed up, seeketh not his own, is not easily provoked, thinketh\nno evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but in the truth; beareth all things,\nbelieveth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.\n\nSo St. Augustine believed, and the greatest fathers of old time. They\nbelieved, and they have taught us to believe, that before all things,\nabove all things, beneath all things, is the divine charity, the love of\nGod, infinite as God is infinite, everlasting as God is everlasting; the\ncharity by which God made all worlds, all men, and all things, that they\nmight be blest as he is blest, perfect as he is perfect, useful as he is\nuseful; the charity which is God\u2019s essence and Holy Spirit, which might\nbe content in itself, because it is perfectly at peace in itself; and yet\n_cannot_ be content in itself, just because it is charity and love, and\ntherefore must be going forth and proceeding everlastingly from the\nFather and the Son, upon errands of charity, love, and mercy, rewarding\nthose whom it finds doing their work in their proper place, and seeking\nand saving those who are lost, and out of their proper place.\n\nBut what has this to do with the Gospel? Surely, my friends, it is not\ndifficult to see. In Jesus Christ our Lord, the eternal charity of God\nwas fully revealed. The veil was taken off it once for all, that men\nmight see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and know that the\nglory of God is charity, and the Spirit of God is love.\n\nThere was a veil over that in old times; and the veil comes over it often\nenough now. It was difficult in old times to believe that God was\ncharity; it is difficult sometimes now.\n\nSad and terrible things happen\u2014Plague and famine, earthquake and war.\nAll these things have happened in our times. Not two months ago, in\nItaly, an earthquake destroyed many thousands of people; and in India,\nthis summer, things have happened of which I dare not speak, which have\nturned the hearts of women to water, and the hearts of men to fire: and\nwhen such things happen, it is difficult for the moment to believe that\nGod is love, and that he is full of eternal, boundless, untiring charity\ntoward the creatures whom he has made, and who yet perish so terribly,\nsuddenly, strangely.\n\nWell, then, we must fall back on the Gospel. We must not be afraid of\nthe terror of such awful events, but sanctify the Lord God, in our\nhearts, and say, Whatever may happen I know that God is love; I know that\nhis glory is charity; I know that his mercy is over all his works; for I\nknow that Jesus Christ, who was full of perfect charity, is the express\nimage of his Father\u2019s person, and the brightness of his Father\u2019s glory.\nI know (for the Gospel tells me), that he dared all things, endured all\nthings, in the depth of his great love, for the sake of sinful men. I\nknow that when he knew what was going to happen to him; when he knew that\nhe should be mocked, scourged, crucified, he deliberately, calmly, faced\nall that shame, horror, agony, and went up willingly to Jerusalem to\nsuffer and to die there; because he was full of the Spirit of God, the\nspirit of charity and love. I know that he was _so_ full of it, that as\nhe went up on his fatal journey, with a horrible death staring him in the\nface, still, instead of thinking of himself, he was thinking of others,\nand could find time to stop and heal the poor blind man by the way side,\nwho called \u2018Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.\u2019 And in him and\nhis love will I trust, when there seems nothing else left to trust on\nearth.\n\nOh, my friends, believe this with your whole heart. Whatever happens to\nyou or to your friends, happens out of the eternal charity of God, who\ncannot change, who cannot hate, who can be nothing but what he is and\nwas, and ever will be\u2014love.\n\nAnd when St. Paul tells you, as he told you in the Epistle to-day, to\nhave charity, to try for charity, because it is the most excellent way to\nplease God, and the eternal virtue, which will abide for ever in heaven,\nwhen all wisdom and learning, even about spiritual things, which men have\nhad on earth, shall seem to us when we look back such as a child\u2019s\nlessons do to a grown man;\u2014when, I say, St. Paul tells you to try after\ncharity, he tells you to be like God himself; to be perfect even as your\nFather in heaven is perfect; to bear and forbear because God does so: to\ngive and forgive because God does so; to love all because God loves all,\nand willeth that none should perish, but that all should come to the\nknowledge of the truth.\n\nHow he will fulfil that; how he fulfilled it last summer with those poor\nsouls in India, we know not, and never shall know in this life. Let it\nbe enough for us that known unto God are all his works from the\nfoundation of the world, and that his charity embraces the whole\nuniverse.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXV.\nTHE DAYS OF THE WEEK.\n\n\n JAMES i. 17.\n\n Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh\n down from the Father of lights, with whom is neither variableness,\n nor shadow of turning.\n\nIT seems an easy thing for us here to say, \u2018I believe in God.\u2019 We have\nlearnt from our childhood that there is but one God. It seems to us\nstrange and ridiculous that people anywhere should believe in more gods\nthan one. We never heard of any other doctrine, except in books about\nthe heathen; and there are perhaps not three people in this church who\never saw a heathen man, or talked to him.\n\nYet it is not so easy to learn that there is but one God. Were it not\nfor the church, and the missionaries who were sent into this part of the\nworld by the church, now 1200 years ago, we should not know it now. Our\nforefathers once worshipped many gods, and not one only God. I do not\nmean when they were savages; for I do not believe that they ever were\nsavages at all: but after they were settled here in England, living in a\nsimple way, very much as country people live now, and dressing very much\nas country people do now, they worshipped many gods.\n\nNow what put that mistake into their minds? It seems so ridiculous to us\nnow, that we cannot understand at first how it ever arose.\n\nBut if we will consider the names of their old gods, we shall understand\nit a little better. Now the names of the old English gods you all know.\nThey are in your mouths every day. The days of the week are named after\nthem. The old English kept time by weeks, as the old Jews did, and they\nnamed their days after their gods. Why, would take me too much time to\ntell: but so it is.\n\nWhy, then, did they worship these gods?\n\nFirst, because man must worship something. Before man fell, he was\ncreated in Christ the image and likeness of God the Father; and therefore\nhe was created that he might hear his Father\u2019s voice, and do his Father\u2019s\nwill, as Christ does everlastingly; and after man fell, and lost Christ\nand Christ\u2019s likeness, still there was left in his heart some remembrance\nof the child\u2019s feeling which the first man had; he felt that he ought to\nlook up to some one greater than himself, obey some one greater than\nhimself; that some one greater than himself was watching over him, doing\nhim good, and perhaps, too, doing him harm and punishing him.\n\nThen these simple men looked up to the heaven above, and round on the\nearth beneath, and asked, Who is it who is calling for us? Who is it we\nought to obey and please; who gives us good things? Who may hurt us if\nwe make him angry?\n\nThen the first thing they saw was the sun. What more beautiful than the\nsun? What more beneficent? From the sun came light and heat, the growth\nof all living things, ay, the growth of life itself.\n\nThe sun, they thought, must surely be a god; so they worshipped the sun,\nand called the first day of the week after him\u2014Sunday.\n\nNext the moon. Nothing, except the sun, seemed so grand and beautiful to\nthem as the moon, and she was their next god, and Monday was named after\nher.\n\nThen the wind\u2014what a mysterious, awful, miraculous thing the wind seemed,\nalways moving, yet no one knew how; with immense power and force, and yet\nnot to be seen; as our blessed Lord himself said, \u2018The wind bloweth where\nit listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence\nit cometh or whither it goeth.\u2019 Then\u2014and this is very curious\u2014they\nfancied that the wind was a sort of pattern, or type of the spirit of\nman. With them, as with the old Jews and Greeks, the same word which\nmeant wind, meant also a man\u2019s soul, his spirit; and so they grew to\nthink that the wind was inhabited by some great spirit, who gave men\nspirit, and inspired them to be brave, and to prophesy, and say and do\nnoble things; and they called him Wodin the Mover, the Inspirer; and\nnamed Wednesday after him.\n\nNext the thunder\u2014what more awful and terrible, and yet so full of good,\nthan the summer heat and the thunder cloud? So they fancied that the\nthunder was a god, and called him Thor\u2014and the dark thunder cloud was\nThor\u2019s frowning eyebrow; and the lightning flash Thor\u2019s hammer, with\nwhich he split the rocks, and melted the winter-ice and drove away the\ncold of winter, and made the land ready for tillage. So they worshipped\nThor, and loved him; for they fancied him a brave, kindly, useful god,\nwho loved to see men working in their fields, and tilling the land\nhonestly.\n\nThen the spring. That was a wonder to them again\u2014and is it not a wonder\nto see all things grow fresh and fair, after the dreary winter cold? So\nthe spring was a goddess, and they called her Freya, the Free One, the\nCheerful One, and named Friday after her; and she it was, they thought,\nwho gave them the pleasant spring time, and youth, and love, and\ncheerfulness, and rejoiced to see the flowers blossom, and the birds\nbuild their nests, and all young creatures enjoy the life which God had\ngiven them in the pleasant days of spring. And after her Friday is\nnamed.\n\nThen the harvest. The ripening of the grain, that too was a wonder to\nthem\u2014and should it not be to us?\u2014how the corn and wheat which is put into\nthe ground and dies should rise again, and then ripen into golden corn?\nThat too must be the work of some kindly spirit, who loved men; and they\ncalled him Seator, the Setter, the Planter, the God of the seed field and\nthe harvest, and after him Saturday is named.\n\nAnd so, instead of worshipping him who made all heaven and earth, they\nturned to worship the heaven and the earth itself, like the foolish\nCanaanites.\n\nBut some may say, \u2018This was all very mistaken and foolish: but what harm\nwas there in it? How did it make them worse men?\u2019\n\nMy friends, among these very woodlands here, some thirteen hundred years\nago, you might have come upon one of the places where your forefathers\nworshipped Thor and Odin, the thunder and the wind, beneath the shade of\nancient oaks, in the darkest heart of the forest. And there you would\nhave seen an ugly sight enough.\n\nThere was an altar there, with an everlasting fire burning on it; but why\nshould that altar, and all the ground around be crusted and black with\nblood; why should that dark place be like a charnel house or a butcher\u2019s\nshambles; why, from all the trees around, should there be hanging the\nrotting carcases, not of goats and horses merely, but of _men_,\nsacrificed to Thor and Odin, the thunder and the wind? Why that\nbutchery, why those works of darkness in the dark places of the world?\n\nBecause that was the way of pleasing Thor and Odin. To that our\nforefathers came. To that all heathens have come, sooner or later. They\nfancy gods in their own likeness; and then they make out those gods no\nbetter than, and at last as bad as themselves.\n\nThe old English and Danes were fond of Thor and Odin; they fancied them,\nas I told you, brave gods, very like themselves: but they themselves were\nnot always what they ought to be; they had fierce passions, were proud,\nrevengeful, blood-thirsty; and they thought Thor and Odin must be so too.\n\nAnd when they looked round them, that seemed too true. The thunder storm\ndid not merely melt the snow, cool the air, bring refreshing rain; it\nsometimes blasted trees, houses, men; that they thought was Thor\u2019s anger.\n\nSo of the wind. Sometimes it blew down trees and buildings, sank ships\nin the sea. That was Odin\u2019s anger. Sometimes, too, they were not brave\nenough; or they were defeated in battle. That was because Thor and Odin\nwere angry with them, and would not give them courage. How were they to\nappease Thor and Odin, and put them into good humour again? By giving\nthem their revenge, by letting them taste blood; by offering them sheep,\ngoats, horses in sacrifice: and if that would not do, by offering them\nsomething more precious still, living men.\n\nAnd so, too often, when the weather was unfavourable, and crops were\nblasted by tempest or they were defeated in battle by their enemies,\nThor\u2019s and Odin\u2019s altars were turned into slaughter-places for wretched\nhuman beings\u2014captives taken in war, and sometimes, if the need was very\ngreat, their own children. That was what came of worshipping the heaven\nabove and the earth around, instead of the true God. Human sacrifices,\nbutchery, and murder.\n\nEnglish and Danes alike. It went on among them both; across the seas in\ntheir old country, and here in England, till they were made Christians.\nThere is no doubt about it. I could give you tale on tale which would\nmake your blood run cold. Then they learnt to throw away those false\ngods who quarrelled among themselves, and quarrelled with mankind; gods\nwho were proud, revengeful, changeable, spiteful; who had variableness in\nthem, and turned round as their passions led them. Then they learnt to\nbelieve in the one true God, the Father of lights, in whom is neither\nvariableness nor shadow of turning. Then they learnt that from one God\ncame every good and perfect gift; that God filled the sun with light;\nthat God guided the changes of the moon; that God, and not Thor, gave to\nmen industry and courage; God, and not Wodin, inspired them with the\nspirit which bloweth where it listeth, and raised them up above\nthemselves to speak noble words and do noble deeds; that God, and not\nFriga, sent spring time and cheerfulness, and youth and love, and all\nthat makes earth pleasant; that God, and not Satur, sent the yearly\nwonder of the harvest crops, sent rain and fruitful seasons, filling the\nearth with food and gladness.\n\nBut what was there about this new God, even the true God, which the old\nmissionaries preached, which won the hearts of our forefathers?\n\nThis, my friends, not merely that he was one God and not many, but that\nhe was a Father of lights, from whom came good gifts, in whom was neither\nvariableness nor shadow of turning.\n\nNot merely a master, but a Father, who gave good gifts, because he was\ngood himself; a God whom they could love, because he loved them; a God\nwhom they could trust and depend on, because there was no variableness in\nhim, and he could not lose his temper as Thor and Odin did. That was the\nGod whom their wild, passionate hearts wanted, and they believed in him.\n\nAnd when they doubted, and asked, \u2018How can we be sure that God is\naltogether good?\u2014how can we be sure that he is always trustworthy, always\nthe same?\u2019\u2014Then the missionaries used to point them to the crucifix, the\nimage of Christ upon his cross, and say, \u2018There is the token; there is\nwhat God is to you, what God suffered for you; there is the everlasting\nsign that he gives good gifts, even to the best of all gifts, even to his\nown self, when it was needed; there is the everlasting sign that in him\nis neither darkness, passion, nor change, but that he wills all men to be\nsaved from their own darkness and passions, and from the ruin which they\nbring, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, that they have a Father\nin heaven.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXVI.\nTHE HEAVENLY FATHER.\n\n\n ACTS xvi. 24\u201328.\n\n God that made the world, and all that therein is, seeing that he is\n Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . .\n For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also\n of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.\n\nI TOLD you last Sunday of the meaning of the days of the week; but one\nday I left out\u2014namely, Tuesday. I did so on purpose. I wish to speak of\nthat day by itself in this sermon.\n\nI told you how our forefathers worshipped many gods, by fancying that\nvarious things in the world round them were gods\u2014sun and moon, wind and\nthunder, spring and harvest.\n\nBut if that seems to you at times wrong and absurd, it seemed so to them\nalso. They, like all heathens, had at times dreams of one God.\n\nThey thought to themselves\u2014All heaven and earth must have had a\nbeginning, and they cannot have grown out of nothing, for out of nothing\nnothing comes. They must have been made in some way. Perhaps they were\nmade by some _One_.\n\nThe more they saw of this wonderful world, and all the order and\ncontrivance in it, the more sure they were that one mind must have\nplanned it, one will created it.\n\nBut men\u2014they thought\u2014persons, living souls\u2014are not merely made; they are\nbegotten; they must have a Father, whose sons they are. Perhaps, they\nthought, there is somewhere a great Father; a Father of all persons, from\nwhom all souls come, who was before all things, and all persons, however\ngreat, however ancient they may be. And so, like the Greeks and Romans,\nand many other heathen nations, they had dim thoughts of an All-Father,\nas they called him; Father of gods and men; the Father of spirits.\n\nThey looked round them too, in this world, and saw that everything in it\nmust die. The tree, though it stood for a thousand years, must decay at\nlast; the very rocks and mountains crumbled to dust at last: and so they\nthought\u2014truly and wisely enough\u2014Everything which we see near us, perishes\nat last: why should not everything which we can see, however far off,\nhowever great, perish? Why should not this earth come to an end? Why\nshould not sun and moon, wind and thunder, spring and harvest, end at\nlast? And then will not these gods, who are mixed up with the world, and\nlive in it, and govern it, die too? If the sun perishes, the sun-god\nwill perish too. If the thunder ceases for ever, then there will be no\nmore thunder-god. Yes, they thought\u2014and wisely and truly too\u2014everything\nwhich has a beginning must have an end. Everything which is born, must\ndie. The sun and the earth, wind and thunder, will perish some day; the\ngods of sun and earth, wind and thunder, will die some day. And then\nwhat will be left? Will there be nothing and nowhere? That thought was\ntoo horrible. God\u2019s voice in their hearts, the word of the Lord Jesus\nChrist, who lights every man who comes into the world, made them feel\nthat it was horrible, unreasonable; that it could not be.\n\nBut it was all dim to them, and uncertain. Of one thing only they were\ncertain, that death reigned, and that death had passed upon all men, and\nthings, and even gods. Evil beasts, evil gods, evil passions, were\ngnawing at the root of all things. A time would come of nothing but rage\nand wickedness, fury and destruction; the gods would fight and be slain,\nand earth and heaven would be sent back again into shapeless ruin: and\nafter that they knew no more, though they longed to know. They dreamed,\nI say, at moments of a new and a better world, new men, new gods: but how\nwere they to come? Who would live when all things died? Was there not\nsomewhere an All-Father, who had eternal life?\n\nThen they looked round upon the earth, those simple-hearted forefathers\nof ours, and said within themselves, Where is the All-Father, if\nAll-Father there be? Not in this earth; for it will perish. Not in the\nsun, moon, or stars, for they will perish too. Where is He who abideth\nfor ever?\n\nThen they lifted up their eyes and saw, as they thought, beyond sun, and\nmoon, and stars and all which changes and will change, the clear blue\nsky, the boundless firmament of heaven.\n\nThat never changed; that was always the same. The clouds and storms\nrolled far below it, and all the bustle of this noisy world; but there\nthe sky was still, as bright and calm as ever. The All-Father must be\nthere, unchangeable in the unchanging heaven; bright, and pure, and\nboundless like the heavens; and like the heavens too, silent, and afar\noff.\n\nSo they named him after the heaven, Tuith, Tuisco, Divisco\u2014The God who\nlives in the clear heaven; and after him Tuesday is called: the day of\nTuisco, the heavenly Father. He was the Father of gods and men; and man\nwas the son of Tuisco and Hertha\u2014heaven and earth.\n\nThat was all they knew; and even that they did not know; they\ncontradicted themselves and each other about it. After a time they began\nto think that Odin, and not Tuisco, was the All-Father; all was dim and\nfar off to them. They were feeling after him, as St. Paul says he had\nintended them to do: but they did not find him. They did not know the\nFather, because they did not know Jesus Christ the Son; as it is written,\n\u2018No man cometh to the Father, but through me;\u2019 and, \u2018No man hath seen God\nat any time; only the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the\nFather, he hath declared him.\u2019\n\nMany other heathens had the same thought and the same word; the old\nGreeks and Romans, for instance, who many thousand years ago spoke the\nsame tongue as we did then, called him Zeus or Deus Pater; Jupiter; the\nheavenly Father, Father of gods and men; using the same word as our\nTuisco, a little altered. And that same word, changed slightly, means\nGod now, in Welsh, French, and Italian, and many languages in Europe and\nin Asia; and will do so till the end of time.\n\nThat, I say, was all they knew of their Father in heaven, till\nmissionaries came and preached the Gospel to them, and told them what St.\nPaul told the Greeks in my text.\n\nNow, what did St. Paul tell the Greeks? He came, we read, to Athens in\nGreece, and found the city wholly given to idolatry, worshipping all\nmanner of false gods, and images of them. And yet they were not content\nwith their false gods. They felt, as our forefathers felt, that there\nmust be a greater, better, more mighty, more faithful God than all: and\nthey thought, \u2018We will worship him too: for we are sure that he is,\nthough we know nothing about him.\u2019 So they set up, beside all the altars\nand temples of the false gods \u2018To the Unknown God.\u2019 And St. Paul passed\nby and saw it; and his heart was stirred within him with pity and\ncompassion; and he rose up and preached them a sermon\u2014the first and the\nbest missionary sermon which ever was preached on earth, the model of all\nmissionary sermons; and said, \u2018That God whom you ignorantly worship, Him\nI will declare unto you.\u2019\n\nNow, here was a Gospel; here was good news. St. Paul told them\u2014as the\nmissionaries afterwards told our forefathers\u2014that one, at least, of their\nheathen fancies was not wrong. There was a heavenly Father. Mankind was\nnot an orphan, come into the world he knew not whence, and going, when he\ndied, he knew not whither. No, man was not an orphan. From God he came;\nto God, if he chose, he might return. The heathen poet had spoken truth\nwhen he said, \u2018For we are the offspring of God.\u2019\n\nBut where was the heavenly Father? Far away in the clear sky, in the\nhighest heaven beyond all suns and stars? Silent and idle, caring for no\none on earth, content in himself, and leaving sinful man to himself to go\nto ruin as he chose?\n\n\u2018No,\u2019 says St. Paul, \u2018He is not far off from any one of us; for in him we\nlive, and move, and have our being.\u2019\n\nWonderful words! Eighteen hundred years have past since then, and we\nhave not spelt out half the meaning of them. It is such good news, such\nblessed news, and yet such awful news, that we are afraid to believe it\nfully. That the Almighty God should be so near us, sinful men; that we,\nin spite of all our sins, should live, and move, and have our being in\nGod. How can it be true?\n\nMy friends, it would not be true, if something more was not true. We\nshould have no right to say, \u2018I believe in God the Father Almighty,\u2019\nunless we said also, \u2018I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.\u2019\nSt. Paul, after he had told them of a Father in heaven, went on to tell\nthem of _a man_ whom that Father had sent to judge the world, having\nraised him from the dead.\u2014And there his sermon stopped. Those foolish\nGreeks laughed at him; they would not receive the news of Jesus Christ\nthe Son; and therefore they lost the good news of their Father in heaven.\nWe can guess from St. Paul\u2019s Epistle what he was going on to tell them.\nHow, by believing in Jesus Christ the Son, and claiming their share in\nhim, and being baptized into his name, they might become once more God\u2019s\nchildren, and take their place again as new men and true men in Jesus\nChrist. But they would not hear his message.\n\nOur forefathers did hear that message, and believed it; they had been\nfeeling after the heavenly Father, and at last they found him, and\nclaimed their share in Christ as sons of the heavenly Father; and\ntherefore we are Christian men this day, baptized into God\u2019s family, and\nthriving as God\u2019s family must thrive, as long as it remembers that God\ndwelleth not in temples made with hands, and needs nothing from man,\nseeing that he gives to all life and breath and all things; and is not\nfar from any one of us, seeing that in him we live, and move, and have\nour being, and are the offspring, the children of God.\n\nBear that in mind. Bear it in mind, I say, that in God you live, and\nmove, and have your being. Day and night, going out and coming in, say\nto yourselves, \u2018I am with God my Father, and God my Father is with me.\nThere is not a good feeling in my heart, but my heavenly Father has put\nit there: ay, I have not a power which he has not given, a thought which\nhe does not know; even the very hairs of my head are all numbered.\nWhither shall I go then from his presence? Whither shall I flee from his\nSpirit? For he filleth all things. If my eyes were opened, I should see\nat every moment God\u2019s love, God\u2019s power, God\u2019s wisdom, working alike in\nsun and moon, in every growing blade and ripening grain, and in the\ntraining and schooling of every human being, and every nation, to whom he\nhas appointed their times, and the bounds of their habitation, if haply\nthey may seek after the Lord, and find him in whom they live, and move,\nand have their being. Everywhere I should see life going forth to all\ncreated things from God the Father, of whom are all things, and God the\nSon, by whom are all things, and God the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver\nof that life.\u2019\n\nA little of that glorious sight we may see in this life, if our hearts\nand reasons are purified by the Spirit of God, to see God in all things,\nand all things in God: and more in that life whereof it is written,\n\u2018Beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we\nshall be: but this we know, that when he appears, we shall be like him,\nfor we shall see him as he is.\u2019 To that life may he in his mercy bring\nus all. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXVII.\nTHE GOOD SHEPHERD.\n\n\n JOHN x. 11.\n\n I am the good shepherd.\n\nHERE are blessed words. They are not new words. You find words like\nthese often in the Bible, and even in ancient heathen books. Kings,\npriests, prophets, judges, are called shepherds of the people. David is\ncalled the shepherd of Israel. A prophet complains of the shepherds of\nIsrael who feed themselves, and will not feed the flock.\n\nBut the old Hebrew prophets had a vision of a greater and better shepherd\nthan David, or any earthly king or priest\u2014of a heavenly and almighty\nshepherd. \u2018The Lord is my shepherd,\u2019 says one; \u2018therefore I shall not\nwant.\u2019 And another says, \u2018He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He\nshall gather his lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and\nshall gently lead those who are with young.\u2019\n\nThis was blessed news; good news for all mankind, if there had been no\nmore than this. But there is more blessed news still in the text. In\nthe text, the Lord of whom those old prophets spoke, spoke for himself,\nwith human voice, upon this earth of ours; and declared that all they had\nsaid was true; and that more still was true.\n\nI am the good shepherd, he says. And then he adds, The good shepherd\ngiveth his life for the sheep.\n\nOh, my friends, consider these words. Think what endless depths of\nwonder there are in them. Is it not wonderful enough that God should\ncare for men; should lead them, guide them, feed them, condescend to call\nhimself their shepherd? Wonderful, indeed; so wonderful, that the old\nprophets would never have found it out but by the inspiration of Almighty\nGod. But what a wider, deeper, nobler, more wonderful blessing, and more\nblessed wonder, that the shepherd should give his life for the\nsheep;\u2014that the master should give his life for the servant, the good for\nthe bad, the wise one for the fools, the pure one for the foul, the\nloving one for the spiteful, the king for those who had rebelled against\nhim, the Creator for his creatures. That God should give his life for\nman! Truly, says St. John, \u2018Herein is love. Not that we loved him: but\nthat he loved us.\u2019 Herein, indeed, is love. Herein is the beauty of\nGod, and the glory of God; that he spared nothing, shrank from nothing,\nthat he might save man. Because the sheep were lost, the good shepherd\nwould go forth into the rough and dark places of the earth to seek and to\nsave that which was lost. That was enough. That was a thousand times\nmore than we had a right to expect. Had he done only that he would have\nbeen for ever glorious, for ever adorable, for ever worthy of the praises\nand thanks of heaven and earth, and all that therein is. But that seemed\nlittle in the eyes of Jesus, little to the greatness of his divine love.\nHe would understand the weakness of his sheep by being weak himself;\nunderstand the sorrows of his sheep, by sorrowing himself; understand the\nsins of his sheep, by bearing all their sins; the temptations of his\nsheep, by conquering them himself; and lastly, he would understand and\nconquer the death of his sheep, by dying himself. Because the sheep must\ndie, he would die too, that in all things, and to the uttermost, he might\nshow himself the good shepherd, who shared all sorrow, danger and misery\nwith his sheep, as if they had been his children, bone of his bone and\nflesh of his flesh. In all things he would show himself the good\nshepherd, and no hireling, who cared for himself and his own wages. If\nthe wolf came, he would face the wolf, and though the wolf killed him,\nyet would he kill the wolf, that by his death he might destroy death, and\nhim who had the power of death, that is, the devil. He would go where\nthe sheep went. He would enter into the sheepfold by the same gate as\nthey did, and not climb over into the fold some other way, like a thief\nand a robber. He would lead them into the fold by the same gate. They\nhad to go into God\u2019s fold through the gate of death; and therefore he\nwould go in through it also, and die with his sheep; that he might claim\nthe gate of death for his own, and declare that it did not belong to the\ndevil, but to him and his heavenly Father; and then having led his sheep\nin through the gate of death, he would lead them out again by the gate of\nresurrection, that they might find pasture in the redeemed land of\neverlasting life, where can enter neither devil, nor wolf, nor robber,\nevil spirit, evil man, or evil thing. This, and more than this, he would\ndo in the greatness of his love. He would become in all things like his\nsheep, that he might show himself the good shepherd. Because they died,\nhe would die; that so, because he rose, they might rise also.\n\nOh, my friends, who is sufficient for these things? Not men, not saints,\nnot angels or archangels can comprehend the love of Christ. How can\nthey? For Christ is God, and God is love; the root and fountain of all\nlove which is in you and me, and angels, and all created beings. And\ntherefore his love is as much greater than ours, or than the love of\nangels and archangels, as the whole sun is greater than one ray of\nsun-light. Say rather, as much greater and more glorious as the sun is\ngreater and more glorious than the light which sparkles in the dew-drop\non the grass. The love and goodness and holiness of a saint or an angel\nis the light in that dew-drop, borrowed from the sun. The love of God is\nthe sun himself, which shineth from one part of heaven to the other, and\nthere is nothing hid from the life-giving heat and light thereof. When\nthe dew-drop can take in the sun, then can we take in the love of God,\nwhich fills all heaven and earth.\n\nBut there is, if possible, better news still behind\u2014\u2018I am the good\nshepherd; and know my sheep, and am known of mine.\u2019\n\n\u2018I know my sheep.\u2019 Surely some of the words which I have just spoken may\nhelp to explain that to you. \u2018I know my sheep.\u2019 Not merely, I know who\nare my sheep, and who are not. Of course, the Lord does that. We might\nhave guessed that for ourselves. What comfort is there in that? No, he\ndoes not say merely, \u2018I know _who_ my sheep are; but I know _what_ my\nsheep are. I know them; their inmost hearts. I know their sins and\ntheir follies: but I know, too, their longing after good. I know their\ntemptations, their excuses, their natural weaknesses, their infirmities,\nwhich they brought into the world with them. I know their inmost hearts\nfor good and for evil. True, I think some of them often miserable, and\npoor, and blind, when they fancy themselves strong, and wise, and rich in\ngrace, and having need of nothing. But I know some of them, too, to be\nlonging after what is good, to be hungering and thirsting after\nrighteousness, when they can see nothing but their own sin and weakness,\nand are utterly ashamed and tired of themselves, and are ready to lie\ndown in despair, and give up all struggling after God. I know their\nweakness\u2014and of me it is written, \u2018I will carry the lambs in mine arms.\u2019\nThose who are innocent and inexperienced in the ways of this world, I\nwill see that they are not led into temptation; and I will gently lead\nthose that are with young: those who are weary with the burden of their\nown thoughts, those who are yearning and labouring after some higher,\nbetter, more free, more orderly, more useful life; those who long to find\nout the truth, and to speak it, and give birth to the noble thoughts and\nthe good plans which they have conceived: I have inspired their good\ndesires, and I will bring them to good effect; I will gently lead them,\u2019\nsays the Lord, \u2018for I know them better than they know themselves.\u2019\n\nYes. Christ knows us better than we know ourselves: and better, too,\nthan we know him. Thanks be to God that it is so. Or the last words of\nthe text would crush us into despair\u2014\u2018I know my sheep, and am known of\nmine.\u2019\n\nIs it so? We trust that we are Christ\u2019s sheep. We trust that he knows\nus: but do we know him? What answer shall we make to that question, Do\nyou know Christ? I do not mean, Do you know _about_ Christ? You may\nknow _about_ a person without knowing the person himself when you see\nhim. I do not mean, Do you know doctrines about Christ? though that is\ngood and necessary. Nor, Do you know what Christ has done for your soul?\nthough that is good and necessary also. But, Do you know Christ himself?\nYou have never seen him. True: but have you never seen any one like\nhim\u2014even in part? Do you know his likeness when you see it in any of\nyour neighbours? That is a question worth thinking over. Again\u2014Do you\nknow what Christ is like? What his character is\u2014what his way of dealing\nwith your soul, and all souls, is? Are you accustomed to speak to him in\nyour prayers as to one who can and will hear you; and do you know his\nvoice when he speaks to you, and puts into your heart good desires, and\nlongings after what is right and true, and fair and noble, and loving and\npatient, as he himself is? Do you know Christ?\n\nAlas! my friends, what a poor answer we can make to that question? How\nlittle do we know Christ?\n\nWhat would become of us, if he were like us?\u2014If he were one who bargained\nwith us, and said\u2014\u2018Unless you know me, I will not take the trouble to\nknow you. Unless you care for me, you cannot expect me to care for you.\u2019\nWhat would become of us, if God said, \u2018As you do to me, so will I do to\nyou?\u2019\n\nBut our only hope lies in this, that in Christ the Lord is no spirit of\nbargaining, no pride, no spite, no rendering evil for evil. In this is\nour hope; that he is the likeness of his Father\u2019s glory, and the express\nimage of his person; perfect as his Father is perfect; that like his\nFather, he causeth his rain to fall on the evil and the good; and his sun\nto shine on the just and on the unjust; and is good to the unthankful and\nthe evil\u2014to you and me\u2014and knows us, though we know him not; and cares\nfor us, though we care not for him; and leads us his way, like a good\nshepherd, when we fancy in our conceit that we are going in our own way.\nThis is our hope, that his love is greater than our stupidity; that he\nwill not tire of us, and our fancies, and our self-will, and our\nlaziness, in spite of all our peevish tempers, and our mean and fruitless\nsuspicions of his goodness. No! He will not tire of us, but will seek\nus, and save us when we go astray. And some day, somewhere, somehow, he\nwill open our eyes, and let us see him as he is, and thank him as he\ndeserves. Some day, when the veil is taken off our eyes, we shall see\nlike those disciples at Emmaus, that Jesus has been walking with us, and\nbreaking our bread for us, and blessing us, all our lives long; and that\nwhen our hearts burned within us at noble thoughts, and stories of noble\nand righteous men and women, and at the hope that some day good would\nconquer evil, and heaven come down on earth, then\u2014so we shall find\u2014God\nhad been dwelling among men all along\u2014even Jesus, who was dead, and is\nalive for evermore, and has the keys of death and hell, and knows his\nsheep in this world, and in all worlds, past, present, and to come, and\nleads them, and will lead them for ever, and none can pluck them out of\nhis hand. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXVIII.\nDARK TIMES.\n\n\n 1 JOHN iv. 16\u201318.\n\n We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is\n love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.\n Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day\n of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no\n fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath\n torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.\n\nHAVE we learnt this lesson? Our reading, and thinking, and praying, have\nbeen in vain, unless they have helped us to believe and know the love\nwhich God has to us. But, indeed, no reading, or thinking, or praying\nwill teach us that perfectly. God must teach it us himself. It is easy\nto say that God is love; easy to say that Christ died for us; easy to say\nthat God\u2019s Spirit is with us; easy to say all manner of true doctrines,\nand run them off our tongues at second-hand; easy for me to stand up here\nand preach them to you, just as I find them written in a book. But do I\nbelieve what I say? Do you believe what you say? There is an awful\nquestion. We believe it all now, or think we believe it, while we are\neasy and comfortable: but should we have boldness in the day of\njudgment?\u2014Should we believe it all, if God visited us, to judge us, and\ntry us, and pierce asunder the very joints and marrow of our heart with\nfearful sorrow and temptation? O Lord, who shall stand in that day?\n\nSuppose, for instance, God were to take away the desire of our eyes, with\na stroke. Suppose we were to lose a wife, a darling child; suppose we\nwere struck blind, or paralytic; suppose some unspeakable, unbearable\nshame fell on us to-morrow: could we say then, God is love, and this\nhorrible misery is a sign of it? He loves me, for he chastens me? Or\nshould we say, like Job\u2019s wife, and one of the foolish women, \u2018Curse God\nand die?\u2019 God knows.\n\nAh, when that dark day seems coming on us, and bringing some misery which\nlooks to us beforehand quite unbearable\u2014then how our lip-belief and\nbook-faith is tried, and burnt up in the fire of God, and in the fire of\nour own proud, angry hearts, too! How we struggle and rage at first at\nthe very thought of the coming misery; and are ready to say, God will not\ndo this! He cannot\u2014cannot be so unjust, so cruel, as to bring this\nmisery on me. What have I done to deserve it? Or, if I have deserved\nit, what have these innocents done? Why should they be punished for my\nsins? After all my prayers, too, and my church-goings, and my tryings to\nbe good. Is this God\u2019s reward for all my trouble to please him? Then\nhow vain all our old prayers seem; how empty and dry all ordinances. We\ncry, I have cleansed my hands in vain, and in vain washed my heart in\ninnocency. We have no heart to pray to God. If he has not heard our\npast prayers, why should we pray anymore? Let us lie down and die; let\nus bear his heavy hand, if we must bear it, sullenly, desperately: but,\nas for saying that God is love, or to say that we know the love which God\nhas for us, we say in our hearts, Let the clergyman talk of that; it is\nhis business to speak about it; or comfortable, easy people, who are not\nwatering their pillow with bitter tears all night long. But if they were\nin my place (says the unhappy man), they would know a little more of what\npoor souls have to go through: they would talk somewhat less freely about\nits being a sin to doubt God\u2019s love. He has sent this great misery on\nme. How can I tell what more he may not send? How can I help being\nafraid of God, and looking up to him with tormenting fear?\n\nYes, my friends. These are very terrible thoughts\u2014very wrong thoughts\nsome of them, very foolish thoughts some of them, though pardonable\nenough; for God pardons them, as we shall see. But they are real\nthoughts. They are what really come into people\u2019s minds every day; and I\nam here to talk to you about what is really going on in your soul, and\nmine; not to repeat to you doctrines at second-hand out of a book, and\nsay, There, that is what you have to believe and do; and, if you do not,\nyou will go to hell: but to speak to you as men of like passions with\nmyself; as sinning, sorrowing, doubting, struggling human beings; and to\ntalk to you of what is in my own heart, and will be in your hearts too,\nsome day, if it has not been already. This is the experience of all\n_real_ men, all honest men, who ever struggled to know and to do what is\nright. David felt it all. You find it all through those glorious Psalms\nof his. He was no comfortable, book-read, second-hand Christian, who had\nan answer ready for every trouble, because he had never had any real\ntrouble at all. David was not one of them. He had to go through a very\nrough training\u2014very terrible and fiery trials, year after year; and had\nto say, again and again, \u2018I am weary of crying; my heart is dry; my heart\nfaileth me for waiting so long upon my God. All thy billows and storms\nare gone over me. Thou hast laid me in a place of darkness, and in the\nlowest deep.\u2019\u2014\n\nNot by sitting comfortably reading his book, but by such terrible trials\nas that, was David taught to trust God to the uttermost; and to learn\nthat God\u2019s love was so perfect that he need never dread him, or torment\nhimself with anxiety lest God should leave him to perish.\n\nHezekiah felt it, too, good man as he was, when he was sick, and like to\ndie. And it was not for many a day that he found out the truth about\nthese dark hours of misery, that by all these things men live, and in all\nthese things is the life of the Spirit.\n\nAnd this was Jacob\u2019s experience, too, on that most fearful night of all\nhis life, when he waited by the ford of Jabbok, expecting that with the\nmorning light the punishment of his past sins would come on him; and not\nonly on him, but on all his family, and his innocent children; when he\nstood there alone by the dark river, not knowing whether Esau and his\nwild Arabs would not sweep off the earth all he had and all he loved; and\nknowing, too, that it was his own fault, that he had brought it all upon\nthem by his own deceit and treachery. Then, when his sins stared him in\nthe face, and God rose up to judgment against him, he learnt to pray as\nhe had never prayed before\u2014a prayer too deep for words.\n\n\u2018And Jacob was left alone: and there wrestled a man with him till the\nbreaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him,\nhe touched the hollow of Jacob\u2019s thigh; and the hollow of his thigh was\nout of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the\nday breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, till thou bless me.\nAnd he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place\nPeniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.\u2019\n\nSo it may be with us. So it must be with us, in the dark day when our\nfaith is really tried by terrible affliction.\n\nWe must begin as Jacob did. Plead God\u2019s promises, confess the mercies we\nhave received already. \u2018I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies\nwhich thou hast showed to thy servant.\u2019\n\nAsk for God\u2019s help, as Jacob did: \u2018Deliver me, I pray thee, out of the\nhand of Esau my brother.\u2019 Plead his written promises, and the covenant\nof our baptism, which tell us that we are God\u2019s children, and God our\nFather, as Jacob did according to his light\u2014\u2018And thou saidst, I will\nsurely do thee good.\u2019\n\nSo the proud angry heart will perhaps pass out of us, and we shall set\nourselves more calmly to face the worst, and to try if God\u2019s promises be\nindeed true, and God be indeed as he has said, \u2018Love.\u2019\n\nBut do not be astonished, do not be disheartened, if, when the trouble\ncomes, there comes with it, as to Jacob, a more terrible struggle far, a\nstruggle too deep for words; if you find out that fine words and set\nprayers are nothing in the hour of need, and that you will not be heard\nfor your much speaking. Ah! the darkness of that time, which perhaps\ngoes on for days, for months, all alone between you and God himself.\nClergymen and good people may come in with kind words and true words: but\nthey give no comfort; your heart is still dark, still full of doubt; you\nwant God himself to speak to your heart, and tell you that he is love.\nAnd you have no words to pray with at last; you have used them all up;\nand you can only cling humbly to God, and hold fast. One moment you feel\nlike a poor slave clinging to his stern master\u2019s arm, and entreating him\nnot to kill him outright. The next you feel like a child clinging to its\nfather, and entreating him to save him from some horrible monster which\nis going to devour it: but you have no words to pray with, only sighs,\nand tears, and groans; you feel that you know not what to pray for as you\nought, know not what is good for you; dare ask for nothing, lest it\nshould be the wrong thing. And the longer you struggle, the weaker you\nbecome, as Jacob did, till your very bones seem out of joint, your very\nheart broken within you, and life seems not worth having, or death\neither.\n\nOnly hold fast by God. Only do not despair. Only be sure that God\ncannot lie; be sure that he who cared for you from your birth hour cares\nfor you still; that he who loved you enough to give his own Son for you\nhundreds of years before you were born, cannot but love you still; do not\ndespair, I say; and at last, when you are fallen so low that you can fall\nno lower, and so weak that you are past struggling, you may hear through\nthe darkness of your heart the still small voice of God. Only hold fast,\nand let him not go until he bless you, and you shall find with Jacob of\nold, that as a prince you have power with God and with man, and have\nprevailed. And so God will answer you, as he answered Elijah, at first\nout of the whirlwind and the blinding storm: but at last, doubt it not,\nwith the still small voice which cannot be mistaken, which no earthly ear\ncan hear, but which is more precious to the broken heart than all which\nthis world gives, the peace which passes understanding, and yet is the\nsurest and the only lasting peace.\n\nBut what is the secret of this strange awful struggle? Can you or I\nchange God\u2019s will by any prayers of ours? God forbid that we should, my\nfriends, even if we could; for his will is a good will to us, and his\nname is Love.\n\nDo not be afraid of him. If you do, you are not made perfect in love;\nyou have not yet learnt perfect the lesson of his great love to you. But\nwhat is the secret of this struggle? Why has any poor soul to wrestle\nthus with God who made him, before he can get peace and hope? Why is the\ntrouble sent him at all? It looks at first sight a strange sort of token\nof God\u2019s love, to bring the creatures whom he has made into utter misery.\n\nMy friends, these are deep questions. There are plenty of answers for\nthem ready written: but no answers like the Bible ones, which tell us\nthat \u2018whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth; that these sorrows come on us,\nand heaviness, and manifold temptations, in order that the trial of our\nfaith, being much more precious than that of gold, which perishes though\nit be tried with fire, may be found to praise, and honour, and glory at\nthe appearance of Jesus Christ.\u2019 This is the only answer but it does not\nexplain the reason. It only gives us hope under it. We do not know that\nthese dreadful troubles come from God. The Bible tells us \u2018that God\ntempts no man; that he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the\nchildren of men.\u2019 The Bible speaks at times as if these dark troubles\ncame from the devil himself; and as if God turned them into good for us\nby making them part of our training, part of our education; and so making\nsome devil\u2019s attempt to ruin us only a great means of our improvement. I\ndo not know: but this I do know, the troubles are here, and God is love.\nAt least this is comfortable, that God will let no man be tempted beyond\nwhat he is able: but will with the temptation make a way for us to\nescape, that we may be able to bear it. At least this is comfortable,\nthat our prayers are not needed to change God\u2019s will, because his will is\nalready that we should be saved; because we are on his side in the battle\nagainst the devil, or the flesh, or the world, or whatever it is which\nmakes poor souls and bodies miserable, and he on ours: and all we have to\ndo in our prayers, is to ask advice and orders and strength and courage\nfrom the great Captain of our salvation; that we may fight his battle and\nours aright and to the end. And, my friends, if you be in trouble, if\nyour heart be brought low within you, remember, only remember, who the\nCaptain of our salvation is. Who but Jesus who died on the cross\u2014Jesus\nwho was made perfect by sufferings, Jesus who cried out, \u2018My God! my God!\nwhy hast thou forsaken me?\u2019\n\nIf Christ had to be made perfect by sufferings, much more must we. If he\nneeded to learn obedience by sorrow, much more must we. If he needed in\nthe days of his flesh, to make supplication to God his Father with strong\ncrying and tears, so do we. And if he was heard in that he feared, so, I\ntrust, we shall be heard likewise. If he needed to taste even the most\nhorrible misery of all; to feel for a moment that God had forsaken him;\nsurely we must expect, if we are to be made like him, to have to drink at\nleast one drop out of his bitter cup. It is very wonderful: but yet it\nis full of hope and comfort. Full of hope and comfort to be able, in our\ndarkest and bitterest sorrow, to look up to heaven, and say, At least\nthere is one who has been through all this. As Christ was, so are we in\nthis world; and the disciple cannot be above his master. Yes, we are in\nthis world as he was, and he was once in this world as we are, he has\nbeen through all this, and more. He knows all this and more. \u2018We have a\nHigh Priest above us who can be touched with the feeling of our\ninfirmities, because he has been tempted in all things like as we are.\nyet without sin.\u2019\n\nYes, my friends. Nothing like one honest look, one honest thought, of\nChrist upon his cross. That tells us how much he has been through, how\nmuch he endured, how much he conquered, how much God loved us, who spared\nnot his only-begotten Son, but freely gave him for us. Dare we doubt\nsuch a God? Dare we murmur against such a God? Dare we lay the blame of\nour sorrows on such a God\u2014our Father? No; let us believe the blessed\nmessage of our confirmation, which tells us that it is his Fatherly hand\nwhich is ever over us, and that even though that hand may seem heavy for\nawhile, it is the hand of him whose very being and substance is love, who\nmade the world by love, by love redeemed man, by love sustains him still.\nThough we went down into hell, says David, he is there; though we took\nthe wings of the morning, and fled into the uttermost part of the sea,\nyet there his hand would hold us, and his right hand guide us still. It\nis holding and guiding every one of us now, through storm as well as\nthrough sunshine, through grief as well as through joy; let us humble\nourselves under that mighty hand, and it will exalt us in due time. He\nknows, and must know, when that due time is, and, till then, he is still\nlove, and his mercy is over all his works.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXIX.\nGOD\u2019S CREATION.\n\n\n GENESIS i. 31.\n\n And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good.\n\nTHIS is good news, and a gospel. The Bible was written to bring good\nnews, and therefore with good news it begins, and with good news it ends.\n\nBut it is not so easy to believe. We want faith to believe; and that\nfaith will be sometimes sorely tried.\n\nYes; we want faith. As St. Paul says: \u2018Through faith we understand that\nthe worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are seen\nwere not made of things which appear.\u2019\n\nNo one can prove to us that God made the world; yet we must believe it;\nand what is more, we _do_ believe it, and are certain of it. But all the\nproving and arguments in the world will not make us _certain_ that God\nmade the world; they will only make us feel that it is probable, that it\nis reasonable to think so. What, then, does make us _certain_ that God\nmade the world?\u2014as certain as if we had seen him make it? _Faith_, which\nis stronger than all arguments. Faith, which comes down from heaven to\nour hearts, and is the gift of God. Faith, which is the light with which\nJesus Christ lights us. Faith, which comes by the inspiration of God\u2019s\nHoly Spirit.\n\nSo, again, when we have to believe not only that God made the world, but\nthat all things which he has made are very good.\n\nSo it is, and you must believe it. God is good, the absolute and perfect\ngood; and from good nothing can come but good: and therefore all which\nGod has made is good, as he is; and therefore if anything in the world\nseems to be bad, one of two things must be true of it.\n\n1. Either it is _not_ bad, though it seems so to us; and God will bring\ngood out of it in his good time, and justify himself to men, and show us\nthat he is holy in all his works, and righteous in all his ways.\n\nOr else\u2014If the thing be really bad, then God did not make it. It must be\na disease, a mistake, a failure, of man\u2019s making, or some person\u2019s\nmaking, but not of God\u2019s making. For all that he has made he sees\neternally; and behold, it is very good.\n\nNow, I can say that; and I believe it; and God grant I may never say\nanything else. And yet I cannot prove it to you by any argument. But I\nbelieve it; and I dare say many of you believe it (you all must believe\nit, before all is over), by something better than any argument. By\nfaith\u2014faith, which speaks to the very core and root of a man\u2019s heart and\nreason, and teaches him things surer and deeper than all sermons and\nbooks, all proofs and arguments.\n\nMay God, our Heavenly Father, fill our hearts with his Holy Spirit of\nfaith, that we may believe utterly in his goodness, and therefore believe\nin the goodness of all that he has made.\n\nFor at times we shall need that faith very much indeed, not only about\nour neighbours, but about ourselves. We shall find it hard to believe\nthat there is goodness in some of our neighbours; and the better we know\nourselves, we shall find it very difficult to believe that there is\ngoodness in us.\n\nFor surely this is a great puzzle.\n\n\u2018God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good.\u2019 And\nGod made you and me. Are we therefore very good? Or were we ever very\ngood? Here is a great mystery. It would seem as if we must have been\nvery good if God made us. For God can make nothing bad. Surely not.\nFor he who makes bad things is a bad maker; he who makes bad houses is a\nbad builder; and he who makes bad men is a bad maker of men. But God\ncannot be a bad maker; for he is perfect and without fault in all his\nworks. Yet men are bad.\n\nYet, on the other hand, if God made us, and the Bible be true, there must\nbe good in us. When God said, Let that man be; when God first thought of\nus, if I may so speak, before the foundation of the world\u2014he thought of\nus as good. He created each of us good in his own mind, else he would\nnot have created us at all. But why were we not good when we came on\nearth? Why do we come into this world sinful? Why does God\u2019s thought of\nus, God\u2019s purpose about us, seem to have failed? We do not know, and we\nneed not know. St. Paul tells us that it came by Adam\u2019s fall; that by\nAdam\u2019s fall sin entered into the world, and each man, as he came into it,\nbecame sinful. How that was we cannot understand\u2014we need not understand.\nLet us believe, and be silent; but let us believe this also, that St.\nPaul speaks truth not in this only but in that blessed and glorious news\nwith which he follows up his sad and bad news. \u2018As by the offence of\none, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the\nrighteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of\nlife.\u2019\n\nYes; we may say boldly now, Whatever has been; whatever sin I inherited\nfrom Adam; however sinful I came into this world, God looks on me now,\nnot as I am in Adam, but as I am in Christ. I am in Christ now, baptized\ninto Christ, a new creature in Christ; to Christ I belong, and not to\nAdam at all; and God looks now, not on the old corrupt nature which I\ninherited from Adam, but on the new and good grace which God meant for me\nfrom all eternity, which Christ has given me now. It is that good and\nnew grace in me which God cares for; it is that good and new grace which\nGod is working on, to strengthen and perfect it, that I may grow in\ngrace, and in the likeness of Christ, and become at last what God\nintended me to be, when he thought of me first before the foundation of\nall worlds, and said, \u2018Let us make man [not one man, but all men, male\nand female] in our image, after our likeness.\u2019\n\nThis, again, is a great mystery. Yet our own hearts will tell us, if we\nwill look at them, that it is true. Are there not, as it were, two\ndifferent persons in us, fighting for the mastery? Are we not so\ndifferent at different times, that we seem to ourselves, and to our\nneighbours, perhaps, to be two different people, according as we give way\nto the better nature or to the worse? Even as David\u2014one year living a\nheroic and noble life by faith in God, writing Psalms which will live to\nthe world\u2019s end, and the next committing adultery and murder. Were those\ntwo Davids the same David? Yes; and yet No. The good and noble David\nwas David when he obeyed the grace of God. The base and foul David was\nDavid when he gave way to his fallen and corrupt nature.\n\nEven so might we be. Even so, in a less degree, are we sometimes so\nunlike ourselves, so ashamed of ourselves, so torn asunder with passions\nand lusts, delighting in God\u2019s law and all that is good in our hearts,\nand yet finding another law in us which makes us slaves at moments to our\nbasest passions\u2014to anger, fear, spite, covetousness\u2014that when we think of\nit we are ready to cry with St. Paul, \u2018Oh, wretched man that I am, who\nshall deliver me from the body of this death?\u2019\n\nWho? Who but he of whom St. Paul tells us, gives the answer in the very\nnext verse, \u2018I thank God, that God himself will, through Jesus Christ our\nLord.\u2019\n\nOh, my friends, whosoever of you have ever felt angry with yourselves,\ndiscontented with yourselves, ashamed of yourselves (and he that has not\nfelt so knows no more about himself than a dumb animal does)\u2014you that\nhave felt so, listen to St. Paul\u2019s glorious news and take comfort. Do\nyou wish to be right? Do you wish to be what God intended you to be\nbefore all worlds? Do you wish that of you the glorious words may come\ntrue, \u2018And God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good?\u2019\n\nThen believe this. That all which is good in you God has made; and that\nhe will take care of what he has made, for he loves it; that all which is\nbad in you, God has _not_ made, and therefore he will destroy it; for he\nhates all that he has not made, and will not suffer it in his world; and\nthat if you, your heart, your will, are enlisted on the good side, if you\nare wishing and trying that the good nature in you should conquer the\nbad, then you are on the side of God himself, and God himself is on your\nside; and \u2018if God be for you, who shall be against you?\u2019 Before all\nworlds, from eternity itself, God said, \u2018Let us make man in our own\nlikeness;\u2019 and nothing can hinder God\u2019s word but the man himself. The\nword of God comes down, says the prophet, as the rain and the dew from\nheaven, and, like the rain and dew, returns not to him void, but prospers\nin the thing whereto he sends it; only if the ground be hard and barren,\nand determined to bring forth thorns and briars, rather than corn and\nfruit, is it cursed, and near to burning; and only if a man loves his\nfallen nature better than the noble, just, loving, generous grace of God,\nand gives himself willingly up to the likeness of the beasts which\nperish, can God\u2019s purpose towards him become of none effect.\n\nTake courage, then. If thou dislikest thy sins, so does God. If thou\nart fighting against thy worse feelings, so is God. On thy side is God\nwho made all, and Christ who died for all, and the Holy Spirit who alone\ngives wisdom, purity, nobleness. How canst thou fail when he is on thy\nside? On thy side are all spirits of just men made perfect, all wise and\ngood souls and persons in earth and heaven, all good and wholesome\ninfluences, whether of nature or of grace, of matter or of mind. How\ncanst thou fail if they are on thy side? God, I say, and all that God\nhas made, are working together to bring true of thee the word of God\u2014\u2018And\nGod saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good.\u2019 Believe, and\nendure to the end, and thou shalt be found in Christ at the last day;\nand, being in Christ, have thy share at last in the blessing which the\nFather pronounces everlastingly on Christ, and on the members of Christ,\n\u2018This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.\u2019 Amen.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXX.\nTRUE PRUDENCE.\n\n\n MATTHEW vi. 34.\n\n Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take\n thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the\n evil thereof.\n\nLET me say a few words to you on this text. Be not anxious, it tells\nyou. And why? Because you have to be prudent. In practice, fretting\nand anxiety help no man towards prudence. We must all be as prudent and\nindustrious as we can; agreed. But does fretting make us the least more\nprudent? Does anxiety make us the least more industrious? On the\ncontrary, I know nothing which cripples a man more, and hinders him\nworking manfully, than anxiety. Look at the worst case of all\u2014at a man\nwho is melancholy, and fancies that all is going wrong with him, and that\nhe must be ruined, and has a mind full of all sorts of dark, hopeless,\nfancies. Does he work any the more, or try to escape one of these\ndangers which he fancies are hanging over him? So far from it, he gives\nhimself up to them without a struggle; he sits moping, helpless, and\nuseless, and says, \u2018There is no use in struggling. If it will come, it\nmust come.\u2019 He has lost spirit for work, and lost the mind for work,\ntoo. His mind is so full of these dark fears that he cannot turn it to\nlaying any prudent plan to escape from the very things which he dreads.\n\nAnd so, in a less degree, with people who fret and are anxious. They may\nbe in a great bustle, but they do not get their work done. They run\nhither and thither, trying this and that, but leaving everything half\ndone, to fly off to something else. Or else they spend time unprofitably\nin dreaming, and expecting, and complaining, which might be spent\nprofitably in working. And they are always apt to lose their heads, and\ntheir tempers, just when they need them most; to do in their hurry the\nvery last things which they ought to have done; to try so many roads that\nthey choose the wrong road after all, from mere confusion, and run with\nopen eyes into the very pit which they have been afraid of falling into.\nAs we say here, they will go all through the wood to cut a straight\nstick, and bring out a crooked one at last. My friends, even in a mere\nworldly way, the men whom I have seen succeed best in life have always\nbeen cheerful and hopeful men, who went about their business with a smile\non their faces, and took the changes and chances of this mortal life like\nmen, facing rough and smooth alike as it came, and so found the truth of\nthe old proverb, that \u2018Good times, and bad times, and all times pass\nover.\u2019 Of all men, perhaps, who have lived in our days, the most truly\nsuccessful was the great Duke of Wellington; and one thing, I believe,\nwhich helped him most to become great, was that he was so wonderfully\nfree from vain fretting and complaining, free from useless regrets about\nthe past, from useless anxieties for the future. Though he had for years\non his shoulders a responsibility which might have well broken down the\nspirit of any man; though the lives of thousands of brave men, and the\nwelfare of great kingdoms\u2014ay, humanly speaking, the fate of all\nEurope\u2014depended on his using his wisdom in the right place, and one\nmistake might have brought ruin and shame on him and on tens of\nthousands; yet no one ever saw him anxious, confused, terrified. Though\nfor many years he was much tried and hampered, and unjustly and foolishly\nkept from doing his work as he knew it ought to be down, yet when the\ntime came for work, his head was always clear, his spirit was always\nready; and therefore he succeeded in the most marvellous way. Solomon\nsays, \u2018Better is he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.\u2019\nNow the Great Duke had learnt in most things to rule his spirit, and\ntherefore he was able not only to take cities, but to do better still, to\ndeliver cities,\u2014ay, and whole countries\u2014out of the hand of armies often\nfar stronger, humanly speaking, than his own.\n\nAnd for an example of what I mean I will tell you a story of him which I\nknow to be true. Some one once asked him what his secret was for winning\nbattles. And he said that he had no secret; that he did not know how to\nwin battles, and that no man knew. For all, he said, that man could do,\nwas to look beforehand steadily at all the chances, and lay all possible\nplans beforehand: but from the moment the battle began, he said, no\nmortal prudence was of use, and no mortal man could know what the end\nwould be. A thousand new accidents might spring up every hour, and\nscatter all his plaits to the winds; and all that man could do was to\ncomfort himself with the thought that he had done his best, and to trust\nin God.\n\nNow, my friends, learn a lesson from this, a lesson for the battle of\nlife, which every one of us has to fight from our cradle to our grave\u2014the\nbattle against misery, poverty, misfortune, sickness; the battle against\nworse enemies even than they\u2014the battle against our own weak hearts, and\nthe sins which so easily beset us against laziness, dishonesty,\nprofligacy, bad tempers, hard-heartedness, deserved disgrace, the\ncontempt of our neighbours, and just punishment from Almighty God. Take\na lesson, I say, from the Great Duke for the battle of life. Be not\nfretful and anxious about the morrow. Face things like men; count the\nchances like men; lay your plans like men: but remember, like men, that a\nfresh chance may any moment spoil all your plans; remember that there are\nthousand dangers round you from which your prudence cannot save you. Do\nyour best; and then like the Great Duke, comfort yourselves with the\nthought that you have done your best; and like him, trust in God.\nRemember that God is really and in very truth your Father, and that\nwithout him not a sparrow falls to the ground; and are ye not of more\nvalue than many sparrows, O ye of little faith? Remember that he knows\nwhat you have need of before you ask him; that he gives you all day long\nof his own free generosity a thousand things for which you never dream of\nasking him; and believe that in all the chances and changes of this life,\nin bad luck as well as in good, in failure as well as success, in poverty\nas well as wealth, in sickness as well as health, he is giving you and\nme, and all mankind good gifts, which we in our ignorance, and our\nnatural dread of what is unpleasant, should never dream of asking him\nfor: but which are good for us nevertheless; like him from whom they\ncome, the Father of lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift;\nwho is neither neglectful, capricious, or spiteful, for in him is neither\nvariableness, nor shadow of turning, but who is always loving unto every\nman, and his mercy is over all his works.\n\nBear this in mind, my friends, in all the troubles of life\u2014that you have\na Father in heaven who knows what you have need of before you ask him,\nand your infirmity in asking, and who is wont\u2014is regularly accustomed all\nday long\u2014to give you more than either you desire or deserve. And bear it\nin mind even more carefully, if you ever become anxious and troubled\nabout your own soul, and the life to come.\n\nMany people are troubled with such anxieties, and are continually asking,\n\u2018Shall I be saved or not?\u2019 In some this anxiety comes from bad teaching,\nand the hearing of false, cruel, and superstitious doctrine. In others\nit seems to be mere bodily disease, constitutional weakness and\nfearfulness, which prevents their fighting against dark and sad thoughts\nwhen they arise; but in both cases I think that it is the devil himself\nwho tempts them, the devil himself who takes advantage of their bodily\nweakness, or of the false doctrines which they have heard, and begins\nwhispering in their ears, \u2018You have no Father in heaven. God does not\nlove you. His promises are not meant for you. He does not will your\nsalvation, but your damnation, and there is no hope for you;\u2019 till the\npoor soul falls into what is called religious melancholy, and moping\nmadness, and despair, and dread of the devil; and often believes that the\ndevil has got complete power over him, and that he is the slave of Satan\nfor ever, till, in some cases, the man is even driven to kill himself in\nthe agony of his despair.\n\nNow, my friends, the true answer to all such dark thoughts is, \u2018Your\nHeavenly Father knows what you have need of before you ask him; therefore\nbe not anxious about the morrow, for the morrow shall take care for the\nthings of itself; sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.\u2019\n\nFor in the first place, my friends, the devil was a liar from the\nbeginning, and therefore the chances are a million to one against his\nspeaking the truth in any case; and if he tells you that you are going to\nbe damned, I should take that for a fair sign that you were _not_ going\nto be damned, simply because the devil says it, and therefore it _cannot_\nbe true. No, my friends, the people who have real reason to be afraid\nare just those who are not afraid\u2014the self-conceited, self-satisfied\nsouls; for the devil attacks them too, as he does every one, by their\nweakest point, and has his lie ready for them, and whispers, \u2018You are all\nright; you are safe; you cannot fall; your salvation is sure.\u2019 Or else,\n\u2018You hold the right doctrine; you are orthodox, and perfectly right, and\nwhoever differs from you must be wrong;\u2019 and so tempts them to vain\nconfidence and unclean living, or else into pride, hardness of heart,\nself-willed and self-conceited quarrelling and slandering and lying for\nthe sake of their own party in the Church. It is the self-confident ones\nwho have reason to fear and tremble; for after pride comes a fall. They\nhave reason to fear, lest while they are crying peace and safety, and\nthanking God that they are not as other men are, sudden destruction come\non them; but you anxious, trembling souls, who are terrified at the sight\nof your own sins you who feel how weak you are, and ignorant, and\nconfused, and unworthy to do aught but cry, \u2018God be merciful to me a\nsinner!\u2019 you are the very ones who have least reason to be afraid, just\nbecause you are most afraid: you are the true penitents over whom your\nFather in heaven rejoices; you are those of whom he has said, \u2018I am the\nHigh and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity; yet I dwell with him that is\nof an humble and contrite heart, to revive the spirit of the humble, and\nto comfort the soul of the contrite ones;\u2019 as he will revive and comfort\nyou, if you will only have faith in God, and take your stand on your\nbaptism, and from that safe ground defy the devil and all his dark\nimaginations, saying, \u2018I am God\u2019s child, and God is my father, and\nChrist\u2019s blood was shed for me, and the Holy Spirit of God is with me;\nand in the strength of my baptism, I will hope against hope; I trust in\nthe Lord my God, who has called me into this state of salvation, that he\nwill keep to the end the soul which I have committed to him through Jesus\nChrist my Lord.\u2019\n\nYes. Be not anxious for the morrow, and much more, be not anxious for\nthe life to come. Your Heavenly Father knew that you had need of\nsalvation long before you asked him. Eighteen hundred years before you\nwere born, he sent his Son into the world to die for you; when you were\nbut an infant he called you to be baptized into his Church, and receive\nyour share of his Spirit. Long before you thought of him, he thought of\nyou; long before you loved him, he loved you; and if he so loved you,\nthat he spared not his only begotten Son, but freely gave him for you,\nwill he not with that Son freely give you all things? Therefore, fear\nnot, little flock; it is your Father\u2019s good pleasure to give you the\nkingdom.\n\nAnd be not anxious about the morrow; for the morrow shall be anxious\nabout the things of itself. Be anxious about to-day, if you will; and\n\u2018work out your salvation with fear and trembling;\u2019 for it is God who\nworks in you to will and to do of his good pleasure; and therefore you\ncan do right; and therefore, again, it is your own fault if you do not do\nright. And yet, for that very reason, be not over anxious; for \u2018if God\nbe with you, who can be against you?\u2019 If God, who is so mighty that he\nmade all heaven and earth, be on our side, surely stronger is he that is\nwith you than he that is against you. If God, who so loved you that he\ngave his only begotten Son for you, be on your side, surely you have a\nfriend whom you can trust. \u2018What can part you from his love?\u2019 St. Paul\nasks you; from God\u2019s love, which is as boundless and eternal as God\nhimself; nothing can part you from it, but your own sin.\n\n\u2018But I do sin,\u2019 you say, \u2018again and again, and that is what makes me\nfearful. I try to do better, but I fall and I fail all day long. I try\nnot to be covetous and worldly, but poverty tempts me, and I fall; I try\nto keep my temper, but people upset me, and I say things of which I am\nbitterly ashamed the next minute. Can God love such a one as me?\u2019 My\nanswer is, If God loved the whole world when it was dead in trespasses\nand sins, and _not_ trying to be better, much more will he love you who\nare not dead in trespasses and sins, and are trying to be better. If he\nwere not still helping you; if his Spirit were not with you, you would\ncare no more to become better than a dog or an ox cares. And if you\nfall\u2014why, arise again. Get up, and go on. You may be sorely bruised,\nand soiled with your fall, but is that any reason for lying still, and\ngiving up the struggle cowardly? In the name of Jesus Christ, arise and\nwalk. He will wash you, and you shall be clean. He will heal you, and\nyou shall be strong again. What else can a traveller expect who is going\nover rough ground in the dark, but to fall and bruise himself, and to\nmiss his way too many a time: but is that any reason for his sitting down\nin the middle of the moor, and saying, \u2018I shall never get to my journey\u2019s\nend?\u2019 What else can a soldier expect, but wounds, and defeat, too,\noften; but is that any reason for his running away, and crying, \u2018We shall\nnever take the place?\u2019 If our brave men at Sebastopol had done so, and\nlost heart each time they were beaten back, not only would they have\nnever taken the place, but the Russians would have driven them long ago\ninto the sea, and perhaps not a man of them would have escaped. And, be\nsure of it, your battle is like theirs. Every one of us has to fight for\nthe everlasting life of his soul against all the devils of hell, and\nthere is no use in running away from them; they will come after us\nstronger than ever, unless we go to face them. As with our men at\nSebastopol, unless we beat the enemy, the enemy will destroy us; and our\nonly hope is to fight to-day\u2019s battle like men, in the strength which God\ngives us, and trust him to give us strength to fight to-morrow\u2019s battle\ntoo, when it comes. For here again, as it was at Sebastopol, so it is\nwith our souls. Let our men be as prudent as they might, they never knew\nwhat to-morrow\u2019s battle would be like, or where the enemy might come upon\nthem; and no more do we. They in general could not see the very enemy\nwho was close on them; and no more can we see our enemy, near to us\nthough he is. To-morrow\u2019s temptations may be quite different from\nto-day\u2019s. To-day we may be tempted to be dishonest, to-morrow to lose\nour tempers, the day afterwards to be vain and conceited, and a hundred\nother things. Let the morrow be anxious about the things of itself,\nthen; and face to-day\u2019s enemy, and do the duty which lies nearest you.\nOur brave men did so. They kept themselves watchful, and took all the\nprecautions they could in a general way, just as we ought to do each in\nhis own habits and temper; but the great business was, to go steadily on\nat their work, and do each day what they could do, instead of giving way\nto vain fears and fancies about what they might have to do some day,\nwhich would have only put them out of heart, and confused and distracted\nthem. And so it came to pass, that as their day so their strength was;\nthat each day they got forward somewhat, and had strength and courage\nleft besides to drive back each new assault as it came; and so at last,\nafter many mistakes and many failures, through sickness and weakness,\nthirst and hunger, and every misery except fear which can fall on man,\nthey conquered suddenly, and beyond their highest hopes:\u2014as every one\nwill conquer suddenly, and beyond his highest hope, who fights on\nmanfully under Christ\u2019s banner against sin; against the sin in himself,\nand in his neighbours, and in his parish, and faces the devil and his\nworks wheresoever he may meet them, sure that the devil and his works\nmust be conquered at the last, because God\u2019s wrath is gone out against\nthem, and Christ, who executes God\u2019s wrath, will never sheath his sword\ntill he has put all enemies under his feet, and death be swallowed up in\nvictory.\n\nTherefore be not anxious about the morrow. Do to-day\u2019s duty, fight\nto-day\u2019s temptation; and do not weaken and distract yourself by looking\nforward to things which you cannot see, and could not understand if you\nsaw them. Enough for you that your Saviour for whom you fight is just\nand merciful; for he rewardeth every man according to his work. Enough\nfor you that he has said, \u2018He that is faithful unto death, I will give\nhim a crown of life.\u2019 Enough for you that if you be faithful over a few\nthings, he will make you ruler over many things, and bring you into his\njoy for evermore.\n\nBut as for vain fears, leave them to those who will not believe God\u2019s\nmessage concerning himself\u2014that he is love, and his mercy over all his\nworks. Leave them for those who deny God\u2019s righteousness, by denying\nthat he has had pity on this poor fallen world, but has left it to itself\nand its sins, without sending any one to save it. And for real fears,\nleave them for those who have no fears; for those who think they see, and\nyet are blind; who think themselves orthodox and infallible, and beyond\nmaking a mistake, every man his own Pope; who say that they see, and\ntherefore their sin remaineth; for those who thank God that they are not\nas other men are, and who will find the publicans and harlots entering\ninto the kingdom of heaven before them; and for those who continue in sin\nthat grace may abound, and call themselves Christians, while they bring\nshame on the name of Christ by their own evil lives, by their worldliness\nand profligacy, or by their bitterness and quarrelsomeness; who make\nreligious profession a by-word and a mockery in the mouths of the\nungodly, and cause Christ\u2019s little ones to stumble. Let them be afraid,\nif they will; for it were better for them that a millstone were hanged\nabout their neck, and they were drowned in the midst of the sea. But\nthose who hate their sins, and long to leave their sins behind; those who\ndistrust themselves\u2014let them not be anxious about the morrow; for\nto-morrow, and to-day, and for ever, the Almighty Father is watching over\nthem, the Lord Jesus guiding them wisely and tenderly, and the Holy\nSpirit inspiring them more and more to do all those good works which God\nhas prepared for them to walk in, and to conquer in the life-long battle\nagainst sin, the world, and the devil.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXI.\nTHE PENITENT THIEF.\n\n\n LUKE xxiii. 42, 43.\n\n And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy\n kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day\n shalt thou be with me in paradise.\n\nTHE story of the penitent thief is a most beautiful and affecting one.\nChristians\u2019 hearts, in all times, have clung to it for comfort, not only\nfor themselves, but for those whom they loved. Indeed, some people think\nthat we are likely to be too fond of the story. They have been afraid\nlest people should build too much on it; lest they should fancy that it\ngives them licence to sin, and lead bad lives, all their days, provided\nonly they repent at last; lest it should countenance too much what is\ncalled a death-bed repentance.\n\nNow, God forbid that I should try to narrow Christ\u2019s Gospel. Who am I,\nto settle who shall be saved, and who shall not? When the disciples\nasked the Lord Jesus, \u2018Are there few that be saved?\u2019 he would not tell\nthem. And what Christ did not choose to tell, I am not likely to know.\n\nBut I must say openly, that I cannot see what the story of the penitent\nthief has to do with a death-bed repentance; and for this plain reason,\nthat the penitent thief did not die in his bed.\n\nOn the contrary, he received the due reward of his deeds. He was\ncrucified; publicly executed, by the most shameful, painful, and\nlingering torture; and confessed that it was no more than he deserved.\n\nTherefore, if any man say to himself\u2014and I am afraid that some do say to\nthemselves\u2014\u2018I know I am leading a bad life; and I have no mind to mend it\nyet; the penitent thief repented at the last, and was forgiven; so I dare\nsay that I shall be;\u2019 one has a right to answer him\u2014\u2018Very well; but you\nmust first put yourself in the penitent thief\u2019s place. Are you willing\nto be hanged, or worse than hanged, as a punishment for your sins in this\nworld? For, till then, the penitent thief would certainly not be on the\nsame footing as you.\u2019\n\nIf a man says to himself, I will go on sinning now, on the chance of\nrepenting at last, and \u2018making my peace with God,\u2019 he is not like the\npenitent thief, he is much more like a famous Emperor of Rome, who,\nthough a Christian in name, put off his baptism till his death-bed,\nfancying that by it his sins would be washed away, once and for all, and\nmade use of the meantime in murdering his eldest son and his nephew, and\ncommitting a thousand follies and cruelties. Whether his death-bed\nrepentance, purposely put off in order to give him time to sin, was of\nany use to him, let your own consciences judge.\n\nHas, then, this story of the penitent thief no comfort for us? God\nforbid! Why else was it put into Christ\u2019s Gospel of good news? Surely,\nthere is comfort in it.\n\nOnly let us take the story honestly, and word for word as it stands. So\nwe may hope to be taught by it what it was meant to teach us.\n\nHe was a robber. The word means, not a petty thief, but a robber; and\nhis being put to such a terrible death shows the same thing. Most\nprobably he had belonged to one of the bands of robbers which haunted the\nmountains of Judea in those days, as they used in old times to haunt the\nforests in England, and as they do now in Italy and Spain, and other\nwaste and wild countries. Some of these robbers would, of course, be\nshameless and hardened ruffians; as that robber seems to have been who\ninsulted our Lord upon the very cross. Others among them would not be\nlost to all sense of good. Young men who got into trouble ran away from\nhome, and joined these robber-bands, and found pleasure in the wild and\ndangerous life.\n\nThere is a beautiful story told of such a young robber in the life of the\nblessed Apostle St. John. A young man at Ephesus who had become a\nChristian, and of whom St. John was very fond, got into trouble while St.\nJohn was away, and had to flee for his life into the mountains. There he\njoined a band of robbers, and was so daring and desperate that they soon\nchose him as their captain. St. John came back, and found the poor lad\ngone. St. John had stood at the foot of the cross years before, and\nheard his Lord pardon the penitent thief; and he knew how to deal with\nsuch wild souls. And what did he do? Give him up for lost? No! He set\noff, old as he was, by himself, straight for the mountains, in spite of\nthe warnings of his friends that he would be murdered, and that this\nyoung man was the most desperate and bloodthirsty of all the robbers. At\nlast he found the young robber. And what did the robber do? As soon as\nhe saw St. John coming\u2014before St. John could speak a word to him, he\nturned, and ran away for shame; and old St. John followed him, never\nsaying a harsh word to him, but only crying after him, \u2018My son, my son,\ncome back to your father!\u2019 and at last he found him, where he was hidden,\nand held him by his clothes, and embraced him, and pleaded with him so,\nthat the poor fellow burst into tears, and let St. John lead him away;\nand so that blessed St. John went down again to Ephesus in joy and\ntriumph, bringing his lost lamb with him.\n\nNow, such a man one can well believe this penitent thief to have been. A\nman who, however bad he had been, had never lost the feeling that he was\nmeant for better things; whose conscience had never died out in him. He\nmay have been such a man. He _must_ have been such a man. For such\nfaith as he showed on the cross does not grow up in an hour or a day. I\ndo not mean the feeling that he deserved his punishment (that might come\nto a man very suddenly) but the feeling that Christ was the Lord, and the\nKing of the Jews. He must have bought that by terrible struggles of\nmind, by bitter shame and self-reproach. He had heard, I suppose, of\nChrist\u2019s miracles and mercy, of his teaching, of his being the friend of\npublicans and sinners, had admired the Lord Jesus, and thought him\nexcellent and noble. But he could not have done that without the Holy\nSpirit of God. It was the Holy Spirit striving with his sinful heart,\nwhich convinced him of Christ\u2019s righteousness. But the Holy Spirit would\nhave convinced him, too, of his own sin. The more he admired our Lord,\nthe more he must have despised himself for being unlike our Lord; and,\ndoubt it not, he had passed many bitter hours, perhaps bitter years,\nseeing what was right, and yet doing what was wrong from bad habits or\nbad company, before he came to his end upon the gallows-tree. And there\nwhile he hung in torture on the cross, the whole truth came to him at\nlast. God\u2019s Spirit shone truly on him at last, and divided the light\nfrom the darkness in his poor wretched heart. All the good which had\nbeen in him came out once and for all. Christ\u2019s light had been shining\nin the darkness of his heart, and the darkness had been trying to take it\nin, and close over it, but it could not; and now the light had conquered\nthe darkness, and all was clear to him at last. He never despised\nhimself so much, he never admired Christ so much, as when they hung side\nby side in the same condemnation. Side by side they hung, scorned alike,\ncrucified alike, seemingly come alike to open shame and ruin. And yet he\ncould see that though he deserved all his misery, that the man who hung\nby him not only did not deserve it, but was his Lord, the Lord, the King\nof the Jews, and that\u2014of course he knew not how\u2014the cross would not\ndestroy him; that he would come in his kingdom. How he found out that,\nno man can tell; the Spirit of God taught him, the Spirit of God alone,\nto see in that crucified man the Lord of glory, and to cast himself\nhumbly before his love and power, in hope that there might be mercy even\nfor him\u2014\u2018Lord, remember me when thou comest to thy kingdom.\u2019 There was\nfaith indeed, and humility indeed; royal faith and royal humility coming\nout in that dying robber. And so, if you ask\u2014How was that robber\njustified by his works? How could his going into Paradise be the\nreceiving of the due reward of the deeds done in his body whether they be\ngood or evil. I say he _was_ justified by his works. He _did_ receive\nthe due reward of his deeds. One great and noble deed, even that saying\nof his in his dying agony,\u2014that showed that whatever his heart had been,\nit was now right with God. He could not only confess God\u2019s justice\nagainst sin in his own punishment, but he could see God\u2019s beauty, God\u2019s\nglory, yea, God himself in that man who hung by him, helpless like\nhimself, scourged like himself, crucified like himself, like himself a\nscorn to men. He could know that Christ was Christ, even on the cross,\nand know that Christ would conquer yet, and come to his kingdom. That\nwas indeed a faith in the merits of Christ enough to justify him or any\nman alive.\n\nNow what has all this to do with you or me living an easy, comfortable\nlife in sin here, and hoping to die an easy, comfortable death after all,\nand get to heaven by having in a clergyman to read and pray a little with\nus; and saying a few words of formal repentance, when perhaps our body\nand our mind are so worn out and dulled by illness that we hardly know\nwhat we say? No, my friends, if our hearts be right, we shall not think\nof the penitent thief to give us comfort about our own souls; but we\nshall think of it and love it, to give us comfort about the souls of many\na man or woman for whom we care.\n\nHow many men there are who are going wrong, very wrong; and yet whom we\ncannot help liking, even loving! In the midst of all their sins, there\nis something in them which will not let us give them up. Perhaps,\nkind-heartedness. Perhaps, an honest respect for good men, and for good\nand right conduct; loving the better, while they choose the worse.\nPerhaps, a real shame and sorrow when they have broken out and done\nwrong; and even though we know that they will go and do wrong again, we\ncannot help liking them, cannot give them up. Then let us believe that\nGod will not give them up, any more than he gave up the penitent thief.\nIf there be something in them that we love, let us believe that God loves\nit also; and what is more, that God put it into them, as he did into the\npenitent thief; and let us hope (we cannot of course be certain, but we\nmay hope) that God will take care of it, and make it conquer, as he did\nin the penitent thief. Let us hope that God\u2019s light will conquer their\ndarkness; God\u2019s strength conquer their weakness; God\u2019s peace, their\nviolence; God\u2019s heavenly grace their earthly passions. Let us hope for\nthem, I say.\n\nWhen we hear, as we often hear, people say, \u2018What a noble-hearted man\nthat is after all, and yet he is going to the devil!\u2019 let us remember the\npenitent thief and have hope. Who would have seemed to have gone to the\ndevil more hopelessly than that poor thief when he hung upon the cross?\nAnd yet the devil did not have him. There was in him a seed of good, and\nof eternal life, which the devil had not trampled out; and that seed\nflowered and bore fruit upon the very cross in noble thoughts and words\nand deeds. Why may it not be so with others? True, they may receive the\ndue reward of their deeds. They may end in shame and misery, like the\npenitent thief. Perhaps it may be good for them to do so. If a man will\nsow the wind, it may be good for him to reap the whirlwind, and so find\nout that sowing the wind will not prosper. The penitent thief did so.\nAs the proverb is, he sowed the gallows-acorn, poor wretch, and he reaped\nthe gallows-tree; but that gallows-tree taught him to confess God\u2019s\njustice, and his own sin, and so it may teach others.\n\nYes, let us hope; and when we see some one whom we love, and cannot help\nloving, bringing misery on himself by his own folly, let us hope and pray\nthat the day may come to him when, in the midst of his misery, all that\nbetter nature in him shall come out once and for all, and he shall cry\nout of the deep to Christ, \u2018I only receive the due reward of my deeds; I\nhave earned my shame; I have earned my sorrow. Lord, I have deserved it\nall. I look back on wasted time and wasted powers. I look round on\nruined health, ruined fortune, ruined hopes, and confess that I deserve\nit all. But thou hast endured more than this for me, though thou hast\ndeserved nothing, and hast done nothing amiss. Thou hast done nothing\namiss by me. Thou hast been fair to me, and given me a fair chance; and\nmore than that, thou hast endured all for me. For me thou didst suffer;\nfor me thou hast been crucified; and me thou hast been trying to seek and\nto save all through the years of my vanity. Perhaps I have not wearied\nout thy love; perhaps I have not conquered thy patience. I will take the\nblessed chance. I will still cast myself upon thy love. Lord, I have\ndeserved all my misery; yet, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy\nkingdom.\n\nOh, my friends, let us hope that that prayer will go up, even out of the\nwildest heart, in God\u2019s good time; and that it will not go up in vain.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXII.\nTHE TEMPER OF CHRIST.\n\n\n PHILIPPIANS ii. 4.\n\n Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.\n\nWHAT mind? What sort of mind and temper ought to be in us? St. Paul\ntells us in this chapter, very plainly and at length, what sort of temper\nhe means; and how it showed itself in Christ; and how it ought to show\nitself in us.\n\n\u2018All of you,\u2019 he tells us, \u2018be like-minded, having the same love; being\nof one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or\nvain-glory: but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than\nhimself. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the\nthings of others.\u2019\n\nFirst, be like-minded, having the same love. Men cannot all be of\nexactly the same opinion on every point, simply because their characters\nare different; and the old proverb, \u2018Many men, many minds,\u2019 will stand\ntrue in one sense to the end of the world. But in another sense it need\nnot. People may differ in little matters of opinion, without hating and\ndespising, and speaking ill of each other on these points; they may agree\nto differ, and yet keep the same love toward God and toward each other;\nthey may keep up a kindly feeling toward each other; and they will do so,\nif they have in their hearts the same love of God. If we really love\nGod, and long to do good, and to work for God; if we really love our\nneighbours, and wish to help them, then we shall have no heart to\nquarrel\u2014indeed, we shall have no time to quarrel\u2014about _how_ the good is\nto be done, provided _it is_ done; and we shall remember our Lord\u2019s own\nwords to St. John, when St. John said, \u2018Master, we saw one casting out\ndevils in thy name, and he followeth not us: wilt thou therefore that we\nforbid him?\u2019\n\nAnd Jesus said, \u2018Forbid him _not_.\u2019\n\n\u2018Forbid him not,\u2019 said Jesus himself. He that hath ears to hear his\nSaviour\u2019s words, let him hear.\n\n\u2018Therefore,\u2019 St. Paul says, \u2018let nothing be done through strife or\nvain-glory.\u2019 It is a very sad thing to think that the human heart is so\ncorrupt, that we should be tempted to do good, and to show our piety,\nthrough strife or vain-glory. But so it is. Party spirit, pride, the\nwish to show the world how pious we are, the wish to make ourselves out\nbetter and more reverent than our neighbours, too often creep into our\nprayers and our worship, and turn our feasts of charity into feasts of\nuncharitableness, vanity, ambition.\n\nSo it was in St. Paul\u2019s time. Some, he says, preached Christ out of\ncontention, hoping to add affliction to his bonds. Not that he hated\nthem for it, or tried to stop them. Any way, he said, Christ was\npreached, whether out of party-spirit against him, or out of love to\nChrist; any way Christ was preached: and he would and did rejoice in that\nthought. Again I say, \u2018He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.\u2019\n\n\u2018Esteem others better than ourselves?\u2019 God forgive us! which of us does\nthat? Is not one\u2019s first feeling not \u2018Others are better than me,\u2019 but \u2018I\nam as good as my neighbour, and perhaps better too?\u2019 People say it, and\nact up to it also, every day. If we would but take St. Paul\u2019s advice,\nand be humble; if we would take more for granted that our neighbours have\ncommon sense as well as we, experience as well as we, the wish to do\nright as well as we\u2014and perhaps more than we have; and therefore listen\n_humbly_ (that is St. Paul\u2019s word, bitter though it may be to our carnal\npride), listen humbly to every one who is in earnest, or speaks of what\nhe knows and feels! People are better than we fancy, and have more in\nthem than we fancy; and if they do not show that they have, it is three\ntimes out of four our own fault. Instead of esteeming them better than\nourselves, and asking their advice, and calling out their experience, we\nare too in such a hurry to show them that we are better than they, and to\nthrust our advice upon them, that we give them no encouragement to speak,\noften no time to speak; and so they are silent and think the more, and\nremain shut up in themselves, and often pass for stupider people and\nworse people than they really are. Because we will not begin by doing\njustice to our neighbours, we prevent them doing justice to themselves.\n\nLook not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of\nothers. Ah, my friends, if we could but do that heartily and always,\nwhat a different world it would be, and what different people we should\nbe! If, instead of saying to ourselves, as one is so apt to do, \u2018Will\nthis suit my interest? will this help me?\u2019 we would recollect to say too,\n\u2018Will this suit my neighbours\u2019 interest? Will this harm my neighbours,\nthough it may help me? For if it hurts them, I will have nothing to do\nwith it.\u2019\n\nIf, again, instead of saying to ourselves, as we are too apt to do, \u2018This\nis what I like, and done it shall be,\u2019 we would generously and\ncourteously think more of what other people like; what will please them,\ninstruct them, comfort them, soften for them the cares of life, and\nlighten the burden of mortality\u2014how much happier would not only they be,\nbut we also!\n\nFor this, my friends, is the very likeness of Christ, who pleased not\nhimself; the very likeness of Christ, who sacrificed himself.\n\nAnd for this very reason St. Paul puts it the last of all his advices,\nbecause it is the greatest; the summing up of all; the fulfilment of the\nwhole law, which says, \u2018Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;\u2019 and\ntherefore after it he can give no more advice, for there is none better\nleft to give: but he goes on at once to speak of Christ, who fulfilled\nthat whole law of love, and more than fulfilled it; for instead of merely\nloving his neighbours _as_ he loved himself (which is all God asks of\nus), Christ loved his enemies better than himself, and died for them.\n\nSo says St. Paul.\u2014\u2018Look not every man on his own things, but on other\npeople\u2019s interest and comfort also. Let this mind be in you, which was\nalso in Christ Jesus.\u2019 What mind? The mind which looks not merely on\nits own things, its own interest, its own reputation, its own opinions,\nlikes, and dislikes, but on those of others, and has learnt to live and\nlet live.\n\nYes, this, he says, is the mind of Christ. And this mind, and spirit,\nand temper, he showed before all heaven and earth, when, though he was in\nthe form of God, and therefore, (as some interpret the text) would have\ndone no robbery, no injustice, by remaining for ever equal with God (that\nis, in the co-equal and co-eternal glory which he had with the Father),\nyet made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a slave,\nand was obedient to death, even the death of the cross.\n\nMy friends, I beseech you, young and old, rich and poor, remember the\nfull meaning of these glorious words, and of those which follow them.\n\n\u2018Wherefore God hath highly exalted him.\u2019 Why? What was it in Christ\nwhich was so precious, so glorious, in the eyes of the Almighty Father,\nthat no reward seemed too great for him? What but this very spirit of\nfellow-feeling and tenderness, charity, self-sacrifice\u2014even the Holy\nSpirit of God himself, with which Christ was filled without measure?\n\nBecause Christ utterly and perfectly looked not on his own things, but on\nthe things of others: because he was pity itself, patience itself, love\nitself, in the soul and body of a human being; therefore his Father\ndeclared of him, \u2018This, this is my well-beloved Son, in whom I am well\npleased.\u2019 Therefore it was that he highly exalted him; therefore it was\nthat he proclaimed him to be worthy of all honour and worship, the most\nperfect, lovely, admirable, and adorable of all beings in heaven and\nearth; not merely because he showed himself to be light of light, or\nwisdom of wisdom, or power of power; but because he showed himself to be\nlove of love, and therefore very God of very God begotten, whom men and\nangels could not reverence, admire, adore, imitate too much, but were to\nsee in him the perfection of all beauty, all virtue, all greatness, the\nlikeness of his Father\u2019s glory, and the express image of his person.\n\nAnd therefore it is a very good and beautiful old custom to bow when the\nname of Jesus is mentioned; at least, when it is mentioned for the first\ntime, or under any very solemn circumstances. It helps to remind us that\nhe is really our King and Lord. It helps, too, to remind us that he is\nactually and really near us, standing by us, looking at us face to face,\nthough we see him not; and I am willing to say for myself that whenever I\nrecollect that he is looking at me (alas! that is not a hundredth part\noften enough), I cannot help bowing almost without any will of my own.\nBut, remember, there is no commandment for it. It is just one of those\nthings on which a Christian is free to do what he likes, and for which\nevery Christian is forbidden to judge or blame another, according to St.\nPaul\u2019s rule, He that observeth the day, to the Lord he observeth it; and\nhe that observeth it not, to the Lord he observeth it not. Who art thou\nthat judgest another? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea,\nand he shall stand, for God is able to make him stand. Beside, the text\nsays, if we are to take it literally, as we always ought with Scripture,\nnot that every _head_ shall bow at the name of Jesus, but every knee.\nAnd to kneel down every time we repeat that holy name would be\nimpossible. While, on the other hand, we _do_ bow our knees, literally\nand in earnest, at the name of Jesus every time we kneel down in church,\nevery time we kneel down to say our prayers. And if any man is content\nwith that, no one has the least right to blame him.\n\nBesides, my friends, there is, I know too well, a great danger in making\ntoo much of these little outward ceremonies, especially with children and\nyoung people. For the heart of man is just as fond as it ever was of\nidolatry, and superstition, and will-worship, and voluntary humility, and\npaying tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, while it neglects the weightier\nmatters of the law, justice, mercy, and judgment: and, therefore, there\nis very great danger, if we make too much of these ceremonies, harmless\nand even good as many of them may be, of getting to rest in them, and\nthinking that God is pleased with them themselves. Whereas, what God\nlooks at is the heart, the spirit, the soul; and whether it is right or\nwrong, proud or humble, hard or loving: and if we think so much of the\noutward and visible form, that we forget the inward and spiritual grace,\nfor which it ought to stand, then we lay a snare for our own souls to\nturn them away from the worship of the living God, and break the second\ncommandment. Much more, if we pride ourselves on being more reverent\nthan our neighbours in these outward forms, and look down on, and grudge\nat, those who do not practise them; for then we turn our humility into\npride, and our reverence to Christ into an insult to him; for the true\nway to honour Christ is to copy Christ. No one really honours and\nadmires Christ\u2019s character who does not copy him; and to esteem ourselves\nbetter than others, to say in our hearts, \u2018Stand by, for I am holier than\nthou,\u2019 to offend and drive away Christ\u2019s little ones, and wound the\nconsciences of weak brethren by insisting on things against which they\nhave a prejudice, is to run exactly counter to Christ and the mind of\nChrist, and to be more like the Pharisees than the Lord Jesus. That is\nnot surely esteeming others better than ourselves: that is not surely\nlooking not merely on our own things, but also on the things of others;\nthat is not fulfilling the law of love; that is not following St. Paul\u2019s\nexample, who gave up, he says, doing many things which he thought right,\nbecause they offended weaker spirits than his own. \u2018All things,\u2019 he\nsays, \u2018are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient.\u2019 \u2018Ay,\u2019 says\nhe, \u2018I would eat no meat while the world standeth, if it cause my brother\nto offend.\u2019\n\nNo, my dear friends, let us rather, in this coming Passion week, take the\nlesson which the services of the Church give us in this Epistle. Let us\nkeep Passion week really and in spirit, by remembering that it means the\nweek of suffering, in which Christ, instead of pleasing himself,\nconquered himself, and gave up himself, and let wicked men do with him\nwhatsoever they would. Let us honour the holy name of Jesus in spirit\nand in truth, and bend not merely our necks or our knees, when we hear\nhis name, but bend those stiff necks of our souls, and those stubborn\nknees of our hearts; let us conquer our self-will, self-opinion,\nself-conceit, self-interest, and take his yoke upon us, for he is meek\nand lowly of heart. This is the Passion week which he has chosen;\u2014to\ndistrust ourselves, and our own opinions, likings and fancies. This is\nthe repentance, and this is the humiliation which he has chosen;\u2014to\nentreat him (now and at once, lest by pride we give place to the devil,\nand fall while we think we stand) to forgive us every hard, and proud,\nand conceited, and self-willed thought, and word, and deed, to which we\nhave given way since we were born; to pray to him for really new hearts,\nreally tender hearts, really humble hearts, really broken and contrite\nhearts; to look at his beautiful tenderness, patience, sympathy,\nunderstanding, generosity, self-sacrifice; and then to look at ourselves,\nand be shocked, and ashamed, and confounded, at the difference between\nourselves and him; and so really to honour the name of Jesus, who humbled\nhimself, even to the death upon the cross.\n\nI am not judging you, my friends; I am judging myself lest God judge me;\nand telling you how to judge yourselves, lest God judge you. Believe me,\nif you will but take his yoke on you, you will find it an easy yoke and a\nlight burden; you will find yourselves happier, your duty simpler, your\nprospects clearer, your path through life smoother, your character higher\nand more amiable in the eyes of all, and you yourselves holy and fit to\nshare on Easter day in the precious body and blood of him who gave\nhimself up to death that he might draw all men to himself; and so draw\nthem all to each other, as children of one common Father, and brothers of\nJesus Christ your Lord.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXIII.\nTHE FRIEND OF SINNERS.\n\n\n (_Preached in London_.)\n\n MARK ii. 15, 16.\n\n And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many\n publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples:\n for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and\n Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners they said onto his\n disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and\n sinners?\n\nWE cannot wonder at the scribes and Pharisees asking this question. I\nthink that we should most of us ask the same question now, if we saw the\nLord Jesus, or even if we saw any very good or venerable man, going out\nof his way to eat and drink with publicans and sinners. We should be\ninclined to say, as the scribes and Pharisees no doubt said, Why go out\nof his way to make fellowship with them? to eat and drink with them? He\nmight have taught them, preached to them, warned them of God\u2019s wrath\nagainst their sins when he could find them out in the street. Or, even\nif he could not do that, if he could not find them all together without\ngoing into their house, why sit down and eat and drink? Why not say,\nNo\u2014I am not going to join with you in that? I am come on a much more\nsolemn and important errand than eating. I have no time to eat. I must\npreach to you, ere it be too late. And you would have no appetite to\neat, if you knew the terrible danger in which your souls are. Besides,\nhowever anxious for your souls I am, you cannot expect me to treat you as\nfriends, to make companions of you, and accept your hospitality, while\nyou are living these bad lives. I shall always feel pity and sorrow for\nyou: but I cannot be a table companion with you, till you begin to lead\nvery different lives.\n\nNow if the scribes and Pharisees had said that, should we have thought\nthem very unreasonable? For whatsoever kinds of sinners the sinners\nwere, these publicans were the very worst and lowest of company. They\nwere not innkeepers, as the word means now; they were a kind of\ntax-gatherers: but not like ours in England. For first, these taxes were\nnot taken by the Jewish government, but by the Romans\u2014heathen foreigners\nwho had conquered them, and kept them down by soldiery quartered in their\ncountry. So that these publicans, who gathered taxes and tribute for the\nheathen C\u00e6sar of Rome from their own countrymen, were traitors to their\ncountry, in league with their foreign tyrants, as it were devouring their\nown flesh and blood; and all the Jews looked on them (and really no\nwonder) with hatred and contempt. Beside, these publicans did not merely\ngather the taxes, as they do in free England; they farmed them,\ncompounded for them with the Roman emperor; that is, they had each to\nbring in to the Romans a stated sum of money, each out of his own\ndistrict, and to make their own profit out of the bargain by grinding out\nof the poor Jews all they could over and above; and most probably calling\nin the soldiery to help them if people would not pay. So this was a\ntrade, as you may easily see, which could only prosper by all kinds of\npetty extortion, cruelty, and meanness; and, no doubt, these publicans\nwere devourers of the poor, and as unjust and hard-hearted men as one\ncould be. As for those \u2018sinners\u2019 who are so often mentioned with them, I\nsuppose this is what the word means. These publicans making their money\nill, spent it ill also, in a low profligate way, with the worst of women\nand of men. Moreover, all the other Jews shunned them, and would not eat\nor keep company with them; so they hung all together, and made company\nfor themselves with bad people, who were fallen too low to be ashamed of\nthem. The publicans and harlots are often mentioned together; and, I\ndoubt not, they were often eating and drinking together, God help them!\n\nAnd God did help them. The Son of God came and ate and drank with them.\nNo doubt, he heard many words among them which pained his ears, saw many\nfaces which shocked his eyes; faces of women who had lost all shame;\nfaces of men hardened by cruelty, and greediness, and cunning, till God\u2019s\nimage had been changed into the likeness of the fox and the serpent; and,\nworst of all, the greatest pain to him of all, he could see into their\nhearts, their immortal souls, and see all the foulness within them, all\nthe meanness, all the hardness, all the unbelief in anything good or\ntrue. And yet he ate and drank with them. Make merry with them he could\nnot: who could be merry in such company? but he certainly so behaved to\nthem that they were glad to have him among them, though he was so unlike\nthem in thought, and word, and look, and action.\n\nAnd why? Because, though he was so unlike them in many things, he was\nlike them at least in one thing. If he could do nothing else in common\nwith them, he could at least eat and drink as they did, and eat and drink\nwith them too. Yes. He was the Son of man, the man of all men, and what\nhe wanted to make them understand was, that, fallen as low as they were,\nthey were men and women still, who were made at first in God\u2019s likeness,\nand who could be redeemed back into God\u2019s likeness again.\n\nThe only way to do that was to begin with them in the very simplest way;\nto meet them on common human ground; to make them feel that, simply\nbecause they were men and women, he felt for them; that, simply because\nthey were men and women, he loved them; that, simply because they were\nmen and women, he could not turn his back upon them, for the sake of his\nFather and their Father in heaven. If he had left those poor wretches to\nthemselves; if he had even merely kept apart from their common every-day\nlife, and preached to them, they would never have felt that there was\nstill hope for them, simply because they were men and women. They would\nhave said in their hearts, \u2018See; he will talk to us: but he looks down on\nus all the time. We are fallen so low, we cannot rise; we cannot mend.\nWhat is there in us that can mend? We are nothing but brutes, perhaps;\nthen brutes we must remain. Heaven is for people like him, perhaps; but\nnot for such as us. We are cut off from men. We have no brothers upon\nearth, no Father in heaven.\u2019 \u2018Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we\ndie.\u2019\n\nYes; they would have said this; for people like them will say it too\noften now, here in Christian England.\n\nBut when our Lord came to them, ate and drank with them, talked with them\nin a homely and simple way (for our Lord\u2019s words are always simple and\nhomely, grand and deep and wonderful as they are), then do you not see\nhow _self-respect_ would begin to rise in those poor sinners\u2019 hearts?\nNot that they would say, \u2018We are better men than we thought we were.\u2019\nNo; perhaps his kindness would make them all the more ashamed of\nthemselves, and convince them of sin all the more deeply; for nothing,\nnothing melts the sinner\u2019s hard, proud heart, like a few unexpected words\nof kindness\u2014ay, even a cordial shake of the hand from any one who he\nfancies looks down on him. To find a loving brother, where he expected\nonly a threatening schoolmaster\u2014that breaks the sinner\u2019s heart; and most\nof all when he finds that brother in Jesus his Saviour. That\u2014the sight\nof God\u2019s boundless love to sinners, as it is revealed in the loving face\nof Jesus Christ our Lord\u2014that, and that alone, breeds in the sinner the\nbroken and the contrite heart which is in the sight of God of great\nprice. And so, those publicans and sinners would not have begun to say,\nWe are better than we thought: but, We can become better than we thought.\nHe must see something in us which makes him care for us. Perhaps God may\nsee something in us to care for. He does not turn his back on us.\nPerhaps God may not. He must have some hope of us. May we not have hope\nof ourselves? Surely there is a chance for us yet. Oh! if there were!\nWe are miserable now in the midst of our drunkenness, and our\ncovetousness, and our riotous pleasures. We are ashamed of ourselves:\nand our countrymen are ashamed of us: and though we try to brazen it off\nby impudence, we carry heavy hearts under bold foreheads. Oh, that we\ncould be different! Oh, that we could be even like what we were when we\nwere little children! Perhaps we may be yet. For he treats us as if we\nwere men and women still, his brothers and sisters still. He thinks that\nwe are not quite brute animals yet, it seems. Perhaps we are not;\nperhaps there is life in us yet, which may grow up to a new and better\nway of living. What shall we do to be saved?\n\nO blessed charity, bond of peace and of all virtues; of brotherhood and\nfellow-feeling between man and man, as children of one common Father.\nAy, bond of all virtues\u2014of generosity and of justice, of counsel and of\nunderstanding. Charity, unknown on earth before the coming of the Son of\nman, who was content to be called gluttonous and a wine-bibber, because\nhe was the friend of publicans and sinners!\n\nMy friends, let us try to follow his steps; let us remember all day long\nwhat it is to be _men_; that it is to have every one whom we meet for our\nbrother in the sight of God; that it is this, never to meet any one,\nhowever bad he may be, for whom we cannot say, \u2018Christ died for that man,\nand Christ cares for him still. He is precious in God\u2019s eyes; he shall\nbe precious in mine also.\u2019 Let us take the counsel of the Gospel for\nthis day, and love one another, not in word merely\u2014in doctrine, but in\ndeed and in truth, really and actually; in our every-day lives and\nbehaviour, words, looks\u2014in all of them let us be cordial, feeling,\npitiful, patient, courteous. Masters with your workmen, teachers with\nyour pupils, parents with your children, be cordial, and kind, and\npatient; respect every one, whether below you or not in the world\u2019s eyes.\nNever do a thing to any human being which may lessen his self-respect;\nwhich may make him think that you look down upon him, and so make him\nlook down upon himself in awkwardness and shyness; or else may make him\nstart off from you, angry and proud, saying, \u2018I am as good as you; and if\nyou keep apart from me, I will from you; if you can do without me, I can\ndo without you. I want none of your condescension.\u2019 It is _not_ so.\nYou cannot do without each other. We can none of us do without the\nother; do not let us make any one fancy that he can, and tempt him to\nwrap himself up in pride and surliness, cutting himself off from the\ncommunion of saints, and the blessing of being a man among men.\n\nAnd if any of you have a neighbour, or a relation fallen into sin, even\ninto utter shame;\u2014oh, for the sake of Him who ate and drank with\npublicans and sinners, never cast them off, never trample on them, never\nturn your back upon them. They are miserable enough already, doubt it\nnot. Do not add one drop to their cup of bitterness. They are ashamed\nof themselves already, doubt it not. Do not you destroy in them what\nsmall grain of self-respect still remains. You fancy they are not so.\nThey seem to you brazen-faced, proud, impenitent. So did the publicans\nand harlots seem to those proud, blind Pharisees. Those pompous,\nself-righteous fools did not know what terrible struggles were going on\nin those poor sin-tormented hearts. Their pride had blinded them, while\nthey were saying all along, \u2018It is we alone who see. This people, which\nknoweth not the law, is accursed.\u2019 Then came the Lord Jesus, the Son of\nman, who knew what was in man; and he spoke to them gently, cordially,\nhumanly; and they heard him, and justified God, and were baptized,\nconfessing their sins; and so, as he said himself, the publicans and\nharlots went into the kingdom of God before those proud, self-conceited\nPharisees.\n\nTherefore, I say, never hurt any one\u2019s self-respect. Never trample on\nany soul, though it may be lying in the veriest mire; for that last spark\nof self-respect is as its only hope, its only chance; the last seed of a\nnew and better life; the voice of God which still whispers to it, \u2018You\nare not what you ought to be, and you are not what you can be. You are\nstill God\u2019s child, still an immortal soul: you may rise yet, and fight a\ngood fight yet, and conquer yet, and be a man once more, after the\nlikeness of God who made you, and Christ who died for you!\u2019 Oh, why\ncrush that voice in any heart? If you do, the poor creature is lost, and\nlies where he or she falls, and never tries to rise again. Rather bear\nand forbear; hope all things, believe all things, endure all things; so\nyou will, as St. John tells you in the Epistle, know that you are of the\ntruth, in the true and right road, and will assure your hearts before\nGod. For this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of\nhis Son Jesus Christ, and believe really that he is now what he always\nwas, the friend of publicans and sinners, and love one another as he gave\nus commandment. That was Christ\u2019s spirit; the fairest, the noblest\nspirit upon earth; the spirit of God whose mercy is over all his works;\nand hereby shall we know that Christ abideth in us, by his having given\nus the same spirit of pity, charity, fellow-feeling and love for every\nhuman being round us.\n\nAnd now, I will also give you one lesson to carry home with you\u2014a lesson\nwhich if we all could really believe and obey, the world would begin to\nmend from to-morrow, and every other good work on earth would prosper and\nmultiply tenfold, a hundredfold\u2014ay, beyond all our fairest dreams. And\nmy lesson is this. When you go out from this church into those crowded\nstreets, remember that there is not a soul in them who is not as precious\nin God\u2019s eyes as you are; not a little dirty ragged child whom Jesus,\nwere he again on earth, would not take up in his arms and bless; not a\npublican or a harlot with whom, if they but asked him, he would not eat\nand drink\u2014now, here, in London on this Sunday, the 8th of June, 1856, as\ncertainly as he did in Jewry beyond the seas, eighteen hundred years ago.\nTherefore do to all who are in want of your help as Jesus would do to\nthem if he were here; as Jesus is doing to them already: for he is here\namong us now, and for ever seeking and saving that which was lost; and\nall we have to do is to believe that, and work on, sure that he is\nworking at our head, and that though we cannot see him, he sees us; and\nthen all will prosper at last, for this brave old earth whereon we are\nliving now, and for that far braver new heaven and new earth whereon we\nshall live hereafter.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXIV.\nTHE SEA OF GLASS.\n\n\n (_Trinity Sunday_.)\n\n REVELATION iv. 9, 10, 11.\n\n And when those beasts give glory, and honour, and thanks to him that\n sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty\n elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him\n that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the\n throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and\n honour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy\n pleasure they are and were created.\n\nTHE Church bids us read this morning the first chapter of Genesis, which\ntells us of the creation of the world. Not merely on account of that\nmost important text, which, according to some divines, seems to speak of\nthe ever-blessed Trinity, and brings in God as saying, \u2018Let _us_ make man\nin _our_ image;\u2019 not, Let me make man in my image; but, Let _us_, in\n_our_ image.\u2014Not merely for this reason is Gen. i. a fit lesson for\nTrinity Sunday: but because it tells us of the whole world, and all that\nis therein, and who made it, and how. It does not tell us why God made\nthe world; but the Revelations do, and the text does. And therefore\nperhaps it is a good thing for us that Trinity Sunday comes always in the\nsweet spring time, when all nature is breaking out into new life, when\nleaves are budding, flowers blossoming, birds building, and countless\ninsects springing up to their short and happy life. This wonderful world\nin which we live has awakened again from its winter\u2019s sleep. How are we\nto think of it, and of all the strange and beautiful things in it?\nTrinity Sunday tells us; for Trinity Sunday bids us think of and believe\na matter which we cannot understand\u2014a glorious and unspeakable God, who\nis at the same time One and Three. We cannot understand that. No more\ncan we understand anything else. We cannot understand how the grass\ngrows beneath our feet. We cannot understand how the egg becomes a bird.\nWe cannot understand how the butterfly is the very same creature which\nlast autumn was a crawling caterpillar. We cannot understand how an atom\nof our food is changed within our bodies into a drop of living blood. We\ncannot understand how this mortal life of ours depends on that same\nblood. We do not know even what life is. We do not know what our own\nsouls are. We do not know what our own bodies are. We know nothing. We\nknow no more about ourselves and this wonderful world than we do of the\nmystery of the ever-blessed Trinity. That, of course, is the greatest\nwonder of all. For, as I shall try to show you presently, God himself\nmust be more wonderful than all things which he has made. But all that\nhe has made is wonderful; and all that we can say of it is, to take up\nthe heavenly hymn which this chapter in the Revelations puts into our\nmouths, and join with the elders of heaven, and all the powers of nature,\nin saying, \u2018Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and\npower; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are\nand were created.\u2019\n\nLet us do this. Let us open our eyes, and see honestly what a wonderful\nworld we live in; and go about all our days in wonder and humbleness of\nheart, confessing that we know nothing, and that we cannot know;\nconfessing that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that our soul\nknows right well; but that beyond we know nothing; though God knows all;\nfor in his book were all our members written, which day by day were\nfashioned, while as yet there were none of them. \u2018How great are thy\ncounsels, O God! they are more than I am able to express,\u2019 said David of\nold, who knew not a tenth part of the natural wonders which we know;\n\u2018more in number than the hairs of my head, if I were to speak of them.\u2019\n\nThis will keep us from that proud and yet shallow temper of mind which\npeople are apt to fall into, especially young men who are clever and\nself-educated, and those who live in great towns, and so lose the sight\nof the wonderful works of God in the fields and woods, and see hardly\nanything but what man has made; and therefore forget how weak and\nignorant even the wisest man is, and how little he understands of this\ngreat and glorious world.\n\nSuch people are apt to fancy men are clever enough to understand\nanything. Then they say, \u2018Why am I to believe anything I cannot\nunderstand?\u2019 And then they laugh at the mysteries of faith, and say,\n\u2018Three Persons in one God! I cannot understand that! Why am I expected\nto believe it?\u2019\n\nNow, here is the plain answer to such unwise speech (for unwise it is,\nlet it be dressed up in all fine long words, and show of wisdom), whether\nthe doctrine be true or not, your not understanding the matter is no\nreason against it. Here is the answer: \u2018You _do_ believe all day long a\nhundred things which you do not understand; which quite surpass your\nreason. You believe that you are alive: but you do not understand how\nyou live. You believe that, though you are made up of so many different\nfaculties and powers, you are one person: but you cannot understand how.\nYou believe that though your body and your mind too have gone through so\nmany changes since you were born, yet you are still one and the same\nperson, and nobody else but yourself; but you cannot understand that\neither. You know it is so; but how and why it is so, you cannot explain;\nand the greatest philosopher would not be foolish enough to try to\nexplain; because, if he is a really great scholar, he knows that it\ncannot be explained. You lift your hand to your head: but how you do it,\nneither you nor any mortal man knows; and true philosophers tell you that\nwe shall probably never know. True philosophers tell you that in the\nsimplest movement of your body, in the growth of the meanest blade of\ngrass, let them examine it with the microscope, let them think over it\ntill their brains are weary, there is always some mystery, some wonder\nover and above, which neither their glasses nor their brains can explain,\nor even find and see, much less give a name to. They know that there is\nmore in the matter, in the simplest matter, than man can find out; and\nthey are content to leave the wonder in the hands of God who made it; and\nwhen they have found out all they can, confess, that the more they know,\nthe less they find they know.\n\nI tell you frankly, my friends, if you were to see through the microscope\na few of the wonderful things which are going on round you now in every\nleaf, and every gnat which dances in the sunbeam; if you were to learn\neven the very little which is known about them, you would see wonders\nwhich would surpass your powers of reasoning, just as much as that far\ngreater wonder of the ever-blessed Trinity; things which you would not\nbelieve, if your own eyes did not show them you.\n\nAnd what if it be strange? What is there to surprise us in that? If the\nworld be so wonderful, how much more wonderful must that great God be who\nmade the world, and keeps it always living? If the smallest blade of\ngrass be past our understanding, how much more past our understanding\nmust be the Absolute, Eternal, Almighty God? Do you not see that common\nsense and reason lead us to expect that God should be the most wonderful\nof all beings and things; that there must be some mystery and wonder in\nhim which is greater than all mysteries and wonders upon earth, just as\nmuch as _he_ is greater than all heaven and earth? Which must be most\nwonderful, the maker or the thing made? Thou art man, made in the\nlikeness of God. Thou canst not understand thyself. How much less canst\nthou understand God, in whose likeness thou art made!\n\nFor my part, instead of keeping people from learning, lest they should\ngrow proud, and despise the mysteries of faith, I would make them learn,\nand entreat them to learn, and look seriously and patiently at all the\nwonderful things which are going on round them all day long; for I am\nsure that they would be so much astonished with what they saw on earth,\nthat they would not be astonished, much less staggered, at anything they\nheard of in heaven; and least of all astonished at being told that the\nname of Almighty God was too deep for the little brain of mortal man; and\nthat they would learn more and more to take humbly, like little children,\nevery hint which the experience of wise and good men of old time gives us\nof the everlasting mystery of mysteries, the glory of the Triune God,\nwhich St. John saw in the spirit.\n\nAnd what did St. John see? Something beyond even an apostle\u2019s\nunderstanding. Something which he could only see himself dimly, and\ndescribe to us in figures and pictures, as it were, to help us to imagine\nthat great wonder.\n\nHe was in the spirit, he says, when he saw it. That is, he did not see\nit with his bodily eyes, but with his soul, his heart and mind. Not with\nhis bodily eyes (for no man hath seen God at any time), but with his\nmind\u2019s eye, which God had enlightened by his Holy Spirit.\n\nHe sees a throne in heaven, and one sitting on it, bright and pure as\nrichest precious stone; and round his throne a rainbow like an emerald,\nthe sign to us of hope, and faithfulness, mercy and truth, which he\nhimself appointed after the flood, to comfort the fearful hearts of men.\nAround him are elders crowned; men like ourselves, but men who have\nfought the good fight, and conquered, and are now at rest; pure, as their\nwhite garments tell us; and victorious, as their golden crowns tell us.\nAnd from the throne come thunderings, and lightnings, and voices, as they\ndid when he spoke to the Jews of old\u2014signs of his terrible power, as\njudge, and lawgiver, and avenger of all the wrong which is done on earth.\nAnd there are there, too, seven burning lamps, the seven spirits of God,\nwhich give light and life to all created things, and most of all to\nrighteous hearts. And before the throne is a sea of glass; the same sea\nwhich St. John saw in another vision, with us human beings standing on\nit, and behold it was mingled with fire;\u2014the sea of time, and space, and\nmortal life, on which we all have our little day; the brittle and\ndangerous sea of earthly life; for it may crack any moment beneath our\nfeet, and drop us into eternity, and the nether fire, unless we have his\nhand holding us, who conquered time, and life, and death, and hell\nitself.\n\nIt seems to us to be a great thing now, time, and space, and the world;\nand yet it looked small enough to St. John, as it lies in heaven, before\nthe throne of Christ; and he passes it by in a few words. For what are\nall suns and stars, and what are all ages and generations, and millions\nand millions of years, compared with eternity; with God\u2019s eternal heaven,\nand God whom not even heaven can contain?\u2014One drop of water in comparison\nwith all the rain clouds of the western sea.\n\nBut there is one comfort for us in St. John\u2019s vision; that brittle, and\nuncertain, and dangerous as life may be, yet it is before the throne of\nGod, and before the feet of Christ. St. John saw it lying there in\nheaven, for a sign that in God we live, and move, and have our being.\nLet us be content, and hope on, and trust on; for God is with us, and we\nwith God.\n\nBut St. John saw another wonder. Four beasts\u2014one like a man, one like a\ncalf, one like an eagle, one like a lion, with six wings each.\n\nWhat those living creatures mean, I can hardly tell you. Some wise and\nlearned men say they mean the four Evangelists: but, though there is much\nto be said for it, I hardly think that; for St. John, who saw them, was\none of the four Evangelists himself. Others think they mean great and\nglorious archangels; and that may be so. But certainly the Bible always\nspeaks of angels as shaped like men, like human beings, only more\nbeautiful and glorious. The two angels, for instance, who appeared to\nthe three men at our Lord\u2019s tomb, are plainly called in one place, young\nmen. I think, rather, that these four living creatures mean the powers\nand talents which God has given to men, that they may replenish the\nearth, and subdue it. For we read of these same living creatures in the\nbook of the prophet Ezekiel; and we see them also on those ancient\nAssyrian sculptures which are now in the British Museum; and we have good\nreason to think that is what they mean there. The creature with the\nman\u2019s head means reason; the beast with the lion\u2019s head, kingly power and\ngovernment; with the eagle\u2019s head, and his piercing eye, prudence and\nforesight; with the ox\u2019s head, labour, and cultivation of the earth, and\nsuccessful industry. But whatsoever those living creatures mean, it is\nmore important to see what they do. They give glory, and honour, and\nthanks to him who sits upon the throne. They confess that all power, all\nwisdom, all prudence, all success in men or angels, in earth or heaven,\ncomes from God, and is God\u2019s gift, of which he will require a strict\naccount; for he is Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty; and all things\nare of him, and by him, and for him, for ever and ever.\n\nBut who is he who sits upon the throne? Who but the Lord Jesus Christ?\nWho but the Babe of Bethlehem? Who but the Friend of publicans and\nsinners? Who but he who went about doing good to suffering mortal man?\nWho but he who died on the cross? Who but he on whose bosom St. John\nleaned at supper, and now saw him highly exalted, having a name above\nevery name?\n\nOh, blest St. John, to see that sight! To see his dear Master in his\nglory, after having seen him in his humiliation! God grant us so to\nfollow in St. John\u2019s steps, that we may see the same sight, unworthy\nthough we are, in God\u2019s good time.\n\nAnd where is God the Father? Yes, where? The heaven, and the heaven of\nheavens, cannot contain him, whom no man hath seen, or can see; who\ndwells in the light, whom no man can approach unto. Only the only\nbegotten Son, who dwells in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared\nhim, and shown to men in his own perfect loveliness and goodness, what\ntheir heavenly Father is. That was enough for St. John; let it be enough\nfor us. He who has seen Christ has seen the Father, as far as any\ncreated being can see him. The Son Christ is merciful: therefore the\nFather is merciful. The Son is just: therefore the Father is just. The\nSon is faithful and true: therefore the Father is faithful and true. The\nSon is almighty to save: therefore the Father is almighty to save. Let\nthat be enough for you and me.\n\nBut where is the Holy Spirit? There is no _where_ for spirits. All that\nwe can say is, that the Holy Spirit is proceeding for ever from the\nFather and the Son; going forth for ever, to bring light and life,\nrighteousness and love, to all worlds, and to all hearts who will receive\nhim. The lamps of fire which St. John saw, the dove which came down at\nChrist\u2019s baptism, the cloven tongues of fire which sat on the\nApostles\u2014these were signs and tokens of the Spirit; but they were not the\nSpirit itself. Of him it is written, \u2018He bloweth where he listeth, and\nthou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence he cometh or\nwhither he goeth.\u2019\n\nIt is enough for us that he is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Holy\nFather, and of the Holy Son; like them eternal, like them\nincomprehensible, like them almighty, like them all-wise, all-just,\nall-loving, merciful, faithful, and true for ever.\n\nThis is what St. John saw\u2014Christ the crucified, Christ the Babe of\nBethlehem, in the glory which he had before all worlds, and shall have\nfor ever; with all the powers of this wondrous world crying to him for\never, \u2018Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to\ncome; and the souls of just men made perfect answering those mystic\nanimals, and joining their hymns of praise to the hymn which goes up for\never from sun and stars, from earth and sea,\u2014when they find out the\ndeepest of all wisdom\u2014the lesson which all the wonders of this earth, and\nall which ever has happened, or will happen, in space and time, is meant\nto teach us:\u2014\n\n\u2018Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for\nThou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were\ncreated.\u2019\n\nThis is all that I can tell you. It may be a very little: but is it not\nenough? What says Solomon the wise? \u2018Knowest thou how the bones grow in\nthe womb?\u2019 Not thou. How, then, wilt thou know God, who made all\nthings? Thou art fearfully and wonderfully made, though thou art but a\npoor mortal man. And is not God more fearfully and wonderfully made than\nthou art? It is a strange thing, and a mystery, how we ever got into\nthis world: a stranger thing still to me, how we shall ever get out of\nthis world again. Yet they are common things enough\u2014birth and death.\n\u2018Every moment dies a man, every moment one is born:\u2019 and yet you do not\nknow what is the meaning of birth or death either: and I do not know; and\nno man knows. How, then, can we know the mystery of God, in whose hand\nare the issues of life and death?\u2014God to whom all live for ever, living\nand dead, born and unborn, in heaven and in hell?\n\nSo it is in small things as well as great, in great as well as small; and\nso it ever will be. \u2018All things begin in some wonder, and in some wonder\nall things end,\u2019 said Saint Augustine, wisest in his day of all mortal\nmen; and all that great scholars have discovered since prove more and\nmore that Saint Augustine\u2019s words were true, and that the wisest are\nonly, as a great philosopher once said, and one, too, who discovered more\nof God\u2019s works than any man for many a hundred years, even Sir Isaac\nNewton himself: \u2018The wisest of us is but like a child picking up a few\nshells and pebbles on the shore of a boundless sea.\u2019\n\nThe shells and pebbles are the little scraps of knowledge which God\nvouchsafes to us, his sinful children; knowledge, of which at best St.\nPaul says, that we know only in part, and prophesy in part, and think as\nchildren; and that knowledge shall vanish away, and tongues shall cease,\nand prophecies shall fail.\n\nAnd the boundless sea is the great ocean of time\u2014of God\u2019s created\nuniverse, above which his Spirit broods over, perfect in love, and\nwisdom, and almighty power, as at the beginning, moving above the face of\nthe waters of time, giving life to all things, for ever blessing, and for\never blest.\n\nGod grant us all to see the day when we shall have passed safely across\nthat sea of time, up to the sure land of eternity; and shall no more\nthink as children, or know in part; but shall see God face to face, and\nknow him even as we are known; and find him, the nearer we draw to him,\nmore wonderful, and more glorious, and more good than ever;\u2014\u2018Holy, Holy,\nHoly, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.\u2019 And\nmeanwhile, take comfort, and recollect however little you and I may know,\nGod knows: he knows himself, and you, and me, and all things; and his\nmercy is over all his works.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXV.\nA GOD IN PAIN.\n\n\n (_Good Friday_.)\n\n HEBREWS ii. 9, 50.\n\n But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the\n suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the\n grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him,\n for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many\n sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect\n through sufferings.\n\nWHAT are we met together to think of this day? God in pain: God\nsorrowing; God dying for man, as far as God could die. Now it is\nthis;\u2014the blessed news that God suffered pain, God sorrowed, God died, as\nfar as God could die\u2014which makes the Gospel different from all other\nreligions in the world; and it is this, too, which makes the Gospel so\nstrong to conquer men\u2019s hearts, and soften them, and bring them back to\nGod and righteousness in a way no other religion ever has done. It is\nthe good news of this good day, well called Good Friday, which wins souls\nto Christ, and will win them as long as men are men.\n\nThe heathen, you will find, always thought of their gods as happy. The\ngods, they thought, always abide in bliss, far above all the chances and\nchanges of mortal life; always young, strong, beautiful, needing no help,\nneeding no pity; and therefore, my friends, never calling out our love.\nThe heathens never _loved_ their gods: they admired them, thanked them\nwhen they thought they helped them; or they were afraid of them when they\nthought they were offended.\n\nBut as far as I can find, they never really loved their gods. Love to\nGod was a new feeling, which first came into the world with the good news\nthat God had suffered and that God had died upon the cross. That was a\nGod to be loved, indeed; and all good hearts loved him, and will love him\nstill.\n\nFor you cannot really love any one who is quite different from you; who\nhas never been through what you have. You do not think that he can\nunderstand you; you expect him to despise you, laugh at you. You say, as\nI have heard a poor woman say of a rich one, \u2018How can she feel for me?\nShe does not know what poor people go through.\u2019\n\nNow it is just that feeling which mankind had about God till Christ died.\n\nGod, or the gods, were beautiful, strong, happy, self-sufficient, up in\nthe skies; and men on earth were full of sorrow and trouble, disease,\naccidents, death; and sin, too; quarrelling and killing, hateful and\nhating each other. How could the gods love men? And then men had a\nsense of sin; they felt they were doing wrong. Surely the gods hated\nthem for doing wrong. Surely all the sorrows and troubles which came on\nthem were punishments for doing wrong. How miserable they were! But the\ngods sat happy up in heaven, and cared not for them. Or, if the gods did\ncare, they cared only for special favourites. If any man was very good,\nor strong, or handsome, or clever, or rich, or prosperous, the gods cared\nfor him\u2014he was a favourite. But what did they care for poor, ugly,\ndeformed, unfortunate, foolish wretches? Surely the gods despised them,\nand had sent them into the world to be miserable. There was no sympathy,\nno fellow-feeling between gods and men. The gods did not love men as\nmen. Why should men love them? And so men did not love them.\n\nAnd as there was no love to God before Good Friday, so there was no love\nto men.\n\nIf God despised the poor, the deformed, the helpless, the ignorant, the\ncrazy, why should not man? If God was hard on them, why should not man\noppress and ill-use them? And so you will find that there was no charity\nin the world.\n\nAmong some of the Eastern nations\u2014the Hindoos, for instance\u2014when they\nwere much better men than now, charity did spring up for a while here and\nthere, in a very beautiful shape; but among Greeks and Romans there was\nsimply no charity; and you will find little or none among the Jews\nthemselves.\n\nThe Pharisees gave alms to save their own souls, and feed their own pride\nof being good; but had no charity\u2014\u2018This people, who knoweth not the law,\nis accursed.\u2019 As for poor, diseased people, they were born in sin:\neither they or their parents had sinned. We may see that the poor of\nJudea, as well as Galilee, were in a miserable, neglected, despised\nstate; and the worst thing that the Pharisees could say of our Lord Jesus\nwas, that he ate and drank with publicans and sinners. Because there was\nno love to God, there was no love to man. There was a great gulf fixed\nbetween every man and his neighbour.\n\nBut Christ came; God came; and became man. And with the blood of his\ncross was bridged over for ever the gulf between God and man, and the\ngulf between man and man.\n\nGood Friday showed that there was sympathy, there was fellow-feeling\nbetween God and man; that God would do all for man, endure all for man;\nthat God so desired to make man like God, that he would stoop to be made\nlike man. There was nothing God would not do to justify himself to man,\nto show men that he did care for them, that he did love the creatures\nwhom he had made. Yes; God had not forgotten man; God had not made man\nin vain. God had not sent man into the world to be wicked and miserable\nhere, and to perish for ever hereafter. Wickedness and misery were here;\nbut God had not put them here, and he would not leave them here. He\nwould conquer them by enduring them. Sin and misery tormented men; then\nthey should torment the Son of God too. Sin and misery killed men; then\nthey should kill the Son of God, too: he would taste death for every man,\nthat men might live by him. He would be made perfect by sufferings: not\nmade perfectly good (for that he was already), but perfectly able to feel\nfor men, to understand them, to help them; because he had been tempted in\nall things like as they.\n\nAnd so on Good Friday did God bridge over the gulf between God and men.\nNo man can say now, Why has God sent man into the world to be miserable,\nwhile he is happy? For God in Christ was miserable once. No man can\nsay, God makes me go through pain, and torture, and death, while he goes\nthrough none of such things: for God in Christ endured pain, torture,\ndeath, to the uttermost. And so God is a being which man can love,\nadmire, have fellow-feeling for; cling to God with all the noble feelings\nof his heart, with admiration, gratitude, and tenderness, even on this\nday with pity.\u2014As Christ himself said, \u2018When I am lifted up, I will draw\nall men to me.\u2019\n\nAnd no man can say now, What has God to do with sufferers\u2014sick, weak,\ndeformed wretches? If he had cared for them, would he have made them\nthus? For we can answer, However sick, or weak they may be, God in\nChrist has been as weak as they. God has shared their sufferings, and\nhas been made perfect by sufferings, that they might be made perfect\nalso. God has sanctified suffering, pain, and sorrow upon his cross, and\nmade them holy; as holy as health, and strength, and happiness are. And\nso on Good Friday God bridged over the gulf between man and man. He has\nshown that God is charity and love; and that the way to live for ever in\nGod is to live for ever in that charity and love to all mankind which God\nshowed this day upon the cross.\n\nAnd, therefore, all _charity_ is rightly called _Christian_ charity; for\nit is Christ, and the news of Good Friday, which first taught men to have\ncharity; to look on the poor, the afflicted, the weak, the orphan, with\nlove, pity, respect. By the sight of a suffering and dying God, God has\ntouched the hearts of men, that they might learn to love and respect\nsuffering and dying men; and in the face of every mourner, see the face\nof Christ, who died for them. Because Christ the sufferer is their elder\nbrother, all sufferers are their brothers likewise. Because Christ\ntasted pain, shame, misery, death for all men, therefore we are bound\nthis day to pray for all men, that they may have their share in the\nblessings of Christ\u2019s death; not to look on them any longer as aliens,\nstrangers, enemies, parted from us and each other and God; but whether\nwise or foolish, sick or well, happy or unhappy, alive or dead, as\nbrothers. We are bound to pray for his Holy Church as one family of\nbrothers; for all ranks of men in it, that each of them may learn to give\nup their own will and pleasure for the sake of doing their duty in their\ncalling, as Christ did; to pray for Jews, Turks, Heathens, and Infidels;\nas for God\u2019s lost children, and our lost brothers, that God would bring\nthem home to his flock, and touch their hearts by the news of his\nsufferings for them; that they may taste the inestimable comfort of\nknowing that God so loved them as to suffer, to groan, to die for them\nand all mankind.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXVI.\nON THE FALL.\n\n\n (_Sexagesima Sunday_.)\n\n GENESIS iii. 12.\n\n And the man said, The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave\n me of the tree, and I did eat.\n\nTHIS morning we read the history of Adam\u2019s fall in the first Lesson. Now\ndoes this story seem strange to you, my friends? Do you say to\nyourselves, If I had been in Adam\u2019s place, I should never have been so\nfoolish as Adam was? If you do say so, you cannot have looked at the\nstory carefully enough. For if you do look at it carefully, I believe\nyou will find enough in it to show you that it is a very _natural_ story,\nthat we have the same nature in us that Adam had; that we are indeed\nAdam\u2019s children; and that the Bible speaks truth when it says, \u2018Adam\nbegat a son after his own likeness.\u2019\n\nNow, let us see how Adam fell, and what he did when he fell.\n\nAdam, we find, was not content to be in the image of God. He wanted, he\nand his wife, to be as gods, knowing good and evil. Now do, I beseech\nyou, think a moment carefully, and see what that means.\n\nAdam was not content to be in the likeness of God; to copy God by obeying\nGod. He wanted to be a little god himself; to know what was good for\nhim, and what was evil for him; whereas God had told him, as it were, You\ndo _not_ know what is good for you, and what is evil for you. I know;\nand I tell you to obey me; not to eat of a certain tree in the garden.\n\nBut pride and self-will rose up in Adam\u2019s heart. He wanted to show that\nhe _did_ know what was good for him. He wanted to be independent, and\nshow that he could do what he liked, and take care of himself; and so he\nate the fruit which he was forbidden to eat, partly because it was fair\nand well-tasted, but still more to show his own independence.\n\nNow, surely this is natural enough. Have we not all done the very same\nthing in our time, nay, over and over again? When we were children, were\nwe never forbidden to do something which we wished to do? Were we never\nforbidden, just as Adam was, to take an apple\u2014something pleasant to the\neye, and good for food? And did we not long for it, and determine to\nhave it all the more, because it was forbidden, just as Adam and Eve did;\nso that we wished for it much more than we should if our parents had\ngiven it to us? Did we not in our hearts accuse our parents of grudging\nit to us, and listen to the voice of the tempter, as Eve did, when the\nserpent tried to make out that God was niggardly to her, and envious of\nher, and did not want her to be wise, lest she should be too like God?\n\nHave we not said in our heart, Why should my father grudge me that nice\nthing when he takes it himself?\n\nHe wants to keep it all to himself. Why should not I have a share of it?\nHe says it will hurt me. How does he know that? It does not hurt him.\nI must be the best judge of whether it will hurt me. I do not believe\nthat it will: but at least it is but fair that I should try. I will try\nfor myself. I will run the chance. Why should I be kept like a baby, as\nif I had no sense or will of my own? I will know the right and the wrong\nof it for myself. I will know the good and evil of it myself.\n\nHave we not said that, every one of us, in our hearts, when we were\nyoung?\u2014And is not that just what the Bible says Adam and Eve said?\n\nAnd then, because we were Adam\u2019s children, with his fallen nature in us,\nand original sin, which we inherited from him, we could not help longing\nmore and more after what our parents had forbidden; we could think,\nperhaps, of nothing else; cared for no pleasure, no pay, because we could\nnot get that one thing which our parents had told us not to touch. And\nat last we fell, and sinned, and took the thing on the sly.\n\nAnd then?\n\nDid it not happen to us, as it did to Adam, that a feeling of shame and\nguiltiness came over us at once? Yes; of shame. We intended to feed our\nown pride: but instead of pride came shame and fear too; so instead of\nrising, we had fallen and felt that we had fallen. Just so it was with\nAdam. Instead of feeling all the prouder and grander when he had sinned,\nhe became ashamed of himself at once, he hardly knew why. We had\nintended to set ourselves up against our parents; but instead, we became\nafraid of them. We were always fancying that they would find us out. We\nwere afraid of looking them in the face. Just so it was with Adam. He\nheard the word of the Lord God, Jesus Christ, walking in the garden. Did\nhe go to meet him; thank him for that pleasant life, pleasant earth, for\nthe mere blessing of existence? No. He hid himself among the trees of\nthe garden. But why hide himself? Even if he had given up being\nthankful to God; even if he had learned from the devil to believe that\nGod grudged him, envied him, had deceived him, about that fruit, why run\naway and hide? He wanted to be as God, wise, knowing good and evil for\nhimself. Why did he not stand out boldly when he heard the voice of the\nLord God and say, I am wise now; I am as a God now, knowing good and\nevil; I am no longer to be led like a child, and kept strictly by rules\nwhich I do not understand; I have a right to judge for myself, and choose\nfor myself; and I have done it, and you have no right to complain of me?\n\nPerhaps Adam had intended, when he ate the fruit, to stand up for\nhimself, with some such fine words; as children intend when they disobey.\n\nBut when it came to the point, away went all Adam\u2019s self-confidence, all\nAdam\u2019s pride, all Adam\u2019s fine notions of what he had a right to do; and\nhe hides himself miserably, like a naughty and disobedient child. And\nthen, like a mean and cowardly one, when he is called out and forced to\nanswer for himself, he begins to make pitiful excuses. He has not a word\nto say for himself. He throws the blame on his wife; it was all the\nwoman\u2019s fault now\u2014indeed, God\u2019s fault. \u2018The woman whom thou gavest to be\nwith me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.\u2019\n\nMy dear friends, if we want a proof that the Bible is a true, divine,\ninspired book, we need go no further than this one story. For, my\nfriends, have we never said the same? When we felt that we had done\nwrong; when the voice of God and of Christ in our hearts was rebuking us\nand convincing us of sin, have we never tried to shift the blame off our\nown shoulders, and lay it on God himself, and the blessings which he has\ngiven us? on one\u2019s wife\u2014on one\u2019s family\u2014on money\u2014on one\u2019s youth, and\nhealth, and high spirits?\u2014in a word, on the good things which God has\ngiven us?\n\nAh, my friends, we are indeed Adam\u2019s children; and have learned his\nlesson, and inherited his nature only too fearfully well. For what Adam\ndid but once, we have done a hundred times; and the mean excuse which\nAdam made but once, we make again and again.\n\nBut the loving Lord has patience with us, as he had with Adam, and does\nnot take us at our word. He did not say to Adam, You lay the blame upon\nyour wife; then I will take her from you, and you shall see then where\nthe blame lies. Ungrateful to me! you shall live henceforth alone. And\nhe does not say to us, You make all the blessings which I have given you\nan excuse for sinning! Then I will take them from you, and leave you\nmiserable, and pour out my wrath upon you to the uttermost!\n\nNot so. Our God is not such a God as that. He is full of compassion and\nlong-suffering, and of tender mercy. He knows our frame, and remembers\nthat we are but dust. He sends us out into the world, as he sent Adam,\nto learn experience by hard lessons; to eat our bread in the sweat of our\nbrow, till we have found out our own weakness and ignorance, and have\nlearned that we cannot stand alone, that pride and self-dependence will\nonly lead us to guilt, and misery, and shame, and meanness; and that\nthere is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved from them,\nbut only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nHe is the woman\u2019s seed, who, so God promised, was to bruise the head of\nthe serpent. And he has bruised it. He is the woman\u2019s seed\u2014a man, as we\nare men, with a human nature, but one without spot of sin, to make us\nfree from sin.\n\nLet us look up to him as often as we find our nature dragging us down,\nmaking us proud and self-willed, greedy and discontented, longing after\nthis and that. Let us trust in him, ask him, for his grace day by day;\nask him to shape and change us into his likeness, that we may become\ndaily more and more free; free from sin; free from this miserable longing\nafter one thing and another; free from our bad habits, and the sin which\ndoes so easily beset us; free from guilty fear, and coward dread of God.\nLet us ask him, I say, to change, and purify, and renew us day by day,\ntill we come to his likeness; to the stature of perfect men, free men,\nmen who are not slaves to their own nature, slaves to their own pride,\nslaves to their own vanity, slaves of their own bad tempers, slaves to\ntheir own greediness and foul lusts: but free, as the Lord Christ was\nfree; able to keep their bodies in subjection, and rise above nature by\nthe eternal grace of God; able to use this world without abusing it; able\nto thank God for all the _blessings_ of this life, and learn from them\nprecious lessons; able to thank God for all the _sorrows_ of this life,\nand learn from them wholesome discipline: but yet able to rise above them\nall, and say, \u2018As long as I hold fast to Christ the King of men, this\nworld cannot harm me. My life, my real human life, does not depend on my\nbeing comfortable or uncomfortable here below for a few short years. My\nreal life is hid in God with Jesus Christ, who, after he had redeemed\nhuman nature by his perfect obedience, and washed it pure again in the\nblood of his cross, for ever sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on\nhigh; that so, being lifted up, he might draw all men unto himself\u2014even\nas many as will come to him, that they may have eternal life.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXVII.\nTHE WORTHY COMMUNICANT.\n\n\n LUKE xviii. 14.\n\n I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the\n other.\n\nWHICH of these two men was the more fit to come to the Communion? Most\nof you will answer, The publican: for he was more justified, our Lord\nhimself says, than the Pharisee. True: but would you have said so of\nyour own accord, if the Lord had not said so? Which of the two men do\nyou really think was the better man, the Pharisee or the publican? Which\nof the two do you think had his soul in the safer state? Which of the\ntwo would you rather be, if you were going to die? Which of the two\nwould you rather be, if you were going to the Communion? For mind, one\ncould not have _refused_ the Pharisee, if he had come to the Communion.\nHe was in no open sin: I may say, no outward sin at all. You must not\nfancy that he was a hypocrite, in the sense in which we usually employ\nthat word. I mean, he was not a man who was leading a wicked life\nsecretly, while he kept up a show of religion. He was really a religious\nman in his own way, scrupulous, and over-scrupulous to perform every duty\nto the letter. He went to his church to worship; and he was no\nlip-worshipper, repeating a form of words by rote, but prayed there\nhonestly, concerning the things which were in his heart. He did not say,\neither, that he had made himself good. If he was wrong on some points,\nhe was not on that. He knew where his goodness, such as it was, came\nfrom. \u2018God, I thank thee,\u2019 he says, \u2018that I am what I am.\u2019 What have we\nin this man? one would ask at first sight. What reason for him to stay\naway from the Sacrament? He would not have thought himself that there\nwas any reason. He would, probably, have thought\u2014\u2018If I am not fit, who\nis? Repent me truly of my former sins? Certainly. If I have done the\nleast harm to any one, I shall be happy to restore it fourfold. If I\nhave neglected one, the least of God\u2019s services, I shall be only too glad\nto keep it all the more strictly for the future.\n\n\u2018Intend to lead a new life? I am leading one, and trying to lead one\nmore and more every day. I shall be thankful to any one who will show me\nany new service which I can offer to God, any new act of reverence, any\nnew duty.\n\n\u2018I must go in love and charity with all men? I do so. I have not a\ngrudge against any human being. Of course, I know the world too well to\nbe satisfied with it. I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that millions\nare living very sinful, shocking lives\u2014extortioners, unjust, adulterers;\nand that three people out of four are going straight to hell. I pity\nthem, and forgive them any wrong which they have done to me. What more\ncan I do?\u2019\n\nThis is what the Pharisee would have said. Is this man fit to come to\nthe Communion? At least he himself thinks so.\n\nOn the other hand, was the publican fit? That is a serious question; one\nwhich we cannot answer, without knowing more about him than our Lord has\nchosen to tell us. Many a person is ready enough, in these days, to cry\n\u2018God be merciful to me a sinner!\u2019 who is fit, I fear, neither to come to\nthe Communion, nor to stay away either.\n\nIt was not so, I suppose, with the old Jews in our Lord\u2019s time. The\nPharisees then were hard legalists, who stood all on works; and,\ntherefore, if a man broke off from them, and threw himself on God\u2019s grace\nand mercy, he did it in a simple, honest, effectual way, like this\npublican.\n\nBut now, I am sorry to say, our Pharisees have contrived to make\nthemselves as proud and self-righteous about their own faith and\nrepentance, as the Jewish Pharisees did about their own works and\nobservances; and there has risen up in England and elsewhere a very ugly\nnew hypocrisy. People now-a-days are too apt to pride themselves on\ntheir own convictions of sin, and their own repentance, till they trust\nin their repentance to save them, and not in Christ, just as the Pharisee\ntrusted in his works to save him, and not in Christ; and when they pray,\nI cannot help fearing (for I am sure many of their religious books teach\nthem it) that they pray very much like that Pharisee, \u2018God, I thank thee\nthat I am not as other men are, carnal, unconverted, unconvinced of sin,\nnor even as that plain, moral, respectable man. I am convinced of sin; I\nam converted; I have the right frames, and the right feelings, and the\nright experiences.\u2019 Oh, of all the cunning snares of the devil, that I\nthink is the cunningest. Well says the old proverb\u2014\u2018The devil is old,\nand therefore he knows many things.\u2019\n\nIn old times he made men trust in their own righteousness: and that was\nsnare enough; now he has learnt how to make men actually trust in their\nown sinfulness, and so turn the grace of God into a cloak of pride, and\ncontempt of their fellow-creatures.\n\nMy friends, do you think that if the publican, after he had said, \u2018God be\nmerciful to me a sinner!\u2019 had said to himself, \u2018There\u2014how beautifully I\nhave repented\u2014how honest I have been to God\u2014I am all right now\u2019\u2014he would\nhave gone down to his house justified at all? Not he. No more will you\nand I, my friends. If we have sinned, what should we be but ashamed of\nit? Ay, utterly ashamed. And if we really know what sin is\u2014if we really\nsee the sinfulness of sin\u2014if we really see ourselves as God sees us\u2014we\nshall be too much shocked at the sight of our own hearts to have time to\nboast of our being able to see our own hearts. We shall be too full of\nloathing and hatred for our sins, too full of longing to get rid of our\nsins, and to become righteous and holy, even as God is righteous and\nholy, to give way to any pride in our own frames and feelings; and,\ninstead of thinking ourselves better men than our neighbours because we\nsee our sins, and fancy they do not see theirs, we shall be almost ready\nto think ourselves worse than our neighbours, to think that they cannot\nhave so much to repent of as we; and as we grow in grace, we shall see\nmore and more sin in ourselves, till we actually fancy at times that no\none can be as bad as we are, and in lowliness of mind esteem others\nbetter than ourselves. We may carry that too far, too. Certainly there\nis no use in accusing ourselves of sins which we have not committed; we\nhave all quite enough real sins to answer for without inventing more.\nBut still that is a better frame of mind than the other; for no man can\nbe too humble, while any man can be too proud.\n\nBut let us all ask God to open our eyes, that we may see ourselves just\nas we are, let our sins be many or few. Let us ask God to convince us\nreally of sin by his Holy Spirit, and show us what sin is, and its\nexceeding sinfulness; how ugly and foul sin is, how foolish and absurd,\nhow mean and ungrateful toward that good God who wishes us nothing but\ngood, and wishes us, therefore, to be good, because goodness is the only\npath to life and happiness; and then we shall be so ashamed of ourselves,\nso afraid of our own weakness, so shocked at the difference between\nourselves and the spotless Lord Jesus, that we shall have no time to\ndespise others, no time to admire our own frames, and feelings, and\nrepentances. All we shall think of is our own sinfulness, and God\u2019s\nmercy; and we shall come eagerly, if not boldly, to the throne of grace,\nto find grace and mercy to help us in the time of need; crying, \u2018Purge\nthou me, O Lord, or I shall never be pure; wash thou me, and then alone\nshall I be clean. For thou requirest, not frames or feelings, not pride\nand self-conceit, but truth in the inward parts; and wilt make me to\nunderstand wisdom secretly.\u2019\n\nThen, indeed, we shall be fit to come to the Holy Communion; for then we\nshall be so ashamed of ourselves that we shall truly repent of our\nsins\u2014so ashamed of ourselves that we shall long and determine to lead a\nnew life\u2014so ashamed of ourselves that we shall have no heart to look down\non any of our neighbours, or pass hard judgments on them, but be in love\nand charity with all men; and so, in spite of all our past sins, come to\npartake worthily of the body and blood of Him who died for our sins,\nwhose blood will wash them out of our hearts, whose body will strengthen\nand refresh us, body and soul, to a new and everlasting life of\nhumbleness and thankfulness, honesty and justice, usefulness and love.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXVIII.\nOUR DESERTS.\n\n\n LUKE vi. 36\u201338.\n\n Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge\n not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be\n condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be\n given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and\n running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same\n measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.\n\nONE often hears complaints against this world, and against mankind; one\nhears it said that people are unjust, unfair, cruel; that in this world\nno man can expect to get what he deserves. And, of course, there are\ngreat excuses for saying so. There are bad men in the world in plenty,\nwho do villanous and cruel things enough; and besides, there is a great\ndeal of dreadful misery in the world, which does not seem to come through\nany fault of the poor creatures who suffer it; misery of which we can\nonly say, \u2018Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the glory\nof God may be made manifest in him.\u2019\n\nBut still our Lord tells us in the text, that, on the whole, there is\norder lying under all the disorder, justice under all the injustice,\nright under all the wrong; and that on the whole we get what we deserve.\n\u2018Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not,\nand ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:\nforgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you;\ngood measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall\nmen give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal,\nit shall be measured to you again.\u2019\n\nOf course, as I said just now, it is not always so. None knew that\nbetter than the blessed Lord: else why did he come to seek and save that\nwhich was lost? But still the more we look into our own lives, the more\nwe shall find our Lord\u2019s words true; the more we shall find that on the\nwhole, in the long run, men will be just and fair to us, and give us,\nsooner or later, what we deserve.\n\nNow, to deserve a thing, properly means to serve for it, to work for it\nand earn it, as a natural consequence. If a man puts his hand into the\nfire, he _deserves_ to burn it, because it is the nature of fire to burn,\nand therefore it burns him, and so he gets his deserts; and if a man does\nwrong, he deserves to be unhappy, because it is the nature of sin to make\nthe sinner unhappy, and so he gets his deserts. God has not to go out of\nhis way to punish sin; sin punishes itself; and so if a man does right,\nhe becomes in the long run happy. God has not to go out of his way to\nreward him and make him happy; his own good deeds make him happy; he\nearns happiness in the comfort of a good conscience, and the love and\nrespect of those about him; and so he gets his deserts. For our Lord\nsays, \u2018People in the long run will treat you as you treat them. If they\nfeel and see by experience that you are loving and kind to them, they\nwill be loving and kind to you; as you do to them, they will, in the long\nrun, do to you.\u2019 They may mistake you at first, even dislike you at\nfirst. Did they not mistake, hate, crucify the Lord himself? and yet his\nown rule came true of him. A few crucified him; but now all civilized\nnations worship him as God. Be sure, then, that his rule will come true\nof you, though not at first, yet in God\u2019s good time. Therefore hold\nstill in the Lord, and abide patiently; and he shall make thy\nrighteousness as clear as the light, and thy just dealing as the\nnoon-day.\n\nNow this is a very blessed and comfortable thought. Would to God that\nall of us, young people especially, would lay it to heart. How are we to\nget comfortably through this life? Or, if we are to have sorrows (as we\nall must), how can we make those sorrows as light as possible? How can\nwe make friends who will comfort us in those sorrows, instead of leaving\nus to bear our burden alone, and turning their backs on us just when our\npoor hearts are longing for a kind look and a kind word from our\nneighbours? Our Lord tells us now. The same measure that you mete\nwithal, it shall be measured to you again.\n\nThere is his plan. It is a very simple one. It goes on the same\nprinciple as \u2018He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth\nhis life shall save it.\u2019 If we are selfish, and take care only of\nourselves, the day will come when our neighbours will leave us alone in\nour selfishness to shift for ourselves. If we set out determining\nthrough life to care about other people rather than ourselves, then they\nwill care for themselves more than for us, and measure their love to us\nby our measure of love to them. But if we care for others, they will\nlearn to care for us; if we befriend others, they will befriend us. If\nwe show forth the Spirit of God to them, in kindliness, generosity,\npatience, self-sacrifice, the day will surely come when we shall find\nthat the Spirit of God is in our neighbours as well as in ourselves; that\non the whole they will be just to us, and pay us what we have deserved\nand earned. Blessed and comfortable thought, that no kind word, kind\naction, not even the cup of cold water given in Christ\u2019s name, can lose\nits reward. Blessed thought, that after all our neighbours are our\nbrothers, and that if we remember that steadily, and treat them as\nbrothers now, they will recollect it too some day, and treat us as\nbrothers in return. Blessed thought, that there is in the heart of every\nman a spark of God\u2019s light, a grain of God\u2019s justice, which may grow up\nin him hereafter, and bear good fruit to eternal life.\n\nYes; it is a pleasant thing to find men better than we fancied them. A\npleasant thing; for first, it makes us love them the more, and there is\nnothing so pleasant as loving. And more; it does this\u2014it makes us more\ninclined to trust God\u2019s justice. We say to ourselves, Men are, we find,\nreally more just and fair than they seem to us at times; surely God must\nbe more just and fair than he seems to us at times. For there are times\nwhen it does seem a hard thing to believe that God is just; times when\nthe devil tempts poor suffering creatures sorely, and tries to make them\ndoubt their heavenly Father, and say with David, What am I the better for\nhaving done right? Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart; in vain have\nI washed my hands in innocency. All the day long have I been punished,\nand chastened every morning. Yes; when some poor woman, working in the\nfield, with all the cares of a family on her, looks up at great people in\ntheir carriages, she is tempted, she must be tempted to say at times,\n\u2018Why am I to be so much worse off than they? Is God just in making me so\npoor and them so rich?\u2019 It is a foolish thought. I do believe it is a\ntemptation of the devil, a deceit of the devil; for rich people are not\nreally one whit happier or lighter-hearted than poor ones, and all the\ndevil wishes is to make poor people envy their neighbours, and mistrust\nGod. But still one cannot wonder at their faith failing them at times.\nI do not judge them, still less condemn them; for the text forbids me.\nOr again, when some poor creature, crippled from his youth, looks upon\nothers strong and active, cheerful and happy. Think of a deformed child\nwatching healthy children at play; and then think, must it not be hard at\ntimes for that child not to repine, and cry to God, \u2018Why hast thou made\nme thus?\u2019\n\nYes. I will not go on giving fresh instances. The world is but too full\nof them.\n\nBut when such thoughts trouble us, here is one comfort\u2014ay, here is our\nonly comfort\u2014God must be more just than man. Whatsoever appearances may\nseem to make against it, he must be. For where did all the justice in\nthe world come from, but from God? Who put the feeling of justice into\nevery man\u2019s heart, but God himself? He is the glorious sun, perfectly\nbright, perfectly pure; and all the other goodness in the world is but\nrays and beams of light sent forth from his great light. So we may be\ncertain that God is not only as just as man, but millions of times _more_\njust; more just, and righteous, and good than all the just men on earth\nput together. We can believe that. We must believe it. Thousands have\nbelieved it already. Thousands of holy sufferers, in prisons and on\nscaffolds, in poverty and destitution, on sick-beds of lingering torture,\nhave believed still that God was just and righteous in all his dealings\nwith them; and have cried in the hour of their bitterest agony, \u2018Though\nthou slay me, O Lord, yet will I trust in thee!\u2019\n\nYes. God is just. He has revealed that in the person of his Son Jesus\nChrist. There is God\u2019s likeness. There is proof enough that God is not\none who afflicts willingly, or grieves the children of men out of any\nneglect or spite, or respecteth one person more than another. It may\nseem hard to be sure of that: unless we believe that Jesus is the Christ,\nthe co-equal and co-eternal Son of the Father, we never shall be sure of\nit. Believing in the message of the ever-blessed Trinity, we shall be\nsure; for we shall be sure that, \u2018Such as the Father is, such is the Son,\nand such is the Holy Ghost\u2019\u2014perfect love, perfect justice, perfect mercy;\nand therefore we can be sure that in the world beyond the grave the\nbalance will be made even, again, and for ever; and every mourner be\ncomforted, and every sufferer be refreshed, and every one receive his due\nreward\u2014if they will only now in this life take the lesson of the text,\n\u2018Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not\nbe condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven; for if you forgive\nevery one his brother their trespasses, in like wise will your heavenly\nFather forgive you.\u2019 Do that; and then you will get your _deserts_ in\nthe life to come, and by forgiving, and helping, and blessing others,\n_deserve_ to be forgiven, and comforted, and blessed yourselves, for the\nsake of that Saviour who is day and night presenting all your good works\nto his Father and your Father, as a precious and fragrant offering\u2014a\nsacrifice with which the God of love is well pleased, because it is, like\nhimself, made up of love.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XXXIX.\nTHE LOFTINESS OF GOD.\n\n\n ISAIAH lvii. 15.\n\n For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose\n name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that\n is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the\n humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.\n\nTHIS is a grand text; one of the grandest in the whole Old Testament; one\nof those the nearest to the spirit of the New. It is full of Gospel\u2014of\ngood news: but it is not the whole Gospel. It does not tell us the whole\ncharacter of God. We can only get that in the New. We can get it there;\nwe can get it in that most awful and glorious chapter which we read for\nthe second lesson\u2014the twenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew. Seen in the\nlight of that\u2014seen in the light of Christ\u2019s cross and what it tells us,\nall is clear, and all is bright, and all is full of good news\u2014at least to\nthose who are humble and contrite, crushed down by sorrow, and by the\nfeeling of their own infirmities.\n\nBut what does the text tell us?\n\nOf a high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity.\n\nOf a lofty God, Almighty, incomprehensible; so far above us, so different\nfrom us, that we cannot picture him to ourselves; of a glory and majesty\nutterly beyond all human fancy or imagination.\n\nOf a holy God, in whom is no sin, nor taint of sin; who is of purer eyes\nthan to behold iniquity; who is so perfect, that he cannot be content\nwith anything which is not as perfect as himself; who looks with horror\nand disgust on evil of every shape; who cannot endure it, will at last\ndestroy it.\n\nOf a God who abides in eternity\u2014who cannot change\u2014cannot alter his own\ndecrees and laws, because his decrees and laws are right and necessary,\nand proceed out of his own character. If he has said a thing, that thing\nmust be; because it is the thing which ought to be.\n\nHow, then, shall we think of this lofty, holy, unchangeable God\u2014we who\nare low, unholy, changing with every wind that blows?\n\nShall we say, \u2018He is so far above us, that he cannot feel for us? He is\nso holy that he must hate us, and will our punishment, and our damnation\nfor all our sins?\u2019\n\n\u2018He is eternal, and cannot change his will; and, therefore, if he wills\nus to perish, perish we must.\u2019\n\nWe may think so of God, and dread God, and cry \u2018Whither shall I flee from\nthy Spirit, and whither shall I go from thy presence?\u2019 We may call to\nthe mountains to fall on us, and to the hills to cover us, till we try to\nforget at all risks the thought of God: and if we do not, there are\nplenty who will do it for us. The devil, who slanders and curses God to\nmen, and men to God, and to each other\u2014he will talk to us of God in this\nway.\n\nAnd men who preach the devil\u2019s doctrine, will talk to us likewise, and\nsay, \u2018Yes, God is very dreadful, and very angry with you. God certainly\nintends to damn you. But _I_ have a plan for delivering you out of God\u2019s\nhands; _I_ know what you must do to be saved from God\u2014join _my_ sect or\nparty, and believe and work with me, and then you will escape God.\u2019\n\nBut, after all, would it not be wiser, my friends, to hold your own\ntongues, and let God himself speak?\n\nIf he had not spoken in the first place, what should we have known of\nhim? Can man by searching find out God? We should not have known that\nthere was a high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity, if he had not told\nus. Had we not better hear the rest of his message, and let God finish\nhis own character of himself?\n\nAnd what does he say?\n\n\u2018I dwell\u2014I, the high and lofty One, who inhabit eternity\u2014with him also,\nwho is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the\nhumble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.\u2019\n\nOh, my friends, is not this news? good news and unexpected news, perhaps,\nbut still as true as what went before it? God hath said the one, and we\nbelieve it: and now he says the other; and shall we not believe it too?\n\nCome, then, thou humble soul; thou crushed and contrite soul; thou who\nfearest that thou art not worthy of God\u2019s care; thou from whom God has\ntaken so much, that thou fearest that he will take all\u2014come and hear the\nLord\u2019s message to thee\u2014God\u2019s own message; no devil\u2019s message, or man\u2019s\nmessage, but God\u2019s own.\n\n\u2018I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for then\nthe spirit would fail before me, and the souls which I have made. I have\nseen thy ways, and will heal thee. I will lead thee, also, and restore\ncomforts to thee and to thy mourners. I create the fruit of the lips. I\ngive men cause to thank me, and delight in giving. Peace, peace to him\nthat is near, and to him that is far off, saith the Lord. If thou art\nnear me, thou art safe; for if I were to take all else from thee, I\nshould not take myself from thee. Though thou walkest through the valley\nof the shadow of death, I will be with thee. And if thou art far off\nfrom me, wandering in folly and sin, I cry peace to thee still. Why\nshould I wish to be at war with any of my creatures? saith the Lord. My\nwill is, that thou shouldst be at peace. I am at peace myself, and I\nwish to make all my creatures at peace also, and thee among the rest. I\nam whole and perfect myself, and I wish to heal all my creatures, and\nmake them whole and perfect also, and thee among the rest.\n\n\u2018But the wicked? Ay, this is their very misery, that there is no peace\nto them. I want them to enter into my peace, and they will not. I am at\npeace with them, saith the Lord. I owe them no grudge, poor wretches.\nBut they will not be at peace with themselves. They are like the\ntroubled sea, which casts up mire and dirt, and fouls itself. I cast up\nno mire nor dirt. I foul nothing. I tempt no man. I, the good God,\ncreate no evil. If the troubled sea fouls itself, so do the wicked make\nthemselves miserable, and punish themselves by their own lusts, which war\nin their members. But they cannot alter _me_, saith the Lord; they\ncannot change my temper, my character, my everlasting name. I am that I\nam, who inhabit eternity; and no creature, and no creature\u2019s sin, can\nmake me other than I am.\n\nAnd what is that? What is the name, what is the character, what is the\ntemper of him who inhabits eternity? Look on the cross, and see.\n\nThe cross, at least, will tell you what kind of a God your God is. A\ngood God; a God of love; a God of boundless forbearance and\nlong-suffering. Good God! The folly and madness of men\u2019s hearts, who\nlook on God dying on the cross for them, and begin forthwith puzzling\ntheir brains as to _how_ he died for them; how Christ\u2019s blood washes away\ntheir sins; how it is applied, and to whom; puzzling their brains with\ntheories of the atonement, and with predestination, and satisfaction, and\nforensic justification, and particular redemption, and long words which\n(four out of five of them) are not in the Bible, but are spun out of\nmen\u2019s own minds, as spiders\u2019 webs are from spiders\u2014and, like them, mostly\nfit to hamper poor harmless flies.\n\nHow Christ\u2019s death takes away thy sins, thou wilt never know on\nearth\u2014perhaps not in heaven. It is a mystery which thou must believe and\nadore. But why he died, thou canst see at the first glance\u2014if thou hast\na human heart, and wilt look at what God means thee to look at\u2014Christ\nupon his cross. He died because he was _love_\u2014love itself\u2014love\nboundless, unconquerable, unchangeable\u2014love which inhabits eternity, and\ntherefore could not be hardened or foiled by any sin or rebellion of man,\nbut must love men still; must go out to seek and save them; must dare,\nsuffer any misery, shame, death itself, for their sake; just because it\nis absolute and perfect love, which inhabits eternity.\n\nLook at that\u2014look at the sight of God\u2019s character, which the cross gives\nthee; and then, instead of being terrified at God\u2019s will and decree being\nunchangeable and eternal, it will be the greatest possible comfort to\nthee that God\u2019s will is unchangeable and eternal, because thou wilt see\nfrom the cross that it is a _good_ will\u2014a will of mercy, forbearance,\nlong-suffering towards thee and all mankind, eternal in the heavens as\nGod himself.\n\nThen let those be afraid who are not afraid; and let those who are\nafraid, take heart. Let those who think they stand, take heed lest they\nfall. Let those who think they see, take care that they be not blind.\nLet those be afraid who fancy themselves right and above all mistakes,\nlest they should be full of ugly sins when they fancy themselves most\nreligious and devout. Let those be afraid who are fond of advising\nothers, lest they should be in more need of their own medicine than their\npatients are. Let those fear who pride themselves on their cunning, lest\nwith all their cunning they only lead themselves into their own trap.\n\nBut those who are afraid, let them take heart. For what says the high\nand holy One, who inhabits eternity? \u2018I dwell with him that is of a\nhumble and contrite heart, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to\nrevive the heart of the contrite ones.\u2019\n\nLet them take heart. Do you feel that you have lost your way in life?\nThen God himself will show you your way. Are you utterly helpless, worn\nout, body and soul? Then God\u2019s eternal love is ready and willing to help\nyou up, and revive you. Are you wearied with doubts and terrors? Then\nGod\u2019s eternal light is ready to show you your way; God\u2019s eternal peace\nready to give you peace. Do you feel yourself full of sins and faults?\nThen take heart; for God\u2019s unchangeable will is, to take away those sins\nand purge you from those faults.\n\nAre you tormented as Job was, over and above all your sorrows, by\nmistaken kindness, and comforters in whom is no comfort; who break the\nbruised reed and quench the smoking flax; who tell you that you must be\nwicked, and God must be angry with you, or all this would not have come\nupon you? Job\u2019s comforters did so, and spoke very righteous-sounding\nwords, and took great pains to justify God and to break poor Job\u2019s heart,\nand made him say many wild and foolish words in answer, for which he was\nsorry afterwards; but after all, the Lord\u2019s answer was, \u2018My wrath is\nkindled against you three, for you have not spoken of me the thing which\nwas right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore my servant Job shall pray\nfor you, for him will I accept;\u2019 as he will accept every humble and\ncontrite soul who clings, amid all its doubts, and fears, and sorrows, to\nthe faith that God is just and not unjust, merciful and not cruel,\ncondescending and not proud\u2014that his will is a good will, and not a bad\nwill\u2014that he hateth nothing that he hath made, and willeth the death of\nno man; and in that faith casts itself down like Job, in dust and ashes\nbefore the majesty of God, content not to understand his ways and its own\nsorrows; but simply submitting itself and resigning itself to the good\nwill of that God who so loved the world that he spared not his only\nbegotten Son, but freely gave him for us.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n{75} Compare Rom. iii. 23 with I Cor. xi. 7. Let me entreat all young\nstudents to consider carefully and honestly the radical meaning of the\nwords \u03b1\u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03b9\u03b1 and \u03b1\u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd. It will explain to them many seemingly\ndark passages of St. Paul, and perhaps deliver them from more than one\nreally dark superstition.\n\n{151} I do not quote the Crishna Legends, because they seem to be of\npost-Christian date; and also worthless from the notion of a real human\nbabe being utterly lost in the ascription to Crishna of unlimited magical\npowers.\n\n{162} See, as a counterpart to every detail of Joel\u2019s, the admirable\ndescription of locust-swarms in Kohl\u2019s _Russia_.","title":"The Good News of God","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":88437}