{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_8202/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_8202","id":"gutenberg_8202","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8202","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Sermons, English -- 19th century"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1890 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\n SERMONS ON NATIONAL\n SUBJECTS.\n\n\n * * * * *\n\n BY\n CHARLES KINGSLEY.\n\n * * * * *\n\n London:\n MACMILLAN AND CO.\n AND NEW YORK\n 1890\n\n * * * * *\n\n _First Edition_, 1880.\n _Reprinted_, 1886, 1890.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n PAGE\n SERMON I. THE KING OF THE EARTH 1\n II. HOLY SCRIPTURE 9\n III. THE KINGDOM OF GOD 17\n IV. A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS 31\n V. CHRISTMAS DAY 40\n VI. TRUE ABSTINENCE 47\n VII. GOOD FRIDAY 59\n VIII. EASTER DAY 67\n IX. THE COMFORTER 76\n X. WHIT SUNDAY 85\n XI. ASCENSION DAY 99\n XII. THE FOUNT OF SCIENCE 109\n XIII. FIRST SERMON ON THE CHOLERA 134\n XIV. SECOND SERMON ON THE CHOLERA 144\n XV. THIRD SERMON ON THE CHOLERA 153\n XVI. ON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING 164\n XVII. THE COVENANT 175\n XVIII. NATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS 184\n XIX. THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM 191\n XX. PROFESSION AND PRACTICE 199\n XXI. THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT 210\n XXII. THE WAY TO WEALTH 221\n XXIII. THE LOVE OF CHRIST 230\n XXIV. DAVID\u2019S VICTORY 242\n XXV. DAVID\u2019S EDUCATION 254\n XXVI. THE VALUE OF LAW 265\n XXVII. THE SOURCE OF LAW 275\n XXVIII. THE EDUCATION OF A HEATHEN 287\n XXIX. JEREMIAH\u2019S CALLING 298\n XXX. THE PERFECT KING 306\n XXXI. GOD\u2019S WARNINGS 316\n XXXII. PHARAOH\u2019S HEART 325\n XXXIII. THE RED SEA TRIUMPH 337\n XXXIV. CHRISTMAS DAY 346\n XXXV. NEW YEAR\u2019S DAY 354\n XXXVI. THE DELUGE 362\n XXXVII. THE KINGDOM OF GOD 373\n XXXVIII. THE LIGHT 384\n XXXIX. THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 395\n XL. THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE 403\n XLI. THE FALL 412\n XLII. GOD\u2019S COVENANTS 423\n XLIII. THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 433\n XLIV. THE WORK OF GOD\u2019S SPIRIT 445\n XLV. THE GOSPEL 453\n XLVI. GOD\u2019S WAY WITH MAN 463\n XLVII. THE MARRIAGE AT CANA 474\n XLVIII. PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE 482\n\n\n\n\nI.\nTHE KING OF THE EARTH.\n\n\n FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT.\n\n [_Preached in_ 1849.]\n\n Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.\u2014MATTHEW xxi. 4.\n\nTHIS Sunday is the first of the four Sundays in Advent. During those\nfour Sundays, our forefathers have advised us to think seriously of the\ncoming of our Lord Jesus Christ\u2014not that we should neglect to think of it\nat all times. As some of you know, I have preached to you about it often\nlately. Perhaps before the end of Advent you will all of you, more or\nless, understand what all that I have said about the cholera, and public\ndistress, and the sins of this nation, and the sins of the labouring\npeople has to do with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I intend,\nespecially in my next four sermons, to speak my whole mind to you about\nthis matter as far as God has shown it to me; taking the Collect,\nEpistle, and Gospels, for each Sunday in Advent, and explaining them. I\nam sure I cannot do better; for the more I see of those Collects,\nEpistles, and Gospels, and the way in which they are arranged, the more I\nam astonished and delighted at the wisdom with which they are chosen, the\nwise order in which they follow each other, and fit into each other. It\nis very fit, too, that we should think of our Lord\u2019s coming at this\nseason of the year above all others; because it is the hardest season\u2014the\nseason of most want, and misery, and discontent, when wages are low, and\nwork is scarce, and fuel is dear, and frosts are bitter, and farmers and\ntradesmen, and gentlemen, too, are at their wits\u2019 end to square their\naccounts, and pay their way. Then is the time that the evils of society\ncome home to us\u2014that our sins, and our sorrows, which, after all, are the\npunishment of our sins, stare us in the face. Then is the time, if ever,\nfor men\u2019s hearts to cry out for a Saviour, who will deliver them out of\ntheir miseries and their sins; for a Heavenly King who will rule them in\nrighteousness, and do justice and judgment on the earth, and see that\nthose who are in need and necessity have right; for a Heavenly Counsellor\nwho will guide them into all truth\u2014who will teach them what they are, and\nwhither they are going, and what the Lord requires of them. I say the\nhard days of winter are a fit time to turn men\u2019s hearts to Christ their\nKing\u2014the fittest of all times for a clergyman to get up in his pulpit, as\nI do now, and tell his people, as I tell you, that Jesus Christ your King\nhas not forgotten you\u2014that He is coming speedily to judge the world, and\nexecute justice and judgment for the meek of the earth.\n\nNow do not be in a hurry, and fancy from what I have just said, that I am\none of those who think the end of the world is at hand. It may be, for\naught I know. \u201cOf that day and that hour knoweth no man, not even the\nangels of God, nor the Son, but the Father only.\u201d If you wish for my own\nopinion, I believe that what people commonly call the end of the world,\nthat is, the end of the earth and of mankind on it, is not at hand at\nall. As far as I can judge from Scripture, and from the history of all\nnations, the earth is yet young, and mankind in its infancy. Five\nthousand years hence, our descendants may be looking back on us as\nfoolish barbarians, in comparison with what they know: just as we look\nback upon the ignorance of people a thousand years ago. And yet I\nbelieve that the end of this world, in the real Scripture sense of the\nword \u201cworld,\u201d is coming very quickly and very truly\u2014The end of this\nsystem of society, of these present ways in religion, and money-making,\nand conducting ourselves in all the affairs of life, which we English\npeople have got into nowadays. The end of it is coming. It cannot last\nmuch longer; for it is destroying itself. It will not last much longer;\nfor Christ and not the devil is the King of the earth. As St. Paul said\nto his people, so say I to you, \u201cThe night is far spent, the day is at\nhand.\u201d\n\nThese may seem strange words, but almost every one is saying them, in his\nown way. One large party among religious people in these days is\ncomplaining that Christ has left His Church, and that the cause of\nChristianity will be ruined and lost, unless some great change takes\nplace. Another large party of religious people say, that the prophecies\nare on the point of being all fulfilled that the 1260 days, spoken of by\nthe prophet Daniel, are just coining to an end; and that Christ is coming\nwith His saints, to reign openly upon earth for a thousand years. The\nwisest philosophers and historians of late years have been all\nforetelling a great and tremendous change in England, and throughout all\nEurope; and in the meantime, manufacturers and landlords, tradesmen and\nfarmers, artisans and labourers, all say, that there _must_ be a change\nand will be a change. I believe they are all right, every one of them.\nThey put it in their words; I think it better to put it in the Scripture\nwords, and say boldly, \u201cJesus Christ, the King of the earth, is coming.\u201d\n\nBut you will ask, \u201cWhat right have you to stand up and say anything so\nsurprising?\u201d My friends, the world is full of surprising things, and\nthis age above all ages. It was not sixty years ago, that a nobleman was\nlaughed at in the House of Lords for saying that he believed that we\nshould one day see ships go by steam; and now there are steamers on every\nsea and ocean in the world. Who expected twenty years ago to see the\nwhole face of England covered with these wonderful railroads? Who\nexpected on the 22nd of February last year, that, within a single month,\nhalf the nations of Europe, which looked so quiet and secure, would be\nshaken from top to bottom with revolution and bloodshed\u2014kings and princes\nvanishing one after the other like a dream\u2014poor men sitting for a day as\nrulers of kingdoms, and then hurled down again to make room for other\nrulers as unexpected as themselves? Can anyone consider the last fifty\nyears?\u2014can anyone consider that one last year, 1848, and then not feel\nthat we do live in a most strange and awful time? a time for which\nnothing is too surprising\u2014a time in which we all ought to be prepared,\nfrom the least to the greatest, to see the greatest horrors and the\ngreatest blessings come suddenly upon us, like a thief in the night? So\nmuch for Christ\u2019s coming being too wonderful a thing to happen just now.\nStill you are right to ask: \u201cWhat do you mean by Christ\u2019s being our King?\nwhat do you mean by His coming to us? What reason have you for supposing\nthat He is coming _now_, rather than at any other time? And if He be\ncoming, what are we to do? What is there we ought to repent of? what is\nthere we ought to amend?\u201d\n\nWell, my friends\u2014it is just these very questions which I hope and trust\nGod will help me to answer to you, in my next few sermons\u2014I am perfectly\nconvinced that we must get them answered and act upon them speedily. I\nam perfectly convinced that if we go on as most of us are going in\nEngland now, the Lord of us all will come in an hour when we are not\naware, and cut us asunder in the deepest and most real sense, as He came\nand cut asunder France, Germany, and Austria only last year, and appoint\nus our portion with the unbelievers. And I believe that our punishment\nwill be seven times as severe as that of either France, Germany, or\nAustria, because we have had seven times their privileges and blessings,\nseven times their Gospel light and Christian knowledge, seven times their\nfreedom and justice in laws and constitution; seven times their wealth,\nand prosperity, and means of employing our population. Much has been\ngiven to England, and of her much will be required. And if you could\nonly see the state of mankind over the greatest part of the globe, how\ninfinitely fewer opportunities they have of knowing God\u2019s will than you\nhave, you would feel that to you, poor and struggling as some of you\nare\u2014to you much has been given, and of you much will be required.\n\nNow first, what do I mean by Christ being our king? I daresay there are\nsome among you who are inclined to think that, when we talk of Christ\nbeing a king, that the word king means something very different from its\ncommon meaning\u2014and, God knows, that that is true enough. Our blessed\nLord took care to make people understand that\u2014how He was not like one of\nthe kings of the nations, how His kingdom was not of this world. But yet\nthe Bible tells us again and again that all good kings, all real kings,\nare patterns of Christ; and, therefore, that when we talk of Christ being\na king, we mean that He is a king in everything that a king ought to be;\nthat He fulfils perfectly all the duties of a king; that He is the\npattern which all kings ought to copy. Kings have been in all ages too\napt to forget that, and, indeed, so have the people too. We English have\nforgotten most thoroughly in these days, that Christ is our king, or even\na king at all. We talk of Christ being a \u201cspiritual\u201d king, and then we\nsay that that merely means that He is king of Christians\u2019 hearts. And\nwhen anyone asks what that means, it comes out, that all we mean is, that\nChrist has a very great influence over the hearts of believing\nChristians\u2014when He can obtain it; or else that it means that He is king\nof a very small number of people called the elect, whom He has chosen\nout, but that He has absolutely nothing to do with the whole rest of the\nworld. And then, when anyone stands up with the Bible in his hand, and\nsays, in the plain words of Scripture: \u201cChrist is not only the king of\nbelievers, He is the king of the whole earth; the king of the clouds and\nthe thunder, the king of the land and the cattle, and the trees, and the\ncorn, and to whomsoever He will He giveth them. Christ is not only the\nking of believers\u2014He is the king of all\u2014the king of the wicked, of the\nheathen, of those who do not believe Him, who never heard of Him. Christ\nis not only the king of a few individual persons, one here and one there\nin every parish, but He is the king of every nation. He is the king of\nEngland, by the grace of God, just as much as Queen Victoria is, and ten\nthousand times more.\u201d If any man talks in this way, people stare\u2014think\nhim an enthusiast\u2014ask him what new doctrine this is, and call his words\nunscriptural, just because they come out of Scripture and not out of\nmen\u2019s perversions and twistings of Scripture. Nevertheless Christ is\nKing; really and truly King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and He will make\nmen know it. What He was, that He is and ever will be; there is no\nchange in Him; His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion\nendureth throughout all ages, and woe unto those, small or great, who\nrebel against Him!\n\nBut what sort of a king is He? He is a king of law, and order, and\njustice. He is not selfish, fanciful, self-willed. He said himself that\nHe came not to do His own will, but His Father\u2019s. He is a king of\ngentleness and meekness too: but do not mistake that. There is no weak\nindulgence in Him. A man may be very meek, and yet stern enough and\nstrong enough. Moses was the meekest of men, we read, and yet He made\nthose who rebelled against him feel that he was not to be trifled with.\nKorah, Dathan, and Abiram found that to their cost. He would not even\nspare his own brother Aaron, his own sister Miriam, when they rebelled.\nAnd he was right. He showed his love by it; indulgence is not love. It\nis no sign of meekness, but only of cowardice and carelessness, to be\nafraid to rebuke sin. Moses knew that he was doing God\u2019s work, that he\nwas appointed to make a great nation of those slavish besotted Jews, his\ncountrymen; that he was sent by God with boundless blessings to them; and\nwoe to whoever hindered him from that. Because he loved the Jews,\ntherefore he dared punish those who tempted them to forget the promised\nland of Canaan, or break God\u2019s covenant, in which lay all their hope.\n\nAnd such a one is our King, my friends; Jesus Christ the Son of God.\nLike Moses, says St. Paul, He is faithful in all His office. Therefore\nHe is severe as well as gentle. He was so when on earth. With the poor,\nthe outcast, the neglected, those on whom men trampled, who was gentler\nthan the Lord Jesus? To the proud Pharisee, the canting Scribe, the\ncunning Herodian, who was sterner than the Lord Jesus? Read that awful\n23rd chapter of St. Matthew, and then see how the Saviour, the lamb dumb\nbefore His shearers, He of whom it was said \u201cHe shall not strive nor cry,\nnor shall His voice be heard in the streets\u201d\u2014how He could speak when He\nhad occasion. . . . \u201cWoe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!\u201d\n\u201cYe serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of\nhell?\u201d\n\nMy friends, those were the words of our King; of Him in whom was neither\npassion nor selfishness; who loved us even to the death, and endured for\nus the scourge, the cross, the grave. And believe me, such are His words\nnow; though we do not hear Him, the heaven and the earth hear Him and\nobey Him. His message is pardon, mercy, deliverance to the sorrowful,\nand the oppressed, and the neglected; and to the proud, the tyrannical,\nthe self-righteous, the hypocritical, tribulation and anguish, shame and\nwoe.\n\nBecause He is the Saviour, therefore He is a consuming fire to all those\nwho try to hinder Him from saving men. Because He is the Son of God, He\nwill sweep out of His Father\u2019s kingdom all who offend, and whosoever\nmaketh and loveth a lie. Because He is boundless mercy and love,\ntherefore He will show no mercy to those who try to stop His purposes of\nlove. Because He is the King of men, the enemies of mankind are His\nenemies; and He will reign till He has put them all under His feet.\n\n\n\n\nII.\nHOLY SCRIPTURE.\n\n\n SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT.\n\n Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our\n example, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures,\n might have hope.\u2014ROMANS xv. 4.\n\n\u201cWHATSOEVER was written aforetime.\u201d There is no doubt, I think, that by\nthese words St. Paul means the Bible; that is, the Old Testament, which\nwas the only part of the Bible already written in his time. For it is of\nthe Psalms which he is speaking. He mentions a verse out of the 69th\nPsalm, \u201cThe reproaches of Him that reproached thee fell on me;\u201d which, he\nsays, applies to Christ just as much as it did to David, who wrote it.\nChrist, he says, pleased not Himself any more than David, but suffered\nwillingly and joyfully for God\u2019s sake, because He knew that He was doing\nGod\u2019s work. And we, he goes on to say, must do the same; do as Christ\ndid; we must not please ourselves, but every one of us please our brother\nfor his good and edification; that is, in order to build him up,\nstrengthen him, make him wiser, better, more comfortable. For, he says,\nChrist pleased not Himself, but like David, lived only to help others;\nand therefore this verse out of David\u2019s Psalms, \u201cThe reproaches of them\nthat reproached thee fell on me,\u201d is a lesson to us; a pattern of what we\nought to feel, and do, and suffer. \u201cFor whatsoever was written\naforetime,\u201d all these ancient psalms and prophets, and histories of men\nand nations who trusted in God, \u201cwere written for our example, that we,\nthrough patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.\u201d\n\nYes, my friends, this is true; and the longer you live a life of faith\nand godliness, the longer you read and study that precious Book of books\nwhich God has put so freely into your hands in these days, the more true\nyou will find it. And if it was true of the Old Testament, written\nbefore the Lord came down and dwelt among men, how much more must it be\ntrue of the New Testament, which was written after His coming by apostles\nand evangelists, who had far fuller light and knowledge of the Lord than\never David or the old prophets, even in their happiest moments, had. Ah,\nwhat a treasure you have, every one of you, in those Bibles of yours,\nwhich too many of you read so little! From the first chapter of Genesis\nto the last of Revelations, it is all written for our example, all\nprofitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in\nrighteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished\nfor all good works. Ah! friends, friends, is not this the reason why so\nmany of you do not read your Bibles, that you do not wish to be furnished\nfor good works?\u2014do not wish to be men of God, godly and godlike men, but\nonly to be men of the world, caring only for money and pleasure?\u2014some of\nyou, alas! not wishing to be men and women at all, but only a sort of\nbrute beasts with clothes on, given up to filth and folly, like the\nanimals that perish, or rather worse than the animals, for they could be\nno better if they tried, but you might be. Oh! what might you not be,\nwhat are you not already, if you but knew it! Members of Christ,\nchildren of God, heirs of the kingdom of heaven, heirs of a hope undying,\npure, that will never fade away, having a right given you by the promise\nand oath of Almighty God himself, to hope for yourselves, for your\nneighbours, for this poor distracted world, for ever and ever; a right to\nbelieve that there is an everlasting day of justice, and peace, and\nhappiness in store for the whole world, and that you, if you will, may\nhave your share in that glorious sunrise which shall never set again.\nYou may have your share in it, each and every one of you; and if you ask\nwhy, go to the Scriptures, and there read the promises of God, the\ngrounds of your just hope, for all heaven and earth.\n\nFirst, of hope for yourselves.\u2014I say first for yourselves, not because a\nman is right in being selfish, and caring only for his own soul, but\nbecause a man must care for his own soul first, if he ever intends to\ncare for others; a man must have hope for himself first, if he is to have\nhope for others. He may stop there, and turn his religion into a selfish\nsuperstition, and spend his life in asking all day long, \u201cShall I be\nsaved, shall I be damned?\u201d or worse still, in chuckling over his own good\nfortune, and saying to himself, \u201cI shall be saved, whoever else is\ndamned;\u201d but whether he ends there or not, he must begin there; begin by\ntrying to get himself saved. For if he does not know what is right and\ngood for himself, how can he tell what is right and good for others? If\nhe wishes to bring his neighbours out of their sins, he must surely first\nhave been brought out of his own sins, and so know what forgiveness and\nsanctification means. If he wishes to make others at peace with God, he\nmust first be at peace with God himself, to know what God\u2019s peace is. If\nhe wants to teach others their duty, he must first know his own duty, for\nall men\u2019s duty is one and the same. If he wishes to have hope for the\nworld, he must first have hope for himself, for he is in the world, a\npart of it, and he must learn what blessings God intends for him, and\nthey will teach him what blessings God has in store for the earth. Faith\nand hope, like charity, must begin at home. By learning the corruption\nof our own hearts, we learn the corruption of human nature. By learning\nwhat is the only medicine which can cure our own sick hearts, we learn\nwhat is the only medicine which can cure human nature. We learn by our\nown experience, that God is all-forgiving love; that His peace shines\nbright upon the soul which casts itself utterly on Jesus Christ the Lord\nfor pardon, strength, and safety; that God\u2019s Spirit is ready and able to\nraise us out of all our sin, and sottishness, and weakness, and\nwilfulness, and selfishness, and renew us into quite new men, different\ncharacters from what we used to be; and so, by having hope for ourselves,\nwe learn step by step and year by year to have hope for our friends, for\nour neighbours, and for the whole world.\n\nFor that is another great lesson which the Bible teaches us\u2014hope for the\nworld. Men say to us, \u201cThis world has always gone on ill, and will\nalways go on so. Tyrants and knaves and hypocrites have always had the\npower in it; idlers have always had the enjoyment of it; while the\nhumble, and industrious, and godly, who would not foul their hands with\nthe wicked ways of the world, have been always laughed at, neglected,\noppressed, persecuted. The world,\u201d they say, \u201cis very bad, and we cannot\nlive in it without giving way a little to its badness, and going the old\nroad.\u201d\n\nBut he who, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, has hope, can\nanswer \u201cYes\u2014and yet no.\u201d \u201cYes\u2014we agree that the world has gone on badly\nenough: perhaps we think the world worse than it thinks itself; for God\u2019s\nSpirit has taught us to see sin, and shame, and ruin, in many a thing\nwhich the world thinks right and reasonable. And yet,\u201d says the true\nChristian man, \u201calthough we think the world worse than anyone else thinks\nit, and are more unhappy than anyone else about all the sin, and\ninjustice, and misery we see in it, we have the very strongest faith\u2014we\nare perfectly certain\u2014we are as sure as if we saw it coming to pass here\nbefore us, that the world will come right at last. For the Bible tells\nus that the Son of God is the king of the world; that He has been the\nmaster and ruler of it from the beginning. He, the Bible tells us,\ncondescended to come down on earth and be born in the likeness of a poor\nman, and die on the cross for this poor world of His, that He might take\naway the sins of it.\u201d \u201cBehold the Lamb of God,\u201d said John the Baptist,\n\u201cwho takes away the sin of the world.\u201d How dare we, who call ourselves\nChristians, we who have been baptized into His name, we who have tasted\nof His mercy, we who know the might of His love, the converting and\nrenewing power of His Spirit\u2014how dare we doubt but that He _will_ take\naway the sins of the world? Ay; step by step, nation by nation, year by\nyear, the Lord shall conquer; love, and justice, and wisdom shall spread\nand grow; for He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.\nHe has promised to take away the sins of the world, and He is God, and\ncannot lie. There is the Christian\u2019s hope: let him leave infidels to say\n\u201cThe world always was bad, and it must remain so to the end;\u201d the\nChristian ought to be able to answer, \u201cThe world was bad, and is bad; but\nfor that very reason it will _not_ remain so to the end: for the Lord and\nking of the earth is boundless love, justice, goodness itself, and He\nwill thoroughly purge His floor, and cast out of His kingdom all things\nthat offend, and make in His good time the kingdoms of this world, the\nkingdoms of God and of His Christ.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh but,\u201d someone may say, \u201cthat, if it ever happens at all, will not\nhappen till we are dead, and what part or lot shall _we_ have in it? we\nwho die in the midst of all this sin, and injustice, and distress?\u201d\nThere again the Bible gives us hope: \u201cI believe,\u201d says the Creed, \u201cin the\nresurrection of the flesh.\u201d The Bible teaches us to believe, that we,\neach of us, as human beings, men and women, shall have a share in that\nglorious day; not merely as ghosts, and disembodied spirits\u2014of which the\nBible, thanks be to God, says little or nothing, but as real live human\nbeings, with new bodies of our own, on a new earth, under a new heaven.\n\u201cTherefore,\u201d says David, \u201cmy flesh shall rest in hope;\u201d not merely my\nsoul, my ghost, but my flesh. For the Lord, who not only died, but rose\nagain with His body, shall raise our bodies, according to the mighty\nworking by which He subdues all things to Himself; and then the whole\nmanhood of each of us, body, soul, and spirit, shall have one perfect\nconsummation and bliss, in His eternal and everlasting glory.\u2014That is our\nhope. If that is not a gospel, and good news from heaven to poor\ndistressed creatures in hovels, and on sick beds, to people racked with\nlife-long pain and disease, to people in crowded cities, who never from\nweek\u2019s end to week\u2019s end look on the green fields and bright sky\u2014if that\nis not good news, and a dayspring of boundless hope from on high for\nthem, what news can be?\n\nBut how are we to get this hope? The text tells us; through comfort of\nthe Scriptures; through the strengthening and comforting promises, and\nexamples, and rules of God\u2019s gracious dealings which we find therein.\nThrough comfort of the Scriptures, but also through patience. Ah, my\nfriends, of that too we must think; we must, as St. James says, \u201clet\npatience have her perfect work,\u201d or else we shall not be perfect\nourselves. If we are hasty, self-conceited, covetous, ready to help\nourselves by the first means that come to hand; if we are full of hard\njudgments about our neighbours, and doubts about God\u2019s good purpose\ntoward the world; in short, if we are not _patient_, the Bible will teach\nus little or nothing. It may make us superstitious, bigoted, fanatical,\nconceited, pharisaical, but like Jesus Christ the Lord it will not make\nus, unless we have patience.\n\nAnd where are we to get patience? God knows it is hard in such a world\nas this for poor creatures to be patient always. But faith can breed\npatience, though patience cannot breed itself;\u2014and faith in whom? Faith\nin our Father in heaven, even in the Almighty God Himself. He calls\nHimself \u201cthe God of Patience and Consolation.\u201d Pray for His Holy Spirit,\nand He will make you patient; pray for His Holy Spirit, and He will\nconsole and comfort you. He has promised That Spirit of His, The Spirit\nof love, trust, and patience\u2014The Comforter\u2014to as many as ask Him. Ask\nHim now, this day\u2014come to His holy table this day, and ask Him to make\nyou patient; ask Him to take all the hastiness, and pride, and\nill-temper, and self-will, and greediness out of you, and to change your\nwills into the likeness of His will. Then your eyes will be opened to\nunderstand His law. Then you will see in the Scriptures a sure promise\nof hope and glory and redemption for yourself and all the world. Then\nyou will see in the blessed sacrament of the Lord\u2019s body and blood, a\nsure sign and warrant, handed down from land to land, and age to age,\nfrom year to year, and from father to son, that these promises shall come\ntrue; that hope shall become fact; that not one of the Lord\u2019s words shall\nfail, or pass away, till all be fulfilled.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\nTHE KINGDOM OF GOD.\n\n\n THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT.\n\n The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to\n preach good tidings to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the\n broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening\n of the prison to them that are bound.\u2014ISAIAH lxi. 1.\n\nMY friends, I do entreat those of you who wish to get any real good from\nthis sermon, to listen to me carefully all through it. Not that I have\nto complain of you in general for not attending to me. I thank God, and\nthank you, that you do listen to what is said in this pulpit. But there\nare many people who have a bad trick of minding the preacher carefully\nenough for a minute or two, and then letting their wits wander, and think\nabout something else; and then if any word in the sermon strikes them,\nwaking up suddenly, and thinking again for a little, and then letting\ntheir thoughts run wild again; and so on. Whereby it happens that they\nonly recollect a few scraps of the sermon, a word here, and a sentence\nthere, and get into their heads all sorts of mistakes and false notions\nabout the preacher\u2019s meaning.\n\nThat is not right; that is not worthy of reasonable grown men: that is\nonly pardonable in little scatter-brained children. Men and women should\nlisten steadily, reverently throughout; so, and so only, will they be\nable to judge of the message which the preacher brings them. Listen to\nme, therefore, all through this sermon, and may God give you grace to\nunderstand it and lay it to heart, for it is the good news of the kingdom\nof God.\n\nYou recollect, I hope, that I have often told you, that the Lord Jesus\nChrist\u2019s words would never pass away; that His prophecies are continually\ncoming true, and being fulfilled over and over again. Now this text is\nnot one of His prophecies, but it is a prophecy about Him; one which He\nfulfilled, and which He has been fulfilling again and again. He is\nfulfilling it, as I believe, more than ever, now in these very days.\n\nIf you will look at the 61st chapter of Isaiah, you will find this\nprophecy; and you will find, too, what will surprise you at first, that\nIsaiah was speaking of himself. He says, \u201cThat the Spirit of the Lord\nwas upon _him_\u201d\u2014Isaiah\u2014\u201cbecause the Lord had appointed _him_ to preach\ngood tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, and deliverance\nto the captives, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.\u201d Isaiah must\nhave spoken truly about himself. He could not have meant to tell a\nfalsehood, to say a thing was true of himself which was only true of\nJesus, who did not come till 800 years afterwards. And he did speak the\ntruth: you cannot read his prophecies without seeing that the Spirit of\nthe Lord was indeed upon him; that the words which he spoke must have\ncomforted all those who were sorrowing for their sins and the sins of the\nnation in their time. We know, for a fact, that his prophecies came\ntrue; that the Jewish captives were delivered and brought back out of\nJud\u00e6a to Jerusalem again, and that Jerusalem was rebuilt as Isaiah\nprophesied, and the Jewish nation raised to far greater holiness, and\nprosperity, and happiness than it had ever been in before. And yet 800\nyears afterwards the Lord took those very same words to Himself, and\nsaid, that _He_ fulfilled them. He read them aloud once in a Jewish\nsynagogue, out of the book of the prophet Isaiah; and then told the\ncongregation, \u201cThis day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.\u201d And\nagain, as we read in the Gospel for this day, when John the Baptist sent\nto ask Him if He was really the Christ, He made use of another prophecy\nof Isaiah, and told John\u2019s disciples that He _was_ the Christ, because He\nwas fulfilling that prophecy; because He _was_ making the deaf hear, and\nthe blind see, and preaching the gospel to the poor. Now, how is that?\nCould Isaiah be right in applying those words to himself, and yet Christ\nbe right in applying them to Himself? Can a prophecy be fulfilled twice\nover?\n\nNo doubt it can, my friends, and two hundred times over. No prophecy of\nScripture is of private interpretation, says St. Peter. That is, it does\nnot apply to any one private, particular thing that is to happen. Every\nprophecy of Scripture goes on fulfilling itself more and more, as time\nrolls on and the world grows older. St. Peter tells us the reason why.\nNo prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation; because it does\nnot come from the will of man, from any invention or discovery of poor\nshort-sighted human beings, who can only judge by what they see around\nthem in their own times: but holy men of old spoke as they were moved by\nthe Holy Spirit. And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God; the\neverlasting Spirit; the Spirit who cannot change, for He _is_ God. The\nSpirit who searcheth the deep things of God, and teaches them to men.\nAnd what are the deep things of God? They are eternal as God is.\nEternal laws; everlasting rules which cannot alter. That is the meaning\nof it all. The Spirit of God is the Spirit which teaches men the laws of\nGod; the unchangeable rules and ordinances by which He governs all heaven\nand earth, and men, and nations; the laws which come into force, not once\nonly, but always; the laws of God which are working round us now, just as\nmuch as they were eighteen hundred years ago, just as much as they were\nin Isaiah\u2019s time. Therefore it is, that I said that these old Jewish\nprophecies, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, are coming true now,\nand will keep on coming true, time after time, in their proper place and\norder, and whensoever the times are fit for them, even to the end of the\nworld.\n\nBut again, we read that the Spirit of God takes of the things of Christ,\nand shows them unto us. And what are the things of Christ? They must be\neternal things, unchangeable things, for Christ is unchangeable\u2014Jesus\nChrist, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He is over all, God\nblessed for ever. To Him all power is given in heaven and earth. He\nreigns, and He will reign. Do you think He is less a Saviour now, than\nHe was when He spoke those things to John\u2019s disciples? Do you think He\nis less able to hear and to help than He was in John\u2019s time? Do you\nthink He used to care about people\u2019s bodies then, but that He only cares\nabout their souls now? Do you think that He is less compassionate, and\nless merciful, as well as less powerful, than He was when He made the\nblind see, and the lame walk, and the deaf hear, in Jud\u00e6a of old?\n\nLess powerful! less compassionate! One would have expected that Christ\nwas _more_ powerful, _more_ compassionate, if that were possible. At\nleast one would expect that His power and compassion would show itself\nmore and more, and make itself felt more and more, year by year, and age\nby age; more and more healing disease; more and more comforting sorrow;\nmore and still more casting out cunning and evil spirits, till He had put\nall under His feet. He Himself said it should be so. He always spoke of\nHis own kingdom as a thing which was to grow and increase by laws of its\nown, men knew not how, but He knew. Like seed cast into the ground, His\nkingdom was, He said, at first the smallest of all seeds; but it was to\ngrow, and take root, and spread into a mighty tree, He said, till the\nvery birds in the air lodged in the branches of it; and David\u2019s words\nshould be fulfilled, \u201cThou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast.\u201d And\ndoes not St. Paul speak of His kingdom in the same way, as a kingdom\nwhich should grow? that He was to reign till He had put all enemies under\nHis feet? that He would deliver at last the whole creation? the earth on\nwhich we stand, the dumb animals around us? For, as St. Paul says, the\nwhole creation is groaning in labour-pangs, waiting to be raised into a\nhigher state. And it shall be raised. The whole creation shall be set\nfree into the glorious liberty of the children of God.\n\nWhat does that mean? How can I tell you?\n\nThis I can tell you, that it cannot mean that Jesus Christ was merciful\nenough to heal people\u2019s bodies at first, but that He has given up doing\nit now, and will never do it again. \u201cWell, but,\u201d some would say, \u201cwhat\ndoes all this come to? You are merely telling us what we knew\nbefore\u2014that if any of us are cured from disease, or raised up from a sick\nbed, it is all the Lord\u2019s doing.\u201d If you do believe that, really, my\nfriends, happy are you! Many of you, I think, do believe it. The poor\nare more inclined to believe it, I think, than the rich. But even in the\nmouths of the poor one often hears words which make one suspect that they\ndo _not_ believe it. I am very much afraid that a great many have got\ninto the trick of saying that it was God\u2019s mercy that they were cured,\nand that it pleased the Lord to raise them up from a sick bed, very much\nas a piece of cant. They say the words by rote, because they have been\naccustomed to hear them said by others, without thinking of the meaning\nof them; just as, on the other hand, a great many people curse and swear\nwithout thinking of the awful oaths they use. Ay, and often enough the\nvery same persons will say that it was the Lord\u2019s mercy they were cured\nof their sickness; and then, if they get into a passion, pray the very\nsame Lord to do that to the bodies and souls of their neighbours which it\nis a shame to speak of here. Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and\ncursings: showing that whether or not they are in earnest in cursing,\nthey are not earnest in blessing.\n\nAgain: If people really believed that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who\ncured their sicknesses for them, they would behave, when they got well,\nmore as the Lord Jesus Christ would wish them to behave. They would show\nforth their thankfulness not only with their lips, but in their lives.\nYou who believe\u2014you who say\u2014that Christ has cured your sicknesses, show\nyour faith by your works. Live like those who are alive again from the\ndead; who are not your own, but bought with a price, and bound to work\nfor God with your bodies and your spirits, which are His\u2014then, and then\nonly, can either God or man believe you.\n\nAgain: There is a third reason which makes one suspect that people do not\nmean what they say about this matter. I think too many say, \u201cIt has\npleased God,\u201d merely as an empty form of words, when all they mean is,\n\u201cWhat must be, must, and it cannot be helped.\u201d Else, why do they say,\n\u201cIt has pleased the Lord to send me sickness?\u201d What is the use of\nsaying, \u201cIt has pleased the Lord to cure me,\u201d when you say in the same\nbreath, \u201cIt has pleased the Lord to make me ill?\u201d I know you will say\nthat, \u201cOf course, whatever happens must be the Lord\u2019s will; if it did not\nplease Him it would not happen.\u201d I do not care for such words; I will\nhave nothing to do with them. I will neither entangle you nor myself in\nthose endless disputings and questions about freewill and necessity,\nwhich never yet have come to any conclusion, and never will, because they\nare too deep for poor short-sighted human beings like us. \u201cTo the law\nand to the testimony,\u201d say I. I will hold to the words of the Bible;\nwhat it says, I will say; what it does not say I will not say, to please\nany man\u2019s system of doctrines. And I say from the Bible that we have no\nmore right to say, \u201cIt has pleased the Lord to make me sick,\u201d than, \u201cIt\nhas pleased the Lord to make me a sinner.\u201d Scripture everywhere speaks\nof sickness as a real evil and a curse\u2014a breaking of the health, and\norder, and strength, and harmony of God\u2019s creation. It speaks of madmen\nas possessed with evil spirits; did _that_ please God? The woman who was\nbowed with a spirit of infirmity, and could not lift herself up\u2014did our\nLord say that it had pleased God to make her a wretched cripple? No; he\nspoke of her as this daughter of Israel, whom Satan had bound, and not\nGod, this eighteen years; and that was His reason for healing her, even\non the sabbath-day, because her disease was not the work of God, but of\nthe cruel, disordering, destroying evil spirit which is at enmity with\nGod. That was why Christ cured her. And _that_\u2014for this is the point I\nhave been coming to, step by step\u2014that was the reason why, when John the\nBaptist sent to ask if Jesus was the Christ, our Lord answered: \u201cGo and\nshow John again those things which ye do see and hear: the blind receive\ntheir sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf\nhear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to\nthem.\u201d\n\nDo not be in a hurry, my friends, and suppose that our Lord meant merely:\n\u201cTell John what wonderful miracles I am working.\u201d If He had meant that\nwhy would He have put in as the last proof that He was the Christ, that\nHe was preaching the gospel to the poor? What wonderful miracle was\nthere in _that_? No: it was as if He had said: \u201cGo and tell John that I\nam the Christ, because I am the great physician, the healer and deliverer\nof body and soul: one who will and can cure the loathsome diseases, the\nuselessness, the misery, the ignorance of the poorest and meanest.\u201d He\nhas proved Himself the Christ by showing not only His boundless power,\nbut His boundless love and mercy; and _that_, not only to men\u2019s souls,\nbut to their bodies also. To prove Himself the Christ by wonderful and\nastonishing miracles was exactly what He would not do. He refused, when\nthe Scribes and Pharisees came and asked of Him a sign from heaven to\nprove that He was Christ\u2014wanting Him, I suppose, to bring some\napparition, or fiery comet, or great voice out of the sky, to astonish\nthem with His power; He told them peremptorily that He would give them no\nsuch thing: and yet He said that His mighty works did prove Him to be\nChrist; He pronounced woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida for not\nbelieving Him on account of His mighty works: He told the Scribes and\nPharisees that they ought to believe on Him merely for His works\u2019 sake.\nAnd why would they not believe on Him? Just because they could not see\nthat God\u2019s power was shown more in healing and delivering sufferers, than\nin astonishing and destroying. They could not see that God\u2019s perfect\nlikeness shone out in Christ\u2014that He was the express image of the Father,\njust because He went about doing good, and healing all manner of\nsicknesses and all manner of infirmities among the people. But so it is,\nmy friends! Jesus is the Saviour, the deliverer, the great physician,\nthe healer of soul and body. Not a pang is felt or a tear shed on earth,\nbut He sorrows over it. Not a human being on earth dies young, but He,\nas I believe, sorrows over it. What it is which prevents Him healing\nevery sickness, soothing every sorrow, wiping away every tear _now_, we\ncannot tell. But this we can tell, that it is His will that none should\nperish. This we _can_ tell; that He is willing as ever to heal the sick,\nto cleanse the leper, to cast out devils, to teach the ignorant, to bind\nup the broken-hearted. This we _can_ tell; that He will go on doing so\nmore and more, year by year, and age by age. This we _can_ tell, from\nScripture, that Christ is stronger than the devil. This we can tell;\nthat Christ, and all good men, the spirits of just men made perfect, the\nwise and the great in God\u2019s sight, who have left us their books, their\nsayings, their writings, as precious health-giving heirlooms\u2014have been\nfighting, and are fighting, and will fight to the end against the devil,\nand sin, and oppression, and misery, and disease, and everything which\nspoils and darkens the face of God\u2019s good earth. And this we _can_ tell;\nthat they will conquer at the last, because Christ is stronger than the\ndevil; good is stronger than evil; light is stronger than darkness; God\u2019s\nSpirit, the giver of life, and health, and order, is stronger than all\nthe evil customs, and ignorance, and carelessness, and cruelty, and\nsuperstition, which makes miserable the lives and, as far as we can see,\ndestroys the souls of thousands. Yes, I say, Christ\u2019s kingdom is a\nkingdom of health and deliverance for body and soul; and it will conquer,\nand it will spread, and it will grow, till the nations of the world have\nbecome the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. Christ reigns, and Christ\nwill reign till He has put all His enemies under His feet; and the last\nof His enemies which shall be destroyed is _Death_. Death is His enemy.\nHe has conquered death by rising from the dead. And the day will come\nwhen death will be no more\u2014when sickness and sorrow shall be unknown, and\nGod shall wipe away tears from all eyes. I say it again\u2014never forget\nit\u2014Christ is King, and His kingdom is a kingdom of health, and life, and\ndeliverance from all evil. It always has been so, from the first time\nour Lord cured the leper in Galilee; it will be so to the end of the\nworld. And, therefore\u2014to come back to the very place from which I\nstarted at the beginning of my sermon\u2014therefore, whenever one of the days\nof the Lord is at hand, whenever God\u2019s kingdom makes a great step\nforward, this same prophecy in our text is fulfilled in some striking and\nwonderful way. And I say it is fulfilled now in these days more than it\never has been. Christ is healing the sick, cleansing the leper, giving\nsight to the blind, raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the\npoor, seven times more in these days in which we live than He did when He\nwalked upon earth in Jud\u00e6a.\n\nDo you doubt my words? At all events you confess that the cure of all\ndiseases comes from Christ. Then consider, I beseech you, how many more\ndiseases are cured now than were formerly. One may say that the\nknowledge of medicine is not one hundred years old. Nothing, my friends,\nmakes me feel more strongly what a wonderful and blessed time we live in,\nand how Christ is showing forth mighty works among us, than this same\nsudden miraculous improvement in the art of healing, which has taken\nplace within the memory of man. Any country doctor now knows more, thank\nGod, or ought to know, than the greatest London physicians did two\ngenerations ago. New cures for deafness, blindness, lameness, every\ndisease that flesh is heir to, are being discovered year by year. Oh, my\nfriends! you little know what Christ is doing among you, for your bodies\nas well as for your souls. There is not a parish in England now in which\nthe poorest as well as the richest are not cured yearly of diseases,\nwhich, if they had lived a hundred years ago, would have killed them\nwithout hope or help. And then, when one looks at these great and\nblessed plans for what is called sanitary reform, at the sickness and the\nmisery which has been done away with already by attending to them, even\nthough they have only just begun to be put in practice\u2014our hearts must be\nhard indeed if we do not feel that Christ is revealing to us the gifts of\nhealing far more bountifully and mercifully than even He did to the first\napostles.\n\nBut you will say, perhaps, the dead are not raised in these days. Oh, my\nfriends! which shows Christ\u2019s mercy most, to raise those who are already\ndead, or to save those alive who are about to die? Those in this church\nwho have read history know as well as I, how in our forefathers\u2019 time\npeople died in England by thousands of diseases which are scarcely ever\ndeadly now; ay, of diseases which have now actually vanished out of the\nland, before the new light of medicine and of civilisation which Christ\nhas revealed to us in these days. For one child who lived and grew up in\nold times, two live and grow up now. In London alone there are not half\nas many deaths in proportion to the number of people as there were a\nhundred years ago. And is not that a mightier work of Christ\u2019s power and\nlove than if He had raised a few dead persons to life?\n\nAnd now for the last part of our Lord\u2019s witness about Himself. To the\npoor the gospel is preached. Oh! my friends, is not _that_ coming true\nin our days as it never came true before? Look back only fifty years,\nand consider the difference between the doctrines which were preached to\nthe poor and the doctrines which are preached to them now. Look round\nyou and see how everywhere earnest and godly ministers have sprung up, of\nall sects and opinions, as well as of the Church of England, not only to\npreach the gospel in the pulpit, but to carry it to the sick bedside of\nthe lonely cottage, to the prison, and to those fearful sties, worse than\nprisons, where in our great cities the heathen poor live crowded\ntogether. Look at the teaching which the poor man can get now, compared\nto what he used to\u2014the sermons, the Bibles, the tracts, the lending\nlibraries, the schools\u2014just consider the hundreds of thousands of pounds\nwhich are subscribed every year to educate the children of the poor, and\nthen say whether Christ is not working a mighty work among us in these\ndays. I know that not half as much is done as ought to be done in that\nway; not half as much as will be done; and what is done will have to be\ndone better than it has been done yet; but still, can anyone in this\nchurch who is fifty years old deny that there is a most enormous and\nblessed improvement which is growing and spreading every year? Can\nanyone deny that the gospel is preached to the poor now in a way that it\nnever was before within the memory of man?\n\nNow, recollect that this is an Advent sermon\u2014a sermon which proclaims to\nyou that Christ is _come_; yes, He is come\u2014come never to leave mankind\nagain! Christ reigns over the earth, and will reign for ever. At\ncertain great and important times in the world\u2019s history, like this\npresent time, times which He Himself calls \u201cdays of the Lord,\u201d He shows\nforth His power, and the mightiness and mercy of His kingdom, more than\nat others. But still He is always with us; we have no need to run up and\ndown to look for Christ: to say, Who shall ascend into heaven to bring\nHim down? Who shall descend into the deep to bring Him up? For the\nkingdom of God, as He told us Himself, is among us, and within us. Yes,\nwithin us. All these wonderful improvements and discoveries, all things\nbeneficial to men which are found out year by year, though they seem to\nbe of men\u2019s invention, are really of Christ\u2019s revealing, the fruits of\nthe kingdom of God within us, of the Spirit of God, who is teaching men,\nthough they too often will not believe it; though they disclaim God\u2019s\nSpirit and take all the glory to themselves. Truly Christ is among us;\nand our eyes are held, and we see Him not. That is our English sin\u2014the\nsin of unbelief, the root of every other sin. Christ works among us, and\nwe will not own Him. Truly, Jesus Christ may well say of us English at\nthis day, There were ten cleansed, but where are the nine? How few are\nthere, who return to give glory to God! Oh, consider what I say; the\nkingdom of God is among us now; its blessings are growing richer, fuller\namong us every day. Beware, lest if we refuse to acknowledge that\nkingdom and Christ the King of it, it be taken away from us, and given to\nsome other nation, who will bring forth the fruits of it, fellow-help and\nbrotherly kindness, purity and sobriety, and all the fruits of the Spirit\nof God.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\nA PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS.\n\n\n FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT.\n\n Rejoice in the Lord always.\u2014PHILIPPIANS iv. 4.\n\nTHIS is the beginning of the Epistle for to-day, the Sunday before\nChristmas. We will try to find out why it was chosen for to-day, and\nwhat lesson we may learn from it.\n\nNow Christmas-time was always a time of rejoicing among many heathen\nnations, and long before the Lord Jesus Christ came. That was natural\nand reasonable enough, if you will consider it. For now the shortest day\nis past. The sun is just beginning to climb higher and higher in the sky\neach day, and bring back with him longer sunshine, and shorter darkness,\nand spring flowers, and summer crops, and a whole new year, with new\nhopes, new work, new lessons, new blessings. The old year, with all its\nlabours and all its pleasures, and all its sorrows and all its sins, is\ndying, all but gone. It lies behind us, never to return. The tears\nwhich we shed, we never can shed again. The mistakes we made, we have a\nchance of mending in the year to come. And so the heathens felt, and\nrejoiced that another year was dying, another year going to be born.\n\nAnd Christmas was a time of rejoicing too, because the farming work was\ndone. The last year\u2019s crop was housed; the next year\u2019s wheat was sown;\nthe cattle were safe in yard and stall; and men had time to rest, and\ndraw round the fire in the long winter nights, and make merry over the\nearnings of the past year, and the hopes and plans of the year to come.\nAnd so over all this northern half of the world Christmas was a merry\ntime.\n\nBut the poor heathens did not know the Lord. They did not know who to\nthank for all their Christmas blessings. And so some used to thank the\nearth for the crops, and the sun for coming back again to lengthen the\ndays, as if the earth and sun moved of themselves. And some used to\nthank false gods and ancient heroes, who, perhaps, never really lived at\nall. And some, perhaps the greater number, thanked nothing and no one,\nbut just enjoyed themselves, and took no thought, as too many do now at\nChristmas-time. So the world went on, Christmas after Christmas; and the\ntimes of that ignorance, as St. Paul says, God winked at. But when the\nfulness of time was come, He sent forth His Son, made of a woman, to be\nthe judge and ruler of the world; and commanded all men everywhere to\nrepent, and turn from all their vanities to serve the living God, who had\nmade heaven and earth, and all things in them.\n\nHe did not wish them to give up their Christmas mirth. No: all along He\nhad been trying to teach them by it about His love to them. As St. Paul\ntold them once, God had not left Himself without witness, in that He gave\nthem rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with joy and\ngladness.\n\nGod did not wish them, or us, to give up Christmas mirth. The apostles\ndid not wish it. The great men, true followers of the apostles, who\nshaped our Prayer-book for us, and sealed it with their life-blood, did\nnot wish it. They did not wish farmers, labourers, servants, masters, to\ngive up one of the old Christmas customs; but to remember who made\nChristmas, and its blessings; in short, to rejoice in The Lord. Our\nforefathers had been thanking the wrong persons for Christmas.\nHenceforward we were to thank the right person, The Lord, and rejoice in\nHim. Our forefathers had been rejoicing in the sun, and moon, and earth;\nin wise and valiant kings who had lived ages before; in their own\nstrength, and industry, and cunning. Now they were to rejoice in Him who\nmade sun, and moon, and earth; in Him who sent wise and valiant kings and\nleaders; in Him who gives all strength, and industry, and cunning; by\nwhose inspiration comes all knowledge of agriculture, and manufacture,\nand all the arts which raise men above the beasts that perish. So their\nChristmas joys were to go on, year by year while the world lasted: but\nthey were to go on rightly, and not wrongly. Men were to rejoice in The\nLord, and then His blessing would be on them, and the thanks and praise\nwhich they offered Him, He would return with interest, in fresh blessings\nfor the coming year.\n\nTherefore, I think, this Epistle was chosen for to-day, the Sunday before\nChristmas, to show us in whom we are to rejoice; and, therefore, to show\nus how we are to rejoice. For we must not take the first verse of the\nEpistle and forget the rest. That would neither be wise nor reverent\ntoward St. Paul, who wrote the whole, and meant the whole to stand\ntogether as one discourse; or to the blessed and holy men who chose it\nfor our lesson on this day. Let us go on, then, with the Epistle, line\nby line, throughout.\n\n\u201cRejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.\u201d As much as to\nsay, you cannot rejoice too much, you cannot overdo your happiness,\nthankfulness, merriment. You do not know half\u2014no, not the thousandth\npart of God\u2019s love and mercy to you, and you never will know. So do not\nbe afraid of being too happy, or think that you honour God by wearing a\nsour face, when He is heaping blessings on you, and calling on you to\nsmile and sing. But \u201clet your moderation be known unto all men.\u201d There\nis a right and a wrong way of being merry. There is a mirth, which is no\nmirth; whereof it is written, in the midst of that laughter there is a\nheaviness, and the end thereof is death. Drunkenness, gluttony, indecent\nwords and jests and actions, these are out of place on Christmas-day, and\nin the merriment to which the pure and holy Lord Jesus calls you all.\nThey are rejoicing in the flesh and the devil, and not in the Lord at\nall; and whosoever indulges in them, and fancies them merriment, is\nkeeping the devil\u2019s Christmas, and not Jesus Christ\u2019s. So let your\nmoderation be known to all men. Be _merry and wise_. The fool lets his\nmirth master him, and carry him away, till he forgets himself, and says\nand does things of which he is ashamed when he gets up next morning, sick\nand sad at heart. The wise man remembers that, let the occasion be as\njoyful a one as it may, \u201cthe Lord is at hand.\u201d Christ\u2019s eye is on him,\nwhile he is eating, and drinking, and laughing. He is not afraid of\nChrist\u2019s eye, because, though it is Divine it is a human, loving, smiling\neye; rejoicing in the happiness of His poor, hard-worked brothers here\nbelow. But he remembers that it is a holy eye, too; an eye which looks\nwith sadness and horror on anything which is wrong; on all drunkenness,\nquarrelling, indecency; and so on in all his merriment, he is still\nmaster of himself. He remembers that his soul is nobler than his body;\nthat his will must be stronger than his appetite; and so he keeps himself\nin check; he keeps his tongue from evil, and his stomach from\nsottishness, and though he may be, and ought to be, the merriest of the\nwhole party, yet he takes care to let his moderation, his sobriety, be\nknown and plain to everyone, remembering that the Lord is at hand.\n\nAnd that man\u2014I will stand surety for him\u2014will be the one who will rise\nfrom his bed next morning, best able to carry out the next verse of the\nEpistle, and \u201cbe careful for nothing.\u201d\n\nNow that is no easy matter here in England; to rich and poor, Christmas\nis the time for settling accounts and paying debts. And therefore in\nEngland, where living is dear, and everyone, more or less, struggling to\npay his way, Christmas is often a very anxious, disturbing time of year.\nMany a family, for all their economy, cannot clear themselves at the\nyear\u2019s end; and though they are able to forget that now and then, thank\nGod, through great part of the year, yet they cannot forget it at\nChristmas. But, as I said, the man who at Christmas-time will be most\nable to be careful for nothing, will be the man whose moderation has been\nknown to everyone; for he will, if he has lived the year through in the\nsame temper in which he has spent Christmas, have been moderate in his\nexpenses; he will have kept himself from empty show, and pretending to be\nricher than he is. He will have kept himself from throwing away his\nmoney in drink, and kept his daughters from throwing away money in dress,\nwhich is just what too many, in their foolish, godless, indecent hurry to\nget rid of their own children off their hands do not do.\n\nAnd he will be the man who will be in the best humour, and have the\nclearest brain, to kneel down when he gets up to his daily work, and \u201cin\neverything, by prayer and supplication, make his requests known to God.\u201d\nAnd then, whether he can make both ends meet or not, whether he can begin\nnext year free from debt or not, still \u201cthe peace of God will keep his\nheart.\u201d He may be unable to clear himself, but still he will know that\nhe has a loving and merciful Father in heaven, who has allowed distress\nand difficulty to come on him only as a lesson and an education. That\nthis distress came because God chose, and that when God chooses it will\ngo away\u2014and that till then\u2014considering that the Lord God sent it\u2014it had\nbetter _not_ go away. He will believe that God\u2019s gracious promises stand\ntrue\u2014that the Lord will never let those who trust in Him be confounded\nand brought to shame\u2014that He will let none of us be tempted beyond what\nwe are able, but will always with the temptation make a way for us to\nescape, that we may be able to bear it. And so the peace of God which\npasses understanding, will keep that man\u2019s mind. And in whom? \u201cIn Jesus\nChrist.\u201d Now what did St. Paul mean by putting in the Lord Jesus\nChrist\u2019s name there? what is the meaning of \u201cin Jesus Christ\u201d? This is\nwhat it means; it means what Christmas-day means. A man may say, \u201cYour\nsermon promises fine things, but I am miserable and poor; it promises a\nholy and noble rejoicing to everyone, but I am unholy and mean. It\npromises peace from God, and I am sure I am not at peace: I am always\nfretting and quarrelling; I quarrel with my wife, my children, and my\nneighbours, and they quarrel with me; and worst of all,\u201d says the poor\nman, \u201cI quarrel with myself. I am full of discontented, angry, sulky,\nanxious, unhappy thoughts; my heart is dark and sad and restless within\nme\u2014would God I were peaceful, but I am not: look in my face and see!\u201d\n\nTrue, my friend, but on Christmas-day the Son of God was born into the\nworld, a man like you.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d says the poor man, \u201cbut what has that to do with my anxiety and\nmy ill-temper?\u201d\n\nIt would take the whole year through, my friend, to show you all that it\nhas to do with you and your unhappiness. All the Lessons, Epistles, and\nGospels of the year are set out to show you what it has to do with you.\nBut in the meanwhile, before Christmas-day comes, consider this one\nthing: Why are you anxious? Because you do not know what is to happen to\nyou? Then Christmas-day is a witness to you, that whatsoever happens to\nyou, happens to you by the will and rule of Jesus Christ, The perfect\nman; think of that. _The perfect man_\u2014who understands men\u2019s hearts and\nwants, and all that is good for them, and has all the wisdom and power to\ngive us what is good, which we want ourselves. And what makes you\nunhappy, my friends? Is it not at heart just this one thing\u2014you are\nunhappy because you are not pleased with yourselves? And you are not\npleased with yourselves because you know you ought not to be pleased with\nyourselves; and you know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves,\nbecause you know, in the bottom of your hearts, that God is not pleased\nwith you? What cure, what comfort for such thoughts can we find?\u2014This.\n\nThe child who was born in a manger on Christmas-day, and grew up in\npoverty, and had not where to lay his head, went through all shame and\nsorrow to which man is heir. He, Jesus, the poor child of Bethlehem, is\nLord and King of heaven and earth. He will feel for us; He will\nunderstand our temptations; He has been poor himself, that He might feel\nfor the poor; He has been evil spoken of, that He might feel for those\nwhose tempers are sorely tried. He bore the sins and felt the miseries\nof the whole world, that He might feel for us when we are wearied with\nthe burden of life, and confounded by the remembrance of our own sins.\n\nOh, my friends, consider only Who was born into the world on\nChristmas-day; and that thought alone will be enough to fill you with\nrejoicing and hope for yourselves and all the world, and with the peace\nof God which passes understanding, the peace which the angels proclaimed\nto the shepherds on the first Christmas night\u2014\u201cOn earth peace, and good\nwill toward men\u201d\u2014and if God wills us good, my friend; what matter who\nwishes us evil?\n\n\n\n\nV.\nCHRISTMAS-DAY.\n\n\n He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a\n slave.\u2014PHILIPPIANS ii. 7.\n\nON Christmas-day, 1851 years ago, if we had been at Rome, the great\ncapital city, and mistress of the whole world, we should have seen a\nstrange sight\u2014strange, and yet pleasant. All the courts of law were\nshut; no war was allowed to be proclaimed, and no criminals punished.\nThe sorrow and the strife of that great city had stopped, in great part,\nfor three days, and all people were giving themselves up to merriment and\ngood cheer\u2014making up quarrels, and giving and receiving presents from\nhouse to house. And we should have seen, too, a pleasanter sight than\nthat. For those three days of Christmas-time were days of safety and\nmerriment for the poor slaves\u2014tens of thousands of whom\u2014men, women, and\nchildren\u2014the Romans had brought out of all the countries in the\nworld\u2014many of our forefathers and mothers among them\u2014and kept them there\nin cruel bondage and shame, worked and fed, bought and sold, like beasts,\nand not like human beings, not able to call their lives or their bodies\ntheir own, forced to endure any shame or sin which their tyrants required\nof them, and liable any moment to be beaten, tortured, or crucified at\nthe mercy of cruel and foul masters and mistresses. But on that\nChristmas-day, according to an old custom, they were allowed for once in\nthe whole year to play at being free, to dress in their masters\u2019 and\nmistresses\u2019 clothes, to say what they thought of them boldly, without\nfear of punishment, and to eat and drink at their masters\u2019 tables, while\ntheir masters and mistresses waited on them. It was an old custom, that,\namong the heathen Romans, which their forefathers, who were wiser and\nbetter than they, had handed down to them. They had forgotten, perhaps,\nwhat it meant: but still we may see what it must have meant: That the old\nforefathers of the Romans had intended to remind their children every\nyear by that custom, that their poor hard-worked slaves were, after all,\nmen and women as much as their masters; that they had hearts and\nconsciences, and sense in them, and a right to speak what they thought,\nas much as their masters; that they, as much as their masters, could\nenjoy the good things of God\u2019s earth, from which man\u2019s tyranny had shut\nthem out; and to remind those cruel masters, by making them once every\nyear wait on their own slaves at table, that they were, after all, equal\nin the sight of God, and that it was more noble for those who were rich,\nand called themselves gentlemen, to help others, than to make others\nslave for them.\n\nI do not mean, of course, that those old heathens understood all this\nclearly. You will see, by the latter part of my sermon, why they could\nnot understand it clearly. But there must have been some sort of dim,\nconfused suspicion in their minds that it was wrong and cruel to treat\nhuman beings like brute beasts, which made them set up that strange old\ncustom of letting their slaves play at being free once every\nChristmas-tide.\n\nBut if on this same day, 1851 years ago, instead of being in the great\ncity of Rome, we had been in the little village of Bethlehem in Jud\u00e6a, we\nmight have seen a sight stranger still; a sight which we could not have\nfancied had anything to do with that merrymaking of the slaves at Rome,\nand yet which had everything to do with it.\n\nWe should have seen, in a mean stable, among the oxen and the asses, a\npoor maiden, with her newborn baby laid in the manger, for want of any\nbetter cradle, and by her her husband, a poor carpenter, whom all men\nthought to be the father of her child. . . . There, in the stable, amid\nthe straw, through the cold winter days and nights, in want of many a\ncomfort which the poorest woman, and the poorest woman\u2019s child would\nneed, they stayed there, that young maiden and her newborn babe. That\nyoung maiden was the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that poor baby was the Son\nof God. The Son of God, in whose likeness all men were made at the\nbeginning; the Son of God, who had been ruling the whole world all along;\nwho brought the Jews out of slavery, a thousand years before, and\ndestroyed their cruel tyrants in the Red Sea; the Son of God, who had\nbeen all along punishing cruel tyrants and oppressors, and helping the\npoor out of misery, whenever they called on Him. The Light which\nlightens every man who comes into the world, was that poor babe. It was\nHe who gives men reason, and conscience, and a tender heart, and delight\nin what is good, and shame and uneasiness of mind when they do wrong. It\nwas He who had been stirring up, year by year, in those cruel Romans\u2019\nhearts, the feeling that there was something wrong in grinding down their\nslaves, and put into their minds the notion of giving them their\nChristmas rest and freedom. He had been keeping up that good old custom\nfor a witness and a warning that all men were equal in His sight; that\nall men had a right to liberty of speech and conscience; a right to some\nfair share in the good things of the earth, which God had given to all\nmen freely to enjoy. But those old Romans would not take the warning.\nThey kept up the custom, but they shut their eyes to the lesson of it.\nThey went on conquering and oppressing all the nations of the earth, and\nmaking them their slaves. And now He was come\u2014He Himself, the true Lord\nof the earth, the true pattern of men. He was come to show men to whom\nthis world belonged: He was come to show men in what true power, true\nnobleness consisted\u2014not in making others minister to us, but in\nministering to them: He was come to set a pattern of what a man should\nbe; He was the Son of Man\u2014THE MAN of all men\u2014and therefore He had come\nwith good news to all poor slaves, and neglected, hard-worked creatures:\nHe had come to tell them that He cared for them; that He could and would\ndeliver them; that they were God\u2019s children, and His brothers, just as\nmuch as their Roman masters; and that He was going to bring a terrible\ntime upon the earth\u2014\u201cdays of the Son of Man,\u201d when He would judge all\nmen, and show who were true men and who were not\u2014such a time as had never\nbeen before, or would be again; when that great Roman empire, in spite of\nall its armies, and its cunning, and its riches, plundered from every\nnation under heaven, would crumble away and perish shamefully and\nmiserably off the face of the earth, before tribes of poor, untaught,\nsavage men, the brothers and countrymen of those very slaves whom the\nRomans fancied were so much below them, that they had a right to treat\nthem like the beasts which perish.\n\nThat was the message which that little child lying in the manger there at\nBethlehem, had been sent out from God to preach. Do you not see now what\nit had to do with that strange merrymaking of the poor slaves in Rome,\nwhich I showed you at the beginning of my sermon?\n\nIf you do not, I must remind you of the song, which, St. Luke says, the\nshepherds in Jud\u00e6a heard the angels sing, on this night 1851 years ago.\nThat song tells us the meaning of that babe\u2019s coming. That song tells us\nwhat that babe\u2019s coming had to do with the poor slaves of Rome, and with\nall poor creatures who have suffered and sorrowed on this earth, before\nor since.\n\n\u201cGlory to God in the highest,\u201d they sang, \u201cand on earth peace, good will\nto men.\u201d\n\nGlory to God in the highest. That little babe, lying in the manger among\nthe cattle, was showing what was the very highest glory of the great God\nwho had made heaven and earth. Not to show His power and His majesty,\nbut to show His condescension and His love. To stoop, to condescend, to\nhave mercy, to forgive, that is the highest glory of God. That is the\nnoblest, the most Godlike thing for God or man. And God showed that when\nHe sent down His only-begotten Son\u2014not to strike the world to atoms with\na touch, not to hurl sinners into everlasting flame, but to be born of a\nvillage maiden, to take on Himself all the shame and weakness and sorrow,\nto which man is heir, even to death itself; to make Himself of no\nreputation, and take on Himself the form of a slave, and forgive sinners,\nand heal the sick, and comfort the outcast and despised, that He might\nshow what God was like\u2014show forth to men, as a poor maiden\u2019s son, the\nbrightness of God\u2019s glory, and the express likeness of His person.\n\n\u201cAnd on earth peace\u201d they sang. Men had been quarrelling and fighting\nthen, and men are quarrelling and fighting now. That little babe in the\nmanger was come to show them how and why they were all to be at peace\nwith each other. For what causes all the war and quarrelling in the\nworld, but selfishness? Selfishness breeds pride, passion, spite,\nrevenge, covetousness, oppression. The strong care for themselves, and\ntry to help themselves at the expense of the weak, by force and tyranny;\nthe weak care for themselves in their turn, and try to help themselves at\nthe expense of the strong, by cunning and cheating. No one will\ncondescend, give way, sacrifice his own interest for his neighbour\u2019s, and\nhence come wars between nations, quarrels in families, spite and grudges\nbetween neighbours. But in the example of that little child of\nBethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord, God was saying to men, \u201cAcquaint\nyourselves with Me, and be at peace.\u201d God is not selfish; it is our\nselfishness which has made us unlike God. God so loved the sinful world,\nthat He gave His only-begotten Son for it. Is that an action like ours?\nThe Son of God so obeyed His Father, and so loved this world, that He\nmade Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the likeness of a slave,\nand became obedient to death, even to the most fearful and shameful of\nall deaths, the death of the cross; not for Himself, but for those who\ndid not know Him, hated Him, killed Him. In short, He sacrificed Himself\nfor us. That is God\u2019s likeness. Self-sacrifice. Jesus Christ, the babe\nof Bethlehem, proved Himself the Son of God, and the express likeness of\nthe Father, by sacrificing Himself for us. Sacrifice yourselves then for\neach other! Give up your own pride, your own selfishness, your own\ninterest for each other, and you will be all at peace at once.\n\nBut the angels sang, \u201cGood will toward men.\u201d Without that their song\nwould not have been complete. For we are all ready to say, at such words\nas I have been speaking, \u201cAh! pleasant enough, and pretty enough, if they\nwere but possible; but they are not possible. It is in the nature of man\nto be selfish. Men have gone on warring, grudging, struggling,\ncompeting, oppressing, cheating from the beginning, and they will do so\nto the end.\u201d\n\nYes, it is not in the _nature_ of man to do otherwise. In as far as man\nyields to his nature, and is like the selfish brute beasts, it is not\npossible for him to do anything but go on quarrelling, and competing, and\ncheating to the last. But what man\u2019s nature cannot do, God\u2019s grace can.\nGod\u2019s good will is toward you. He loves you, He wills\u2014and if He wills,\nwhat is too hard for Him?\u2014He wills to raise you out of this selfish,\nquarrelsome life of sin, into a loving, brotherly, peaceful life of\nrighteousness. His spirit, the spirit of love by which He made and\nguides all heaven and earth, the spirit of love in which He gave His only\nSon for you, the spirit of love in which His Son Jesus Christ sacrificed\nHimself for you, and took on Himself a meaner state than any of you can\never have\u2014the likeness of a slave\u2014that spirit is promised to you, and\nready for you. That little baby in the manger at Bethlehem\u2014God\nsacrificing Himself for you in the spirit of love\u2014is a sign that that\nspirit of love is the spirit of God, and therefore the only right spirit\nfor you and me, who are men and women made in the image of God. That\nbabe in the manger at Bethlehem is a sign to you and me, that God will\nfreely give us that spirit of love if we ask for it. For He would not\nhave set us that example, if He had not meant us to follow it, and He\nwould not ask us to follow it, if He did not intend to give us the means\nof following it. Therefore, my friends, it is written, Ask and ye shall\nreceive. If your heavenly Father spared not His own Son, but freely gave\nHim for you, will He not with Him likewise freely give you all things?\nOh! ask and you shall receive. However poor, ignorant, sinful you may\nbe, God\u2019s promises are ready for you, signed and sealed by the bread and\nwine on that table, the memorial of Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem. Ask,\nand you shall receive! Comfort from sorrow, peaceful assurance of God\u2019s\ngood will toward you, deliverance from your sins, and a share in the\nlikeness of Him who on this day made Himself of no reputation, and took\non Him the form of a slave.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\nTRUE ABSTINENCE.\n\n\n FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.\n\n I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.\u20141 COR. ix. 27.\n\nIN the Collect for this day we have just been praying to God, to give us\ngrace to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to our spirit,\nwe may follow His godly motions.\n\nNow we ought to have meant something when we said these words. What did\nwe mean by them? Perhaps some of us did not understand them. They could\nnot be expected to mean anything by them. But it is a sad thing, a very\nsad thing, that people will come to church Sunday after Sunday, and\nrepeat by rote words which they do not understand, words by which they\ntherefore mean nothing, and yet never care or try to understand them.\n\nWhat are the words there for, except to be understood? All of you call\npeople foolish, who submit to have prayers read in their churches in a\nforeign language, which none, at least of the poor, can understand. But\nwhat right have you to call them foolish, if you, whose Prayer-books are\nwritten in English, take no trouble to find out the meaning of them?\nWould to Heaven that you would try to find out the meaning of the\nPrayer-book! Would to Heaven that the day would come, when anyone in\nthis parish who was puzzled by any doctrine of religion, or by any text\nin the Bible, or word in the Prayer-book, would come confidently to me,\nand ask me to explain it to him! God knows, I should think it an honour\nand a pleasure, as well as a duty. I should think no time better spent\nthan in answering your questions. I do beseech you to ask me, every one\nof you, when and where you like, any questions about religion which come\ninto your minds. Why am I put in this parish, except to teach you? and\nhow can I teach you better, than by answering your questions? As it is,\nI am disheartened, and all but hopeless, at times, about the state of\nthis parish, and the work I am trying to do here; because, though you\nwill come and hear me, thank God, willingly enough, you do not seem yet\nto have gained confidence enough in me, or to have learnt to care\nsufficiently about the best things, to ask questions of me about them.\nMy dear friends, if you wanted to get information about anything you\nreally cared for, you would ask questions enough. If you wanted to know\nsome way to a place on earth you would ask it; why not ask your way to\nthings better than this earth can give? But whether or not you will\nquestion me I must go on preaching to you, though whether or not you care\nto listen is more, alas! than I can tell.\n\nBut listen to me, now, I beseech you, while I try to explain to you the\nmeaning of the words which you have been just using in this Collect. You\nhave asked God to give you grace to use abstinence. Now what is the\nmeaning of abstinence? Abstinence means abstaining, refraining, keeping\nback of your own will from doing something which you might do. Take an\nexample. When a man for his health\u2019s sake, or his purse\u2019s sake, or any\nother good reason, drinks less liquor than he might if he chose, he\nabstains from liquor. He uses abstinence about liquor. There are other\nthings in which a man may abstain. Indeed, he may abstain from doing\nanything he likes. He may abstain from eating too much; from lying in\nbed too long; from reading too much; from taking too much pleasure; from\nmaking money; from spending money; from right things; from wrong things;\nfrom things which are neither right nor wrong; on all these he may use\nabstinence. He may abstain for many reasons; for good ones, or for bad\nones. A miser will abstain from all sorts of comforts to hoard up money.\nA superstitious man may abstain from comforts, because he thinks God\ngrudges them to him, or because he thinks God is pleased by the\nunhappiness of His creatures, or because he has been taught, poor wretch,\nthat if he makes himself uncomfortable in this life, he shall have more\ncomfort, more honour, more reason for pride and self-glorification, in\nthe life to come. Or a man may abstain from one pleasure, just to be\nable to enjoy another all the more; as some great gamblers drink nothing\nbut water, in order to keep their heads clear for cheating. All these\nare poor reasons; some of them base, some of them wicked reasons for\nabstaining from anything. Therefore, abstinence is not a good thing in\nitself; for if a thing is good in itself, it can never be wrong. Love is\ngood in itself, and, therefore, you cannot love anyone for a bad reason.\nJustice is good in itself, pity is good in itself, and, therefore, you\ncan never be wrong in being just or pitiful.\n\nBut abstinence is not a good thing in itself. If it were, we should all\nbe bound to abstain always from everything pleasant, and make ourselves\nas miserable and uncomfortable as possible, as some superstitious persons\nused to do in old times. Abstinence is only good when it is used for a\ngood reason. If a man abstains from pleasure himself, to save up for his\nchildren; if he abstains from over eating and over drinking, to keep his\nmind clear and quiet; if he abstains from sleep and ease, in order to\nhave time to see his business properly done; if he abstains from spending\nmoney on himself, in order to spend it for others; if he abstains from\nany habit, however harmless or pleasant, because he finds it lead him\ntowards what is wrong, and put him into temptation; then he does right;\nthen he is doing God\u2019s work; then he may expect God\u2019s blessing; then he\nis trying to do what we all prayed God to help us to do, when we said,\n\u201cGive us grace to use such abstinence;\u201d then he is doing, more or less,\nwhat St. Paul says he did, \u201cKeeping his body under, and bringing it into\nsubjection.\u201d\n\nFor, see, the Collect does not say, \u201cGive us grace to use abstinence,\u201d as\nif abstinence were a good thing in itself, but \u201cto use such abstinence,\nthat\u201d\u2014to use a certain kind of abstinence, and that for a certain\npurpose, and that purpose a good one; such abstinence that our flesh may\nbe subdued to our spirit; that our flesh, the animal, bodily nature which\nis in us, loving ease and pleasure, may not be our master, but our\nservant; so that we may not follow blindly our own appetites, and do just\nwhat we like, as brute beasts which have no understanding. And our flesh\nis to be subdued to our spirit for a certain purpose; not because our\nflesh is bad, and our spirit good; not in order that we may puff\nourselves up and admire ourselves, and say, as the philosophers among the\nheathen used, \u201cWhat a strong-minded, sober, self-restraining man I am!\nHow fine it is to be able to look down on my neighbours, who cannot help\nbeing fond of enjoying themselves, and cannot help caring for this\nworld\u2019s good things. I am above all that. I want nothing, and I feel\nnothing, and nothing can make me glad or sorry. I am master of my own\nmind, and own no law but my own will.\u201d The Collect gives us the true and\nonly reason, for which it is right to subdue our appetites; which is,\nthat we may keep our minds clear and strong enough to listen to the voice\nof God within our hearts and reasons; to obey the motions of God\u2019s Spirit\nin us; not to make our bodies our masters, but to live as God\u2019s servants.\n\nThis is St. Paul\u2019s meaning, when he speaks of keeping under his body, and\nbringing it into subjection. The exact word which he uses, however, is a\nmuch stronger one than merely \u201ckeeping under;\u201d it means simply, to beat a\nman\u2019s face black and blue; and his reason for using such a strong word\nabout the matter is, to show us that he thought no labour too hard, no\ntraining too sharp, which teaches us how to restrain ourselves, and keep\nour appetites and passions in manful and godly control.\n\nNow, a few verses before my text, St. Paul takes an example from\nfoot-racers. \u201cThese foot-racers,\u201d he says, \u201cheathens though they are,\nand only trying to win a worthless prize, the petty honour of a crown of\nleaves, see what trouble they take; how they exercise their limbs; how\ncareful and temperate they are in eating and drinking, how much pain and\nfatigue they go through to get themselves into perfect training for a\nrace. How much more trouble ought we to take to make ourselves fit to do\nGod\u2019s work? For these foot-racers do all this only to gain a garland\nwhich will wither in a week; but we, to gain a garland which will never\nfade away; a garland of holiness, and righteousness, and purity, and the\nlikeness of Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nThe next example of abstinence which St. Paul takes, is from the\nprize-fighters, who were very numerous and very famous, in the country in\nwhich the Corinthians lived. \u201cI fight,\u201d he says, \u201cnot like one who beats\nthe air;\u201d that is, not like a man who is only brandishing his hands and\nsparring in jest, but like a man who knows that he has a fight to fight\nin hard earnest; a terrible lifelong fight against sin, the world, and\nthe devil; \u201cand, therefore,\u201d he says, \u201cI do as these fighters do.\u201d They,\npoor savage and brutal heathens as they are, go through a long and\npainful training. Their very practice is not play; it is grim earnest.\nThey stand up to strike, and be struck, and are bruised and disfigured as\na matter of course, in order that they may learn not to flinch from pain,\nor lose their tempers, or turn cowards, when they have to fight. \u201cAnd so\ndo I,\u201d says St. Paul; \u201cthey, poor men, submit to painful and disagreeable\nthings to make them brave in their paltry battles. I submit to painful\nand disagreeable things, to make me brave in the great battle which I\nhave to fight against sin, and ignorance, and heathendom.\u201d \u201cTherefore,\u201d\nhe says, in another place, \u201cI take pleasure in afflictions, in\npersecutions, in necessities, in distresses;\u201d and that not because those\nthings were pleasant, they were just as unpleasant to him as to anyone\nelse; but because they taught him to bear, taught him to be brave; taught\nhim, in short, to become a perfect man of God.\n\nThis is St. Paul\u2019s account of his own training: in the Epistle for to-day\nwe have another account of it; a description of the life which he led,\nand which he was content to lead\u2014\u201cin much suffering, in stripes, in\nimprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watching, in fastings\u201d\u2014and an\naccount, too, of the temper which he had learnt to show amid such a life\nof vexation, and suffering, and shame, and danger\u2014\u201capproving himself in\nall things the minister of God, by pureness, by wisdom, by longsuffering,\nby kindness, by the spirit of holiness, by love unfeigned;\u201d \u201cas dying,\nand behold we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet\nalways rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet\npossessing all things.\u201d\u2014In all things proving himself a true messenger\nfrom God, by being able to dare and to endure for God\u2019s sake, what no man\never would have dared and endured for his own sake.\n\n\u201cBut\u201d\u2014someone may say\u2014\u201cSt. Paul was an apostle; he had a great work to do\nin the world; he had to turn the heathen to God; and it is likely enough\nthat he required to train himself, and keep strict watch over all his\nhabits, and ways of thinking and behaving, lest he should grow selfish,\nlazy, cowardly, covetous, fond of ease and amusement. He had, of course,\nto lead a life of strange suffering and danger; and he had therefore to\ntrain himself for it. But what need have we to do as St. Paul did?\u201d\n\nJust as much need, my good friends, if you could see it.\n\nWhich of us has not to lead a life of suffering? We shall each and all\nof us, have our full share of trouble before we die, doubt it not.\n\nAnd which of us has not to lead a life of danger? I do not mean bodily\ndanger; of that, there is little enough\u2014perhaps too little\u2014in England\nnow; but of danger to our hearts, minds, characters? Oh, my friends, I\npity those who do not think themselves in danger every day of their\nlives, for the less danger they see around them, the more danger there\nis. There is not only the common danger of temptation, but over and\nabove it, the worse danger of not knowing temptation when it comes. Who\nwill be most likely to walk into pits and mires upon the moor\u2014the man who\nknows that they are there around him, or the man who goes on careless and\nlight of heart, fancying that it is all smooth ground? Woe to you, young\npeople, if you fancy that you are to have no woe! Danger to you, young\npeople, if you fancy yourselves in no danger!\n\n\u201cThis is sad and dreary news\u201d\u2014some of you may say. Ay, my friends, it\nwould be sad and dreary news indeed; and this earth would be a very sad\nand dreary place; and life with all its troubles and temptations, would\nnot be worth having, if it were not for the blessed news which the Gospel\nfor this day brings us. That makes up for all the sadness of the\nEpistle; that gives us hope; that tells us of one who has been through\nlife, and through death too, yet without sin. That tells us of one who\nhas endured a thousand times more temptation than we ever shall, a\nthousand times more trouble than we ever shall, and yet has conquered it\nall; and that He who has thus been through all our temptations, borne all\nour weaknesses, is our King, our Saviour, who loves us, who teaches us,\nwho has promised us His Holy Spirit, to make us like Himself, strong,\nbrave, and patient, to endure all that man or devil, or our own low\nanimal tempers and lusts, can do to hurt us. The Gospel for this day\ntells us how He went and was alone in the wilderness with the wild\nbeasts, and yet trusted in God, His Father and ours, to keep Him safe.\nHow He went without food forty days and nights, and yet in His extreme\nhunger, refused to do the least self-willed or selfish thing to get\nHimself food. Is that no lesson, no message of hope for the poor man who\nis tempted by hunger to steal, or tempted by need to do a mean and\nselfish thing, to hear that the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore need and\nhunger far worse than his, understands all his temptations, and feels for\nhim, and pities him, and has promised him God\u2019s Spirit to make him\nstrong, as He himself was?\n\nIs it no comfort to young people who are tempted to vanity, and display,\nand self-willed conceited longings, tempted to despise the advice of\ntheir parents and elders, and set up for themselves, and choose their own\nway\u2014Is it no good news, I say, for them to hear that their Lord and\nSaviour was tempted to it also, and conquered it?\u2014That He will teach them\nto answer the temptation as He did, when He refused even to let angels\nhold Him over the temple, up between earth and heaven, for a sign and a\nwonder to all the Jews, because God His Father had not bidden Him to do\nit, and therefore He would not tempt the Lord His God?\n\nIs it no good news, again, to those who are tempted to do perhaps one\nlittle outward wrong thing, to yield on some small point to the ways of\nthe world, in order to help themselves on in life, to hear that their\nLord and Saviour conquered that temptation too?\u2014That he refused all the\nkingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, when the devil offered\nthem, because he knew that the devil could not give them to Him; that all\nwealth, and power, and glory belonged to God, and was to be got only by\nserving Him?\n\nOh do you all, young people especially, think of this. As you grow up\nand go out into life, you will be tempted in a hundred different ways, by\nthings which are pleasant\u2014everyone knows that they are pleasant\nenough\u2014but wrong. One will be tempted to be vain of dress; another to be\nself-conceited; another to be lazy and idle; another to be extravagant\nand roving; another to be over fond of amusement; another to be over fond\nof money; another to be over fond of liquor; another to go wrong, as too\nmany young men and young women do, and bring themselves, and those with\nwhom they keep company, and whom they ought, if they really love them, to\nrespect and honour, down into sin and shame. You will all be tempted,\nand you will all be troubled; one by poverty, one by sickness, one by the\nburden of a family, one by being laughed at for trying to do right. But\nremember, oh remember, whenever a temptation comes upon you, that the\nblessed Jesus has been through it all, and conquered all, and that His\nwill is, that you shall be holy and pure like Him, and that, therefore,\nif you but ask Him, He will give you strength to keep pure. When you are\ntempted, pray to Him: the struggle in your own minds will, no doubt, be\nvery great; it will be very hard work for you\u2014sin looks so pleasant on\nthe outside! Poor souls, it is a sad struggle for you! Many a poor\nyoung fellow, who goes wrong, deserves rather to be pitied than to be\npunished. Well then, if no man else will pity him, Jesus, the Man of all\nmen, will. Pray to Him! Cry aloud to Him! Ask Him to make you\nstout-hearted, patient, really manful, to fight against temptation. Ask\nHim to give you strength of mind to fight against all bad habits. Ask\nHim to open your eyes to see when you are in danger. Ask Him to help you\nto keep out of the way of temptation. Ask Him, in short, to give you\ngrace to use such abstinence that your flesh may be subdued to your\nspirit. And then you will not follow, as the beasts do, just what seems\npleasant to your flesh; no, you will be able to obey Christ\u2019s godly\nmotions, that is, to do, as well as to love, the good desires which He\nputs into your hearts. You will do not merely what is pleasant, but what\nis right; you will not be your own slaves, you will be your own masters,\nand God\u2019s loyal and obedient sons; you will not be, as too many are, mere\nanimals going about in the shape of men, but truly men at heart, who are\nnot afraid of pain, poverty, shame, trouble, or death itself, when they\nare in the right path, about the work to which God has called them.\n\nBut if you ask Christ to make true men and women of you, you must believe\nthat He will give you what you ask; if you ask Him to help you, you must\nbelieve that He will and does help you\u2014you must believe that it is He\nHimself who has put into your hearts the very desire of being holy and\nstrong at all; and therefore you must believe that you can help\nyourselves. Help yourselves, and He will help you. If you ask for His\nhelp, He will give it. But what is the use of His giving it, if you do\nnot use it? To him who has shall be given, and he shall have more; but\nfrom him who has not shall be taken away even what he seems to have.\nTherefore do not merely pray, but struggle and try _yourselves_. Train\nyourselves as St. Paul did; train yourselves to keep your temper; train\nyourselves to bear unpleasant things for the sake of your duty; train\nyourselves to keep out of temptation; train yourselves to be forgiving,\ngentle, thrifty, industrious, sober, temperate, cleanly, as modest as\nlittle children in your words, and thoughts, and conduct. And God, when\nHe sees you trying to be all this, will help you to be so. It may be\nhard to educate yourselves. Life is a hard business at best\u2014you will\nfind it a thousand times harder, though, if you are slaves to your own\nfleshly sins. But the more you struggle against sin, the less hard you\nwill find it to fight; the more you resist the devil, the more he will\nflee from you; the more you try to conquer your own bad passions, the\nmore God will help you to conquer them; it may be a hard battle, but it\nis a sure one. No fear but that everyone can, if he will, work out his\nown salvation, for it is God Himself who works in us to will and to do of\nHis good pleasure. All you have to do is to give yourselves up to Him,\nto study His laws, to labour as well as long to keep them, and He will\nenable you to keep them; He will teach you in a thousand unexpected ways;\nHe will daily renew and strengthen your hearts by the working of His\nSpirit, that you may more and more know, and love, and do, what is right;\nand you will go on from strength to strength, to the height of perfect\nmen, to the likeness of Jesus Christ the Lord, who conquered all human\ntemptations for your sake, that He might be a high-priest who can be\ntouched with the feeling of our infirmities, because He was tempted in\nall points like as we are, yet without sin.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\nGOOD FRIDAY.\n\n\n In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His\n presence saved them. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;\n and He bare them and carried them all the days of old.\u2014ISAIAH lxiii.\n 9.\n\nON this very day, at this very hour, 1817 years ago, hung one nailed to a\ncross; bruised and bleeding, pierced and naked, dying a felon\u2019s death\nbetween two thieves; in perfect misery, in utter shame, mocked and\ninsulted by all the great, the rich, the learned of His nation; one who\nhad grown up as a man of low birth, believed by all to be a carpenter\u2019s\nson; without scholarship, money, respectability; even without a home\nwherein to lay His head\u2014and here was the end of His life! True, He had\npreached noble words, He had done noble deeds: but what had they helped\nHim? They had not made the rich, the learned, the respectable, the\nreligious believe on Him; they had not saved Him from persecution, and\ninsult, and death. The only mourners who stood by to weep over His dying\nagonies were His mother, a poor countrywoman; a young fisherman; and one\nwho had been a harlot and a sinner. There was an end!\n\nDo you know who that Man was? He was your King; the King of rich and\npoor; and He was your King, not in spite of His suffering all that shame\nand misery, but just because He suffered it; because He chose to be poor,\nand miserable, and despised; because He endured the cross, despising the\nshame; because He took upon Himself to fulfil His Father\u2019s will, all ills\nwhich flesh is heir to\u2014therefore He is now your King, the Saviour of the\nworld, the poor man\u2019s friend, the Lord of heaven and earth. Is He such a\nKing as _you_ wish for?\n\nIs He the sort of King you want, my friends? Does He fulfil your notions\nof what the poor man\u2019s friend should be? Do you, in your hearts, wish He\nhad been somewhat richer, more glorious, more successful in the world\u2019s\neyes\u2014a wealthy and prosperous man, like Solomon of old? Are any of you\nready to say, as the money-blinded Jews said, when they demanded their\ntrue King to be crucified, \u201cWe have no king but C\u00e6sar?\u2014Provided the\nlaw-makers and the authorities take care of our interests, and protect\nour property, and do not make us pay too many rates and taxes, that is\nenough for us.\u201d Will you have no king but C\u00e6sar? Alas! those who say\nthat, find that the law is but a weak deliverer, too weak to protect them\nfrom selfishness, and covetousness, and decent cruelty; and so C\u00e6sar and\nthe law have to give place to Mammon, the god of money. Do we not see it\nin these very days? And Mammon is weak, too. This world is not a shop,\nmen are not merely money-makers and wages-earners. There are more things\nin heaven and earth than are dreamt of in that sort of philosophy.\nSelf-interest and covetousness cannot keep society orderly and peaceful,\nlet sham philosophers say what they will. And then comes tyranny,\nlawlessness, rich and poor staining their hands in each other\u2019s blood, as\nwe saw happen in France two years ago; and so, after all, Mammon has to\ngive place to Moloch, the fiend of murder and cruelty; and woe to rich\nand poor when he reigns over them! Ay, woe\u2014woe to rich and poor when\nthey choose anyone for their king but their real and rightful Lord and\nMaster, Jesus, the poor man, afflicted in all their afflictions, the Man\nof sorrows, crucified on this day.\n\nIs He the kind of King you like? Make up your minds, my friends\u2014make up\nyour minds! For whether you like Him or not, your King He was, your King\nHe is, your King He will be, blessed be God, for ever. Blessed be God,\nindeed! If He were not our King; if anyone in heaven or earth was Lord\nof us, except the Man of sorrows, the Prince of sufferers, what hope,\nwhat comfort would there be? What a horrible, black, fathomless riddle\nthis sad, diseased, moaning world would be! No king would suit us but\nthe Prince of sufferers\u2014Jesus, who has borne all this world\u2019s griefs, and\ncarried all its sorrows\u2014Jesus, who has Himself smarted under pain and\nhunger, oppression and insult, treachery and desertion, who knows them\nall, feels for them all, and will right them all, in His own good time.\n\nBelieving in Jesus, we can travel on, through one wild parish after\nanother, upon English soil, and see, as I have done, the labourer who\ntills the land worse housed than the horse he drives, worse clothed than\nthe sheep he shears, worse nourished than the hog he feeds\u2014and yet not\ndespair: for the Prince of sufferers is the labourer\u2019s Saviour; He has\ntasted hunger, and thirst, and weariness, poverty, oppression, and\nneglect; the very tramp who wanders houseless on the moorside is His\nbrother; in his sufferings the Saviour of the world has shared, when the\nfoxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, while the Son of God\nhad not where to lay His head. He is the King of the poor, firstborn\namong many brethren; His tenderness is Almighty, and for the poor He has\nprepared deliverance, perhaps in this world, surely in the world to\ncome\u2014boundless deliverance, out of the treasures of His boundless love.\n\nBelieving in Jesus, we can pass by mines, and factories, and by dungeons\ndarker and fouler still, in the lanes and alleys of our great towns and\ncities, where thousands and tens of thousands of starving men, and wan\nwomen, and children grown old before their youth, sit toiling and pining\nin Mammon\u2019s prison-house, in worse than Egyptian bondage, to earn such\npay as just keeps the broken heart within the worn-out body;\u2014ay, we can\ngo through our great cities, even now, and see the women, whom God\nintended to be Christian wives and mothers, the slaves of the rich man\u2019s\ngreed by day, the playthings of his lust by night\u2014and yet not despair;\nfor we can cry, No! thou proud Mammon, money-making fiend! These are not\nthine, but Christ\u2019s; they belong to Him who died on the cross; and though\nthou heedest not their sighs, He marks them all, for He has sighed like\nthem; though there be no pity in thee, there is in Him the pity of a man,\nay, and the indignation of a God! He treasures up their tears; He\nunderstands their sorrows; His judgment of their guilt is not like thine,\nthou Pharisee! He is their Lord, who said, that to those to whom little\nwas given, of them shall little be required. Generation after\ngeneration, they are being made perfect by sufferings, as their Saviour\nwas before them; and then, woe to thee! For even as He led Israel out of\nEgypt with a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm, and signs and wonders,\ngreat and terrible, so shall He lead the poor out of their misery, and\nmake them households like a flock of sheep; even as He led Israel through\nthe wilderness, tender, forbearing, knowing whereof they were made,\nhaving mercy on all their brutalities, and idolatries, murmurings, and\nbackslidings, afflicted in all their afflictions\u2014even while He was\npunishing them outwardly, as He is punishing the poor man now\u2014even so\nshall He lead this people out in His good time, into a good land and\nlarge, a land of wheat and wine, of milk and honey; a rest which He has\nprepared for His poor, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath\nit entered into the heart of man to conceive. He can do it; for the\nAlmighty Deliverer is His name. He will do it; for His name is Love. He\nknows how to do it; for He has borne the griefs, and carried the sorrows\nof the poor.\n\nOh, sad hearts and suffering! Anxious and weary ones! Look to the cross\nthis day! There hung your king! The King of sorrowing souls, and more,\nthe King of sorrows. Ay, pain and grief, tyranny and desertion, death\nand hell, He has faced them one and all, and tried their strength, and\ntaught them His, and conquered them right royally! And, since He hung\nupon that torturing cross, sorrow is divine, god-like, as joy itself.\nAll that man\u2019s fallen nature dreads and despises, God honoured on the\ncross, and took unto Himself, and blessed, and consecrated for ever. And\nnow, blessed are the poor, if they are poor in heart, as well as purse;\nfor Jesus was poor, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the\nhungry, if they hunger for righteousness as well as food; for Jesus\nhungered, and they shall be filled. Blessed are those who mourn, if they\nmourn not only for their afflictions, but for their sins, and for the\nsins they see around them; for on this day, Jesus mourned for our sins;\non this day He was made sin for us, who knew no sin; and they shall be\ncomforted. Blessed are those who are ashamed of themselves, and hate\nthemselves, and humble themselves before God this day; for on this day\nJesus humbled Himself for us; and they shall be exalted. Blessed are the\nforsaken and the despised.\u2014Did not all men forsake Jesus this day, in His\nhour of need? and why not thee, too, thou poor deserted one? Shall the\ndisciple be above his Master? No; everyone that is perfect, must be like\nhis master. The deeper, the bitterer your loneliness, the more are you\nlike Him, who cried upon the cross, \u201cMy God, my God, why hast Thou\nforsaken Me?\u201d He knows what that grief, too, is like. He feels for\nthee, at least. Though all forsake thee, He is with thee still; and if\nHe be with thee, what matter who has left thee for a while? Ay, blessed\nare those that weep now, for they shall laugh. It is those whom the Lord\nloveth that He chasteneth. And because He loves the poor, He brings them\nlow. All things are blessed now, but sin; for all things, excepting sin,\nare redeemed by the life and death of the Son of God. Blessed are wisdom\nand courage, joy, and health, and beauty, love and marriage, childhood\nand manhood, corn and wine, fruits and flowers, for Christ redeemed them\nby His life. And blessed, too, are tears and shame, blessed are weakness\nand ugliness, blessed are agony and sickness, blessed the sad remembrance\nof our sins, and a broken heart, and a repentant spirit. Blessed is\ndeath, and blessed the unknown realms, where souls await the resurrection\nday, for Christ redeemed them by His death. Blessed are all things,\nweak, as well as strong. Blessed are all days, dark, as well as bright,\nfor all are His, and He is ours; and all are ours, and we are His, for\never.\n\nTherefore sigh on, ye sad ones, and rejoice in your own sadness; ache on,\nye suffering ones, and rejoice in your own sorrows. Rejoice that you are\nmade free of the holy brotherhood of mourners, that you may claim your\nplace, too, if you will, among the noble army of martyrs. Rejoice that\nyou are counted worthy of a fellowship in the sufferings of the Son of\nGod. Rejoice and trust on, for after sorrow shall come joy. Trust on;\nfor in man\u2019s weakness God\u2019s strength shall be made perfect. Trust on,\nfor death is the gate of life. Endure on to the end, and possess your\nsouls in patience for a little while, and that, perhaps, a very little\nwhile. Death comes swiftly; and more swiftly still, perhaps, the day of\nthe Lord. The deeper the sorrow, the nearer the salvation:\n\n The night is darkest before the dawn;\n When the pain is sorest the child is born;\n And the day of the Lord is at hand.\n\nAy, if the worst should come; if neither the laws of your country nor the\nbenevolence of the righteous were strong enough to defend you; if one\ncharitable plan after another were to fail; if the labour-market were\ngetting fuller and fuller, and poverty were spreading wider and wider,\nand crime and misery were breeding faster and still faster every year\nthan education and religion; all hope for the poor seemed gone and lost,\nand they were ready to believe the men who tell them that the land is\nover-peopled\u2014that there are too many of us, too many industrious hands,\ntoo many cunning brains, too many immortal souls, too many of God\u2019s\nchildren upon God\u2019s earth, which God the Father made, and God the Son\nredeemed, and God the Holy Spirit teaches: then the Lord, the Prince of\nsufferers, He who knows your every grief, and weeps with you tear for\ntear, He would come out of His place to smite the haughty ones, and\nconfound the cunning ones, and silence the loud ones, and empty the full\nones; to judge with righteousness for the meek of the earth, to hearken\nto the prayer of the poor, whose heart he has been preparing, and to help\nthe fatherless and needy to their right, that the man of the world may be\nno more exalted against them.\n\nIn that day men will find out a wonder and miracle. They will see many\nthat are first last, and many that are last first. They will find that\nthere were poor who were the richest after all; the simple who were\nwisest, and gentle who were bravest, and weak who were strongest; that\nGod\u2019s ways are not as men\u2019s ways, nor God\u2019s thoughts as men\u2019s thoughts.\nAlas, who shall stand when God does this? At least He who will do it is\nJesus, who loved us to the death; boundless love and gentleness,\nboundless generosity and pity; who was tempted even as we are, who has\nfelt our every weakness. In that thought is utter comfort, that our\nJudge will be He who died and rose again, and is praying for us even now,\nto His Father and our Father. Therefore fear not, gentle souls, patient\nsouls, pure consciences and tender hearts. Fear not, you who are empty\nand hungry, who walk in darkness and see no light; for though He fulfil\nonce more, as He has again and again, the awful prophecy before the text;\nthough He tread down the people in His anger, and make them drunk in His\nfury, and bring their strength to the earth; though kings with their\narmies may flee, and the stars which light the earth may fall, and there\nbe great tribulation, wars, and rumours of wars, and on earth distress of\nnations with perplexity\u2014yet it is when the day of His vengeance is at\nhand, that the year of His redeemed is come. And when they see all these\nthings, let them rejoice and lift up their heads, for their redemption\ndraweth nigh.\n\nDo you ask how I know this? Do you ask for a sign, for a token that\nthese my words are true? I know that they are true. But, as for tokens,\nI will give you but this one, the sign of that bread and that wine. When\nthe Lord shall have delivered His people out of all their sorrows, they\nshall eat of that bread and drink of that wine, one and all, in the\nkingdom of God.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\nEASTER-DAY.\n\n\n If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,\n where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.\u2014COLOSSIANS iii. 1.\n\nI KNOW no better way of preaching to you the gospel of Easter, the good\nnews which this day brings to all men, year after year, than by trying to\nexplain to you the Epistle appointed for this day, which we have just\nread.\n\nIt begins, \u201cIf ye then be risen with Christ.\u201d Now that does not mean\nthat St. Paul had any doubt whether the Colossians, to whom he was\nspeaking, were risen with Christ or not. He does not mean, \u201cI am not\nsure whether you are risen or not; but perhaps you are not; but if you\nare, you ought to do such and such things.\u201d He does not mean that. He\nwas quite sure that these Colossians were risen with Christ. He had no\ndoubt of it whatsoever. If you look at the chapter before, he says so.\nHe tells them that they were buried with Christ in baptism, in which also\nthey were risen with Christ, through faith of the operation of God, who\nhas raised Him from the dead.\n\nNow what reason had St. Paul to believe that these Colossians were risen\nwith Jesus Christ? Because they had given up sin and were leading holy\nlives? That cannot be. The Epistle for this day says the very opposite.\nIt does not say, \u201cYou are risen, because you have left off sinning.\u201d It\nsays, \u201cYou must leave off sinning, because you are risen.\u201d Was it then\non account of any experiences, or inward feeling of theirs? Not at all.\nHe says that these Colossians had been baptized, and that they had\nbelieved in God\u2019s work of raising Jesus Christ from the dead, and that\ntherefore they were risen with Christ. In one word, they had believed\nthe message of Easter-day, and therefore they shared in the blessings of\nEaster-day; as it is written in another place, \u201cIf thou shalt confess\nwith thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in thy heart that God\nhas raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.\u201d\n\nNow these seem very wide words, too wide to please most people. But\nthere are wider words still in St. Paul\u2019s epistles. He tells us again\nand again that God\u2019s mercy is a free gift; that He has made to us a free\npresent of His Son Jesus Christ. That He has taken away the effect of\nall men\u2019s sin, and more than that, that men are God\u2019s children; that they\nhave a right to believe that they are so, because they are so. For, He\nsays, the free gift of Jesus Christ is not like Adam\u2019s offence. It is\nnot less than it, narrower than it, as some folks say. It is not that by\nAdam\u2019s sin all became sinners, and by Jesus Christ\u2019s salvation an elect\nfew out of them shall be made righteous. If you will think a moment, you\nwill see that it cannot be so. For Jesus Christ conquered sin and death\nand the devil. But if, as some think, sin and death and the devil have\ndestroyed and sent to hell by far the greater part of mankind, then they\nhave conquered Christ, and not Christ them. Mankind belonged to Christ\nat first. Sin and death and the devil came in and ruined them, and then\nChrist came to redeem them; but if all that He has been able to do is to\nredeem one out of a thousand, or even nine out of ten, of them, then the\ndevil has had the best of the battle. He, and not Christ, is the\nconqueror. If a thief steals all the sheep on your farm, and all that\nyou can get back from him is a part of the whole flock, which has had the\nbest of it, you or the thief? If Christ\u2019s redemption is meant for only a\nfew, or even a great many elect souls out of all the millions of mankind,\nwhich has had the best of it, Christ, the master of the sheep, or the\ndevil, the robber and destroyer of them? Be sure, my friends, Christ is\nstronger than that; His love is deeper than that; His redemption is wider\nthan that. How strong, how deep, how wide it is, we never shall know.\nSt. Paul tells us that we never shall know, for it is boundless; but that\nwe shall go on knowing more and more of its vastness for ever, finding it\ndeeper, wider, loftier than our most glorious dreams could ever picture\nit. But this, he says, we do know, that we have gained more than Adam\nlost. For if by one man\u2019s offence many were made sinners, much more\nshall they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of\nrighteousness reign in life by one even Jesus Christ. For, he says,\nwhere sin abounded, God\u2019s grace and free gift has much more abounded.\nTherefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to\ncondemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon\nall men to justification of life. Upon all men, you see. There can be\nno doubt about it. Upon you and me, and foreigners, and gipsies, and\nheathens, and thieves, and harlots\u2014upon all mankind, let them be as bad\nor as good, as young or as old, as they may, the free gift of God has\ncome to justification of life; they are justified, pardoned, and beloved\nin the sight of Almighty God; they have a right and a share to a new\nlife; a different sort of life from what they are inclined to lead, and\ndo lead, by nature\u2014to a life which death cannot take away, a life which\nmay grow, and strengthen, and widen, and blossom, and bear fruit for ever\nand ever. They have a share in Christ\u2019s resurrection, in the blessing of\nEaster-day. They have a share in Christ, every one of them whether they\nclaim that share or not. How far they will be punished for not claiming\nit, is a very different matter, of which we know nothing whatsoever. And\nhow far the heathen who have never heard of Christ, or of their share in\nHim, will be punished, we know not\u2014we are not meant to know. But we know\nthat to their own Master they stand or fall, and that their Master is our\nMaster too, and that He is a just Master, and requires little of him to\nwhom He gives little; a just and merciful Master, who loved this sinful\nworld enough to come down and die for it, while mankind were all rebels\nand sinners, and has gone on taking care of it, and improving it, in\nspite of all its sin and rebellion ever since, and that is enough for us.\n\nSt. Paul knew no more. It was a mystery, he says, a wonderful and\nunfathomable matter, which had been hidden since the foundation of the\nworld, of which he himself says that he saw only through a glass darkly;\nand we cannot expect to have clearer eyes than he. But this he seems to\nhave seen, that the Lord, when He rose again, bought a blessing even for\nthe dumb beasts and the earth on which we live. For he says, the whole\ncreation is now groaning in the pangs of labour, being about to bring\nforth something; and the whole creation will rise again; how, and when,\nand into what new state, we cannot tell. But St. Paul seems to say that\nwhen the Lord shall destroy death, the last of his enemies, then the\nwhole creation shall be renewed, and bring forth another earth, nobler\nand more beautiful than this one, free from death, and sin, and sorrow,\nand redeemed into the glorious liberty of the children of God.\n\nBut this, on the other hand, St. Paul did see most clearly, and preached\nit to all to whom he spoke, that the ground and reason of this great and\nglorious mystery was the thing which happened on the first Easter-day,\nnamely, the Lord Jesus rising from the dead. About that, at least, there\nwas no doubt at all in his mind. We may see it by the Easter anthem,\nwhich we read this morning, taken out of the fifteenth chapter of his\nfirst epistle to the Corinthians:\n\n\u201cChrist is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that\nslept.\n\n\u201cFor since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the\ndead.\n\n\u201cFor as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.\u201d\n\nNow he is not talking here merely of the rising again of our bodies at\nthe last day. That was in his mind only the end, and outcome, and fruit,\nand perfecting, of men\u2019s rising from the dead in this life. For he tells\nthese same Corinthians, and the Colossians, and others to whom he wrote,\nthat life, the eternal life which would raise their bodies at the last\nday, was even then working in them.\n\nNeither is he speaking only of a few believers. He says that, owing to\nthe Lord\u2019s rising on this day, all shall be made alive\u2014not merely all\nChristians, but all men. For he does not say, as in Adam all Christians\ndie, but all men; and so he does not say, all Christians shall be made\nalive, but all men. For here, as in the sixth chapter of Romans, he is\ntrying to make us understand the likeness between Adam and Jesus Christ,\nwhom he calls the new Adam. The first Adam, he says, was only a living\nsoul, as the savages and heathens are; but the second Adam, the Lord from\nheaven, the true pattern of men, is a quickening, life-giving spirit, to\ngive eternal life to every human being who will accept His offer, and\nclaim his share and right as a true man, after the likeness of the new\nAdam, Jesus Christ.\n\nWe then, every one of us who is here to-day, have a right to believe that\nwe have a share in Christ\u2019s eternal life: that our original sin, that is,\nthe sinfulness which we inherited from our forefathers, is all forgiven\nand forgotten, and that mankind is now redeemed, and belongs to the\nsecond Adam, the true and original head and pattern of man, Jesus Christ,\nin whom was no sin; and that because mankind belongs to him, God is well\npleased with them, and reconciled to them, and looks on them not as a\nguilty, but as a pardoned and beloved race of beings.\n\nAnd we have a right to believe also, that because all power is given to\nChrist in heaven and earth, there is given to Him the power of making men\nwhat they ought to be\u2014like His own blessed, and glorious, and perfect\nself. Ask him, and you shall receive; knock at the gate of His\ntreasure-house, and it shall be opened. Seek those things that are\nabove, and you shall find them. You shall find old bad habits die out in\nyou, new good habits spring up in you; old meannesses become weaker, new\nnobleness and manfulness become stronger; the old, selfish, covetous,\nsavage, cunning, cowardly, brutal Adam dying out, the new, loving,\nbrotherly, civilised, wise, brave, manful Adam growing up in you, day by\nday, to perfection, till you are changed from grace to grace, and glory\nto glory into the likeness of the Lord of men.\n\n\u201cThese are great promises,\u201d you may say, \u201cglorious promises; but what\nproof have you that they belong to us? They sound too good to be true;\ntoo great for such poor creatures as we are; give us but some proof that\nwe have a right to them; give us but a pledge from Jesus Christ; give us\nbut a sign, an assurance from God, and we may believe you then.\u201d\n\nMy friends, I am certain\u2014and the longer I live I am the more certain\u2014that\nthere is no argument, no pledge, no sign, no assurance, like the bread\nand the wine upon that table. Assurances in our own hearts and souls are\ngood, but we may be mistaken about them; for, after all, they are our own\nthoughts, notions in our own souls, these inward experiences and\nassurances; delightful and comforting as they are at times, yet we cannot\ntrust them\u2014we cannot trust our own hearts, they are deceitful above all\nthings, who can know them? Yes: our own hearts may tell us lies; they\nmay make us fancy that we are pleasing God, when we are doing the things\nmost hateful to Him. They have made thousands fancy so already. They\nmay make us fancy we are right in God\u2019s sight, when we are utterly wrong.\nThey have made thousands fancy so already. These hearts of ours may make\nus fancy that we have spiritual life in us; that we are in a state higher\nand nobler than the sinners round us, when all the while our spirits are\ndead within us. They made the Pharisees of old fancy that their souls\nwere alive, and pure, and religious, when they were dead and damned\nwithin them; and they may make us fancy so too. No: we cannot trust our\nhearts and inward feelings; but that bread, that wine, we can trust. Our\ninward feelings are a sign from man; that bread and wine are a sign from\nGod. Our inward feelings may tell us what we feel toward God: that\nbread, that wine, tell us something ten thousand times more important;\nthey tell us what God feels towards us. And God must love us before we\ncan love Him; God must pardon us before we can have mercy on ourselves;\nGod must come to us, and take hold of us, before we can cling to Him; God\nmust change us, before we can become right; God must give us eternal life\nin our hearts before we can feel and enjoy that new life in us. Then\nthat bread, that wine, say that God has done all that for us already;\nthey say: \u201cGod does love you; God has pardoned you; God has come to you;\nGod is ready and willing to change and convert you; God has given you\neternal life; and this love, this mercy, this coming to find you out\nwhile you are wandering in sin, this change, this eternal life, are all\nin His Son Jesus Christ; and that bread, that wine, are the signs of it.\u201d\nIt is for the sake of Jesus\u2019 blood that God has pardoned you, and that\ncup is the new covenant in His blood. Come and drink, and claim your\npardon. It is simply because Jesus Christ was man, and you, too, are men\nand women, wearing the flesh and blood which Christ wore; eating and\ndrinking as Christ ate and drank, and not for any works or faith of your\nown, that God loves you, and has come to you, and called you into His\nfamily. This is the Gospel, the good news of Christ\u2019s free grace, and\npardon, and salvation; and that bread, that wine, the common food of all\nmen, not merely of the rich, or the wise, or the pious, but of saints and\npenitents, rich and poor. Christians and heathens, alike\u2014that plain,\ncommon, every-day bread and wine\u2014are the signs of it. Come and take the\nsigns, and claim your share in God\u2019s love, in God\u2019s family. And it is in\nJesus Christ, too, that you have eternal life. It is because you belong\nto Jesus Christ, to mankind, of which He is the head and king, that God\nwill change you, strengthen your soul to rise above your sins, raise you\nup daily more and more out of spiritual death, out of brutishness, and\nselfishness, and ignorance, and malice, into an eternal life of wisdom,\nand love, and courage, and mercifulness, and patience, and obedience; a\nlife which shall continue through death, and beyond death, and raise you\nup again for ever at the last day, because you belong to Christ\u2019s body,\nand have been fed with Christ\u2019s eternal life. And that bread, that wine\nare the signs of it. \u201cTake, eat,\u201d said Jesus, \u201cthis is my body; drink,\nthis is my blood.\u201d Those are the signs that God has given you eternal\nlife, and that this life is in His Son. What better sign would you have?\nThere is no mistaking their message; they can tell you no lies. And they\ncan, and will, bring your own Gospel-blessings to your mind, as nothing\nelse can. They will make you feel, as nothing else can, that you are the\nbeloved children of God, heirs of all that your King and Head has bought\nfor you, when He died, and rose again upon this day. He gave you the\nLord\u2019s Supper for a sign. Do you think that He did not know best what\nthe best sign would be? He said: \u201cDo this in remembrance of me.\u201d Do you\nthink that He did not know better than you, and me, and all men, that if\nyou did do it, it would put you in remembrance of Him?\n\nOh! come to His table, this day of all days in the year; and claim there\nyour share in His body and His blood, to feed the everlasting life in\nyou; which, though you see it not now, though you feel it not now, will\nsurely, if you keep it alive in you by daily faith, and daily repentance,\nand daily prayer, and daily obedience, raise you up, body and soul, to\nreign with Him for ever at the last day.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\nTHE COMFORTER.\n\n\n FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.\n\n If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I\n depart, I will send Him unto you.\u2014JOHN xvi. 7.\n\nWE are now coming near to two great days, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday,\nwhich our forefathers have appointed, year by year, to put us continually\nin mind of two great works, which the Lord worked out for us, His most\nunworthy subjects, and still unworthier brothers.\n\nOn Ascension-day He ascended up into Heaven, and received gifts for men,\neven for His enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them; and on\nWhit-Sunday, He sent down those gifts. The Spirit of God came down to\ndwell in the hearts of men, to be the right of everyone who asks for it,\nwhite or black, young or old, rich or poor, and never to leave this earth\nas long as there is a human being on it. And because we are coming near\nto these two great days, the Prayer-book, in the Collects, Epistles, and\nGospels, tries to put us in mind of those days, and to make us ready to\nask for the blessings of which they are the yearly signs and witnesses.\nThe Gospel for last Sunday told us how the Lord told His disciples just\nbefore His death, that for a little while they should not see Him; and\nagain a little while and they should see Him, because he was going to the\nFather, and that they should have great sorrow, but that their sorrow\nshould be turned into joy. And the Gospel for to-day goes further still,\nand tells us why He was going away\u2014that He might send to them the\nComforter, His Holy Spirit, and that it was expedient\u2014good for them, that\nHe should go away; for that if He did not, the Comforter would not come\nto them. Now, in these words, I do not doubt He was speaking of\nAscension-day, and of Whit-Sunday; and therefore it is that these Gospels\nhave been chosen to be read before Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday; and in\nproportion as we attend to these Gospels, and take in the meaning of\nthem, and act accordingly, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be a\nblessing and a profit to us; and in proportion as we neglect them, or\nforget them, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be witnesses against our\nsouls at the day of judgment, that the Lord Himself condescended to buy\nfor us with His own blood, blessings unspeakable, and offer them freely\nunto us, in spite of all our sins, and yet we would have none of them,\nbut preferred our own will to God\u2019s will, and the little which we thought\nwe could get for ourselves, to the unspeakable treasures which God had\npromised to give us, and turned away from the blessings of His kingdom,\nto our own foolish pleasure and covetousness, like \u201cthe dog to his vomit,\nand the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.\u201d\n\nI said that God had promised to us an unspeakable treasure: and so He\nhas; a treasure that will make the poorest and weakest man among us,\nricher than if he had all the wealth gathered from all the nations of the\nworld, which everyone is admiring now in that Great Exhibition in London,\nand stronger than if he had all the wisdom which produced that wealth.\nLet us see now what it is that God has promised us\u2014and then those to whom\nGod has given ears to hear, and hearts to understand, will see that large\nas my words may sound, they are no larger than the truth.\n\nChrist said, that if He went away, He would send down the Comforter, the\nHoly Spirit of God. The Nicene Creed says, that the Holy Spirit of God\nis the Lord and Giver of life; and so He is. He gives life to the earth,\nto the trees, to the flowers, to the dumb animals, to the bodies and\nminds of men; all life, all growth, all health, all strength, all beauty,\nall order, all help and assistance of one thing by another, which you see\nin the world around you, comes from Him. He is the Lord and Giver of\nlife; in Him, the earth, the sun and stars, all live and move and have\ntheir being. He is not them, or a part of them, but He gives life to\nthem. But to men He is more than that\u2014for we men ourselves are more than\nthat, and need more. We have immortal spirits in us\u2014a reason, a\nconscience, and a will; strange rights and duties, strange hopes and\nfears, of which the beasts and the plants know nothing. We have hearts\nin us which can love, and feel, and sorrow, and be weak, and sinful, and\nmistaken; and therefore we want a Comforter. And the Lord and Giver of\nlife has promised to be our Comforter; and the Father and the Son, from\nboth of whom He proceeds, have promised to send Him to us, to strengthen\nand comfort us, and give our spirits life and health, and knit us\ntogether to each other, and to God, in one common bond of love and\nfellow-feeling even as He the Spirit knits together the Father and the\nSon.\n\nI said that we want a Comforter. If we consider what that word Comforter\nmeans, we shall see that we do want a Comforter, and that the only\nComforter which can satisfy us for ever and ever, must be He, the very\nSpirit of God, the Lord and Giver of life.\n\nNow Comforter means one who gives comfort; so the meaning of it will\ndepend upon what comfort means. Our word comfort, comes from two old\nLatin words, which mean _with_ and _to strengthen_. And, therefore, a\nComforter means anyone who is with us to strengthen us, and do for us\nwhat we could not do for ourselves. You will see that this is the proper\nmeaning of the word, when you remember what bodily things we call\ncomforts. You say that a person is comfortable, or lives in comfort, if\nhe has a comfortable income, a comfortable house, comfortable clothes,\ncomfortable food, and so on. Now all these things, his money, his house,\nhis clothes, his food, are not himself. They make him stronger and more\nat ease. They make his life more pleasant to him. But they are not\n_him_; they are round him, with him, to strengthen him. So with a\nperson\u2019s mind and feelings; when a man is in sorrow and trouble, he\ncannot comfort himself. His friends must come to him and comfort him;\ntalk to him, advise him, show their kind feeling towards him, and in\nshort, be with him to strengthen him in his afflictions. And if we\nrequire comfort for our bodies, and for our minds, my friends, how much\nmore do we for our spirits\u2014our souls, as we call them! How weak, and\nignorant, and self-willed, and perplexed, and sinful they are\u2014surely our\nsouls require a comforter far more than our bodies or our minds do! And\nto comfort our spirits, we require a spirit; for we cannot see our own\nspirits, our own souls, as we can our bodies. We cannot even tell by our\nfeelings what state they are in. We may deceive ourselves, and we do\ndeceive ourselves, again and again, and fancy that our souls are strong\nwhen they are weak\u2014that they are simple and truthful when they are full\nof deceit and falsehood\u2014that they are loving God when they are only\nloving themselves\u2014that they are doing God\u2019s will when they are only doing\ntheir own selfish and perverse wills. No man can take care of his own\nspirit, much less give his own spirit life; \u201cno man can quicken his own\nsoul,\u201d says David, that is, no man can give his own soul life. And\ntherefore we must have someone beyond ourselves to give life to our\nspirits. We must have someone to teach us the things that we could never\nfind out for ourselves, someone who will put into our hearts the good\ndesires that could never come of themselves. We must have someone who\ncan change these wills of ours, and make them love what they hate by\nnature, and make them hate what they love by nature. For by nature we\nare selfish. By nature we are inclined to love ourselves, rather than\nanyone else; to take care of ourselves, rather than anyone else. By\nnature we are inclined to follow our own will, rather than God\u2019s will, to\ndo our own pleasure, rather than follow God\u2019s commandments, and therefore\nby nature our spirits are dead; for selfishness and self-will are\n_spiritual death_. Spiritual life is love, pity, patience, courage,\nhonesty, truth, justice, humbleness, industry, self-sacrifice, obedience\nto God, and therefore to those whom God sends to teach and guide us.\n_That_ is spiritual life. That is the life of Jesus Christ; His\ncharacter, His conduct, was like that\u2014to love, to help, to pity, all\naround\u2014to give up Himself even to death\u2014to do His Father\u2019s will and not\nHis own. That was His life. Because He was the Son of God He did it.\nIn proportion as we live like Him, we shall he living like sons of God.\nIn proportion as we live like Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our spirits\nwill be alive. For he that hath Jesus Christ the Son of God in him, hath\nlife, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life, says St. John.\nBut who can raise us from the death of sin and selfishness, to the life\nof righteousness and love? Who can change us into the likeness of Jesus\nChrist? Who can even show us what Jesus Christ\u2019s likeness is, and take\nthe things of Christ and show them to us; so that by seeing what He was,\nwe may see what we should be? And who, if we have this life in us, will\nkeep it alive in us, and be with us to strengthen us? Who will give us\nstrength to force the foul and fierce and false thoughts out of our mind,\nand say, \u201cGet thee behind me, Satan?\u201d Who will give our spirits life?\nand who will strengthen that life in us?\n\nCan we do it for ourselves? Oh! my friends, I pity the man who is so\nblind and ignorant, who knows so little of himself, upon whom the lessons\nwhich his own mistakes, and sins, and failings should have taught him,\nhave been so wasted that he fancies that he can teach and guide himself\nwithout any help, and that he can raise his own soul to life, or keep it\nalive without assistance. Can his body do without its comforts? Then\nhow can his spirit? If he left his house, and threw away his clothes,\nand refused all help from his fellow-men, and went and lived in the woods\nlike a wild beast, we should call him a madman, because he refused the\nhelp and comfort to his body which God has made necessary for him. But\njust as great a madman is he who refuses the help and the strengthening\nwhich God has made necessary for his spirit\u2014just as great a madman is he\nwho fancies that his soul is any more able than his body is, to live\nwithout continual help. It is just because man is nobler than the beast\nthat he requires help. The fox in the wood needs no house, no fire; he\nneeds no friends; he needs no comforts, and no comforters, because he is\na beast\u2014because he is meant to live and die selfish and alone; therefore\nGod has provided him in himself with all things necessary to keep the\npoor brute\u2019s selfish life in him for a few short years. But just because\nman is nobler than that; just because man is not intended to live selfish\nand alone; just because his body, and his mind, and his spirit are\nbeautifully and delicately made, and intended for all sorts of wonderful\npurposes, therefore God has appointed that from the moment he is born to\nall eternity he cannot live alone; he cannot support himself; he stands\nin continual need of the assistance of all around him, for body, and\nsoul, and spirit; he needs clothes, which other men must make; houses,\nwhich other man must build; food, which other men must produce; he has to\nget his livelihood by working for others, while others get their\nlivelihood in return by working for him. As a child he needs his parents\nto be his comforters, to take care of him in body and mind. As he grows\nup he needs the care of others; he cannot exist a day without his\nfellow-men: he requires school-masters to educate him; books and masters\nto teach him his trade; and when he has learnt it, and settled himself in\nlife, he requires laws made by other men, perhaps by men who died\nhundreds of years before he was born, to secure to him his rights and\nproperty, to secure to him comforts, and to make him feel comfortable in\nhis station; he needs friends and family to comfort him in sorrow and in\njoy, to do for him the thousand things which he cannot do for himself.\nIn proportion as he is alone and friendless he is pitiable and miserable,\nlet him be as rich as Solomon himself. From the moment, I say, he is\nborn, he needs continual comforts and comforters for his body, and mind,\nand heart. And then he fancies that, though his body and his mind cannot\nexist safely, or grow up healthily, without the continual care and\ncomforting of his fellow-men, that yet his soul, the part of him which is\nat once the most important and the most in danger; the part of him of\nwhich he knows least; the part of him which he understands least; the\npart of him of which his body and mind cannot take care, because it has\nto take care of them, can live, and grow, and prosper without any help\nwhatsoever!\n\nAnd if we cannot strengthen our own souls no man can strengthen them for\nus. No man can raise our bodies to life, much less can he raise our\nsouls. The physician himself cannot cure the sicknesses of our bodies;\nhe can only give us fit medicines, and leave them to cure us by certain\nlaws of nature, which he did not make, and which he cannot alter. And\nthough the physician can, by much learning, understand men\u2019s bodies\nsomewhat, who can understand men\u2019s souls? We cannot understand our own\nsouls; we do not know what they are, how they live; whence they come, or\nwhither they go. We cannot cure them ourselves, much less can anyone\ncure them for us. The only one who can cure our souls is He that made\nour souls; the only one who can give life to our souls is He who gives\nlife to everything. The only one who can cure, and strengthen, and\ncomfort our spirits, is He who understands our spirits, because He\nhimself is the Spirit of all spirits, the Spirit who searcheth all\nthings, even the deep things of God; because He is the Spirit of God the\nFather, who made all heaven and earth, and of Jesus Christ the Son, who\nunderstands the heart of man, who can be touched with the feelings of our\ninfirmities, and hath been tempted in all things, just as we are, yet\nwithout sin.\n\nHe is the Comforter which God has promised to our spirits, the only\nComforter who can strengthen our spirits; and if we have Him with us, if\nHe is strengthening us, if He is leading us, if He is abiding with us, if\nHe is changing us day by day, more and more into the likeness of Jesus\nChrist, are we not, as I said at the beginning of my sermon, richer than\nif we possessed all the land of England, stronger than if we had all the\narmies of the world at our command? For what is more precious than\u2014God\nHimself? What is stronger than\u2014God Himself? The poorest man in whom\nGod\u2019s Spirit dwells is greater than the greatest king in whom God\u2019s\nSpirit does not dwell. And so he will find in the day that he dies.\nThen where will riches be, and power? The rich man will take none of\nthem away with him when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him.\nNaked came he into this world, and naked shall he return out of it, to go\nas he came, and carry with him none of the comforts which he thought in\nthis life the only ones worth having. But the Spirit of God remains with\nus for ever; that treasure a man shall carry out of this world with him,\nand keep to all eternity. That friend will never forsake him, for He is\nthe Spirit of Love, which abideth for ever. That Comforter will never\ngrow weak, for He is Himself the very eternal Lord and Giver of Life; and\nthe soul that is possessed by Him must live, must grow, must become\nnobler, purer, freer, stronger, more loving, for ever and ever, as the\neternities roll by. That is what He will give you, my friends; that is\nHis treasure; that is the Spirit-life, the true and everlasting life,\nwhich flows from Him as the stream flows from the fountain-head.\n\n\n\n\nX.\nWHIT-SUNDAY.\n\n\n The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,\n gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance\u2014against such there\n is no law.\u2014GALATIANS v. 22, 23.\n\nIN all countries, and in all ages, the world has been full of complaints\nof Law and Government. And one hears the same complaints in England now.\nYou hear complaints that the laws favour one party and one rank more than\nanother, that they are expensive, and harsh, and unfair, and what\nnot?\u2014But I think, my friends, that for us, and especially on this\nWhit-Sunday, it will be much wiser, instead of complaining of the laws,\nto complain of ourselves, for needing those laws. For what is it that\nmakes laws necessary at all, except man\u2019s sinfulness? Adam required no\nlaws in the garden of Eden. We should require no laws if we were what we\nought to be\u2014what God has offered to make us. We may see this by looking\nat the laws themselves, and considering the purposes for which they were\nmade. We shall then see, that, like Moses\u2019 Laws of old, the greater part\nof them have been added because of transgressions.\u2014In plain English\u2014to\nprevent men from doing things which they ought not to do, and which, if\nthey were in a right state of mind, they would not do. How many laws are\npassed, simply to prevent one man, or one class, from oppressing or\nill-using some other man or class? What a vast number of them are passed\nsimply to protect property, or to protect the weak from the cruel, the\nignorant from the cunning! It is plain that if there was no cruelty, no\ncunning, no dishonesty, these laws, at all events, would not be needed.\nAgain, one of the great complaints against the laws and the government,\nis that they are so expensive, that rates and taxes are heavy burdens\u2014and\ndoubtless they are: but what makes them necessary except men\u2019s sin? If\nthe poor were more justly and mercifully treated, and if they in their\nturn were more thrifty and provident, there would be no need of the\nexpenses of poor rates. If there was no love of war and plunder, there\nwould be no need of the expense of an army. If there was no crime, there\nwould be no need of the expense of police and prisons. The thing is so\nsimple and self-evident, that it seems almost childish to mention it.\nAnd yet, my friends, we forget it daily. We complain of the laws and\ntheir harshness, of taxes and their expensiveness, and we forget all the\nwhile that it is our own selfishness and sinfulness which brings this\nexpense upon us, which makes it necessary for the law to interfere and\nprotect us against others, and others against us. And while we are\ncomplaining of the government for not doing its work somewhat more\ncheaply, we are forgetting that if we chose, we might leave government\nvery little work to do\u2014that every man if he chose, might be his own\nlaw-maker and his own police\u2014that every man if he will, may lead a life\n\u201cagainst which there is no law.\u201d\n\nI say again, that it is our own fault, the fault of our sinfulness, that\nlaws are necessary for us. In proportion as we are what Scripture calls\n\u201cnatural men,\u201d that is, savage, selfish, divided from each other, and\nstruggling against each other, each for his own interest; as long as we\nare not renewed and changed into new men, so long will laws, heavy,\nsevere, and burdensome, be necessary for us. Without them we should be\ntorments to ourselves, to our neighbours, to our country. But these laws\nare only necessary as long as we are full of selfishness and ungodliness.\nThe moment we yield ourselves up to God\u2019s law, man\u2019s laws are ready\nenough to leave us alone. Take, for instance, a common example; as long\nas anyone is a faithful husband and a good father, the law does not\ninterfere with his conduct towards his wife and children. But it is when\nhe is unfaithful to them, when he ill-treats them, or deserts them, that\nthe law interferes with its \u201cThou shalt not,\u201d and compels him to behave,\nagainst his will, in the way in which he ought to have behaved of his own\nwill. It was free to the man to have done his duty by his family,\nwithout the law\u2014the moment he neglects his duty, he becomes amenable to\nit.\n\nBut the law can only force a man\u2019s actions: it cannot change his heart.\nIn the instance which I have been just mentioning, the law can say to a\nman, \u201cYou shall not ill-treat your family; you shall not leave them to\nstarve.\u201d But the law cannot say to him \u201cYou shall love your family.\u201d\nThe law can only command from a man outward obedience; the obedience of\nthe heart it cannot enforce. The law may make a man do his duty, it\ncannot make a man _love_ his duty. And therefore laws will never set the\nworld right. They can punish persons after the wrong is done, and that\nnot certainly nor always: but they cannot certainly prevent the wrongs\nbeing done. The law can punish a man for stealing: and yet, as we see\ndaily, men steal in the face of punishment. Or even if the law, by its\nseverity, makes persons afraid to commit certain particular crimes, yet\nstill as long as the sinful heart is left in them unchanged, the sin\nwhich is checked in one direction is sure to break out in another. Sin,\nlike every other disease, is sure, when it is driven onwards, to break\nout at a fresh point, or fester within some still more deadly, because\nmore hidden and unsuspected, shape. The man who dare not be an open\nsinner for fear of the law, can be a hypocrite in spite of it. The man\nwho dare not steal for fear of the law, can cheat in spite of it. The\nselfish man will find fresh ways of being selfish, the tyrannical man of\nbeing tyrannical, however closely the law may watch him. He will\ndiscover some means of evading it; and thus the law, after all, though it\nmay keep down crime, multiplies sin; and by the law, as St. Paul says, is\nthe knowledge of sin.\n\nWhat then will do that for this poor world which the law cannot do\u2014which,\nas St. Paul tells us, not even the law of God given on Mount Sinai, holy,\njust, good as it was, could do, because no law can give life? What will\ngive men a new heart and a new spirit, which shall love its duty and do\nit willingly, and not by compulsion, everywhere and always, and not\nmerely just as far as it commanded? The text tells us that there is a\nSpirit, the fruit of which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,\ngentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; a character such as no\nlaws can give to a man, and which no law dare punish in a man. Look at\nthis character as St. Paul sets it forth\u2014and then think what need would\nthere be of all these burdensome and expensive laws, if all men were but\nfull of the fruits of that Spirit which St. Paul describes?\n\nI know what answer will be ready, in some of your minds at least, to all\nthis. You will be ready to reply, almost angrily, \u201cOf course if everyone\nwas perfect, we should need no laws: but people are not perfect, and you\ncannot expect them to be.\u201d My friends, whether or not _we_ expect\nbaptized people, living in a Christian country, to be perfect, God\nexpects them to be perfect; for He has said, by the mouth of His Son, our\nLord Jesus Christ, \u201cBe ye therefore perfect, as our Father which is in\nheaven is perfect.\u201d And He has told us what being perfect is like; you\nmay read it for yourselves in His sermon on the Mount; and you may see\nalso that what He commands us to do in that sermon, from the beginning to\nthe end, is the exact opposite and contrary of the ways and rules of this\nworld, which, as I have shown, make burdensome laws necessary to prevent\nour devouring each other. Now, do you think that God would have told us\nto be perfect, if He knew that it was impossible for us? Do you think\nthat He, the God of truth, would have spoken such a cruel mockery against\npoor sinful creatures like us, as to command us a duty without giving us\nthe means of fulfilling it? Do you think that He did not know ten\nthousand times better than I what I have been just telling you, that laws\ncould not change men\u2019s hearts and wills; that commanding a man to love\nand like a thing will not make him love and like it; that a man\u2019s heart\nand spirit must be changed in him from within, and not merely laws and\ncommandments laid on him from without? Then why has He commanded us to\nlove each other, ay, to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to\npray for those who use us spitefully? Do you think the Lord meant to\nmake hypocrites of us; to tell us to go about, as some who call\nthemselves religious do go about, with their lips full of meek, and\nhumble, and simple, and loving words, while their hearts are full of\npride, and spite, and cunning, and hate, and selfishness, which are all\nthe more deadly for being kept in and plastered over by a smooth outside?\nGod forbid! He tells us to love each other, only because He has promised\nus the spirit of love. He tells us to be humble, because He can make us\nhumble-hearted. He tells us to be honest, because He can make us love\nand delight in honesty. He tells us to refrain ourselves from foul\nthoughts as well as from foul actions, because He can take the foul heart\nout of us, and give us instead the spirit of purity and holiness. He\ntells us to lead new lives after the new pattern of Himself, because He\ncan give us new hearts and a new spring of life within us; in short, He\nbids us behave as sons of God should behave, because, as He said Himself,\n\u201cIf we, being evil, know how to give our children what is good for them,\nmuch more will our heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those who ask\nhim.\u201d If you would be perfect, ask your Father in heaven to make you\nperfect. If you feel that your heart is wrong, ask Him to give you a new\nand a right heart. If you feel yourselves\u2014as you are, whether you feel\nit or not\u2014too weak, too ignorant, too selfish, to guide yourselves, ask\nHim to send His Spirit to guide you; ask for the Spirit from which comes\nall love, all light, all wisdom, all strength of mind. Ask for that\nSpirit, and you _shall_ receive it; seek for it, and you shall find it;\nknock at the gate of your Father\u2019s treasure-house, and it shall be surely\nopened to you.\n\nBut some of you, perhaps, are saying to yourselves, \u201cHow will my being\nchanged and renewed by the Spirit of God, render the laws less\nburdensome, while the crime and sin around me remain unchanged? It is\nothers who want to be improved as much, and perhaps more than I do.\u201d It\nmay be so, my friends; or, again, it may not; those who fancy that others\nneed God\u2019s Spirit more than they do, may be the very persons who need it\nreally the most; those who say they see, may be only proving their\nblindness by so saying; those who fancy that their souls are rich, and\nare full of all knowledge, and understand the whole Bible, and want no\nfurther teaching, may be, as they were in St. John\u2019s time, just the ones\nwho are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked in soul,\nand do not know it. But at all events, if you think others need to be\nchanged by God\u2019s Spirit, _pray_ that God\u2019s Spirit may change them. For\nbelieve me, unless you pray for God\u2019s Spirit for each other, ay, for the\nwhole world, there is no use asking for yourselves. This, I believe, is\none of the reasons, perhaps the chief reason, why the fruits of God\u2019s\nSpirit are so little seen among us in these days; why our Christianity is\nbecome more and more dead, and hollow, and barren, while expensive and\nintricate laws and taxes are becoming more and more necessary every year;\nbecause our religion has become so selfish, because we have been praying\nfor God\u2019s Spirit too little for each other. Our prayers have become too\nselfish. We have been looking for God\u2019s Spirit not so much as a means to\nenable us to do good to others, but as some sort of mysterious charm\nwhich was to keep us ourselves from the punishment of our sins in the\nnext life, or give us a higher place in heaven; and, therefore, St.\nJames\u2019s words have been fulfilled to us, even in our very prayers for\nGod\u2019s Spirit, \u201cYe ask and have not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it\nupon your lusts\u201d\u2014save our selfish souls from the pains of hell; to give\nour selfish souls selfish pleasures and selfish glorification in the\nworld to come: but not to spread God\u2019s kingdom upon earth, not to make us\nlive on earth such lives as Christ lived; a life of love and\nself-sacrifice, and continual labour for the souls of others. Therefore\nit is, that God\u2019s Spirit is not poured out upon us in these days; for\nGod\u2019s Spirit is the spirit of love and brotherhood, which delivers a man\nfrom his selfishness; and if we do not desire to be delivered from our\nselfishness, we do not desire the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God\nwill not be bestowed upon us. And no man desires to be delivered from\nhis own selfishness, who in his very prayers, when he ought to be\nthinking least about himself alone, is thinking about himself most of\nall, and forgetting that he is the member of a family\u2014that all mankind\nare his brethren\u2014that he can claim nothing for himself to which every\nsinner around him has an equal right\u2014that nothing is necessary for him,\nwhich is not equally necessary for everyone around him; that he has all\nthe world besides himself to pray for, and that his prayers for himself\nwill be heard only according as he prays for all the world beside.\nBaptism teaches us this, when it tells us that our old selfish nature is\nto be washed away, and a new character, after the pattern of Christ, is\nto live and grow up in us; that from the day we are baptized, to the day\nof our death, we should live not for ourselves, but for Jesus, in whom\nwas no selfishness; when it teaches us that we are not only children of\nGod, but members of Christ\u2019s Family, and heirs of God\u2019s kingdom, and\ntherefore bound to make common cause with all other members of that\nFamily, to live and labour for the common good of all our fellow-citizens\nin that kingdom. The Lord\u2019s prayer teaches us this, when He tells us to\npray, not \u201cMy Father,\u201d but \u201cOur Father;\u201d not \u201cmy soul be saved,\u201d but \u201cThy\nkingdom come;\u201d not \u201cgive _me_,\u201d but \u201cgive _us_ our daily bread;\u201d not\n\u201cforgive _me_,\u201d but \u201cforgive _us_ our trespasses,\u201d and that only as we\nforgive others; not \u201clead _me_ not,\u201d but \u201clead _us_ not into temptation;\u201d\nnot \u201cdeliver _me_,\u201d but \u201cdeliver _us_ from evil.\u201d After _that_ manner\nthe Lord told us to pray; and, in proportion as we pray in that manner,\nasking for nothing for ourselves which we do not ask for everyone else in\nthe whole world, just so far and no farther will God _hear_ our prayers.\nHe who asks for God\u2019s Spirit for himself only, and forgets that all the\nworld need it as much as he, is not asking for God\u2019s Spirit at all, and\ndoes not know even what God\u2019s Spirit is. The mystery of Pentecost, too,\nwhich came to pass on this day 1818 years ago, teaches us the same thing\nalso. Those cloven tongues of fire, the tokens of God\u2019s Spirit, fell not\nupon one man, but upon many; not when they were apart from each other,\nbut when they were together; and what were the fruits of that Spirit in\nthe Apostles? Did they remain within that upper room, each priding\nhimself upon his own gifts, and trying merely to gain heaven for his own\nsoul? If they had any such fancies, as they very likely had before the\nSpirit fell upon them, they had none such afterwards. The Spirit must\nhave taken all such thoughts from them, and given them a new notion of\nwhat it was to be devout and holy: for instead of staying in that upper\nroom, they went forth instantly into the public place to preach in\nforeign tongues to all the people. Instead of keeping themselves apart\nfrom each other in silence, and fancying, as some have done, and some do\nnow, that they pleased God by being solitary, and melancholy, and\nselfish\u2014what do we read? the fruit of God\u2019s Spirit was in them; that they\nand the three thousand souls who were added to them, on the first day of\ntheir preaching, \u201cwere all together, and had all things common, and sold\ntheir possessions, and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man\nhad need, and continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and\nbreaking bread from house to house, did eat their bread in gladness and\nsingleness of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people.\u201d\nThose were the fruits of God\u2019s Spirit in _them_. Till we see more of\nthat sort of life and society in England, we shall not be able to pride\nourselves on having much of God\u2019s Spirit among us.\n\nBut above all, if anything will teach us that the strength of God\u2019s\nSpirit is not a strength which we must ask for for ourselves alone; that\nthe blessings of God\u2019s kingdom are blessings which we cannot have in\norder to keep them to ourselves, but can only enjoy in as far as we share\nthem with those around us; if anything, I say, ought to teach us that\nlesson, it is the Sacrament of the Lord\u2019s Supper. Just consider a\nmoment, my friends, what a strange thing it is, if we will think of it,\nthat the Lord\u2019s Supper, the most solemn and sacred thing with which a man\ncan have to do upon earth, is just a thing which he cannot transact for\nhimself, or by himself. Not alone in secret, in his chamber, but,\nwhether he will or not, in the company of others, not merely in the\ncompany of his own private friends, but in the company of any or\neveryone, rich or poor, who chooses to kneel beside him; he goes with\nothers, rich and poor alike, to the Lord\u2019s Table, and there the same\nbread, and the same wine, is shared among all by the same priest. If\nthat means anything, it means this\u2014that rich and poor alike draw life for\ntheir souls from the same well, not for themselves only, not apart from\neach other, but all in common, all together, because they are brothers,\nmembers of one family, as the leaves are members of the same tree; that\nas the same bread and the same wine are needed to nourish the bodies of\nall, the same spirit of God is needed to nourish the souls of all; and\nthat we cannot have this spirit, except as members of a body, any more\nthan a man\u2019s limb can have life when it is cut off and parted from him.\nThis is the reason, and the only reason, why Protestant clergymen are\nforbidden, thank God! to give the Holy Sacrament of the Lord\u2019s Supper, to\nany one person singly. If a clergyman were to administer the Lord\u2019s\nSupper, to himself in private, without any congregation to partake with\nhim, it would not be the Lord\u2019s Supper, it would be nothing, and worse\nthan nothing; it would be a sham and a mockery, and, I believe, a sin. I\ndo not believe that Christ would be present, that God\u2019s Spirit would rest\non that man. For our Lord says, that it is where two or three are\ngathered together in His name, that He is in the midst of them. And it\nwas at a supper, at a feast, where all the Apostles were met together,\nthat our Lord divided the bread amongst them, and told them to share the\ncup amongst themselves, just as a sign that they were all members of one\nbody\u2014that the welfare of each of them was bound up in the welfare of all\nthe rest that God\u2019s blessing did not rest upon each singly, but upon all\ntogether. And it is just because we have forgotten this, my\nfriends\u2014because we have forgotten that we are all brothers and sisters,\nchildren of one family, members of one body\u2014because in short, we have\ncarried our selfishness into our very religion, and up to the altar of\nGod, that we neglect the Lord\u2019s Supper as we do. People neglect the\nLord\u2019s Supper because they either do not know or do not like that, of\nwhich the Lord\u2019s Supper is the token and warrant. It is not merely that\nthey feel themselves unfit for the Lord\u2019s Supper, because they are not in\nlove and charity with all men. Oh! my dear friends, do not some of your\nhearts tell you, that the reason why you stay away from the Lord\u2019s Supper\nis because you do not _wish_ to be fit for the Lord\u2019s Supper\u2014because you\ndo not like to be in love and charity with all men\u2014because you do not\nwish to be reminded that you are equals in God\u2019s sight, all equally\nsinful, all equally pardoned\u2014and to see people whom you dislike or\ndespise, kneeling by your side, and partaking of the same bread and wine\nwith you, as a token that God sees no difference between you and them;\nthat God looks upon you all as brothers, however little brotherly love or\nfellow-feeling there may be, alas! between you? Or, again, do not some\nof you stay away from the Lord\u2019s Supper, because you see no good in\ngoing? because it seems to make those who go no better than they were\nbefore? Shall I tell you the reason of that? Shall I tell you why, as\nis too true, too many do come to the Lord\u2019s Supper, and so far from being\nthe better for it, seem only the worse? Because they come to it in\nselfishness. We have fallen into the same false and unscriptural way of\nlooking at the Lord\u2019s Supper, into which the Papists have. People go to\nthe Lord\u2019s Supper nowadays too much to get some private good for their\nown souls, and it would not matter to many of them, I am afraid, if not\nanother person in the parish received it, provided they can get, as they\nfancy, the same blessing from it. Thus they come to it in an utterly\nfalse and wrong temper of mind. Instead of coming as members of Christ\u2019s\nbody, to get from Him life and strength, to work, in their places, as\nmembers of that body, they come to get something for themselves, as if\nthere was nobody else\u2019s soul in the world to be saved but their own.\nInstead of coming to ask for the Spirit of God to deliver them from their\nselfishness, and make them care less about themselves, and more about all\naround them, they come to ask for the Spirit of God because they think it\nwill make themselves higher and happier in heaven. And of course they do\nnot get what they come for, because they come for the wrong thing. Thus\nthose who see them, begin to fancy that the Lord\u2019s Supper is not, after\nall, so very important for the salvation of their souls; and not finding\nin the Bible actually written these words, \u201cThou shalt perish\neverlastingly unless thou take the Lord\u2019s Supper,\u201d they end by staying\naway from it, and utterly neglecting it, they and their children after\nthem; preferring their own selfishness, to God\u2019s Spirit of love, and\nsaying, like Esau of old, \u201cI am hungry, and I must live. I must get on\nin this selfish world by following its selfish ways; what is the use of a\nspirit of love and brotherhood to me? If I were to obey the Gospel, and\nsacrifice my own interest for those around me, I should starve; what good\nwill my birthright do me?\u201d\n\nOh! my friends, I pray God that some of you, at least, may change your\nmind. I pray God that some of you may see at last, that all the misery\nand the burdens of this time, spring from one root, which is selfishness;\nand that the reason why we are selfish, is because we have not with us\nthe Spirit of God, which is the spirit of brotherhood and love. Let us\npray God now, and henceforth, to take that selfishness out of all our\nhearts. Let us pray God now, and henceforth, to pour upon us, and upon\nall our countrymen, ay, and upon the whole world, the spirit of\nfriendship and fellow-feeling, the spirit which when men have among them,\nthey need no laws to keep them from supplanting, and oppressing, and\ndevouring each other, because its fruits are love, cheerfulness, peace,\nlong suffering, gentleness, goodness, honesty, meekness, temperance Then\nthere will be no need, my friends, for me to call you to the Supper of\nthe Lord. You will no more think of staying away from it, than the\nApostles did, when the Spirit was poured out on them. For what do we\nread that they did after the first Whit-Sunday? That altogether with one\naccord, they broke bread daily; that is, partook of the Lord\u2019s Supper\nevery day, from house to house. They did not need to be told to do it.\nThey did it, as I may say, by instinct. There was no question or\nargument about it in their minds. They had found out that they were all\nbrothers, with one common cause in joy and sorrow\u2014that they were all\nmembers of one body\u2014that the life of their souls came from one root and\nspring, from one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the light and the life of\nmen, in whom they were all one, members of each other; and therefore,\nthey delighted in that Lord\u2019s Supper, just because it brought them\ntogether; just because it was a sign and a token to them that they did\nbelong to each other, that they had one Lord, one faith, one interest,\none common cause for this life, and for all eternity. And therefore the\nblessing of that Lord\u2019s Supper did come to them, and in it they did\nreceive strength to live like children of God and members of Christ, and\nbrothers to each other and to all mankind. They proved by their actions\nwhat that Communion Feast, that Sacrament of Brotherhood, had done for\nthem. They proved it by not counting their own lives dear to them, but\ngoing forth in the face of poverty and persecution, and death itself, to\npreach to the whole world the good news that Christ was their King. They\nproved it by their conduct to each other when they had all things in\ncommon, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, as\nevery man had need. They proved it by needing no laws to bind them to\neach other from without, because they were bound to each other from\nwithin, by the love which comes down from God, and is the very bond of\npeace, and of every virtue which becomes a man.\n\n\n\n\nXI.\nASCENSION-DAY.\n\n\n And Jesus led them out as far as to Bethany; and he lifted up his\n hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them,\n he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they\n worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem, with great joy; and were\n continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.\u2014LUKE xxiv.\n 50\u201353.\n\nON this day it is fit and proper for us\u2014if we have understood, and\nenjoyed, and profited by the wonder of the Lord\u2019s Ascension into\nHeaven\u2014to be in the same state of mind as the Apostles were after His\nAscension: for what was right for them is right for us and for all men;\nthe same effects which it produced on them it ought to produce on us.\nAnd we may know whether we are in the state in which Christian men ought\nto be, by seeing how far we are in the same state of mind as the Apostles\nwere. Now the text tells us in what state of mind they were; how that,\nafter the Lord Jesus was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven,\nthey worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem, with great joy, and were\ncontinually in the temple, praising and blessing God. It seems at first\nsight certainly very strange that they should go back with great joy.\nThey had just lost their Teacher, their Master\u2014One who had been more to\nthem than all friends and fathers could be; One who had taken them, poor\nsimple fishermen, and changed the whole course of their lives, and taught\nthem things which He had taught to no one else, and given them a great\nand awful work to do\u2014the work of changing the ways and thoughts and\ndoings of the whole world. He had sent them out\u2014eleven unlettered\nworking men\u2014to fight against the sin and the misery of the whole world.\nAnd He had given them open warning of what they were to expect; that by\nit they should win neither credit, nor riches, nor ease, nor anything\nelse that the world thinks worth having. He gave them fair warning that\nthe world would hate them, and try to crush them. He told them, as the\nGospel for to-day says, that they should be driven out of the churches;\nthat the religious people, as well as the irreligious, would be against\nthem; that the time would come when those who killed them would think\nthat they did God service; that nothing but labour, and want, and\npersecution, and slander, and torture, and death was before them\u2014and now\nHe had gone away and left them. He had vanished up into the empty air.\nThey were to see His face, and hear His voice no more. They were to have\nno more of His advice, no more of His teaching, no more of His tender\ncomfortings; they were to be alone in the world\u2014eleven poor working men,\nwith the whole world against them, and so great a business to do that\nthey would not have time to get their bread by the labour of their hands.\nIs it not wonderful that they did not sit down in despair, and say, \u201cWhat\nwill become of us?\u201d Is it not wonderful that they did not give\nthemselves up to grief at losing the Teacher who was worth all the rest\nof the world put together? Is it not wonderful that they did not go\nback, each one to his old trade, to his fishing and to his daily labour,\nsaying, \u201cAt all events we must eat; at all events we must get our\nlivelihood;\u201d and end, as they had begun, in being mere labouring men, of\nwhom the world would never have heard a word? And instead of that we\nread that they went back with great joy not to their homes but to\nJerusalem, the capital city of their country, and \u201cwere continually in\nthe temple blessing and praising God.\u201d Well, my friends, and if it is\npossible for one man to judge what another man would have done\u2014if it is\npossible to guess what we should have done in their case\u2014common-sense\nmust show us this, that if He was merely their Teacher, they would have\neither given themselves up to despair, or gone back, some to their\nplough, some to their fishing-nets, and some, like Matthew, to their\ncounting-houses, and we should never have heard a word of them. But if\nyou will look in your Bibles, you will find that they thought Him much\nmore than a teacher\u2014that they thought Him to be the Lord and King of the\nwhole world; and you will find that the great joy with which the\ndisciples went back, after He ascended into heaven, came from certain\nvery strange words that He had been speaking to them just before He\nascended\u2014words about which they could have but two opinions: either they\nmust have thought that they were utter falsehood, and self-conceit, and\nblasphemy; and that Jesus, who had been all along speaking to them such\nwords of wisdom and holiness as never man spake before, had suddenly\nchanged His whole character at the last, and become such a sort of person\nas it is neither fit for me to speak of, or you to hear me speak of, in\nGod\u2019s church, and in Jesus Christ\u2019s hearing, even though it be merely for\nthe sake of argument; or else they must have thought _this_ about His\nwords, that they were the most joyful and blessed words that ever had\nbeen spoken on the earth; that they were the best of all news; the most\ncomplete of all Gospels for this poor sinful world; that what Jesus had\nsaid about Himself was true; and that as long as it was true, it did not\nmatter in the least what became of them; it did not matter in the least\nwhat difficulties stood in their way, for they would be certain to\nconquer them all; it did not matter in the least how men might persecute\nand slander them, for they would be sure to get their reward; it did not\nmatter in the least how miserable and sinful the world might be just\nthen, for it was certain to be changed, and converted, and brought to\nGod, to righteousness, to love, to freedom, to light, at last.\n\nIf you look at the various accounts, in the four gospels, of the Lord\u2019s\nlast words on earth, you will see, surely, what I mean. Let us take them\none by one.\n\nSt. Matthew tells us that, a few days before the Lord\u2019s ascension, He met\nHis disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where he had appointed them to\nawait him; and there told them, that all power was given to Him in heaven\nand earth. Was not that blessed news\u2014was not that a gospel? That all\nthe power in heaven and earth belonged to _Him_? To Him, who had all His\nlife been doing good? To Him, in whom there had never been one single\nstain of tyranny or selfishness? To Him, who had been the friend of\npublicans and sinners? To Him, who had rebuked the very richest, and\nloved the very poorest? To him, who had shown that He had both the power\nand the will to heal every kind of sickness and disease? To Him, who had\nconquered and driven out, wherever He met them, all the evil spirits\nwhich enslave and torment poor sinful men? To Him, who had shown by\nrising from the dead, that He was stronger than even death itself? To\nHim, who had declared that He was the Son of God the Father, that the\ngreat God who had made heaven and earth, and all therein, was perfectly\npleased and satisfied with Him, that He was come to do His Father\u2019s will,\nand not His own; that He was the ancient Lord of the earth, the I AM who\nwas before Abraham? And He was now to have all power in heaven and\nearth! Everything which was done right in the world henceforth, was to\nbe His doing. The kingdom and rule over the whole universe, was to be\nHis. So He said; and His disciples believed Him; and if they believed\nHim, how could they but rejoice? How could they but rejoice at the\nglorious thought that He, the son of the village maiden, the champion of\nthe poor and the suffering, was to have the government of the world for\never? That He, who all the while He had been on earth had showed that He\nwas perfect justice, perfect love, perfect humanity, was to reign till He\nhad put all His enemies under His feet? How could the world but prosper\nunder such a King as that? How could wickedness triumph, while He, the\nperfectly righteous one, was King? How could misery triumph, while He,\nthe perfectly merciful one, was King? How could ignorance triumph, while\nHe, the perfectly wise one, who had declared that God the Father hid\nnothing from Him, was King? Unless the disciples had been more dull and\nselfish than the dumb beasts around them, what could they do but rejoice\nat that news? What matter to them if Jesus were taken out of their\nsight, as long as all power was given to Him in heaven and earth?\n\nBut He had told them more. He had told them that they were not to keep\nthis glorious secret to themselves. No: they were to go forth and preach\nthe gospel of it, the good news of it, to every creature\u2014to preach the\ngospel of the kingdom of God. The good news that God was the King of\nmen, after all; that cruel tyrants and oppressors, and conquerors, were\nnot their kings; that neither the storms over their heads, nor the earth\nunder their feet, nor the clouds and the rivers whom the heathens used to\nworship in the hope of persuading the earth and the weather to be\nfavourable to them, and bless their harvests, were their kings; that\nidols of wood and stone, and evil spirits of lust, and cruelty, and\ncovetousness, were not their kings; but that God was their King; that He\nloved them, He pitied them in spite of all their sins; that He had sent\nHis only begotten Son into the world to teach them, to live for them\u2014to\ndie for them\u2014to claim them for His own. And, therefore, they were to go\nand baptize all nations, as a sign that they were to repent, and change,\nand put away all their old false and evil heathen life, and rise to a new\nlife, they and their children after them, as God\u2019s children, God\u2019s\nfamily, brothers of the Son of God. And they were to baptize them into a\nname; showing that they belonged to those into whose name they were\nbaptized; into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.\nThey were to be baptized into the name of the Father, as a sign that God\nwas their Father, and they His children. They were to be baptized into\nthe name of the Son, as a sign that the Son, Jesus Christ, was their King\nand head; and not merely their King and head, but their Saviour, who had\ntaken away the sin of the world, and redeemed it for God, with His own\nmost precious blood; and not merely their Saviour, but their pattern;\nthat they might know that they were bound to become as far as is possible\nfor mortal man such sons of God as Jesus himself had been, like Him\nobedient, pure, forgiving, brotherly, caring for each other and not for\nthemselves, doing their heavenly Father\u2019s will and not their own. And\nthey were to baptize all nations into the name of the Holy Spirit, for a\nsign that God\u2019s Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, would be with them,\nto give them new life, new holiness, new manfulness; to teach, and guide,\nand strengthen them for ever. That was the gospel which they had to\npreach. The good news that the Son of God was the King of men. That was\nthe name into which they were to baptize all nations\u2014the name of children\nof God, members of Christ, heirs of a heavenly and spiritual kingdom,\nwhich should go on age after age, for ever, growing and spreading men\nknew not how, as the grains of mustard-seed, which at first the least of\nall seeds, grows up into a great tree, and the birds of the air come and\nlodge in the branches of it\u2014to go on, I say, from age to age, improving,\ncleansing, and humanising, and teaching the whole world, till the\nkingdoms of the earth became the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. That\nwas the work which the Apostles had given them to do. Do you not see,\nfriends, that unless those Apostles had been the most selfish of men,\nunless all they cared for was their own gain and comfort, they must have\nrejoiced? The whole world was to be set right\u2014what matter what happened\nto them? And, therefore, I said at the beginning of my sermon, that a\nsure way to know whether our minds were in a right state, was to see\nwhether we felt about it as the Apostles felt. The Bible tells us to\nrejoice always, to praise and give thanks to God always. If we believe\nwhat the Apostles believed, we shall be joyful; if we do not, we shall\nnot be joyful. If we believe in the words which the Lord spoke before He\nascended on high, we shall be joyful. If we believe that all power in\nheaven and earth is His, we shall be joyful. If we believe that the son\nof the village maiden has ascended up on high, and received gifts for\nmen, we shall be joyful. If we believe that, as our baptism told us, God\nis our Father, the Son of God our Saviour, the Spirit of God ready to\nteach and guide us, we shall be joyful. Do you answer me, \u201cBut the world\ngoes on so ill; there is so much sin, and misery, and folly, and cruelty\nin it; how can we be joyful?\u201d I answer: There was a hundred times as\nmuch sin, and misery, and folly, and cruelty, in the Apostles\u2019 time, and\nyet they were joyful, and full of gladness, blessing and praising God.\nIf you answer, \u201cBut we are so slandered, and neglected, and\nmisunderstood, and hard-worked, and ill-treated; we have no time to enjoy\nourselves, or do the things which we should like best. How can we be\njoyful?\u201d I answer: So were the Apostles. They knew that they would be a\nhundred times as much slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, as you\ncan ever be; that they would have far less time to enjoy themselves, far\nless opportunity of doing the things which they liked best, than you can\never have; they knew that misery, and persecution, and a shameful death\nwere before them, and yet they were joyful and full of gladness, blessing\nand praising God. And why should you not be? For what was true for them\nis true for you. They had no blessing, no hope, but what you have just\nas good a right to as they had. They were joyful, because God was their\nFather, and God is your Father. They were joyful because they and all\nmen belonged to God\u2019s family; and you belong to it. They were joyful,\nbecause God\u2019s Spirit was promised to them, to make them like God; and\nGod\u2019s Spirit was promised to you. They were joyful, because a poor man\nwas king of heaven and earth; and that poor man, Jesus Christ, who was\nborn at Bethlehem, is as much your King now as He was theirs then. They\nwere joyful, because the whole world was going to improve under His rule\nand government; and the whole world is improving, and will go on\nimproving for ever. They were joyful, because Jesus, whom they had known\nas a poor, despised, crucified man on earth, had ascended up to heaven in\nglory; and if you believe the same, you will be joyful too. In\nproportion as you believe the mystery of Ascension-day; if you believe\nthe words which the Lord spoke before He ascended, you will have\ncheerful, joyful, hopeful thoughts about yourselves, and about the whole\nworld; if you do not, you will be in continual danger of becoming\nsuspicious and despairing, fancying the world still worse than it is,\nfancying that God has neglected and forgotten it, fancying that the devil\nis stronger than God, and man\u2019s sins wider than Christ\u2019s redemption till\nyou will think it neither worth while to do right yourselves, nor to make\nothers do right towards you.\n\n\n\n\nXII.\nTHE FOUNT OF SCIENCE.\n\n\n (_A Sermon Preached at St. Margaret\u2019s Church_, _Westminster_, _May_\n 4_th_, 1851, _in behalf of the Westminster Hospital_.)\n\n When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received\n gifts for men, yea, even for his enemies, that the Lord God might\n dwell among them.\u2014PSALM lxviii. 18, and EPHESIANS iv. 8.\n\nIF, a thousand years ago, a congregation in this place had been addressed\nupon the text which I have chosen, they would have had, I think, little\ndifficulty in applying its meaning to themselves, and in mentioning at\nonce innumerable instances of those gifts which the King of men had\nreceived for men, innumerable signs that the Lord God was really dwelling\namongst them. But amongst those signs, I think, they would have\nmentioned several which we are not now generally accustomed to consider\nin such a light. They would have pointed not merely to the building of\nchurches, the founding of schools, the spread of peace, the decay of\nslavery; but to the importation of foreign literature, the extension of\nthe arts of reading, writing, painting, architecture, the improvement of\nagriculture, and the introduction of new and more successful methods of\nthe cure of diseases. They might have expressed themselves on these\npoints in a way that we consider now puerile and superstitious. They\nmight have attributed to the efficacy of prayer, many cures which we now\nattribute\u2014shall I say? to no cause whatsoever. They may have quoted as\nan instance of St. Cuthbert\u2019s sanctity, rather than of his shrewd\nobservations, his discovery of a spring of water in the rocky floor of\nhis cell, and his success in growing barley upon the barren island where\nwheat refused to germinate; and we might have smiled at their\nsuperstition, and smiled, too, at their seeing any consequence of\nChristianity, any token that the kingdom of God was among them, in Bishop\nWilfred\u2019s rescuing the Hampshire Saxons from the horrors of famine, by\nteaching them the use of fishing-nets. But still so they would have\nspoken\u2014men of a turn of mind no less keen, shrewd, and practical than we,\ntheir children; and if we had objected to their so-called superstition\nthat all these improvements in the physical state of England were only\nthe natural consequences of the introduction of Roman civilisation by\nFrench and Italian missionaries, they would have smiled at us in their\nturn, not perhaps without some astonishment at our stupidity, and asked:\n\u201cDo you not see, too, that _that_ is in itself a sign of the kingdom of\nGod\u2014that these nations who have been for ages selfishly isolated from\neach other, except for purposes of conquest and desolation, should be now\nteaching each other, helping each other, interchanging more and more,\ngeneration by generation, their arts, their laws, their learning becoming\nfused down under the influence of a common Creed, and loyalty to one\ncommon King in Heaven, from their state of savage jealousy and warfare,\ninto one great Christendom, and family of God?\u201d And if, my friends, as I\nthink, those forefathers of ours could rise from their graves this day,\nthey would be inclined to see in our hospitals, in our railroads, in the\nachievements of our physical Science, confirmation of that old\nsuperstition of theirs, proofs of the kingdom of God, realisations of the\ngifts which Christ received for men, vaster than any of which they had\never dreamed. They might be startled at God\u2019s continuing those gifts to\nus, who hold on many points a creed so different from theirs. They might\nbe still more startled to see in the Great Exhibition of all Nations,\nwhich is our present nine-days\u2019 wonder, that those blessings were not\nrestricted by God even to nominal Christians, but that His love, His\nteaching, with regard to matters of civilisation and physical science,\nwere extended, though more slowly and partially, to the Mahometan and the\nHeathen. And it would be a wholesome lesson to them, to find that God\u2019s\ngrace was wider than their narrow theories; perhaps they may have learnt\nit already in the world of spirits. But of its _being_ God\u2019s grace,\nthere would be no doubt in their minds. They would claim unhesitatingly,\nand at once, that great Exhibition established in a Christian country, as\na point of union and brotherhood for all people, for a sign that God was\nindeed claiming all the nations of the world as His own\u2014proving by the\nmost enormous facts that He had sent down a Pentecost, gifts to men which\nwould raise them not merely spiritually, but physically and\nintellectually, beyond anything which the world had ever seen, and had\npoured out a spirit among them which would convert them in the course of\nages, gradually, but most surely and really, from a pandemonium of\nconquerors and conquered, devourers and devoured, into a family of\nfellow-helping brothers, until the kingdoms of the world became the\nkingdoms of God and of His Christ.\n\nBut I think one thing, if anything, would stagger their simple old Saxon\nfaith; one thing would make them fearful, as indeed it makes the preacher\nthis day, that the time of real brotherhood and peace is still but too\nfar off; and that the achievements of our physical science, the unity of\nthis great Exhibition, noble as they are, are still only dim forecastings\nand prophecies, as it were, of a higher, nobler reality. And they would\nsay sadly to us, their children: \u201cSons, you ought to be so near to God;\nHe seems to have given you so much and to have worked among you as He\nnever worked for any nation under heaven. How is it that you give the\nglory to yourselves, and not to Him?\u201d\n\nFor do we give the glory of our scientific discoveries to God, in any\nreal, honest, and practical sense? There may be some official and\nperfunctory talk of God\u2019s blessing on our endeavours; but there seems to\nbe no real belief in us that God, the inspiration of God, is the very\nfount and root of the endeavours themselves; that He teaches us these\ngreat discoveries; that He gives us wisdom to get this wondrous wealth;\nthat He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. True, we\nkeep up something of the form and tradition of the old talk about such\nthings; we join in prayer to God to bless our great Exhibition, but we do\nnot believe\u2014we do not believe, my friends\u2014that it was God who taught us\nto conceive, build, and arrange that Great Exhibition; and our notion of\nGod\u2019s blessing it, seems to be God\u2019s absence from it; a hope and trust\nthat God will leave it and us alone, and not \u201cvisit\u201d it or us in it, or\n\u201cinterfere\u201d by any \u201cspecial providences,\u201d by storms, or lightning, or\nsickness, or panic, or conspiracy; a sort of dim feeling that we could\nmanage it all perfectly well without God, but that as He exists, and has\nsome power over natural phenomena, which is not very exactly defined, we\nmust notice His existence over and above our work, lest He should become\nangry and \u201cvisit\u201d us . . . And this in spite of words which were spoken\nby one whose office it was to speak them, as the representative of the\nhighest and most sacred personage in these realms; words which deserve to\nbe written in letters of gold on the high places of this city; in which\nhe spoke of this Exhibition as an \u201capproach to a more complete fulfilment\nof the great and sacred mission which man has to perform in the world;\u201d\nwhen he told the English people that \u201cman\u2019s reason being created in the\nimage of God, he has to discover the laws by which Almighty God governs\nHis creations, and by making these laws the standard of his action, to\nconquer nature to his use, himself a divine instrument;\u201d when he spoke of\n\u201cthankfulness to Almighty God for what he has already _given_,\u201d as the\nfirst feeling which that Exhibition ought to excite in us; and as the\nsecond, \u201cthe deep conviction that those blessings can only be realised in\nproportion to\u201d\u2014not, as some would have it, the rivalry and selfish\ncompetition\u2014but \u201cin proportion to the _help_ which we are prepared to\nrender to each other; and, therefore, by peace, love, and ready\nassistance, not only between individuals, but between all nations of the\nearth.\u201d We read those great words; but in the hearts of how few, alas!\nto judge from our modern creed on such matters, must the really important\nand distinctive points of them find an echo! To how few does this whole\nExhibition seem to have been anything but a matter of personal gain or\ncuriosity, for national aggrandisement, insular self-glorification, and\nselfish\u2014I had almost said, treacherous\u2014rivalry with the very foreigners\nwhom we invited as our guests?\n\nAnd so, too, with our cures of diseases. We speak of God\u2019s blessing the\nmeans, and God\u2019s blessing the cure. But all we really mean by blessing\nthem, is permitting them. Do not our hearts confess that our notion of\nHis blessing the means, is His leaving the means to themselves and their\nown physical laws\u2014leaving, in short, the cure to us and not preventing\nour science doing its work, and asserting His own existence by bringing\non some unexpected crisis, or unfortunate relapse\u2014if, indeed, the old\ntheory that He does bring on such, be true?\n\nOur old forefathers, on the other hand, used to believe that in medicine,\nas in everything else, God taught men all that they knew. They believed\nthe words of the Wise Man when he said that \u201cthe Spirit of God gives man\nunderstanding.\u201d The method by which Solomon believed himself to have\nobtained all his physical science and knowledge of trees, from the cedar\nof Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth on the wall, was in their eyes the\nonly possible method. They believed the words of Isaiah when he said of\nthe tillage and the rotation of crops in use among the peasants of his\ncountry, that their God instructed them to discretion and taught them;\nand that even the various methods of threshing out the various species of\ngrain came \u201cforth from the Lord of hosts, who is excellent in counsel,\nand wonderful in working.\u201d\n\nSuch a method, you say, seems to you now miraculous. It did not seem to\nour forefathers miraculous that God should teach man; it seemed to them\nmost simple, most rational, most natural, an utterly every-day axiom.\nThey thought it was because so few of the heathen were taught by God that\nthey were no wiser than they were. They thought that since the Son of\nGod had come down and taken our nature upon Him, and ascended up on high\nand received gifts for men, that it was now the right and privilege of\nevery human being who was willing to be taught of God, as the prophet\nforetold in those very words; and that baptism was the very sign and seal\nof that fact\u2014a sign that for every human being, whatever his age, sex,\nrank, intellect, or race, a certain measure of the teaching of God and of\nthe Spirit of God was ready, promised, sure as the oath of Him that made\nheaven and the earth, and all things therein. That was Solomon\u2019s belief.\nWe do not find that it made him a fanatic and an idler, waiting with\nfolded hands for inspiration to come to him he knew not how nor whence.\nHis belief that wisdom was the revelation and gift of God did not prevent\nhim from seeking her as silver, and searching for her as hid treasures,\nfrom applying his heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all\nthings that are done under heaven; and we do not find that it prevented\nour forefathers. Ceadmon\u2019s belief that God inspired him with the poetic\nfaculty, did not make him the less laborious and careful versifier.\nBishop John\u2019s blessing the dumb boy\u2019s tongue in the name of Him whom he\nbelieved to be Word of God and the Master of that poor dumb boy, did not\nprevent his anticipating some of the discoveries of our modern wise men,\nin setting about a most practical and scientific cure. Alfred\u2019s\ncontinual prayers for light and inspiration made him no less a laborious\nand thoughtful student of war and law, of physics, language, and\ngeography. These old Teutons, for all these superstitions of theirs,\nwere perhaps as businesslike and practical in those days as we their\nchildren are in these. But that did not prevent their believing that\nunless God showed them a thing, they could not see it, and thanking Him\nhonestly enough for the comparative little which He did show them. But\nwe who enjoy the accumulated teaching of ages\u2014we to whose researches He\nis revealing year by year, almost week by weeks wonders of which they\nnever dreamed\u2014we whom He has taught to make the lame to walk, the dumb to\nspeak, the blind to see, to exterminate the pestilence and defy the\nthunderbolt, to multiply millionfold the fruits of learning, to\nannihilate time and space, to span the heavens, and to weigh the sun\u2014what\nmadness is this which has come upon us in these last days, to make us\nfancy that we, insects of a day, have found out these things for\nourselves, and talk big about the progress of the species, and the\ntriumphs of intellect, and the all-conquering powers of the human mind,\nand give the glory of all this inspiration and revelation, not to God,\nbut to ourselves? Let us beware, beware\u2014lest our boundless pride and\nself-satisfaction, by some mysterious yet most certain law, avenge\nitself\u2014lest like the Assyrian conqueror of old, while we stand and cry,\n\u201cIs not this great Babylon which I have built?\u201d our reason, like his,\nshould reel and fall beneath the narcotic of our own maddening\nself-conceit, and while attempting to scale the heavens we overlook some\npitfall at our feet, and fall as learned idiots, suicidal pedants, to be\na degradation, and a hissing, and a shame.\n\nHowever strongly you may differ from these opinions of our own\nforefathers with regard to the ground and cause of physical science, and\nthe arts of healing, I am sure that the recollection of the thrice holy\nground upon which we stand, beneath the shadow of venerable piles,\nwitnesses for the creeds, the laws, the liberties, which those our\nancestors have handed down to us, will preserve you from the temptation\nof dismissing with hasty contempt their thoughts upon any subject so\nimportant; will make you inclined to listen to their opinion with\naffection, if not with reverence; and save, perhaps, the preacher from a\nsneer when he declares that the doctrine of those old Saxon men is, in\nhis belief, not only the most Scriptural, but the most rational and\nscientific explanation of the grounds of all human knowledge.\n\nAt least, I shall be able to quote in support of my own opinion a name\nfrom which there can be no appeal in the minds of a congregation of\neducated Englishmen\u2014I mean Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, the spiritual\nfather of the modern science, and, therefore, of the chemistry and the\nmedicine of the whole civilised world. If there is one thing which more\nthan another ought to impress itself on the mind of a careful student of\nhis works, it is this\u2014that he considered science as the inspiration of\nGod, and every separate act of induction by which man arrives at a\nphysical law, as a revelation from the Maker of those laws; and that the\nfaith which gave him daring to face the mystery of the universe, and\nproclaim to men that they could conquer nature by obeying her, was his\ndeep, living, practical belief that there was One who had ascended up on\nhigh and led captive in the flesh and spirit of a man those very idols of\nsense which had been themselves leading men\u2019s minds captive, enslaving\nthem to the illusions of their own senses, forcing them to bow down in\nvague awe and terror before those powers of Nature, which God had\nappointed, not to be their tyrants, but their slaves. I will not\nspecial-plead particulars from his works, wherein I may consider that he\nasserts this. I will rather say boldly that the idea runs through every\nline he ever wrote; that unless seen in the light of that faith, the\ngrounds of his philosophy ought to be as inexplicable to us, as they\nwould, without it, have been impossible to himself. As has been well\nsaid of him: \u201cFaith in God as the absolute ground of all human as well as\nof all natural laws; the belief that He had actually made Himself known\nto His creatures, and that it was possible for them to have a knowledge\nof Him, cleared from the phantasies and idols of their own imaginations\nand understandings; this was the necessary foundation of all that great\nman\u2019s mind and speculations, to whatever point they were tending, and\nhowever at times they might be darkened by too close a familiarity with\nthe corruptions and meannesses of man, or too passionate an addiction to\nthe contemplation of Nature. Nor should it ever be forgotten that he\nowed all the clearness and distinctness of his mind to his freedom from\nthat Pantheism which naturally disposes to a vague admiration and\nadoration of Nature, to the belief that it is stronger and nobler than\nourselves; that we are servants, and puppets, and portions of it, and not\nits lords and rulers. If Bacon had in anywise confounded Nature with\nGod\u2014if he had not entertained the strongest practical feeling that men\nwere connected with God through One who had taken upon Him their nature,\nit is impossible that he could have discovered that method of dealing\nwith physics which has made a physical science possible.\u201d\n\nNo really careful student of his works, but must have perceived this,\nhowever glad, alas! he may have felt at times to thrust the thought of it\nfrom him, and try to think that Francis Bacon\u2019s Christianity was\nsomething over and above his philosophy\u2014a religion which he left behind\nhim at the church-door\u2014or only sprinkled up and down his works so much of\nit as should shield him in a bigoted age from the suspicion of\nmaterialism. A strange theory, and yet one which so determined is man to\nsee nothing, whether it be in the Bible or in the Novum Organum, but what\neach wishes to see, has been deliberately put forth again and again by\nmen who fancy, forsooth, that the greatest of English heroes was even\nsuch an one as themselves. One does not wonder to find among the general\ncharacteristics of those writers who admire Bacon as a materialist, the\nmost utter incapacity of philosophising on Bacon\u2019s method, the very\nrestless conceit, the hasty generalisation, the hankering after\ncosmogonic theories, which Bacon anathematises in every page. Yes, I\nrepeat it, we owe our medical and sanitary science to Bacon\u2019s philosophy;\nand Bacon owed his philosophy to his Christianity.\n\nOh! it is easy for us, amid the marvels of our great hospitals, now grown\ncommonplace in our eyes from very custom, to talk of the empire of mind\nover matter; for us\u2014who reap the harvest whereof Bacon sowed the seed.\nBut consider, how great the faith of that man must have been, who died in\nhope, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off, and\nhaunted to his dying day with glorious visions of a time when famine and\npestilence should vanish before a scientific obedience\u2014to use his own\nexpression\u2014to the will of God, revealed in natural facts. Thus we can\nunderstand how he dared to denounce all that had gone before him as blind\nand worthless guides, and to proclaim himself to the world as the one\nrestorer of true physical philosophy. Thus we can understand how he, the\ncautious and patient man of the world, dared indulge in those vast dreams\nof the scientific triumphs of the future. Thus we can understand how he\ndared hint at the expectation that men would some day even conquer death\nitself; because he believed that man had conquered death already, in the\nperson of its King and Lord\u2014in the flesh of Him who ascended up on high,\nand led captivity captive, and received gifts for men. The \u201cempire of\nmind over matter?\u201d What practical proof had he of it amid the miserable\nalternations of empiricism and magic which made up the pseudo-science of\nhis time; amid the theories and speculations of mankind, which, as he\nsaid, were \u201cbut a sort of madness\u2014useless alike for discovery or for\noperation.\u201d What right had he, more than any other man who had gone\nbefore him, to believe that man could conquer and mould to his will the\nunseen and tremendous powers which work in every cloud and every flower?\nthat he could dive into the secret mysteries of his own body, and renew\nhis youth like the eagle\u2019s? This ground he had for that faith\u2014that he\nbelieved, as he says himself, that he must \u201cbegin from God; and that the\npursuit of physical science clearly proceeds from Him, the Author of\ngood, and Father of light.\u201d This gave him faith to say that in this as\nin all other Divine works, the smallest beginnings lead assuredly to some\nresult, and that the \u201cremark in spiritual matters, that the kingdom of\nGod cometh without observation, is also found to be true in every great\nwork of Divine Providence; so that everything glides on quietly without\nconfusion or noise, and the matter is achieved before men either think or\nperceive that it is commenced.\u201d This it was which gave him courage to\nbelieve that his own philosophy might be the actual fulfilment of the\nprophecy, that in the last days many should run to and fro, and knowledge\nshould be increased\u2014words which, like hundreds of others in his works,\nsound like the outpourings of an almost blasphemous self-conceit, till we\nrecollect that he looked on science only as the inspiration of God, and\nman\u2019s empire over nature only as the consequence of the redemption worked\nout for him by Christ, and begin to see in them the expressions of the\ndeepest and most divine humility.\n\nI doubt not that many here will be far more able than I am practically to\napply the facts which I have been adducing to the cause of the hospital\nfor which I am pleading. But there is one consequence of them to which I\nmust beg leave to draw attention more particularly, especially at the\npresent era of our nation. If, then, these discoveries of science be\nindeed revelations and inspirations from God, does it not follow that all\nclasses, even the poorest and the most ignorant, the most brutal, have an\nequal right to enjoy the fruits of them? Does it not follow that to give\nto the poor their share in the blessings which chemical and medical\nscience are working out for us, is not a matter of charity or\nbenevolence, but of _duty_, of indefeasible, peremptory, immediate duty?\nFor consider, my friends; the Son of God descends on earth, and takes on\nHim not only the form, but the very nature, affections, trials, and\nsorrows of a man. He proclaims Himself as the person who has been all\nalong ruling, guiding, teaching, improving men; the light who lighteth\nevery man who cometh into the world. He proclaims Himself by acts of\nwondrous power to be the internecine foe and conqueror of every form of\nsorrow, slavery, barbarism, weakness, sickness, death itself. He\nproclaims Himself as One who is come to give His life for His sheep\u2014One\nwho is come to restore to men the likeness in which they were originally\ncreated, the likeness of their Father in Heaven, who accepteth the person\nof no man\u2014who causeth His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, who\nsendeth His rain on the just and on the unjust, in whose sight the\nmeanest publican, if his only consciousness be that of his own baseness\nand worthlessness, is more righteous than the most learned, respectable,\nand self-satisfied pharisee. He proclaims Himself the setter-up of a\nkingdom into which the publican and the harlot will pass sooner than the\nrich, the mighty, and the noble; a kingdom in which all men are to be\nbrothers, and their bond of union loyalty to One who spared not His own\nlife for the sheep, who came not to do His own, but the will of the\nFather who had sent Him, and who showed by His toil among the poor, the\noutcast, the ignorant, and the brutal, what that same will was like.\nWith His own life-blood He seals this Covenant between God and man. He\noffers up His own body as the first-fruits of this great kingdom of\nself-sacrifice. He takes poor fishermen and mechanics, and sends them\nforth to acquaint all men with the good news that God is their King, and\nto baptize them as subjects of that kingdom, bound to rise in baptism to\na new life, a life of love, and brotherhood, and self-sacrifice, like His\nown. He commands them to call all nations to that sacred Feast wherein\nthere is neither rich nor poor, but the same bread and the same wine are\noffered to the monarch and to the slave, as signs of their common\nhumanity, their common redemption, their common interest\u2014signs that they\nderive their life, their health, their reason, their every faculty of\nbody, soul, and spirit, from One who walked the earth as the son of a\npoor carpenter, who ate and drank with publicans and sinners. He sends\ndown His Spirit on them with gifts of language, eloquence, wisdom, and\nhealing, as mere earnests and first-fruits; so they said, of that\nprophecy that He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, even upon\nslaves and handmaids. And these poor fishermen feel themselves impelled\nby a divine and irresistible impulse to go forth to the ends of the\nworld, and face persecution, insult, torture, and death\u2014not in order that\nthey may make themselves lords over mankind, but that they may tell them\nthat One is their Master, even Jesus Christ, both God and man\u2014that _He_\nrules the world, and will rule it, and _can_ rule it, that in His sight\nthere is no distinction of race, or rank, or riches, neither Jew nor\nGreek, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. And, as a fact, their message\nhas prevailed and been believed; and in proportion as it has prevailed,\nnot merely individual sanctity or piety, but liberty, law, peace,\ncivilisation, learning, art, science, the gifts which he bought for men\nwith His blood, have followed in its train: while the nations who have\nnot received that message that God was their King, or having received it\nhave forgotten it, or perverted it into a superstition and an hypocrisy,\nhave in exactly that proportion fallen back into barbarism and bloodshed,\nslavery and misery. My friends, if this philosophy of history, this\ntheory of human progress, or as I should call it, this Gospel of the\nKingdom of God mean anything\u2014does it not mean this? this which our\nforefathers believed, dimly and inconsistently perhaps, but still\nbelieved it, else we had not been here this day\u2014that we are not our own,\nbut the servants of Jesus Christ, and brothers of each other\u2014that the\nvery constitution and ground-law of this human species which has been\nredeemed by Christ, is the self-sacrifice which Christ displayed as the\none perfection of humanity\u2014that all rank, property, learning, science,\nare only held by their possessors in trust from that King who has\ndistributed them to each according as He will, that each might use them\nfor the good of all, certain\u2014as certain as God\u2019s promise can make\nman\u2014that if by giving up our own interest for the interest of others, we\nseek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness between man and man,\nwhich we call _mercy_, according to which it is constituted, all other\nthings, health, wealth, peace, and every other blessing which humanity\ncan desire, shall be added unto us over and above, as the natural and\nnecessary fruits of a society founded according to the will of God, and\ndeclared in his Son Jesus Christ, and therefore according to those\nphysical laws, whereof He is at once the Creator, the Director, and the\nRevealer?\n\nThis was the faith of our forefathers, both laity and clergy\u2014that the\nLord was King, be the people never so unquiet; that men were His stewards\nand His pupils only, and not His vicars; that they were equal in His\nsight, and not the slaves and tyrants of each other; and that the help\nthat was done upon earth, He did it all Himself. Dimly, doubtless, they\nsaw it, and inconsistently: but they saw it, and to their faith in that\ngreat truth we owe all that has made England really noble among the\nnations. Of the fruits of that faith every venerable building around us\nshould remind us. To that faith in the laity, we owe the abolition of\nserfdom, the freedom of our institutions, the laws which provide equal\njustice between man and man; to that faith in the clergy, and especially\nin the monastic orders, we owe the endowment of our schools and\nuniversities, the improvement of agriculture, the preservation and the\nspread of all the liberal arts and sciences, as far as they were then\ndiscovered; so that every one of those abbeys which we now revile so\nignorantly, became a centre of freedom, protection, healing, and\ncivilisation, a refuge for the oppressed, a well-spring of mercy for the\nafflicted, a practical witness to the nation that property and science\nwere not the private and absolute possession of men, but only held in\ntrust from God for the benefit of the common weal: and just in proportion\nas in the 14th and 15th centuries those institutions fell from their\nfirst estate, and began to fancy that their wealth and wisdom was their\nown, acquired by their own cunning, to be used for their own\naggrandizement, they became an imposture and imbecility, an abomination\nand a ruin. And it was this faith, too, in a still nobler and clearer\nform, which at the Reformation inspired the age which could produce a\nRidley, a Latimer, an Elizabeth, a Shakspeare, a Spenser, a Raleigh, a\nBacon, and a Milton; which knit together, in spite of religious feuds and\nsocial wrongs, the nation of England with a bond which all the powers of\nhell endeavoured in vain to break. Doubtless, there too there was\ninconsistency enough. Elizabeth may have mixed up ambitious dynastic\ndreams with her intense belief that God had given her her wisdom, her\nlearning, her mighty will, only to be the servant of His servants and\ndefender of the faith. Men like Drake and Raleigh, while they were\nbelieving that God had sent them forth to smite with the sword of the\nLord the devourers of the earth, the destroyers of religion, freedom,\ncivilisation, and national life, may have been unfaithful to what they\nbelieved their divine mission, and fancied that they might use their\nwisdom and valour that God gave them for their selfish ends, till they\ncommitted (as some say) acts of rapacity and cruelty worthy of the merest\nbuccaneer. But _that_ was not what made them conquer\u2014that was not what\nmade the wealth and the might of Spain melt away before their little\nbands of heroes; but the same old faith, shining out in all their noblest\nacts and words, that \u201cthe Lord _was_ King, and that the help that was\ndone upon earth, He did it all Himself?\u201d So again, Bacon may have\nfancied, and did fancy in his old age, that he might use his deep\nknowledge of mankind for his own selfish ends\u2014that he might indulge\nhimself in building himself up a name that might fill all the earth, that\nhe who had done so much for God and for mankind, might be allowed to do\nat last somewhat for himself, and tempted, by a paltry bribe, fall for\nawhile, as David did before him, that God, and not he, might have the\nglory of all his wisdom. But then he was less than himself; then he had\nbut lost sight of his lode-star. Then he had forgotten, but only for\nawhile, that he owed all to the teaching of that God who had given to the\nyoung and obscure advocate the mission of affecting the destinies of\nnations yet unborn.\n\nAnd believe me, my friends, even as it has been with our forefathers, so\nit will be with us. According to our faith will it be unto us, now as it\nwas of old. In proportion as we believe that wealth, science, and\ncivilisation are the work and property of man, in just that proportion we\nshall be tempted to keep them selfishly and exclusively to ourselves.\nThe man of science will be tempted to hide his discoveries, though men\nmay be perishing for lack of them, till he can sell them to the highest\nbidder; the rich man will be tempted to purchase them for himself, in\norder that he may increase his own comfort and luxury, and feel\ncomparatively lazy and careless about their application to the welfare of\nthe masses; he will be tempted to pay an exorbitant price for anything\nthat can increase his personal convenience, and yet when the question is\nabout improving the supply of necessaries to the poor, stand haggling\nabout considerations of profitable investment, excuse himself from doing\nthe duty which lies nearest to him by visions of distant profit, of which\na thousand unexpected accidents may deprive him after all, and make his\nboasted scientific care for the wealth of the nation an excuse for\nleaving tens of thousands worse housed and worse fed than his own beasts\nof burden. The poor man will be tempted franctically to oppose his\nselfishness and unbelief to the selfishness and unbelief of the rich, and\nclutch from him by force the comfort which really belong to neither of\nthem, in order that he may pride himself in them and misuse them in his\nturn; and the clergy will be tempted, as they have too often been tempted\nalready, to fancy that reason is the enemy, and not the twin sister of\nfaith; to oppose revelation to science, as if God\u2019s two messages could\ncontradict each other; to widen the Manich\u00e6an distinction between secular\nand spiritual matters, so pleasant to the natural atheism of fallen man;\nto fancy that they honour God by limiting as much as possible His\nteaching, His providence, His wisdom, His love, and His kingdom, and to\npretend that they are defending the creeds of the Catholic Church, by\ndenying to them any practical or real influence on the economic,\npolitical, and physical welfare of mankind. But in proportion as we hold\nto the old faith of our forefathers concerning science and civilisation,\nwe shall feel it not only a duty, but a glory and a delight, to make all\nmen sharers in them; to go out into the streets and lanes of the city and\ncall in the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, that they may sit down\nand take their share of the good things which God has provided in His\nkingdom for those who obey Him. Every new discovery will be hailed by us\nas a fresh boon from God to be bestowed by the rain and the sunshine\nfreely upon us all. The sight of every sufferer will make us ready to\nsuspect and to examine ourselves lest we should be in some indirect way\nthe victim of some neglect or selfishness of our own. Every disease will\nbe a sign to us that in some respect or other, the physical or moral laws\nof human nature have been overlooked or broken. The existence of an\nunhealthy locality, the recurrence of an epidemic, will be to us a\nsubject of public shame and self-reproach. Men of science will no longer\ngo up and down entreating mankind in vain to make use of their\ndiscoveries; the sanitary reformer will be no longer like Wisdom crying\nin the streets and no man regarding her; and in every ill to which flesh\nis heir we shall see an enemy of our King and Lord, and an intruder into\nHis Kingdom, against which we swore at our baptism to fight with an\ninspiring and delicious certainty that God will prosper the right; that\nHis laws cannot change; that nature, and the disturbances and poisons,\nand brute powers thereof, were meant to be the slaves, and not the\ntyrants of a race whose head has conquered the grave itself.\n\nThis is no speculative dream. The progress of science is daily proving\nit to be an actual truth; proving to us that a large proportion of\ndiseases\u2014how large a proportion, no man yet dare say\u2014are preventible by\nscience under the direction of that common justice and mercy which man\nowes to man. The proper cultivation of the soil, it is now clearly seen,\nwill exterminate fevers and agues, and all the frightful consequences of\nmalaria. An attention to those simple decencies and cleanlinesses of\nlife of which even the wild animals feel the necessity, will prevent the\nepidemics of our cities, and all the frightful train of secondary\ndiseases which follow them, or supply their place. The question which is\ngenerally more and more forcing itself on the minds of scientific men is\nnot how many diseases are, but how few are not, the consequences of man\u2019s\nignorance, barbarism, and folly. The medical man is felt more and more\nto be as necessary in health as he is in sickness, to be the\nfellow-workman not merely of the clergyman, but of the social reformer,\nthe political economist, and the statesman; and the first object of his\nscience to be prevention, and not cure. But if all this be true, as true\nit is, we ought to begin to look on hospitals as many medical men I doubt\nnot do already, in a sadder though in a no less important light. When we\nremember that the majority of cases which fill their wards are cases of\nmore or less directly preventible diseases, the fruits of our social\nneglect, too often of our neglect of the sufferers themselves, too often\nalso our neglect of their parents and forefathers; when we think how many\na bitter pang is engendered and propagated from generation to generation\nin the noisome alleys and courts of this metropolis, by foul food, foul\nbedrooms, foul air, foul water, by intemperance, the natural and almost\npardonable consequence of want of water, depressing and degrading\nemployments, and lives spent in such an atmosphere of filth as our\ndaintier nostrils could not endure a day: then we should learn to look\nupon these hospitals not as acts of charity, supererogatory benevolences\nof ours towards those to whom we owe nothing, but as confessions of sin,\nand worthy fruits of penitence; as poor and late and partial compensation\nfor misery which we might have prevented. And when again, taking up\nscientific works, we find how vast a proportion of the remaining cases of\ndisease are produced directly or indirectly by the unhealthiness of\ncertain occupations, so certainly that the scientific man can almost\nprophesy the average shortening of life, and the peculiar form of\ndisease, incident to any given form of city labour\u2014when we find, to quote\na single instance, that a large proportion\u2014one half, as I am informed\u2014of\nthe female cases in certain hospitals, are those of women-servants\nsuffering from diseases produced by overwork in household labour,\nespecially by carrying heavy weights up the steep stairs of our London\nhouses\u2014when we consider the large proportion of accident cases which are\nthe result, if not always of neglect in our social arrangements, still of\ndanger incurred in labouring for us, we shall begin to feel that our\ndebts towards the poorer classes, for whom this and other hospitals are\ninstituted, swells and mounts up to a burden which ought to be and would\nbe intolerable to us, if we had not some such means as this hospital\naffords of testifying our contrition for neglect for which we cannot\natone, and of practically claiming in the hospital our brotherhood with\nthose masses whom we pass by so carelessly in the workshop and the\nstreet. What matters it that they have undertaken a life of labour from\nnecessity, and with a full consciousness of the dangers they incur in it?\nFor whom have they been labouring, but for us? Their handiwork renders\nour houses luxurious. We wear the clothes they make. We eat the food\nthey produce. They sit in darkness and the shadow of death that we may\nenjoy light and life and luxury and civilisation. True, they are free\nmen, in name, not free though from the iron necessity of crushing toil.\nShall we make their liberty a cloak for our licentiousness? and because\nthey are our brothers and not our slaves, answer with Cain, \u201cAm I my\nbrother\u2019s keeper?\u201d What if we have paid them the wages which they ask?\nWe do not feed our beasts of burden only as long as they are in health,\nand when they fall sick leave them to cure themselves and starve\u2014and\nthese are not our beasts of burden; they are members of Christ, children\nof God, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Prove it to them, then, for\nthey are in bitter danger of forgetting it in these days. Prove to them,\nby helping to cure their maladies, that they are members of Christ, that\nthey do indeed belong to Him who without fee or payment freely cured the\nsick of Jud\u00e6a in old time. Prove to them that they are children of God\nby treating them as such\u2014as children of Him without whom not a sparrow\nfalls to the ground, children of Him whose love is over all His works,\nchildren of Him who defends the widow and the fatherless, and sees that\nthose who are in need or necessity have right, and who maketh inquiry for\nthe blood of the innocent. Prove to them that they are inheritors of the\nKingdom of Heaven, by proving to them first of all that the Kingdom of\nHeaven exists, that all, rich and poor alike, are brothers, and One their\nMaster, He who ascended up on high and led captivity captive, and\nreceived gifts for men, the gifts of healing, the gifts of science, the\ngifts of civilisation, the gifts of law, the gifts of order, the gifts of\nliberty, the gifts of the spirit of love and brotherhood, of\nfellow-feeling and self-sacrifice, of justice and humility, a spirit fit\nfor a world of redeemed and pardoned men, in which mercy is but justice,\nand self-sacrifice the truest self-interest; a world, the King and Master\nof which is One who poured out his own life-blood for the sake of those\nwho hated him, that men should henceforth live not for themselves, but\nfor Him who died and rose again, and ascended up on high and received\ngifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell among them.\n\nAnd because all general truths can only be verified in particular\ninstances, verify your general faith in that Christianity which you\nprofess in this particular instance, by doing the duty which lies nearest\nto you, and _giving_, _as it is called_, to this hospital for which I now\nplead.\n\nThanks to the spirit and the attainments of the average of English\nmedical men and chaplains, to praise the management of any hospital which\nis under their care, is a needless impertinence. Do you find funds,\nthere will be no fear as to their being well employed; and no fear, alas!\neither of their services being in full demand, while the sanitary state\nof vast streets of South London, lying close to this hospital, are in a\nstate in which they are, and in which private cupidity and neglect seem\nwilling to compel them to remain. It is on account of its contiguity to\nthese neglected, destitute, and poisonous localities, that this hospital\nseems to me especially valuable. But though situated in a part of London\nwhere its presence is especially needed, it has not, from various causes\nwhich have arisen from no fault of its own, attracted as much public\nnotice as some other more magnificent foundations; while it possesses one\nfeature, peculiar I believe to it, among our London hospitals, which\nseems to me to render it especially deserving of support: I speak of the\nward for incurable patients, in which, instead of ending their days in\nthe melancholy wards of a workhouse, or amid those pestilential and\ncrowded dwellings which have perhaps produced their maladies, and which\ncertainly will aggravate them, they may have their heavy years of\nhopeless suffering softened by a continued supply of constant comforts,\nand constant medical solicitude, such as the best-conducted workhouse, or\nthe most laborious staff of parish surgeons, and district visitors, ay,\nnot even the benevolence and self-sacrifice of friends and relations, can\npossibly provide. I beseech you, picture to yourselves the amount of\nmere physical comfort, not to mention the higher blessings of spiritual\nteaching and consolation, accruing to some poor tortured cripple, in the\nwards of this hospital; compare it with the very brightest lot possible\nfor him in the dwellings of the lower, or even of the middle classes of\nthe metropolis; then recollect that these hospital luxuries, which would\nbe unattainable by him elsewhere, are but a tithe of those which you, in\nhis situation, would consider absolute necessaries, without which a life\nof suffering, ay, even of health, were intolerable\u2014and do unto others\nthis day, as you would that others should do unto you!\n\nI might have taken some other and more popular method of drawing your\nattention to this institution.\n\nI might have tried to excite your feelings and sympathies by attempts at\npathetic or picturesque descriptions of suffering. But the minister of a\njust God is bound to proclaim that God demands not _sentiment_, but\n_justice_. The Bible knows nothing of the \u201creligious sentiments and\nemotions,\u201d whereof we hear so much talk nowadays. It speaks of _duty_.\n\u201cBeloved, if God so loved us, we _ought_ to love one another.\u201d\n\nI might also have attempted to flatter you into giving, by representing\nthis as a \u201c_good work_,\u201d a work of charity and piety, well pleasing to\nGod; a sort of work of Protestant supererogation, fruits of faith which\nwe may show, if we like, up to a certain not very clearly defined point\nof benevolence, but the absence of which probably will not seriously\naffect our eternal salvation, still less our right to call ourselves\northodox, Protestants, churchmen, worthy, kind-hearted, respectable,\nblameless. The Bible knows nothing of such a religion; it neither coaxes\nnor flatters, it _commands_. It demands mercy, because mercy is justice;\nand declares with what measure we mete to others, it shall be surely\nmeasured to us again. If therefore my words shall seem to some here, to\nbe not so much a humble request as a peremptory demand, I cannot help it.\nI have pleaded the cause of this hospital on the only solid ground of\nwhich I am aware, for doing anything but evil to everyone around us who\nis not a private friend, or a member of one\u2019s own family. I ask you to\nhelp the poor to their share in the gifts which Christ received for men,\nbecause they are His gifts, and neither ours nor any man\u2019s. Among these\nvenerable buildings, the signs and witnesses of the Kingdom of God, and\nthe blessings of that Kingdom which for a thousand years have been\nspreading and growing among us\u2014I ask it of you as citizens of that\nKingdom. Prove your brotherhood to the poor by restoring to them a\nportion of that wealth which, without their labour, you could never have\npossessed. Prove your brotherhood to them in a thousand ways\u2014in every\nway\u2014in this way, because at this moment it happens to be the nearest and\nthe most immediate, and because the necessity for it is nearer, more\nimmediate, to judge by the signs of the times, and most of all by their\nself-satisfied unconsciousness of danger, their loud and shallow\nself-glorification, than ever it was before. Work while it is called\nto-day, lest the night come wherein no man can work, but only take his\nwages.\n\nAgain I say, I may seem to some here to have pleaded the cause of this\nhospital in too harsh and peremptory a tone. . . . And yet I have a\nground of hope, in the English love of simple justice, in the noble\ninstances of benevolence and self-sacrifice among the wealthy and\neducated, which are, thank God! increasing in number daily, as the need\nof them increases\u2014in these, I say, I have a ground of hope that there are\nmany here to-day who would sooner hear the language of truth than of\nflattery; who will be more strongly moved toward a righteous deed by\nbeing told that it is their duty toward God, their country, and their\nfellow-citizens, than by any sentimental baits for personal sympathy, or\nfor the love of Pharisaic ostentation.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\nFIRST SERMON ON THE CHOLERA.\n\n\n (_Sunday Morning_, _September_ 27_th_, 1849.)\n\n God\u2019s judgments are from above, out of the sight of the wicked.\u2014PSALM\n x. 5.\n\nWE have just been praying to God to remove from us the cholera, which we\ncall a judgment of God, a chastisement; and God knows we have need enough\nto do so. But we can hardly expect God to withdraw His chastisement\nunless we correct the sins for which He chastised us, and therefore\nunless we find out what particular sins have brought the evil on us. For\nit is mere cant and hypocrisy, my friends, to tell God, in a general way,\nthat we believe He is punishing us for our sins, and then to avoid\ncarefully confessing any particular sin, and to get angry with anyone who\ntells us boldly _which_ sin God is punishing us for. But so goes the\nworld. Everyone is ready to say, \u201cOh! yes, we are all great sinners,\nmiserable sinners!\u201d and then if you charge them with any particular sin,\nthey bridle up and deny _that_ sin fiercely enough, and all sins one by\none, confessing themselves great sinners, and yet saying that they don\u2019t\nknow what sins they have committed. No man really believes himself a\nsinner, no man really confesses his sins, but the man who can honestly\nput his finger on _this_ sin or _that_ sin which he has committed, and is\nnot afraid to confess to God, \u201c_This_ sin and _that_ sin have I\ndone\u2014_this_ bad habit and _that_ bad habit have I cherished within me.\u201d\nTherefore, I say, it is no use for us Englishmen to dream that we can\nflatter and persuade the great God of Heaven and earth into taking away\nthe cholera from us, unless we find out and confess openly what we have\ndone to bring on the cholera, and unless we repent and bring forth fruits\nworthy of repentance, by amending our habits on that point, and doing\neverything for the future which shall not bring on the cholera, but keep\nit off.\n\nDo not let us believe this time, my friends, in the pitiable, insincere\nway in which all England believed when the cholera was here sixteen years\nago. When they saw human beings dying by thousands, they all got\nfrightened, and proclaimed a Fast and confessed their sins and promised\nrepentance in a general way. But did they repent of and confess those\nsins which had caused the cholera? Did they repent of and confess the\ncovetousness, the tyranny, the carelessness, which in most great towns,\nand in too many villages also, forces the poor to lodge in undrained\nstifling hovels, unfit for hogs, amid vapours and smells which send forth\non every breath the seeds of rickets and consumption, typhus and scarlet\nfever, and worse and last of all, the cholera? Did they repent of their\nsin in that? Not they. Did they repent of the carelessness and laziness\nand covetousness which sends meat and fish up to all our large towns in a\nhalf-putrid state; which fills every corner of London and the great\ncities with slaughter-houses, over-crowded graveyards, undrained sewers?\nNot they. To confess their sins in a general way cost them a few words;\nto confess and repent of the real particular sins in themselves, was a\nvery different matter; to amend them would have touched vested interests,\nwould have cost money, the Englishman\u2019s god; it would have required\nself-sacrifice of pocket, as well as of time. It would have required\nmanful fighting against the prejudices, the ignorance, the self-conceit,\nthe laziness, the covetousness of the wicked world. So they could not\nafford to repent and amend of all _that_. And when those great and good\nmen, the Sanitary Commissioners, proved to all England fifteen years ago,\nthat cholera always appeared where fever had appeared, and that both\nfever and cholera always cling exclusively to those places where there\nwas bad food, bad air, crowded bedrooms, bad drainage and filth\u2014that such\nwere the laws of God and Nature, and always had been; they took no notice\nof it, because it was the poor rather than the rich who suffered from\nthose causes. So the filth of our great cities was left to ferment in\npoisonous cesspools, foul ditches and marshes and muds, such as those now\nkilling people by hundreds in the neighbourhood of Plymouth; for one\nhouse or sewer that was improved, a hundred more were left just as they\nwere in the first cholera; as soon as the panic of superstitious fear was\npast, carelessness and indolence returned. Men went back, the covetous\nman to his covetousness, and the idler to his idleness. And behold!\nsixteen years are past, and the cholera is as bad as ever among us.\n\nBut you will say, perhaps, it is presumptuous to say that Englishmen have\nbrought the cholera on themselves, that it is God\u2019s judgment, and that we\ncannot explain His inscrutable Providence. Ah! my friends, that is a\npoor excuse and a common one, for leaving a great many sins as they are!\nWhen people do not wish to do God\u2019s will, it is a very pleasant thing to\ntalk about God\u2019s will as something so very deep and unfathomable, that\npoor human beings cannot be expected to find it out. It is an old\nexcuse, and a great favourite with Satan, I have no doubt. Why cannot\npeople find out God\u2019s will?\u2014Because they do not _like_ to find it out,\nlest it should shame them and condemn them, and cost them pleasure or\nmoney\u2014because their eyes are blinded with covetousness and selfishness,\nso that they cannot see God\u2019s will, even when they _do_ look for it, and\nthen they go and cant about God\u2019s judgments; while those judgments, as\nthe text says, are far above out of their mammon-blinded and\nprejudice-blinded sight. What do they mean by that word? Come now, my\nfriends! let us face the question like men. What do you mean really when\nyou call the cholera, or fever, or affliction at all, God\u2019s judgment? Do\nyou merely mean that God is punishing you, you don\u2019t know for what, and\nyou can\u2019t find out for what? but that all which He expects of you is to\nbear it patiently, and then go and do afterwards just what you did\nbefore? Dare anyone say that who believes that God is a God of justice,\nmuch less a God of love? What would you think of a father who punished\nhis children, and then left them to find out as they could what they were\npunished for? And yet that is the way people talk of pestilence and of\ngreat afflictions, public and private. They are not ashamed to accuse\nGod of a cruelty and an injustice which they would be ashamed to confess\nthemselves! How can men, even religious men often, be so blasphemous?\nMainly, I think, because they do not really believe in God at all, they\nonly believe about Him\u2014they believe that they ought to believe in Him.\nThey have no living personal faith in God or Christ; they do not know\nGod; they do not know God\u2019s character, and what to believe of Him, and\nwhat to expect of Him; or what they ought to say of Him; because they do\nnot know, they have not studied, they have not loved the character of\nChrist, who is the express image and likeness of God. Therefore God\u2019s\njudgments are far away out of their sight; therefore they make themselves\na God in their own image and after their own likeness, lazy, capricious,\nrevengeful; therefore they are not afraid or ashamed to say that God\nsends pestilence into a country without showing that country why it is\nsent. But another great reason, I believe, why God\u2019s judgments in this\nand other matters are far above out of our sight, is the careless,\ninsincere way of using words which we English have got into, even on the\nmost holy and awful matters. I suppose there never was a nation in the\nworld so diseased through and through with the spirit of cant, as we\nEnglish are now: except perhaps the old Jews, at the time of our Lord\u2019s\ncoming. You hear men talking as if they thought God did not understand\nEnglish, because they cling superstitiously to the letter of the Bible in\nproportion as they lose its spirit. You hear men taking words into their\nmouths which might make angels weep and devils tremble, with a coolness\nand oily, smooth carelessness which shows you that they do not feel the\nforce of what they are saying. You hear them using the words of\nScripture, which are in themselves stricter and deeper than all the books\nof philosophy in the world, in such a loose unscriptural way, that they\nmake them mean anything or nothing. They use the words like parrots, by\nrote, just because their forefathers used them before them. They will\ntell you that cholera is a judgment for our sins, \u201cin a sense,\u201d but if\nyou ask them for what sins, or in what sense, they fly off from that\n_home_ question, and begin mumbling commonplaces about the inscrutable\ndecrees of Providence, and so on. It is most sad, all this; and most\nfearful also.\n\nTherefore, I asked you, my friends, what is the meaning of that word\njudgment? In common talk, people use it rightly enough, but when they\nbegin to talk of God\u2019s judgments, they speak as if it merely meant\npunishments. Now judgment and punishment are two things. When a judge\ngives judgment, he either acquits or condemns the accused person; he\ngives the case for the plaintiff, or for the defendant: the punishment of\nthe guilty person, if he be guilty, is a separate thing, pronounced and\ninflicted afterwards. His judgment, I say, is his _opinion_ about the\nperson\u2019s guilt, and even so God\u2019s judgments are the expression of His\nopinion about our guilt. But there is this difference between man and\nGod in this matter\u2014a human judge gives his opinion in words, God gives\nHis in events: therefore there is no harm for a human judge when he has\ntold a person why he must punish, to punish him in some way that has\nnothing to do with his crime\u2014for instance, to send a man to prison\nbecause he steals, though it would be far better if criminals could be\npunished in kind, and if the man who stole could be forced either to make\nrestitution, or work out the price of what he stole in hard labour. For\nthis is God\u2019s plan\u2014God always pays sinners back in kind, that He may not\nmerely punish them, but _correct_ them; so that by the kind of their\npunishment, they may know the kind of their sin. God punishes us, as I\nhave often told you, not by His caprice, but by His laws. He does not\n_break His laws_ to harm us; the laws themselves harm us, when we break\nthem and get in their way. It is always so, you will find, with great\nnational afflictions. I believe, when we know more of God and His laws,\nwe shall find it true even in our smallest private sorrows. God is\nunchangeable; He does not lose His temper, as heathens and superstitious\nmen fancy, to punish us. He does not change His order to punish us.\n_We_ break His order, and the order goes on in spite of us and crushes\nus: and so we get God\u2019s judgment, God\u2019s opinion of our breaking His laws.\nYou will find it so almost always in history. If a nation is laid waste\nby war, it is generally their own fault. They have sinned against the\nlaw which God has appointed for nations. They have lost courage and\nprudence, and trust in God, and fellow-feeling and unity, and they have\nbecome cowardly and selfish and split up into parties, and so they are\neasily conquered by their own fault, as the Bible tells us the Jews were\nby the Chaldeans; and their ruin is God\u2019s judgment, God\u2019s opinion plainly\nexpressed of what He thinks of them for having become cowardly and\nselfish, and factious and disinterested. So it is with famine again.\nFamines come by a nation\u2019s own fault\u2014they are God\u2019s plainly spoken\nopinion of what _He_ thinks of breaking His laws of industry and thrift,\nby improvidence and bad farming. So when a nation becomes poor and\nbankrupt, it is its own fault; that nation has broken the laws of\npolitical economy which God has appointed for nations, and its ruin is\nGod\u2019s judgment, God\u2019s plain-spoken opinion again of the sins of\nextravagance, idleness, and reckless speculation.\n\nSo with pestilence and cholera. They come only because we break God\u2019s\nlaws; as the wise poet well says:\n\n Voices from the depths _of Nature_ borne\n Which vengeance on the guilty head proclaim.\n\n\u2014\u201cOf nature;\u201d of the order and constitution which God has made for this\nworld we live in, and which if we break them, though God in his mercy so\norders the world that punishment comes but seldom even to our worst\noffences, yet surely do bring punishment sooner or later if broken, in\nthe common course of nature. Yes, my friends, as surely and naturally as\ndrunkenness punishes itself by a shaking hand and a bloated body, so does\nfilth avenge itself by pestilence. Fever and cholera, as you would\nexpect them to be, are the expression of God\u2019s judgment, God\u2019s opinion,\nGod\u2019s handwriting on the wall against us for our sins of filth and\nlaziness, foul air, foul food, foul drains, foul bedrooms. Where they\nare, there is cholera. Where they are not, there is none, and will be\nnone, because they who do not break God\u2019s laws, God\u2019s laws will not break\nthem. Oh! do not think me harsh, my friends; God knows it is no pleasant\nthing to have to speak bitter and upbraiding words; but when one travels\nabout this noble land of England, and sees what a blessed place it might\nbe, if we would only do God\u2019s will, and what a miserable place it is just\nbecause we will not do God\u2019s will, it is enough to make one\u2019s soul boil\nover with sorrow and indignation; and then when one considers that other\nmen\u2019s faults are one\u2019s own fault too, that one has been adding to the\nheap of sins by one\u2019s own laziness, cowardice, ignorance, it is enough to\nbreak one\u2019s heart\u2014to make one cry with St. Paul, \u201cOh wretched man that I\nam, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?\u201d Ay, my friends,\nthe state of things in England now is enough to drive an earnest man to\ndespair, if one did not know that all our distresses, and this cholera,\nlike the rest, are indeed _God\u2019s_ judgments; the judgments and expressed\nopinions, not of a capricious tyrant, but of a righteous and loving\nFather, who chastens us just because He loves us, and afflicts us only to\nteach us His will, which alone is life and happiness. Therefore we may\nbelieve that this very cholera is meant to be a blessing; that if we will\ntake the lesson it brings, it will be a blessing to England. God grant\nthat all ranks may take the lesson\u2014that the rich may amend their idleness\nand neglect, and the poor amend their dirt and stupid ignorance; then our\nchildren will have cause to thank God for the cholera, if it teaches us\nthat cleanliness is indeed next to holiness, if it teaches us, rich and\npoor, to make the workman\u2019s home what it ought to be. And believe me, my\nfriends, that day will surely come; and these distresses, sad as they are\nfor the time, are only helping to hasten it\u2014the day when the words of the\nHebrew prophets shall be fulfilled, where they speak of a state of\ncomfort and prosperity, and civilisation, such as men had never reached\nin their time\u2014how the wilderness shall blossom like the rose, and there\nshall be heaps of corn high on the mountain-tops, and the cities shall be\ngreen as grass on the earth, instead of being the smoky, stifling\nhot-beds of disease which they are now\u2014and how from the city of God\nstreams shall flow for the healing of the nations: strange words, those,\nand dim; too deep to be explained by any one meaning, or many meanings,\nsuch as our small minds can give them; but full of blessed cheering hope.\nFor of whatever they speak, they speak at least of this\u2014of a time when\nall sorrow and sighing shall be done away, when science and civilisation\nshall go hand in hand with godliness\u2014when God shall indeed dwell in the\nhearts of men, and His kingdom shall be fulfilled among them, when \u201cHis\nways shall be known upon earth at last, and His saving health among all\nnations\u201d\u2014of a time when all shall know Him, from the least unto the\ngreatest, and be indeed His children, doing no sin, because they will\nhave given up themselves, their selfishness and cruelty and covetousness,\nand stupidity and laziness, to be changed and renewed into God\u2019s\nlikeness. Then all these distresses and pestilences, which, as I have\nshown you, come from breaking the will of God, will have passed away like\nugly dreams, and all the earth shall be blessed, because all the earth\nshall at last be fulfilling the words of the Lord\u2019s Prayer, and God\u2019s\nwill shall be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven. Oh! my\nfriends, have hope. Do you think Christ would have bid us pray for what\nwould never happen? Would He have bid us all to pray that God\u2019s will\nmight be done unless He had known surely that God\u2019s will would one day be\ndone by men on earth below even as it is done in heaven?\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\nSECOND SERMON ON THE CHOLERA.\n\n\n Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children.\u2014EXODUS xx. 5.\n\nIN my sermon last Sunday I said plainly that cholera, fever, and many\nmore diseases were man\u2019s own fault, and that they were God\u2019s judgments\njust because they were man\u2019s own fault, because they were God\u2019s\nplainspoken opinion of the sin of filth and of habits of living unfit for\ncivilised Christian men.\n\nBut there is an objection which may arise in some of your minds, and if\nit has not risen in _your_ minds, still it has in other people\u2019s often\nenough; and therefore I will state it plainly, and answer it as far as\nGod shall give me wisdom. For it is well to get to the root of all\nmatters, and of this matter of Pestilence among others; for if we do\nbelieve this Pestilence to be God\u2019s judgment, then it is a spiritual\nmatter most proper to be spoken of in a place like this church, where men\ncome as spiritual beings to hear that which is profitable for their\nsouls. And it _is_ profitable for their souls to consider this matter;\nfor it has to do, as I see more and more daily, with the very deepest\ntruths of the Gospel; and accordingly as we believe the Gospel, and\nbelieve really that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and our King, the New\nAdam, the firstborn among many brethren, who has come down to proclaim to\nus that we are all brothers in Him\u2014in proportion as we believe _that_, I\nsay, shall we act upon this very matter of public cleanliness.\n\nThe objection which I mean is this: people say it is very hard and unfair\nto talk of cholera or fever being people\u2019s own fault, when you see\npersons who are not themselves dirty, and innocent little children, who\nif they are dirty are only so because they are brought up so, catch the\ninfection and die of it. You cannot say it is their fault. Very true.\nI did not say it was their fault. I did not say that each particular\nperson takes the infection by his own fault, though I do say that nine\nout of ten do. And as for little children, of course it is not their\nfault. But, my friends, it must be someone\u2019s fault. No one will say\nthat the world is so ill made that these horrible diseases must come in\nspite of all man\u2019s care. If it was so, plagues, pestilences, and\ninfectious fevers would be just as common now in England, and just as\ndeadly as they were in old times; whereas there is not one infectious\nfever now in England for ten that there used to be five hundred years\nago. In ancient times fevers, agues, plague, smallpox, and other\ndiseases, whose very names we cannot now understand, so completely are\nthey passed away, swept England from one end to the other every few\nyears, killing five people where they now kill one. Those diseases, as I\nsaid, have many of them now died out entirely; and those which remain are\nbecoming less and less dangerous every year. And why? Simply because\npeople are becoming more cleanly and civilised in their habits of living;\nbecause they are tilling and draining the land every year more and more,\ninstead of leaving it to breed disease, as all uncultivated land does.\nIt is not merely that doctors are becoming wiser: we ourselves are\nbecoming more reasonable in our way of living. For instance, in large\ndistricts both of Scotland and of the English fens, where fever and ague\nfilled the country and swept off hundreds every spring and fall thirty\nyears ago, fever and ague are now almost unknown, simply because the\nmarshes have all been drained in the meantime. So you see that people\ncan prevent these disorders, and therefore it must be someone\u2019s fault if\nthey come. Now, whose fault is it? You dare not lay the blame on God.\nAnd yet you do lay the fault on God if you say that it is no _man\u2019s_\nfault that children die of fever. But I know what the answer to that\nwill be: \u201cWe do not accuse God\u2014it is the fault of the fall, Adam\u2019s curse\nwhich brought death and disease into the world.\u201d That is a common\nanswer, and the very one I want to hear. What? is it just to say, as\nmany do, that all the diseases which ever tormented poor little innocent\nchildren all over the world, came from Adam\u2019s sinning six thousand years\nago, and yet that it is unfair to say that one little child\u2019s fever came\nfrom his parents\u2019 keeping a filthy house a month ago? That is swallowing\na camel and straining at a gnat\u2014that God should be just in punishing all\nmankind for Adam\u2019s sin, and yet unjust in punishing one little child for\nits parents\u2019 sin. If the one is just the other must be just too, I\nthink. If you believe the one, why not believe the other? Why? Because\nAdam\u2019s curse and \u201coriginal\u201d sin, as people call it, is a good and\npleasant excuse for laying our sins and miseries at Adam\u2019s door; but the\nsame rule is not so pleasant in the case of filth and fever, when it lays\nother people\u2019s miseries at our door.\n\nI believe that all the misery in the world sprung from Adam\u2019s\ndisobedience and falling from God. \u201cBy one man sin entered the world,\nand death by sin, and so death passed on all men, even on those who had\nnot sinned after the likeness of Adam\u2019s transgression.\u201d So says the\nBible, and I believe it says so truly. For this is the law of the earth,\nGod\u2019s law which He proclaimed in the text. He does visit the sins of the\nfathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those\nwho hate Him. It is so. You see it around you daily. No one can deny\nit. Just as death and misery entered into the world by one man, so we\nsee death and misery entering into many a family. A man or woman is a\ndrunkard, or a rogue, or a swearer: how often their children grow up like\nthem! We have all seen that, God knows, in this very parish. How much\nmore in great cities, where boys and girls by thousands\u2014oh, shame that it\nshould be so in a Christian land!\u2014grow up thieves from the breast, and\nharlots from the cradle. And why? Why are there, as they say, and I am\nafraid say too truly, in London alone upwards of 10,000 children under\nsixteen who live by theft and harlotry? Because the parents of these\nchildren are as bad as themselves\u2014drunkards, thieves, and worse\u2014and they\nbring up their children to follow their crimes. If that is not the\nfathers\u2019 sins being visited on the children, what is?\n\nHow often, again, when we see a wild young man, we say, and justly: \u201cPoor\nfellow! there are great excuses for him, he has been so badly brought\nup.\u201d True, but his wildness will ruin him all the same, whether it be\nhis father\u2019s fault or his own that he became wild. If he drinks he will\nruin his health; if he squanders his money he will grow poor. God\u2019s laws\ncannot stop for him; he is breaking them, and they will avenge themselves\non him. You see the same thing everywhere. A man fools away his money,\nand his innocent children suffer for it. A man ruins his health by\ndebauchery, or a woman hers by laziness or vanity or self-indulgence, and\nher children grow up weakly and inherit their parents\u2019 unhealthiness.\nHow often again, do we see passionate parents have passionate children,\nstupid parents stupid children, mean and lying parents mean and lying\nchildren; above all, ignorant and dirty parents have ignorant and dirty\nchildren. How can they help being so? They cannot keep themselves clean\nby instinct; they cannot learn without being taught: and so they suffer\nfor their parents\u2019 faults. But what is all this except God\u2019s visiting\nthe sins of the fathers upon the children? Look again at a whole parish;\nhow far the neglect or the wickedness of one man may make a whole estate\nmiserable. There is one parish in this very union, and the curse of the\nwhole union it is, which will show us that fearfully enough. See, too,\nhow often when a good and generous young man comes into his estate, he\nfinds it so crippled with debts and mortgages by his forefathers\u2019\nextravagance, that he cannot do the good he would to his tenants, he\ncannot fulfil his duty as landlord where God has placed him, and so he\nand the whole estate must suffer for the follies of generations past. If\nthat is not God visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, what is\nit?\n\nLook again at a whole nation; the rulers of two countries quarrel, or\npretend to quarrel, and go to war\u2014and some here know what war is\u2014just\nbecause there is some old grudge of a hundred years standing between two\ncountries, or because rulers of whose names the country people, perhaps,\nnever heard, have chosen to fall out, or because their forefathers by\ncowardice, or laziness, or division, or some other sin, have made the\ncountry too weak to defend itself; and for that poor people\u2019s property is\ndestroyed, and little infants butchered, and innocent women suffer\nunspeakable shame. If that is not God visiting the sins of the fathers\non the children, what is it?\n\nIt is very awful, but so it is. It is the law of this earth, the law of\nhuman kind, that the innocent often suffer for other\u2019s faults, just as\nyou see them doing in cholera, fever, ague, smallpox, and other diseases\nwhich man can prevent if he chooses to take the trouble. There it is.\nWe cannot alter it. Those who will may call God unjust for it. Let them\nfirst see, whether He is not only most just, but most merciful in making\nthe world so, and no other way. I do not merely mean that whatever God\ndoes must be right. That is true, but it is a poor way of getting over\nthe difficulty. God has taught us what is right and wrong, and He will\nbe judged by His own rules. As Abraham said to Him when Sodom was to be\ndestroyed: \u201cThat be far from Thee, to punish the righteous with the\nwicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?\u201d Abraham knew\nwhat was right, and he expected God not to break that law of right. And\nwe may expect the same of God. And I may be able, I hope, in my sermon\nnext Sunday, to show you that in this matter God does break the law of\nright. Nevertheless, in the meantime, this is His way of dealing with\nmen. When Sodom was destroyed He brought righteous Lot out of it. But\nSodom was destroyed, and in it many a little infant who had never known\nsin. And just so when Lisbon was swallowed up by an earthquake, ninety\nyears ago, the little children perished as well as the grown people\u2014just\nas in the Irish famine fever last year, many a doctor and Roman Catholic\npriest, and Protestant clergyman, caught the fever and died while they\nwere piously attending on the sick. They were acting like righteous men\ndoing their duty at their posts; but God\u2019s laws could not turn aside for\nthem. Improvidence, and misrule, which had been working and growing for\nhundreds of years, had at last brought the famine fever, and even the\nrighteous must perish by it. They had their sins, no doubt, as we all\nhave; but then they were doing God\u2019s work bravely and honestly enough,\nyet the fever could not spare them any more than it could spare the\nchildren of the filthy parents, though they had not kept pigsties under\ntheir windows, nor cesspools at their doors. It could not spare them any\nmore than it can spare the tenants of the negligent or covetous\nhouse-owner, because it is his fault and not theirs that his houses are\nundrained, overcrowded, destitute\u2014as whole streets in many large towns\nare\u2014of the commonest decencies of life. It may be the landlord\u2019s fault,\nbut the tenants suffer. God visits the sins of the fathers upon the\nchildren, and landlords ought to be fathers to their tenants, and must\nbecome fathers to them some day, and that soon, unless they intend that\nthe Lord should visit on them all their sins, and their forefathers\u2019\nalso, even unto the third and fourth generation.\n\nFor do not fancy that because the innocent suffer with the guilty that\ntherefore the guilty escape. Seldom do they escape in this world, and in\nthe world to come never. The landlord who, as too many do, neglects his\ncottages till they become man-sties, to breed pauperism and disease\u2014the\nparents whose carelessness and dirt poison their children and neighbours\ninto typhus and cholera\u2014their brother\u2019s blood will cry against them out\nof the ground. It will be required at their hands sooner or later, by\nHim who beholds iniquity and wrong, and who will not be satisfied in the\nday of His vengeance by Cain\u2019s old answer, \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d\n\nWe are every one of us our brother\u2019s keeper; and if we do not choose to\nconfess that, God will prove it to us in a way that we cannot mistake. A\nwise man tells a story of a poor Irish widow who came to Liverpool and no\none would take her in or have mercy on her, till, from starvation and bad\nlodging, as the doctor said, she caught typhus fever, and not only died\nherself, but gave the infection to the whole street, and seventeen\npersons died of it. \u201cSee,\u201d says the wise man, \u201cthe poor Irish widow was\nthe Liverpool people\u2019s sister after all. She was of the same flesh and\nblood as they. The fever that killed her killed them, but they would not\nconfess that they were her brothers. They shut their doors upon her, and\nso there was no way left for her to prove her relationship, but by\nkilling seventeen of them with fever.\u201d A grim jest that, but a true one,\nlike Elijah\u2019s jest to the Baal priests on Carmel. A true one, I say, and\none that we have all need to lay to heart.\n\nAnd I do earnestly trust in you that you will lay it to heart. We have\nhad our fair warning here. We have had God\u2019s judgment about our\ncleanliness; His plain spoken opinion about the sanitary state of this\nparish. We deserve the fever, I am afraid; not a house in which it has\nappeared but has had some glaring neglect of common cleanliness about it;\nand if we do not take the warning God will surely some day repeat it. It\nwill repeat itself by the necessary laws of nature; and we shall have the\nfever among us again, just as the cholera has reappeared in the very\ntowns, and the very streets, where it was seventeen years ago, wherever\nthey have not repented of and amended their filth and negligence. And I\nsay openly, that those who have escaped this time may not escape next.\nGod has made examples, and by no means always of the worst cottages.\nGod\u2019s plan is to take one and leave another by way of warning. \u201cIt is\nexpedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole\nnation perish not\u201d is a great and a sound law, and we must profit by it.\nSo let not those who have escaped the fever fancy that they must needs be\nwithout fault. \u201cThink ye that those sixteen on whom the tower of Siloam\nfell and slew them, were sinners above all those that dwelt at Jerusalem?\nI say unto you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.\u201d\n\nAnd I say again, as I said last Sunday, that this is a spiritual\nquestion, a Gospel sermon; for by your conduct in this matter will your\nfaith in the Gospel be proved. If you really believe that Jesus Christ\ncame down from heaven and sacrificed Himself for you, you will be ready\nto sacrifice yourselves in this matter for those for whom He died; to\nsacrifice, without stint, your thought, your time, your money, and your\nlabour. If you really believe that He is the sworn enemy of all misery\nand disease, you will show yourselves too the sworn enemies of everything\nthat causes misery and disease, and work together like men to put all\npestilential filth and damp out of this parish. If you really believe\nthat you are all brothers, equal in the sight of God and Christ, you will\ndo all you can to save your brothers from sickness and the miseries which\nfollow it. If you really believe that your children are God\u2019s children,\nthat at baptism God declares your little ones to be His, you will be\nready to take any care or trouble, however new or strange it may seem, to\nkeep your children safe from all foul smells, foul food, foul water, and\nfoul air, that they may grow up healthy, hearty, and cleanly, fit to\nserve God as christened, free, and civilised Englishmen should in this\ngreat and awful time, the most wonderful time that the earth has ever\nseen, into which it has pleased God of His great mercy to let us all be\nborn.\n\n\n\n\nXV.\nTHIRD SERMON ON THE CHOLERA.\n\n\n I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the\n Fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of\n them that hate me.\u2014EXODUS xx. 6.\n\nMANY of you were perhaps surprised and puzzled by my saying in my last\nsermon that God\u2019s visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, and\nletting the innocent suffer for the guilty, was a blessing and not a\ncurse\u2014a sign of man\u2019s honour and redemption, not of his shame and ruin.\nBut the more I have thought of those words, the more glad I am that I\nspoke them boldly, the more true I find them to be.\n\nI say that there is in them the very deepest and surest ground for hope.\n\u201cYes,\u201d some of you may say, \u201cto be sure when we see the innocent\nsuffering for the guilty, it is a plain proof that another world must\ncome some day, in which all that unfairness shall be set right.\u201d Well,\nmy friends, it does prove that, but I should be very sorry if it did not\nprove a great deal more than that\u2014this suffering of the innocent for the\nguilty. I have no heart to talk to you about the next life, unless I can\ngive you some comfort, some reason for trusting in God in this life. I\nnever saw much good come of it. I never found it do my own soul any\ngood, to be told: \u201c_This_ life and _this_ world in which you now live are\ngiven up irremediably to misrule and deceit, poverty and pestilence,\ndeath and the devil. You cannot expect to set this world right\u2014you must\nlook to the next world. Everything will be set right there.\u201d That\nsounds fine and resigned; and there seems to be a great deal of trust in\nGod in it; but, as I think, there is little or none; and I say so from\nthe fruits I see it bear. If people believe that this world is the\ndevil\u2019s world, and only the next world God\u2019s, they are easily tempted to\nsay: \u201cVery well, then, we must serve the devil in this world, and God in\nthe next. We must, of course, take great care to get our souls saved\nwhen we die, that we may go to heaven and live for ever and ever; but as\nto this world and this life, why, we must follow the ways of the world.\nIt is not our fault that they have nothing to do with God. It is not our\nfault that society and the world are all rotten and accursed; we found\nthem so when we were born, and we must make the best of a bad matter and\nsail as the world does, and be covetous and mean and anxious\u2014how can we\nhelp it?\u2014and stand on our own rights, and take care of number one; and\neven do what is not quite right now and then\u2014for how can we help it?\u2014or\nhow else shall we get on in this poor lost, fallen, sinful world!\u201d\n\nAnd so it comes, my friends, that you see people professing\u2014ay, and\nbelieving, Gospel doctrines, and struggling and reading, and, as they\nfancy, praying, morning, noon, and night, to get their own souls\nsaved\u2014who yet, if you are to judge by their conduct, are little better\nthan rogues and heathens; whose only law of life seems to be the fear of\nwhat people will say of them; who, like Balaam the son of Bosor, are\ntrying daily to serve the devil without God finding it out, worshipping\nthe evil spirit, as that evil spirit wanted our blessed Lord to do,\nbecause they believed his lie, which Christ denied\u2014that the glory of this\nworld belongs to the evil one; and then comforting themselves like Balaam\ntheir father, in the hope that they shall die the death of the righteous,\nand their last end be like his.\n\nNow I say my friends that this is a lie, and comes from the father of\nlies, who tempts every man, as he tempted our Lord, to believe that the\npower and glory of this world are his, that man\u2019s flesh and body, if not\nhis soul, belongs to him. I say, it is no such thing. The world is\nGod\u2019s world. Man is God\u2019s creature, made in God\u2019s image, and not in that\nof a beast or a devil. The kingdom, the power, and the glory, _are_\nGod\u2019s now. You say so every day in the Lord\u2019s Prayer\u2014believe it. St.\nJames tells you not to curse men, because they are made in the likeness\nof God now\u2014not _will_ be made in God\u2019s likeness after they die. Believe\nthat; do not be afraid of it, strange as it may seem to understand. It\nis in the Bible, and you profess to believe that what is in the Bible is\ntrue. And I say that this suffering of the innocent for the guilty is a\nproof of that. If man was not made so that the innocent could suffer for\nthe guilty, he could not have been redeemed at all, for there would have\nbeen no use or meaning in Christ\u2019s dying for us, the just for the unjust.\nAnd more, if the innocent could not suffer for the guilty we should be\nlike the beasts that perish.\n\nNow, why? Because just in proportion as any creature is low\u2014I mean in\nthe scale of life\u2014just in that proportion it does without its\nfellow-creatures, it lives by itself and cares for no other of its kind.\nA vegetable is a meaner thing than an animal, and one great sign of its\nbeing meaner is, that vegetables cannot do each other any good\u2014cannot\nhelp each other\u2014cannot even hurt each other, except in a mere mechanical\nway, by overgrowing each other or robbing each other\u2019s roots; but what\nwould it matter to a tree if all the other trees in the world were to\ndie? So with wild animals. What matters it to a bird or a beast,\nwhether other birds and beasts are ill off or well off, wise or stupid?\nEach one takes care of itself\u2014each one shifts for itself. But you will\nsay \u201cBees help each other and depend upon each other for life and death.\u201d\nTrue, and for that very reason we look upon bees as being more wise and\nmore wonderful than almost any animals, just because they are so much\nlike us human beings in depending on each other. You will say again,\nthat among dogs, a riotous hound will lead a whole pack wrong\u2014a staunch\nand well-broken hound will keep a whole pack right; and that dogs do\ndepend upon each other in very wonderful ways. Most true, but that only\nproves more completely what I want to get at. It is the _tame_ dog,\nwhich man has taken and broken in, and made to partake more or less of\nman\u2019s wisdom and cunning, who depends on his fellow-dogs. The wild dogs\nin foreign countries, on the other hand, are just as selfish, living\nevery one for himself, as so many foxes might be. And you find this same\nrule holding as you rise. The more a man is like a wild animal, the more\nof a _savage_ he is, so much more he depends on himself, and not on\nothers\u2014in short, the less civilised he is; for civilised means being a\ncitizen, and learning to live in cities, and to help and depend upon each\nother. And our common English word \u201ccivil\u201d comes from the same root. A\nman is \u201ccivil\u201d who feels that he depends upon his neighbours, and his\nneighbours on him; that they are his fellow-citizens, and that he owes\nthem a duty and a friendship. And, therefore, a man is truly and\nsincerely civil, just in proportion as he is civilised; in proportion as\nhe is a good citizen, a good Christian\u2014in one word, a _good man_.\n\nAy, that is what I want to come to, my friends\u2014that word _man_, and what\nit means. The law of man\u2019s life, the constitution and order on which,\nand on no other, God has made man, is _this_\u2014to depend upon his\nfellow-men, to be their brothers, in flesh and in spirit; for we are\nbrothers to each other. God made of one blood all nations to dwell on\nthe face of the earth. The same food will feed us all alike. The same\ncholera will kill us all alike. And we can give the cholera to each\nother; we can give each other the infection, not merely by our touch and\nbreath, for diseased beasts can do that, but by housing our families and\nour tenants badly, feeding them badly, draining the land around them\nbadly. This is the secret of the innocent suffering for the guilty, in\npestilences, and famines, and disorders, which are handed down from\nfather to child, that we are all of the same blood. This is the reason\nwhy Adam\u2019s sin infected our whole race. Adam died, and through him all\nhis children have received a certain property of sinfulness and of dying,\njust as one bee transmits to all his children and future generations the\nproperty of making honey, or a lion transmits to all its future\ngenerations the property of being a beast of prey. For by sinning and\ncutting himself off from God Adam gave way to the lower part of him, his\nflesh, his animal nature, and therefore he died as other animals do. And\nwe his children, who all of us give way to our flesh, to our animal\nnature, every hour, alas! we die too. And in proportion as we give way\nto our animal natures we are liable to die; and the less we give way to\nour animal natures, the less we are liable to die. We have all sinned;\nwe have all become fleshly animal creatures more or less; and therefore\nwe must all die sooner or later. But in proportion as we become\nChristians, in proportion as we become civilised, in short, in proportion\nas we become true men, and conquer and keep in order this flesh of ours,\nand this earth around us, by the teaching of God\u2019s spirit, as we were\nmeant to do, just so far will length of life increase and population\nincrease. For while people are savages, that is, while they give\nthemselves up utterly to their own fleshly lusts, and become mere animals\nlike the wild Indians, they cannot increase in number. They are exposed,\nby their own lusts and ignorance and laziness, to every sort of disease;\nthey turn themselves into beasts of prey, and are continually fighting\nand destroying each other, so that they, seldom or never increase in\nnumbers, and by war, drunkenness, smallpox, fevers, and other diseases\ntoo horrible to mention, the fruit of their own lusts, whole tribes of\nthem are swept utterly off the face of the earth. And why? They are\nlike the beasts, and like the beasts they perish. Whereas, just in\nproportion as any nation lives according to the spirit and not according\nto the flesh; in proportion as it conquers its own fleshly appetites\nwhich tempt it to mere laziness, pleasure, and ignorance, and lives\naccording to the spirit in industry, cleanliness, chaste marriage, and\nknowledge, earthly and heavenly, the length of life and the number of the\npopulation begin to increase at once, just as they are doing, thank God!\nin England now; because Englishmen are learning more and more that this\nearth is God\u2019s earth, and that He works it by righteous and infallible\nlaws, and has put them on it to till it and subdue it; that civilisation\nand industry are the cause of Christ and of God; and that without them\nHis kingdom will not come, neither will His will be done on earth.\n\nBut now comes a very important question. The beasts are none the worse\nfor giving way to their flesh and being mere animals. They increase and\nmultiply and are happy enough; whereas men, if they give way to their\nflesh and become animals, become fewer and weaker, and stupider, and\nviler, and more miserable, generation after generation. Why? Because\nthe animals are meant to be animals, and men are not. Men are meant to\nbe men, and conquer their animal nature by the strength which God gives\nto their spirits. And as long as they do not do so; as long as they\nremain savage, sottish, ignorant, they are living in a lie, in a diseased\nwrong state, just as God did _not_ mean them to live; and therefore they\nperish; therefore these fevers, and agues, and choleras, war, starvation,\ntyranny, and all the ills which flesh is heir to, crush them down.\nTherefore they are at the mercy of the earth beneath their feet, and the\nskies above their head; at the mercy of rain and cold; at the mercy of\neach other\u2019s selfishness, laziness, stupidity, cruelty; in short, at the\nmercy of the brute material earth, and their own fleshly lusts and the\nfleshly lusts of others, because they love to walk after the flesh and\nnot after the spirit\u2014because they like the likeness of the old Adam who\nis of the earth earthy, better than that of the new Adam who is the Lord\nfrom heaven\u2014because they like to be animals, when Christ has made them in\nhis own image, and redeemed them with His own blood, and taught them with\nHis own example, and made them men. He who will be a man, let him\nbelieve that he is redeemed by Christ, and must be like Christ in\neverything he says and does. If he would carry that out, if he would\nlive perfectly by faith in God, if he would do God\u2019s will utterly and in\nall things he would soon find that those glorious old words still stood\ntrue: \u201cThou shalt not be afraid of the arrow by night, nor of the\npestilence which walketh in the noonday; a thousand shall fall at thy\nside, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh\nthee.\u201d For such a man would know how to defend himself against evil; God\nwould teach him not only to defend himself, but to defend those around\nhim. He would be like his Lord and Master, a fountain of wisdom and\nhealing and safety to all his neighbours. We might any one of us be\nthat. It is everyone\u2019s fault more or less that he is not. Each of us\nwho is educated, civilised, converted to the knowledge and love of God,\nit is his sin and shame that he is _not_ that. Above all, it is the\nclergyman\u2019s sin and shame that he is not. Ay, believe me, when I blame\nyou, I blame myself ten thousand times more. I believe there is many a\nsin and sorrow from which I might have saved you here, if I had dealt\nwith you more as a man should deal who believes that you and I are\nbrothers, made in the same image of God, redeemed by the same blood of\nChrist. And I believe that I shall be punished for every neglect of you\nfor which I have been ever guilty. I believe it, and I thank God for it;\nfor I do not see how a clergyman, or anyone else, can learn his duty,\nexcept by God\u2019s judging him, and punishing him, and setting his sins\nbefore his face.\n\nYes, my friends, it is good for us to be afflicted, good for us to suffer\nanything that will teach us this great truth, that we are our brother\u2019s\nkeepers; that we are all one family, and that where one of the members\nsuffers, all the other members suffer with it; and that if one of the\nmembers has cause to rejoice, all the others will have cause to rejoice\nwith it. A blessed thing to know, is that\u2014though whether we know it or\nnot, we shall find it true. If we give way to our animal nature, and try\nto live as the beasts do, each one caring for his own selfish\npleasure\u2014still we shall find out that we cannot do it. We shall find\nout, as those Liverpool people did with the Irish widow, that our\nfellow-men _are_ our brothers\u2014that what hurts them will be sure in some\nstrange indirect way to hurt us. Our brothers here have had the fever,\nand we have escaped; but we have felt the fruits of it, in our purses\u2014in\nfear, and anxiety, and distress, and trouble\u2014we have found out that they\ncould not have the fever without our suffering for it, more or less. You\nsee we are one family, we men and women; and our relationship will assert\nitself in spite of our forgetfulness and our selfishness. How much\nbetter to claim our brotherhood with each other, and to act upon it\u2014to\nlive as brothers indeed. That would be to make it a blessing, and not a\ncurse; for as I said before, just because it is in our power to injure\neach other, therefore it is in our power to help each other. God has\nbound us together for good and for evil, for better for worse. Oh! let\nit be henceforward in this parish for better, and not for worse. Oh!\nevery one of you, whether you be rich or poor, farmer or labourer, man or\nwoman, do not be ashamed to own yourselves to be brothers and sisters,\nmembers of one family, which as it all fell together in the old Adam, so\nit has all risen together in the new Adam, Jesus Christ. There is no\nrespect of persons with God. We are all equal in His sight. He knows no\ndifference among men, except the difference which God\u2019s Spirit gives, in\nproportion as a man listens to the teaching of that Spirit\u2014rank in\ngodliness and true manhood. Oh! believe that\u2014believe that because you\nowe an infinite debt to Christ and to God\u2014His Father and your\nFather\u2014therefore you owe an infinite debt to your neighbours, members of\nChrist and children of God just as you are\u2014a debt of love, help, care,\nwhich you _can_, pay, just because you are members of one family; for\nbecause you are members of one family, for that very reason every good\ndeed you do for a neighbour does not stop with that neighbour, but goes\non breeding and spreading, and growing and growing, for aught we know,\nfor ever. Just as each selfish act we do, each bitter word we speak,\neach foul example we set, may go on spreading from mouth to mouth, from\nheart to heart, from parent to child, till we may injure generations yet\nunborn; so each noble and self-sacrificing deed we do, each wise and\nloving word we speak, each example we set of industry and courage, of\nfaith in God and care for men, may and will spread on from heart to\nheart, and mouth to mouth, and teach others to do and be the like; till\npeople miles away, who never heard of our names, may have cause to bless\nus for ever and ever. This is one and only one of the glorious fruits of\nour being one family. This is one and only one of the reasons which make\nme say that it was a good thing mankind was so made that the innocent\nsuffer for the guilty. For just as the innocent are injured by the\nguilty in this world, even so are the guilty preserved, and converted,\nand brought back again by the innocent. Just as the sins of the fathers\nare visited on the children, so is the righteousness of the fathers a\nblessing to the children; else, says St. Paul, our children would be\nunclean, but now they are holy. For the promises of God are not only to\nus, but to our children, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.\nAnd thus each generation, by growing in virtue and wisdom and the\nknowledge of God, will help forward all the generations which follow it\nto fuller light and peace and safety; and each parent in trying to live\nlike a Christian man himself, will make it easier for his children to\nlive like Christians after him. And this rule applies even in the things\nwhich we are too apt to fancy unimportant\u2014every house kept really clean,\nevery family brought up in habits of neatness and order, every acre of\nfoul land drained, every new improvement in agriculture and manufactures\nor medicine, is a clear gain to all mankind, a good example set which is\nsure sooner or later to find followers, perhaps among generations yet\nunborn, and in countries of which we never heard the name.\n\nWas I not right then in saying that this earth is not the devil\u2019s earth\nat all, but a right good earth, of God\u2019s making and ruling, wherein no\ngood deed will perish fruitless, but every man\u2019s works will follow him\u2014a\nright good earth, governed by a righteous Father, who, as the psalm says\n\u201cis merciful,\u201d just \u201cbecause He rewards every man according to his work.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\nON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING.\n\n\n (Nov. 15th, 1849.)\n\n God hath visited his people.\u2014LUKE vii. 16.\n\nWE are assembled this day to thank God solemnly for the passing away of\nthe cholera from England; and we must surely not forget to thank Him at\nthe same time for the passing away of the fever, which has caused so much\nexpense, sorrow, and death among us. Now I wish to say a very few words\nto you on this same matter, to show you not only how to be thankful to\nGod, but what to be thankful for. You may say: It is easy enough for us\nto know what to thank God for in this case. We come to thank Him, as we\nhave just said in the public prayers, for having withdrawn this heavy\nvisitation from us. If so, my friends, what we shall thank Him for\ndepends on what we mean by talking of a visitation from God.\n\nNow I do not know what people may think in this parish, but I suspect\nthat very many all over England do _not_ know what to thank God for just\nnow; and are altogether thanking him for the wrong thing\u2014for a thing\nwhich, very happily for them, He has _not_ done for them, and which, if\nHe had done it for them, would have been worse for them than all the evil\nwhich ever happened to them from their youth up until now. To be plain\nthen, many, I am afraid, are thanking God for having gone away and left\nthem. While the cholera was here, they said that God was visiting them;\nand now that the cholera is over, they consider that God\u2019s visit is over\ntoo, and are joyful and light of heart thereat. If God\u2019s visit is over,\nmy friends, and He is gone away from us; if He is not just as near us now\nas He was in the height of the cholera, the best thing we can do is to\nturn to Him with fasting, and weeping, and mourning, and roll ourselves\nin the dust, and instead of thanking our Father for going away, pray to\nHim, of his infinite mercy, to condescend to come back again and visit\nus, even though, as superstitious and ignorant men believe, God\u2019s\nvisiting us were sure to bring cholera, or plague, or pestilence, or\nfamine, or some other misery. For I read, that in His presence is life\nand not death\u2014at His right hand is fulness of joy, and not tribulation\nand mourning and woe; but if not, it were better to be with God in\neverlasting agony, than to be in everlasting happiness without God.\n\nHere is a strange confusion\u2014people talking one moment like St. Paul\nhimself, desiring to be with Christ and God for ever, and then in the\nsame breath talking like the Gadarenes of old, when, after Christ had\nvisited them, and judged their sins by driving their unlawful herd of\nswine into the sea, they answered by beseeching Him to depart out of\ntheir coasts.\n\nWhy is this confusion?\u2014Because people do not take the trouble to read\ntheir Bibles; because they bring their own loose, careless, cant notions\nwith them when they open their Bibles, and settle beforehand what the\nBible is to tell them, and then pick and twist texts till they make them\nmean just what they like and no more. There is no folly, or filth, or\ntyranny, or blasphemy, which men have not defended out of the Bible by\ntwisting it in this way. The Bible is better written than that, my\nfriends. He that runs may read, if he has sense to read. The wayfaring\nman, though simple, shall make no such mistake therein, if he has God\u2019s\nSpirit in him\u2014the spirit of faith, which believes that the Bible is God\u2019s\nmessage to men\u2014the humble spirit, which is willing to listen to that\nmessage, however strange or new it may seem to him\u2014the earnest spirit,\nwhich reads the Bible really to know what a man shall do to be saved.\nLook at your Bibles thus, my friends, about this matter. Read all the\ntexts which speak of God\u2019s visiting and God\u2019s visitation, and you will\nfind all the confusion and strangeness vanish away. For see! The Bible\ntalks of the Lord visiting people in His wrath\u2014visiting them for their\nsins\u2014visiting them with sore plagues and punishments, about forty times.\nBut the Bible speaks very nearly as often of God\u2019s visiting people to\nbring them blessings and not punishments. The Bible says God visited\nSarah and Hannah to give them what they most desired\u2014children. God\nvisited the people of Israel in Egypt to deliver them out of slavery. In\nthe book of Ruth we read how the Lord visited His people in giving them\nbread. The Psalmist, in the captivity at Babylon, _prays_ God to visit\nhim with His salvation. The prophet Jeremiah says that it was a sign of\nGod\u2019s anger against the Jews that He had not visited them; and the\nprophets promised again and again to their countrymen, how, after their\nseventy years\u2019 captivity in Babylon, the Lord would visit them, and what\nfor?\u2014To bring them back into their own land with joy, and heap them with\nevery blessing\u2014peace and wealth, freedom and righteousness. So it is in\nthe New Testament too. Zacharias praised God: \u201cBlessed be the Lord God\nof Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people; through the\ntender mercy of our God, whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited\nus.\u201d And that was the reason why I chose Luke vii. 16, for my text\u2014only\nbecause it is an example of the same thing. The people, it says, praised\nGod, saying: \u201cA great Prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited\nHis people.\u201d And in the 14th of Acts we read how God visited the\nGentiles, not to punish them, but to take out of them a people for His\nname, namely, Cornelius and his household. And lastly, St. Peter tells\nChristian people to glorify God in the day of visitation, as I tell you\nnow\u2014whether His visitation comes in the shape of cholera, or fever, or\nagricultural distress; or whether it comes in the shape of sanitary\nreform, and plenty of work, and activity in commerce; whether it seems to\nyou good or evil, glorify God for it. Thank Him for it. Bless Him for\nit. Whether His visitation brings joy or sorrow, it surely brings a\nblessing with it. Whether God visits in wrath or in love, still God\nvisits. God shows that He lives; God shows us that He has not forgotten\nus; God shows us that He is near us. Christ shows us that His words are\ntrue: \u201cLo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.\u201d\n\nThat is a hard lesson to learn and practise, though not a very difficult\none to understand. I will try now to make you understand it\u2014God alone\ncan teach you to practise it. I pray and hope, and I believe too, that\nHe will\u2014that these very hard times are meant to teach people _really_ to\nbelieve in God and Jesus Christ, and that they _will_ teach people. God\nknows we need, and thanks be to Him that He _does_ know that we need, to\nbe taught to believe in Him. Nothing shows it to me more plainly than\nthe way we talk about God\u2019s visitations, as if God was usually away from\nus, and came to us only just now and then\u2014only on extraordinary\noccasions. People have gross, heathen, fleshly, materialist notions of\nGod\u2019s visitations, as if He was some great earthly king who now and then\nmade a journey about his dominions from place to place, rewarding some\nand punishing others. God is not in any place, my friends. God is a\nSpirit. The heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain Him if He\nwanted a place to be in, as, glory be to His name, He does not. If He is\nnear us or far from us, it is not that He is near or far from our bodies,\nas the Queen might be nearer to us in London than in Scotland, which is\nmost people\u2019s notion of God\u2019s nearness. He is near, not our bodies, but\nour spirits, our souls, our hearts, our thoughts\u2014as it is written, \u201cThe\nkingdom of God is _within_ you.\u201d Do not fancy that when the cholera was\nin India, God was nearer India than He was to England, and that as the\ncholera crawled nearer and nearer, God came nearer and nearer too; and\nthat now the cholera is gone away somewhere or other, God is gone away\nsomewhere or other too, to leave us to our own inventions. God forbid a\nthousand times! As St. Paul says: \u201cHe is not far from any one of us.\u201d\n\u201cIn Him we live and move and have our being,\u201d cholera or none. Do you\nthink Christ, the King of the earth, is gone away either\u2014that while\nthings go on rightly, and governments, and clergy, and people do right,\nChrist is there then, filling them all with His Spirit and guiding them\nall to their duty; but that when evil times come, and rulers are idle,\nand clergy dumb dogs, and the rich tyrannous, and the poor profligate,\nand men are crying for work and cannot get it, and every man\u2019s hand is\nagainst his fellow, and no one knows what to do or think; and on earth is\ndistress of nations with perplexity, men\u2019s hearts failing them for fear,\nand for dread of those things which are coming on the earth\u2014do you think\nthat in such times as those, Christ is the least farther off from us than\nHe was at the best of times?\u2014The least farther off from us now than He\nwas from the apostles at the first Whitsuntide? God forbid!\u2014God forbid a\nthousand times! He has promised Himself, He that is faithful and true,\nHe that will never deny Himself, though men deny Him, and say He is not\nhere, because their eyes are blinded with love of the world, and\ncovetousness and bigotry, and dread lest He, their Master, should come\nand find them beating the men-servants and maid-servants, and eating and\ndrinking with the drunken in the high places of the earth, and saying:\n\u201cTush! God hath forgotten it\u201d\u2014ay, though men have forgotten Him thus,\nand\u2014worse than thus, yet He hath said it\u2014\u201cLo, I am with you alway, even\nunto the end of the world.\u201d Why, evil times are the very times of which\nChrist used to speak as the \u201cdays of the Lord,\u201d and the \u201cdays of the Son\nof man.\u201d Times when we hear of wars and rumours of wars, and on earth\ndistress of nations with perplexity\u2014what does He tell men to do in them?\nTo go whining about, and say that Christ has left His Church? No!\n\u201cThen,\u201d He says, \u201cwhen all these things come to pass, then rejoice and\nlift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.\u201d\n\nAnd yet the Scripture does most certainly speak of the Lord\u2019s coming out\nof His place to visit\u2014of the Son of Man coming, and not coming to men\u2014of\nHis visiting us at one time and not at another. How does that agree with\nwhat I have just said? My dear friends, we shall see that it agrees\nperfectly with what I have said, if we will only just remember that we\nare not beasts, but men. It may seem a strange thing to have to remind\npeople of, but it is just what they are always forgetting. My friends,\nwe are not animals, we are not spiders to do nothing but spin, or birds\nonly to build nests for ourselves, much less swine to do nothing but dig\nafter roots and fruits, and get what we can out of the clods of the\nground. We are the children of the Most High God; we have immortal souls\nwithin us; nay, more, we are our souls: our bodies are our husk\u2014our\nshell\u2014our clothes\u2014our house\u2014changing day by day, and year by year upon\nus, one day to drop off us till the Resurrection. But _we_ are our\n_souls_, and when God visits, it is our souls He visits, not merely our\nbodies. There is the whole secret. People forget God, and therefore\nthey are glad to fancy that He has forgotten them, and has nothing to do\nwith this world of His which they are misusing for their own selfish\nends; and then God in His mercy visits them. He knocks at the door of\ntheir hearts, saying: \u201cSee! I was close to you all the while.\u201d He\nforces them to see Him and to confess that He is there whether they\nchoose or not. God is not away from the world. He is away from people\u2019s\nhearts, because He has given people free wills, and with free wills the\npower of keeping Him out of their hearts or letting Him in. And when God\nvisits He forces Himself on our attention. He knocks at the door of our\nhard hearts so loudly and sharply that He forces all to confess that He\nis there\u2014all who are not utterly reprobate and spiritually dead. In\nblessings as well as in curses, God knocks at our hearts. By sudden good\nfortune, as well as by sudden mishap; by a great deliverance from\nenemies, by an abundant harvest, as well as by famine and pestilence.\nTherefore this cholera has been a true visitation of God. The poor had\nfancied that they might be as dirty, the rich had fancied that they might\nbe as careless, as they chose; in short, that they might break God\u2019s laws\nof cleanliness and brotherly care without His troubling Himself about the\nmatter. And lo! He has visited us; and shown us that He does care about\nthe matter by taking it into His own hands with a vengeance. He who\ncannot see God\u2019s hand in the cholera must be as blind\u2014as blind as who?\u2014as\nblind as he that cannot see God\u2019s hand when there is no cholera; as blind\nas he who cannot see God\u2019s hand in every meal he eats, and every breath\nhe draws; for that man is stone blind\u2014he can be no blinder. The cholera\ncame; everyone ought to see that it did not come by blind chance, but by\nthe will of some wise and righteous Person; for in the first place God\ngave us fair warning. The cholera came from India at a steady pace. We\nknew to a month when it would arrive here. And it came, too, by no blind\nnecessity, as if it was forced to take people whether it liked or not.\nJust as it was in the fever here, so it was in the cholera, \u201cOne shall be\ntaken and another left.\u201d It took one of a street and left another; took\none person in a family and left another: it took the rich man who fancied\nhe was safe, as well as the poor man who did not care whether he was safe\nor not. The respectable man walking home to his comfortable house,\npassed by some untrapped drain, and then poisonous gas struck him and he\ndied. The rich physician who had been curing others, could not save\nhimself from the poison of the crowded graveyard which had been allowed\nto remain at the back of his house. By all sorts of strange and\nunfathomable judgments the cholera showed itself to be working, not by a\nblind necessity, but at the will of a thinking Person, of a living God,\nwhose ways are not as our own ways, and His paths are in the great deep.\nAnd yet the cholera showed\u2014and this is what I want to make you feel\u2014that\nit was working at the will of the same God in whom we live and move and\nhave our being, who sends the food we eat, the water in which we wash,\nthe air we breathe, and who has ordained for all these things natural\nlaws, according to which they work, and which He never breaks, nor allows\nus to break them. For every case of cholera could be traced to some\nbreaking of these laws\u2014foul air\u2014foul food\u2014foul water, or careless and\ndirty contact with infected persons; so that by this God showed that He\nand not chance ruled the world, and that he was indeed the living and\nwilling God. He showed at the same time that He was the wise God of\norder and of law; and that gas and earth, wind and vapour, fulfil His\nword, without His having to break His laws, or visit us by moving, as\npeople fancy, out of a Heaven where He was, down to an earth, where He\nwas not.\n\nBut, lastly, remember what I told you before, that the cholera being a\nvisitation means that God, by it, has been visiting our hearts, knocking\nloudly at them that He may awaken us, and teach us a lesson. And be sure\nthat in the cholera, and this our own parish fever, there is a lesson for\neach and every one of us if we will learn it. To the simple poor man,\nfirst and foremost, God means by the cholera to teach the simple lesson\nof cleanliness; to the house-owner He means to teach that each man is his\nbrother\u2019s keeper, and responsible for his property not being a nest of\ndisease; to rulers it is intended to teach the lesson that God\u2019s laws\ncannot be put off to suit their laziness, cowardice, or party squabbles.\nBut beside that, to each person, be sure such a visitation as this brings\nsome private lesson. Perhaps it has taught many a widow that she has a\nFriend stronger and more loving than even the husband whom she has lost\nby the pestilence\u2014the God of the widow and the fatherless. Perhaps it\nhas taught many a strong man not to trust in his strength and his youth,\nbut in the God who gave them to him. Perhaps it has taught many a man,\ntoo, who has expected public authorities to do everything for him, \u201cnot\nto put his trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for there is no\nhelp in them,\u201d but to hear God\u2019s advice, \u201cHelp thyself and God will help\nthee.\u201d Perhaps it has stirred up many a benevolent man to find out fresh\nmeans for rooting out the miseries of society. Perhaps it has taught\nmany a philosopher new deep truths about the laws of God\u2019s world, which\nmay enable him to enlighten and comfort ages yet unborn. Perhaps it has\nawakened many a slumbering heart, and brought many a careless sinner (for\nthe first time in his life) face to face with God and his own sins.\nGod\u2019s judgments are manifold; they are meant to work in different ways on\ndifferent hearts. But oh! believe and be sure that they are meant to\nwork upon all hearts\u2014that they are not the punishments of a capricious\ntyrant, but the rod of a loving Father, who is trying to drive us home\ninto His fold, when gentle entreaties and kind deeds have failed to\nallure us home. Oh my friends! if you wish really to thank God for\nhaving preserved you from these pestilences, show your thankfulness by\nlearning the lesson which they bring. God\u2019s love has spoken of each and\nevery one of us in the cholera. Be sure He has spoken so harshly only\nbecause a gentler tone of voice would have had no effect upon us. Thank\nHim for His severity. Thank Him for the cholera, the fever. Thank Him\nfor anything which will awaken us to hear the Word of the Lord. But till\nyou have learnt the lessons which these visitations are meant to teach\nyou, there is no use thanking Him for taking them away. And therefore I\nbeseech you solemnly, each and all, before you leave this church, now to\npray to God to show you what lesson He means to teach you by this past\nawful visitation, and also by sparing you and me who are here present,\nnot merely from cholera and fever, but from a thousand mishaps and evils,\nwhich we have deserved, and from which only His goodness has kept us. Oh\nmay God stir up your hearts to ask advice of Him this day! and may He in\nHis great mercy so teach us all His will on this day of joy, that we may\nnot need to have it taught us hereafter on some day of sorrow.\n\n\n\n\nXVII.\nTHE COVENANT.\n\n\n The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his own\n possession. For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is\n above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven\n and earth, and in the sea, and in all deep places.\u2014PSALM cxxxv. 4, 5,\n 6.\n\nWERE you ever puzzled to find out why the Psalms are read every Sunday in\nChurch, more read, indeed, than any other part of the Bible? If any of\nyou say, No, I shall not think you the wiser. It is very easy not to be\npuzzled with a deep matter, if one never thinks about it at all. But\nwhen a man sets his mind to work seriously, to try to understand what he\nhears and sees around him, then he will be puzzled, and no shame to him;\nfor he will find things every day of his life which will require years of\nthought to understand, ay, things which, though we see and know that they\nare true, and can use and profit by them, we can never understand at all,\nat least in this life.\n\nBut I do not think that God meant it to be so with these Psalms. He\nmeant the Bible for a poor man\u2019s book: and therefore the men who wrote\nthe Bible were almost all of them poor men, at least at one time or other\nof their life; and therefore we may expect that they would write as poor\nmen would write, and such things as poor men may understand, if they are\nfairly and simply explained. Therefore I do not think you need be\npuzzled long to find out why these Psalms are read every Sunday. For the\nmen who wrote them had God\u2019s spirit with them; and God\u2019s spirit is the\nspirit in which God made and governs this world, and just as God cannot\nchange, so God\u2019s spirit cannot change; and therefore the rules and laws\naccording to which the world runs on cannot change; and therefore these\nrules about God\u2019s government of the world, which God\u2019s spirit taught the\nold Hebrew Psalmists, are the very same rules by which He governs it now;\nand therefore all the rules in these Psalms, making allowance for the\ndifference of circumstances, have just as much to do with France, and\nGermany, and England now, as they had with the Jews, and the Canaanites,\nand the Babylonians then.\n\nSt. Paul tells us so. He tells us that all that happened to the old Jews\nwas written as an example to Christians, to the intent that they might\nnot sin as the Jews did, and so (God\u2019s laws and ways being the same now\nas then) be punished as the Jews were. Moreover, St. Paul says, that\nChristians now are just as much God\u2019s chosen people as the Jews were.\nGod told the Jews that they were to be a nation of kings and priests to\nHim. And St. John opens the Revelations by saying: \u201cUnto Him that loved\nus and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings\nand priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory.\u201d St. Paul tells\nthe Ephesians, who had not a drop of Jewish blood in their veins, that\nthrough Jesus Christ both Jews and Gentiles had \u201caccess by one Spirit\nunto the Father. Now, therefore,\u201d he goes on, \u201cye are no more strangers\nand foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household\nof God.\u201d In fact, he tells the Christians of every country to which he\nwrites, that all the promises which God made to the Jews belonged to them\njust as much, that there was no more any difference between Jew and\nGentile, that the Lord Jesus Christ was just as really among them, and\nwith them, ruling and helping each people in their own country, as He was\nin Jerusalem when Isaiah saw His glory filling the Temple, and when Zion\nwas called the place of His inheritance. Indeed, the Lord Jesus said the\nsame thing Himself, for He said that all power was given to Him in heaven\nand earth; that He was with His churches (that is, with all companies of\nChristian people, such as England) even to the end of the world; that\nwherever two or three were gathered together in His name, He would be in\nthe midst of them; and if those blessed words and good news be true, we\nEnglishmen have a right to believe firmly that we belong to Him just as\nmuch as the old Jews did; and when we read these Psalms, to take every\nword of their good news\u2014and their warnings also\u2014to ourselves, and to our\nown land of England. And when we read in the text, that the Lord chose\nJacob unto Himself and Israel for His own possession, we have a right to\nsay: \u201cAnd the Lord has chosen also England unto himself, and this\nfavoured land of Britain for his own possession.\u201d When we say in the\nPsalm: \u201cThe Lord did what He pleased in heaven, and earth, and sea,\u201d to\neducate and deliver the people of the Jews, we have a right to say just\nas boldly: \u201cAnd so He has done for England, for us, and for our\nforefathers.\u201d\n\nThis then is the reason, the chief reason, why these Psalms are appointed\nto be read every Sunday in church, and every morning and evening where\nthere is daily service\u2014to teach us that the Lord takes care not only of\none man\u2019s soul here, and another woman\u2019s soul there, but of the whole\ncountry of England; of its wars and its peace; of its laws and\ngovernment, its progress and its afflictions; of all, in short, that\nhappens to it as a nation, as one body of men, which it is. It must be\nso, my good friends, else we should be worse off than the old Jews, and\nnot better off, as all the New Testament solemnly assures us a thousand\ntimes over that we are.\n\nFor in the covenant which God made with the Jews, and in the strange\nevents, good and bad, which He caused to happen to their nation, not only\nthe great saints among them were taken care of, but all classes, and all\ncharacters, good and bad, even those who had not wisdom or spiritual life\nenough to seek God for themselves, still had their share in the good\nlaws, in the teaching and guiding, and in the national blessings which He\nsent on the whole nation. They had a chance given them of rising, and\nimproving, and prospering, as the rest of their countrymen rose, and\nimproved, and prospered. And when the Lord came to visit Jud\u00e6a in flesh\nand blood, we find that He went on the same method. He did not merely go\nto such men as Philip and Nathaniel, to the holy and elect ones among the\nJews, but to the whole people; to the _lost_ sheep, as well as to those\nwho were not lost. He did not part the good from the bad before he\nhealed their sicknesses, and fed them with the loaves and fishes. It was\nenough for Him that they were Jews, citizens of the Jewish nation. God\u2019s\npromises belonged not to one Jew or another, but to the Jewish nation;\nand even the ignorant and the sinful had a share in the blessings of the\ncovenant, great or small in proportion as they chose to live as Jews\nought, or to forget and deny that they belonged to God\u2019s people.\n\nNow, surely the Lord cannot be less merciful now than He was then. He\ncannot care less for poor orphans, and paupers, and wild untaught\ncreatures, in England now, than he cared for them in Jud\u00e6a of old. And\nwe see that in fact He does not. For as the wealth of England improves,\nand the laws improve, and the knowledge of God improves, the condition of\nall sorts of poor creatures improves too, though they had no share in\nbringing about the good change. But we are all members of one body, from\nthe Queen on her throne to the tramper under the hedge; and as St. Paul\nsays: \u201cIf one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one\nmember rejoices, all the others\u201d sooner or later \u201crejoice with it.\u201d For\nwe, too, are one of the Lord\u2019s nations. He has made us one body, with\none common language, common laws, common interest, common religion for\nall; and what He does for one of us He does for all. He orders all that\nhappens to us; whether it be war or peace, prosperity or dearth, He\norders it all; and He orders things so that they shall work for the good,\nnot merely of a few, but of as many as possible\u2014not merely for His elect,\nbut for those who know Him not. As He has been from the beginning, when\nHe heaped blessings on the stiff-necked and backsliding Israelites\u2014as He\nwas when He endured the cross for a world lying not in obedience, but in\nwickedness; so is He now; the perfect likeness of His father, who is no\nrespecter of persons, but causes \u201cHis sun to shine alike on the evil on\nthe good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust.\u201d\n\nBut now, there is one thing against which I have to warn you most\nsolemnly, and especially in such days as these. You may believe my words\nto your own ruin, or to your own salvation. They are \u201cthe Gospel,\u201d \u201cthe\ngood news of the Kingdom of God\u201d\u2014that is, the good news that God has\ncondescended to become our King, to govern and guide us, to order all\nthings for our good. But as St. Paul says, the Gospel may be a savour of\ndeath unto death, as well as a savour of life unto life. And I will tell\nyou now; that you have only to do what the Jews just before the coming of\nour Lord did, and give way to the same thoughts as they, and then, like\nthem, it were better for you that you had never heard of God, and been\nlike the savages, to whom little or no sin is imputed, because they are\nall but without law. How is this?\n\nAs I said before\u2014take your covenant privileges as the Pharisees took\ntheirs, and they will turn you into devils while you are fancying\nyourselves God\u2019s especial favourites. Now this was what happened to the\nPharisees: they could not help knowing that God had shown especial favour\nto them; and that He had taught them more about God than He had taught\nthe heathen. But instead of feeling all the more humble and thankful for\nthis, and of remembering day and night that because much had been given\nto them much would be required of them, they thought more about the\nhonour and glory which God had put on them. They forgot what God had\ndeclared, namely, that it was not for their own goodness that He had\ntaught them, for that they were in themselves not a whit better than the\nheathen around them. They forgot that the reason why He taught them was,\nthat they were to do His work on earth, by witnessing for His name, and\ntelling the heathen that God was their Lord, as well as Lord of the Jews.\nNow David, and the old Psalmists and Prophets, did not forget this.\nTheir cry is: \u201cTell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King.\u201d\n\u201cWorship the Son of God, ye kings of the earth, and make your peace with\nHim lest He be angry.\u201d \u201cIt was in vain,\u201d he told the heathen kings, \u201cto\ntry to cast away God\u2019s government from them, and break His bonds from off\nthem,\u201d for \u201cthe Lord was King, let the nations be never so unquiet.\u201d\n\nBut the Jews gradually forgot this, and their daily boast was, that God\nhad nothing to do with the heathen; that He did not care for them, and\nactually hated them; that they, as it were, had the true God all to\nthemselves for their own private property; and that He had neither love\nnor mercy, except for them and their proselytes, that is, the few\nheathens whom they could persuade and entice not to worship the true God\nafter the customs of their own country\u2014that would not have suited the\nJews\u2019 bigotry and pride\u2014but to turn Jews, and forget their own people\namong whom they were born, and ape them in everything. And so, as our\nLord told them, after compassing sea and land to make one of these\nproselytes, they only made him after all twice as much the child of hell\nas themselves. For they could not teach the heathen anything worth\nknowing about God, when they had forgotten themselves what God was like.\nThey could tell them that there was one God, and not two\u2014but what was the\nuse of that? As St. James says, the devils believe as much as that, and\nyet the knowledge does not make them holy, but only increases their fear\nand despair. And so with these Pharisees. They had forgotten that God\nwas love. They had forgotten that God was merciful. They had forgotten\nthat God was just. And therefore, while they were talking of God and\npretending to worship God, they knew nothing of God, and they did not do\nGod\u2019s will, and act like God; for (as we find from the Gospels) they were\nunjust, tyrannous, proud, conceited, covetous themselves; and while they\nwere looking down on the poor heathens, these very heathens, the Lord\ntold them, would rise up in judgment against them: for they, knowing\nlittle, acted up to the light which they had, better than the Pharisees\nwho knew so much. And so it will be with us, my friends, if we fancy\nthat God\u2019s great favours to us are a reason for our priding ourselves on\nthem, and despising papists and foreigners instead of remembering that\njust because God has given us so much, He will require more of us. It is\ntrue, we do know more of the Gospel than the papists, how, though they\nbelieve in Jesus Christ, worship the Virgin Mary and the Saints, and\nidols of wood and stone. But if they, who know so little of God\u2019s will,\nyet act faithfully up to what they do know, will they not rise up in\njudgment against us, who know so much more, if we act worse than they?\nInstead of despising them, we had better despise ourselves. Instead of\nfancying that God\u2019s love is not over them, and so sinning against God\u2019s\nHoly Spirit by denying and despising the fruits of God\u2019s Holy Spirit in\nthem, we had much better, we Protestants, be repenting of our own sins.\nWe had better pray God to open our eyes to our own want of faith, and\nwant of love, and want of honesty, and want of cleanly and chaste lives;\nlest God in His anger should let us go on in our evil path, till we fall\ninto the deep darkness of mind of the Pharisees of old. For then while\nwe were boasting of England as the most Christian nation in the world, we\nmight become the most unchristian, because the most unlike Christ; the\nmost wanting in love and fellow-feeling, and self-sacrifice, and honour,\nand justice, and honesty; wanting, in short, in the fruits of the Spirit.\nAnd without them there is no use crying: \u201cWe are God\u2019s chosen people, He\nHas put His name among us, we alone hate idols, we alone have the pure\nword of God, and the pure sacraments, and the pure doctrine;\u201d for God may\nanswer us, as he answered the Jews of old: \u201cThink not to say within\nyourselves, We have Abraham for our father: Verily, I say unto you, God\nis able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.\u201d . . . \u201cThe\nKingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing\nforth the fruits thereof.\u201d Oh! my friends, let us pray, one and all,\nthat God will come and help us, and with great might succour us, \u201cthat\nwhereas through our sins and wickedness we are sore let and hindered in\nrunning the race set before us, God\u2019s bountiful grace and mercy may\nspeedily help and deliver us,\u201d and enable us to live faithfully up to the\nglorious privileges which He has bestowed on us, in calling us \u201cmembers\nof Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven;\u201d in\ngiving us His Bible, in allowing us to be born into this favoured land of\nEngland, in preserving us to this day, in spite of all that we have\nthought, and said, and done, unworthy of the name of Christians and\nEnglishmen.\n\nAnd then we may be certain that God will also fulfil to us the glorious\npromises which we find in another Psalm: \u201cIf thy children will keep my\ncovenant and my testimonies, which I shall learn them, this land shall be\nmy rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein. I\nwill bless her victuals with increase, and satisfy her poor with bread.\nI will deck her priests with health, and her holy people shall rejoice\nand sing.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXVIII.\nNATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.\n\n\n And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; that ye\n say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to\n serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a\n mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out,\n will I rule over you. . . . And ye shall know that I am the\n Lord.\u2014EZEKIEL xx. 32, 33, 38.\n\nA FATHER has two ways of showing his love to his child\u2014by caressing it\nand by punishing it. His very anger may be a sign of his love, and ought\nto be. Just because he loves his child, just because the thing he longs\nmost to see is that his child should grow up good, therefore he must be,\nand ought to be, angry with it when it does wrong. Therefore anger\nagainst sin is a part of God\u2019s likeness in us; and he who does not hate\nsin is not like God. For if sin is the worst evil\u2014perhaps the only real\nevil in the world\u2014and the end of all sin is death and misery, then to\nindulge people in sin is to show them the very worst of cruelty.\n\nTo sit by and see iniquity going on without trying to stop it, is mere\nlaziness. The parent, when his child does wrong, does not show his love\nto the child by indulging it, all he shows is, that he himself is carnal\nand fleshly; that he does not like to take the trouble of punishing it,\nor does not like to give himself the pain of punishing it; that, in\nshort, he had sooner let his child grow up in bad habits, which must lead\nto its misery and ruin for years and years, if not for ever, than make\nhimself uncomfortable by seeing it uncomfortable for a few minutes. That\nis not love, but selfishness. True love is as determined to punish the\nsin as it is to forgive the sinner. Therefore, St. Paul tells us, that\nwe can be angry without sinning; that is that there is an anger which\ncomes from hatred of sin and love to the sinner. Therefore, Solomon\ntells us to punish our children when they do wrong, and not to hold our\nhands for their crying. It is better for them that they should cry a\nlittle now, than have long years of shame and sorrow hereafter.\nTherefore, in all countries which are properly governed, the law punishes\nin the name of God those who break the laws of God, and punishes them\neven with death, for certain crimes; because it is expedient that one man\ndie for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.\n\nAnd this is God\u2019s way of dealing with each and every one of us. This is\nGod\u2019s way of dealing with Christian nations, just as it was His way of\ndealing with the Jews of old. He never allowed the Jews to prosper in\nsin. He punished them at once, and sternly, whenever they rebelled\nagainst Him; not because He hated them, but because He loved them. His\nlove to them showed itself whenever they went well with Him, in triumphs\nand blessings; and when they rebelled against Him, and broke His laws, He\nshowed that very same love to them in plague, and war, and famine, and a\nmighty hand, and fury poured out. His love had not changed\u2014they had\nchanged; and now the best and only way of showing His love to them, was\nby making them feel His anger; and the best and only way of being\nmerciful to them, was to show them no indulgence.\n\nNow the wish of the Jews all along, and especially in Ezekiel\u2019s time, was\nto be like the heathen\u2014like the nations round them. They said to\nthemselves: \u201cThese heathen worship idols, and yet prosper very well.\nTheir having gods of wood and stone, and their indulging their passions,\nand being profligate and filthy, covetous, unjust, and tyrannical, does\nnot prevent their being just as happy as we are\u2014ay, and a great deal\nhappier. They have no strict law of Moses, as we have threatening us and\nkeeping us in awe, and making us uncomfortable, and telling us at every\nturn, \u2018Thou shalt not do this pleasant thing, and thou shalt not do that\npleasant thing.\u2019 And yet God does not punish them, as Moses\u2019 law says He\nwill punish us. These Assyrians and Babylonians above all\u2014they are\nstronger than we, and richer, and better clothed, and cleverer; they have\nhorses and chariots, and all sorts of luxuries and comforts which we Jews\ncannot get. Instead of being like us, in continual trouble from\nearthquakes, and drought, and famine, and war, attacked, plundered by all\nthe nations round us, one after another, they go on conquering, and\nspreading, and succeeding in all they lay their hand to. Look at\nBabylon,\u201d said these foolish Jews, perhaps, to themselves; \u201ca few\ngenerations ago it was nothing of a city, and now it is the greatest,\nrichest, and strongest nation in the whole world. God has not punished\nit for worshipping gods of wood and stone, why should He punish us?\nThese Babylonians have prospered well enough with their gods, why should\nnot we? Perhaps it is these very gods of wood and stone who have helped\nthem to become so great. Why should they not help us? We will worship\nthem, then, and pray to them. We will not give up worshipping our own\nGod, of course, lest we should offend Him; but we will worship Him and\nthe Babylonian idols at the same time; then we shall be sure to be right\nif we have Jehovah and the idols both on our side.\u201d So said the Jews to\nthemselves. But what did Ezekiel answer them? \u201cNot so, my foolish\ncountrymen,\u201d said he, \u201cGod will not have it so. He has taught you that\nthese Babylonian idols are nothing and cannot help you; He has taught you\nthat He can and will help you, that He can and will be everything to you;\nHe has taught you that He alone is God, who made heaven and earth, who\norders all things therein, who alone gives any people power to get\nwealth; and He will not have you go back and fall from that for any\nappearances or arguments whatsoever, because it is true. He has chosen\nyou to witness to these heathen about Him, to declare His name to them,\nthat they may give up their idols and serve the true God, in whom alone\nis strength. He chose you to be these heathens\u2019 teachers, and He will\nnot let you become their scholars. He meant the heathen to copy you, and\nHe will not let you copy them. If He does, in His love and mercy, let\nthese poor heathen prosper in spite of their idols, what is that to you?\nIt is still the Lord who makes them prosper, and not the idols, whether\nthey know it or not. They know no better, and He will not impute sin to\nthem where He has given them no law. But you do know better; by a\nthousand mighty signs and wonders and deliverances, the Lord has been\nteaching you ever since you came up through the Red Sea, that He is\nall-sufficient for you, that all power is His in heaven and earth. He\nhas promised to you, and sworn to you by Himself, that if you keep His\nlaw and walk in His commandments, you shall want no manner of good thing;\nthat you shall have no cause to envy these heathen their riches and\nprosperity, for the Lord will bless you in house and land, by day and\nnight, at home and abroad, with every blessing that a nation can desire.\nMoses\u2019 law tells you this, God\u2019s prophets have been telling you this,\nGod\u2019s wonderful dealings with you have been telling you this, that the\nLord God is enough for you. And if you, who are meant to be a nation of\nkings and priests to God, to teach all nations and serve solely Him,\nfancy that you will be allowed to throw away the high honour which God\nhas put upon you, and lower yourselves to the follies and sins of these\nheathen round you, you are mistaken. You were meant to be above such\nfolly, you can be above it; and you shall not prosper by serving God and\nidols at once; you shall not even prosper by serving idols alone. God\nwill visit you with a mighty hand, and with fury poured out, and you\nshall know that He is the Lord.\u201d\n\nWell, my friends, and what has this to do with us? This it has to do\nwith us\u2014that if God taught the Jews about Himself, He has taught us still\nmore. If he has shown signs and wonders of His love, and wrought\nmightily for the Jews, He has wrought far more mightily for us; for He\nspared not His own Son, but gave Him freely for us. If He promised to\nteach the Jews, He has promised still more to teach us; for He has\npromised His Holy Spirit freely to young and old, rich and poor, to as\nmany as ask Him, to guide us into all truth. If he expected the Jews to\nset an example to all the nations around, He expects us to do so still\nmore. And if He punished the Jews, and drove them back again by shame,\nand affliction, and disappointment, whenever they went after other gods,\nand tried to be like the heathen around, and despised their high calling,\nand their high privileges, He will punish us, and drive us back again\nstill more fiercely, and still more swiftly. God has called us to be a\nnation of Christians, and He will not let us be a nation of heathens. We\nare longing to do in these days very much as the Jews did of old; we are\nall too apt to say to ourselves: \u201cOf course we must love God, or He might\nbe angry with us; and besides, how else should we get our souls saved?\nBut the old heathen nations, and a great many nations now, and a great\nmany rich and comfortable people in England now, too, get on very well\nwithout God, by just worshipping selfishness, and money, and worldly\ncunning, and why should not we do the same?\u2014why should we not worship God\nand Mammon at once, and serve God on Sundays, and the selfish ways of the\nworld all the week? Surely then we should be doubly safe; we should have\nGod and the world on our side both at once.\u201d\n\nNow, my friends, God will not allow us to succeed on that plan. We are\nmembers of His Church, whose head is Jesus, who gave Himself for sinners;\nwhose members are all brothers of His Church, which is held together by\nself-sacrifice and fellow-help. If we try to be like the heathens, and\nfancy that we can succeed by selfishness, and cunning, and covetousness,\nGod will not let us fall from the honour which He has put on us, and\ntrample our blessings under foot. He will bring our plans to nought.\nWhomsoever he may let prosper in sin, He will not let those who have\nheard the message prosper in it. Whatever nation He may let become great\nby covetousness, and selfish competing and struggling of man against man,\nHe will not let England grow great by it. He loves her too well to let\nher fall so, and cast away her high honour of being a Christian nation.\nBy great and sore afflictions, by bringing our cleverest plans to\nnothing, He will teach us that we cannot worship God and Mammon at once;\nthat the sure riches, either for a man or for a nation, are not money,\nbut righteousness love, justice, wisdom; that this new idol of selfish\ncompetition which men worship nowadays, and fancy that it is the secret\ncause of all plenty, and cheapness, and civilisation, has no place in the\nchurch of Jesus Christ, who gave up His own life for those who hated Him,\nand came not to do His own will, but the will of His Father; not to\nenable men to go to heaven after a life of selfishness here; but by the\npower of His Spirit\u2014the spirit of love and fellowship to sweep all\nselfishness off the face of God\u2019s good earth. By sore trials and\nafflictions will God in His mercy teach this to England, and to every man\nin England who is deluded into fancying that he can serve God, and\nselfishness at once, till we learn once more, as our forefathers did of\nold, that He is the Lord. Because we are His children God will chasten\nus; because He receives us, He will scourge us back to Him; because He\nhas prepared for us things such as eye hath not seen, He will not let us\nfill our bellies with the husks which the swine eat, and like the dumb\nbeasts, snarl and struggle one against the other for a place at His\ntable, as if it were not wide enough for all His creatures, and for ten\ntimes as many more, forgetting that He is the giver, and fancying that we\nare to be the takers, and spoiling the gift itself in our hurry to snatch\nit out of our neighbours\u2019 hands. In one word, God will not give us false\nprosperity, as the children of the world, the flesh, and the devil,\nbecause he wishes to give us real prosperity as the sons of God, in the\nkingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for us.\n\n\n\n\nXIX.\nTHE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM.\n\n\n And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in\n the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and eighty five thousand: and\n when they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.\u20142\n KINGS xix. 35.\n\nYOU heard read in the first lesson last Sunday afternoon, the threats of\nthe king of Assyria against Jerusalem, and his defiance of the true Lord\nwhose temple stood there. In the first lesson for this morning\u2019s\nservice, you heard of king Hezekiah\u2019s fear and perplexity; of the Lord\u2019s\nanswer to him by Isaiah, and of the great and wonderful destruction of\nthe Assyrian army, of which my text tells you. Of course you have a\nright to ask: \u201cThis which happened in a foreign country more than two\nthousand years ago, what has it to do with us?\u201d And, of course, my\npreaching about it will be of no use whatsoever, unless I can show you\nwhat it has to do with us; what lesson we English here, in the year 1851,\nare to draw, from the help which God sent the Jews.\n\nBut to find out that, we must hear the whole story. Before we can find\nout why God drove the Assyrians out of Jud\u00e6a, we must find out, it seems\nto me, why He sent them, or allowed them to come into Jud\u00e6a; and to find\nout that, we must first see how the Jews were behaving in those times,\nand what sort of state their country was in; and we must find out, too,\nwhat sort of a man this great king of Assyria was, and what sort of\nthoughts were in his heart.\n\nNow, by the favour of God, we can find out this. You will see, in the\nfirst thirty-seven chapters of Isaiah\u2019s prophecies, a full account of the\nways of the Jews in that time, and the reasons why God allowed so fearful\na danger to come upon them. The whole first thirty-five chapters belong\nto each other, and are, so to speak, a spiritual history of the Jews, and\nthe Assyrians, and all the nations round them, for many years. A\nspiritual history\u2014that is, not merely a history of what they did, but of\nwhat they were, what was in their inmost hearts, and thoughts, and\nspirits; a spiritual history\u2014that is, not merely of what they thought\nthey were doing, but of what God saw that they were doing\u2014a history of\nGod\u2019s mind about them all. Isaiah had God\u2019s spirit on him; and so he saw\nwhat was going on round him in the same light in which God saw it, and\nhated it, or praised it, only according as it was good, and according to\nthe good Spirit of God, or bad, and contrary to that Spirit. So Isaiah\u2019s\nhistory of his own nation, and the nations around him, was very unlike\nwhat they would have written for themselves; just as I am afraid he would\nwrite a very different history of England now, from what we should write,\nif we were set to do it. Now what Isaiah thought of the doings of his\ncountrymen, the Jews, I must tell you in another sermon, next Sunday. It\nwill be enough this morning to speak of the king of Assyria.\n\nThese kings of Assyria thought themselves the greatest and strongest\nbeings in the world; they thought that their might was right, and that\nthey might conquer, and ravage, and plunder and oppress every country\nround them for thousands of miles, without being punished. They thought\nthat they could overcome the true God of Jud\u00e6a, as they had conquered the\nempty idols and false gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Iva. But Isaiah saw\nthat they were wrong. He told his countrymen: \u201cThese Assyrian kings are\nstrong, but there is a stronger King than they, Jehovah the Lord of all\nthe earth. It is He who sent them to punish nation after nation,\nSennacherib is the rod of Jehovah\u2019s anger; but he is a fool after all;\nfor all his cunning, for all his armies, he is a fool rushing on his\nruin. He may take Tyre, Damascus, Babylon, Egypt itself, and cast their\ngods into the fire, for they are no gods, but the work of men\u2019s hands,\nwood and stone; but let him once try his strength against the real living\nGod; let the axe once begin to boast itself against Him that hews\ntherewith; and he will find out that there is one stronger than he, one\nwho has been using him as a \u2018tool, and who will crush him like a moth the\nmoment he rebels. His father destroyed Samaria and her idols, but he\nshall not destroy Jerusalem. He may ravage Ephraim, and punish the\ngluttony and drunkenness, and oppression of the great landlords of\nBashan; he may bring misery and desolation through the length and breadth\nof the land: there is reason, and reason but too good for that: but\nJerusalem, the place where God\u2019s honour dwells, the temple without idols,\nwhich is the sign that Jehovah is a living God, against it he shall not\ncast up a bank, or shoot an arrow into it.\u201d \u201cI know,\u201d said Isaiah, \u201cwhat\nhe is saying of himself, this proud king of Assyria: but this is what God\nsays of him, that he is only a puppet, a tool in the hand of God, to\npunish these wicked nations whom he is conquering one by one, and us Jews\namong the rest. He, this proud king of Assyria, thinks that he is the\nchosen favourite of the sun, and the moon, and the stars, whom, in his\nfolly, he worships as gods. He will find out who is the real Lord of the\nearth; he will find out that this great world is ruled by that very God\nof Israel whom he despises. He will find that there is something in this\nearth, of which he fancies himself lord and master, which is too strong\nfor him, which will obey God, and not him. God rules the earth, and God\nrules Tophet, and the great fire-kingdoms which boil and blaze for ever\nin the bowels of the earth, and burst up from time to time in earthquakes\nand burning mountains; and God has ordained that they shall conquer this\nproud king of Assyria, though we Jews are too weak and cowardly, and\nsplit up into parties by our wickedness, to make a stand against him.\u201d . . .\n\nThis great eruption or breaking out of burning mountains, which would\ndestroy the king of Assyria\u2019s army, was to happen, Isaiah says, close to\nJerusalem, nay, it was to shake Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem was to be\nbrought to great misery by everlasting burnings, as well as by being\nbesieged by the Assyrians; and yet the very shaking of the earth and\neruption of fire which was nearly to destroy it, was to be the cause of\nits deliverance. So Isaiah prophesied, and we cannot doubt his words\ncame true. For this may explain to us the way in which the king of\nAssyria\u2019s army was destroyed. The text says, that when they encamped\nnear Jerusalem the messenger of the Lord went out, and slew in one night\none hundred and eighty thousand of them, who were all found dead in the\nmorning. How they were killed we cannot exactly tell, most likely by a\nstream of poisonous vapour, such as often comes forth out of the ground\nduring earthquakes and eruptions of burning mountains, and kills all men\nand animals who breathe it. That this was the way that this great army\nwas destroyed, I have little doubt, not only on account of what Isaiah\nsays in his prophecies of God\u2019s \u201csending a blast\u201d upon the king of\nAssyria, but because it was just like the old lesson which God had been\nteaching the Jews all along, that the earth and all in it was His\nproperty, and obeyed Him. For what could teach them that more strongly\nthan to see that the earthquakes and burning mountains, of all things on\nearth the most awful and most murderous, the very things against which\nman has no defence, obeyed God; burst forth when He chose, and did His\nwork as He willed? For man can conquer almost everything in the world\nexcept these burning mountains and earthquakes. He can sail over the\nraging sea in his ships; he can till the most barren soils; he can\nprovide against famine, rain, and cold, ay, against the thunder itself:\nbut the earthquakes alone are too strong for him. Against them no\ncunning or strength of man is of any use. Without warning, they make the\nsolid ground under his feet heave, and reel, and sink, hurling down whole\ntowns in a moment, and burying the inhabitants under the ruins, as an\nearthquake did in Italy only a month ago. Or they pour forth streams of\nfire, clouds of dust, brimstone, and poisonous vapour, destroying for\nmiles around the woods and crops, farms and cities, and burying them deep\nin ashes, as they have done again and again, both in Italy and Iceland,\nand in South America, even during the last few years. How can man stand\nagainst them? What greater warning or lesson to him than they, that God\nis stronger than man; that the earth is not man\u2019s property, and will not\nobey him, but only the God who made it? Now that was just what God\nintended to teach the Jews all along; that the earth and heaven belonged\nto Him and obeyed Him; that they were not to worship the sun and stars,\nas the Assyrians and Canaanites did, nor the earth and the rivers as the\nEgyptians did: but to worship the God who made sun and stars, earth and\nrivers, and to put their trust in Him to guide all heaven and earth\naright; and to make all things, sun, earth, and weather, ay, and the very\nburning mountains and earthquakes, work together for good for them if\nthey loved God. Therefore it was that God gave His law to Moses on the\nburning mountain of Sinai, amid thunders, and lightnings, and\nearthquakes, to show them that the lightnings and the mountains obeyed\nHim. Therefore it was that the earthquake opened the ground and\nswallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses.\nTherefore it was that God once used an earthquake and eruption to\npreserve David from his enemies, as we read in the eighteenth Psalm. And\nall through David\u2019s Psalms we find how well he had learnt this great\nlesson which God had taught him. Again and again we find verses which\nshow that he knew well enough who was the Lord of all the earth.\n\nIn Isaiah\u2019s time, it seems, God taught the Jews once more the same thing.\nHe taught them, and the proud king of Assyria, once and for all, that He\nwas indeed the Lord\u2014Lord of all nations, and King of kings, and also Lord\nof the earth, and all that therein is. He taught it to the poor\noppressed Jews by that miraculous deliverance. He taught it to the cruel\ninvading king by that miraculous destruction. Just in the height of his\nglory, after he had conquered almost every nation in the east, and\novercome the whole of Jud\u00e6a, except that one small city of Jerusalem,\nSennacherib\u2019s great army was swept away, he neither knew how nor why, in\na single night, and utterly disheartened and abashed, he returned to his\nown land; and even there he found that the God of Israel had followed\nhim\u2014that the idols whom he worshipped could not save him from the wrath\nof that God to whom Assyria, just as much as Jerusalem, belonged. For as\nhe was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, his two sons smote\nhim with the sword, and there was an end of all his pride and conquests.\n. . . Now Nisroch was the name of a star\u2014the star which we call the\nplanet Saturn; and the Assyrians fancied in their folly, that whosoever\nworshipped any particular star, that star would protect and help him. . . .\nBut, alas for the king of Assyria, there was One above who had made\nthe stars, and from whose vengeance the stars could not save him; and so\neven while he was worshipping, and praying to, this favourite star of his\nwhich could not hear him, he fell dead, a murdered man, and found out too\nlate how true were the great words of Isaiah when he prophesied against\nhim.\n\nYes, my friends, this is the lesson which the Jews had to learn, and\nwhich the king of Assyria had to learn, and which we have to learn also;\nand which God will, in His great mercy, teach us over and over again by\nbitter trials whensoever we forget it; that The Lord is King; that He is\nnear us, living for ever, all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving; that those\nwho really trust in Him shall never be confounded; that those who trust\nin themselves are trying their paltry strength against the God who made\nheaven and earth, and will surely find out their own weakness, just when\nthey fancy themselves most successful. So it was in Hezekiah\u2019s time; so\nit is now, hard as it may be to us to believe it. The Lord Jehovah,\nJesus Christ, who saved Jerusalem from the Assyrians, He still is King,\nlet the earth be never so unquiet. And all men, or governments, or\ndoctrines, or ways of thinking and behaving, which are contrary to His\nwill, or even pretend that they can do without Him, will as surely come\nto nought as that great and terrible king of Assyria. Though man be too\nweak to put them down, Christ is not. Though man neglect to put them\ndown, Christ will not. If man dare not fight on the Lord\u2019s side against\nsin and evil, the Lord\u2019s earth will fight for Him. Storm and tempest,\nblight and famine, earthquakes and burning mountains, will do His work,\nif nothing else will. As He said Himself, if man stops praising Him, the\nvery stones will cry out, and own Him as their King. Not that the\nblessed Lord is proud, or selfish, or revengeful; God forbid! He is\nboundless pity, and love, and mercy. But it is just because He is\nperfect love and pity that He hates sin, which makes all the misery upon\nearth. He hates it, and he fights against it for ever; lovingly at\nfirst, that He may lead sinners to repentance; for He wills the death of\nnone, but rather that all should come to repentance. But if a man will\nnot turn, He will whet his sword; and then woe to the sinner. Let him be\nas great as the king of Assyria, he must down. For the Lord will have\nnone guide His world but Himself, because none but He will ever guide it\non the right path. Yes\u2014but what a glorious thought, that He will guide\nit, and us, on that right path. Oh blessed news for all who are in\nsorrow and perplexity! Whatsoever it is that ails you\u2014and who is there,\nyoung or old, rich or poor, who has not their secret ailments at\nheart?\u2014whatsoever ails you, whatsoever terrifies you, whatsoever tempts\nyou, trust in the same Lord who delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians,\nand He will deliver you. He will never suffer you to be tempted above\nthat you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way for you\nto escape, that you may be able to bear it. This has been His loving way\nfrom the beginning, and this will be His way until the day when He wipes\naway tears from all eyes.\n\n\n\n\nXX.\nPROFESSION AND PRACTICE.\n\n\n Though they say, \u201cThe Lord liveth,\u201d surely they swear\n falsely.\u2014JEREMIAH v. 2.\n\nI SPOKE last Sunday morning of the wonderful way in which the Lord\ndelivered the Jews from the Assyrian army, and I promised to try and\nexplain to you this morning, the reason why the Lord allowed the\nAssyrians to come into Jud\u00e6a, and ravage the whole country except the one\nsmall city of Jerusalem.\n\nMy text is taken from the first lesson, from the book of the prophet\nJeremiah. And it, I think, will explain the reason to us.\n\nFor though Jeremiah lived more than a hundred years after Isaiah, yet he\nhad much the same message from God to give, and much the same sins round\nhim to rebuke. For the Jews were always, as the Bible calls them, \u201ca\nbacksliding people;\u201d and, as the years ran on, and they began to forget\ntheir great deliverance from the Assyrians, they slid back into the very\nsame wrong state of mind in which they were in Isaiah\u2019s time, and for\nwhich God punished them by that terrible invasion.\n\nNow, what was this?\n\nOne very remarkable thing strikes us at once. That when the Assyrians\ncame into Jud\u00e6a, the Jews were _not_ given up to worshipping false gods.\nOn the contrary, we find, both from the book of Kings and the book of\nChronicles, that a great reform in religion had taken place among them a\nfew years before. Their king Hezekiah, in the very first year of his\nreign, removed the high places, and cut down the groves (which are said\nto have been carved idols meant to represent the stars of heaven), and\neven broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made, because the\nJews had begun to worship it for an idol. He trusted in the Lord God,\nand obeyed Him, more than any king of Judah. He restored the worship of\nthe true God in the temple, according to the law of Moses, with such pomp\nand glory as had never been seen since Solomon\u2019s time. And not only did\nhe turn to the true God, but his people also. From the account which we\nfind in Chronicles, they seemed to have joined him in the good work.\nThey offered sin-offerings as a token of the wickedness of which they\nhave been guilty, in leaving the true God for idols; and all other kinds\nof offerings freely and willingly. \u201cAnd Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the\npeople that God had prepared the people. Moreover, Hezekiah called all\nthe men in Jud\u00e6a up to Jerusalem, to keep the passover according to the\nlaw of Moses,\u201d which they had neglected to do for many years, and the\npeople answered his call and \u201ccame, and kept the feast at Jerusalem seven\ndays, with joy and great gladness, offering peace-offerings, and making\nconfession to the God of their fathers. So there was great joy in\nJerusalem; for since the time of Solomon there was not the like in\nJerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose, and blessed the\npeople, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to the Lord\u2019s\nholy dwelling, even to heaven.\u201d And when it was all finished, the people\nwent out of their own accord, and destroyed utterly all the idols, and\nhigh places, and altars throughout the land, and returned to their houses\nin peace.\n\nNow does not all this sound very satisfactory and excellent? What better\nstate of mind could people be in? What a wonderful reform, and spread of\ntrue religion! The only thing like it, that we know, is the wonderful\nreform and spread of religion in England in the last sixty years, after\nall the ungodliness and wickedness that went on from the year 1660 to the\ntime of the French war; the building of churches, the founding of\nschools, the spread of Bibles, and tracts, and the wonderful increase of\ngospel preachers, so that every old man will tell you, that religion is\ntalked about and written about now, a thousand times more than when he\nwas a boy. Indeed, unless a man makes a profession of some sort of\nreligion or other, nowadays, he can hardly hope to rise in the world, so\nreligious are we English become.\n\nNow let us hear what Isaiah thought of all that wonderful spread of true\nreligion in his time; and then, perhaps, we may see what he would think\nof ours now, if he were alive. His opinion is sure to be the right one.\nHis rules can never fail, for he was an inspired prophet, and saw things\nas they are, as God sees them; and therefore his rules will hold good for\never. Let us see what they were.\n\nThe first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah is called \u201cThe vision\nof Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem,\nin the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.\u201d Now this is one\nprophecy by itself, in the shape of a poem; for in the old Hebrew it is\nwritten in regular verses. The second chapter begins with another\nheading, and is the beginning of a different poem; so that this first\nchapter is, as it were, a summing up of all that he is going to say\nafterwards; a short account of the state of the Jews for more than forty\nyears. And what is more, this first chapter of Isaiah must have been\nwritten in the reign of Hezekiah, in those very religious days of which I\nwas just speaking; for it says that the country was desolate, and\nJerusalem alone left. And this never happened during Isaiah\u2019s lifetime,\ntill the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, that is, till this great spread of\nthe true religion had been going on for thirteen years. Now what was\nIsaiah\u2019s vision? What did he, being taught by God\u2019s Spirit, _see_ was\nGod\u2019s opinion of these religious Jews? Listen, my friends, and take it\nsolemnly to heart!\n\n\u201cHear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of\nour God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your\nsacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of\nrams, and the fat of fed beasts: and I delight not in the blood of\nbullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me,\nwho hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more\nvain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and\nSabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity,\neven the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my\nsoul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And\nwhen ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; yea, when\nye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.\nWash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before\nmine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the\noppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. . . . How is the\nfaithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness\nlodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine\nmixed with water; thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves;\nevery one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the\nfatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.\nTherefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel,\nAh, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.\u201d . . .\n\nAgain, I say, my friends, listen to it, and take it solemnly to heart!\nThat is God\u2019s opinion of religion, even the truest and soundest in\nworship and doctrine, when it is without godliness, without holiness;\nwhen it goes in hand with injustice, and covetousness, and falsehood, and\ncheating, and oppression, and neglect of the poor, and keeping company\nwith the wicked, because it is profitable; in short, when it is like too\nmuch of the religion which we see around us in the world at this day.\n\nYes\u2014it was of no use holding to the letter of the law while they forgot\nits spirit. God had commanded church-going, and woe to those, then or\nnow, who neglect it. Yet the Lord asks, \u201cWho hath required this at your\nhands, to tread my courts?\u201d. . . He had commanded the Sabbath-day to be\nkept holy; and woe to those, then or now, who neglect it. Yet He says,\n\u201cYour Sabbaths I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn\nmeeting.\u201d The Lord had appointed feasts: and yet He says that His soul\nhated them; they were a trouble to Him; He was weary to bear them. The\nLord had commanded prayer; and woe to those, then or now, in England, as\nin Jud\u00e6a, who neglect to pray. And yet He says: \u201cWhen ye spread forth\nyour hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many\nprayers, I will not hear.\u201d And why?\u2014He himself condescends to tell them\nthe reason, which they ought to have known for themselves: \u201cBecause,\u201d He\nsays, \u201cyour hands are full of blood.\u201d This was the reason why all their\nreligiousness, and orthodoxy, and church-going, and praying, was only\ndisgusting to God; because there was no righteousness with it. Their\nfaith was only a dead, rotten, sham faith, for it brought forth no fruits\nof justice and love; and their religion was only hypocrisy, for it did\nnot make them holy. No doubt they thought themselves pious and sincere\nenough; no doubt they thought that they were pleasing God perfectly, and\ngiving Him all that He could fairly ask of them; no doubt they were\nfiercely offended at Isaiah\u2019s message to them; no doubt they could not\nunderstand what he meant by calling them a hypocritical nation, a second\nSodom and Gomorrah, while they were destroying idols, and keeping the law\nof Moses, and worshipping God more earnestly than He had been worshipped\nsince Solomon\u2019s time. But so it was. That was the message of God to\nthem; that was the vision of Isaiah concerning them; that there was no\nsoundness in the whole of the nation, \u201cfrom the sole of the foot to the\ncrown of the head, nothing but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying\nsores\u201d\u2014that is, that the whole heart and conscience, and ways of\nthinking, were utterly rotten, and abominable in the sight of God, even\nwhile they were holding the true doctrines about them, and keeping up the\npure worship of Him. This, says the Lord, is not the way to please me.\n\u201cHe hath showed thee, oh man, what is good. And what doth the Lord\nrequire of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly\nwith thy God?\u201d To do justly, to love mercy, and then to walk humbly,\nsure that when you seem to have done all your duty, you have left only\ntoo much of it undone; even as St. Paul felt when he said, that though he\nknew nothing against himself; though he could not recollect a single\nthing in which he had failed of his duty to the Corinthians, yet that did\nnot justify him. \u201cFor he that judgeth me,\u201d he says, \u201cis the Lord.\u201d He\nsees deeper than I can; and He, alas! may take a very different view of\nmy conduct from what I do; and this life of mine, which looks to me, from\nmy ignorance, so spotless and perfect, may be, in His eyes, full of sins,\nand weakness, and neglects, and shameful follies. \u201cTo walk humbly with\nGod.\u201d Not to believe that because you read the Bible, and have heard the\ngospel, and are sharp at finding out false doctrine in preachers, and\nbelong to the Church of England, that therefore you know all about God,\nand can look down upon poor papists, and heathens, and say: \u201cThis people,\nwhich knoweth not the law, is accursed: but _we_ are enlightened, we\nunderstand the whole Bible, we know everything about God\u2019s will, and\nman\u2019s duty; and whosoever differs from us, or pretends to teach us\nanything new about God, must be wrong.\u201d Not to do so, my friends, but to\nbelieve what St. Paul tells us solemnly, \u201cThat if any man think that he\nknows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know\u201d\u2014to believe that\nthe Great God, and the will of God, and the love of God, and the mystery\nof Redemption, and the treasures of wisdom which are in His Bible, are,\nas St. Paul told you, boundless, like a living well, which can never be\nfathomed, or drawn dry, but fills again with fresh water as fast as you\ndraw from it. That is walking humbly with God; and those who do not do\nso, but like the Pharisees of old, believe that they have all knowledge,\nand can understand all the mysteries of the Bible, and go through the\nworld, despising and cursing all parties but their own\u2014let them beware,\nlest the Lord be saying of them, as He said of the church of Sardis, of\nold: \u201cThou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of\nnothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor,\nand blind, and naked.\u201d\n\nHow is this? What is this strange thing, without which even the true\nknowledge of doctrine is of no use; which, if a man, or a nation has not,\nhe is poor, and blind, and wretched, and naked in soul, in spite of all\nhis religion? Isaiah will tell us\u2014What did he say to the Jews in his\nday?\n\n\u201cWash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before\nmy eyes. Do justice to the fatherless, and relieve the widow!\u201d \u201cDo\nthat,\u201d says the Lord, \u201cand then your repentance will be sincere. Church\nbuilding and church going are well\u2014but they are not repentance\u2014churches\nare not souls. I ask you for your hearts, and you give me fine stones\nand fine words. I want souls\u2014I want _your_ souls\u2014I want you to turn to\nme. And what am I? saith the Lord. I am justice, I am love, I am the\nGod of the oppressed, the fatherless, the widow.\u2014That is my character.\nTurn to justice, turn to love, turn to mercy; long to be made just, and\nloving, and merciful; see that your sin has been just this, and nothing\nelse, that you have been unjust, unloving, unmerciful. Repent for your\nneglect and cruelty, and repent in dust and ashes, when you see what\nwretched hypocrites you really are. And then, my boundless mercy and\npardon shall be open to you. As you wish to be to me, so will I be to\nyou; if you wish to become merciful, you shall taste my mercy; if you\nwish to become loving to others, you shall find that I love you; if you\nwish to become just, you shall find that I am just, just to deal by you\nas you deal by others; faithful and just to forgive you your sins, and to\ncleanse you from all unrighteousness. And then, all shall be forgiven\nand forgotten; \u201cthough your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as\nsnow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.\u201d\n\nSurely, my friends, these things are worth taking to heart; for this is\nthe sin which most destroys all men and nations\u2014high religious profession\nwith an ungodly, covetous, and selfish life. It is the worst and most\ndangerous of all sins; for it is like a disease which eats out the heart\nand life without giving pain; so that the sick man never suspects that\nanything is the matter with him, till he finds himself, to his\nastonishment, at the point of death. So it was with the Jews, three\ntimes in their history. In the time of Isaiah, under King Hezekiah; in\nthe time of Jeremiah, under King Josiah; and last and worst of all, in\nthe time of Jesus Christ. At each of these three times the Jews were\nhigh religious professors, and yet at each of these three times they were\nabominable before God, and on the brink of ruin. In Isaiah\u2019s time their\neyes seemed to have been opened at last to their own sins. Their fearful\ndanger, and wonderful deliverance from the Assyrians of which you heard\nlast Sunday, seem to have done that for them; as God intended it should.\nDuring the latter part of Hezekiah\u2019s reign they seemed to have turned to\nGod with their hearts, and not with their lips only; and Isaiah can find\nno words to express the delight which the blessed change gives him.\nNevertheless, they soon fell back again into idolatry; and then there was\nanother outward lip-reformation under the good King Josiah; and Jeremiah\nhad to give them exactly the same warning which Isaiah had given them\nnearly a hundred years before. But that time, alas! they would not take\nthe warning; and then all the evil which had been prophesied against them\ncame on them. From hypocritical profession, they fell back again into\ntheir old idolatry; their covetousness, selfishness, party-quarrels, and\nprofligate lives made them too weak and rotten to stand against\nNebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, when he attacked them; and Jerusalem was\nmiserably destroyed, the temple burnt, and the Jews carried captives to\nBabylon. There they repented in bitter sorrow and slavery; and God\nallowed them after seventy years to return to their own land. Then at\nfirst they seemed to be a really converted people, and to be worshipping\nGod in spirit and in truth. They never again fell back into the idolatry\nof the heathen. So far from it, they became the greatest possible haters\nof it; they went on keeping the law of God with the utmost possible\nstrictness, even to the day when the Lord Jesus appeared among them.\nTheir religious people, the Scribes and Pharisees, were the most strict,\nmoral, devout people of the whole world. They worshipped the very words\nand letters of the Bible; their thoughts seemed filled with nothing but\nGod and the service of God: and yet the Lord Jesus told them that they\nwere in a worse state, greater sinners in the sight of God, than they had\never been; that they, who hated idolatry, were filling up the measure of\ntheir idolatrous forefathers\u2019 iniquity; that the guilt of all the\nrighteous blood shed on earth was to fall on them; that they were a race\nof serpents, a generation of vipers; and that even He did not see how\nthey could escape the damnation of hell. And they proved how true His\nwords were, by crucifying the very Lord of whom their much-prized\nScriptures bore witness, whom they pretended to worship day and night\ncontinually; and received the just reward of their deeds in forty years\nof sedition, bloodshed, and misery, which ended by the Romans coming and\nsweeping the nation of the Jews from off the face of the earth.\n\nSo much for profession without practice. So much for true doctrine with\ndishonest and unholy lives. So much for outward respectability with\ninward sinfulness. So much for hating idolatry, while all the while\nmen\u2019s hearts are far from God!\n\nOh! my friends, let us all search our hearts carefully in these times of\nhigh profession and low practice; lest we be adding our drop of hypocrisy\nto the great flood of it which now stifles this land of England, and so\nfall into the same condemnation as the Jews of old, in spite of far\nnobler examples, brighter and wider light, and more wonderful and\nbounteous blessings.\n\n\n\n\nXXI.\nTHE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT.\n\n\n But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his\n coming; and shall begin to beat the men servants and the maid\n servants, and to eat and drink and to be drunken; the lord of that\n servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an\n hour when he is not aware, and will cut him asunder, and will appoint\n him his portion with the unbelievers.\u2014LUKE xii. 45, 46.\n\nBUT why with the unbelievers? The man had not disbelieved that he had\nany Lord at all; he had only believed that his Lord delayed his coming.\nAnd why was he to be put with those who do not believe in him at all?\nThis is a very fearful question, friends, for us, when we think how it is\nthe fashion among us now, to believe that our Lord delays His coming.\u2014And\nsurely most of us do believe that? For is it not our notion that, when\nthe Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, He went away a great distance off,\nperhaps millions of miles beyond the stars; and that He will not come\nback again till the last\u2014which, for aught we know, and as we rather\nexpect, may not happen for hundreds or thousands of years to come? Is\nnot that most people\u2019s notion, rich as well as poor? And if that is not\nbelieving that our Lord delays His coming, what is?\n\nBut, you may answer, the Creed says plainly, that He ascended into heaven\nand sits at the right hand of God. Ah! my friends, those great words of\nthe Creed which you take into your lips every Sunday, mean the very\nopposite to what most people fancy. They do not say, \u201cThe Lord Jesus has\nleft this poor earth to itself and its misery:\u201d but they say, \u201cLo, He is\nwith you, even to the end of the world.\u201d True, He is ascended into\nheaven. And how far off is heaven?\u2014for so far off is the Lord Jesus, and\nno farther. Not so far off, my friends, after all, if you knew where to\nfind it. Truly said the great and good poet, now gone home to his\nreward:\n\n Heaven lies about us in our infancy.\n\nAnd if we lose sight of it as we grow up to be men and women, it is not\nbecause heaven goes farther off, but because we grow less heavenly. Even\nnow, so close is heaven to us, that any one of us might enter into heaven\nthis moment, without stirring from his seat. One real cry from the\ndepths of your heart\u2014\u201cFather, forgive thy sinful child!\u201d\u2014one real feeling\nof your own worthlessness, and weakness, and emptiness, and of God\u2019s\nrighteousness, and love, and mercy, ready for you\u2014and you are in heaven\nthere and then, as near the feet of the blessed Lord Jesus, as Mary\nMagdalen was, when she tried to clasp them in the garden. I am serious,\nmy friends; I am not given to talk fine figures of poetry; I am talking\nsober, straightforward, literal truth. And the Lord sits at God\u2019s right\nhand too? you believe that? Then how far off is God?\u2014for as far off as\nGod is, so far off is the Lord Jesus, and no farther. What says St.\nPaul? That \u201cGod is not far off from any one of us\u2014for in Him we live,\nand move, and have our being\u201d . . . IN Him . . . . How far off is that?\nAnd is not God everywhere, if indeed we can say that He is any where?\nThen the Lord Jesus, who is at God\u2019s right hand, is everywhere also\u2014here,\nnow, with us this day. One would have thought that there was no need to\nprove that by argument, considering that His own blessed lips told us:\n\u201cLo, I am with you, even to the end of the world;\u201d and again:\n\u201cWheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in\nthe midst of them.\u201d And this is the Lord whom people fancy is gone away\nfar above the stars, till the end of time! Oh, my friends, rather bow\nyour heads before Him here this moment. For here He is among us now,\nlistening to every thought of our poor sinful hearts. . . . He is where\nGod is\u2014God _in_ whom we live, and move, and have our being\u2014and that is\neverywhere. Do you wish Him to be any nearer, my friends? Or do you\u2014do\nyou\u2014take care what your hearts answer, for He is watching them\u2014do you in\nthe depth of your hearts wish that He were a little farther off? Does\nthe notion of His being here on this earth, watching and interfering (as\nwe call it nowadays in our atheism) with us and everything, seem\nunpleasant and burdensome? Is it more comfortable to you to think that\nHe is away far up beyond the stars? Do you feel the lighter and freer\nfor fancying that He will not visit the earth for many a year to come?\nIn short, is it in your _hearts_ that you are saying, The Lord delays His\ncoming?\n\nThat is a very important question. For mind, a pious man might be, as\nmany a pious man has been in these days, deceived by bad teaching into\nthe notion that Jesus Christ was gone far away. But if he were a truly\npious man, if he truly loved the Lord, that would be a painful thought\u2014as\nI should have fancied, an unbearable thought\u2014to him, when he looked out\nupon this poor miserable, confused world. He would be crying night and\nday: \u201cOh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down!\u201d He would\nbe in an agony of pity for this poor deserted earth, and of longing for\nthe Saviour of it to come back and save it. He would never have a\nmoment\u2019s peace of mind till he had either seen the Lord come back again\nin His glory, or till he had found out\u2014what I am sure the blessed Lord\nwould teach him as a reward for his love\u2014that it was all a dream and a\nnightmare, and that the Lord of the earth was in the earth, and close to\nhim, all along; only that his weak eyes were held so that he did not know\nthe Lord and the Lord\u2019s works when he saw them.\n\nBut that was not the temper of this servant in the Lord\u2019s parable. I am\nafraid it is by no means the temper of many of us nowadays. The servant\nsaid _in his heart_, that his master would be long away. It was his\nheart put the thought into his head. He took to the notion _heartily_,\nas we say, because he was glad to believe it was true; glad to think that\nhis master would not come to \u201cinterfere\u201d with him; and that in the\nmeantime he might be lord and master himself, and treat everyone in the\nhouse as if he himself was the owner of it, and tyrannise over his\nfellow-servants, and enjoy himself in luxury and good living. So says\nDavid of the fool: \u201cThe fool hath said in his heart, there is no God;\u201d\nhis heart puts that thought into his head. He wishes to believe that\nthere is no God; and when there is a will there is a way; and he soon\nfinds out reasons and arguments enough to prove what he is so very\nanxious to prove.\n\nNow, my friends, I am afraid that there is not so much difference as\npeople fancy, between the fool who says in his heart, \u201cThere is no God,\u201d\nand the fool who says in his heart, \u201cMy master delays His coming.\u201d\u2014\u201cGod\nhas left the world to us, and we must shift for ourselves in it.\u201d The\nman who likes to be what St. Paul calls \u201cwithout God in the world,\u201d is he\nso very much wiser than the man who likes to have no God at all? St.\nJames did not think so; for what does he say: \u201cThou believest that there\nis one God? Thou doest well\u2014the devils also believe and tremble.\u201d They\nknow as much as that; but it does them no good\u2014only increases their fear.\n\u201cBut wilt thou know, oh! vain man, that faith without works,\u201d believing\nwithout doing, \u201cis dead?\u201d And are not too many, as I said just now,\nafraid of the thought of God; so afraid of it that they wish to allow the\nSon of God as little share as possible in the management of this world?\nHave not too many a belief without works; a mere belief that there is one\nGod and not two, which hardly, from one year\u2019s end to another, makes them\ndo one single thing which they would not have done if they had believed\nthat there was no God at all? Fear of the law, fear of the policeman,\nfear of losing their work or their custom; fear of losing their\nneighbour\u2019s good word\u2014that is what keeps most people from breaking loose.\nThere is not much of the fear of God in that, or the love of God either\nas far as I can see. They go through life as if they had made a covenant\nwith God, that He should have his own way in the world to come, if He\nwould only let them have their way in this world. Oh! my friends, my\nfriends, do you think God is God of the next world and not of this also?\nDo you think the kingdom, and the power, and the glory will be His a\ngreat many hundreds of years hence, in what you call heaven; and will not\nsee what every page of Scripture tells you, what you yourself say every\ntime you repeat the Lord\u2019s Prayer, that the Kingdom, and the Power and\nthe Glory are His now, here in this life, and that He has committed all\nthings to His Son Jesus Christ and given the power into His hand, that He\nmay rule this earth in righteousness now, here, in this life, and conquer\nback for God one by one, if it be possible, every creature upon earth?\nSo says the Bible\u2014and people profess nowadays to believe their Bibles.\nMy friends, too many, nowadays, while they profess very loudly to believe\nwhat the Bible says, only believe what their favourite teachers tell them\nthat the Bible says. If they really read their Bibles for themselves,\nand took God at His word, there would be less tyrannising of one man over\nanother, less grinding down of men by masters, and of men by each\nother\u2014for the poor are often very hard on each other in England, now, my\nfriends\u2014very envious and spiteful, and slanderous about each other. They\nsay that dog won\u2019t eat dog\u2014yet how many a poor man grudges and supplants\nhis neighbour, and tries to get into his place and beat him down in his\nwages? And there are those who call themselves learned men, who tell the\npoor that that is God\u2019s will, and the way by which God intends them to\nprosper. If those men believed their Bibles, they would be repenting in\nsackcloth and ashes for having preached such a devil\u2019s sermon to God\u2019s\nchildren. If men really read their Bibles, there would be less eating\nand drinking with the drunken; less idleness and luxury among the rich;\nless fancying that a man has a right to do what he likes with his own,\nbecause all men would know that they were only the Lord\u2019s stewards, bound\nto give an account to him of the good which they had done with what he\nhas lent them. There would be fewer parents fancying that they can\ntyrannise over their children, bringing them up as heathens for the sake\nof the few pence they earn; using bad language, and doing shameful things\nbefore them, which they dared not do if they recollected that the Lord\nwas looking on; beating and scolding them as if they were brutes or\nslaves, to save themselves the trouble of teaching them gently what the\npoor little creatures cannot know without being taught: and most shameful\nof all, robbing the poor children of their little earnings to spend it\nthemselves in drunkenness. Ah, blessed Lord! if people did but know how\nnear Thou wert to them, all that would vanish out of England, as the\nnight clouds vanish away before the sun!\n\nAnd He is near, my friends: He is watching; He is governing; He is at\nhand: and in this life or in the life to come, forget Him as we choose,\nHe will make us know plain enough, and without any doubt whatsoever, that\nHe is the Lord.\n\nHe has fulfilled this awful parable of his about the unfaithful servant\nalready; many a time, against many a man, many a great king, and prince,\nand nation; and he will fulfil it against each and every man, from the\nnobleman in his castle to the labourer in his cottage, who says in his\nheart, \u201cMy Lord delays his coming,\u201d and begins to tyrannise over those\nwho are weaker than himself, and to enjoy himself as he likes, and forget\nthat he is not his own, but bought with the price of Christ\u2019s blood, and\nbound to work for Christ\u2019s kingdom and glory.\n\nSo he punished the popes of Rome, three hundred years ago. When all the\nnations in Europe were listening to them and obeying them, and they had\nput into their hands by God a greater power of doing good than He ever\ngave to any human being before or since, what did they do? Instead of\nusing their power for Christ, they used it for themselves. Instead of\npreaching to all nations the good news that Christ the Son of God was\ntheir King, they said: \u201cI, the pope, am your king. Christ is gone far\naway into heaven, and has committed all power on earth to us; we are\nChrist\u2019s vicars; we are in Christ\u2019s place; He has entrusted to our\nkeeping all the treasures of His merits and His grace, and no one can get\nany blessing from Christ, unless we choose to give it him.\u201d So they said\nin their hearts just what the foolish servant in the parable said: and\nfancying that they were lords and masters, naturally enough went on to\nbehave as such; to beat the men-servants and maid-servants, that is, to\noppress and tyrannise over the bodies and minds and consciences of men,\nand women too, God knows; and to eat and drink with the drunken, to live\nin riot and debauchery. But the Lord was not so far off as those foolish\npopes fancied. And in an hour when they were not aware, He came and cut\nthem asunder. He snatched from them one-half of the nations of Europe,\nand England among the rest; He punished them by doubt, ignorance,\nconfusion, and utter blindness, and appointed them their portion among\nthe unbelievers in such terrible earnest, that to this very day, to judge\nby the things which they say and do, it is difficult to persuade\nourselves that the popes really believe in any God at all.\n\nSo He did, only three years ago, to many kings and princes on the\nContinent. {217} They professed to be Christians; but they had forgotten\nthat they were Christ\u2019s stewards, that all their power came from Him, and\nthat he had given it them only to use for the good of their subjects.\nAnd they too went on saying: \u201cThe Lord delays His coming, we are rulers\nin this world, and God is ruler in the world to come.\u201d So they, too,\noppressed their subjects, and lived in ease on what they wrung out of the\npoor wretches below them. But the Lord was nearer them, too, than they\nfancied; and all at once\u2014as they were fancying themselves all safe and\nprosperous, and saying, \u201cWe are those who ought to speak, who is Lord\nover us?\u201d\u2014their fool\u2019s paradise crumbled from under their feet. A few\npaltry mobs of foolish starving people, without weapons, without leaders,\nwithout good counsel to guide them, rose against them. And what did they\ndo? They might have crushed down the rebels most of them, in a week, if\nthey had had courage. And in the only country where the rebels were\nreally strong, that is, in Austria, all might have been quiet again at\nonce, if the king had only had the heart to do common justice, and keep\nhis own solemn oaths. But no\u2014the terror of the Lord came upon them. He\nmost truly cut them in sunder. They were every man of a different mind,\nand none of them in the same mind a day together; they became utterly\nconscience-stricken, terrified, perplexed, at their wit\u2019s end, not having\ncourage or determination to do anything, or even to do nothing, and fled\nshamefully away one after another, to their everlasting disgrace. And\nthose of them who have got back their power since are showing sadly\nenough, by their obstinate folly and wickedness, that the Lord has\nappointed them their portion with the unbelievers, and left them to fill\nup the measure of their iniquity, and drink deep the cup of wrath which\nis in His hand, full and mixed for those who forget God.\n\nOh! my friends, let us lay these things solemnly to heart. Do not fancy\nthat the Lord will punish the wicked great, and forget the wicked small.\nIn His sight there is neither great nor small; all are small enough for\nHim to crush like the moth; and all are too great to be overlooked, or\nforgotten by Him, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground. Again\nI say, my friends, let us lay His parable to heart. Let us who have\nproperty, and station, and education, never forget who has given it us,\nand for whom we must use it. Let us never forget that to whom much is\ngiven, of them will much be required. Let us pray to the Lord daily to\nwrite upon our inmost hearts those solemn words: \u201cWho made thee to differ\nfrom another; and what hast thou which thou didst not receive?\u201d Let us\nlook on our servants, our labourers, on every human being over whom we\nhave any influence, as weaker brothers whom God has commanded us to help,\nteach, and guide in body, mind, and spirit, not that we may make them our\nslaves, but make them free, manful, self-helping, and in due time\nindependent of us and of everyone except God.\n\nAnd you young people, who have no authority over anyone, but over your\nown bodies; to whom the Lord has given little or nothing to manage and\ntake care of except your own health and strength\u2014do not let the devil\ntempt you to believe that that health and strength is your own property,\nto do what you like with. It belongs to the Lord who died for you, and\nHe will require an account from you how you have used it. Do not let the\ndevil tempt you to believe that the Lord delays His coming to you\u2014that\nyou may do what you like now, in the prime of your years, and that it\nwill be time enough to think about God and religion when God visits you\nwith cares, and sickness, and old age. That is the fancy of too many;\nbut it will surely turn out to be a mistake. Those who misuse their\nyouth, and health, and strength, in tyrannising over those who are weaker\nthan themselves, and laughing at those who are not as clever as\nthemselves, and eating and drinking with the drunken\u2014the Lord will come\nto them in an hour when they are not aware, and cut them asunder, in some\nway or other, by loss of work, or poverty, or sickness, or doubt and\nconfusion, and bitter shame and perplexity of mind; till they find out,\npoor things, that they have been living like the unbelievers all their\nyouth, without God in the world, while God\u2019s love and God\u2019s teaching, and\nGod\u2019s happiness was ready for them; and have to go back again to their\nFather and their Lord, and cry: \u201cFather, we have sinned against heaven\nand before Thee, and are no more worthy to be called Thy children!\u201d Oh,\nyou who have been fancying that the Lord was gone far away, and that you\nhad a right to do what you liked with the powers which He has given you,\ngo back to Him, now at once, and confess that you, and all belonging to\nyou, belong to Him, and ask Him to teach you how to use it aright. Ask\nHim to teach you how to please Him with it, and not yourselves only. Ask\nHim to teach you how to do good to all around you, and not merely to do\nwhat you like. Ask Him to show you how to do your duty to Him, and to\nyour neighbours, for whom He died on the cross, in that station of life\nto which He has called you. Ask Him to show you how to use your\nproperty, your knowledge, your business, your strength, your health, so\nthat you may be a blessing and a help to those whom He blesses and helps,\nand who, He wishes, should bless and help each other. Go back to Him at\nonce, my friends. You will not have far to go, seeing that He is now\neven among us here hearing my clumsy words; and I do hope, and trust, and\npray, bringing them home to some of your hearts with that spirit and\npower of His, which is like a two-edged sword, piercing to the very\ndepths of a man\u2019s heart, and showing him how ugly it is\u2014and how noble the\nLord will make it, if he will but repent and pray to Him who never cast\nout any that came to Him.\n\n\n\n\nXXII.\nTHE WAY TO WEALTH.\n\n\n Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is\n near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his\n thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy\n upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.\u2014ISAIAH lv.\n 6, 7.\n\nSOME of you, surely, while the first lesson was being read this morning,\nmust have felt the beauty of it; and if you were thoughtful, perplexed,\nweary, sad at heart, perhaps you felt that it was more than\nbeautiful\u2014that it was full of comfort. And so it should be full of\ncomfort to you, my friends. God meant it to give you comfort. For\nthough it was written and spoken by a man of like passions with\nourselves, it was just as truly written and spoken by God, who made\nheaven and earth. It is true and everlasting, the message which it\nbrings, and like all true and everlasting words, it is the voice of God\nwho cannot change; who makes no difference between Jew and Gentile,\nbetween us in England here, and nations which perished hundreds of years\nago.\n\nAnd what is its message? What was God\u2019s word to the old Jews, among all\ntheir sin, and sorrow, and labour?\n\nIs it the message of a stern judge, saying: \u201cPay me that thou owest, to\nthe uttermost farthing; and if you cannot do that, fret and torment\nyourselves in shame and terror here on earth, for all your sins, if,\npossibly, you may chance to change my mind, and find forgiveness at the\nlast day?\u201d\n\nIs it the message of a proud tyrant, saying: \u201cIf you are miserable, and\nfallen, and sinful, what is that to me? I am perfect, blest, contented\nwith myself, alone in my glory, far away beyond the sight of men, beyond\nthe sun and stars\u2014what are you worms of earth to me?\u201d\n\nOr is it the voice of a loving Father, calling to his self-willed\nchildren who have gone proudly and boldly away from their Father\u2019s house,\nand thrown off their Father\u2019s government, and said in their conceit: \u201cWe\nare men. Do not we know good and evil? Do we not know what is our\ninterest? Cannot we judge for ourselves, and shift for ourselves, and\ntake care of ourselves? Why are we to be barred from pleasant things\nhere, and profitable things there? We will be our own masters.\u201d\n\nTo self-willed children who have said thus, and done thus in their\nfoolish hearts, and have found all their conceit, and shrewdness, only\nlead them into sorrow, and perplexity, and distress.\u2014Who have found that\nwith all their cleverness they could not get the very good things for\nwhich they left their Father\u2019s house; or if they get them, find no\nenjoyment in them, but only discontent, and shame, and danger, and a sad\nself-accusing heart\u2014spending their money for that which does not feed\nthem after all, and labouring hard for things which do not satisfy them;\nalways longing for something more\u2014always finding the pleasure, or the\nprofit, or the honour which a little way off looked so fine, looked quite\nugly and worthless, when they come up to it and get hold of it\u2014finding\nall things full of labour; the eye never satisfied with seeing, or the\near with hearing; the same thing coming over and over again. Each young\nman starting with gay hopes, as if he were the first man that ever was\nborn, and he was going to do out of hand such fine things as man never\ndid before, and make his own fortune, and set the world to right at once;\nand then as he grows older, falling into the same weary ruts as his\nforefathers went dragging on it, every fresh year bringing its own labour\nand its own sorrow; and dying like them, taking nothing away with him of\nall he has earned, and crying with his last breath: \u201cThat which is\ncrooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be\nnumbered. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under\nthe sun, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit?\u201d\n\nTo self-willed children, who have tried their own way ever since they\nwere born, they and their fathers before them, and found it go round in a\nring and leave them just where they started in heart and soul, and, on\ntheir death-beds, in purse and power also\u2014\n\nTo such struggling, dissatisfied beings\u2014such as nine-tenths of the men\nand women on this earth, alas! are still\u2014comes the word of this loving\nFather:\n\n\u201cHo, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! and he that hath no\nmoney, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money,\nand without price.\u201d Why do you fancy that money can give you all you\nwant? Why this labouring and straining after money, as if it was God, as\nif it made heaven and earth, and all therein? Is money a God? or money\u2019s\nworth? \u201cI am God,\u201d saith the Lord, \u201cand beside me there is none else. It\nis I who give, and not money. It is I who save men, and not money. And\nI do save, and I do give freely to all. Come, and try my mercy, and see\nif my word be not true.\u201d\n\nThis struggling and snarling, like dogs over a bone\u2014what profit comes of\nit? are you happier? are you wiser? are you better? are you more at peace\nwith your neighbours; more at peace with your own hearts and consciences?\nIf you are, money has not made you so, nor plotting, and scraping, and\nstruggling, and pushing your neighbour down, that you may rise a few\ninches on his shoulders. No. Hear what the voice of your Father says is\nthe true way to wealth and comfort, after which you all struggle and\nlabour so hard in vain.\u2014\u201cHearken diligently unto me, and you shall eat\nthat which is good, and your soul shall delight itself in fatness.\nIncline your ear and come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And\nI will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies,\u201d or\nrather \u201cthe faithful oath which I sware unto David?\u201d And what is this\nfaithful oath which God sware to David.\u2014\u201cOf the fruit of thy body, I will\nset on thy seat.\u201d A promise of a righteous king who should arise in\nDavid\u2019s family. How far David understood the full meaning of that\nglorious promise we cannot tell. He thought most probably, at first,\nthat Solomon, his son, was to be the king who would fulfil it. But all\nthrough many of his psalms, there are deep and great words about some\nnobler and more perfect king than Solomon\u2014about one who, as Isaiah says\nhere, would perfectly witness to the people that God was their King; one\nwho would be a perfect leader and commander of the people; a holy one of\nIsrael, who would sit on God\u2019s right hand; to hear the good news of whom,\nthe Jews would call nations whom they then did not know of, and for whose\nsake nations who did not know them would run to them. And dimly David\ndid see this, that God would raise up a true Christ, that is, one truly\nanointed by God, chosen and sent out by God, to sit on his throne, and be\nperfectly what David was only in part; a King made perfect by suffering,\na King of poor men, a King who bore the sins and carried the iniquities\nof all His people, from the highest to the lowest. We know who that was.\nWe know clearly what David only knew dimly, what Isaiah only knew a\nlittle more clearly. We know who was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified\nunder Pontius Pilate, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right\nhand of God, ever praying for us, ruling the world in righteousness,\nJesus the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, to whom all power is given in\nheaven and earth.\n\nBut Isaiah, though he knew Him only dimly, still knew Him. He did not\nknow that the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, would take on Himself the\nform of a poor man, and be called the son of the carpenter. Such\nboundless love and condescension in the Son of God he never could have\nfancied for himself, and God had not chosen to reveal it to him; or to\nanyone else in those days. But this he did see, that the Lord Jesus, He\nwhom he calls the Holy One of Israel, was near the Jews in his time; that\nHe was watching over them, mourning over their sins, arguing with them,\nand calling them to return to Him with most human love and tenderness, as\na husband to the woman whom he loves in spite of her unfaithfulness to\nhim. As he says to his sinful and distressed country in the chapter\nbefore this: \u201cThy Maker is thy husband: the Lord of Hosts is His name,\nand thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, the Lord of the whole earth\nshall He be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken\nand grieved in spirit. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with\ngreat mercies will I gather thee. In a little anger I hid my face from\nthee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on\nthee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.\u201d\n\nThis, then, Isaiah knew\u2014that the heart of the Holy Lord pitied and\nyearned after those poor sinful Jews, as a husband\u2019s after a foolish and\nsinful wife. And how much more should we believe the same, how much more\nshould we believe that His heart pities and yearns for all foolish and\nsinful people here in England now! We who know a thousand times more\nthan Isaiah knew of His love, His pity, His condescension, which led Him\nto sacrifice Himself upon the cross for us? Surely, surely, if Isaiah\nhad a right to say to those Jews, \u201cSeek the Lord while He may be found,\u201d\nI have a thousand times as much right to say it to you. If Isaiah had a\nright to say to those Jews, \u201cLet the wicked forsake his ways and the\nunrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He\nwill have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,\u201d\nthen I have a right to say it to you.\n\nFree mercy, utter pardon, pardon for all, even for the worst. And what\nis the argument which Isaiah uses to make his countrymen repent? Is it\n\u201cRepent, or you shall be damned: Repent because God\u2019s wrath and curse is\nagainst you. The Lord hates you and despises you, and you must crawl to\nHis feet like beaten hounds, and entreat Him not to strike you into hell\nas He intends\u201d? Not so; it was because God loved the Jews, that they\nwere to repent. It is because God loves you that you must repent.\n\u201cIncline your ear,\u201d saith the Lord, \u201cand come unto me, hear, and your\nsoul shall live; and you shall eat that which is good, and your soul\nshall delight itself in fatness.\u201d Yes, God is love. God\u2019s delight and\nglory is to give; in spite of all our sins He gives and gives, sending\nrain and fruitful seasons to just and unjust, to fill their hearts with\njoy and gladness; and all the while men fancy that it is not God that\ngives, but they who take. God has not left Himself, as St. Paul says,\nwithout a witness; every fruitful shower and quickening gleam of sunshine\ncries to us\u2014See! God is love: He is the giver. And men will not hear\nthat voice. They say in their hearts, \u201cThe Lord is far away above the\nskies; He does not care for us: we must help ourselves, each man to what\nhe can get off this earth; nay, even, when we are hard put to it for a\nliving, we must break God\u2019s laws to keep ourselves alive, and so steal\nfrom God\u2019s table the very good things which He offers us freely.\u201d\n\nBut some will say: \u201cHe does not give freely; we must work and struggle.\nWhy do you mock poor hard-worked creatures with such words as these?\u201d\n\nAsk that question of God, my friends, and not of me. Isaiah said that\nthose who hearkened to God diligently should eat what is good. The Lord\nJesus Christ Himself said the same\u2014that if we seek first the kingdom of\nGod and His justice, all other things should be added to them. He did\nnot mean us to be idle, God forbid! but this He meant, that if we, each\nin his business and calling, put steadily before ourselves what is right,\nwhat God would wish us, His subjects, to be in His Kingdom\u2014if instead of\nmaking our first thought in every business we take in hand, \u201cWhat will\nsuit my interest best, what will raise most money, what will give me most\npleasure?\u201d we said to ourselves all day long, \u201cWhat will be most right,\nand just, and merciful for us to do; what will be most pleasing to a God\nwho is love and justice itself? what will do most good to my neighbour as\nwell as myself?\u201d then all things would go well with us. Then we should\nbe prosperous and joyful. Then our plans would succeed and our labour\nbring forth real profit to us, because they would be according to the\nwill of God: we should be fellow-workers with Jesus Christ in the great\nwork of doing good to this poor distracted world, and His help and\nblessing would be with us.\n\nAnd if you ask me, how can this come to pass, I must answer, as Isaiah\ndoes in this same chapter: \u201cThe Lord\u2019s ways are not as our ways, nor His\nthoughts as our thoughts, but higher than ours, as the heavens are above\nthe earth.\u201d But if we do turn to God, and repent each man of us of his\nselfishness, his unfaithfulness, his hard-heartedness, his covetousness,\nhis self-will, his ungodliness\u2014then God\u2019s blessing, as Isaiah says, will\ncome down on us, and spring up among us, we know not how or whence, like\nthe rain and snow, which comes down from heaven and waters the earth, and\nmakes it bud and bring forth to give seed to the sower and bread to the\neater. So shall be the Lord\u2019s word, which goes out of His mouth; it will\nnot return to Him void, but will accomplish what He pleases, and prosper\nin that whereto He sends it. He will teach us and guide us in the right\nway. He will put His word into the mouths of true teachers to show us\nour duty. He will pour out His spirit upon us, to make us love our duty.\nIn one way and another, we know not how, we shall be taught what is good\nfor England, good for each parish, good for each family. And wealth,\npeace, and prosperity for rich and poor will be the fruit of obeying the\nword of God, and giving up our hearts to be led by His spirit. As it was\nto be in Jud\u00e6a, of old, if they repented, so will it be with us. They\nshould go forth with joy and do their work in peace. The hills should\nbreak before them into singing, and all the trees of the field should\nclap their hands; instead of thorns should come up timber-trees: instead\nof briers, garden-shrubs. The whole cultivation of the country was to\nimprove, and be to the Lord for a name, and a sign for ever that the true\nway to wealth and prosperity is the way of God, justice, mercy to each\nother, and obedience to the will of Him who made heaven and earth, trees\nand fruitful fields, rain and sunshine, and gives the blessings of them\nfreely to His children of mankind, in proportion as they look up to Him\nas a loving Father, and return to him day by day, with childlike\nrepentance, and full desire to amend their lives according to His holy\nword.\n\n\n\n\nXXIII.\nTHE LOVE OF CHRIST.\n\n\n For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that\n if one died for all, then were all dead. And that He died for all,\n that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but\n unto Him which died for them, and rose again.\u20142 COR. v. 14, 15.\n\nWHAT is the use of sermons?\u2014what is the use of books? Here are hundreds\nand thousands of people hearing weekly and daily what is right, and how\nmany _do_ what is right?\u2014much less _love_ what is right? What can be the\nreason of this, that men should know the better and choose the worse?\nWhat motive can one find out?\u2014what reason or argument can one put before\npeople, to make them do their duty? How can one stir them up to conquer\nthemselves; to conquer their own love of pleasure, laziness, cowardice,\nconceit, above all their own selfishness, and do simply what is right,\nmorning, noon, and night? That is a question worth asking and\nconsidering, for there ought to be some use in sermons and in books; and\nthere ought to be some use in every one of us too. Woe to the man who is\nof no use! The Lord have mercy on his soul; for he needs it! It is,\nindeed, worth his while to take any trouble which will teach him a motive\nfor being useful; in plain words, stir him up to do his duty, to do his\nrights; for a man\u2019s rights are not, as the world thinks, what is right\nothers should do to him, but what is right he should do to others. Our\nduty is our right, the only thing which is right for us. What motive\nwill constrain us, that is, bind us, and force us to do that?\n\nWill self-interest? Will a man do right because you tell him it is his\ninterest, it will pay him to do it? Look round you and see.\u2014The drunkard\nknows that drinking will ruin him, and yet he gets drunk. The\nspendthrift knows that extravagance will ruin him, and yet he throws away\nhis money still. The idler knows that he is wasting his only chance for\nall eternity, and yet he puts the thought out of his head, and goes on\nidling. The cheat knows that he is in danger of being almost certainly\nfound out sooner or later; he knows too that he is burdening his own\nconscience with the curse of inward shame and self-contempt; and yet he\ngoes on cheating. The hard master knows, or ought to know (for there is\nquite enough to prove it to him) that it would pay him better in the long\nrun to be more merciful, and less covetous; that by grinding those whom\nhe employs down to the last farthing, he degrades them till they become\nburdens on him and curses to him; that what he gains by high prices, he\nwill lose in the long run by bad debts; that what he saves in low wages,\nhe will pay in extra poor-rates; and that even if he does make money out\nof the flesh and bones of those beneath him, that money ill gotten is\nsure to be ill spent, that there is a curse on it, that it brings a curse\nin the gnawing of a man\u2019s own conscience, and a curse too in the way it\nflows away from his family as fast as it flowed to them. \u201cHe that by\nusury and unjust gain increases his wealth, shall gather for him that\nwill pity the poor.\u201d So said Solomon of old. And men who worship Mammon\nfind it come true daily, and see that, taking all things together, a\nman\u2019s life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he\npossesses, and that those who make such haste to be rich, fall, as the\napostle says, \u201cinto temptation and a snare, and pierce themselves through\nwith many sorrows.\u201d Such a man sees his neighbours making money, and\nmaking themselves more unhappy, anxious, discontented by it; he sees, in\nshort, that it is not his interest to do nothing but make money and save\nmoney: and yet in spite of that, he thinks of nothing else.\nSelf-interest cannot keep him from that sin. I do not believe that\nself-interest ever kept any man from any _sin_, though it may keep him\nfrom many an imprudence. Self-interest may make many a man respectable,\nbut whom did it ever make good? You may as well make house-walls of\npaper, or take a rush for a walking-stick, as take self-interest to keep\nyou upright, or even prudent. The first shake\u2014and the rush bends, and\nthe paper wall breaks, and a man\u2019s selfish prudence is blown to the\nwinds. Let pleasure tempt him, or ambition, or the lust of making money\nby speculation; let him take a spite against anyone; let him get into a\npassion; let his pride be hurt; and he will do the maddest things, which\nhe knows to be entirely contrary to his own interest, just to gratify the\nfancy of the moment. Those who call themselves philosophers, and fancy\nthat men\u2019s self-interest, if they can only feel it strong enough, would\nmake all men just and merciful to each other, know as little of human\nnature as they do of God or the devil.\n\nWhat _will_ make a man to do his duty? Will the hope of heaven? That\ndepends very much upon what you mean by heaven. But what people commonly\nmean by going to heaven, is\u2014not going to hell. They believe that they\nmust go to either one place or the other. They would much sooner of\ncourse stay on earth for ever, because their treasure is here, and their\nheart too. But that cannot be, and as they have no wish to go to hell,\nthey take up with heaven instead, by way of making the best of a bad\nmatter.\n\nI ask you solemnly, my friends, each one of you, which would you sooner\ndo\u2014stay here on earth, or go to heaven? You need not answer _me_. I am\nafraid many of you would not dare answer me as you really felt, because\nyou would be ashamed of not liking to go to heaven. But answer God.\nAnswer yourselves in the sight of God. When you keep yourselves back\nfrom doing a wrong thing, because you know it is wrong, is it for love of\nheaven, or for mere fear of being punished in hell? Some of you will\nanswer boldly at once: \u201cFor neither one nor the other; when we keep from\nwrong, it is because we hate and despise what is wrong: when we do right\nit is because it is right and we ought to do it. We can\u2019t explain it,\nbut there is something in us which tells us we ought to do right.\u201d Very\ngood, my friends, I shall have a word to say to you presently; but in the\nmeantime there are some others who have been saying to themselves: \u201cWell,\nI know we do right because we are afraid of being punished if we do not\ndo it, but what of that? at all events we get the right thing done, and\nleave the wrong thing undone, and what more do you want? Why torment us\nwith disagreeable questions as to _why_ we do it?\u201d\n\nNow, my friends, to make the matter simpler, I will take you at your\nwords, for the sake of argument. Suppose you do avoid sin from the fear\nof hell, does that make what you do _right_? Does that make _you_ right?\nDoes that make your heart right? It is a great blessing to a man\u2019s\nneighbours, certainly, if he is kept from doing wrong any how\u2014by the fear\nof hell, or fear of jail, or fear of shame, or fear of ghosts if you\nlike, or any other cowardly and foolish motive\u2014a great blessing to a\nman\u2019s neighbours: but no blessing, that I can see, to the man himself.\nHe is just the same; his heart is not changed; his heart is no more right\nin the sight of God, or in the sight of any man of common sense either,\nthan it would be if he did the wrong thing, which he loves and dare not\ndo. You feel that yourselves about other people. You will say \u201cThat man\nhas a bad heart, for all his respectable outside. He would be a rogue if\nhe dared, and therefore he _is_ a rogue.\u201d Just so, I say, my friends,\ntake care lest God should say of you, \u201cHe would be a sinner if he dared,\nand therefore he is a sinner.\u201d\n\nHow can the hope of heaven, or the fear of hell, make a man do right?\nThe right thing, the true thing for a man, is to be loving, and do loving\nthings; and can fear of hell do that, or hope of heaven either? Can a\nman make himself affectionate to his children because he fancies he shall\nbe punished if he is not so, and rewarded if he is so? Will the hope of\nheaven send men out to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, visit the\nsick, preach the gospel to the poor?\u2014The Papists say it will. I say it\nwill not. I believe that even in those who do these things from hope of\nheaven and fear of hell, there is some holier, nobler, more spiritual\nmotive, than such everlasting selfishness, such perfect hypocrisy, as to\ndo loving works for others, for the sake of one\u2019s own self-love.\n\nWhat feeling then is there left which will bind a man to do good, not\nonce in a way, but always and habitually? to do good, not only to\nhimself, but to all around him? I know but of one, my friends, and that\nis Love. There are many sides to love\u2014admiration, reverence, gratitude,\npity, affection\u2014they are all different shapes of that one great spirit of\nlove. Surely all of you have felt its power more or less; how\nwonderfully it can conquer a man\u2019s whole heart, change his whole conduct.\nFor love of a woman; for pity to those in distress; for admiration for\nanyone who is nobler and wiser than himself; for gratitude to one who has\ndone him kindness; for loyalty to one to whom he feels he owes a\nservice\u2014a man will dare to do things, and suffer things, which no\nself-interest or fear in the world could have brought him to. Do you not\nknow it yourselves? Is it not fondness for your wives and children, that\nwill make you slave and stint yourselves of pleasure more than any hope\nof gain could ever do? But there is no one human being, my friends, whom\nwe can meet among us now, for whom we can feel all these different sorts\nof love? Surely not: and yet there must be One Person somewhere for whom\nGod intends us to feel them all at once; or else He would not have given\nall these powers to us, and made them all different branches of one great\nroot of love. There must be One Person somewhere, who can call out the\nwhole love in us\u2014all our gratitude; all our pity; all our admiration; all\nour loyalty; all our brotherly affection. _And there is One_, my\nfriends. One who has done for us more than ever husband or father, wife\nor brother, can do to call out our gratitude. One who has suffered for\nus more than the saddest wretch upon this earth can suffer, to call out\nour pity. One who is nobler, purer, more lovely in character than all\nothers who ever trod this earth, to call out our admiration. One who is\nwiser, mightier than all rulers and philosophers, to call out all our\nreverence. One who is tenderer, more gentle, more feeling-hearted, than\nthe kindest woman who ever sat by a sick bed, to call out all our love.\nOf whom can I be speaking? Of whom but of Jesus; He who for us stooped\nout of the heaven of heavens; for us left His eternal glory in the bosom\nof the Father; for us took upon Him the form of a servant, and was born\nof a village maiden, and was called the son of a carpenter; for us\nwandered this earth for thirty years in sorrow and shame; for us gave His\nback to the scourge, and His face to shameful spitting; for us hung upon\nthe cross and died the death of the felon and the slave. Oh! my friends,\nif that story will not call out our love, what will? If we cannot admire\nChrist, whom can we admire? If we cannot be grateful to Christ, to whom\ncan we be grateful? If we cannot pity Christ, whom can we pity? If we\ncannot feel bound in honour to live for Christ, to work for Christ, to\ndelight in talking of Christ, thinking of Christ, to glory in doing\nChrist\u2019s commandments to the very smallest point, to feel no sacrifice\ntoo great, no trouble too petty, if we can please Christ by it and help\nforward Christ\u2019s kingdom upon earth\u2014if we cannot feel bound in honour to\ndo that for Christ, what honour is there in us? Again, I say, if we\ncannot love Christ, whom can we love? If the remembrance of what He has\nworked for us will not stir us up to work for Him, what will stir us up?\n\nI say it again, we are bound by every tie, by every feeling that can bind\nman to man, to devote ourselves to Christ, the Man of all men. I say\nthis is no dream or fancy, it is an actual fact which thousands and\nhundreds of thousands on this earth have felt. Nothing but love to\nChrist, nothing but loving Him because He first loved us, can constrain\nand force a man as with a mighty feeling which he cannot resist, to\nlabour day and night for Christ\u2019s sake, and therefore for the sake of God\nthe Father of Christ. What else do you suppose it was which could have\nstirred up the apostles\u2014above all, that wise, learned, high-born,\nprosperous man, St. Paul, to leave house and home, and wander in daily\ndanger of his life? What does St. Paul say himself? \u201cThe love of Christ\nconstraineth us, because we thus judge, and if one died for all then were\nall dead, and that He died for all, that they which live should not\nhenceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them.\u201d And\nwhat else could have kept St. Paul through all that labour and sorrow of\nhis own choosing, of which he speaks in the chapter before?\u2014\u201cWe are\ntroubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in\ndespair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;\nalways bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the\nlife also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body; for we which live\nare alway delivered unto death for Jesus\u2019 sake, that the life also of\nJesus might be made manifest in our body.\u201d\n\nWe may say that St. Paul was an exceedingly benevolent man, and _that_\nmade him do it; or that he had found out certain new truths and opinions\nwhich delighted him very much, and therefore he did it. But St. Paul\ngives no such account of himself: and we have no right to take anyone\u2019s\naccount but his own. He knew his own heart best. He does not say that\nhe came to preach a scheme of redemption, or opinions about Christ. He\nsays he came to preach nothing but Christ Himself\u2014Christ crucified\u2014to\ntell people about the Lord he loved, about the Lord who loved him,\ncertain that when they had heard the plain story of Him, their hearts, if\nthey were simple, and true, and loving, would leap up in answer to his\nwords, and find out, as by instinct, what Christ had done for them, what\nthey were to do for Christ. Ay, I believe, my friends\u2014indeed I am\ncertain\u2014from my own reading, that in every age and country, just in\nproportion as men have loved Christ personally as a man would love\nanother man, just in that proportion have they loved their neighbours,\nworked for their neighbours, sacrificed their time, their pleasure, their\nmoney, to do good to all, for the sake of Him who commanded: \u201cIf ye love\n_ME_, keep my commandments; and my commandment is this, that ye should\nlove one another as I have loved you.\u201d That is the only sure motive.\nAll other motives for doing good or being good, will fail in one case or\nanother case, because they do not take possession of a man\u2019s whole heart,\nbut only of some part of his heart. Love\u2014love to Christ, can alone sweep\naway a man\u2019s whole heart and soul with it, and renew it, and transfigure\nit, and make it strong instead of weak, pure instead of foul, gentle\ninstead of fierce, brave instead of being vain and cowardly, and fearing\nwhat everyone will say of him. Only love for Christ, who loved all men\nunto the death, will make us love all men too: not only one here and\nthere who may agree with us or help us; but those who hate us, those who\nmisunderstand us, those who thwart us, ay, even those who disobey and\nslight not only us, but Jesus Christ Himself. _That_ is the hardest\nlesson of all to learn; but thousands have learnt it; everyone ought to\nlearn it. In proportion as a man loves Christ, he will learn to love\nthose who do not love Christ. For Christ loves them whether they know it\nor not; Christ died for them whether they believe it or not; and we must\nlove them because our Saviour loves them.\n\nOh! my friends, why do so few love Christ? Why do so few live as those\nwho are not their own, but bought with the price of His precious blood\nand bound to devote themselves, body and soul, to His cause? Why do so\nmany struggle against their sins, while yet they cannot break off those\nsins, but go struggling and sinning on, hating their sins and yet unable\nto break through their sins, like birds beating themselves to death\nagainst the wires of their cage? Why? Because they do not know Christ.\nAnd how can they know Him, unless they read their Bibles with simple,\nchildlike hearts, determined to let the Bible tell its own story:\nbelieving that those who walked with Christ on earth, must know best what\nHe was like? Why? Because they will not ask Christ to come and show\nHimself to them, and make them see Him, and love Him, and admire Him,\nwhether they will or not. Oh! remember, if Christ be the Son of God, the\nLord of heaven and earth, we cannot go to Him, poor, weak, ignorant\ncreatures as we are. We cannot ascend up into heaven to bring Christ\ndown. He must come down out of His own great love and condescension, and\ndwell in our hearts as He has promised to do, if we do but love Him. He\nmust come down and show Himself to us. Oh! read your Bibles\u2014read the\nstory of Christ, and if that does not stir up in you some love for Him,\nyou must have hearts of stone, not flesh and blood. And then go to Him;\npray to Him, whether you believe in Him altogether or not, upon the mere\nchance of His being able to hear you and help you. You would not throw\naway a chance on earth; will you throw away such a chance in heaven as\nhaving the Son of God to help you? Oh, cry to Him; say out of the depths\nof your heart: \u201cThou most blessed and glorious Being who ever walked this\nearth, who hast gone blameless through all sorrow and temptation that man\ncan feel; if Thou dost love anyone, if Thou canst hear anyone, hear me!\nIf thou canst not help me, no one can. I have a hundred puzzling\nquestions which I cannot answer for myself, a hundred temptations which I\ncannot conquer for myself, a hundred bad habits which I cannot shake off\nof myself; and they tell me that Thou canst teach me, Thou canst guide\nme, Thou canst strengthen me, Thou canst take out of my heart this shame\nand gnawing of an evil conscience. If Thou be the Son of God, make me\nclean! If it be true that Thou lovest all men, show Thy love to me! If\nit be true that Thou canst teach all men, teach me! If it be true that\nThou canst help all men, help my unbelief, for if Thou dost not, there is\nno help for me in heaven or earth!\u201d You, who are sinful, distracted,\npuzzled, broken-hearted, cry to Christ in that way, if you have no better\nway, and see if He does not hear you. He is not one to break the bruised\nreed, or quench the smoking flax. He will hear you, for He has heard all\nwho have ever called on Him. Cry to Him from the bottom of your hearts.\nTell Him that you do _not_ love Him, and that yet you _long_ to love Him.\nAnd see if you do not find it true that those who come to Christ, He will\nin no wise cast out. He may not seem to answer you the first time, or\nthe tenth time, or for years; for Christ has His own deep, loving, wise\nways of teaching each man, and for each man a different way. But try to\nlearn all you can of Him. Try to know Him. Pray to know, and understand\nHim, and love Him. And sooner or later you will find His words come\ntrue, \u201cIf a man love me, I and my Father will come to him, and take up\nour abode with him.\u201d And then you will feel arise in you a hungering and\na thirsting after righteousness, a spirit of love, and a desire of doing\ngood, which will carry you up and on, above all that man can say or do\nagainst you\u2014above all the laziness, and wilfulness, and selfishness, and\ncowardice which dwells in the heart of everyone. You will be able to\ntrample it all under foot for the sake of being good and doing good, in\nthe strength of that one glorious thought, \u201cChrist lived and died for me,\nand, so help me God, I will live and die for Christ.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXXIV.\nDAVID\u2019S VICTORY.\n\n\n Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield:\n but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of\n Israel, whom thou hast defied.\u20141 SAMUEL xvii. 45.\n\nWE have been reading to-day the story of David\u2019s victory over the\nPhilistine giant, Goliath. Now I think the whole history of David may\nteach us more about the meaning of the Old Testament, and how it applies\nto us, than the history of any other single character. David was the\ngreat hero of the Jews; the greatest, in spite of great sins and follies,\nthat has ever been among them; in every point the king after God\u2019s own\nheart. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself did not disdain to be called\nespecially the Son of David. David was the author, too, of those\nwonderful psalms which are now in the mouths and the hearts of Christian\npeople all over the world; and will last, as I believe, till the world\u2019s\nend, giving out fresh depths of meaning and spiritual experience.\n\nBut to understand David\u2019s history, we must go back a little through the\nlessons which have been read in church the last few Sundays. We find in\nthe eighth and in the twelfth chapters of this same book of Samuel, that\nthe Jews asked Samuel for a king\u2014for a king like the nations round them.\nSamuel consulted God, and by God\u2019s command chose Saul to be their king;\nat the same time warning them that in asking for a king they had\ncommitted a great and fearful sin, for \u201cthe Lord their God was their\nking.\u201d And the Lord said unto Samuel, that in asking for a king they had\nrejected God from reigning over them. Now what was this sin which the\nJews committed? for the mere having a king cannot be wrong in itself;\nelse God would not have anointed Saul and David kings, and blessed David\nand Solomon; much less would He have allowed the greater number of\nChristian nations to remain governed by kings unto this day, if a king\nhad been a wrong thing in itself. I think if we look carefully at the\nwords of the story we shall see what this great sin of the Jews was. In\nthe first place, they asked Samuel to give them a king\u2014not God. This was\na sin, I think; but it was only the fruit of a deeper sin\u2014a wrong way of\nlooking at the whole question of kings and government. And that deeper\nsin was this: they were a free people, and they wanted to become slaves.\nGod had made them a free people; He had brought them up out of the land\nof Egypt, out of slavery to Pharaoh. He had given them a free\nconstitution. He had given them laws to secure safety, and liberty, and\nequal justice to rich and poor, for themselves, their property, their\nchildren; to defend them from oppression, and over-taxation, and all the\nmiseries of misgovernment. And now they were going to trample under foot\nGod\u2019s inestimable gift of liberty. They wanted a king like the nations\nround them, they said. They did not see that it was just their glory\n_not_ to be like the nations round them in that. We who live in a free\ncountry do not see the vast and inestimable difference between the Jews\nand the other nations. The Jews were then, perhaps, so far as I can make\nout, the only free people on the face of the earth. The nations round\nthem were like the nations in the East, now governed by tyrants, without\nlaw or parliament, at the mercy of the will, the fancy, the lust, the\nambition, and the cruelty of their despotic kings. In fact, they were as\nthe Eastern people now are\u2014slaves governed by tyrants. Samuel warned the\nJews that it would be just the same with them; that neither their\nproperty, their families, nor their liberty would be safe under the\ndespots for whom they wished. And yet, in spite of that warning, they\nwould have a king. And why? Because they did not like the trouble of\nbeing free. They did not like the responsibility and the labour of\ntaking care of themselves, and asking counsel of God as to how they were\nto govern themselves. So they were ready to sell themselves to a tyrant,\nthat he might fight for them, and judge for them, and take care of them,\nwhile they just ate and drank, and made money, and lived like slaves,\ncareless of what happened to them or their country, provided they could\nget food, and clothes, and money enough. And as long as they got that,\nif you will remark, they were utterly careless as to what sort of king\nthey had. They said not one word to Samuel about how much power their\nking was to have. They made not the slightest inquiry as to whether Saul\nwas wise or foolish, good or bad. They did not ask God\u2019s counsel, or\ntrouble themselves about God; so they proved themselves unworthy of being\nfree. They turned, like a dog to his vomit, and the sow to her wallowing\nin the mire, cowardly back again into slavery; and God gave them what\nthey asked for. He gave them the sort of king they wanted; and bitterly\nthey found out their mistake during several hundred years of continually\nincreasing slavery and misery.\n\nThere is a deep lesson for us, my friends, in all this. And that is,\nthat God\u2019s gifts are not fit for us, unless we are more or less fit for\nthem. That to him that makes use of what he has, more shall be given;\nbut from him who does not, will be taken away even what he has. And so\neven the inestimable gift of freedom is no use unless men have free\nhearts in them. God sets a man free from his sins by faith in Jesus\nChrist; but unless that man uses His grace, unless he desires to be free\ninwardly as well as outwardly\u2014to be free not only from the punishment of\nhis sins, but from the sins themselves; unless he is willing to accept\nGod\u2019s offer of freedom, and go boldly to the throne of grace, and there\nplead his cause with his heavenly Father face to face, without looking to\nany priest, or saint, or other third person to plead for him; if, in\nshort, a man has not a free spirit in him, the grace of God will become\nof no effect in him, and he will receive the spirit of bondage (of\nslavery, that is), again to fear. Perhaps he will fall back more or less\ninto popery and half-popish superstitions; perhaps, as we see daily round\nus, he will fall back again into antinomianism, into the slavery of those\nvery sins from which God once delivered him. And just the same is it\nwith a nation. When God has given a nation freedom, then, unless there\nbe a free heart in the people and true independence, which is dependence\non God and not on man; unless there be a spirit of justice, mercy, truth,\ntrust of God in them, their freedom will be of no effect; they will only\nfall back into slavery, to be oppressed by fresh tyrants.\n\nSo it was with the great Spanish colonies in South America a few years\nago. God gave them freedom from the tyranny of Spain; but what advantage\nwas it to them? Because there was no righteousness in them; because they\nwere a cowardly, profligate, false, and cruel people, therefore they only\nbecame the slaves of their own lusts; they turned God\u2019s great grace of\nfreedom into licentiousness, and have been ever since doing nothing but\ncutting each other\u2019s throats; every man\u2019s hand against his own brother;\nthe slaves of tyrants far more cruel than those from whom they had\nescaped.\n\nLook at the French people, too. Three times in the last sixty years has\nGod delivered them from evil rulers, and given them a chance of freedom;\nand three times have they fallen back into fresh slavery. And why?\nBecause they will not be righteous; because they will be proud, boastful,\nlustful, godless, cruel, making a lie and loving it. God help them! We\nare not here to judge them, but to take warning ourselves. Now there is\nno use in boasting of our English freedom, unless we have free and\nrighteous hearts in us; for it is not constitutions, and parliaments, and\ncharters which make a nation free; they are only the shell, the outside\nof freedom. True freedom is of the heart and spirit, and comes down from\nabove, from the Spirit of God; for where the Spirit of God is, there is\nliberty, and there only. Oh, every one of you! high and low, rich and\npoor, pray and struggle to get your own hearts free; free from the sins\nwhich beset us Englishmen in these days; free from pride, prejudice, and\nenvy; free from selfishness and covetousness; free from unchastity and\ndrunkenness; free from the conceit that England is safe, while all the\nrest of the world is shaking. Be sure that the spirit of freedom, like\nevery other good and perfect gift, is from above, and comes down from\nGod, the Father of lights; and that to keep that spirit with us, we must\nkeep ourselves worthy of it, and not expect to remain free if we indulge\nourselves in mean and slavish sins.\n\nSo the Jews got the king they wanted\u2014a king to look at and be proud of.\nSaul was, we read, a head taller than all the rest of the people, and\nvery handsome to look at. And he was brave enough, too, in mere\nfighting, when he was awakened and stirred up to act now and then; but\nthere was no wisdom in him; no real trust in God in him. He took God for\nan idol, like the heathens\u2019 false gods, which had to be pleased and kept\nin good humour by the smell of burnt sacrifices; and not for a living,\nrighteous Person, who had to be obeyed. We read of Saul\u2019s misconduct in\nthese respects, in the thirteenth and fifteenth chapters of the First\nBook of Samuel. That was only the beginning of his wickedness. The\nworst points in his character, as I shall show in my next sermon, came\nout afterwards. But still, his disobedience was enough to make God cast\nhim off, and leave him to go his own way to ruin.\n\nBut God was not going to cast off His people whom He loved. He deals not\nwith mankind after their sins, neither rewards them according to their\niniquities; and so he chose out for them a king after His own heart\u2014a\ntrue king of God\u2019s making, not a mere sham one of man\u2019s making. You may\nthink it strange why God should have given them a second king; why, as\nsoon as Saul died, He did not let them return back to their old freedom.\nBut that is not God\u2019s way. He brings good out of evil in His great\nmercy. But it is always by strange winding paths. His ways are not as\nour ways. First, God gives man what is perfectly proper for him at that\ntime; sets man in his right place; and then when man falls from that, God\nbrings him, not back to the place from which he fell, but on forward into\nsomething far higher and better than what he fell from. He put Adam into\nParadise. Adam fell from it, and God made use of the fall to bring him\ninto a state far better than Paradise\u2014into the kingdom of God\u2014into\neverlasting life\u2014into the likeness of Christ, the new Adam, who is a\nquickening, life-giving spirit, while the old Adam was, at best, only a\nliving soul.\n\nSo with the church of Christian men. After the apostles\u2019 time, and even\nduring the apostles\u2019 time, as we read from the Epistle to the Galatians,\nthey fell away, step by step, from the liberty of the gospel, till they\nsunk entirely into popish superstition. And yet God brought good out of\nthat evil. He made that very popery a means of bringing them back at the\nReformation into clearer light than any of the first Christians ever had\nhad. He is going on step by step still, bringing Christians into a\nclearer knowledge of the gospel than even the Reformers had.\n\nAnd so with the Jews. They fell from their liberty and chose a king.\nAnd yet God made use of those kings of theirs, of David, of Solomon, of\nJosiah, and Hezekiah, to teach them more and more about Himself and His\nlaw, and to teach all nations, by their example, what a nation should be,\nand how He deals with one.\n\nBut now let us see what this true king, David, was like, whom God chose,\nthat He might raise, by his means, the Jews higher than they ever yet had\nbeen, even in their days of freedom. Now remark, in the first place,\nthat David was not the son of any very great man. His father seems to\nhave been only a yeoman. He was not bred up in courts. We find that\nwhen Samuel was sent to anoint David king, he was out keeping his\nfather\u2019s sheep in the field. And though, no doubt, he had shown signs of\nbeing a very remarkable youth from the first, yet his father thought so\nlittle of him, that he was going to pass him over, and caused all his\nseven elder sons to pass before Samuel for his choice first, though there\nseems to have been nothing particular in them, except that some of them\nwere fine men and brave soldiers. So David seems to have been\noverlooked, and thought but little of in his youth\u2014and a very good thing\nfor him. It is a good thing for a young man to bear the yoke in his\nyouth, that he may be kept humble and low; that he may learn to trust in\nGod, and not in his own wit. And even when Samuel anointed David, he\nanointed him privately. His brothers did not know what a great honour\nwas in store for him; for we find, in the lesson which we have just read,\nthat when David came down to the camp, his elder brother spoke\ncontemptuously to him, and treated him as a child. \u201cI know thy pride,\u201d\nhe said, \u201cand the naughtiness of thy heart. Thou art come down to see\nthe battle.\u201d While David answers humbly enough: \u201cWhat have I done? is\nthere not a cause?\u201d feeling that there was more in him than his brother\ngave him credit for; though he dare not tell his brother, hardly,\nperhaps, dare believe himself, what great things God had prepared for\nhim. So it is yet\u2014a prophet has no honour in his own country. How many\na noble-hearted man there is, who is looked down upon by those round him!\nHow many a one is despised for a dreamer, or for a Methodist, by shallow\nworldly people, who in God\u2019s sight is of very great price! But God sees\nnot as man sees. He makes use of the weak people of this world to\nconfound the strong. He sends about His errands not many noble, not many\nmighty; but the poor man, rich in faith, like David. He puts down the\nmighty from their seat, and exalts the humble and meek. He takes the\nbeggar from the dunghill, that He may set him among the princes of His\npeople. So He has been doing in all ages. So He will do even now, in\nsome measure, with everyone like David, let him be as low as he will in\nthe opinion of this foolish world, who yet puts his trust utterly in God,\nand goes about all his work, as David did, in the name of the Lord of\nhosts. Oh! if a poor man feels that God has given him wit and\nwisdom\u2014feels in him the desire to rise and better himself in life, let\nhim be sure that the only way to rise is David\u2019s plan\u2014to keep humble and\nquiet till God shall lift him up, trusting in God\u2019s righteousness and\nlove to raise him, and deliver him, and put him in that station, be it\nhigh or low, in which he will be best able to do God\u2019s work, or serve\nGod\u2019s glory.\n\nAnd now for the chapter from which the text is taken, which relates to us\nDavid\u2019s first great public triumph\u2014his victory over Goliath the giant. I\nwill not repeat it to you, because everyone here who has ears to hear or\na heart to feel ought to have been struck with every word in that\nglorious story. All I will try to do is, to show you how the working of\nGod\u2019s Spirit comes out in David in every action of his on that glorious\nday. We saw just now David\u2019s humbleness and gentleness, the fruits of\nGod\u2019s Spirit in him, in his answer to his proud and harsh brother. Look\nnext at David\u2019s spirit of trust in God, which, indeed, is the key to his\nwhole life; that is the reason why he was the man after God\u2019s own\nheart\u2014not for any virtues of his own, but for his unshaken continual\nfaith in God. David saw in an instant why the Israelites were so afraid\nof the giant; because they had no faith in God. They forgot that they\nwere the armies of the living God. David did not: \u201cWho is this\nuncircumcised, that he shall defy the armies of the living God?\u201d And\ntherefore, when Saul tried to dissuade him from attacking the Philistine,\nhis answer is still the same\u2014full of faith in God. He knew well enough\nwhat a fearful undertaking it was to fight with this giant, nearly ten\nfeet high, armed from head to foot with mail, which perhaps no sword or\nspear which he could use could pierce. It was no wonder, humanly\nspeaking, that all the Jews fled from him\u2014that his being there stopped\nthe whole battle. In these days, fifty such men would make no difference\nin a battle; bullets and cannon-shot would mow down them like other men:\nbut in those old times, before firearms were invented, when all battles\nwere hand-to-hand fights, and depended so much on each man\u2019s strength and\ncourage, that one champion would often decide the victory for a whole\narmy, the amount of courage which was required in David is past our\nunderstanding; at least we may say, David would not have had it but for\nhis trust in God, but for his feeling that he was on God\u2019s side, and\nGoliath on the devil\u2019s side, unjustly invading his country in\nself-conceit, and cruelty, and lawlessness. Therefore he tells Saul of\nhis victory over the lion and the bear. You see again, here, the Spirit\nof God showing in his _modesty_. He does not boast or talk of his\nstrength and courage in killing the lion and the bear; for he knew that\nthat strength and courage came from God, not from himself; therefore he\nsays that the Lord _delivered him_ from them. He knew that he had been\nonly doing his duty in facing them when they attacked his father\u2019s sheep,\nand that it was God\u2019s mercy which had protected him in doing his duty.\nHe felt now, that if no one else would face this brutal giant, it was\n_his_ duty, poor, simple, weak youth as he was, and therefore he trusted\nin God to bring him safe through this danger also. But look again how\nthe Spirit of God shows in his prudence. He would not use Saul\u2019s armour,\ngood as it might be, because he was not accustomed to it. He would use\nhis own experience, and fight with the weapons to which he had been\naccustomed\u2014a sling and stone. You see he was none of those presumptuous\nand fanatical dreamers who tempt God by fancying that He is to go out of\nHis way to work miracles for them. He used all the proper and prudent\nmeans to kill the giant, and trusted to God to bless them. If he had\nbeen presumptuous, he might have taken the first stone that came to hand,\nor taken only one, or taken none at all, and expected the giant to fall\ndown dead by a miracle. But no; he _chooses five smooth_ stones out of\nthe brook. He tried to get the best that he could, and have more ready\nif his first shot failed. He showed no distrust of God in that; for he\ntrusted in God to keep him cool, and steady, and courageous in the fight,\nand that, he knew, God alone could do. The only place, perhaps, where he\ncould strike Goliath to hurt him was on the face, because every other\npart of him was covered in metal armour. And he knew that, in such\ndanger as he was, God\u2019s Spirit only could keep his eye clear and his hand\nsteady for such a desperate chance as hitting that one place.\n\nSo he went; and as he went his courage rose higher and higher; for unto\nhim that hath shall more be given; and so he began to boast too\u2014but not\nof himself, like the giant. He boasted of the living God, who was with\nhim. He ran boldly up to the Philistine, and at the first throw, struck\non the forehead, and felled him dead.\n\nSo it is; many a time the very blessing which we expect to get only with\ngreat difficulty, God gives us at our first trial, to show that He is the\nGiver, to cheer up our poor doubting hearts, and show us that He is able,\nand willing too, to give exceeding abundantly more than we can ask or\nthink.\n\nSo David triumphed: and yet that triumph was only the beginning of his\ntroubles. Sad and weary years had he to struggle on before he gained the\nkingdom which God had promised him. So it is often with God\u2019s elect. He\ngives them blessings at first, to show them that He is really with them;\nand then He lets them be evil-entreated by tyrants, and suffer\npersecution, and wander out of the way in the wilderness, that they may\nbe made perfect by suffering, and purified, as gold is in the refiner\u2019s\nfire, from all selfishness, conceit, ambition, cowardliness, till they\nlearn to trust God utterly, to know their own weakness, and His strength,\nand to work only for Him, careless what becomes of their own poor\nworthless selves, provided they can help His kingdom to come, and get His\nwill to be done on earth as it is in heaven.\n\nAnd now, my friends, surely there is a lesson in all this for you. Do\nyou wish to rise like David? Of course not one in ten thousand can rise\nas high, but we may all rise somewhat, if not in rank, yet still, what is\nfar better, in spirit, in wisdom, in usefulness, in manfulness. Do you\nwish to rise so? then follow David\u2019s example. Be truly brave, be truly\nmodest, and in order to be truly brave and truly modest, that is, be\ntruly manly, be truly godly. Trust in God; trust in God; that is the key\nto all greatness. Courage, modesty, truth, honesty, and gentleness; all\nthings, which are noble, lovely, and of good report; all things, in\nshort, which will make you men after God\u2019s own heart, are all only the\ndifferent fruits of that one blessed life-giving root\u2014FAITH IN GOD.\n\n\n\n\nXXV.\nDAVID\u2019S EDUCATION.\n\n\n Made perfect through sufferings.\u2014HEBREWS ii. 10.\n\nTHAT is my text; and a very fit one for another sermon about David, the\nking after God\u2019s own heart. And a very fit one too, for any sermon\npreached to people living in this world now or at any time. \u201cA\nmelancholy text,\u201d you will say. But what if it be melancholy? That is\nnot the fault of me, the preacher. The preacher did not make suffering,\ndid not make disappointment, doubt, ignorance, mistakes, oppression,\npoverty, sickness. There they are, whether we like it or not. You have\nonly to go on to the common here, or any other common or town in England,\nto see too much of them\u2014enough to break one\u2019s heart if\u2014, but I will not\nhurry on too fast in what I have to say. What I want to make you\nrecollect is, that misery is here round us, _in_ us. A great deal which\nwe bring on ourselves; and a great deal more misery which we do not, as\nfar as we can see, bring on ourselves; but which comes, nevertheless, and\nlets us know plainly enough that it is close to us. Every man and woman\nof us have their sorrows. There is no use shutting our eyes just when we\nourselves happen to feel tolerably easy, and saying, as too many do, \u201cI\ndon\u2019t see so very much sorrow; I am happy enough!\u201d Are you, friend,\nhappy enough? So much the worse for you, perhaps. But at all events\nyour neighbours are not happy enough; most of them are only too\nmiserable. It is a sad world. A sad world, and full of tears. It is.\nAnd you must not be angry with the preacher for reminding you of what is.\n\nTrue; you would have a right to quarrel with the preacher or anyone else\nwho made you sorrowful with the thoughts of the sorrow round you, and\nthen gave you no explanation of it\u2014told you of no use, no blessing in it,\nno deliverance from it. That would be enough to break any man\u2019s heart,\nif all the preacher could say was: \u201cThis wretchedness, and sickness, and\ndeath, must go on as long as the world lasts, and yet it does no good,\nfor God or man.\u201d That thought would drive any feeling man to despair,\ntempt him to lie down and die, tempt him to fancy that God was not God at\nall, not the God whose name is Love, not the God who is our Father, but\nonly a cruel taskmaster, and Lord of a miserable hell on earth, where men\nand women, and worst of all, little children, were tortured daily by tens\nof thousands without reason, or use, or hope of deliverance, except in a\nfuture world, where not one in ten of them will be saved and happy. That\nis many people\u2019s notion of the world\u2014religious people\u2019s even. How they\ncan believe, in the face of such notions, \u201cthat God is love;\u201d how they\ncan help going mad with pity, if that is all the hope they have for poor\nhuman beings, is more than I can tell. Not that I judge them\u2014to their\nown master they stand or fall: but this I do say, that if the preacher\nhas no better hope to give you about this poor earth, then I cannot tell\nwhat right he has to call himself a preacher of the gospel\u2014that is, a\npreacher of good news; then I do not know what Jesus Christ\u2019s dying to\ntake away the sins of the world means; then I do not know what the\nkingdom of God means; then I do not know why the Lord taught us to pray,\n\u201cThy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,\u201d if the\nonly way in which that can be brought about is by His sending ninety-nine\nhundredths of mankind to endless torture, over and above all the lesser\nmisery which they have suffered in this life. What will be the end of\nthe greater part of mankind we do not know; we were not intended to know.\nGod is love, and God is justice, and His justice is utterly loving, as\nwell as His love utterly just; so we may very safely leave the world in\nthe hands of Him who made the world, and be sure that the Judge of all\nthe earth will do right, and that what is right is certain never to be\ncruel, but rather merciful. But to every one of you who are here now, a\npreacher has a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say much more than that.\nHe is bound to tell you good news, because God has called you into His\nchurch, and sent you here this day, to hear good news. He has a right to\ntell you, as I tell you now, that, strange as it may seem, whatsoever\nsufferings you endure are sent to make you perfect, even as your Father\nin heaven is perfect; even as the blessed Lord, whom may you all love,\nand trust, and worship, for ever and ever, was made perfect by\nsufferings, even though He was the sinless Son of God. Consider that.\n\u201cIt behoved Him,\u201d says St. Paul, \u201cthe Captain of our salvation, to be\nmade perfect through sufferings.\u201d And why? \u201cBecause,\u201d answers St. Paul,\n\u201cit was proper for Him to be made in all things like His brothers\u201d\u2014like\nus, the children of God\u2014\u201cthat He might be a faithful and merciful high\npriest;\u201d for, just \u201cbecause He has suffered being tempted, He is able to\nsuccour us who are tempted.\u201d A strange text, but one which, I think,\nthis very history of David\u2019s troubles will help us to understand. For it\nwas by suffering, long and bitter, that God trained up David to be a true\nking, a king over the Jews, \u201cafter God\u2019s own heart.\u201d\n\nYou all know, I hope, something at least of David\u2019s psalms. Many of\nthem, seven of them at least, were written during David\u2019s wanderings in\nthe mountains, when Saul was persecuting him to kill him, day after day,\nmonth after month, as you may read in the First Book of Samuel, from\nchapters xix. to xxviii. Bitter enough these troubles of David would\nhave been to any man, but what must have made them especially bitter and\nconfusing to him was, that they all arose out of his righteousness.\nBecause he had conquered the giant, Saul envied him\u2014broke his promise of\ngiving David his daughter Merab\u2014put his life into extreme danger from the\nPhilistines, before he would give him his second daughter Michal; the\nmore he saw that the Lord was with David, and that the young man won\nrespect and admiration by behaving himself wisely, the more afraid of him\nSaul was; again and again he tried to kill him; as David was sitting\nharmless in Saul\u2019s house, soothing the poor madman by the music of his\nharp, Saul tries to stab him unawares; and not content with that proceeds\ndeliberately to hunt him down, from town to town, and wilderness to\nwilderness; sends soldiers after him to murder him; at last goes out\nafter him himself with his guards. Was not all this enough to try\nDavid\u2019s faith? Hardly any man, I suppose, since the world was made, had\nfound righteousness pay him less; no man was ever more tempted to turn\nround and do evil, since doing good only brought him deeper and deeper\ninto the mire. But no, we know that he did not lose his trust in God;\nfor we have seven psalms, at least, which he wrote during these very\nwanderings of his; the fifty-second, when Doeg had betrayed him to Saul;\nthe fifty-fourth, when Ziphim betrayed him; the fifty-sixth, when the\nPhilistines took him in Gath; the fifty-seventh, \u201cwhen he fled from Saul\nin the cave;\u201d the fifty-ninth, \u201cwhen they watched the house to kill him;\u201d\nthe sixty-third, \u201cwhen he was in the wilderness of Judah;\u201d the\nthirty-fourth, \u201cwhen he was driven away by Abimelech;\u201d and several more\nwhich appear to have been written about the same time.\n\nNow, what strikes us first, or ought to strike us, in these psalms, is\nDavid\u2019s utter faith in God. I do not mean to say that David had not his\nsad days, when he gave himself up for lost, and when God seemed to have\nforsaken him, and forgotten his promise. He was a man of like passions\nwith ourselves; and therefore he was, as we should have been, terrified\nand faint-hearted at times. But exactly what God was teaching and\ntraining him to be, was not to be fainthearted\u2014not to be terrified. He\nbegan in his youth by trusting God. That made him the man after God\u2019s\nown heart, just as it was the want of trust in God which made Saul not\nthe man after God\u2019s own heart, and lost him his kingdom. In all those\nwanderings and dangers of David\u2019s in the wilderness, God was training,\nand educating, and strengthening David\u2019s faith according to His great\nlaw: To whomsoever hath shall be given, and he shall have more\nabundantly; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that\nwhich he seems to have. And the first great fruit of David\u2019s firm trust\nin God was his patience.\n\nHe learned to wait God\u2019s time, and take God\u2019s way, and be sure that the\nsame God who had promised that he should be king, would make him king\nwhen he saw fit. He knew, as he says himself, that the Strength of\nIsrael could not lie or repent. He had sworn that He would not fail\nDavid. And he learned that God had sworn by His holiness. He was a\nholy, just, righteous God; and David and David\u2019s country now were safe in\nHis hands. It was his firm trust in God which gave him strength of mind\nto use no unfair means to right himself. Twice Saul, his enemy, was in\nhis power. What a temptation to him to kill Saul, rid himself of his\ntormentor, and perhaps get the kingdom at once! But no. He felt: \u201cThis\nSaul is a wicked, devil-tormented murderer, a cruel tyrant and oppressor;\nbut the same God who chose me to be king next, chose him to be king now.\nHe is the Lord\u2019s anointed. God put him where he is, and leaves him there\nfor some good purpose; and when God has done with him, God will take him\naway, and free this poor oppressed people; and in the meantime, I, as a\nprivate man, have no right to touch him. I must not do evil that good\nmay come. If I am to be a true king, a true man at all hereafter, I must\nkeep true now; if I am to be a righteous lawgiver hereafter, I must\nrespect and obey law myself now. The Lord be judge between me and Saul;\nfor He is Judge, and He will right me better than I can ever right\nmyself.\u201d And thus did trust in God bring out in David that true respect\nfor law, without which a king, let him be as kind-hearted as he will, is\nbut too likely to become at last a tyrant and an oppressor.\n\nBut another thing which strikes any thinking man in David\u2019s psalms, is\nhis strong feeling for the poor, and the afflicted, and the oppressed.\nThat is what makes the Psalms, above all, the poor man\u2019s book, the\nafflicted man\u2019s book. But how did he get that fellow-feeling for the\nfallen? By having fallen himself, and tasted affliction and oppression.\nThat was how he was educated to be a true king. That was how he became a\npicture and pattern\u2014a \u201ctype,\u201d as some call it, of Jesus Christ, the man\nof sorrows. That is why so many of David\u2019s psalms apply so well to the\nLord; why the Lord fulfilled those psalms when He was on earth. David\nwas truly a man of sorrows; for he had not only the burden of his own\nsorrows to bear, but that of many others. His parents had to escape, and\nto be placed in safety at the court of a heathen prince. His friend\nAbimelech the priest, because he gave David bread when he was starving,\nand Goliath\u2019s sword\u2014which, after all, was David\u2019s own\u2014was murdered by\nSaul\u2019s hired ruffians, at Saul\u2019s command, and with him his whole family,\nand all the priests of the town, with their wives and children, even to\nthe baby at the breast. And when David was in the mountains, everyone\nwho was distressed, and in debt, and discontented, gathered themselves to\nhim, and he became their captain; so that he had on him all the\nresponsibility, care, and anxiety of managing all those wild, starving\nmen, many of them, perhaps, reckless and wicked men, ready every day to\nquarrel among themselves, or to break out in open riot and robbery\nagainst the people who had oppressed them; for\u2014(and this, too, we may see\nfrom David\u2019s psalms, was not the smallest part of his anxiety)\u2014the nation\nof the Jews seems to have been in a very wretched state in David\u2019s time.\nThe poor seem in general to have lost their land, and to have become all\nbut slaves to rich nobles, who were grinding them down, not only by\nluxury and covetousness, but often by open robbery and bloodshed. The\nsight of the misrule and misery, as well as of the bloody and ruinous\nborder inroads which were kept up by the Philistines and other\nneighbouring tribes, seems for years to have been the uppermost, as well\nas the deepest thought in David\u2019s mind, if we may judge from those psalms\nof his, of which this is the key-note; and it was not likely to make him\ncare and feel less about all that misery when he remembered (as we see\nfrom his psalms he remembered daily) that God had set him, the wandering\noutlaw, no less a task than to mend it all; to put down all that\noppression, to raise up that degradation, to train all that cowardice\ninto self-respect and valour, to knit into one united nation, bound\ntogether by fellow-feeling and common faith in God, that mob of fierce,\nand greedy, and (hardest task of all, as he himself felt) utterly\ndeceitful men. No wonder that his psalms begin often enough with\nsadness, even though they may end in hope and trust. He had a work\naround him and before him which ought to have made his heart sad, which\nwas a great part of his appointed education, and helped to make him\nperfect by sufferings.\n\nAnd so, upon the bare hill-side, in woods and caves of the earth, in cold\nand hunger, in weariness and dread of death, did David learn to be the\npoor man\u2019s king, the poor man\u2019s poet, the singer of those psalms which\nshall endure as long as the world endures, and be the comfort and the\nutterance of all sad hearts for evermore. Agony it was, deep and bitter,\nand for the moment more hopeless than the grave itself, which crushed out\nof the very depths of his heart that most awful and yet most blessed\npsalm, the twenty-second, which we read in church every Good Friday. The\n\u201cHind of the Morning\u201d is its title; some mournful air to which David sang\nit, giving, perhaps, the notion of a timorous deer roused in the morning\nby the hunters and the hounds. We read that psalm on Good Friday, and\nall say that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled it. What do we mean hereby?\n\nWe mean hereby, that we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled all\nsorrows which man can taste. He filled the cup of misery to the brim,\nand drained it to the dregs. He was afflicted in all David\u2019s\nafflictions, in the afflictions of all mankind. He bare all their\nsicknesses, and carried all their infirmities; and therefore we read this\npsalm upon Good Friday, upon the day in which He tasted death for every\nman, and went down into the lowest depths of terror, and shame, and\nagony, and death; and, worst of all, into the feeling that God had\nforsaken Him, that there was no help or hope for Him in heaven, as well\nas earth\u2014no care or love in the great God, whose Son He was\u2014went down, in\na word, into hell; that hell whereof David and Heman, and Hezekiah after\nthem, had said, \u201cShall the dust give thanks unto thee? and shall it\ndeclare thy truth?\u201d\u2014\u201cThou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt\nthou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.\u201d\u2014\u201cMy life draweth nigh unto\nhell. . . I am like one stript among the dead, like the slain that lie\nin the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from\nthy hand. . . . Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? and shall the dead\narise and praise thee? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy\nrighteousness in the land of destruction?\u201d\u2014\u201cFor the grave cannot praise\nthee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down to the pit cannot\nhope for thy truth.\u201d\n\nEven into that lowest darkness, where man feels, even for one moment,\nthat God is nothing to him, and he is nothing to God\u2014even into that Jesus\ncondescended to go down for us. That worst of all temptations, of which\nDavid only tasted a drop when he cried out, \u201cMy God, my God, why hast\nthou forsaken me?\u201d Jesus drained to the very dregs for us.\u2014He went down\ninto hell for us, and conquered hell and death, and the darkness of the\nunknown world, and rose again glorious from them, that He might teach us\nnot to fear death and hell; that He might know how to comfort us in the\nhour of death: and in the day of judgment, when on our sick bed, or in\nsome bitter shame and trouble, the lying devil is telling us that we are\ndamned and lost, and forsaken by God, and every sin we ever did rises up\nand stares us in the face.\n\nTruly He is a king!\u2014a king for rich and poor, young and old, Englishmen\nand negro; all alike He knows them, He feels for them, He has tasted\nsorrow for them, far more than David did for those poor, oppressed,\nsinful Jews of his. Read those Psalms of David; for they speak not only\nof David, now long since dead and gone, but of the blessed Jesus, who\nlives and reigns over us now at this very moment. Read them, for they\nare inspired; the honest words of a servant of God crying out to the same\nGod, the same Saviour and Deliverer as we have. And His love has not\nchanged. His arm is not shortened that He cannot save. Your words need\nnot change. The words of those psalms in which David prayed, in them you\nand I may pray. Right out of the depths of his poor distracted heart\nthey came. Let them come out of our hearts too. They belong to us more\nthan even they did to the Jews, for whom David wrote them\u2014more than even\nthey did to David himself; for Jesus has fulfilled them\u2014filled them\nfull\u2014given them boundlessly more meaning than ever they had before, and\ngiven us more hope in using them than ever David had: for now that love\nand righteousness of God, in which David only trusted beforehand, has\ncome down and walked on this earth in the shape of a poor man, Jesus\nChrist, the Son of the maiden of Bethlehem.\n\nOh, you who are afflicted, pray to God in those psalms; not merely in the\nwords of them, but in the spirit of them. And to do that, you must get\nfrom God the spirit in which David wrote them\u2014the Spirit of God. Pray\nfor that Spirit; for the spirit of patience, which made David wait God\u2019s\ngood time to right him, instead of trying, as too many do, to right\nhimself by wrong means; for the spirit of love, which taught David to\nreturn good for evil; for the spirit of fellow-feeling, which taught\nDavid to care for others as well as himself; and in that spirit of love,\ndo you pray for others while you are praying for yourself. Pray for that\nSpirit which taught David to help and comfort those who were weaker than\nhimself, that you in your time may be able and willing to comfort and\nhelp those who are weaker than yourselves. And above all, pray for the\nSpirit of faith, which made David certain that oppression and wrong-doing\ncould not stand; that the day must surely come when God would judge the\nworld righteously, and hear the cry of the afflicted, and deliver the\noutcast and poor, that the man of the world might be no more exalted\nagainst them. Pray, in short, for the Spirit of Christ; and then be sure\nHe will hear your prayers, and answer them, and show Himself a better\nfriend, and a truer King to you, than ever David showed himself to those\npoor Jews of old. He will deliver you out of all your troubles\u2014if not in\nthis life, yet surely in the life to come; and though you walk through\nthe valley of the shadow of death, yet the peace of God shall keep your\nhearts and minds in Him who loved you, and gave Himself for you, that you\nmight inherit all heaven and earth in Him.\n\n\n\n\nXXVI.\nTHE VALUE OF LAW.\n\n\n Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no\n power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.\u2014ROMANS\n xiii. 1.\n\nWHAT is the difference between a civilised man and a savage? You will\nsay: A civilised man can read and write; he has books and education; he\nknows how to make numberless things which makes his life comfortable to\nhim. He can get wealth, and build great towns, sink mines, sail the sea\nin ships, spread himself over the face of the earth, or bring home all\nits treasures, while the savages remain poor, and naked, and miserable,\nand ignorant, fixed to the land in which they chance to have been born.\n\nTrue: but we must go a little deeper still. Why does the savage remain\npoor and wretched, while the civilised people become richer and more\nprosperous? Why, for instance, do the poor savage gipsies never grow\nmore comfortable or wiser\u2014each generation of them remaining just as low\nas their forefathers were, or, indeed, getting lower and fewer? for the\ngipsies, like all savages, are becoming fewer and fewer year by year,\nwhile, on the other hand, we English increase in numbers, and in wealth,\nand knowledge; and fresh inventions are found out year by year, which\ngive fresh employment and make life more safe and more pleasant.\n\nThis is the reason: That the English have laws and obey them, and the\ngipsies have none. This is the whole secret. This is why savages remain\npoor and miserable, that each man does what he likes without law. This\nis why civilised nations like England thrive and prosper, because they\nhave laws and obey them, and every man does not do what he likes, but\nwhat the law likes. Laws are made not for the good of one person here,\nor the other person there, but for the good of all; and, therefore, the\nvery notion of a civilised country is, a country in which people cannot\ndo what they like with their own, as the savages do. \u201cNot do what he\nlikes with his own?\u201d Certainly not; no one can or does. If you have\nproperty, you cannot spend it all as you like. You have to pay a part of\nit to the government, that is, into the common stock, for the common\ngood, in the shape of rates and taxes, before you can spend any of it on\nyourself. If you take wages, you cannot spend them all upon yourself and\ndo what you like with them. If you do not support your wife and family\nout of them, the law will punish you. You cannot do what you like with\nyour own gun, for you may not shoot your neighbour\u2019s cattle or game with\nit. You cannot do what you like with your own hands, for the law forbids\nyou to steal with them. You cannot do what you like with your own feet,\nfor the law will punish you for trespassing on your neighbour\u2019s ground\nwithout his leave. In short, you can only do with your own what will not\nhurt your neighbour, in such matters as the law can take care of. And\nmore, in any great necessity the law may actually hurt you for the good\nof the nation at large. The law may compel you to sell your land, to\nyour own injury, if it is wanted for a railroad. The law may compel you,\nas it did fifty years ago, to serve as a soldier in the militia, to your\nown injury, if there is a fear of foreign invasion; so that the law is\nabove each and all of us. Our own wills are not our masters. No man is\nhis own master. The law is the master of each and all of us, and if we\nwill not obey it willingly, it can make us obey unwillingly.\n\nCan make us? Ay, but ought it to make us? Is it right that the law\nshould over-ride our own free wills, and prevent our doing what we like\nwith our own?\n\nIt is right\u2014absolutely right. St. Paul tells us what gives law this\nauthority: \u201cThere is no power but of God. The powers that be are\nordained of God.\u201d And he tells us also why this authority is given to\nthe law. \u201cRulers,\u201d he says, \u201care not a terror to good works, but to\nevil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of those who administer the law? Do\nthat which is good, and thou shalt have praise from them, for they are\nGod\u2019s ministers to thee for good.\u201d\n\nFor good, you see. For the good of mankind it was, that God put into\ntheir hearts and reasons, that notion of making laws, and appointing\nkings and magistrates to see that those laws are obeyed. For our good.\nFor without law no man\u2019s life, or family, or property would be safe.\nEvery man\u2019s private selfishness, and greediness, and anger, would\nstruggle without check to have its way, and there would be no bar or curb\nto keep each and every man from injuring each and every man else; so the\nstrong would devour the weak, and then tear each other in pieces\nafterwards. So it is among the savages. They have little or no\nproperty, for they have no laws to protect property; and therefore every\nman expects his neighbour to steal from him, and finds it his shortest\nplan to steal from his neighbour, instead of settling down to sow corn\nwhich he will have no chance of eating, or build houses which may be\ntaken from him at night by some more strong and cunning savage. There is\nno law among savages to protect women and children against the men, and\ntherefore the women are treated worse than beasts, and the children\nmurdered to save the trouble of rearing them. Every man\u2019s hand is\nagainst his neighbour. No one feels himself safe, and therefore no one\nthinks it worth while to lay up for the morrow. No one expects justice\nand mercy to be done to him, and therefore no one thinks it worth while\nto do justice and mercy to others. And thus they live in continual fear\nand quarrelling, feeding like wild animals on game or roots, often, when\nthey have bad luck in their hunting, on offal which our dogs would\nrefuse, and dwindle away and become fewer and wretcheder year by year; in\nthis way do the savages in New South Wales live to this day, for want of\nlaw.\n\nIt is for our good, then, that God has put into the heart of man to make\nlaws, and to obey them as sacred and divine things. For our good, in\norder to save us from sinking down into the same state of poverty and\nmisery in which the savages are. For our good, because we are fallen\ncreatures, with selfish and corrupt wills, continually apt to break\nloose, and please ourselves at the expense of our neighbours. For our\ngood, because, however fallen we are, we are still brothers, members of\nGod\u2019s family, bound to each other by duty and relationship, if not by\nlove.\n\nJust as in a family, if parents, brothers, and sisters will not do their\nduty to each other lovingly and of their free will, the law interferes,\nand the custom of the country interferes, and the opinion of neighbours\ninterferes, and says: \u201cYou may not love your parents: but you have no\nright to leave them to starve.\u201d \u201cYou may not love your brothers: but if\nyou try to injure and slander them, you are doing an unnatural and\nhateful thing, abhorred by God and man, and you must expect us to treat\nyou accordingly, as a wild beast who does not feel the common laws of\nnature and right and wrong.\u201d So with the law of the land. The law is\nmeant to remind us more or less that we are brothers, members of one\nbody; that we owe a duty to each other; that we are all equal in God\u2019s\nsight, who is no respecter of persons, or of rank, or of riches, any more\nthan the law is when it punishes the greatest nobleman as severely as the\npoorest labourer. The law is meant to remind us that God is just; that\nwhen we injure each other, we sin against God; that God\u2019s rule and law\nis, that each transgression should receive its just reward, and that,\ntherefore, because man is made in the likeness of God, man is bound, as\nfar as he can, to visit every offence with due and proportionate\npunishment. And the law punishes, as St. Paul says, in God\u2019s name, and\nfor God\u2019s sake. The magistrate is a witness for God\u2019s righteous\ngovernment of the world, the minister of God\u2019s vengeance against\nevil-doers, to remind all continually that evil-doing has no place, and\ncannot prosper, and must not be allowed, upon this God\u2019s earth whereon we\nlive.\n\nBut what if the laws are unfair, and punish only some sorts of evil-doers\nand not others? What if they are like spiders\u2019 webs, which catch the\nlittle flies, and let the great wasps break through? What if they punish\npoor and weak offenders, and let the rich and powerful sinners escape?\n\u201cObey them still,\u201d says St. Paul. In his time and country the laws were\nas unfair in that way as laws ever were, and yet he tells Christians to\nobey them for conscience\u2019s sake. Thank God that they do punish weak\noffenders. Pray God that the time may come when they may be strong\nenough to punish great offenders also. But, in the meantime, see that\nthey have not to punish you. As far as the laws go, they are right and\ngood. As far as they keep down any sort of wrong-doing whatsoever, they\nare God\u2019s ordinances, and you must obey them for God\u2019s sake.\n\nBut what if the laws are not only unfair and partial, but also unjust and\nwrong? Are we to obey them then? Obey them still, says St. Paul. Of\ncourse, if they command you to do a clearly wrong thing; if, for\ninstance, the law commanded you to worship idols, or to commit adultery,\nthere is no question then; such laws cannot be God\u2019s ordinance. The laws\ncan only be God\u2019s ordinance as far as they agree with what we know of\nGod\u2019s will written in our hearts, and written in His holy Bible. Then a\nman must resist the law to the death, if need be, as the old martyrs did,\ndying as witnesses for God\u2019s righteous and eternal law, against man\u2019s\nfalse and unrighteous law. It is a very difficult thing, no doubt, to\ntell where to draw the line in such matters. But we, thank God, here in\nEngland now, have no need to puzzle our heads with such questions. Every\nman\u2019s conscience is free here, and he has full liberty to worship God as\nhe thinks best, provided that by so doing he does not interfere with his\nneighbour\u2019s character, or property, or comfort. There is no single law\nin England now, that I know of, which a man has any need to refuse to\nobey, let his conscience be as tender as it may. And as for laws which\nwe think hurtful to the country, or hurtful to any particular class in\nthe country, our thinking them hurtful is no reason that we should not\nobey them. As long as they are law, they are God\u2019s ordinance, and we\nhave no right to break them. They may be useful after all. Or even if\nthey are hurtful in some way, still God may be bringing good out of them\nin some other way, of which we little dream, as He has often done out of\nlaws and customs which seem at first sight most foolish and hurtful, and\nyet which He endured and winked at, for the sake of bringing good out of\nevil. At all events, whatsoever laws are here in England, are made by\nthe men whom we English have chosen, as the men most fit and wise to make\nthem, and we are bound to abide by them. If Parliament is not wise\nenough to make perfectly good laws, that is no one\u2019s fault but our own;\nfor if we were wise, we should choose wise law-makers, and we must be\nfilled with the fruit of our own devices. As long as these laws have\nbeen made and passed, by Commons, Lords, and Queen, according to the\nancient forms and constitution which God has taught our forefathers from\ntime to time for more than a thousand years, and which have had God\u2019s\nblessing and favour on them, and made us, from the least of all nations,\nthe greatest nation on the earth; in short, as long as those laws are\nmade according to law, so long we are bound to believe them to be God\u2019s\nordinance, and obey them. But understand; that is no reason why we\nshould not try to get them improved; for when they are changed and done\naway according to the same law which made them, that will be a sign that\nthey are God\u2019s ordinances no longer; that God thinks we have no more need\nfor them, and does not require us to keep them. But as long as any law\nis what St. Paul calls \u201cthe powers that be,\u201d obeyed it must be, not only\nfor wrath, but for conscience\u2019s sake.\n\nThat is a very important part of the matter. Obey the law, St. Paul\nsays, not only for wrath, that is, not only for fear of punishment, but\nfor conscience\u2019s sake. Even if you do not expect to be punished; even if\nyou think no one will ever find out that you have broken the law,\nremember it is God\u2019s ordinance. He sees you. Do not hurt your own\nconscience, and deaden your own sense of right and wrong, by breaking the\nleast or the most unjust law in the slightest point.\n\nFor instance: some people think the income-tax is very unfair; and\ntherefore they think there is no harm in cheating the revenue a little,\nby making out their income less than it is. Others, again, think the\nlaws against smuggling unjust and harsh; and therefore they see no harm\nin trying to avoid paying duty on goods which they bring home, whenever\nthey have an opportunity, or buying cheap goods, which they must know\nfrom their price are smuggled. Others, again, think the game laws are\nunfair, and therefore see no harm in going out shooting on their own\nlands without a licence; while many see no harm, or say they see no harm,\nin poaching on other people\u2019s grounds, and killing game contrary to law\nwherever they can. That it is wrong to break the law in these two first\ncases, you all know in your own hearts. On the matter of poaching, some\nof you, I know, have many very mistaken notions. But, my friends, I ask\nyou only to look at the sin and misery which poaching causes, if you want\nto see that those who break the law do indeed break the ordinance of God,\nand that God\u2019s laws avenge themselves. Look at the idleness, the\nuntidiness, the deceit, the bad company, the drunkenness, the misery and\nsin, to man, woman, and child, which that same poaching brings about, and\nthen see how one little sin brings on many great ones; how a man, by\ndespising the authority of law, and fancying that he does no harm in\ndisobeying the laws, from his own fancy about poaching being no harm,\nfalls into temptation and a snare, and pierces himself through with many\nsorrows. My young friends, believe my words. Avoid poaching, even once\nin a way. The beginning of sin is like the letting out of water; no one\ncan tell where it will stop. He who breaks the law in little things will\nbe tempted to go on and break it in greater and greater things. He who\nbegins by breaking man\u2019s law, which is the pattern of God\u2019s law, will be\ntempted to go on and break God\u2019s law also. Is it not so? There is no\nuse telling me, \u201cThe game is no one\u2019s; there is no harm in taking it.\u201d\nLight words of that kind will not do to answer God with. You know there\nis harm in taking it; for you know, as well as I do, that you cannot go\nafter game without neglecting your work to get it; or without going to\nthe worst of public-houses, among the worst of company, to sell it. You\nknow, as well as I do, that hand in hand with poaching go lying, and\nidling, and sneaking, and fear, and boasting, and swearing, and drinking,\nand the company of bad men and bad women. And then you say there is no\nharm in poaching. Do you suppose that I do not know, as well as any one\nof you here, what goes to the snaring of a hare, and the selling of a\nhare, and the spending of the ill-got price of a hare? My dear young\nmen, I know that poaching, like many other sins, is tempting: but God has\ntold us to flee from temptation\u2014to resist the devil, and he will flee\nfrom us. If we are to give up ourselves without a struggle to every\npleasant thing which tempts us, we shall soon be at the devil\u2019s door. We\nwere sent into the world to fight against temptation and to conquer it.\nWe were sent into the world to do what God likes, not what we like; and\ntherefore we were sent into the world to obey the laws of the land\nwherein we live, be they better or worse; because if we break one law\nbecause we don\u2019t like it, our neighbour may break another because he\ndon\u2019t like that, and so forth; till there is neither law, nor peace, nor\nsafety, but every man doing what is right in his own eyes, which is sure\nto end by every man\u2019s doing what is right in the devil\u2019s eyes. We were\nsent into the world to live as brothers, under laws which make us give up\nour own wills and selfish lusts for the common good. And if we find it\ndifficult to keep the laws, if we are tempted to break the laws, God has\npromised His Spirit to those who ask Him. God has promised His Spirit to\nus. If we pray for that Spirit night and morning, He will make it easy\nfor us to keep the laws. He will make us what our Lord was before us,\nhumble, patient, loving, manful and strong enough to restrain our fancies\nand appetites, and to give up our wills for the good of our neighbours,\nanxious and careful to avoid all appearance of evil, trusting that\nbecause God is just, and God is King, all laws which are not wicked are\nHis ordinance, and therefore being obedient to every ordinance of man for\nthe Lord\u2019s sake, even as Jesus Christ Himself was, who, though He was\nLord of all, paid taxes and tribute money to the Roman government, like\nthe rest of the Jews, and kept the law of Moses perfectly, and was\nbaptised with John\u2019s baptism, to show that in all just and reasonable\nthings we are to obey the laws and customs of our forefathers, in the\ncountry to which it has pleased the Lord that we should belong.\n\n\n\n\nXXVII.\nTHE SOURCE OF LAW.\n\n\n Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no\n power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.\u2014ROMANS\n xiii. 1.\n\nIN this chapter, which we read for the second lesson for this afternoon\u2019s\nservice, St. Paul gives good advice to the Romans, and equally good\nadvice to us.\n\nOf course what he says must be equally good for us, and for all people,\nat all times, in all countries, as long as time shall last; because St.\nPaul spoke by the Spirit of God, who is God eternal, and therefore cannot\nchange His mind, but lays down, by the mouth of His apostles and\nprophets, the everlasting laws of right and wrong, which are always\nequally good for all.\n\nBut there is something in this lesson which makes it especially useful to\nus; because we English are in some very important matters very like the\nRomans to whom St. Paul wrote; though in others, thanks to Almighty God,\nwe are still very unlike them.\n\nNow, these old Romans, as I have often told you, had risen to be the\ngreatest and mightiest people in the world, and to conquer many foreign\ncountries, and set up colonies of Romans in them, very much as the\nEnglish have done in India, and North America, and Australia: so that the\nlittle country of Italy, with its one great city of Rome, was mistress of\nvast lands far beyond the seas, ten times as large as itself, just as\nthis little England is.\n\nBut it is not so much this which I have to speak to you about now, as how\nthis Rome became so great; for it was at first nothing but a poor little\ncountry town, without money, armies, trade, or any of those things which\nshallow-minded people fancy are the great strength of a nation. True,\nall those things are good; but they are useless and hurtful\u2014and, what is\nmore, they cannot be got\u2014without something better than them; something\nwhich you cannot see nor handle; something spiritual, which is the life\nand heart of a country or nation, and without which it can never become\ngreat. This the old Romans had; and it made them become great. This we\nEnglish have had for now fifteen hundred years; even when our forefathers\nwere heathens, like the Romans, before we came into this good land of\nEngland, while we were poor and simple people, living in the barren moors\nof Germany, and the snowy mountains of Norway; even then we had this\nwonderful charm, by which nations are sure to become great and powerful\nat last; and in proportion as we have remembered and acted upon it, we\nEnglish have thriven and spread; and whenever we have forgotten it and\nbroken it, we have fallen into distress, and poverty, and shame, over the\nwhole land.\n\nNow, what is this wonderful charm which made the old Romans and we\nEnglish great, which is stronger than money, and armies, and trade, and\nall the things which we can see and handle?\n\nSt. Paul tells us in the text: \u201cLet every soul be subject to the higher\npowers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are\nordained of God.\u201d\n\nTo respect the law; to believe that God wills men to live according to\nlaw; and that He will teach men right and good laws; that magistrates who\nenforce the laws are God\u2019s ministers, God\u2019s officers and servants; that\nto break the laws is to sin against God;\u2014that is the charm which worked\nsuch wonders, and will work them to the end of time.\n\nSo you see it was a very proper thing for St. Paul, when he wrote to\nthese Romans after they became Christians, to speak to them as he does in\nthis chapter. They might have fancied, and many did fancy, that because\nthey were Jesus Christ\u2019s servants now, they need not obey their heathen\nrulers and laws any more. But St. Paul says: \u201cNo; Jesus Christ\u2019s being\nKing of Kings, is only the strongest possible reason for your obeying\nthese heathen rulers. For if He is King of all the earth, He is King of\nRome also, and of all her colonies; and therefore you may be sure that He\nwould not leave these Roman rulers, and laws here if He did not think it\nright and fitting. If Jesus Christ is Lord of lords He is Lord of these\nRoman rulers, and they are His ministers and stewards; and you must obey\nthem, and pay taxes to them for conscience\u2019s sake, as unto the Lord, and\nnot unto man.\u201d\n\nSo you see that St. Paul gave these Roman Christians no new commandment\non these matters; nothing different from what their old heathen\nforefathers had believed. For the law which he mentions in verse 9,\n\u201cThou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,\u201d etc., had been for centuries\npast part of the old Roman law, as well as of Moses\u2019 law.\n\nThose old heathen Romans believed, and rightly, that all law and order\ncame from the great God of gods, whom they called in their tongue\nJupiter, that is, the Heavenly Father. They believed that He would bless\nthose who kept the laws; who kept their oaths and agreements, and the\nlaws about government, about marriage, about property, about inheritance;\nand that He would surely punish those who broke the laws, who defrauded\ntheir neighbours of their rights, who swore falsely against their\nneighbour, or broke their agreements, who were unfaithful to their wives\nand husbands, or in any way offended against justice between man and man.\nAnd they believed too, and rightly, that as long as they kept the laws,\nand lived justly and orderly by them, the great Heavenly Father would\nprotect and prosper their town of Rome, and make it grow great and\npowerful, because they were living as He would have men live; not doing\neach what was right in the sight of his own eyes, but conquering their\nown selfish wills and private fancies, for the sake of their neighbour\u2019s\ngood, and the good of his country, that they might all help and trust\neach other, as fellow-citizens of one nation.\n\nOnly St. Paul had told them: Your forefathers were right in fancying that\nlaw and right came from the great God of gods: but they knew hardly\nanything, or rather, in time they forgot almost everything, about that\nHeavenly Father. In their ignorance they mixed up the belief in the one\ngreat almighty and good God, which dwells in the hearts of all men, with\nfilthy fables and superstitions till they came to fancy that there were\nmany gods and not one, and that these many gods were sinful, foul, proud,\nand cruel, as fallen men. But you have been brought back to the\nknowledge of the one true, and righteous, and loving God, which your\nforefathers lost. He has revealed and shown Himself, and what He is\nlike, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is love, and wisdom, and justice, and\norder itself; and, therefore, you must be sure, even more sure than your\nold heathen forefathers, that He cares for a nation being at peace and\nunity within itself, governed by wise laws, doing justice between man and\nman, and keeping order throughout all its business, that every man may do\nhis work and enjoy his wages without hindrance, or confusion, or fear, or\nrobbery and oppression from those who are stronger than he.\n\nAnd so St. Paul says to them: \u201cYou must believe that power and law come\nfrom God, far more firmly and clearly than ever your heathen forefathers\ndid.\u201d\n\nNow that St. Paul was right in this we may see from the Old Testament.\nIn the first lesson for this afternoon\u2019s service, we read how Jeremiah\nwas sent with the most awful warnings to the king, and the queen, and the\ncrown prince of his country. And why? Because they had broken the laws;\nbecause, in a word, they had been unfaithful stewards and ministers of\nthe Lord God, who had given them their power and kingdom, and would\ndemand a strict account of all which He had committed to their charge.\nBut in the same book of the prophet Jeremiah we read more than this; we\nread exactly what St. Paul says about the heathen Roman governors: for\nthe Lord God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, sent Jeremiah with a message\nto all the heathen kings round about, to tell them that He was their Lord\nand Master, that He had given them their power, heathens as they were,\nbecause it seemed fit to Him, and that now, for their sins, He was going\nto deliver them over into the hand of another heathen, His servant\nNebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and that whosoever would not serve\nNebuchadnezzar, the Lord God would punish him with sword, and famine, and\npestilence till he had consumed them. And the first four chapters of the\nbook of Daniel, noble and wonderful as they are, seem to me to have been\nput into the Bible simply to teach us this one thing, that heathen\nrulers, as well as Christians, are the Lord\u2019s servants, and that their\npower is ordained by God. For these chapters are entirely made up of the\nhistory, how God, by His prophet Daniel, taught the heathen king\nNebuchadnezzar that he was God\u2019s minister and steward. And the latter\npart of the book of Daniel is the account of his teaching the same thing\nto another heathen, Cyrus the great and good king of Persia. And here\nSt. Paul teaches the Christian Romans just the same thing about their\nheathen governors and heathen laws, that they are the ministers and the\nordinance of God.\n\nNow, our own English forefathers, as I said before, believed this same\nthing; and if I had time, I could show you, I think, plainly enough from\nGod\u2019s dealings with England, how He has blest and prospered us whensoever\nwe have acted up to it. But whether we have believed it or not, there is\nenough in our English laws, and in our English Prayer Book too, to\nwitness for it and remind us of it.\n\nThe very title which we give the Queen, \u201cQueen by the grace of God;\u201d the\nsolemn prayers for her when she is crowned and anointed, not in her own\npalace, or in the House of Parliament, but in the Church of God at\nWestminster; the prayers which we have just offered up for the Queen, for\nthe government, and for the magistrates\u2014these are all so many signs and\ntokens to us that they are God\u2019s stewards, called to do God\u2019s work, and\nthat we must pray for God\u2019s grace to help them to fulfil their calling.\nAnd are not those ten commandments which stand in every church, a witness\nof the same thing? They are the very root of all law whatsoever. And\nmore, the solemn oath which a witness takes in the court of justice, what\nis it but a sign of the same thing, that our forefathers, who appointed\nthese forms, believed that law and justice were holy things, and that he\nwho goes into a court of law goes into the presence of God Himself, and\nconfesses, when he promises to speak the truth, so help him God, that God\nis the protector and the avenger of law and justice?\n\nBut some people, and especially young and light-hearted persons, are\nready to say: \u201cObey the powers that be, whosoever they may be, good or\nbad, and believe that to break their laws is to sin against God? We\nmight as well be slaves at once. A man has a right to his own opinion;\nand if he does not think a law good, how can he be bound to obey it?\u201d\n\nYou will often hear such words as those when you go out into the world,\ninto great towns, where men meet together much. Let me give you, young\npeople, a little advice about that beforehand; for, fine as it sounds, it\nis hollow and false at root.\n\nIf you wish to be really free, and to do what you like, like what is\nright; and do that, says St. Paul, and then the law will not interfere\nwith you: \u201cFor rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.\nWilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and\nthou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the minister of God to thee\nfor good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth\nnot the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to\nexecute wrath upon him that doeth evil.\u201d And then he sums up what doing\nright is, in one short sentence: \u201cLove thy neighbour as thyself; for love\nis the fulfilling of the law.\u201d All that the laws want to make you do, is\nto behave like men who do love their neighbours as themselves, and\ntherefore do them no harm\u2014to behave like men who are ready to give up\ntheir own private wills and pleasures, and even their own private\nproperty, if wanted, for the good of their neighbours and their country.\nTherefore the law calls on you to pay rates and taxes, which are to be\nspent for the good of the nation at large. And if you love your\nneighbour as yourself, and have the good of everyone round you at heart,\nyou will no more grudge paying rates and taxes for their benefit than you\nwill grudge spending money to support and educate your own children. And\nso you will be free, free to do what you like, because you like, from the\nfear and love of God, to do those right things which the law is set to\nmake you do.\n\nBut some may say: \u201cThat is not what we mean by being free. We mean\nhaving a share in choosing Members of Parliament, and so in making the\nlaws and governing the country. When people can do that the country is a\nfree country.\u201d\n\nWell, my friends, and it is a strange thing, or rather not a strange\nthing, if we will but study our Bibles, that a country cannot be free in\nthat way, unless the people of it do really believe that the powers that\nbe are ordained of God. Instead of that faith making the old Romans\nslavish, or careless what laws were made, or how they were governed, as\nsome fancy it would make a people, they were as free a people, and freer\nalmost than we English now. They chose their own magistrates, and they\nmade their own laws, and prospered by so doing. And why? Because they\nbelieved that laws came from God; and, therefore, they not only obeyed\nthe laws when they were made, but they had heart and spirit to help to\nmake them, because they trusted that The Heavenly Father, who loved\njustice, would teach them to be just, and that The God who protected laws\nand punished law-breakers, would put into their minds how to make the\nlaws well; and so they were not afraid to govern themselves, because they\nbelieved that God would enable them to govern themselves well, and\ntherefore they were free. And so far from their having a slavish spirit\nin them, they were the most bold and independent people of the whole\nearth. Their soldiers conquered almost every nation against whom they\nfought, because they always obeyed their officers dutifully and\nfaithfully, believing that it was their duty to God to obey, and to die,\nif need was, for their country. Old history is full of tales, which will\nnever be forgotten, I trust, till the world\u2019s end, of the noble deeds of\ntheir men, ay, and even of their women, who counted their own lives\nworthless in comparison with the good of their country, and died in\ntorments rather than break the laws, or do what they knew would injure\nthe people to whom they belonged.\n\nAnd so with us English. For hundreds of years we have been growing more\nand more free, and more and more well-governed, simply because we have\nbeen acting on St. Paul\u2019s doctrine\u2014obeying the powers that be, because\nthey are ordained by God. It is the Englishman\u2019s respect for law, as a\nsacred thing, which he dare not break, which has made him, sooner or\nlater, respected and powerful wherever he goes to settle in foreign\nlands; because foreigners can trust us to be just, and to keep our\npromises, and to abide by the laws which we have laid down. It is the\nEnglish respect for law, as a sacred thing, which has made our armies\namong the bravest and the most successful on earth; because they know how\nto obey their officers, and are therefore able to fight and to endure as\nmen should do. And as long as we hold to that belief we shall prosper at\nhome and abroad, and become more and more free, and more and more strong;\nbecause we shall be united, helping each other, trusting each other,\nknowing what to expect of each other, because we all honour and obey the\nsame laws.\n\nAnd, on the other hand, have we not close to us, in France, a fearful\nsign and proof from God that without the fear of God no people can be\nfree? Three times in the last sixty years have the French risen up\nagainst evil rulers, and driven them out. And have they been the better\nfor it? They are at this very moment in utter slavery to a ruler more\nlawless than ever oppressed them before. And why? Because they did not\nbelieve that law came from God, and that the powers that be are ordained\nby Him. Therefore, whenever they were oppressed, they did not try to\nright themselves by lawful ways, according to the old English God-fearing\ncustom, but to break down the old law by riot and bloodshed, and then to\nset up new laws of their own. But those new laws would never stand.\nThey made them, but they would not obey them when they were made, and\nthey could not make others obey them; because they had no real reverence\nfor law, and did not believe that law came from God, or that His Spirit\nwould give them understanding to make good laws. They talked loud about\nthe power and rights of the people, and that whatever the people willed\nwas right: but they said nothing about the power and rights of the Lord\nGod; they forgot that it is only what God has willed from everlasting\nthat is right; and so they made laws in the strength of their own hearts,\naccording to what was right in the sight of their own eyes, to please\nthemselves. How could they respect the laws, when the laws were only\ncopies of their own selfish fancies? So, because they made them to\nplease themselves, they soon broke them to please themselves. And so\ncame more lawlessness and riot, and confusion worse confounded, till, of\ncourse, the strongest, and cunningest, and most shameless got the upper\nhand; and they were plunged, poor creatures! into the same pit of misery\nout of which they had been trying to deliver themselves in their own\nstrength, for a sign and an example that the Lord is King, and not man at\nall, and that the fear of the Lord is the only beginning of wisdom.\n\nAnd very much the same sad fate had happened to the Romans a little\nbefore St. Paul\u2019s time. They gave up their ancient respect for law; they\nbroke the laws, and ran into all kinds of violence, and riot, and filthy\nsin; and therefore God took away their freedom from them, because they\nwere not fit for it, and delivered them over into the hand of one cruel\ntyrant after another; and perhaps the cruellest of them all was the man\nwho was emperor of Rome in St. Paul\u2019s time. Therefore it was that St.\nPaul says to them: Love each other, and obey the laws, \u201cknowing the time,\nthat now it is high time to awake out of sleep.\u201d\n\nAs much as to say: \u201cYour souls have fallen asleep; you have been in a\ndark night, not seeing that God would avenge you of all these sins of\nyours; that God\u2019s eye was on them: you have fallen asleep and forgotten\nyour forefathers\u2019 belief, that God loves law, and order, and justice, and\nwill punish those who break through them. But now the Lord Jesus, the\nlight of the world, is come to awaken you, and to open your eyes to see\nthe truth about this, and to show you that you are in God\u2019s kingdom, and\nthat God commands you to repent, and to obey Him, and do justly and\nrighteously. Therefore awake out of your sleep; give up the works of\ndarkness, those mean and wicked habits which were contrary to the good\nold laws of your forefathers, and which you were at heart ashamed of, and\ntried to hide even while you indulged in them. Open your eyes, and see\nthat God is near you, your Judge, your King, seeing through and through\nyour souls, keen and sharp to discern the secret thoughts and intents of\nthe heart, so that all things are naked and open in the sight of Him with\nwhom we have to do.\u201d\n\nAnd so I may say to you, my friends, it is high time for us to awake out\nof sleep. The people in England, religious as well as others, have\nfallen asleep of late years too much about this matter. They have\nforgotten that God is King, that magistrates are God\u2019s ministers. They\ntalk as if laws were meant to be only the device of man\u2019s will, to serve\nmen\u2019s private interests and selfishness; and therefore they have lost\nvery much of their respect for law, and their care to make good laws for\nthe future. And it is high time for us, while all the nations of Europe\nare tottering and crumbling round us, to awake out of sleep on this\nmatter. We must open our eyes and see where we are. For we are in God\u2019s\nkingdom. God\u2019s Bible, God\u2019s churches, God\u2019s commandments, and all the\nsolemn old law forms of England witness to us that God is King, set in\nthe throne which judges right; that order and justice, fellow-feeling and\npublic spirit, are His gifts, His likeness, on which He looks down with\nloving care and protection; and that if we forget that, and begin to\nfancy that law stands merely by the will of the many, or by the will of\nthe stronger, or even by the will of the wiser\u2014by any will of man in\nshort; we shall end by neither being able to make just laws any more, nor\nto obey those which we have, by the blessing of God, already.\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII.\nTHE EDUCATION OF A HEATHEN.\n\n\n Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour the King of\n heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; and those\n that walk in pride He is able to abase.\u2014DANIEL iv. 37.\n\nWE read for the first lesson to-day two chapters out of the book of\nDaniel. Those who love to study their Bibles, have read often, of\ncourse, not only these two chapters, but the whole book.\n\nAnd I would advise all of you who wish to understand God\u2019s dealings with\nmankind, to study this book of Daniel, and especially at this present\ntime.\n\nI do not wish you to study it merely on account of those prophecies in\nit, which many wise and good men think foretell the dates of our Lord\u2019s\nfirst and second comings, and of the end of the world. I am not skilled,\nmy friends, in that kind of wisdom. I cannot tell you what God will do\nhereafter. But I think that the book of Daniel like the other prophets,\ntells us what God is always doing on earth, and so gives us certain and\neternal rules by which we may understand strange and terrible events,\nwars, distress of nations, the fall of great men, and the suffering of\ninnocent men, when we see them happen, as we may see any day\u2014perhaps very\nsoon indeed.\n\nThe great lesson, I think, that this book of Daniel teaches us is, that\nGod is not the Lord of the Jews only, or of Christians only, but of the\nwhole earth; that the heathens are under His moral law and government, as\nwell as we; and that, as St. Peter says, God is no respecter of persons:\nbut in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is\naccepted of him. For the history of Nebuchadnezzar seems to me to be the\nhistory of God\u2019s educating a heathen and an idolater to know Him. And we\nmust always remember, that as far as we can see, it was because\nNebuchadnezzar was faithful to the light which he had, that God gave him\nmore. Of course he had his sins; the Bible tells us what they were; just\nthe sins which one would expect of a man brought up a heathen and an\nidolater; of one who was a great conqueror, and had gained many bloody\nbattles, and learned to hold men\u2019s lives very cheap; of one who was an\nabsolute emperor, with no law but his own will, furious at any\ncontradiction; of a man of wonderful power of mind\u2014confident in himself,\nhis own power, his own cunning. But he seems not to have been a bad man,\nconsidering his advantages. The Bible never speaks harshly of him,\nthough he carried away the Jews captive to Babylon. In all that fearful\nwar, Nebuchadnezzar was in the right, and the Jews in the wrong; so at\nleast Jeremiah the prophet declared. Nebuchadnezzar saved and respected\nJeremiah; and Daniel seems to have regarded the great conqueror with real\nrespect and affection. When Daniel says to him, \u201cO king, live for ever,\u201d\nand tells him that he is the head of gold, and prays that his fearful\ndream may come true of his enemies and not of him, I cannot believe that\nthe prophet was using mere empty phrases of court-flattery. He really\nfelt, I doubt not, that Nebuchadnezzar was a great and good king, as\nkings went then, and his government a gain (as it easily might be) to the\nnations whom he had conquered, and that it was good that he should reign\nas long as possible.\n\nAnd we may well believe Daniel\u2019s interest in this great king, when we\nconsider how teachable Nebuchadnezzar showed himself under God\u2019s\neducation of him, so proving that there was in him the honest and good\nheart, which, when The Word is sown in it, will bring forth fruit,\nthirty-fold or a hundred-fold, according to the talents which God has\nbestowed on each man.\n\nThis first lesson we read in the first chapter of Daniel. He dreamt a\ndream. He felt that it was a very wonderful one: but he forgot what it\nwas. None of the magicians of Babylon could tell him. A young Jew,\nnamed Daniel, told him the dream and its meaning, and declared at the\nsame time that he had found it out by no wisdom of his own, but God had\nrevealed it to him. Nebuchadnezzar learned his lesson, and confessed\nDaniel\u2019s God to be a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of\nsecrets, seeing that Daniel could reveal that secret; and forthwith, like\na wise prince, advanced Daniel and his companions to places of the\nhighest authority and trust.\n\nBut Nebuchadnezzar required another lesson. He had learned that the God\nof the Jews was wiser than all the planets and heavenly lords and gods\nwhom the Babylonian magicians consulted; he had not learned that that\nsame God of the Jews was the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth. He\nhad learned that the God of heaven favoured him, and had helped him\ntoward his power and glory; but he thought that for that very reason the\npower and glory were his own\u2014that he had a right over the souls and\nconsciences of his subjects, and might make them worship what he liked,\nand how he liked.\n\nThree Jews, whom he had set over the affairs of Babylon, refused to\nworship the golden image which he had set up, and were cast into a fiery\nfurnace, and forthwith miraculously delivered, and beheld by\nNebuchadnezzar walking unhurt and loose in the midst of the furnace, and\nwith them a fourth, whose form was like the form of the Son of God.\n\nSo Nebuchadnezzar was taught that this God of the Jews was the Lord of\nmen\u2019s souls and consciences; that they were to obey God rather than man.\nSo he was taught that the God of the Jews was no mere star or heavenly\ninfluence who could help men\u2019s fortunes, or bestow on them a certain\nfixed destiny; but a living person, the Lord and Master of the fire, and\nof all the powers of the earth, who could change and stop those powers at\nHis will, to deliver those who trusted in Him and obeyed Him.\n\nAnd this lesson, too, Nebuchadnezzar learned. He confessed his mistake\nupon the spot, just in the way in which we should have expected a great\nEastern king to do, though not in the most enlightened or merciful way.\nHe \u201cblessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent His\nangel, and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. Therefore I make a\ndecree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything\namiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in\npieces, and their houses be made a dunghill: because there is no other\nGod that can deliver after this sort.\u201d\n\nBut there was still one deep mistake lying in the great king\u2019s heart\nwhich required to be rooted out. He had learnt that Jehovah, the God of\nthe Jews, was a revealer of secrets, a master of the fire, a deliverer of\nthose who trusted in Him, a living personal Lord, wise, just, and\nfaithful, very different from any of his star gods or idols. But he\nlooked upon Jehovah only as the God of the Jews, as Daniel\u2019s God. He had\nnot yet learnt that God was _his_ God as well as Daniel\u2019s; that Jehovah\nwas very near his heart and mind, and had been near him all his life;\nthat from Jehovah came all his wisdom, his strength of mind, his success,\nand all which made him differ, not only from his fellow-men, but from the\nbeast; that Jehovah, in a word, was the light and the life of the world,\nwho fills all things and by whom all things consist, deserted by whose\ninward light, even for a moment, man becomes as one of the beasts which\nperish. In his own eyes Nebuchadnezzar was still the great\nself-dependent, self-sufficing conqueror, wiser and stronger than all the\nmen around him. He thought, most probably, that on account of his\nwisdom, and courage, and royalty of soul, the God of heaven had become\nfond of him and favoured him. In short, he was swollen with pride.\n\nGod sent him again a strange dream, which made him troubled and afraid.\nHe told it to his old counsellor Daniel; and Daniel, at the danger of his\nlife, interpreted it for him; and a very awful meaning it had. A fearful\nand shameful downfall was to come upon the king; no less than the loss of\nhis reason, and with it, of his throne. But whether this came to pass or\nnot, depended, like all God\u2019s everlasting promises and threats, on\nNebuchadnezzar\u2019s own behaviour. If he repented, and broke off his sins\nby righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, there\nwas good reason to hope that so his tranquillity might be lengthened.\n\nBut the lesson was too hard for the proud conqueror; he did not take the\nwarning. He could not believe that the Most High ruled in the kingdom of\nmen, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. He still fancied that he, and\nsuch as he, were the lords of the world, and took from others by their\nown power and cunning whatsoever they would. He does not seem to have\nbeen angry, however, with Daniel for his plain speaking. Most Eastern\nkings like Nebuchadnezzar would have put Daniel to a cruel death on the\nspot as the bearer of evil news, speaking blasphemy against the king; and\nno one in those times and countries would have considered him wicked and\ncruel for so doing; but Nebuchadnezzar seems to have learnt too much\nalready so to give way to his passion.\n\nYet, as I said before, he had not learned enough to take God\u2019s warning.\nThe lesson that he was nothing, and that God is all in all, was too hard\nfor him. And, alas! my friends, for whom of us is it not a hard lesson?\nAnd yet it is the golden lesson, the first and the last which man has to\nlearn on earth, ay, and through all eternity: \u201cI am nothing; God is all\nin all.\u201d All in us which is worth calling anything; all in us which is\nworth having, or worth being; all in us which is not disobedience and\nshortcoming, failure and mistake, ignorance and madness, filthiness and\nfierceness, as of the beasts which perish; all strength in us, all\nunderstanding, all prudence, all right-mindedness, all purity, all\njustice, all love; all in us which is worth living for, all in us which\nis really alive, and not mere death in life, the death of sin and the\ndarkness of the pit\u2014all is from God the Father of lights, and from Jesus\nChrist the life and the light, who lighteth every man who cometh into the\nworld, shining for ever in the darkness of our spirits, though that\ndarkness, alas! too often cannot comprehend, and embrace, and confess Him\nwho is striving to awake it from the dead and give it light. Hardest of\nall lessons! Most blessed of all lessons! So blessed, that if we will\nnot let God teach it us in any other way, it would be good and\nadvantageous to us for Him to teach it us as He taught it to\nNebuchadnezzar\u2014good for us to become with him for awhile like the beasts\nthat perish, that we might learn with him to lift up our eyes to heaven,\nand so have our understandings return to us, and learn to bless the Most\nHigh, and not our own wit, and cunning, and prudence; and praise and\nhonour Him that liveth for ever, instead of praising and honouring our\nown pitiful paltry selves, who are in death in the midst of life, who\ncome up and are cut down like the flower, and never continue in one stay.\n\n\u201cAll this came upon the King Nebuchadnezzar.\u201d It seems that after he or\nhis father had destroyed the old Babylon, the downfall of which Isaiah\nhad prophesied, he built a great city, after the fashion of Eastern\nconquerors, near the ruins of the old one; and \u201cat the end of twelve\nmonths he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king\nspake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the\nhouse of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my\nmajesty? While the word was in the king\u2019s mouth, there fell a voice from\nheaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, The kingdom\nis departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy\ndwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to\neat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know\nthat the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to\nwhomsoever He will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon\nNebuchadnezzar.\u201d\n\nWhat a lesson! The great conqueror of all the East now a brutal madman,\nhateful and disgusting to all around him\u2014a beast feeding among the\nbeasts: and yet a cheap price\u2014a cheap price\u2014to pay for this golden\nlesson.\n\nSeven times past over him in his madness. What those seven times were we\ndo not know. They may have been actual years: or they may have been, as\nI am inclined to think, changes in his own soul and state of mind. But,\nat the end of the days, the truth dawned on him. He began to see what it\nall meant. He saw what he was, and why he was so; and he lifted up his\neyes to heaven; and from that moment his madness past. He lifted up his\neyes to heaven. That is no mere figure of speech: it is an actual truth.\nMost madmen, if you watch them, have that down look, or rather that\ninward look, as if their eyes were fixed only on their own fancies. They\nare thinking only of themselves, poor creatures\u2014of their own selfish and\nprivate suspicions and wrongs\u2014of their own selfish superstitious dreams\nabout heaven or hell\u2014of their own selfish vanity and ambition\u2014sometimes\nof their own frantic self-conceit, or of their selfish lusts and\ndesires\u2014of themselves, in short. They have lost the one Divine light of\nreason, and conscience, and love, which binds men to each other, and are\nparted for a while from God and from their kind\u2014alone in their own\ndarkness. So was Nebuchadnezzar.\n\nAt last he looked up, as men do when they pray; up from himself to One\ngreater than himself; up from the earth to heaven; up from the natural\nthings which we do see, which are temporal and born to die, to moral and\nspiritual things which we do not see, which are real and eternal in the\nheavens; up from his own lonely darkness, looking for the light and the\nguidance of God; for now he began to see that all the light which he had\never had, all his wisdom, and understanding, and strength of will, had\ncome from God, however he might have misused them for his own selfish\nambition; that it was because God had taken from him His light, who is\nthe Word of God, that he had become a beast. And then his reason\nreturned to him, and he became again a man, a rational being, made,\nhowsoever fallen and sinful, in the likeness of God; then he blessed and\npraised God. It was not merely that he confessed that God was strong,\nand he weak; righteous, and he sinful; wise, and he foolish; but he\nblessed and praised God; he felt and confessed that God had done him a\ngreat benefit, and taught him a great lesson\u2014that God had taught him what\nhe was in himself and without God, that he might see what he was with God\nin its true light, and honour and obey Him from whom his reason and\nunderstanding, as well as his power and glory, came, that so it might be\nfulfilled which the prophet says: \u201cLet not the wise man glory in his\nwisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his riches:\nbut let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and\nknoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment,\nand righteousness _in the earth_; for in these things I delight, saith\nthe Lord.\u201d\n\nAnd so was Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s soul brought to utter, in his own way, the\nvery same glorious song which, or something like it, is said to have been\nsung by the three men whom, years before, he had seen delivered from the\nfiery furnace, which calls on all the works of the Lord, angels and\nheaven, sun and stars, seas and winds, mountains and hills, fowls and\ncattle, priests and laymen, spirits and souls of the righteous, to bless\nthe Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever.\n\nAnd so ends Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s history. We read no more of him. He had\nlearnt the golden lesson. May God grant that we may learn it also!\n\nBut who tells the story of his madness? He himself. The whole account\nis in the man\u2019s own words. It seems to be some public letter or\nproclamation, which he either sent round his empire, or commanded to be\nlaid up among his records; having, as it seems, set Daniel to write it\ndown from his mouth. This one fact, I think, justifies me in all that I\nhave said about Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s nobleness, and Daniel\u2019s affection for\nhim. He does not try to smooth things over; to pretend that he has not\nbeen mad; to find excuses for himself; to lay any blame on any human\nbeing. He repents openly, confesses openly. Shameful as it may be to\nhim, he tells the whole story. He confesses that he had fair warning,\nthat all was his own fault. He justifies God utterly. My friends, we\nmay read, thank God, many noble, and brave, and righteous speeches of\nkings and great men: but never have I read one so noble, so brave, so\nrighteous as this of the great king of Babylon.\n\nAnd therefore it is; because this letter of his, in the fourth chapter of\nthe book of Daniel, is indeed full of the eternal Holy Spirit of God;\ntherefore it is, I say, that it forms part of the Bible, part of holy\nscripture to this day,\u2014a greater honour to Nebuchadnezzar than all his\nkingdom; for what greater honour than to have been inspired to write one\nchapter, yea, one sentence, of the Book of Books?\n\nMy friends, every one of you here is in God\u2019s school-house, under God\u2019s\nteaching, far more than Nebuchadnezzar was. You are baptised men,\nknowing that blessed name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which\nNebuchadnezzar only saw dimly, and afar off. Jesus Christ, the Word of\nGod, is striving with your hearts, giving to them whatsoever light and\nlife they have. You have been taught from childhood to look up to Him as\nyour King and Deliverer; to His Father as your Father, to His Holy Spirit\nas your Inspirer. Take heed how you listen to His voice within your\nhearts. Take heed how you learn God\u2019s lessons; for God is surely\neducating you, and teaching you far more than He taught the king of\nBabylon in old time. As you learn or despise these lessons of God\u2019s,\nwill be your happiness or your misery now and for ever. Unto the king of\nBabylon little was given, and of him was little required. To you and me\nmuch has been given; of you and me will much be required.\n\n\n\n\nXXIX.\nJEREMIAH\u2019S CALLING.\n\n\n Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a\n righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall\n execute judgment and justice in the earth.\u2014JEREMIAH xxiii. 5.\n\nAT the time when Jeremiah the prophet spoke those words to the Jews,\nnothing seemed more unlikely than that they would ever come true. The\nwhole Jewish nation was falling to pieces from its own sins. Brutish and\nfilthy idolatry in high and low\u2014oppression, violence, and luxury among\nthe court and the nobility\u2014shame, and poverty, and ignorance among the\nlower classes\u2014idleness and quackery among the priesthood\u2014and as kings\nover all, one fool and profligate after another, set on the throne by a\nforeign conqueror, and pulled down again by him at his pleasure. Ten out\nof the twelve tribes of Israel had been carried off captive, young and\nold, into a distant land. The small portion of country which still\nremained inhabited round Jerusalem, had been overrun again and again by\ncruel armies of heathens. Without Jerusalem was waste and ruins,\nbloodshed and wretchedness; within every kind of iniquity and lies,\ndivision and confusion. If ever there was a miserable and contemptible\npeople upon the face of the earth, it was the Jewish nation in Jeremiah\u2019s\ntime. Jeremiah makes no secret of it. His prophecies are full of\nit\u2014full of lamentation and shame: \u201cOh that my head were a fountain of\ntears, to weep for the sins of my people!\u201d He feels that God has sent\nhim to rebuke those sins, to warn and prophesy to his fellow-countrymen\nthe certain ruin into which they are rushing headlong; and he speaks\nGod\u2019s message boldly. From the poor idol-ridden labourer, offering cakes\nto the Queen of Heaven to coax her into sending him a good harvest, to\nthe tyrant king who had built his palace of cedar and painted it with\nvermilion, he had a bitter word for every man. The lying priest tried to\nsilence him; and Jeremiah answered him, that his wife should be a harlot\nin the city, and his children sold for slaves. The king tried to flatter\nhim into being quiet; and he told him in return, that he should be buried\nwith the burial of an ass, dragged out and cast forth beyond the gates of\nJerusalem. The luxurious queen, who made her nest in the cedars, would\nbe ashamed and confounded, he said, for her wickedness. The crown prince\nwas a despised broken idol\u2014a vessel in which was no pleasure; he should\nbe cast out, he and his children, into slavery in a land which he knew\nnot. The whole royal family, he said, would perish; none of them should\never again prosper or sit upon the throne of David. This was his\nmessage; shame and confusion, woe and ruin, to high and low; every human\nbeing he passed in the street was a doomed man. For the day of the Lord\nwas at hand, and who should be able to escape it?\n\nA sad calling, truly, to have to work at; and all the more sad because\nJeremiah had no pride, no steadfast opinion of his own excellence to keep\nhim up. He hates his calling of prophet. At the very moment he is\nforetelling woe, he prays God that his prophecy may not come true; he\ntries every method to prevent its coming true, by entreating his\ncountrymen to repent. There runs through all his awful words a vein of\ntenderness, and pity, and love unspeakable, which to me is the one great\nmark of a true prophet; a sign that Jeremiah spoke by the Spirit of God;\na sign that too many writers nowadays do not speak by the Spirit of God.\nIf they rebuke the rich and powerful, they do it generally in a very\ndifferent spirit from Jeremiah\u2019s\u2014in a spirit of bitterness and insolence,\nnot very easy to describe, but easy enough to perceive. They seem to\nrejoice in evil, to delight in finding fault, to be sorry, and not glad,\nwhen their prophecies of evil turn out false; to try to set one class\nagainst another, one party against another, as if we were not miserably\nenough split up already by class interests and party spirit. They are\nglad enough to rebuke the wicked great; but not to their face, not to\ntheir own danger and hurt like Jeremiah. Their plan is to accuse the\nrich to the poor, on their own platform, or in their own newspaper, where\nthey are safe; and, moreover, to make a very fair profit thereby; to say\nbehind the back of authorities that which they dare not say to their\nface, and which they soon give up saying when they have worked their own\nway into office; and meanwhile take mighty credit to themselves for\nseeing that there is wrong and misery in the world; as if the spirits in\nhell should fancy themselves righteous, because they hated the devil!\nNo, my friends, Jeremiah was of a very different spirit from that. If he\never was tempted to it when he was young, and began to fancy himself a\nvery grand person, who had a right to look down on his neighbours,\nbecause God had called him and set him apart to be a prophet from his\nmother\u2019s womb, and revealed to him the doom of nations, and the secrets\nof His providence\u2014if he ever fancied that in his heart, God led him\nthrough such an education as took all the pride out of him, sternly and\nbitterly enough. He was commissioned to go and speak terrible words, to\ncurse kings and nobles in the name of the Lord: but he was taught, too,\nthat it was not a pleasant calling, or one which was likely to pay him in\nthis life. His fellow-villagers plotted against his life. His wife\ndeserted him. The nobles threw him into a dungeon, into a well full of\nmire, whence he had to be drawn up again with ropes to save his life. He\nwas beaten, all but starved, kept for years in prison. He had neither\nchild nor friend. He had his share of all the miseries of the siege of\nJerusalem, and all the horrors of its storm; and when he was set free by\nNebuchadnezzar, and clung to his ruined home, to see if any good could\nstill be done to the remnant of his countrymen, he was violently carried\noff into a heathen land, and at last stoned to death, by those very\ncountrymen of his whom he had been trying for years to save. In\neverything, and by everything, he was taught that he was still a Jew, a\nbrother to his sinful brothers; that their sorrows were his sorrows,\ntheir shame his shame, their ruin his ruin. In all their afflictions he\nwas afflicted, even as his Lord was after him.\n\nHe struggled, we find, again and again against this strange and sad\ncalling of a prophet. He cried out in bitter agony that God had deceived\nhim; had induced him to become a prophet, and then repaid him for\nspeaking God\u2019s message with nothing but disappointment and misery. And\nyet he felt he must speak; God, he said, was stronger than he was, and\nforced him to it. He said: \u201cI will speak no more words in His name; but\nthe Word of the Lord was as fire within his bones, and would not let him\nrest;\u201d and so, in spite of himself, he told the truth, and suffered for\nit; and hated to have to tell it, and pitied and loved the very country\nwhich he rebuked till he cursed \u201cthe day in which he saw the light, and\nthe hour in which it was said to his father, there is a man-child born.\u201d\nYou who fancy that it is a fine thing, and a paying profession, to be a\npreacher of righteousness and a rebuker of sin, look at Jeremiah, and\njudge! For as surely as you or any other man is sent by God to do\nJeremiah\u2019s work, so surely he must expect Jeremiah\u2019s wages.\n\nDo you think, then, that Jeremiah was a man only to be pitied? Pitiable\nhe was indeed, and sad. There was One hung on a cross eighteen hundred\nyears ago, more pitiable still: and yet He is the Lord of heaven and\nearth. Yes; Jeremiah had a sad life to live, and a sad task to work out;\nand yet, my friends, was not that a cheap price to pay for the honour and\nglory of being taught by God\u2019s Spirit, and of speaking God\u2019s words? I do\nnot mean the mere honour of having his fame and name spread over all\nChrist\u2019s kingdom; the honour of having his writings read and respected by\nthe wisest and the holiest to the end of time; that mere earthly fame is\nbut a slight matter. I mean the real honour, the real glory, of knowing\nwhat was utterly right and true, and therefore of knowing Him who is\nutterly right and true; of knowing God; of knowing what God\u2019s character\nis: that he is a living God, and not a dead one; a God who is near and\nnot absent at all, loving and merciful, just and righteous, strong and\nmighty to save. Ay, my friends, this is the lesson which God taught\nJeremiah; to know the Lord of heaven and earth, and to see His hand, His\nrule, in all that was happening to his fellow-countrymen, and himself; to\nknow that from the beginning the Lord, the Saviour-God, Jehovah, the\nmessenger of the covenant, He who brought up the Jews out of Egypt, was\nthe wise and just and loving King of the Jews, and of all the nations\nupon earth; and that some day or other He must and would conquer all the\nsinfulness, and misery, and tyranny, and idolatry in the world, and show\nHimself openly to men, and fulfil all the piteous longings after a just\nand good king which poor wretches had ever felt, and all the glorious\npromises of a just and good king which God had made to the wise men of\nold time; and, therefore, in the midst of shame and persecution, despair\nand ruin, Jeremiah could rejoice. Jehoiakim, the wicked king, and all\nhis royal house, might be driven out into slavery; Jerusalem might become\na heap of ruins and corpses; the fair land of Jud\u00e6a, and the village\nwhere he was bred, might become thorns, and thistles, and heaps of\nstones; the vineyard which he loved, the little estate at Anathoth which\nhad belonged to him, might be trodden down by the stranger, and he\nhimself die in a foreign land; around him might be nothing but sin and\ndecay, before him nothing but despair and ruin: yet still there was hope,\njoy, everlasting certainty for that poor, childless, captive old man; for\nhe had found out that the Lord still lived, the Lord still reigned. He\ncould not lie; he could not forget his people. Could a mother forget her\nsucking child? No. When the Jews turned to Him, He would still have\nmercy. His punishment of them was a sign that he still cared for them.\nIf He had forgotten them, He would have let them go on triumphant in\ntheir iniquity. No. All these afflictions were meant to chasten them,\nteach them, bring them back to Him. It would be good for them, an actual\nblessing to them, to be taken away into captivity in Babylon. It might\nbe hard to believe, but it must be true. The Lord of Israel, the\nSaviour-God, who had been caring for them so long, rising up early and\nsending His prophets to them, pleading with them as a father with his\nchild, He would have mercy; He would teach them, in sorrow and slavery,\nthe lesson they were too rebellious and hard-hearted to learn in\nprosperity and freedom: that the Lord was their righteousness, and that\nthere was no other name under heaven which could save them from the\nplague, and from the famine, from the swords of the Chaldeans, or from\nthe division, and oppression, and brutishness, and manifold wickedness,\nwhich was their ruin. And then Jeremiah saw and felt\u2014how we cannot\ntell\u2014but there his words, the words of this text, stand to this day, to\nshow that he did see and feel it, that some day or other, in God\u2019s good\ntime, the Jews would have a true King\u2014a very different king from\nJehoiakim the tyrant\u2014a son of David in a very different sense from what\nJehoiakim was; that He would come, and must come, sooner or later, The\nunseen King, who had all along been governing Jews and heathens, and\ntelling his prophets that Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, the Chaldee and the\nPersian, were his servants as well as they, and that all the nations of\nthe earth could do but what he chose. \u201cBehold the days come, saith the\nLord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall\nreign and prosper, and shall execute justice and judgment on the earth.\u201d\n\nThis was the blessed knowledge which God gave Jeremiah in return for all\nthe misery he had to endure in warning his countrymen of their sins. And\nthis same blessed knowledge, the knowledge that the earth is the Lord\u2019s,\nthat to Jesus Christ is given, as He said Himself, all power in heaven\nand earth, and that He is reigning, and must reign, and conquer, and\ntriumph till He has put all His enemies under His feet, God will surely\ngive to everyone, high or low, who follows Jeremiah\u2019s example, who boldly\nand faithfully warns the sinner of his way, who rebukes the wickedness\nwhich he sees around him: only he must do it in the spirit of Jeremiah.\nHe must not be insolent to the insolent, or proud to the proud. He must\nnot be puffed up, and fancy that because he sees the evil of sin, and the\ncertain ruin which is the fruit of it, that he is therefore to keep apart\nfrom his fellow-countrymen, and despise them in Pharisaic pride. No.\nThe truly Christian man, the man who, like Jeremiah, has the Spirit of\nGod in him, will feel the most intense pity and tenderness of sinners.\nHe will not only rebuke the sins of his people, but mourn for them; he\nwill be afflicted in all their affliction. However harshly he may have\nto speak, he will never forget that they are his countrymen, his\nbrothers, children of the same Father, to be judged by the same Lord. He\nwill feel with shame and fear that he has in himself the root of the very\nsame sins which he sees working death around him\u2014that if others are\ncovetous, he might be so too\u2014if they be profligate, and deceitful, and\nhypocritical, without God in the world, he might be so too. And he must\nfeel not only that he might be as bad as his neighbours, but that he\nactually would be, if God withdrew His Spirit from him for a moment, and\nallowed him to forget the only faith which saves him from sin, loyalty to\nhis unseen Saviour, the righteous King of kings. Therefore he will not\nonly rebuke his sinful neighbours; but he will tell them, as Jeremiah\ntold his countrymen, that all their sin and misery proceed from this one\nthing, that they have forgotten that the Lord is their King. He will\npray daily for them, that the Lord their King may show Himself to their\nhearts and thoughts, and teach them all that He has done for them, and is\ndoing for them; and may convert them to Himself that they may be truly\nHis people, and His way may be known upon earth, His saving health among\nall nations.\n\n\n\n\nXXX.\nTHE PERFECT KING.\n\n\n Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh to thee, meek,\n and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass.\u2014MATTHEW xxi.\n 5.\n\nYOU all know that this Sunday is called the First Sunday in Advent. You\nall know, I hope, that Advent means coming, and that these four Sundays\nbefore Christmas, as I have often told you, are called Advent Sundays,\nbecause upon them we are called to consider the coming of our King and\nSaviour Jesus Christ. If you will look at the Collects, Epistles, and\nGospels for these next four Sundays, you will see at once that they all\nbear upon our Lord\u2019s coming. The Gospels tell us of the prophecies about\nChrist which He fulfilled when He came. The Epistles tell us what sort\nof men we ought to be, both clergy and people, because He has come and\nwill come again. The Collects pray that the Spirit of God would make us\nfit to live and die in a world into which Christ has come, and in which\nHe is ruling now, and to which He will come again. The text which I have\ntaken this morning, you just heard in this Sunday\u2019s Gospel. St. Matthew\ntells you that Jesus Christ fulfilled it by riding into Jerusalem in\nstate upon an ass\u2019s colt; and St. Matthew surely speaks truth. Let us\nconsider what the prophecy is, and how Jesus Christ fulfilled it. Then\nwe shall see and believe from the Epistle what effect the knowledge of it\nought to have upon our own souls, and hearts, and daily conduct.\n\nNow this prophecy, \u201cBehold, thy king cometh unto thee,\u201d etc., you will\nfind in your Bibles, in the ninth verse of the ninth chapter of the book\nof Zechariah. But I do not think that Zechariah wrote it. St. Matthew\ndoes not say he wrote it; he merely calls it that which was spoken by the\nprophet, without mentioning his name. Provided it is an inspired word\nfrom God, which it is, it perhaps does not matter to us so much who wrote\nit: but I think it was written by the prophet Jeremiah, perhaps in the\nbeginning of the reign of the good king Josiah; for the chapter in which\nthis text is, and the two or three chapters which follow, are not at all\nlike the rest of Zechariah\u2019s writings, but exactly like Jeremiah\u2019s. They\ncertainly seem to speak of things which did not happen in Zechariah\u2019s\ntime, but in the time of Jeremiah, nearly ninety years before. And,\nabove all, St. Matthew himself seems plainly to have thought that some\npart, at least, of those chapters was Jeremiah\u2019s writing; for in the\ntwenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel, and in the ninth verse,\nyou will find a prophecy about the potter\u2019s field, which St. Matthew says\nwas spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. Now, those words are not in the book\nof Jeremiah as it stands in our Bibles: but they are in the book of\nZechariah, in the eleventh chapter, twelfth and thirteenth verses, coming\nshortly after my text, and making a part of the same prophecy. This has\npuzzled Christians very much, because it seemed as if St. Matthew has\nmade a mistake, and miscalled Zechariah Jeremiah. But I believe firmly\nthat, as we are bound to expect, St. Matthew made no mistake whatsoever,\nand that Jeremiah did write that prophecy as St. Matthew said, and the\ntwo chapters before it, and perhaps the two after it, and that they were\nprobably kept and preserved by Zechariah during the troublous times of\nthe Babylonish captivity, and at last copied by Nehemiah into Zechariah\u2019s\nbook of prophecy, where they stand now; and I think it is a comfort to\nknow this, and to find that the evangelist St. Matthew has not made a\nmistake, but knew the Scriptures better than we do.\n\nBut I think Jeremiah having written this prophecy in my text, which I\nbelieve he did, is also very important, because it will show us what the\nprophet meant when he spoke it, and how it was fulfilled in his time; and\nthe better we understand that, the better we shall understand how our\nblessed Lord fulfilled it afterwards.\n\nNow, when Jeremiah was a young man, the Jews and their king Amon were in\na state of most abominable wickedness. They were worshipping every sort\nof idol and false god. And the Bible, the book of God\u2019s law, was utterly\nunknown amongst them; so that Josiah the king, who succeeded Amon, had\nnever seen or heard the book of the law of Moses, which makes part of our\nOld Testament, till he had reigned eighteen years, as you will find if\nyou refer to 2 Kings xxii. 3. But this Josiah was a gentle and just\nprince, and finding the book of the law of God, and seeing the abominable\nforgetfulness and idolatry into which his people had fallen, utterly\nbreaking the covenant which God had made with their forefathers when he\nbrought them up out of Egypt\u2014when he found the book of the law, I say,\nand all that he and his people should have done and had not done, and the\nawful curses which God threatened in that book against those who broke\nHis law, \u201che humbled himself before God, because his heart was tender,\nand turned to the Lord, as no king before him had ever turned,\u201d says the\nscripture, \u201cwith all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his\nmight; so that there was no such king before him, or either after him.\u201d\nThe history of the great reformation which this great and good king\nworked, you may read at length in 2 Kings xxii. xxiii. and 2 Chron.\nxxxiv. xxxv. which I advise you all to read.\n\nAnd it appears to me that this prophecy in the text first applies to the\ngentle and holy king Josiah, the first true and good king the Jews had\nhad for years, and the best they were ever to have till Christ came\nHimself; and that it speaks of Josiah coming to Jerusalem to restore the\nworship of God, not with pomp and show, like the wicked kings both before\nand after him, but in meekness and humbleness of heart, for all the sins\nof his people, as the prophetess said of him in 2 Kings xxii. 19, \u201cthat\nhis heart was tender and humble before the Lord;\u201d neither coming with\nchariots and guards, like a king and conqueror, but riding upon an ass\u2019s\ncolt; for that was, in those countries, the ancient sign of a man\u2019s being\na man of peace, and not of war; a magistrate and lawgiver, and not a\nsoldier and a conqueror. Various places of holy scripture show us that\nthis was the meaning of riding upon an ass in Jud\u00e6a, just as it is in\nEastern countries now.\n\nBut some may say, How then is this a prophecy? It merely tells us what\ngood king Josiah was, and what every king ought to be. Well, my friends,\nthat is just what makes it a prophecy. If it tells you what ought to be,\nit tells you what will be. Yes, never forget that; whatever ought to be,\nsurely will be; as surely as this is God\u2019s earth and Christ\u2019s kingdom,\nand not the devil\u2019s.\n\nNow, it does not matter in the least whether the prophet, when he spoke\nthese words, knew that they would apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. We\nhave no need whatsoever to suppose that he did: for scripture gives us no\nhint or warrant that he did; and if we have any real or honest reverence\nfor scripture, we shall be careful to let it tell its own story, and\nbelieve that it contains all things necessary for salvation, without our\npatching our own notions into it over and above. Wise men are generally\nagreed that those old prophets did not, for the most part, comprehend the\nfull meaning of their own words. Not that they were mere puppets and\nmouthpieces, speaking what to them was nonsense\u2014God forbid!\u2014But that just\nbecause they did thoroughly understand what was going on round them, and\nsee things as God saw them, just because they had God\u2019s Eternal Spirit\nwith them, therefore they spoke great and eternal words, which will be\ntrue for ever, and will go on for ever fulfilling themselves for more and\nmore. For in proportion as any man\u2019s words are true, and wide, and deep,\nthey are truer, and wider, and deeper than that man thinks, and will\napply to a thousand matters of which he never dreamt. And so in all true\nand righteous speech, as in the speeches of the prophets of old, the\nglory is not man\u2019s who speaks them, but God\u2019s who reveals them, and who\nfulfils them again and again.\n\nIt is true, then, that this text describes what every king should\nbe\u2014gentle and humble, a merciful and righteous lawgiver, not a\nself-willed and capricious tyrant. But Josiah could not fulfil that. He\nwas a good king: but he could not be a perfect one; for he was but a\npoor, sinful, weak, and inconsistent man, as we are. But those words\nbeing inspired by the Holy Spirit, must be fulfilled. There ought to be\na perfect king, perfectly gentle and humble, having a perfect salvation,\na perfect lawgiver; and therefore there must be such a king; and\ntherefore St. Matthew tells us there came at last a perfect king\u2014one who\nfulfilled perfectly the prophet\u2019s words\u2014one who was not made king of\nJerusalem, but was her King from the beginning; for that is the full\nmeaning of \u201cThy King cometh to thee.\u201d To Jerusalem He came, riding on\nthe ass\u2019s colt, like the peaceful and fatherly judges of old time, for a\nsign to the poor souls round Him, who had no lawgivers but the proud and\nfierce Scribes and Pharisees, no king but the cruel and godless C\u00e6sar,\nand his oppressive and extortionate officers and troops. Meek and lowly\nHe came; and for once the people saw that He was the true Son of David\u2014a\nman and king, like him, after God\u2019s own heart. For once they felt that\nHe had come in the name of the Lord the old Deliverer who brought them\nout of the land of Egypt, and made them into a nation, and loved and\npitied them still, in spite of all their sins, and remembered His\ncovenant, which they had forgotten. And before that humble man, the Son\nof the village maiden, they cried: \u201cHosanna to the Son of David. Blessed\nis He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest.\u201d\n\nAnd do you think He came, the true and perfect King, only to go away\nagain and leave this world as it was before, without a law, a ruler, a\nheavenly kingdom? God forbid! Jesus is the same yesterday, to-day, and\nfor ever. What He was then, when He rode in triumph into Jerusalem, that\nis He now to us this day\u2014a king, meek and lowly, and having salvation;\nthe head and founder of a kingdom which can never be moved, a city which\nhas foundations, whose builder and maker is God. To that kingdom this\nland of England now belongs. Into it we, as Englishmen, have been\nchristened. And the unchristened, though they know not of it, belong to\nit as well. What God\u2019s will, what Christ\u2019s mercies may be to them, we\nknow not. That He has mercy for them, if their ignorance is not their\nown fault, we doubt not; perhaps, even if their ignorance be their own\nfault, we need not doubt that He has mercy for them, considering the\nmercy which He has shown to us, who deserved no more than they. But His\nwill to us we do know; and His will is this\u2014our holiness. For He came\nnot only to assert His own power, to redeem his own world, but to set His\npeople, the children of men, an example, that they should follow in His\nsteps. Herein, too, He is the perfect king. He leads His subjects, He\nsets a perfect example to His subjects, and more, He inspires them with\nthe power of following that example, as, if you will think, a perfect\nruler ought to be able to do. Josiah set the Jews an example, but he\ncould not make them follow it. They turned to God at the bidding of\ntheir good king, with their lips, in their outward conduct; but their\nhearts were still far from Him. Jeremiah complains bitterly of this in\nthe beginning of his prophecies. He complains that Josiah\u2019s reformation\nwas after all empty, hollow, hypocritical, a change on the surface only,\nwhile the wicked root was left. They had healed, he said, the hurt of\nthe daughter of his people slightly, crying, \u201cPeace, peace, when there\nwas no peace.\u201d But Jesus, the perfect King, is King of men\u2019s spirits as\nwell as of their bodies. He can turn the heart, He can renew the soul.\nNone so ignorant, none so sinful, none so crushed down with evil habits,\nbut the Lord will and can forgive him, raise him up, enlighten him,\nstrengthen him, if he will but claim his share in his King\u2019s mercy, his\ncitizenship in the heavenly kingdom, and so put himself in tune again\nwith himself, and with heaven, and earth, and all therein.\n\nKeeping in mind these things, that Jesus, because He is our perfect King,\nis both the example and the inspirer of our souls and characters, we may\nlook without fear at the epistle for the day, where it calls on us to be\nvery different persons from what we are, and declares to us our duty as\nsubjects of Him who is meek and lowly, just and having salvation. It is\nno superstitious, slavish message, saying: \u201cYou have lost Christ\u2019s mercy\nand Christ\u2019s kingdom; you must buy it back again by sacrifices, and\ntears, and hard penances, or great alms-deeds and works of mercy.\u201d No.\nIt simply says: \u201cYou belong to Christ already, give up your hearts to Him\nand follow His example. If He is perfect, His is the example to follow;\nif he is perfect, His commandments must be perfect, fit for all places,\nall times, all employments; if He is the King of heaven and earth, His\ncommandments must be in tune with heaven and earth, with the laws of\nnature, the true laws of society and trade, with the constitution, and\nbusiness, and duty, and happiness of all mankind, and for ever obey Him.\u201d\n\nOwe no man anything save love, for He owed no man anything. He gave up\nall, even His own rights, for a time, for His subjects. Will you pretend\nto follow Him while you hold back from your brothers and fellow-servants\ntheir just due? One debt you must always owe; one debt will grow the\nmore you pay it, and become more delightful to owe, the greater and\nheavier you feel it to be, and that is love; love to all around you, for\nall around you are your brothers and sisters; all around you are the\nbeloved subjects of your King and Saviour. Love them as you love\nyourself, and then you cannot harm them, you cannot tyrannise over them,\nyou cannot wish to rise by scrambling up on their shoulders, taking the\nbread out of their mouths, making your profit out of their weakness and\ntheir need. This, St. Paul says, was the duty of men in his time,\nbecause the night of heathendom was far spent, the day of Christianity\nand the Church was at hand. Much more is it our duty now\u2014our duty, who\nhave been born in the full sunshine of Christianity, christened into His\nchurch as children, we and our fathers before us, for generations, of the\nkingdom of God. Ay, my friends, these words, that kingdom, that King,\nwitness this day against this land of England. Not merely against\npopery, the mote which we are trying to take out of the foreigner\u2019s eye,\nbut against Mammon, the beam which we are overlooking in our own. Owe no\nman anything save love. \u201cThou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.\u201d\nThat is the law of your King, who loved not Himself or His own profit,\nHis own glory, but gave Himself even to death for those who had forgotten\nHim and rebelled against Him. That law witnesses against selfishness and\nidleness in rich and poor. It witnesses against the employer who grinds\ndown his workmen; who, as the world tells him he has a right to do, takes\nadvantage of their numbers, their ignorance, their low and reckless\nhabits, to rise upon their fall, and grow rich out of their poverty. It\nwitnesses against the tradesman who tries to draw away his neighbour\u2019s\ncustom. It witnesses against the working man who spends in the alehouse\nthe wages which might support and raise his children, and then falls back\nrecklessly and dishonestly on the parish rates and the alms of the\ncharitable. Against them all this law witnesses. These things are unfit\nfor the kingdom of Christ, contrary to the laws and constitution thereof,\nhateful to the King thereof; and if a nation will not amend these\nabominations, the King will arise out of His place, and with sore\njudgments and terrible He will visit His land and purify His temple,\nsaying: \u201cMy Father\u2019s house should be a house of prayer, and ye have made\nit a den of thieves.\u201d Ay, woe to any soul, or to any nation, which,\ninstead of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, copying His example, obeying\nHis laws, and living worthy of His kingdom, not only in the church, but\nin the market, the shop, the senate, or the palace, give themselves up to\ncovetousness, which is idolatry; and care only to make provision for the\nflesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Woe to them; for, let them be what\nthey will, their King cannot change. He is still meek and lowly; He is\nstill just and having salvation; and He will purge out of His kingdom all\nthat is not like Himself, the unchaste and the idle, the unjust and the\nunmerciful, and the covetous man, who is an idolater, says the scripture,\nthough he may call himself seven times a Protestant, and rail at the Pope\nin public meetings, while he justifies greediness and tyranny by glib\nwords about the necessities of business and the laws of trade, and by\nphilosophy falsely so called, which cometh not from above, but is\nearthly, sensual, devilish. Such a man loves and makes a lie, and the\nLord of truth will surely send him to his own place.\n\n\n\n\nXXXI.\nGOD\u2019S WARNINGS.\n\n\n It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I\n purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil\n way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.\u2014JEREMIAH xxxvi.\n 3.\n\nTHE first lesson for this evening\u2019s service tells us of the wickedness of\nJehoiakim, king of Judah. How, when Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies against the\nsins of Jehoiakim and his people were read before him, he cut the roll\nwith a penknife, and threw it into the fire. Now, we must not look on\nthis story as one which, because it happened among the Jews many hundred\nyears ago, has nothing to do with us; for, as I continually remind you,\nthe history of the Jews, and the whole Old Testament, is the history of\nGod\u2019s dealings with man\u2014the account of God\u2019s plan of governing this\nworld. Now, God cannot change; but is the same yesterday, to-day, and\nfor ever; and therefore His plan of government cannot change: but if men\ndo as those did of whom we read in the Old Testament, God will surely\ndeal with them as He dealt with the men of the Old Testament. This St.\nPaul tells us most plainly in the tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, where\nhe says that the whole history of the Jews was written for our\nexample\u2014that is for the example of those Christian Corinthians, who were\nnot Jews at all, but Gentiles as we are; and therefore for our example\nalso.\n\nHe tells them, that it was Christ Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, who fed\nand guided the old Jews in the wilderness, and that the Lord will deal\nwith us exactly as He dealt with the old Jews.\n\nTherefore it is a great and fearful mistake, to suppose that because the\nJews were a peculiar people and God\u2019s chosen nation, that therefore the\nLord\u2019s way of governing them is in any wise different from His way of\ngoverning us English at this very day; for that fancy is contrary to the\nexpress words of Holy Scripture, in a hundred different places; it is\ncontrary to the whole spirit of our Prayer Book, which is written all\nthrough on the belief that the Lord deals with us just as He did with the\nJewish nation, and which will not even make sense if it be understood in\nany other way; and besides, it is most dangerous to the souls and\nconsciences of men. It is most dangerous for us to fancy that God can\nchange; for if God can change, right and wrong can change; for right is\nthe will of God, and wrong is what is against His will; and if we once\nlet into our hearts the notion that God can change His laws of right, our\nconsciences will become daily dimmer and more confused about right and\nwrong, till we fall, as too many do, under the prophet\u2019s curse, \u201cWoe to\nthem who call good evil, and evil good; who put sweet for bitter, and\nbitter for sweet,\u201d and fancy, like Ezekiel\u2019s Jews, that God\u2019s ways are\nunequal; that is, unlike each other, changeable, arbitrary, and\ncapricious, doing one thing at one time, and another at another. No. It\nis sinful man who is changeable; it is sinful man who is arbitrary. But\nThe Lord is not a man, that He should lie or repent; for He is the\nonly-begotten Son, and therefore the express likeness, of The Everlasting\nFather, in whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.\n\nBut some may say, Is not that a gloomy and terrible notion of God, that\nHe cannot change His purpose? Is not that as much as to say that there\nis a dark necessity hanging over each of us; that a man must just be what\nGod chooses, and do just what He has ordained to do, and go to\neverlasting happiness or misery exactly as God has foreordained from all\neternity, so that there is no use trying to do right, or not to do wrong?\nIf I am to be saved, say such people, I shall be saved whether I try or\nnot; and if I am to be damned, I shall be damned whether I try or not. I\nam in God\u2019s hands like clay in the hands of the potter; and what I am\nlike is therefore God\u2019s business, and not mine.\n\nNo, my friends, the very texts in the Bible which tell us that God cannot\nchange or repent, tell us what it is that He cannot change in\u2014in showing\nloving-kindness and tender mercy, long-suffering, and repenting of the\nevil. Whatsoever else He cannot repent of, He cannot repent of repenting\nof the evil.\n\nIt is true, we are in His hand as clay in the hand of the potter. But it\nis a sad misreading of scripture to make that mean that we are to sit\nwith our hands folded, careless about our own way and conduct; still less\nthat we are to give ourselves up to despair, because we have sinned\nagainst God; for what is the very verse which follows after that?\nListen. \u201cO house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith\nthe Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are ye in\nmy hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a\nkingdom, to pull down and destroy it; if that nation against whom I have\npronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which I\nthought to do to them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a\nnation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil\nin my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good\nwherewith I said I would benefit them.\u201d\n\nSo that the lesson which we are to draw from the parable of the potter\u2019s\nclay is just the exact opposite which some men draw. Not that God\u2019s\ndecrees are absolute: but that they are conditional, and depend on our\ngood or evil conduct. Not that His election or His reprobation are\nunalterable, but that they alter \u201cat that instant\u201d at which man alters.\nNot that His grace and will are irresistible, as the foolish man against\nwhom St. Paul argues fancies: but that we can resist God\u2019s will, and that\nour destruction comes only by resisting His will; in short, that God\u2019s\nwill is no brute material necessity and fate, but the will of a living,\nloving Father.\n\nAnd the very same lesson is taught us in Ezek. xviii., of which I spoke\njust now; for if we read that chapter we shall find that the Jews had a\nfalse notion of God that He had changed His character, and had become in\ntheir time unmerciful and unjust. They fancied that God was, if I may so\nspeak, obstinate\u2014that if His anger had once arisen, there was no turning\nit away, but that He would go on without pity, punishing the innocent\nchildren for their father\u2019s sin; and therefore they fancied God\u2019s ways\nwere unfair, self-willed, and arbitrary, without any care of what sort of\nperson He afflicted; punishing the righteous as well as the wicked, after\nHe had promised in His law to reward the righteous and punish the wicked.\nThey fancied that His way of governing the world had changed, and that He\ndid not in their days make a difference between the bad and the good.\nTherefore Ezekiel says to them: \u201cWhen the righteous man turneth away from\nhis righteousness, he shall die.\u201d \u201cWhen the wicked man turneth away from\nhis wickedness, he shall live.\u201d \u201cHave I any pleasure at all that the\nwicked should die? saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from\nhis ways, and live?\u201d\n\nThis, then, is the good news, that God is love; love when He punishes,\nand love when He forgives; very pitiful, and full of long-suffering and\ntender mercy and repenting Him, never of the good, but only of the evil\nwhich He threatens.\n\nBoth Jeremiah, therefore, and Ezekiel, give us the same lesson. God does\nnot change, and therefore He never changes His mercy and His justice: for\nHe is merciful because He is just. If we confess our sins, He is\nfaithful and just to forgive us our sins. That is His everlasting law,\nand has been from the beginning: Punishment, sure and certain, for those\nwho do not repent; and free forgiveness, sure and certain also, for those\nwho do repent.\n\nSo He spoke to Jeremiah in the time of Jehoiakim: \u201cIt may be that the\nhouse of Judah will hear all the evil that I purpose to do to them; that\nI may forgive them their iniquity and their sin.\u201d The Lord, you see,\nwishes to forgive\u2014longs to forgive. His heart yearns over sinful men as\na father\u2019s over his rebellious child. But if they will still rebel, if\nthey will still turn their wicked wills away from Him, He must punish.\nWhy we know not; but He knows. Punish He must, unless we repent\u2014unless\nwe turn our wills toward His will. And woe to the stiff-necked and\nstout-hearted man who, like the wicked king Jehoiakim, sets his face like\na flint against God\u2019s warnings. How many, how many behave for years,\nSunday after Sunday, just as king Jehoiakim did! When he heard that God\nhad threatened him with ruin for his sins, he heard also that God offered\nhim free pardon if he would repent. Jeremiah gave him free choice to be\nsaved or to be ruined; but his heart and will were hardened. Hearing\nthat he was wrong only made him angry. His pride and self-will were hurt\nby being told that he must change and alter his ways. He had chosen his\nway, and he would keep to it; and he cared nothing for God\u2019s offers of\nforgiveness, because he could not be forgiven unless he did what he was\ntoo proud to do, confess himself to be in the wrong, and openly alter his\nconduct. And how many, as I first said, are like him! They come to\nchurch; they hear God\u2019s warnings and threats against their evil ways;\nthey hear God\u2019s offers of free pardon and forgiveness; but being told\nthat they are in the wrong makes them too angry to care for God\u2019s offers\nof pardon. Pride stops their cars. They have chosen their own way, and\nthey will keep it. They would not object to be forgiven, if they might\nbe forgiven without repenting. But they do not like to confess\nthemselves in the wrong. They do not like to face their foolish\ncompanions\u2019 remarks and sneers about their changed ways. They do not\nlike even good people to say of them: \u201cYou see now that you were in the\nwrong after all; for you have altered your mind and your doings yourself,\nas we told you you would have to do.\u201d No; anything sooner than confess\nthemselves in the wrong; and so they turn their backs on God\u2019s mercy, for\nthe sake of their own carnal pride and self-will.\n\nBut, of course, they want an excuse for doing that; and when a man wants\nan excuse, the devil will soon fit him with a good one. Then, perhaps,\nthe foolish sinner behaves as Jehoiakim did. He tries to forget God\u2019s\nmessage in the man who brings it. He grows angry with the preacher, or\ngoes out and laughs at the preacher when service is over, as if it was\nthe preacher\u2019s fault that God had declared what he has; as if it was the\npreacher\u2019s doing that God has revealed His anger against all sin and\nunrighteousness. So he acts like Jehoiakim, who tried to take Jeremiah\nthe prophet and punish _him_, for what not he but the Lord God had\ndeclared. Nay, they will often peevishly hate the very sight of a good\nbook, because it reminds them of the sins of which they do not choose to\nbe reminded, just as the young king Jehoiakim was childish enough to vent\nhis spite on Jeremiah\u2019s book of prophecies, by cutting the roll on which\nit was written with a penknife, and throwing it into the fire. So do\nsinners who are angry with the preacher who warns them, or hate the sight\nof good books. But let such foolish and wilful sinners, such full-grown\nchildren\u2014for, after all, they are no better\u2014hear the word of the Lord\nwhich came to Jehoiakim: \u201cAs it is written, he that despiseth Me shall be\ndespised, saith the Lord.\u201d And let them not fancy that their shutting\ntheir ears will shut the preacher\u2019s mouth, still less shut up God\u2019s\neverlasting laws of punishment for sin. No. God\u2019s word stands true, and\nit will happen to them as it did to Jehoiakim. His burning Jeremiah\u2019s\nbook did not rid him of the book, or save him from the woe and ruin which\nwas prophesied in it; for we have Jeremiah\u2019s book here in our Bibles to\nthis day, as a sign and a warning of what happens to men, be they young\nor old, be they kings or labouring men, who fight against God.\nJeremiah\u2019s words were not lost after all; they were all re-written, and\nthere were added to them also many more like words; for Jehoiakim, by\nrefusing the Lord\u2019s offer of pardon, had added to his sins, and therefore\nthe Lord added to his punishment.\n\nPerhaps, again, the devil finds the wilful sinner another excuse, and the\nman says to himself, as the Jews did in Ezekiel\u2019s time: \u201cThe fathers have\neaten sour grapes, and the children\u2019s teeth are set on edge. It is not\nmy own fault that I am living a bad life, but other people\u2019s. My parents\nought to have brought me up better. I have had no chance. My companions\ntaught me too much harm. I have too much trouble to get my living; or, I\nwas born with a bad temper; or, I can\u2019t help running after pleasure. Why\ndid God make me the sort of man I am, and put me where I am? God is hard\nupon me; He is unfair to me. His ways are unequal; He expects as much of\nme as He does of people who have more opportunities. He threatens to\npunish me for other people\u2019s sins.\u201d\n\nAnd then comes another and a darker temptation over the man, and the\ndevil whispers to him such thoughts as these: \u201cGod does not care for me;\nGod hates me. Luck, and everything else is against me. There seems to\nbe some curse upon me. Why should I change? Let God change first to me,\nand then I will change toward Him. But God will not change; He is\ndetermined to have no mercy on me. I can see that; for everything goes\nwrong with me. Then what use in my repenting? I will just go my own\nway, and what must be must. There is no resisting God\u2019s will. If I am\nto be saved, I shall be; if I am to be damned, I shall be. I will put\nall melancholy thoughts out of my head, and go and enjoy myself and\nforget all. At all events, it won\u2019t last long: \u2018Let me eat and drink,\nfor to-morrow I die.\u2019\u201d\n\nOh, my dear friends, have not some of you sometimes had such thoughts?\nThen hear the word of the Lord to you: \u201cWhen\u2014whensoever\u2014whensoever the\nwicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, and\ndoeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.\u201d\n\u201cHave I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth? saith the Lord, and\nnot rather that he should be converted, and live?\u201d True, most true, that\nthe Lord is unchangeable: but it is in love and mercy. True, that God\u2019s\nwill and law cannot alter: but what is God\u2019s will and law? The soul that\nsinneth, it shall die? Yes. But also, the soul that turneth away from\nits sin, it shall live. Never believe the devil when he tells you that\nGod hates you. Never believe him when he tells you that God has been too\nhard on you, and put you into such temptation, or ignorance, or poverty,\nor anything else, that you cannot mend. No. That font there will give\nthe devil the lie. That font says: \u201cBe you poor, tempted, ignorant,\nstupid, be you what you will, you are God\u2019s child\u2014your Father\u2019s love is\nover you, His mercy is ready for you.\u201d You feel too weak to change; ask\nGod\u2019s Spirit, and He will give you a strength of mind you never felt\nbefore. You feel too proud to change; ask God\u2019s Spirit, and He will\nhumble your proud heart, and soften your hard heart; and you will find to\nyour surprise, that when your pride is gone, when you are utterly ashamed\nof yourself, and see your sins in their true blackness, and feel not\nworthy to look up to God, that then, instead of pride, will come a\nnobler, holier, manlier feeling\u2014self-respect, and a clear conscience, and\nthe thought that, weak and sinful as you are, you are in the right way;\nthat God, and the angels of God, are smiling on you; that you are in tune\nagain with all heaven and earth, because you are what God wills you to\nbe\u2014not His proud, peevish, self-willed child, fancying yourself strong\nenough to go alone, when in reality you are the slave of your own\npassions and appetites, and the plaything of the devil: but His loving,\nloyal son, strong in the strength which God gives you, and able to do\nwhat you will, because what you will God wills also.\n\n\n\n\nXXXII.\nPHARAOH\u2019S HEART.\n\n\n And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people\n go.\u2014EXODUS ix. 17.\n\nWHAT lesson, now, can we draw from this story? One, at least, and a very\nimportant one. What effect did all these signs and wonders of God\u2019s\nsending, have upon Pharaoh and his servants? Did they make them better\nmen or worse men? We read that they made them worse men; that they\nhelped to harden their hearts. We read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh\u2019s\nheart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. Now, how did\nthe Lord do that? He did not wish and mean to make Pharaoh more\nhard-hearted, more wicked. That is impossible. God, who is all goodness\nand love, never can wish to make any human being one atom worse than he\nis. He who so loved the world that He came down on earth to die for\nsinners, and take away the sins of the world, would never make any human\nbeing a greater sinner than he was before. That is impossible, and\nhorrible to think of. Therefore, when we read that the Lord hardened\nPharaoh\u2019s heart, we must be certain that that was Pharaoh\u2019s own fault;\nand so, we read, it was Pharaoh\u2019s own fault. The Lord did not bring all\nthese plagues on Egypt without giving Pharaoh fair warning. Before each\nplague, He sent Moses to tell Pharaoh that the plague was coming. The\nLord told Pharaoh that He was his Master, and the Master and Lord of the\nwhole earth; that the children of Israel belonged to Him, and the\nEgyptians too; that the river, light and darkness, the weather, the\ncrops, and the insects, and the locusts belonged to Him; that all\ndiseases which afflict man and beast were in His power. And the Lord\nproved that His words were true, in a way Pharaoh could not mistake, by\nchanging the river into blood, and sending darkness, and hailstones, and\nplagues of lice and flies, and at last by killing the firstborn of all\nthe Egyptians. The Lord gave Pharaoh every chance; He condescended to\nargue with him as one man would with another, and proved His word to be\ntrue, and proved that He had a right to command Pharaoh. And therefore,\nI say, if Pharaoh\u2019s heart was hardened, it was his own fault, for the\nLord was plainly trying to soften it, and to bring him to reason. And\nthe Bible says distinctly that it was Pharaoh\u2019s own fault. For it says\nthat Pharaoh hardened his own heart, he and his servants, and therefore\nthey would not let the children of Israel go. Now how could Pharaoh\nharden his own heart, and yet the Lord harden it at the same time?\n\nJust in the same way, my friends, as too many of us are apt to make the\nLord harden our hearts by hardening them ourselves, and to make, as\nPharaoh did, the very things which the Lord sends to soften us, the\ncauses of our becoming more stubborn; the very things which the Lord\nsends to bring us to reason, the means of our becoming more mad and\nfoolish. Believe me, my friends, this is no old story with which we have\nnothing to do. What happened to Pharaoh\u2019s heart may happen to yours, or\nmine, or any man\u2019s. Alas! alas! it does happen to many a man\u2019s and\nwoman\u2019s heart every day\u2014and may the Lord have mercy on them before it be\ntoo late,\u2014and yet how can the Lord have mercy on those who will not let\nHim have mercy on them?\n\nWhat do I mean? This is what I mean, my friends; Oh, listen to it, and\ntake it solemnly to heart, you who are living still in sin; take it to\nheart, lest you, like Pharaoh, die in your sins, and your latter end will\nbe worse than your beginning.\n\nSuppose a man to be going on in some sinful habit; cheating his\nneighbours, grinding his labourers, or getting tipsy, or living with a\nwoman without being married to her. He comes to church, and there he\nhears the word of the Lord, by the Bible, or in sermons, telling him that\nGod commands him to give up his sin, that God will certainly punish him\nif he does not repent and amend. God sends that message to him in love\nand mercy, to soften his heart by the terrors of the law, and turn him\nfrom his sin. But what does the man feel? He feels angry and provoked;\nangry with the preacher; ay, angry with the Bible itself, with God\u2019s\nwords. For he hates to hear the words which tell him of his sin; he\nwishes they were not in the Bible; he longs to stop the preacher\u2019s mouth;\nand, as he cannot do that, he dislikes going to church. He says: \u201cI\ncannot, and what is more, I will not, give up my sinful ways, and\ntherefore I shall not go to church to be told of them.\u201d So he stops away\nfrom church, and goes on in his sins. So that man\u2019s heart is hardened,\njust as Pharaoh\u2019s was. Yet the Lord has come and spoken to that sinful\nman in loving warnings: though all the effect it has had is that the\nLord\u2019s message has made him worse than he was before, more stubborn, more\ngodless, more unwilling to hear what is good. But men may fall into a\nstill worse state of mind. They may determine to set the Lord at naught;\nto hear Him speaking to their conscience, and know that He is right and\nthey wrong, and yet quietly put the good thoughts and feelings out of\ntheir way, and go in the course which they know to be the worst. How\nmany a man in business or the world says to himself, ay, and in his\nbetter moments will say to his friend: \u201cAh, yes, if one could but be what\none would wish to be. . . . What one\u2019s mother used to say one might be.\n. . . But for such a world as this, the gospel ideal is somewhat too\nfine and unpractical. One has one\u2019s business to carry on, or one\u2019s\nfamily to provide for, or one\u2019s party in politics to serve; one must obey\nthe laws of trade, the usages of society, the interests of one\u2019s class;\u201d\nand so forth. And so an excuse is found for every sin, by those who know\nin their hearts that they are sinning; for every sin; and among others,\ntoo often, for that sin of Pharaoh\u2019s, of \u201c_not letting the people go_.\u201d\n\nAnd how many, my friends, when they come to church, harden their hearts\nin the same quiet, almost good-humoured way, not caring enough for God\u2019s\nmessage to be even angry with it, and take the preacher\u2019s warnings as\nthey would a shower of rain, as something unpleasant which cannot be\nhelped; and which, therefore, they must sit out patiently, and think\nabout it as little as possible? And when the sermon is over, they take\ntheir hats and go out into the churchyard, and begin talking about\nsomething else as quickly as possible, to drive the unpleasant thoughts,\nif there are a few left, out of their heads. And thus they let the\nLord\u2019s message to them harden their hearts. For it does harden them, my\nfriends, if it be taken in this temper. Every time anyone sits through\nthe service or the sermon in this stupid and careless mood, he dulls and\ndeadens his soul, till at last he is able coolly to sit through the most\nawful warnings of God\u2019s judgment, the most tender entreaties of God\u2019s\nlove, as if he were a brute animal without understanding. Ay, he is able\nto make the responses to the commandments, and join in the psalms, and so\nwith his own mouth, before the whole congregation, confess that God\u2019s\ncurse is on his doings, with no more sense or care of what the words\nmean, and of what a sentence he is pronouncing against himself, than if\nhe were a parrot taught to speak by rote words which he does not\nunderstand. And so that man, by hardening his own heart, makes the Lord\nharden it for him.\n\nBut there is a third way, and a worse way still, in which people\u2019s hearts\nare hardened by the Lord\u2019s speaking to them. A man is warned of his sins\nby the preacher; and he says to himself: \u201cIf the minister thinks that he\nis going to frighten me away from church, he is very much mistaken. He\nmay go his way, and I shall go mine. Let him preach at me as much as he\nwill; I shall go to church all the more for that, to show him that I am\nnot afraid.\u201d And so the Lord\u2019s warnings harden his heart, and provoke\nhim to set his face like a flint, and become all the more proud and\nstubborn.\n\nNow, young people, I speak openly to you as man to man. Will you tell me\nthat this was not the very way in which some of you took my sermon last\nSunday afternoon, in which I warned you of the misery which your sinful\nlives would bring upon you? Was there not more than one of you, who, as\nsoon as he got outside the church, began laughing and swaggering, and\nsaid to the lad next him: \u201cWell, he gave it us well in his sermon this\nafternoon, did he not? But I don\u2019t care; do you?\u201d\n\nTo which the other foolish fellow answered: \u201cNot I. It is his business\nto talk like that; he is paid for it, and I suppose he likes it. So if\nhe does what he likes, we shall do what we like. Come along.\u201d And at\nthat all the other foolish fellows round burst out laughing, as if the\npoor lad had said a very clever thing; and they all went off together,\nhaving their hearts hardened by the Lord\u2019s warning to them, as Pharaoh\u2019s\nwas.\n\nAnd they showed, I am afraid, that very evening that their hearts were\nhardened. For out of a sort of spite and stubbornness they took a\ndelight in doing what was wrong, just because they had been told that it\nwas wrong, and because they were determined to show that they would not\nbe frightened or turned from what they chose.\n\nAnd all the while they knew that it was wrong, did those poor foolish\nlads. If you had asked one of them openly, \u201cDo you not know that God has\nforbidden you to do this?\u201d they would have either been forced to say,\n\u201cYes,\u201d or else they would have tried to laugh the matter off, or perhaps\nheld their tongues and looked silly, or perhaps again answered\ninsolently; showing by each and all of these ways of taking it, that the\nLord\u2019s message had come home to their consciences, and convinced them of\ntheir sin, though they were determined not to own it or obey it. And the\nway they would have put the matter by and excused themselves to\nthemselves would have been just the way in which Pharaoh did it. They\nwould have tried to forget that the Lord had warned them, and tried to\nmake out to themselves that it was all the preacher\u2019s doing, and to make\nit a personal quarrel between him and them. Just so Pharaoh did when he\nhardened his heart. He made the Lord\u2019s message a ground for hating and\nthreatening Moses and Aaron, as if it was any fault of theirs. He knew\nin his heart that the Lord had sent them; but he tried to forget that,\nand drove them out from his presence, and told them that if they dared to\nappear before him again they should surely die. And just so, my friends,\npeople will be angry with the preacher for telling them unpleasant\ntruths, as if it was any more pleasure to him to speak than for them to\nhear. Oh, why will you forget that the words which I speak from this\npulpit are not my words, but God\u2019s? It is not I who warn you of what you\nare bringing on yourselves by your sins, it is God Himself. There it is\nwritten in His Bible\u2014judge for yourselves. Read your Bibles for\nyourselves, and you will see that I am not speaking my own thoughts and\nwords. And as for being angry with me for telling you truth, read the\nordination service which is read whenever a clergyman is ordained, and\njudge for yourselves. What is a clergyman sent into the world for at\nall, but to say to you what I am saying now? What should I be but a\nhypocrite and a traitor to the blessed Lord who died for me, and saved me\nfrom my sins, and ordained me to preach to sinners, that they too may be\nsaved from their sins,\u2014what should I be but a traitor to Him, if I did\nnot say to you, whenever I see you going wrong:\n\n\u201cO come, let us worship, and fall down and kneel before the Lord our\nMaker.\n\n\u201cFor He is the Lord our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and\nthe sheep of His hand.\n\n\u201cTo-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts,\n\n\u201cLest He sware in His wrath that you shall not enter into His rest!\u201d\n\nAnd now, my friends, I will tell you what will happen to you. You see\nthat I know something, without having been told of what has been going on\nin your hearts. I beseech you, believe me when I tell you what will go\non in them. God will chastise you for your sins. He will; just because\nHe loves you, and does not hate you; just because you are His children,\nand not dumb animals born to perish. Troubles will come upon you as you\ngrow older. Of what sort they will be I cannot tell; but that they will\ncome, I can tell full well. And when the Lord sends trouble to you,\nshall it harden your hearts or soften them? It depends on you,\naltogether on you, whether the Lord hardens your hearts by sending those\nsorrows, or whether He softens and turns them and brings them back to the\nonly right place for them\u2014home to Him. But your trouble may only harden\nyour heart all the more. The sorrows and sore judgments which the Lord\nsent Pharaoh only hardened his heart. It all depends upon the way in\nwhich you take these troubles, my friends. And that not so much when\nthey come as after they come. Almost all, let their hearts be right with\nGod or not, seem to take sorrow as they ought, while the sorrow is on\nthem. Pharaoh did so too. He said to Moses and Aaron: \u201cI have sinned\nthis time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.\nEntreat the Lord that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I\nwill let you go.\u201d What could be more right or better spoken? Was not\nPharaoh in a proper state of mind then? Was not his heart humbled, and\nhis will resigned to God? Moses thought not. For while he promised\nPharaoh to pray that the storm might pass over, yet he warned him: \u201cBut\nas for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord\nyour God.\u201d And so it happened; for, \u201cwhen Pharaoh saw that the rain, and\nhail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart,\nhe and his servants. Neither would he let the children of Israel go.\u201d . . .\nAnd so, alas! it happens to many a man and woman nowadays. They\nfind themselves on a sick-bed. They are in fear of death, in fear of\npoverty, in fear of shame and punishment for their misdeeds. And then\nthey say: \u201cIt is God\u2019s judgment. I have been very wicked. I know God is\npunishing me. Oh, if God will but raise me up off this sick-bed; if He\nwill but help me out of this trouble, I will give up all my wicked ways.\nI will repent and amend.\u201d So said Pharaoh; and yet, as soon as he was\nsafe out of his distress, he hardened his heart. And so does many a man\nand woman, who, when they get safe through their troubles, never give up\none of their sins, any more than Pharaoh did. They really believe that\nGod has punished them. They really intend to amend, while they are in\nthe trouble: but as soon as they are out of it, they try to persuade\nthemselves that it was not God who sent the sorrow, that it came \u201cby\naccident,\u201d or that \u201cpeople must have trouble in this life,\u201d or that \u201cif\nthey had taken better care, they might have prevented it.\u201d\u2014All of them\nexcuses to themselves for forgetting God in the matter, and, therefore,\nfor forgetting what they promised to God in trouble; and so, after all,\nthey go on just as they went on before. And yet not as they went on\nbefore. For every such sin hardens their hearts; every such sin makes\nthem less able to see God\u2019s hand in what happens to them; every such sin\nmakes them more bold and confident in disobeying God, and saying to\nthemselves: \u201cAfter all, why should I be so frightened when I am in\ntrouble, and make such promises to amend my life? For the trouble goes\naway, whether I mend my life or not; and nothing happens to me; God does\nnot punish me for not keeping my promises to Him. I may as well go on in\nmy own way, for I seem not the worse off in body or in purse for so\ndoing.\u201d Thus do people harden their hearts after each trouble, as\nPharaoh did; so that you will see people, by one affliction after\nanother, one loss after another, all their lives through, warned by God\nthat sin will not prosper them; and confessing that their sins have\nbrought God\u2019s punishment on them: and yet going on steadily in the very\nsins which have brought on their troubles, and gaining besides, as time\nruns on, a heart more and more hardened. And why?\n\nBecause they, like Pharaoh, love to have their own way. They will not\nsubmit to God, and do what He bids them, and believe that what He bids\nthem must be right\u2014good for them, and for all around them.\n\nThey promised to mend. But they promised as Pharaoh did. \u201cIf God will\ntake away this trouble, then I will mend\u201d\u2014meaning, though they do not\ndare to say it: \u201cAnd if God will not take away this trouble, of course He\ncannot expect me to mend.\u201d In plain English\u2014If God will not act toward\nthem as they like, then they will not act toward Him as He likes. My\nfriends, God does not need us to bargain with Him. We must obey Him\nwhether we like it or not; whether it seems to pay us or not; whether He\ntakes our trouble off us or not; we must obey, for He is the Lord; and if\nwe will not obey, He will prove His power on us, as He did on Pharaoh, by\nshowing plainly what is the end of those who resist His will.\n\nWhat, then, are we to do when our sins bring us, as they certainly will\nsome day bring us, into trouble?\n\nWhat we ought to have done at first, my friends. What we ought to have\ndone in the wild days of youth, and so have saved ourselves many a dark\nday, many a sleepless night, many a bitter shame and heartache. To open\nour eyes, and see that the only thing for men and women, whom God has\nmade, is to obey the God who has made them. He is the Lord. He has made\nus. He will have us do one thing. How can we hope to prosper by doing\nanything else? It is ill fighting against God. Which is the stronger,\nmy friends, you or God? Make up your minds on that. It surely will not\ntake you long.\n\nBut someone may say: \u201cI do wish and long to obey God; but I am so weak,\nand my sins have so entangled me with bad company, or debts, or\u2014, or\u2014.\u201d\nWe all know, alas! into what a net everyone who gives way to sin gets his\nfeet: \u201cAnd therefore I cannot obey God. I long to do so. I feel, I\nknow, when I look back, that all my sin, and shame, and unhappiness, come\nfrom being proud and self-willed, and determined to have my own way, and\ndo what I choose. But I cannot mend.\u201d Do not despair, poor soul! I had\na thousand times sooner hear you say you cannot mend, than that you can.\nFor those who say they can mend, are apt to say: \u201cI can mend; and\ntherefore I shall mend when I choose, and no sooner.\u201d But those who\nreally feel they cannot mend\u2014those who are really weary and worn out with\nthe burden of their sins\u2014those who are really tired out with their own\nwilfulness, and feel ready to lie down and die, like a spent horse, and\nsay: \u201cGod, take me away, no matter to what place; I am not fit to live\nhere on earth, a shame and a torment to myself day and night\u201d\u2014those who\nare in that state of mind, are very near\u2014very near finding out glorious\nnews.\n\nThose who cannot mend themselves and know it, God will mend. God will\nmend your lives for you. He knows as well as you what you have to\nstruggle against; ay, a thousand times better. He knows\u2014what does He not\nknow? Pray to Him, and try what He does not know. Cry to Him to rid you\nof your bad companions; He will find a way of doing it. Cry to Him to\nbring you out of the temptations you feel too strong for you; He will\nfind a way for doing it. Cry to Him to teach you what you ought to do,\nand He will send someone, and that the right person, doubt it not, to\nteach you in His own good time. Above all, cry and pray to Him to\nconquer the pride, and self-conceit, and wilfulness in your heart; to\ntake the hard proud heart of stone out of you, and give you instead a\nheart of flesh, loving, and tender, and kindly to every human creature;\nand He will do it. Cry to Him to make your will like His own will, that\nyou may love what He loves, and hate what He hates, and do what He wishes\nyou to do. And then you will surely find my words come true: \u201cThose who\nlong to mend, and yet know that they cannot mend themselves, let them but\npray, and God will mend them.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXXXIII.\nTHE RED SEA TRIUMPH.\n\n\n _Preached Easter-day Morning_, 1852.\n\n This is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing the\n children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.\u2014EXODUS xii. 42.\n\nYOU all, my friends, know what is the meaning of Easter-day\u2014that it is\nthe Day on which The Lord rose again from the dead. You must have seen\nthat most of the special services for this day, the Collect, Epistle, and\nGospel, and the second lessons, both morning and evening, reminded you of\nChrist\u2019s rising again; and so did the proper Psalms for this day, though\nit may seem at first sight more difficult to see what they have to do\nwith the Lord\u2019s rising again.\n\nNow the first lessons, both for the morning and evening services, were\nalso meant to remind us of the very same thing, though it may seem even\nmore difficult still, at first sight, to understand how they do so.\n\nLet us see what these two first lessons are about. The morning one was\nfrom the twelfth chapter of Exodus, and told us what the Passover was,\nand what it meant. The first lesson for this afternoon was the\nfourteenth chapter of Exodus. Surely you must remember it. Surely the\nmost careless of you must have listened to that glorious story, how the\nJews went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, while Pharaoh\nand the Egyptian army, trying to follow them, were overwhelmed in the\nwater. Surely you cannot have heard how the poor Jews looked back from\nthe farther shore, and hardly believed their own eyes for joy and wonder,\nwhen they saw their proud masters swept away for ever, and themselves\nsafe and free out of the hateful land where they had been slaves for\nhundreds of years. You cannot surely, my friends, have heard that\nglorious story, and forgotten it again already. I hope not; for God\nknows, that tale of the Jews coming safe through the Red Sea has a deep\nand blessed meaning enough for you, if you could but see it.\n\nBut some of you may be saying to yourselves: \u201cNo doubt it is a very noble\nstory; and a man cannot help rejoicing at the poor Jews\u2019 escape, and at\nthe downfall of those cruel Egyptians. It is a pleasant thought, no\ndoubt, that if it were but for that once, God interfered to help poor\nsuffering creatures, and rid them of their tyrants. But what has that to\ndo with Easter Day and Christ\u2019s rising again?\u201d\n\nI will try to show you, my friends. The Jews\u2019 Passover is the same as\nour Easter-day, as you know already. But they are not merely alike in\nbeing kept on the same day. They are alike because they are both of them\nremembrances and tokens of the Lord Jesus Christ\u2019s delivering men out of\nmisery and slavery. For never forget\u2014though, indeed, in these strange\ntimes, I ought rather to say, I beseech you to read your Bibles and\nsee\u2014that it was Jesus Christ Himself who brought the Jews out of Egypt.\nSt. Paul tells us so positively, again and again. In 1 Cor. x. 4 he\ntells us that it was Christ who followed them through the wilderness. In\nverse 9 of the same chapter, he says that it was Christ Himself whom they\ntempted in the wilderness. He was the Angel of the Covenant who went\nwith them. He was the God of Israel whom the elders of the Jews saw, a\nfew weeks afterwards, on Mount Sinai, and under His feet a pavement like\na sapphire stone. True, the Lord did not take flesh upon Him till nearly\ntwo thousand years after. But from the very beginning of all things,\nwhile He was in the bosom of the Father, He was the King of men. Man was\nmade in His image, and therefore in the image of the Father, whose\nperfect likeness He is\u2014\u201cthe brightness of His glory, and the express\nimage of His person.\u201d It was He who took care of men, guided and taught\nthem, and delivered them out of misery, from the very beginning of the\nworld. St. Paul says the same thing, in many different ways, all through\nthe epistle to the Hebrews. He says, for instance, that Moses, when he\nfled from Pharaoh\u2019s court in Egypt, esteemed the reproach of Christ\ngreater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he endured as seeing Him\nwho is invisible. The Lord said the same thing of Himself. He said\nopenly that He was the person who is called, all through the Old\nTestament, \u201cThe Lord.\u201d He asked the Pharisees: \u201cWhat think ye of Christ?\nwhose son is He? They say unto Him, David\u2019s son. Christ answered, How\nthen does David in spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my\nLord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool?\u201d So\ndid Christ declare, that He Himself, who was standing there before them,\nwas the Lord of David, who had died hundreds of years before. He told\nthem again that their father Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and saw it\nand was glad; and when they answered, in anger and astonishment, \u201cThou\nart not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?\u201d Jesus said,\n\u201cVerily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.\u201d I am. The Jews had\nno doubt whom He meant; and we ought to have none either. For that was\nthe very name by which God had told Moses to call Him, when he was sent\nto the Jews: \u201cThou shalt say unto them, I AM hath sent me to you.\u201d The\nJews, I say, had no doubt who Jesus said that He was; that He meant them\nto understand, once and for all, that He whom they called the carpenter\u2019s\nson of Nazareth, was the Lord God who brought their forefathers up out of\nthe land of Egypt, on the night of the first Passover. So they, to show\nhow reverent and orthodox they were, and how they honoured the name of\nGod, took up stones to stone Him\u2014as many a man, who fancies himself\northodox and reverent, would now, if he dared, stone the preachers who\ndeclare that the Lord Jesus Christ is not changed since then; that He is\nas able and as willing as ever to deliver the poor from those who grind\nthem down, and that He will deliver them, whenever they cry to Him, with\na mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, and that Easter-day is as much a\nsign of that to us as the Passover was for the Jews of old.\n\nBut, my friends, if Christ the Lord showed His love and power in behalf\nof poor oppressed wretches on that first Passover, surely He showed it a\nthousand times more on that first Easter-day. His great love helped the\nJews out of slavery; and that same great love of His at this Easter-tide,\nmoved Him to die and rise again for the sins of the whole world. In that\nfirst Passover He delivered only one people. On the first Easter He\ndelivered all mankind. The Jews were under cruel tyrants in the land of\nEgypt. So were all mankind over the world, when Jesus came. The Jews in\nEgypt were slaves to worse things than the whip of their task-masters;\nthey had slaves\u2019 hearts, as well as slaves\u2019 bodies. They were kept down\nnot only by the Egyptians, but by their own ignorance, and idolatry, and\nselfish division, and foul sins. They were spiritually dead\u2014without a\nnoble, pure, manful feeling left in them. Their history makes no secret\nof that. The Bible seems to take every care to let us see into what a\nmiserable and brutal state they had fallen. Christ sent Moses to raise\nthem out of that death; to take them through the Red Sea, as a sign that\nall that was washed away, to be forgiven of God and forgotten by them,\nand that from the moment they landed, a free people, on the farther\nshore, they were to consider all their old life past and a new one begun.\nSo they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, as St. Paul\nsays. And now all was to be new. They had been fancying that they\nbelonged to the Egyptians. Now they had found out, and had it proved to\nthem by signs and wonders which they could not mistake, that they\nbelonged to the Lord. They had been brutal sinners. The Lord began to\nteach them that they were to rise above their own appetites and passions.\nThey had been worshipping only what they could see and handle. The Lord\nbegan to teach them to worship Him\u2014a person whom they could not see,\nthough He was always near them, and watching over them. They had been\nliving without independence, fellow-feeling, the sense of duty, or love\nof order. The Lord began to teach them to care for each other, to help\neach other, to know that they had a duty to perform towards each other,\nfor which they were accountable to Him. They had owned no master except\nthe Egyptians, whom they feared and obeyed unwillingly. The Lord began\nto teach them to obey Him loyally, from trust, and gratitude, and love.\nThey had been willing to remain sinners, and brutes, and slaves, provided\nthey could get enough to eat and drink. The Lord began to teach them\nthat His favour, His protection, were better than the flesh-pots of\nEgypt, and that He was able to feed them where it seemed impossible to\nmen; to teach them that \u201cman does not live by bread alone\u2014cheap or dear,\nmy friends\u2014not by bread alone, but by _every_ word that proceeds out of\nthe mouth of God, does man live.\u201d That was the meaning of their being\nbaptized in the cloud and in the sea. That was the meaning, and only a\nvery small part of the meaning, of their Passover. Would you not think,\nmy friends, that I had been speaking rather of our own Baptism, and of\nour own Supper of the Lord, to which you have been all called to-day, and\nthat I had been telling you the meaning of them?\n\nFor when Jesus, the Lord, and King, and Head of mankind, died and rose\nagain, He took away the sin of the world. He was the true Passover, the\nLamb without spot, slain, as the scripture tells us, for the sins of the\nwhole world. In the Jews\u2019 Passover, when the angel saw the lamb\u2019s blood\non the door of the house, he passed by, and spared everyone in it. So\nnow. The blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, is upon us; and for His sake,\nGod is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from\nall unrighteousness.\n\nBut the Lord rose again this day. And when He, the Lord, the King, and\nHead of all men, rose, all men rose in Him. \u201cAs in Adam all die,\u201d says\nSt. Paul, \u201ceven so in Christ shall all be made alive.\u201d\n\nBaptism is a sign of that to us, as the going through the Red Sea, and\nbeing baptized to Moses in it, was to the Jews. The passing of the Red\nSea said to the Jews: \u201cYou have passed now out of your old miserable\nstate of slavery into freedom. The sins which you committed there are\nblotted out. You are taken into covenant with God. You are now God\u2019s\npeople, and nothing can lose you this love and care, except your own\nsins, your own unfaithfulness to Him, your own wilful falling back into\nthe slavish and brutal state from which He has delivered you.\u201d\n\nAnd just so, baptism says to us: \u201cYour sins are forgiven you. You are\ntaken into covenant with God. You are God\u2019s people, God\u2019s family. You\nmust forget and cast away the old Adam, the old slavish and savage\npattern of man, which your Lord died to abolish, the guilt of which He\nbore for you on His cross; and you must rise to the new Adam, the new\npattern of man, which is created after God in righteousness and true\nholiness, which the Lord showed forth in His life, and death, and rising\nagain. For now God looks on you not as a guilty and condemned race of\nbeings, but as a redeemed race, His children, for the sake of Jesus\nChrist the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. You have a\nright to believe that, as human beings, you are dead with Christ to the\nold Adam, the old sinful, brutal pattern of man.\u201d Baptism is the sign of\nit to you. Every child, let it or its parents be who they may, is freely\nbaptized as a sign that all that old pattern of man is washed away, that\nthey can and must have nothing to do with it hence-forward, that it is\ndead and buried, and they must flee from it and forget it, as they would\na corpse.\n\nAnd the Lord\u2019s Supper also is a sign to us that, as human beings, we are\nrisen with Christ, to a new life. A new life is our birthright. We have\na right to live a new life. We have a duty to live a new life. We have\na power, if we will, to live a new life; such a life as we never could\nlive if we were left to ourselves; a noble, just, godly, manful,\nChristlike, Godlike life, bred and nourished in us by the Spirit of\nChrist. That is our right; for we belong to Him who lived that life\nHimself, and bought us our share in it with His own death and\nresurrection. That is our duty; for if we share the Lord\u2019s blessings, it\ncan only be in order that we may become like the Lord. Do you fancy that\nHe died to leave us all no better than we are? His death would have had\nvery little effect if that was all. No, says St. Paul; if you have a\nshare in Christ, prove that you believe in your own share by becoming\nlike Christ. You belong to His kingdom, and you must live as His\nsubjects. He has bought for you a new and eternal life, and you must use\nthat life. \u201cIf ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are\nabove.\u201d . . . And what are they? Love, peace, gentleness, mercy, pity,\ntruth, faithfulness, justice, patience, courage, order, industry, duty,\nobedience. . . . All, in short, which is like Jesus Christ. For these\nare heavenly things. These are above, where Christ sits at God\u2019s right\nhand. These are the likeness of God. That is God\u2019s character. Let it\nbe your character likewise.\n\nBut again; if it is our right and our duty to be like that, it is also in\nour power. God would not have commanded us to be, what He had not given\nus the power to be. He would not have told us to seek those things which\nare above, if He had not intended us to find them. Wherefore it is\nwritten: \u201cAsk, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; for if ye,\nbeing evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more\nshall your Heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those who ask him?\u201d\n\nThis is the meaning of that text; namely, that God will give us the power\nof living this new and risen life, which we are bound to live. This is\none of the gifts for men, which the scripture tells us that Christ\nreceived when He rose from the dead, and ascended up on high. This is\none of the powers of which He spoke, when after His resurrection He said,\n\u201cThat all power was given to Him in heaven and earth.\u201d The Lord\u2019s Supper\nis at once a sign of who will give us that gift, and a sign that He will\nindeed give it us. The Lord\u2019s Supper is the pledge and token to us that\nwe all have a share in the likeness of Christ, the true pattern of man;\nand that if we come and claim our share, He will surely bestow it on us.\nHe will renew, and change, and purify our hearts and characters in us,\nday by day, into the likeness of Himself. He who is the eternal life of\nmen will nourish us, body, soul, and spirit, with that everlasting life\nof His, even as our bodies are nourished by that bread and wine. And if\nyou ask me how? When you can tell me why a wheat grain cannot produce an\noak, or an acorn a wheat plant; when you can tell me why our bodies are,\neach of them, the very same bodies which they were ten years ago, though\nevery atom of flesh, and blood, and bone in them has been changed; when,\nin short, you, or any other living man, can tell me the meaning of those\nthree words, body, life, and growth, then it will be time to ask that\nquestion. In the meantime let us believe that He who does such wonders\nin the life and growth of every blade of grass, can and will do far\ngreater wonders for the life and growth of us, immortal beings, made in\nHis own likeness, redeemed by His blood, and so believe, and thank, and\nobey, and wait till another and a nobler life to understand. And if we\nnever understand at all\u2014what matter, provided the thing be true?\n\n\n\n\nXXXIV.\nCHRISTMAS-DAY.\n\n\n For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the\n government shall be on His shoulder: and His name shall be called\n Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Father of an Everlasting\n age, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and\n peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his\n kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with\n justice henceforth even forever.\u2014ISAIAH ix. 6, 7.\n\nIN the time when the prophet Isaiah wrote this prophecy, everything round\nhim was exactly opposite to his words. The king of Jud\u00e6a, the prophet\u2019s\ncountry, was not reigning in righteousness. He was an unrighteous and\nwicked governor. The princes and great men were not ruling in judgment.\nThey were unjust and covetous; they took bribes, and sold justice for\nmoney. They were oppressors, grinding down the poor, and defrauding\nthose below them. So that the weak, and poor, and needy had no one to\nright them, no one to take their part. There was no man to feel for\nthem, and defend them, and be a hiding-place and a covert for them from\ntheir cruel tyrants; no man to comfort and refresh them as rivers of\nwater refresh a dry place, or the shadow of a great rock comforts the\nsunburnt traveller in the weary deserts.\n\nNeither were these very poor oppressed people of the Jews in a right\nstate of mind. They were ignorant and stupid, given to worship false\ngods. They had eyes, and yet could not use them to see that, as the\npsalm told us this morning, the heavens declared the glory of God, and\nthe firmament showed His handiwork. They were worshipping the sun, and\nmoon, and stars, in stead of the Lord God who made them. They were\nbrutish too, and would not listen to teaching. They had ears, and yet\nwould not hearken with them to God\u2019s prophets. They were rash, too,\nliving from hand to mouth, discontented, and violent, as ignorant poor\npeople will be in evil times. And they were stammerers\u2014not with their\ntongue, but with their minds and thoughts. They were miserable; but they\ncould not tell why. They were full of discontent and longings; but they\ncould not put them into words. They did not know how to pray, how to\nopen their hearts to God or to man. They knew of no one who could\nunderstand them and their sorrows; they could not understand them\nthemselves, much less put them into words. They were altogether confused\nand stupefied; just in the same state, in a word, as the poor negro\nslaves in America, and the heathens ay, and the Christians too, are in,\nin all the countries of the world which do not know the good news of\nChristmas-day or have forgotten it and disobeyed it.\n\nBut Isaiah had God\u2019s Spirit with him; the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of\nholiness, righteousness, justice. And that Holy Spirit convinced him of\nsin, and of righteousness and of judgment, as He convinces every man who\ngives himself up humbly to God\u2019s teaching.\n\nFirst, the Spirit convinced Isaiah of sin. He made him feel that the\nstate of his country was wrong. And He made him feel why it was wrong;\nnamely, because the men in it were wrong; because they were thinking\nwrong notions, feeling wrong feelings, doing wrong things; and that wrong\nwas sin; and that sin was falling short of being what a man was made, and\nwhat every man ought to be, namely, the likeness and glory of God; and\nthat so his countrymen the Jews, one and all, had sinned and come short\nof the glory of God.\n\nNext, He convinced Isaiah of righteousness. He made Isaiah feel and be\nsure that God was righteous; that God was no unjust Lord, like the wicked\nking of the Jews; that such evil doings as are going on were hateful to\nHim; that all that covetousness, oppression, taking of bribes,\ndrunkenness, deceit, ignorance, stupid rashness and folly, of which the\nland was full, were hateful to God. He must hate them, for He was a\nrighteous and a good God. They ought not to be there. For man, every\nman from the king on his throne to the poor labourer in the field, was\nmeant to be righteous and good as God is. \u201cBut how will it be altered?\u201d\nthought Isaiah to himself. \u201cWhat hope for this poor miserable sinful\nworld? People are meant to be righteous and good: but who will make them\nso? The king and his princes are meant to be righteous and good, but who\nwill set them a pattern? When will there be a really good king, who will\nbe an example to all in authority; who will teach men to do right, and\ncompel and force them not to do wrong?\u201d\n\nAnd then the Holy Spirit of God answered that anxious question of\nIsaiah\u2019s, and convinced him of judgment.\n\nYes, he felt sure; he did not know why he felt so sure: but he did feel\nsure; God\u2019s Spirit in his heart made him feel sure, that in some way or\nother, some day or other, the Lord God would come to judgment, to judge\nthe wicked princes and rulers of this world, and cast them out. It must\nbe so. God was a righteous God. He would not endure these unrighteous\ndoings for ever. He was not careless about this poor sinful world, and\nabout all the sinful down-trodden ignorant men, and women, and children\nin it. He would take the matter into His own hands. He would show that\nHe was Lord and Master. If kings would not reign in righteousness, He\nwould come and reign in righteousness Himself. He would appoint princes\nunder Him, who would rule in judgment. And He would show men what true\nrighteousness was; what the pattern of a true ruler was; namely, to be\nable to feel for the poor, and the afflicted, and the needy, to\nunderstand the wants, and sorrows, and doubts, and fears of the lowest\nand the meanest; in short, to be a man, a true, perfect man, with a man\u2019s\nheart, a man\u2019s pity, a man\u2019s fellow-feeling in Him. Yes. The Lord God\nwould show Himself. He would set His righteous King to govern. And yet\nIsaiah did not know how, but he saw plainly that it must be so, that same\nrighteous King, who was to set the world right, would be a _man_. It\nwould be a man who was to be a hiding-place from the storm and a covert\nfrom the tempest. A man who would understand man, and teach men their\nduty.\n\nThen the eyes of the blind would see, and the ears of those who heard\nshould hearken; for they would hear a loving human voice, the voice of\nOne who knew what was in man, who could tell them just what they wanted\nto know, and put His teaching into the shape in which it would sink most\neasily and deeply into their hearts. And then the hearts of the rash\nwould understand knowledge; and the tongue of the stammerers would speak\nplainly. There will be no more confused cries from poor ignorant brutish\noppressed people, like the cries of dumb beasts in pain; for He who was\ncoming would give them words to utter their sorrows in. He would teach\nthem how to speak to man and God. He would teach them how to pray, and\nwhen they prayed to say, \u201cOur Father which art in heaven.\u201d\n\nThen the vile person would be no more called bountiful, or the churl\ncalled liberal: flattery and cringing to the evil great would be at an\nend. The people would have sense to see the truth about right and wrong,\nand courage to speak it. Men would then be held for what they really\nwere, and honoured and despised according to their true merits. Yes,\nsaid Isaiah, we shall be delivered from our wicked king and princes, from\nthe heathen Assyrian armies, who fancy that they are going to sweep us\nout of our own land with fire and sword; from our own sins, and\nignorance, and infidelity, and rashness. We shall be delivered from them\nall, for The righteous King is coming. Nay, He is here already, if we\ncould but see. His goings-forth have been from everlasting. He is\nruling us now\u2014this wondrous Child, this Son of God. Unto us a Child is\nborn already, unto us a Son is given already. But one day or other He\nwill be revealed, and made manifest, and shown to men as a man; and then\nall the people shall know who He is; and His name shall be called\nWonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince\nof Peace.\n\nAh, my friends, Isaiah saw all this but dimly and afar off. He saw as\nthrough a glass darkly. He perhaps thought at times\u2014indeed we can have\nlittle doubt that he thought\u2014that the good young Prince Hezekiah, \u201cThe\nmight of God,\u201d as his name means, who was growing up in his day to be a\ndeliverer and a righteous king over the Jews, was to set the world right.\nNo doubt he had Hezekiah in his mind when he said that a Child was born\nto the Jews, and a Son given to them; just as, of course, he meant his\nown son, who was born to him by the virgin prophetess, when he called his\nname Emmanuel, that is to say, God with us. But he felt that there was\nmore in both things than that. He felt that his young wife\u2019s conceiving\nand bearing a son, was a sign to him that some day or other a more\nblessed virgin would conceive and bear a mightier Son. And so he felt\nthat whether or not Hezekiah delivered the Jews from their sin, and\nmisery, and ignorance, God Himself would deliver them. He knew, by the\nSpirit of God, that his prophecy would come true, and remain true for\never. And so he died in faith, not having received the promises, God\nhaving prepared some better King for us, and having fulfilled the words\nof His prophet in a way of which, as far as we can see, he never dreamed.\n\nYes. Hezekiah failed to save the nation of the Jews. Instead of being\nthe \u201cfather of an everlasting age,\u201d and having \u201cno end of his family on\nthe throne of David,\u201d his great-grandchildren and the whole nation of the\nJews were swept away into captivity by the Babylonians, and no man of his\nhouse, as Jeremiah prophesied, has ever since prospered or sat on the\nthrone of David. But still Isaiah\u2019s prophecy was true. True for us who\nare assembled here this day.\n\nFor unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; even the Babe of\nBethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord. The government shall indeed be upon\nHis shoulder; for it has been there always. For the Father has committed\nall things to the Son, that he may be King of kings and Lord of lords for\never. His name is indeed Wonderful; for what more wondrous thing was\never seen in heaven or in earth, than that great love with which He loved\nus? He is not merely called \u201cThe might of God,\u201d as Hezekiah was,\u2014for a\nsign and a prophecy; for He is the mighty God Himself. He is indeed the\nCounsellor; for He is the light who lighteth every man who comes into the\nworld. He is \u201cthe Father of an everlasting age.\u201d There were hopes that\nHezekiah would be so; that he would raise the nation of the Jews again to\na reform from which it would never fall away: but these hopes were\ndisappointed; and the only one who fulfilled the prophecy is He who has\nfounded His Church for ever on the rock of everlasting ages, and the\ngates of hell shall not prevail against it. Hezekiah was to be the\nprince of peace for a few short years only. But the Child who is born to\nus, the Son who is given to us, is He who gave eternal peace to all who\nwill accept it; peace which this world can neither give nor take away;\nand who will make that peace grow and spread over the whole earth, till\nmen shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into\npruning-hooks, and the nations shall not learn war any more. Of the\nincrease of His government and of His peace there shall be no end, till\nthe earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the\nsea, and the spirit of God be poured out on all flesh, to teach kings to\nreign in righteousness, after the pattern of the King of kings, the Babe\nof Bethlehem; to make the rich and powerful do justice, to teach the\nignorant, to give the rich wisdom, to free the oppressed, to comfort the\nafflicted, to proclaim to all mankind the good news of Christmas Day, the\ngood news that there was a man born into the world on this day who will\nbe a hiding-place from the storm, a covert from the tempest, like rivers\nof water in a dry place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land;\neven the man Christ Jesus, who is able and willing to save to the\nuttermost those who come to God through Him, seeing that he has been\ntempted in all things like as we are, yet without sin.\n\nYes, my friends, on that holy table stands the everlasting sign that\nIsaiah\u2019s prophecy has been fulfilled to the uttermost. That bread and\nthat wine declare to us, that to us a Child is born, to us a Son is\ngiven. They declare to us, in a word, that on this blessed day God was\nmade man, and dwelt among men, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of\nthe only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.\n\nOh, come to that table this day, and there claim your share in the most\nprecious body and blood of the Divine Child of Bethlehem. Come and ask\nHim to pour out on you His Spirit, the Spirit which He poured on Hezekiah\nof old, \u201cthat he might fulfil his own name and live in the might of God.\u201d\nSo will you live in the might of God. So you will be able to govern\nyourselves, and your own appetites, in righteousness and freedom, and\nrule your own households, or whatsoever God has set you to do, in\njudgment. So you will see things in their true light, as God sees them,\nand be ready and willing to hear good advice, and understand your way in\nthis life, and be able to speak your hearts out in prayer to God, as to a\nloving and merciful Father. And in all your afflictions, let them be\nwhat they will, you will have a comfort, and a sure hope, and a\nwellspring of peace, and a hiding-place from the tempest, even The Man\nChrist Jesus, who said: \u201cPeace I leave with you; my peace I give unto\nyou; let not your heart be troubled, neither be ye afraid.\u201d The Man\nChrist Jesus, at whose birth the angels sang: \u201cGlory to God in the\nHighest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.\u201d\n\nNow to Him who on this day was born of the blessed virgin, man of the\nsubstance of His mother, yet God the Son of God, be ascribed, with the\nFather and the Spirit, all power, glory, majesty, and dominion, both now\nand for ever. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nXXXV.\nNEW YEAR\u2019S DAY.\n\n\n (1853.)\n\n But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that\n formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have\n called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through\n the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall\n not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not\n be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the\n Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for\n thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in\n my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore\n will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.\u2014ISAIAH xliii.\n 1\u20134.\n\nTHE New Year has now begun; and I am bound to wish you all a happy New\nYear. But I am sent here to do more than that; to teach you how you may\nmake your own New Year a happy one; or, if not altogether a happy one\u2014for\nsorrows may and must come in their turn\u2014yet still something better than a\nhappy year, namely, a blessed year; a year on which you will be able to\nlook back this day twelvemonths, and thank God for it; thank God for the\ntears which you have shed in it, as well as for the joy which you have\nfelt; thank God for the dark days as well as for the light; thank God for\nwhat you have lost, as well as what you have found; and be able to say,\n\u201cWell, this last year, if it has not been a happy year for me, at least\nit has been a blessed one for me. It has left me a stronger, soberer,\nwiser, godlier, better man than it found me.\u201d\n\nHow, then, can you make the New Year a blessed one for yourselves? I\nknow but one way, my friends. The ancient way. The Bible way. The way\nby which Abraham, and Jacob, and David, and all the holy men of old, and\nall the saints, and martyrs, and righteous and godly among men, made\ntheir lives blessed among themselves, in spite of sorrow, and misfortune,\nand distress, and persecution, and torture, and death itself; the one\nonly old way of being blessed, which was from the beginning, and will\nlast for ever and ever, through all worlds and eternities; the way of the\nold saints, which St. Paul sets forth in the eleventh chapter of the\nHebrews; and that is, _faith_. Faith, which is the substance of what we\nhope for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith, of which it is\nwritten, that the just shall live by his faith.\n\nBut how can faith give you a blessed New Year? In the same way in which\nit gave the old saints blessed years all their lives through, and is\ngiving them a blessed eternity now and for ever before the face of the\nLord Jesus Christ, to which may God in His mercy bring us all likewise.\n\nThey trusted in God. They had faith, not in themselves, like too many;\nnot in their own good works, like too many; not in their own faith, in\ntheir own frames, and feelings, and assurances, like too many; but they\nhad faith in God. It was faith in God which made one of them, the great\nprophet Isaiah, write the glorious words which I have chosen for my text\nthis day, to show his countrymen the Jews, even while they were in the\nvery lowest depths of shame, and poverty, and misfortune, that God had\nnot forgotten them; that for those who trusted in Him, a blessed time was\nsurely coming.\n\nAnd it was faith in God, too, which put it into the minds of the good men\nwho choose these Sunday lessons out of the Bible, to appoint such\nchapters as these to be read year by year, at the coming in of the new\nyear, for ever. Faith in God, I say, put that into their minds. For\nthose good men trusted in God, that He would not change; that hundreds\nand thousands of years would make no difference in His love; that the\npromises made by His Holy Spirit to Isaiah the prophet would stand true\nfor ever and ever. And they trusted in God, too, that what He had spoken\nby the mouth of His holy apostles was true; that after the blessed Lord\ncame down on earth, there was to be no difference between Jews and\nGentiles; that the great and precious promises made by God to the Jews\nwere made also to all the nations of the earth; that all things written\nin the Old Testament, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last of\nMalachi, were written not for the Jews only, but for English, French,\nItalians, Germans, Russians\u2014for all the nations of the world; that we\nEnglish were God\u2019s people now, just as much, ay, far more, than the old\nJews were, and that, therefore, the Old Testament promises, as well as\nthe New Testament ones, were part of our inheritance as members of\nChrist\u2019s Church. And therefore they appointed Old Testament lessons to\nbe read in church, to show us English what our privileges were, what\nGod\u2019s covenant and promise to us were. We, as much as the Jews, are\ncalled by the name of the Lord who created us. Were we not baptised into\nHis name at that font? Has He not loved us? Has He not heaped us\nEnglish, for hundreds of years past, with blessings such as He never\nbestowed on any nation? Has He not given men for us, and nations for our\nlife? While all the nations of the world have been at war, slaying and\nbeing slain, has He not kept this fair land of England free and safe from\nforeign invaders for more than eight hundred years? Since the world was\nmade, perhaps, such a thing was never heard of, such a mercy shown to any\nnation; that a great and rich country like this should be preserved for\neight hundred years from invasion of foreign armies, and all the horrors\nand miseries of war, which have swept, from time to time, every other\nnation in the world with the besom of desolation.\n\nAy, and but sixty years ago, in the time of the French war, when almost\nevery other nation in Europe was made desolate with fire, and sword, and\nwar, did not God preserve this land of England, as He never preserved\ncountry before, from all the miseries which were sweeping over other\nnations? Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, that at the very time\nthat the gospel was dying out all over Europe, it was being lighted again\nin England; and that while the knowledge of God was failing elsewhere, it\nwas increasing here! Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, who has\ngiven to us English, now for one hundred and sixty years and more, those\nvery equal laws, and freedom, and rights of conscience, for which so many\nother nations of Europe are still crying and struggling in vain, amid\nslavery, and oppression, and injustice, and heavy burdens, such as we\nhere in England should not endure a week! Oh, strange and wonderful\nmercy of God, who but three years ago, when all the other nations of\nEurope were shaken with wars, and riots, and seditions, every man\u2019s hand\nagainst his neighbour, kept this land of England in perfect peace and\nquiet by those just laws and government, proving to us the truth of His\nown promises, that those who seek peace by righteous dealings, shall find\nit, and that, as Isaiah says, the fruit of justice is quietness and\nassurance for ever! And last, but not least, my friends, is it not a\nsign, a sign not to be mistaken, of God\u2019s good-will and mercy to us, that\nnow, at this very time of all others, when almost every country in Europe\nis going to wrack and ruin through the folly and wickedness of their\nkings and rulers, He should have given us here in England a Queen who is\na pattern of goodness and purity, in ruling not only the nation, but her\nown household, to every wife and mother, from the highest to the lowest;\nand a Prince whose whole heart seems set on doing good, and on helping\nthe poor, and improving the condition of the labourers? My friends, I\nsay that we are unthankful and unfaithful. We do not thank God a\nhundredth part enough for the blessings which He has given us. We do not\ntrust Him a hundredth part enough for the blessings which He has in store\nfor us. If some of us here could but see and feel for a single month how\npeople are off abroad; if they could change places with a French, an\nItalian, a Russian labourer, it would teach them a lesson about God\u2019s\ngoodness to England which they would not soon forget. May God grant that\nwe may never have to learn that lesson in that way! God grant that we\nmay never, to cure us of our unthankfulness and want of faith, and\ngodless and unmanly grumbling and complaining, be brought, for a single\nweek, into the same state as some hundred millions of our\nfellow-creatures are in foreign parts! Oh, my friends, let us thank God\nfor the mercies of the past year! Most truly He has fulfilled to England\nhis promise given by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah: \u201cWhen thou passest\nthrough the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they\nshall not overflow thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One, thy\nSaviour. Thou hast been precious in my sight, and I have loved thee:\ntherefore will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.\u201d\n\nAway, then, with discontent and anxiety for the coming year. Or rather,\nlet us be only discontented with ourselves. Let us only be anxious about\nour own conduct. God cannot change. If anything goes wrong, it will be\nnot because He has left us, but because we have left Him. Is it not\nwritten that all things work together for good to those who love God?\nThen if things do not work together for good in this coming year, it will\nbe because we do not love God. Do not let us say, \u201cI am righteous, but\nmy neighbours are wicked, and therefore I must be miserable;\u201d neither let\nus lay the blame of our misfortunes on our rulers; let us lay it on\nourselves.\n\nWhat was the word of the Lord to the Jews in a like case: \u201cWhat means\nthis proverb which you take up, saying, The fathers have eaten sour\ngrapes, and the children\u2019s teeth are set on edge? It is not so, O house\nof Israel. The son shall not die for the iniquity of his father, nor the\nfather for the iniquity of the son. The soul that sinneth, it shall die,\nsaith the Lord.\u201d\n\nOh, my friends, take this to heart solemnly, in the year to come. Our\ntroubles, more of them at least than we fancy, are our own fault, and not\nour neighbours\u2019, or the government\u2019s, or anyone\u2019s else. And those which\nare not our own fault directly are so in this way, that they are sent as\nsharp and wholesome lessons to us; and if we were what we ought to be, we\nshould not want those lessons. Do not fancy that that is a sad and\ndoleful thought to begin the new year with. God forbid! It would be\ndoleful and sad indeed if any one of us, in spite of all his right-doing,\nmight be plunged into any hopeless misery, through the fault of other\npeople, over whom he has no control. But thanks be to the Lord, it is\nnot so. We are His children, and He cares for each and every one of us\nseparately. Each and every one of us has to answer for himself alone,\nface to face with his God, day by day; every man must bear his own\nburden; and to every one of us who love God, all things will work\ntogether for good. It is, and was, and always will be, as Abraham well\nknew, far from God to punish the righteous with the wicked. The Judge of\nall the earth will do right. None of us who repents and turns from the\nsins he sees round him and in him; none of us who prays for the light and\nguiding of God\u2019s Spirit; none of us who struggles day by day to keep\nhimself unspotted from this evil world, and live as God\u2019s son, without\nscandal or ill-name in the midst of a sinful and perverse generation;\nnone of us who does that, but God\u2019s blessing will rest on him. What\nruins others will only teach and strengthen him; what brings others to\nshame, will only bring him to honour, and make his righteousness plain to\nbe seen by all, that God may be glorified in His people. Let the coming\nyear be what it may; to the holy, the humble, the upright, the godly, it\nwill be a blessed year, fulfilling the blessed promises of the Lord, that\nthose who trust in Him shall never be confounded.\n\nOh, my friends, consider but this one thing, that the Almighty God, who\nmade all heaven and earth, has bid us trust in Him. And when He bids us,\nis it not a sin, an insult to Him, not to trust Him\u2014not to believe His\nwords to us? \u201cPut thou thy trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell\nin the land,\u201d working where He has set thee, \u201cand verily thou shalt be\nfed.\u201d \u201cThou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the\narrow that flieth by day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and ten\nthousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with\nthine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because\nthou hast made the Lord thy refuge, no plague shall come nigh thy\ndwelling. Thou shalt call upon me, I will answer thee. Because thou\nhast set thy love on me, I will deliver thee; with long life will I\nsatisfy thee, and show thee my salvation.\u201d\n\nMy friends, these words are in the book of Psalms. Either they are the\nmost cruel words that ever were spoken on earth to tempt poor wretches\ninto vain security and fearful disappointment, or they are\u2014what are\nthey?\u2014the sure and everlasting promise of our Father in heaven to us His\nchildren. We have only to ask for them, and we shall receive them; to\nclaim them, and they will be fulfilled to us. \u201cFor He who spared not His\nown Son, but freely gave Him for us, will He not with Him likewise freely\ngive us all things,\u201d and make, by His fatherly care, and providence, and\neducation, all our new years blessed new years, whether or not they are\nhappy ones?\n\n\n\n\nXXXVI.\nTHE DELUGE.\n\n\n My spirit shall not always strive with man.\u2014GENESIS vi. 3.\n\nLAST Sunday we read in the first lesson of the fall. This Sunday we read\nof the flood, the first-fruits of the fall.\n\nIt is an awful and a fearful story. And yet, if we will look at it by\nfaith in God, it is a most cheerful and hopeful story\u2014a gospel\u2014a good\nnews of salvation\u2014like every other word in the Bible, from beginning to\nend. Ay, and to my mind, the most hopeful words of all in it, are the\nvery ones which at first sight look most terrible, the words with which\nmy text begins: \u201cAnd the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive\nwith man.\u201d\n\nFor is it not good news\u2014the good news of all news\u2014the news which every\npoor soul who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, longs to\nhear; and when they hear it, feel it to be the good news\u2014the only news\nwhich can give comfort to fallen and sorrowful men, tied and bound with\nthe chain of their sins, that God\u2019s Spirit does strive at all with man?\nThat God is looking after men? That God is yearning over sinners, as the\nheart of a father yearns over his rebellious child, as the heart of a\nfaithful and loving husband yearns after an unfaithful wife? That God\ndoes not take a disgust at us for all our unworthiness, but wills that\nnone should perish, but that all should come to repentance? Oh joyful\nnews! Man may be, as the text says that he was in the time of Noah, so\nlow fallen that he is but flesh like the brutes that perish; the\nimaginations of his heart may be only evil continually; his spirit may be\ndead within him, given up to all low and fleshly appetites and passions,\nanger, and greediness, and filth; and yet the pure and holy Spirit of God\ncondescends to strive and struggle with him, to convince him of sin, and\nmake him discontented and ashamed at his own brutishness, and shake and\nterrify his soul with the wholesome thought: \u201cI am a sinner\u2014I am wrong\u2014I\nam living such a life as God never meant me to live\u2014I am not what I ought\nto be\u2014I have fallen short of what God intended me to be. Surely some\nevil will come to me from this.\u201d Then the Holy Spirit convinces man of\nrighteousness. He shows man that what he has fallen short of is the\nglory of God; that man was meant to be, as St. Paul says, the likeness\nand glory of God; to show forth God\u2019s glory, and beauty, and\nrighteousness, and love in his own daily life; as a looking-glass, though\nit is not the sun, still gives an image and likeness of the sun, when the\nsun shines on it, and shows forth the glory of the sunbeams which are\nreflected on it.\n\nAnd then, the Holy Spirit convinces man of judgment. He shows man that\nGod cannot suffer men, or angels, or any other rational spirits and\nimmortal souls, to be unlike Himself; that because He is the only and\nperfect good, whatsoever is unlike Him must be bad; because He is the\nonly and perfect love, who wills blessings and good to all, whatsoever is\nunlike Him must be unloving, hating, and hateful\u2014a curse and evil to all\naround it; because He is the only perfect Maker and Preserver, whatsoever\nis unlike Him must be in its very nature hurtful, destroying, deadly\u2014a\ndisease which injures this good world, and which He will therefore cut\nout, burn up, destroy in some way or other, if it will not submit to be\ncured. For this, my friends, is the meaning of God\u2019s judgments on\nsinners; this is why He sent a flood to drown the world of the ungodly;\nthis is why He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; this is why He swept away\nthe nations of Canaan; this is why He destroyed Jerusalem, His own\nbeloved city, and scattered the Jews over the face of the whole earth\nunto this day; this is why He destroyed heathen Rome of old, and why He\nhas destroyed, from time to time, in every age and country, great nations\nand mighty cities by earthquake, and famine, and pestilence, and the\nsword; because He knows that sin is ruin and misery to all; that it is a\ndisease which spreads by infection among fallen men; and that He must cut\noff the corrupt nation for the sake of preserving mankind, as the surgeon\ncuts off a diseased limb, that his patient\u2019s whole body may not die. But\nthe surgeon will not cut off the limb as long as there is a chance of\nsaving it: he will not cut it off till it is mortified and dead, and\ncertain to infect the whole body with the same death, or till it is so\ninflamed that it will inflame the whole body also, and burn up the\npatient\u2019s life with fever. Till then he tends it in hope; tries by all\nmeans to cure it. And so does the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the great\nPhysician, whom His Father has appointed to heal and cure this poor\nfallen world. As long as there is hope of curing any man, any nation,\nany generation of men, so long will his Spirit strive lovingly and\nhopefully with man. For see the blessed words of the text: \u201cMy Spirit\nshall not always strive with man. This must end. This must end at some\ntime or other. This battle between my Spirit and the wicked and perverse\nwills of these sinners; this battle between the love and the justice and\nthe purity which I am trying to teach them, and the corruption and the\nviolence with which they are filling the earth.\u201d But there is no passion\nin the Lord, no spite, no sudden rage, like the brute passionate anger of\nweak man. Our anger, if we are not under the guiding of God\u2019s Spirit,\nconquers our wills, carries us away, makes us say and do on the\nmoment\u2014God forgive us for it\u2014whatsoever our passion prompts us. The\nLord\u2019s anger does not conquer Him. It does not conquer His patience, His\nlove, His steadfast will for the good of all. Even when it shows itself\nin the flood and the earthquake; even though it break up the fountains of\nthe great deep, and destroy from off the earth both man and beast, yet it\nis, and was, and ever will be, the anger of The Lamb\u2014a patient, a\nmerciful, and a loving anger.\n\nTherefore the Lord says: \u201cYet his days shall be one hundred and twenty\nyears.\u201d One hundred and twenty years more he would endure those corrupt\nand violent sinners, in the hope of correcting them. One hundred and\ntwenty years more would God\u2019s Spirit strive with men. One hundred and\ntwenty years more the long-suffering of God, as St. Peter says, would\nwait, if by any means they would turn and repent. Oh, wonderful love and\ncondescension of God! God waits for man! The Holy One waits for the\nunholy! The Creator waits for the work of His own hands! The wrathful\nGod, who repents that He has made man upon the earth, waits one hundred\nand twenty years for the very creatures whom He repents having made!\nDoes this seem strange to us\u2014unlike our notions of God? If it is strange\nto us, my friends, its being strange is only a proof of how far we have\nfallen from the likeness of God, wherein man was originally created. If\nwe were more like God, then the accounts of God\u2019s long-suffering, and\nmercy, and repentance, which we read in the Bible, would not be so\nstrange to us. We should understand what God declares of Himself, by\nseeing the same feelings working in ourselves, which He declares to be\nworking in Himself. And if we were more righteous and more loving, we\nshould understand more how God\u2019s will was a loving and a righteous will;\nhow His justice was His mercy, and His mercy His justice, instead of\ndividing His substance, who is one God, by fancying that His mercy and\nHis justice are two different attributes, which are at times contrary the\none to the other.\n\nWe read nothing here about God\u2019s absolute purposes, and fixed decrees,\nwhereof men talk so often, making a god in their own fallen image, after\ntheir own fallen likeness. The Lord, the Word of God, of whom the Bible\ntells us, does not think it beneath his dignity to say: \u201cIt repenteth me\nthat I have made man.\u201d Different, truly, from that false god which man\nmakes in his own image. Man is proud, and he fancies that God is proud;\nman is self-willed and selfish, and he fancies that God is self-willed\nand selfish; man is arbitrary and obstinate, and determined to have his\nown way just because it is his own way; and then he fancies that God is\narbitrary and obstinate, and determines to have His own way and will,\njust because it is His own way and will. But wilt thou know, oh vain\nman, why God will have His own way and will? Because His way is a good\nway, and His will a loving will; because the Lord knows that His way is\nthe only path of life, and joy, and blessing to man and beast, yes, and\nto the very hairs of our head, which are all numbered, and to the\nsparrows, whereof not one falls to the ground without our Father\u2019s\nknowledge; because His will is a loving will, which wills that none\nshould perish, but that all should come and be saved in body, soul, and\nspirit. He will have His own will done, not because it is His own will,\nbut because it is good, good for men. And if men will change and repent,\nthen will He change and repent also. If man will resist the striving of\nGod\u2019s Spirit with him, then will the Lord say: \u201cIt repenteth me that I\nhave made that man.\u201d But if a man will repent him of the evil, then God\nwill repent Him of the evil also. If a man will let God\u2019s Spirit\nconvince him, and will open his ears and hear, and open his eyes and see,\nand open his heart to take in the loving thoughts and the right thoughts,\nand the penitent and humble thoughts, which do come to him\u2014you know they\ndo come to you all at times\u2014then the Lord will repent also, as he\nrepents, and repent concerning the evil which He has declared concerning\nthat man. So said the Lord, who cannot change, the same yesterday,\nto-day, and for ever, the same now that He was in the days of the flood,\nto Jeremiah the prophet, when He moved him to go down to the potter\u2019s\nhouse, and watch him there at his work.\n\nAnd the potter made a vessel\u2014something which would be useful and good for\na certain purpose\u2014but the clay was marred in the hand of the potter. He\nwas good and skilful; but there was a fault in the clay. What did he do?\nThrow the clay away as useless? No. He made it again another vessel.\nHe was determined to make, not anything, but something useful and good.\nAnd if the clay, being faulty, failed him once, he would try again. He\nwould change his purpose and plan, but not his right will to make good\nand useful vessels; them he _would_ make, if not by one way, then by\nanother. And Jeremiah watched him; and as he watched, the Spirit of the\nLord came on him, and taught him that that poor potter\u2019s way of working\nwith his clay, was a pattern and likeness of the Lord\u2019s work on earth.\nOh shame, that this great parable should have been twisted by men to make\nout that God is an arbitrary tyrant, who works by a brute necessity! It\ntaught Jeremiah the very opposite. It taught him what it ought to teach\nus, that God does change, because man changes, that God\u2019s steadfast will\nis the good of men, and therefore because men change their weak\nself-willed course, and fall, and seek out many inventions, therefore God\nchanges to follow them, like a good shepherd, tracking and following the\nlost and wandering sheep up and down, right and left, over hill and dale,\nif by any means He may find him, and bring him home on His shoulders to\nthe fold, calling upon the angels of God: \u201cRejoice with me, for I have\nfound my sheep which I had lost.\u201d\n\nThis is the likeness of God. The good and loving will of a Father\nfollowing his wandering children. The likeness of a loving Father\nrepenting that He hath brought into the world sinful children, to be a\nmisery to themselves and all around them, and yet for the same reason\nloving those children, striving with their wicked wills to the very last,\ngiving them one last chance and time for repentance; as the Lord did to\nthose evil men of the old world, sending to them Noah, a preacher of\nrighteousness, if by any means they would turn from their sins and be\nsaved. Ay, not only preaching to their ears by Noah, but to their hearts\nby His Spirit; as St. Peter tells us, He Himself, Christ the Lord, went\nHimself by His Spirit to those very sinners before the flood, and strove\nto bring them to their reason again. By His Spirit; by the very same one\nand only Holy Spirit of God, St. Peter says, by which Christ Himself was\nraised from the dead, did He try to raise the souls of those sinners\nbefore the flood, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness: but\nthey would not. They were disobedient. Their wills resisted His will to\nthe last; and then the flood came, and swept them all away.\n\nAnd so the first work of the heavenly Workman was marred in the making by\nno fault of His, but by the fault of what He made. He made men persons,\nrational beings with wills, that they might be willingly like Him: but\nthey used those wills to be unlike Him, to rebel against Him, and to fill\nthe earth with violence and corruption. And so, for the good of all\nmankind to come, He had to sweep them all away. But of that same sinful\nclay He made another vessel, as it seemed good to Him; even Noah and his\nSons, whom He saved that He might carry on the race of the Sons of God\nunto this day.\n\nAnd after that again, my friends, in a day more dark and evil still, when\nthe earth was again corrupt before God, and filled with violence; when\nall flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth, so that, as St. Paul said\nof them, there was none that did good, no not one: then the same Lord,\nwhen He saw that all the world lay in wickedness, and that the clay of\nhuman-kind was marred in the hands of the potter, then did He cast away\nthat clay as reprobate and useless, and destroy mankind off the face of\nthe earth? Not so. Then, when there was none to help, His own arm\nbrought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him; He trod the\nwine-press alone, and of the people there was none with Him. His own\nrighteousness sustained Him. His perfectly good and righteous will never\nfailed Him for a moment; man He would save, and man He saved. If none\nelse could do it, He would do it Himself. He would bring salvation with\nHis own arm. He would fulfil His Father\u2019s will, which is that none\nshould perish; He would be made flesh, and dwell among men, that man\nmight behold the likeness of God the Father, full of grace and truth, and\nsee what they were meant to be. Then, in Him, in Jesus who wept over\nJerusalem, was fully revealed and shown the likeness and glory of the\nLord; the Lord in whose image man was made; who walked and spoke with\nAdam in the garden; who was not ashamed to say that it repented Him that\nHe had made man; whom Ezekiel saw upon His throne, and as it were upon\nthe throne the appearance of the likeness of a man; whom Daniel saw, and\nknew him to be the Son of Man. Not a man, then, of flesh and blood; but\nthe Eternal Word of God, in whose image man was made, who could be loving\nand merciful, long-suffering and repenting Him of the evil, but never of\nthe good. He came, and He swept away, as He had told the Apostles that\nHe would do, by such afflictions as man had never seen since the\nbeginning of the world until then, that Roman world with all its devilish\nsystems and maxims, whereby the nations were kept down in slavery and\nsin; and He founded a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwell\nrighteousness, even this Holy Catholic Church, to which we all belong\nthis day.\n\nYes, my friends, this is our gospel, our good news, that there is a God\nwhose Spirit strives with sinners to change them into His own likeness.\nA God who is no dark, obstinate, inexorable Fate, whose arbitrary decrees\nmust come to pass; but a loving and merciful God, long-suffering, and who\nrepenteth Him of the evil; who repents Him of the evil which is in man,\nand hates it, and has sworn to Himself to fight against it, till He has\nput all enemies under His foot, and cast out of His kingdom all things\nwhich offend. Who repents Him of the evil in man: but who will never\nagain repent Him of having made man, for then He would repent of having\nbecome man; He would repent of having been conceived of the Holy Ghost;\nHe would repent of having been born of the Virgin Mary; He would repent\nof having been crucified, dead, and buried; He would repent of having\nrisen from the dead, and ascended up into heaven in His man\u2019s body, and\nsoul, and spirit; He would repent of sitting on the right hand of God; He\nwould repent of coming to judge the quick and the dead; He would repent\nof having done His Father\u2019s will on earth, even as He did it from all\neternity in the bosom of the Father. For He is a man; and even as the\nreasonable soul and body are one man, so God and man are one Christ. As\nman, He did His Father\u2019s will in Jud\u00e6a of old; as man, He will judge the\nworld; as man He rules it now; as man, St. John saw Him fifty years after\nHe ascended to heaven, and His eyes were like a flame of fire, and His\nhair like fine wool, and He was girt under the bosom with a golden\ngirdle, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; as man, He said:\n\u201cFear not: I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was\ndead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of\ndeath and hell.\u201d Yes. This is the gospel, the good news for fallen man,\nthat there is a Man in the midst of the throne of God, to whom all power\nis given in heaven and earth; that the fate of the world, and all that is\ntherein\u2014the fate of suns and stars\u2014the fate of kings and nations\u2014the fate\nof every publican and harlot, and heathen and outcast\u2014the fate of all who\nare in death and hell, depends alike upon the sacred heart of Jesus; the\nheart which groaned at the tomb of Lazarus His friend; the heart which\nwept over Jerusalem; the heart which said to the blessed Magdalene, the\nwoman who was a sinner: \u201cGo in peace; thy sins are forgiven thee;\u201d the\nheart which now yearns after every sinful and wandering soul in His\nchurch, and all over the earth of God, crying to you all: \u201cWhy will ye\ndie? Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord,\nand not rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live? Come\nunto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you\nrest.\u201d Oh, my friends, wonderful as my words are\u2014as wonderful to me who\nspeak them as they can be to you who hear them\u2014yet they are true. True;\nfor on that table stand the bread and wine whereof He Himself said,\nstanding upon this very earth which He Himself had made: \u201cThis is my body\nwhich is given for you; this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which I\nwill give for the life of the world.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXXXVII.\nTHE KINGDOM OF GOD.\n\n\n The kingdom of God is within you.\u2014LUKE xvii. 21.\n\nTHESE words are in the second lesson for this morning\u2019s service. Let us\nthink a little about them.\n\nWhat they mean must depend on what the kingdom of God means; for that is\nthe one thing about which they speak.\n\nNow, the kingdom of God is very often spoken of in the New Testament.\nIndeed, it is the thing it speaks of above all others. It was the thing\nwhich our Lord went about preaching. It was the thing of which He spoke\nin His parables, likening the kingdom of God first to one thing, then to\nanother, that He might make men understand what it was like.\n\nNow, it is worth remarking that we\u2014I mean even religious people\u2014speak\nvery little about the kingdom of God nowadays. One hears less about it\nthan about any other words, almost, which stand in the New Testament.\nBoth in sermons and in religious books, and in the talk of godly people,\none hears the kingdom of God spoken of very seldom. One hears words\nabout the Church, which are very good and true; but very little, if\nanything, about the kingdom of God, though both St. Paul, and St. John,\nand the blessed Lord Himself, speak of the two together, as if they could\nnot be parted; as if one could not think of the one without thinking of\nthe other. And we hear words about the gospel, too, some of them very\ngood and true, and others, I am sorry to say, very bad and false: but,\ntrue or false, they are not often joined now in men\u2019s minds, or mouths,\nor books, with the kingdom of God. But the New Testament joins them\nalmost always. It says that gospel must be good news. Therefore the\ngospel must be good news about something. But about what? We hear all\nmanner of answers nowadays; but we hear the right one very seldom.\nPeople talk of the gospel as if it only meant the good news that one man\ncan be saved here, and another man can be saved there. And that is good\nnews, certainly. It is good and blessed news to hear that any one poor\nsinner can be saved from sin, and from the wages of sin. But the holy\nscriptures, when they talk of the gospel, call it the gospel of the\nkingdom of God. And I think it best and wisest to call it oftenest, what\nthe holy scripture calls it oftenest, and to try and understand, first of\nall, what that means, what the good news of the kingdom of God is: and to\nunderstand that, we must first understand what the kingdom of God is.\n\nBut some may answer, holy scripture speaks of the gospel of salvation.\nTrue, it does, once or twice. But what does that show? Is that a\ndifferent gospel from the gospel of the kingdom of God? Are there two\ngospels? Surely not. Else why would holy scripture speak so often of\n\u201cthe gospel\u201d\u2014\u201cthe good news,\u201d by itself, without any word after to show\nwhat it was about? It says often simply \u201cthe gospel;\u201d because there is\nbut one gospel; and, as St. Paul says, if any man or angel preach any\nother than that one, \u201cLet him be anathema.\u201d\n\nTherefore the gospel of salvation must be the same as the gospel of the\nkingdom of God; and, therefore, it seems to me, that salvation and the\nkingdom of God must be one and the same thing.\n\nNow, do you think so? When I say \u201cThe kingdom of God is salvation,\u201d do\nyou think it is? Have you even any clear notion of what I mean when I\nsay it? Some of you have not, I am afraid; you cannot see at first sight\nwhat salvation and the kingdom of God have to do with each other. And\nwhy? You think salvation means being saved from hell, and going to\nheaven, when you die. And so it does: but I trust in God and in God\u2019s\nholy scripture, that it means a great deal more; for I think it means\nbeing unfit for hell, and fit for heaven, before we die. At least, so\nsays the Church Catechism, which teaches every little child to thank his\nHeavenly Father for having brought him into such a state of salvation in\nthis life, even while he is young. Thanks be to The Spirit of God which\ntaught our fore-fathers to put these precious words into the Church\nCatechism, to guard us against falling into the very same mistake as the\nPharisees of old fell into, when they asked our Lord when the kingdom of\nGod was to come. And, believe me, it is easy enough and common enough to\nfall into the same mistake.\n\nFor what was their mistake? They fancied that the kingdom of God was not\nyet come. And do not most of you think the same? They did not deny, of\ncourse, that God was almighty, and could rule and govern all mankind if\nHe chose so to do. But they did not believe that He was ruling and\ngoverning all mankind then, because they did not know what His rule and\ngovernment were like. Now, St. Paul tells us what God\u2019s kingdom is like.\nThe kingdom of God, he says, is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the\nHoly Spirit. So wherever there is righteousness, and peace, and joy in\nthe Holy Spirit, there the kingdom of God is. But His kingdom over what?\nOver dumb animals, or over men? Over men, certainly; for dumb animals\ncannot have righteousness, or joy in the Holy Spirit. But over what part\nof a man? Over his body or over his spirit, as we call it nowadays?\nOver his spirit, certainly; for it is only our spirits which can be\nrighteous, or peaceful, or joyful in God\u2019s Spirit. Therefore God\u2019s\nkingdom, of which St. Paul speaks, is a kingdom, a government over the\nsouls, the spirits of men. Now, are our spirits the inward part of us,\nor our bodies? Our spirits, certainly. We all say, and say rightly,\nthat our bodies are the outward part of us, and that our spirits are\nwithin us. Now, do you not see how that agrees exactly with the blessed\nLord\u2019s saying in the text, \u201cBehold, the kingdom of God is within\nyou\u201d\u2014that is, in your spirits, because it is righteousness, and peace,\nand joy in the Holy Spirit; and these are things which only our souls,\nnot our bodies at all, can have.\n\nBut these Pharisees were not righteous; they were wicked and hypocritical\nmen. Was the kingdom of God within them? The blessed Lord said plainly\nthat it was. He said not, \u201cThe kingdom of God is within some people\u2019s\nhearts;\u201d or, \u201cThe kingdom of God is within the hearts of believers;\u201d or,\n\u201cThe kingdom of God might be within you if you liked.\u201d But He said that\nthe kingdom of God was then and there within the hearts of those wicked\nand unbelieving Pharisees.\n\nNow, how could that be? In the same way that some time before that, as\nSt. Luke tells us, the power of the Lord was present to heal those same\nPharisees; and they were for the time amazed, and glorified God, and were\nfilled with fear at His mighty works; but not healed. Their souls were\nnot cured of their sin and folly by any means; for we find in the very\nnext chapter, that because Jesus cured a palsied man on the Sabbath-day\nthey were filled with madness, and consulted together how to kill Him.\n\nFor, my friends, as it was with them, so it is with us. God\u2019s kingdom is\nwithin every one of us; but it may make us worse, as well as make us\nbetter. It may fill us with righteousness, and peace, and joy in the\nHoly Spirit; or it may fill us, as it filled the Pharisees, with madness,\nand hatred of religion and of goodness; as it is written, that the gospel\nmay be a savour of death unto death to us, as well as a savour of life\nunto life. And it depends on us which it shall be.\n\nThis is what I mean: God\u2019s kingdom is within each of us. God is the King\nof our hearts and souls; our baptism tells us so; and it tells us truly.\nAnd because God is the King of each of our hearts, He comes everlastingly\nto take possession of our hearts, and continues claiming our souls for\nHis own. He speaks in our hearts day and night; whenever we have a good\nthought, He speaks in our hearts, and says to us: \u201cI am the King of your\nspirit. It must obey me. I put this good thought into your hearts, and\nyou are bound to follow that good thought, because it is a law of my\nkingdom.\u201d Or again, God speaks in our hearts, and says to us: \u201cYou have\ndone this wrong thing. You know that it is wrong. You know that it is\nan offence against my law. Why have you rebelled against me?\u201d Or again,\nwhen we see anyone do a good, a loving, or a noble action; or when we\nread of the lives of good and noble men and women; above all, when we\nread or hear of the character and doings of the blessed Lord Jesus, then\nand there God speaks in our hearts, and stirs us up to love and admire\nthese noble and blessed examples, and says to us: \u201cThat is right. That\nis beautiful. That is what men should do. That is what you should do.\nWhy are you not like that man? Why are you not like my saints? Why are\nyou not like me, the Lord Jesus Christ?\u201d\n\nYou all surely know what I mean. You know that I do not mean that you\nhear a voice speaking to your ears, but that thoughts and feelings come\ninto your heart, without you putting them there: ay, often enough, in\nspite of your trying to drive them away. Now, those right thoughts are\nthe kingdom of God within you. They are the voice of the Lord Jesus\nChrist speaking by His Holy Spirit to your spirit, and telling you that\nHe is your King, and that you ought to obey Him; and that obeying Him\nmeans being righteous and good, as He is righteous and good; and calling\non you to give up your own wills and fancies, and to do His will, and let\nHim make you holy, even as He is holy. That, I say, is the kingdom of\nGod showing itself within you, telling you that God is your King, and\ntelling you how to obey Him.\n\nBut what if a man will not hear that voice? What if a man rebels proudly\nagainst the good thoughts that rise in his mind, and tries to forget\nthem, and grows angry with them, angry with the preacher, the Church\nService, the Bible itself, because they _will_ go on reminding him of\nwhat he knows in his heart to be right? What if those good thoughts only\nmake him the more stubborn and determined to do his own pleasure, and\nfollow his own interests, and do his own will?\n\nDo you not see that to that man God\u2019s kingdom over his heart is a savour\nof death unto death\u2014that his finding out that God is his Lord only makes\nhim more rebellious\u2014that God\u2019s Spirit striving with his heart to bring it\nright, only stirs up his stubbornness and self-will, and makes him go the\nmore obstinately wrong?\n\nOh, my friends, this is a fearful thought! That man can become worse by\nGod\u2019s loving desire to make him better! But so it is. So it was with\nPharaoh of old. All God\u2019s pleading with him by the message of Moses and\nAaron, by the mighty plagues which God sent on Egypt, only hardened\nPharaoh\u2019s heart. The Lord God spoke to him, and his message only lashed\nPharaoh\u2019s proud and wicked will into greater fury and rebellion, as a\nvicious horse becomes the more unmanageable the more you punish it.\nTherefore, it is said plainly in scripture, that _The Lord_ hardened\nPharaoh\u2019s heart; not as some fancy, that the Lord\u2019s will was to make\nPharaoh hard-hearted and wicked. God forbid. The Lord is the fountain\nof good only, and not He, but we and the devil, make evil. But the more\nthe Lord pleaded with Pharaoh, and tried to bend his will, the more\nself-willed he became. The more the Lord showed Pharaoh that the Lord\nwas King, the more he hated the kingdom and will of God, the more he\ndetermined to be king himself, and to obey no law but his own wicked\nfancies and pleasures, and asked: \u201cWho is the Lord, that I should obey\nHim?\u201d\n\nAnd so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out that the kingdom\nof God was within them, that God was the King of their hearts and minds,\nand was trying to change their feelings and alter their opinions, it only\nmaddened them. They were determined not to change. They were determined\nnot to confess that they had been wrong, and had mistaken the meaning of\nholy scripture. They were too proud to confess what Jesus told them,\nthat they were no better than the poor ignorant common people whom they\ndespised. And yet they knew in their hearts that He was right. When the\nLord told them the parable of the vineyard, they answered, \u201cGod forbid!\u201d\nthey felt at once that the parable had to do with them\u2014that they were the\nwicked husbandmen on whom He said their master would take vengeance: but\nthat only maddened them the more, till they ended by crucifying the Lord\nof Glory, upon a pretence which they knew was a false and lying one; and\nwhen Judas Iscariot said, \u201cI have betrayed the innocent blood,\u201d they did\nnot deny that the Lord Jesus was innocent; all they answered was, \u201cWhat\nis that to us?\u201d They were determined to have their own way whether He\nwas innocent or not. They had seen God\u2019s likeness. They had seen what\nGod was like, by seeing the conduct of His only begotten Son Jesus\nChrist. And when they saw God\u2019s likeness they hated it, because it was\nnot like themselves. And the more God strove with their hearts, and\ntried to make them obey Him, the more, in short, they felt His kingdom\nwithin them, the more they hated that kingdom of God within them, because\nit reproved them, and convinced them of sin. Oh, my friends, young\npeople especially, beware; beware lest you fall into the same miserable\nstate of mind. The kingdom of God is within you. The Holy Spirit, by\nwhich you were regenerate in holy baptism, is stirring and pleading with\nyour hearts, making you happy when you do right, unhappy when you do\nwrong. Oh, listen to those good thoughts and feelings within you! Never\nfancy that they are your own thoughts and feelings: else you will fancy\nthat you can put them away and take them back again when you choose to\nchange and become religious. Do not let the devil deceive you into that\nnotion. These good thoughts and feelings are the Spirit of God. They\nare the signs that the kingdom of God is within you; that God is King and\nMaster of your hearts and minds; and that you cannot keep Him out of\nthem: but that He can enter into them when He likes, and put right\nthoughts into them. But though you cannot prevent God and His kingdom\nentering into you, you can refuse to enter into it. Alas! alas! how many\nof you shut your ears to God\u2019s voice: try to drive God\u2019s Spirit out of\nyour own hearts; try to forget what is right, because it is unpleasant to\nremember it, and say to yourselves, \u201cI will have my own way. I will try\nand forget what the clergyman said in his sermon, or what I learnt at\nschool. I am grown up now, and I will do what I like.\u201d Oh, my friends,\nis it a wise or a hopeful battle to fight against the living God? Grieve\nnot the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed to the day of\nredemption, lest He go away from you and leave you to yourselves,\nspiritually dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, whose end is to be\nburned. Grieve Him not, lest He depart, and with Him both the Father and\nthe Son. And then you will not know right from wrong, because God the\nHoly Spirit, the Spirit of right, has left you. You will not know what a\nman ought to be or do, because the Son of Man, the perfect likeness of\nGod, and therefore the pattern of man, has left you. You will not know\nthat God the Father is your Father, but only fancy him a stern\ntaskmaster, reaping where He has not sown, and requiring of you more than\nyou are bound to pay, because God the Father has left you.\n\nYou may, indeed, keep out ugly thoughts for a time. You may go on\nwantonly in sin, and worldliness, and self-will. And then, by way of\nfalling deeper still, you may take up with some false sort of religion,\nwhich makes people fancy that they know God, and are one of His elect,\nwhile in works they deny Him, and their sinful heart is unchanged. Then\nyour mouth indeed may be full of second-hand talk about the gospel. But\nwhat gospel? I call that a devil\u2019s gospel, and not God\u2019s gospel, which\nmakes men fancy that they may continue in sin that grace may abound. I\ncall any grace which leaves men in their sins the devil\u2019s grace, and not\nGod\u2019s grace. Certainly it is not the gospel of the kingdom of God; for\nif it was, it would produce in men the fruits of that kingdom,\nrighteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, instead of the\nfruits which we see too often, bigotry and self-conceit, bitterness,\nevil-speaking, and hard judgments, and joy in a most unholy and damnable\nspirit, not to mention covetousness and deceitfulness, or even in some\ncases wantonness and lust. And yet such men will often fancy that they\nbelong especially to God, and doubt whether He will have mercy on any who\ndo not exactly agree with them; while in reality God and His kingdom have\nutterly left their hearts, and they are as blind and dark as the beasts\nwhich perish. May God preserve us from that second death which comes on\nsinners, when, after a sinful youth, their terrified souls begin to cry\nout in fear at the sight of their sins; and they, instead of casting away\ntheir sins, keep their sins, or change old sins for more respectable and\nsafe new ones, and drug their souls with false doctrines, as foolish\nnurses quiet children\u2019s crying by giving them poisonous medicines. I\nknow men who have fallen, I really fear at times, into that state of\nmind, and are like those Pharisees of whom our Lord said: \u201cYe serpents,\nye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?\u201d Even\nfor them it is not too late: but, let them recollect, if the kingdom of\nGod is within them, if they have any feelings of right and wrong left in\nthem, that their covetousness, and lying, and slandering, and conceit, is\nfighting against God; that these are just what God desires to cast out of\nthem; and that unless they give up their hearts to God, and let Him cast\nout their sins, and be converted, and become like little children,\ngentle, humble, teachable, friendly, and kind-hearted, obedient to their\nheavenly Father, God will cast them out of His kingdom among the things\nwhich offend, and bring a bad name on religion; among those very\nprofligate and open sinners whom they are so ready to despise and curse.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVIII.\nTHE LIGHT.\n\n\n But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for\n whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore He saith, Awake\n thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give\n thee light.\u2014EPHESIANS v. 13, 14.\n\nST. PAUL has been telling the Ephesians who they are; that they are God\u2019s\ndear children. To whom they belong; to Christ who has given Himself for\nthem. What they ought to do; to follow God\u2019s likeness, and live in love.\nThat they are light in the Lord; and are to walk as children of the\nlight; and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but\nrather reprove them. As much as to say: Do not believe those who tell\nyou that there is no harm in young people going wrong together before\nmarriage, provided they intend to marry after all. Do not believe those\nwho tell you that there is no harm in filthy words, provided you do not\ndo filthy things; and no harm in swearing, provided you do not mean the\ncurses which you speak. Do not believe those who tell you there is no\nharm in poaching another man\u2019s game, provided you do not steal his\npoultry, or anything except his game. Do not believe those who tell you\nthat there is no harm in being covetous, provided you do not actually\ncheat your neighbours; and that the sin lies, not in being covetous at\nall, but in being more covetous than the law will let you be.\n\nDo not believe those who say to you that you may keep dark thoughts,\nspite, suspicion, envy, cunning, covetousness in your hearts day after\nday, year after year, provided you do not openly act on them so as to do\nyour neighbours any great and notorious injury.\n\nPlenty of people will tell you so, and try to deceive you with vain\nwords, and give you arguments, and texts of scripture perhaps, to prove\nthat sin is not sin, and that the children of light may do the works of\ndarkness. But do not believe them, says St. Paul. They are deceivers,\nand their words are vain. These are the very things which bring down\nGod\u2019s wrath on His disobedient children. These are the bad ways which\nmake young people, when they are married, despise, and distrust, and\nquarrel with each other, and live miserable lives together, as children\nof wrath, peevish, and wrathful, and discontented with each other,\nbecause they feel that God is angry with them, just as Adam in the\ngarden, when he felt that he had sinned, and that God was wroth with him,\nlaid the blame on his wife, and accused her, whom he ought to have loved,\nand protected, and excused.\n\nThese are the bad ways which make people ashamed when they meet a good\nand a respectable person, make them afraid of being overheard, afraid of\nbeing found out, fond of haunting low and out-of-the-way places where\nthey will not be seen; fond of prowling and lurching out at night after\ntheir own sinful pleasures, because the darkness hides them from their\nneighbours, and seems to hide them from themselves, though it cannot hide\nthem from God. These are the sins which make men silent, cunning, dark,\nsour, double-tongued, afraid to look anyone full in the face, unwilling\nto make friends, afraid of opening their minds to anyone, because they\nhave something on their minds which they dare not tell their neighbours,\nwhich they dare not even tell themselves, but think about as little as\nthey can help. Do you not know what I mean? Do you not often see it in\nothers? Have you never felt it in yourselves when you have done wrong,\nthat dark feeling within which shows itself in dark looks? You talk of a\n\u201cdark-looking man,\u201d or a \u201cdark sort of person;\u201d and you mean, do you not,\na man whom you cannot make out, who does not wish you to make him out;\nwho keeps his thoughts and his feelings to himself, and is never frank or\nfree, except with bad companions, when the world cannot see him; who goes\nabout hanging down his head, and looking out of the corners of his eyes,\nas if he were afraid of the very sunshine\u2014afraid of the light. We know\nthat such a man has something dark on his mind. We call him a \u201cdark sort\nof man.\u201d And we are right. We say of him what St. Paul says of him in\nthis very epistle, when he says, that sin is darkness, and sinful works\nthe deeds of darkness; and that goodness, and righteousness, and truth,\nare light, the very light of God and the Spirit of God. Our reason, our\ncommon sense, which is given us by God\u2019s Spirit, the Spirit of light,\nmakes us use the right words, the same words as St. Paul does, and call\nsin darkness.\n\nBut rather reprove these dark works, says St. Paul; that is, look at\nthem, and see that they are utterly worthless and damnable. And how?\n\u201cAll things that are reproved,\u201d he says, \u201care made manifest by the light.\nFor whatsoever makes manifest is light.\u201d Whatsoever makes manifest, that\nis, makes plain and clear. Whatsoever makes you see anything or person\nin heaven or earth as it really is; whatsoever makes you understand more\nabout anything; whatsoever shows you more what you are, where you are,\nwhat you ought to do; whatsoever teaches you any single hint about your\nduty to God, or man, or the dumb beasts which you tend, or the soil which\nyou till, or the business and line of life which you ought to follow;\nwhatsoever shows you the right and the wrong in any matter, the truth and\nthe falsehood in any matter, the prudent course and the imprudent course\nin any matter; in a word, whatsoever makes your mind more clear about any\nsingle thing in heaven or earth, is light. For, mind, St. Paul does not\nsay, whatsoever is light makes things plain; but whatsoever makes things\nplain is light. That is saying a great deal more, thank God; for if he\nhad said, whatsoever is light makes things clear, we should have been\npuzzled to know what was light; we should have been tempted to settle for\nourselves what was light. And, God knows, people in all ages, and people\nof all religions, Christians as well as heathens, have been tempted to\nsay so, and to misread this text, till they said: \u201cWhatsoever agrees with\nour doctrine is light, of course, but all other teaching is darkness, and\ncomes from the devil;\u201d and so they oftentimes blasphemed against God\u2019s\nHoly Spirit by calling good actions bad ones, just because they were done\nby people who did not agree with them, and fell into the same sin as the\nPharisees of old, who said that the Lord cast out devils by Beelzebub the\nprince of the devils.\n\nBut St. Paul says, whatsoever makes anything clearer to you, is light.\nThere is the gospel, and there is the good news of salvation again,\ncoming out, as it does all through St. Paul\u2019s epistles, at every turn,\njust where poor, sinful, dark man least expects it. For, what does St.\nPaul say in the very next verse? \u201cWherefore,\u201d he says, \u201carise from the\ndead, and Christ shall give thee light.\u201d \u201cChrist shall give thee light!\u201d\nOh blessed news! _Christ_ gives us the light, and therefore we need not\nbe afraid of it, but trust it, and welcome it. And Christ _gives_ us the\nlight, therefore we have not to hunt and search after it; for He will\ngive it us. Let us think over these two matters, and see whether there\nis not a gospel and good news in them for all wretched, ignorant, sinful,\ndark souls, just as much as for those who are learned and wise, or bright\nand full of peace.\n\nChrist gives us the light. This agrees with what St. John says, that \u201cHe\nis the light who lights every man who comes into the world.\u201d And it\nagrees also with what St. James says: \u201cBe not deceived, my beloved\nbrethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and\ncometh down from God, the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,\nnor shadow of turning.\u201d And it agrees also with what the prophet says,\nthat it is the Spirit of God which gives man understanding. And it\nagrees also with what the Lord Himself promised us when He was on earth,\nthat He would send down on us the Spirit of God\u2014the Spirit which proceeds\nalike from Him and from His Father, to guide us into all truth. Ay, my\nfriends, if we really believe this, what a solemn and important thing\neducation would seem to us! If we really believed that all light, all\ntrue understanding of any matter, came from the Lord Jesus Christ: and if\nwe remember what the Lord Jesus\u2019 character was; how He came to do good to\nall; to teach not merely the rich and powerful, but the poor, the\nignorant, the outcast, the sinful: should we not say to ourselves, then:\n\u201cIf knowledge comes from Christ, who never kept anything to Himself, how\ndare we keep knowledge to ourselves? If it comes from Him who gave\nHimself freely for all, surely He means that knowledge should be given\nfreely to all. If He and His Father, and our Father, will that all\nshould come to the knowledge of the truth, how dare we keep the truth\nfrom anyone?\u201d So we should feel it the will of our heavenly Father, the\nsolemn command of our blessed Saviour, that our children, and not only\nthey, but every soul around us, young and old, should be educated in the\nbest possible way, and in any way whatsoever, rather than in none at all.\nThe education of the poor would be, in our eyes, the most sacred duty. A\nschool would be, in our eyes, as necessary and almost as sacred a thing\nas a church. And to neglect sending our children to school, or to leave\nour servants or work-people in ignorance, would seem to us an awful sin\nagainst the Father of lights; a rebellion against the Lord Jesus, who\nlights every man who comes into the world, and against our Father in\nheaven, who willeth not that one of these little ones should perish.\n\nAnd this is made still more plain and certain by the next word in the\ntext: \u201cChrist shall _give_ thee light:\u201d not sell thee light, or allow\nthee to find light after great struggles, and weary years of study: but,\n_give_ thee light. Give it thee of His free grace and generosity. We\nmight have expected that, merely from remembering to whom the light\nbelongs. The mere fact that light belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, who\nis the express likeness of His Father, might have made us sure that He\nwould give His light freely to the unthankful and to the evil, just as\nHis Father makes His sun to shine alike on the evil and on the good.\nTherefore this text does not leave us to find out the good news for\nourselves. It declares to us plainly that He will give it us, as freely\nas He gives us all things richly to enjoy.\n\nBut, someone will say: You surely cannot mean that we shall have\nunderstanding without study?\n\nYou cannot mean that we are to become wise without careful thought, or\nthat we are to understand books without learning to read? Of course not,\nmy friends. The text does not say: \u201cChrist will give thee eyes; Christ\nwill give thee sense:\u201d but, \u201cChrist will give thee light.\u201d . . . Do you\nnot see the difference? Of what use would your eyes be without light?\nAnd of what use would light be if your eyes were shut, and you asleep?\nIn darkness you cannot see. Your eyes are there, as good as ever; the\nworld is there, as fair as ever: but you cannot see it, because there is\nno light. You can only feel it, by groping about with your hands, and\nlaying hold of whatsoever happens to be nearest you. And do you think\nthat though your bodily eyes cannot see, unless God puts His light in the\nsky, to shine on everything, and show it you, yet your minds and souls\ncan see without any light from God? Not so, my friends. What the sun is\nto this earth, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is to the\nspirit\u2014that is, the reason and conscience\u2014of every man who comes into the\nworld. Now, the good news of holy baptism is, that the light is here;\nthat God\u2019s Spirit is with us, to teach us the truth about everything,\nthat we may see it in its true light, as it is, as God sees it; that the\nday-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in\ndarkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of\npeace; and that we are children of the light and of the day. But what if\nthose who sit in darkness like the darkness; and wilfully shut their eyes\ntight that they may not see the day-spring from on high, and the light\nwhich God has sent into the world? Then the light will not profit them,\nbut they will walk on still in darkness, not knowing whither they are\ngoing.\n\nBut some may say, wicked men are very wise; although they rebel against\nGod\u2019s Spirit, and do not even believe in God\u2019s Spirit, but say that man\u2019s\nmind can find out everything for itself, without God\u2019s help, yet they are\nvery wise. Are they? The Bible tells us again and again that the wisdom\nof such men is folly; that God takes such wise men in their own\ncraftiness. And the Bible speaks truth. If there is one thing of which\nI am more certain than another, my friends, it is that, just in\nproportion as a man is bad, just in proportion as he does not believe in\na good Spirit of God who wills to teach him, and gives him light, he is a\nfool. If there is one thing more than another which such men\u2019s books\nhave taught me, it is that they are in darkness, when they fancy they are\nin the brightest light; that they make the greatest mistakes when they\nintend to say the cleverest things; and when they least fancy it, fall\ninto nonsense and absurdities, not merely on matters of religion, but on\npoints which they profess to have studied, and in cases where, by their\nown showing, they ought to have known better. But our business is rather\nwith ourselves. Our business, in this time of Lent, is to see whether we\nhave been shutting our eyes; whether we have been walking in darkness,\nwhile God\u2019s light is all around us. And how shall we know that? Let St.\nJohn tell us: \u201cHe that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother,\nis in darkness until now, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because\ndarkness has blinded his eyes.\u201d Hating our brother. Covetousness, which\nis indeed hating our brother, for it teaches us to prefer our good to our\nneighbour\u2019s good, to fatten ourselves at our neighbour\u2019s expense, to get\nhis work, his custom, his money, away from him to ourselves; bigotry,\nwhich makes men hate and despise those who differ from them in religion;\nspite and malice against those who have injured us; suspicions and dark\ndistrust of our neighbours, and of mankind in general; selfishness, which\nsets us always standing on our own rights, makes us always ready to take\noffence, always ready to think that people mean to insult us or injure\nus, and makes us moody, dark, peevish, always thinking about ourselves,\nand our plans, or our own pleasures, shut up as it were within\nourselves\u2014all these sins, in proportion as anyone gives way to them,\ndarken the eyes of a man\u2019s soul. They really and actually make him more\nstupid, less able to understand his neighbours\u2019 hearts and minds, less\nable to take a reasonable view of any matter or question whatsoever. You\nmay not believe me. But so it is. I know it by experience to be true.\nI warn you that you will find it true one day; that all spite, passion,\nprejudice, suspicion, hard judgments, contempt, self-conceit, blind a\nman\u2019s reason, and heart, and soul, and make him stumble and fall into\nmistakes, even in worldly matters, just as surely as shutting our eyes\nmakes us stumble in broad daylight. He who gives way to such passions is\nasleep, while he fancies himself broad awake. His life is a dream; and\nlike a dreamer, he sees nothing really, only appearances, fancies,\npictures of things in his own selfish brain. Therefore it is written:\n\u201cAwake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give\nthee life.\u201d You may say: Can I awaken myself? Perhaps not, unless\nsomeone calls you. And therefore Christ calls on you to awake. He says\nby my mouth: Awake, thou sleeper, and I will give thee light; awake, thou\ndreamer, who fanciest that the sinful works of darkness can give thee any\nreal profit, any real pleasure; awake, thou sleep-walker, who art going\nabout the world in a dream, groping thy way on from day to day and year\nto year, only kept from fall and ruin by God\u2019s guiding and preserving\nmercy. Open thine eyes, and let in the great eternal loving light,\nwherein God beholds everything which He has made, and behold it is very\ngood. Open thine eyes, for it is day. The light is here if thou wilt\nbut use it. \u201cI will guide thee,\u201d saith the Lord, \u201cand inform thee with\nmine eye, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go.\u201d Only believe\nin the light. Believe that all knowledge comes from God. Expect and\ntrust that He will give thee knowledge. Pray to Him boldly to give thee\nknowledge, because thou art sure that He wishes thee to have knowledge.\nHe wishes thee to know thy duty. He wishes thee to see everything as He\nsees it. \u201cIf any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all\nliberally and upbraideth not, and he shall receive it.\u201d And when thou\nhast prayed for knowledge, expect it to come; as it is written: When thou\nprayest for anything, believe that thou wilt receive it, and thou wilt\nreceive it. If thou dost not believe that thou wilt have it, of course\nthou wilt not have it. And why? Because thou wilt pass by it without\nseeing it. It will be there ready for thee in thy daily walks; Wisdom\nwill cry to thee at the head of every street; God will not deny Himself\nor break His promise: but thou wilt go past the place where wisdom is,\nand miss the lessons which God is strewing in thy path, because thou art\nnot looking for them. Wisdom is here, my friends, and understanding is\nhere, and the Spirit of God is here, if our eyes were but open to see\nthem. Oh my friends, of all the sins of which we have to repent in this\ntime of Lent, none ought to give us more solemn and bitter thoughts of\nshame than the way in which we overlook the teaching of God\u2019s Spirit, and\nshut our eyes to His light, times without number, every day of our lives.\nMy friends, if our hearts were what they ought to be, if we had humble,\nloving, trustful hearts, full of faith and hope in God\u2019s promise to lead\nus into all truth, I believe that every joy and every sorrow which befell\nus, every book which we opened, every walk which we took upon the face of\nGod\u2019s earth, ay, every human face into which we looked, would teach us\nsome lesson, whereby we should be wiser, better, more aware of where we\nare and what God requires of us as human beings, neighbours, citizens,\nsubjects, members of His church. All things would be clear to us; for we\nshould see them in the light of God\u2019s Spirit. All things would look\nbright to us, for we should see them in the light of God\u2019s love. All\nthings would work together for good to us, for we should understand each\nthing as it came before us, and know what it was, and what God meant it\nfor, and how we were to use it. And knowing and seeing what was right,\nwe should see how beautiful it was, and love it, and take delight in\ndoing it, and so we should walk in the light. Dark thoughts would pass\naway from our minds, dark feelings from our hearts, dark looks from our\nfaces. We should look our neighbours cheerfully and boldly in the face;\nfor our consciences would be clear of any ill-will or meanness toward\nthem. We should look cheerfully and boldly up to God our Father; for we\nshould know that He was with us, guiding and teaching us, well-pleased\nwith all our endeavours to see things as He sees them, and to live and\nwork on earth after His image, and in His likeness. We should look out\ncheerfully and boldly on the world around us, trying to get knowledge\nfrom everything we see, expecting the light, and welcoming it, and\ntrusting it, because we know that it comes from Him who is true and\ncannot lie, Him who is love and cannot injure, Him who is righteous and\ncannot lead us into temptation: Jesus Christ, the Light who lighteth\nevery man that cometh into the world.\n\n\n\n\nXXXIX.\nTHE UNPARDONABLE SIN.\n\n\n Wherefore I say unto you: All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be\n forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall\n not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the\n Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh a word\n against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this\n world, or in the world to come.\u2014MATTHEW xii. 31, 32.\n\nTHESE awful words were the Lord\u2019s answer to the Pharisees, when they said\nof Him: \u201cHe casts out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.\u201d\n\nWhat was it now which made this speech of the Pharisees so terrible a\nsin, past all forgiveness?\n\nOf course we all feel that they were very sinful; we shrink with horror\nfrom their words as we read them. But why ought they to have done the\nsame? We know, thank God, who Jesus Christ was. But they did not; at\nthat time, when He was first beginning to preach, they hardly could have\nknown. And mind, we must not say: \u201cThey ought to have known that He was\nthe Son of God by His having the _power_ of casting out devils;\u201d for the\nLord Himself says that the sons of these Pharisees used to cast them out\nalso, or that the Pharisees believed that they did; and only asks them:\n\u201cWhy do you say of my casting out devils, what you will not say of your\nsons\u2019 casting them out?\u201d Pray bear this in mind; for if you do not\u2014if\nyou keep in your mind the vulgar and unscriptural notion that the\nPharisees\u2019 sin was not being convinced by the great power of Christ\u2019s\nmiracles, you will never understand this story, and you will be very\nlikely to get rid of it altogether as speaking of a sin which does not\nconcern you, and a sin which you cannot commit. Now, if the Pharisees\ndid not know that Jesus was the Son of God, the Maker and King of the\nworld, as we do, why were they so awfully wicked in saying that He cast\nout devils by the prince of the devils? Was it anything more than a\nmistake of theirs? Was it as wicked as crucifying the Lord? Could it be\na worse sin to make that one mistake, than to murder the Lord Himself?\nAnd yet it must have been a worse sin. For the Lord prayed for his\nmurderers: \u201cFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d And\nthese Pharisees, they knew not what they did: and yet the Lord, far from\npraying for them, told them that even He did not see how such serpents,\nsuch a generation of vipers, could escape the damnation of hell.\n\nIt is worth our while to think over this question, and try and find out\nwhat made the Pharisees\u2019 sin so great. And to do that, it will be wiser\nfor us, first, to find out what the Pharisees\u2019 sin was; lest we should\nsit here this morning, and think them the most wicked wretches who ever\ntrod the earth; and then go away, and before a week is over, commit\nourselves the very same sin, or one so fearfully like it, that if other\npeople can see a difference between them, I confess I cannot. And to\ncommit such a sin, my good friends, is a far easier thing to do than some\npeople fancy, especially here in England now.\n\nNow, the worst part of the Pharisees\u2019 sin was not, as we are too apt to\nfancy, their insulting the Lord: but their insulting the Holy Spirit.\nFor what does the Lord Himself say? That all manner of blasphemy as well\nas sin should be forgiven; that whosever spoke a word against Him, the\nSon of Man, should be forgiven: but that the unpardonable part of their\noffence was, that they had blasphemed the Holy Spirit.\n\nAnd who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of holiness. And what is\nholiness? What are the fruits of holiness? For, as the Lord told the\nPharisees on this very occasion, the tree is known by its fruit. What\nsays St. Paul? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,\nlong-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance. Those who do\nnot show these fruits have not God\u2019s Spirit in them. Those who are hard,\nunloving, proud, quarrelsome, peevish, suspicious, ready to impute bad\nmotives to their neighbours, have not God\u2019s Spirit in them. Those who do\nshow these fruits; who are gentle, forgiving, kind-hearted, ready to do\ngood to others, and believe good of others, have God\u2019s Spirit in them.\nFor these are good fruits, which, as our Lord tells us, can only spring\nfrom a good root. Those who have the fruit must have the root, let their\ndoctrines be what they may. Those who have not the fruit cannot have the\nroot, let their doctrines be what they may.\n\nThat is the plain truth; and it is high time for preachers to proclaim it\nboldly, and take the consequences from the Scribes and Pharisees of this\ngeneration. That is the plain truth. Let doctrines be what they will,\nthe tree is known by its fruit. The man who does wrong things is bad,\nand the man who does right things is good. It is a simple thing to have\nto say, but very few believe it in these days. Most fancy that the men\nwho can talk most neatly and correctly about certain religious doctrines\nare good, and that those who cannot are bad. That is no new notion.\nSome people thought so in St. John\u2019s time; and what did he say of them?\n\u201cLittle children, let no man deceive you; it is he that doeth\nrighteousness who is righteous, even as God is righteous.\u201d And again:\n\u201cHe who says, I know God, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and\nthe truth is not in him.\u201d St. John was the apostle of love. He was\nalways preaching the love of God to men, and entreating men to love one\nanother. His own heart was overflowing with love. Yet when it came to\nsuch a question as that; when it came to people\u2019s pretending to be\nreligious and orthodox, and yet neither obeying God nor loving their\nneighbours, he could speak sternly and plainly enough. He does not say:\n\u201cMy dear friends, I am sorry to have to differ from you, but I am afraid\nyou are mistaken;\u201d he says: \u201cYou are liars, and there is no truth in\nyou.\u201d\n\nNow this was just what the Pharisees had forgotten. They had got to\nthink, as too many have nowadays, that the sign of a man\u2019s having God\u2019s\nSpirit in him, was his agreeing with them in doctrine. But if he did not\nagree with them; if he would not say the words which they said, and did\nnot belong to their party, and side with them in despising every one who\ndiffered from them, it was no matter to them, as they proved by their\nopinion of Jesus Himself, how good he might be, or how much good he might\ndo; how loving, gentle, patient, benevolent, helping, and caring for poor\npeople; in short, how like God he was; all that went for nothing if he\nwas not of their party. For they had forgotten what God was like. They\nforgot that God was love and mercy itself, and that all love and mercy\nmust come from God; and, that, therefore, no one, let his creed or his\ndoctrine be what it might, could possibly do a loving or merciful thing,\nbut by the grace and inspiration of God, the Father of mercies. And yet\ntheir own prophets of the Old Testament had told them so, when they\nascribed the good deeds of heathens to the inspiration of God, just as\nmuch as the good deeds of Jews, and agreed, as they do in many a text,\nwith what St. James, himself a Jew, said afterwards: \u201cBe not deceived;\nevery good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down\nfrom the Father of lights.\u201d But the Pharisees, like too many nowadays,\ndid not think so. They thought that good and perfect gifts might some of\nthem very well come from below, from the father of darkness and cruelty.\nThey saw the Lord Jesus Christ doing good things; driving out evil, and\ndelivering men from the power of it; healing the sick, cleansing the\nleper, curing the mad, preaching the gospel to the poor: and yet they saw\nin that no proof that God\u2019s Spirit was working in Him. Of course, if He\nhad been one of their own party, and had held the same doctrines as they\nheld, they would have praised Him loudly enough, and held Him up as a\ngreat saint of their school, and boasted of all His good deeds as proofs\nof how good their party was, and how its doctrines came from God. But as\nlong as He was not one of them, His good works went for nothing. They\ncould not see God\u2019s likeness in that loving and merciful character. All\nHis charity and benevolence made them only hate Him the more, because it\nmade them the more afraid that He would draw the people away from them.\n\u201cAnd of course,\u201d they said to themselves, \u201cwhosoever draws people away\nfrom us, must be on the devil\u2019s side. We know all God\u2019s law and will.\nNo one on earth has anything to teach us. And therefore, as for any one\nwho differs from us, if he cast out devils, it must be because the devil\nis helping him, for his own purposes, to do it.\u201d\n\nIn one word, then, the sin of these Pharisees, the unpardonable sin,\nwhich ruins all who give themselves up to it, was bigotry; calling right\nwrong, because it did not suit their party prejudices to call it right.\nThey were fancying themselves very religious and pious, and all the while\nthey did not know right when they saw it; and when the Lord came doing\nright, they called it wrong, because He did not agree with their\ndoctrines. They fancied they were the only people on earth who knew how\nto worship God perfectly; and yet while they pretended to worship Him,\nthey did not know what He was like. The Lord Jesus came down, the\nperfect likeness of God\u2019s glory, and the express pattern of His\ncharacter, helping, and healing, and delivering the souls and bodies of\nall poor wretches whom He met; and these Pharisees could not see God\u2019s\nSpirit in that; and because it was certainly not their own spirit, called\nit the spirit of a devil, and blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, the\nSpirit of Right and Love.\n\nThis was bigotry, the flower and crown of all sins into which man can\nfall; the worst of all sins, because a man may keep from every other sin\nwith all his might and main, as the Pharisees did, and yet be led by\nbigotry into almost every one of them without knowing it; into harsh and\nuncharitable judgment; into anger, clamour, and railing; into\nmisrepresentation and slander; and fancying that the God of truth needs\nthe help of their lying; perhaps, as has often happened, alas! already,\ninto devilish cruelty to the souls and bodies of men. The worst of all\nsins; because a man who has given up his heart to bigotry can have no\nforgiveness. He cannot; for how can a man be forgiven unless he repent?\nand how can a bigot repent? how can he confess himself in the wrong,\nwhile he fancies himself infallibly in the right? As the Lord said to\nthese very Pharisees: \u201cIf ye had been blind, ye had had no sin: but now\nye say We see; therefore your sin remaineth.\u201d\n\nHow can the bigot repent? for repenting is turning to God; and how can a\nman turn to God who does not know where to look for God, who does not\nknow who God is, who mistakes the devil for God, and fancies the\nall-loving Father to be a taskmaster, and a tyrant, and an accuser, and a\nrespecter of persons, without mercy or care for ninety-nine hundredths of\nthe souls which He has made? How can he find God? He does not know whom\nto look for.\n\nHow can the bigot repent? for to repent means to turn from wrong to\nright; and he has lost the very notion of right and wrong, in the midst\nof all his religion and his fine doctrines. He fancies that right does\nnot mean love, mercy, goodness, patience, but notions like his own; and\nthat wrong does not mean hatred, and evil-speaking, and suspicion, and\nuncharitableness, and slander, and lying, but notions unlike his own.\nWhat he agrees with he thinks is heavenly, and what he disagrees with is\nof hell. He has made his own god for himself out of himself. His own\nprejudices are his god, and he worships them right worthily; and if the\nLord were to come down on earth again, and would not say the words which\nhe is accustomed to say, it would go hard but he would crucify the Lord\nagain, as the Pharisees did of old.\n\nMy friends, there is too much of this bigotry, this blasphemy against\nGod\u2019s Spirit, abroad in England now. May God keep us all from it! Pray\nto Him night and day, to give you His Spirit, that you may not only be\nloving, charitable, full of good works yourselves, but may be ready to\npraise and enjoy a good, and loving, and merciful action, whosoever does\nit, whether he be of your religion or not; for nothing good is done by\nany living man without the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of the\nSpirit of God, the Father of lights, from whom comes down every good and\nperfect gift. And whosoever tries to escape from that great truth, when\nhe sees a man whose doctrines are wrong doing a right act, by imputing\nbad motives to him, or saying: \u201cHis actions must be evil, however good\nthey may look, because his doctrines are wrong,\u201d\u2014that man is running the\nrisk of committing the very same sin as the Pharisees, and blaspheming\nagainst the Holy Spirit, by calling good evil. And be sure, my friends,\nthat whosoever indulges, even in little matters, in hard judgments, and\nsuspicions, and hasty sneers, and loud railing, against men who differ\nfrom him in religion, or politics, or in anything else, is deadening his\nown sense of right and wrong, and sowing the seeds of that same state of\nmind, which, as the Lord told the Pharisees, is utterly the worst into\nwhich any human being can fall.\n\n\n\n\nXL.\nTHE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE.\n\n\n For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye\n have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba,\n Father.\u2014ROMANS viii. 15.\n\nSOME of you here may not understand this text at all. Some of you,\nperhaps, may misunderstand it; for it is not an easy one. Let us, then,\nbegin, by finding out the meaning of each word in it; and, let us first\nsee what is the meaning of the spirit of bondage unto fear. Bondage\nmeans slavery; and the spirit of bondage means the spirit which makes men\nlook up to God as slaves do to their taskmaster. Now, a slave obeys his\nmaster from fear only; not from love or gratitude. He knows that his\nmaster is stronger than he is, and he dreads being beaten and punished by\nhim; and therefore, he obeys him only by compulsion, not of his own good\nwill. This is the spirit of bondage; the slavish, superstitious spirit\nin religion, into which all men fall, in proportion as they are mean, and\nsinful, and carnal, fond of indulging themselves, and bearing no love to\nGod or right things. They know that God is stronger than they; they are\nafraid that God will take away comforts from them if they offend Him;\nthey have been taught that He will cast them into endless torment if they\noffend Him; and, therefore, they are afraid to do wrong. They love what\nis wrong, and would like to do it; but they dare not, for fear of God\u2019s\npunishment. They do not really fear God; they only fear punishment,\nmisfortune, death, and hell. That is better, perhaps, than no religion\nat all. But it is not the faith which _we_ ought to have.\n\nIn this way the old heathens lived: loving sin and not holiness, and yet\ncontinually tormented with the fear of being punished for the very sins\nwhich they loved; looking up to God as a stern taskmaster; fancying Him\nas proud, and selfish, and revengeful as themselves; trying one day to\nquiet that wrath of His which they knew they deserved, by all sorts of\nflatteries and sacrifices to Him; and the next day trying to fancy that\nHe was as sinful as themselves, and was well-pleased to see them sinful\ntoo. And yet they could not keep that lie in their hearts; God\u2019s light,\nwhich lights every man who comes into the world, was too bright for them,\nand shone into their consciences, and showed them that the wages of sin\nwas death. The law of God, St. Paul tells us, was written in their\nhearts; and how much soever, poor creatures, they might try to blot it\nout and forget it, yet it would rise up in judgment against them, day by\nday, night by night, convincing them of sin. So they in their terror\nsold themselves to false priests, who pretended to know of plans for\nhelping them to escape from this angry God, and gave themselves up to\nsuperstitions, till they even sacrificed their sons and their daughters\nto devils, in some sort of confused hope of buying themselves off from\nmisery and ruin.\n\nAnd in the same way the Jews lived, for the most part, before the Lord\nJesus came in the flesh of man. Not so viciously and wickedly, of\ncourse, because the law of Moses was holy, and just, and good; the law\nwhich the Lord Himself had given them, because it was the best for them\nthen; because they were too sinful, and slavish, and stupid, for anything\nbetter. But, as St. Paul says, Moses\u2019s law could not give them life, any\nmore than any other law can. That is, it could not make them righteous\nand good; it could not change their hearts and lives; it could only keep\nthem from outward wrong-doing by threats and promises, saying: \u201cThou\nshalt not.\u201d It could, at best, only show them how sinful their own\nhearts were; how little they loved what God commanded; how little they\ndesired what He promised; and so it made them feel more and more that\nthey were guilty, unworthy to look up to a holy God, deserving His anger\nand punishment, worthy to die for their sins; and thus by the law came\nthe knowledge of sin, a deeper feeling of guilt, and shame, and slavish\ndread of God, as St. Paul sets forth, with wonderful wisdom, in the\nseventh chapter of Romans.\n\nNow, let us consider the latter half of the text. \u201cBut ye have received\nthe Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.\u201d\n\nWhat is this adoption? St. Paul tells us in the beginning of the fourth\nchapter of his epistle to the Galatians. He says: As long as a man\u2019s\nheir is a child, and under age, there is no difference in law between him\nand a slave. He is his father\u2019s property. He must obey his father,\nwhether he chooses or not; and he is under tutors and governors, until\nthe time appointed by his father; that is, until he comes of age, as we\ncall it. Then he becomes his own master. He can inherit and possess\nproperty of his own after that. And from that time forth the law does\nnot bind him to obey his father; if he obeys him it is of his own free\nwill, because he loves, and trusts, and reverences his father.\n\nNow, St. Paul says, this is the case with us. When we were infants, we\nwere in bondage under the elements of the world; kept straight, as\nchildren are, by rules which they cannot understand, by the fear of\npunishment which they cannot escape, with no more power to resist their\nfather than slaves have to resist their master. But when the fulness of\ntime was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under a law,\nthat He might redeem those who were under a law, that we might receive\nthe adoption of sons.\n\nAs much as to say: You were God\u2019s _children_ all along: but now you are\nmore; you are God\u2019s sons. You have arrived at man\u2019s estate; you are men\nin body and in mind; you are to be men in spirit, men in life. You are\nto look up to the great God who made heaven and earth, and know, glorious\nthought! that He is as truly your Father as the men whose earthly sons\nyou call yourselves. And if you do this, He will give you the Spirit of\nadoption, and you shall be able to call Him Father with your hearts, as\nwell as with your lips; you shall know and feel that He is your Father;\nthat He has been loving, watching, educating, leading you home to Him all\nthe while that you were wandering in ignorance of Him, in childish\nself-will, and greediness after pleasure and amusement. He will give you\nHis Spirit to make you behave like His sons, to obey Him of your own free\nwill, from love, and gratitude, and honour, and filial reverence. He\nwill make you love what He loves, and hate what He hates. He will give\nyou clear consciences and free hearts, to fear nothing on earth or in\nheaven, but the shame and ingratitude of disobeying your Father.\n\nThe Spirit of adoption, by which you look up to God as your Father, is\nyour right. He has given it to you, and nothing but your own want of\nfaith, and wilful turning back to cowardly superstition, and to the\nwilful sins which go before superstition, and come after it, can take it\nfrom you. So said St. Paul to the Romans and the Galatians, and so I\nhave a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say to every man and woman in\nthis church this day.\n\nFor, my dear friends, if you ask me, what has this to do with us? Has it\nnot everything to do with us? Whether we are leading good lives, or\nmiddling lives, or utterly bad worthless lives, has it not everything to\ndo with us? Who is there here who has not at times said to himself: \u201cGod\nso holy, and pure, and glorious; while I am so unjust, and unclean, and\nmean! And God so great and powerful; while I am so small and weak! What\nshall I do? Does not God hate and despise me? Will He not take from me\nall which I love best? Will He not hurl me into endless torment when I\ndie? How can I escape from Him? Wretched man that I am, I cannot escape\nfrom Him! How, then, can I turn away His hate? How can I make Him\nchange His mind? How can I soothe Him and appease Him? What shall I do\nto escape hell-fire?\u201d\n\nDid you ever have such thoughts? But, did you find those thoughts, that\nslavish terror of God\u2019s wrath, that dread of hell, made you any _better_\nmen? I never did. I never saw them make any human being better. Unless\nyou go beyond them\u2014as far beyond them as heaven is beyond hell, as far\nabove them as a free son is above a miserable crouching slave, they will\ndo you more harm than good. For this is all that I have seen come of\nthem: That all this spirit of bondage, this slavish terror, instead of\nbringing a man nearer to God, only drove him further from God. It did\nnot make him hate what was wrong; it only made him dread the punishment\nof it. And then, when the first burst of fear cooled down, he began to\nsay to himself: \u201cI can never atone for my sins. I can never win back God\nto love me. What is done, is done. If I cannot escape punishment, let\nme be at least as happy as I can while it lasts. If it does not come\nto-day, it will come to-morrow. Let me alone, thou tormenting\nconscience. Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die!\u201d And so back\nrushed the poor creature into all his wrong-doing again, and fell most\nprobably deeper than ever into the mire, because a certain feeling of\ndesperation and defiance rose up in him, till he began to fancy that his\nterror was all a dream\u2014a foolish accidental rising up of old\nsuperstitious words which he learnt from his mother or his nurse; and he\ntried to forget it all, and did forget it\u2014God help him!\u2014and his latter\nend was worse than his first.\n\nHow then shall a man escape shame and misery, and an evil conscience, and\nrise out of these sins of his? For do it he must. The wages of sin is\ndeath\u2014death to body and soul; and from sin he must escape.\n\nThere is but one way, my friends. There never was but one way. Believe\nthe text, and therefore believe the warrant of your Baptism. Believe the\nmessage of your Confirmation.\n\nYour baptism says to you, God does _not_ hate you, be you the greatest\nsinner on earth. He does not hate you. He loves you; for you are His\nchild. He hateth nothing that He hath made. He willeth not the death of\na sinner, but that _all_ should come to be saved. And your baptism is\nthe sign of that to you. But God hates everything that He has not made;\nfor everything which He has not made is bad; and He has made all things\nbut sin; and therefore He hates sin, and, loving you, wishes to raise you\nout of sin; and baptism is the sign of that also. Man was made\noriginally in the image and likeness of God, and of Jesus Christ, the Son\nof Man, the express image of God the Father; and therefore everything\nwhich is sinful is unmanly, and everything which is truly manful, and\nworthy of a man, is like Jesus Christ; and God\u2019s will is, that you should\nrise out of all these unmanly sins, to a truly manful life\u2014a life like\nthe life of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. And baptism is God\u2019s sign of\nthis also. That is the meaning of the words in the Baptism Service which\ntell you that you were baptised into Jesus Christ, that you might put off\nthe old man\u2014the sinful, slavish, selfish, unmanly pattern of life, which\nwe all lead by nature; and put on the new man\u2014the holy and noble,\nrighteous and loving pattern of life, which is the likeness of the Lord\nJesus. That is the message of your baptism to you; that you are God\u2019s\nchildren, and that God\u2019s will and wish is that you should grow up to\nbecome His _sons_, to serve Him lovingly, trustingly, manfully; and that\nHe can and will give you power to do so\u2014ay, that He has given you that\npower already, if you will but claim it and use it. But you must claim\nit and use it, because you are meant not merely to be God\u2019s wilful,\nignorant, selfish children, obeying Him from mere fear of the rod; but to\nbe His willing, loving, loyal sons. And that is the message which\nConfirmation brings you. Baptism says: You are God\u2019s child, whether you\nknow it or not. Confirmation says: Yes; but now you are to know it, and\nto claim your rights as His sons, of full age, reasonable and\nself-governing.\n\nBaptism says: You are regenerated and born from above, by water and the\nHoly Spirit. Confirmation answers: True, most true; but there is no use\nin a child\u2019s being born, if it never comes to man\u2019s estate, but remains a\nstunted idiot.\n\nBaptism says: You may and ought to become more or less such a man as the\nLord Jesus was. Confirmation says: You can become such; for you are no\nlonger children; you are grown to man\u2019s estate in body, you can grow to\nman\u2019s estate in soul if you will. God\u2019s Spirit is with you, to show you\nall things in their true light; to teach you to value them or despise\nthem as you ought; to teach you to love what He loves, and hate what He\nhates. God wishes you no longer to be merely His children, obeying Him\nyou know not why; still less His slaves, obeying Him from mere brute\ncoward fear, and then breaking loose the moment that you forget Him, and\nfancy that His eye is not on you: but He wishes you to be His sons; to\nclaim the right and the power which He has given you to trample your sins\nunder foot; to rise up by the strength which God your Father will surely\ngive to those who ask Him; and so to be new men, free men, true men, who\ndo look boldly up to God, knowing that, however wicked they may have\nbeen, and however weak they are still, God\u2019s love belongs to them, God\u2019s\nhelp belongs to them, and that those who trust in Him shall never be\nconfounded, but shall go on from strength to strength to the measure of\nthe stature of a perfect man, to the noble likeness of the Lord Jesus\nChrist Himself.\n\nFor this is the message of the blessed sacrament of the body and blood of\nChrist, to which you have been all called this day. That sacrament tells\nyou that in spite of all your daily sins and failings, you can still look\nup to God as your Father; to the Lord Jesus Christ as your life; to the\nHoly Spirit as your guide and your inspirer; that though you be prodigal\nsons, your Father\u2019s house is still open to you, your Father\u2019s eternal\nlove ready to meet you afar off, the moment that you cry from your heart:\n\u201cFather, I have sinned;\u201d and that you must be converted and turn back to\nGod your Father, not merely once for all at Confirmation, or at any other\ntime, but weekly, daily, hourly, as often as you forget and disobey Him;\nand that he will receive you. This is the message of the blessed\nsacrament, that though you cannot come there trusting in your own\nrighteousness, you can come trusting in His manifold and great mercies;\nthat though you are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under\nHis table, yet He is the same Lord whose property is ever to have mercy;\nthat He will, as surely as He has appointed that sign of the bread and\nwine, grant you so to eat and drink that spiritual flesh and blood of the\nLord Jesus Christ, which is the life of the world, that your sinful\nbodies may be made clean by His body, and your souls washed in His most\nprecious blood, and that you may dwell in Him, and He in you, for ever.\n\n\n\n\nXLI.\nTHE FALL.\n\n\n As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so\n death passed on all men, for that all have sinned.\u2014ROMANS v. 12.\n\nWE have been reading the history of Adam\u2019s fall. With that fall we have\nall to do; for we all feel the fruits of it in the sinful corruptions\nwhich we bring into the world with us. And more, every fall which we\nhave is like Adam\u2019s fall: every time we fall into wilful sin, we do what\nAdam did, and act over again, each of us many times in our lives, that\nwhich he first acted in the garden of Paradise. At least, all mankind\nsuffer for something. Look at the sickness, death, bloodshed,\noppression, spite, and cruelty, with which the world is so full now, of\nwhich it has been full, as we know but too well from history, ever since\nAdam\u2019s time. The world is full of misery, there is no denying that. How\ndid that come? It must have come somehow. There must be some reason for\nall this sorrow. The Bible tells us a reason for it. If anyone does not\nlike the Bible reason, he is bound to find a better reason. But what if\nthe Bible reason, the story of Adam\u2019s fall, be the only rational and\nsensible explanation which ever has been, or ever will be given, of the\nway in which death and misery came among men?\n\nSome people will say: What puzzle is there in it? All animals die, why\nshould not man? All animals fight and devour each other, why should not\nman do so too? But why need we suppose that man is fallen? Why should\nhe not have been meant by nature to be just what he is? Some scholars\nwho fancy themselves wise, and think that they know better than the\nBible, will say that now, and pride themselves on having said a very fine\nthing; ignorant men, too, often are led into the same mistake, and are\nwilling enough to say: \u201cWhat if we are brutish, and savage, and ignorant,\nand spiteful, indulging ourselves, hating and quarrelling with each\nother? God made us what we are, and we cannot help it.\u201d But there is a\nvoice in the heart of every man, and just in proportion as a man is a\nman, and not a beast and a savage, that voice cries in his heart more\nloudly: No; God did not make you what you are. You are not meant to be\nwhat you are, but something better. You are not meant to fight and\ndevour each other as the animals do; for you are meant to be better than\nthey. You are not meant to die as the animals do; for you feel something\nin you which cannot die, which hates death. You may try to be a mere\nsavage and a beast, but you cannot be content to be so. And yet you feel\nready to fall lower, and get more and more brutish. What can be the\nreason? There must be something wrong about men, something diseased and\ncorrupt in them, or they would not have this continual discontent with\nthemselves for being no better than they are; this continual hankering\nand longing after some happiness, some knowledge, some good and noble\nstate which they do not see round them, and never have felt in\nthemselves. Man must have fallen, fallen from some good and right state\ninto which he was put at first, and for which he is hankering and craving\nnow. There must be an original sin in him; that is, a sin belonging to\nhis origin, his race, his breed, as we say, which has been handed down\nfrom father to son; an original sin as the church calls it. And I\nbelieve firmly that the heart of man, even among savages, bears witness\nto the truth of that doctrine, and confesses that we are fallen beings,\nlet false philosophers try as they will to persuade us that we are not.\n\nThen, again, there are another set of people, principally easy,\nwell-to-do, respectable people, who run into another mistake, the same\ninto which the Pelagians did in old time. They think: \u201cMan is not\nfallen. Every man is born into the world quite good enough, if he chose\nto remain good. Every man can keep God\u2019s laws if he likes, or at all\nevents keep them well enough.\u201d As for his having a sinful nature which\nhe got from Adam, they do not believe that really, though often they\nmight not like to say so openly. They think: \u201cAdam fell, and he was\npunished; and if I fall I shall be punished; but Adam\u2019s sin is nothing to\nme, and has not hurt me. I can be just as good and right as Adam was, if\nI like.\u201d That is a comfortable doctrine enough for easy-going well-to-do\nfolks, who have but few trials, and few temptations, and who love little\nbecause little has been forgiven them. But what comfort is there in that\nfor poor sinners, who feel sinful and base passions dragging them down,\nand making them brutish and miserable, and yet feel that they cannot\nconquer their sins of themselves, cannot help doing wrong, all the while\nthey know that it is wrong? They feel that they have something more in\nthem than a will and power to do what they choose. They feel that they\nhave a sinful nature which keeps their will and reason in slavery, and\nmakes sin a hard bondage, a miserable prison-house, from which they\ncannot escape. In short, they feel and know that they are fallen. Small\ncomfort, too, to every thinking man, who looks upon the great nations of\nsavages, which have lived, and live still, upon God\u2019s earth, and sees\nhow, so far from being able to do right if they choose, they go on from\nfather to son, generation after generation, doing wrong, more and more,\nwhether they like or not; how they become more and more children of\nwrath, given up to fierce wars, and cruel revenge, and violent passions,\nall their thought, and talk, and study, being to kill and to fight; how\nthey become more and more children of darkness, forgetting more and more\nthe laws of right and wrong, becoming stupid and ignorant, until they\nlose the very knowledge of how to provide themselves with houses,\nclothes, fire, or even to till the ground, and end in feeding on roots\nand garbage, like the beasts which perish. And how, too, long before\nthey fall into that state, death works in them. How, the lower they\nfall, and the more they yield to their original sin and their corrupt\nnature, they die out. By wars with each other; by murdering their own\nchildren, to avoid the trouble of rearing them; by diseases which they\nknow not how to cure, and which they too often bring on themselves by\ntheir own brutishness; by bad food, and exposure to the weather, they die\nout, and perish off the face of the earth, fulfilling the Lord\u2019s words to\nAdam: \u201cThou shalt surely die.\u201d I do not say that their souls go to hell.\nThe Bible tells us nothing of where they go to. God\u2019s mercy is\nboundless. And the Bible tells us that sin is not imputed where there is\nno law, as there is none among them. So we may have hope for them, and\nleave them in God\u2019s hand. But what can we hope for them who are utterly\ndead in trespasses and sins? Well for them, if, having fallen to the\nlikeness of the brutes, they perish with the brutes. I fancy if you, as\nsome may, ever go to Australia, and there see the wretched black people,\nwho are dying out there, faster and faster, year by year, after having\nfallen lower than the brutes, then you will understand what original sin\nmay bring a man to, what it would have brought us to, had not God in His\nmercy raised us and our forefathers up from that fearful down-hill\ncourse, when we were on it fifteen hundred years ago.\n\nAnd another thing which shows that these poor savages are not as God\nintended them to be, but are falling, generation after generation, by the\nworking of original sin, is, that they, almost all of them, show signs of\nhaving been better off long ago. Many, like the South Sea Islanders,\nhave curious arts remaining among them in spite of their brutish\nignorance, which they could only have learned when they were far more\nclever and civilised than they are now. And almost all of them have some\nsad remembrance, handed down from father to son, kept up in songs and\nfoolish tales, of having been richer, and more prosperous, and more\nnumerous, a long while ago. They will confess to you, if you ask them,\nthat they are worse than their fathers\u2014that they are going down, dying\nout\u2014that the gods are angry with them, as they say. The Lord have mercy\nupon them! But what is, to my mind, the most awful part of the matter\nremains yet to be told\u2014and it is this: That man may actually fall by\noriginal sin too low to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be\nrecovered again by it. For the negroes of Africa and the West Indies,\nthough they have fallen very low, have not fallen too low for the gospel.\nThey have still understanding left to take it in, and conscience, and\nsense of right and wrong enough left to embrace it; thousands of them do\nembrace it, and are received unto righteousness, and lead such lives as\nwould shame many a white Englishman, born and bred under the gospel.\n\nBut the black people in Australia, who are exactly of the same race as\nthe African negroes, cannot take in the gospel. They seem to have become\ntoo stupid to understand it; they seem to have lost the sense of sin and\nof righteousness too completely to care about it. All attempts to bring\nthem to a knowledge of the true God have as yet failed utterly. God\u2019s\ngrace is all-powerful; He is no respecter of persons; and He may yet, by\nsome great act of His wisdom, quicken the dead souls of these poor brutes\nin human shape. But, as far as we can see, there is no hope for them:\nbut, like the Canaanites of old, they must perish off the face of the\nearth, as brute beasts.\n\nI have said so much to show you that man is fallen; that there is\noriginal sin, an inclination to sin and fall, sink down lower and lower,\nin man. Now comes the question: What is this fall of man? I said that\nthe Bible tells us rationally enough. And I have also made use several\ntimes of words, which may have hinted to some of you already what Adam\u2019s\nfall was. I have spoken of the likeness of the beasts, and of men\nbecoming like beasts by original sin. And this is why I said it.\n\nIf you want to understand what Adam\u2019s fall was, you must understand what\nhe fell from, and what he fell to. That is plain.\n\nNow, the Bible tells us, that he fell from God\u2019s grace to nature.\n\nWhat is nature? Nature means what is born, and lives, and dies, and is\nparted and broken up, that the parts of it may go into some new shape,\nand be born and live, and die again. So the plants, trees, beasts, are a\npart of nature. They are born, live, die; and then that which was them\ngoes into the earth, or into the stomachs of other animals, and becomes\nin time part of that animal, or part of the tree or flower, which grows\nin the soil into which it has fallen. So the flesh of a dead animal may\nbecome a grain of wheat, and that grain of wheat again may become part of\nthe body of an animal. You all see this every time you manure a field,\nor grow a crop. Nature is, then, that which lives to die, and dies to\nlive again in some fresh shape. And, in the first chapter of Genesis,\nyou read of God creating nature\u2014earth, and water, and light, and the\nheavens, and the plants and animals each after their kind, born to die\nand change, made of dust, and returning to the dust again. But after\nthat we read very different words; we read that when God created man, He\nsaid:\n\n\u201cLet us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have\ndominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over\nthe cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that\ncreepeth upon the earth.\u201d He was made in God\u2019s likeness; therefore he\ncould only be right in as far as he was like God. And he could not be\nlike God if he did not will what God willed, and wish what God wished.\nHe was to live by faith in God; he was justified by faith in God, and by\nthat only.\n\nNever fancy that Adam had any righteousness of his own, any goodness of\nwhich he could say: \u201cThis is mine, part of me; I may pride myself on it.\u201d\nGod forbid. His righteousness consisted, as ours must, in looking up to\nGod, trusting Him utterly, believing that he was to do God\u2019s will, and\nnot his own. His spirit, his soul, as we call it, was given to him for\nthat purpose, and for none other, that it might trust in God and obey\nGod, as a child does his father. He had a free will; but he was to use\nthat will as we must use our wills, by giving up our will to God\u2019s will,\nby clinging with our whole hearts and souls to God.\n\nAdam fell. He let himself be tempted by a beast, by the serpent. How,\nwe cannot tell: but so we read. He took the counsel of a brute animal,\nand not of God. He chose between God and the serpent, and he chose\nwrong. He wanted to be something in himself; to have a knowledge and\npower of his own, to use it as he chose. He was not content to be in\nGod\u2019s likeness; he wanted to be as a god himself. And so he threw away\nhis faith in God, and disobeyed Him. And instead of becoming a god, as\nhe expected, he became an animal; he put on the likeness of the brutes,\nwho cannot look up to God in trust and love, who do not know God, do not\nobey Him, but follow their own lusts and fancies, as they may happen to\ntake them. Whether the change came on him all at once, the Bible does\nnot say: but it did come on him; for from him it has been handed down to\nall his children even to this day. Then was fulfilled against him the\nsentence, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Not\nthat he died that moment; but death began to work in him. He became like\nthe branch of a tree cut off from the stem, which may not wither at the\ninstant it is cut off, but it is yet dead, as we find out by its soon\ndecaying. He had come down from being a son of God, and he had taken his\nplace in nature, among the things which grow only to die; and death began\nto work in him, and in his children after him. He handed down his nature\nto his children as the animals do; his children inherited his faults, his\nweaknesses, his diseases, the seed of death which was in him, just as the\nanimals pass down to their breed, their defects, and diseases, and\ncertainty of dying after their appointed life is past.\n\nFor this, my friends, is the lesson which Adam\u2019s fall teaches us, that in\nGod alone is the life of immortal souls, whether of men, or of angels, or\nof archangels; and in God alone is righteousness; in God alone is every\ngood thing, and all good in men or angels comes from Him, and is only His\npattern, His likeness; and that the moment either man or angel sets up\nhis will against God\u2019s, he falls into sin, a lie, and death. That He has\ngiven us reasonable souls for that one purpose, that with our souls we\nmay look up to Him, with our souls we may cling to Him, with our souls we\nmay trust in Him, with our souls we may understand His will, and see that\nit is a good, and a right, and a loving will, and delight in it, and obey\nit, and find all our delight and glory, even as the Lord Jesus, the Son\nof Man, the New Adam, did, in doing not our own will, but the will of our\nFather.\n\nFor, as St. Augustine says, man may live in two ways, either according to\nhimself, or according to God; by self-will or by faith. He may determine\nto do his own will or to do God\u2019s will, to be his own master or to let\nGod be his master, to seek his own glory, and try to be something fine\nand grand in himself: or he may seek God\u2019s glory and obey Him, believing\nthat what God commands is the only good for him, what makes God to be\nhonoured in the eyes of his neighbours is the only real honour for him.\n\nBut, says St. Augustine, if he tries to live according to himself, he\nfalls into misery, because he was meant to live according to God. So he\nputs himself into a lie, into a false and wrong state; and because he has\ncut himself off from God he falls below what a man should be; and puts on\nmore and more of the likeness of the beast, and is more and more the\nslave of his own lusts, and passions, and fancies, as the dumb animals\nare. And, as St. Paul says, the animal man, the carnal man, understands\nnot the things of God. And we need no one to tell us that this is the\nstate of nature which we bring into the world with us. We feel it; from\nour very childhood, from the earliest time we can recollect, have we not\nhad the longing to do what we liked? to please ourselves, to pride\nourselves on ourselves, to set up our own wills against our parents,\nagainst what we learnt out of the Bible? Ay, has not this wilful will of\nours been so strong, that often we would long after a thing, we would\ndetermine to have it, only because we were forbidden to have it; we might\nnot care about the thing when we had it, but we would have our own way\njust because it was our own way. In short, like Adam, we would be as\ngods, knowing good and evil, and choosing for ourselves what we should\ncall good and what we shall call evil. And, my dear friends, consider:\ndid not every wrong that we ever did come from this one root of all\nsin\u2014determining to have our own way? That root-sin of self-will first\nbrought death and misery among mankind; that sin of self-will keeps it up\nstill: that sin of self-will it is which hinders sinners from giving\nthemselves up to God; and that sin must be broken through, or religion is\na mockery and a dream.\n\nOh my friends, say to yourselves once for all, I was made in God\u2019s\nlikeness; and therefore His will, and not my own, I must do. I have no\nwisdom of my own, no strength of mind of my own, no goodness of my own,\nno lovingness of my own. God has them all; God, who is wisdom, strength,\ngoodness, love; and I have none. And then, when the fearful thought\ncomes over you: \u201cI have no goodness, and I cannot have any. I cannot do\nright. There is no use struggling and trying to be better. My passions,\nmy lusts, my fancies are too strong for me. If I am brutish and low,\nbrutish and low I must remain. If I have fallen in Adam, I must lie in\nthe mire till I die\u2014\u201d\n\nThen, then, my friends, answer yourselves: \u201cNo! Not so. Man fell in the\nfirst Adam: but man rose again in the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.\nI belong no more to the old Adam, who fell in Paradise. I belong to the\nNew Adam, who was conceived without sin, and born of a pure virgin, who\nlived by perfect faith, in perfect obedience, doing His Father\u2019s will\nonly, even to the death upon the cross, wherein He took away the sins of\nthe whole world. And now for His sake my original sin, my fallen,\nbrutish nature, is forgiven me. God does not hate me for it. He loves\nme, because I belong to His Son. My baptism is a witness and a warrant,\na sign and a covenant between me and God, that I belong not to old Adam\nof Paradise, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at God\u2019s right hand.\nThe cross which was signed on my forehead when I was baptised is God\u2019s\nsign to me that I am to sacrifice myself and give up my own will to do\nGod\u2019s will, even as the Lord Jesus did when He gave Himself to die,\nbecause it was His Father\u2019s will. And because I belong to Jesus Christ,\nbecause God has called me to be His child, therefore He will help me. He\nwill help me to conquer this low, brutish nature of mine. He will put\nHis Spirit into me, the Spirit of His Son Jesus Christ, that I may trust\nHim, cry to Him, My Father! that I may love Him; understand His will, and\nsee how good, and noble, and beautiful, and full of peace and comfort it\nis; delight in obeying Him; glory in sacrificing my own fancies and\npleasures for His sake; and find my only honour, my only happiness, in\ndoing His will on earth as saints and angels do it in heaven.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXLII.\nGOD\u2019S COVENANTS.\n\n\n I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a\n covenant between me and the earth.\u2014GENESIS ix. 13.\n\nTHE text says that God made a covenant with Noah, and with his seed after\nhim\u2014that is, with all mankind; with us who sit here, and our children\nafter us, and with all human beings who will ever live upon the face of\nthe earth. God made a covenant with them. Now, what is a covenant? We\nsay that two men make a covenant with each other when they make a\nbargain, an agreement; in this way: If you will do this thing, then I\nwill do that; but if you will not do this thing, I will not do that. If\nyou do not keep to our agreement, I am free of it. If I do not do my\npart of the agreement, you are free. Is not that what we call a\ncovenant\u2014a bargain between two parties, which, if either party breaks it,\nbecomes null and void, and binds neither? Let us see whether God\u2019s\ncovenants with man are of this kind.\n\nDoes God say to Noah: \u201cIf you and your children are righteous, I will\nlook upon the rainbow, and remember my covenant: but if you and your\nchildren are unrighteous, I will not look on the rainbow, and I will\nbreak my covenant because you have broken it?\u201d We read no such words;\nGod made no conditions with Noah and his sons. Whether they forgot the\ncovenant or not, God would remember it. It was a covenant of free grace,\neven as all God\u2019s covenants are. Not a bargain, but a promise. \u201cBy\nMyself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that I will not fail David.\u201d By\nHimself He sware to Abraham: \u201cSurely blessing I will bless thee, and\nmultiplying I will multiply thee.\u201d That is the form of God\u2019s covenants.\nGod swears by Himself\u2014by God who cannot change. If God can change, then\nHis covenant can change. If God can fail Himself, then can He fail His\ncovenant to which He has sworn by Himself. If it had been a mere\nbargain, like men\u2019s bargains, and not a promise out of His absolute love,\nHis free grace, His boundless mercy, would He have sworn by Himself?\nNay, rather, He would have sworn by Abraham: \u201cBy thy obedience or\ndisobedience I swear to bless thee or curse thee.\u201d But He swore by\nHimself, the absolute, the unchangeable, the Giver whose name is Love.\n\nConsider now the token of the covenant which God gave to Noah. It was\nthe rainbow. What is the rainbow? Sunlight turned back to our eye,\nthrough drops of falling rain. What sign could be more simple? And yet\nwhat sign could be more perfect? Noah\u2019s sons would fear that another\nflood was coming, perhaps flood after flood. The token of the rainbow\nsaid to them, No. Floods and rain are not to be the custom of this\nearth. Sunshine is to be the custom of it. Do not fear the clouds and\nstorm and rain; look at the bow in the cloud, in the very rain itself.\nThat is a sign that the sun, though you cannot see it, is shining still.\nThat up above, beyond the cloud, is still sunlight, and warmth, and\ncloudless blue sky. Believe in God\u2019s covenant. Believe that the sun\nwill conquer the clouds, warmth will conquer cold, calm will conquer\nstorm, fair will conquer foul, light will conquer darkness, joy will\nconquer sorrow, life conquer death, love conquer destruction and the\ndevouring floods; because God is light, God is love, God is life, God is\npeace and joy eternal and without change, and labours to give life, and\njoy, and peace, to man and beast and all created things. This was the\nmeaning of the rainbow. Not a sudden or strange token, a miracle, as men\ncall it, like as some voice out of the sky, or fiery comet, might have\nbeen; but a regular, orderly, and natural sign, to witness that God is a\nGod of order. Whenever there was a rainy day there might be a rainbow.\nIt came by the same laws by which everything else comes in the world. It\nwas a witness that God who made the world is the friend and preserver of\nman; that His promises are like the everlasting sunshine which is above\nthe clouds, without spot or fading, without variableness or shadow of\nturning.\n\nAnd do you fancy, my friends, that the new covenant, the covenant which\nGod made with all mankind in the blood of His only-begotten Son, is\nnarrower or weaker than the covenant which He made with Noah, Abraham,\nand David? He asked no conditions from them. Do you think He asks them\nfrom us? He called them by free grace. Do you think He calls us by\nanything less? He swore by Himself to them. How much more has He sworn\nby Himself to us? He who was born, and died, and rose again for us, who\nnow sits at the right hand of the Father, very Man of the substance of a\nhuman mother, yet very God of very God begotten.\n\nHis covenants of old stood true and faithful, however disobedient and\nunfaithful men might be; as it is written: \u201cI have sworn once for all by\nmy holiness, that I will not fail David.\u201d And those words, the New\nTestament declares to us, again and again, are true of the new covenant,\nand fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, into whose name we are baptized.\nYes; into whose name we are baptized. There is the sign of the new\ncovenant; of a covenant of free grace. Therefore we can bring our\nchildren to be baptized as we were baptized ourselves, before they have\ndone either good or evil, for a sign that God\u2019s love is over them, God\u2019s\nkingdom is their inheritance, God\u2019s love their everlasting portion.\n\nBut we may fall from grace; and then what good will our baptism be to us?\nWe shall be lost, just as if we had never been baptized.\n\nMy friends, if, though the sun was shining in the sky, you shut your eyes\nclose, and kept out the light, what use would the sunlight be to you?\nYou would stumble, and fall, and come to harm, as certainly as in the\ndarkest night. But would the sun go out of the sky, my friends, because\nyou were unwise enough to shut your eyes to it? The sun would still be\nthere, shining as bright as ever. You would have only to be reasonable\nand to open your eyes, and you would see your way again as well as ever.\n\nSo it is with holy baptism. In it we were made members of Christ,\nchildren of God, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. God\u2019s love is\nabove us and around us, like a warm, bright, life-giving sun. We may\nshut our eyes to it, but it is there still. We may disbelieve our\nbaptism covenant, but it is true still. We are children of God; and\nnothing that we can do, no sin, no unfaithfulness of ours, can make us\nanything else. We can no more become not God\u2019s children, than a child\ncan become not his own father\u2019s son. But this we can do by sinning, by\ndisbelieving that we are God\u2019s children, by behaving as the devil\u2019s\nchildren when we are God\u2019s; we can believe ourselves not God\u2019s children\nwhen we are; we can try to be what we are not; we can enter into a lie,\nand into the misery to which all lies lead; we can walk in darkness, and\nstumble, and fall, when all the while we are children of the light, and\nhave only to open our eyes to walk in the light. Ay, we can shut our\neyes to the light so long, that at last we forget that there is any light\nat all; and that is the gate of hell. We may wrap ourselves up in our\nselfishness, in selfish pleasures, selfish cunning, selfish covetousness,\nand selfish pride, till we forget that there is anything better for us\nthan selfishness, till we forget that God is love, and that we His\nchildren are meant to be loving even as He is loving; and that also is\nthe gate of hell. And worst and darkest of all, when in that stupid,\nsinful, loveless state of mind, God\u2019s loving Spirit still strives and\npleads with us, and tries to awaken us, and terrify us with the sight of\nthe everlasting misery and ruin into which we have thrown ourselves, we\nmay turn those pleadings of God\u2019s Spirit, by our own evil wills, into a\ndarker curse than all which have gone before. We may refuse to believe\nthat God is love, and fancy Him as hard, and cruel, and proud, and\nspiteful, and unloving as we ourselves are. We may refuse, though\nScripture, Prayer-book, sacraments, preachers, assure us of it, that God\nis our Father still; and deny His covenant of baptism, and blaspheme His\nholy name, by fancying Him our tyrant and taskmaster, who hates us, and\nwilleth the death of a sinner, and has pleasure in the death of him that\ndieth. And then we may behave according to the lie which we ourselves\nhave invented, and all sorts of inventions of our own to escape God\u2019s\nwrath, when, in reality, it is He who is wishing to turn His wrath away\nfrom us; and to win back His favour, when, in reality, it is not we who\nare out of favour with Him, but He who is out of favour with us, who\ndread Him and shrink from Him; we may try to deliver ourselves from Him,\nwhen all the while it is He, the very God whom we are dreading and flying\nfrom, who alone is able and willing to deliver us; and with all our\nfears, and self-tormentings, and faithless terrors, and blasphemings of\nGod by fancying Him the very opposite to what He has declared Himself, we\nshall get no peace of conscience, no deliverance from sins, or from the\nfear of punishment, but only a fearful and fiery looking forward to\njudgment, which is hell. That is superstition; hell on earth; when men\nhave so utterly forgotten the likeness of God, which He manifested in His\nSon Jesus Christ, that they look on Him as a stern and dreadful\ntaskmaster, a tyrant, and not a deliverer. Hell on earth, which may and\nmust lead to hell hereafter; a hell of fear, and doubt, and hatred of Him\nwho is all lovely; the hell whereof it is written, that its worst torment\nis being cast out from the sight of God: unless the hapless sinner opens\nhis eye and believes the covenant of his baptism, and sees that God\ncannot lie, God cannot change, cannot break His covenant, cannot alter\nHis love; that though he have left his Father\u2019s house, and wandered into\nfar countries, and wasted his Father\u2019s substance in riotous living, he is\nstill his Father\u2019s son, his Father\u2019s house is still where it was from the\nbeginning, his Father\u2019s heart still what it was from the beginning; and\nso arises and goes back to his Father\u2019s house, confessing that he is no\nmore worthy to be called His son, willing to be only as one of His hired\nservants; and then\u2014sees not the stern countenance, the cruel punishments\nwhich he dreaded: but\u2014\u201cWhile he was yet afar off, his Father saw him, and\nran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him!\u201d\n\nAnd if, in our sins, our only hope of comfort, and peace, and strength,\nlies in remembering our baptismal covenant, and being sure and certain\nthat though we have changed, God has not; that though we are dark, God\u2019s\nlove shines bright and clear for ever, how much more when the dark day of\naffliction comes? Why should I speak of this and that affliction? Each\nheart knows its own bitterness; each soul has its own sorrow; each man\u2019s\nlife has its dark days of storm and tempest, when all his joys seem flown\naway by some sudden blast of ill-fortune, and the desire of his eyes is\ntaken from him, and all his hopes and plans, all which he intended to do\nor to enjoy, are hid with blinding mist, so that he cannot see his way\nbefore him, and knows not whither to go, and whither to flee for help;\nwhen faith in God seems broken up for the moment, when he feels no\nstrength, no will, no purpose, and knows not what to determine, what to\ndo, what to believe, what to care for; when the very earth seems reeling\nunder his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are broken up: then let\nhim think of God\u2019s covenant, and take heart; let him think of his\nbaptism, and be at peace. Is the sun\u2019s warmth perished out of the sky,\nbecause the storm is cold with hail and bitter winds? Is God\u2019s love\nchanged, because we cannot feel it in our trouble? Is the sun\u2019s light\nperished out of the sky, because the world is black with cloud and mist?\nHas God forgotten to give light to suffering souls, because we cannot see\nour way for a few short days of perplexity?\n\nFor this is the gospel, this is the message which we have received from\nGod, to preach to every sad and desolate heart on earth, that God is\nlight, and in Him is no darkness at all. That God is love, and in Him\nthere is no cruelty at all. That God is one, and in Him there is no\nchange at all. And therefore, we all, the most ignorant of us as well as\nthe wisest, the most sinful of us as well as the holiest, the saddest and\nmost wretched of us as well as the happiest, have a right to join in that\nLitany which is offered up here thrice every week during the time of\nLent, and to call upon God to deliver us and all mankind, not merely\nbecause we wish to be delivered from evil, but because God wishes to\ndeliver us from evil. If we pray that Litany in any dark dread of God,\nin doubt of His love and goodwill towards us, like terrified slaves\ncrying out to a hard taskmaster, and entreating him not to torment them,\nwe do not pray that Litany aright; we do not pray it at all. For it asks\nGod not to leave us alone, but to come to us; not to stop punishing us,\nbut actually Himself to deliver us, to defend us, to set us free.\nTherefore it begins by calling on God the Father, because He is our\nFather; on God the Son, because He has already redeemed and bought us for\nHis own; on God the Holy Spirit, because He has been striving with our\nwilful hearts from our youth up till now, lovingly desiring to teach us,\nto change us, to sanctify us. Therefore it calls on the holy, blessed,\nand glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God, because the Son does not\nlove us better than the Father does, or than the Holy Spirit does, but in\nthe life and death of the Man Christ Jesus, whom we call on to deliver us\nby His birth, His baptism, His death, His resurrection, by all that His\nmanhood did and suffered here on earth, in His life and death, I say,\nwere shown forth bodily the glory, and condescension, and love, and\ngoodwill of the fulness of the Godhead, of all three Persons of the one\nand undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Therefore we may\npray boldly to Him to spare us, because we know that we are already His\npeople, already redeemed with his most precious blood, already declared\nby holy baptism to be bound to Him in an everlasting covenant. Therefore\nwe may pray boldly to Him not to be angry with us for ever, because we\nknow that He desires to bless us for ever, if we will only let Him; if we\nwill only let His love have free course, and not shut our hearts to it,\nand turn our backs upon it. Therefore we can ask Him to deliver us in\nall time of our tribulation and misery; in all time of the still more\ndangerous temptations which wealth and prosperity bring with them; in the\nhour of death, whether of our own death or the death of those we love; in\nthe day of judgment, whereof it is written: \u201cIt is God who justifieth us,\nwho is he that condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea rather who is\nrisen again, who even now maketh intercession for us.\u201d To that boundless\nlove of God which He showed forth in the life of Christ Jesus; to that\nutter and perfect will to deliver us, which God showed forth in the death\nof Christ Jesus, when the Father spared not His only-begotten Son, but\nfreely gave Him for us; to that boundless love we may trust ourselves,\nour fortunes, our families, our bodies, our souls, the souls of those we\nlove. Trusting in that great love, we may pray in that Litany for\ndeliverance; to be delivered from distress and accidents, from all sins\nwhich drag us down, and make us miserable, ashamed, confused, terrified,\nselfish, hateful, and hating each other. We may pray to be delivered\nfrom evil, because God is righteousness, and hates evil. We may pray to\nbe delivered from our sins, because God is righteousness, and hates our\nsins. We may pray for the Queen, her ministers, her parliament, because\nGod\u2019s love and care is over them; for all orders and ranks of men,\nwhether laymen or clergymen, high or low, in God\u2019s holy church; for all\nwho are afflicted and desolate; for all who are wandering in ignorance,\nand mistakes, and sin; ay, for all mankind, for God loves them all, the\nSon of God has bought them all with His most precious blood. And however\ndark, and sad, and sinful the world may seem around us; however dark, and\nsad, and sinful our own hearts may be within us, we may find comfort in\nthat Litany, and pour out in it our sorrows and our fears, if we begin\nonly as it begins, with the thought of God who is righteousness, God who\nis love, God who is the Deliverer. And then, as the rainbow reflects the\nsunbeams for a sign and token that the sun is shining, though we see it\nnot; so will that blessed Litany, with its sacred name of God, its calls\nto Him who was born of the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius\nPilate; its entreaties to God to deliver us, because He is a deliverer;\nto hear us, and send us good, because He is a good Lord Himself; its\nremembrances of the noble works which God did in our fathers\u2019 days, and\nin the old time before them; its noble declaration that God does not\ndespise the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of a humble\nspirit, and that it is the very glory of His name to turn from us those\nevils which we most justly have deserved\u2014that Litany, I say, will be like\na rainbow declaring to our dark and stormy hearts that the sun is shining\nstill above the clouds; that over and above us, and all mankind, and all\nthe changes and chances of this mortal life, is the still bright\nsunshine, the life-giving warmth of the Sun of Righteousness, the\nabsolute eternal love of our Father who is in heaven, who, as he has\ndeclared by the mouth of His only-begotten Son, is perfect in this, that\nHe does not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our\niniquities, but is good to the unthankful and the evil, sending His rain\nalike upon the just and on the unjust, and making His sun to shine alike\nupon the evil and the good.\n\n\n\n\nXLIII.\nTHE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.\n\n\n Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,\n justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles,\n believed on in the world, received up into glory.\u20141 TIMOTHY iii. 16.\n\nST. PAUL here sums up in one verse the whole of Christian truth. He\ngives us in a few words what he says is the great mystery of godliness.\n\nNow, men had been inventing for themselves all kinds of mysteries of\ngodliness; all sorts of mysterious and wonderful notions about God; all\nsorts of mysterious and strange ceremonies, and ways of pleasing God, or\nturning away His anger.\n\nAnd Christian men are apt to do so also, as well as those old heathens.\nThey feel that they are very mysterious and wonderful beings themselves,\nsimply because they are men. They say to themselves: \u201cHow strange that I\nshould have a body of flesh and blood, and appetites and passions, like\nthe animals, and yet that I should have an immortal spirit in me. How\nstrange this notion of duty which I have, and which the other animals\nhave not; this notion of its being right to do some things, and wrong to\ndo others! From whence did that notion come? And again, this strange\nnotion which I have, and cannot help having, that I ought to be like God:\nand yet I do not know what God is like. From whence did that notion\ncome?\u201d\n\nAgain: \u201cI fancy that God ought to be good. But how do I know that He\nreally is good? I see the world full of injustice, and misery, and\ndeath. How do I know that this is not God\u2019s doing, God\u2019s fault in some\nway?\u201d\n\nAgain, says a man to himself: \u201cI have a fair right to believe that\nmankind are not the only persons in the universe\u2014that there are other\nbeings beside God whom I cannot see. I call them angels. I hardly know\nwhat I mean by that. The really important question about them to me is:\nWill they do me harm? Can they do me good? Are they stronger than\nI?\u2014Ought I not to fear them, to try to please them, to keep them\nfavourable to me?\u201d\n\nAgain, he asks: \u201cDoes God care whether I know what is right? Does God\ncare to teach me about Himself? Is God desirous that I should do my\nduty? For if He does not care about my being good, why should I care\nabout it?\u201d\n\nAgain, he asks: \u201cBut if I knew my duty, might I not find it something too\nfar-fetched, too difficult, for poor simple folk to do: so that I should\nbe forced to leave a right life to great scholars, and to rich people, or\nto people of a very devout delicate temper of mind, who have a natural\nturn that way?\u201d\n\nAnd last of all: \u201cEven if I did struggle to do right; even if I gave up\neverything for the sake of doing right; how do I know that it will profit\nme to do so? I shall die as every man dies, and then what will become of\nme? Shall I be a man still, or only\u2014horrible thought!\u2014some sort of empty\nghost, a spirit without body, of which I dream, and shudder while I dream\nof it?\u201d\n\nMen in all ages, heathens and Christians, have been puzzled by such\nthoughts as these, as soon as they began to feel that there was a world\nwhich they could not see, as well as a world which they could see; a\nspiritual world, wherein God the Spirit, and their own spirits, and\nspiritual things, such as right, wrong, duty, reason, love, dwell for\never; and a strange hidden duty on all men to obey that unseen God, and\nthe laws of that spiritual world; in short a mystery of godliness.\n\nThen they have tried to answer these questions for themselves; and have\nrun thereby into all manner of follies and superstitions, and often, too,\ninto devilish cruelties, in the hope of pleasing God according to some\nmystery of godliness of their own invention.\n\nBut to each of these puzzles St. Paul gives an answer in the text. Let\nus take them each in its order, and you will see what I mean.\n\nThe first puzzle was: How is it that while I am like the animals in some\nthings, and yet feel as if I ought to be, and can be, like God in other\nthings? How is it that I feel two powers in me; one dragging me downward\nto make me lower than the beasts, the other lifting me upwards\u2014I dare not\nthink whither? It seems to me to be my body, my bodily appetites and\ntempers which drag me down. Is my body me, part of me, or a thing I\nshould be ashamed of, and long to be rid of? I fancy that I can be like\nGod. But can my body be like God? Must I not crush it, neglect it, get\nrid of it before I can follow the good instinct which draws me upward?\n\nTo which St. Paul told Timothy to answer: God was manifest in the flesh.\nGod sent down His only-begotten Son, co-equal and co-eternal with\nHimself, very God of very God, the very same person who had been putting\ninto men\u2019s minds those two notions of which we spoke, that there is a\nright and a wrong, and that men ought to be like God; Him the Father sent\ninto the world that He might be born, and live, and die, and rise again,\nas a man; that so men might see from His example, manifestly and plainly,\nwhat God was like, and what man ought to be like. And so Jesus Christ\nwas God, manifested in the flesh.\n\nNow we do know what God is like. We know that He is so like man, that He\ncan take upon Him man\u2019s flesh and blood without changing, or lowering, or\ndefiling Himself. That proves that man must have been originally made in\nGod\u2019s likeness; that man\u2019s being fallen, means man\u2019s falling from the\nlikeness of God, and taking up instead with the likeness of the brutes\nwhich perish; that the fault cannot be in our bodies, but in our spirits\nwhich have yielded to our bodies, and become their slaves instead of\ntheir masters, as Christ\u2019s Spirit was master of His body. But the Son of\nGod, by being born and living as a man, showed us that we are not fallen\npast hope, not fallen so low that we cannot rise again. He showed that\nthough mankind are sinful, yet they need not be sinful; for He was a man\nas exactly, and perfectly, and entirely as we are, and yet in Him was no\nsin. So He showed that brutishness and sinfulness is not our proper\nstate, but our disease and our fall; and a disease of which we can be\ncured, a fall out of which we can rise and be renewed into the true and\nreal pattern of mankind, the new Adam, Jesus the sinless Son of Man and\nSon of God.\n\nThe next question, I said, that rose in men\u2019s mind was: \u201cHow do I know\nthat God is good, as I fancy sometimes that He must be? I see the world\nfull of sin, and injustice, and misery, and death. Perhaps that is God\u2019s\ndoing, God\u2019s fault.\u201d That is a common puzzle enough, and a sad and\nfearful one. The sin and the misery and the death are here. If God did\nnot bring it here, yet why did He let it come here? He could have\nstopped if He would, and kept out all this wretchedness: why did He not?\nWas He just or loving in letting sin into the world?\n\nTo all which St. Paul answers: \u201cGod was justified in the Spirit.\u201d\n\nYou do not see what that has to do with it? Then let me show you.\n\nTo be justified means to be shown and proved to be just, righteous. Now\nwhat justified God to man was the Spirit of God, as He showed Himself in\nthe Lord Jesus Christ. For when God became man and dwelt among men, what\nsort of works were His? What was His conduct, His character; of what\nsort of spirit did He show Himself to be? He went, we read, doing good,\nfor God was with Him. Not of His own will, but to do His Father\u2019s will,\nand because He was filled without measure by the Spirit of God, He did\ngood, He healed the sick, He rebuked the proud and self-conceited\nhypocrite, He proclaimed pardon and mercy to the broken-hearted sinner,\nwearied and worn out by the burden of his sins. Thus, in every action of\nHis life, He was fighting against evil and misery, and conquering it; and\nso showing that God hates evil and misery, and that the evil and the\nmisery in the world are here against God\u2019s will. Strange as it may seem\nto have to say it, so it is. Jesus Christ showed that howsoever sin and\nsorrow came into the world, it is God\u2019s will and purpose to root them out\nof the world, and that He is righteous, He is loving, He is merciful, He\ndoes and will fight against evil, for those who are crushed by it; and\nhelp poor sufferers always when they call upon Him, and often, often, of\nHis most undeserved condescension and free grace, when they are\nforgetting and disobeying Him. And so by the good, and loving, and just\nspirit which Jesus showed, God was justified before men, and showed to be\na God of goodness and justice.\n\nThe next puzzle, I said, was about angels and spirits, whether we need to\npray to them to help us, and not to hurt us. St. Paul answers: God, when\nHe was manifested in the flesh of a man, was seen by these angels. And\nthat is enough for us. They saw the Lord God condescend to be born in a\nstable, to live as a poor man, to die on the cross. They saw that His\nwill to man was love. And they do His will. And therefore they love\nmen, they help men, they minister to men, because they follow the Lord\u2019s\nexample, and do the will of their Father in Heaven, even as we ought to\ndo it on earth. Therefore we have no need to fear them, for they love us\nalready. And, on the other hand, we have no need to pray to them to help\nus, for they know already that it is their duty to help us. They know\nthat the Son of God has put on us a higher honour than He ever put on\nthem; for He took not on Him the nature of angels, He took on Him the\nnature of man; and thus, though man was made a little lower than the\nangels, yet by Christ\u2019s taking man\u2019s nature, man is crowned with a glory\nand honour higher than the angels. Know ye not, says St. Paul, that we\nshall judge angels? And the angels, as they told St. John, are our\nfellow-servants, not our masters; and they know that; for they saw the\nSon of God doing utterly His Father\u2019s will, and therefore they know that\ntheir duty is to do their Father\u2019s will also; not to do their own wills,\nand set themselves up as our masters, to be pleaded with by us. They saw\nthe Son of God take our nature on Him, when they sang to the shepherds on\nthe first Christmas night: \u201cPeace on earth, and good-will toward men;\u201d\nand therefore they look on us with love and honour, because we wear the\nhuman nature which Christ their Master wore, and are partakers of the\nHoly Spirit of God, even as they are. For no angel or archangel could do\na right thing, any more than we, except by the Holy Spirit of God. And\nthat Holy Spirit is bestowed on the poorest man who asks for it, as\nfreely as upon the highest of the heavenly host.\n\nAnd this leads us on to the next puzzle of which I spoke: Men were apt,\nand are apt now, to say to themselves: Does God care whether I know what\nis right? Does God care to teach me about Himself? Is God desirous that\nI should do my duty? For if He does not care about my being good, why\nshould I care about it?\n\nTo this St. Paul answers: \u201cGod, who was manifest in the flesh, was\npreached to the Gentiles.\u201d\n\nGod does care that men should know about God; for He loves them. He\nyearns after them as a father after his children, and He knows that to\nknow God, to know the truth about God, is the beginning of all wisdom,\nthe root of all safety and honour and happiness. He willeth not that any\nshould perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth.\nAnd, therefore, when the Son of God died for our sins, He did not stop at\nthat great deed of love; but He ordained Apostles, and put upon them\nespecially and above all men, His Holy Spirit, that they might go and\npreach to all nations the good news that God had become flesh, and dwelt\namong men, and borne their sorrows and infirmities, and to baptize them\ninto the very name of God itself, into the name of the Father, and of the\nSon, and of the Holy Ghost; that so, instead of fancying now that God did\nnot care for them, they might be sure that God so longed to teach them,\nthat He called every child, even from its cradle, to come into His\nkingdom, and be taught the whole mystery of godliness.\n\nThe next puzzle I mentioned was: \u201cBut this right life, this mystery of\ngodliness, is it not something very strange and difficult, and past the\nunderstanding of simple men who are not extraordinarily clever and\nlearned scholars or deep philosophers?\u201d To that St. Paul answers: No.\nIt is not past any man. It is not too deep or too difficult for the\nsimplest, the most unlearned countryman. For, says St. Paul in the text,\nwe Apostles have had proof of that; we have tried it; we Apostles\npreached the mystery of godliness, and it was believed on in the world.\nPeople of the world, plain working men and women going about their\nworldly business, who had no time to be great readers, or great thinkers,\nor to shut themselves up in monasteries to meditate on heavenly things,\nbut had to live and work in the commonplace, busy, workday world\u2014they\nbelieved our message. We Apostles told them that the Son of God had\nshowed Himself in the likeness of man, and called on every man to repent,\nand to be such a man as He was. And worldly people believed us, and\ntried, and found that without giving up their worldly work, or deserting\nthe station in which God had put them, they could live godlike lives, and\nbecome the sons of God without rebuke. They saw that scholarship was not\nwanted, leisure was not wanted, but only the humble heart which hungers\nand thirsts after righteousness. About their daily work, by their\ncottage firesides, among their poor neighbours, the Spirit of Almighty\nGod gave them strength to live as Jesus their pattern lived; He filled\nthem with all holy, pure, noble, brave, loving thoughts and feelings, fit\nfor angels and archangels. He enabled them to rise out of their sins, to\ntrample their temptations under foot, to leave their old low brutish\nsinful way of life behind them, and become new men, and persevere in\nevery word, and thought, and action, in virtues such as the greatest\nheathen sages could not copy; ay, even to shed their life-blood freely\nand boldly in martyrdom, for the sake of God and the truth of God. They,\nthese plain simple people, living in the world, could still live the life\nof God, and die like heroes for the sake of God.\n\nAnd this again brings us to the last puzzle of which I spoke: \u201cBut what\nbecame of those holy and godlike people when they died? What reward did\nthey receive for all they had done, and given up, and suffered? What\nwill become of us after we die? What will the next world be like? What\nis heaven like? Shall I be able to enjoy it? Shall I be a man there, or\nonly a ghost, a spirit without a body?\u201d\n\nTo this St. Paul answers: That Christ, the Son of God, after He was\nmanifested in the flesh, was received up into glory. He does not tell us\nwhat heaven is like; for though he had been caught up into the third\nheaven, yet what he saw there, he says, was unspeakable. He neither\nought to tell, or could tell, what he saw. Neither does St. Paul tell us\nwhat the next life will be like; for as far as we can find, God had not\ntold him. All he says is: The man Christ Jesus, who walked this earth\nlike other men, was received up into glory; and He did not leave His\nman\u2019s mind, His man\u2019s heart, even His man\u2019s body, behind Him. He carried\nup into heaven with Him His whole manhood, spirit, soul, and body, even\nto the print of the nails in His hands and in His most holy feet, and the\nwound of the spear in His most holy side. And that is enough for us.\nBecause the man Christ Jesus is in heaven, we as men may ascend to\nheaven. Where He is we shall be. And what He is, in as far as He is\nman, we shall be. What we shall be we know not; but this we know, that\nwe shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And He is a man\nstill; for it is written: \u201cThere is one Mediator between God and man, the\nman Christ Jesus.\u201d And He will be a man at the day of judgment; for it\nis written that: \u201cGod hath ordained a day in which He will judge the\nworld by a man whom He hath chosen.\u201d And He will be a man for ever; for\nit is written: \u201cThis man abideth for ever.\u201d And He Himself said to His\ndisciples: \u201cI will not drink of this fruit of the vine, till I drink it\nnew with you in the kingdom of my Father.\u201d And again He declared, even\nwhen he was on earth, that He was the Son of Man who is in heaven. And\nin heaven nothing can grow less. But if Christ were not man for ever as\nwell as God, He would become less; for He is now God and man also at\nonce; but if He laid down His manhood, and so became not man any more,\nbut God only, He would become less, which is not to be believed of Him of\nwhom it is written: That Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and\nfor ever. For, as the Athanasian creed teaches us, He is not God alone,\nnor man alone, but God and man is one Christ; and therefore, when St.\nJohn declares that Christ shall reign for ever and ever, he declares that\nHe shall reign not only as God, but as man also. Therefore whatever we\ndo not know about the next life, we know this, that we shall be men\nthere; not sinful, weak, and mortal, as we are here, but holy, strong,\nimmortal, after the likeness of our Lord, the firstborn from the dead,\nwho has ascended up on high and raised our human nature to the heaven of\nheavens, and is gone to prepare a place for us, into which we too shall\nenter in that day when He shall change these mortal and fallen bodies\nwhich we now wear, the bodies of our humiliation, the bodies by wearing\nwhich we are now a little lower than the angels; them the Lord will\nchange, that they may be made like unto His glorious body, according to\nthe mighty working whereby He subdueth all things unto Himself, that we\nmay see Him face to face, and dwell with Him in the glory of God the\nFather for ever.\n\nOh my friends, who is sufficient for these things? What shall we say of\nman? Is he not indeed fearfully and wonderfully made? Here we are, weak\ncreatures, more liable to disease and death than the dumb beasts round\nus; full of poverty, and adversity, and longings which are never\nsatisfied; our minds full of mistakes, our hearts full of false conceit,\nfull of spite and folly, struggles, murmurings, quarrellings; our\nconsciences full of the remembrance of sins without number. The greatest\nof all heathen poets said, that there was not a more miserable and\npitiable animal upon the earth than man. He knew no better. He could\nnot know better. How could he, when God had not yet been manifest in the\nflesh? How could he dream that the Lord God would condescend to be made\nflesh, and dwell among us, and show man His glory, the glory of the\nonly-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth\u2014how could he dream\nthat? And more than all, how could he dream that God, instead of\nthrowing away our human nature when He rose again, as if it was too great\na degradation for Him to be a man one moment more, should condescend to\ntake up His human nature, His man\u2019s body, soul, and spirit, with Him into\neverlasting glory, that He might feed with it for ever the bodies and\nsouls of those who trust in Him, so as to make them fit for us at the\nlast day, to share in His everlasting life? The old heathen poet knew as\nwell as you or I that there was an everlasting life beyond the grave;\nthat men\u2019s souls were immortal, and could not die: but the thought of it\nwas all dark, and dreary, and uncertain to him and to all mankind, till\nthe Son of God brought life and immortality to light, when He was\nmanifest in the flesh.\n\nWonderful mystery of godliness! Wonderful love of God to man! Wonderful\ncondescension of God to man! Still more wonderful patience of God to\nman!\n\nOh you who live still in sin, when the Son of God died and rose again to\nmake you righteous; you who defile your bodies with sins worse than the\nbrutes, when the Son of God offers to raise those bodies of yours to be\nequal with the angels; how shall you escape if you neglect so great\nsalvation; if you despise this unspeakable love; if you trample under\nfoot, like swine, the everlasting glory and happiness which God offers\nyou freely, without fee or price, for the sake of His only-begotten Son,\nJesus Christ, who died to buy them for you?\n\n\n\n\nXLIV.\nTHE WORK OF GOD\u2019S SPIRIT.\n\n\n If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I\n depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will\n reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of\n sin, because they believe not on me: of righteousness, because I go\n to my Father, and ye see me no more: of judgment, because the prince\n of this world is judged.\u2014JOHN xvi. 7\u201311.\n\nI DO not pretend to be able to explain to you the whole meaning of this\ntext, or even more than a very small part of it. For it speaks of God;\nof God the Holy Spirit. And God is boundless; and, therefore, every text\nwhich speaks of God is boundless too, as God is. No man can ever see the\nwhole meaning of it, or do more than understand dimly a little of its\ntruth. But what we can see, we must think over and make use of. What\ncan we see, now, from this text? First, we may see that the Holy Spirit,\nthe Holy Ghost, the Comforter, is a person. Not a mere thing, or a state\nof our own hearts, or a feeling in us, or a power, like the powers and\nlaws by which the trees and plants grow, and the sun and moon move in\ntheir courses; but a person, just as each of us is a person. He, the\nHoly Spirit, gives life to trees and plants, sun and moon: but He is not\ntheir life. He gives them their life; and, therefore, that life of\ntheirs is not He, or He could not give it; for you can only give\nsomething which is not you.\n\nThe Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit, not as it, but as He; as a\nperson, and not as a thing; as a person who can speak to men\u2019s souls,\nguide and teach them.\n\n\u201cWhen He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth;\nfor He shall not speak of Himself.\u201d\n\nBut we may see also that the Holy Spirit is neither God the Father, nor\nthe Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord speaks of Him, the Holy Spirit, as a\ndifferent person either from Him or from the Father. \u201cThe Spirit,\u201d He\nsays, \u201cshall glorify me; for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it\nunto you.\u201d\n\nBut we may see also that there is no difference in will, or opinion, or\nlove, between the Holy Spirit and the Father and the Son. For the Spirit\ndoes not speak of Himself; there is no self-will in Him. There is not\none will of the Father, and another of the Son, and another of the Holy\nGhost; or, one love of the Father, another love of the Son, and another\nof the Holy Ghost; or, one righteousness of the Father, another of the\nSon, another of the Holy Ghost: or, one mercy and grace of the Father,\nanother of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost. For then there would be\nthree Gods and three Lords; and the substance of God would be divided.\nBut they have all one will, and one love, and one righteousness, and one\nmercy. And such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy\nGhost.\n\nAnd remember always, that the Holy Spirit is very and indeed God. For He\nis the Spirit of holiness itself, of righteousness itself, of goodness\nitself, of love itself, of truth itself; and, therefore, He is the Spirit\nof God, who is the perfect holiness, and righteousness, and truth, and\nlove. All other holiness, and righteousness, and truth, and love, are\nonly pictures and patterns of God, just as the sun\u2019s reflection in water,\nor in a glass, is a picture and pattern of the sun. As the Epistle for\nto-day tells us: \u201cEvery good gift and every perfect is from above, and\ncometh down from the Father of lights.\u201d\n\nBut the Spirit of God must be God. For else what do the words mean? Is\nnot the spirit of a man, a man? Is not your spirit, what you call your\nsoul, you? Is not your soul you, just as much as your body is you; ay, a\nhundred times more? Just so, the Spirit of God is God, God Himself; and\nthe Godhead of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the\nglory equal, the majesty co-eternal.\n\nThis, then, is the glorious promise made to you, and to me, and to all\nwho believe and are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and\nthe Holy Spirit; that that Spirit will come to us, and take charge of our\nspirits, and work in them, and teach them. We cannot see Him with our\neyes, or hear Him with our ears; we cannot even feel Him at work in our\nhearts and thoughts. For He is a Spirit; and His likeness, the thing in\nthis world which is a pattern of Him, is the wind; as indeed the name\nSpirit means. You cannot see the wind, you cannot even really feel the\nwind or hear it: you only know it by its effects, by what it does: by the\nnoise among the branches, the force against your faces, the bending\nboughs, and flying dust. The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and thou\nhearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or\nwhither it goeth; even so is every one who is born of the Spirit. On him\nthe Spirit of God will work unseen, and unfelt, only to be discovered by\nthe change which He makes in the man\u2019s heart and thoughts; and first by\nthe way in which He convinces him of sin, because men believe not on\nJesus Christ.\n\nThe Holy Spirit shows men that the sins of the world, the sin of all\nsins, the sin which is the root of all other sins, is not believing on\nthe Lord Jesus Christ; that it was because they would not believe on the\nLord Jesus Christ, that they had been falling into every other sort of\nsin.\n\nBut you may say: \u201cHow could they believe on Him before He came, and was\nborn in Jud\u00e6a of the Virgin Mary? How could they believe on Him when He\nwas not there?\u201d Ah! my friends, who told you that the Lord Jesus Christ\nwas not there in the world all along? Not the Bible, certainly. For the\nBible tells us that He is the Light who lights every man who cometh into\nthe world; that from Him came, and have come, all the right thoughts and\nfeelings which ever arose in the heart of every human being. The Bible\ntells us that when God created the world, He was daily rejoicing in the\nhabitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men.\nThe Bible tells us that He was in the world, and the world knew Him not;\nthat all along, through the dark times of heathendom, the Lord Jesus\nChrist was a light shining in darkness, which the darkness could not\nclose round, and hide and quench.\n\nNot merely to the Jews, but to all heathens who hungered and thirsted\nafter righteousness, did the Lord Jesus show something of His truth; as\nit is written, God is no acceptor of persons; that is, no shower of\npartiality, or unjust favour: but in every nation, he that feareth God\nand worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.\n\nBut at the time that the Lord Jesus sent down His Holy Spirit, men were\nnot working righteousness. There was not one who did good, no not one.\nFor men had forgotten what righteousness was like, what a righteous man\nought to do and be. Men are ready to forget it every day. You and I are\nready to forget it, and invent some false righteousness of our own, not\nlike Jesus Christ, but like what we in our private fancies think is most\ngraceful, or most agreeable, or most easy; or most grand, and\nfar-fetched, and difficult. But the Holy Spirit came to convince men of\nrighteousness; to show them what true righteousness was like.\n\nAnd how? In the same way that He must convince us of righteousness, if\nwe are ever to know what righteousness is, or are ever to be righteous\nourselves. He must show us goodness; or we shall never see it, or\nreceive it, or copy it.\n\nAnd where is this righteousness, this perfect goodness of which the Holy\nSpirit will convince us? Where, but in the Lord Jesus Christ? In the\nLord Jesus\u2019s character, the Lord Jesus\u2019s good works; His love, His\npatience, His perfect obedience, His life, His death. The Holy Spirit,\nif we give up our hearts to be taught by Him, will make us believe, and\nbe sure, and feel in our very inmost hearts, how noble, how beautiful,\nhow holy, how perfectly Godlike, was He who was born of a poor virgin,\nwho walked this earth for thirty-three years in toil and sorrow, who gave\nHis back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the\nhair, and hid not His face from shame and spitting, who died upon a cross\nbetween two thieves. And the Holy Spirit will convince us of\nrighteousness, by making us feel what the Lord Jesus\u2019s righteousness\nconsisted in; what was the root of all His goodness and holiness, namely\nHis perfect obedience to His Father and our Father in heaven. That is\nthe righteousness, which is not our own, but God\u2019s; the righteousness\nwhich comes by faith; not to trust in ourselves, but in God; not to\nplease ourselves, but God; not to do our own will, but God\u2019s will. That\nis the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which God set His seal on and\napproved, when He exalted Him far above all principality and powers, and\nset Him at His own right hand for a sign to all men, and angels, and\narchangels; that righteousness means to trust and to obey God even to the\ndeath.\n\n3. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.\n\nThis may seem a puzzling speech at first. We shall understand it best, I\nthink, by considering who the prince of this world was in our Lord\u2019s\ntime, and what he was like. A little before our Lord\u2019s time the Roman\nemperor had conquered almost the whole world which was then known, and\nkept all nations in slavery, careless about their doing right, provided\nthey obeyed him and paid him tribute; nay, forcing them and tempting them\ninto all brutal and foul sin and ignorance, that he might keep up his own\npower over man.\n\nBut now the Lord of all the earth, and the Prince of men\u2019s hearts and\nthoughts, was come to visit that poor enslaved and sinful world. He\ncame; the princes of this world knew Him not, and crucified the Lord of\nGlory. They crucified the righteous and the just One; and so they were\njudged. They judged themselves; they condemned themselves. For they\nshowed that what they admired and what they wanted was not righteousness\nand love, but wealth and power. They showed that no doing of good, no\nhealing of the sick, or giving of sight to the blind, or preaching the\ngospel to the poor, no holiness, no love, not the perfect likeness of\nGod\u2019s own goodness, which shone forth in the spotless Jesus, was anything\nto them; was any reason why they should not put Him to death with the\nmost cruel torments, because they were afraid of His taking away their\npower. He said He was a King; and therefore they crucified Him, lest His\nkingdom should interfere with theirs; and for the same reason these same\nRoman emperors and their magistrates, for hundreds of years afterwards,\npersecuted the Christians, and hunted them down like wild beasts, and put\nthem to death by all horrible tortures, for the same reason that Cain\nslew Abel; became his brother\u2019s deeds were righteous, and his own wicked.\n\nSo these Roman emperors, and their magistrates and generals were judged.\nThey had shown what was in their evil hearts. They had been tried in\nGod\u2019s balances, and found wanting. The sentence of the Lord God had gone\nforth against them. The man Christ Jesus, whom they rejected, God\naccepted, and raised to His own right hand. They crucified Him; but God\ngave Him all power in heaven and earth: and the Lord Jesus used His\npower; yea, and uses it still. He gave His saints and martyrs strength\nto defy those Roman tyrants, and to witness to all the earth that the\nrighteous Son of God was the King of heaven and earth, and that the\nprinces of this world, who wished to break His yoke off their necks, and\ncrush all nations to powder for their own pleasure, and fatten themselves\nupon the plunder of all the earth, would surely come to naught, as it is\nwritten in the second Psalm: \u201cThe kings of the earth set themselves, and\nthe rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and His Anointed. Yet\nhave I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Thou shalt break them with\na rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter\u2019s vessel.\u201d\n\nAnd they did come to naught. That great Roman empire rotted away\nmiserably after years of such distress as had never been seen on the\nearth before; and the emperors came, one after another, to shameful or\ndreadful deaths. And all the while the gospel spread, and the Church\ngrew, till all the kingdoms of the Roman empire had become the kingdoms\nof God and of His Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in\nmen\u2019s hearts, and showing them, as our Lord said He would, that Jesus of\nNazareth was both Lord and King. And so was fulfilled the Lord\u2019s words\nin the gospel for to-day: \u201cThe Holy Spirit shall glorify me, for He shall\nreceive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father\nhath are mine; therefore said I that He should take of mine, and show it\nunto you.\u201d\n\nOh my friends, pray for yourselves, and join me while I pray for you,\nthat the holy and righteous Spirit of God may convince you, and me, and\nall mankind, more and more, day by day, of sin, of righteousness, and of\njudgment.\n\nPray to that Holy Spirit to convince you of sin day by day, whensoever\nyou do the least wrong thing. Pray to Him to keep your consciences\ntender and quick, that you may feel instantly, and lament deeply, every\nwrong thing you do.\n\nPray to Him to give you, every time you do wrong, that godly sorrow which\nbrings peace and health, that heart-repentance never to be repented of.\nPray to Him to convince you more and more, as you grow older, that all\nsin comes from not believing in Jesus Christ, not believing that He is\nnear you, with you, in you, putting into your hearts all right thoughts\nand good desires, and willing, if you will, to help you to put those\nthoughts and desires into good practice.\n\nPray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of righteousness;\nto make you see what righteousness is; that it is the very character and\nlikeness of God the Father, because it is the character and likeness of\nthe Lord Jesus Christ, who was the brightness of the Father\u2019s glory, and\nthe express image of His person. Pray to Him to make you see the beauty\nof holiness: how fair, and noble, and glorious a thing goodness is; how\ntruly Solomon says: \u201cthat all the things that may be desired are not to\nbe compared to it.\u201d\n\nPray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of judgment, and to\nmake you sure that the Lord is King, a righteous Judge, of purer eyes\nthan to behold iniquity, whose fan is in His hand, who thoroughly purges\nHis floor, who comes quickly, and His reward is with Him, and who surely\ncasts out of His kingdom, sooner or later, all things that offend, and\nwhosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Pray to Him to make you sure by\nfaith, though you cannot see it, that the prince of this world is judged;\nthat evil doing, oppression, tyranny, injustice, cheating, neglect of man\nby man, cannot and will not prosper upon the face of God\u2019s earth; for the\neverlasting sentence and wrath of God is revealed forth every moment\nagainst all unrighteousness of men, which He will surely punish, yea, and\ndoes hourly punish by Him by whom He judges the world, Jesus Christ, the\nLord, who is exalted high above all principalities and powers, and has\nall power given to Him in heaven and earth, which He uses, as He used it\nin Jud\u00e6a of old, utterly and always for the good of all mankind, whom He\nhath redeemed with His most precious blood.\n\n\n\n\nXLV.\nTHE GOSPEL.\n\n\n Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached\n unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which\n also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you,\n unless ye have believed in vain: for I delivered unto you first of\n all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins\n according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose\n again the third day according to the scriptures.\u20141 CORINTHIANS xv.\n 1\u20134.\n\nTHIS is St. Paul\u2019s account of the gospel; the good news which he preached\nto the sinful and profligate Corinthians, when they were sunk lower than\nthe beasts which perish. And because they believed this good news, he\nsaid, they were saved then and there, and would be safe only as long as\nthey believed that good news, and kept it in their memories. Now, from\nwhat did this good news save them? From their sins. There was something\nin St. Paul\u2019s good news which made them hate their sins, and repent of\nthem, and throw them away, and rise up to be new men and women, living\nnew lives in godliness and purity and justice, such as they had never\nlived before. Now mind, it was not bad news which made the Corinthians\nrepent of their sins; it was good news. It was not that St. Paul told\nthem that God was going to cast them into endless torment for their sins,\nand that therefore they were terrified and afraid, and so repented.\nDoubtless St. Paul told them, as he told other heathens, that the wrath\nof God was revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness; that\ntribulation and anguish was laid up in store for every soul of man who\nworketh evil. But still, St. Paul says plainly here, that what saved the\nCorinthians was not that or any other fearful and terrifying news, but a\ngospel\u2014good news. And he says that this good news did not merely, as\nsome would wish it to do, make them comfortable in their minds while they\nwent on in their old wicked ways. No. He says that it made them stand.\nThat is, made them upright, strong-minded, righteous, self-restraining\npeople; and that they were saved by it from those sins which had been\ndragging them down, and keeping them diseased in soul, weak, miserable,\nthe slaves of their own passions and foul pleasures.\n\nWhat wonderful good news was this, then, which could work so strange a\nchange in these poor heathens, and how could it change them?\n\nLet us see, first, what it was.\n\n\u201cThat Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that He\nwas buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the\nscriptures; and that He was seen of Peter, then of the twelve; after that\nHe was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater\npart remained unto this day, but some are fallen asleep. After that He\nwas seen of James, then of all the Apostles. And last of all He was seen\nof me also, as of one born out of due time.\u201d\n\nYou see here, that St. Paul, for some good reason, says much more about\nthe Lord\u2019s rising again than even about His most precious death and\npassion on the cross, while about His ascending into heaven he says\nnothing. And you will find in the New Testament that the Apostles often\ndid the same. They spoke of the Lord rising again as if that was the\ngreat wonder, the great glory, the great good news; and as if His most\nprecious death was not perfect without that. They said that the especial\noffice for which the Lord had ordained them, was to be witnesses of His\nresurrection. They said that the Lord rose again for our justification.\nThey said: \u201cIf thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and\nshalt believe in thy heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou\nshalt be saved.\u201d Here again, just as in the text, believing in the\nLord\u2019s resurrection is made the great article of faith. Why is this?\nBecause that last verse which I quoted may tell us, if we consider it\ncarefully.\n\nWhat does confessing the Lord Jesus with our mouth mean? It means what\nwe ought to mean when we say, in the Apostles\u2019 Creed, I believe in Jesus\nChrist, His only Son, our Lord. Not merely, I believe that there is an\nonly Son of God: but I believe in a certain man, with a certain\ncharacter, who is that only Son of God.\n\nAnd what, you will ask, does that mean?\n\nTo know that, I fear, we must go back many many hundred years, to the\ntimes when the old martyrs confessed the Lord Jesus Christ before the\nheathen. Those were times in which it was not enough to say the\nApostles\u2019 Creed in church. Men, ay, and tender women, and little\nchildren, had to stand by it through terror and shame, and to die in\ntorments unspeakable, because they chose to say: \u201cI believe in Jesus\nChrist, our Lord.\u201d Now, what was it which made the heathen hate and\npersecute and torture, and murder them for saying that? What was there\nin those plain words of the Apostles\u2019 Creed which made the great heathen\nemperors of Rome, and their officers and judges hunt the Christians down\nlike wild beasts for 300 years, and declare that they were not fit to\nlive? I will tell you. When the Christians were brought before the\nemperor\u2019s judges for being Christians, they did not merely say: \u201cI\nbelieve that Jesus Christ\u2019s blood will save my soul after death.\u201d They\nsaid that: but they said a great deal more than that. If that had been\nall that the Christians said, the judge would have answered: \u201cWhat care I\nfor your souls, or for your notions about what will happen to them when\nyou are dead? Go your way. You may be of what religion you like, and\ntalk and think about your own souls as much as you like, provided you do\nnot trouble the Roman emperor\u2019s power.\u201d But the heathen judge did not\nmake that answer; because he knew well enough that what the Christians\nbelieved was not a mere religion about what would happen to their souls\nafter death; but something which, if it gained ground, would utterly\ndestroy the Roman emperor\u2019s power. He used generally to say to the\nChristians only this: \u201cWill you burn those few grains of incense in\nhonour of the emperor of Rome?\u201d And he knew, and the Christians knew\nwell enough, that those words meant: \u201cWill you confess with your mouth\nthe emperor of Rome? Will you confess that he is the only lord and king\nof this whole earth, and of your bodies and souls, and that there is no\npower or authority but of him, for the gods have delivered all things\ninto his hands?\u201d And then came out what confessing the Lord Jesus really\nmeans. For the Christians used to answer: \u201cNo. The emperor of Rome is\nthe lord and master of our bodies, and we will obey his laws so far as we\ncan without doing wrong: but we cannot obey them when they are contrary\nto the laws of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus\nChrist, who was crucified and rose again the third day, He, and not the\nemperor of Rome at all, is the Lord and King of the whole earth, and of\nour bodies and souls; and we must obey Him before we obey anyone else.\nPower and authority come not from the emperor of Rome, but from the Lord\nJesus Christ; and the emperor is only His servant and steward, and must\nobey Him just as much as we, or the Lord will punish him as surely and\neasily as He will the meanest slave. For God has delivered all things,\nand the emperor of Rome among the rest, into the hand of His Son Jesus\nChrist, who sits a King over all, God blessed for ever.\u201d That was\nconfessing Christ.\n\nAnd to that the heathen judges used to make but one answer\u2014for there was\nbut one to make. Those heathen judges\u2019 guilty consciences, as well as\ntheir worldly cunning, told them plainly enough exactly what St. Paul\ntold the Christians; that those Christians, by confessing Christ, were\nnot fighting against flesh and blood, and setting up their selfish\ninterests against other people\u2019s selfish interests: but that the battle\nthey were fighting was a much deeper and more terrible one; that by\nsaying that One who had walked the earth as a poor man, and yet a\nperfectly righteous and loving man, doing nothing but good, and\nsacrificing Himself utterly for poor fallen creatures, they were fighting\nagainst the whole state of things all over the world; against the\ngovernment, and principles, and religion of that whole unjust and\ntyrannical Roman empire, and all its rulers, and generals, and judges;\nagainst principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of the\ndarkness of those times; against spiritual wickedness in heavenly things.\nFor if Jesus Christ\u2019s life was the right life, those rulers must be\nutterly wrong; for it was exactly opposite to His.\n\nIf Jesus Christ was really the Governor of the earth, there was no hope\nfor them; for their way of governing was exactly opposite to His. So as\nI say, they made but one answer; because there was but one to make: \u201cYou\nsay that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. I say the\nemperor of Rome is. You say you must obey Christ first, and the emperor\nof Rome afterwards. I say that you must obey the emperor first, and\nChrist afterwards. At all events, if you do not, you have no right on\nthis earth of the emperor\u2019s; either the emperor\u2019s power must fall, or\nyour notion about Jesus Christ\u2019s power must. And we will see whether\nyour heavenly King of whom you talk can deliver you out of the emperor\u2019s\nhand.\u201d And then came the scourge, and the red-hot iron, and the wild\nbeasts, and the cross, and all devilish tortures which man\u2019s evil will\ncould invent, brought to bear without shame or mercy upon aged men, and\ntender girls, and even little children, just to make them say that the\nearth belonged to the emperor, and not to Jesus Christ. Those who died\nbravely under those tortures without denying Christ were called martyrs,\nwhich means witnesses\u2014people who bore witness before God and man that\nJesus Christ was King and Lord. Those who did not die under the\ntortures, but escaped after all, were called confessors\u2014people who had\nconfessed with their mouths that Jesus Christ was King and Lord, in spite\nof their terror and agony. . . . That was what confessing Jesus Christ\nmeant in the old times. And that was what it ought to mean now, even\nthough there is no persecution or torture for Christians in these happier\ntimes.\n\nAnd now, we may see perhaps why St. Paul spoke so much of our Lord\u2019s\nrising again as the most important part of the gospel.\n\nBecause he wanted Christians to believe, not merely in a Christ who once\ndied, but in Him who died and is alive for evermore; in a Christ who rose\nagain, body, soul, and spirit, and sat at God\u2019s right hand, praying for\npoor creatures when they were tempted, and persecuted, and tormented for\nrighteousness\u2019 sake. St. Paul knew well that such fearful times as those\nof which I have been speaking were coming on the people to whom he wrote.\nAnd he knew equally well that the only thought which could save them,\nwhen the heathen judges commanded them to deny the Lord Jesus, was the\nthought that He was really risen. The only thought which could make them\nbold enough to face all the horrors of death, was the thought that the\nLord Jesus had not merely tasted death, but conquered it, and risen again\nfrom it. And therefore it is that St. Paul speaks so often of Christ\u2019s\nresurrection, and that in the text he takes so much pains to prove that\nChrist had really risen, by telling them how many persons, well known to\nhim who wrote to them, had seen the Lord Jesus Christ after He rose, and\ntalked with Him, and were sure that He was the very same person still,\nwith the same countenance, and body, and soul, and spirit, as He had when\nHe was nailed to the cross, and laid in the sepulchre.\n\nWhat a thought for a poor creature in the last agony of fear and shame,\nexpecting presently to be torn in pieces, or burnt alive: \u201cDeath, this\nhorrible death, cannot conquer me, weak and fearful as I am; for my Lord\nand Master, for whom I am going to suffer, has conquered death, and He\nwill not let it conquer me. He is stronger than death and hell, and He\nwill not suffer me at my last hour for any pains of death to fall from\nHim. He is King of heaven and earth, and He will take care of His own!\u201d\nWhat a comfortable thought to be able to say: \u201cAy, I am torn from wife\nand child, and all which I love on earth. But not for ever, not for\never. For Christ rose from the dead. And I who belong to Christ, shall\nrise as He did. This poor flesh of mine may be burnt in flames, devoured\nby ravenous beasts. What matter? Christ the King of men, has risen from\nthe dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. That same\nSpirit of His, which brought back His body from the grave and hell, will\nbring our bodies also from the grave and hell, to a nobler, happier life\nwith Him in glory unspeakable. Christ is risen, and I shall rise with\nHim at the last day. Christ sits at God\u2019s right hand, watching me,\npitying me, and blessing me, holding out to me a crown of glory which\nshall never fade away!\u201d That was the thought which gave Stephen courage\nto confess the Lord Jesus Christ, amid to die in peace and the murderous\nblows of the Jews. For by faith he saw, as he said, the heavens opened,\nand Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. He knew that his Lord was\nrisen, and that He would hear his dying cry: \u201cLord Jesus, receive my\nspirit.\u201d\n\nAnd so with us, my friends; we have no martyrdom to go through, thank\nGod; but it is just as true of us as it was of the blessed martyrs and\nconfessors, that there is no other name under heaven by which we can be\nsaved but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saved; not only from hell,\nbut from sin, from giving way to temptation, from denying Christ. Oh,\npray for faith. Pray for faith. Pray to be able really to confess with\nyour mouth the Lord Jesus. Pray to believe with your hearts that God has\nraised Him from the dead. Then when you are tempted to do wrong, you,\nlike Stephen, will see, not with your bodily eyes, but by faith, the Lord\nJesus sitting at God\u2019s right hand, and be able to say to Him: \u201cLord\nJesus, who hast conquered all temptation, help me to conquer this. Thine\neye is on me; how can I do this great wickedness and sin against Thee?\u201d\nWhen you are in terror, and trouble, and affliction, and know not where\nto turn, that same blessed thought\u2014\u201cChrist is risen from the dead\u201d\u2014will\nbe a shield and a strength to you which no other thought can give. \u201cMy\nLord is risen; He is here still\u2014a man, with His man\u2019s body, and His man\u2019s\nspirit\u2014His man\u2019s love and tenderness; He has taken them all up to heaven\nwith Him. He is a man still, though He is very God of very God. He rose\nfrom the dead as a man, and therefore He can understand me, and feel for\nme still, now, here in England in this very year, 1852, just as much as\nHe could when He was walking upon earth in Jud\u00e6a of old.\u201d\n\nAy, and in the black jaws of death, when this world is vanishing from our\neyes, and we are going we know not whither, leaving behind us all we\nknow, and love, and understand; then that thought of all thoughts\u2014\u201cChrist\nis risen from the dead\u201d\u2014is the only one which will save us from dark sad\nthoughts, from fear and despair, or from stupid carelessness, and the\ndeath of a brute beast, such as too many die. \u201cChrist is risen and I\nshall rise. Christ has conquered death for Himself, and He will conquer\nit for me. Christ took His man\u2019s body and soul with Him from the tomb to\nGod\u2019s right hand, and He will raise my man\u2019s body and soul at the last\nday, that I may be with Him for ever, and see Him where He is.\u201d In life\nand in death this is the only thing which shall save us from sin, from\nterror, and from the dread of death; the same good news which St. Paul\npreached to the Corinthians; the same good news which made St. Stephen,\nand the martyrs and confessors of old brave to endure all misery for the\nsake of the good and blessed news, that God had raised His Son Jesus from\nthe dead.\n\n\n\n\nXLVI.\nGOD\u2019S WAY WITH MAN.\n\n\n And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you\n for my name\u2019s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according\n to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord\n God.\u2014EZEKIEL xx. 44.\n\nIN this chapter the prophet Ezekiel argues with his sinful and rebellious\ncountrymen, and puts them in mind of all that God has done for them and\nwith them, from the time when He brought them out of Egypt to that day.\n\nAnd now comes the old question, What has this to do with us! St. Paul\ntells us that all things which happened to the old Jews happened for our\nexample. What example can we learn from this chapter?\n\nThis, I think, we may learn: Is not the way in which God taught these\nJews the same way in which He teaches many a man\u2014perhaps every man?\nWhich of us, when we were young, has not had his teaching from God? The\nold Catechism which our mothers taught us, was not that a word from God\nHimself to us? The voice of conscience, which made us happy when we had\ndone right, and uneasy and ashamed when we had gone wrong; was not that a\nword from God to us? Yes, my friends, those child\u2019s feelings of ours\nabout right and wrong, were none other than the voice of the Lord Jesus\nChrist, the Word of God, the Light which lightens every man who comes\ninto the world. I tell you, every right thought and wish, every longing\nto be better than you were, which ever came into any one of your hearts,\ncame from Him, the Lord Jesus. It was His word, His voice, His Spirit,\nspeaking to your spirit, just as really as He spoke to His prophet\nEzekiel, of whom we have been reading. Think of that. Recollect, never,\nnever forget, that all your good thoughts and feelings are not your own,\nnot your own at all, but the Lord\u2019s; that without His light your hearts\nare nothing but darkness, blind ignorance, and blind selfishness, and\nblind passions and lusts; that it is He, he Himself, who has been\nfighting against the darkness in you all your life long. Oh think, then,\nwhat your sin has been in putting aside those good thoughts and longings!\nYou were turning your back, you were shutting your doors to the Lord God\nHimself, very God of very God begotten, by whom all things were made.\nThe Creator came to visit His creature, and His creature shut Him out.\nThe Almighty God pleaded with mortal man, and mortal man bade God go, and\ncome back at a more convenient season! A voice in your heart seemed to\nsay: \u201cOh, if I could but be a better man! How I wish that I could but\ngive up these bad habits, and mend! I hate and despise myself for being\nso bad.\u201d And then you fancied that that voice was your own voice, that\nthose good thoughts were your own thoughts. If you had really known\nwhose they were; if you had really known, as the Bible tells you, that\nthey were the Word of the Lord, the only-begotten Son of the Father,\nspeaking to your heart, I hardly think that you would have been so ready\nto say yourself: \u201cWell, then, I will mend; but not just now: some day or\nother; somehow or other, I hope, I shall be a better man. It will be\ntime enough to make my peace with God when I am growing old.\u201d You would\nnot have dared to thrust away the good thoughts, and keep them waiting,\nwhile you took your pleasure in a few more years\u2019 sin; if you had guessed\n_whom_ you were thrusting away; if you had guessed whom you were keeping\nwaiting.\n\nAnd, my good friends, has not God been saying to us many a time from our\nyouth up, as He did to the Jews of old: \u201cDo not walk in the statutes of\nyour fathers, nor defile yourselves with their idols?\u201d Do you ask me\nhow? Why, thus. Have you never said to yourself: \u201cHow ill my father\nprospered, because he would do wrong!\u201d Or, again: \u201cSee how evil doing\nbrings its own punishment. There is so and so growing rich, by his\ncheating and his covetousness, and yet, for all his money, I would not\nchange places with him. God forbid that I should have on my mind what he\nhas on his mind!\u201d Why should I make a long story of so simple a matter?\nWhich of us has not felt at times that thought? How much misery has come\nin this very parish from the ill-doing of the generation who are gone to\ntheir account, and from the ill-training which they gave their children?\n\nAnd what was that but the Word of the Lord Himself speaking to our\nhearts, and saying to us: \u201cDo not defile yourselves with their idols; do\nnot hurt your souls by hunting after the things which they loved better\nthan they loved Me: money, pleasure, drink, fighting, smuggling,\npoaching, wantonness, and lust; I am the Lord your God?\u201d\n\nAnd yet, young people will not listen to that warning voice of God. They\nsee other people, even their own fathers and mothers, punished for their\nsins; perhaps made poor by their sins, perhaps made unhealthy by their\nsins, perhaps made miserable and ill-tempered by their sins: and yet they\ngo and fall into, or rather walk open-eyed into, the very same sins which\nmade their parents wretched. Oh, how many a young person sees their home\nmade a complete hell on earth by ungodliness, and the ill-temper and\nselfishness which come from ungodliness; and, then, as soon as they have\na home of their own, set to work to make their own family as miserable as\ntheir father\u2019s was before them.\n\nBut people say often: \u201cHow could we help it? We had no chance; we were\nbrought up in bad ways; we had a bad example set us; how can you expect\nus to be better than our fathers and mothers, and our elder brothers and\nsisters? If we had had a fair chance, we might have been different: but\nwe had none; and we could not help going the bad way, for we were set in\nit the day we were born.\u201d\n\nWell, my dear friends, God shall judge you, not I. If little is given to\na man little is required of him. But not nothing at all; because more\nthan nothing was given him. A little is given to every man; and,\ntherefore, a little is required of every man. And so, he who knew not\nhis Master\u2019s will shall be beaten with few stripes. But he will be\nbeaten with some stripes, because he ought to have known something, at\nleast of his Master\u2019s will. If you were dumb animals, which can only\nfollow their own lusts and passions, and must be what nature has made\nthem, then your excuse would be good enough; but your excuse is not good\nnow, just because you are men and women, and not dumb beasts, and,\ntherefore, can rise above your natures, and conquer your lusts and\npassions, as they cannot, and can do what you do not like, because,\nthough you dislike it, you know that it is right. And, therefore, God\ndoes not take that excuse which sinners make, that they have had no\nteaching. But what does he do to them?\n\nSuppose, now, that you had a dog which would not be taught, or broken in,\nor cured of biting, or made useful, or bearable in any way, what would\nyou do to that dog? I suppose that you would kill it; you would say: \u201cIt\nis an ill-conditioned animal, and there is no making it any better; so\nthe only thing is to put it out of the way, and not let it eat food which\nmight be better spent.\u201d Now, does God deal so with sinners? When young\npeople rush headlong into sin, and become a nuisance to themselves and\ntheir neighbours, does God kill them at once, that better men may step\ninto their place? No. And why? Just because they are not dumb animals,\nwhich cannot be made better, but God\u2019s children, who can be made better.\nIf there were really no hope of a sinner repenting and amending, I think\nGod would not leave him long alive to cumber the ground. But there is\nhope for every one; because God the Father loves all; the loving heart of\nthe Lord Jesus Christ yearns after all; the Holy Spirit, which proceeds\nfrom the Father and the Son, strives with the hearts of all; therefore\nGod, in His patience and tender mercy, tries to bring his foolish\nchildren to their senses. And how? Often in the very same way, in which\nEzekiel says He tried to bring the Jews to their senses, by letting them\ngo on in the road of sin, till they see what an ugly pit that same road\nends in. If your child would not believe you when you warned and assured\nhim that the fire would burn him, would it not be the very best way of\nbringing him to his senses, to tell him: \u201cVery well; go your own way; put\nyour hand into the fire, and see what comes of it; you will not believe\nme; you will believe your own feelings, when your hand is burnt.\u201d So did\nthe Lord to those rebellious Jews when they would go after their fathers\u2019\nsins. He gave them statutes which were not good, and judgments by which\nthey could not live, to the end that they might know that He was the\nLord. God did not make them commit any sins. God forbid! He only took\naway His Spirit, His light and teaching, from them, and let them go on in\nthe light of their own foolish and bewildered hearts, till their sin bred\nmisery and shame to them, and they were filled with the fruit of their\nown devices. Then, after all their wealth was gone, and their land was\nwasted by cruel enemies, and they themselves were carried away captive\ninto Babylon, they began to awake, and say to themselves: \u201cWe were wrong\nafter all, and the Lord was right. He knew what was really good for us\nbetter than we did. We thought that we could do without Him, disobey\nHim. But He is the Lord after all. He has been too strong for us; He\nhas punished us. If we had listened to His warnings years ago, we might\nhave been saved all this misery.\u201d\n\nAh, how many a poor foolish creature, in misery and shame, with a guilty\nconscience and a sad heart, sits down, like the prodigal son, among the\nswinish bad company into which his sins have brought him, longing to fill\nhis belly with the husks which the swine eat! but he cannot. He tries to\nforget his sorrow by drinking, by bad company, by gambling, by gossiping,\nlike the fools around him: but he cannot. He finds no more pleasure in\nsin. He is sick and tired of it. He has had enough of it and too much.\nHe is miserable, and he hardly knows why. But miserable he is. There is\na longing, and craving, and hunger at his heart after something better;\nat least after something different. Then he begins to remember his\nheavenly Father\u2019s house. Old words which he learnt at his mother\u2019s knee,\ngood old words out of his Catechism and his Bible, start up strangely in\nhis mind. He had forgotten them, laughed at them, perhaps, in his wild\ndays. But now they come up, he does not know where from, like beautiful\nghosts gliding in. And he is ashamed of them; they reproach him, the\ndear old lessons; and yet they seem pleasant to him, though they make him\nblush. And at last he says to himself: \u201cWould God that I were a little\nchild again; once more an innocent little child at my mother\u2019s knee! I\nthought myself clever and cunning. I thought I could go my own way and\nenjoy myself. But I cannot. Perhaps I have been a fool; and the old\nSunday books were right after all. At least I am miserable. I thought I\nwas my own master. But perhaps He about whom I used to read in the\nSunday books is my Master after all. At least I am not my own master; I\nam a slave. Perhaps I have been fighting against Him, against the Lord\nGod, all this time, and now He has shown me that He is the stronger of\nthe two. . . . \u201d And so the poor man learns in trouble and shame to\nknow, like the Jews of old, who is the Lord.\n\nAnd when the Lord has drawn a man thus far, does He stop? Not so. He\ndoes not leave His work half done. If the work is half done, it is that\nwe stop, not that He stops. Whosoever comes to Him, howsoever\nconfusedly, or clumsily, or even lazily they may come, He will in no wise\ncast out. He may afflict them still more to cure that confusion and\nlaziness; but He is a physician who never sends a willing patient away,\nor keeps him waiting for a single hour.\n\nHow then does the Lord deal with such a man? Does He drive him further?\nNot if he will go without being driven. You would call it cruel to drive\na beast on with blows, when it was willing to be led peaceably. And be\nsure God is not more cruel than man. As soon as we are willing to be\nled, He will take His rod off from us, and lead us tenderly enough. For\nI have known God do this to a man, and a sinful man as ever trod this\nearth. I have known such a man brought into utter misery and shame of\nheart, and heavy affliction in outward matters, till his spirit was\nutterly broken, and he was ready to say: \u201cI am a beast and a fool. I am\nnot worth the bread I eat. Let me lie down and die.\u201d And then, when the\nLord had driven that man so far, I have seen, I who speak to you now, how\nthe Lord turned and looked on that man as he turned and looked on Peter,\nand brought his poor soul to life again, as He brought Peter\u2019s, by a\nloving smile, and not an angry frown. I have seen the Lord heap that man\nwith all manner of unexpected blessings, and pay him back sevenfold for\nall his affliction, and raise him up, body and soul, and satisfy him with\ngood things, so that his youth was renewed like the eagle\u2019s. And so the\nman\u2019s conversion to God, though it was begun by God\u2019s chastisements and\nafflictions, was brought to perfection by God\u2019s mercy and bounty; and it\nhappened to that man, as Ezekiel prophesied that it would happen to the\nJews, that not fear and dread, but honour, gratitude, and that noble\nshame of which no man need be ashamed, brought him home to God at last.\n\u201cAnd you shall remember your ways, and all your doings wherein ye have\nbeen defiled: and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all\nthe evils which you have committed. And you shall know that I am the\nLord, when I have wrought with you for my name\u2019s sake, not according to\nyour wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of\nIsrael, saith the Lord God.\u201d\n\nYou see that God\u2019s mercy to them would not make them conceited or\ncareless. It would increase their shame and confusion when they found\nout what sort of a Lord He was against whom they had been rebellious;\nlong-suffering and of tender mercy, returning good for evil to His\ndisobedient children. That feeling would awake in them more shame and\nmore confusion than ever: but it would be a noble shame, a happy\nconfusion, and tears of joy and gratitude, not of bitterness. Such a\nshame, such a confusion, such tears, as the blessed Magdalene\u2019s when she\nknelt at the Lord\u2019s feet, and found that, instead of bating her and\nthrusting her away for all her sins, He told her to go in peace, pardoned\nand happy. Then she knew the Lord; she found out His character\u2014His name;\nfor she found out that His name was love. Oh, my friends, this is the\ngreat secret; the only knowledge worth living for, because it is the only\nknowledge which will enable you to live worthily\u2014to know the Lord. That\nknowledge will enable you to live a life which will last, and grow, and\nprosper for ever, beyond the grave, and death, and judgment, and\neternities of eternities. As the Lord Himself said, when He was upon\nearth, \u201cThis is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus\nChrist whom thou hast sent.\u201d Therefore there is no use my warning you\nagainst sin, and telling you, do not do this, and do not do that, unless\nI tell you at the same time who is the Lord. For till you know that The\nGood God is the Lord, you will have no real, sound, heartfelt reason for\ngiving up your sins; and what is more, you will not be able to give them\nup. You may alter your sort of sins from fear of this and that; but the\nroot of sin will be there still; and if it cannot bear one sort of fruit\nit will bear another. If you dare not drink or riot, you may become\ncovetous and griping; if you dare not give way to young men\u2019s sins, you\nwill take to old men\u2019s sins instead; if you dare not commit open sins you\nwill commit secret ones in your thoughts. Sin is much too stout a plant\nto be kept from bearing some sort of fruit. As long as it is not rooted\nup the root will breed death in you of some sort or other; and the only\nfeeling which can root up sin is to know that Jesus Christ, the Son of\nGod, is your Lord, and that your Lord condescended to die upon the cross\nfor you; that you must be the Lord\u2019s, and are not your own, but bought\nwith the price of His most precious blood, that you may glorify God with\nyour body and your soul, which are His.\n\nJust so, the blessed St. Augustine found that he could never conquer his\nown sins by arguing with himself, or by any other means, till he got to\nknow God, and to see that God was the Lord. And when his spirit was\nutterly broken; when he saw himself, in spite of all his wonderful\ncleverness and learning, to have been a fool and blind all along, though\npeople round him were flattering him, and running after him to hear his\nlearning; then the old words which he learnt at his mother\u2019s knee came up\nin his mind, and he knew that God was the Lord after all, and that God\nhad been watching him, guiding him, letting him go wrong only to show him\nthe folly of going wrong, caring for him even when He left him to himself\nand his sins, and the sad ways of his sins; bearing with him, pleading\nwith his conscience, alluring him back to the only true happiness, as a\nloving father with a rebellious and self-willed child. And then, when\nSt. Augustine had found out at last that God was his Lord, who had been\ntaking the charge of him all through his heathen youth, he became a\nchanged man. He was able to conquer his sins; for God conquered them for\nhim. He was able to give up the profligate life which he had been\nleading; not from fear of punishment, but from the Spirit of God\u2014the\nspirit of gratitude, honour, trust, and love toward God, which made him\nabide in God, and God abide in him. To that blessed state may God of His\ngreat mercy bring us all. To it He will bring us all unless we rebel and\nset up our foolish and selfish will against His loving and wise will.\nAnd if He does bring us to it, it is little matter whether He brings us\nto it through joy or through sorrow, through honour or through shame,\nthrough the garden of Eden, or through the valley of the shadow of death.\nFor, my dear friends, what matter how bitter the medicine is, if it does\nbut save our lives?\n\n\n\n\nXLVII.\nTHE MARRIAGE AT CANA.\n\n\n There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was\n there. And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the\n marriage.\u2014JOHN ii. 1, 2.\n\nIT is, I think, in the first place, an important, as well as a pleasant\nthing, to know that the Lord\u2019s glory, as St. Paul says, was first shown\nforth at a wedding, at a feast. Not at a time of sorrow, but of joy.\nNot about some strange affliction or disease, such as is the lot of very\nfew, but about a marriage, that which happens in the ordinary lot of all\nmankind. Not in any fearful judgment or destruction of sinners, but in\nblessing wedlock, by which, whether among saints or sinners, mankind is\nincreased. Not by helping some great philosopher to think more deeply,\nor some great saint to perform more wonderful acts of holiness, but in\ngiving the simple pleasure of wine to simple commonplace people, of whom\nwe neither read that they were rich or righteous. We do not even read\nwhether the master of the feast ever found out that Jesus had worked a\nmiracle, or whether any of the company ever believed in Him, on the\nstrength of that miracle, except His mother and the disciples, and the\nservants, who were probably the poor slaves of people in a low or\nmiddling class of life. But that is the way of the Lord. He is no\nrespecter of persons. Rich and poor are alike in His sight; and the poor\nneed Him most, and therefore He began his work with the poor in Cana, as\nHe did in St. James\u2019s time, when the poor of this world were rich in\nfaith, and the rich of this world were oppressors and taskmasters. So He\ndoes in every age. Though no one else cares for the poor, He cares for\nthem. With their hearts He begins His work, even as He did in England\nsixty years ago, by the preaching of Whitfield and Wesley. Do you wish\nto know if anything is the Lord\u2019s work? See if it is a work among the\npoor. Do you wish to know whether any preaching is the true gospel of\nthe Lord? See whether it is a gospel, a good news to the poor. I know\nno other test than that. By doing that, by preaching the gospel to the\npoor, by working miracles for the poor, He has showed forth His glory,\nand proved Himself the true, and just, and loving Lord of all.\n\nBut again, the Lord is a giver, and not a taskmaster. He does not demand\nfrom us: He gives to us. He had been giving from the foundation of the\nworld. Corn and wine, rain and sunshine, and fruitful seasons had been\nhis sending. And now He was come to show it. He was come to show men\nwho it was who had been filling their heart with joy and gladness; who\nhad been bringing out of the earth and air, by His unseen chemistry, the\nwine which maketh glad the heart of man. In every grape that hangs upon\nthe vine, water is changed into wine, as the sap ripens into rich juice.\nHe had been doing that all along in every vineyard and orchard; and that\nwas His glory. Now He was come to prove that; to draw back the veil of\ncustom and carnal sense, and manifest Himself. Men had seen the grapes\nripen on the tree; and they were tempted to say, as every one of us is\ntempted now: \u201cIt is the sun and the air, the nature of the vine, and the\nnature of the climate, which makes the wine.\u201d Jesus comes and answers:\n\u201cNot so. I make the wine; I have been making it all along. The vines,\nthe sun, the weather, are only my tools wherewith I worked, turning rain\nand sap into wine; and I am greater than they; I made them; I do not\ndepend on them; I can make wine from water without vines or sunshine.\nBehold, and drink, and see my glory _without_ the vineyard, since you had\nforgotten how to see it _in_ the vineyard! For I am now, even as I was\nin Paradise, The Word of the Lord God; and now, even as in Paradise, I\nwalk among the trees of the garden, and they know me and obey me, though\nthe world knows me not. I have been all along in the world, and the\nworld knows me not. Know me now, lest you lose the knowledge of me for\never!\u201d\n\nThose of the Jews who received that message, as the disciples did, found\nout their ancient Lord, and clung to Him, and know now, in the world of\nspirits, that His message was indeed a true one. Those who did not, lost\nsight of Him; to this day their eyes are blinded; to this day they have\nutterly forgotten that they have a Lord and Ruler, who is the Word and\nSon of God. Their faith is no more like the faith of David than their\nunderstanding of the Scriptures is like his. The Bible is a dead letter\nto them. The kingdom and government of God is forgotten by them. Of all\nGod-worshipping people in the world, the Jews are the least godly, the\nmost given up to the worship of this world, and the things which they can\nsee, and taste, and handle, and, therefore, to covetousness, cheating,\nlying, tyranny, and all the sins which spring from forgetting that this\nworld belongs to the Lord and that He rules and guides it, that its\nblessings are His gifts, and we His stewards, to use them for the good of\nall. May God help, and forgive, and convert them! Doubt not that He\nwill do so in His good time. But let us beware, my friends, lest we fall\ninto the same sin. Do not fancy that we are not in just the same danger.\nIt would be a cowardly thing of a preacher to call Jews, or heathens, or\nany other absent persons hard names, unless their mistakes and their sins\nwere such as his own people wanted warnings against, ay, perhaps, had the\nvery root of them in their hearts already. And we have the root of the\nJews\u2019 sin in our own hearts. Why is this one miracle read in our\nchurches to this day, if we do not stand just as much in need of the\nlesson as those for whom it was first worked? We, as well as they, are\nin danger of forgetting who it is that sends us corn and wine, and\nfruitful seasons, love and marriage, and all the blessings of this life.\nWe, as well as the Jews, are continually fancying that these outward\nearthly things, as we call them in our shallow carnal conceits, have\nnothing to do with Jesus or His kingdom, but that we may compete, and\nscrape, even cheat and lie to get them, and when we have them, misuse\nthem selfishly, as if they belonged to no one but ourselves, as if we had\nno duty to perform about them, as if we owed God no service for them.\n\nAnd again, we are, just as much as the Jews were, in danger of spiritual\npride; in danger of fancying that because we are religious, and have, or\nfancy we have, deep experiences and beautiful thoughts about God and\nChrist and our own souls, therefore we can afford to despise those who do\nnot know as much as ourselves; to despise the common pleasures and petty\nsorrows of poor creatures, whose souls and bodies are grovelling in the\ndust, busied with the cares of this world, at their wits\u2019 end to get\ntheir daily bread; to despise the merriment of young people, the play of\nchildren, and all those everyday happinesses which, though we may turn\nfrom them with a sneer, are precious in the sight of Him who made heaven\nand earth. All such proud thoughts, all such contempt of those who do\nnot seem as spiritual as we fancy ourselves, is evil. It is from the\ndevil, and not from God. It is the same vile spirit which made the\nPharisees of old say: \u201cThis people\u2014these poor worldly drudging\nwretches\u2014who know not the law, are accursed.\u201d And mind, this is not a\nsin of rich, and learned, and highborn men only. They may be more\ntempted to it than others; but poor men, when they become, by the grace\nof God, wiser, more spiritual, more holy than others, are tempted, just\nas much as the rich, to despise their poor neighbours to whom God has not\ngiven the same light as themselves; and surely in them it shows ugliest\nof all. A learned and high-born man may be excused for looking down upon\nthe sinful poor, because he does not understand their temptations,\nbecause he never has been ignorant and struggling as they are. But a\npoor man who despises the poor\u2014he has no excuse. He ought above all men\nto feel for them, for he has been tempted even as they are. He knows\ntheir sorrows; he has been through their dark valley of bad food, bad\nlodging, want of work, want of teaching, low cares which drag the soul to\nearth. Surely a poor man who has tasted God\u2019s love and Christ\u2019s light,\nought, above all others, instead of turning his back on his class, to\npity them, to make common cause with them, to teach them, guide them,\ncomfort them, in a way no rich man can. Yes; after all, it is the poor\nmust help the poor; the poor must comfort the poor; the poor must teach\nand convert the poor.\n\nSee, in the epistle for this day, St. Paul makes no distinction between\nrich and poor. This epistle is joined with the gospel for the day, to\nshow us what ought to be the conduct of Christians, who believe in the\nmiracle of Cana; what men should do who believe that they have a Lord in\nheaven, by whose command suns shine, fruits ripen, men enjoy the\nblessings of harvest, of marriage, of the comforts which the heathen and\nthe savage, as well as the Christian man, partake; what men should do who\nbelieve that they have a Lord in heaven who entered into the common joys\nand sorrows of lowly men, who was once Himself a poor villager, who ate\nwith publicans and sinners, who condescended to join in a wedding feast,\nand increase the mere animal enjoyment of the guests. And what is St.\nPaul\u2019s command to poor as well as rich? Read the epistle for this day\nand see.\n\nYou see at once that this epistle is written in the same spirit as our\nLord\u2019s words: by God\u2019s Spirit, in short; the Spirit which brought the\nLord Jesus so condescendingly to the wedding feast; the Spirit which made\nHim care so heartily for the common pleasures of those around Him. My\nfriends, these are not commands to one class, but to all. Poor as well\nas rich may show mercy with cheerfulness, and love without dissimulation.\nPoor as well as rich may minister to others with earnestness, and\ncondescend to those of low estate. Not a word in this whole epistle\nwhich does not apply equally to every rank, and sex, and age.\n\nNeither are these commands to each of us by ourselves, but to all of us\ntogether, as members of a family. If you will look through them they are\nnot things to be done to ourselves, but to our neighbours; not\nexperiences to be felt about our own souls: but rules of conduct to our\nfellow-men. They are all different branches and flowers from that one\nroot: \u201cThou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.\u201d\n\nDo we live thus, rich or poor? Can we look each other in the face this\nafternoon and say, each man to his neighbour: \u201cI have behaved like a\nbrother to you. I have rejoiced at your good fortune, and grieved at\nyour sorrow. I have preferred you to myself. I have loved you without\ndissimulation. I have been earnest in my place and duty in the parish\nfor the sake of the common good of all. I have condescended to those of\nlower rank than myself. I have\u2014\u201d Ah, my dear friends, I had better not\ngo on with the list. God forgive us all! The less we try to justify\nourselves on this score the better. Some of us do indeed try to behave\nlike brothers and sisters to their neighbours; but how few of us; and\nthose few how little! And yet we are brothers. We are members of one\nfamily, sons of one Father, joint-heirs with one Lord, the poor Man who\nsat eating and drinking at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and\nmixed freely in the joys and the sorrows of the poorest and meanest.\nJoint-heirs with Christ; yet how unlike Him! My friends, we need to\nrepent and amend our ways; we need to confess, every one of us, rich and\npoor, the pride, the selfishness, the carelessness about each other,\nwhich keeps us so much apart, knowing so little of each other, feeling so\nlittle for each other. Oh confess this sin to God, every one of you.\nThose who have behaved most like brothers, will be most ready to confess\nhow little they have behaved like brothers. Confess: \u201cFather, I have\nsinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called\nthy son, for I have not loved, cared for, helped my brothers and sisters\nround, who are just as much thy children as I am.\u201d Pray for the spirit\nof Jesus, the spirit of condescension, love, fellow-feeling; that spirit\nwhich rejoices simply and heartily with those who are happy, and feels\nfor another\u2019s sorrows as if they were its own. Pray for it; for till it\ncomes, there will be no peace on earth. Pray for it; for when it comes\nand takes possession of your hearts, and you all really love and live\nlike brothers, children of one Father, the kingdom of God will be come\nindeed, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.\n\n\n\n\nXLVIII.\nPARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE.\n\n\n And He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He marked\n how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, when thou art\n bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room,\n lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that\n bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou\n begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden,\n go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee\n cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou\n have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For\n whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth\n himself shall be exalted.\u2014LUKE xiv. 7\u201311.\n\nWE heard in the gospel for to-day how the Lord Jesus put forth a parable\nto those who were invited to a dinner with Him at the Pharisee\u2019s house.\nA parable means an example of any rules or laws; a story about some rule,\nby hearing which people may see how the rule works in practice, and\nunderstand it. Now, our Lord\u2019s parables were about the kingdom of God.\nThey were examples of the rules and laws by which the kingdom of God is\ngoverned and carried on. Therefore He begins many of His parables by\nsaying, The kingdom of God is like something\u2014something which people see\ndaily, and understand more or less. \u201cThe kingdom of God is like a\nfield;\u201d \u201cThe kingdom of God is like a net;\u201d \u201cThe kingdom of God is like a\ngrain of mustard seed;\u201d and so forth. And even where He did not begin\none of His parables by speaking of the kingdom of God, we may be still\ncertain that it has to do with the kingdom of God. For the one great\nreason why the Lord was made flesh and dwelt among us, was to preach the\nkingdom of God, His Father and our Father, and to prove to men that God\nwas their King, even at the price of his most precious blood. And,\ntherefore, everything which He ever did, and everything which He ever\nspoke, had to do with this one great work of His. This parable,\ntherefore, which you heard read in the gospel for to-day, has to do with\nthe kingdom of God, and is an example of the laws of it.\n\nNow, what is the kingdom of God? It is worth our while to consider. For\nat baptism we were declared members of the kingdom of God; we were to\nrenounce the world, and to live according to the kingdom of God. The\nkingdom of God is simply the way in which God governs men; and the world\nis the way in which men try to manage without God\u2019s help or leave. That\nis the difference between them; and a most awful difference it is. Men\nfancy that they can get on well enough without God; that the ways of the\nworld are very reasonable, and useful, and profitable, and quite good\nenough to live by, if not to die by. But all the while God is King, let\nthem fancy what they like; and this earth, and everything on it, from the\nking on his throne to the gnat in the sunbeam, is under His government,\nand must obey His laws or die. We are in God\u2019s kingdom, my good friends,\nevery one of us, whether we like it or not, and we shall be there for\never and ever. And our business is, therefore, simply to find out what\nare the laws of that kingdom, and obey those laws as speedily as\npossible, and live for ever thereby, lest, if we break them, and get in\ntheir way, they should grind us to powder.\n\nNow, here is one of the laws of God\u2019s kingdom: \u201cWhosoever exalteth\nhimself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall be exalted.\u201d\nThat is, whosoever, in any way whatsoever, sets himself up, will be\npulled down again: while he who is contented to keep low, and think\nlittle of himself, will be raised up and set on high. Now the world\u2019s\nrule is the exact opposite of this. The world says, Every man for\nhimself. The way of the world is to struggle and strive for the highest\nplace; to be a pushing man, and a rising man, and a man who will stand\nstiffly by his rights, and give his enemy as good as he brings, and beat\nhis neighbour out of the market, and show off himself to the best\nadvantage, and try to make the most of whatever wit or money he has to\nlook well in the world, that people may look up to him and flatter him\nand obey him; and so the world has no objection to people\u2019s pretending to\nbe better than they are. Every man must do the best he can for himself,\nthe world says, and never mind his neighbours: they must take care of\nthemselves; and if they are foolish enough to be taken in, so much the\nworse for them. So the world thinks that there is no harm in a man, when\nhe has anything to sell, making it out better than it really is, and\nhiding the fault in it as far as he can. When a tradesman or\nmanufacturer sends about \u201cpuffs\u201d of his goods, and pretends that they are\nbetter and cheaper than other people\u2019s, just to get custom by it, the\nworld does not call that what it is\u2014boasting and lying. It says: \u201cOf\ncourse a man must do the best he can for himself. If a man does not\npraise himself, nobody else will praise him; he cannot expect his\nneighbours to take him for better than his own words.\u201d So again, if a\nman wants a place or situation, the world thinks it no harm if he gives\nthe most showy character of himself, and gets his friends to say all the\ngood of him they can, and a great deal more, and to say none of the\nharm\u2014in short, to make himself out a much better, or shrewder, or\nworthier man than he really is. The world does not call that either what\nit is\u2014boasting, and lying, and thrusting oneself into callings to which\nGod has not called us. The world says: \u201cOf course a man must turn his\nbest side outwards. You cannot expect a man to tell tales on himself.\u201d\n\nAnd, my friends, the world would be quite right, and reasonable, and\nprudent, in telling us to push, and boast, and lie, and puff ourselves\nand our goods, if it were not for one thing which the foolish blind world\nis always forgetting, and that is, that there is a God who judges the\nearth. If God were not our King; if He took no care of us men and our\ndoings; if mankind had it all their own way on earth, and were forced to\nshift for themselves without any laws of God to guide them, then the best\nthing every man could do would be to fight for himself; to get all he\ncould for himself, and leave as little as he could for his neighbours; to\nmake himself out as great, and wise, and strong, as he could, and try to\nmake his neighbours buy him at his own price. That would be the best\nplan for every man, if God was not King; and therefore the world says\nthat that is the best plan for every man, because the world does not\nbelieve that God is King, and hates the notion that God is King, and\nlaughs at and persecutes, as Jesus Christ said it would, those who preach\nthe kingdom of God, and tell men, as I tell you in God\u2019s name: \u201cYou were\nnot made to be selfish; you were not meant to rise in the world by\nboasting and pushing down and deceiving your neighbours. For you are\nsubjects of God\u2019s kingdom; and to do so is to break his laws, and to put\nyourselves under His curse; and however worldly-wise all this selfishness\nand boasting may seem, it is sin, whose wages are death and ruin.\u201d\n\nFor, my friends, let the world try to forget God as it will, He does not\nforget the world. Let men try to make rules and laws for themselves,\nrules about religion, rules about government, rules about trade, rules\nabout morals and what they fancy is just and fair; let them make as many\nrules as they like, they are only wasting their time; for God has made\nHis rules already, and revealed them to us in the Bible, and told us that\nthe earth and mankind are governed in His way, and not in ours, and that\nHe will not alter His everlasting rules to suit our new ones. As David\nsays: \u201cLet the people be never so unquiet, still the Lord is King.\u201d\n\nAh, my friends, it is very easy to say all this, but it is not so easy to\nbelieve it. Every one, every respectable person at least, is ready\nenough to talk about God, and God\u2019s will, and so forth. But when it\ncomes to practice; when it comes to doing God\u2019s will, and not our own;\nwhen it comes to obeying His direct and plain commands, and not the\nfashions and maxims which men have invented for themselves; when it comes\nto giving up what we long for, because He has said that if we try after\nit in our own way, and not in His, we shall never have it at all, then\ncomes the trial; then comes the time to see whether we believe that God\nis the King of the earth or not; then comes the time to see whether we\nhave renounced the world, and determined to live as God\u2019s sons in God\u2019s\nkingdom, or whether our religion is some form of words, or way of\nthinking and feeling which we hope may save our souls from hell, but\nwhich has nothing to do with our daily life and conduct, and leaves us\njust as worldly as any heathen, in all our dealings with our fellow-men,\nfrom Monday morning to Saturday night. Then comes the time to try our\nfaith in God.\n\nAnd then, alas! it comes out, in these evil, and godless, and\nhypocritical times in which we live, that many a man who fancies himself\nreligious, and respectable, and blameless, and what not, no more really\nbelieves that he is living in God\u2019s kingdom than the heathen do. And if\nyou ask him, you will find out most probably that he fancies that God\u2019s\nkingdom is not on earth now, but that it will be on earth some day. A\ncunning delusion of the devil, that, my friends! To make us go his way\nwhile we fancy that we are going our own way. To make us say to\nourselves: \u201cAh! it is very unfortunate that God is not King of the earth\nnow. Of course He will be after the resurrection, in the new heaven and\nthe new earth, where there will be no sin. But He is not King now; this\nworld is given over to sin and the devil, so fallen and ruined and\ncorrupt that\u2014that\u2014that, in short, we cannot be expected to behave like\nGod\u2019s children in it, but must just follow the ways of the world, and\nlive by ambition, and selfishness, and cunning, and boasting, and\ncompeting in this life; a life of love, and justice, and humbleness, and\nfellow-help, and mercy, and self-sacrifice is impossible in such a world\nas this; we cannot live like angels, till we get to heaven!\u201d So say nine\npeople out of ten; the devil deceiving them, and their own hearts, alas!\nbeing but too glad to catch at the excuse for sin which the devil gives\nthem, when he tells them that this present earth is not God\u2019s kingdom;\nand so they go and act accordingly, selfish, grudging, pushing, boastful,\nevery man\u2019s hand against his neighbour and for himself, till they succeed\ntoo often in making this earth as fearfully like the devil\u2019s kingdom as\nit is possible for God\u2019s kingdom to be made.\n\nBut what, some may ask, has all this to do with the text that he who sets\nhimself up shall be brought low, he who keeps himself low shall be set\nup? What has it to do with the text? It has everything to do with the\ntext. If people really believed that they were God\u2019s subjects and\nchildren in God\u2019s kingdom, they would not need to ask that question long.\n\nIf God is really the King of the earth, there can be no use in anyone\nsetting up himself. If God is really the King of the earth, those who\nset up themselves must be certain to be brought down from their high\nthoughts and high assumptions sooner or later. For if God is really the\nKing of the earth, He must be the one to set people up, and not they\nthemselves. Look again at the parable. The man who asks the guests to\ndine with him has surely a right to place each of them where he likes.\nThe house is his, the dinner is his. He has a right to invite whom he\nlikes; and he has a right to settle where they shall sit. If they choose\ntheir own places\u2014if any guest takes upon himself to seat himself at the\nhead of the table, because he thinks it his right, he offends against all\nrules of right feeling and propriety toward the man who has invited him.\nAll he has a right to expect is, that his host will not put him in the\nwrong place, that he will settle all places at his table according to\npeople\u2019s real rank and deserts, and as our Testaments say, put \u201cthe\nworthiest man in the highest room.\u201d And if people really believed in\nGod, which very few do, they would surely expect no less of God. What\ngentleman, farmer, or labourer is there, with common sense and good\nfeeling, who would not show most respect to the most respectable persons\nwho came into his house, and send his best and trustiest workmen about\nhis most important errands? True, he might make mistakes, and worse.\nBeing a weak man, he might be tempted to put the rich sinner in a higher\nplace than the poor saint: or he might, from private fancy, be blinded\nabout his workmen\u2019s characters, and so send a worse man, because he was\nhis favourite, to do what another man whom he did not fancy as well might\ndo a great deal better. But you cannot suspect God of that. He is no\nrespecter of persons\u2014whether a man be rich or poor, no matter to God: all\nwhich He inquires into is\u2014Is he righteous or unrighteous, wise or\nfoolish, able to do his work or unable? And God can make no mistakes\nabout people\u2019s characters. As St. Paul says of the Lord Jesus: \u201cThe Word\nof God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing through to the\ndividing of the very joints and marrow, so that all things are naked and\nopen in the sight of Him with whom we have to do.\u201d There is no blinding\nGod, no hiding from God, no cheating God, just as there is no flattering\nGod. He knows what each and every one of us is fit for. He knows what\neach and every one of us is worth; and what is more, He knows what we\nought to know, that each and every one of us is worth nothing without\nHim. Therefore there is no use pretending to be better than we are. God\nknows just how good we are, and will reward us, even in this life only\naccording as we deserve, in spite of all our boasting. There is no use\npretending to be wiser than we are. For all the wisdom we have comes\nfrom God; and if we pretend to have more than we have, and by that\ngreatest act of folly, show that we have no wisdom at all, He will take\nfrom us even what we have, and make all our cunning plans come to\nnothing, and prove us fools, just when we fancy ourselves most clever.\nThere is no use being ambitious and pushing, and trying to scramble up on\nour neighbours\u2019 shoulders. For we were not sent into this world to do\nwhat we like, but what God likes; not to work for ourselves, but to work\nfor God; and God knows exactly how much good each of us can do, and what\nis the best place for us to do it in, and how to teach and enable us to\ndo it; and if we choose to be taught, He will teach us; and if we choose\nto go His way, and do His work, He will help us to it. But if we will\nnot have his way, He will not let us have our own way\u2014not at first, at\nleast. He will bring our plans to nothing, and let us make fools of\nourselves, and bring in sudden accidents of which we never dreamed, just\nto show us that we are not our own masters, and cannot cut out our own\nroads through life. And if we take His lesson, and go to Him to teach\nand strengthen us\u2014well: and if not\u2014then perhaps\u2014which is the most awful\nmisery which can happen to any man in earth\u2014God may give up teaching us\nduring this life, and let us have our own way, and be filled with the\nfruit of our own devices; from which worst of punishments may He in His\nmercy, save you, and me, and all belonging to us, in this life and in the\nlife to come.\n\nBut some of you may say: \u201cWe understand the first half of the text very\nwell, and like it very well; we all think it just that those who set\nthemselves up should have a fall, and we are very glad to see them have a\nfall: but we do not see why he who abases himself should have any right\nto be exalted.\u201d Ah, my friends, it is much easier, and needs much less\nknowledge of God, and much less of the likeness of Christ, to see what is\nwrong, than to see what is right. Every man knows when a bone is broken,\nbut it is not every one who can set it again. Nevertheless, there is a\nsort of left-handed reason in that argument. For a man has no more right\nto make himself out worse than he is, than he has to make himself out\nbetter than he is. A man should confess to being just what he is,\nneither more nor less. Nevertheless, he who humbles himself shall be\nexalted.\n\nOf course I do not mean those who, like some I know, make a fawning\nhumble way of talking a cloak for their own self-conceit; who call\nthemselves miserable sinners all the time that they are fancying that\nthey are almost the only people in the world who are sure of being saved,\nwhatever they do; who, as some do, actually pride themselves on their own\nconvictions of sin, and glory in their own shame, and despise those who\nwill not slander themselves as they do.\n\nThey are equally hateful to God and to God\u2019s enemies. If you and I are\ndisgusted at such hypocritical self-conceit, be sure the Lord Jesus is\nfar more pained at it than we are; for as a wise man says: \u201cThe devil\u2019s\ndarling sin is the pride that apes humility.\u201d\n\nBut let a man really be convinced of sin; let a man really believe in the\nLord Jesus Christ\u2019s atonement; let a man really believe in the Holy\nSpirit; and that man will have little need to ask why he should humble\nhimself more than he deserves, and little wish to boast of himself, and\npush himself forward, and get praise, or riches, or power in the world.\nFor that man would say to himself: \u201cI, sinner as I am; I, who know that I\ndo so many wrong things daily; things so wrong that it required the blood\nof the Son of God to wash out the guilt of them\u2014who am I to set myself\nup? I cannot be faithful in a little\u2014why should I try to be ruler over\nmuch? I cannot use properly the blessings and the power which God does\ngive me\u2014must I not take for granted that, if I had more riches, more\npower, I should use them still worse? I know well enough of a thousand\nsins, and weaknesses and ignorances in myself which my neighbours never\nsee. I believe, therefore, my neighbours have much too good an opinion\nof me, and not too bad a one; and therefore I am not going to boast or\npuff myself to them. I can only thank God they do not see the inside of\nthis foolish heart of mine as well as He does! In short, I am not going\nto set myself up, and try to get a higher place among men than I have\nalready, because I am certain that I have already a ten times better one\nthan I deserve.\u201d\n\nOr again, if a man really believed in the Holy Ghost, which is much the\nsame as really believing in the kingdom of God; if he really believed\nthat God was the King and Master of his heart and soul; if he really\nbelieved that everything good, and right, and wise in him came from God\u2019s\nHoly Spirit, and that everything wrong and foolish in him came from\nhimself and the devil; then he would surely say to himself: \u201cWho am I to\ntry to set myself up above my neighbours, and get power over them; what\nhave I that I did not receive? Whatever money, or station, or\ncleverness, or power of mind I have, God has given me, and without Him I\nshould be nothing. Therefore, He only gave me these talents to use for\nHim, and if I use them for my own ends, I shall be misusing them, and\ntrying to rob God of His own. I am His child, His subject, His steward;\nHe has put me just in that place in His earth which is most fit for me,\nand my business is, not to try to desert my post, and to wander out of\nthe place here He has put me, but to see that I do the duty which lies\nnearest me, so that I shall be able to give an account to Him. It is\nonly if I am faithful in a few things, that I can expect God to make me\nruler over many things.\u201d Ah, my friends, if we could but see ourselves,\nnot as we fancy we are, nor as others fancy we are, but just as we really\nare, then, instead of pushing, and boasting, and standing stiffly by our\nrights, and fancying that God and man are unjust to us, we should be\ncrying out all day long with the prodigal son: \u201cFather, I have sinned\nagainst heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy\nson.\u201d We should say with St. Paul\u2014who, after all, remember, was the\nwisest, and most learned, and noblest-hearted of all the Apostles\u2014that we\nare at best the chief of sinners. We should feel like the dear and\nblessed Magdalene of old, the pattern for ever of all true penitents,\nthat it was quite honour enough to be allowed to wash Christ\u2019s feet with\nour tears, while every one round us sneered at us and looked down upon\nus\u2014as, after all, we deserve. And so, believe me, we should be exalted.\nIt would pay us, if payment is what we want. For so we should be in a\nmore right, more true, more healthy, more wise, more powerful state of\nmind; more like Jesus Christ, and therefore more likely to be sent to do\nChrist\u2019s work, and share Christ\u2019s reward. For this is the great law of\nthe kingdom of God in which we live, that man is nothing, and God is\neverything; and that we are strong and wise, and something, only when we\nfind out that we are weak and foolish, and nothing, and go to our Father\nin heaven for strength, and wisdom, and spiritual eternal life. And then\nwe find out how true it is that he who humbles himself, as he deserves,\nwill be raised up; how he who loses his life will save it; how blessed\nare the poor in spirit, those who feel that they have nothing but what\nGod chooses to give them; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! How\nblessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; who feel\nthat they are not doing right, and yet cannot rest till they do right;\nfor they shall be filled! How blessed are the meek, who do not set up\nthemselves, or try to fight their own battles, and compete with their\nneighbours in the great scramble and struggle of this world; for\nthey\u2014just the last persons whom the world would expect to do it\u2014shall\ninherit the earth! Choose, my friends, choose! The world says: \u201cPush\nupwards, praise yourself, help yourself, put your best side outwards.\u201d\nThe great God who made heaven and earth says: \u201cKnow that you are weak,\nand foolish, and sinful in yourself. Know that whatever wisdom you have,\nI the Lord lent you; and I the Lord expect the interest of my loan. Know\nthat you are my child in my Kingdom. Stay where I have put you, and when\nI want you for something better, I will call you; and if you try to rise\nwithout my calling you, I will only drive you back again.\u201d So the only\nway to be ruler over much, is first to be faithful in a little. My\nfriends, which of the two do you think is likely to know best, man or\nGod?\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n{217} In 1848\u201349.","title":"Sermons on National Subjects","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":159605}