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diff --git a/20138.txt b/20138.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91a02ab --- /dev/null +++ b/20138.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6835 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, True Words for Brave Men, by Charles Kingsley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: True Words for Brave Men + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: December 19, 2006 [eBook #20138] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUE WORDS FOR BRAVE MEN*** + + + +Transcribed from the 1884 Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co., edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +TRUE WORDS FOR BRAVE MEN. + + +BY +CHARLES KINGSLEY, + +LATE RECTOR OF EVERSLEY; CHAPLAIN TO THE QUEEN AND TO THE PRINCE OF +WALES. + +_A BOOK FOR SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' LIBRARIES_. + +ELEVENTH THOUSAND. + +LONDON: +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., 1 PATERNOSTER SQUARE. + +1884. + +_The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved_. + +Dedicated +BY KIND PERMISSION +TO +GENERAL SIR WILLIAM CODRINGTON, G.C.B., +AND +ADMIRAL WELLESLEY, C.B., +IN MEMORY OF +CHARLES KINGSLEY, +WHO WAS PROUD OF THEIR FRIENDSHIP, +AND LOVED AND HONOURED THEM +AS HE LOVED AND HONOURED +ALL BRAVE SOLDIERS +AND SAILORS. + + "Yet was he courteous still to every wight, + And loved them that did to armes incline." + + SPENSER. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE. + + +This little volume is selected from the unpublished sermons and addresses +of Charles Kingsley by the request of a Colonel of Artillery, and with +the sanction of an Army Chaplain of long experience, who knew the +influence of his writings on soldiers, and who wish that that influence +may live, though he is no longer here. The Lecture on Cortez was given +at Aldershot Camp in 1858, and the Address to Brave Soldiers and Sailors +written for and sent out to the troops before Sebastopol in the winter of +1855, when Mr. Kingsley's own heart, with that of all England, was +grieving over the sufferings of our noble army in the Crimea. F. E. K. + + + + +I. THE GOOD CENTURION; OR, THE MAN UNDER AUTHORITY. + + + "And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a + centurion, beseeching Him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, + sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I + will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am + not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word + only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, + having soldiers under me, and I say unto this man, Go, and he goeth; + and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and + he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that + followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found such great faith, + no, not in Israel."--MATT. viii. 5-10. + +We find in Holy Scripture, that of the seven heathens who were first +drawn to our Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel, three were soldiers. + +The first was the Centurion, of whom our Lord speaks in such high terms +of commendation. + +The next, the Centurion who stood by His cross, and said, "Truly this was +the son of God." Old legends say that his name was Longinus, and tell +graceful tales of his after-life, which one would fain believe, if there +were any evidence of their truth. + +The third, of course, was Cornelius, of whom we read in the Acts of the +Apostles. + +Now these three Centurions--commanding each a hundred men--had probably +risen from the ranks; they were not highly educated men; they had seen +endless cruelty and immorality; they may have had, at times, to do ugly +work themselves, in obedience to orders. They were doing, at the time +when they are mentioned in Scripture, almost the worst work which a +soldier can do. For they were not defending their own country against +foreign enemies. They were keeping down a conquered nation, by a stern +military despotism, in which the soldiery acted not merely as police, but +as gaolers and executioners. And yet three men who had such work as this +to do, are singled out in Scripture to become famous through all time, as +the first-fruits of the heathen; and of one of them our Lord said, "I +have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel." + +Why is this? Was there anything in these soldiers' profession, in these +soldiers' training, which made them more ready than other men to +acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ? And if so; what was it? + +Let us take the case of this first Centurion, and see if it will tell us. +We will not invent any reasons of our own for his great faith. We will +let him give his own reasons. We will let him tell his own story. We +may trust it; for our blessed Lord approved of it. Our Lord plainly +thought that what the soldier had spoken, he had spoken well. And yet it +is somewhat difficult to understand what was in his mind. He was plainly +no talker; no orator. Like many a good English soldier, sailor, yeoman, +man of business, he had very sound instincts in him, and drew very sound +conclusions from them: but he could not put them into words. He knew +that he was right, but he could not make a speech about it. Better that, +than be--as too many are--ready to make glib speeches, which they only +half believe themselves; ready to deceive themselves with subtle +arguments and high-flown oratory, till they can give the most +satisfactory reasons for doing the most unsatisfactory and unreasonable +things. No, the good soldier was no orator: but he had sound sense under +his clumsy words. Let us listen to them once more. + +"I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this +man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my +servant, Do this, and he doeth it." Surely the thought which was in his +mind is to be found in the very words which he used--Authority. +Subordination. Discipline. Obedience. He was under authority, and must +obey his superior officer. He had soldiers under him, and they must obey +him. There must be not only no mutiny, but no neglect, no arguing, no +asking why. If he said Go, a man must go; if he said Come, a man must +come; and make no words about it. Otherwise the Emperor's service would +go to ruin, through laziness, distrust, and mutinous talk. By +subordination, by discipline, by mutual trust and strict obedience, that +empire of Rome was conquering the old world; because every Roman knew his +place, and every Roman did what he was told. + +But what had that to do with our Lord's power, and with the healing of +the child? + +This. The honest soldier had, I think, in his mind, that subordination +was one of the most necessary things in the world; that without it the +world could not go on. Then he said to himself, "If there must be +subordination on earth, must there not be subordination in heaven?" If +he, a poor officer, could get his commands obeyed, by merely speaking the +word; then how much more could God. If Jesus was--as He said--as His +disciples said--the Lord, the God of the Jews: then He had no need to +come and see a sick man; no need to lay His hands on him; to perform +ceremonies or say prayers over him. The Laws of Nature, by which health +and sickness come, would obey His word of command without rebellion and +without delay. "Speak the word only, Lord, and my servant shall be +healed." + +But how did the Centurion know--seemingly at first sight, that Jesus was +the Lord God? Ah, how indeed? + +I think it was because he had learnt the soldier's lesson. He had seen +many a valiant officer--Tribunes, Prefects, Consuls, Emperors, commanding +men; and fit to command men. There was no lack of such men in the Roman +empire then, as the poor, foolish, unruly Jews found out to their cost +within the next forty years. And the good Centurion had been accustomed +to look at such men; and to look up to them beside, and say not merely--It +is a duty to obey these men, but--It is a delight to obey them. He had +been accustomed--as it is good for every man to be accustomed--to meet +men superior to himself; men able to guide and rule him. And he had +learned--as every good soldier ought to learn--when he met such a man, +not to envy him, not to backbite him, not to intrigue against him, not to +try to pull him down: but to accept him for what he was--a man who was to +be followed, if need be, to the death. + +There was in that good Centurion none of the base spirit of envy, which +dreads and therefore hates excellence, hates ability, hates authority; +the mutinous spirit which ends, not--as it dreams--in freedom and +equality, but in slavery and tyranny; because it transforms a whole +army--a whole nation--from what it should be, a pack of staunch and +faithful hounds, into a mob of quarrelsome and greedy curs. Not of that +spirit was the good Centurion: but of the spirit of reverence and +loyalty; the spirit which delights in, and looks up to, all that is brave +and able, great and good; the spirit of true independence, true freedom, +and the true self-respect which respects its fellow men; and therefore it +was, that when the Centurion came into the divine presence of Christ, he +knew at once, instinctively and by a glance, into what a presence he had +come. Christ's mere countenance, Christ's mere bearing, I believe, told +that good soldier who He was. He knew of old the look of great +commanders: and now he saw a countenance, in spite of all its sweetness, +more commanding than he had ever seen before. He knew of old the bearing +of Consuls and of Emperors: and now, in spite of Christ's lowly disguise, +he recognised the bearing of an Emperor of emperors, a King of kings. He +had learnt of old to know a man when he met one; and now, he felt that he +had met the Man of all men, the Son of Man; and that so God-like was His +presence, that He must be likewise the Son of God. + +And so had this good soldier his reward; his reward for the soldierly +qualities which he had acquired; for subordination; for reverence; for +admiration of great and able men. And what was his reward? Not merely +that his favourite servant was healed at his request: but that he learnt +to know the Lord Jesus Christ, whom truly to know is everlasting life; +whom the selfish, the conceited, the envious, the slanderous, the +insolent, the mutinous, know not, and never will know; for they are not +of His Spirit, neither is He of theirs. + +But more: What is the moral which old divines have drawn from this story? +"If you wish to govern: learn first to obey." That is a moral lesson +more valuable than even the use of arms. To learn--as the good Centurion +learnt--that a free man can give up his independence without losing it. +Losing it? Independence is never more called out than by subordination. +A man never feels himself so much of a free man as when he is freely +obeying those whom the laws of his country have set over him. A man +never feels so able as when he is following the lead of an abler man than +himself. Remember this. Make it a point of honour to do your duty +earnestly, scrupulously, and to the uttermost; and you will find that the +habits of self-restraint, discipline, and obedience, which you, as +soldiers, have learned, will stand you in good stead for the rest of your +lives, and make you each, in his place, fit to rule, just because you +have learned to obey. + +But now go on a step, as the good Centurion went on, and say--If there is +no succeeding in earthly things, whether in soldiering or any other +profession, without subordination; without obeying rules and orders +strictly and without question: then perhaps there is no succeeding in +spiritual and heavenly things. For has not God His moral Laws, His +spiritual Laws, which must be obeyed, if you intend to prosper in this +life, or in the life to come? + +"Thou _shalt_ love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul, and thy +neighbour as thyself. Thou _shalt_ honour thy father and thy mother. +Thou _shalt not_ kill, steal, commit adultery, slander, or covet." So it +is written: not merely on those old tables of stone on Sinai; but in The +Eternal Will of God, and in the very nature of this world, which God has +made. There is no escaping those Laws. They fulfil themselves. God +says to them, "Go," and they go; "Come," and they come; "Do justice on +the offender," and they do it. If we are fools and disobey them, they +will grind us to powder. If we are wise and obey them, they will reward +us. For in wisdom's right hand is length of days, and in her left hand +riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths +are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold of her, and +blessed is every one that retaineth her; as God grant you all will do. + +But you, too, in time may have soldiers under you. Think, I beseech you, +earnestly of this, and for their sake, as well as for your own, try by +God's help to live worthy of Christian English men. Let them see you +going out and coming in, whether on duty or by your own firesides, as men +who feel that they are "ever beneath their great taskmaster's eye;" who +have a solemn duty to perform, namely, the duty of living like good men +toward your superior officers, your families, your neighbours, your +country, and your God--even towards that Saviour who so loved you that He +died for you on the cross, to set you the example of what true men should +be; the example of perfect duty, perfect obedience, perfect courage, +perfect generosity--in one word--the example of a perfect Hero. + +Live such lives, and then, will be fulfilled to you, and to your children +after you, from generation to generation, the promises which God made, +ages since, to the men of Judea of old; promises which are all true +still, and will continue true, in every country of the world, till the +world's end. + +"Put thou thy trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell in the land, +and verily thou shalt be fed. + +The Lord knoweth the doings of the righteous; and their inheritance shall +endure for ever. + +They shall not be confounded in the perilous time; and in the days of +dearth they shall have enough. + +The Lord ordereth a good man's going; and maketh his way acceptable to +himself. + +Though he fall, he shall not be cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him +with his hand. + +I have been young, and now I am old; yet saw I never the righteous +forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. + +Flee from evil, and do the thing that is good; and dwell for evermore. + +For the Lord loveth the thing that is right; He forsaketh not his that +are godly, but they are preserved for ever." Amen. + + + + +II. CHRIST IS COME. A CHRISTMAS SERMON. + + + "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the + government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called + Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The + Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there + shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to + order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from + henceforth even for ever."--ISAIAH ix. 6, 7. + +It is now more than three thousand years ago that God made to Abraham the +promise, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." +Again the promise was renewed to Moses when he was commanded to tell the +Jews, "a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me. +Hear ye him . . ." In David's Psalms, again, this same strange person +was spoken of who was already, and yet who was to come. David calls him +the Son of God, the King of kings. Again, in the Prophets, in many +strange and mysterious words, is this same being spoken of as a virgin's +child--"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall +be called Emmanuel, God with us;" and again, "Unto us a child is born, +unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful, +Counsellor, the Mighty God--the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." +And again, "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a +branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall +rest upon him,--the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of +knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And with righteousness shall He +judge the poor," &c. + +And again, "Thou Bethlehem, though thou be little among the princes of +Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth He that is to be ruler in Israel, +whose goings forth have been from everlasting. And He shall be great +unto the ends of the earth." + +But time would fail me if I tried to repeat to you half the passages +wherein the old Jewish prophets foretold Him who was to come, and in whom +all the nations of the earth should be blessed, more and more clearly as +the time drew nigh. + +Well, my friends, surely you know of whom I have been speaking--of whom +Moses and the prophets spoke--of Him who was born of a village maiden, +laid in a manger, proclaimed of angels to the shepherds, worshipped with +hymns of glory by the heavenly host on the first Christmas day eighteen +hundred and seventy-eight years ago, as we count time. Aye, strange as +it may seem, _He is come_, and in Him all the nations of the earth are +blessed. _He is come_--the Conqueror of Evil--the desire of all +nations--the Law-giver--the Lamb which was to suffer for our sins--the +King of kings--the Light which should lighten the heathen--the Virgin's +child, of wondrous wisdom, whose name should be God as well as man--whom +all the heathens, amid strange darkness and mad confusions, had still +been fearing and looking for. + +_He is come_--He came on that first Christmas-tide. And we here on each +Christmas-tide can thank God for His coming, and say before men and +angels, "Unto us a child is born--the Prince of Peace is _ours_--to His +kingdom we belong--He has borne about on Him a man's body, a man's soul +and spirit--He was born like us--like us He grew--like us He rejoiced and +sorrowed--tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin--able to +the uttermost to understand and help all who come to God by Him. He has +bruised the serpent's head--He has delivered us from the power of +darkness, and brought us into _His_ kingdom. Through His blood we have +redemption and forgiveness--yes! through Him who, though He was laid in a +manger, was yet the image of the unseen God. And by Him, and for +Him--that Babe of Bethlehem--were all things created in heaven and +earth--and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. All +heaven and earth, and all the powers therein, are held together by Him. +For it pleased the Father that in _Him_ should all fulness dwell; and +having made peace through the blood of His cross, to reconcile by that +child all things unto Himself--all things in heaven--all things in +earth." + +This should be our boast--this should be our glory--for this do we meet +together every Christmas day. + +But what is all this to us if that Blessed Man be gone away from us? Our +souls want more than I have told you yet. Our souls want more than a +beautiful and wonderful story _about_ Christ. They want Christ Himself. +Preaching is blessed and useful if it speaks of Christ. Our own thoughts +are blessed and useful if we think of Christ. The Bible is most blessed +and useful containing all things necessary to salvation, for it speaks of +Christ. Our prayers are blessed and useful if in them we call and cry +earnestly to Christ. But neither preaching, nor thinking, nor praying +are enough. In them we think about Him and speak to Him. _But we want +Him to speak to us_. We want not merely a man to say, your sins _may_ be +forgiven you; we want Christ Himself to say, "Your sins _are_ forgiven +you." We want not merely a wise book to tell us that the good men of old +belonged to Christ's kingdom--we want Christ Himself to tell us that we +belong to His kingdom. We want not merely a book that tells us that He +promised always to be with us--we want Him Himself to tell us that He is +really now with us. We want not merely a promise from a prophet of old +that in Him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, but a sign +from Christ Himself that this nation of England is really now blest in +Him. In short, we want not words, however true words, however fine +words, _about_ Christ. We want Christ Himself to forgive us our sins--to +give peace and freedom to our hearts--to come to us unseen, and fill us +with thoughts and longings such as our fallen nature cannot give us--such +thoughts and feelings as we cannot explain in words, for they are too +deep and blessed to be talked about--but thoughts which say to us, as if +the blessed Jesus Himself spoke to us in the depths of our hearts, "Poor, +struggling, sinful brother! _thou art mine_. For thee I was born--for +thee I died--thee I will teach--I will guide thee and inform thee with +mine eye--I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." + +Well--you want _Him_--and you want a sign of Him--a sign of His own +giving that _He is among you this day_--a sign of His own giving that He +has taken you into His kingdom--a sign of His own giving that He died for +you--that He will feed and strengthen your souls in you with His own life +and His own body. + +Then--there is a sign--there is the sign which has stood stedfast and +sure to you--and to your fathers--and your forefathers before them--back +for eighteen hundred years, over half the world. There is the bread of +which He said, "Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you." +There is the wine of which He said, "This cup is the New Covenant in my +blood, which is shed for you, and for many, for the forgiveness of sins." +There is His sign. Don't ask _how_. Don't try to explain it away, and +fancy that you can find fitter, and soberer, and safer, and more gospel- +sounding words than Jesus Christ's own, by which to speak of His own +Sacrament. But say, with the great Queen Elizabeth of old, when men +tried too curiously to enquire into her opinion concerning this blessed +mystery-- + + "Christ made the Word and spake it, + He took the bread and brake it, + And what His Word did make it, + That I believe, and take it." + +He said, "This bread is my body which was broken for you." He said, +"This cup is the New Testament in my blood." Is it? or is it not? And +if it is, is not Christ among us now, indeed? Is not that something +better than all the preaching in the world? Jesus Christ, the King of +kings--the Saviour--the Deliverer--the Lamb of God--the Everlasting +Son--the Word--the Light--the Life--is here among us ready to feed our +souls in the Holy Sacrament of His body and blood, as surely as that +bread and wine will feed our bodies--yea--to feed our souls and bodies to +everlasting life. "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters +and drink. Come, buy wine without money and without price." + + + + +III. IS, OR IS NOT, THE BIBLE TRUE? + + + "If I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me?"--JOHN viii. 46. + +Is, or is not, the Bible true? To this question we must all come some +day or other. Do you believe that that book which lies there, which we +call the Bible, is a true book, or a lying book? Is it true or false? Is +it right or wrong? Is it from God, or is it not from God? Let us answer +that. If it is not from God, let it go; but if it _is_ from God, which +we know it is, how dare we disobey it? + +That _God_, the maker of heaven and earth, should speak to men--should +set His commands down in a book and give it to them--and that they should +neglect it, disobey it--it is the strangest sight that can be seen on +earth! that God in heaven should say one thing, and a human being, six +feet high at most, should dare to do another! + +If the Bible is from God, I say, the question is not whether it is +_better_ to obey it or not. Better? there is no better or worse in the +matter--it is infinitely necessary. To obey is infinitely right, to +disobey is infinitely wrong. To obey is infinitely wise, to disobey is +infinite folly. There can be no question about the matter, except in the +mind of a fool. Better to obey God's word? Better indeed--for to obey +is heaven, to disobey is hell. _That_ is the difference. And at your +better moments does not the voice within you, witness to, and agree with, +the words of that book? When it tells you to care more for your soul +than your body--more for the life to come, which is eternity, than for +the present life which lasts but a few years--does not common sense tell +you that? The Bible tells you to reverence and love God the giver of all +good--does not reason tell you that? The Bible tells you loyally to +obey, to love, to worship our blessed King and Saviour in heaven. Does +not common sense tell you that? Surely if there be such a person as +Jesus Christ--if He is sitting now in heaven as Saviour of all, and one +day to be Judge of all--by all means _He_ is to be obeyed, He is to be +pleased, whoever else we may displease. Reason, one would think, would +tell us that--and it is just want of reason which makes us forget it. + +What have you to say against the pattern of a true and holy man as laid +down in the Bible? The Bible would have you pure--can you deny that you +ought to be that? It would have you peaceable--can you deny that you +ought to be that? The Bible would have you forgiving, honest, +honourable, active, industrious. The Bible would have you generous, +loving, charitable. Can you deny that that is right, however some of you +may dislike it? The Bible would have you ask all you want from God, and +ask forgiveness of God for every offence, great and small, against Him. +Can you deny that that is right and reasonable? The Bible would have you +live in continual remembrance that the great eye of God is on you--in +continual thankfulness to the blessed Saviour who died for you and has +redeemed you by His own blood--with daily and hourly prayer for God's +Spirit to set your heart and your understanding right on every point. Can +you deny that that is all right and good and proper--that unless the +Bible be all a dream, and there be no Holy and Almighty God, no merciful +Christ in heaven, this is THE way and the only way to live? Ay, if there +were no God, no Christ, no hereafter, it would be better for man to live +as the Bible tells him, than to live as too many do. There would be +infinitely less misery, less heart-burnings, less suffering of body and +soul, if men followed Christ's example as told us in the Bible. Even if +this life were all, and there were neither punishment nor reward for us +after death--does not our reason tell us that if all men and women were +like Christ in gentleness, wisdom, and purity, the world as long as it +lasted would be a heaven? + +And do not your own hearts echo these thoughts at moments when they are +quietest and purest and most happy too? Have you not said to +yourselves--"Those Bible words are good words. After all, if I were like +that, I should be happier than I am now." Ah! my friends, listen to +those thoughts when they come into your hearts--they are not your own +thoughts--they are the voice of One holier than you--wiser than you--One +who loves you better than you love yourselves--One pleading with you, +stirring you up by His Spirit, if it be but for a moment, to see the +things which belong to your peace. + +But what can you say for yourselves, if having once had these thoughts, +having once settled in your own minds that the Gospel of God is right and +you are wrong, if you persist in disobeying that gospel--if you agree one +minute with the inner voice, which says, "Do this and live, do this and +be at peace with God and man, and your own conscience"--and then fall +back the next moment into the same worldly, selfish, peevish, +sense-bound, miserable life-in-death as ever? + +The reason, my friends, I am afraid, with most of us is, sheer folly--not +want of cunning and cleverness, but want of heart--want of feeling--what +Solomon calls folly (Prov. i. 22-27), stupidity of soul, when he calls on +the simple souls, How long ye simple ones will you love simplicity or +silliness, and the scorners delight in their scorning (delight in +laughing at what is good), and fools hate knowledge--hate to think +earnestly or steadily about anything--the stupidity of the ass, who is +too stubborn and thick-skinned to turn out of his way for any one--or the +stupidity of the swine, who cares for his food and nothing further--or +worse than all, the stupidity of the ape, who cares for nothing but play +and curiosity, and the vain and frivolous amusements of the moment. + +All these tempers are common enough, and they may be joined with +cleverness enough. What beast so clever as an ape? yet what beast so +foolish, so mean, so useless? But this is the fault of stupidity--it +blinds our eyes to the world of spirits; it makes us forget God; it makes +us see first what we can lay our hands on, and nothing more; it makes us +forget that we have souls. Our glorious minds and thoughts, which should +be stretching on through all eternity, are cramped down to thinking of +nothing further than this little hour of earthly life. Our glorious +hearts, which should be delighting in everything which is lovely, and +generous, and pure, and beautiful, and God-like--ay, delighting in God +Himself--are turned in upon themselves, and set upon our own gain, our +own ease, our own credit. In short, our immortal souls, made in God's +image, become no use to us by this stupidity--they seem for mere salt to +keep our bodies from decaying. + +Whose work is that? The devil's. But whose _fault_ is it? Do you +suppose that the devil has any right in you, any power in you, who have +been washed in the waters of baptism and redeemed by Christ from the +service of the devil, and signed with His Cross on your foreheads, +_unless you give him power_? Not he. Men's sins open the door to the +devil, and when he is in, he will soon trample down the good seed that is +springing up, and stamp the mellow soil as hard as iron, so that nothing +but his own seeds can grow there, and so keep off the dews of God's +spirit, and the working of God's own gospel from making any impression on +that hardened stupified soil. + +Alas! poor soul. And thy misery is double, because thou knowest not that +thou art miserable; and thy misery is treble, because thou hast brought +it on thyself! + +My friends--there is an ancient fable of the Jews, which, though it is +not true, yet has a deep and holy meaning, and teaches an awful lesson. + +There lived, says an ancient Jewish Scribe, by the shores of the Dead +Sea, a certain tribe of men, utterly given up to pleasure and +covetousness, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride +of life. To them the prophet Moses was sent, and preached to them, +warning them of repentance and of judgment to come--trying to awaken +their souls to high and holy thoughts, and bring them back to the thought +of God and heaven. And they, poor fools, listened to Him, admired his +preaching, agreed that it all sounded very good--but that he went too +far--that it was too difficult--that their present way of life was very +pleasant--that they saw no such great need of change, and so on, one +excuse after another, till they began to be tired of Moses, and gave him +to understand that he was impertinent, troublesome--that they could see +nothing wise in him--nothing great; how could they? So Moses went his +way, and left them to go theirs. And long after, when some travellers +came by, says the fable, they found these foolish people were all changed +into dumb beasts; what they had tried to be, now they really were. They +had made no use of their souls, and now they had lost them; they had +given themselves up to folly, and now folly had taken to her own; they +had fancied, as people do every day, that this world is a great +play-ground, wherein every one has to amuse himself as he likes best, or +at all events a great shop and gambling-house, where the most cunning +wins most of his neighbour's money; and now according to their faith it +was to them. They had forgotten God and spiritual things, and now they +were hid from their eyes. And these travellers found them sitting, +playing antics, quarrelling for the fruits of the field--mere +beasts--reaping as they had sown, and filled full with the fruit of their +own devices. + +Only every Sabbath day, says the fable, there came over these poor +wretches an awful sense of a piercing Eye watching them from above--a dim +feeling that they had been something better and nobler once--a faint +recollection of heavenly things which they once knew when they were +little children--a blind dread of some awful unseen ruin, into which +their miserable empty beast-life was swiftly and steadily sweeping them +down;--and then they tried to think and could not--and tried to remember +and could not--and so they sat there every Sabbath day, cowering with +fear, uneasy and moaning, and half-remembered that they once had souls! + +My friends, my friends, are there not too many now-a-days like these poor +dwellers by the Dead Sea, who seem to have lost all of God's image except +their bodies? who all the week dote on the business and the pleasures of +this life, going on very comfortably till they seem to have quite +hardened their own souls; and now and then on Sabbath days when they come +to church, and pretend to pray and worship, sit all vacant, stupid, their +hearts far away, or with a sort of passing uneasiness and dim feeling +that all is not right--_try to think and cannot_--_try to pray and +cannot_--and, like those dwellers by the Dead Sea, once a week on Sabbath +day half remember that they once had souls? + +So true it is, that from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that +which he seemeth to have. So true it is, that the wages of sin is death; +death to the soul even in this life. So true it is that why men do not +believe Christ, is because they cannot hear His word. So true it is, +that only the pure in heart shall see God, or love god-like men and god- +like words. So true it is, that he that soweth the wind shall reap the +whirlwind, and that he who _will_ not hear Christ's words, shall soon not +be _able_ to hear them; that he who will not have Christ for his master, +must soon be content to have the devil for his master, and for his wages, +spiritual death. From which sad fate of spiritual death may the blessed +Saviour, in His infinite mercy, deliver us. + + + + +IV. THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE TREE OF LIFE; OR, THE FALL. + + + "Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which + the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God + said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman + said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the + garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the + garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch + it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not + surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then + your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and + evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and + that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one + wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto + her husband with her; and he did eat."--GENESIS iii. 1-6. + +Here is a lesson for us all. You and I, and all men brought into the +world with us a nature which fell in Adam; and, as it fell _before_ we +were born, it is certain enough to fall, again and again, after we are +born, in this life; ay, and unless we take care, to fall lower and lower, +every day, acting Adam's sin over again, until we surely die. This is +what I mean--What God said to Adam and Eve, He says to every one of us. +And what the devil said to Adam and Eve, he will say to every one of us. + +First. God says to us, "Of all the trees of the garden thou mayest +freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not +eat, lest thou die." + +Of all the trees of the garden thou mayest freely eat. God grudges you +nothing good for you. He has put you into this good and pleasant world, +where you will find pleasures enough, and comforts enough, to satisfy +you, if you are wise; but there are things which God has forbidden you, +not out of any spite or arbitrariness, but because they are bad for you; +because they will hurt you if you indulge in them, and sooner or later, +kill both body and soul. + +Now, many of those wrong things look pleasant enough, and reasonable +enough, as the forbidden fruit did. Pleasant to the eyes and good for +food--and to be desired to make you wise. As people grow up and go out +into life, they are tempted to do many things which their parents forbid, +which the Bible forbids, which the law of the land forbids, and they do +not understand at first why they are forbidden any more than Adam and Eve +understood why they were not to eat of the forbidden fruit. + +Then the devil (who is always trying to slander God to us) whispers to +them, as he did to Eve, "How unreasonable! how hard on you. People say +that this is wrong, and you must not do it, and yet how pleasant it must +be! How much money you might get by it--how much wiser, and cleverer, +and more able to help yourself you would become, if you went your own +way, and did what you like. Surely God is hard on you, and grudges you +pleasure. Never mind--don't be afraid. Surely you can judge best what +is good for you. Surely you know your own business best. Use your own +common sense and do what you like, and what you think will profit you. +Are you to be a slave to old rules which your parents or the clergyman +taught you?" + +So says the devil to every young man as he goes out in life. And to +many, alas!--to many, the devil's words sound reasonable enough; they +flatter our fallen nature, they flatter our pride and our self-will, and +make us fancy we are going up hill, and becoming very fine and manly, and +independent and knowing. "_Knowing_"! How many a young man have I seen +run into sin just that he might be _knowing_; and say, "Why should I not +see life for myself? Why should I not know the world, and try what is +good, and how I like that, and what is bad too, and how I like that--and +then choose for myself like a man, instead of being kept in like a baby?" + +So he says exactly what Adam and Eve said in their hearts--"I will eat of +the tree of knowledge of good and evil." He says in his heart, too, just +what Solomon the wise said, when he, too, determined to eat of the fruit +of the tree of knowledge. + +Ay, young people, who love to see the world, and to choose for +yourselves, read that Book of Ecclesiastes, the saddest book on earth, +and get a golden lesson in every verse of it. See how Solomon determined +to see life, from the top to the bottom of it. How he "gave his heart to +know, seek, and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done +under heaven. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and +behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit," (Eccles. i. 13). + +And then, how he turned round and gave his heart to know mirth, and +madness, and folly, and see whether _that_ was good for him, and, "I said +of laughter, it is mad: and of mirth, what doeth it?" (Eccles. ii. 2-26). +And then he gave himself to wine and revelling, and after that to riches, +and pomp, and glory, and music, and the "fine arts," as we call them. "I +made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made +me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of +fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that +bringeth forth trees: I got me servants and maidens, and had servants +born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle +above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and +gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me +men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as +musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and +increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom +remained with me." And what was the end? "Then I looked on all the +works that my hand had done, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: +and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit +under the sun." Therefore, he says, that he hated all the labour he had +taken under the sun, because he must leave it to the men who came after +him, and found out at last, after years of labour and sorrow, trying to +make himself happy with this and that, and finding no rest with any of +them, that the conclusion of the whole matter was to "Fear God and keep +his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring +every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or +evil" (Eccles. xii. 13). + +So said Solomon--and God knows, my dear friends, God knows, he said +truly. Ay, and I know it to be true; and I entreat you this day, in +God's name, to hear the conclusion of the whole matter. All this you +will find out by eating of the tree of knowledge, and "_seeing life_," +and going your own way, and falling into sin, and smarting for it, for +weary years, in anxiety and perplexity, and shame, and sorrow of heart. + +All that you will find out thereby--all that Solomon found out +thereby,--is just what you know already, and nothing more--just what you +have been taught ever since you could speak. "Fear God and keep his +commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Why buy your own +experience dear, when you can get it gratis, for nothing already? + +Yes; a simple, godly, industrious life, doing the duty which lies nearest +you, avoiding sin as you would an adder, because it is sure sooner or +later to sting you, if you touch it, is the straight road, and the only +road, to happiness, either in this life, or in the life to come. Pleasure +and amusement, drinking and jollity, will not make you happy. Money will +not make you happy. Cleverness, and cunning, and knowledge of the world +will not make you happy. Scholarship and learning will not. But plain, +simple righteousness, simply doing right, _will_. + +Do right then and be happy. Obey God's commandments, and you will find +that His commandments are _Life_, and in the pathway thereof there is no +death. + +Make up your minds to do right, to be right, to keep right by the help of +God's Right and Holy Spirit, in the right road. Make up your minds +whether you will go through the world in God's way, or your own +way--whether you will taste what God has forbidden, and so destroy +yourselves, or obey Him and live with Him in bliss. The longer you +delay, the more difficult you will find it. Make up your minds now, and +ask God to teach you His own heavenly wisdom which is a Tree of Life to +all that lay hold on it. + + + + +V. I AM. + + + "I AM hath sent me into you."--EXODUS iii. 10. + +Every day I find it more and more true, that the Bible is full of good +news from beginning to end. The _Gospel_--that is good news--and the +best of all good news, is to be found in every book of it; perhaps if we +knew how to search the Scriptures, in every chapter and verse of it, from +beginning to end. For from beginning to end, from Genesis to +Malachi--from the Gospel of St. Matthew to the end of the Revelation--what +our Lord said of the Bible stands true: "They (the Scriptures) are they +which testify of ME" (John v. 39). The whole Bible testifies, bears +witness of Him, the One Unchangeable Christ, who said to Moses, "Say unto +the people, I AM hath sent me unto you." + +Now let us think a while what that text means; for it has not to do with +Moses only, but with all God's prophets, evangelists, preachers. David +might have said the same to the Jews in his time, "I AM hath sent me unto +you." Elijah, Isaiah, St. Matthew, St. John, St. Paul, might have said +the same. And so may God's ministers now. And I, however sinful, or +ignorant, or unfaithful to my duty I may be, have still a right to say, +as I do now say solemnly and earnestly to you, "I AM hath sent me unto +you" this day. + +But what do I mean by that? That ought to depend on what Moses meant by +it. Moses meant what God meant, and unless I mean the same thing I must +mean something wrong. And this is what I think it does mean: + +First. I AM--the Lord Jesus Christ told Moses that his name was I AM. +Now you perhaps think that this is but a very common place name, for +every one can say of himself--I am--and it may seem strange that God +should have chosen for His own especial name, words which you and I might +have chosen for ourselves just as well. I daresay you think that you may +fairly say "_you are_," and that I can say fairly that "I am." + +And yet it is not so. If I say "I am," I say what is not true of me. I +must say "I am something--I am a man, I am bad, or I am good, or I am an +Englishman, I am a soldier, I am a sailor, I am a clergyman"--and then I +shall say what is true of me. But God alone can say "I AM" without +saying anything more. + +And why? Because God alone _is_. Everybody and everything else in the +world _becomes_: but God _is_. We are all becoming something from our +birth to our death--changing continually and becoming something different +from what we were a minute before; first of all we were created and made, +_and so became men_; and since that we have been every moment changing, +becoming older, becoming wiser, or alas! foolisher; becoming stronger or +weaker; becoming better or worse. Even our bodies are changing and +becoming different day by day. + +But God never changes or becomes anything different from what He is now. +What He is, that He was, and ever will be. God does not even become +older. This may seem very strange, but it is true: for God made Time, +God made the years; and once there were no years to count by, no years at +all. Remember how long had God Himself been, before He made Time, when +there was no Time to pass over? Remember always that God must have +created Time. If God did not create Time, no one else did; for there is, +as the Athanasian Creed says, "One uncreated and One eternal," even God +who made Time as well as all things else. + +Am I puzzling you? What I want to do is to make you understand that +God's life is quite utterly different from our life, or any way of living +and being which we can fancy or think of; lest you make to yourselves the +likeness of anything in heaven above or of the earth beneath, and think +that God is like that and so worship it, and have other gods beside the +true God, and so break the first and second commandments, as thousands do +who fancy themselves good Protestants, and hate Popery and idolatry, and +yet worship a very different sort of god from the "I AM," who sent Moses +to the children of Israel. Remember then this at least, that God was +before all things, and all worlds, and all Time; so that there was a time +when there were no worlds, and a time when there was no Time--nothing but +God alone, absolute, eternal, neither made nor created, the same that He +is now and will be for ever. + +When I say "God is," that is a very different thing from God Himself +saying, "I AM." A different thing? Oh! my friends, here is the root of +the whole Gospel, the root of all our hope for this world and for the +world to come--for ourselves, for our own future, and the future of all +the world. Do you not see how? Then I will try to explain. + +Many heathen men have known that there was one eternal God, and that _God +is_. But they did not know that God Himself had said so; and that made +them anxious, puzzled, almost desperate, so that the wiser they were, the +unhappier they were. For what use is it merely knowing that "_God is_"? +The question for poor human creatures is, "But what sort of a being is +God? Is He far off? Millions of miles from this earth? Does He care +nothing about us? Does He let the world go its own way right or wrong? +Is He proud and careless? A self-glorifying Deity whose mercy is _not_ +over all His works, or even over any of them? Or does He care for us? +Does He see us? Will He speak to us? Has He ever spoken to any one? Has +He ever told any one about Himself?" _There is the question_--the +question of all questions. And if a man once begins thinking about his +own soul, and this world, and God,--till he gets that question answered, +he can have no comfort about himself or the world, or anything--till in +fact he knows whether God has ever spoken to men or not. + +And the glory of the Bible, the power of God revealed in the Bible, is, +that it answers the question, and says, "God _does_ care for men, God +_does_ see men, God is not far off from any one of us." Ay, God speaks +to men--God spoke to Moses and said, not "God is" but "I AM." God in +sundry times and in divers manners _spoke_ to our fathers by the Prophets +and said "I AM." + +But more--Moses said, "I AM hath sent me." God does not merely love us, +and yet leave us to ourselves. He sends after us. He sends to us. In +old times He sent prophets and wise men one after the other to preach +repentance and righteousness, and to teach men all that was good for +them; and when men would not listen to them, but shut their ears to them +and drove them out, killing some and beating some, God was so determined +to send to men, so unwearied, so patient, so earnest, so loving still, +that He said, "I will send now my own Son, surely they will hear Him." + +Yes, my friends, this is the I AM. This is God--this is our God--this is +our Heavenly Father; not a proud and selfish Being, who looks down +haughtily from afar off on all the misery and ignorance of the world, but +as a wise man of old said, "A most merciful God, a revealer of secrets, +who showeth to man the things which he knew not." This is our God--not a +tyrant, but a Deliverer--not a condemning God, but a saving God, who +wills that none should perish, who sends to seek and to save those who +are lost, who sends His sun to shine on the just and the unjust, and is +good to the unthankful and the evil. A God who so loved the world which +He had made, in spite of all its sin and follies, that He spared not His +only begotten Son, but freely gave Him for it. A God who sits on His +throne for ever judging right, and ministering true judgment among the +people, who from His throne beholds all those who dwell upon the earth, +and fashions the hearts of them, and understandeth all their works. A +God who comes out of His place to visit the wrong done on the earth, and +be a refuge for the oppressed, and a help in time of trouble, to help the +fatherless and poor unto their right, that the men of this world be no +more exalted against them. + +This is _our God_. This is our Father--always condescending, always +patient, always loving, always just. And always active, always working +to _do good_ to all his creatures, like that exact pattern and copy of +Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "My Father worketh hitherto, +and I work." (John v. 17). + +But again: "I AM hath sent me unto _you_." + +Unto whom? Who was Moses sent to? To the Children of Israel in Egypt. +And what sort of people were they? Were they wise and learned? On the +contrary they were stupid, ignorant, and brutish. Were they pious and +godly? On the contrary they were worshipping the foolish idols of the +Egyptians--so fond of idolatry that they must needs make a golden calf +and worship it. Were they respectable and cleanly livers? Were they +teachable and obedient? On the contrary, they were profligate, stiff- +necked, murmurers, disobedient, unwilling to trust God's goodness, though +He had shown them all those glorious signs and wonders for their sakes, +and brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. +Were they high-spirited and brave? On the contrary, they were +mean-spirited and cowards, murmuring against Moses and against God, if +anything went wrong, for setting them free; ready to go back and be +slaves to the Egyptians rather than face danger and fight; looking back +and longing after the flesh-pots of Egypt, where they eat bread to the +full, and willing to be slaves again and have all their men children +drowned in the river, and themselves put to hard labour in the brick +kilns, if they could only fill their stomachs. And even at best when +Moses had brought them to the very edge of that rich land of Canaan, +which God had promised them, they were afraid to go into it, and win it +for themselves; and God had to send them back again, to wander forty +years in the wilderness, till all that cowardly, base, first generation, +who came up out of Egypt was dead, and a new generation had grown up, +made brave and hardy by their long training in the deserts, and taught to +trust and obey God from their youth; and so able and willing to conquer +the good land which God had promised them. + +Altogether the Children of Israel, to whom God sent Moses, were plainly +an ignorant, brutish, cowardly set of people, fallen lower far than the +negroes of South America, fit to be slaves and nothing better. + +Then why did God take such trouble for them? Why did God care for them, +and help them, and work wonders for them? Why? Exactly because they +_were_ so bad. He that hath ears to hear let him hear, and understand by +this example of all examples what manner of God our God is. Just because +they were so bad, His goodness yearned over them all the more, and longed +to make them good. Just because they were so unclean and brutish His +holiness longed all the more to cleanse them. Because they were so +stupid and ignorant, His wisdom longed to make them wise. Because they +were so miserable, His pity yearned over them, as a father over a child +fallen into danger. Because they were sick, they had all the more need +of a physician. Because they were lost, there was all the more reason +for seeking and saving them. Because they were utterly weak, God desired +all the more to put His strength into them, that His strength might be +made perfect in weakness. + +True, God's goodness seemed of little use to too many of them. Their +history during the next forty years was a very sad one. With many of +them God was not well pleased, the Bible tells us, and their carcases +fell in the Wilderness. A sad forty years they were for Moses also, as +he says in that sad and glorious Psalm of his (Ps. xc. 7, 8): "We consume +away in thy displeasure, and are afraid of thy wrathful indignation. Thou +hast set our misdeeds before us, our secret sins in the light of thy +countenance, for when Thou art angry our days are gone: we bring our +years to an end as a tale that is told." + +But that was all their own fault. God never left them for all those +forty years. He fed them with manna in the wilderness, and the angel of +His presence preserved them. + +And now, my friends, remember what I have said of God in this text, "I AM +hath sent me unto you," and see how it preaches to you an almighty, +unchangeable Father, whose mercy is over all His works, full of love and +care for all, longing and labouring for ever by His Son Jesus Christ to +raise us from the death of sin (which is the only death we need to be +afraid of) to the life of righteousness--the only life worth living here, +the only life which we can live beyond the grave! A just God, a merciful +God, a patient God, a generous God, a gracious God; a God whose glory is +to save--a God who is utterly worthy of our love and respect--a God whom +we can trust--a God whom it is worth while to obey--a God who deserves +our thanks from our cradle to our grave--a God to whom we ought honestly, +and from the bottom of our hearts to say, now and for ever: + +"We worship Thee, we bless Thee, we praise Thee, we magnify Thee, we give +thanks to Thee for Thy great glory, oh! Lord God, Heavenly King, God the +Father Almighty." + + + + +VI. THE ENGLISHMAN TRAINED BY TOIL. + + + "All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe + to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land + which the Lord sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all + the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the + wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in + thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And + he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, + which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might + make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word + that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. . . . Thou + shall also consider in thine heart that, as a man chasteneth his son, + so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee."--DEUT. viii. 1, 2, 3, 5. + +As God led the Jews through the wilderness, so He leads us through the +journey of life. As God called on the Jews to rejoice in Him, and to +bless Him for going with them, and teaching and training them by dangers +and sorrows; so He calls on us to lift up our hearts and bless Him for +teaching and training us in the battle of life. + +But some of you may say, "Why do you ask us to thank God for lessons +which we have bought by labour and sorrow? Are not our sorrows more than +our joys? Our labour far heavier than our rest can be sweet? You tell +us to be joyful and thank God for His mercies; but why all this toil? Why +must we work on, and on, and on, all our days, in weariness and anxiety? +Why must we only toil, toil, till we die, and lie down, fairly conquered +and worn out, on that stern mother earth, from whom we have been wringing +our paltry livelihood from our boyhood to our grave? What is our life +but labour and sorrow?" + +Are not some of you thinking in this way to-day? Have I not guessed the +hearts of some of you at least? And is not this a strange way of making +you joyful to remind you of these thoughts? + +My friends, be sure I only remind you of these sad thoughts, because they +are _true_ thoughts, because God meant you to bear them and _face_ them +like men; because you must have these thoughts, and let them make you +sad, and make up your minds to face them again and again, before even you +can thank God really like redeemed, immortal Christian men and women. And +believe me, I would not mention these sad thoughts, if I had not a remedy +for them. If I had not a message to you from the living God, and Christ +the King of the earth, whereby I tell you now to rejoice and give thanks +to Him in spite of all your labour and sorrow. Ay more, I say, Rejoice +and give thanks _on account_ of all your labour and sorrow, and count it +all _joy_ when ye fall into divers tribulations. + +It is true, my friends, we are a hard working and a somewhat sad race of +men, we English. The life of the working man is labour and sorrow, and +so is the life of the scholar, and so is the life of even many a rich +man. All things are full of labour in England. Man cannot utter it, the +eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing; we are the +wisest of all nations; and yet as Solomon says, behold in much wisdom is +much grief; and in increasing knowledge, we still increase sorrow. + +Truly, I may say of us Englishmen, as Paul said of the Christians of his +time, that if Christ be not raised from the dead, and if in this life +_only_ we have hope in Him, we are of all nations one of the most +unhappy. When we look at all the hundreds of thousands pent up in our +great cities among filth and smoke, toiling in factories, in workshops, +in dark mines under ground--when we think of the soldier on the march +under the sultry sun of India, the sailor on the stormy sea--when we +think of this our bleak inclement climate, our five months of winter +every year;--no man's food and clothing to be gained but by bitter toil, +either of himself or of others--and then when we compare our lot with +that of the dwellers in hot countries, in India and in Africa, and the +islands of the South Seas, where men live with no care, no labour--where +clothes and fire are never needed--where every tree bears delicious food, +and man lives in perpetual summer, in careless health and beauty, among +continual mirth and ease, like the birds which know no care--then it +seems at moments as if God had been unfair in giving so much more to the +savage than He has to us, of the blessings of this earthly life; and we +are led to long that our lot was cast in those fruitful and delicious +climates of the South, in a continual paradise of mirth and plenty, and +beauty and sunshine. + +But no, my friends, we are more blest than the careless Indian who never +knows what labour is; his life is but the life of the butterfly, which +flutters from flower to flower and sports in the sunshine, and sucks +sweets for a brief hour, and then perishes without hope. His life is a +dream, he sees no heaven before him, he knows no glorious God, with the +sight of whom he is to be blest for ever. His body may be in perpetual +ease, and health, and beauty for a few short years, but what care has he +for his undying spirit, that is blind and dead within him? + +But to bring a man's soul to life, to train and educate a man's soul that +it may go on from strength to strength, and glory to glory till it +appears in the presence of God--that wants a stern and a severe training +of sorrow and labour, of which the poor, pampered, luxurious savage knows +nothing. This is why Christ brought our forefathers into this bleak, +cold, northern land, and forced them to gain their bread by the sweat of +their brows, and the sorrows of their hearts, and to keep their land by +many wars. + +Now this is the reason of our carefulness, of our many troubles, that God +is educating and training us English; that He will not have us be +savages, but Christian citizens; He will have us not merely happy, but +_blessed_ through all eternity. He will not have us to be like the poor +Indians, slaves to our flesh and our appetites--slaves to the pleasant +things around us; but He will have us fill the earth and subdue it; He +will have England the light of the nations--and Englishmen preach +freedom, and wisdom, and prudence, and the gospel of Jesus Christ to all +the nations of the earth. Therefore Christ afflicts us because He loves +us, because whom He loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He +receiveth. Because He has ordained England to preach the Cross, +therefore He will have England bear the cross. + +It has often struck me, my friends, as a beautiful and a deep sign, a +blessed ordinance of the great and wise God, that the flag of England, +and especially the flag of our navy--the flag which is loved and +reverenced through all the world, as the bringer of free communion +between nation and nation, the bringer of order and equal justice and +holy freedom, and the divine majesty of law, and the light of the blessed +gospel wherever it goes; that this flag, I say, should be the red-cross +flag, the flag of the Cross of Christ--a double sign--a sign to all men +that we are a Christian nation, a gospel people; and a sign, too, to +ourselves, that we are meant to bear Christ's cross--to bear the +afflictions which He lays upon us--to be made perfect through sufferings, +to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, that we may be brave +and self-denying; going forth in Christ's strength, remembering that it +is He who gives us power to get wealth; that we ought to fight His +battles, that we ought to spread His name at home and abroad; and rejoice +in every sorrow, which teaches us more and more the blessed meaning of +His saving name, and the share which we have in it. + +I have said that we are a melancholy people. Foreigners all say of us, +that we are the saddest of all people; that when they come to England, +they are struck with our silence, and gloominess, and careworn faces, and +our want of merriment and cheerfulness. And yet, with all this, we are +the greatest of nations at this day--the strongest and the most +industrious and the wisest. The gospel of Jesus Christ is preached +oftener, and more simply, and more fully here in England than in any +nation, and I dare to say it, that in spite of all our sins, there are as +many or more of God's true saints, more holy men and women among English +people at this moment, than among any people of the earth. And why? +because there are so many among us who have hope in Christ beyond this +life, who look for everlasting salvation through all eternity to His +name. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, truly of all people +we should be most miserable; but Christ is risen from the dead, and He +has ascended up on high, and led captivity captive, and received gifts +for men. He sits even now at God's right hand praying for us. To Him +all power is given in heaven and earth, and He is our covenant God and +Saviour, He is our King. He is ours; and He will have us put on His +likeness, and with Him be made perfect through sufferings--_through +sufferings_, for sorrow is the gate of life. Through much tribulation we +enter into the kingdom of God; without weary pain none of us is born into +the world; without weary labour not a harvest in England is grown and +reaped; without weary thought, and teaching, and correction, not a child +among us is educated to be a man; without weary thought and weary labour, +not one of us can do his duty in that station of life to which Christ has +called him. Not without weary struggles and arguings and contentions, by +martyrdoms, by desperate wars, our forefathers won for us our religion, +our freedom and our laws, which make England the wonder of the world. +This is the great law of our life--to be made perfect through sufferings, +as our Lord and Master was before us. He has dealt with us, as my text +tells you He dealt with the Jews, His chosen people of old, as He deals +with every soul of man on whom He sets His love. "All the commandments +which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, +and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto +your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God +led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to +prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep +His commandments, or no. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to +hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy +fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by +bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the +Lord doth man live . . . Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, +as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee." + +For, believe me, my friends, whatever nation or whatever man Christ +chooses to be His own, and to be holy and noble and glorious with Him, He +makes them perfect through suffering. First, He stirs up in them strange +longings after what is great and good. He makes them hunger and thirst +after righteousness, and then He lets them see how nothing on this earth, +nothing beautiful or nothing pleasant which they can get or invent for +themselves will satisfy; and so He teaches them to look to Him, to look +for peace and salvation from heaven and not from earth. Then He leads +them, as He led the Jews of old, through the wilderness and through the +sea, through strange afflictions, through poverty, and war, and labour, +that they may learn to know that He is leading them and not themselves; +that they may learn to trust not in themselves, but in Him; not in their +own strength: but in the bread which cometh down from heaven; not in +their own courage, but in Him; and just when all seems most hopeless, He +makes one of them chase a thousand, and by strange and unexpected +providences, and the courage which a just cause inspires, brings His +people triumphant through temptation and danger, and puts to flight the +armies of the heathen, and the inventions of the evil fiend, and +glorifies His name in His chosen people. + +So He calls out in the heart of men and of the heart of nations, the two +great twin virtues, which always go hand in hand--Faith in God, and Faith +in themselves. He lets them feel themselves foolish that they may learn +how to be wise in His wisdom. He lets them find themselves weak that +they may learn how to be strong in His strength. Then sometimes He lets +them follow their own devices and be filled with the fruits of their own +inventions. He lets their sinful hearts have free course down into the +depths of idolatry and covetousness, and filthy pleasure and mad self- +conceit, that they may learn to know the bitter fruit that springs from +the accursed root of sin, and come back to Him in shame and repentance, +entreating Him to inform their thoughts, and guide their wills, and +gather them to Him as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing, that +they may never more wander from Him, their life, their light, and their +Saviour. Then, sometimes, if His children forsake His laws and break His +covenant, He visits their offences with the rod, and their sin with the +stripes of the children of men. That is, He punishes them as He punishes +the heathen, if they sin as the heathen sin. He lets loose upon them His +wrath, war, disease, or scarcity, that He may drive them back to Him. + +And all the while He will have them _labour_. He will make them try +their strength, and use their strength, and improve their strength of +soul and body. By making them labour, Christ teaches His people +industry, order, self-command, self-denial, patience, courage, endurance, +foresight, thoughtfulness, earnestness. All these blessed virtues come +out of holy labour; by working in welldoing we learn lessons which the +savage among his delicious fruits and flowers, in his life of golden +ease, and luxurious laziness, can never learn. + +And all this Christ teaches us because He loves us, because He would have +us perfect. His love is unchangeable. As He swore by Himself that He +would never fail David, so He has sworn that He will never fail any one +of His Churches, or any one of us. Lo, said He, I am with you always, +even to the end of the world. Nothing shall separate us from the love of +Christ; neither battle nor famine, nor anything else in heaven or earth. +All He wants is to educate us, because He loves us. He doth not afflict +willingly nor grieve the children of men. And because He is a God of +love, He proves His love to us every now and then by blessing us, as well +as by correcting us; else our spirits would fail before Him, and the +souls which He has made. When He sees our adversity, He hears our +complaint, He thinks upon His covenant and pities us, according to the +multitude of His mercies. "A fruitful land maketh He barren for the +wickedness of them that dwell therein, yet when they cry unto the Lord in +their trouble, He delivereth them out of their distress. He maketh the +wilderness standing water, and water springs of dry ground, and there He +setteth the hungry that they may build them a city, that they may sow +their lands and plant vineyards, to yield them fruits of increase. He +blesseth them, so that they multiply exceedingly, and suffereth not their +cattle to decrease; and again, when they are diminished or brought low +through affliction, through any plague or trouble, though He suffer them +to be evil entreated by tyrants, and let them wander out of the way in +the wilderness; yet helpeth He the poor out of misery, and maketh them +households like a flock of sheep." (Ps. cvii.) + +O my friends, have not these words ever been wonderfully fulfilled to +some of you! Then see how true it is that God will not always be +chiding, neither keepeth He His anger for ever; but He knoweth our frame, +He remembereth that we are but dust, and like as a father pitieth his +children, so does He pity those who fear Him; and oftentimes, too, in His +great condescension, those who fear Him not. + +My friends, I have been trying in this sermon to make you feel that you +are under God's guidance, that His providence is trying to train and +educate you. I have told you that there is a blessed use and meaning in +your very sorrows, and in this life of continual toil which God has +appointed for you; I have told you that you ought to thank God for those +sorrows: how much more then ought you to thank Him for your joys. If you +should thank Him for want, surely you should thank Him for plenty. O +thank Him earnestly--not only with your lips, but in your lives. If you +believe that He has redeemed you with His precious blood, show your +thankfulness by living as redeemed men, holy to God--who are not your +own, but bought with a price; therefore show forth God's glory, the power +of His grace in your bodies and your spirits which are His. If you feel +that it is a noble thing to be an Englishman--especially an English +soldier or an English sailor--a noble and honourable privilege to be +allowed to do your duty in the noblest nation and the noblest church +which the world ever saw--then live as Englishmen in covenant with God; +faithful to Him who has redeemed you and washed you from your sins in His +own blood. Do you be faithful and obedient to Christ's Spirit, and He +will be faithful to those promises of His. Though a thousand fall at thy +right hand, yet the evil shall not come nigh thee. Blessed are all they +that fear the Lord and walk in His ways. For thou shalt eat the labours +of thine hand. O well art thou and happy shalt thou be. The Lord out of +heaven shall so bless thee, that thou shalt see England in prosperity all +thy life long. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace +upon thy native land. + +Oh, remember how God fulfilled that promise to England seventy years ago, +when the French swept in fire and slaughter, and horrors worse than +either, over almost every nation in Europe, while England remained safe +in peace and plenty, and an enemy never set foot on God's chosen English +soil. Remember the French war, and our salvation in it, and then believe +and take comfort. Trust in the Lord and be doing good; dwell in the +land, and verily thou shalt be fed. + + + + +VII. HIGHER OR LOWER: WHICH SHALL WIN? + + + "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after + the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye + through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. + For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. + For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye + have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, + Father."--ROMANS viii. 12-15. + +Let us try to understand these words. They are of quite infinite +importance to us all. + +We shall all agree, all of us at least who have thought at all about +right and wrong, and tried to do right and avoid wrong--that there goes +on in us, at times, a strange struggle. We wish to do a right thing, and +at the very same time long to do a wrong one. We are pulled, as it were, +two different ways by two different feelings, feel as if we were two men +at once, a better man and a worse man struggling for the mastery. One +may conquer, or the other. We may be like the confirmed drunkard who +cannot help draining off his liquor, though he knows that it is going to +kill him; or we may be like the man who conquers his love for drink, and +puts the liquor away, because he knows that he ought not to take it. + +We know too well, many of us, how painful this inward struggle is, +between our better selves, and our worse selves. How discontented with +ourselves it makes us, how ashamed of ourselves, how angry with +ourselves. We all understand too well--or ought to understand, St. +Paul's words: How often the good which he wished to do, he did not do, +but the evil which he did not wish to do, he did. How he delighted in +the law of God in his inward man; but he found another law in him, in his +body, warring against the law of his mind--that is his conscience and +reason, and making a slave of him till he was ready at times to cry, "Oh +wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this +death?" + +We can understand too, surely the famous parable of Plato, the greatest +of heathen philosophers, who says, that the soul of man is like a +chariot, guided by a man's will, but drawn by two horses. The one horse +he says is white, beautiful and noble, well-broken and winged, too, +always trying to rise and fly upward with the chariot toward heaven. But +the other horse is black, evil, and unmanageable, always trying to rush +downward, and drag the chariot and the driver into hell. + +Ah my friends, that is but too true a picture of most of us, and God +grant that in our souls the better horse may win, that our nobler and +purer desires may lift us up, and leave behind those lower and fouler +desires which try to drag us down. But to drag us down whither? To hell +at last, says Plato the heathen. To destruction and death in the +meanwhile, says St. Paul. + +Now in the text St. Paul explains this struggle--this continual war which +goes on within us. He says that there are two parts in us--the flesh and +the spirit--and that the flesh lusts, that is, longs and struggles to +have its own way against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. +First, there is a flesh in us--that is, a carnal animal nature. Of that +there can be no doubt: we are animals, we come into the world as animals +do--eat, drink, sleep as they do--have the same passions as they have--and +our carnal mortal bodies die at last, exactly as the animals die. + +But are we nothing more? God forbid. St. Paul tells us that we are +something more--and our own conscience and reason tell us that we are +something more. We know that to be a man, we must be something more than +an animal--a mere brute--for when we call any one a brute, what do we +mean? That he has lost his humanity, his sense of justice, mercy, and +decency, and given himself up to his flesh--his animal nature, till the +_man_ in him is dead, and only the _brute_ remains. Mind, I do not say +that we are right in calling any human being a brute, for no one, I +believe, is sunk so low, but there is some spark of humanity, some spark +of what St. Paul calls "the spirit," left in him, which may be fanned +into a flame and conquer, and raise and save the man at last--unless he +be a mere idiot--or that most unhappy and brutal of all beings, a +confirmed drunkard. + +But our giving way to the same selfish shameless passions, which we see +in the lower animals, is letting the "brute" in us conquer, is giving way +to the works of the flesh. The shameless and profligate person gives way +to the "brute" within him--the man who beats his wife--or ill-treats his +children--or in any wise tyrannises over those who are weaker than +himself, he too gives way to the "brute" within him. He who grudges, +envies, tries to aggrandise himself at his neighbour's expense--he too +gives way to the "brute" within him, and puts on the likeness of the dog +which snatches and snarls over his bone. He who spends his life in +cunning plots and mean tricks, stealthy, crafty, silent, false, he gives +way to the "brute" in him, just as much as the fox or ferret. And those, +let me say, who without giving way to those grosser vices, let their +minds be swallowed up with vanity, love of admiration, always longing to +be seen and looked at, and wondering what folks will say of them, they +too give way to the flesh, and lower themselves to the likeness of +animals. As vain as a peacock, says the old proverb. And shame it is to +any human being so far to forget his true humanity, as to have that said +of him. And what shall we say of them who like the swine live only for +eating and drinking, and enjoyment? Or what of those who like the +butterflies spend all their time in frivolous amusement, fluttering in +the sunshine, silly and helpless, without a sense of duty or usefulness, +without forethought for the coming frosts of winter, against which their +gay feathers would be no protection? Do not all these in some way or +other give way to the animal within them, and live after the flesh? And +do they not, all of them, of the flesh, reap corruption, and fulfil St. +Paul's words, "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die?" + +But some one will say--"Die?--of course we shall all die--good and bad +alike." Is it so, my friends? Then why does our Lord say, "He that +liveth and believeth in me shall never die?" And why does St. Paul say, +"If ye through the spirit do mortify," that is crush, and as it were +kill, "the deeds of the body," all those low animal passions and vices, +"ye shall live." + +Let us look at the text again. "If ye live after the flesh ye shall +die." If you give way to those animal passions and vices--low and +cruel--or even merely selfish and frivolous, you shall die; not merely +your bodies--they will die in any case--the animals do--for animals they +are, and as animals die they must. But over and above that--you +yourselves shall die--your character will die, your manhood or your +womanhood will die, your immortal soul will die. The likeness of God in +you will die. Oh, my friends, there is a second death to which that +first death of the body is a mere trivial and harmless accident--the +death of sin which kills the true man and true woman within you. And +that second death may begin in this life, and if it be not stopped and +cured in time, may go on for ever. The black horse of which I spoke just +now, may get the mastery and drag us down, down, into bogs out of which +we can never rise--over cliffs which we can never climb again--down lower +and lower--more and more foolish, more and more reckless, more and more +base, more and more wretched. And then there will be no more use in +saying, "The Lord have mercy on my soul," for we shall have no soul left +to have mercy on. + +This is the dark side of the matter--a very dark one: but it has to be +spoken of, because it is true; and what is more, it comes true only too +often in this world. God grant, my dear friends, that it may not come +true of any of you. + +But there is also a bright side to the matter--and on that I will speak +now, in order that this sermon may end, as such gospel sermons surely +should end, not with threats and fear, but with hope and comfort. + +"If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall +live." If you will be true to your better selves, if you will listen to, +and obey the spirit of God, when He puts into your hearts good desires, +and makes you long to be just and true, pure and sober, kind and useful. +If you will cast away and trample under foot animal passions, low vices, +you shall live. _You_ shall live. Your very soul and self shall live, +and live for ever. Your humanity, your human nature shall live. All +that is humane in you shall live. All that is merciful and kind in you, +all that is pure and graceful, all that is noble and generous, all that +is useful. All in you that is pleasant to yourselves shall live. All in +you that is pleasant to your neighbours. All in you that is pleasant to +God shall live. In one word, all in you that is like Christ--all in you +that is like God--all in you that is spirit and not flesh, shall live, +and live for ever. So it must be, for what says St. Paul? "As many as +are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Those who let +the spirit of God lead them upward instead of letting their own animal +nature drag them downward, they are the sons of God. And how can a son +of God perish? How can that which is like God and like Christ perish? +How can he perish, who like Christ is full of the fruits of the spirit? +of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, +meekness, temperance? The world did not give them to him, and the world +cannot take them from him. They were not bestowed on him at his bodily +birth--neither shall they be taken from him at his bodily death--for +those blessed fruits of the spirit belong neither to the flesh nor to the +world, but to Christ's spirit, and to heaven--to that heaven in which +they dwell before the throne of God--yea, rather in the mind of God +Himself, the eternal forms of the truth, the beauty, the goodness--which +were before all worlds--and shall be after all worlds have passed away. + +Oh! choose my friends, especially you who are young and entering into +life. Remember the parable of the old heathen, about the two horses who +draw your soul. Choose in time whether the better horse shall win, or +the worse; whether your better self, or your worse, the Spirit of God or +your own flesh, shall be your master--whether you will rise step by step +to heaven, or sink step by step to death and hell? And let no one tell +you. That is not the question. That is not what we care about. We know +we shall do a great many wrong things before we die. Every one does +that; but we hope we shall be able to make our peace with God before we +die, and so be forgiven at last. + +My dear friends, that kind of religion has done more harm than most kinds +of _irreligion_. It tells you to take your chance of beginning at the +end--that is just before you die. Common sense tells you that the only +way to get to the end, is by beginning at the beginning, which is _now_. +Now is the accepted time. _Now_ is the day of salvation, and you are +accepted now, already, long ago. + +What do you or any man want with making your peace with God? You are at +peace with God already. He has made His peace with you. An infinitely +better peace than any priest or preacher can make for you. _You are +God's child_. He looks down on you with boundless love. The great heart +of Christ, your King, your Redeemer, your elder brother, yearns over you +with boundless longing to draw you up to Him, that you may be noble as He +is noble, pure as He is pure, loving as He is loving, just as He is just. +Try to be that. God will at the last day take you as He finds you. Let +Him find you such as _that_--walking not after the flesh, but after the +Spirit; and then, and then only, there will be no condemnation for you, +for you will be in Christ Jesus. Do not--do not talk about making your +peace with God some day--like a naughty child playing truant till the +last moment, and hoping that the schoolmaster may forget to punish it. +No, I trust you have received the Spirit. If you have, then look facts +in the face. I trust that none of you have received the Spirit of +bondage, which is slavery again unto fear. If you have God's Spirit you +will see who you are, and where you are, and act accordingly--you will +see that you _are_ God's children, who are meant to be educated by the +Son of God, and led by the Spirit of God, and raised day by day, year by +year, from the death of sin, to the life of righteousness, from the +likeness of the brute animal, to the likeness of Christ, the Son of Man! + + + + +VIII. ST. PETER; OR, TRUE COURAGE. + + + "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that + they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took + knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. And they called + them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of + Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be + right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, + judge ye."--ACTS iv. 13, 18, 19. + +I think that the quality, the grace of God, which St. Peter's character +and story specially forces on our notice is courage--the true courage +which comes by faith. The courage which comes by faith, I say. There is +a courage which does not come by faith. There is a brute courage which +comes from hardness of heart; from obstinacy, or anger, or stupidity, +which does not see danger, or does not feel pain. That is the courage of +the brute. One does not blame it or call it wrong. It is good in its +place, as all natural things are which God has made. It is good enough +for the brute; but it is not good enough for man. You cannot trust it in +man. And the more a man is what a man should be, the less he can trust +it. The more mind and understanding a man has, so as to be able to +foresee danger and measure it, the more chance there is of his brute +courage giving way. The more feeling a man has, the more keen he is to +feel pain of body, or pain of mind, such as shame, loneliness, the +dislike of ridicule, and the contempt of his fellow-men; in a word, the +more of a man he is, the more chance there is of his brute courage +breaking down, just when he wants it more to keep him up, and leaving him +to play the coward and come to shame. + +Yes; to go through with a difficult or dangerous undertaking a man wants +more than brute courage. He wants spiritual courage, the courage which +comes by faith. He needs to have faith in what he is doing to be certain +that he is doing his duty--to be certain that he is in the right. To +give one example. Look at the class of men who in all England in times +of peace undergo the most fearful dangers; who know not at what hour of +any night they may not be called up to the most serious and hard labour +and responsibility, with the chance of a horrible and torturing death. I +mean the firemen of our great cities, than whom there are no steadier, +braver, nobler-hearted men. Not a week passes without one or more of +those firemen, in trying to save life and property, doing things which +are altogether heroic. What do you fancy keeps them up to their work? +High pay? The amusement and excitement of the fires? The vanity of +being praised for their courage? My friends, those would be but weak and +paltry motives, which would not keep a man's heart calm and his head +clear under such responsibility and danger as theirs. + +No; it is the sense of duty. The knowledge that they are doing a good +and a noble work in saving the lives of human beings and the wealth of +the nation--the knowledge that they are in God's hands, and that no evil +can happen to him who is doing right--that to him even death at his post +is not a loss, but a gain. In short, faith in God, more or less clear, +is what gives those men their strong and quiet courage. God grant that +you and I, if ever we have dangerous work to do, may get true courage +from the same fountain of ghostly strength. + +Yes; it is the courage which comes by faith which makes truly brave men, +men like St. Peter and St. John, who can say, "If I am right, God is on +my side, I will not fear what men can do unto me." "I will not fear," +said David, "though the earth be moved, and the mountains carried into +the midst of the sea." The just man who holds firm to his duty will not, +says a wise old writer, "be shaken from his solid mind by the rage of the +mob bidding him do base things, or the frown of the tyrant who persecutes +him. Though the world were to crumble to pieces round him, its ruins +would strike him without making him tremble." + +Such courage has made men, shut up in prison for long weary years for +doing what was right, endure manfully for the sake of some great cause, +and say-- + + "Stone walls do not a prison make, + Nor iron bars a cage, + Minds innocent and quiet take + That for an hermitage. + If I have freedom in my thought, + And in my soul am free, + Angels alone that soar above + Enjoy such liberty." + +Yes; settle it in your hearts, all of you. There is but one thing you +have to fear in heaven or earth--being untrue to your better selves, and +therefore untrue to God. If you will not do the thing you know to be +right, and say the thing you know to be true, then indeed you are weak. +You are a coward, and sin against God. And you will suffer the penalty +of your cowardice. You desert God, and therefore you cannot expect Him +to stand by you. But who will harm you if you be followers of that which +is right? + +What does David say:--"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall +dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh +righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth +not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a +reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is +contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to +his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to +usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these +things shall never be moved."--Psalm xv. 1-5. Yes, my friends, there is +a tabernacle of God in which, even in this life, He will hide us from +strife. There is a hill of God in which, even in the midst of danger, +and labour, and anxiety, we may rest both day and night--even Jesus +Christ, the Rock of Ages--He who is the righteousness itself, the truth +itself. And whosoever does righteousness and speaks truth, dwells in +Christ in this life, as well as in the life to come. And Christ will +give him courage to strengthen him by His Holy Spirit, to stand in the +evil day, the day of danger, if it shall come--and having done all to +stand. + +Pray you then for the Spirit of Faith to believe really in God, and for +the spirit of ghostly strength to obey God honestly. No man ever asked +honestly for that Spirit but what he gained it at last. And no man ever +gained it but what he found the truth of St. Peter's own words--"Who will +harm you, if you be followers of what is good?" + + + + +IX. THE STORY OF JOSEPH. + + + "I fear God." GENESIS xlii. 18. + +Did it ever seem remarkable to you, as it has seemed to me, how many +chapters of the Bible are taken up with the history of Joseph--a young +man who, on the most memorable occasion in his life, said "I fear God," +and had no other argument to use? + +Thirteen chapters of the book of Genesis are mainly devoted to the tale +of this one young man. Doubtless his father Jacob's going down into +Egypt, was one of the most important events in the history of the Jews: +we might expect, therefore, to hear much about it. But what need was +there to spend four chapters at least in detailing Joseph's meeting with +his brethren, even to minute accounts of the speeches on both sides? + +Those who will may suppose that this is the effect of mere chance. Let +us have no such fancy. If we believe that a Divine Providence watched +over the composition of those old Scriptures; if we believe that they +were meant to teach, not only the Jews but all mankind; if we believe +that they reveal, not merely some special God in whom the Jews believed, +but the true and only God, Maker of heaven and earth; if we believe, with +St. Paul, that every book of the Old Testament is inspired by God, and +profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in +righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished +unto all good works--if we believe this, I say, it must be worth our +while to look carefully and reverently at a story which takes up so large +a part of the Bible, and expect to find in it something which may help to +make _us_ perfect, and thoroughly furnish _us_ unto all good works. + +Now, surely when we look at this history of Joseph, we ought to see at +the first glance that it is not merely a story about a young man, but +about the common human relations--the ties which bind any and every man +to other human beings round him. For is it not a story about a brother +and brothers? about a son and a father, about a master and a servant? +about a husband and a wife? about a subject and a sovereign? and how they +all behaved to each other--some well and some ill--in these relations? + +Surely it is so, and surely this is why the story of Joseph has been +always so popular among innocent children and plain honest folk of all +kinds; because it is so simply human and humane; and therefore it taught +them far more than they could learn from many a lofty, or seemingly +lofty, book of devotion, when it spoke to them of the very duties they +had to fulfil, and the very temptations they had to fight against, as +members of a family or as members of society. "One touch of Nature (says +the poet) makes the whole world kin;" and the touches of nature in this +story of Joseph make us feel that he and his brethren, and all with whom +he had to do, are indeed kin to us; that their duty is our duty too--their +temptations ours--that where they fell, we may fall--where they conquered +we may conquer. + +For what is the story? A young lad is thrown into every temptation +possible for him. Joseph is very handsome. The Bible says so expressly; +so we may believe it. He has every gift of body and mind. He is, as his +story proves plainly, a very clever person, with a strange power of +making every one whom he deals with love him and obey him--a terrible +temptation, as all God's gifts are, if abused by a man's vanity, or +covetousness or ambition. He is an injured man too. He has been basely +betrayed by his brothers; he is under a terrible temptation, to which +ninety-nine men out of one hundred would have yielded--do yield, alas! to +this day, to revenge himself if he ever has an opportunity. He is an +injured man in Egypt, for he is a slave to a foreigner who has no legal +or moral right over him. If ever there was a man who might be excused +for cherishing a burning indignation against his oppressors, for brooding +over his own wrongs, for despairing of God's providence, it is Joseph in +Egypt. What could we do but pity him if he had said to himself, as +thousands in his place have said since, "There is no God, or if there is, +He does not care for me--He does not care what men do. He looks on +unmoved at wrong and cruelty, and lets man do even as he will. Then why +should not _I_ do as _I_ will? What are these laws of God of which men +talk? What are these sacred bonds of family and society? Every one for +himself is the rule of the world, and it shall be _my_ rule. Every man's +hand has been against _me_; why should not my hand be against every man? +_I_ have been betrayed; why should not _I_ betray? _I_ have been +opprest; why should not _I_ oppress? I have a lucky chance, too, of +enjoying and revenging myself at the same time; why should I not take my +good luck, and listen to the words of the tempter?" + +My dear friends, this is the way in which thousands have talked, in which +thousands talk to this day. This is the spirit which ends in breaking up +society, as happened in France eighty years ago, in the inward corruption +of a nation, and at last, in outward revolution and anarchy, from which +may God in His mercy deliver us and our fellow-countrymen, and the +generations yet to come. But any nation or any man, will only be +delivered from it, as Joseph was delivered from it, by saying, "I fear +God." No doubt it is most natural for a man who is injured and opprest +to think in that way. Most _natural_--just as it is most natural for the +trapped dog to struggle vainly, and, in his blind rage, bite at +everything around him, even at his own master's hand when it offers to +set him free. And if men are to be mere children of nature, like the +animals, and not children of grace and sons of God, like Joseph, and like +one greater than Joseph, then I suppose they must needs tear each other +to pieces in envy and revenge, for there is nought better to be done. But +if they wish to escape from the misery and ruin which envy and revenge +bring with them, then they had better recollect that they are not +children of nature, but children of God--they had best follow Joseph's +example, and say, "I fear God." + +For this poor, betrayed, enslaved lad had got into his heart something +above Nature--something which Nature cannot give, but only the +inspiration of the Spirit of God gives. He had got into his heart the +belief that God's laws were sacred things and must not be broken, and +that whatever befel him he must fear God. However unjust and lawless the +world looked, God's laws were still in it, and over it, and would avenge +themselves, and he must obey them at all risks. And what were God's laws +in Joseph's opinion? + +These--the common relations of humanity between master to servant, and +servant to master; between parent to child, and child to parent; brother +to brother and sister to sister, and between the man who is trusted and +the man who trusts him. These laws were sacred; and if all the rest of +the world broke them, he (Joseph) must not. He was bound to his master, +not only by any law of man, but by the Law of God. His master trusted +him, and left all that he had in his hand, and to Joseph the law of +honour was the law of God. Then he must be justly faithful to his +master. A sacred trust was laid on him, and to be true to it was to fear +God. + +After a while his master's wife tempts him. He refuses; not merely out +of honour to his master, but from fear of God. "How can I do this great +wickedness," says Joseph, "and sin against God?" His master and his +mistress are heathen, but their marriage is of God nevertheless; the vow +is sacred, and he must deny himself anything, endure anything, dare any +danger of a dreadful death, and a prison almost as horrible probably as +death itself, rather than break it. + +So again, in the prison. If ever man had excuse for despairing of God's +providence, for believing that right-doing did _not_ pay, it was poor +Joseph in that prison. But no. God is with him still. He believes +still in the justice of God, the providence of God, and therefore he is +cheerful, active--he can make the best even of a dungeon. He can find a +duty to do even there; he can make himself useful, helpful, till the +keeper of the prison too leaves everything in his hand. + +What a gallant man! you say. Yes, my friends, but what makes him +gallant? That which St. Paul says (in Hebrews xi.) made all the old +Jewish heroes gallant--faith in God; real and living belief that God +is--and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. + +At last Joseph's triumph comes. He has his reward. God helps +him--because he will help himself. He is made a great officer of state, +married to a woman of high rank, probably a princess, and he sees his +brothers who betrayed him at his mercy. Their lives are in his hand at +last. What will he do? Will he be a bad brother because they were bad? +Or will he keep to his old watchword, "I fear God?" If he is tempted to +revenge himself, he crushes the temptation down. He will bring his +brothers to repentance. He will touch their inward witness, and make +them feel that they have been wicked men. That is for their good. And +strangely, but most naturally, their guilty consciences go back to the +great sin of their lives--to Joseph's wrong, though they have no notion +that Joseph is alive, much less near them. "Did I not tell you," says +Reuben, "sin not against the lad, and ye would not hearken? Therefore is +this distress come upon us." + +Joseph punishes Simeon by imprisonment. It may be that he had reasons +for it which we are not told. But when his brothers have endured the +trial, and he finds that Benjamin is safe, he has nothing left but +forgiveness. They are his brethren still--his own flesh and blood. And +he "fears God." He dare not do anything but forgive them. He forgives +them utterly, and welcomes them with an agony of happy tears. He will +even put out of their minds the very memory of their baseness. "Now, +therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me +hither, he says; for God sent me before you, to save your lives with a +great deliverance." + +Is not that Divine? Is not that the Spirit of God and of Christ? I say +it is. For what is it but the likeness of Christ, who says for ever, out +of heaven, to all mankind, "Be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that +ye crucified me. For God, my Father, sent me to save your souls by a +great salvation." + +My friends, learn from this story of Joseph, and the prominent place in +the Bible which it occupies--learn, I say, how hateful to God are family +quarrels; how pleasant to God are family unity and peace, and mutual +trust, and duty, and helpfulness. And if you think that I speak too +strongly on this point, recollect that I do no more than St. Paul does, +when he sums up the most lofty and mystical of all his Epistles, the +Epistle to the Ephesians, by simple commands to husbands and wives, +parents and children, masters and servants, as if he should say,--You +wish to be holy? you wish to be spiritual? Then fulfil these plain +family duties, for they, too, are sacred and divine, and he who despises +them, despises the ordinances of God. And if you despise the laws of +God, they will surely avenge themselves on you. If you are bad husbands +or bad wives, bad parents or bad children, bad brothers or sisters, bad +masters or servants, you will smart for it, according to the eternal laws +of God, which are at work around you all day long, making the sinner +punish himself whether he likes or not. + +Examine yourselves--ask yourselves, each of you, Have I been a good +brother? have I been a good son? have I been a good husband? have I been +a good father? have I been a good servant? If not, all professions of +religion will avail me nothing. If not, let me confess my sins to God, +and repent and amend at once, whatever it may cost me. The fulfilling +these plain duties is the true test of my faith, the true sign and test +whether I really believe in God and in Jesus Christ our Lord. Do I +believe that the world is Christ's making? and that Christ is governing +it? Do I believe that these plain family relationships are Christ's +sacred appointments? Do I believe that our Lord Jesus was made very man +of the substance of His mother, to sanctify these family relationships, +and claim them as the ordinances of God His Father? + +In one word--copy Joseph; and when you are tempted say with Joseph, "Can +I do this great wickedness, and sin--not against this man or this woman, +but against--_God_." + +Take home these plain, practical words. Take them home, and fear God at +your own firesides. For at the last day, the Bible tells us, the Lord +Jesus Christ will not reward you and me according to the opinions we held +while in this mortal body, whether they were quite right or quite wrong, +but according to the deeds which we did in the body, whether they were +good or bad. + + + + +X. SLAVES OF FREE? + + + "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he + will show to you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, + ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for + you, and ye shall hold your peace."--EXODUS xiv. 13, 14. + +Why did God bring the Jews out of Egypt? God Himself told them why. To +fulfil the promise which He made to Abraham, their forefather, that of +his children He would make a great nation. + +Now the Jews in Egypt were not a nation at all. A nation is free, +governed by its own laws, one body of people, held together by one fellow +feeling, one language, one blood, one religion; as we English are. We +are a nation. The Jews were none in Egypt, no more than Negro slaves in +America were a nation. They served a people of a different blood, as the +Jews did in Egypt. They had no laws of their own; they had no fellow- +feeling with each other, which enabled them to make common cause +together, and help each other, and free each other. + +Selfishness and cowardice make some men slaves. Above all, ungodliness +makes men slaves. For when men do not fear and obey God, they are sure +to obey their own lusts and passions, and become slaves to them. They +become ready to sell themselves soul and body for money, or pleasure, or +food. And their fleshly lusts, their animal appetites, keep them down, +selfish, divided, greedy, and needy, at the mercy of those who are +stronger and cunninger than themselves, just as the Jews were kept down +by the strong and cunning Egyptians. + +They had slavish hearts in them, and as long as they had, God could not +make them into a nation. The Jews _had_ slaves' hearts in them. They +were glad enough to get free out of Egypt, to escape from their heavy +labour in brick and mortar, from being oppressed, beaten, killed at the +will and fancy of the Egyptians, from having their male children thrown +into the river as soon as they were born, to keep them from becoming too +numerous. They were glad enough, poor wretches, to escape from all their +misery and oppression of which we read in the first three chapters of +Exodus. But if they could do that, that was all they cared for. They +did not want to be made wise, righteous, strong, free-hearted--they did +not care about being made into a nation. We read that when by the Red +Sea shore (Exodus xiv.), they saw themselves in great danger, the army of +Pharaoh, King of Egypt, following close upon them to attack them, they +lost heart at once, and were sore afraid, and cried unto Moses, "Is not +this the word which we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that +we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the +Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." + +Cowards and slaves! The thing they feared above all, you see, was death. +If they could but keep the miserable life in their miserable bodies, they +cared for nothing beyond. They were willing to see their children taken +from them and murdered, willing to be beaten, worked like dumb beasts for +other men's profit, willing to be idolaters, heathens, worshipping the +false gods of Egypt, dumb beasts and stocks and stones, willing to be +despised, wretched, helpless slaves--if they could but keep the dear life +in them. God knows there are plenty like them now-a-days--plenty who do +not care how mean, helpless, wicked, contemptible they are, if they can +but get their living by their meanness. + +"_But a man must live_," says some one. How often one hears that made +the excuse for all sorts of meanness, dishonesty, grasping tyranny. "_A +man must live_!" Who told you that? It is better to die like a man than +to live like a slave, and a wretch, and a sinner. Who told you that, I +ask again? Not God's Bible, surely. Not the example of great and good +men. If Moses had thought that, do you think he would have gone back +from Midian, when he was in safety and comfort, with a wife and home, and +children at his knee, and leave all he had on earth to face Pharaoh and +the Egyptians, to face danger, perhaps a cruel death in shame and +torture, and all to deliver his countrymen out of Egypt? Moses would +sooner die like a man helping his countrymen, than live on the fat of the +land while they were slaves. And forty years before he had shown the +same spirit too, when though he was rich and prosperous, and high in the +world, the adopted son of King Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus ii. 11), he +disdained to be a slave and to see his countrymen slaves round him. We +read how he killed an Egyptian, who was ill-treating one of his brothers, +the Jews--and how he then fled out of Egypt into Midian, houseless and +friendless, esteeming as St. Paul says, "the reproach of Christ"--that is +the affliction and ill-will which came on him for doing right, "better +than all the treasures of Egypt" (Heb xi. 24-27). + +_A man must live_? The valiant Tyrolese of old did not say that (more +than seventy years ago), when they fought to the last drop of their blood +to defend their country against the French invaders. They were not +afraid to die for liberty; and therefore they won honour from all +honourable men, praise from all whose praise is worth having for ever. + +_A man must live_? The old Greeks and Romans, heathens though they were, +were above so mean a speech as that. They used to say, it was the +noblest thing that can befall a man to die--not to live in clover, eating +and drinking at his ease--to die among the foremost, fighting for wife +and child and home. + +_A man must live_? The martyrs of old did not say that, when they +endured the prison and the scourge, the sword and the fire, and chose +rather to die in torments unspeakable than deny the Lord Jesus who bought +them with His blood, rather than do what they knew to be _wrong_. +(Hebrews xi.) They were not afraid of torture and death; but of doing +wrong they were unspeakably afraid. They were _free_, those holy men of +old, truly free--free from their own love of ease and cowardice and +selfishness, and all that drags a man down and makes a slave of him. They +knew that "life is more than meat, and the body more than raiment." What +matter if a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Their souls +were free whatever happened to their bodies--the tormentor could not +touch _them_, because they believed in God, because they did not fear +those who could kill the body, and after that had no more that they could +do. + +And do you not see that a coward can never be free, never be godly, never +be like Christ? For by a coward I mean not merely a man who is afraid of +pain and trouble. Every one is that more or less. Jesus Himself was +afraid when He cried in agony, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this +cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke xxii. +42.) But a coward is a man who is so much afraid that to escape pain and +danger, he will do what he _ought not_--do what he is ashamed of doing--do +what lowers him; and therefore our Lord Jesus had perfect courage when He +tasted death for all men, and endured the very agony from which He +shrank, and while He said, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup +pass," said also, "Nevertheless not my will, but Thine, be done." + +The Jews were cowards when they cried, "Let us alone that we may serve +the Egyptians." While a man is in that pitiful mood he cannot rise, he +cannot serve God--for he must remain the slave of his own body, of which +he is so mightily careful, the slave of his own fears, the slave of his +own love of bodily comfort. Such a man does not _dare_ serve God. He +dare not obey God, when obeying God is dangerous and unpleasant. He dare +not claim his heavenly birthright, his share in God's Spirit, his share +in Christ's kingdom, because that would bring discomfort on him, because +he will have to give up the sins he loves, because he will have to endure +the insults and ill-will of wicked men. Thus cowards can never be free, +for it is only where the Spirit of God is that there is liberty. + +But the Jews were not yet fit to be made soldiers of. God would not +teach them at once not to be afraid of men. He did not command them to +turn again and fight these Egyptians, neither did He lead them into the +land of Canaan the strait and short road, through the country of the +Philistines, lest they should be discouraged when they saw war. + +Now what was God's plan for raising the Jews out of this cowardly, +slavish state? First, and above all, to make them trust in _Him_. While +they were fearing the Egyptians, they could never fear Him. While they +were fearing the Egyptians, they were ready to do every base thing, to +keep their masters in good humour with them. God determined to teach +them to fear Him more than they feared the Egyptians. God taught them +that He was stronger than the Egyptians, for all their civilisation and +learning and armies, chariots and horsemen, swords and spears. He would +not let the Jews fight the Egyptians. He told them by the mouth of +Moses, "Stand you still, and the Lord shall fight for you," and he +commanded Moses to stretch out his rod over the sea. (Exodus xiv.) The +Egyptians were stronger than the Jews--they would have cut them to pieces +if they had come to a battle. For free civilised men like the Egyptians +are always stronger than slaves, like the Jews; they respect themselves +more, they hold together better, they have order and discipline, and +obedience to their generals, which slaves have not. God intended to +teach the Jews that also in His good time. But not yet. They were not +fit yet to be made soldiers. They were not even _men_ yet, but miserable +slaves. A man is only a true man when he trusts in God, and none but +God--when he fears God and nothing _but_ God. And that was the lesson +which God had to teach them. That was the lesson which He taught them by +bringing them up out of Egypt by signs and wonders, that _God was the +Lord_, _God_ was their deliverer, _God_ was their King--that let _them_ +be as weak as they might, _He_ was strong--that if they could not fight +the Egyptians God could overwhelm them--that if they could not cross the +sea, God could open the sea to let them pass through. If they dreaded +the waste howling wilderness of sand, with its pillars of cloud and fire, +its stifling winds which burn the life out of man and beast, God could +make the sand storms and the fire pillars and the deadly east wind of the +desert work for their deliverance. And so He taught them to fear +Himself, to trust in Him, to look up to Him as their deliverer whose +strength was shown most gloriously when they were weakest and most +despairing. + +This was the great lesson which God meant to teach the children of +Israel, that the root and ground of all other lessons, is that this earth +belongs to the Lord alone. That had been what God had been teaching them +already, by the plagues of Egypt. The Egyptians worshipped their great +river Nile, and thought it was a god, and the Lord turned the Nile water +into blood, and showed that He could do what He liked with it. The +Egyptians worshipped dumb beasts and insects, and fancied in their folly +that they were gods. The Lord sent plagues of frogs and flies and +locusts, and took them away again when He liked, to show them that the +beasts and creeping things were His also. + +The Egyptians worshipped false gods who as they fancied managed the +seasons and the weather. God sent them thunder and hail when it pleased +Him, and showed the Jews that _He_, not these false gods of Egypt, ruled +the heavens. The Egyptians and many other heathen nations of the earth +used to offer their children to false gods. I do not mean by killing +them in sacrifice, but by naming them after some idol, and then expecting +that the idol would ever afterwards prosper and strengthen them. Thus +the kings were called after the sun. Pharaoh means the Sun-king; for +they fancied that the sun was a god, and protected their kings one after +the other. And God slew all the first-born of Egypt, even the first-born +of King Pharaoh on his throne. The Sun-god could not help him. The +idols of Egypt could not take care of their worshippers--only the +children of the Jews escaped. (Exodus xii.) What a lesson for the Jews! +And they needed it; for during the four hundred years that they had been +in Egypt they had almost forgotten the one true God, the God of their +forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; at least they thought Him no +better than the false gods of Egypt. After all these wondrous proofs of +God's almighty power, and His jealousy for His own name, they fell away +to idols again and again. They worshipped a golden calf in Horeb (Exodus +xxxii.); they turned aside to worship the idols of the nations whom they +passed through on their way to Canaan. Idolatry had been rooted in their +hearts, and it took many years of severe training and teaching on God's +part to drive it out of them--to make them feel that the one God, who +made heaven and earth, had delivered them--that they belonged to Him, +that they had a share in Him--to make them join with one heart and voice +in the glorious song of Moses: + +"I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse +and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and +song and he is become my salvation: he is my God and I will prepare him +an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man +of war: the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he +cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. +The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy +right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, +hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine +excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou +sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the +blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood +upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the +sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the +spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my +hand shall deliver them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered +them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O +Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in +praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth +swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou +hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy +habitation. The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold +on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; +the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the +inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon +them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; +till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which thou +hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain +of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee +to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. +The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went in +with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord +brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel +went on dry land in the midst of the sea." (Exodus xv. 1-19.) + +This was God's first lesson to the Jews; the first step towards making +them a free nation. For believe me, my friends, the only thought which +can make men feel free and strong, the only thought which can keep them +from being afraid of each other, afraid of the seasons, and the elements, +and the chances and changes of this mortal life, the only thought which +can teach them that they are brothers, bound together to help and love +each other, in short the only thought which can make men citizens--is the +thought that the one God is their Father, and that they are all His +children--that they have one God, one religion, one baptism, one Lord and +Saviour, who has delivered them, and will deliver them again and again +from all their sins and miseries; one God and Father of all, who is in +all, and for all, and over all, to whom they all owe equal duty, in whom +they all have an equal share. + +That lesson God began to teach the Jews by the Red Sea. That lesson God +has taught our English forefathers again and again; and that lesson He +will teach us, their children, as often as we forget it, by signs and +wonders, by chastisements and by mercies, till we all learn to trust in +Him and Him only, and know that there is none other name under heaven by +which we can be saved from evil in this life or in the life to come, but +the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Angel of the Covenant, who +led the Jews up out of the land of Egypt. + + + + +XI. DANGERS--AND THE LITANY. + + + "Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them + out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way, that + they might go to a city of habitation. Oh that men would praise the + Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of + men."--PSALM cvii. 6-8. + +This 107th Psalm is a noble psalm--a psalm which has given comfort to +thousands in suffering and in danger, even in the sorrows which they have +brought on themselves by their own folly. For it tells them of a Lord +who hears them when they cry to Him in their trouble, and who delivers +them from their distress. + +It was written on a special occasion, as all the most important words of +the Bible are written--written seemingly, after some band of Jews +struggling across the desert, on their return from the captivity in +Babylon, had been in great danger of death. They went astray in the +wilderness out of their way, and found no city to rest in; hungry and +thirsty their soul fainted in them, so they cried unto the Lord in their +trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them forth by +the right way, that they might go to the city where they dwelt. That was +the plain fact, on which the psalmist built up this noble psalm. + +In the blazing sandy desert, without water, food, or shade, they had lost +their path, and were at their wit's end. And they cried unto the Lord +their God for guidance, for they could not guide themselves. And the +Lord answered their prayer and guided them. We do not read that God +worked a miracle for them, or sent an angel to lead them. Simply, +somehow or other, they found their way after all, and got safe out of the +desert; and they believed that it was God who enabled them to find their +way, and praised the Lord for His goodness; and for His goodness not only +to them, but to the children of men--to all men who had the sense to call +on Him in trouble, and to put themselves in their right place as +men--God's children, calling for help to their Father in heaven. + +Therefore the psalmist goes on to speak of the cases of God's goodness, +which he seems to have seen, or at least heard of. Of wretched +prisoners, bound fast in misery and iron, and that through their own +fault and folly, who had cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and been +delivered by Him from the darkness of the dungeon. Of foolish men who +had ruined their health, or at least their prospects in life, by their +own sin and folly, till their soul abhorred all manner of meat, and they +were hard at death's door. But of them, too, he says, when they cried +unto the Lord in their trouble, He delivered them from their distress. He +sent His word--what we now foolishly call the laws of Nature, but which +the Psalmist knew to be the ever-working power and providence of God--and +healed them, and they were saved from their destruction. + +Then he goes on to speak of the dangers of the sea which were especially +strange and terrible to him--a Jew. For the Jews were no sailors; and if +they went to sea, would go as merchants, or supercargoes in ships manned +by heathens; and the danger was really great. The ships were clumsy; +navigation was ill-understood; the storms of the Mediterranean sea were +then as now, sudden and furious; and when one came on, the heathen +sailors would, I doubt not, be at their wit's end, their courage melting +away because of the trouble, and call on all their gods and idols to help +them; but the men of whom the Psalmist speaks, though they were no +seamen, knew on whom to call. It was by the word of the Lord that the +stormy wind arose which lifted up the billows. He could quell the storm +if He would, and when He would; and to Him they cried and not in vain. +"And He made the storm to cease so that the waves thereof were still. +Then were they glad, because they were at rest, and so He brought them to +the haven where they would be." + +My friends, this was the simple faith of the old Jews. And this was the +simple faith of our forefathers by land and sea. And this faith, as I +believe, made England great. The faith that there was a living God, a +living Lord, who would hear the cry of poor creatures in their trouble, +even when they had brought their trouble on themselves. Our forefathers +were not mere landsmen like the Jews, but the finest seamen the world has +ever seen. And yet they were not ashamed in storm and danger to cry like +the Jews unto the Lord, that He might make the storm to cease, and bring +them to the haven where they would be. Yes! faith in God did not make +them the less brave, skilful, cautious, scientific; and it need not make +us so. Skill and science need not take away our faith in God. I trust +it will not take it away, and I believe it will not take it away, as long +as we can hear what I once heard, on board of one of the finest men of +war {80a} in the British Navy--the ship in which and from which, all +British sailors may learn their duty--when I saw some six or eight +hundred men mustered on the deck for daily morning prayer, and heard the +noble old prayer, which our forefathers have handed down to us, to be +said every day in Her Majesty's navy: {80b} + +"O eternal God who alone spreadest out the heavens, and rulest the raging +of the sea; who hast compassed the waters with bounds, until day and +night come to an end; be pleased to receive into Thy Almighty and most +gracious protection, the persons of us Thy servants, and the fleet in +which we serve. Preserve us from the dangers of the sea, and from the +violence of the enemy, that we may be a safeguard unto our most gracious +Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria and her dominions, and a security for such +as pass on the seas upon their lawful occasions; that the inhabitants of +our island may in peace and quietness serve Thee our God, and that we may +return in safety to enjoy the blessings of the land, with the fruits of +our labours, and with a thankful remembrance of Thy mercies, to praise +and glorify Thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." + +Then, as I stood upon that deck, and heard that solemn appeal to God, +before each man went about his appointed duty for the day, said I to +myself, "The ancient spirit is not dead. It may be that it is sleeping +in these prosperous times. But it is not dead, as long as this nation by +those prayers confesses that we ought at least to believe in a God who +hears our prayers, by land and sea. Those grand words were perhaps +nothing but a form to most of the men who heard them. But they were a +form which bore witness to a truth which was true, even if they forgot +it--a truth which they might need some day, and feel the need of, and +cling to, as the sailors of old time clung to it. Those words would +surely sink into the men's ears, and some day, it might be, bear fruit in +their hearts. In storm, in wreck, in battle, and in the hour of death, +and in the day of judgment, these words would surely rise in many a brave +fellow's memory, and help him to do his duty like a man, because there +was a living Lord and God above him who knew his weakness and would hear +his prayers." + +And we, my friends, here safe on land, we have a national prayer, or +rather a series of prayers, to Christ as God, which ought to remind us of +that noble truth which the 107th Psalm is meant to teach. You hear it +all of you every Sunday morning. I mean the Litany. That noble +composition, which seems to me more wise as a work of theology, more +beautiful as a work of art, the oftener I use it--That Litany, I say, is +modelled on the 107th Psalm; and it expresses the very heart and spirit +of our forefathers three hundred years ago. It bids us pray to be +delivered from every conceivable harm, to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. +And then it prays for every conceivable blessing, not only for each of us +separately, but for this whole nation of England, Great Britain, and +Ireland, and for all the nations on earth, and for the heathen and the +savage. + +Of course, just because it is a National prayer, and meant for all +Englishmen alike, all of it does not suit each and every one of us at the +same time. Each heart knows its own bitterness. Each soul has its own +special mercy to ask. But there is a word in the Litany here, and +another there, which will fit each of us in turn, if we will but follow +it. One may have to pray to be delivered from pride, vain-glory, and +hypocrisy--another to be delivered from foul living and deadly +sin--another to be delivered, or to have those whom he loves delivered, +from battle, murder, and sudden death. Another to be delivered from the +dangers of affliction and tribulation; another from the far worse danger +of wrath; but all have to pray to be delivered from something. And all +have to pray to the same deliverer--Christ, who was born a Man, died a +man, and rose again a man, that He might know what was in man, and be +able to succour those who are tempted, seeing that He was tempted in all +things like as we are, yet without sin. + +But there is a part--the latter part--of that Litany which, I think, many +do not understand or feel. Perhaps they have reason to thank God that +they do not understand or feel it; yet, the day may come--a day of +sadness, fear, perplexity, sorrow, when they will understand it, and +thank God that their forefathers placed it in the prayer-book, for them +to fall back upon, as comfort and hope in the day of trouble; putting +words into their mouths and thoughts into their hearts, which they, +perhaps, never would have found out for themselves. + +I mean that latter part of the Litany which talks of the evils which the +craft and subtilty of the devil or men work against us, that they may be +brought to nought, and by the providence of God's goodness be dispersed, +that we may be hurt by no persecutions--which calls on Christ to arise +and deliver us, for His name's sake and His honour, which pleads before +God the noble works which He did in the days of our forefathers; and +which continues with short prayers, almost cries, which have something in +them of terror, almost of agony. What have such words to do with us? Why +are they put into the mouths of us English, safe, comfortable, +prosperous, above almost all the nations upon earth? + +Ah! my friends, those prayers, when they were first put into our prayer- +book, were spoken for the hearts of Englishmen. They were not prayers +for one afflicted person here, and another there,--they, too, were +National prayers. They were the cries of the English nation in agony--in +the time when, three hundred years ago, the mightiest nations and powers +of Europe, temporal and spiritual, were set against this little isle of +England, and we expected not merely to be invaded and conquered, but +destroyed utterly and horribly with sword and fire, by the fleets and +armies of the King of Spain. In that great danger and war our +forefathers cried to God; and they cried all the more earnestly, because +they felt that their hands were not clean; that they had plenty and too +many sins to be "mercifully forgiven," and that at best they could but +ask God "mercifully to look upon their infirmities," and, "for the glory +of His name, turn from them those evils which they most righteously had +deserved." But nevertheless they cried unto God in their great agony, +because they had the spirit of the old Psalmist, who said, "They cried +unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their +distress." + +And what answer God made to their prayers all the world knows, or should +know. For if He had not answered their prayer, we should not be here +this day, a great, and strong, and prosperous nation, with a pure Church +and a free Gospel, and the Holy Bible if he wills, in the hands of the +poorest child. Unless prayer be a dream, and there be no God in heaven +worth calling a God--then did God answer the prayers of our forefathers +three hundred years ago, when they cried unto Him as one nation in their +utter need. + +But some will say--this may be all very true and very fine, but we are in +no such utter need now. Why should we use those prayers? + +My dear friends, let me say, if you are not now in utter need, in terror, +anxiety, danger, if you have no need to cry to Christ, "Graciously look +upon our afflictions; pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts," how do +you know that there is not some one in any and every congregation who is? +And you and I, if we have said the Litany in spirit and in truth, have +been praying for them. The Litany bids us speak as members of a Church, +as citizens of a nation, bound together by the ties of blood and of laws, +as well as self-interest. The Litany bids us say, not selfishly and +apart, Graciously look on _my_ afflictions, but on _our_ afflictions--the +afflictions of every English man, and woman, and child, who is in +trouble, or ever will be in trouble _hereafter_. Oh, remember this last +word. Generations long since dead and buried have prayed for you, and +God has heard their prayers; and now you have been praying for your +children, and your children's children, and generations yet unborn, that, +if ever a dark day should come over England, a time of want and danger +and perplexity and misery, God would deliver them in their turn out of +their distress. And more; you have been teaching your children, that +they may teach their children in turn, and pray and cry to God in their +trouble; and thus this grand old Litany is to us, and to those we shall +leave behind us a precious National heir-loom, teaching us and them the +lesson of the 107th Psalm--that there is a Lord in heaven who hears the +prayers of men, the sinful as well as the sorrowful, that when they cry +unto the Lord in their trouble, He delivers them out of their distress, +and that men should therefore praise the Lord for His goodness, and +declare the wonders which He doeth for the children of men. + + + + +XII. WILD TIMES, OR DAVID'S FAITH IN A LIVING GOD. + + + "David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and + when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down + thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one + that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered + themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were + with him about four hundred men."--1 SAM. xxii. 1, 2. + +In every country, at some time or other, there have been evil days--days +of violence, tyranny, misrule, war, invasion, when men are too apt, for +want of settled law, to take the law into their own hands; and the land +is full of robbers, outlaws, bands of partizans and irregular +soldiers--wild times, in which wild things are done. + +Of such times we here in England have had no experience, and we forget +how common they are; we forget that many great nations have been in this +state again and again. We forget that almost all Europe was in that wild +and lawless state in our fathers' times, and therefore we forget that the +Bible, which tells man his whole duty, must needs tell men about such +times as those, and how a man may do his duty, and save his soul therein. +For the Bible is every man's book, and has its lesson for every man. It +is meant not merely for comfortable English folk, who sit at home at +ease, under just laws and a good government. It is meant just as much +for the opprest, for the persecuted, for the man who is fighting for his +country, for the man who has been found fighting in vain, and is simply +waiting for God's help, and crying, "Lord, how long? how long ere Thou +avenge the blood that is shed?" It is meant as much for such as for you +and me; that every man, in whatever fearful times he may live, and +whatever fearful trials he may go through, and whatever fearful things he +may be tempted to do, and, indeed, may have to do, in self-defence, may +still be able to go to the Bible, there to find light for his feet, and a +lantern for his path, and so that he may steer through the worst of times +by Faith in the Living God. + +Again, such lawless times are certain to raise up bold and adventurous +men, more or less like David. Men of blood--who are yet not altogether +bad men--who are forced to take the law into their own hands, to try and +keep their countrymen together, to put down tyrants and robbers, and to +drive out invaders. And men, too, suffering from deep and cruel wrongs, +who are forced for their lives' sake, and their honour's sake, to +escape--to flee to the mountains and the forests, and to foreign lands, +and there live as they can till times shall be better. There have been +such men in all wild times--outlaws, chiefs of armed bands, like our +Robin Hood, whose name was honoured in England for hundreds of years as +the protector of the poor and the opprest, and the punisher of the Norman +tyrants: a man made up of much good and much evil, whom we must not +judge, but when we think of him, only thank God that we do not live in +such times now, when no man's life or property, or the honour of his +family was safe. + +Such men, too, in our fathers' days, were the Tyrolese heroes, Hofer and +the Good Monk who left, the one his farm and the other his cloister, to +lead their countrymen against the invading French; men of blood, who were +none the less men of God. And such is, in our own days, that famous +Garibaldi, whose portrait hangs in many an English cottage, for a proof +that though we, thank God, do not need such men in peaceful England, our +hearts bid us to love and honour them wherever they be. There have been +such men in all bad times, and there will be till the world's end, and +they will do great deeds, and their names will be famous, and often +honoured and adored by men. + +Now, what does the Bible say of such men? Does it give any rule by which +we may judge them? any rule which they ought to obey? Can God's blessing +be on them? Can they obey God in that wild and dark and dangerous +station to which He seems to have called them--to which God certainly +called Hofer and the Good Monk? + +I think if the Bible did not answer that question it would not be a +complete book--if it spoke only of peaceful folk, and peaceful times; +when, alas! from the beginning of the world, the earth has been but too +full of violence and misrule, war and desolation. But the Bible _does_ +answer that question. A large portion of one whole book is actually +taken up with the history of a young outlaw--of David, the shepherd boy, +who rises through strange temptations and dangers to be a great king, the +first man who, since Moses, formed the Jews into one strong united +nation. It does not hide his faults, even his fearful sins, but it shows +us that he _had_ a right road to follow, though he often turned aside +from it. It shows us that he could be a good man if he chose, though he +was an outlaw at the head of a band of ruffians; and it shows us the +secret of his power and of his success--_Faith in the Living God_. + +Therefore it is that after the Bible has shown us (in the Book of Ruth) +worthy Boaz standing among his reapers in the barley field, it goes on to +show us Boaz's great-grandson, David, a worthy man likewise, but of a +very different life, marked out by God from his youth for strange and +desperate deeds; killing, as a mere boy, a lion and a bear, overthrowing +the Philistine giant with a sling and a stone, captain of a band of +outlaws in the wilderness, fighting battles upon battles; and at last a +king, storming the mountain fortress of Jerusalem, and setting up upon +Mount Zion, which shall never be removed, the Throne of David. A strange +man, and born into a strange time. You all know the first part of +David's history--how Samuel secretly anoints David king over Israel, and +how the Spirit of the Lord comes from that day forward upon the young lad +(1 Samuel xvi. 12). How king Saul meanwhile fell into dark and bad +humours. How the Spirit of the Lord--of goodness and peace of mind--goes +from him, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubles him. Then how young +David is sent for to play to him on his harp (1 Samuel xvi.), and soothe +his distempered mind. Already we hear of David as a remarkable person; +we hear of his extraordinary beauty, his skill in music; we hear, too, +how he is already a man of war, and a mighty valiant man, and prudent in +matters, and the Lord is with him. + +Then follows the famous story of his killing Goliath the Philistine (1 +Samuel xvii.). Poor, distempered Saul, it seems, had forgotten him, +though David had cured his melancholy with his harp-playing, and had +actually been for a while his armour-bearer, for when he comes back with +the giant's head, Saul has to ask Abner who he is; but after that he will +let him go no more home to his father. + +Then follows the beautiful story of Jonathan, Saul's gallant son (1 +Samuel xviii.), and his love for David. Then of Saul's envy of David, +and how, in a sudden fit of hatred, he casts his javelin at him. Then +how he grows afraid of him, and makes him captain of a thousand men, and +gives him his daughter, on condition of David's killing him two hundred +Philistines. And how he goes on, capriciously, honouring David one day +and trying to kill him the next. While David rises always, and all +Israel and Judah love him, and he behaves himself more wisely than all +the servants of Saul. At last comes the open rupture. Saul, after +trying to murder David, sends assassins to his house, and David flees for +his life once and for all. He has served his master Saul loyally and +faithfully. There is no word of his having opposed Saul, set himself up +against him, boasted of himself, or in any way brought his anger down +upon him. Saul is his king, and David has been loyal and true to him. +But Saul's envy has grown to hatred, and that to murder. He murders the +priests, with all their wives and children, for having given bread and +shelter to David. And now David must flee into the wilderness and set up +for himself, and he flees to the cave of Adullam (1 Samuel xxii.); and +there you see the Bible does not try to hide what David's position was, +and what sort of men he had about him--his brethren and his father's +house, who were afraid that Saul would kill them instead of him, after +the barbarous Eastern fashion, and among them the three sons of Zeruiah, +his sister; and everyone who was discontented, and everyone who was in +debt, all the most desperate and needy--one can conceive what sort of men +they must have been. The Bible tells us afterwards of the wicked men and +men of Belial who were among them--wild men, with weapons in their hands, +and nothing to prevent their becoming a band of brutal robbers, if they +had not had over them a man in whom, in spite of all his faults, was the +Spirit of God. + +We must remember, meanwhile, that David had his temptations. He had been +grievously wronged. Saul had returned him evil for good. All David's +services and loyalty to Saul had been repaid with ingratitude and +accusations of conspiracy against him. What terrible struggles of rage +and indignation must have passed through David's heart! What a longing +to revenge himself! He knew, too, for Samuel the prophet had told him, +that he should be king one day. What a temptation, then, to make himself +king at once! It was no secret either. The people knew of it. Jonathan, +Saul's son, knew of it, and, in his noble, self-sacrificing way, makes no +secret of it (1 Samuel xx.). What a temptation to follow the fashion +which is too common in the East to this day, and strike down his tyrant +at one blow, as many a man has done since, and to proclaim himself king +of the Jews. Yes, David had heavy temptations--temptations which he +could only conquer by faith in the Living God. And, because he masters +himself, and remains patient and loyal to his king under every insult and +wrong, he is able to master that wild and desperate band of men, and set +them an example of patience and chivalry, loyalty and justice; to train +them to be, not a terror and a scourge to the yeomen and peasants round, +but a protection and a guard against the Philistines and Amalekites, and, +in due time, his trusty bodyguard of warriors--men who have grown grey +beside him through a hundred battles, who are to be the foundation of his +national army, and help him to make the Jews one strong and united +prosperous kingdom. + +All this the shepherd lad has to do, and he does it, by faith in the +Living God, and so makes himself for all ages to come the pattern of +perfect loyalty. And now, let us take home this one lesson--That the +secret of David's success is not his beauty, his courage, his eloquence, +his genius; other men have had gifts from God as great as David's, and +have misused them to their own ruin, and to the misery of their fellow- +men. No; the secret of David's success is his faith in the Living God; +and that will be the secret of our success. _Without_ faith in God, the +most splendid talents may lead a man to be a curse to himself and to his +neighbours. _With_ faith in God, a very common-place person, without any +special cleverness, may do great things, and make himself useful and +honoured in his generation. + + + + +XIII. DAVID AND NABAL, OR SELF-CONTROL. + + + "And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which + sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice, and blessed + be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and + from avenging myself with mine own hand."--1 SAMUEL xxv. 32, 33. + +The story of David and Nabal needs no explanation. It tells us of part +of David's education--of a great lesson which he learnt--of a great +lesson which we may learn. It is told with a dignity and a simplicity, +with a grace and liveliness which makes itself understood at once, and +carries its own lesson to any one who has a human heart in him. + +"And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel"--the park +grass upland with timber trees--not the northern Carmel where Elijah slew +the prophets of Baal, but the southern one on the edge of the desert. +"And the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a +thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of +the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman +of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was +churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb." Caleb +was Joshua's friend, who had conquered all that land in Joshua's time. +Nabal, therefore, had all the pride of a man of most ancient and noble +family--and no shame to him if he had had a noble, courteous, and +generous heart therewith, instead of being, as he was, a stupid and +brutal person. + +"And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. And +David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you +up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: And thus shall +ye say unto him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be to thee, and peace be +to thine house, and peace be to all that thou hast. And now I have heard +that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt +them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they +were in Carmel. Ask the young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore +let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: +give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and +unto thy son David. And when David's young men came, they spake to +Nabal, according to all thee words of David, and ceased." + +Nabal refuses; and in a way that shows, as his wife says of him, how well +his name fits him--a fool is his name, and folly is with him. Insolently +and brutally he refuses, as fools are wont to do. "And Nabal answered +David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? +there be many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his +master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I +have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence +they be?" + +"As slaves break away from their master." This was an intolerable +insult. To taunt a free-born man, as David was, with having been a slave +and a runaway. It is hard to conceive how Nabal dared to say such a +thing of a fierce chieftain like David, with six hundred armed men at his +back; but there is no saying what a fool will not do when the spirit of +the Lord is gone from him, and his own fancy and passions lead him +captive. + +So David's young men came and told David. "And David said to his men, +Gird every man on his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and +David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four +hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff." + +That is a grand passage--grand, because it is true to human nature, true +to the determined, prompt, kingly character of David. He does not +complain, bluster, curse over the insult as a weak man might have done. +He has been deeply hurt, and he is too high-minded to talk about it. He +will do, and not talk. A dark purpose settles itself instantly in his +mind. Perhaps he is ashamed of it, and dare not speak of it, even to +himself. But what it was he confessed afterwards to Abigail, that he +purposed utterly to kill Nabal and all his people. David was wrong of +course. But the Bible makes no secret of the wrong-doings of its heroes. +It does not tell us that they were infallible and perfect. It tells us +that they were men of like passions with ourselves, in order that by +seeing how they conquered their passions we may conquer ours. + +Meanwhile, Nabal's young men, his servants and slaves, see the danger, +and go to Abigail. "One of the young men told Abigail, saying, Behold, +David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he +railed on them. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not +hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with +them, when we were in the fields: They were a wall unto us both by night +and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now +therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined +against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son +of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him. Then Abigail made haste, and +took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready +dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of +raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. And she +said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But +she told not her husband Nabal." + +And then follows the beautiful scene which has been the subject of many a +noble picture. The fair lady kneeling before the terrible outlaw in the +mountain woods, as she came down by the covert of the hill, and softening +his fierce heart with her beauty and her eloquence and her prayers, and +bringing him back to his true self--to forgiveness, generosity, and +righteousness. + +"And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and +fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and fell +at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, let this iniquity be: and let +thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words +of thine handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of +Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and +folly is with him; but I, thine handmaid, saw not the young men of my +lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, +and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming +to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let +thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. . . . I +pray thee forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the Lord will +certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles +of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days." + +And she conquers. The dark shadow passes off David's soul, and he is +again the true, chivalrous, God-fearing David, who has never drawn sword +yet in his own private quarrel, but has committed his cause to God who +judgeth righteously, and will, if a man abide patiently in Him, make his +righteousness as clear as the light, and his just-dealing as the noonday. +Frankly he confesses his fault. "Blessed be thy advice, and blessed be +thou which has kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from +avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed, as the Lord God of +Israel liveth, which has kept me back from hurting thee, except thou +hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not a man been left +unto Nabal by the morning light." Then follows the end. Abigail goes +back to Nabal. Then the bully shows himself a coward. The very thought +of the danger which he has escaped is too much for him. His heart died +within him. "And Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in +his house like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within +him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing less or more +until the morning light. But it came to pass in the morning, when the +wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that +his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And it came to +pass, about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died." One +can imagine the picture for oneself. The rich churl sitting there in the +midst of all his slaves and his wealth as one thunderstruck, helpless and +speechless, till one of those mysterious attacks, which we still rightly +call a stroke, and a visitation of God, ends him miserably. And when he +is dead, Abigail becomes the wife of David, and shares his fortunes and +his dangers in the wilderness. + +Now, what may we learn from this story? Surely what David learnt--the +unlawfulness of revenge. David was to be trained to be a perfect king by +learning self-control, and therefore he has to learn that he must not +punish in his own quarrel. If he must not lift up his hand against Saul, +on the ground of loyalty, neither must he lift up his hand against Nabal, +on the deeper ground of justice and humanity. + +But from whom did David learn this? From himself. From his own heart +and conscience, enlightened by the Spirit of God. Abigail gave him no +commandment from God, in the common sense of the word. She only put +David in mind of what he knew already. She appeals to his known +nobleness of mind, and takes for granted that he will hear reason--takes +for granted that he will do right--and so brought him to himself again. +The Lord was withholding him, she says, from coming to shed blood, and +avenging himself with his own hand. But that would have been of no avail +had there not been something in David's own heart which answered to her +words. For the Spirit of God had not left David; and it was the Spirit +of God which gave him nobleness of heart--the Spirit of God which made +him answer, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who sent thee this day to +meet me; and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou which hast kept +me this day from shedding of blood." + +Though Abigail did not pretend to bring a message from God, David felt +that she had brought one. And she was in his eyes not merely a suppliant +pleading for mercy, but a prophetess declaring to him a divine law which +he dare not resist. "It has been said by them of old time," our blessed +Lord tells us, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; thou shalt +love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy." This is the first natural law +which a savage lays down for himself. There is a rude sense of justice +in it, mixed up with the same brute instinct of revenge which makes the +wild beast turn in rage upon the hunter who wounds him. But our Lord +Jesus Christ brings in a higher and more spiritual law. Punishment is to +be left to the magistrate, who punishes in God's name. And where the law +cannot touch the wrongdoer, God, who is the author of law, can and will +punish. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." Yes! if +punishment must be, then let God punish. Let man forgive. I say unto +you, said our Lord, "Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate +you--bless them that curse you--pray for them that despitefully use you +and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is +in heaven, for He maketh His sun to shine upon the evil and the good, and +sendeth rain on the just and the unjust." + +It is a hard lesson. But we must learn it. And we shall learn it, just +as far as we are guided by the Spirit of God, who forms in us the +likeness of Christ. And men are learning it more and more in Christian +lands. Wherever Christ's gospel is truly and faithfully preached, the +fashion, of revenge is dying out. There are countries still in +Christendom in which men think nothing every day of stabbing and shooting +the man who has injured them; and far, very far, from Christ and His +Spirit must they be still. But we may have hope for them; for if we look +at home, it was not so very many years ago that any Englishman, who +considered himself a gentleman, was bound by public opinion to fight a +duel for any slight insult. It was not so many years ago that among +labouring men brutal quarrels and open fights were common, and almost +daily occurrences. But now men are learning more and more to control +their tempers and their tongues, and find it more and more easy, and more +pleasant and more profitable, as our Lord forewarned them when He said, +"Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, +and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my +burden is light." And Christ's easy yoke is the yoke of self-control, by +which we bridle the passions which torment us. Christ's light burden is +the burden and obligation laid on every one of us, to forgive others, +even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. And the rest which shall +come to our souls is the rest which David found, when he listened to the +voice of God speaking by the lips of Abigail; the true and divine rest of +heart and peace of mind--rest and peace from the inward storm of +fretfulness, suspicion, jealousy, pride, wrath, revenge, which blackens +the light of heaven to a man, and turns to gall and wormwood every +blessing which God sends. + +Ah! my friends, if ever that angry storm rises in our hearts, if ever we +be tempted to avenge ourselves, and cast off the likeness of God for that +of the savage, and return evil for evil,--may God send to us in that day +some angel of His own, as He sent Abigail to David--an angel, though +clothed in human flesh and blood, with a message of peace and wisdom. And +if any such should speak to us words of peace and wisdom, soothing us and +rebuking us at once, and appealing to those feelings in us which are +really the most noble, just because they are the most gentle, then let us +not turn away in pride, and wrap ourselves up in our own anger, but let +us receive these words as the message of God--whether they come from the +lips of a woman, or of a servant, or even of a little child, for if we +resist them we surely resist God--who has also given to us His Holy +Spirit for that very purpose, that we may hear His message when He +speaks. It was the Spirit of God in David which made him feel that +Abigail's message was divine. The Spirit of God, hidden for a while +behind his dark passions, like the sun by clouds, shone out clear again, +and filled all his soul with light, showing him his duty, and giving back +peace and brightness to his mind. + +God grant that whenever we are tried like David we may find that that +Holy Spirit has not left us, but that even if a first storm of anger +shall burst, it shall pass over quickly, and the day star arise in our +hearts, and the Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon us, and +give us peace. + + + + +XIV. DAVID'S LOYALTY; OR, TEMPTATION RESISTED. + + + "So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul + lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at + his bolster; but Abner and the people lay round about him. Then said + Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this + day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even + to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. And + David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his + hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless? David said + furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day + shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish. The + Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's + anointed; but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his + bolster, and the cruise of water, and let us go."--1 SAM. xxvi. 7-11. + +David stands for all times as the pattern of true loyalty--loyalty under +the most extreme temptation. Knowing that he is to be king himself +hereafter, he yet remains loyal to his king though unjustly persecuted to +the death. Loyal he is to the end, because he has _faith_ and +_obedience_. Faith tells him that if king he is to be, king he will be, +in God's good time. If God had promised, God will perform. He must not +make himself king. He must not take the matter into his own hand. +Obedience tells him that Saul is still his master, and he is bound to +him. If Saul be a bad master, that does not give him leave to be a bad +servant. The sacred bond still remains, and he must not break it. But +Saul is more. He is king--the Lord's anointed, the general of the armies +of the living God. His office is sacred; his person is sacred. He is a +public personage, and David must not lift up his hand against him in a +private quarrel. + +Twice David's faith and obedience are tried fearfully. Twice Saul is in +his power. Twice the temptation to murder him comes before him. The +first time David and his men are in one of the great branching caves of +Engaddi, the desolate limestone cliffs, two thousand feet high, which +overhang the Dead Sea--and Saul is hunting him, as he says, as a +partridge on the mountains. "And it came to pass when Saul had returned +from following the Philistines, that it was told him saying, Behold David +is in the cave of Engedi. And Saul took three thousand chosen men out of +all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild +goats. And he came to the sheepcotes, and by the way there was a cave; +and Saul went in, and David and his men remained in the sides of the +cave. And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the +Lord said unto thee, Behold I will deliver thine enemy into thy hand, and +thou mayest do to him as seemeth good unto thee. Then David arose, and +cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it came to pass +afterwards, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's +skirt. And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this +thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand +against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. So David stayed his +servants." And afterwards Saul rose up, not knowing what had happened, +and David followed him. And when Saul looked back, David stooped down +with his face to the earth and bowed himself before Saul, and spoke many +noble words to his king (1 Sam. xxiv. 1-8). + +_And David's nobleness has its reward_. It brings out nobleness in +return to Saul himself. It melts his heart for a time. "And it came to +pass that when David had made an end of speaking, that Saul said, Is this +thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. And he +said to David, 'Thou art more righteous than I--for thou hast rewarded me +good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. And thou hast shewed me this +day how thou hast dealt with me; for as much as when the Lord delivered +me into thine hand, thou killedst me not. For if a man find his enemy, +will he let him go well away? Wherefore the Lord reward thee good for +that thou hast done unto me this day. And now, behold, I know well that +thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be +established in thine hand.'" + +And so it will be with you, my friends. "If thine enemy hunger, feed +him; if he thirst, give him drink, for so thou shalt heap coals of fire +on his head." Thou shalt melt the hardness of his heart. Thou shalt +warm the coldness of his heart. Nobleness in thee shall bring out in +answer nobleness in him, and if not, thou hast done thy duty, and the +Lord judge between him and thee. + +But Saul's repentance does not last. Soon after we find him again +hunting David in the wilderness, seemingly from mere caprice, and without +any fresh cause of offence. The Ziphites--dwellers in the forests of the +south of Judea--came to Saul and said, "Doth not David hide himself in +the hill of Hachilah. Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness, +having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the +wilderness of Ziph. And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah. But David +abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the +wilderness." Again Saul lies down to sleep--in an entrenched camp, and +David and Abishai, his nephew, go down to the camp at night as spies. +Then comes the story of my text--how Abishai would have slain Saul, and +David forbade him to lift his hand against the Lord's anointed, and left +Saul to the judgment of God, which he knew must come sooner or later--and +merely took the spear from his bolster and the cruse of water to show he +had been there. + +Once again Saul's heart gives way at David's nobleness: for when David +and Abishai got away while Saul and his guards all slept, David calls to +Abner (verse 14-25), and rebukes him for not having guarded his king +better. "Art not thou a valiant man? Wherefore, then, hast thou not +kept thy lord the king? The thing is not good that thou hast done: As +the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, because you have not kept your +master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and +the cruse of water that was at his bolster. And Saul knew David's voice, +and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my +voice, my lord, O king. Wherefore does my lord then thus pursue after +his servant? for what have I done? Now therefore, let not my blood fall +to the earth, for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when +one doth hunt a partridge. Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son +David, for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in +thine eyes. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly." + +But David can trust him no longer. Weak, violent, and capricious, Saul's +repentance is real for the time, but it does not last. He means what he +says at the moment; but when some fresh base suspicion crosses his mind, +his promises and his repentance are all forgotten. A terrible trial it +is to David, to have his noble forgiveness and forbearance again and +again bring forth no fruit--to have to do with a man whom he cannot +trust. There are few sorer trials than that for living man. Few which +tempt him more to throw away faith and patience, and say, "I cannot +submit to this misconduct over and over again. It must end, and I will +end it, by some desperate action, right or wrong." + +And, in fact, it does seem as if David was very near yielding to +temptation, the last and worst temptation which befalls men in his +situation--to turn traitor and renegade, to go over to the enemies of his +country and fight with them against Saul. That has happened too often to +men in David's place; who have so ended a glorious career in shame and +confusion. And we find that David does at last very nearly fall into it. +It creeps on him, little by little, as it has on other men in his place, +but it does creep on. He loses patience and hope. He says, I shall +perish one day by the hand of Saul, and he goes down into the low +country, to the Philistines, whose champion, Goliath, he had killed, and +makes friends with them. And Achish, king of Gath, gives him a town +called Ziklag, to live in, he and his men. From it he goes out and +attacks the wild Arabs, the Amalekites. And then he tells lies to +Achish, saying, that he has been attacking his own countrymen, the Jews. +And by that lie he brings himself into a very great strait--as all men +who tell lies are sure to do. + +When Achish and his Philistines go next to fight against the Jews, Achish +asks David and his men to go with him and his army. And then begins a +very dark story. What David meant to do we are not told; but one thing +is clear, that whatever he did, he must have disgraced himself for ever, +if God had not had mercy on him. He is forced to go. For he can give no +reason why he should not. So he goes; and in the rear with the +Philistine king, in the post of honour, as his bodyguard. What is he to +do? If he fights against his own people, he covers himself with eternal +shame, and loses his chance of ever being king. If he turns against +Achish and his Philistines in the battle he covers himself with eternal +shame likewise, for they had helped him in his distress, and given him a +home. + +But God has mercy on him. The lords of the Philistines take offence at +his being there, and say that he will play traitor to them in the battle +(which was but too likely), and force king Achish to send him home to +Ziklag, and so God delivers him out of the trap which he has set for +himself, by lying. + +But God punishes him on the spot. When he comes back to his town, it is +burnt with fire, utterly desolate, a heap of blackened ruins, without a +living soul therein. And now the end is coming, though David thinks not +of it. He had committed his cause to God. He had said, when Saul lay +sleeping at his feet, and Abishai would have smitten him through, "Who +can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed. As the Lord +liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or he shall come to die, or he shall go +down into battle and perish." + +And on the third day a man--a heathen Amalekite--comes to Ziklag to David +with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head. Israel has been defeated +in Mount Gilboa with a great slaughter. The people far and wide have +fled from Hermon across the plain, and the Philistines have taken +possession, cutting the land of Israel in two. And Saul and Jonathan, +his son, are dead. The Amalekite has proof of it. There is the crown +which was on Saul's head, and the bracelet that was on his arm. He has +brought them to David to curry favour with him. Saul, he says, was +wounded, and asked him to kill him (2 Sam. i. 6-10). It is a lie. Saul +had killed himself, falling on his own sword, to escape torture and +insult from the Philistines, and the Amalekite is caught in his own trap. +Out of his own mouth will David judge him. How dare he stretch forth his +hand against the Lord's anointed? Let one of the young men fall on him, +and kill him. And so the wretch dies. + +And then bursts forth all the nobleness of David's heart. He thinks of +Saul no longer as the tyrant who has hunted him for years, who has put on +him the last and worst insult of taking away his wife, and giving her to +another man. He thinks of him only as his master, his king, the grand +and terrible warrior, the terror of Ammonites, Amalekites, and +Philistines, the deliverer of his country in many a bloody fight, and he +bursts out into that fine old lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, +sentences of which have been proverbs in the mouths of men to this day. +"How are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the +streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest +the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let +there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of +offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the +shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. From the +blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan +turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and +Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they +were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than +lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in +scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your +apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O +Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for +thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love +to me was wonderful, passing the love of woman. How are the mighty +fallen, and the weapons of war perished!" (2 Sam. i. 19-27). + +Let each and every one of us, my friends, imitate David's loyalty, and be +true to our duty, true to our masters, true to our country and true to +our queen, through whatever trials and temptations. Above all, let us +learn from David to obey; and remember that to obey we need not become +cringing and slavish, or give up independence and high spirit. David did +neither. Unless you learn to obey, as David did, you will never learn to +rule. Imitate David--and so you will imitate David's greater son, even +our Lord Jesus Christ. For herein David is a type of Christ. + +One might say truly that David's spirit was in Christ--if the very +opposite was not the fact, that the spirit of Christ was in David, even +the spirit of loyalty and obedience, toward God and man. The spirit +which made our Lord fulfil the whole law of Moses--though quite +unnecessary, of course, for him--simply because He had chosen to be born +a Jew, under Moses' law; the spirit which made Him obedient to the +ordinance of the country in which He was born, made Him even pay tribute +to Caesar, the heathen conqueror, because the powers that ruled, were +ordained of God. And yet that same spirit kept Him lofty and +independent, high-minded and pure-minded. He could tell the people to +observe and to do all that the scribes and Pharisees told them to do, +because they sat in Moses' seat, and yet He could call those very scribes +and Pharisees hypocrites, who made the law of no effect, and were +bringing on themselves utter destruction. + +That spirit, too, made Him loyal and obedient to God His Father in +heaven. Doing not His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him. +Of Him it is written, that though He were a Son, yet learned He +"obedience by the things which He suffered;" and that He received the +perfect reward of perfect loyalty, because He had humbled and emptied +Himself, and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. +Therefore God highly exalted Him, and gave Him a name which is above +every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in +heaven, of things in the earth, and things under the earth, and every +tongue confess that He is Lord and God, to the glory of God the Father. + +This is a great mystery! How can we understand it? How can we +understand the Divine and eternal bond between Father and Son? But this +at least we can understand, that loyalty and obedience are Divine +virtues, part of the likeness of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, +and therefore divine graces, the gift of God's holy Spirit. + +May God pour out upon us that Spirit, as He poured it out on David, and +make us loyal and obedient to our queen, and to all whom He has set over +us; and loyal and obedient above all to Christ our heavenly king, and to +God the Father, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. + + + + +XV. DAVID'S DEATH SONG. + + + "And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that + the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out + of the hand of Saul: And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress + and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my + shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my + saviour; thou savest me from violence."--2 SAM. xxii. 1-3. + +This is the death song of David; the last words of the great man--warrior, +statesman, king, poet, prophet. A man of many joys and many sorrows, +many virtues, and many crimes; but through them all, every inch a man. A +man--heaped by God with every gift of body, and mind, and heart, and +especially with strong and deep intense feeling. Right or wrong, he is +never hard, never shallow, never light-minded. He is in earnest. +Whatever happens to him, for good or evil, goes to his heart, and fills +his whole soul, till it comes out again in song. + +This it is which makes David the Psalmist. This it is which makes the +Psalter a text book still for every soldier or sailor, for all men who +have human hearts in them. This it is which will make his psalms live +for ever. Because they are full of humanity, of the spirit of man, +awakened and enlightened, and ennobled, by the Spirit of God. + +Looking through these psalms of David, one is struck with astonishment at +their variety. At what is called the versatility of his mind, that is, +his ability to turn himself to every kind of subject, as it comes before +him, and to sing of it--as man has never sung since. And one is the more +astonished, when one remembers that many of the most beautiful of these +Psalms must have been written while David was still a very young man. +Though we have them, of course, only in a translation--though many of the +words and phrases in them are difficult, sometimes impossible to +understand, though they were written in a kind of verse which would give +our English ears no pleasure, and were set to a music so utterly +different from our own, that it would not sound like music to us. Yet, +with all these disadvantages, they are beautiful as they stand, they sink +into the ear, and into the heart, as what they are, the words of one +inspired by God, who found beauty in every sight which he beheld, in +every event which happened, even in every sorrow and every struggle in +his own soul, and could sing of each and all of them in words and +thoughts fresh from God, the fountain of all beauty and all truth. + +But the peculiarity of David's psalms, after all, is from his intense +faith in God. God is in all his thoughts. God is near him, guiding him, +trying him, educating him, punishing him, sometimes he thinks for a +moment, deserting him. But even then his mind is still full of God. It +is God he wants, and the light of God's countenance, without which he +cannot live, and leaving him in misery, and shame, and darkness, and out +of the darkness he cries--My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And, +therefore, everything which happens to him shapes itself not into mere +poetry, but into a prayer, or a hymn. + +It is this which has made David for Christians now, as well as for Jews +of old, the great master and teacher of heart religion. In the early +church, in the middle ages, as now, Catholic alike and Protestant, +whosoever has feared God and sought after righteousness; whosoever has +known and sorrowed over the sinfulness and weakness of his own heart; +whosoever has believed that the Lord God was dealing with him as with a +son, educating him, chastening him, purifying him and teaching him, by +the chances and changes of his mortal life; whosoever, I say, has had any +real taste of vital experimental religion--to David's Psalms he has gone, +as to a treasure house, to find there his own feelings, his own doubts, +his own joys, his own thoughts of God and His providence--reflected as in +a glass; everything which he would say, said for him already, in words +which will never be equalled on earth. + +There are psalms among them of bitter agony, cries as of a lost child, +like that 6th psalm--"Oh Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither +chasten me in Thy hot displeasure," &c. And yet ending like that, with a +sudden flash of faith, and hope, and joy, which is a peculiar mark of +David's character, faith in God triumphing over all the chances and +changes of mortal life. "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. +The Lord will receive my prayer, all mine enemies shall be confounded and +sore vexed. They shall be turned back and put to shame." + +There are psalms again which are prayers for guidance and teaching like +the 5th Psalm--"Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine +enemies: make thy way plain before my face." + +There are psalms, again, of Natural Religion, such as the 8th and the +19th and the 29th, the words of a man who had watched and studied nature +by day and night, as he kept his sheep upon the mountains, and wandered +in the desert with his men. "I will consider thy heavens, the works of +thy hand, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained . . . the fowls +of the air and the fishes of the sea" . . . (Ps. viii. 3-8). "The +heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handi- +work" (Ps. xix. 1-6). "It is the Lord that commandeth the water: it is +the glorious God that maketh the thunder: it is the Lord that ruleth the +sea: the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedar trees: the voice of the +Lord divideth the flames of fire: the voice of the Lord shaketh the +wilderness: the Lord sitteth above the water flood," &c. (Ps. xxix.). + +There are psalms of deep religious experience like the 32d.--"Blessed is +he whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered . . . Thou +art a place to hide me in. . . . Thy hand is heavy upon me day and night +. . . I will acknowledge my sin unto Thee." + +There are psalms, and these are almost the most important of all, such as +the 9th, the 24th and 36th Psalms, which declare the providence and the +kingdom of the Living God, with that great and prophetic 2d Psalm (ver. 1- +5): "Why do the heathen so furiously rage together, and the people +imagine vain things. The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers +take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed," &c. + +There are psalms of deep repentance, of the broken and the contrite +heart, like that famous 51st Psalm, which is used in all Christian +churches to this day, as the expression of all true repentance, and +which, even in our translation, by its awful simplicity, its slow +sadness, expresses in its very sound the utterly crushed and broken +heart. "Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness, according +to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences. . . . Behold, I +was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive. . . . The +sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O +God, thou wilt not despise. . . ." Then there are psalms, like the 26th, +of a manful and stately confidence. The words of one who is determined +to do right, who feels that on the whole he is doing it, and is not +ashamed to say so. "Be thou my judge, for I have walked innocently. . . . +Examine and prove me: try out my reins and my heart. I have not dwelt +with vain persons, neither will I have fellowship with the deceitful. . . . +I have hated the congregation of the wicked. I have loved the +habitation of thy house." There are political psalms, full of weighty +advice, to his sons after him, like the 115th Psalm. + +There are psalms of the most exquisite tenderness, like the 23d Psalm, +written perhaps while he himself was still a shepherd boy, and he looked +upon his flocks feeding on the downs of Bethlehem, and sang, "The Lord is +my shepherd, I shall not want," &c. And lastly, though I should not say +lastly, for the variety of this wonderful man's psalms is past counting, +there are psalms of triumph and thanksgiving, which are miracles of +beauty and grandeur. Take, for instance, the 34th, one of the earliest, +when David was not more than twenty-five years old, when Abimelech drove +him away, and he departed and sang, "I will bless the Lord at all times. +. . . My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. . . . I sought the Lord, +and he heard me, and delivered me out of all my fear. Lo the poor man +crieth and the Lord heareth him. . . . The angel of the Lord tarrieth +round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." And, as the +grandest of all, as, indeed, it was meant to be, that wonderful 18th +Psalm which David, the servant of the Lord, spake to the Lord in the day +when the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies. "I will +love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my strong rock and defence: +my Saviour, my God, and my might, in whom I will trust, my buckler, the +horn also of my salvation, and my refuge." This is, indeed, David's +masterpiece. The only one which comes near it is the 144th. The +loftiest piece of poetry, taken as mere poetry, though it is more, much +more, in the whole world. Even in our translation, it rushes on with a +force and a swiftness, which are indeed divine. Thought follows thought, +image image, verse verse, before the breath of the Spirit of God, as wave +leaps after wave before a mighty wind. Even now, to read that psalm +rightly, should stir the heart like a trumpet. What must it have been +like when sung by David himself? No wonder that those brave old Jews +hung upon the lips of their warrior-poet and felt that the man who could +sing to them of such thoughts, and not only sing them, but feel them +likewise, was indeed a king and a prophet sent to them by God. A +prophet, I say. They loved his songs not merely on account of the beauty +of their poetry. Indeed, one hardly likes to talk of David's psalms as +beautiful poetry. It seems unfair to them. For though they are +beautiful poetry, they are far more, they are prophecy and preaching +concerning God. They preach and declare to the Jews the Living God. They +are the speech of a man whose thoughts and works were begun, continued, +and ended in God. A man who knew that God was about his path, and about +his bed, and spying out all his ways. A man whose one fixed idea was, +that God was leading and guiding him through life. That idea, "The Lord +leads me," is the key-note of David's psalms, and makes them what they +are, an inspired revelation of Almighty God. + +But is that idea true? Of course, you answer, it is true, because it is +in the Bible. But that is not the question. That is rather putting the +question aside, which is, Do _we_ believe it to be true, and find it to +be true? We believe that God was leading David because we read it in the +Bible. But do we believe that God is leading _us_? If not, what is the +use of our reading David's psalms, either in private or publicly in +church every Sunday? You all know how largely we use them, but why? If +we are not in the same case as David was, what right have we to take +David's words into our mouths? We do not fancy that there is any magical +virtue in repeating the same words, as foolish people used to repeat +charms and spells. Our only right, our only excuse for saying or singing +David's psalms in public or in private, must be, that as David was, so +are we in this world, under the continual guidance of God. + +And therefore it is that the Church bids us to use these psalms in our +devotions, day by day, all the year round--that we may know that our God +is David's God, our temptations David's temptations, our fears David's +fears, our hopes David's hopes, our struggles and triumphs over what is +wrong in our hearts and in the world around us, are the same as David's. +That we are not to fancy, because David was an inspired prophet, that +therefore he was in a different case from us, of different passions from +ours, or that his words are too sacred and holy for us to use. Not so, +we are to believe the very contrary. We are to believe that no prophecy +of Scripture is of any private interpretation--that is--has not merely to +do with the man who spoke it first--but that because David spoke by the +Spirit of God, who is no respecter of persons, therefore his words apply +to you, and to me, and to every human being--that David is revealing to +us the everlasting laws of God's Spirit, and of God's providence, whereby +He works alike in every Christian soul, and then, therefore, whatever our +sin may be, whatever our sorrows may be, whatever our station in life may +be, we have a right to offer up to God our repentance, our doubts, our +fears, our hopes, our thanksgivings, in the very words which David used +two thousand years and more ago, certain that they are the right words, +better words than we can find for ourselves, exactly fitting our own +souls, and fitting too the mind and will of Almighty God, because they +are inspired by the same Spirit of God who descended on us, when we were +baptized unto Christ's Church. + +And for that, my friends, we have an example--as we have for everything +else--in our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For He, in the hour of His +darkest agony, when He hung upon the cross for our sins, and the sin of +all mankind, and when (worse than all other agony, or shame), there came +over Him the deepest horror of all--the feeling, but for a moment, that +God had forsaken Him--even then, He who spake as never man spake, did not +disdain to use the words of David, and cry, in the opening verse of that +22d psalm, every line of which applies so strangely to Him himself, "My +God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" So did our Lord bequeath, as it +were, with His dying breath, to all Christians for ever, as the fit and +true expression of all that they should ever experience, the psalms of +His great earthly ancestor, David, the sweet singer of Israel. + +My friends, neglect not that precious bequest of your dying Lord. Read +those psalms, study them, tune your hearts and minds to them more and +more; and you will find in them an inexhaustible treasury of wisdom, and +comfort, and of the knowledge of God, wherein standeth your eternal life. + + + + +XVI. AHAB AND MICAIAH--THE CHRISTIAN DEAD ALIVE FOE EVERMORE. + + + "And the King of Israel said to Jehosaphat, There is yet one man, + Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I + hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." . . + .--1 KINGS xxii. 8. + +If you read the story of Micaiah the Prophet, and King Ahab in the 22d +chapter of the 1st Book of Kings, you will, I think, agree that Ahab +showed himself as foolish as he was wicked. He hated Micaiah for telling +him the truth. And when he heard the truth and was warned of his coming +end, he went stupidly to meet it, and died as the fool dies. Foolishness +and wickedness often go hand in hand. Certainly they did in that +miserable king's case. + +But now, my friends, while we find fault with wretched Ahab, let us take +care that we are not finding fault with ourselves also. If we do what +Ahab did, we have no right to despise him for doing what we do. With +what judgment we judge we shall be judged, and the same measure which we +measure out to Ahab, God will measure out to us. All these things are +written for our example, that we may see our faults in other men, as in a +glass, and seeing how ugly sin and folly is, and to what misery it leads, +may learn to avoid it, and look at home, and see that we are not treading +the same path. Else what use in reading these stories of good men and +bad men of old times? The very use of them is to make us remember that +they were men of like passions with ourselves, and learn from their +example; as we may do easily enough from that of Ahab. + +"There remaineth yet one prophet--but I hate him." How often have we +said that in our hearts! Do you think not? Let me show you then. + +How often when we are in trouble or anxiety do we go everywhere to get +comfort, before we go to God's word? When a young lad falls into wild +ways, and gets into trouble by his own folly, then to whom does he go for +comfort? Too often, to other wild lads like himself, or to foolish and +wicked women, who will flatter him, and try to make him easy in his sins, +and say to him as the false prophets said to Ahab, "Go on and prosper--why +be afraid? Why should you not enjoy yourself? Never mind what your +father and mother say, never mind what the parson says. You will do well +enough. All will come right somehow. Come and drink, and drive away +sorrow." + +And all the while the poor lad gets no comfort from these false friends. +He likes to listen to them, because they flatter him up in his sins; but +all the while his heart is heavy. Like Ahab, he has a secret fear that +all will _not_ come right; he feels that he will _not_ do well enough; +and he knows that there remaineth yet a prophet of the Lord, who will not +prophesy good of him but evil--and that is the Bible, and the +prayer-book, and the sermon he hears at church--and therefore he hates +them. And so, many a time he will not go to church for fear of hearing +there that he is wrong, perhaps something in the sermon, which hits him +hard, and makes him ashamed of himself, and angry with the preacher. So +for fear of hearing the truth, and having his sins set before his face, +he stays away from church, and passes his Sundays like a heathen, because +he has no mind to repent and mend, and be a good Christian. + +Foolish fellow! As if he could escape God's judgment by shutting his +ears to it. As well try to stop the thunder from rolling in the sky, by +stopping his ears to that! The thunder is there, whether he choose to +hear it or not. And whether he comes to church or not, God's law stands +sure, that the wages of sin is death. Does the man fancy that God's law +is shut up within the church walls, and that so he can keep clear of it +by staying away from church? My friends, God's law is over the whole +country, and over every cottage and field in it--about our path and about +our bed, and spying out all our ways. The darkness is no darkness to +God. God's judgments are in all the earth; and whether or not we choose +to find them out, they will find us out just the same, as they found out +Ahab, when his cup was full, and his time was come. + +How many a poor lad, too, who has got into trouble, thinks he shall +escape God's judgments by going across the sea; but he finds himself +mistaken! He finds that the wages of sin are misery and shame and ruin, +in Australia just as much as in England, and that all the gold in the +diggings cannot redeem his soul, or prevent his being an unhappy self- +condemned man if he does wrong. + +How many a poor lad, too, who has got into trouble, has fancied that he +could escape God's judgments by going for a soldier, and has found out +that he too was mistaken! Perhaps God's judgment has found him out, as +it found out Ahab, on the field of battle, and a chance shot has taught +him, as it taught Ahab, that there is no hiding-place from the Lord who +made him. Or perhaps God's judgments have come in fever, and hunger, and +cold, and weariness, and miserable lonely labour; and with that hunger of +body has come a hunger of his soul--a hunger after the bread of life, and +the word of God! Ah! how many a poor fellow in his pain and misery has +longed for the crumbs which used to fall from God's table, when he was a +boy at home! for a word of good advice, though it were never so sharp and +plain spoken--or a lesson such as he used to hear at school, or a tract, +or a bit of a book, or anybody or anything which will put his poor +wandering soul in the right way. He used to hate such things when he was +at home, because they warned him of his bad ways; but now he feels a +strange longing for that very good talk which he hated once, and so like +David of old, out of the deep he cries unto the Lord. And when that cry +comes up out of a sinful conscience-stricken, self-condemned heart, be +sure it does not come up in vain. The Lord hears it, and the Lord +answers it. Yes, I know it for certain; for many a sad and yet pleasant +story I have heard, how brave men who went out from England, full of +strength and health, and full of sin and folly too,--and there in that +blood-stained Crimea, when their strength and their health had faded, and +there was nothing round them or before them but wounds, and misery, and +death; how there at last they found Christ, or rather were found by Him, +and opened their eyes at last to see God's judgments for their sins, and +confessed their own sin and God's justice, and received His precious +promises of pardon, even in the agonies of death; and found amid the rage +and noise of war, the peace of God, which this world's pleasures never +gave them, and which this world's wounds, and fever, and battle, and +sudden death cannot take away. + +And after that, it matters little for a man what happens to him. For if +he lives, he lives unto the Lord; and if he dies, he dies unto the Lord. +He may come home, well and strong, once more to do his duty, where God +has put him, a sadder man perhaps, but at least a soberer and a wiser +man, who has learnt to endure hardship, not merely as a soldier of the +Queen, but as a good soldier of Jesus Christ too, ready to fight against +sin and wrong-doing in himself and in his neighbours. + +Or he may come home a cripple, to be honoured and to be kept too (as he +deserves to be) at his country's expense. But if he be a wise man he +will not regret even the loss of a limb. That is a cheap price to pay +for having gained what is worth all the limbs in a man's body, a clear +conscience and a right life. "If thy hand offend thee cut it off." +Better to enter into life halt and maimed, as many a gallant man has done +in war time, than having two hands and two feet to be cast out. + +Or perhaps his grave is left behind there, upon those lonely Crimean +downs, and his comrades are returning without him, and all whom he knew, +and all whom he loved, are looking for him at home. There his grave is, +and must be; and "the foe and the stranger will tread on his head, and +they far away on the billow." + +But at least he has not died like Ahab--a shameful and pitiable death. He +has done his work and conquered. He has died like a man, whom men +honour. Even so it is well. And if he have died in the Lord, a penitent +Christian man, _he_ is not dead at all. _He_ does not lie in that grave +in a foreign land. All of him that strangers' feet can tread upon is but +what we called his body; and yet which was not even his body, but the +mere husk and shell of him, the flesh and bones with which his body was +clothed in this life; while he, he himself, is nearer God than ever, and +nearer, too, than ever to his comrades who seem to have left him, and to +the parents and the friends who are weeping for him at home. Ay, nearer +to them, more able, I firmly believe, to help and comfort them, now that +he is alive for ever, in the heaven of God, than he would if he were only +alive here on the earth of God--more able perhaps to help them now by his +prayers than he ever would have been by the labour of his hands. Be that +as it may, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from +their labours, and their works do follow them. A fearful labour is the +soldier's, and an ugly work; and he has done it; and doubt not it has +followed him, and is recorded for him in the book of God for ever! + + + + +XVII. WHAT IS CHANCE? + + + "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death + passed upon all men, because all have sinned."--ROMANS v. 12. + +All death is a solemn and fearful thing. When it comes to an old person, +one cannot help feeling it often a release, and saying, "He has done his +work--he has sorrowed out his sorrows, he has struggled his last +struggle, and wept his last tear: let him go to his rest and be peaceful +at last." + +But when death comes suddenly to people in the prime of life, who but +yesterday were as busy and as lively as any of us, and we are face to +face with death, and see the same face we knew in life--not wasted, not +worn, young and lusty as ever, seemingly asleep,--something at our heart +as well as in our eyes, tells us that there is more than sleep in that +strange, sharp, quiet smile--and we know in spite of ourselves that the +man is dead. And then strange questions rise in us, "Is that he whom we +knew? that still piece of clay, waiting only a few days before it returns +to its dust? It is the face of him, the shape of him, it is what we knew +him by. It is the very same body of which when we met it on the road we +said, "He is coming." And yet is it _he_? Where is _he_ himself? Can +_he_ hear us? Can _he_ see us? Does _he_ remember us as we remember +_him_? Surely he must. He cannot be gone away--there he lies still on +that bed before us!" + +And then we are ready to say to ourselves, "It must be a mistake, a +dream. He cannot be dead. He will wake. We shall meet him to-morrow in +his old place, about his old work. _He_ dead? Impossible! Impossible +to believe that we shall never see him again--never any more till we too +die!" + +And then when such thoughts come over us, we cannot help going on to say, +"What is this death? this horrible thing which takes husbands from their +wives, and children from their parents, and those who love from those who +love them? What is it? How came this same death loose in the world? +What right has it here, under the bright sun, among the pleasant fields, +this cruel, pitiless death, destroying God's handi-work, God's likeness, +just as it is growing to its prime of beauty and usefulness?" + +And then--there--by the bedside of the young at least, we do feel that +death must be God's enemy--that it is a hateful, cruel, evil +thing--accursed in the sight of a loving, life-giving God, as much as it +is hated by poor mortal man. + +And then, we feel, there must be something wrong between man and God. Man +must be fallen and corrupt, must be out of his right place and state in +some way or other, or this horrible death would not have got power over +us! What right has death in the world, if man has not sinned or fallen? + +And then we cannot help going further and saying, "This cruel death! it +may come to me, young, strong, and healthy as I am. It may come +to-morrow; it may come this minute; it may come by a hundred diseases, by +a hundred accidents, which I cannot foresee or escape, and carry me off +to-morrow, away from all I know and all I love, and all I like to see and +to do. And where would it take me to, if it did take me? What should I +be? What should I see? What should I know, after they had put this body +of mine into that narrow house in the church-yard, and covered it out of +sight till the judgment day?" Oh, my friends, what a thought for you, +and me, and every human being! We might die to-night, even as those whom +we know of died! + +But perhaps some of you young people are saying to yourselves, "You are +trying to frighten us, but you shall not frighten us. We know very well +that it is not a common thing for a young person to die--not one in a +hundred (except in a war time) dies in the prime of his years; and +therefore the chances are that we shall not die young either. The +chances are that we shall live to be old men and women, and we are not +going to be frightened about dying forty years before our death. So in +the meanwhile we will go our own way and enjoy ourselves. It will be +time enough to think of death when death draws near." + +Well then, if you have these thoughts, I will ask you, what do you mean +by _chance_? You say, the _chances_ are against your dying young. Pray +what are these wonderful things called chances, which are to keep you +alive for thirty or forty or fifty years more? Did you ever _hear_ a +chance, or _see_ a chance? Or did you ever meet with any one who had? +Did any one ever see a great angel called Chance flying about keeping +people from dying? What is _chance_ on which you depend as you say for +your life? What is _chance_ which you fancy so much stronger than God? +For as long as the _chance_ is against your dying, you are not afraid of +neglecting God and disobeying God, and therefore you must suppose that +_chance_ is stronger than God, and quite able to keep God's anger off +from you for thirty or forty years, till you choose to repent and amend. +What sort of thing is this wonderful chance, which is going to keep you +alive? + +Perhaps you will say, "All we meant when we said that the chances were +against our dying was that God's will was against our dying." + +Did you only mean that? Then why put the thought of God away by foolish +words about chance? For you know that it is God and God only who keeps +you alive. You must look at that, you must face that. If you are alive +now, God keeps you so. If you live forty years more, God will make you +live that time. And He who can make you live, can also let you _not_ +live; and then you will die. God can withdraw the breath of life from +you or me or any one at any moment. And then where would our _chances_ +of not dying be? We should die here and now, and know that God is the +Lord and not _chance_ . . . + +But think again. If God makes you alive He must have some reason for +making you alive. For mind--it is not as you fancy, that when God leaves +you alone you live, and when He puts forth His power and visits you, you +die. _Not that_, _but the very opposite_. For in Adam all die. Our +bodies are dead by reason of sin, and in the midst of life we are in +death. There is a seed of death in you and me and every little child. +While we are eating and drinking and going about our business, fancying +that we cannot help living, we carry the seeds of disease in our own +bodies, which will surely kill us some day, even if we are not cut off +before by some sudden accident. That is true, physicians know that it is +true. Our bodies carry in them from the very cradle the seeds of death; +and therefore it is not because God leaves us alone that we live. We +live because God, our merciful heavenly Father, _does not_ leave us +alone, but keeps down those seeds of disease and death by His Spirit, who +is the Lord and Giver of Life. + +God's Spirit of Life is fighting against death in our bodies from the +moment we are born. And then, as Moses says, when He withdraws that +Spirit of His, then it is that we die and are turned again to our dust. +So that our living a long time or a short time, does not depend on +CHANCE, or on our own health or constitution, but entirely on how long +God may choose to keep down the death which is lying in us, ready to kill +us at any moment, and certain to kill us sooner or later. + +And yet people fancy that they live because they cannot help living, +unless God interferes with them and makes them die. They fancy, +thoughtless and ignorant as they are, that when they are in _health_, God +leaves them alone, and that therefore when they are in health they may +leave God alone. + +My friends, I tell you that it is God, and not our constitution or chance +either which keeps you alive; as you will surely find out the moment +after the last breath has left your body. And therefore I ask you +solemnly the plain question, "For what does God keep you alive?" _For +what_? Will a man keep plants in his garden which bear neither fruit nor +flowers? Will a man keep stock on his farm which will only eat and never +make profit; or a servant in his house who will not work? Much more, +will a man keep a servant who will not only be idle himself, but quarrel +with his fellow servants, lead them into sin and shame, and teach them to +disobey their master? What man in his senses would keep such plants, +such stock, such servants? And yet God keeps hundreds and thousands in +His garden and in His house for years and years, while they are doing no +good to Him, and doing harm to those around them. + +How many are there who never yet did one thing to make their companions +better, and yet have done many a thing to make their companions worse! +Then why are they alive still? Why does not God rid Himself of them at +once and let them die, instead of cumbering the ground? I know but one +reason. If they were only God's plants, or His stock, or His servants, +He might rid Himself of them. But they are something far nearer and +dearer to Him than that. They are His children, and therefore He has +mercy on them. They are redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, +the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world; and therefore for the +sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, God looks on them with long-suffering and +tender loving-kindness. Man was made in God's likeness at first, and was +the son of God. And therefore howsoever fallen and corrupt man's nature +is now, yet God loves him still, even though he be a heathen or an +infidel. How much more for you, my friends, who know that you are God's +children, who have been declared to be His children by Holy Baptism, and +grafted into Christ's church. You at least are bound to believe that God +preserves you from death, _because He loves you_. He protects you every +day and every hour, as a father takes care of His children, and keeps +them out of dangers which they cannot see or understand. + +Yes! this is plain truth--your heavenly Father is keeping you alive! Oh, +do not make that truth an excuse for forgetting and disobeying your +heavenly Father! + +Why does He keep you alive? Surely because He expects something of you. +And what does He expect of you? What does any good father expect of his +children? Why does he help and protect them? Not from mere brute +instinct, as beasts take care of their young when they are little, and +then as soon as they are grown up cast them off and forget them. No. He +takes care of his children because he wishes them to grow up like +himself, to be a comfort and a help and a pride to him. + +And God takes care of _you_ and keeps you from death, for the very same +reason. God desires that you should grow up like Himself, godly and +pure, leading lives like His Son Jesus Christ. God desires that you +should grow up to the stature of perfect men and women, which is the +likeness of Jesus Christ your Lord. + +But if you turn God's grace in keeping you alive into a cloak for +licentiousness and an excuse for sinning--if, when God keeps you alive +that you may lead _good_ lives, you take advantage of His fatherly love +to lead _bad_ lives--if you go on returning God evil for good, and +ungratefully and basely presume on His patience and love to do the things +which He hates, what must you expect? God loves you, and you make that +an excuse for not loving Him; God does everything for you, and you make +that an excuse for doing nothing for God; God gives you health and +strength, and you make that an excuse for using your health and strength +just in the way He has forbidden. What can be more ungrateful? What can +be more foolish? Oh, my friends, if one of our children behaved to us in +return for our care and love a hundredth part as shamefully as most of us +behave to God our Father, what should we think of them? What should we +say of them? + +Oh, beware, beware! God is a righteous God, strong and patient, and God +is provoked every day, and bears it according to His boundless love and +patience. But "if a man _will not_ turn," says the same text, "He will +whet His sword." And then--woe to the careless and ungrateful sinner. +God will cut him down and bring him low. God will take from him his +health, or his money, or his blind peace of mind; and by affliction after +affliction, and shame after shame, and disappointment after +disappointment, teach him that his youth, and his health, and his money, +and all that he has, are his Father's gifts and not his own property--and +that His Father will take them away from him, till he feels his own +weakness, till he sees that he is really not his own but God's property, +body and soul, and goes back to his heavenly Father and cries, "Father, I +have sinned against heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be +called Thy son. I have taken Thy gifts and gone away with them from Thy +house unto the far country of sin, and wasted them in riotous living, +till I have had to fill my belly with the husks which the swine did eat. +I have had no profit out of all my sins, of which I am now ashamed. I +have robbed Thee and abused Thy gifts and Thy love. Father, take me +back, for I have sinned, and am not worthy to be called Thy child." + + + + +XVIII. EARTHLY AND HEAVENLY WISDOM; OR, STOOP TO CONQUER. + + + "The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he + established the heavens."--PROV. iii. 19. + +Did it ever strike you as a very remarkable and important thing, that +after saying in Proverbs iii. that Wisdom is this precious treasure, and +bidding his son seek for her because (verse 16) "Length of days is in her +right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour: Her ways are ways of +pleasantness, and all her paths are peace,"--Solomon goes on immediately +to say (verses 19, 20), "The Lord by Wisdom hath founded the earth, and +established the heavens?" + +By Wisdom: by the very same Wisdom, Solomon says, which is to give men +length of days, and riches, and honour. Is not this curious at least? +That there is but one wisdom for God and man? That man's true wisdom is +a pattern of God's wisdom? That a man to prosper in the world must get +the very same wisdom by which God made and rules the world? Curious. But +most blessed news, my friends, if we will think over what it means. I +will try to explain it to you: first, as to this world which we see; +next, as to the heavenly world of spirits which we do not see. + +You have, many of you, heard the word "Science." Many of you of course +know what it means. That it means wisdom and learning about this earth +and all things in it. Many more of you of course know that in the last +hundred years science has improved in a most wonderful way, and is +improving every day; that we have now gas-lights, steam-engines, cotton- +mills, railroads, electric telegraphs, iron ships, and a hundred curious +and useful machines and manufactures of which our great-grandfathers +never dreamed; that our knowledge of different countries, of medicines, +of the laws of health and disease, and of all in short which has to do +with man's bodily life, is increasing day by day; and that all these +discoveries are very great blessings; they give employment and food to +millions who would otherwise have had nothing to do; they bring vast +wealth into this country, and all the countries which trade with us. They +enable this land of England to support four times as many human beings as +it did two hundred years ago; they make many of the necessaries of life +cheaper, so that in many cases a poor man may now have comforts which his +grandfather never heard of. + +I know that there is a dark side to this picture; that with all this +increase of wisdom, there has come conceit, and trust in deceitful +riches, and want of trust in God, and obedience to His law. I know that +in some things we are not better, but worse than our forefathers; God +forgive us for it! But the good came from God; and that man is very +unwise and unthankful too, who despises God's great gift of science, +because fallen man has defiled His gift as it passed through his unclean +hands. + +Look only at this one thing, as I said just now, that by all these +wonderful discoveries and improvements, England is able to support four +times as many Englishmen as it used of old, and that, if we feared God, +and sought His kingdom better, I believe, England would support many more +people yet--and see if _that_ be not a thing to thank Almighty God for +every day of our lives. + +Now how did this wonderful change and improvement take place--suddenly, +and, as it were, in the course of the last hundred years? Simply by +mankind understanding the text (Prov. iii. 19), and by obeying it. I +tell you a real truth, my friends, and it happened thus. + +For more than sixteen hundred years after our Lord's time, mankind seem +to have become hardly any wiser about earthly things, nay, even to have +gone back. The land was no better tilled; goods were no more easily +made; diseases were no better cured, than they had been sixteen hundred +years before. And if any learned men longed to become very wise and +cunning, and to get power over this world and the things in it, they flew +off to witchcraft, charms, and magic, deceived by the devil's old lie, +that the kingdom and the power and the glory of this world belonged to +him and not to God. + +But about two hundred and fifty years ago, it pleased God to open the +eyes of one of the wisest men who ever lived, who was called Francis +Bacon, Lord Verulam, Lord Chancellor of England, and to show him the real +and right way of learning by which men can fulfil God's command to +replenish the earth and subdue it. And Francis Bacon told all the +learned men boldly that they had all been wrong together, and that their +wisdom was no better than a sort of madness, as it is written, "The +wisdom of man is foolishness with God;" that the only way for man to be +wise was to get God's wisdom, the wisdom with which He had founded the +earth, and find out God's laws by which He had made this world. + +"And then," he said, "if you can do that, you will be able to imitate God +in your own small way. If you learn the laws by which God made all +things, you will be able to invent new things for yourselves. _For you +can only subdue nature by obeying her_." That was one of his greatest +sayings, and by it he meant, that you can only subdue a thing and make it +useful to you, by finding out the rules by which God made that thing, and +by obeying them. + +For instance, you cannot subdue and till a barren field, and make it +useful, without knowing and obeying the laws and rules of that soil; and +then you can subdue and conquer that field, and change and train it, as I +may say, to grow what you like. You cannot conquer diseases without +knowing and obeying the laws by which God has made man's body, and the +laws by which fever and cholera and other plagues come. + +Let me give you another instance. You all have seen lightning +conductors, which prevent tall chimneys and steeples from being struck by +storms, so that the lightning runs harmless downward. Now we can all see +how this is conquering the force of lightning in a wonderful and +beautiful way. But before you can conquer the lightning by a conductor, +you must obey the lightning and its laws most carefully. If you make the +conductor out of your own head and fancy, it will be of no use. You must +observe and follow humbly the laws which God has given to the lightning. +You must make the conductor of metal wire, or it will be useless. You +must make it run through glazed rings, or it will be only more dangerous +than no conductor at all; for God who made the lightning chose that it +should be so, and you must _obey_ if you wish to _conquer_. + +Man could not conquer steam, and make it drive his engines and carry his +ships across the seas, till he found out and obeyed the laws which God +had given to steam; and so without breaking the laws, man turned them to +his own use, and set the force of steam to turn his machines, instead of +rushing idly out into the empty air. + +So it is with all things, whether in heaven or earth. If you want to +rule, you must obey. If you want to rise to be a master, you must stoop +to be a servant. If you want to be master of anything in earth or +heaven, you must, as that great Lord Verulam used to say, obey God's will +revealed in that thing; and the man who will go his own way, and follow +his own fancy, will understand nothing, and master nothing, and get +comfort out of nothing in earth or heaven. + +Well--when Lord Verulam told men his new wisdom, they laughed and +scoffed, as fools always will at anything new. But one by one, wise men +tried his plan, and found him right, and went on; and from that time +those who followed Lord Verulam began discovering wonders of which they +had never dreamed, and those who did not, but kept to the old way of +witchcraft and magic, found out nothing, and made themselves a laughing +stock. And after a while witchcraft vanished out of all civilised +countries, and in its place came all the wonderful comforts and +discoveries which we have now, and which under God, we owe to the wisdom +of the great Lord Verulam. Cotton mills, steam engines, railroads, +electric telegraphs, sanitary reforms, cheap books, penny postage, good +medicine and surgery, and a thousand blessings more. That great Lord +Chancellor has been the father of them all. + +And a noble thought it is for us Church people, and a glorious testimony +to the good training which the Church of England gives, that the three +men, who more than any others laid the foundation of all our wonderful +discoveries, I mean Lord Verulam, Mr. Boyle, and Sir Isaac Newton, were +all of them heart and soul members of the Church of England. + +I said just now that the man who will not obey, will never rule; that the +man who will not stoop to be a servant, will never rise to be a master; +that the man who neglects God's will and mind about things, and will +follow his own will and fancy, will understand nothing, and master +nothing, and get comfort out of nothing, either in earth or heaven. + +Either in earth or heaven, I say. For the same rule which holds good in +this earthly world, which we do see, holds good in the heavenly world +which we do not see. Solomon does not part the two worlds, and I cannot. +Solomon says the same rules which hold good about men's bodies, hold good +about their souls. The great Lord Verulam used always to say the same, +and we must believe the same. For see, Solomon says, that this same +wisdom by which God made the worlds, will help our souls as well as our +bodies; that it is not merely the earthly wisdom which brings a man +length of life and riches, but heavenly wisdom, which is a tree of life +to every one who lays hold of her (Prov. iii. 18). The heavenly wisdom +which begins in trusting in the Lord with all our heart, the heavenly +wisdom which is learnt by chastenings and afflictions, and teaches us +that we are the sons of God, is the very same wisdom by which God founded +the earth, and makes the clouds drop down dew! Strange at first sight; +but not strange if we remember the Athanasian creed, and believe that God +is one God, who has no parts or passions, and therefore cannot change or +be divided. + +Yes, my friends, God's wisdom is one--unchangeable, everlasting, and +always like itself; and by the same wisdom by which He made the earth and +the heavens, by the same wisdom by which He made our bodies, has He made +our souls; and therefore we can, and are bound to, glorify Him alike in +our bodies and our spirits, for both are His. + +It may not seem easy to understand this; but I will explain what I mean +by an example. I just told you, that in earthly matters we must stoop to +conquer; we must obey the laws which God has given to anything, before we +can master and use that thing. And in matters about our own soul--about +our behaviour to God--about our behaviour to our fellow-men, believe me +there is no rule like the golden one of Lord Verulam's--stoop to +conquer--obey if you wish to rule. For see now. What is there more +common than this? It happens to each of us every day. We meet a fellow- +man our equal, neither better nor worse than ourselves, and we want to +make him do something. Now there are two ways in which we may set about +that. We may drive our man, or we may lead him. You know well enough +which of those two ways is likely to succeed best. If you try to drive +the man, you say to yourself, "I know I am right. I see the thing in +this light, and he is a fool if he does not see it in the same light. I +choose to have the thing done, and done it shall be, and if he is stupid +enough not to take my view of it, I will let him know who I am, and we +will see which of us is the stronger!" So says many a man in his heart. +But what comes of it? Nothing. For the other man gets angry, and +determines to have his way in his turn. There is a quarrel and a great +deal of noise; and most probably the thing is not done. Instead of the +man getting what he wants, he has a fresh quarrel on his hands, and +nothing more. So his blustering is no sign that he is really strong. For +the strong man is the man who _can_ get what he wants done. Is he not? +Surely we shall all agree to that. And the proud, hot, positive, +dictatorial, self-willed man is just the man, in a free country like +this, who does _not_ get what he wants done. He will not stoop--therefore +he will not conquer. + +But suppose we take another plan. Suppose instead of trying to drive, we +try to lead. Suppose if we want a man to do anything, we begin by +obeying him, and serving him, that we may afterwards lead him, and +afterwards make use of him. There is a base, mean way of doing that, by +flattering, and fawning, and cringing, which are certainly the devil's +works. For the devil can put on the form of an angel of light; but we +need not do that. We may serve and obey a man honestly and honourably, +in order to get him to do what he ought to do. I will tell you what I +mean. + +Suppose when we have dealings with any man, we begin with him, as I was +saying we ought to begin with earthly things--with a field for +instance--we should say, before I begin to make this field bear the crop +I want I must look it through and understand it. I must see what state +it is in--what its soil is--what has been taken off it already--what the +weather is--what state of drainage it is in, and so forth; and I must +obey the rules of all these things, or my crop will come to nothing. So +with this man. First of all, before I get anything out of the man, I +must understand the man. I must find out what sort of temper and +character he has, what his opinions are, how he has been brought up, how +he has been accustomed to look at things--so as to be able to make +allowance for all, else I shall never be able to understand how he looks +at this one matter, or to make him understand _my_ way of looking at it. +And to do that--to understand the man, or make him understand me, I must +begin by making a _friend_ of him. + +There, my friends--there is one of the blessed laws of the kingdom of +Heaven, that in a free country (as this, thank God, is) the only sure way +to get power and influence over people, is by making _friends_ of them, +by behaving like Christians to them, making them trust you and love you, +by pleasing them, giving way to them, making yourself of service to them, +doing what they like whenever you can, in order that they may do to you, +as you have done to them, and measure back to you (as the Lord Jesus +promises they will), with the same measure with which you have measured +to them. In short, serving men, that you may rule them, and stooping +before them that you may conquer them. + +And if any of you are too proud to try this plan, and think it fairer to +drive men than to lead them, I can tell you of two persons who were not +as proud as you are, and were not ashamed to do what you are ashamed to +do--and yet they are two persons, before the least of whom you would hang +your head, and feel, as I am sure I should, a very small, and mean, and +pitiful person if I met them in the road. + +For the first, and by far the least of the two, is St. Paul. Now St. +Paul says this was the very plan by which he got influence over men, and +persuaded and converted them, and brought them home to God, by being +himself a servant to all men, and pleasing all men, being a Jew to the +Jews, and a Greek to the Greeks, and all things to all men, if by any +means he might save some. Giving up, giving way, taking trouble, putting +himself out of the way, as we say here, all day long, to win people to +love him, and trust him, and see that he really cared for them, and +therefore to be ready to listen to him. From what one can see of St. +Paul's manners, from his own Epistles, he must have been the most perfect +gentleman; a gentle man, civil, obliging, delicate minded, careful to +hurt no one's feelings; and when he had (as he had often) to say rough +things and deal with rough men, doing it as tenderly and carefully as he +could, like his Master the Lord Jesus Christ, lest he should break the +bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax. Which of us can read the +Epistle to Philemon (which to my mind is the most civil, pleasant, +kindly, gentlemanlike speech which I know on earth), without saying to +ourselves, "Ah, if we had but St. Paul's manners, St. Paul's temper, St. +Paul's way of managing people, how few quarrels there would be in this +noisy troublesome world." + +But I said that there was one greater than St. Paul who was not ashamed +to behave in the very same way, stooping to all, conciliating all. And +so there is--One whose shoes St. Paul was not worthy to stoop down and +unloose--and that is, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself--who ate and drank +with publicans and sinners, who went out into the highways and hedges, to +bring home into God's kingdom poor wretches whom men despised and cast +off. It was He who taught St. Paul to behave in the same way. May He +teach us to behave in the same way also! St. Paul learnt to discern +men's spirits, and feel for them, and understand them, and help them, and +comfort them, and at last to turn and change them whichever way he chose, +simply because he was full of the Spirit of Christ, who is the Spirit of +God, proceeding both from the Father and the Son. + +For St. Paul says positively, that his reason for not pleasing himself, +but taking so much trouble to please other people, was because Christ +also pleased not Himself. "We that are strong," he says, "ought to bear +the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every man +please his neighbour for his good unto edification, for even Christ +pleased not Himself," (Rom. xv. 1-3.) And again, "We have a High Priest +who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," (Heb. iv. 15). +So it was by stooping to men, that Christ learned to understand men, and +by understanding men He was able to save men. And again, St. Paul says, +"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the +form of God, and equal with God," yet--"made Himself of no reputation, +but took upon Him the form of a slave, and was made in the likeness of +man, and being found in fashion as a man, _humbled Himself_, and became +_obedient unto death_, even the death of the cross," (Phil. ii. 5, 9, +10). + +There, my friends--there was the perfect fulfilment of the great +law--_Stoop to conquer_. There was the reward of Christ's not pleasing +Himself. Christ stooped lower than any man, and therefore He rose again +higher than all men. He did more to please men than any man; and +therefore God was better pleased with Him than with all men, and a voice +came from Heaven, saying--This Person who stoops to the lowest depths +that He may understand and help those who were in the lowest deep--this +outcast who has not where to lay His head, slandered, blasphemed, spit +on, scourged, crucified, because He will help all, and feel for all, and +preach to all; "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," +(Matt. iii. 17). "The brightness of my glory,--the express image of my +person," (Heb. i. 3). + +My friends, this may seem to you a strange sermon, which began by talking +of railroads and steamships, and ends by talking of the death and the +glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; and you may ask what has the end of it to +do with the beginning? + +If you want to know, recollect that I began by saying that there was but +_One_ wisdom for earth or heaven, for man and for God; and that is the +wisdom which lies in _stooping to conquer_, as the Lord Jesus Christ did. +Think over that, and behave accordingly; and be sure, meanwhile, that +whenever you feel proud, and self-willed, and dictatorial, and inclined +to drive men instead of leading them, and to quarrel with them, instead +of trying to understand them and love them, and bring them round gently, +by appealing to their reason and good feeling, not to their fear of +you--then you are going not God's way, no, nor man's way either, but the +devil's way. You are going, not the way by which the Lord Jesus Christ +rose _to_ Heaven, but the way by which the devil fell _from_ Heaven, as +all self-willed proud men will fall. Proud and self-willed men will not +get done the things they want to be done; while the meek, those who are +gentle, and tender, and try to draw men as God does with the cords of _a +man_ and the bands of _love_, will prosper in this world and in the next; +they will see their heart's desire; they will inherit the land, and be +refreshed in the multitude of peace. + + + + +XIX. IT IS GOOD FOR THE YOUNG TO REJOICE. + + + "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in + the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the + sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will + bring thee into judgment."--ECCLESIASTES xi. 9. + +Some people fancy that in this text God forbids young people to enjoy +themselves. They think that the words are spoken ironically, and with a +sneer, as if to say, + +"Yes. Enjoy yourself if you will. Go your own way if you wish. Make a +fool of yourself if you are determined to do so. You will repent it at +last. You will be caught at last, and punished at last." + +Now, I cannot think that there would be in Scripture or in any word of +God a sneer so cruel and so unjust as that. For surely it would be +unjust of God, if after giving young people the power to be happy, He +then punished them for being happy, for using the very powers which He +had given them, obeying the very feelings which He had implanted in them, +enjoying the very pleasures which He had put in their way. God cannot be +a tempter, my friends. He does not surely send us into a world full of +traps and snares, and then punish us for being caught in the very snares +which He had set. God forbid. Let us never fancy such things of God the +heavenly Father, from whom comes every good and perfect gift. Let us +leave such fancies for soured and hard-hearted persons, who make a god in +their own likeness--a god of darkness and not of light--a grudger and not +a giver. And let us take this text literally and plainly as it stands, +and see whether we cannot learn from it a really wholesome lesson. + +"Rejoice! oh, young man, in thy youth." + +The Bible tells you to rejoice, therefore do so without fear. God has +given you health, strength, spirits, hope, the power of enjoyment. And +why, save but that you may enjoy them, and rejoice in your youth? He has +given you _more_ health, _more_ strength, more _spirits_, than you need +to earn your daily bread, or to learn your daily task. And why? To +enable you to _grow_ in body and in soul. And that you will only do if +you are happy. The human soul, says a wise man, is like a plant, and +requires _sunshine_ to make it grow and ripen. And the heavenly Father +has given you sunshine in your hearts that you may grow into hearty, +healthy-minded men. If young people have not sunshine enough, if they +are kept down and crushed in youth by sorrow, by anxiety, by fear, by +over-hard work, by too much study, by strict and cruel masters, by dark +and superstitious notions about God's anger, by over-scrupulousness about +this and that thing being sinful, then their souls and minds do not grow; +they become more or less stunted, unhealthy, unhappy, slavish, and mean +people in after-life, because they have not rejoiced in their youth as +God intended them to do. + +Remember this, you parents, and be sure that all harshness and cruelty to +your children, all terrifying of them, all over-working of them, body or +mind, all making them unhappy by requiring of them more than the plain +law of God requires; or by teaching them to dread, not to love, their +Father in heaven--All these will stunt and hurt their characters in after- +life; and all are, therefore, sins against their heavenly Father, who +willeth not that one little one should perish, and who will require a +strict account of each of us how we have brought up the children whom He +has committed to our charge. Let their hearts cheer them in the days of +their youth. They will have trouble enough, anxiety enough hereafter. Do +not you forestall the evil days for them. The more cheerful their growth +is the more heart and spirit they will have to face the trials and +sorrows of life when they come. + +But further, the text says to the young man, Walk in the ways of thy +heart. That is God's permission to free men, in a free country. You are +not slaves either to man or to God; and God does not treat you as slaves, +but as children whom He can trust. He says, Walk in the ways of thine +own heart. Do what you will, provided it be not wrong. Choose your own +path in life. Exert yourselves boldly to better yourselves in any path +you choose, which is not a path of dishonesty and sin. + +Again, says the text, Walk in the sight of thine eyes. As your bodies +are free, let your minds be free likewise. See for yourselves, judge for +yourselves. God has given you eyes, brains, understanding; use them. Get +knowledge for yourselves, get experience for yourselves. Educate and +cultivate your own minds. Live, as far as you can, a free, reasonable, +cheerful, happy life, enjoying this world, if you feel able to enjoy it. +But know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into +judgment. + +Ah! say some, there is the sting. How can we enjoy ourselves if we are +to be brought into judgment after all? + +My friends, before I answer that question, let me ask one. Do you look +on God as a taskmaster, requiring of you, as the Egyptians did of the +Jews, to make bricks all day without straw, and noting down secretly +every moment that you take your eyes off your work, that He may punish +you for it years hence when you have forgotten it--extreme to mark what +is done amiss? + +Or do you look on God as a Father who rejoices in the happiness of His +children?--Who sets them no work to do but what is good for them, and +requires them to do nothing without giving them first the power and the +means to do it?--A Father who knows our necessities before we ask for +help and a Saviour who is able and willing to give us help? If you think +of God in that former way as a stern taskmaster, I can tell you nothing +about Him. I know Him not; I find Him neither in the Bible, in the +world, nor in my own conscience and reason. He is not the God of the +Bible, the God of the Gospel whom I am commanded to preach to you. + +But if you think of God as a Father, as your Father in heaven, who +chastens you in His love that you may partake of His holiness, and of His +Son Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your Lord, who loves you, and desires +your salvation, body and soul--of Him I can speak; for He is the True and +only God, revealed by His Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and in His light I +can tell you to rejoice and take comfort, ever though He brings you into +judgment; for being your Father in heaven, He can mean nothing but your +good, and He would not bring you into judgment if that too was not good +for you. + +Now, you must remember that the judgment of which Solomon speaks here is +a judgment in _this_ life. The whole Book of Ecclesiastes, from which +the text is taken, is about _this_ life. Solomon says so specially, and +carefully. He is giving here advice to his son; and his doctrine all +through is, that a man's happiness or misery in _this_ life, his good or +bad fortune in _this_ life, depend almost entirely on his own conduct; +and, above all, on his conduct in youth. As a man sows he shall reap, is +his doctrine. + +Therefore, he says, in this very chapter, Do what if right, just because +it is right. It is sure to pay you in the long run, somehow, somewhere, +somewhen. Cast thy bread on the waters--that is, do a generous thing +whenever you have an opportunity--and thou shalt find it after many days. +Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest not what +evil shall be on the earth. Every action of yours will bear fruit. Every +thing you do, and every word you say, will God bring into judgment, +sooner or later. It will rise up against you, years afterwards, to +punish you, or it will rise up for you, years afterwards, to reward you. +It must be so, says Solomon; that is the necessary, eternal, moral law of +God's world. As you do, so will you be rewarded. If the clouds be full +of rain, they must empty themselves on the earth. Where the tree falls, +there it will lie. As we say in England, as you make your bed, so you +will lie on it. That does not (as people are too apt to think) speak of +what is to happen to us after we die. It speaks expressly and only of +what will happen before we die. It is the same as our English proverb. + +Therefore, he says, do not look too far forward. Do not be +double-minded, doing things with a mean and interested after-thought, +plotting, planning, asking, will this right thing pay me or not? He that +observeth the wind, and is too curious and anxious about the weather, +will not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. No; just +do the right thing which lies nearest you, and trust to God to prosper +it. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine +hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, this or that, or whether +they shall both be alike good. Thou knowest not, he says, the works of +God, who maketh all. All thou knowest is, that the one only chance of +success in life is to fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the +whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with +every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. + +Whether it be good, or whether it be evil. + +He does not say only that God will bring your evil deeds into judgment. +But that He will bring your good ones also, and your happiness and good +fortune in this life will be, on the whole, made up of the sum-total of +the good and harm you have done, of the wisdom or the folly which you +have thought and carried out. It _is_ so. You know it is so. When you +look round on other men, you see that on the whole men prosper very much +as they deserve. There are exceptions, I know. Solomon knew that well. +Such strange and frightful exceptions, that one must believe that those +who have been so much wronged in this life will be righted in the life to +come. Children suffer for the sins of their parents. Innocent people +suffer with the guilty. But these are the exceptions, not the rule. And +these exceptions are much more rare than we choose to confess. When a +man complains to you that he has been unfortunate, that the world has +been unjust to him, that he has not had fair play in life, and so forth, +in three cases out of four you will find that it is more or less the +man's own fault; that he has _deserved_ his losses, that is, earned them +for himself. I do not mean that the man need have been a wicked man--not +in the least. But he has been imprudent, perhaps weak, hasty, stupid, or +something else; and his faults, perhaps some one fault, has hampered him, +thrown him back, and God has brought him to judgment for it, and made it +punish him. And why? Surely that he may see his fault and repent of it, +and mend it for the time to come. + +I say, God may bring a man's fault into judgment, and let it punish him, +without the man being a bad man. And you, young people, will find in +after-life that you will have earned, deserved, merited, and worked out +for yourselves a great deal of your own happiness and misery. + +I know this seems a hard doctrine. People are always ready to lay their +misfortunes on God, on the world, on any and every one, rather than on +themselves. + +A bad education, for instance--a weakly constitution which some bring +into the world, with or without any fault of their own, are terrible +drawbacks and sore afflictions. The death of those near and dear to us, +of which we cannot always say, I have earned this, I have brought it on +myself. It is the Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good. + +But because misfortunes may come upon us without our own fault, that is +no reason why we should not provide against the misfortunes which will be +our own fault. Nay, is it not all the stronger reason for providing +against them, that there are other sorrows against which we cannot +provide? Alas! is there not misery horrible enough hanging over our +heads daily in this mortal life without our making more for ourselves by +our own folly? We shall have grief enough before we die without adding +to that grief the far bitterer torment of remorse! + +Oh, young people, young people, listen to what I say! You can be, you +will be, you must be, the builders of your own good or bad fortunes. On +_you_ it depends whether your lives shall be honourable and happy, or +dishonourable and sad. There is no such thing as luck or fortune in this +world. What is called Fortune is nothing else than the orderly and +loving providence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who orders all things in +heaven and earth, and who will, sooner or later, reward every man +according to his works. Just in proportion as you do the will of your +Father in heaven, just so far will doing His will bring its own blessing +and its own reward. + +Instead of hoping for good fortune which may never come, or fearing bad +fortune which may never come either, pray, each of you, for the Holy +Spirit of God, the Spirit of right-doing, which _is_ good fortune in +itself; good fortune in this world; and in the world to come, everlasting +life. Fear God and keep His commandments, and all will be well. For who +is the man who is master of his own luck? The Psalmist tells us, in +Psalm xv., "He that leadeth an uncorrupt life, and doeth the thing which +is right, and speaketh the truth from his heart." "He that backbiteth +not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a +reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is +contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord: he that sweareth to +his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to +usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent." + +Whoso doeth these things shall _never fall_. And as long as you are +doing those things, you may rejoice freely and heartily in your youth, +believing that the smile of God, who gave you the power of being happy, +is on your happiness; and that your heavenly Father no more grudges +harmless pleasure to you, than He grudges it to the gnat which dances in +the sunbeam, or the bird which sings upon the bough. For He is The +Father,--and what greater delight to a father than to see his children +happy, if only, while they are happy, they are _good_? + + + + +XX. GOD'S BEAUTIFUL WORLD.--A SPRING SERMON. + + + "Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great: thou + art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light + as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: who + layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds + his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind."--Ps. civ. 1-3. + +At this delicious season of the year, when spring time is fast ripening +into summer, and every hedge, and field, and garden is full of life and +growth, full of beauty and fruitfulness; and we look back on the long +winter, and the boughs which stood bare so drearily for six months, as if +in a dream; the blessed spring with its green leaves, and gay flowers, +and bright suns has put the winter's frosts out of our thoughts, and we +seem to take instinctively to the warmth, as if it were our natural +element--as if we were intended, like the bees and butterflies, to live +and work only in the summer days, and not to pass, as we do in this +climate, one-third of the year, one-third of our whole lives, in mist, +cold, and gloom. Now, there is a meaning in all this--in our love of +bright, warm weather, a very deep and blessed meaning in it. It is a +sign to us where we come from--where God would have us go. A sign that +we came from God's heaven of light and beauty, that God's heaven of light +and beauty is meant for us hereafter. That love which we have for +spring, is a sign, that we are children of the everlasting Spring, +children of the light and of the day, in body and in soul; if we would +but claim our birthright! + +For you must remember that mankind came from a warm country--a country +all of sunshine and joy. Adam in the garden of Eden was in no cold or +severe climate, he had no need of clothes, not even of the trouble of +tilling the ground. The bountiful earth gave him all he wanted. The +trees over his head stretched out the luscious fruits to him--the shady +glades were his only house, the mossy banks his only bed. He was bred up +the child of sunshine and joy. But he was not meant to stay there. God +who brings good out of evil, gave man a real blessing when He drove him +out of the garden of Eden. Men were meant to fill the earth and to +conquer it, as they are doing at this day. They were meant to become +hardy and industrious--to be forced to use their hands and their heads to +the utmost stretch, to call out into practice all the powers which lay +ready in them. They were meant, in short, according to the great law of +God's world, to be made perfect through sufferings, and therefore it was +God's kindness, and not cruelty, to our forefathers, when He sent them +out into the world; and that He did not send them into any exceedingly +hot country, where they would have become utterly lazy and profligate, +like the negroes and the South Sea islanders, who have no need to work, +because the perpetual summer gives them their bread ready-made to their +hands. And it was a kindness, too, that God did not send our forefathers +out into any exceedingly cold country, like the Greenlanders and the +Esquimaux, where the perpetual winter would have made them greedy, and +stunted, and stupid; but that He sent us into this temperate climate, +where there is a continual change and variety of seasons. Here first, +stern and wholesome winter, then bright, cheerful summer, each bringing a +message and a lesson from our loving Father in heaven. First comes +winter, to make us hardy and daring, and industrious, and strips the +trees, and bares the fields, and takes away all food from the earth, and +cries to us with the voice of its storms, "He that will _not work_, +neither shall he eat." "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, +and be wise: who layeth up her meat in the summer, and provideth her food +against the time of frosts." And then comes summer, with her flowers and +her fruits, and brings us her message from God, and says to us poor, +slaving, hard-worn children of men, "You are not meant to freeze, and +toil, and ache for ever. God loves to see you happy; God is willing to +feed your eyes with fair sights, your bodies with pleasant food, to cheer +your hearts with warmth and sunshine as much as is good for you. He does +not grieve willingly, nor afflict the children of men. See the very bees +and gnats, how they dance and bask in the sunbeams! See the very +sparrows, how they choose their mates and build their nests, and enjoy +themselves as if they were children of the spring! And are not ye of +more value than many sparrows? you who can understand and enjoy the +spring, you men and women who can understand and enjoy God's fair earth +ten thousand times more than those dumb creatures can. It is for _you_ +God has made the spring. It is for _your_ sakes that Christ, the ruler +of the earth, sends light and fruitfulness, and beauty over the world +year by year. And why? Not merely to warm and feed your bodies, but to +stir up your hearts with grateful love to Him, the Blessed One, and to +teach you what you are to expect from Him hereafter." + +Ay, my friends, this is the message the spring and summer bring with +them--they are signs and sacraments from God, earnests of the everlasting +spring--the world of unfading beauty and perpetual happiness which is the +proper home of man, which God has prepared for those that love Him--the +world wherein there shall be no more curse, neither sorrow nor sighing, +but the Lord God and the Lamb shall be the light thereof; and the rivers +of that world shall be waters of life, and the trees of that world shall +be for the healing of the nations; and the children of the Lord God shall +see Him face to face, and be kings and priests to Him for ever and ever. +Therefore, I say, rejoice in spring time, and in the sights, and sounds, +and scents which spring time, as a rule, brings; and remember, once for +all, never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Beauty is +God's hand-writing--God's image. It is a wayside sacrament, a cup of +blessing; welcome it in every fair landscape, every fair face, every fair +flower, and drink it in with all your eyes, and thank Christ for it, who +is Himself the well-spring of all beauty, who giveth all things richly to +enjoy. + +I think, this 104th Psalm is a fit and proper psalm to preach on in this +sweet spring time; for it speaks, from beginning to end, of God's earth, +and of His glory, and love, and wisdom which shines forth on this earth. +And though, at first sight, it may not seem to have much to do with +Christianity, and with the great mystery of our redemption, yet, I +believe and know that it has at bottom all and everything to do with it; +that this 104th Psalm is as full of comfort and instruction for Christian +men as any other Psalm in the whole Bible. I believe that without +feeling rightly and healthily about this Psalm, we shall not feel rightly +or healthily about any other part of the Bible, either Old or New +Testament. At all events God's inspired psalmist was not ashamed to +write this psalm. God's Spirit thought it worth while to teach him to +write this psalm. God's providence thought it worth while to preserve +this psalm for us in His holy Bible, and therefore I think it must be +worth while for _us_ to understand this psalm, unless we pretend to be +wiser than God. I have no fancy for picking and choosing out of the holy +Bible; _all_ Scripture is given by inspiration of God--all Scripture is +profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in +righteousness, and therefore this 104th Psalm is profitable as well as +the rest; and especially profitable to be explained in a few sermons as I +said before, at _this_ season when, if we have any eyes to see with, or +hearts to feel with, we ought to be wondering at and admiring God's +glorious earth, and saying, with the old prophet in my text, "Praise the +Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed +with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a +garment: who stretchest out the heavens as with a curtain: who layeth the +beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: +who walketh upon the wings of the wind . . . O Lord, how manifold are thy +works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy +riches" (Ps. civ. 1, 2, 3, 24). + +First, then, consider those wonderful words of the text, how God covers +Himself with light as it were with a garment. Truly there is something +most divine in light; it seems an especial pattern and likeness of God. +The Bible uses it so continually. Light is a pattern of God's wisdom; +for light sees into everything, searches through everything, and light is +a pattern of God's revelation, for light shows us everything; without +light our eyes would be useless--and so without God our soul's eyes would +be useless. It is God who teaches us all we know. It is God who makes +us understand all we understand. He opens the meaning of everything to +us, just as the light shews everything to us; and as in the sunlight only +we see the brightness and beauty of the earth, so it is written, "In thy +light, O God, we shall see light." Thus light is God's garment. It +shows Him to us, and yet it hides Him from us. Who could dare or bear to +look on God if we saw Him as He is face to face? Our souls would be +dazzled blind, as our eyes are by the sun at noonday. But now, light is +a pattern to us of God's glory; and therefore it is written, that light +_is_ God's garment, that God dwells in the light which no man can +approach unto. As a wise old heathen nobly said, "Light is the shadow of +God;" and so, as the text says, He stretches out those glorious blue +heavens above us as a curtain and shield, to hide our eyes from His +unutterable splendour, and yet to lift our souls up to Him. The vastness +and the beauty of those heavens, with all their countless stars, each one +a sun or a world in itself, should teach us how small we are, how great +is our Father who made all these. + +When we see a curtain, and know that it bides something beautiful behind +it, our curiosity and wonder is awakened, and we long all the more to see +what is behind that curtain. So the glory of those skies ought to make +us wonder and long all the more to see the God who made the skies. + +But again, the Psalmist says that God lays the beams of His chambers in +the waters, and makes the clouds His chariot, and walks upon the wings of +the wind! that He makes His angels the storms, and His ministers a +flaming fire. You must not suppose that the psalmist had such a poor +notion of the great infinite God, as to fancy that He could be in any one +_place_. God wants no chambers--even though they were built of the +clouds, arched with rainbows, as wide as the whole vault of heaven. He +wants no wind to carry Him--He carries all things and moves all things. +In Him they live, and move, and have their being. Yet Him--the heaven, +and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him! He is everywhere and no +_where_--for He is a Spirit; He is in all things, and yet He is no +_thing_--for He was before all things, and in Him all things consist. He +is the Absolute, the Uncreated, the Infinite, the One and the All. And +the old Psalmist knew that as well as we do, perhaps better. What, then, +did he mean by these two last verses? He meant, that in all those things +God was present--that the world was not like a machine, a watch, which +God had wound up at the creation, and started off to go of itself; but +that His Spirit, His providence, were guiding everything, even as at the +first. That those mists and rain came from Him, and went where He sent +them; that those clouds carried _His_ blessings to mankind; that when the +thunder shower bursts on one parish, and leaves the next one dry, it is +because God will have it so; that He brings the blessed purifying winds +out of His treasures, to sweeten and fatten the earth with the fresh +breath of life, which they have drunk up from the great Atlantic seas, +and from the rich forests of America--that they blow whither He thinks +best; that clouds and rain, wind and lightning, are His fruitful +messengers and His wholesome ministers, fulfilling His word, each +according to their own laws, but also each according to His especial +providence, who has given the whole earth to the children of men. This +is the meaning of the Psalmist, that the weather is not a dead machine, +but a living, wonderful work of the Spirit of God, the Lord and giver of +life. Therefore we may dare to pray for fair and seasonable weather; we +may dare to pray against blight and tempest--humbly, because we know not +what is altogether good for us,--but boldly and freely, because we know +that there is a living, loving God, governing the weather, who does know +what is good for us; who has given us His only begotten Son, and will +with Him also give us all things. + +And so ends my first sermon on the 104th Psalm. + + + + +XXI. WONDERS OF THE SEA; OR DAILY MIRACLES. + + + "Thou coverest the earth with the deep sea as with a garment."--PSALM + civ. 6. + +When we look at a map of the world, one of the first things that strikes +us as curious is, how little dry land there is, and how much sea. More +than half the world covered with deep, wild, raging, waste salt water! It +seems very strange. Of what use to man can all that sea be? And yet the +Scripture says that the whole earth has God given to the children of men. +And therefore He has given to us the sea which is part of the earth. But +of what use is the sea to us? + +We are ready to say at first sight, "How much better if the world had +been all dry land? There would have been so much more space for men to +spread on--so much more land to grow corn on. What is the use of all +that sea?" But when we look into the matter, we shall find, that every +word of God stands true, in every jot and tittle of it--that we ought to +thank God for the sea as much as for the land--that David spoke truly +when he said, in this Psalm civ., that the great and wide sea also is +full of God's riches. + +For in the first place--What should we do without water? Not only to +drink, but to feed all trees, and crops which grow. Those who live in a +dry parish know well the need of water for the crops. In fact, strange +as it may seem, out of water is made wood. You know, perhaps, that +plants are made out of the salts in the soil--but not only out of +salts--they are made also out of water. Every leaf and flower is made up +only of those two things--salts from the soil, and water from the sky. +Most wonderful! But so it is. Water is made up of several very +different things. The leaves and flowers, when they drink up water, keep +certain parts of water, and turn them into wood; and the part of the +water which _they_ do not want, is just the part which _we_ do want, +namely, fresh air, for water is full of fresh air. And therefore the +plants breathe out the fresh air through their leaves, that we may +breathe it into our lungs. More and more wonders, you see, as we go on! + +But where does all the rain water and spring water come from? From the +clouds. And where do the clouds come from? From the _Sea_. The sea +water is drawn up by the sun's heat, evaporated, as we call it, into the +air, and makes mist, and that mist grows together into clouds. And these +clouds empty their blessed life-giving treasures on the land--to feed +man, and beast, and herb. + +But what is it which governs these clouds, and makes them do their +appointed work? The Psalmist tells us, "At Thy rebuke they flee; at the +voice of Thy thunder they are afraid." He gives the same account of it +which wise men now-a-days give. It is God, he says, and the Providence +of God, which raises the clouds, and makes them water the earth. And the +means which He employs is thunder. Now this is strictly true. We all +know that thunder gathers the clouds together, and brings rain: but we do +not all know that the power which makes the thunder, which we call +electricity, is working all around us everywhere. It is only when it +bursts out, in flame and noise, which we call lightning and thunder, that +we perceive it--but it is still there, this wonderful thing called +electricity, for ever at work--giving the clouds their shape, making them +fly with vast weights of water through the sky, and then making them pour +down that water in rain. + +But there is another deep meaning in those words of the Psalmist's about +thunder. He tells us that at the voice of God's thunder the waters are +afraid--that He has set them their bounds which they shall not pass, nor +turn again to cover the earth. And it is true. Also that it is this +same thunder power which makes dry land--for there is thunder beneath us, +and lightning too, in the bowels of the earth. Those who live near +burning mountains know this well. They see not only flames, but _real_ +lightning, _real_ thunder playing about the burning mouths of the fiery +mountains--they hear the roaring, the thundering of the fire-kingdom +miles beneath their feet, under the solid crust of the earth. And they +see, too, whole hills, ay, whole counties, sometimes, heaved up many feet +in a single night, by this thunder under ground--and islands thrown up in +the midst of the sea--so that where there was once deep water is now dry +land. + +Now, in this very way, strange as it may seem, almost all dry land is +made. This whole country of England once lay at the bottom of the sea. +You may now see shells and sea fishes bedded in high rocks and hill tops. +But it was all heaved up by the thunder which works under ground. There +are places in England where I have seen the marks of the fire on the +rocks; and the solid stone crushed, and twisted, and melted by the vast +force of the fire which thrust up the land from beneath--and thus the +land was heaved up from under the waters, and the sea fled away and left +its old bed dry--firm land and high cliffs--and as the Psalmist says, "At +the voice of God's thunder the waters were afraid. Thou hast set them +their bounds which they shall not pass, neither turn again to cover the +earth." + +Wonderful as all this may seem, all learned men know that it is true. And +this one thing at least it ought to teach us, what a wonderful and +Almighty God we have to deal with, whose hand made all these things--and +what a loving and merciful God, who makes not only the wind and the sea, +and the thunder and the fire kingdoms obey Him, but makes their violence +bring blessings to mankind. The fire kingdom heaves up dry land for men +to dwell on--the thunder brings mellow rains--the winds sweep the air +clean, and freshen all our breath--and feed the plants with rich air +drawn from far forests in America, and from the wild raging seas--the sea +sends up its continual treasures of rain--everywhere are harmony and +fitness, beauty and use in all God's works. He has made nothing in vain. +All His works praise Him, and surely, also, His saints should give thanks +to Him! Oh! my friends--every thunder shower--every fresh south-west +breeze, is a miracle of God's mercy, if we could but see thoroughly into +it. + +Consider, again, another wonderful proof of God's goodness in what we +call the Tides of the sea. God has made the waters so, that they can +never stand still--the sea is always moving. Twice a day it rises, and +twice a day it sinks and ebbs again all along the shore. It would take +too long to explain why this is--but it is enough to say, that it must be +so, from the way in which God has made the earth and the water. So that +it did not come from accident. God planned and intended it all when He +made the sea at first. His all-foreseeing love settled it all. Now of +what use are these tides? They keep the sea from rotting, by keeping it +in a perpetual stir. And the sea, as it ebbs and flows, draws the air +after it, and so keeps the air continually moving and blowing, therefore +continually fresh, and continually carrying in it rich food for plants +from one country to another. There are other reasons why the winds blow, +which I have not time to mention now; but they all go to prove the same +thing.--How wisely and well the Psalmist said, "Praise the Lord upon +earth ye rivers and all deeps. Fire and hail, snow and vapour, wind and +storm, fulfilling His word" (Ps. cxlviii.). + +Another use of the sea, again, is the vast quantity of food which it +gives. Labouring men who live inland have no notion of the wonderful +fruitfulness of those seemingly barren wastes of water, or how many +millions of human beings live mostly on fish. When we consider those +great banks of Newfoundland, where fish enough perhaps to feed all +England are caught every season, and sent over the whole world; our own +herring fisheries, where thousands of millions of fish are caught +yearly--and all the treasures of food and the creeping things +innumerable, both small and great beasts, of which the Psalmist speaks; +when we consider all this, we shall begin to bless God for the sea, as +much as for the land. + +"There go the ships," too, says the Psalmist, in this 104th Psalm, "and +there goeth that leviathan, whom Thou hast made to take his pastime +therein." This leviathan is no doubt the whale--the largest of all +living things--often a hundred feet long, and as thick as a house. And +yet even of him, the monster of all monsters, does God's Word stand true, +that He has put all things under man's feet, that all things are in +subjection to man--the fish of the sea, and whatsoever walketh through +the paths of the sea. For even the great whale cannot stand before the +cunning of man--God has taught man the means of killing even it, and +turning it to his own use. The whalebone which we use, the oil which we +burn in lamps, comes from the bodies of those enormous creatures which +wander in the far seas like floating houses, ten thousand miles away. + +But again, it is promised in the Bible, that in the new heavens and new +earth there shall be no more sea. When the sea has done its work, God +will have done with it--and then there will be no more division between +nation and nation--no more long dangerous voyages from one country to +another. + +And strange to say--the sea is even now at work bringing about this very +thing--destroying itself--filling itself up. Day by day the sea eats +away its own shore, and banks, and carries down their remains to make its +own bed shallower and shallower, till shoals and new lands arise where +there was deep sea before. So that if the world lasts long enough, the +sea by its own laws will be filled up, and dry land appear everywhere. + +The bottom of the sea is full, too, of countless millions of strange +insects--and yet even in these strange insects there is use; for not only +do they give food to countless millions of fishes, but after a time they +turn into stone, and form fruitful soil. There are now in many parts of +the world great beds of rock and earth, many feet thick, and miles long, +made up entirely out of the skeletons and shells of little insects which +lived at the bottom of the sea thousands of years ago. + +Are not these things wonderful? Well, then, remember who made these +wonders? who keeps them working? Your Father--and the Son of God, and +the Spirit of God. The Son of God--ay, think of Him--He by whom all +things were made--He by whom all things consist--He to whom all power is +given in heaven and earth. He came down and died on the cross for you. +He calls to you to come and serve Him loyally and gratefully--dare you +refuse Him--The Maker and King of this glorious world? He died for you. +He loves you. He condescends to beseech you to come to Him that you may +have life. Alas! what can you expect if you will not come to Him? How +will you escape if you turn your back on your Maker, and despise your own +Creator when He stoops to entreat you? Oh folly--Oh madness--Oh utter +shame and ruin! + +There are some people who do not like science and philosophy, because +they say, If you try to explain to people, and make them understand the +wonderful things around them, they will stop thinking them wonderful, and +so you will spoil their reverence, and "familiarity will breed contempt." +Now, no doubt a little learning is a dangerous thing, when it makes some +shallow conceited fellow fancy he knows all about everything. But I can +truly say, that the more you really do know about this earth, the more +your astonishment at it will grow--for the _more_ you understand about +trees and animals, clouds and seas, the _less_ you will find you +understand about them. The more you read about them and watch them, the +more infinitely and inexpressibly wonderful you find them, and the more +you get humbled and awestruck at the boundless wisdom and love of Our +Father in Heaven, and Christ the Word of God who planned and made this +wondrous world, and the Holy Spirit of God who is working this wondrous +world. I tell you, my friends, that as St. Paul says, "If a man will be +wise, let him become a fool that he may be wise." Let him go about +feeling how short-sighted, and stupid, and ignorant he is--and how +infinitely wise Christ the Word of God is, by whom all things were made, +to whom all belong. Let him go about wondering day and night, always +astonished more and more, as everything he sees gives him some fresh +proof of the glory of God; till he falls down on his knees and cries out +with the Psalmist, "Lord, what is man that Thou art mindful of him, or +the son of man, that Thou so regardest him?" When I consider Thy +Heavens, even the work of Thine hands, I say, What is man? and yet Thou +madest man to have dominion over the works of Thine hands, and hast put +all things in subjection under his feet--the fowl of the air and the +fishes of the sea, and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas. +O Lord, our Governor, how excellent is Thy name in all the world. In +comparison of Thee what is man's wisdom? What is man's power? Thou +alone art glorious, for by Thee are all things, and for Thee they were +made, and are created, that Thou mightest rejoice in the works of Thy own +hands, and bless the creatures which Thy love has made! + + + + +XXII. THE SAILOR'S GOD. PREACHED TO SAILORS AT A LITTLE FISHING VILLAGE +IN CORNWALL, 1843. + + + "They that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in + great waters; these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in + the deep."--Ps. cvii. 23, 24. + +My brothers--for though I do not know most of you even by name, yet you +are still my brothers, for His sake in whose name you were baptized--my +brothers, it has been often said that seamen and fishermen ought to be +the most religious men in the country. And why? Because they, more than +any set of men, see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. + +The cotton-spinner, who is shut up in a factory all day long, with +nothing before his eyes but his loom, and nothing to look at beyond his +own house but dingy streets and smoking furnace chimneys--he, poor man, +sees very little of the works of the Lord. _Man_ made the world of +streets and shops and machinery in which that poor workman lives and +dies. What wonder is it if he forgets the God who made him--the God who +made the round world, and set it so fast that it should not be moved, and +has given the sea its bounds that it should not overflow them at any +time? How much better off are you seamen than such a man as that! + +And you are better off too, even, than most field labourers and farmers. +They are not shut up in towns, it is true; they have God's beautiful +earth to till and keep: but they are _too safe on shore_! Yes; it may +seem a strange thing to say; but you ought to thank God that your trade +is a dangerous one--you have more to put you in mind of God than the +labouring man! + +And why? In the first place, as I said, fishermen and sailors see more +of the wonderful works of God than any other set of men. Man may cut and +change the earth--mining and quarrying and building--till it hardly looks +like God's earth, but he cannot change the sea! There it is, just as God +made it at first. Millions of rivers have run into it, yet it is not +over full; cliffs have been wearing away and falling into it for six +thousand years, yet is it not filled up. Millions of vessels have been +sailing over it, yet they have left no mark upon it; it seems +unchangeable, like God who made it. What is the use of my praising the +sea to you? Do you not all know it, and fear it, and love it too? and +does it not put you in mind of God who made it? who made that mighty +water for the use of men, and filled it with thousands of different kinds +of fishes, and weeds, and wonderful things for your use and comfort; and +who has made it so strong that it shall keep you always in awe and fear +and watchfulness, looking to God to save you--and yet so gentle and calm +that you can sail upon its bosom, and there find food for your families. +Which of you, who has any godly heart in him, can help feeling, sometimes +at least when at sea, that he is seeing the wonderful works of God! + +I said that you ought to thank God that your trade was a dangerous one, +and I said that the sea should always keep you in fear and watchfulness, +and looking to God to preserve you. Now, do you not see how these two +sayings go together, and make each other plain. You seamen and fishermen +are in continual danger; your lives are in your hands every moment--the +belaying of a sheet, the strength of a bit of canvas, the toughness of a +deal board, may settle your fate in a moment, and make all the difference +between life and death. If they are sound, you may go back to a happy +home, and see wife and children coming to meet you when you run on shore +at morning from your honest labour; and if they fail--if that weak +cordage, and these planks, and thinner canvas, on which your lives +depend, do but give way, what is left for you the next moment? what but a +grave in the deep, deep sea, and your wives widows and your children +orphans, and your bodies devoured by ugly creeping things, and your souls +gone--gone where? My good men--you who sit around me now so strong and +full of life and skill and happiness--where would your souls be if you +were drowned at sea to-morrow? + +What a question! Oh, ask it yourselves honestly! I have been out in +gales myself, and I cannot understand how you can go out, in thirty feet +of timber, upon that mighty sea, with the wind howling over your heads +like a death-bell, and the great hungry waves chasing you for miles, each +one able and willing to swallow you up into the deep, and the gulls +screaming over you as if they were waiting to feed upon your floating +carcases, and you alone, in a tiny boat, upon that waste, howling +wilderness of waters!--I cannot understand, I say, how, when a man is in +such a case as that, day after day, year after year, he can forget his +God, the only friend who can save him from the sea! the only friend who +can send him safe out to his work in the evening, and bring him home safe +to his wife at morning. One would think that when you went down to the +shore in the morning, you would say, "Oh, God! without whose help I am no +stronger than a piece of sea-weed floating up and down, take care of me! +Take care of my wife and my children; and forgive me my sins, and do not +punish me by calling me away this night to answer for them all!" And +when you come home at night, you would say, "Oh, God! who hast kept me +safe all this day, what can I do to show how thankful I am to Thee!" Ay! +what _can_ you do to show how thankful you are to God for His care? What +_ought_ you to do to show your thankfulness to Him? What _must_ you do +to show your thankfulness to Him? He has told you. "If you love me, He +says, keep my commandments. Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with +thy God." + +These, my friends, are the holy and thankful thoughts which ought to be +in your hearts every day and hour. This is the thought which God meant +to put into your hearts when He made sailors of you, and brought you into +the world, by the sea-side, to take up your business in great waters. You +might have been born in Bristol or Liverpool or London, and never seen +anything but streets and houses, and man's clumsy work. But God has been +very good to you. He has brought you up here, in this happy West +country, where you may see His wonderful works day and night; where you +ought never to forget that you have a Father in heaven who made the sea, +and who keeps you safe at sea by night and day. God has given you a +great deal. He has given you two books to read--the book of God's Word, +the Bible, and the book of God's earth, the sky and sea and land, which +is above you and below you and around you day and night. If you can read +and understand them properly, you will find in them everything which you +want; you may learn from them to be holy in this world and happy in the +next. God has given you, too, fathers, mothers, wives, children, a +comfortable home, a holy trade--the same which the apostles followed. God +has given you England for your country, and the West country--the best +place in England for your home. God has given you a good Queen, and good +magistrates and landlords. God has given you health and strength, and +seamanship, and clear heads and stout hearts. And God has made you +seamen and fishermen, and given you a business in which you can see God's +mighty power and wisdom day and night, and feel Him taking care of you +when you cannot take care of yourselves. + +Therefore you ought to thank God that yours is a dangerous business, +because it teaches you to trust in God alone for safety. And what are +you to give Him in return? What does God require of you? You cannot pay +Him back again for all His mercies, for they are past counting, but you +must pay Him back all you can. And what must you pay Him back? First, +you must trust in God; for he who comes to God and wishes to walk with +God through life, as a good man should, must believe that there is a God, +and that He will reward those who look to Him. + +I never heard of a sailor who did not _believe_ in God; for how can a man +look at the sea, and not say to himself, _God_ made the sea! But I have +seen a great many sailors who did not _trust_ in God. As long as it is +fine weather, and everything goes right, they will forget God, and fancy +that it is their own seamanship, and not God alone, which keeps their +boats afloat, and their own skill in fishing, and not God alone, which +sends the shoals of fish into their nets; and so they are truly +fine-weather sailors--men who are only fit for calm seas and light +breezes, when they can take care of themselves without God's help; but +when a squall comes their hearts change, by God's mercy. For when a man +has done all he can to save himself, and all he can do is no use, and his +nets are adrift, and his boat on her beam ends, and the foaming rocks are +on his lee, then he comes to his senses at last, and prays. Why did he +not pray before? Why did he not save himself from all that misery and +trouble and danger by thanking God for taking care of him, and praying to +God to take care of him still. "Foolish men are plagued for their +offences, and because of their wickedness. They that go down to the sea +in ships, and occupy their business on great waters; these men see the +works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep; for at His word the +stormy wind ariseth which lifteth up the waves thereof; they are carried +up to heaven, and down again into the deep; their soul melteth away +because of the trouble; they reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken +man, and are at their wit's end." And justly they are punished for +forgetting God. God made the calm as well as the storm. Could they not +remember that? But look at God's mercy; for when they cry unto the Lord +in their trouble, He delivers them out of all their distress. For He +makes the storm to cease, so that the waves are still; then are they glad +because they are at rest, and so God brings them to the harbour where +they would be. + +Is there an old man sitting here who has not had this happen to him? And +what did you _do_, my friend, when God had saved you out of that danger? +It is easy to tell what you _ought_ to have done; you ought to have gone +home and fallen on your knees, and prayed to God; you ought to have said, +Oh, Lord, I am a miserable, foolish sinner, who can only remember Thee +when Thou art angry; an ungrateful son, who only thinks of his father +when he beats him! Oh, God, forgive me, I ought to have trusted in Thee +before! I deserved all my danger and punishment and more. I did not +deserve to be pardoned and saved from it! I deserve to be at the bottom +of the sea at this moment. But forgive me, forgive me, loving and +merciful Father, for the sake of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, who died on +the cross that I might be saved from death! + +And when you had prayed thus, the next thing you ought to have asked +yourself was--What does God require of me? how can I try to pay Him +back--how can I show that I am thankful? My good friends, what does God +require of you? "To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly +with your God." I told you He required of you first to trust in Him at +all hours, in all weathers. This is the next thing which He requires of +you--To do justly, to cheat no man, not in the price of a pilchard; to +love mercy; to love your neighbours, as Christ loved you; to help your +neighbours, as Christ helped you and all mankind, by dying to save you; +and as Christ has helped you, night after night, when you might have been +buried in the waves, if Christ had not prayed for you that you might have +time to repent, and bring forth fruits fit for repentance. To love +mercy; to forgive every man who hurts you, for they are all Christian men +and your brothers. Christ loved every one! Why should not you? If your +wife or friend loved anything, you would be kind to it for their sakes; +and so, if you really love God, and are thankful to Him for all His mercy +and kindness, you will love every man you meet, for God's sake, who loved +them and gave His Son for them. + +"To walk humbly with your God." That is the beginning and end of all--you +must be humble; you must confess that you are foolish, and God alone is +wise; that you are weak, and God alone is strong; that you are poor +fishermen, whom any squall may drown, and that God is the Great, Loving, +Almighty God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea and all that is +therein, and who helps all those who put their trust in Him. This is +what God asks you to do in return for all He has done for you! To pray +to Him, to praise Him, to put your trust in Him, to keep His commandments +like thankful, humble, obedient, loving children. They who do these +things, and only they, shall never fail. By night and day, in summer and +winter, in storm and calm, in health and sickness, in richness and +poverty, God will be with them. Christ will be with them. He sat in a +fisherman's boat once, on the sea of Tiberias, and He will sit in your +boats if you will but ask Him. He will steer you, He will save you, He +will take care of your wives and children when you are far away, and He +will bring you through the troublesome waves of this mortal life, so +that, having faith for your anchor, and hope for your sail, and charity +for your crew, you may at last land on the happy shore of everlasting +life, there to live with God, world without end. God grant it may be so! + +My good brothers--for I am a Christian like you, and an Englishman like +you, and a west countryman like you--I thank our Father in heaven that He +has brought me from the other end of England, and put this message into +my mouth, to remind you of who you are--that _you_ are the men who see +the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep; and that God will say +to every one of you at the day of judgment,--I taught you all this, I +gave you all this, I did all this for _you_, what have you done for _Me_ +in return? + +Go home--read over these verses in 107th Psalm, and think over what I +have said. Do it to-night, for the weather has broken up--there are +gales coming. Which of you can say that he will be alive next Sunday? + + + + +XXIII. THE GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST. + + + "Thou therefore endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."--2 + TIMOTHY ii. 3. + +Suppose a young man went of his own will for a soldier; was regularly +sworn in to serve the Queen; took his bounty; wore the Queen's uniform; +ate her bread; learnt his drill; and all that a soldier need learn, as +long as peace lasted. But suppose that, as soon as war came, and his +regiment was ordered on active service, he deserted at once, and went off +and hid himself. What should you call such a man? You would call him a +base and ungrateful coward, and you would have no pity on him, if he was +taken and justly punished. + +But suppose that he did a worse thing still. Suppose that the enemy, the +Russians say, invaded England, and the army was called out to fight them; +and suppose this man of whom I speak, be he soldier or sailor, instead of +fighting the enemy, deserted over to them, and fought on their side +against his own country, and his own comrades, and his own father and +brothers, what would you call that man? No name would be bad enough for +him. If he was taken, he would be hanged without mercy, as not only a +deserter but a traitor. And who would pity him or say that he had not +got his just deserts? + +Now, for God's sake and your own sakes consider. Are not all young +people, when they are old enough to choose between right and wrong, if +they choose what is wrong and live bad lives instead of good ones, very +like this same deserter and traitor? + +For are you not all Christ's soldiers, every one of you? Did not Christ +enlist every one of you into His army, that, as the baptism service says, +you might fight manfully under His banner against sin, the world, and the +devil,--in one word, against all that is wrong and bad? And now when you +are old enough to know that you are Christ's soldiers, what will you +deserve to be called, if instead of fighting on Christ's side against +what is good, you forget you are in His service? What are you but +deserters from Christ's banner and army, traitors to Christ's cause? + +But some may say, "My case is not like that soldier's. I did not enter +Christ's service of my own free will. My parents put me into it when I +was an infant, without asking my leave. I was not christened of my own +will. My parents had me christened before I knew any thing about it! I +had no choice!" + +Is it so? Do you know what your words mean? If they mean anything, they +mean that you had rather _not_ have been christened, because you are now +expected to behave as a christened man should. Now is there any one of +you who dare say, "I wish I had not been christened?" + +Not one! Then if you dare not say that; if you are content to have been +christened, why are you not content to do what christened people should? +If you are content to have been christened, you are christened people now +of your own free will, and are bound to act accordingly. + +But why were you christened? not merely because your parents chose, but +because it was their duty. Every child ought to be christened, because +every child belongs to Christ. Every child is in debt to Christ,--every +child is bound to serve Christ. + +In debt to Christ, you say? Certainly, from the moment you are born, and +before that too. You are in debt to Him since you were born, for every +good thought and feeling which ever came into your hearts and minds, for +He put them there. And will any of you answer, "Then I wish He had not +put them there, if they are to bring me into debt to Him, and force me to +serve Him. I don't wish, of course, that I had been bad; but I wish that +I had been neither good nor bad. I wish I had had no immortal soul, +which is bound to serve Christ." + +Now does any man of you wish that really? Dare any of you wish that you +were like the beasts, without conscience, without honour, without shame, +without knowing right from wrong, without any life after death, without +being able even to _talk_--for mind, without immortal souls men could not +_speak_. The beasts cannot talk to each other; reasonable speech belongs +to our souls, not to our bodies. Then if you are glad that you have +souls, and are better than the dumb beasts, you confess that you feel in +debt to Christ, and are bound to serve Him. For who gave you your souls +but Christ? + +But even if you had had no souls, you would have been in debt to Christ, +and bound to serve Him. "What for?" you ask. Why, for life itself. How +did you come here? Who gave you life? Who brought you into the world? +Who but Christ, by whom all things were made, and you among the rest? Who +gave you food? Who made every atom of food grow which you ate since you +were born? Who made the air you breathe, the water which you drink, the +wool and cotton which clothes you? Who but Christ? Do you not know that +you cannot even breathe a breath of air, unless Christ first makes the +air, and then gives your lungs life to breathe the air? and yet you +cannot understand that you are in debt to Christ, and have been eating +His bread and living on His bounty ever since you were born? + +And mind, all this while I have not said one word about the greatest debt +of all which you owe to the Lord Jesus Christ, even His own life, which +He gave for you! Only think but once that for _your_ sakes the Lord was +crucified--for _your_ sakes He died the most horrible, painful, shameful +death. And then say, Are you not in debt to Him? "Greater love has no +man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." If any mere +man had died for your sake, would you not love him--would you not feel +yourself in debt to him, a deeper debt than you can ever repay? Then +Christ died for you--how can you be more deeply in debt to any one than +to Him? + +You have now no _right_ to choose between Christ and the devil, because +Christ has chosen you already--no right to choose between good and bad, +because God, the good God Himself, has chosen you already, and has been +taking care of you, and heaping you with blessings ever since you were +born. + +And why did Christ choose you? As I have told you, that you may fight +with Him against all that is bad. Jesus Christ's work at which He works +for ever in heaven and in earth, is to root out all that is bad, all sin, +all misery; and He will reign, and He will fight till all His enemies, +even Death itself, are put under His feet and destroyed. And Christ +expects you and me to help Him. He has chosen you and me, and all +Christian people, to fight against what is bad, and to put it down and +root it out as far as we can wherever we find it; and therefore, first, +to root it out of our own hearts and lives; for while we are bad +ourselves we cannot make others good. But if we go on doing bad and +wrong things, are we fighting on Christ's side? No, we are fighting on +the devil's side, and helping the devil against God. + +Do you fancy that I am saying too much? I suspect some do. I suspect +some say in their hearts, "He is too hard on us. _We_ are not like that +traitorous soldier. If an English soldier went over to the enemy, and +fought against the English, and killed Englishmen, _that_ of course would +be too bad; but we do not wish to harm any one, much less our neighbours. +If we do wrong, it is ourselves at most that we harm. If we do wrong, it +is only we that shall suffer for it. Why does he talk as if we were +robbers or murderers, or had a spite against our neighbours? We do not +wish to hurt any one, we do not want to help the devil." + +Now, my friends, if any of you say that, do you not say first what is not +true? and next do you not know that it is not true? + +First, It is not true that by doing wrong you hurt no one but yourself. +Every wrong thing which any man does, every wrong way into which he runs, +is certain sooner or later to hurt his neighbours. The worse man a man +is, the worse for those who have to do with him. You know it is your own +case. You know that bad people hurt you, and make you unhappy; and that +good people do you good and make you happy. You know that bad example +does you harm and good example does you good. Think for yourselves--use +your own common sense. Recollect what you know, what has happened to you +again and again. You know that if any one uses bad language before you, +you are tempted to use bad language too. If any one quarrels with you, +you are tempted to quarrel with him. You know that if parents do wrong +things before their children, the children learn to copy them. It is +nonsense to talk of a man keeping his sins to himself. No man does, and +no man can. Out of the abundance of a man's heart his mouth speaks; and +a bad tree will bring forth bad fruit. If there are bad thoughts in your +head, they will come out in bad words. If there are bad tempers in your +heart, they will come out in bad and unkind and dishonest actions. You +may as well try to keep in fire, as to keep in sin. It will break out, +and it will burn whatever it touches. And if you, or I, or any one does +wrong in any thing, we shall surely hurt some one or other by it. If +you, or I, or any one is worse than he ought to be, we shall make the +parish we live in worse than it ought to be. You know that it is so. Who +made you different from the rest of the world? If any body else's sins +are harmful, who will make your sins harmless? Not the devil, for he +wishes to see as much harm done as possible. And not God, for He will +not be so cruel as to let your sin prosper and go unpunished, as it would +if it did not make people hate it, by feeling the bad effects of it. + +My good friends, if you by doing wrong hurt other people, and make other +people unhappy, are you doing Christ's work or the devil's? Are you +fighting for Christ, who wishes to make all good, or for the devil, who +wishes to make all bad? Are you Christ's faithful soldier and servant, +or are you a traitor to Christ who has gone over to the devil's side, and +is helping the devil to make this poor world (which is bad enough +already) worse than it is? + +Oh, think of this now, while you have time before you. Remember all that +Christ has done for you, and remember that all He asks of you in return +is to do for Him nothing but good, which is good for you as well as for +your neighbours. The devil's wages now are shame, discontent, +unhappiness, perhaps poverty, perhaps sickness, certainly punishment as +traitors to Christ after we die. Christ's wages are love, joy, peace, +the answer of a good conscience, the respect and love of all good men, as +long as we live, and after death, life everlasting. Choose; will you be +traitors or deserters, and serve the worst of all masters, the King of +Hell, or be honest, honourable, and brave men, and serve the best of all +masters, the King of Heaven, the Lord of Life, and love, and goodness +without bound, whose ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are +peace? + + + + +XXIV. HOLY COMMUNION; CHRIST AND THE SINNER. + + + "Have mercy upon, me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness; + according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my + transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me + from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever + before me. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a + contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."--PSALM li. 1, 2, 3, 17. + +This Psalm was written by David when he was sorrowing for sin, and if +there are any such among you, my dear friends, let me speak a few words +to you. Would to God that I had the tongue of St. Paul to speak to you +with--though even when he preached some mocked, as it will be to the end. +But if to one of you God has brought home His truth, then to that one +conscience-stricken sinner I will say, "You confess with David that all +your sorrows are your own fault. Thank God that He has taught you so +much." + +But what will you do to be saved from your sins? "I cannot wait," you +say in your heart, "to go home and begin leading a new life. I will do +that, please God, but I want to know at once that I am forgiven. I want +to be saved. I cannot save myself. I cannot save myself from hell +hereafter, or from this miserable sinful life, nearly as bad as hell +here. Oh! wretched being that I am, who shall deliver me from the body +of this death?" + +Friend, dost thou not know it is written, "Believe in the Lord Jesus +Christ, and thou shalt be saved." + +"_Ah yes_!" _says the sinner_, "_I have been hearing that all my life_, +_and much good it has done me_! _Look at me_, _I want something more +than those words about Christ_, _I want Christ Himself to save me if He +can_." + +Ah, my brother!--poor sinner! thou hast never believed in Christ, thou +hast only believed _about_ Christ. There was the fault. But Christ +Himself will save thee, though thou hast been the worst of reprobates, He +will save thee. Only one thing, He _will_ have thee answer first. "Dost +thou wish to be saved from the _punishment_ of thy sins, or from the sins +themselves?" + +"_From my sins_--_from my sins_," says the man who truly repents. "_They +are what I hate_, _even while I commit them_. _I hate and despise +myself_, _I dare look neither God nor man in the face_, _and yet I go on +doing the very things I loathe the next minute_. _Oh_, _for some one to +save me from my own ill-temper_, _my own bitter tongue_, _my own +laziness_, _my own canting habits_, _my own dishonesty_, _my own +lustfulness_. _But who will save me from them_? _who will change me and +make a new creature of me_? _Oh_, _for a sign from heaven that I can get +rid of these bad habits_! _I hate them_, _and yet I love them_. _I long +to give them up_, _and yet_, _if some one stronger than me does not have +mercy on me_, _I shall go and do them again to-morrow_. _I am longing to +do wrong now_, _and yet I long not to do wrong_. _Oh_, _for a sign from +heaven_!" + +Poor sinner!--My brother! _there_ is a sign from heaven for thee! On +that table it stands. A sign that Christ's blood was shed to wash out +thy sins, a sign that Christ's blood will feed thee, and give thy spirit +strength to cast away and hate thy sins. Come to Holy Communion and +claim thy share in Christ's pardon for the past, in Christ's strength for +the future. + +"_What_!" says the sinner, "_I come to the Sacrament_! _I of all men the +most unfit_! _I who but yesterday committed such and such sins_!" + +Friend, as to the sin you committed yesterday, confess that to God, not +me. And if you confess it to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive it. +But just because you think yourself the most unfit person to come to the +Holy Sacrament, for that very reason I suspect you to be fit. + +"_How then_!" says he in his heart, "_I have but this moment repented of +my sins_! _I have but this moment_, _for the first time felt that God's +wrath is revealed against me_, _that hell is open for me_!" + +For that very reason, come to the Holy Sacrament, and thou shalt hear +there that not hell at all, but heaven is open for thee. + +"_What_, _with all this guilty conscience_, _this load of sins against +myself_, _my neighbours_, _my children_, _my masters_, _my servants_, _on +my back_!" + +Yes, bring them all, and say in the words of the Communion Service: "I do +earnestly repent, and am heartily sorry for these, my misdoings; the +remembrance of them is grievous unto me; the burden of them is +intolerable." Why, for whom were these words written, but for you who +feel that the burden of your sins is intolerable. They are there, not +for those who feel no burden of sin, but for you--for you, and for those +like you who feel the burden of your sins unbearable. + +"_But how shall I dare to come to the Lord's table before I am sure that +my sins are forgiven_?" + +Come and you will hear your minister pray God to pardon and deliver you +from all for Christ's sake. You will hear him read God's promises of +free grace and mercy through Jesus Christ to all who truly repent. + +"_But I cannot trust your prayers or words_, _or any man's_. _I want a +sign that I have a share in Christ's death and merits_." + +Then, that bread and wine is a sign. Jesus Himself ordained them for a +sign. He Himself, with His dying voice declared that that bread was His +body, that cup the new covenant in His blood. St. Paul declares that it +is the communion, the sharing of Christ's body, that cup the sharing of +His blood. What more sign do you want? Come and claim your share in +Christ, and see if He disappoints you. + +"_Ah_! _I believe_," _says the poor man_, "_I believe_, _but I am +afraid_, _afraid of partaking unworthily_, _and so provoking God_, _as +the Prayer-book says to plague me with divers diseases and sundry kinds +of death_." + +My Friend, if God was the devil, you might be afraid indeed. But He is +the loving, righteous Father, who knows your weakness, and remembers that +you are but dust. Can you not trust Him to pardon your mistakes about +the Sacrament, which you do not wilfully intend to commit, when He has +borne with, and pardoned all the sins from your youth up until now, which +you have wilfully committed? Surely, you may trust Him in such a thing +as this,--He who has had long-suffering enough to keep you alive, with a +chance of salvation all this time? and as for sundry diseases, _have_ you +avoided them? You have certainly not avoided them, at least, by staying +away from the Sacrament, and breaking Christ's command to take it? If +you are so afraid of God's anger, are you more likely to provoke Him by +disobeying His strict commands, or by obeying them? It needs no +philosopher, my friend, to find out that. + +"_But I shall have to make good resolutions_," _says the sinner_, "_and I +am afraid of breaking them_." + +Well, if you break them, you can but make them again. You would call him +a fool who determined never to walk, because he was afraid of falling. +But you are to claim in that Sacrament your share of Christ's Spirit, +Christ's life, and Christ's strength, which is just what you want to +enable you to keep your good resolutions. You will be no stronger, no +more righteous of yourself after the Sacrament than before. Your spirit +will still be a poor weak sinful spirit, but you will have claimed your +share in God's strength, God's righteousness, God's Spirit, and _they_ +will make you love the good you hated, and hate the evil you loved. They +will make you strong to do God's will whatever it may cost you. Oh +believe the good news, and show that you believe by coming to Christ. He, +the Blessed One, died for you. For you He was born and walked this +earth, a poor suffering, tempted, sorrow-stricken man. For you He hung +upon the shameful cross. For you He ascended up on high. For you He +sent down His Spirit. For you He sits at the right hand of God, praying +for you at this moment. For you He gave the signs of His body and His +blood, that you might believe, and fall on your knees and cry, "In spite +of all, I am forgiven. In spite of all, God cares for me. In spite of +all, I have a Father and a Saviour who will never leave me, nor forsake +me, wretch as I have been, till they make a man of me again, in this +world, and for ever!" Oh! come, my dear, dear friends. I would give my +right hand this moment, if I could but see each and every one of you +shewing the truth of your repentance by coming to Holy Communion. Let +this be a day of repentance, and shew it thus, and say, "We do not come +to this, Thy table, O Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in Thy +manifold and great mercy. We are not worthy to gather up the crumbs +under Thy table, but Thou art the same Lord whose property is always to +have mercy." + +Let this be a day of thanksgiving, too, and shew your thankfulness by +coming to Holy Communion, and lifting up your voices, once for all, at +that table, and saying:-- + +"We bless Thee, we praise Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee +for Thy great glory." These are the words for you this day. Oh! do not +turn away. All your distress, all your sorrows have come from your not +having faith in God. Break at once the accursed charm with which the +devil has enchanted you. Have faith enough to come to God's holy table, +and see if God does not reward you by giving you faith enough to conquer +yourselves, and lead new lives like redeemed men in the sunshine of His +smile, henceforth and forever! + +My friends, what more can I say, except once and again, Come ye who +labour and are heavy laden, and Christ will give you rest! + +Ay, and He will. I speak only what I know--what I have felt. But before +He will give you rest, be you rich or poor, young or old, you must learn +to say those simple words (they are the best and only preparation for +it), "God be merciful to me a sinner." Say them then from your heart, +and so come to the Lord's Supper. + + +A PRAYER. + + +"O God and Saviour, Thou hast blest me, and I have cursed myself. Thou +didst die to deliver me from the curse of sin, and I have brought it back +on myself by my own folly. Thou livest for ever to make me _good_, and +I, ungrateful and foolish, have made myself _bad_. In spite of my +ingratitude, in spite of my folly, take me back into Thy service. I +trust utterly in Thy unchangeable goodness and mercy. I trust that Thy +blood will still wash away the past, that Thy spirit will still give me a +clean heart and a right spirit. I believe that though I have cursed +myself, yet Thou wilt still bless me; for Thou wiliest nought but the +good of every creature Thou hast made. God be merciful to me a sinner!" +Amen. + + + + +PART II. + + +I. BRAVE WORDS FOR BRAVE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. {199} + + +My friends,--I speak to you simply as brave men. I speak alike to Roman +Catholic and Protestant. I speak alike to godly men and ungodly. I +speak alike to soldiers and sailors. . . . If you are _brave_, read these +words. I call these _brave_ words. They are not my _own_ words, or my +own message, but the message to you of the bravest man who ever lived, or +who ever will live, and if you will read them and think over them, He +will not _make_ you brave (for that, thank God, you are already), but +_keep_ you brave, come victory or defeat. I speak to the brave men who +have now fought three bloody battles, and fought them like heroes. All +England has blessed you, and admired you; all England has felt for you in +a way that would do your hearts good to see. For you know as well as I, +that nothing is so comforting, nothing so endearing, as sympathy, as _to +know that people feel for one_. If one knows that, one can dare and do +anything. If one feels that nobody cares for one's suffering or one's +success, one is ready to lie down and die. It is so with a horse or a +dog even. If there is any noble spirit in them, a word of encouragement +will make them go till they drop. How much more will the spirit of a +_man_? I can well believe that the Queen's beautiful letter put more +heart into you, than the hope of all the prize money in the world would +have done; and that with the words of that letter ringing in your ears, +you will prove true to the last, to the words of the grand old song-- + + "Hearts of oak are our ships, hearts of oak are our men, + And we'll fight, and we'll conquer again, and again." + +But, my friends, you know as well as I, that there are times when neither +that letter, nor the feeling of duty, nor of honour, nor of glory, can +keep your hearts from sinking. Not in battle! No. Only cowards' hearts +fail them there; and there are no cowards among you. But even a brave +man's heart may fail him at whiles, when, instead of the enemy's balls +and bayonets, he has to face delay, and disappointment, and fatigue, and +sickness, and hunger, and cold, and nakedness; as you have, my brave +brothers, and faced them as well as man ever did on earth. Ah! it must +be fearful work to _sit still_, and shiver and starve in a foreign land, +and to think of those who are in comfort and plenty at home; and worse, +to think of those, who, even if they are in plenty, cannot be in comfort, +because their hearts are breaking for your sake; to think of brother and +sister, wife and child, while you are pacing up and down those dreary +trenches, waiting for your turn of sickness, perhaps of death. It must +be bitter and disheartening at times; you would not be men, if it was +not. One minute, perhaps, you remember that those whom you have left at +home, love you and pray for you; and that cheers you; then you remember +that all England loves you, and prays for you in every church throughout +the land; and that cheers you; but even that is not enough, you feel +ready to say, "What is the use of my going through all this misery? Why +am I not at home ploughing the ground, or keeping a shop, anything rather +than throwing away my life by inches thus. My people at home feel for +me, but they cannot know, they never will know, the half of what I have +gone through. The nation will provide for me if I am crippled, but they +cannot make up to me for losing the best years of my life in such work as +this; and, if I am killed, can they make up to me for that? Who can make +up to me for my life?" + +Have you not had such thoughts, my friends, and sadder thoughts still +lately? You need not be ashamed of them if you have. For hard work you +have had, and it must have told at times on your spirits as heavily as it +has on your bodies. + +But, my friends, there is an answer for these sad thoughts. There are +brave words for you, and a noble message from God, which will cheer you +when nothing else can cheer you. If your own people cannot know all that +you go through, there is One who can and does; if your own wives and +mothers cannot feel enough for you, there is One above who does, and He +is the Lord Jesus Christ. You have hungered; so has He. You have been +weary; so has He. You have felt cold and nakedness; so has He. You have +been houseless and sleepless, so has He. While the foxes had holes, and +the birds of the air had nests, He, the maker of them all, had not where +to lay His head. You have felt the misery of loneliness and desolation; +but never so much as did He, when not only every earthly friend forsook +Him and fled, but He cried out in His very death pangs, "My God, my God, +why hast Thou forsaken me?" + +Above all, you have felt how difficult it was to die, not fighting sword +in hand, but slowly and idly, and helplessly, by cholera or fever, hunger +or cold. Terrible it is; but the Lord Jesus Christ has felt that too. +For three years He looked death in the face--a death of shame and misery +such as you can never die--and faced it, and gave Himself up to it of His +own free will; and though He had the most horrible fear of it to the very +last, He determined to submit to it, in spite of His own fear of it; and +He did submit to it, and died, and so _showed_, _even in His very fear_, +_the most perfect and glorious courage_. So if any one of you has ever +felt for a single moment _afraid_; even in _that_, the Lord Jesus Christ +can feel for you; for He, too, has gone through the agony of fear, when +His sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground, that He +might be able to help you, and every man that is tempted, because He can +be touched with the feeling of your infirmities, having gone through +every temptation which flesh is heir to, and conquered them all. + +This, then, is one half (and only one half) of my good news; that you +have a Friend in heaven who feels for every trouble of yours, better than +your own mothers can feel for you, because He has been through it all +already; you have a Friend in heaven who is praying for you day and +night, more earnestly, lovingly, wisely, than your own wives and children +are praying for you. But that is not all. God forbid! You have a +Friend in heaven, for whose sake God will forgive you all your sins and +weaknesses, as often as you heartily confess them to Him, and trust in +Him for a full and free pardon. You have a Friend in heaven who will +help you day by day, where you most need help, in your hearts and +spirits; who will give you, if you ask Him, _His Spirit_, the same spirit +of duty, courage, endurance, love, self-sacrifice, which made Him brave +to endure ten thousand times more than any soldier or sailor can endure, +for the sake of doing His Father's will, and saving a ruined world. + +Oh! open your hearts to Him, my brave men, in your lonely +night-watches--on your sick beds; ay, in the very roar of battle itself, +ask Him to make you true and good, patient, calm, prudent, honourable, +obedient, gentle, even in the hottest of the fight. Commit to Him your +own lives and fortunes, and the lives and fortunes of those who have been +left at home, and be sure that He, your Unseen Friend of friends, is able +and willing to help to the uttermost all that you put into His charge. + +But, again, my men, if the nation cannot reward you for sacrificing your +life in a just war, there is One above who can, and who will, too; for He +is as just as He is loving, and as loving as He is just, and that is the +same of whom I have spoken already, the Lord Jesus Christ. + +I think some of you will fancy this almost too good news to be true, and +yet the very news which you want to hear. I think some of you have been +saying as you read this, "All this is blessed and comforting news for +poor fellows lying wounded in a hospital, or fretting their souls away +about the wives and children they have left behind; blessed and +comforting news; but we want something more than that even. We have to +fight and to kill; we want to be sure that God's blessing is on our +fighting and our killing; we have to go into battle; and we want to know +that there, too, we are doing God's work, and to be sure that God is on +our side." + +Well, my brave men, _Be sure of it then_! Be sure that God's blessing is +as much upon you; be sure that you are doing God's work, as much when you +are handling a musket or laying a gun in your country's battles, as when +you are bearing frost and hunger in the trenches, and pain and weakness +on a sick bed. + +For the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the _Prince of Peace_; He is the +_Prince of War_ too. He is the Lord of Hosts, the God of armies; and +whosoever fights in a just war, against tyrants and oppressors, he is +fighting on Christ's side, and Christ is fighting on his side; Christ is +his Captain and his Leader, and he can be in no better service. Be sure +of it; for the Bible tells you so. The old wars of Abraham against the +robber-kings; of Joshua against the Canaanites; of David against the +Philistines; of Hezekiah against the Assyrians; of the Maccabees against +the Greeks--all tell the soldier the same brave news, that he is doing +God's work, and that God's blessing is on him, when he fights in a just +cause. And you are fighting in a just cause, if you are fighting for +freedom and law. If to you God gives the noble work of fighting for the +liberty of Europe, God will reward you according as you do that work like +men. You will be fighting in that everlasting war which is in heaven; in +God's everlasting war against all injustice and wrong, the Captain and +Leader whereof is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Believe that--for the +Bible tells it you. You must think of the Lord Jesus Christ, not merely +as a sufferer, but as a warrior; not merely as the Man of Sorrows +(blessed as that thought is), but as the Lord of Hosts--the God of +armies--the King who executes justice and judgment in the earth, who has +sworn vengeance against all unrighteousness and wrong, and will destroy +the wicked with the breath of His mouth. You must think of Him as the +God of the fatherless and the widow; but you must think of Him, too, as +the God of the sailor and the soldier, the God of duty, the God of +justice, the God of vengeance, the God to whom _your colours were +solemnly offered_, and _His blessing on them prayed for_, when they were +given to your regiment. + +I know that you would follow those colours into the mouth of the pit, +that you would die twice over sooner than let them be taken. Good! but +remember, too, that those colours are a sign to you that Christ is with +you, ready to give you courage, coolness, and right judgment, in the +charge and in the death grapple, just as much as He is with those +ministering angels who will nurse and tend your wounds in hospital. God's +blessing is on them; but do you never forget that your colours are a sign +to you that Christ's blessing is on _you_. If they do not mean that to +you, what was the use of blessing them with prayer? It must have been a +lie and a sham. But it is no lie, brave men, and no sham; it is a +glorious truth, of which those noble rags, inscribed with noble names of +victory, should remind you every day and every hour, that he who fights +for Queen and country in a just cause, is fighting not only in the +Queen's army, but in Christ's army, and that he shall in no wise lose his +reward. + +Are not these brave words for brave soldiers? Well: they are not mine; +they are the Bible's. The book of Revelation tells us how St. John saw a +vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of His everlasting war against +wrong, of which I spoke just now. And what did the Lord appear like? + +"_And I saw heaven opened_, _and behold a white horse_; _and he that sat +upon him is called Faithful and True_, _and in righteousness He doth +judge and make war_. _And His eyes were as a flame of fire_; _and He was +clothed in a garment dipped in blood_; _and His name is called the Word +of God_. _And the armies in heaven followed Him_, _riding upon white +horses_, _clothed in fine linen_, _white and clean_. _And out of His +mouth goeth a sharp sword_, _that He should smite the nations_; _and He +shall rule them with a rod of iron_; _and He treadeth the winepress of +the fierceness and of the wrath of almighty God_" (Rev. xix. 11). + +Are not these brave words, my friends? Are not these soldier-like words? +Is not this a general worth following? Is not this a charge of cavalry +worth sharing in? Then believe that that general, the Lord Jesus Christ, +is your general. Believe that you are sharing in that everlasting +charge, to which the glorious charge of Balaclava was as nothing; the +everlasting war which the Lord Jesus wages against all sin, and cruelty, +and wrong--in which He will never draw bridle-rein, or sheath His sword, +till He has put all enemies under His feet, and swept all oppression, +injustice, and wickedness off the face of the earth which God has given +Him. + +Therefore I can say to you other brave words, my friends (and not my own, +but the words of the same Lord Jesus Christ):--"Fear not them that can +kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will +forewarn you whom you shall fear; fear him who after he has killed has +power to destroy both body and soul in hell." + +Now all England knows already that you do not fear those who can kill the +body; but I sometimes fear that some of you are not enough afraid of that +enemy worst of all, who can kill the soul too. And who is that? St. +Paul tells us. He is "the devil, who has the power of death," who lies +in ambuscade to destroy your body and soul in hell; and will and can do +it; _but only if you let him_. Now who is the devil? It is worth your +while to know; for many a man may be, as you are, in the ranks of God's +army, and yet doing the devil's work all the while. Many a man may fancy +himself a good soldier, and forget that a soldier is a man, and something +more; and that therefore, before you can be a good soldier, you must +first be more or less of a good man. Do you think not? Look then, and +see whether the most upright and god-fearing men in your ranks are not in +the long run the best soldiers. I don't mean merely the best +_fighters_--the bravest men in battle. There goes more than mere bull- +dog pluck to the making of a soldier; and to make a good soldier, I hold +that a man, though he be afraid of nothing else, must be horribly afraid +of the devil, and _that the better and braver soldier he is_, _the more +afraid of the devil he will be_. + +Of course that depends upon who the devil is. I will tell you. He is +what his name means, _the accuser and the divider_--the evil spirit who +sets men against each other--men against officers, and officers against +men; who sets men grumbling, puts hard suspicious thoughts into their +minds; makes them selfish and forgetful of their duty, tempts them to +care only for themselves, and help themselves. You must see that if +those tempers once got head in an army, there would be an end of all +discipline--of all obedience; and what is more, of all courage; for if +the devil could completely persuade every man to care only for himself, +the plain thing for every man to do, would be to turn round and run for +his life. That you will never do; but you may give way to the devil in +lesser matters, and so do God's work ill, and lose your own reward from +God. All grumbling, and hard speeches, and tale-bearing is doing the +devil's work. All disorder and laziness is doing the devil's work. All +cruelty and brutality is doing the devil's work. + +Now as to cruelty and brutality, some soldiers fancy when towns are taken +in war, that they may do things for which (to speak the truth) _they +ought to be hanged_. I mean in plain English, ravishing the women, and +ill-treating unarmed men, to make them give up their money. _Whosoever +does these things_, _God's curse is on him_, and his sin will surely find +him out. No excuse of being in hot blood will avail him. No excuse of +having fought well beforehand will avail him. Such cant will no more +excuse him with God than it will with truly noble-minded men. He may +have been brave enough before, but he is doing a coward's deed then; he +is doing the devil's work, _and the devil_, _and not God_, _will pay him +his wages_, _to the uttermost farthing_. But though I tell you to fear +the devil, it is only to fear his getting the command over you. The +devil is a liar, and a liar is always a coward. Be brave in God's +service. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." + +One word more. If any of you are maddened by hearing of the enemy +murdering some of your wounded--recollect that _revenge_ is one of the +devil's works, of which the brave men cannot be too much afraid. God +forbid that you should ever be maddened into imitating such cruelty. +Fight the enemy in God's name--and strike home; but never have on your +conscience the thought that you struck _an unnecessary blow_. _You are +to kill for the sake of victory_, _but never to kill for the sake of +killing_. You know who it was who prayed for and excused His own +murderers as He hung upon the cross. "Father, forgive them, for they +know not what they do." That was the same Lord Jesus who, as I told you, +is the great Warrior against all wrong. If He was not ashamed to +forgive, do you not be ashamed either. You cannot be more brave than He +is; try, at least, to be merciful like Him. Overcome evil with good; by +returning good for evil you will not only help England's cause by +softening the hearts of your enemies, but you will preach Christ's gospel +to them--and in nowise lose your reward. + +Remember then, always, our Lord Jesus Christ is the pattern of a perfect +warrior, whether by land or sea; and if you be like Him, and fighting +_not only on His side_, _but as He likes to see you fight_, that is, +righteously and mercifully against the tyrants of the earth--what harm +can happen to you? Be sure that whether you live, you will live to Him; +or whether you die, you die to Him; that living or dying you will be His; +and that He is merciful (the Bible says) in this, that He rewards every +man according to his work. Do you your work like men, and be sure that +the Lord Jesus Christ will see that you are right well paid, if not in +this life, still in that life to come, to which may He bring you and all +brave men, who will strive to do their duty in that station of life to +which God has called them. + + + +II. THE STORY OF CORTEZ; OR PLUCK IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. A LECTURE +DELIVERED AT ALDERSHOT CAMP, NOV. 1858. + + +It seemed to me that, having to speak to-night to soldiers, that I ought +to speak _about_ soldiers. Some story, I thought, about your own +profession would please you most and teach you most. Some story, I say, +for it is not my business to tell you what soldiers ought to be like. +That, I daresay, you know a great deal better than I; and I only hope I +may do my duty as a parson half as well as British soldiers do their +duty, and will always do it. + +So I thought of telling you to-night some sort of a story--a true one, of +course, about wars and battles--some story about the British army; but +then I thought there are plenty of officers who can do that far better +than I,--so I will take some story of foreign armies, and one of old +times too. And though no soldier myself, but only a scholar, and reader +of queer old books, I may make my scholarship of some use to you who have +to drill and fight, and die too, for us comfortable folks who sit at home +and read our books by our fireside. + +Then I thought of the story of Cortez the Spaniard, and how he conquered +the great empire of Mexico with a handful of brave men. That, I thought, +would be an example to you of what men can do who have stout hearts and +good weapons, and who have faith too in God, and believe that if they do +their duty God will prosper them. And I thought I could do it all the +better, because I like the story, and enjoy reading it again and again; +for I know no such dashing and desperate deed of courage in history, +except Havelock's advance upon Lucknow. + +So now I will begin my story, telling you first where Mexico is, and what +it was like when Cortez landed in it, more than three hundred years ago. + +You, all of you, have heard of the West India station--some of you have +been there. Beyond those West India Islands lies the great Gulf of +Mexico, and beyond that the mainland of North America, and Mexico itself. +It is now thinly peopled by Spaniards, the descendants of settlers who +came over after Cortez's time; and a very lazy, cowardly set most of them +are,--very different from the old heroes, their forefathers. Our Yankee +cousins can lick them now, one to five, and will end, I believe, in +conquering the whole country. But in Cortez's time, the place was very +different. It was full of vast numbers of heathens, brownish coloured +people, something like the Red Indians you see in Canada, but a fairer, +handsomer, stouter, heavier-bodied race; and much more civilised also. +They had great cities and idol temples, aqueducts for water, and all +sorts of noble buildings, all of most curiously carved stone; which is +all the more wonderful and creditable to them, when we remember that they +had no iron--not a knife--not a nail of iron among them. But they had +found out how to make bronze by mixing tin and copper, and with it could +work the hardest stones, as well as we can with iron. They had another +stuff which was curious enough, of which they made knives, razors, arrow +heads, and saw-edged swords as keen as razors--and that was _glass_. They +did not make the glass--they found it about the burning mountains, of +which Mexico is full; itztli they called it; we call it obsidian. It is +tougher than our glass, and chips to a fine razor edge. I have seen +arrows of it, which I am certain would go clean through a man, and knives +which would take his arm off, bone and all. I want you to remember these +glass weapons, for Cortez's Spaniards had cause enough to remember them +when they came to fight. Gunpowder, of course, they knew nothing of, nor +of horses or cattle either. They had no beasts of draught; and all the +stones and timber for their magnificent buildings were carried by hand. +But they were first-rate farmers; and for handicraft work, such as +pottery, weaving, and making all kinds of ornaments, I can answer for it, +for I have seen a good deal of their work--they had not then their equals +in the world. They made the most beautiful dresses out of the feathers +of birds--parrots, humming birds, and such like, which fill the forests +in hot countries. And what was more, their country abounded in gold and +jewels, and they knew how to work them, just as well as we do. They +could work gold into the likeness of flowers, of birds with every feather +like life, and into a thousand trinkets. Their soil was most fruitful of +all that man can want--there was enough of the best for all to eat; and +altogether there never was a richer, and need never have been a happier +people, if they had but been good. But that was just what they were not. +A bad lot they were, cruel and blood-thirsty, continually at war with +each other; and as for cruelty, just take this one story. At the opening +of a great temple to one of their idols in 1486, about thirty years +before the Spaniards came, they sacrificed to the idol seventy-thousand +human beings! + +This offering in sacrifice of human beings to their idols was their +regular practice. They got these poor creatures by conquering all the +nations round, and carrying back their prisoners to sacrifice; and if +they failed, they took poor people of their own, for blood they and their +false gods must have. Men, and sometimes women and children, were +murdered by them in their temples, often with the most horrible tortures, +to the number, I am afraid there is no doubt of it, of many thousands +every year; and their flesh afterwards cooked delicately, was eaten as a +luxury by people who, as far as outward show went, were just as fine +gentlemen and ladies as there are now. + +When the Spaniards got into Mexico, they found the walls of the temples +crusted inches thick in blood, the altars of the idols heaped with +smoking human hearts, and whole houses full of skulls. They counted in +one house one hundred and thirty-six thousand skulls. It was high time +to get rid of those Mexicans off the face of the earth; and in God's good +time a man was found to rid the earth of them, and that man was Hernando +Cortez. + +And who was Cortez? He was a poor young Spanish gentleman, son of an +infantry captain, who, in his youth, was sickly and weakly; and his +father tried to make a lawyer of him, and would have done it, but young +Cortez kicked over the traces, as we say, right and left, and turned out +such a wild fellow, that he would not stay at college; and after getting +into plenty of scrapes, started as a soldier to the West Indies when he +was only nineteen. Little did people think what stuff there was in that +wild, sickly lad! + +How he got on in the Spanish West Indies would be a long story. I will +only tell you that he turned out a thoroughly good soldier, and a very +dashing smart fellow, a first-rate rider and fencer, a great dandy in his +dress; but also--and if you go to hot climates, keep this in mind--a +particularly sober and temperate man, who drank nothing, and could eat +anything. And he had, it is said, the most extraordinary power of +managing his men. He was always cool and determined; and what he said +had to be done, and they knew it; but his way with them was so frank and +kind, and he was so ready to be the foremost in daring and enduring, +living worse often than his own men, while he was doing every thing for +their comfort, that there was nothing they would not do for him, as the +event proved--for if those soldiers had not trusted him for life and +death, I should not have this grand story to tell. + +At last he married a very pretty woman, and got an estate in the West +Indies, and settled down there; and the chances were ten to one that no +one ever heard of him. However, dim reports came to the West Indies of +this great empire of Mexico, and of all its wonders and wealth, and that +stirred up Cortez's blood; and nothing would serve him but that leaving +wife and estate, he must start out again to seek his fortune. + +He got a commission from the Governor, such as it was, for they were +lawless places those Spanish West Indies then; and everybody fulfilled a +certain Irishman's notion of true liberty--for he did "what was right in +the sight of his own eyes, and what _was wrong too_"--and Cortez's +commission was to go and discover this country, and trade with the +people, and make Christians of them--that is, if he could. + +So he got together a little army, and sailed away with it for the unknown +land. He had about one hundred sailors, five hundred and fifty soldiers +armed with sword and pike, and among them thirty-two cross-bow men, and +thirteen musketeers. Above all, he had sixteen horses, ten heavy guns--or +what may be called heavy guns in those times--about 9-pounders, I +suppose, and four smaller guns; and with that he set out to conquer a new +world; _and he conquered it_! + +He did not know whither he was going. All he knew was, that this +wonderful country of Mexico was _somewhere_, and treasures inestimable in +it. And one other thing he knew, that if mortal man _could_ get there, +he _would_. + +He landed at Tabasco--where Vera Cruz city stands now--fought with the +Indians, who ran away at the sight of the horses and noise of the cannon; +and then made friends with them. From them he got presents, and among +others, a present which was worth more than its weight in gold to him, +namely, a young slave girl, who had been born near Mexico, and knew the +language. She was very clever, and very beautiful; and soon learnt to +speak Spanish. She had been a princess in her own country, and was sold +as a slave by her cruel stepmother. They made a Christian of her, and +called her Dona Marina,--her Indian name was Malinche,--and she became +Cortez's interpreter to the Indians, and his secretary. And she loved +him and served him as faithfully as true woman ever loved man, and saved +him and his from a hundred dangers. And the Spaniards reverence her name +still; and call a mighty snow mountain after her, Malinche, to this day. + +After that he marched inland, hearing more and more of the wonders of +Mexico, till he came at last, after many adventures, to a country called +Tlascala, up among high mountains. + +The men who lived there seem to have been rough honest fellows; and brave +enough they showed themselves. The Mexicans who lived in the plains +below never could conquer them, though they had been fighting with them +for full two hundred years. These Tlascalans turned out like men, and +fought Cortez--one hundred Indians to one Spaniard they fought for four +mortal hours; but horses and cannon were too much for them, and by +evening they were beaten off. They attempted to surprise him the same +night, and were beaten off again with great slaughter. Whereon a strange +thing happened. + +Cortez, through Dona Marina, his interpreter, sent them in fair terms. If +they would make peace he would forget and forgive all; if not, he would +kill every man of them, and level their city to the ground. Whereon, +after more fighting, the Tlascalans behaved like wise and brave men. They +understood at last that Cortez's point was not Tlascala, but Mexico; and +the Mexicans were their bitterest enemies; and they had the good sense to +shake hands with the Spaniards, and make all up. And faithful friends +they were, and bravely they fought side by side during all the terrible +campaign that followed. Meanwhile, Cortez's own men began to lose heart. +They had had terrible fighting already, and no plunder. As for getting +to Mexico, it was all a dream. But Cortez and Dona Marina, this +wonderful Indian girl, kept them up. No doubt they were in awful +danger--a handful of strangers walking blindfold in a vast empire, not +one foot of ground of which they knew: but Cortez knew the further they +went the further they must go, for it was impossible to go back. So on +and on they went; and as they went they met ambassadors from Montezuma, +the great Emperor of Mexico. The very sight of these men confirmed all +that they had heard of the riches of that great empire, for these Indian +lords came blazing with gold and jewels, and the most magnificent +dresses; and of their power, for at one city which had let Cortez in +peaceably without asking the Emperor's leave, they demanded as a fine +five and twenty Indian young men and forty girls to be offered in +sacrifice to their idols. Cortez answered that by clapping them in +irons, and then sending them back to the Emperor, with a message that +whether he liked or not, he was coming to Mexico. + +You may call that desperate rashness; but like a good deal of rashness, +it paid. This great Emperor Montezuma was utterly panic-stricken. There +were old prophecies that white gods should come over the sea and destroy +him and his empire; and he took it into his head that these Spaniards +were the white gods, and that there was no use resisting them. He had +been a brave man in his youth, and a great warrior; but he utterly lost +his head now. He sent magnificent presents to the Spaniards to buy them +off; but that only made them the more keen to come on; and come they did, +till they saw underneath them the city of Mexico, which must have been +then one of the wonders of the world. + +It lay in the midst of a great salt lake, and could only be reached from +shore by long causeways, beautifully built of stone. On this lake were +many islands; and what was most curious of all, floating gardens, covered +with all sorts of vegetables and flowers. + +How big the city was no one will ever know now; but the old ruins of it +show how magnificent its buildings must have been, full of palaces and +temples of every kind of carved stone, surrounded by flower gardens, +while the whole city was full of fountains, supplied with pure water +brought in pipes from the mountains round. I suppose so beautiful a +sight as that city of Mexico has never been seen since on earth. Only +one ugly feature there was in it--great pyramids of stone, hundreds of +them, with idol temples on the top, on each of which was kept up a +perpetual fire, fed with the fat of human beings. + +To their surprise the Emperor received them peaceably, came out to meet +them, gave them such presents, that the common soldiers were covered with +chains of gold; invited them into the city, and gave them a magnificent +palace to live in, and endless slaves to wait upon them. It sounds all +like a fairy tale; but it is as true as that you and I are here. + +But the cunning emperor had been plotting against them all the while; and +no great blame to him; and at last one of those plots came to light; and +Cortez made up his mind to take the Emperor prisoner. And he did it. +Right or wrong, we can hardly say now. This Montezuma was a bad, false +man, a tyrant and a cannibal; but still it looks ugly to seize a man who +is acting as your friend. However, Cortez had courage, in the midst of +that great city, with hundreds of thousands of Indians round him, to go +and tell the Emperor that he must come with him. And--so strong is a man +when he chooses to be strong--the Emperor actually went with Cortez a +prisoner. + +Cortez--and that was an unworthy action--put him in irons for an hour, to +show him that he was master; and then took off his irons, and treated him +like a king. The poor Emperor had all he wanted--all his wives, and +slaves, and finery, and eatables, and drinkables; but he was a mere +puppet in the Spaniard's hands; and knew it. And strangely enough, not +being able to get out of his mind the fancy that these Spaniards were +gods, or at least, the children of the gods, he treated them so +generously and kindly, that they all loved him; he obeyed them in +everything; took up a great friendship with several; and ended actually +by giving them all his treasures of gold to melt down and part among +themselves. As I say, it sounds all like a fairy tale, but it happened +in this very month of November 1519. + +But Cortez had been too prosperous not to meet with a mishap. Every +great man must be tried by trouble; and so was Cortez. News came to him +that a fresh army of Spaniards had landed, as he thought at first, to +help him. They had nine hundred men, eighty of whom were horse soldiers, +eighty musqueteers, one hundred and fifty cross-bow men, a good train of +heavy guns, ammunition, &c. What was Cortez's disgust when he found that +the treacherous Governor of Cuba had sent them, not to help him, but to +take him prisoner as a rebel? It was a villainous business got up out of +envy of Cortez's success, and covetousness of his booty. But in the +Spanish colonies in those days, so far from home, there was very little +law; and the governors and adventurers were always quarrelling and +fighting with each other. + +What did Cortez do? made up his mind as usual to do the desperate thing, +and marched against Narvaez with only seventy men, no guns, and hardly +any muskets--seventy against nine hundred. It was fearful odds; but he +was forced to leave the rest to keep Mexico down. And he armed his men +with very long lances, tipped at both ends with copper--for he had no +iron; with them he hoped to face Narvaez's cavalry. + +And he did it. Happily on his road he met an old friend with one hundred +and twenty soldiers, who had been sent off to form a colony on the coast. +They were as true as steel to him. And with that one hundred and ninety +he surprised and defeated by night Narvaez's splendid little army. And +what is more, after beating them, made such friends with them, that he +engaged them all next morning to march with him wherever he wanted. The +man was like a spider--whoever fell into his net, friend or foe, never +came out again till he had sucked him dry. + +Now he hurried back to Mexico, and terribly good reason he had; for +Alvarado whom he had left in garrison had quarrelled with the Mexicans, +and set upon them at one of their idol feasts, and massacred great +numbers of their leading men. It was a bloody black business, and +bitterly the Spaniards paid for it. Cortez when he heard it actually +lost his temper for once, and called his lieutenant-general a madman and +a traitor; but he could not afford to cashier him, for after all he was +the best and bravest man he had. But the mischief was done. The whole +city of Mexico, the whole country round, had risen in fury, had driven +the Spanish garrison into the great palace; and worst of all, had burnt +the boats, which Cortez had left to get off by, if the bridges were burst +down. So there was Alvarado shut up, exactly like the English at +Lucknow, with this difference, that the Spaniards deserved what they got, +and the English, God knows, _did not_. And there was Cortez like another +Havelock or Colin Campbell marching to deliver them. But he met a very +different reception. These crafty Mexicans never struck a blow. All was +as still as the grave. As they came over the long causeways and bridges, +there was not a canoe upon the lake, not an Indian in the floating +gardens. As they marched through the streets of the glorious city, the +streets were as empty as a desert. And the Spaniard knew that he was +walking into a trap, out of which none of them might come out alive; but +their hearts never failed them, and they marched on to the sound of their +bugles, and were answered by joyful salutes of cannon from the relieved +garrison. + +The Mexicans had shut up the markets, and no food was to be got. Cortez +sent to open them. He sent another messenger off to the coast to say all +was safe, and that he should soon conquer the rebels. But here, a +cleverer man than I must tell the story. + +"But scarcely had his messenger been gone half an hour, when he returned +breathless with terror and covered with wounds. 'The city,' he said, +'was all in arms! the drawbridges were raised, and the enemy would soon +be upon them! He spoke truth. It was not long before a hoarse sullen +sound became audible, like that of the roaring of distant waters. It +grew louder and louder, till from the parapet surrounding the enclosure, +the great avenues which led to it might be seen dark with the masses of +warriors, who came rolling on in a confused tide towards the fortress. At +the same time the terraces and flat roofs in the neighbourhood were +thronged with combatants, brandishing their missiles, who seemed to have +risen up as if by magic! It was a spectacle to appall the stoutest. The +Spanish forces were crowded into a small compact mass in the palace, and +the whole army could be assembled at a moment's notice. No sooner, +therefore, did the trumpet call to arms, than every soldier was at his +post--the cavalry mounted, the artillerymen at their guns, and the +archers and arquebusiers stationed so as to give the assailants a warm +reception. On they came, with the companies, or irregular masses, into +which the multitude was divided, rushing forward each in its own dense +column, with many a gay banner displayed, and many a bright gleam of +light reflected from helmet, arrow, and spear head, as they were tossed +about in their disorderly array. As they drew near, the Aztecs set up a +hideous yell, which rose far above the sound of shell and atabat, and +their other rude instruments of warlike melody. They followed this by a +tempest of missiles--stones, darts, arrows--which fell thick as rain on +the besieged. The Spaniards waited till the foremost column had arrived, +when a general discharge of artillery and arquebusses swept the ranks of +the assailants, and mowed them down by hundreds." {222} . . . + +So the fight raged on with fury for two days, while the Aztecs, Indians +who only fought by day, howled out to the wretched Spaniards every night. +On the third day Cortez brought out the Emperor Montezuma, and commanded +him to quiet the Indians. The unhappy man obeyed him. He had made up +his mind that these Spaniards were the white gods, who were to take his +kingdom from him, and he submitted to them like a sheep to the butcher. +He went up to a tower in all his royal robes and jewels. At the sight +the Indians who filled the great square below were all hushed--thousands +threw themselves on their faces; and to their utter astonishment, he +asked them what they meant by rebelling. He was no prisoner, he said, +but the Spaniard's guest and friend. The Spaniards would go peaceably, +if they would let them. In any case he was the Spaniard's friend. + +The Indians answered him by a yell of fury and contempt. He was a dog--a +woman--fit only to weave and spin; and a volley of stones and arrows flew +at him. One struck him on the head and dropped him senseless. The +Indians set up a howl of terror; and frightened at what they had done, +fled away ashamed. + +The wretched Emperor refused comfort, food, help, tore the bandages from +his wounds, and died in two days. He had been a bad man, a cannibal, and +a butcher, blood-thirsty and covetous, a ravisher of virgins, and a +tyrant to his people. But the Spaniards had got to love him in spite of +all; for a true friend he had been to them, and a fearful loss to them +just now. The battle went on worse than ever. The great idol temple +commanded the palace, and was covered with Mexican warriors. And next +day Cortez sent a party to storm it. They tried to get up the winding +stairs, and were driven back three times with fearful loss. Cortez, +though he had but one hand to fight with, sallied out and cleared the +pyramid himself, after a fearful hand-to-hand fight of three hours, up +the winding stairs, along the platforms, and at last upon the great +square on the top, an acre in breadth. Every Mexican was either killed, +or hurled down the sides. The idol, the war god, with its gold disc of +bleeding hearts smoking before it, was hurled down and the whole accursed +place set on fire and destroyed. Three hundred houses round were also +burnt that night; but of what use? + +The Spaniards were starving, hemmed in by hundreds of thousands. They +were like a single wasp inside a bee-hive. Let him kill the bees by +hundreds, he must be killed himself at last. He made up his mind to +evacuate the city, to leave all his conquests behind him. It was a +terrible disappointment, but it had to be done. + +They marched out by night in good order, with all their guns and +ammunition, and with immense plunder; as much of poor Montezuma's +treasures as they could carry. The old hands took very little; they knew +what they were about. The fresh ones from Narvaez's army loaded +themselves with gold and jewels, and had to pay dear for them. Cortez, I +ought to tell you, took good care of Dona Marina. He sent her forward +under a strong guard of Tlascalans, with all the other women. The great +street was crossed by many canals. Then the causeway across the lake, +two miles long, was crossed by more canals, and at every one of these the +Indians had taken away the bridges. Cortez knew that, and had made a +movable bridge; but he had only time to make one, and that of course had +to be taken up at the rear, and carried forward to the front every time +they crossed a dyke; and that made endless delay. As long as they were +in the city, however, all went well; but the moment they came out upon +the lake causeway, out thundered the serpent-skin drums from the top of +every temple, the conch shells blew, and out swarmed the whole hive of +bees, against the one brave wasp who was struggling. The Spaniards +cleared the dyke by cavalry and artillery, and got to the first canal, +laid down the bridge, and over slowly but safely, amid a storm of stones +and arrows. They got to the second canal, fifteen or twenty feet broad. +Why, in God's name, was not the bridge brought on? Instead of the bridge +came news from the rear. The weight of the artillery had been too great +for the bridge, and it was jammed fast. And there they were on a narrow +dyke fifty feet broad, in the midst of the lake, in the dark midnight, +with countless thousands of Indians, around, before, behind, and the lord +have mercy on them! + +What followed you may guess--though some of the brave men who fought +there, and who wrote the story themselves--which I have read--hardly +knew. + +The cavalry tried to swim their horses over. Some got safe, others +rolled into the lake. The infantry followed pell mell, cut down like +sheep by arrows and stones, by the terrible glass swords of the Indians, +who crowded round their canoes. The waggons prest on the men, the guns +on them, the rear on them again, till in a few minutes the canal was +choked with writhing bodies of men and horses, cannon, gold and treasure +inestimable, over which the survivors scrambled to the further bank. +Cortez, who was helping the rear forded the gap on horseback, and hurried +on to find a third and larger canal which no one dare cross. But the +Indians were not so thick here, and plunging into the water they got +through as they could. And woe that night to the soldier who had laden +himself with Indian treasure. Dragged to the bottom by the weight of +their plunder, hundreds died there drowned by that very gold to find +which they had crossed the seas, and fought so many a bloody battle. + +What is the use of making a sad story long? They reached the shore, and +sat down like men desperate and foredone in a great idol temple. Several +of their finest officers, three-fourths of their men, were killed and +missing, three-fourths too of their horses--all Cortez's papers, all +their cannon, all their treasure. They had not even a musket left. +Nothing to face the Indians with but twenty-three crippled horses, a few +damaged crossbows, and their good old swords. Cortez's first question +was for poor Dona Marima, and strange to say she was safe. The trusty +Tlascalan Indians had brought her through it all. Alvarado the +lieutenant was safe too. If he had been the cause of all that misery, he +did his best to make up for it. He stayed behind fighting at the last +canal till all were over, and the Indians closing round him. Then he set +his long lance in the water, and to the astonishment of both armies, +leapt the canal clean, while the Indians shouted, "This is indeed the +Tonatiah, the child of the Sun." The gap is shown now, and it is called +to this day, Alvarado's Leap. God forgive him! for if he was a cruel +man, he was at least a brave one! + +Cortez sat down, a ruined man, and as he looked round for his old +comrades, and missed one face after another, he covered his face with his +hands and cried like a child. + +And was he a ruined man? Never less. No man is ruined till his pluck is +gone. He got his starving and shivering men together, and away for the +mountains to get back to the friendly people of Tlascala. The people +followed them along the hills shouting, "Go on! you will soon find +yourselves where you cannot escape." But he went on--till he saw what +they meant. + +Waiting for him in a pass was an army of Indians--two hundred thousand, +some writers say--all fresh and fully armed. What could he do? To +surrender, was to be sacrificed every man to the idols; so he marched on. +He had still twenty horses, and he put ten on each flank. He bade his +men not strike with their sword but give the point. He made a speech to +his men. They had beaten the Indians, he said, many a time at just as +fearful odds. God had brought them through so far, God would not desert +them, for they were fighting on His side against the heathen; and so he +went straight at the vast army of Indians. They were surrounded, +swallowed up by them for a few minutes. In the course of an hour the +Spaniards had routed them utterly with immense slaughter. + +Of all the battles I ever read of, this battle of Otumba is one of the +most miraculous. Some say that Cortez conquered Mexico by gunpowder: he +had none then, neither cannon nor musket. The sword and lance did it +all, and they in the hands of men worn out with famine, cold, and +fatigue, and I had said broken-hearted into the bargain. But there was +no breaking those men's hearts--what won that battle, what won Mexico, +was the indomitable pluck of the white man, before which the Indian, +whether American or Hindoo, never has stood, and never will stand to the +world's end. The Spaniards proved it in America of old, though they were +better armed than the Indian. But there are those who have proved it +upon Indians as well armed as themselves. Ay, my friends, I should be no +Englishman, if while I told this story, I could help thinking all the +while of our brave comrades in India, who have conquered as Cortez +conquered, and against just as fearful odds; whose enemies were armed, +not with copper arrows and glass knives, but with European muskets, +European cannon, and most dangerous of all, European discipline. I say +Cortez did wonders in his time; but I say too that our Indian heroes have +done more, and done it in a better cause. + +And that is the history of the conquest of Mexico. What, you may ask, is +that the end? When we are leaving the Spaniards a worn-out and starving +handful struggling back for refuge to Tlascala, without anything but +their old swords; do you call _that_ a conquest? + +Yes, I do; just as I call the getting back to Cawnpore, after the relief +of Lucknow, the conquest of India. It showed which was the better man, +Englishman or sepoy, just as the retreat from Mexico showed which was the +better man, Spaniard or Indian. The sepoys were cowed from that day, +just as the Mexicans were cowed after Otumba. They had fought with all +possible odds on their side, and been _licked_; and when men are once +cowed, all the rest is merely a work of time. + +So it was with Cortez. He went back to Tlascala. He got by mere +accident, as we say, a reinforcement of Spaniards. He stirred up all the +Indian nations round, who were weary of the cruel tyranny of the +Mexicans; he made large boats to navigate the lake, and he marched back +upon Mexico the next year with about six hundred Spaniards and nine +cannon--about half the force which he had had before; but with a hundred +thousand Indian allies, who, like the sturdy Tlascalans, proved as true +to him as steel. Truly, if he was not a great general, who is? + +He marched back, taking city after city as he went, and besieged Mexico. +It was a long and weary siege. The Indians fought like fiends. The +causeways had to be taken yard by yard; but Cortez, wise by sad +experience, put his cannon into the boats and swept them from the water. +Then the city had to be taken house by house. The Indians drove him back +again and again, till they were starved to skeletons, and those who used +to eat their enemies were driven to eat each other. Still they would not +give in. At last, after many weeks of fighting, it was all over. The +glorious Mexican empire was crumbled to dust. Those proud nobles, who +used to fat themselves upon the bodies of all the nations round, were +reduced to a handful of starving beggars. The cross of Christ was set +up, where the hearts of human creatures were offered to foul idols, and +Mexico has been ever since the property of the Spaniards, a Christian +land. + +And what became of Cortez? He died sadly and in disgrace. He sowed, and +other men reaped. If he was cruel and covetous, he was punished for it +in this world heavily enough. He had many noble qualities though. He +was a better man than those around him; and one good thing he did, which +was to sweep off the face of the earth as devilish a set of tyrants as +ever defiled the face of the earth. Give him all due honour for it, and +let him rest in peace. God shall judge him and not we. + +But take home with you, soldiers all, one lesson from this strange story, +that while a man can keep his courage and his temper, he is not only +never really beaten, but no man can tell what great things he may not do. + + + +III. PICTURE GALLERIES. + + +Picture-galleries should be the working-man's paradise, {230} a garden of +pleasure, to which he goes to refresh his eyes and heart with beautiful +shapes and sweet colouring, when they are wearied with dull bricks and +mortar, and the ugly colourless things which fill the town, the workshop +and the factory. For, believe me, there is many a road into our hearts +besides our ears and brains; many a sight, and sound, and scent, even, of +which we have never _thought_ at all, sinks into our memory, and helps to +shape our characters; and thus children brought up among beautiful sights +and sweet sounds will most likely show the fruits of their nursing, by +thoughtfulness and affection, and nobleness of mind, even by the +expression of the countenance. The poet Wordsworth, talking of training +up a beautiful country girl, says:-- + + "The floating clouds their state shall lend + To her--for her the willow bend; + Nor shall she fail to see, + Even in the motions of the storm, + _Grace which shall mould the maiden's form_, + _By silent sympathy_. + * * * * * + And she shall bend her ear + In many a secret place + Where rivulets dance their wayward round, + _And beauty_, _born of murmuring sound_, + _Shall pass into her face_." + +Those who live in towns should carefully remember this, for their own +sakes, for their wives' sakes, for their children's sakes. _Never lose +an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful_. Beauty is God's +handwriting--a wayside sacrament; welcome it in every fair face, every +fair sky, every fair flower, and thank _Him_ for it, who is the fountain +of all loveliness, and drink it in, simply and earnestly, with all your +eyes; it is a charmed draught, a cup of blessing. + +Therefore I said that picture-galleries should be the townsman's paradise +of refreshment. Of course, if he can get the real air, the real trees, +even for an hour, let him take it, in God's name; but how many a man who +cannot spare time for a daily country walk, may well slip into the +National Gallery in Trafalgar Square (or the South Kensington Museum), or +any other collection of pictures, for ten minutes. _That_ garden, at +least, flowers as gaily in winter as in summer. Those noble faces on the +wall are never disfigured by grief or passion. There, in the space of a +single room, the townsman may take his country walk--a walk beneath +mountain peaks, blushing sunsets, with broad woodlands spreading out +below it; a walk through green meadows, under cool mellow shades, and +overhanging rocks, by rushing brooks, where he watches and watches till +he seems to _hear_ the foam whisper, and to _see_ the fishes leap; and +his hard worn heart wanders out free, beyond the grim city-world of stone +and iron, smoky chimneys, and roaring wheels, into the world of beautiful +things--_the world which shall be hereafter_--ay, which shall be! Believe +it, toil-worn worker, in spite of thy foul alley, thy crowded lodging, +thy grimed clothing, thy ill-fed children, thy thin, pale wife--believe +it, thou too and thine, will some day have _your_ share of beauty. God +made you love beautiful things only because He intends hereafter to give +you your fill of them. That pictured face on the wall is lovely, but +lovelier still may the wife of thy bosom be when she meets thee on the +resurrection morn! Those baby cherubs in the old Italian painting--how +gracefully they flutter and sport among the soft clouds, full of rich +young life and baby joy! Yes, beautiful indeed, but just such a one at +this very moment is that once pining, deformed child of thine, over whose +death-cradle thou wast weeping a month ago; now a child-angel, whom thou +shalt meet again never to part! Those landscapes, too, painted by +loving, wise old Claude, two hundred years ago, are still as fresh as +ever. How still the meadows are! how pure and free that vault of deep +blue sky! No wonder that thy worn heart, as thou lookest, sighs aloud, +"Oh that I had wings as a dove, then would I flee away and be at rest." +Ah, but gayer meadows and bluer skies await thee in the _world to +come_--that fairy-land made real--"the new heavens and the new earth," +which God has prepared for the pure and the loving, the just and the +brave, who have conquered in this sore fight of life! + +These thoughts may seem all too far-fetched to spring up in a man's head +from merely looking at pictures; but it is not so in practice. See, now, +such thoughts have sprung up in _my_ head; how else did I write them down +here? And why should not they, and better ones, too, spring up in your +heads, friends? It is delightful to watch in a picture-gallery some +street-boy enjoying himself; how first wonder creeps over his rough face, +and then a sweeter, more earnest, awestruck look, till his countenance +seems to grow handsomer and nobler on the spot, and drink in and reflect +unknowingly, the beauty of the picture he is studying. See how some +soldier's face will light up before the painting which tells him a noble +story of bye-gone days. And why? Because he feels as if he himself had +a share in the story at which he looks. They may be noble and glorious +men who are painted there; but they are still _men_ of like passions with +himself, and his man's heart understands them and glories in them; and he +begins, and rightly, to respect himself the more when he finds that he, +too, has a fellow-feeling with noble men and noble deeds. + +I say, pictures raise blessed thoughts in me--why not in you, my +brothers? Your hearts are fresh, thoughtful, kindly; you only want to +have these pictures explained to you, that you may know _why_ and _how_ +they are beautiful, and what feelings they ought to stir in your minds. +Look at the portraits on the walls, and let me explain one or two. Often +the portraits are simpler than large pictures, and they speak of real men +and women who once lived on this earth of ours--generally of remarkable +and noble men--and man should be always interesting to man. + + + +IV. A PORTRAIT IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY. + + +"Any one who goes to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, may see +two large and beautiful pictures--the nearer of the two labelled +'Titian,' representing Bacchus leaping from a car drawn by leopards. The +other, labelled 'Francia,' representing the Holy Family seated on a sort +of throne, with several figures arranged below--one of them a man pierced +with arrows. Between these two, low down, hangs a small picture, about +two feet square, containing only the portrait of an old man, in a white +cap and robe, and labelled on the picture itself, '_Joannes Bellinus_.' +Now this old man is a very ancient friend of mine, and has comforted my +heart, and preached me a sharp sermon, too, many a time. I never enter +that gallery without having five minutes' converse with him; and yet he +has been dead at least three hundred years, and, what is more, I don't +even know his name. But what more do I know of a man by knowing his +name? Whether the man's name be Brown, or whether he has as many names +and titles as a Spanish grandee, what does that tell me about the +_man_?--the spirit and character of the man--what the man will say when +he is asked--what the man will do when he is stirred up to action? The +man's name is part of his clothes; his shell; his husk. Change his name +and all his titles, you don't change _him_--'a man's a man for a' that,' +as Burns says; and a goose a goose. Other men gave him his name; but his +heart and his spirit--his love and his hatred--his wisdom and his +folly--his power to do well and ill; those God and himself gave him. I +must know those, and then I know the _man_. Let us see what we can make +out from the picture itself about the man whom it represents. In the +first place, we may see by his dress that he was in his day the Doge (or +chief magistrate) of Venice--the island city, the queen of the seas. So +we may guess that he had many a stirring time of it, and many a delicate +game to play among those tyrannous and covetous old merchant-princes who +had elected him; who were keeping up their own power at the expense of +everyone's liberty, by spies and nameless accusers, and secret councils, +tortures, and prisons, whose horrors no one ever returned to describe. +Nay, we may guess just the very men with whom he had to deal--the very +battles he may have seen fought. + +"But all these are _circumstances_--things which _stand round_ the man +(as the word means), and not the whole man himself--not the character and +heart of the man: that we must get from the portrait; and if the portrait +is a truly noble portrait we shall get it. If it is a merely vulgar +picture, we shall get the man's dress and shape of his face, but little +or no expression: if it is a _pathetic_ portrait, or picture of passion, +we shall get one particular temporary expression of his face--perhaps +joy, sorrow, anger, disgust--but still one which may have passed any +moment, and left his face quite different; but if the picture is one of +the noblest kind, we shall read the man's whole character there; just all +his strength and weakness, his kindliness or his sternness, his +thoughtfulness or his carelessness, written there once and for ever;--what +he would be, though all the world passed away; what his immortal and +eternal soul will be, unless God or the devil changed his heart, to all +eternity. + +"We may see at once that this man has been very handsome; but it is a +peculiar sort of beauty. How delicate and graceful all the lines in his +face are!--he is a gentleman of God's own making, and not of the tailor's +making. He is such a gentleman as I have seen among working men and nine- +shilling-a-week labourers, often and often; his nobleness is in his +heart--it is God's gift, therefore it shows in his noble looking face. No +matter whether he were poor or rich; all the rags in the world, all the +finery in the world, could not have made him look like a snob or a swell. +He was a thoughtful man, too; no one with such a forehead could have been +a trifler: a kindly man, too, and honest--one that may have played +merrily enough with his grandchildren, and put his hand in his purse for +many a widow and orphan. Look what a bright, clear, straightforward, +gentle look he has, almost a smile; but he has gone through too many sad +hours to smile much: he is a man of many sorrows, like all true and noble +rulers; and, like a high mountain-side, his face bears the furrows of +many storms. He has had a stern life of it, with the cares of a great +nation on his shoulders. He has seen that in this world there is no rest +for those who live like true men: you may see it by the wrinkles in his +brow, and the sharp-cut furrows in his cheeks, and those firm-set, +determined lips. His eyes almost show the marks of many noble +tears,--tears such as good men shed over their nation's sins; but that, +too, is past now. He has found out his path, and he will keep it; and he +has no misgiving now about what God would have him do, or about the +reward which God has laid up for the brave and just; and that is what +makes his forehead so clear and bright, while his very teeth are clenched +with calm determination. And by the look of those high cheek bones, and +that large square jaw, he is a strong-willed man enough, and not one to +be easily turned aside from his purpose by any man alive, or by any woman +either, or by his own passions and tempers. One fault of character, I +think, he may perhaps have had much trouble with--I mean bitterness and +contemptuousness. His lips are very thin; he may have sneered many a +time, when he was younger, at the follies of the world which that great, +lofty, thoughtful brain and clear eye of his told him were follies; but +he seems to have got past that too. Such is the man's character: a +noble, simple, commanding old man, who has conquered many hard things, +and, hardest of all, has conquered himself, and now is waiting calm for +his everlasting rest. God send us all the same. + +"Now consider the deep insight of old John Bellini, who could see all +this, and put it down there for us with pencil and paint. No doubt there +was something in Bellini's own character which made him especially best +able to paint such a man; for we always understand those who are most +like ourselves; and therefore you may tell pretty nearly a painter's own +character by seeing what sort of subjects he paints, and what his style +of painting is. And a noble, simple, brave, godly man was old John +Bellini, who never lost his head, though princes were flattering him and +snobs following him with shouts and blessings for his noble pictures of +the Venetian victories, as if he had been a man sent from God Himself, as +indeed he was--all great painters are; for who but God makes beauty? Who +gives the loving heart, and the clear eye, and the graceful taste to see +beauty and to copy it, and to set forth on canvas, or in stone, the noble +deeds of patriots dying for their country? To paint truly patriotic +pictures well, a man must have his heart in his work--he must be a true +patriot himself, as John Bellini was (if I mistake not, he had fought for +his country himself in more than one shrewd fight). And what makes men +patriots, or artists, or anything noble at all, but the spirit of the +living God? Those great pictures of Bellini's are no more; they were +burnt a few years afterwards, with the magnificent national hall in which +they hung; but the spirit of them is not passed away. Even now, Venice, +Bellini's beloved mother-land, is rising, new-born, from long weary years +of Austrian slavery, and trying to be free and great once more; and young +Italian hearts are lighting up with the thoughts of her old fleets and +her old victories, her merchants and her statesmen, whom John Bellini +drew. Venice sinned, and fell; and sorely has she paid for her sins, +through two hundred years of shame, and profligacy, and slavery. And she +has broken the oppressor's yoke. God send her a new life! May she learn +by her ancient sins! May she learn by her ancient glories! + +"You will forgive me for forgetting my picture to talk of such things. +But we must return. Look back at what I said about the old portrait--the +clear, calm, victorious character of the old man's face, and see how all +the rest of the picture agrees with it, in a complete harmony. The +dress, the scenery, the light and shade, the general 'tone' of colour +should all agree with the character of the face--all help to bring our +minds into that state in which we may best feel and sympathise with the +human beings painted. Now here, because the face is calm and grand, the +colour and the outlines are quiet and grand likewise. How different +these colours are from that glorious 'Holy Family' of Francia's, next to +it on the right; or from that equally glorious 'Bacchus and Ariadne' of +Titian's, on the left! Yet all three are right, each for its own +subject. Here you have no brilliant reds, no rich warm browns; no +luscious greens. The white robe and cap give us the thought of purity +and simplicity; the very golden embroidery on them, which marks his rank, +is carefully kept back from being too gaudy. Everything is _sober_ here; +and the lines of the dress, how simple they all are--no rich curves, no +fluttering drapery. They would be quite stiff if it were not for that +waving line of round tassels in front, which break the extreme +straightness and heaviness of the splendid robe; and all pointing upwards +towards that solemn, thin, calm face, with its high white cap, rising +like the peak of a snow mountain against the dark, deep, boundless blue +sky beyond. That is a grand thought of Bellini's. You do not see the +man's hands; he does not want them now, his work is done. You see no +landscape behind--no buildings. All earth's ways and sights are nothing +to him now; there is nothing but the old man and the sky--nothing between +him and the heaven now, and he knows it and is glad. A few months more, +and those way-worn features shall have crumbled to their dust, and that +strong, meek spirit shall be in the abyss of eternity, before the God +from whence it came. + +"So says John Bellini, with art more cunning than words. And if this +paper shall make one of you look at that little picture with fresh +interest, and raise one strong and solemn longing in you to die the death +of the righteous, and let your last end be like his who is painted +there--then I shall rejoice in the only payment I desire to get, for this +my afternoon's writing." + + + +V. THE BRITISH MUSEUM. + + +Nature is infinitely more wonderful than the highest art; and in the +commonest hedgeside leaf lies a mystery and beauty greater than that of +the greatest picture, the noblest statue--as infinitely greater as God's +work is infinitely greater than man's. But to those who have no leisure +to study nature in the green fields (and there are now-a-days too many +such, though the time may come when all will have that blessing), to such +I say, go to the British Museum, Bloomsbury Square; there at least, if +you cannot go to nature's wonders, some of nature's wonders are brought +to you. + +The British Museum is my glory and joy; because it is one of the only +places which is free to English citizens as such--where the poor and the +rich may meet together, and before those works of God's Spirit, "who is +no respecter of persons," feel that "the Lord is the maker of them all." +In the British Museum and the National Gallery, the Englishman may say, +"Whatever my coat or my purse, I am an Englishman, and therefore I have a +right here. I can glory in these noble halls, as if they were my own +house." + +English commerce, the joint enterprise and industry of the poor sailor as +well as the rich merchant, brought home these treasures from foreign +lands; and those glorious statues--though it was the wealth and taste of +English noblemen and gentlemen (who in that proved themselves truly noble +and gentle) who placed them here, yet it was the genius of English +artists--men at once above and below all ranks--men who have worked their +way up, not by money or birth, but by worth and genius, which taught the +noble and wealthy the value of those antiques, and which proclaimed their +beauty to the world. The British Museum is a truly equalising place, in +the deepest and most spiritual sense. And it gives the lie, too, to that +common slander, "that the English are not worthy of free admission to +valuable and curious collections, because they have such a trick of +seeing with their fingers; such a trick of scribbling their names, of +defiling and disfiguring works of art. On the Continent it may do, but +you cannot trust the English." + +This has been, like many other untruths, so often repeated, that people +now take it for granted; but I believe that it is utterly groundless, and +I say so on the experience of the British Museum and the National +Gallery. In the only two cases, I believe, in which injury has been done +to anything in either place, the destroyers were neither working-men, nor +even poor reckless heathen street-boys, but persons who had received what +is too often miscalled "a liberal education." But _national property +will always be respected_, because all will be content, while they feel +that they have their rights, and all will be careful while they feel that +they have a share in the treasure. + +Go to the British Museum in Easter week, and see there hundreds of +thousands, of every rank and age, wandering past sculptures and +paintings, which would be ruined by a blow--past jewels and curiosities, +any one of which would buy many a poor soul there a month's food and +lodging--only protected by a pane of glass, if by that; and then see not +a thing disfigured--much less stolen. Everywhere order, care, attention, +honest pride in their country's wealth and science; earnest reverence for +the mighty works of God, and of the God-inspired. I say, the people of +England prove themselves worthy of free admission to all works of art, +and it is therefore the duty of those who can to help them to that free +admission. + +What a noble, and righteous, and truly brotherly plan it would be, if all +classes would join to form a free National Gallery of Art and Science, +which might combine the advantages of the present Polytechnic, Society of +Arts, and British Institution, gratis. {243} Manufacturers and men of +science might send thither specimens of their new inventions. The rich +might send, for a few months in the year--as they do now to the British +Institution--ancient and modern pictures, and not only pictures, but all +sorts of curious works of art and nature, which are now hidden in their +drawing-rooms and libraries. There might be free liberty to copy any +object, on the copyist's name and residence being registered. And surely +artists and men of science might be found, with enough of the spirit of +patriotism and love, to explain gratuitously to all comers, whatever +their rank or class, the wonders of the Museum. I really believe that if +once _the spirit of brotherhood_ got abroad among us; if men once saw +that here was a vast means of educating, and softening and uniting those +who have no leisure for study, and few means of enjoyment, except the gin- +shop and Cremorne Gardens; if they could but once feel that here was a +project, equally blessed for rich and poor, the money for it would be at +once forthcoming from many a rich man, who is longing to do good, if he +could only be shown the way; and from many a poor journeyman, who would +gladly contribute his mite to a truly national museum. All that is +wanted is the spirit of self-sacrifice, patriotism and brotherly +love--which God alone can give--which I believe He is giving more and +more in these very days. + +I never felt this more strongly than one day, as I was looking in at the +windows of a splendid curiosity-shop in Oxford Street, at a case of +humming-birds. I was gloating over the beauty of those feathered jewels, +and then wondering what was the meaning, what was the use of it all? why +those exquisite little creatures should have been hidden for ages, in all +their splendours of ruby, and emerald, and gold in the South American +forests, breeding and fluttering and dying, that some dozen out of all +those millions might be brought over here to astonish the eyes of men. +And as I asked myself, why were all these boundless varieties, these +treasures of unseen beauty, created? my brain grew dizzy between pleasure +and thought; and, as always happens when one is most innocently +delighted, "I turned to share the joy," as Wordsworth says; and next to +me stood a huge, brawny coal-heaver, in his shovel hat, and white +stockings and high-lows, gazing at the humming-birds as earnestly as +myself. As I turned he turned, and I saw a bright manly face, with a +broad, soot-grimmed forehead, from under which a pair of keen flashing +eyes gleamed wondering, smiling sympathy into mine. In that moment we +felt ourselves friends. If we had been Frenchmen, we should, I suppose, +have rushed into each other's arms and "fraternised" upon the spot. As +we were a pair of dumb, awkward Englishmen, we only gazed a half-minute, +staring into each other's eyes, with a delightful feeling of +understanding each other, and then burst out both at once with, "Isn't +that beautiful?" "Well, that is!" And then both turned back again, to +stare at our humming-birds. + +I never felt more thoroughly than at that minute (though, thank God, I +had often felt it before) that all men were _brothers_; that this was not +a mere political doctrine, but a blessed God-ordained fact; that the +party-walls of rank and fashion and money were but a paper prison of our +own making, which we might break through any moment by a single hearty +and kindly feeling; that the one spirit of God was given without respect +of persons; that the beautiful things were beautiful alike to the coal- +heaver and the parson; and that before the wondrous works of God and of +God's inspired genius, the rich and the poor might meet together, and +feel that whatever the coat or the creed may be, "A man's a man for a' +that," and one Lord the maker of them all. + +For, believe me, my friends, rich and poor--and I beseech you to think +deeply over this great truth--that men will never be joined in true +brotherhood by mere plans to give them a self-interest in common, as the +Socialists have tried to do. No: to feel _for_ each other, they must +first feel _with_ each other. To have their sympathies in common, they +must have not one object of gain, but an object of admiration in common; +to know that they are brothers, they must feel that they have one Father; +and one way to feel that they have one common Father, is to see each +other wondering, side by side, at His glorious works! + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{80a} H.M.S. the Duke of Wellington. + +{80b} Form of prayer to be used at sea. + +{199} This was written and sent out to the army before Sebastopol in the +winter of 1855. + +{222} Prescott's "History of the Conquest of Mexico." See Book v., ch. +1. + +{230} Mr. Kingsley wrote these papers for London working-men, but his +words apply just as much to soldiers in London barracks, as to artizans. +He thought much of the good of pictures, and all beautiful things for +hard-worked men who could see such things in public galleries, though +they could not afford to have them in their own homes. + +{243} Since this paper was written in 1848 many such institutions have +been opened, at South Kensington, and in several great towns. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUE WORDS FOR BRAVE MEN*** + + +******* This file should be named 20138.txt or 20138.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/3/20138 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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