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diff --git a/37794-h/37794-h.htm b/37794-h/37794-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f303868 --- /dev/null +++ b/37794-h/37794-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9947 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Old Wine and New, by Rev. Joseph Cross +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +.scap {font-variant: small-caps } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +P.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +P.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +P.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +P.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +P.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +P.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 50%; + text-align: center } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%;} + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: 80%; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: 85% ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Wine and New, by Joseph Cross + +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: Old Wine and New + Occasional Discourses + +Author: Joseph Cross + +Release Date: October 18, 2011 [EBook #37794] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD WINE AND NEW *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +OLD WINE AND NEW: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +Occasional Discourses. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +THE REV. JOSEPH CROSS, D.D., LL.D., +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +AUTHOR OF "EVANGEL," "KNIGHT-BANNERET," "COALS FROM<BR> +THE ALTAR," "PAULINE CHARITY," AND<BR> +"EDENS OF ITALY." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +NEW YORK: +<BR> +THOMAS WHITTAKER, +<BR> +<SPAN CLASS="scap">2 and 3 Bible House</SPAN>. +<BR> +1884. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> + <SPAN CLASS="scap">Copyright, 1883,<BR> + By</SPAN> JOSEPH CROSS.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> + Franklin Press:<BR> + RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY,<BR> + BOSTON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +DEDICATORY EPISTLE. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<SPAN CLASS="scap">To</SPAN> THOMAS WHITTAKER, <SPAN CLASS="scap">Esq., Publisher, New York</SPAN>. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="scap">My Dear Friend</SPAN>: In former times and other lands, +when one wrote a book, he inscribed the volume to some +distinguished personage—a bishop, a baron, a monarch, +a magnate in the world of letters—through whose name +it might win its way to popular favor, and achieve a success +hardly to be hoped for from its own merit. Such +overshadowing oaks seemed necessary to shield from sun +and storm the tender undergrowth; and the dew that lay +all night upon their branches the breezy morning shook +off in showers of diamonds upon the humbler herbage at +their roots. In an age pre-eminently of self-reliance and +a country characterized no less by personal than political +independence, authors have learned at length to walk +alone, marching right into the heart of the public with no +patronage but that of the publisher; and if a book have +not the intrinsic qualities to bear the scorching beams and +freezing blasts of criticism, down it must go amidst the +<i>débris</i> of earth's abortive ambitions and ruined hopes. +Not so much from conscious need of help as from high +esteem of the noblest personal qualities, therefore, I beg +leave upon this page to couple with my own a worthier +name. Two years ago, when I placed in your trusty +hands the manuscript of <SPAN CLASS="scap">Knight-Banneret</SPAN>, I had the +least possible idea of the harvest which might grow +from so humble a seed-grain cast into a very questionable +soil. The result was an encouraging disappointment; +and <SPAN CLASS="scap">Evangel</SPAN> soon followed, enlarging the +horizon of hope; and <SPAN CLASS="scap">Edens of Italy</SPAN> sent a refreshing +aroma over all the landscape; and <SPAN CLASS="scap">Coals from the +Altar</SPAN> kindled assuring beacon-fires for the adventurer; +and <SPAN CLASS="scap">Pauline Charity</SPAN>, supported by Faith and Hope, +walked forth in queenly state. During the publication +of these several productions, so pleasant has been our +intercourse—so great your kindness, candor, courtesy, +magnanimity, hospitality, and every other social virtue—that +I look back upon the period as one of the happiest +of my life; and now, at the close of the feast, hoping +that our last bout may be the best, I cordially invite you +to share with me <SPAN CLASS="scap">Old Wine and New</SPAN>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Yours till Paradise,<BR> + JOSEPH CROSS<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Nov. 1, 1883. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +PREFACE. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="scap">Dear Reader</SPAN>: In the preface to <SPAN CLASS="scap">Pauline Charity</SPAN>, +did not the writer promise thee that volume should be +his last? Some months later, however, at the bottom +of the homiletical barrel, he found a few old acquaintances, +in threadbare and tattered guise, smiling reproachfully +out of the dust of an undeserved oblivion. +He beckoned them forth, gave them new garments, and +bade them go to the printer. And lo! here they are—twenty-two +of them—in comely array, with fresh-anointed +locks, knocking modestly at thy door. +</P> + +<P> +If any of the former groups from the same family +were deemed worthy of thy hospitality—if any of the +twenty-two <SPAN CLASS="scap">Evangelists</SPAN> gladdened thy soul with good +tidings—if any of the twenty-two <SPAN CLASS="scap">Knights-Banneret</SPAN> +stimulated thy zeal in the holy conflict—if any of the +twenty white-hooded sisters of <SPAN CLASS="scap">Charity</SPAN> warmed thy +heart with words of loving kindness—if any of the +sixty seraphs, winged with sunbeams, laid upon thy +lips a <SPAN CLASS="scap">Coal from the Altar</SPAN>—if any of the twelve +cherubs, fresh from the <SPAN CLASS="scap">Edens of Italy</SPAN>, led thee +through pleasant paths to goodly palaces and blooming +arbors—turn not away unheard these twenty-two strangers, +but welcome them graciously to the fellowship of +thy house, and perchance the morrow's dawn may disclose +the wings beneath their robes. +</P> + +<P> +But if tempted to discard them as the vagrant offspring +of a senile vanity thrust out to seek their fortune in the +world of letters, know thou that such temptation is of the +Father of lies. For not all of these are thy patriarch's +Benjamins—sons of his old age. The leader of the +band is his very Reuben—the beginning of his strength. +Another is his lion-bannered Judah, washing his garments +in the blood of grapes. In another may be recognized +his long-lost Joseph, found at last in Pharaoh's chariot. +And several others, peradventure, more ancient than thy +father, though bearing neither gray beard nor wrinkled +brow. And the consciousness of a better ambition than +vanity ever inspired prompts their commission to the +public, to speak a word in season to him that is weary—to +comfort the mourners in Zion, giving them beauty for +ashes, the oil of joy for weeping, the garment of praise +for the spirit of heaviness, and filling the vale of Bochim +with songs in the night. Nay, if the mixture of metaphors +be not offensive to thy fastidious rhetoric, these +brethren are sent down into Egypt to procure corn for +thee and thy little ones, O Reader! that ye perish not +in the famine of the land. +</P> + +<P> +"Go to! the tropical language is misleading. We +open the door to thy children, and find nothing but a +hamper of <SPAN CLASS="scap">Wine</SPAN>—twenty-two bottles—some labelled +<SPAN CLASS="scap">Old</SPAN>, and others <SPAN CLASS="scap">New</SPAN>." +</P> + +<P> +As thou wilt, my gentle critic! Perhaps twenty-two +jars of water only. Yet healthfully clear, and sweet to +the taste, it is hoped thou wilt find the beverage; and +if the Lord, present at the feast, but deign to look at +it, thou mayest wonder that the good wine has been +kept till now. +</P> + +<P> +Of Edward Irving, when he died fifty years ago, a +London editor wrote: "He was the one man of our +time who more than all others preached his life and +lived his sermons." To preach one's life were hardly +apostolical, though to live one's sermons might be +greatly Christian. At the former the author never +aimed; of the latter there is little danger of his being +suspected. Yet this book is in some sort the record of +his personal history. For a farewell gift to the world, +he long contemplated an autobiography—had actually +begun the work, written more than a hundred pages, +and sketched a promising outline of the whole; when, in +an hour of indigestion, becoming disgusted, he dropped +the enterprise, and made his manuscript a burnt offering +to the "blues." As a substitute for the failure, +these discourses represent him in the successive stages +of his ministry, being arranged in the chronological +order of production and delivery, with dates and occasions +in footnotes—the only autobiography he could +produce, the only one doubtless to be desired. Should +grace divine make it in any measure effectual to the +spiritual illumination of those who honor it with a +perusal, he will sing his <i>Nunc Dimittis</i> with thankful +heart, and wait calmly for the day when every faithful +worker "shall have praise of God." Farewell. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +J. C. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<SPAN CLASS="scap">Feast of All Saints</SPAN>, 1883. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS. +</P> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Discourse</SPAN></TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Filial Hope.</SPAN> 1829</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Rest for the Weary.</SPAN> 1830</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03"><SPAN CLASS="scap">My Beloved and Friend.</SPAN> 1833</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Refuge in God.</SPAN> 1838</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Parental Discipline.</SPAN> 1840</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Joy of the Law.</SPAN> 1842</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Sojourning with God.</SPAN> 1858</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Building for Immortality.</SPAN> 1859</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Wail of Bereavement.</SPAN> 1862</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Wisdom and Weapons.</SPAN> 1863</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Love tested.</SPAN> 1866</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Manifold Temptations.</SPAN> 1866</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Contest and Coronation.</SPAN> 1866</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Calvary Token.</SPAN> 1866</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Heroism Triumphant.</SPAN> 1868</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Fraternal Forgiveness.</SPAN> 1869</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Christ with his Ministers.</SPAN> 1872</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Kept from Evil.</SPAN> 1873</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Contending for the Faith.</SPAN> 1874</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20"><SPAN CLASS="scap">The Fruitless Fig-Tree.</SPAN> 1876</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21"><SPAN CLASS="scap">Christian Contentment.</SPAN> 1883</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">"<SPAN CLASS="scap">Ye know the Grace.</SPAN>" 1883</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<P CLASS="t1"> +OLD WINE AND NEW. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +I. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +FILIAL HOPE.[<A NAME="ch1fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch1fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear +what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall +be like him; for we shall see him as he is.—1 <SPAN CLASS="scap">John</SPAN> iii. 2. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I am to depart, you to remain; but which shall +have the happier lot, who can tell?" So spake Socrates +to his friends just before he drank the fatal +hemlock. In all the utterances of the ancient philosophy +there is no sadder word. The uncertainty of +the hereafter, the impenetrable gloom that shrouds +the state of the departed, sets the contemplative soul +shivering with mortal dread. Like the expiring +Hobbes, more than two thousand years later, the +grand old Athenian felt himself "taking a leap in +the dark." In his case, however, there was more +excuse than in that of the modern unbeliever. The +dayspring from on high had not yet visited mankind. +The morning star was still below the horizon. Four +centuries must pass before the rising Sun of righteousness +could bring the perfect day. The Christ +came, the true Light of the world; and life and +immortality, dawning from his manger, culminated +upon his sepulchre. Redeeming Love has revealed +to us more of God and man than all the sages of +antiquity ever knew; and our reviving and ascending +Redeemer has shed a flood of radiance upon the +grave and whatever lies beyond. In the immortal +Christ we have a sufficient answer to the patriarch's +question—"If a man die, shall he live again?" In +his mysteriously constituted personality taking our +nature into union with the Godhead, by his vicarious +passion ransoming that nature, and then rising with +it from the dead and returning with it to heaven, he +assures all who believe in him of an actual alliance +with the living God and all the blissful immunities +of life eternal. And thus the apostle's statement +becomes the best expression of our filial hope in +Christ: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; +and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but +we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like +him; for we shall see him as he is." +</P> + +<P> +The ground of our glorious hope as disciples of +Christ is found in our gracious state as sons of God. +But is not this the relation of all men? Originally +it was, but is not now. By creation indeed "we all +are his offspring," but not by adoption and regeneration. +Sin has cut off from that original relation the +whole progeny of Adam, and disinherited us of all +its rights and privileges. The paternal likeness is +effaced from the human soul. Alienated from the +life of God, men have become children of the wicked +One. Only by restoring grace—"a new creation in +Christ Jesus"—can they regain what they have lost. +To effect this, came forth the Only Begotten from +the bosom of the Father, and gave himself upon the +cross a ransom for the sinful race. Whosoever believeth +in him is saved, restored, forgiven, renewed +after the image of his Creator in righteousness and +true holiness. Jesus himself preached to Nicodemus +the necessity of this new birth, and "born of God" +is the apostolic description of the mighty transformation. +More than any outward ordinance is here +expressed—more than mere morality, or reformation +of life—a clean heart created, a right spirit renewed, +the inception of a higher life whereby the soul becomes +partaker of the Divine Nature. All this, +through faith in Christ, by the power of the Holy +Ghost. Now there is reconciliation and amity with +God—"an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things +and sure." More; there is sympathy, and sweet +communion, and joyful co-operation, and spiritual +assimilation, and oneness of will and desire, and free +access to the throne of grace in every time of need. +"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the +Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying—Abba, +Father." "And if children, then heirs—heirs of +God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ." And oh! +what an inheritance awaits us in the glorious manifestation +of our Lord, when all his saints shall be +glorified together with him! For, "it doth not yet +appear what we shall be; but we know that, when +he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall +see him as he is." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Our sonship, you see, is the ground of our hope. +Our hope, you will now see, is worthy of our sonship. +</P> + +<P> +At present, indeed, our glorious destiny is not +apparent. By faith we see it, dim and distant, as +through the shepherds' glass; in hope we wait for +it with calm patience, or press toward it with strong +desire; but what it is—"the glory that shall be +revealed in us"—we know not, and cannot know, +till mortality shall be swallowed up of life. It is +spiritual; we are carnal. It is heavenly; we are +earthly. It is infinite; we are finite. It is altogether +divine: we are but human. Some of God's +artists, as St. Paul and St. John, have given us gorgeous +pictures of it, which we gaze at with shaded +eyes; but while we study them, we cannot help feeling +that they fall far short of the copied original. +In our present state, what idea can we form of the +condition of the soul, and the mode of its subsistence, +when dislodged from the body? Nay, what +idea can we form of the natural body developing +into the spiritual, and all its rudimental powers +unfolding in their perfection? Or, to speak more +accurately and more scripturally, what idea can we +form of the resurrection body, awaking from its long +sleep in the dust, re-organized and re-invested—with +new beauties, perhaps new organs, new senses, new +faculties, all glorious in immortality? And the +enfranchised intellect, who can guess the grandeur +of its destiny—what new provinces of thought, new +discoveries of truth, new revelations of science, new +disclosures of the mysteries of nature and of God? +And the spirit—the ransomed and purified spirit—who +can imagine what perfection of love, what affluence +of joy, what transports of worship and of song, +what society and fellowship with the saints in light, +it shall enjoy when it has entered its eternal rest? +We know not how the statue looks till we see it unveiled; +and the whole creation, as St. Paul writes to +the Romans, is waiting for the unveiling of the sons +of God. Now they are his hidden ones—hidden in +the shadow of his wings, in the secret place of his +tabernacle—their life hidden with Christ in God—their +character and true glory hidden from the world—their +ineffable destiny and reward hidden from +themselves, till their dear Lord shall appear, and +they also shall appear with him in glory. And well +is it that our knowledge of the better world to come +is so obscure and imperfect—necessarily obscure +and imperfect, because God hath graciously revealed +only what was essential to our salvation; for if he +had revealed all that he might have revealed—if we +could foresee and comprehend all that awaits us in +the blessed everlasting future—we might have been +so dazed and delighted with the splendors of the +vision, as to be incapable of business, unfit for society, +and better out of the world than in it. Wisely, +therefore, God hath veiled the future, even from his +saints. The oak is in the acorn, but we cannot +divine its form, and must await its manifestation in +the tree. Yet this we know, saith the apostle—and +surely this ought to satisfy our highest ambition of +knowledge—"that when he shall appear, we shall +be like him, for we shall see him as he is." +</P> + +<P> +Appear he certainly will. Let us not lose sight of +this blessed hope. It is his own promise to the disciples +on the eve of his departure: "I will come +again, and receive you unto myself; and where I +am, there ye shall be also." And the angels of the +ascension reiterate the assurance to them, as they +stand gazing after him from the Mount of Olives: +"This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into +heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen +him go into heaven"—that is, visibly, personally, +gloriously, in the clouds, with the holy angels. And +what saith the apostle? "Christ was once offered to +bear the sins of many; and to them that look for +him, he shall appear the second time, without sin, +unto salvation"—the second advent as real as the +first, and as manifest to human sight. To such +statements no mystical or figurative meaning can be +given, without violence done to the language. Not +in the destruction of Jerusalem was the prediction +fulfilled; nor has it since been fulfilled, nor ever can +be, in any revival or enlargement of the Church; +neither does Jesus come to his disciples at death, but +through death they pass to him. Come at length he +will, however, and every eye shall see him sitting +upon the throne of his glory. The redemption of +our humanity by price pledges a further redemption +by power, which cannot be accomplished without his +personal return to the ransomed planet. "And we +know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like +him, for we shall see him as he is." +</P> + +<P> +That likeness to our Lord must be both corporeal +and spiritual. St. Paul speaks of the whole Church +as "waiting for the adoption—to wit, the redemption +of the body;" and elsewhere states that the +Saviour for whom we look "shall change our vile +body, that it may be fashioned like unto his own +glorious body"—spiritualizing the natural, sublimating +the material, endowing the physical organism +with powers like his own, and adorning the long-dishonored +dust with the radiant beauty of immortality. +Yet more wonderful must be the change +wrought upon the intellectual and spiritual nature. +To be like "God manifest in the flesh"—what is it +but to realize a mental development and maturity +far transcending all that the wisest ever attained to +in this mortal state, perpetual union of our redeemed +humanity with the Divinity, and a blissful process of +assimilation going on forever? Christ is light without +darkness; and to be like him implies a clearness +of understanding and a certitude of truth free from +all prejudice, distortion, and blinding error. Christ +is divine charity incarnate; and to be like him is to +love as he loved—with the ardor, the intensity, the +self-forgetfulness, which drew him to the manger and +led him to the cross. Christ is immaculate holiness +made visible to men; and to be like him is to be as +spotless, as faultless, as free from iniquity, perversity, +hypocrisy, impurity, as He who could challenge the +world with the demand—"Which of you convinceth +me of sin?" Christ is every moral excellence combined +and blended in human character; and to be +like him is to be subject to all those high principles +and noble impulses which give him infinite preeminence +as a model to mankind, and make him in +angelic estimation "the fairest among ten thousand +and altogether lovely." Christ is the King whom +God the Father hath exalted above all powers and +principalities even in heavenly places; and to be like +him is to reign with him, partners of his glory upon +an imperishable throne, when all the dominions of +earth shall have passed away as a forgotten dream. +All this, and much beside that no human imagination +can conceive, is manifestly comprehended in the +apostolic statement, that "he shall come to be glorified +in his saints, and admired in all them that +believe"—men and angels, the whole universe, beholding +in every disciple a perfect <i>facsimile</i> of the +glorified Master. And thus the declaration is triumphantly +verified: "We know that, when he shall +appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as +he is." +</P> + +<P> +Spirit is invisible. In his essence, we shall never +see God. That men might see him, he became incarnate +in human flesh. Except in the person of +Jesus Christ, his creatures will never see him. But +even Christ is far away, gone back to heaven, and +seen only by faith. Often, no doubt, his disciples +wish they could see him with their eyes of flesh; but +they never will till his promised personal return. +With the apostle, they are ever thinking and speaking +of him whom, not having seen, they love; in whom, +though now they see him not, yet believing, they +rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. But +often, looking at him even by faith through the disturbing +and distorting media of prejudice and passion, +they make sad mistakes about him, about his +complex nature, his divine perfections, his human +character, his former work in the flesh, his present +mediation with the Father, his spiritual relation to +the Church, his headship over the redeemed creation. +We can appreciate another only through his like +within ourselves, our sympathy with his moral qualities. +Wanting such sympathy, vice never appreciates +virtue, the carnal never discerns the spiritual, +the selfish never understands the benevolent and disinterested. +Failing to discover the true substratum +of character, they mistake motives, ridicule peculiarities, +and give no credit for qualities which they +cannot perceive. Thus, through the imperfection of +our sympathy with the Saviour, or the utter want +of such sympathy, even when we regard him by faith, +we see him not as he is. Ask the world, "What +think ye of Christ?" you will get a great variety of +answers. One will tell you he is a myth, a phantom, +a creation of genius, that never had a real historic +existence. Another will call him a pretender, an +impostor, a false prophet, utterly unworthy of human +credit and confidence. Another pronounces him an +amiable enthusiast, and a very good man; but self-deceived +as to his mission and ministry, and not a +teacher sent from God. Another deems him a wise +moralist, enunciating principles and precepts such as +the world never heard before; and in his life, an +example of all that is pure and excellent; but not +essential and eternal God, nor a vicarious sacrifice +for human sin. But here is one who regards him as +supremely divine, and yet "the Lamb of God that +taketh away the sins of the world;" and, by the +nail-prints in his palms and the thorn-marks on his +brow, so shall he be recognized when he cometh in +his kingdom, and the nations of the quickened dead +go marching to his throne. All mistakes about him +will thus be corrected; and those who have seen him +only through a glass darkly, shall see him face to +face; and all who have loved and honored him as +their Saviour, and trusted in him as their wisdom, +righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, awaking +in his likeness from the dust, shall begin the +antiphon which preludes the eternal song: "This is +our God! we have waited for him, and he will save +us! This is the Lord! we have waited for him, we +will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!" Oh that +we all may then be found like him, and see him as +he is! +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="ch1fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch1fn1text">1</A>] The author's first sermon, preached at Pompey Hill, Onondaga +County, N.Y., on the sixteenth anniversary of his nativity, July 4, +1829—written afterwards, and often repeated during the fifty-four +years of his ministry—the thought here faithfully reproduced, the +language but little changed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +II. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +REST FOR THE WEARY.[<A NAME="ch2fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch2fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will +give you rest.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Matt.</SPAN> xi. 28. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A fine legend is related of St. Jerome. Many +years he dwelt in Bethlehem, the town of his dear +Lord's nativity. Hard by was the cave, formerly +occupied as a stable, in which the blessed Babe was +born. Here the holy man spent many a night in +prayer and meditation. During one of these—waking +or sleeping, we know not—he saw the +divine Infant, a vision of most radiant beauty. +Overwhelmed with love and wonder, the saint exclaimed: +"What shall I give thee, sweet child? I +will give thee all my gold!" "Heaven and earth +are mine," answered the lovely apparition, "and I +have need of nothing; but give thy gold to my poor +disciples, and I will accept it as given to myself." +"Willingly, O blessed Jesus! will I do this," replied +the saint; "but something I must give thee for thyself, +or I shall die of sorrow!" "Give me, then, thy +sins," rejoined the Christ, "thy troubled conscience, +thy burden of condemnation!" "What wilt thou +do with them, dear Jesus?" asked Jerome in sweet +amazement. "I will take them all upon myself," +was the reply; "gladly will I bear thy sins, quiet +thy conscience, blot out thy condemnation, and give +thee my own eternal peace." Then began the holy +man to weep for joy, saying: "Ah, sweet Saviour! +how hast thou touched my heart! I thought thou +wouldst have something good from me; but no, thou +wilt have only the evil! Take, then, what is mine, +and grant me what is thine; so am I helped to +everlasting life!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This, my dear brethren, is what Jesus, with +unspeakable compassion, offers to do for us all. He +would have us bring the several burdens under +which we toil and faint, and lay them down at his +feet. Pardon for guilt he would give us, peace for +trouble, assurance for doubt and fear, and for all our +fruitless agony divine repose. See how miserably +men mistake his gospel, when they regard it merely +as a set of doctrines to be believed, of duties to be +performed, of ceremonies to be observed, instead of +a mercy to be received, a blessing to be enjoyed, a +salvation offered for our acceptance. It is indeed +the unspeakable gift of God, the sovereign remedy +of all our ills; in which, as rational and immortal +beings, fallen in Adam, but redeemed by Christ, we +have an infinite interest. There is a tenderness in +the invitation, combined with a moral sublimity, +demanding for its utterance the melody of an angel's +tongue, with the accompaniment of a seraph's harp; +and we ought to listen to the words of Jesus to-day +with a faith, a love, a joy, such as Simon, James +and John never knew, nor the pardoned sinner of +Magdala, sitting in rapt wonder at the Master's feet. +"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy +laden, and I will give you rest." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +How suitable was this address to those who first +heard it, laboring and heavy laden with the costly +rites and burdensome observances of the Levitical +law! Those rites and observances required a large +portion of their time and a larger expenditure of +money; yet of their real nature and meaning the +common people knew very little, and therefore felt +them to be a burden which neither they nor their +fathers were able to bear. Types and symbols they +were of better things to come; but they could not +take away sin, nor quiet a troubled conscience, nor +give any assurance of the reconciliation and favor +of Heaven. For this, God must be manifested in +human flesh, the Prince of peace must come and set +up his kingdom among men, by the blood of his sacrifice +redeeming us from the curse of the violated +law, and securing an eternal salvation to all them +that obey him. Jesus here assures the Jews that he +is what John the Baptist has already proclaimed +him—"the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins +of the world." It is as if he had said: "Come away +from your bloody altars and sacrificial fires. These +are but the shadows, of which I am the substance; +the prophecies, of which I am the fulfilment. In +me they all find their meaning and their virtue, and +by my mission as the promised Saviour they are set +aside forever. Come unto me, and I will give you +rest." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Some there were, no doubt, among the hearers of +Jesus, who were laboring and heavy laden with vain +efforts to justify themselves by the deeds of the law. +The Jews imagined that by doing more than their +duty they could make God their debtor, and by +extra acts of piety and mercy insure their own salvation +as a matter of sheer justice. And even among +Christians, who profess to take Christ as their only +Saviour and his merit as the only ground of their +justification before God, are there not many who are +not altogether free from this Pharisaic leaven, endeavoring +by their moral virtues and perfect obedience +to make amends for the errors and delinquencies of +the past? But creature merit is absurd, sinful merit +impossible, and "by the deeds of the law shall no +flesh be justified." The creature belongs to the +Creator; and loving the Creator with all his soul, +and serving the Creator with all his energies, and +continuing that love and service without fault or +failure throughout all the immortal duration of his +being, he merely renders to God his own, and is +still an unprofitable servant. But the sinner, already +in arrears of duty to the Creator, can never, by yielding +to God what is always due even from sinless +creatures, satisfy the demands of the law upon its +transgressor; and without some other means and +method of pardon, which the divine wisdom alone +can reveal, the old debt remains uncancelled upon +the books, and no power can avert the penalty. +Moreover, the sinner by his sin becomes incapable +of offering to God any true love or acceptable service +without divine grace prevening and co-operating +to that end, so that no possible credit can accrue to +human virtue and obedience, but all the glory must +redound to God. Christ calls us away from all such +futile hopes and fruitless endeavors. "I am your +Saviour," he saith; "by no other name can you be +saved; by no other medium can you come to the +Father; through no merit but mine can you obtain +absolution from your guilt; through no sacrifice or +intercession but mine can you know that peace and +purity for which you have hitherto striven and struggled +in vain; come unto me, and I will give you +rest." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And still another class, found in every large gathering +of men and women, especially wherever the +dayspring from on high hath dawned, there must +have been among these hearers of the divine Preacher—those, +namely, who were laboring and heavy +laden with the conscious burden of their guilt. +True it is, indeed, that such as are going on still in +their trespasses do not commonly feel their sins to be +a burden. They rejoice in them, and roll them as a +sweet morsel under their tongues, talking of them as +if it were a fine thing to be foolish and an honor to +be infamous. But when the law of God is effectually +brought home to the understanding and the heart—when +they see themselves in the light of the divine +holiness, and the whole inner man seems converted +into conscience—then they feel that sin "is an evil +and exceeding bitter thing," and cry out with the +terrified Philippian, "What must I do to be saved?" +or exclaim with the awakened and illuminated Saul, +"Oh! wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me +from the body of this death?" or, smiting a guilty +breast, pray with the publican of the parable, "God +be merciful to me a sinner!" +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "As writhes the gross<BR> + Material part when in the furnace cast,<BR> + So writhes the soul the victim of remorse!<BR> + Remorse—a fire that on the verge of God's<BR> + Commandment burns, and on the vitals feeds<BR> + Of all who pass!"[<A NAME="ch2fn2text"></A><A HREF="#ch2fn2">2</A>]<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +And remorse is accompanied with terror, and fearful +apprehensions of the wrath to come. Condemned +already, the affrighted sinner sees a more formidable +sword than that of Damocles hanging over his head. +Amidst all his carnal pleasures and social enjoyments, +he is like that prince of Norway, who went +to his wedding festival well knowing that it would +end in his execution; and at the altar, and in the +gay procession, and over the table loaded with luxuries, +and through palatial halls strewed with flowers +and ringing with music and merriment, saw everywhere +and heard continually the preparations for the +fatal hour. The agony of such a situation how can +we imagine? I once knew an awakened sinner who +described himself as enclosed in the centre of a granite +mountain, no room to move a muscle, no seam or +crevice through which one ray of light could reach +him—picture of utter helplessness and absolute despair! +Ah! my brethren! He who made the granite +may dissolve it, or reduce the solid mountain to dust! +And is there any guilt or misery from which the +Mighty to save cannot deliver the soul that trusts in +him? Your sin may be great, but his mercy is greater. +Your enemies may threaten, but has he not conquered +them and nailed them to his cross? To whom, +then, will you apply for help, but to your divine and +all-sufficient Saviour? Go not to human philosophy, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Which leads to bewilder and dazzles to blind,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +but cannot satisfy the mind nor tranquillize the conscience. +Go not to the ritual law of Israel, which +could never make the comers thereunto perfect; nor +to the blessed saints and martyrs, none of whom can +avail you as mediators between your sinful souls and +God; nor depend upon sacraments and sermons, for +these can aid you only as they bring you into spiritual +contact with Christ, the light and life of the +world. Hear him calling—rise and obey the call—"Come +unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy +laden, and I will give you rest." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Rest is a pleasant word—how pleasant to the husbandman, +toiling on through the long summer day! +how pleasant to the traveller, pressing forward with +his load to the end of his tedious journey! how pleasant +to the mariner, after tossing for weeks on stormy +seas, stepping upon his native shore and hasting away +to his childhood's home! how pleasant to the warrior, +when, having won the last battle of his last campaign, +he returns with an honorable discharge to his mother's +cottage among the hills! Rest is what we all +want, and what Jesus offers to the weary and heavy +laden soul. I saw a young lady bowed down with +grief at the memory of her sins; and when I spoke +to her, she looked up with a smile that made rainbows +on her tears, and said: "O sir! I have had +more happiness weeping over my sins for the last +half hour than I ever had in sinning through all my +life!" And if +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The seeing eye, the feeling sense,<BR> + The mystic joys of penitence,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +have in them so much sweetness for the soul, what +shall we say of +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The speechless awe that dares not move,<BR> + And all the silent heaven of love!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +It is the rest of conscious pardon and satisfied desire; +the rest of faith, seeing the invisible and grasping +the infinite; of hope, reposing in the infallible promise +and anticipating a blissful immortality; of resignation, +losing its own will in the will of God, and +leaving all things to the disposal of the divine wisdom +and goodness; of perfect confidence and trust, +saying with St. Paul: "I know whom I have believed, +and am persuaded that, he is able to keep +that which I have committed unto him against that +day." Christ is the love of God incarnate in our +nature; and where shall the loving John find rest, +but in the bosom of the Eternal Love? And, tossed +by many a tempest, or racked with keenest pain, +why should not the weary and heavy-laden disciple +of the divine Man of sorrows sing like one of his +faithful servants whose flesh and spirit were being +torn asunder by anguish:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Yet, gracious God, amid these storms of nature,<BR> + Thine eyes behold a sweet and sacred calm<BR> + Reign through the realm of conscience. All within<BR> + Lies peaceful, all composed. 'Tis wondrous grace<BR> + Keeps off thy terrors from this humble bosom,<BR> + Though stained with sins and follies, yet serene<BR> + In penitential peace and cheerful hope,<BR> + Sprinkled and guarded with atoning blood.<BR> + Thy vital smiles amid this desolation,<BR> + Like heavenly sunbeams hid behind the clouds,<BR> + Break out in happy moments. With bright radiance<BR> + Cleaving the gloom, the fair celestial light<BR> + Softens and gilds the horrors of the storm,<BR> + And richest cordial to the heart conveys.<BR> + Oh! glorious solace of immense distress!<BR> + A conscience and a God! This is my rock<BR> + Of firm support, my shield of sure defence<BR> + Against infernal arrows. Rise, my soul!<BR> + Put on thy courage! Here's the living spring<BR> + Of joys divinely sweet and ever new—<BR> + A peaceful conscience and a smiling Heaven!<BR> + My God! permit a sinful worm to say,<BR> + Thy Spirit knows I love thee. Worthless wretch!<BR> + To dare to love a God! Yet grace requires,<BR> + And grace accepts. Thou seest my laboring mind.<BR> + Weak as my zeal is, yet my zeal is true;<BR> + It bears the trying furnace. I am thine,<BR> + By covenant secure. Incarnate Love<BR> + Hath seized, and holds me in almighty arms.<BR> + What can avail to shake me from my trust?<BR> + Amidst the wreck of worlds and dying nature,<BR> + I am the Lord's, and he forever mine!"[<A NAME="ch2fn3text"></A><A HREF="#ch2fn3">3</A>]<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Hear ye, then, the loving words of Jesus. The +invitation is unlimited; the grace is free for all. No +sin is too great to be forgiven, no burden too heavy +to be removed, no power in earth or hell able to keep +you back from Christ. However dark your minds, +however hard your hearts, however dead your spirits, +hear and answer: "I will arise and go!" +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Just as I am, without one plea,<BR> + But that thy blood was shed for me,<BR> + And that thou bidst me come to thee,<BR> + O Lamb of God, I come!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Lo! with outstretched arms he hastes to meet you, +with tokens of welcome and the kiss of peace. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Ready for you the angels wait,<BR> + To triumph in your blest estate;<BR> + Tuning their harps, they long to praise<BR> + The wonders of redeeming grace."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +All heaven, with expectant joy, awaits your coming. +Come, and satisfy the soul that travailed for +you in Olivet! Come, and gladden the heart that +broke for you upon the cross! Come, and at the +nail-pierced feet find your eternal rest! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch2fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch2fn1text">1</A>] Preached in Syracuse, N.Y., 1830; at Weston-super-Mare, +Somersetshire, Eng., 1857.] +</P> + +<A NAME="ch2fn2"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch2fn2text">2</A>] Pollok. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch2fn3"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch2fn3text">3</A>] Isaac Watts in his last illness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +III. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +MY BELOVED AND FRIEND.[<A NAME="ch3fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch3fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Song +of Sol.</SPAN> v. 16. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +By the ablest interpreters and critics of Holy +Scripture, the Song of Solomon has generally been +regarded as an epithalamium, or nuptial canticle. +But, like many other parts of the sacred volume, +doubtless, it has a mystical and secondary application, +which is more important than the literal and +primary. The true Solomon is Christ, and the +Church is his beautiful Shulamite. In this chapter, +the Bride sings the glory of her divine Spouse, and +our text concludes the description. But what is +thus true of the Church in her corporate capacity, is +true also of her individual members; and without its +verification in their personal experience, it could not +be thoroughly verified in the organic whole. Every +regenerate and faithful soul may say of the heavenly +Bridegroom: "This is my beloved, and this is my +friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Christ for a beloved—the Son of God for a +friend! What nobler theme could occupy our +thoughts? what sublimer privilege invest the saints +in light? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +So constituted is man, that love and friendship are +necessary to his happiness, almost essential to his +existence. Accumulate in your coffers the wealth +of all kingdoms, and gather into your diadems the +glories of the greatest empires. Bid every continent, +island and ocean bring forth their hidden treasures, +and pour the sparkling tribute at your feet. Subsidize +and appropriate whatever is precious in the +solar planets or magnificent in the stellar jewellery +of heaven, and hold it all by an immortal tenure. +Yet, without at least one kindred spirit to whom you +might communicate your joy, one congenial soul from +whom you might claim sympathy in your sorrow, the +loveless heart were still unsatisfied— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The friendless master of the worlds were poor!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Among the children of men, however, love and +friendship, in one respect or another, will always be +found defective, liable to many irregularities and +interruptions, painful suspicions and sad infirmities, +which mar their beauty, tarnish their purity, and +imbitter their consolations, turning the ambrosia into +wormwood and the nectar into gall. Sometimes they +are manifest only in words, and smiles, and hollow +courtesies, and other external tokens; while the heart +is as void of all true affection and confidence as the +whitewashed sepulchre is of life and beauty. Beginning +with flattery, they often proceed by hypocrisy, +and end in betrayal. Or if there be sincerity in +the outset, it may prove as impotent as childhood, as +changeful as autumn winds, or as fleeting as the +morning cloud. Or if not destroyed by some trivial +offence, or suffered to die of cold neglect, their ties +are clipped at length by the shears of fate, and no +love or friendship is possible in the everlasting banishment +of the unblest. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But amidst all the sad uncertainties of human +attachments, how pleasant it is to know that "there +is a Friend who sticketh closer than a brother"—a +Beloved whose affection is sincere, ardent, unchanging, +imperishable—who can neither deceive nor +forsake those who have entered into covenant with +him—from whom death itself will not divide us, +but bring us to a nearer and sweeter fellowship with +him than we are capable now of imagining! Enoch +walked with God till he was less fit for earth than +for heaven, and St. John leaned upon the heart of +Jesus till his own pulse beat in unison with the +divine. Drawn into this blissful communion, every +true disciple becomes one spirit with the Lord. Christ +calls his servants friends, receives them into his +confidence, and reveals to them the secrets of his +kingdom. Not ashamed to own them now, he will +confess them hereafter before his Father and the +holy angels. "They shall be mine," saith he, "in +that day when I make up my jewels." And the +happy Bride, dwelling with ineffable delight upon +the perfections of her Spouse, and anticipating the +fulfilment of his promise when he cometh in his +glory, concludes her song of joy with the +declaration—"This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O +daughters of Jerusalem." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +What, then, are the conditions on which such intimacy +of the soul with Christ is to be established? +Nothing is required but what is in the very nature +of things necessary. Prophet, Priest and King, he +can take into amicable alliance with him only such +as respect and honor him in these relations. The +prophet cannot be the beloved and the friend of those +who refuse to hear his word; nor the priest, of those +who reject his sacrifice and intercession; nor the +king, of those who are still in arms against his gracious +government. We must love him, if we would +have his love; we must show ourselves friendly, if +we would enjoy his friendship. Having died to +redeem us, he ever lives to plead for us, and by a +thousand ambassadors he offers us his love and +friendship; but, no response on our part, no sympathy +or co-operation, how can we call him our beloved +and our friend? "Can two walk together +except they be agreed?" There must be reconciliation +and assimilation. We must submit to Christ's +authority, and co-operate with his mercy. We must +love what he loves, and hate what he hates. His +friends must be our friends, and his enemies our +enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil, we +must for his sake renounce; reckoning ourselves dead +indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus +Christ our Lord. Does not St. Paul tell us that as +many as have been baptized into Christ have put on +Christ?[<A NAME="ch3fn2text"></A><A HREF="#ch3fn2">2</A>] What does he mean? That in baptism +we not only enter into covenant with Christ, but +also assume his character, and profess our serious +purpose to walk as he walked, conformed to his +perfect example, and governed by the same divine +principles. As when one puts on the peculiar habit +of the Benedictines or the Franciscans, he declares +his intention to obey the rules and copy the life of +St. Benedict or St. Francis, the founders of those +orders; so, in putting on the Christian habit when +you are baptized, you avow yourself the disciple of +Christ, and openly declare your death thenceforth to +sin and your new birth to righteousness. And without +any thing in your heart and life corresponding to +such a reality, how can you say of Jesus—"This is +my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of +Jerusalem!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But where there are no attractive qualities, there +can be neither love nor friendship. Something +there must be to inspire affection and confidence. +In our divine Beloved resides every mental grace +and every moral virtue. Our heavenly Friend is +"the fairest among ten thousand and altogether +lovely." Of the excellency of Christ all the charms +of nature afford but the faintest images, and poetry +and eloquence falter in the celebration of his praise. +I ask your attention here to a few particulars. +</P> + +<P> +Jesus is always perfectly sincere. With him there +are no shams, no mere pretences, no unmeaning +utterances of love or friendship. All is real, all is +most significant, and there are depths in his heart +which no line but God's can fathom. +</P> + +<P> +And his ardor is equal to his sincerity. "Behold +how he loved him!" said the Jews when they saw +him weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. "Behold +how he loveth them!" say the angels when they witness +the far more wonderful manifestations of his +friendship for the saints. Let the profane speak of +Damon and Pythias, and the pious talk of David +and Jonathan; there is no other heart like that of +Jesus Christ, no other bond so strong as that which +binds him to his disciples. +</P> + +<P> +And his disinterestedness is commensurate with +his ardor. In human friendships we often detect +some selfish end; Christ seeks not his own glory or +profit, but sacrifices himself for our salvation. No +earthly affection is greater than that which lays +down life for a friend; Christ died for us while +we were yet enemies, upon the cross prayed for +those who nailed him there, and from the throne +still offers eternal life to those who are constantly +crucifying him afresh and putting him to open +shame. And in all his gracious fellowship with those +who love him, it is their good he seeks, their honor +he consults, their great and endless comfort he +wishes to secure. +</P> + +<P> +And not less wonderful are his patience and forbearance +toward them. How meekly he endured +the imperfections of the chosen twelve as long as +he remained with them in the flesh! How tenderly +he bore their misconceptions of his purpose, their +misconstructions of his language, their fierce and +fiery tempers, their slowness of heart to believe! +How beautifully his patience carried him through +all his life of suffering, and sustained him in the +bitter anguish of the cross! And since his return to +heaven, how often, and in how many ways, have his +redeemed people put his forbearance to the proof! +Try any other friend as you try Jesus, and see how +long he will endure it. But our divine Beloved will +not faint nor be weary, till he have accomplished +in us his work of grace, and brought us in safety to +his Father's house. +</P> + +<P> +And who ever matched him in beneficence and +bounty? "He is able," saith the apostle, "to do +exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think." +His ability is as large as his love, and that is immeasurable +and inconceivable. Other friends, loving +us sincerely, may want power to help us; he +hath all power in heaven and earth. They may be +far away in the time of need; he saith—"Lo! I am +with you alway, even unto the end of the world." +As the vine gives its life to the branches, as the +shepherd gives his time and care to the sheep, as the +monarch gives riches and honors to his favorites, as +the royal spouse gives himself and all he has to his +chosen bride, so gives Christ to his elect, making +them joint-heirs with himself to all that he inherits +as the only begotten Son of God—unspeakable +grace now, eternal glory hereafter! "All things are +yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's!" +</P> + +<P> +And what confiding intimacy find we in this +heavenly friendship! The father, the brother, the +husband, live in the same house, occupy the same +room, eat and drink at the same table, with their +beloved; Christ comes into our hearts, takes up his +abode there, and feasts with us, and we with him. +"Shall I hide from Abraham," said Jehovah, "the +thing that I do?" "therefore Abraham was called +the friend of God." "The secret of the Lord is with +them that fear him," saith the Psalmist, "and he +will show them his covenant." "Henceforth I call +you not servants," said Jesus to the twelve, "but +I have called you friends, for whatsoever I have received +of my Father I have made known unto you." +"Eye hath not seen," writes St. Paul, "nor ear +heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, +the things which God hath prepared for them that +love him; but God hath revealed them to us by his +Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep +things of God." Every true disciple, like Ignatius, +carries the Crucified in his heart, and knows and +comprehends with all saints, the lengths and breadths +and depths and heights of the love that passeth knowledge, +being filled with the fulness of God. +</P> + +<P> +And all this is unfailing and everlasting. Having +loved his own who were in the world, Christ loved +them unto the end, loved them still upon his cross, +and ceased not to love them when he left them and +returned to the Father, but remembered his promise +to pray for them, and to send them another +Comforter who should abide with them forever, and +finally to come again and receive them unto himself, +that where he is they might be also. Nearly nineteen +centuries are past since he ascended whence +he came, and still the promise holds good, and the +lapse of ages has not diminished his affection, and +to-day he loves his friends as tenderly as when he +talked so sweetly with the little flock at the Last +Supper and along the path to Olivet. Death, which +dissolves all other friendships, confirms this forever. +"I have a desire to depart," wrote the heroic Christian +prisoner from Rome—"I have a desire to depart, +and to be with Christ, which is far better." Not +long had the dear old man to wait. One morning—the +29th of June, A.D. 68—the door of his dungeon +opened, St. Paul went forth, walked a mile +along the way to Ostia, with his hands bound behind +him knelt down, the sweep of a sword gleamed over +him like the flash of an angel's wing, and the servant +was with his Lord! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Thus, dear brethren, we see the incomparable +qualities of our Beloved, the divine excellences of +our Friend. Perfect wisdom is here, perfect knowledge, +perfect prudence, perfect justice, perfect purity, +perfect benevolence, perfect magnanimity, with +immutability and immortality—whatever is necessary +to win and hold the heart—all blending in the +character of Christ. Is he not the very friend we +need? How, without him, can we bear to live or +dare to die? What are riches, culture, power, splendor, +without his love? What can our poor human +friends do for us in the hour of death? What could +worlds of such friends do for us in the day of judgment? +"In the name of the Lord is strong confidence, +and his children shall have a place of refuge." +Flee away, ye heavens! Dissolve, thou earth! and +vanish! It is my Beloved that cometh with his +chariots! It is my Friend that sitteth upon the +throne! +</P> + +<P> +Oh! my brethren! Christ Jesus loves to make +new friends, though he never abandons the old. +Let us accept his gracious overtures, and join ourselves +unto the Lord in an everlasting covenant. +The poorest and vilest of us all would he take home +to his heart, and love him freely and forever. The +most unworthy of all the human race would he +gladly introduce to the fellowship of saints and the +innumerable company of angels, and seat the pardoned +sinner at his side upon the throne. Oh! when +I enter the metropolis, and hail the immortal millions +of the blood-washed, and kneel to kiss the nail-pierced +feet of the King, while all the harps and +voices that have welcomed me go silent for his gracious +salutation, with what rapture, as I rise, shall +I look round upon the happy multitude and say—"This +is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters +of Jerusalem!" +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch3fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch3fn1text">1</A>] Preached at a wedding festival, 1833. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch3fn2"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch3fn2text">2</A>] Gal. iii. 27. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +IV. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +REFUGE IN GOD.[<A NAME="ch4fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Be thou my strong rock, for a house of defence to save me.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Ps.</SPAN> +xxxi. 2. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On a superb arch in one of the halls of the Alhambra, +the traveller reads as he enters: "I seek my refuge +in the Lord of the morning." The sentiment is +worthy of Holy Scripture, whence doubtless it was +taken by the writer of the Koran. More than two +thousand years earlier than Mohammed, Moses had +said to the beloved tribes, just before he ascended to +his mountain death-bed: "The eternal God is thy +refuge, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms." +And how often does King David, environed with +dangers and oppressed with sorrows, comfort himself +with the assurance of an almighty protection and +support! "Thou art my rock, and my fortress, and +my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will +trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, +and my high tower." "In the time of trouble he +shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his +tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon +a rock; and now shall my head be lifted up above +mine enemies that are round about me." "Thou +hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from +the enemy; I will abide in thy tabernacle forever, I +will trust in the covert of thy wings." "Thou art +my hiding-place: thou wilt preserve me from trouble; +thou wilt compass me about with songs of deliverance." +And so in a hundred other passages of his +psalms, and notably in the words we have chosen as +the basis of this discourse: "Be thou my strong +rock, for a house of defence to save me." In all such +utterances, there seems to be some reference to the +Hebrew cities of refuge, whither the manslayer fled +from the avenger of blood, where he remained unmolested +till he could have an impartial hearing, and +whence, if found innocent of premeditated murder, +he finally came forth acquitted amidst the congratulations +of his family and friends. Here is the double +idea of escape from persecution and security from +punishment; and with reference to both these, the +psalmist seeks his refuge in the Lord of the morning. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The first idea is refuge from persecution. David's +persecutions were varied, and violent, and long continued. +How sadly he tells the story, and pours out +his melting soul in song! Deceitful and bloody men, +full of all subtlety and malignity, compassed him +about like bees, like strong bulls of Bashan, like a +troop of lions from the desert. Daily they imagined +mischief against him, and consulted together to cast +him down from his excellency. They laid to his +charge things which he knew not. To the spoiling +of his soul, they rewarded him evil for good. With +hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon +him with their teeth. As with a sword in his bones, +they reproached him; saying continually, "Where is +now thy God?" In his adversity they openly rejoiced, +and with his misfortunes made themselves +merry. They persecuted him whom God had smitten, +and talked to the grief of him whom the Most +High had wounded. With cruel hatred they hated +him; yea, they tore him in pieces, and ceased not. +</P> + +<P> +With these woful complaints agree the recorded +facts of his life. One while we see him pursued like +a partridge upon the mountains by the royal army, +with his royal father-in-law at its head; from whom +he escapes only by frequent flight, concealment in +caverns, and weary sojourn at the court of a pagan +king. And later in life we behold him driven from +his throne, and chased from house and hold, by his +own insurgent son; while Shimmei comes forth to +curse the weeping fugitive, and cast stones at the +Lord's anointed; and Ahithophel, his former familiar +friend and courtly <i>confidant</i>, with whom he has +often taken sweet counsel and walked in the house +of God, lifts up the heel against him, and basely goes +over to the standard of the conspirators. +</P> + +<P> +No wonder he exclaims, as with the sigh of a breaking +heart: "Save me, O God; for the waters are +come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where +there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, +where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my +crying; my throat is dried; mine eyes fail, while I +wait for my God. They that hate me without cause +are more than the hairs of my head; they that +would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, +are mighty.... Thou hast known my reproach, and +my shame, and my dishonor. Reproach hath broken +my heart, and I am full of heaviness. And I looked +for some to take pity, but there was none; and for +comforters, but I found none."[<A NAME="ch4fn2text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn2">2</A>] "I mourn in my +complaint and make a noise, because of the enemy, +because of the oppression of the wicked; for they +cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me. +My heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of +death are fallen upon me; fearfulness and trembling +are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. +Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I +flee away, and be at rest; lo! then would I wander +far off, and remain in the wilderness; I would hasten +my escape from the windy storm and tempest."[<A NAME="ch4fn3text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn3">3</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Vain wish, O disquieted and trembling soul! No +wings, no distance, no solitude, can save thee. Nearer +at hand thou shalt find thy refuge, even in the +Lord of the morning. And well knows the persecuted +king where to look for succor and consolation. +"O Lord, my God! in thee do I put my trust. Save +me from them that persecute me, and deliver me; +lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, +while there is none to deliver."[<A NAME="ch4fn4text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn4">4</A>] "Show thy marvellous +loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right +hand them that put their trust in thee from those +who rise up against them! Keep me as the apple of +thine eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wing, +from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly +enemies who compass me about."[<A NAME="ch4fn5text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn5">5</A>] "Plead my +cause, O Lord! with them that strive with me; fight +against them that fight against me. Take hold of +shield and buckler, and stand up for my help; draw +out also the spear, and stop the way against them +that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation."[<A NAME="ch4fn6text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn6">6</A>] +</P> + +<P> +How expressive is all this of utter helplessness, and +reliance upon the living God! What fervent prayer +is here! what faith in a personal power and a special +providence which no human agency can baffle or +resist! Proud mortals! talk no more of the strong +will, the valiant arm, the dauntless courage, and +your own self-sufficiency! "Cursed is the man that +trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." "Trust +ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is +everlasting strength." What is the strategy of generals +and the prowess of armies, to him "who rideth +upon the heavens in thy help, and in his excellency +on the sky"? Faith as a grain of mustard-seed is +better than all your military science, and the prayer +of the humblest peasant is mightier than embattled +millions. The prayer of faith divides the sea, cleaves +the granite, marshals the troops of the tempest, and +makes the angels of God our allies. "When I call +upon thee, then shall mine enemies be put to flight; +this I know, for God is on my side." Such is David's +confidence; such, my brethren, be ours! Is not +every attribute of Jehovah in league with the devout +believer, and all his infinite resources pledged to the +support of his servants? And without any doubt of +a divine hearing or fear of ultimate failure, every +persecuted Christian may pray to the God of David: +"Be thou my strong rock, for a house of defence to +save me." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The second idea is refuge from punishment. The +chief element of David's distress is a painful consciousness +of guilt. It is conscience that wrings the +wormwood for him into every cup of sorrow. It is +remorse for past transgression that turns his tears +into gall and makes his persecutions intolerable. +Pure and innocent, he might defy his enemies, he +might glory in tribulations. But he is forced to regard +the wicked as God's sword for the punishment +of his sins; and in all his pleadings we hear the +voice of the penitent—sad confessions, bitter self-reproaches, +touching appeals to the mercy of Heaven. +"Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Deliver +me from my transgressions; make me not a +reproach of the foolish.... Remove thy stroke +away from me; I am consumed by the blow of thy +hand."[<A NAME="ch4fn7text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn7">7</A>] "Deliver me out of the mire, and let me +not sink. Let not the water-flood overflow me, +neither let the deep swallow me up. Hear me, O +Lord! for thy loving-kindness is good. Turn unto +me, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies; +and hide not thy face from thy servant, for I +am in trouble. Hear me speedily."[<A NAME="ch4fn8text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn8">8</A>] +</P> + +<P> +A good man, we all know, may be surprised by +temptation, and so fall into grievous sin. Thus +some of God's holiest servants have committed enormous +crimes. Not the single or occasional act, however, +constitutes character; but the habit of a man's +life—his dominant impulse and prevailing tendency. +To judge St. Peter, for example, by the one solitary +instance of defection, were manifestly unfair; when +his whole course, up to that moment, and ever afterward, +was marked by uncompromising fidelity to the +Master, with the most heroic daring and enduring in +his service. Far more just were it to estimate the +man by the tears which he wept when the reproving +glance brought home the guilt to his conscience, and +by his subsequent earnest endeavors to undo the evil +he had done and honor the Saviour he had denied. +</P> + +<P> +Apply this principle to the royal penitent. Who +ever more truly loved God, or more honestly sought +to serve him? Was not holy obedience the tenor +and tendency of his life? If he erred in numbering +the people—if he took Uriah's wife to his bosom, +and slew the husband to conceal the crime—it was +under the power of peculiar temptation, which we, +having never experienced, are quite incapable of +estimating; and those deplorable deeds are the only +recorded exceptions—the manifest violent contradictions—to +a long life of singular piety, purity and +uprightness. And now, made sensible of his sin, +mark you how bitterly he grieves for it, and how +earnestly he groans for its forgiveness:— +</P> + +<P> +"Have mercy upon me, O God! according to thy +loving-kindness; according to 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. Against thee, thee +only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; +that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, +and be clear when thou judgest.... Purge me +with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I +shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy +and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken +may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot +out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, +O God! and renew a right spirit within me. Cast +me not away from thy presence, and take not thy +Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of +thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit. +Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners +shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from +blood-guiltiness, O God! thou God of my salvation! +and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness."[<A NAME="ch4fn9text"></A><A HREF="#ch4fn9">9</A>] +</P> + +<P> +What keen remorse and penitential shame are +here! Was there ever a more ingenuous confession, +a more thorough contrition, a more profound humility, +or a more utter self-despair? The royal sinner +seems to see the sin in all its hideousness, and to +hate it with unutterable hatred. He seeks no subterfuge, +attempts no extenuation; but charges the +guilt home, with all its aggravations, upon his own +soul. Never can he forgive his folly, nor weep tears, +enough to express his sorrow for the fault. +</P> + +<P> +Would to Heaven we might all thus feel our guilt, +and haste to the shelter of the divine mercy! Sinners—great +sinners—are we all. Is there one of us +that has not sinned more deeply than David ever did? +And, instead of being an exceptional act, our sin has +been the habit of our lives. Justice, with double-flaming +sword, is hard upon our heels. What shall +we do, or whither turn, for safety? To thee, O Crucified +Love! we come; and, with broken hearts, cast +ourselves down at thy feet. All other saviours we +renounce: all other merits we disclaim; all other +sacrifices we abjure. Thou of God art made unto us +wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. +Perishing, we implore thy mercy. Take us +to the arms that were stretched upon the cross. +Hide us in the heart that was opened by the soldier's +spear. When we faint in the valley of the shadow of +death, let us feel the assuring pressure of the nail-pierced +hand. When the heavens are flaming above +and the earth is dissolving beneath, "be thou our +strong rock, for a house of defence to save us"! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch4fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn1text">1</A>] Preached in Ithaca, N.Y., 1838. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch4fn2"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn2text">2</A>] Ps. lxix. 1-4, 19, 20. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch4fn3"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn3text">3</A>] Ps. lv. 2-8. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch4fn4"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn4text">4</A>] Ps. vii. 1, 2. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch4fn5"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn5text">5</A>] xvii. 7, 8. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch4fn6"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn6text">6</A>] xxxv. 1-3. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch4fn7"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn7text">7</A>] Ps. xxxvii, 7, 8, 10. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch4fn8"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn8text">8</A>] Ps. lxix. 14-17. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch4fn9"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch4fn9text">9</A>] Ps. li. 1-4, 7-14. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +V. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +PARENTAL DISCIPLINE.[<A NAME="ch5fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch5fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">1 +Sam.</SPAN> iii. 13. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Few things in the Bible are more beautiful than +the child-life of Samuel. A gift of the loving God +to a devout but sorrowful woman, his mother gladly +gave him back to the Giver, and he ministered before +the Lord in the sanctuary at Shiloh. At that time +Eli was both high-priest and magistrate in Israel. +As a man of God, and to him much more than a +father, Samuel seems to have loved him very tenderly +and honored him very highly. To ease himself +somewhat of his onerous duties, perhaps, Eli +had raised his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to +the dignity of the priesthood. In the exercise of +their sacred trust, the young men had committed +great excesses and abuses. From all sides the fact +came to the ears of their father. Sweetly and gently +he remonstrated with the offenders, but neglected +to hold them back with the strong hand of parental +authority. Probably from the first there had been +some radical defect in the moral discipline of the +family. An amiable and indulgent father, Eli had +neglected the severer duty which his sacred office, +even more than his paternal relation, imposed upon +him. To make him sensible of his great delinquency, +the guilt of his sons must be brought home +upon his hoary head. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Divinely called and strongly moved,<BR> + A prophet from a child approved,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Samuel is commissioned to announce to him the +heavy tidings, that God will judge his house forever, +because "his sons made themselves vile, and +he restrained them not." +</P> + +<P> +In the outset, we cannot help observing the difference +between the sons of Eli and his little ward. +Samuel received his first lessons from the lips of a +godly mother in the quiet home at Ramah. From +his earliest consciousness he knew that he was to +be a Nazarite, consecrated wholly to the service of +Jehovah. His special training afterward in the +house of the Lord was well adapted to fit him for +the grand career before him. The gross misconduct +of some who ought to have set him the best example +must have wounded deeply his innocent heart, +while it impressed him strongly with the deadly +evil of sin and the mischief resulting inevitably +from the relaxation of morals among the rulers of +the people and the ministers of religion. Growing +up in daily contact with the mysteries and symbols +of the divine service, the sacred ritual which was to +Hophni and Phinehas merely an empty form was +to him replete with the spirit and power of holiness, +elevating his thoughts, purifying his feelings, and +moulding his whole character to its noble design. +The names and things with which he was constantly +occupied conformed him gradually but unalterably +to God's gracious purpose, and made him the steadfast +and uncompromising servant of the Most High—the +man to reprove, rebuke, exhort, instruct the +people—to retrieve losses, restore justice, reform +abuses, assuage excitements, reduce chaos to order, +establish the schools of the prophets, and wield a +controlling power over the throne. Such a ministry +required a character of steady growth, and the +personal influence of a consistent and holy life. +None of your modern revivals could ever have +made a Samuel. +</P> + +<P> +True it is, indeed, that some of God's most eminent +servants—as St. Paul and St. Augustine—were +converted in manhood, after a wasted youth +of sin and crime; yet such instances are no real +exceptions to the rule, that God directs the training +of his servants from childhood, shaping his instruments +by every act of his providence. St. Paul +was thoroughly educated in the rabbinical learning +of his day, and well acquainted with Greek literature +and Greek philosophy, and so far prepared for +his Christian apostleship to both Jews and Gentiles; +and the logical and rhetorical studies of St. Augustine +unconsciously made him the great Christian +dialectician that he was, while the sensual indulgences +of his earlier years intensified his knowledge +both of the power of sin and the efficacy of divine +grace which he was to preach to others. Generally, +the Lord's most honored servants, like Samuel, have +been chosen from their childhood, and nourished up +for their special ministry under the hallowed influence +of his truth and worship. Some of them, it is +true, were afterward for a while occupied in other +callings, before they went to their divinely appointed +labor. Moses was a shepherd in the very wilderness +through which he was to lead the Lord's beloved, +and on the very mountain where he was to receive +for them a law from the lips of God. David also +was a shepherd, and a musician, and a warrior, and +a fugitive, and an outcast from his country; and by +all these conditions and experiences was he trained +for his future pre-eminence, as the king of Israel, +and the psalmist of the sanctuary, and the man after +God's own heart. And Chrysostom was a lawyer, +and Ambrose was a civilian and a prefect, and Cyprian +was a professor of rhetoric, before they entered +upon their nobler life-work for Christ and the Church. +In all these cases, to which many others might be +added, God's good providence wisely ordered the discipline +of his servants, through knowledge, and sorrow, +and conflict, and a great variety of experiences, +out of which were developed those characters and +qualities which were essential to their success in the +high calling for which they were designed. And so +with the holy Baptist, chosen to be the immediate +harbinger of the Messiah; and the Galilćan fishermen, +whom he afterward ordained as his apostles; +and Timothy, appointed the first bishop of Ephesus; +and Luther, the destined sword of Heaven to Papal +Rome. And so it was with Samuel, from his very +birth consecrated to God, growing up in the house +of the Lord, becoming the prophet and judge of his +people, the invincible champion of truth and righteousness; +with such heroic energy maintaining the +authority of the divine law, rebuking iniquity in +high places, withstanding the current of the national +degeneracy, and like an angel of God pronouncing +the doom of a fallen monarch, that "all Israel even +from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established +to be a prophet of the Lord." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +To return to Eli and his sons. The father's fault +seems to have been too much indulgence, too much +tenderness, perhaps too much timidity, to restrain +his consecrated lads from their wicked practices. +The power he had, but would not assert it. The +father's authority in his family at that age of the +world was absolute and unquestionable. This fact +leaves Eli's conduct without excuse. He remonstrated +with the offenders, but far too feebly. Their +crimes were of the very worst character, and aggravated +by their sacred profession and holy environments; +yet he had for them but a few soft and gentle +words, scarcely strong enough to be called a reproof, +without any assertion of authority as father, high-priest, +or judge. One of our best biblical critics +renders the text: "His sons made themselves accursed, +and he frowned not upon them." +</P> + +<P> +But while we animadvert upon the guilty negligence +of Eli, let no parent plead the different +customs of our day, the higher civilization of the +race, or the diminished degree of parental authority, +as an excuse for his own delinquency. Every father +and mother are responsible for the moral restraint of +the children that God has given them, and fearful +beyond all estimate must be the consequences of +disregarding the duty. Such is the tendency of +human nature to evil, that it begins to show itself +ordinarily at a very early period of life, and the +utmost care should be taken to check it in its first +manifestations. For this purpose it may be necessary +to interpose the strength of the parental will in curbing +the will of the child. Those who are taught from +their infancy to submit their own will to the will of +father or mother are more likely in later life to yield +themselves to the will of God. The wise mother of +the Wesleys has left on record these words for our +guidance in this important matter: "In order to +form the mind of the child, the first thing to be +done is to conquer the will and bring it into an +obedient temper. This is the only strong and +rational foundation of a religious education, without +which both precept and example will be ineffectual. +As self-will is the root of all sin and misery, so +whatever cherishes this in children insures their +after wretchedness and irreligion, and whatever +checks and mortifies it promotes their future happiness +and piety." Who will presume to question +this statement? And if correct, is not Robert Hall's +remark equally true—that "indulgent parents are +cruel to their children and to posterity"? +</P> + +<P> +But who can calculate the consequences? The +fallow ground left unsown is soon sown by the winds +with every vagrant seed of evil. One sin leads to +another, the less generally to the greater; and by +the inception of a single wrong principle in childhood, +the young man who might have been a model +of virtue becomes a curse to society, and the young +woman who ought to have proved a priceless jewel +turns out a mere package of dry goods if not something +worse. True, these moral wrecks may possibly +be recovered by converting grace; but such cases +are extremely uncommon, and when they do occur +they are regarded as miracles of mercy; and often, +alas! the effect is as evanescent as the morning cloud +and early dew. Generally, those who have grown +up without religious restraint go on still in their +trespasses, living without God and dying without +hope. +</P> + +<P> +"As in individuals, so in nations," writes the Rev. +Charles Kingsley, "unbridled indulgence of the +passions must produce, and does produce, frivolity, +effeminacy, slavery to the appetite of the moment, a +brutalized and reckless temper, before which prudence, +energy, national feeling, any and every feeling +which is not centred in self, perishes utterly. +The old French <i>noblesse</i> gave a proof of this law +which will last as a warning beacon to the end of +time.... It must be so. The national life is +grounded on the life of the family, is the development +of it; and where the root is corrupt, the tree +must be corrupt also." A fearful truth for the +contemplation of Christian patriotism! Imagine an +utter indifference to the morals of the rising generation +all at once to prevail throughout the country, +and all efforts for the spiritual culture of the young +suddenly to cease; would not the frightful ruin rush +over the land with the rapidity of an avalanche and +the ubiquity of a deluge, instant and everywhere, in +your highways and your byways, at your altars and +your hearths, sweeping before it every thing pure and +lovely—every thing valuable to existence, precious +to recollection, or cheering in the visions of hope? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This side of the subject is not pleasing; let us +look at the obverse. No moral maxim is sounder +than that of the royal sage: "Train up a child in +the way that he should go, and when he is old he +will not depart from it." The principles of virtue +early implanted insure the future saint and hero. +A thoroughly good character impressed upon youth +cleaves to the man forever. +</P> + +<P> +Exceptions, indeed, there may be—very saddening +and disheartening exceptions. It does sometimes +happen that those who seem at least to have been +brought up in the nurture and admonition of the +Lord subsequently decline from the way of wisdom +and become vicious in their lives. But such cases +are too rare to affect the rule. And in these instances, +is it not likely that we are deceived often by +appearances? May not the religious culture have +been radically defective in its principle or culpably +incomplete in its process? Was not the child committed +to incompetent hands, that marred the character +they should have made; or abandoned to the +influence of an evil world, and exposed to the contagion +of bad example, before his virtuous principles +were sufficiently confirmed and fortified? An accurate +knowledge of all the facts would no doubt develop +some capital defect in the education; would +show something essential omitted, or something of +evil mingled with the good, some base alloy blended +with the pure metal, some infant viper coiled unseen +among the buddings and bloomings of spring. +</P> + +<P> +But I have the confidence to affirm that apostasy +from the principles of a good Christian education +very seldom occurs—so seldom, indeed, that the +instances might almost be pronounced anomalous. +It is a maxim attested by general if not universal +experience, that upon the qualities acquired in childhood +depends the character of manhood and old age. +Childhood is the period of docility and impressibility, +when habits of thought and feeling are formed +with the greatest facility; and such habits, once +formed, are extremely difficult to destroy; and the +good wrought in the soul at that tender age, growing +with its growth and strengthening with its strength, +is almost invariably retained to the latest hour of +life. +</P> + +<P> +Ordinarily, no doubt, we are guided more by +habit than by reason. To walk in the old way is +much easier than to strike out a new. In this respect, +taste follows the same law as thought and +action. If the child has formed a taste for virtue, +the potent law of habit insures its perpetuity. The +virtuous taste prompts to virtuous deeds, and the +virtuous deeds confirm the virtuous taste. Thus, +by a reflex action, virtue proves its own conservator. +Daily the habit grows stronger and the motive more +efficacious. Daily the heart is more and more fortified +against the assaults of temptation. Daily the +world loses something of its fascination, its false +maxims something of their plausibility, its apologies +and solicitations something of their persuasive +power. +</P> + +<P> +As with the body, so with the spirit. Habitual +inaction enfeebles the faculties, and renders their +occasional operation inefficient and fruitless. On +the contrary, by habitual exercise one becomes capable +of performing with ease what were otherwise +laborious and difficult, if not quite impossible. Thus +the young, accustomed to resist their evil passions, +will afterward keep them in due control without any +very strenuous struggle; and the seeds of a pure +morality, sown in early life, will strike their roots +deep into the soil, and spring up in perpetual blossom +and fruitage. The person is thenceforth virtuous, +not without effort, but certainly with less +effort than if he had never accustomed himself to +virtue. The habit of virtue has made virtue amiable, +and her service becomes a labor of love, her +yoke easy and her burden light. +</P> + +<P> +In speaking thus of the power of habit, which has +been called "a second nature," I would not exclude +from the process of education the agency of divine +grace, nor lose sight of it as a necessary factor to +the best results. Divine grace, indeed, has much +to do with the formation of the habit, and must +co-operate with every agency employed in the work. +Without divine grace, there is nothing wise, nothing +strong, nothing holy; and after all the efforts of +parents, pastors, teachers—however great or however +small the measure of success attained—we lift +our hands to Heaven and sing:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Thou all our works in us hast wrought,<BR> + Our good is all divine;<BR> + The praise of every virtuous thought<BR> + And righteous word is thine.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + From thee, through Jesus, we receive<BR> + The power on thee to call;<BR> + In whom we are, and move, and live—<BR> + Our God, our all in all."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +An infidel objected to sending his little daughter +to the Sunday school, "because," said he, "they learn +things there which they never forget." The infidel +was a philosopher. Knowledge is indestructible. +The fact or the principle once acquired is never +lost. The soul's past thoughts, feelings, impressions, +and operations, are its inalienable property. They +are engraven upon an imperishable tablet, and no +power can efface the record. Though some parts of +our experience may be but dimly and vaguely remembered, +and much that we have learned may seem to +be irrevocably forgotten, yet the mind is in possession +of a law which, when brought into action, will +completely restore the entire train of its former +phenomena. They are not dead, but sleeping; and +we know not what event at some future day may be +the trump of their resurrection. The seed that lies +buried in the earth through the long and dreary +winter will germinate in spring-time and fructify in +summer. Therefore let us not be weary in well-doing, +for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. +</P> + +<P> +Christian parents! it is yours to begin at the +cradle a work whose blessed influence shall extend +beyond the tomb. By the principles you impart to +your little ones, you insure the virtue and the Christianity +of generations to come; you kindle lights to +burn amidst the world's darkness when the faint +glimmering of your own is gone; you adorn the living +temple of the Lord with pillars of strength and +beauty which shall challenge angelic admiration +when all the colonnaded glories of earth's capitals +are calcined by the fires of doom. To such an +achievement, what are all the treasures of monarchs, +and all the splendors of empire, and all the applause +of heroism, and all the renown of authorship, and +all the fascination of eloquence, and all the entrancing +power of song? +</P> + +<P> +Who has any fear of God, any love of country, +any affection for his children, any regard for the +welfare of posterity? By all these I implore you, +and by every other consideration that ought to move +the heart of man, awake to the work which Heaven +enjoins and every instinct of nature urges upon you! +Your time, money, knowledge, influence—how can +they be better employed than in the Christian culture +of the young immortals committed to your care? +In the beautiful form you cherish, there is something +far more beautiful—a jewel worth immeasurably +more than the casket which contains it—a spirit +that must live and think and feel when this planet +shall have become a chaos, when out of that chaos +shall have arisen the new <i>cosmos</i> over which Christ +is to rule in righteousness forever. Shall this precious +thing perish through your faithlessness to so +sublime a trust? Shall harps be wanting in heaven, +and white-robed ministrants before the throne, +through the recreancy of any bearing the Christian +name and honored with the title of father or mother? +What is reason's estimate of the parental tenderness +which provides so laboriously for the body, but totally +neglects the soul—which regards so sedulously +the interests of time, but utterly overlooks +the concerns of eternity? To see your little ones +wandering unrestrained in the broad way to ruin, +or trained for this world only, as if there were not +another beyond—oh! is it not enough to make +their guardian angels turn away their faces and weep +beneath their wings? +</P> + +<P> +The Church is here to help you, but she requires +your co-operation. The Sunday school is here to +second your endeavors, but little can that do without +your countenance and contribution. Men of Israel, +help! Christ calls upon you from his cross to help. +Juvenile vice and blasphemy through all your streets +seem imploring you to help. Will you respond to +the appeal? The result may be a blessing to your +own house. The recollection will warm your heart +amidst the chills of death. Sweet little minstrels +with crowns shall rehearse the story to you when +the cemetery and the sea are delivering up their +dead. Not less, perhaps, than the eloquent preacher +in the great congregation, the humble teacher of an +infant-class may be shedding light into the dark +places of the earth—may be scattering flower-seeds +and raindrops over the face of the desert. Even +more, it may be, than the consecrated minister at +the altar of God, the liberal contributor to this beneficent +agency is kindling a holy fire which shall burn +when the stars have gone out—is touching the +strings of a harp that shall send its melodies through +eternity. O merciful God! when the seventh trump +is sounding, and the quickened dead are gathering +before thy throne, let it not be said of any in this +assembly—"His sons made themselves vile, and he +restrained them not"! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch5fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch5fn1text">1</A>] Preached at a Sunday-school convention, 1840. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +VI. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +JOY OF THE LAW.[<A NAME="ch6fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch6fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, +saying—If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">John</SPAN> +vii. 37. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At three great annual festivals all the men of all +the tribes of Israel were required to appear before +the Lord in Jerusalem. One of these was the Feast +of Tabernacles, kept in commemoration of the sojourn +of their fathers in the wilderness, and as a +special thanksgiving to God after the ingathering +of the autumnal harvest. Its duration was strictly +seven days, from the 15th to the 22d of the month +Tisri; but it was followed by a day of holy convocation, +distinguished by sacrifices and peculiar +observances of its own, which was sometimes called +the eighth day. During the seven days the people +dwelt in booths formed of the branches of the palm, +the pine, the olive, the myrtle, and other trees of +thick foliage; and these temporary huts lined every +street of the city, and covered all the surrounding +hills. The public burnt-offerings, and the private +peace-offerings as well, were more numerous than +those of any other of the great national festivals. +The bullocks sacrificed were seventy; but besides +these were offered every day two rams, fourteen +lambs, and a kid for a sin-offering. The long lines +of booths everywhere, and the sacrificial solemnities +and processions, must have furnished a grand spectacle +by day; and the lamps, the torches, the music, +the joyful gatherings in the temple-courts, must have +given a still more festive character to the night. No +other feast of the Hebrews was half so joyous as the +Feast of Tabernacles; and therefore it was eminently +fitting that it should be observed, as it was, with +much more than its ordinary interest at the dedication +of Solomon's Temple, again by Ezra after +the restoration of the sacred structure, and a third +time by Judas Maccabćus when he had expelled +the Syrians and re-established the true worship of +Jehovah. +</P> + +<P> +The seven days accomplished, the eighth was ushered +in with the glad sound of trumpets, summoning +the multitudes to the holy convocation. During +the seven days they had offered sacrifices for the +seventy nations of the earth, as well as for themselves; +the eighth was Israel's own day, and the +sacrifices offered were exclusively for the people of +the covenant, adding to the daily offerings already +mentioned a bullock, a ram, seven lambs, and a goat +for a sin-offering. As soon as the morning trumpets +sounded, the booths were all dismantled, and the +thronging thousands from every quarter hastened to +the temple. The sacrifice was already on the altar, +and the high-priest stood by in his more than regal +array, with his numerous white-robed ministers. A +priestly procession entered at the Water-gate, bringing +water in a golden vessel from the neighboring +Pool of Siloam. Approaching the altar, the bearer +ascended the sacred slope, and delivered his burden +into the hands of the high-priest; while the trumpets +sent forth a joyous peal, to which the people responded +with a shout that shook the city. Part of +the water, mingled with wine, was then poured into +the grooves of the altar around the morning sacrifice, +and the rest was distributed among the attendant +priests, who drank it amidst the grateful acclamations +of the multitude; and finally the great choir, chanting +to every instrument of music, poured forth the +song of Isaiah—"With joy shall ye draw water from +the wells of salvation!" This was called "the Joy +of the Law;" and there is a rabbinical proverb to the +effect, that he who has never witnessed it has never +seen rejoicing. It was intended as a commemoration +of the miracle of the smitten rock in Horeb, which the +apostle tells us prefigured Christ; and it must have +been just after this grand solemnity, or in connection +with its impressive evening compline, that "Jesus +stood and cried, saying—If any man thirst, let him +come unto me and drink." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Here are four things full of instruction for us—the +time, the speaker, the manner, and the invitation. +In these we shall find the very marrow of the gospel, +worth more to our souls than all the revelations of +science and all the speculations of philosophy. Let +us give them earnest and devout attention, and may +God grant us the aid of his grace! +</P> + +<P> +First, the time is to be noticed. "In the last day, +that great day of the feast"—when there was present +a vast concourse of the people. Three million have +been counted in attendance at the Feast of Tabernacles. +What an audience, what an inspiration, +for an orator! How would Cicero have triumphed +before such an assembly! Jesus needed no such +impulse. His mind was ever full of light, his heart +overflowing with love. He wanted but the opportunity +to pour forth his divine speech upon the people, +and surely he never had a better than now. How +did his doctrine distil as the dew, as the small rain +upon the tender herb, and the showers upon the grass! +Great lesson for his servants, who ought to make their +Master their model, and let no good occasion slip for +pouring the light of life into benighted souls! +</P> + +<P> +"In the last day, that great day of the feast"—when +they were occupied with the most interesting +observances of the national solemnity. Another +might have said: "They will not hear me; they are +too much absorbed to listen." Jesus was a better +philosopher. Conscious of his own power, he knew +perfectly the hearts of men. Never could his hearers +recall the Joy of the Law, without recollecting the +voice, the figure, the beaming countenance, of the +strange young rabbi from Galilee, who stood forth +in the midst of the great congregation, and dropped +such heavenly words into their hearts. "Who was +he? What meant he? Could any mere mortal have +spoken so? Is the Messiah at length come? Let us +seek him again, and hear more from those marvellous +lips!" Another grand lesson for his servants, who +ought to study to environ their teachings with associations +which cannot fail, with every happy hour, by +every happy memory, to recall the truths they have +uttered and revive the impressions produced by their +preaching. +</P> + +<P> +"In the last day, that great day of the feast"—when +the pleasant season was drawing to its close, +and the people were ready to disperse and return to +their respective homes. The last words of a dear +departing friend linger long in the memory. The +last utterances of a dying father or mother cannot +soon be effaced from the mind of the child. The last +sermon of a loved and honored pastor, before he +leaves us to feed another flock, may impress us more +profoundly than any thing he ever said to us before. +The mere fact that it is the last time, that we may +never see that face again, never again hear that +familiar voice, brings home the truth with a vivid +power, which can hardly fail to make it effective, even +with those who have hitherto heard with indifference. +Many who are now listening to our Lord will never +listen to him again. Before another Feast of Tabernacles +they may be in their graves, or he in heaven. +To some present he may have preached many sermons, +but will never preach another. It is their last +opportunity, which seals up their account to the +judgment. How must the thought have wrought +upon a mind like his! what earnestness given to +every word! what tenderness to every tone! Touching +lesson again for us, my brethren! who ought to +preach every Lord's Day as if it were our last! as if +Death stood beside us saying—"Shoot thou God's +arrows, and I will shoot mine!" as if the peal of +doom were already ringing in our ears, and the graves +around us delivering up their dead! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Next, the speaker is to be observed. It is Jesus, +the Saviour, heralded by prophets, escorted by angels, +proclaimed by the Eternal Father with an audible +voice from heaven. A divine teacher, he comes to +preach the acceptable year of the Lord—an incarnation +of the Father's love, to unfold the secrets of +the Father's heart to sinners, and make known the +purpose of his tender mercy in their salvation. +Throughout Galilee, and Judća, and some of the +neighboring provinces, he has already gone, preaching +the kingdom of heaven and calling the people to +repentance. He speaks as one having authority, and +not as the scribes. Everywhere miracles attest his +mission, and demonstrate his doctrine. The wisdom +of his words is too much for the cunning sophistry +of his enemies, and an eloquence of sublime simplicity +forces conviction upon unwilling minds and +takes the hearts of thousands captive. And now, +in the temple, on one of the most popular occasions +of religious worship and festivity, he is speaking to +the people of things pertaining to their eternal peace. +Can any who hear him ever forget those gracious +utterances? "Happy souls!" methinks I hear you +say, "happy souls, to have listened to such a teacher! +Could I have been there! Could I have heard but +once for half an hour! How eagerly would I have +listened! how gladly responded to his invitation!" +</P> + +<P> +Alas, my friends! how our own hearts deceive us! +Had we been present, we should probably have done +very much as most of the Jews did, and some of us +might have shown still greater blindness of mind or +hardness of heart. Have we not to-day the same +gospel preached to us? Are not those who occupy +our pulpits the accredited ambassadors of Christ? +Is it not his word they speak, his claims they urge, +his love they proclaim, and his salvation they offer? +And how receive we the message and respond to the +demand? With hearty faith, and grateful tears, and +earnest obedience? Nay, do not many of us despise +our own mercy, and reject the gracious counsel of +God, not knowing the day of our visitation? Even +we who profess faith in Christ and call ourselves his +disciples—are we made wiser and better by the +weekly recurrence of the blessed opportunity? "God +hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." +Every gospel sermon delivered to us is a message +from the throne of heaven. It is as if Christ every +Sunday morning descended afresh from the Father, +and stood before us in the pulpit, and stretched forth +to us the hands once nailed to the shameful cross; +with many amplifications and additional arguments +repeating what he said in the temple on "the last +day—that great day of the feast." "See, then, that +ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped +not who refused him that spake on earth, much more +shall not we escape if we turn away from him that +speaketh from heaven." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Thirdly, the manner is to be considered. "Jesus +stood and cried." The attitude is instructive. Jewish +teachers generally sat. So did Jesus on the +Mount. Here he stands—stands ready to bestow—stands +ready to depart. Ready to bestow, he is ever +standing—more ready to bestow than we to receive. +Delighting in mercy, he waits to be gracious. All +the day long he stretches out inviting hands to the +perishing. All the night he lingers with dew-sprinkled +locks at the door. Now, if ever, is the accepted +time; now, if ever, the day of salvation. While +Jesus waits, there is hope for the worst. But he +who stands may soon depart. Mercy is limited by +justice. Probation is bounded by destiny. If we +heed not its compassionate plea, even love must leave +us, hopelessly hardened in our sin. Jerusalem rejected +her Messiah, and perished in spite of his tears. +"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jesus stood and cried." This last word is suggestive. +The orator much in earnest speaks loudly. +Demosthenes thundered from the <i>bema</i>. Cicero's +speech rang like a trumpet-call through the forum. +One Hebrew prophet in his commission is directed to +cry aloud, spare not, lift up his voice like a trumpet. +Another, pre-announcing the Messianic mercy, like +one who has found a spring in the desert and shouts +to his comrades of the caravan, sends out his call upon +the wind: "Ho! every one that thirsteth! come ye +to the waters!" Had Jesus desired to limit his salvation +to a few unconditionally elected favorites, +would he not have restricted the invitation? With +such a policy, walking quietly through the crowd, +seeking out his elect here and there, calling them +privately in undertones to their peculiar privilege, +would certainly seem to have been in better keeping +than an undiscriminating stentorian cry from a conspicuous +position to the multitude. But, intending +the mercy for all, he offers it to all. Does he mock +them with an invitation which is insincere? Oh! +better we know the love divine! The water of life +is not the private property of a churl, streaming from +a statue in a little park, surrounded by a lofty granite +wall, with an iron gate locked against the public, +while a few favored individuals, as selfish as himself, +are furnished each with a key; but an open fountain +in the field, without inclosure or obstruction, clearer +than the Clitumnus and more copious than the San +Antonio, issuing like the outlet of a subterranean +ocean from the base of the everlasting hills; while +the Son of God, more glorious than the morn upon +the mountains, stands over it crying with voice that +reaches every nation: "If any man thirst, let him +come unto me and drink!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Finally, the invitation is to be regarded. Who +here is not athirst? Some thirst for riches, some for +honors, some for pleasures, a few perhaps—may +grace enlarge the number—for the water of salvation. +Gold cannot satisfy the soul; the more we +have, the more we crave. The world has not enough +of glory in its gift to fill the aching voids of ambition; +elevation evokes aspiration, and at the last +summit the cry is still "Excelsior!" One after +another, all sensuous enjoyments pall upon the taste; +and fluttering like butterflies from flower to flower, +and sipping like honey-bees every sweet of field and +forest, we learn at length with a sated Solomon that +all is vanity. The gilding of an empty cup can never +satisfy the thirsty soul. "We were made for God," +says St. Augustine, "and our hearts are restless till +they repose in him." For God, even the living God, +David thirsted long ago; and here, incarnate in our +nature, stands the Divine Object of his desire, crying +to the world: "If any man thirst, let him come unto +me and drink!" +</P> + +<P> +But there is something, see you not? for the thirsty +soul to do. Christ cannot save us till we come. He +is indeed, as St. Paul calls him, "the Saviour of all +men, especially of them that believe"—of all men, +because he has opened the fountain for all and invited +all to the fountain—especially of them that +believe, because they accept the invitation and come +to him for supply. Whoever, whatever, wherever +you are—however great your obstructions, and however +numerous and enormous your sins—called, you +may come; coming, you will receive; receiving, you +shall be satisfied forever. "Rivers of living water," +Jesus offers every believer in him. See the adaptation—"water"—to +assuage your thirst, to refresh +the weary soul, to revive him who is fainting and +dying. Observe the quality—"living water"—not +a stagnant pool, but a salient spring, a fountain +that never fails, a well of water within springing +up unto everlasting life. Behold the abundance—"rivers +of living water"—not one great stream, but +many—an inexhaustible supply, having its source +in a shoreless and unfathomable sea— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Its streams the whole creation reach,<BR> + So plenteous is the store;<BR> + Enough for all, enough for each,<BR> + Enough forevermore!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +But the coming is not all. Come and what? +Come and see? Come and explore? Come and investigate? +Come and analyze the water, and discuss +its qualities, and speculate about its probable effects? +Come and praise the fountain, and commend it to +others, and enjoy its cool retreats, and admire its +beautiful environs, and congratulate your friends +upon its conveniences, and applaud the benevolence +that opened it for the benefit of all? Nay, come and +drink. Not all the water from the smitten rock could +save the Israelite that would not drink. Not all the +river of the water of life flowing through the City of +God can quench the thirst of the soul that declines it. +Personally you must appropriate the mercy. Personally +you must experience its restoring power. Salvation +is not a theory, but a fact; not a speculation, +but a consciousness; not an ethical system to be +reasoned out by superior intellect, but a divine blessing +to be taken into the believing heart. It is a new +life received from the Fountain-Life of the world. +Gushing from the throne of God and the Lamb, +"clear as crystal," with a copiousness and an energy +which no dam can stay nor dike restrain, it offers its +refreshment to all, free as the air, the dew, the rain, +or the sunlight of heaven. Drink, and you shall +never thirst again. Drink, and find your immortality +in the draught! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch6fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch6fn1text">1</A>] Preached in Rochester, N.Y., 1842. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +VII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +SOJOURNING WITH GOD.[<A NAME="ch7fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch7fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Ye are strangers and sojourners with me.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Lev</SPAN>. xxv. 23. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I have a dear friend to-day on the Atlantic. Four +days ago, in New-York Harbor, I accompanied him to +the floating palace that bears him to Europe; and +put a book into his hand, which may furnish him +some entertainment on the voyage, and some service +perhaps in the land of art and beauty for which he +is bound. Next Lord's Day he hopes to spend in +London; and thence, after a short pause, to proceed +to Rome, where he means to remain three months or +more. A summer in that city is to an American +somewhat hazardous on the score of health, and the +facilities for seeing and exploring are far less favorable +than they are in the winter. Yet, as this is the +only season he can command for the purpose, he is +willing to encounter the dangers and dispense with +some of the advantages, for the sake of a brief sojourn +in the grand old metropolis that dominated the world +in the days of the Cćsars, and has since ruled it +with a rod of iron in the hands of the popes. +</P> + +<P> +In "the historic city" he will meet with much to +entertain a mind like his—highly cultivated and +richly stored with classic lore; and for all that he +wishes to accomplish, he will find his opportunity far +too brief. But he will not be at home there—a +transient and unsettled visitor. Every thing will be +different from what he has been accustomed to in his +own country—government different—society different—manners +and customs different—churches and +worship different—dress, diet and language different—architecture, +public institutions, general aspect of +the city, and natural scenery on all sides, quite different +from any thing he ever saw before. And while +he daily encounters new objects of absorbing interest—new +wonders of art—new treasures of antiquity—new +illustrations and confirmations of history, and +feels the charm of a thousand beauties to which he +has not been accustomed, the very contrast will make +him confess that he is a stranger and sojourner, and +think frequently of his home beyond the sunset, and +sigh for the fellowship of the dear hearts far over the +western sea. +</P> + +<P> +And should he go farther, and visit the ruined +lands of the Nile—the Jordan—the Euphrates, and +wander over the silent wastes that once smiled with +golden harvests, glowed with gorgeous cities, and +teemed with tumultuous populations; everywhere—on +the burning sands of the desert—in the savage +solitudes of the mountains—amidst the crumbling +memorials of ancient civilizations and religions—in +the tent of the Arab, the wayside encampment, and the +comfortless caravansera—he will constantly require +the pledge of chieftains, the protection of princes, +the safe conduct of governments, and the covenanted +friendship of the rude nomadic tribes among whom +he makes his temporary abode. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This is the idea of our text: "Ye are strangers +and sojourners with me." It is God speaking to his +chosen people, about to take possession of the promised +land, instructing them concerning their polity +and conduct in their new home and relations. One +of the specific directions given them is, that they are +not to sell the land forever, because it belongs to +him, and they are his wards—tenants at will, dwelling +on his domain, under his patronage and protection. +For six years he leased to them the land, so to say; +but every seventh year he reclaimed it as his own, +and it was to be neither tilled nor sown; and after +seven such sabbatic years, in the fiftieth year, which +was the year of Jubilee, every thing reverted with a +still more special emphasis to the divine Proprietor; +and the people were not permitted to reap or gather +any thing that grew of itself that year even from the +unworked soil, but were to subsist on the product of +the former years laid up in store for that purpose. +All this to teach them that the domain was Jehovah's, +and they were only privileged occupants under him—that +he was their patron, protector, benefactor, +while they were strangers and sojourners with God. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In a general sense, these sacred words describe +the condition of all men. All live by sufferance on +the Lord's estate, fed and sustained by his bounty. +Whether we recognize his rights and claims or not, +all we have belongs to him, and the continuance of +every privilege depends upon his will. You may +revolt against his authority, and fret at what you call +fate; but his providence orders all, and death is only +your eviction from the trust and tenure you have +abused. What is your life, and what control has any +man over his destiny? A shadow on the ground, a +vapor in the air, an arrow speeding to the mark, an +eagle hasting to the prey, a post hurrying past with +despatches, a swift ship gliding out of sight over the +misty horizon—these are the Scripture emblems of +what we are. Every day is but a new stage in the +pilgrim's progress—every act and every pulse another +step toward the tomb. The frequent changes of +fortune teach us that nothing here is certain but +uncertainty, nothing constant but inconstancy, nothing +real but unreality, nothing stable but instability. +The loveliest spot we ever found on earth is but a +halting-place for the traveller—an oasis for the caravan +in the desert. The world itself, and all that it +contains, present only the successive scenes of a moving +panorama; and our life is the passage of a +weaver's shuttle—a flying to and fro—a mere coming +and going—an entry and an exit. For we are +strangers and sojourners with God. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But what is in a general sense thus true of all, is +in a special sense true of the spiritual and heavenly-minded. +As Abraham was a stranger and a sojourner +with the Canaanite and the Egyptian—as +Jacob and his sons were strangers and sojourners with +Pharaoh, and the fugitive David with the king of +Gath—so all godly people acknowledge themselves +strangers and sojourners with God. This is the +picture of the Christian life that better than almost +any other expresses the condition and experiences of +our Lord's faithful followers—not at home here—ever +on the move—living among aliens and enemies—subject +to many privations and occasional persecutions—every +morning hearing afresh the summons, +"Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest"—practically +confessing, with patriarchs and prophets, +apostles and martyrs, "Here we have no continuing +city, but we seek one to come." The world knew not +their Master, and knows not them. If they were of +the world, the world would love its own; because +they are not of the world, but he has chosen them +out of the world, therefore the world hateth them. +Wholly of another character—another profession—another +pursuit—aiming at other ends, and cheered +by other hopes—the carnal, selfish, unbelieving world +cannot possibly appreciate them, and they are constantly +misunderstood and misrepresented by the +world. Regarding not the things which are seen +and temporal, but the things which are unseen and +eternal, they are often stigmatized as fools and denounced +as fanatics. Far distant from their home, +and surrounded by those who have no sympathy +with them, they show their heavenly citizenship by +heavenly tempers, heavenly manners, heavenly conversation, +all hallowed by the spirit of holiness. So +one of the Fathers in the second century describes +the Christians of his time: +</P> + +<P> +"They occupy their own native land, but as pilgrims +in it. They bear all as citizens, and forbear +all as foreigners. Every foreign land is to them a +fatherland, and every fatherland is foreign. They are +in the flesh, but they walk not after the flesh. They +live on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They +die, but with death their true life begins. Poor themselves, +they make many rich; destitute, they have +all things in abundance; despised, they are glorified +in contempt. In a word—what the soul is in the +body, Christians are in the world. The soul inhabits +the body, but is not derived from it; and Christians +dwell in the world, but are not of it. The immortal +soul sojourns in a mortal tent; and Christians inhabit +a perishable house, while looking for an imperishable +in heaven." +</P> + +<P> +To such heavenly-mindedness, my dear brethren, +we all are called; and without something of this +spirit, whatever our professions and formalities, we +do but belie the name of Christian. "If ye then be +risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, +where Christ sitteth, on the right hand of God; set +your affections on things above, not on things on the +earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hid with +Christ in God; when Christ who is our life shall appear, +then shall we also appear with him in glory." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Bowed down with many a burden and weary because +of the way, how much is there to cheer and +comfort us in God's good word to his suffering pilgrims—"Ye +are strangers and sojourners with me"! +</P> + +<P> +There is the idea of friendly recognition. As the +nomad chief receives the tourist into his tent, and +assures him of his favor by the "covenant of salt;" +so God hath made with us an everlasting covenant +of grace, ordered in all things and sure; since which, +he can never disown us, never forsake us, never forget +us, never cease to care for his own. +</P> + +<P> +There is the idea of pleasant communion. As +in the Arab tent, between the sheik and his guest, +there is a free interchange of thought and feeling; +so between God and the regenerate soul a sweet +fellowship is established, with perfect access and +unreserved confidence. "The secret of the Lord is +with them that fear him," and his delight is in his +saints, who are the excellent of the earth. +</P> + +<P> +There is the idea of needful refreshment. "Turn +in and rest a little," saith the patriarch to the wayfarers; +and then brings forth bread and wine—the +best that his store affords—to cheer their spirits and +revive their strength. God spreads a table for his +people in the wilderness. With angels' food he feeds +them, and their cup runs over with blessing. He +gives them to eat of the hidden manna, and restores +their fainting souls with the new wine of the kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +There is the idea of faithful protection. The +Arab who has eaten with you will answer for your +safety with his own life, and so long as you remain +with him none of his tribe shall harm a hair of your +head. Believer in Jesus! do you not dwell in the +secret place of the Most High, and abide under the +shadow of the Almighty? Has he not shut you, +like Noah, into the ark of your salvation? Is not +David's rock your rock, your fortress, your high +tower, and unfailing city of refuge? +</P> + +<P> +There is the idea of infallible guidance. The +Oriental host will not permit his guest to set forth +alone, but goes with him on every new track, grasps +his hand in every steep ascent, and holds him back +from the brink of every precipice. God said to +Israel: "I will send my angel before thy face, to +lead thee in the way, and bring thee into the land +whither thou goest." Yea, he said more: "My presence +shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." +Both promises are ours, my brethren; and something +better than the pillar of cloud and fire, or the +manifest glory of the resident God upon the mercy-seat, +marches in the van of his pilgrim host through +the wilderness, and will never leave us till the last +member of his redeemed Israel shall have passed +clean over Jordan! +</P> + +<P> +There is the idea of a blessed destiny. Their +divine Guide is leading them "to a good land, that +floweth with milk and honey"—"to a city of habitation"—"a +city that hath foundations, whose +builder and maker is God"—"a house not made +with hands, eternal, in the heavens"—the Father's +house of "many mansions," where Christ is now as +he promised preparing a place for his people, and +where they are at last to be with him and behold his +glory. Oh! with what a sweet and restful confidence +should we dismiss our groundless fears of the +future, saying with the psalmist—"Thou shalt +guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive +me to glory!" The pilgrim has a home; the weary +has a resting-place; the wanderer in the wilderness +is a "fellow-citizen with the saints and of the household +of faith;" and often have we seen him in the +evening twilight, after a long day's march over stony +mountain and sultry plain, sitting at the door of the +tent just pitched for the night, with calm voice +singing: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "One sweetly solemn thought<BR> + Comes to me o'er and o'er—<BR> + I'm nearer to my home to-night<BR> + Than e'er I was before—<BR> + Nearer the bound of life,<BR> + Where falls my burden down—<BR> + Nearer to where I leave my cross,<BR> + And where I take my crown!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +and with the next rising sun, like a giant refreshed +with new wine, joyfully resuming his journey, from +the first eminence attained gazing a moment through +his glass at the distant glory of the gold-and-crystal +city, then bounding forward and making the mountains +ring with the strain: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "There is my house and portion fair,<BR> + My treasure and heart are there,<BR> + And my abiding home;<BR> + For me my elder brethren stay,<BR> + And angels beckon me away,<BR> + And Jesus bids me come!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The saintly Monica, after many years of weeping +at the nail-pierced feet, has at length received the +answer to her prayers in the conversion of one dearer +to her than life; and is now ready, with good old +Simeon, to depart in peace, having seen the salvation +of the Lord: "As for me, my son, nothing in +this world hath longer any charm for me. What I +do here, or why I should remain, I know not. But +one wish I had, and that God has abundantly granted +me. Bury me where thou wilt, for nowhere am I +far from God!" +</P> + +<P> +Dark to some of you, O ye strangers and sojourners +with God! may be the valley of the shadow of +death; but ye cannot perish there, for He whose +fellowship is immortality is still with you, and you +shall soon be with him as never before! Black and +cold at your feet rolls the river of terrors; but lift +your eyes a little, and you see gleaming through the +mist the pearl-gates beyond! There "the Captain +of the Lord's host" is already preparing your escort! +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Even now is at hand<BR> + The angelical band—<BR> + The convoy attends—<BR> + An invincible troop of invisible friends!<BR> + Ready winged for their flight<BR> + To the regions of light,<BR> + The horses are come—<BR> + The chariots of Israel to carry us home!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch7fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch7fn1text">1</A>] Preached in Charleston, S.C., soon after a year's sojourn beyond +the sea, 1858. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +VIII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +BUILDING FOR IMMORTALITY.[<A NAME="ch8fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch8fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +So they built and prospered.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">2 Chron.</SPAN> xiv. 7. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the fairest of Italian cities stands the finest of +terrestrial structures—a campanile or bell-tower, +twenty-five feet square, two hundred and seventy-three +feet high, built of white and colored marble +in alternate blocks, covered with a royal luxuriance +of sculpture framed in medallions, studded everywhere +with the most beautiful statuary disposed in +Gothic niches, and finished from base to battlement +like a lady's cabinet inlaid with pearl and gold. It +would seem as if nothing more perfect in symmetry, +more exquisite in workmanship, or more magnificent +in ornamentation, could possibly be achieved by +human genius. Pure as a lily born of dew and sunshine, +the approaching tourist sees it rising over the +lofty roof of the Duomo, like the pillar of cloud upon +the tabernacle; and when he enters the Piazza, +and finds it standing apart in its majestic altitude, +and looking down upon the vestal loveliness of +the Tuscan Santa Maria, he can think only of the +Angel of the Annunciation in the presence of the +Blessed Virgin. Whoever has gazed upon its grand +proportions, and studied the details of its exquisite +execution, will feel no astonishment at being told +that such a structure could not now be built in this +country for less than fifty millions of our money; +nor will he wonder that Jarvis, in his "Art Hints," +has pronounced it "the noblest specimen of tower-architecture +the world has to show;" that Charles +the Fifth declared it was "fit to be inclosed with +crystal, and exhibited only on holy-days;" and that +the Florentines themselves, whenever they would +characterize any thing as extremely beautiful, say it +is "as fine as the Campanile." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Gentlemen, you have reared a nobler edifice! Nobler, +not because more costly, for your pecuniary +outlay is as nothing in the comparison. Nobler, not +because the material is more precious, and the architecture +more perfect; for what is a pile of brick to +such a miracle in marble? or where is the American +builder that would dream of competing with Giotto? +Nobler, not because there is a larger and richer-toned +bell in the gilded cupola, to summon the inmates to +study and recitation, or to morning and evening worship; +for the great bell of the Campanile is one of +the grandest pieces of resonant metal ever cast; +and its voice, though soft as flute-tones at eventide +coming over the water, is rich and majestic as an +angel's song. Far nobler, however, in its purpose +and utility; for that wonder of Italian architecture +is the product of Florentine pride and vanity in the +days of a prosperous republic—a less massive but +more elegant Tower of Babel, expressing the ambition +of its builders; and though standing in the +Cathedral Piazza, its chief conceivable objects are +mere show and sound; while the end and aim of +this edifice is the development of mind, the formation +of character, the creation of a loftier intellectual +manhood, the reproduction of so much of the lost +image of God as may be evolved by the best media +and methods of human education. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +The excellence of your structure, then, consists +mainly in this—that it is only a scaffold, with derricks, +windlasses, and other apparatus and implements, +for building something immeasurably more +excellent. Here the thinking power is to be quickened, +and the logical faculty is to be awakened and +invigorated. This is to be effected, not so much by +the knowledge acquired, as by the effort called out +for its acquisition. The teacher is to measure his +success, not by the number and variety of terms, +rules, formulas and principles he has impressed upon +the memory, but by the amount of mental power +and independence he has imparted to his pupil. +True, in educating the mind, knowledge of some +sort must be acquired; but the thoroughness of the +education depends no more upon the quantity of +the acquisition, than the health of the guest upon +the abundance of the banquet. The mental food, as +well as the material, must be digested and assimilated. +It follows that those exercises which require +close and consecutive thinking, thorough analysis, +clear discrimination and accurate definition, are best +adapted to develop the higher faculties of the mind. +Mathematics, metaphysics, dialectics and philology +must form the granite basis of your building, sustaining +the solid tiers of rich and varied marbles. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Then comes the ćsthetic culture. First the substantial, +afterward the ornamental—this is the natural +order, to reverse which were to begin building the +tower at the top. The very idea of the ornamental +supposes something substantial to be ornamented. +No man will attempt to polish the sponge, or paint +a picture on the vacant air, or rear a stone cathedral +on a sunset cloud. There is no lily-bloom without +the sustaining stalk, nor magnolia grandiflora without +the sturdy and stately tree. "Wood, hay, stubble," +are not fit materials for jewelry; but "gold, +silver, precious stones," may be wrought into a thousand +forms of beauty, sparkling with myriad splendors. +The solid marble superstructure resting upon +its deep foundations of granite, firm as the seated +hills, can scarcely be too finely finished or too sumptuously +adorned. Upon a thorough mental culture +sit gracefully, and quite at home, philosophy, history, +poetry, eloquence, music, painting—all in literature +and the arts that can refine the taste, refresh the +heart, and lead the fancy captive. To the mind +thus disciplined and adorned, a pleasant path is +opened to the broadest and richest fields of intellectual +inquiry, where it may range at will with the +freedom of an angel's wing, charmed with beauties +such as Eden never knew, thrilled with melodies +such as the leaden ear of ignorance never heard, +rejoicing in a fellowship of wisdom worthy of the +enfranchised sons of God, and realizing the truth so +finely expressed by the greatest of German poets:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Only through beauty's morning gate,<BR> + Canst thou to knowledge penetrate;<BR> + The mind, to face truth's higher glances,<BR> + Must swim some time in beauty's trances;<BR> + The heavenly harping of the muses,<BR> + Whose sweetest trembling through thee rings,<BR> + A higher life into thy soul infuses,<BR> + And wings it upward to the soul of things."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +But is there not something still better, which +ought to be an element in every process of human +education? What is man? Merely an intellectual +animal? Nay, but he has a spirit within him allied +to angels and to God. The higher nature calls for +culture no less than the lower. To the development +and discipline of the rational and ćsthetic faculties +must be subjoined "the nurture and admonition of +the Lord." Otherwise we educate only the inferior +part of the man, and leave the superior to chance and +the Devil. Make scholars of your children, but do +not omit to make them Christians. Lead them to +Parnassus, but let them go by the way of Calvary. +Conduct them to Olympus, but let them carry the +dew of Olivet upon their sandals. Make them drink +deeply from the wells of human wisdom, but deny +them not the living water whereof if one drink he +shall never thirst again. +</P> + +<P> +Why should a "wise master-builder" hesitate to +connect religion with science and literature in the +edification and adornment of the soul? Does not +religion favor the most thorough mental discipline +and contribute to the harmonious development of all +the spiritual powers? Does not Christianity stimulate +the mind to struggle against difficulties, ennoble +the struggle by investing it with the dignity of a +duty, and render the duty delightful by the hope of +a heavenly reward? "Knowledge is power;" but +what knowledge is so mighty as that which Christ +brought from the bosom of the Father? Poetry +and philosophy have their charms; but what poetry +is like that of the Holy Spirit, and what philosophy +like that of redeeming love? God's holy evangel +enlarges and strengthens the mind by bringing it into +contact with the sublimest truths, and making it +familiar with the profoundest mysteries. It rectifies +our perverted reason, corrects our erroneous estimates, +silences the imperious clamour of the passions, +and removes the stern embargo which the corrupt +heart lays upon the aspiring intellect. It sings us the +sweetest songs, preaches to us the purest morality, +and presents for our imitation the noblest examples +of beneficence and self-denial. Under its blessed +influence the soul expands to grasp the thought of +God and receive the infinite riches of his love. +</P> + +<P> +And shall we wrong our sons and daughters by +withholding from them this noblest agency of the +higher mental and spiritual culture— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The fountain-light of all our day,<BR> + The master-light of all our seeing"—<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +and turn them over, with all their instinctive yearnings +after the true, the good, the pure, the divine, to +the blind guidance of a sceptical sciolism, and the +bewildering vagaries of a rationalistic infidelity? +"No," to use the language of the late Canon Melville, +"we will not yield the culture of the understanding +to earthly husbandmen; there are heavenly +ministers who water it with a choicer dew, and pour +upon it the beams of a brighter sun, and prune its +branches with a kinder and more skilful hand. We +will not give up the reason to stand always as a +priestess at the altars of human philosophy; she hath +a more majestic temple to tread, and more beautiful +robes to walk in, and incense rarer and more +fragrant to offer in golden censers. She does well +when boldly exploring God's visible works; she does +better when she submits to spiritual teaching, and +sits with Mary at the Saviour's feet." +</P> + +<P> +Gentlemen, it is impossible to overstate the importance +of religious culture in the work of education. +Every interest of time and eternity urges it upon +your attention. Your children are accountable and +immortal creatures. "Give them divine truth," says +Channing, "and you give them more than gems and +gold; give them Christian principles, and you give +them more than thrones and diadems; imbue their +hearts with a love of virtue, and you enrich them +more than by laying worlds at their feet." Your +doctrine may distil as the dew upon the grass, and +as the small rain upon the tender herb; but in some +future emergency of life, the silent influence shall +assert itself in a might more irresistible than the +stormy elements when they go forth to the battles of +God. If the work be faithfully done, the impression +produced shall not be that of the sea-fowl on the +sand, effaced by the first wave of the rising tide; but +the enduring grooves cut by the chariot-wheels of +the King of Trembling as he rides through the +mountain ranges, and the footprints of his fiery +steeds left deep in the everlasting rocks. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Forward, then, with your noble endeavor! You +are building for eternity. You are rearing temples +of living stones which shall survive all the changes +and chances of earth and time, and look sublimely +down upon the world's catastrophe. Up! up with +your immortal campanile! It is compacted of imperishable +gems, cemented with gold from the mines +of God. No marble sculpture may adorn its niches +and cornices; but angel forms shall walk its battlements +in robes of living glory. No hollow metal +may swing in its vaulted <i>loggie</i>, sending sweet echoes +over the distant hills, and charming the song-birds to +silence along the flowery Val d'Arno; but richer and +holier melodies, ringing out from its heavenly altitudes, +shall mingle with the music of the spheres, and +swell the many-voiced harmony of the City of God! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch8fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch8fn1text">1</A>] Preached at the opening of a new college edifice, 1859. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +IX. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +WAIL OF BEREAVEMENT.[<A NAME="ch9fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch9fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for +the hand of God hath touched me.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Job</SPAN> xix. 21. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Nothing is more important, yet few things are +more difficult, than the proper control of our spirits +in the time of trouble. There are two extremes to +be avoided; stoicism and despondency. Stoicism +feels too little; despondency, too much. The former +hardens the heart; the latter breaks down the spirit. +The one is a want of sensibility; the other, a lack of +fortitude. This is an affected contempt of suffering; +that, a practical abandonment of hope. Midway +between the two lies the path of duty and happiness. +St. Paul, quoting from King Solomon, warns us +against them both: "My son, despise not thou the +chastening of the Lord"—that is stoicism; "neither +faint when thou art rebuked of him"—that is despondency. +Israel is charged with the former: "Thou +hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; they +have made their faces harder than a rock." Job fell +into the latter: "Have pity upon me, have pity upon +me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath +touched me." +</P> + +<P> +No piece of history is more affecting than that of +the perfect man of Uz. For the trial of his fortitude +and his fidelity, the Almighty delivered him up, with +certain restrictions, into the hand of Satan. The +Sabeans and the Chaldćans robbed him of his oxen, +his asses, and his camels, and slew his servants with the +edge of the sword. Fire from heaven consumed his +flocks in the field, and all his children perished together +in a tempest. He was smitten "with sore boils +from the sole of his foot unto his crown; and he took +him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat +down among the ashes." His wife, the last on earth +that ought to have been unkind to him, assailed him +with bitter mockery; saying, "Dost thou still retain +thine integrity? Curse God and die!" Three +friends, more faithful than the rest, came from afar to +see and console him in his sufferings; and when they +beheld the greatness of his grief they sat down with +him in speechless astonishment; and surely that +seven days' silence was better than any words of +condolence they could have spoken. But when "Job +opened his mouth and cursed his day," and related +the sad story of all his troubles, they too became his +censors, charging him with hypocrisy, and secret +wickedness, and oppression of the poor and needy. +These allegations stung him to the heart. Oh! was +it not enough that God had forsaken him; that +Satan had assailed him with all his weapons; that +predatory bands had stripped him of his possessions; +that the elements of nature had conspired against his +prosperity; that his seven sons and three daughters +had been taken from him in one day; that his body +had become a mass of putrid disease, a loathsome living +death; and that the wife of his youth looked +upon him no more with affection, but treated him +with cold indifference or haughty scorn? Must these +wise and excellent men, the last friends left to him, +join the cruel mockery, and accuse the upright of +oppression, impiety, and every evil work? "The +spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a +wounded spirit who can bear?" The good man's +heart is crushed; he is ready to give up all for lost; +and he pours forth his whole soul in this passionate +appeal: "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O +ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched +me." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It is permitted us to complain under such afflictions, +provided we do not "charge God foolishly." +There is no guilt in tears, if they are not tears of +despair. It is no crime to feel our loss. Insensibility +is no virtue—has no merit—wins no reward. +Religion does not destroy nature, but regulates it; +does not remove sorrow, but sanctifies it; does not +cauterize the human heart, but enables us to "rejoice +evermore," and teaches us to "glory in tribulations +also." Abraham mourned for Sarah; Joseph mourned +for Jacob; David mourned for Jonathan, and even +for wicked Absalom; "devout men carried Stephen +to his burial, and made great lamentation over him;" +and Jesus, the pattern "Man of sorrows," groaned in +spirit, and wept at the grave of Lazarus. These +chastisements are intended for our improvement; +but if they are not felt, their end is not realized. If +we have no sense of the stroke, how shall we submit +to the hand that smites us? If our hearts are seared +against all painful impressions, God is defeated in +the purpose of his providence, and the best means of +our salvation prove ineffectual; for he that is not +sensible of his affliction will continue secure in his +sin. The loss of one who is very dear to us—a +husband and father, upon whom we depend so much +for counsel, support, protection and happiness—must +inflict a very deep wound; and who shall forbid that +wound to bleed? None may say to the widow, +"Weep not;" but He that can also say to the dead, +"Young man, arise." Grief must have vent, or it +will break the heart. Tears must flow, or they will +fester in their fountains. It is cruel to deny one the +relief of mourning, when mourning is so often its +own relief. Sorrow calls for sympathy. Compassion +is better than counsel. It is a great alleviation, +when we can pour out our grief into another's bosom. +Sympathy divides the sorrow, and leaves but half the +load. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil +the law of Christ." This is what the troubled patriarch +longed for, but could not find. His kindred +were estranged from him, and all his inward friends +abhorred him: his servants responded not to his call, +and the wife of his bosom regarded him as an alien. +No wonder that he exclaims, as if his heart were +breaking, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, +O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched +me." +</P> + +<P> +But it is better to complain to God than to man. +He will appreciate my complaint He knoweth my +heart. He seeth my sincerity. He pitieth me with +more than a father's pity. His word can still the +storm and calm the sea. His look can turn my darkness +into light. He hath invited me to call upon +him in the day of trouble, adding, "I will deliver +thee, and thou shalt glorify me." He hath said, +"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy +laden, and I will give you rest." The apostle saith, +"Is any among you afflicted? let him pray." David +saith, "I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with +my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. +I poured out my complaint before him; I showed +before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed +within me, then thou knewest my path." +There is a psalm—the CII.—on purpose for the afflicted, +and this is its title: "A prayer of the afflicted, +when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint +before the Lord." The afflicted may complain; +when he is overwhelmed he may complain even unto +the Lord; yea, he may pour out his complaint before +him, as one poureth out water; and here is an inspired +formula of woe which he may employ in the divine +presence without fear of extravagance or impropriety. +Sorrow sometimes renders one speechless: +"I am so troubled," saith David, "that I cannot +speak." Oh! what a relief when we can empty our +anguish into the ear and the heart of God! Such +prayer is not incompatible with perfect submission to +the divine will. "I was dumb, and opened not my +mouth, because thou didst it;" dumb as it respects +murmuring, but not as it respects prayer, for the next +words are, "Remove thy stroke away from me; I +am consumed by the blow of thy hand." Jesus in +Gethsemane exhibits a pattern of perfect submission +joined with fervent prayer. He "prayed earnestly," +"in an agony," "with strong crying and tears;" +thrice prostrating himself upon the ground; thrice +imploring the Father, "If it be possible, let this cup +pass from me;" but as often adding, "Nevertheless, +not my will, but thine, be done." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Oh! yes; you may complain, in the spirit of pious +subordination; but you ought to guard against the +excess of sorrow. To grieve too much were as great +an evil as not to grieve at all. Where, then, is the +proper limit, and when does sorrow become excessive, +and therefore sinful? I answer: +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it renders you unmindful of your remaining +mercies. It might be much worse with you than it +is. You have forfeited all your comforts, yet God +has withdrawn but few of them. Are those that +remain worth nothing to you because others have +been removed? Will you relish the less the fruit +that is left, because some of it was blighted by untimely +frost? You should set the higher value upon +what you have, and enjoy the blessing with a grateful +heart. +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it causes you to forget the grief of others. You +are not the only sufferer in the world, nor is there any +thing very peculiar in your afflictions. Thousands +have experienced similar troubles, losses, bereavements. +Some have parted with more than husband +and father—have lost all at once, and are left to +tread the dreary earth alone. You are doubtless +acquainted with many with whom you would not +now exchange conditions. And can you be so selfish +as to forget all griefs but your own? +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it makes you indifferent to the public welfare. +Poor old Eli was less afflicted by the death of his two +sons than by the loss of the ark of the Lord, because +with that was so intimately connected the prosperity +of his people, the object dearest to his heart. A +Spartan mother, who had five sons in the battle, stood +at the gate of the city when a messenger came with +tidings. "How prospers the fight?" she inquired. +"Thy five sons are slain," answered the messenger. +"I did not ask after my sons," replied the patriotic +woman, "but how prospers the fight?" "We have +won the day," said the other, "and Sparta is safe." +"Then let us be thankful to the gods," exclaimed +the inquirer, "for our continued freedom." Her +private griefs were swallowed up in her concern for +the public good. +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it disqualifies you for the duties of your position. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Nothing in nature, much less conscious being,<BR> + Was e'er created solely for itself."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +You live for others. Your friends have claims upon +you. Your families and fellow-citizens require your +beneficent activities. You cannot cast off this responsibility. +It is written in your inmost nature. It +is interwoven with the very constitution of human +society. Wherefore the noble faculty of speech, the +high prerogative of reason, the sweet flow of domestic +sympathies, and the congregation of men in communities, +with statutes and civil compacts, and distinctions +of rank and office? All these indicate your +duty to the human brotherhood; and if you grieve +so as to unfit yourselves for that duty, you defeat the +end of the divine benevolence. +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it blinds you to the grand purposes of Providence. +Poor Job saith, "My soul is weary of my +life," and again and again he desireth the quiet shelter +of the grave. Yet do we find him piously inquiring +into the reasons and final causes of the Almighty's +mysterious dealings with him: "I will say +unto God, Do not condemn me; show me wherefore +thou contendest with me." We are well assured +that "affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither +doth trouble spring out of the ground." All things +are under the restraint and control of Infinite Wisdom +and Love. In every pain you suffer, whether +appointed or permitted only, God is seeking your +good. It were a double loss, doubly aggravated, +first to lose your friend, and then to lose the benefit +of the loss. Is not the loss of the former sufficient, +without adding to it, by your immoderate grief, the +infinitely greater loss of the latter? +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it refuses the proffered consolations of friendship. +When Jacob rent his robe, and put sackcloth +upon his loins, and mourned many days for Joseph, +and all his sons and daughters rose up to comfort +him, he refused to be comforted, saying, "I will go +down into the grave unto my son mourning." "In +Ramah was a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, +and great mourning; Rachel weeping for her children, +refuseth to be comforted because they are not." +To decline the needed consolation when it is offered, +is certainly a sin. There is some little excuse for +the children of Israel in Egypt, when Moses spake +unto them of the promised deliverance, and "they +hearkened not unto him for anguish of spirit and +for cruel bondage." The dying Rachel would have +called her son Benoni, "the son of my sorrow," but +that would have been too sad a remembrancer to +Jacob of his beloved wife, and he called him Benjamin, +"the son of my right hand." +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it will not accept relief even from the hand of +God. He hath assured you that his grace is sufficient +for you, and invited you to come to him for +help in time of need. Yea, he is a present help in +trouble; and he saith, "I will never leave thee nor +forsake thee." To all who ask, he "giveth liberally, +and upbraideth not." And will you not ask and +receive, that your joy may be full? He hath not +given you breath merely for sighs and groans, nor +articulate utterance for ungrateful complaints of his +providence. He hath afflicted you, perhaps, on +purpose to draw you to himself; and will you thus +defeat the designs of his mercy? Will you turn your +back upon him when you need him most? Will you +refuse to pray when prayer is most necessary for +you? To whom will you go for aid, if not to God? +Where will you find comfort, if not in his love? +When will you seek the throne of grace, if not in +time of trouble? Oh! how sweet is it to say with +the psalmist, "In the multitude of my thoughts +within me, thy comforts delight my soul." +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it preys upon your health and endangers your +constitution. Grief unreasonably indulged soon devours +the vigor of the physical system. This is an +effectual method of suicide, not less guilty than a +resort to the knife, the rope, the river, the pistol, or +the poison. Some drink themselves to death, and +others grieve themselves to death; who shall pronounce +the former more criminal than the latter? +Sorrow sometimes kills as suddenly as a bullet or a +poniard through the heart; and sometimes it acts as +a deadly potion, slow but sure. The food never +nourishes, that is always mingled with tears. When +your grief is so great, that no balmy airs, nor beautiful +scenes, nor pleasant melodies, nor sympathies of +friendship, nor solacements of society, nor consolations +of religion, can soothe or refresh the soul, then +your health is impaired, your strength gradually +wastes away, the world loses too soon the benefit +of your life, and you haste unsummoned to the judgment. +This is the sorrow of the world which worketh +death. +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it sours and imbitters the spirit against both +God and man. This deplorable effect, instead of the +peaceable fruits of righteousness, is often produced +by affliction, when the providence is misinterpreted +and perverted. Then the heart murmurs against +God; saying with David, "I have cleansed my +hands in vain;" or with Jeremiah, "My strength +and hope are perished from the Lord;" or with +Jonah, "I do well to be angry, even unto death." +I have known persons indulge their grief to such +a degree, that they loved nothing, enjoyed nothing, +took interest in nothing, cared not for their nearest +friends, grew indifferent to society, found no relief in +solitude, turned away from the house of God, spurned +his holy oracles, hated books, hated Nature, hated the +very sunlight, neglected their own persons, and spent +life in a continual groan. This is rebellion against +Providence. "Why doth a living man complain, a +man for the punishment of his sin?" How much +better to say, "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments +are right, and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted +me!" +</P> + +<P> +Your sorrow is excessive, and therefore sinful, +when it continues so long as to become the settled +habitude of the soul. The time for mourning has +been limited by all wise nations, and the wisest +have generally made it shortest. The Egyptians, +who knew not God, mourned seventy days for +Jacob; Joseph, his son, only forty-seven days. Israel +mourned thirty days for Aaron, and thirty days for +Moses, but only seven days for Saul. The inward +sorrow, however, may last much longer than the +outward show. The formal ceremony is soon laid +aside; while the stricken heart carries its wound, +still bleeding, to the grave. But the first poignancy +of grief should not be allowed to continue too long, +lest it produce the injurious effects of which I have +already spoken. When it is not only indulged, +but cherished as a luxury, it soon becomes sinful. +When the mourner persists in nursing his woe, and +feeds it with melancholy reflections in silence and +seclusion, heeding neither the dissuasives of friendship +nor the solacements of religion, he despises his +own mercy and injures his own soul. Remember +your departed friends with tenderness, but let your +sorrow be subdued and holy, and aid the healing art +of Nature with the balm of grace to shorten as much +as may be the term of its continuance. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"But it is my best Friend that hath smitten me. +It is the stroke of my heavenly Father that hath +wounded me. For God maketh my heart soft, and +the Almighty troubleth me. He hath stripped me +of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. +He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone; +and my hope hath he removed like a tree. Have +pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; +for the hand of God hath touched me." +</P> + +<P> +Then it is a painful touch. It is grievous to be +smitten by a friend, and the stroke of the father +breaks the heart of the child. Your bereavement is +indeed a fiery trial, a sword in the bones, a spear +that pierceth to the soul. I pity your sufferings, +and wonder not at your complaint. +</P> + +<P> +But it is a common touch. "What son is he +whom the father chasteneth not?" Who hath not +lost a friend? Who hath not sat in the shadow of +the tomb? Even the immaculate Saviour suffered +in the flesh. "It pleased the Lord to bruise him; +he hath put him to grief." And can you hope for +exemption? +</P> + +<P> +And it is a righteous touch. The Creator is also +the proprietor, and he has an unquestionable right +to resume what he hath loaned. All are his; and +shall he not do what he will with his own? Shall +not the master of the garden gather his own fruits, +the commander of the army dispose of his own men? +What claim have you upon him for happiness? And +how much more misery do you deserve than you +have ever suffered! +</P> + +<P> +And it is a needful touch. The loving Father +never inflicts a needless stroke. Your delinquency +calls for chastisement. Your forgetfulness of eternity +requires the stern admonitions of death. The +creature that has usurped the Creator's place must +be removed. The heart that has grown fast to the +world must be torn away. The tree that has struck +its roots so deep into the soil must be loosened before +it can be transplanted. +</P> + +<P> +And it is a skilful touch. The musician is familiar +with all the keys and powers of his instrument. +The physician is well acquainted with the character +of the disease and the qualities of the application. +God's understanding is infinite, and his wisdom is +infallible. He knoweth perfectly, when, and where, +and how, and by what special means, most effectually +to touch the human heart. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Learn to lie passive in his hand,<BR> + And trust his heavenly skill."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +And it is a tender touch. "Faithful are the +wounds of a friend." "Like as a father pitieth his +children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him; for +he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are +dust." "A bruised reed will he not break, and the +smoking flax will he not quench." The wound must +be probed, but the surgeon will do it gently, and +soothe the pain with cordials. "He doth not afflict +willingly, nor grieve the children of men;" but +"for your profit, that ye may be partakers of his +holiness." He correcteth his people with loving-kindness, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Most merciful when most severe."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +And oh! is it not a blessed touch? It is the +touch of a sword, which subdues the rebel will; the +touch of a hammer, which breaks the stony heart; +the touch of a fire, which separates the dross from +the gold; the touch of a light, which illuminates the +darkness within; the touch of a key, which opens +the royal palace to the king; the touch of a fountain, +which washes away sin and uncleanness; the touch +of a sceptre, which assures of the monarch's gracious +acceptance; the touch of a master, who asserts his +claim and takes his property; the touch of a Saviour, +rescuing the soul which he hath ransomed with his +blood; the touch of a lapidary, polishing an immortal +gem for Emmanuel's crown! God's dealings are +mysterious but merciful. "Clouds and darkness +are round about him; righteousness and judgment +are the habitation of his throne." He saith to us, as +he once said to Simon, "What I do thou knowest +not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "A bruised reed he will not break;<BR> + Affliction all his children feel;<BR> + He smites them for his mercy's sake;<BR> + He wounds to heal."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Christian, like the Captain of his salvation, is +made perfect through sufferings. His present griefs +are the pledges of future joys. The gloomy night +shall soon give place to an eternal day. +</P> + +<P> +Such are the ways of God. And shall my ignorance +impeach his perfect knowledge, and my folly +arraign his infinite wisdom, and my evil complain of +his transcendent goodness, and my weakness refuse +the aid of his almighty arm? "The Lord is my portion, +saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him." +Strange were it indeed to hear one say: "Alas! I +am undone, for I have nothing left but God." But +is not this practically the language of the believer +who sinks into a state of despondency under providential +bereavements? He that has God for his +portion could not be enriched by the bequest of a +kingdom, by the inheritance of a world. The heir +of God is heir of all things. +</P> + +<P> +Zeno, who lost his whole fortune in a shipwreck, +afterwards declared that it was the best voyage he +ever made, because it led him to the study of philosophy +and virtue. Happy for you, my friends, if +your afflictions lead you to Christ! Happy, if, losing +a friend, you find a Saviour! Receive, I beseech +you, this chastisement as a new proof of your heavenly +Father's love. Learn something from heathen +Seneca, who said he enjoyed his friends as one who +was soon to lose them, and lost them as if he had +them still. Nay, learn rather from Him who bore +your griefs and carried your sorrows; who, with the +burden of all our accumulated woes pressing upon a +sinless heart, exclaimed—"Father, not my will, but +thine, be done!" Thus shall your loss disclose to +you the pearl of great price, and enrich you with +the imperishable wealth of the kingdom of God! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch9fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch9fn1text">1</A>] Preached at a funeral, 1862. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +X. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +WISDOM AND WEAPONS.[<A NAME="ch10fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch10fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Wisdom is better than weapons of war.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Eccles.</SPAN> ix. 18. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We glory in the excellence of our arms. We boast +of our superiority in this respect to the ancients. +We attach great importance to such advantages, and +rely upon them for the success of our campaigns. It +is well. Let these things be properly estimated. But +are we not in danger of overlooking what is much +more essential to our prosperity? Is there nothing +better than guns and bayonets? The royal Preacher +gives the preference to wisdom. Wisdom is the right +use of knowledge, the pursuit of worthy ends by +proper means; and if we take the word in this its +ordinary sense, the truth of the text will be obvious +to all. But in the writings of King Solomon, as often +in other parts of the Holy Scriptures, wisdom has +another and higher meaning—piety, practical religion, +conformity of heart and life to the law of God; +and attaching this signification to the term, who can +question the statement of the wisest of monarchs, +"Wisdom is better than weapons of war"? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We will begin with some simple illustrations of this +proposition in its lower application to secular affairs, +and thus prepare the way for more copious discourse +concerning its higher application to spiritual matters. +And may God mercifully grant me persuasive words, +and you "a wise and understanding heart"! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Wisdom is better than weapons of war," because +it gains its advantages at less expense. Weapons of +war are very costly, and millions of money are +required to insure their success. But wisdom wants +no gold. "More precious than rubies," it is "without +money and without price." +</P> + +<P> +"Wisdom is better than weapons of war," because +it wins its victories without sacrificing human life. +Weapons of war strew the field with mangled and +ghastly corpses, and fill the land with widows and +orphans and broken hearts. But wisdom sheds no +blood. Its tendency is to preserve life, and not to +destroy. It resorts to counsel instead of appealing +to the sword, and subdues its enemies without endangering +its friends. +</P> + +<P> +"Wisdom is better than weapons of war," because +it leaves no wrecks or ruins as the landmarks of its +progress. Weapons of war spread desolation and +destruction on all sides; and buildings burned, and +plantations devastated, and wealth scattered to the +wind, everywhere attest the evils of international contention. +But wisdom wastes no property. It accomplishes +its beneficent purposes without injuring any +man's estate. It turns no fruitful field into a wilderness, +and disfigures the landscape with no smouldering +heaps of demolished habitations. +</P> + +<P> +"Wisdom is better than weapons of war," because +it gives no encouragement to the malevolent and +wicked passions. Weapons of war produce hatred, +contempt, revenge, a thirst for blood; converting +men into fiends, and rendering earth the counterpart +of hell. But wisdom makes no enemies. It conciliates. +It attracts love, inspires confidence, and binds +communities and nations together in fraternal amity. +It breathes something of the spirit of Christ's evangel, +and echoes the angelic proclamation—"Peace +on earth, good-will toward men." +</P> + +<P> +"Wisdom is better than weapons of war," because +its achievements are always of a much more valuable +character. Weapons of war may overcome brute +force, breaking the power of armies, subverting the +thrones of monarchs, and arresting the course of incipient +revolutions; while the mind remains unconvinced, +the will unsubdued, and the heart still strong +in its enmity. But wisdom eradicates the principle +of hostility. It blasts the bitter fruit in the bud. It +disarms enemies by making them friends. It occupies +the mind, subjugates the will, and leads captive +the heart. Therefore it is said, "He that winneth +souls is wise." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +These illustrations of the text in its lower application +must suffice. Proceed we now to the higher. +Wisdom is true religion, evangelical godliness; and +this, whatever view we take of it, will be found superior +to weapons of war. +</P> + +<P> +We see its superiority in the excellence of its +nature. Weapons are material: wisdom is spiritual. +Weapons are terrestrial; wisdom is celestial. Weapons +are worn upon the person: wisdom is seated in +the soul. Weapons are wielded by the warrior: wisdom +controls its possessor. Weapons are of earthly +origin, human invention, Satanic suggestion: wisdom, +like "every good and perfect gift, is from above, and +cometh down from the Father of lights." It is a +beam divine, by which we see the invisible. It is the +breath of God, inspiring a new life, and imparting a +new nature. It is an influence from the Infinite +Spirit, quickening the dead conscience, and purifying +the polluted heart. It is a gracious power, which +subjugates, exterminates all that is hostile to holiness +within, "bringing every thought into captivity to the +obedience of Christ," and nerving every faculty to +the conquest of the mighty host of spiritual foes that +"beleaguer the human soul." +</P> + +<P> +We read its superiority in the importance of its +objects. Weapons are employed both for aggressive +and for defensive purposes: so is wisdom, but in a +very different way. Are weapons used to gain freedom? +So is wisdom, but it is the freedom of the soul. +To acquire riches? So is wisdom, but they are the +"durable riches of righteousness." To augment +power? So is wisdom, but it is power over the passions +and the habits. To repel invasion? So is wisdom, +but it is the invasion of the Prince of darkness. +To expel enemies? So is wisdom, but they are the +enemies intrenched within us. To extend dominion? +So is wisdom, but it is the dominion of the world's +Redeemer. To subjugate nations? So is wisdom, but +they are the nations fighting against God. To liberate +captives? So is wisdom, but they are the captives +of sin and Satan. To gratify revenge? So is wisdom, +but it is revenge against the destroyers of our +race. To secure commendation? So is wisdom, but +it is the commendation of the Eternal Judge of quick +and dead. To achieve glory and honor? So is wisdom, +but it is the glory of a heavenly inheritance and +the honor of an imperishable kingdom. These are +objects worthy of angelic enterprise, and illustrative +of the transcendent excellence of wisdom. +</P> + +<P> +We observe its superiority in the purity of its principles. +Weapons foster and encourage evil passions +in the human heart, and stimulate all its corrupt and +vicious propensities; while wisdom eradicates them, +originates the opposite virtues, and cultivates in all +their "beauty of holiness" the gracious "fruits of +the Spirit." On the one side we see pride; on the +other, humility. On the one side, contempt; on the +other, courteous respect. On the one side, distrust; +on the other, ingenuous confidence. On the one side, +restless ambition; on the other, tranquil contentment. +On the one side, grasping avarice; on the +other, open-handed beneficence. On the one side, +bitter emulation; on the other, mutual aid and sympathy. +On the one side, injustice and oppression; +on the other, due regard for the rights of all. On +the one side, deceit and wily treachery; on the other, +unswerving truth and uncompromising fidelity. On +the one side, turbulence, confusion and anarchy; on +the other, the reign of divine law and angelic order. +On the one side, savage brutality and diabolical +cruelty; on the other, tears for all woes and help for +all needs. On the one side, bitter and implacable +malignity; on the other, the spontaneous flow of +brotherly kindness and charity. On the one side, +the desperate wrath and fury of revenge; on the +other, meekness, gentleness, oblivion of injuries, and +all the mind of Jesus. On the one side, an impious +disregard of the Almighty's government; on the +other, a profound reverence for his holy name, with +an earnest desire to know and a settled purpose to +do his blessed will. On the one side, an exemplification +of the spirit and temper of hell; on the other, +a practical illustration of those pure affections and +hallowed influences which make men resemble the +angels, and render our life "as the days of heaven +upon earth." These are the ennobling principles of +wisdom. +</P> + +<P> +We perceive its superiority in the grandeur of its +alliances. Weapons may secure an alliance with the +governments of the world, with its wealth and power, +its learning and eloquence, its useful and decorative +arts, the glory of its monarchs, the policy of its +statesmen, the influence of its sages, and the splendid +renown of its conquerors. But wisdom boasts of +loftier alliances with "the saints that are in the +earth, and the excellent in whom is all its delight;" +"a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people;" +the <i>élite</i> of the universe, the "sons and +daughters of the Lord Almighty," "whose names +are in the book of life," whose robes of light, and +harps of gold, and thrones of power, and crowns of +glory, and palms of victory, await them in the city +of "many mansions," the "house not made with +hands, eternal, in the heavens." It connects itself +by invisible but indissoluble ties with the redeemed +denizens of the "city of God," the purest and +noblest men that ever lived and died, patriarchs +and prophets, apostles and martyrs, philanthropists +and reformers, "the salt of the earth," and "the +light of the world," +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Doers of illimitable good,<BR> + Gainers of inestimable glory."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +It claims community with the cherubim and the seraphim, +spirits of light and love, the unshorn strength +and unsullied purity of heaven. It lays hold upon +the throne of God, and establishes an everlasting +covenant with the Almighty, and interests the Ruler +and Proprietor of the universe in its cause. Such +an alliance secures divine sympathy, heavenly recognition, +efficient co-operation, help for all needs, +succor in all troubles, defence against all dangers, +deliverance from all enemies, the triumphant success +of all enterprises, and the enjoyment of "all spiritual +blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." +And with this magnificent endowment of privileges, +unknown to the hero of the battle-field, Wisdom, +strong in her weakness, rich in her poverty, happy +in her misfortunes, tranquil amidst popular commotions, +and fearless of ten thousand foes, sits singing +in the house of her pilgrimage— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Not from the dust my joys or sorrows spring;<BR> + Let all the baleful planets shed<BR> + Their mingled curses round my head,<BR> + Their mingled curses I despise,<BR> + If but the great Eternal King<BR> + Look through the clouds and bless me with his eyes."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +We confess its superiority in the character of its +achievements. With arms men conquer inferiors or +equals: through wisdom they overcome beings vastly +greater than themselves—greater in number, in +nature, in knowledge, in cunning, in courage, in +energy, in endurance, in all the facilities and resources +of warfare, except such as are furnished by the grace +of God. With arms we vanquish human enemies: +through wisdom, superhuman. With arms we vanquish +external enemies: through wisdom, internal. +With arms we vanquish visible enemies: through +wisdom, invisible. With arms we vanquish mortal +enemies: through wisdom, immortal. With arms +we vanquish earthly enemies: through wisdom, +heavenly principalities and powers dethroned and +doomed. With arms we subdue provinces and +subvert empires: through wisdom, overcome self, +and bring our own rebellious nature under the government +of God; and he who accomplishes this, +saith Solomon, "is better than the mighty—than +he that taketh a city." Alexander is said to have +conquered the world. Vain boast! The world was +not half conquered. But "he that is born of God," +St. John tells us, "overcometh the world; and this +is the victory that overcometh the world, even our +faith." Faith is the theological synonyme of wisdom. +Faith is the foundation of all true religion. Faith, +wisdom, is real heroism. And it was through this +the holy men of old achieved their splendid triumphs +and won their immortal honors. And it is through +this that the Christian still overcomes the world; +overcomes its spirit; its false philosophy; its evil +customs and fashions; its cunning strategy, and its +open violence; the shallow sophistry of its unbelief, +and the affected valor of its impiety; the fascination +of its soft seductions and all the fury of its fierce +revenge. Faith, with Hope and Charity for its +allies, sprinkled with "the blood of the Lamb," and +bold in "the word of its testimony," with the eagle's +eye and the lion's courage, goes forth to the holy +conflict; and all the missiles of malice, ridicule and +infidelity—as cannon-balls by cotton-bales—are +effectually repelled by the meekness and gentleness +of its spirit; and the enemy at length succumbs to +the virtue that he finds invincible. This is real victory! +This is the sublime triumph of wisdom! +</P> + +<P> +We behold its superiority in the measures and +motives of its warfare. Here is a perfect contrast. +Arms triumph by physical force and energy: wisdom +prevails by the persuasiveness of truth, the gentleness +of charity, the beauty of holiness, and the spirit +of the Lord. The soldier seeks the aid of science +and strategy: wisdom adheres to the simplicity of +the gospel, repudiating all art, concealment, disingenuous +trickery, such as false colors, masked batteries, +treacherous ambuscades, and challenges its +enemies with an honest front upon the open field. +The military hero is cheered on by the voice of +popular applause: wisdom has no admiring multitudes, +seeks no encouragement from the world, but +pursues its spiritual warfare in silence and in secret, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "All unnoticed and unknown,<BR> + Loved and prized by God alone."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +There is much in "the pomp and circumstance of +glorious war" to stimulate the combatants: wisdom +has all the stern reality of the conflict, without any +of its inspiring accompaniments—the martial strain, +the glittering ranks, the floating banners, the roar of +artillery, the shout of charging squadrons, and the +clash of resounding steel. The mailed knight of the +battle-field may gather strength from emulation: +wisdom knows no emulation but that of love and +good works—no fierce competition or contentious +rivalry—striving only to excel in kindness of heart, +sweetness of temper, and the moral likeness of the +Son of God. You may be encouraged to the conflict +by the hope of gain: wisdom has no expectation of +earthly profit—no spoils to be won, no cities to be +sacked, no mansions to be robbed, no bank-vaults to +be rifled; but it forsakes all to follow Christ, and is +content to practise his daily self-denial. You may +look forward to worldly distinctions and honors: +wisdom seeks no promotion short of the kingdom of +heaven—no fame of heroism, no record in history, +no celebration in song, no decoration of stars and +wreaths, no triumphal arches, nor monumental pillars, +nor statues in the temples of the gods. Nay, +the times have been when those noble heroes who +through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, +obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, +quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of +the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed +valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the +aliens, though the world was unworthy of them, +were deemed unworthy of the world; had trial of +cruel mocking and scourging, of bonds and imprisonments; +were tortured, not accepting deliverance; +were tempted, stoned, burned, beheaded, crucified, +sawn asunder; wandered about in sheep-skins and +goat-skins, and concealed themselves in dens and +caves of the earth; being destitute, afflicted, tormented. +"But wisdom is justified of her children." +</P> + +<P> +We discover its superiority in the certainty of its +final success. Arms may fail for want of discipline +and skill: wisdom has drilled her soldiers, teaching +their hands to war and their fingers to fight. Arms +may fail for want of strength to wield them: wisdom +girdeth us with strength unto the battle; and nerved +by her influence, the feeblest in our ranks can run +through a troop and leap over a wall. Arms may +fail for want of competent officers: wisdom rejoices +in the "Captain of the Lord's host," "the Lion of +the tribe of Judah," with his eyes of flame, his vesture +dipped in blood, many crowns upon his head, +and a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of his +mouth, followed by the armies of Heaven, going forth +conquering and to conquer. Arms may fail for want +of sufficient defences: wisdom is environed with "a +wall of fire," a living circumvallation of seraphim +and cherubim; and "the name of Jehovah is a strong +tower, into which the righteous runneth and is safe." +Arms may fail for want of timely re-enforcements: +wisdom can call to her aid at any moment "twelve +legions of angels;" and, could we see their splendid +array, the mountain is continually aflame with the +artillery and cavalry of God. Arms may be rendered +useless by the overwhelming forces of the foe: wisdom +leads "a great multitude that no man can number;" +any one of whom can chase a thousand, and +two can put ten thousand to flight; as Gideon, with +his three hundred, routed and destroyed the myriads +of Midian. You may be unsuccessful in battle from a +variety of inevitable accidents: wisdom never breaks +her blade, nor bursts her musket, nor loses her bayonet, +nor dismounts her artillery, nor drops a chance +match into the magazine; and her batteries can never +be stormed, nor her forces flanked, nor her trains captured, +nor her ammunition exhausted, nor her officers +out-generalled and circumvented by superior strategy. +Your troops may lack the proper support of the +government: Jehovah has pledged all his infinite +resources to the aid of wisdom in "the good fight of +faith;" and his word shall not fail till heaven and +earth pass away. Your hopes may perish upon the +very verge of victory: what soldier of wisdom ever +left the field without the spoils of a vanquished foe? +"Yea, in all these things we are more than conquerors +through him that hath loved us." Success, +therefore, is certain. "The victory is the Lord's, and +he giveth it to whomsoever it pleaseth him." Let +the enemy boast, and rage, and threaten! "Who +hath hardened himself against the Lord and prospered?" +The sea shall drown them; the earth shall +devour them; the fire of heaven shall consume them; +the stars in their courses shall fight against them; or +they shall perish at the blast of an angel's breath +under the very walls of the city of God! However +the line of battle may waver for a season, however +the fortunes of the field may vacillate between victory +and defeat, the word of God is sure, and wisdom +shall triumph at the last. +</P> + +<P> +We recognize its superiority in the ineffable glory +of its issues. "Lamentation and mourning and woe" +follow the triumph of arms, and the land bewails the +unreturning brave: the victories of wisdom are universal +blessings, cheering the earth and gladdening +the skies; and wherever she prevails, the desert rejoices +and blossoms as the rose; and "the voice of +salvation and praise is in the tabernacles of the +righteous, saying, The right hand of the Lord is +exalted! the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly!" +The warrior may win a splendid spoil; and the capture +of vast stores and precious treasures—the +acquisition of cities, kingdoms, continents—may reward +his valor: wisdom "winneth souls"—more costly +than all the gems of Golconda, and all the gold of +California—the most magnificent structures ever +reared, and the most extensive empires ever formed. +The victor may feel a proud gratification in his success, +but it is necessarily mingled with much of unhappiness: +the achievements of wisdom afford "fulness +of joy, and pleasures forevermore"—joy without +any mixture of sorrow, pleasures without any +interval of pain. The commendation of superiors +and the applause of the multitude are often imbittered +to the conqueror by the envy of rivals and +the malice of foes: but the "Well done, good and +faithful servant!" of the Eternal Judge shall be re-echoed +by the happy universe, and the saints and the +seraphim shall compass you about with songs of deliverance, +and every detractive tongue shall be shut +up in the bottomless pit forever. History will record +your heroism, eloquence will emblazon your victory, +and poetry will perpetuate your praise; and the pencil, +the chisel, the temple, the towering column and +triumphal arch, will transmit your fame to future +generations: but the Christian's memorial is in the +New Jerusalem, "the new heavens and earth wherein +dwelleth righteousness"—"a new name, which no +man knoweth, save he that receiveth it"—a new +creation, glowing with the image of its Creator, over +which the morning stars shall sing together, and all +the sons of God shall shout for joy. The renown of +your heroic deeds may fill the world and flourish over +your grave: but wisdom shall inherit "a far more +exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The brass +will tarnish, and the marble will moulder, and the +voice of the orator will go silent, and the minstrel +shall sing no more in the sepulchre; but wisdom's +"praise is not of men, but of God;" "and they that +be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, +and they that turn many to righteousness as +the stars for ever and ever." Pharaoh perished; but +Moses is immortal. Ahab went down to the dust; +but Elijah drove his steeds of flame through the +sapphire firmament. Saul fell in his blood upon +Gilboa; but the tuneful son of Jesse still leads the +symphonies of the church in the wilderness, while +the cherubim and the seraphim around the throne +join in his choral hallelujahs. Egypt is a desert, and +Babylon is a heap of ruins, and Nineveh looks sadly +up from her ancient sepulchre by the Tigris, and the +imperial Mother of Nations sits in melancholy widowhood +upon the bank of the "yellow Tiber;" but +Joseph, and Daniel, and the captive Tobit, and +"Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ," have found "a +city of habitation," "whose builder and maker is +God"— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Where age hath no power o'er the fadeless frame,<BR> + Where the eye is fire and the heart is flame!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Roman conqueror returned in triumph, with +large display of spoils and prisoners; and a magnificent +array went forth to meet him, and the populace +rent the heavens with shouts of welcome, and the +wall of the city was torn down for his entrance, and +splendid offerings sparkled at his feet, and stately +structures over-arched his head, and rich odors perfumed +the air, and sweet music enlivened the scene: +oh! who shall tell of wisdom's coronation in the +metropolis of the universe—the unnumbered millions +of the ransomed, with palms and crowns and +lutes, amid the radiance of angelic beauty too bright +for mortal eyes, singing as the sound of many waters +and mighty thunderings unto him that loved them +and washed them in his blood! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Wisdom is better than weapons of war." Are +you satisfied with the proof? Then rally to the +standard of wisdom, join her forces, fight her battles, +win her rewards, sing her transcendent glories, and +share the blissful immunities and emoluments of her +victorious veterans forever! Why do you hesitate? +Are you afraid of the opinions or the speeches of +others? Oh! for shame! You have plenty of +martial courage; where is your moral courage? You +can march up to the mouth of the cannon and rush +upon the point of the bayonet; why quail you at the +scoff of the infidel and the scorn of the blasphemer? +Come out, come out, on the side of truth and +righteousness! Enrol yourselves with the saints, +under "the Captain of your salvation!" Defiant of +earth and fearless of hell, put on your arms, and +away to the field, and take part in the conflict, that +you may have place in the coronation! +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Soldier, go—but not to claim<BR> + Mouldering spoils of earthborn treasure,<BR> + Not to build a vaunting name,<BR> + Not to dwell in tents of pleasure.<BR> + Dream not that the way is smooth,<BR> + Hope not that the thorns are roses,<BR> + Turn no wishful eye of youth<BR> + Where the sunny beam reposes.<BR> + Thou hast sterner work to do—<BR> + Hosts to cut thy passage through;<BR> + Close behind the gulfs are burning—<BR> + Forward! there is no returning.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Soldier, rest—but not for thee<BR> + Spreads the world her downy pillow;<BR> + On the rock thy couch must be,<BR> + While around thee chafes the billow:<BR> + Thine must be a watchful sleep,<BR> + Wearier than another's waking;<BR> + Such a charge as thou dost keep<BR> + Brooks no moment of forsaking.<BR> + Sleep as on the battle-field—<BR> + Girded—grasping sword and shield:<BR> + Those thou canst not name or number<BR> + Steal upon thy broken slumber.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Soldier, rise—the war is done:<BR> + Lo! the hosts of hell are flying!<BR> + 'Twas thy God the battle won;<BR> + Jesus vanquished them by dying.<BR> + Pass the stream—before thee lies<BR> + All the conquered land of glory;<BR> + Hark! what songs of rapture rise!<BR> + These proclaim the victor's story.<BR> + Soldier, lay thy weapons down,<BR> + Quit the sword and take the crown;<BR> + Triumph! all thy foes are banished,<BR> + Death is slain, and earth has vanished!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch10fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch10fn1text">1</A>] Preached to soldiers in camp, 1863. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XI. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +LOVE TESTED.[<A NAME="ch11fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch11fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?—<SPAN CLASS="scap">John</SPAN> xxi. 17. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Were the dear Lord to appear personally in our +midst this morning, addressing one after another by +name, and putting the same question thus pointedly +to all, who would answer in the negative? Who +would frankly confess so base an ingratitude? Who +of all this assembly would, by the acknowledgment +of so flagrant an impiety, write himself down with +the reprobate? However negligently or wickedly +men live, few are willing to admit that they are +utterly wanting in love to him who loved them to +the death. +</P> + +<P> +But is love to Christ indeed so common? With a +few exceptions of unbelief so blasphemous as to shock +ordinary irreligion, are all men truly his friends? +Are they so taken with his teaching, so enamoured of +his virtue, so captivated by the beauty of his character, +that they are ready to forsake all to become his +disciples, and prove the sincerity of their attachment +by the cheerful endurance of the severest sufferings? +Do they generally accord to him his claims, practically +observe his requirements, and devote all their +energies to his service? Do they so believe in him +as the one only Mediator between God and man, the +one only name under heaven given among men by +which they can be saved, that they renounce all +others and cling with the tenacity of a death-grasp to +his cross? +</P> + +<P> +Let us ask ourselves the question. Let us enter +solemnly into conference with our own hearts. Let +every one bring his consciousness, his recollection, +the facts of his life, to the test. "Do I truly love +the Lord Jesus? Will my love bear the ordeal of a +faithful and impartial scrutiny? Is my conduct, public +and private, such as to put the matter beyond all +doubt and controversy? Should my crucified Friend +come visibly into the church, take me by the hand, +look straight into my eyes, and say, as he did to +'Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?' could I +answer as promptly, as honestly, as emphatically, as +the apostle did—'Lord, thou knowest that I love +thee'!" +</P> + +<P> +No superfluous or unprofitable inquiry is this, my +dear brethren; but a matter of infinite moment, +addressing itself immediately to each individual soul. +Had Jesus deemed it a question of little consequence, +think you he would have put it thrice in so searching +a manner to St. Peter? Does not the repetition +seem to imply a danger of mistake and self-deception? +Yet the question obviously supposes the apostle +might know with certainty whether he really +loved or not. And if he, why not we? I will not +put it to your consciousness, in which any man may +be deceived; but the manifestation and fruits of love +furnish certain practical tests, quite easy of application +and far less liable to mistake; so that no soul, +well instructed in the principles of Christianity, need +remain in ignorance of so vital a matter. +</P> + +<P> +Here, however, before we proceed any farther, a +word of explanation and caution seems necessary. +The passion of love, as we all know well enough, is +innate. We naturally love our friends and all that +is pleasing and attractive to us. But to this general +rule love to Christ Jesus is certainly an exception. +So fallen and sinful are we, that we cannot love that +which is holy, perfect, divine, without the enlightening +and purifying Spirit of grace from above. So +blinded is our sight, so depraved and perverted our +moral taste, that Christ is to us as a root out of a +dry ground, without form or comeliness, and there is +no beauty that we should desire him. His sublime +purity we cannot appreciate; his beauty of holiness +we cannot endure. We must be regenerate, quickened +together with Christ, raised from a death in +trespasses and sins to a new life in righteousness. +Possible it may be, indeed, for the infant, consecrated +to Christ in baptism, to "lead the rest of his life +according to this beginning;" from the very font, +daily increasing in God's Holy Spirit more and more, +until he come to Christ's everlasting kingdom. But +if, as commonly happens, the fact prove otherwise—if +there has been a defection from baptismal grace—there +must be a return to the bond of the covenant, +and a renewal by the power of the Holy Ghost, +or there can be no true love to Christ. And those +who now sincerely and supremely love him may know +precisely when and where the blessed restoration +took place, and the Sun of righteousness arose upon +them with healing in his wings. And others, not +baptized in childhood, may have a vivid recollection +of the place and the moment in which they first discovered +the light of the glory of God in the face of +Jesus Christ, and the Redeemer began to be unspeakably +precious to their souls. Love to Christ, therefore, +is not natural, but supernatural—not the result +of self-culture, but the product of divine grace—a +new and heavenly principle shed abroad in the heart +by the power of the Holy Ghost. The test of which +let us now apply; and may God help us to do so +with honest and faithful heart! "Simon, son of +Jonas, lovest thou me?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If you love the Lord Jesus, you will think of him +with pleasure. Love produces tender thoughts of +the beloved. You cannot cease to think of them +even when long absent. Can those who love the +Saviour ever forget him? Will not their meditation +of him always be sweet? How is it with you? +Can you say with the psalmist—"The desire of our +soul is unto thy name, and to the remembrance of +thee"? Do you think often of Jesus, and dwell with +delight upon his love? Do you meditate sweetly of +him in the night-watches? Is the thought of him +ineffably pleasing and joyful to your soul? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If you love the Lord Jesus, you will delight in +communion with him. Love finds its greatest happiness +in the presence of the beloved. Long absence +is painful, and hopeless separation is intolerable. +Every opportunity of communion with Christ, therefore, +the saints value as a high privilege and seize +with eager joy. The word in which he speaks to +them is their sweetest music; the closet in which +they meet with him is their highest Pisgah; the +table at which he feeds them is the very antepast of +heaven. Is this your experience? Do you love to +speak with Christ in prayer? Do you joyfully listen +to the messages of his grace, and read with pleasure +the epistles of his love? Do you feast with a keen +relish upon the heavenly manna and the new wine of +the kingdom which he provides for you in the +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Rich banquet of his flesh and blood"?<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Can you appeal to him in the language of the psalmist—"Lord, +I have loved the habitation of thy house, +and the place where thine honor dwelleth"? and when +deprived of its privileges, do you exclaim with him—"My +soul longeth, yea even fainteth, for the courts +of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the +living God; when shall I come and appear before +him?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If you love the Lord Jesus, you will constantly aim +and study to please him. With regard to any undecided +course of action, you will not ask, "How +will this please others?" but, "How will it please +Christ?" Him whom your soul loveth, whatever +the effect upon your neighbors, you will never be +willing to displease. You would rather offend every +friend you have on earth than the heavenly "Friend +that sticketh closer than a brother." "Ye are my +friends," saith he, "if ye do whatsoever I command +you." And again he saith, "If any man love me, he +will keep my words." Hearty obedience is the best +proof of love. If you truly love him, your obedience +will be prompt, earnest, constant, uniform, unquestioning +and uncompromising. Try yourselves, my +brethren, by this criterion. Is the word of Christ +the supreme law of your life? In all things, do you +seek his pleasure, and rejoice to do his will? Are his +commandments grievous to you, or do you find his +yoke easy and his burden light? Do you esteem +his service a hard bondage, or the blessed freedom of +the sons of God? Is it your meat and drink to do +his will, as it was his to do the will of his Father? +He is now challenging your affection, as Delilah +challenged that of Samson: "How canst thou say, I +love thee, when thy heart is not with me?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If you love the Lord Jesus, you will rejoice even +in suffering for his sake. What was it but love +stronger than death to him who died for them that +made the apostles glory in tribulations, sing hymns +of praise at midnight in their dungeons, wear their +chains and manacles more proudly than princes ever +wore their jewels, and welcome the scourge and the +cross which completed their conformity to the divine +Man of sorrows? And why did Ignatius chant so +cheerfully among the lions, and Polycarp pour forth +his thanksgiving so joyfully as he stood unbound in +the flames? And why did so many Christians, in +the early persecutions of the Church, rush to the +tribunal to confess their faith in Christ, hastening to +share the fiery coronation of their bishops and their +brethren? There is but one answer to these questions; +and if you love Christ as they loved him, you +will be ready to make any sacrifice or endure any +suffering for his glory. Like Moses, who "esteemed +the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the +treasures of Egypt," you will "choose rather to suffer +affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the +pleasures of sin for a season." Like the Hebrew captives +in Babylon, you will prefer the company of the +king's lions to the society of his courtiers, and the +sevenfold heat of the Chaldćan furnace to the perfumed +breezes that regale the royal gardens. Hard +sayings are these to ears like yours? Have you no +sympathy, then, with the Prince of sufferers? Are +you not ready to take up your cross, and follow him +to Calvary? If not, how can you say, "We love +him because he first loved us"? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If you love the Lord Jesus, you will love those +who are the special objects of his love. Love to him +is one half of his religion; love to his followers is +the other half. The latter is the fruit of the former, +and the best evidence of its reality. "By this," saith +our Saviour, "shall all men know that ye are my disciples, +if ye have love one to another." And did he +not pray for his little flock, that they might love one +another as he had loved them? And does not his +most loving apostle plainly tell us that this is the +proof of our having passed from death to life? And +does not St. Paul assure us that it is "the bond of +perfectness" and "the fulfilling of the law"—more +important than faith, knowledge, miracles, the grandest +eloquence, the largest beneficence, and even martyrdom +itself? How can you love Christ, and not +love Christians? If you love the Father, will you +not love his children? If you love the Master, will +you not love his servants? Truly loving your Monarch, +can you fail to love your loyal fellow-subjects? +What proof give you, then, of your love to the brethren? +Do you prefer their society to that of the +world? Do you delight to converse with those who +delight to converse with Christ and to converse with +you about him? Is it a great pleasure to you to do +them kind offices, supply their temporal needs, promote +their spiritual well-being, and cheer and comfort +them in the manifold sorrows of life? Is their interest +as dear to you as your own, their reputation, +and the salvation of their souls? If not, how can it +be said that you love them as you love yourself? +And, failing in this, where is the proof of your love +to him who laid down his life for us all? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If you love the Lord Jesus, you will sympathize +with him in his grief for those who love him not. +Over the Jews who rejected him Jesus wept upon +Olivet, and for the Romans who crucified him he +prayed upon his cross. And when his loving heart +broke beneath the burden of its anguish, think you +he ceased to grieve for a guilty and ungrateful world? +As he looks down from his mediatorial throne upon +the multitudes who everywhere spurn the gospel of +his grace and seek death in the error of their way—despising +the riches of his goodness and forbearance +and longsuffering, treasuring up wrath against the +day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment +of God—does he not still weep and pray for +the perishing neglecters of so great salvation, and +seek those who can weep and pray with him, in whose +tears and intercessions he can pour forth the full +measure of his loving sorrow for the undone? And, +loving him, will you not respond to his compassionate +lamentations, feeling as he feels for the impenitent +ingrates who are despising their own mercy and +trampling upon the precious blood of their redemption? +How is it with you, dear brethren? Am I +saying what sounds strange to you, if not absurd and +preposterous? Have you never wept for the wicked +as Elisha did when he foresaw the cruelties of Hazael, +or as St. Paul did when he told his brethren of +the enemies of the cross of Christ? Have you never +said with David—"I beheld the transgressors, and +was grieved; rivers of waters run down mine eyes +because they keep not thy law"? Tell me not that +you love Christ, while you have no sympathy with +his love for sinners—no self-sacrificing zeal to save +them, pulling them out of the fire! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If you love the Lord Jesus, you will look for his +glorious appearing and long for his eternal fellowship. +This was the one great gladdening hope of +the apostles and all the early Christians. Before +his departure, their dear Master had promised them +that he would come again, and receive them unto +himself; and with perfect faith in his word, they +joyfully waited and watched for his return in the +clouds of heaven. And still the expectant bride is +on the outlook for her absent Lord; and often we +hear her from behind the lattice of her chamber-window +calling—"Make haste, my Beloved! and be +thou like the young hart upon the mountains of +spices!" What Christian soul does not respond to +the sweet words of Milton? "Come forth out of thy +royal chambers, O Prince of all the kings of the +earth; put on the visible robes of thy imperial majesty; +take up that unlimited sceptre which thy Almighty +Father hath bequeathed thee; for now the +voice of thy bride calls thee, and all things sigh to +be renewed!" What saint of Jesus does not thrill +to the eloquent strain of Edward Irving? "Blessed +consummation of this weary and sorrowful world! +I give it welcome; I hail its approach with joy; I +wait its coming more than they that watch for the +morning! O my Lord, come away! hasten, with all +thy congregated ones! My soul desireth to see the +King in his beauty, and the beautiful ones he shall +bring along with him!" Verily, "herein is our love +made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day +of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world." +But were he this very day revealed from heaven in +flaming fire, should we take lute and timbrel and go +forth to welcome him to his ransomed world, or fly +to the rocks and mountains to hide from his presence +and escape from his wrath? In a great earthquake +which shook a vast city, when the people said it was +the day of judgment and sought where they might +take refuge from their Judge, a certain poor man +began to cry out—"Oh! is it so? is it so? Then +whither shall I go to meet my Lord? on what mountain +shall I stand to see my Saviour?" Oh! to +greet the Redeemer in his glory—who that loves +him does not leap for joy at the expectation? "For +the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with +a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the +trump of God;" and the saints in their redeemed +bodies "shall be caught up in the clouds to meet +him in the air, and so shall we ever be with the +Lord." Again the happy bride looks forth and cries—"The +voice of my Beloved! behold, he cometh, +leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the +hills!" And you, my dear brethren, if you truly +love your Saviour, so far from dreading him as your +judge, will hail him as your friend; when the sound +of his chariot-wheels, heard from pole to pole, shall +gladden the graves of his beloved; and the voice of +rejoicing and praise, rising from the tabernacles of +the righteous, shall roll its thunder-chant through all +the realms of joy! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Take, then, these <i>criteria</i>, and test your love to +Christ. Surely the result will be worth the examination. +For what transcendent importance, everywhere +in Holy Scripture, is given to this divine +principle! and in all ages, especially all Christian +ages, what fine things have been said and sung of +love! Not to recite the sublime statements of St. +John and the inspired raptures of St. Paul, with +which you are all familiar; the great bishop of +Hippo calls it "that sweet and sacred bond of the +soul, having which the poorest is rich, wanting which +the richest is poor;" while the golden-mouthed orator +of Antioch declares it "the grandest mastery of the +passions, and the noblest freedom of the redeemed +man." The prince of schoolmen, the Angelical Doctor, +writes: "Divine love surpasseth science, and is +more perfect than understanding; for we love more +deeply than we know, and love dwelleth in the heart, +while knowledge remaineth without." The greatest +military chieftain of modern times remarked to his +friend in St. Helena: "I have conquered nations by +the sword; Jesus Christ overcame the world by love." +A more heroic spirit—St. Catherine of Sienna—says: "Love +was the cord that bound the God-man +to the cross; the nails could not have held him there, +had not love bound him fast." The martyr-monk of +Florence—Savonarola—cheering his fellow-sufferers +in the kingdom and patience of Jesus, assures them +that love to the dear Lord "plucks the sting of death +and disinherits the grave," and that he who thus conquers +Satan in his final assault upon the soul "has +won the battle of life." And here is the noble testimony +of Thomas ŕ Kempis: "Nothing is sweeter +or purer than love; nothing is higher, or broader, or +fuller; nothing more pleasant, or more excellent, or +more heroic, in earth or heaven. Weary, it is not +tired; oppressed, it is not straitened; alarmed, it is +not confounded; sleeping, it is ever watchful; like +a living flame and burning torch, forcing its way +upward and overcoming all things." Finally, Eloquence +takes wing, and soars with her sister Song; +chanting in the strain of Sir Walter Scott— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Love rules the court, the camp, the grove;<BR> + And men below, and saints above;<BR> + For love is heaven, and heaven is love!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +or with Charles Wesley from his fire-chariot at the +gates of pearl— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "By faith we are come to our permanent home;<BR> + By hope we the rapture improve;<BR> + By love we still rise, and look down on the skies,<BR> + For the heaven of heavens is love!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +In conclusion, let me repeat what I said in the +outset. The question of our Lord is a plain matter +of fact, about which there need be no uncertainty; +and every one of us, with careful self-examination, +may be able to answer it at once. I have heard some +honest Christians sing: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Tis a point I long to know;<BR> + Oft it causes anxious thought;<BR> + Do I love the Lord or no?<BR> + Am I his, or am I not?"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Discard that verse, my brethren! Its theology is +worse than its poetry. For a filial love, or a conjugal +love, about which the wife or the child is +uncertain, you would not give a farthing. Do not +the anxious thought and the longing to know indicate +at least some small degree of love? Not loving +at all, you would care nothing about it, you would +be quite indifferent to the question. Dim indeed +the spark may be in your bosom; but bless ye the +Lord that it is not utterly gone out, and answer his +gracious inquiry with this better verse: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Lord, it is my chief complaint,<BR> + That my love is still so faint;<BR> + Yet I love thee, and adore;<BR> + Oh for grace to love thee more!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +So praying, the breath of the Holy Spirit will soon +blow the spark into flame; and when the Master asks +once more, "Lovest thou me?" with bounding heart +you will reply: "Lord, thou knowest all things; +thou knowest that I love thee!" +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch11fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch11fn1text">1</A>] Preached in London, Eng., 1866. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +MANIFOLD TEMPTATIONS.[<A NAME="ch12fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch12fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, +ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of +your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, +though it be tried with fire, may be found unto praise and honor +and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">1 Pet.</SPAN> i. 6, 7. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Why is not the Christian life a perpetual joy? +Why do so many sincere Christians seem often melancholy +and unhappy? The human heart is easily +moved, and very little is necessary to set it vibrating +with pleasant emotion. The voice of a happy child, +the carol of a forest bird, the beauty of an opening +rose, the glory of a sunset sky, the coming of a valued +friend, the visitation of a vagrant dream, the +recollection of a peaceful hour, the wind that chases +away the misty cloud, even a word in season fitly +spoken, may fill the soul with tranquil happiness or +raise it to an ecstasy of delight. Why, then, should +not the believer in Jesus rejoice evermore with joy +unspeakable and full of glory? With the glad tidings +which the gospel brings us, the love of God in +Christ which it reveals, the assurance of redemption, +the remission of sins, the communion of saints, the +ministry of angels, the visions of paradise restored, +the anticipated epiphany of our Lord in his glory, +the advent of the New Jerusalem in all its golden +magnificence, the restitution and renovation of this +disordered <i>cosmos</i>, the awakening of the body from +its long sleep in the sepulchre, and the life everlasting +of the just in the many mansions of their Father's +house, why do we not make the valley of Baca ring +with the prelude of our eternal song? Strange, indeed, +that all this should have so little power to +cheer, and gladden the people of God in the house +of their pilgrimage—that Christian enjoyment +should seem in general so feeble and so fleeting, +when it ought to flow on with the constant strength +and increase of a great river to its repose in the amplitude +of an unsounded sea. +</P> + +<P> +The apostle in the text solves for us the mystery. +It is not that there is nothing in Christianity to +cheer and elevate the feelings. In the great mercy +of God, which hath begotten us again to a new and +living hope by the certain resurrection of our crucified +Lord—in the prospect of an imperishable inheritance +reserved for us in heaven, and the perfect +assurance of our divine preservation till that inheritance +shall be revealed—we do indeed "greatly rejoice," +exult with gladness, leap with exuberant joy; +though now for a little while, as necessary for our +spiritual discipline, we may be put to grief in "manifold +temptations." Faith we have in these glorious +disclosures of Christ's evangel, and that faith is +genuine, efficient, sometimes quite triumphant; but +at present, perhaps, the gold is in the furnace, enduring +the test from which it shall soon come forth purified, +beautified, fit for the coronal of our expected +King. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The word temptation sometimes means enticement, +and sometimes trial. We are tempted when we are +enticed to evil, whether by Satan, or his servants, or +our own evil hearts; and we are tempted when our +faith is tried, when our virtue is tested, when our +character is put to the proof, whether by the malice +of men or the providence of God. Evidently, the +term here is to be taken in the latter sense. The +temptations of which the apostle speaks are trials, +such as those of Job, Jacob, David, the holy prophets +and martyrs, all in every age who live godly in +Christ Jesus. "Manifold temptations" are complicated +trials—trial within trial—one infolding another—one +overlapping another—many involved in +one—all so interlaced and bound up together that we +cannot analyze them, cannot even trace the threads +of the tangled skein. The grief or "heaviness" which +they produce does not necessarily indicate a want of +trust in God, or of submission to his holy will. The +firmest believer and most steadfast disciple may sometimes, +through outward affliction, walk in darkness +and have no light, even while he trusts in the name +of the Lord and stays himself upon his God. Christ +never doubted his Father's love, nor feared the issue +of his mighty undertaking; yet when the hour and +the power of darkness came upon him, he "began to +be sorrowful," "sore amazed," and "very heavy." +"Not my will, but thine, be done"—was the language +of his guiltless lips, when bowed in his baptism +of blood beneath a burden which might have +crushed a world. So his suffering servants patiently +endure their tribulations, glorifying God in the +midst of the fire, and singing with the royal psalmist—"Why +art thou cast down, O my soul! and why +art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God, +for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Christianity offers us no exemption from the ills +of life, but gives us grace to bear them, and sanctifies +all to our highest good. It is as true now as in +the days of David, "Many are the afflictions of the +righteous;" and after more than eighteen centuries, +the apostolic statement needs no qualification—"It +is through much tribulation that we must enter into +the kingdom of heaven." The thwarted scheme; +the blighted hope; the ill-requited love; the frequent +betrayal of confidence; the falseness or fickleness +of trusted friendship; the cross of shame laid +by another's hand upon the shoulder; the deep +anxiety about the future, which robs the present of +more than half its joys; the sudden failure of health, +withering the bloom of youth, or bringing down the +strength of stalwart manhood; the moral defection +of one long loved and cherished, involving the irretrievable +ruin of a character as dear to you as your +own; the death-couch where, day by day and night +by night, the mother fans the flickering spark of life +in her darling child; the dear mounds in the cemetery, +where affection fondly strews her memorial +blossoms, and keeps them fresh and fragrant with +her tears; many a secret grief, too sacred for the +stranger to meddle with, and too tender to be +breathed into the ear of the most familiar friend; +and more than all, Christ's virgin bride weeping in +sackcloth and ashes—a broken-hearted captive that +cannot sing the Lord's song in the land of the idolater +and the oppressor;—these are some of the fiery +trials and manifold temptations by which a gracious +Providence is disciplining us for our better destiny. +But the ordeal is as varied as the shades of character +and the aspects of human life. Now we have fears +within; anon we have fightings without; then deep +calleth unto deep at the noise of God's water-spouts, +and all his waves and billows are gone over us. But +the Lord rideth in the tempest and sitteth upon the +flood; saying to the fiery steeds of the one and +the angry waters of the other—"Hitherto, but no +farther!" No chance is here; all is beneficent design +and transcendent wisdom, restricting and controlling +the agencies of our providential discipline as +our spiritual interests may require. "Now," not +always—"for a season," not forever—"if need +be," not without the ascertained—are the +Lord's beloved subjected to these terrible ordeals. +The probation must precede the award. The shock +of battle comes before the victor's triumph. Be not +disheartened, but hold fast to your hope. The tide +that is gone out will soon return. The revolving +wheel that has brought you so low will soon lift you +on high. But there is no rose without its thorn, nor +dayspring unheralded by the darkness. Our light +afflictions are but for a moment. Like summer +showers they come and go, leaving the heaven +brighter and the earth more beautiful. Many a sore +chastening, over which we have wept with a sorrow +almost inconsolable, has proved one of the greatest +blessings that God ever granted us in this vale of +tears. What is needful for us, he knows better than +we. The refiner sits by his furnace; and the hotter +the fire, the shorter the process and the more +thorough the purification. The physician watches +by his patient, with his hand upon the pulse, observing +every symptom, and thrilling to every throb of +pain. The trial cannot be too severe for his purpose, +nor too long continued for our good. God wants to +see how much joy, how little sorrow, he can mingle +in our cup, with perfect safety to our spiritual health, +and a long series of experiments may be required for +the perfect solution of the problem. He is leading +us through the great and terrible wilderness to a +city of habitation; and as we look back from the +hills of our goodly heritage upon the rough path of +our pilgrimage, the whole journey may seem to us as +a dream when one awaketh. Not all of the Christian's +sufferings are the products of Christianity; +many of his bitterest griefs are altogether of his own +creation; and yet there is not an evil he endures, +from which Christianity does not propose to evolve +good for him—not a dark cloud which it does not +glorify with its beams, nor a crown of thorns which +it does not convert into a jewelled diadem. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But while the burden is mercifully lightened, it +is not at once removed. The aim of our heavenly +Father is not so much to take it away, as to enable +us so to bear it that it may become a blessing. Thus +he would test our faith, develop its strength, prove +its reality and efficiency. But why should faith be +thus tested? why not rather the whole Christian +character? Because faith is the root of character; +and as is the root, so is the tree. The test of faith is +practically the test of character, and in this fact lies +the obvious value of the test. It is the law of the +universe, and an essential factor in the process of our +salvation. Look at this mass of gold just brought +from the mine. How beautiful! how precious! But +there are impurities in it. The true metal must be +disengaged from all baser substances. Cast it into +the crucible. "See! it is melted!" Yes, but not +destroyed. "Is it not welded to the alloy?" No; it +is separated from it—purified—glorified! So with +our faith. Too precious to be purchased, even a single +grain of it, with all the gold-fields of the world, +it must be purged of its dross, and made easily distinguishable +from the common counterfeits which +deceive mankind. God gives it to the furnace. Does +it perish in the process? Nay, it is as imperishable +as Christ, and as enduring as the soul. The ordeal +proves its genuineness and develops its latent lustre. +The principle is universal, and everywhere manifest—evolved +by Nature, illustrated by Providence—testing laws, +customs, institutions, civilizations—awarding +due honors to the wise, the pure, the brave, the +true-hearted—consigning the false, the foolish, the +indolent, the pusillanimous, to merited oblivion or +infamy. Over the pearl-gates of the city of God is +inscribed: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; +for when he is tried, he shall receive the +crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them +that love him." Abraham's faith was tried by fire in +the Plain of Mamre and on the Mount Moriah. St. +Peter's faith was tried by fire in the garden, in the +basilica, and at the Saviour's cross. In Eden, the +first Adam's innocence was tested to our shame; in +the wilderness of Judća, the second Adam's obedience +was tested to our glory. Before the birth of +humanity, angelic loyalty passed through its ordeal +in the heavenly places; and when the fulness of the +prophetic times was come, God made proof of his love +to a fallen race by a trial which shook the earth and +rocked the thrones of hell. "If these things are done +in the green tree, what shall not be done in the dry?" +Every thing else tested, why not Christian character? +For, what is Christian character? Is it not a man's +protest against sin, his declaration of a new life in +Christ, his assertion of a citizenship in heaven and +joint heirship with the Son of God? Surely, this +is a matter of sufficient moment to require a test, +and no test can be too rigid that brings out the +blessed reality. Think not strange, then, of the fiery +ordeal. Providence is thus co-operating with grace +for your sanctification. Bruised by tribulation, the +flowers of Christian virtue give out more freely their +fragrant odors; and the clusters of the vine of God +must be trodden in the wine-press before they yield +the precious juice which shall gladden the children +of the kingdom. "When he hath tried me," saith +Job, "I shall come forth as gold." By trial faith is +transmuted into works, and by works faith shall be +justified before the assembled worlds. "The Egyptians, +whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see no more +forever." Courage, ye fearful saints! The clouds +which are gathering over you shall rain righteousness +upon you; the lightning that blinds you reveals the +chariot of your King; the thunder that terrifies you +assures you of his love. Courage! His glorious +epiphany is at hand. Forth shall he come from the +pavilions of the sky, with an escort of many angels, +and anthems that wake the echoes of eternity. Then +shall the tears of earth become the gems of heaven; +and the tuneful sorrows of every psalmist shall rise, +thrilling, into choral hallelujahs! And who will ever +regret the "heaviness through manifold temptations" +which hath wrought in him a meetness for the bliss +immortal, or behold with aught but joy ineffable the +precious gold of his faith which was tried with fire, +now "found unto praise and honor and glory at the +appearing of Jesus Christ!" +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch12fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch12fn1text">1</A>] Preached at East Brent, Somersetshire, Eng., 1866. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XIII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +CONTEST AND CORONATION.[<A NAME="ch13fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch13fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at +hand. I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I +have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of +righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at +that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his +appearing.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">2 Tim.</SPAN> iv. 6-8. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I go back eighteen centuries and a half into the +past, and find myself in a grand old Syrian city. +About midday I ride out at a western gate along a +great highway looking toward a picturesque group of +mountains. Straight before me towers the white +head of Hermon, like that of a patriarch amidst his +children. On my right and left are groves and gardens +and smiling villas, a paradise of verdure and +beauty, as far as the eye can reach. On this road +marched Abraham two thousand years before me, +and Jacob returning from Padan-Aram, and Jonah +going to Nineveh, and all Israel in chains to Babylon. +Enough, surely, in these objects, to stir the +dullest brain and kindle the coldest heart. Thus +occupied, my attention is suddenly arrested by a +troop of horsemen riding briskly toward the city. +Their leader is a young man, of rather low stature, +with keen black eye, and stern and determined +aspect. A single look is sufficient to assure me that +he is no common man, and here on no common +errand. It is the tiger of Tarsus, in fierce pursuit of +some of the lambs of the Good Shepherd. A few +Christians from Jerusalem, driven out by persecution, +have come hither for refuge; and Saul, with full +authority, self-solicited, is on their track, "breathing +out threatening and slaughter." You know the rest. +Blessed be the lightning-stroke that consecrated what +it smote, and made the bold persecutor the bravest +apostle of the Crucified! +</P> + +<P> +Thirty years later, in the world's metropolis, I visit +the Mammertine Prison adjoining the Forum. Who +is this, sitting on a block of travertine, with a tablet +on his knee, a stylus in his hand, and a little ewer-shaped +lamp at his side? As he looks up a moment +from his writing, I see something in his face that reminds +me of the young officer at the head of that +vengeful expedition. He is indeed the same man—the +same, and yet another. Toil, hardship, privation, +imprisonment, and cruel treatment of all kinds, +have wrought sad changes in his physical frame. +Bent, bald, almost blind, though not more than sixty-five +years old, I should hardly have recognized him +without a word from his warder. One of Nero's +victims, he waits here calmly for the hour of his release +by the sword. Already doomed perhaps by +sentence of the tyrant—it is not certain—neither he +nor his keeper knows—he has undertaken another +letter—most likely the last he will ever write—to +Timothy, his "dearly beloved son." Abounding +with godly counsel and encouragement to an intrepid +and zealous young bishop, it is full also of the most +inspiring utterances of Christian faith and hope. +Among other incentives to diligence and fidelity, he +adduces his own experience and expectation, and +these are his words of cheer: "I am now ready to be +offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I +have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; +I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up +for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, +the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and +not to me only, but unto all them also that love +his appearing." +</P> + +<P> +Not all called to be ministers and martyrs of +Christ, we are all called to be his constant and uncompromising +followers; and in the humblest sphere +of Christian discipleship there is demand for the utmost +activity and zeal, and in many cases for the +heroic martyr-spirit commended to the bishop and +exemplified in the apostle. Let us see, then, what +instruction we can get from the text. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The first thing here to be noted is the apostle's +calm contemplation of his present position: "I am +now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure +is at hand." +</P> + +<P> +In a popular work of fiction two characters are +taking final leave of each other. The one is full of +heart and hope; the other, deeply dejected and despondent. +"Farewell," is the last sad word of the +latter—"Farewell! your way leads upward to happiness; +mine downward—to happiness also." Such +helpless resignation to the inevitable, in one form or +another, we may all have witnessed. Few things are +more common in human experience; and the dying, +however much they have loved life or dreaded death, +yield themselves at last to what cannot be averted +or avoided. But in the apostle's language there is +something more than this stolid and sullen submission. +There is cheerful faith and buoyant hope—a +conscious triumph over all the evils of life and all the +terrors of death. +</P> + +<P> +I had a friend very ill. For three days his life +hung in doubt with his physician. When he began +to recover, he said to me: "Death came and looked +me in the face; but, thank God! I could look him in +the face without fear." Here stands a man face to +face with the last enemy in a far more terrible form. +To die as a public criminal at the hand of the executioner +is very different from lying down to sleep +one's self into another world—very different even +from falling in the field fighting for all that is dearest +to the patriotic heart. Yet the apostle speaks of his +fate as calmly as if he were about only to set out on +a journey or embark for a voyage. The manner of +his death he already knows. A Roman citizen, he +cannot be burned, strangled, or crucified, like some +of his brethren; and Nero, devil as he is, can do no +worse than take off his head and send him to his +Saviour. He is ready to be offered as a sacrifice—poured +out as a libation; and the time of his departure—the +loosing of the hawser—the lifting of +the anchor—is at hand, when he shall sail out upon +the ocean of eternity. +</P> + +<P> +A good man, dying, said: "I am in the valley, and +it is dark; I feel the waters, and they are cold." +Not so the apostle. All with him is bright, hopeful, +joyous. His last hours are the best of his life. It is +not a stoical indifference to suffering, nor a disgust +with the world that has misused him, nor a weariness +of his holy work. Long since he learned in +every state to be content. Some years ago he was in +a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and +be with Christ, but willing to remain a while in the +flesh for the benefit of his brethren. For him, to live +is Christ, to die is gain. Living or dying, he is the +Lord's, and Christ is magnified in his flesh. At peace +with heaven and earth, what has he to fear from +either? Knowing whom he has believed, and confident +that he is able to keep that which he has committed +to his custody, he is ready at the beck of the +executioner to go forth from his dungeon, and his +last walk on the Ostian Way shall be the triumphal +march of the conqueror. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The second thing here to be noted is the apostle's +pleasing review of his accomplished career: "I have +fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I +have kept the faith." +</P> + +<P> +The reference is to the old Grecian games—the +Olympian, the Isthmian, the Nemean, and the +Pythian. These festivals, we are informed, originated +with Pelops, were brought to perfection by +Hercules and Atreus, and restored by Iphitus when +they had fallen into neglect. Very popular they +were, celebrated with great pomp and ceremony, +and made use of to mark memorable events and +public eras—that of consuls at Rome, of archons +at Athens, of priestesses at Argos. From Greece +they passed to Italy; and were so much in vogue at +the world's metropolis, that an ancient author speaks +of them as not less important to the people than +their bread. With these spectacles both St. Paul +and his beloved Timothy must have been well +acquainted, and in the writings of the former no +metaphors are more frequent than those drawn from +the Grecian games. +</P> + +<P> +"I have fought a good fight"—literally, striven +a good strife, or agonized a good agony. The reference +is to the athletic contests of the arena—wrestling, +boxing, and fighting with swords. The +apostle's life had been a perpetual struggle and conflict. +He says he has "fought with beasts at Ephesus"—a +metaphorical description doubtless of his +fierce encounter there with the enemies of Christianity. +Wherever he went, he met hosts of foes, +marshalled under the banners of Jewish prejudice +and pagan superstition. And the world assailed him +with all its enginery of temptation and persecution; +and the native corruption of his own heart caused +him many a sore conflict, though in all these things +he was more than conqueror through the victorious +Captain of his salvation. As with St. Paul, so with +all Christians; baptized into a warfare with the +world, the flesh and the Devil; and signed with the +sign of the cross in token of this consecration as +Christ's servants and soldiers to their life's end. +But this is "a good fight"—in a good cause, under +a good captain, with good arms, good allies, good +comrades, good supplies, good success, and good +rewards—in all respects better than the patriot's +battle for freedom, the crusader's conflict for the +holy sepulchre, or any competition ever maintained +in the arenas of Greece and Rome. +</P> + +<P> +"I have finished my course." The figure is +changed. Seated with fifty or sixty thousand spectators +in the Circus Maximus, we are looking down +upon the <i>stadium</i>, where men stripped to the waist, +with eyes fixed upon the goal, are rushing along for +the prize. There goes St. Paul! +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Swiftest and foremost of the race,<BR> + He carries victory in his face,<BR> + He triumphs while he runs!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching +forward to those which are before, how eagerly he +presses toward the mark for the prize of the high +calling of God in Christ Jesus! With our apostle +this is a favorite illustration of the Christian life—its +steady aim, its strenuous action, its habitual self-denial, +and patient endurance to the end. "Know +ye not," he writes to the Corinthians, "that they +who run in a race run all, but one receiveth the +prize? So run that ye may obtain.... They do it +to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." +And in the Epistle to the Hebrews we +read: "Seeing we are compassed about with so +great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every +weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, +and run with patience the race that is set before us." +So all Christians must run, never pausing in their +progress, nor for a moment relaxing their energies, +till from the goal they can look back and say—"I +have finished my course." +</P> + +<P> +"I have kept the faith." Here seems to be a reference +to the strict rules and rigid discipline to be +observed in both these methods of competition. In +the arena and on the <i>stadium</i> every thing was duly +ordered and prescribed, nothing left to chance or +choice, and he that strove for the mastery was not +crowned except he strove lawfully. In the race, +there must be no deviation from the line marked out +for the runner; in the combat, no unfairness nor +violation of the rules. "I therefore so run, not as +uncertainly," saith the apostle; "so fight I, not as +one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, +and bring it into subjection, lest after having +preached to others I myself should be rejected." +"Would you obtain a prize in the Olympic games?" +said a pagan philosopher. "A noble design! But +consider the requirements and the consequences. +You must live by rule; you must eat when you are +not hungry; you must abstain from agreeable food; +you must habituate yourself to suffer cold and heat; +in one word, you must surrender yourself in all +things to the guidance of a physician." "The just +shall live by his faith." Without adherence to this +rule, there is no reward. "The life which I live in +the flesh," saith St. Paul, "I live by the faith of the +Son of God." It is faith that strengthens the Christian +<i>agonisti</i> with might in the inner man. It is faith +that unites the soul to Christ, and overcomes the +world. The shipwreck of faith is the shipwreck also of +a good conscience. Keep the faith, and it will keep +you. St. Paul kept it, and triumphed in martyrdom. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The third thing here to be noted is the apostle's +joyful foresight of his glorious coronation: "Henceforth +there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, +which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give +me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all +them also that love his appearing." +</P> + +<P> +The object of the apostle's hope is no garland of +withering leaves or fading flowers, such as honored +the victor in the Grecian games; nor a diadem of +gems and gold, such as glorified imperial brows at +Rome. He had sowed righteousness, and righteousness +he hoped to reap. He had wrought righteousness, +and righteousness was to be his reward. The +principle of the competition was the chief jewel of +the expected crown. The victor's award must show +the character of the conflict. And what, to such a +prize, are all the splendors of royalty, with all the +magnificent pageantry and subsequent privileges of +an Olympian triumph? Imperishable, it is called +"a crown of life," and "a crown of glory that fadeth +not away." In the Convent of Sant Onofrio, I +have seen the wreath intended for the living Tasso, +but delayed too long, and placed by the <i>fratti</i> upon +the brow of the dead; and, though very carefully +preserved, it was all sear, and crisp, and falling to +decay; but upon your heads, O ye righteous! shall +your crowns flourish, when this earth and these +heavens are no more. +</P> + +<P> +The judge who awarded the prize to the victor at +the Grecian games might decide unjustly, either +through culpable partiality, or from involuntary +error; but "the Lord, the righteous judge," who is +to decide the fate of the Christian <i>agonisti</i>, is no +respecter of persons, and his perfect knowledge and +infallible wisdom render mistakes with him impossible. +St. Paul's imperial judge was the very incarnation +of iniquity; but Christ "shall judge the world +in righteousness," and "reward every man according +to his works." +</P> + +<P> +The crown was not conferred as soon as the racer +reached the goal or the gladiator gave the fatal +thrust, but was reserved till the contests were all +over and ended, and the claims of the several candidates +were carefully canvassed and adjudicated. So +the "crown of righteousness" is "laid up" to be +given "at that day," when the Lord Jesus shall come +to be glorified in his saints. One says, "we must die +first;" St. Paul tells us we must rise first. Blessed, +indeed, are the dead in Christ; but their blessedness +cannot be consummated till their Lord return from +heaven and they appear with him in glory. +</P> + +<P> +And to whom, or how many, is the crown to be +given? "To all them that love his appearing." All +the contestants shall then be collected, and every +victor crowned. Christ hath crowns enough for the +whole assembly of his saints, and the most illustrious +of his apostles would not wish to wear them all. +The humblest and obscurest Christian shall have his +portion in the royal inheritance. There is only one +condition—that we "love his appearing." This was +the chief mark of his first followers. Through all +their bitter conflicts, their hope clung to the Master's +promise. Have we such hope? Rejoice then, +and be exceeding glad! Fight on; stretch forward; +hold fast your precious faith. In the crown that +glitters in the hand of your Judge, is there not sufficient +indemnity for all the agony of the conflict? +</P> + +<P> +To this prospect, alas! there is an appalling contrast. +Some are fighting an evil fight, running a +ruinous race, repudiating the only faith that can +save the soul. Think you by unrighteousness to +win the crown of righteousness? "Be not deceived; +God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth, that +shall he also reap." Even in the Grecian contests, +the unsuccessful candidate found all his toil and +struggle utterly unprofitable at the end. And you +who never enter the lists, who take no part in the +competition, who are mere spectators of the earnestness +and the agony of others—will you dare, when +the Judge cometh, to stand forth and claim the +crown for which you have never striven? "Awake +to righteousness!" Condemned already, dead in +trespasses and sins, aliens from the Church and +strangers to the covenant—what hope is there for +you, but in God's regenerating grace, a thorough +change of heart and life, a moral transformation of +character which shall make you new creatures in +Christ Jesus? Not yet is it all too late. Come and +offer yourselves as candidates for the heavenly competition. +Grace will accept your late repentance, +and you will have nothing to regret but your long +delay. We challenge you to the contest. All +heaven awaits your decision. How long halt you? +It is high time you were determined. Step forward, +take your position, and struggle for the crown of +righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give +that day to all who love his appearing! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch13fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch13fn1text">1</A>] Preached at Brighton, Eng., 1866. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XIV. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +CALVARY TOKEN.[<A NAME="ch14fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch14fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the +Lord's death till he come.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">1 Cor.</SPAN> xi. 26. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Between Chattanooga and Atlanta occurred +some of the severest conflicts of the American Civil +War. For more than a hundred miles the fields are +covered with battle-scars, and every hill-top bears +traces of fortifications. Near one of the most memorable +places may now be seen a cemetery, where +Northern and Southern soldiers, side by side, await +the resurrection. Visiting it a year after the struggle +was over and ended, I found an East-Tennessee +farmer sitting by a grave at the head of which he +had just erected a handsome marble. To my question—"Was +the soldier lying here your son?" he +answered: "No, sir; he was my neighbor. I was +drafted for the army; my family were all sick; I +knew not how to leave them; I was sadly perplexed +and troubled. A young man came to me, and said: +'You shall not go; I will go for you; I have no +family to care for.' Glad to remain with those who +needed me so much, I accepted his generous offer. +He went, but never returned. I have brought this +stone more than a hundred miles, to set it at the +head of his grave. Look there, stranger!" I followed +with my eyes the direction of his finger, and +read under the name of the noble dead: "He died +for me!" And we both bowed the head, and wept. +</P> + +<P> +My dear brethren, there is One far nobler who died +for you and me. With a disinterestedness unparalleled +in the annals of war, he took our place in a +fiercer conflict than was ever waged for freedom or +for empire. Fighting our battle, he fell; but falling, +conquered all our foes. Triumphant he rose from +the dead, and ascended on high, leading our captivity +captive. At the right hand of the throne of God, +in our nature redeemed and glorified, "he ever liveth +to make intercession for us." All that we have or +hope of good we owe to his dying love. But in an +upper chamber at Jerusalem, with a few chosen witnesses +present, just before he went forth to the final +engagement, he instituted for us a perpetual memorial +of his unexampled charity. Taking bread, he +blessed, and brake, and gave to his disciples, saying: +"Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for +you; do this in remembrance of me." Then, taking +the cup, he gave to them, saying: "Drink ye all of +this; for this is my blood of the new covenant, shed +for you, and for many, for the remission of sins; do +this in remembrance of me." This finished, he chanted +part of the Great Hallel with the beloved twelve, as +if the victory were already won; then gave them his +valedictory address, and went out to die. And some +twenty-four years later, the great Apostle Paul, in a +letter to the Christians of Corinth, having narrated +the facts just as they are recorded by the evangelists, +adds these solemn words for the benefit of his brethren +in all subsequent ages: "As often as ye eat this +bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's +death till he come." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Here, then, is the precious Calvary token bequeathed +by the dear Saviour to his redeemed Church. +While we contemplate it, hear we not a voice from +the excellent glory bidding us take off the shoes +from our feet? Approaching the altar to gaze upon +the great sacrificial memorial, the ground we tread +is holier than that on which Moses stood before the +bush that burned in Horeb. There is more of God +seen here than in all the fires of Sinai. There he +made known his law; here he reveals his love. +There we read his will; here we behold his heart. +No other ordinance, even of the new and everlasting +covenant, contains so much of majesty, so much of +mystery, so much of sanctity, and at the same time +so much of mercy, as the eucharistic feast; in which +the Messiah stands forth to our faith at once the sacrifice +and the sacrificer, in the same sacred solemnity +instituting an everlasting memorial and a perpetual +priesthood. +</P> + +<P> +To us, more than eighteen centuries after the fact, +if we have any right feeling and clear perception, +the solemn transaction in the upper room, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "On that sad memorable night,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +must wear an aspect far more interesting than it +wore at the moment even to the apostles themselves. +For we are able to view the matter more deliberately +and more dispassionately than they could, and with +many additional side-lights to aid our apprehension +of the divine truths involved. Certainly no act of +the Saviour has laid his Church under greater obligation, +none has exhibited in more attractive colors the +relations he sustains to his redeemed people. Taking +the bread and the cup, does he not remind us of his +having taken our flesh and blood? Presenting them +with solemn benediction to the Father, does he not +intimate to us the offering of his humanity to Heaven +as a sacrifice for our sins? Giving them to his disciples +with the command to eat and drink, does he +not assure us that he is ours with all the infinite +benefits of his incarnation and atonement forever? +Ordering the apostles and their apostolical successors +as his priests to do what they have just seen him do +as their Lord, does he not furnish us a perpetual +commemoration of his redeeming love, and a perpetual +demonstration of his quickening power, till +his return in glorious majesty from heaven to rule +the world he ransomed with his blood? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Under both the Hebrew and the heathen rituals, +the meat-offering and the drink-offering were inseparable +from every piacular sacrifice; and without the +conjunctive offering of bread and wine, it is difficult +to see how either Hebrew or heathen could have +regarded the death of Christ as an expiation for sin. +As the death of a martyr, indeed, they might well +enough have taken it; but as a sacrifice for human +transgression, how could they have received it, unaccompanied +by the Holy Supper? Were the bread +and wine the body and blood of Christ in the physical +sense maintained by the Church of Rome, their perpetual +presentation by personal intercession before +the Father's throne would be superfluous and even +impossible, while the voluntary death of our dear +Lord upon the cross would be unnecessary and suicidal. +Were they the body and blood of Christ in the +merely emblematical sense maintained by the ultra-Protestant +sects, they would constitute for us no +sufficient assurance of his ever-living mediation in +heaven, nor to God any effectual remembrancer of +his suffering in the flesh for the expiation of our +guilt. Therefore those denominations who deny the +propitiatory character of his passion have little care +or scruple about the due observance of this most +sacred festival— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Rich banquet of his flesh and blood."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"This do," said the divine Author of the institution, +"in remembrance of me"—strictly, "for my +memorial;" not merely remembering me—reminding +yourselves and others of me; but memorializing +God the Father—reminding him of the self-presentation +of his well-beloved Son as an offering and a +sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savor for our salvation. +In doing this, we do not repeat the once offered and +forever accepted propitiation for our guilt—a thing +which, indeed, we cannot do, and which no word of +Holy Scripture warrants us in attempting; but we +present a spiritual memorial of that propitiation, +setting forth in the sight of God the perfect work +and infinite merit of our personal Redeemer; we present +the consecrated bread and wine, and with them +we present ourselves and the whole catholic Church, +to him who delivered up his own Son for us all, and +accepted that Son's unknown sorrows and sufferings +as a sufficient satisfaction for all human sin. This +is the essence of the eucharistic oblation, the anti-typical +peace-offering, the great sacrifice of the faithful. +How unworthy are we of so sublime a service! +and how should we cleanse ourselves to appear with +such a gift at the portals of the heavenly sanctuary! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the presence of the chosen twelve presenting +to the Father the meat-offering and drink-offering of +the true Paschal Lamb, the appointed High-Priest of +our profession solemnly attested to heaven and earth +the sacrificial character of his ensuing sufferings, and +pledged himself to the speedy accomplishment of the +great sin-offering once for all. Enjoining upon his +apostles the perpetual continuance of the same ministration +by an unfailing succession of consecrated +men, he provided the Church with a proof and the +world with a token of the everlasting endurance and +efficacy of that sacrifice, once offered, often commemorated, +and eternally acceptable to God. Instituting +a memorial for all subsequent ages of the completeness +and perpetuity of his personal sacrifice, he instituted +also the means of appropriating its benefits; +and the Christian meat-offering and drink-offering +being so intimately associated with the Christian sacrifice, +the partaker in faith of the one is partaker in +fact of the other, truly eating the flesh and drinking +the blood of God's incarnate Son. Hear the Saviour's +memorable words in the Capernaum synagogue: +"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the +flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have +no life in you; whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh +my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up in +the last day; for my flesh is meat indeed, and my +blood is drink indeed; he that eateth my flesh and +drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him." +</P> + +<P> +Hard sayings were these to some who heard them, +and hard they still are to all self-blinded unbelievers; +but, as St. Augustine says, they are hard only to the +hardened, and incredible only to the incredulous. +To us who believe, though mysterious, they are very +precious. We apprehend their spiritual meaning, +and rejoice in the privilege which they open to our +faith. Eating and drinking at the Lord's table, we +become partakers of his life, his holiness, and his +immortality. Here we participate with the Eternal +Father in his joy over the accomplished work of his +Beloved Son, and with that Beloved Son himself in +his joy over the redeemed Church—his treasure and +his bride; while heaven and earth unite in the glad +festival of faith—the hidden manna and the new +wine of the kingdom. And if the living Christ be +thus in you, dear brethren! what outward enemy is +too strong for you—what duty too arduous—what +ordeal too severe? Away with your doubts and +fears, O ye faint-hearted disciples! Can you not +trust him who, in the power of an endless life, has +established his throne in your hearts? With Christ, +all things are yours, and no agency of earth or hell +can rob you of your regal inheritance! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Contingent upon the sacrifice of the cross, and +from that sacrifice deriving all its meaning and its +merit, the eucharistic sacrament itself becomes relatively +sacrificial. As beforehand there was a continual +sacrificial anticipation of Immanuel's atoning +death, so after the event is there a continual sacramental +commemoration of the accomplished purpose +and prophecy. Both the Jewish passover which foreshadowed +the future fact, and the Christian eucharist +which to-day commemorates the fact historical, +are sacrificial on the same principle and by the same +rule—their relation to the cross of Calvary which +gives them all their virtue and their value. The +agony is over, and Christ dieth no more; the atonement +once made without the walls of Jerusalem is +still presented by our divine High-Priest before the +mercy-seat within the vail. To all who believe, it is +efficacious forever, needing no annual or even millennial +repetition. But in the eucharistic sacrament, +with prayers and thanksgivings, we lift up the reeking +cross before the Eternal Father, and plead the +sufferings of his Well-Beloved for our salvation. +We say to God: "Behold this broken bread; it is +the mangled flesh of thy Christ! Behold this purple +cup; it is the blood which he shed for our sins! +Behold at thy right hand our slaughtered Paschal +Lamb, and for his sake have mercy upon us and save +us!" +</P> + +<P> +Thus we say the holy eucharist is relatively sacrificial—sacrificial +from its inseparable connection +with the Redeemer's sacrifice. But even in this sense—the +only one admissible to a true faith—the holy +eucharist could not be sacrificial, were not its ministers +in a corresponding sense sacerdotal. As the +sacrament becomes relatively sacrificial by representing +the Saviour's sacrifice, so its ministers become +relatively sacerdotal by representing his person and +functions. Commencing in the paschal chamber an +ever-during sacrifice by ministering in person its +accompanying meat-offering and drink-offering, he +commenced there also the order of an ever-during +priesthood by empowering his apostolic ministry to +perpetuate that meat-offering and drink-offering forever. +And, conferring sacerdotal functions upon the +apostolic ministry, he conferred them upon that ministry +alone. If he did not intend to limit to the +twelve and their consecrated followers the power of +consecrating and dispensing the sacramental bread +and wine, why were not the whole five hundred +brethren, or all the vast concourse of followers from +Galilee, admitted to the original celebration? The +selection of the few proves the exclusion of the +many, and restricts the perpetual prerogative to +the ministry of apostolical succession. +</P> + +<P> +The sacerdotal oblation being essential, the sacerdotal +celebration is equally essential. The priest +must consecrate; the priest must administer; or +there is no divinely authorized memorial of the one +everlasting sacrifice. No such memorial, where is +the recognized bond, connecting the body on earth +to its glorified Head in heaven? No such bond, what +becomes of the Church, and what assurance has she +of an eternal inheritance? That bond secure, the +Church is invincible and immortal; the city of God +stands upon a rock which no shock of colliding worlds +can shake; all her happy people, instinct with the +life of their Lord, walking in white robes her streets +of gold. And the apostolic series of sacerdotal ministers +continuing to the end of time, the conjoined +memorial of consecrated bread and wine shall still +bind the successive generations of the faithful to the +sacrificial cross, till he who for our great and endless +comfort instituted the holy mystery nearly two thousand +years ago shall return with all his flaming +cohorts from the skies to take us to himself forever. +"As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye +do show the Lord's death till he come." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch14fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch14fn1text">1</A>] Preached at Porto Bello, Edinburgh, Scot., 1866. For much +of the thought contained in this discourse the author is indebted to +the <SPAN CLASS="scap">Christology of the Old Testament</SPAN>, by the honored rector of +his childhood, the Rev. Joseph Stephenson, A.M., late of Lympsham, +Somersetshire, Eng. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XV. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +HEROISM TRIUMPHANT.[<A NAME="ch15fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch15fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph +in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in +every place.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">2 Cor.</SPAN> ii. 14. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The grandest of all human pageants was a Roman +triumph. This honor was conferred only upon the +emperor or the general who had conquered a province, +or achieved some signal victory. The conqueror +was arrayed in rich purple robes, embroidered +with flowers and figures of gold. His buskins were +adorned with pearls and costly gems, and a wreath of +laurel or a crown of gold was set upon his head. In +one hand he held a laurel branch, the emblem of victory; +and in the other his truncheon, the symbol of +authority and power. He was borne in a magnificent +chariot, drawn generally by white horses, but sometimes +by other animals. Pompey had elephants; +Mark Antony, lions; Heliogabalus, tigers; Marcus +Aurelius, reindeer. Musicians led the procession, +playing triumphal marches; and heralds, proclaiming +the achievements of the victorious hero. These +were followed by young men, leading the victims, +with gilded horns and garlanded heads, intended for +sacrifice. Next came the wagons, loaded with the +spoils and trophies of the conquered foe; succeeded +by the captured horses, camels, elephants, and gayly +decorated carriages; and after these, the captive +kings, queens, princes, and generals, loaded with +chains. Then was seen the triumphal chariot, outdoing +all other magnificence; before which boys +swung censers and maidens strewed flowers; while +the people, as it passed, prostrated themselves and +shouted, "<i>Io triumphe!</i>" Immediately behind +marched the sentries; and the procession was closed +by the priests and their attendants, with the various +sacrificial utensils, and a white ox destined for the +chief victim. Entering the city by the Porta Capaena, +passing through the triumphal arch, and proceeding +along the Via Sacra, the splendid <i>cortége</i> +moved on toward the Capitol; at the foot of which +the captives divided, some led to the Mammertine +and Tullian dungeons on the right, while the others +went straight forward to the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus; +the former doomed to death, the latter made +tributaries if not even allies of imperial Rome. +Meanwhile, the temples all being open, every altar +smoked with sacrificial fires, and clouds of incense +filled the city and sweetened all the air. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +With such spectacles the Corinthians were not +unacquainted. About two hundred years before St. +Paul wrote this epistle, Lucius Mummius, the Roman +consul, had conquered all Achaia; had destroyed Corinth, +Chalcus and Thebes; and, by order of the senate, +had been honored with a splendid triumph and +the surname of Achaicus. Over the same people the +apostle now has a triumph, but it is a triumph of very +different character—a triumph in Christ by the +power of the gospel, the glory of which he ascribes +to God alone. As in a Roman triumph the smoke of +altars and the odor of incense filled the city with a +pleasant perfume, so the name and the doctrine of +Christ preached by him and his colleagues pervaded +Corinth and all the surrounding country—wherever +those holy men had labored—with odors as of Eden; +and the apostles appeared as triumphing in Christ over +idols, demons, devils—over ignorance, prejudice, +scepticism, superstition, false philosophy, and all the +powers of darkness; yet appropriating no praise to +themselves, but attributing all to the wisdom and +the mercy of God. Indeed, it is God's triumph, not +theirs. He has first triumphed over them, and is now +making them the partners of his triumph. Better +expressing the sense of the Greek original, Trench +and Alford read, "leadeth us in triumph;" and other +eminent critics give us substantially the same rendering; +while Conybeare and Howson, in their admirable +work on the "Life and Epistles of St. Paul," +thus translate the language of the text: "But thanks +be to God, who leads me on from place to place in +the train of his triumph, to celebrate his victory over +the enemies of Christ; and by me sends forth the +knowledge of himself, a stream of fragrant incense, +throughout the world." A pretty free translation, it +is true; but embodying, no doubt, the precise meaning +of the writer. "St. Paul regarded himself," says +Fausett, "as a signal trophy of God's victorious power +in Christ; his Almighty Conqueror leading him about +through all the cities of the Greek and Roman world, +as an illustrious example of his power at once to subdue +and to save." The foe of Christ was now the +servant of Christ. Grace divine had subdued and +disarmed him. The rebel, the persecutor, the conspirator +with hell, was brought into subjection, and +rejoiced in his burden as a blessing. As to be led in +triumph by man is miserable degradation, so to be +led in triumph by the Lord of hosts is highest honor +and blessedness. Our only true triumphs are God's +triumphs over us. His defeats of us are our only +true victories. Near the gate of Damascus the lion +is smitten into a lamb by the hand of the Crucified; +and in a short time the lamb has become his bravest +champion. Brought into willing obedience, he falls +into Christ's triumphal train, ascends into Christ's +triumphal chariot; and, in full sympathy with Christ, +becomes the partner of his triumph. Bengal writes—"who +shows us in triumph"—that is, not only as +conquered by Christ, but as conquering with him. +Our victory is the fruit of his victory over us; and +the open showing of that, so far from being our +shame, is our greatest glory. Therefore saith the +apostle—and it is the most heroic utterance of the +prince of heroes: "God forbid that I should glory, +save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom +the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." +And from this evangel of the crucifixion, which he +lives to preach and will die to defend, arises the fragrant +odor with which he and his companions are filling +the world. As the approach of the triumphal +procession is made manifest by the sweet perfume +scattered far and wide by incense-bearers in the conqueror's +train, so the heavenly Victor makes use of +his vanquished to herald the victories of his grace +and diffuse like fragrant odors the saving knowledge +of his name. It is the triumph of grace over sin, the +triumph of truth over error, the triumph of faith over +unbelief, the triumph of divine love over human selfishness. +It is the right triumphing over the wrong, +the pure triumphing over the impure, the heavenly +triumphing over the earthly, the spiritual triumphing +over the sensual, the eternal triumphing over the +temporal, the true religion triumphing over all superstition. +It is God by Christ triumphing in man, and +man through Christ triumphing with God; who leads +us in triumph as his captives, shows us in triumph as +his trophies, and "maketh manifest by us the savor +of his knowledge in every place." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +You see, my brethren, that the apostolic work was +missionary work—that the Church, as constituted +by these heroic and holy men under the leadership +of their divine Lord, was a missionary society—the +primitive propaganda of the Christian faith. They +were sent forth by the Captain of their salvation to +conquer the nations for Christ, and gather captives +from all countries into his triumphal procession. +For this work St. Paul was added to the original +number, and from his peculiar fitness by education +and spiritual endowment became the most successful +of them all. And the constitution of the Church +is still unchanged; and our high calling in Christ +Jesus has never been revoked; and your bishops +and clergy to-day are but heralds and incense-bearers +in the train of Immanuel's triumph; and every faithful +communicant, and every baptized believer, and +every humble neophyte, are triumphing with the +heavenly Conqueror. Surely here is a demand for +all our faith, for all our zeal, for all our moral heroism; +and for an embassy like ours, "more than +twelve legions of angels" might have been commissioned +from the skies. Alas! where sleep our energies? +where slumber the holy fires within our hearts? +Calm and secure, here we sit in our Christian assemblies. +With something of the Spirit we pray, with +something of the Spirit we sing, and with much of +the understanding we do both. With reverent delight +we hear the word of grace, and with unspeakable +gladness welcome its revelations of the unseen +and the eternal. With our best faculties we inquire +into its meaning, seek elucidations of it in ancient +literature and modern criticism, and rejoice in its +accumulating confirmations from history and from +science. We worship with a comely ritual derived +from the fathers, and celebrate the sacramental mysteries +of our redemption in words that have warmed +the hearts of martyrs. But while thus occupied, +how little think we of the millions around us who +for the same mercies are constantly invoking Heaven +with the voice of all their sins and sorrows! For +us, Christ "hath abolished death, and brought life +and immortality to light by his gospel;" they follow +their friends to the burial, and mourn for them without +hope, no star gleaming over the grave, nor seraph +beckoning out of the darkness beyond; they lie +down to die, but above the pallid day no halo gathers, +no seraph wings are hovering, no sweet familiar +voices inviting to an eternal fellowship of joy. Have +we no loving compassions for them, no desire to +rescue and save their souls alive? Oh! look at the +heathen world, where Satan holds undisputed empire, +and man has never felt the power of Christian civilization. +Look at the dark places of the earth, full +of the habitations of cruelty; where Belial reigns +supreme, and Moloch revels in fire and blood. Look +at the countries that languish under the curse of +the Crescent, where sense misnamed faith triumphs +over reason, and strong delusion has quenched the +last beam of divine knowledge, and obscured every +ray of intellectual truth. Look at Jacob's heritage +of milk, and honey, "destroyed by the wickedness +of them that dwell therein"—the most beautiful of +lands, the very garden of God, by ignorance and +barbarism turned into a sterile waste and delivered +up to the tenantry of noisome and noxious creatures. +Look at the exiled children of Abraham, a vagabond +race, roaming everywhere, and nowhere finding rest; +the curse of their rejection branded on every brow, +and reprobation written in every feature of an unmistakable +physiognomy; their synagogues little +better than Mohammedan mosques and pagan temples, +their worship an empty and abrogated ceremonial, +and Mammon substituted for the Messiah. +Look at the villanous impostures of the Vatican, +and the notorious corruptions of faith and worship +wherever the Roman mystagogue holds sway; the +habitual invocation of saints and martyrs; the adoration +of images, pictures, and relics; the monstrous +abuses and manifold abominations of the confessional; +the doctrines of indulgence, purgatory, and +human merit; the blasphemous dogmas of papal +supremacy and infallibility, and the immaculate conception +of the Blessed Virgin; with the legitimate +and lamentable fruits—an abject and atheistic +priesthood, and a thriftless and degraded people. +Look at your own country, Christian though it is +called—your own city, highly as it is favored of +heaven; and see how far the masses lie from the living +God; how his name is profaned, his altars abandoned, +while every place of amusement is thronged +with merry votaries of pleasure, and drunken men +reel athwart the path of church-going people, and +the house of her whose steps take hold on hell stands +in the very shadow of the sanctuary, and libidinous +songs and blasphemous oaths form the horrible counterpart +to your sacred psalmody; on all sides temples +of Bacchus and Beelzebub, with scenes of +revelry and riot, debauchery and blood, where dissipation +discards all disguise, impurity all shame, and +impiety all fear. Look at your Western States and +Territories—fields demanding a hundred missionaries +where you have one; a numerous and constantly +increasing population scattered over a vast +extent of country, with only here and there a church +and a school, like solitary torches a thousand miles +apart struggling to dispel the deeper than Egyptian +darkness of half a world; while Rome is rearing her +temples and convents everywhere, everywhere establishing +her brotherhoods and sisterhoods, founding +orphan-asylums and educational institutes, exercising +a powerful influence over the development of the +youthful mind, and poisoning the wells whence the +people are to draw the water of their salvation; and +heresy and schism are setting up their tabernacles, and +agnostic infidelity is travelling <i>pari passu</i> with population, +and myriads of redeemed immortals are perishing +for lack of knowledge. Look at your fair and +sunny South-land, lately devastated by contending +armies; churches in ashes, cities in ruins, fenceless +plantations growing up to forests; bishops and clergymen +wofully impoverished, and forced to resort +to secular occupations for subsistence; earnest and +anxious spirits, shipwrecked in the collision of sectarian +crafts, struggling desperately in the dark waters +of doubt, and longing to see the life-boats of the +Church upon the billows; four million slaves in a +state of semi-barbarism suddenly set at liberty like +so many unfledged cagelings turned out to the wintry +tempest, amidst hawks, and owls, and eagles, and +every beast of prey; many of them already relapsing +into their ancestral superstitions, suspecting one +another as wizards and witches, practising hideous +rites and abominable incantations, worshipping some +exceptionally ugly old hag as a new incarnation of +the Divinity, and dancing with demoniac noises over +the graves of their dead. No fancy pictures are +these which I present, nor overwrought descriptions +of realities. Impossible were it to find language or +figures to exaggerate the wretchedness of humanity +unrelieved by the gracious revelations of God. In +comparison of the moral ruin around us, what was +the late catastrophe of a hundred South-American +cities, whelming in a common destruction men, women +and children to the number of forty or fifty +thousand? Should some pilgrim from a distant +sphere, traversing the ethereal space with wings of +light, chance to cross the orbit of our fallen planet, +and cast a momentary glance down at our condition, +might he not hurry past with a shudder, suspecting +that hell had emptied itself upon earth, and the unhappy +race had been given over unredeemed to the +dominion of the Devil? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But why dwell on this dismal theme? Oh! I +could tell you of victories demanding another David +to sing them or another Isaiah to record them, till +every loving heart should leap for joy and exult +in hope of millennial triumph. But I would fain +stir your compassion. I am feeling for your purse-strings +among your heart-strings. I want to play a +tune upon your spirits which shall echo in Colorado, +and make music in New Mexico, and reverberate +from the heights of the Himalaya, and gladden +the hills round about Jerusalem. Can we survey +the valley of vision, and not prophesy to all the +winds of God? Can we see millions of immortal +beings crushed by the dominion of Satan, and not +cry amain to the Prince of peace to come and unseat +the great usurper, and establish his own universal +and everlasting empire? And how shall we pray +successfully, if we answer not our own prayers by +pouring our offerings into the Lord's treasury? How +shall we arrest the long carnival of crime, and error, +and delusion, and infidelity, if we bestir not all our +Christian energies, occupying every available position, +evoking every beneficent agency of the Church, +barricading with Bibles and Prayer-Books the teeming +way to ruin, and bridging with the blessed cross +the mouth of the flaming pit? Thus, my brethren! +may we save souls from death, and give new joy +to benevolence in other worlds, and gladden the +heart that eighteen hundred years ago quivered for +us upon the point of the Roman spear, and fill the +reverberant universe with the shout of the apostle—"Now +thanks be unto God, which always causeth +us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the +savor of his knowledge by us in every place!" +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch15fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch15fn1text">1</A>] Preached at a missionary meeting in New York, 1868. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XVI. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +FRATERNAL FORGIVENESS.[<A NAME="ch16fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch16fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from +your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Matt.</SPAN> +xviii. 35. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When John Wesley was in Georgia, he was +dining one day with Gov. Oglethorpe. A negro +waiter at the table committing a careless blunder, the +governor said to his guest: "See this good-for-nothing +servant; he is always doing wrong, though +he knows that I never forgive." "Does your Excellency +never forgive?" replied Mr. Wesley; "then +it is to be hoped that your Excellency never does +wrong." A beautiful reproof; and the more effectual, +no doubt, from its gentleness. Those who need +forgiveness for their own faults, certainly ought to +forgive the faults of others. "Forgive, and ye shall +be forgiven;" but "he shall have judgment without +mercy, who hath showed no mercy." This is the +lesson taught us in the gospel for the day,[<A NAME="ch16fn2text"></A><A HREF="#ch16fn2">2</A>] which I +shall endeavor to unfold and apply. For moral elevation, +the passage is very remarkable. Found in +some old Greek or Roman volume—in some parchment +dug up from Herculaneum or Pompeii—on +some tablet or cylinder discovered amidst the <i>débris</i> +of Nineveh or Babylon—it would have awakened +the wonder of the world, and men would never have +been weary of praising its transcendent charity. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Jewish rabbis taught that a man might forgive +an injury a second or even a third time, but never a +fourth. When St. Peter asked—"How oft shall my +brother trespass against me, and I forgive him? until +seven times?" he doubled the rabbinical measure of +mercy, doubtless imagining that he had reached the +ultimate limit, and that his Divine Master even could +require no more. How must he and his brethren +have been astonished when Jesus answered: "I say +not unto thee, Until seven times; but, until seventy +times seven!" What! four hundred and ninety +times? But Jesus puts a definite number for an +indefinite. "Count not your acts of clemency," he +seems to say; "be your forgiveness of a brother as +free as the air you breathe or the light you enjoy—your +love as unlimited as the illimitable heaven +above you." Then he puts the matter strongly before +them in a parable: +</P> + +<P> +A certain king calls his servants—the collectors +of his taxes and revenues—to account. One of +them is found frightfully in arrears—owing his lord +ten thousand talents—a debt which he can never +pay. The king orders the sale of the delinquent, +with his family and all his effects. Falling at the +royal feet, he implores patience, and promises the impossible. +Touched with pity, the king forgives the +debt. But the forgiven goes to a fellow-servant who +owes him the small sum of a hundred pence, seizes +him by the throat, and demands immediate payment. +The helpless debtor falls before him, and pleads with +him as he himself had lately pleaded with the king. +The creditor, however, is inexorable; and into prison +the poor man must go till the debt is paid. The +sad matter is reported to the king, who recalls the +subject of his clemency, rebukes his cruelty, revokes +his own act of forgiveness, and delivers the unmerciful +over to the tormentors till the last farthing shall +be paid. Finally, in application of the parable, the +Divine Teacher adds: "So likewise shall my heavenly +Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts +forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." +</P> + +<P> +God's mercy to man, and man's unmercifulness to +his fellow, are the two principal things set forth in +the parable. Let us look at them both, and see how +the former enhances the latter, and enforces the duty +of fraternal forgiveness. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +To have any right appreciation of the master's +mercy, we must know something of the amount of +the servant's debt. Ten thousand talents was an +enormous sum. The delinquent was a viceroy, and +the amount he owed was the revenue of a province. +In those days large debts were not uncommon. +Julius Cćsar owed, beyond his assets, $1,425,000; +Mark Antony, $2,250,000; Curio, $3,375,000; Milo, +$4,125,000. An Attic talent was about $1,080; +which, multiplied by 10,000, would make the debt +$10,800,000. But if the Jewish talent of silver is +meant, it would amount to $16,600,000; if the Jewish +talent of gold, to $569,000,000. Now let each talent +stand for a sin—10,000 sins! Reduce the talents +to dollars, and take every dollar for a sin—569,000,000 +sins! Reduce the dollars to dimes, and let every +dime represent a sin—5,690,000,000 sins! Reduce +the dimes to cents, and let every cent be considered +a sin—56,900,000,000 sins! Perhaps, however, our +dear Lord never intended by the number of talents +to intimate the number of our sins, any more than by +the seventy times seven he meant to say how often +we should forgive an offending brother. In each +case the idea is that of indefinite number, unlimited +extent. But if the seventy times seven means mercy +without measure, what can the ten thousand talents +denote but guilt beyond all human calculation or +imagination? Think you any estimate of the number +and enormity of our sins can be an exaggeration? +"Who can tell how oft he offendeth?" "My +sins are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my +heart faileth me." "My sins are increased over my +head so that I am not able to look up." Far better +and holier than the best of us, my brethren, was the +man who wrote these statements, and left them for +an everlasting testimony against those who are pure +in their own eyes. If David had such consciousness +of sin, what must our consciousness be if we knew +ourselves as well? They are the self-blinded, self-hardened, +self-deceived, who fancy themselves innocent +and glory in their virtue. Even the great +apostle called himself "the chief of sinners," and declared +that in himself dwelt "no good thing." There +is no danger, then, of extravagance in any estimate of +our sins of which our arithmetic is capable. So let +us proceed a little farther. Take our Lord's summary +of the first table of the law: "Thou shalt love +the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all +thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy +strength." Here is required the surrender of the +whole man as a living sacrifice to his Divine Creator +and Sovereign Proprietor. This is his unquestionable +claim upon every moment of our existence +throughout its immortal duration. A duty this +which we cannot omit for a single second without +robbing God; and every minute that we neglect it, +comprising sixty seconds, we may be said to repeat +the sacrilege sixty times; every hour, 3,600 +times; every day, 86,400 times; every year, 31,536,000 +times; in twenty years, 630,720,000 times; +and in forty years, 1,261,440,000 times. But these +are sins of omission only, and that in relation to a +single phase of duty; add all the other instances, and +we must multiply the sum by multiplied millions. +Then we must take our positive sins—our violations +of the divine law by thought, word and deed—open +sins and secret, public and private, personal +and social—sins defying all enumeration, and difficult +even of classification; and, adding all together, +we must multiply the sum by all our faculties, facilities +and gracious incentives for doing God's blessed +will, and aggravate all by the innumerable mercies +and inestimable blessings which he has diffused over +our lives as his sunbeams over the earth. And its +any thing short of infinite mercy adequate to the forgiveness +of such a debt? +</P> + +<P> +For all this, however unwilling, we must give +account to God; and how terrible the array, when +conscience shall summon forth from the secret +chambers of memory every sin of which we have +been guilty, and every evil act and every neglect of +duty shall stand out distinct and clear in the light +of eternal judgment! How shall we meet the +reckoning? In all the eternity to come, what satisfaction +can we offer for our faults? Can we alter +the facts, undo the deeds, repair the wrongs, recall +the time, or efface the record? Nay, the account remains +uncancelled, and the debt can never be paid. +Soul and body, with all the capabilities of both, the +creature belongs to the Creator; and by an original +and perpetual obligation, perfect love and blameless +obedience are his constant duty. Beyond this he +can never go. Even though he commit no sin, +neglect no duty, he can offer to the Creator no +service whatever that is not justly required of him +as a creature. By his utmost efforts forever, he +simply renders to God what is his indisputable due. +How, then, can the transgressor hope to pay the new +and additional debt which he has incurred by innumerable +crimes? Before he can do a single meritorious +act, even his original obligation to God as +his creature must be cancelled; but to cancel that is +more than the Creator himself can do, the obligation +being inseparable from the relation. As to human +merit, therefore, the case is hopeless. What, then, is +to be done? Sell the debtor, with his wife and +children? Such procedure on the part of the +creditor was allowed by ancient law. But in what +slave-mart of the universe shall God sell the sinner? +Who will want him but Satan? and Satan has him +already, self-sold, and bound by indefeasible indenture. +Nay, by this part of the parable our Lord presents +justice as ministering to mercy. The menace of +punishment opens the way for pardon, and the +hopeless condition of the debtor enhances the clemency +of the king. See the poor wretch, prostrate at the +royal feet, imploring a little indulgence, and promising +what is utterly beyond his power. So, on a bed +of sickness, stung by conscience and confronted by +doom, often has the most incorrigible transgressor +vowed reparation for a vicious life, only to augment +his guilt by disregarding the vow on the return of +health and strength. But if the sinner cannot pay, +God can forgive. If neither saints nor angels can +wrest the culprit from the grasp of justice, yet Heaven +has found a ransom to save his soul from the pit. +Jesus interposes with "a price all price beyond;" +the debt is overpaid in the blood of the cross; through +the compassion of the King the debtor is released +from his bonds; and the angels tune their harps to +sing "the blessedness of the man whose unrighteousness +is forgiven and whose sin is covered!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +So far the parable illustrates God's mercy to man; +what remains is a sad picture of man's too frequent +unmercifulness to his brother, and the just punishment +of his cruelty visited upon the delinquent. +Here are five points worthy of our attention; which, +duly considered, may serve to impress upon our +minds the duty of fraternal forgiveness. +</P> + +<P> +First, we have the two creditors, with their respective +claims. The king represents God in his +relation to man; the first servant represents man in +his relation to mankind. God has his supreme +claims, as creator and sovereign lord, upon the love, +worship and obedience of the whole human race; +while man has his subordinate claims, as an equal +and a brother, upon the justice, the kindness, the +sympathy and the charity of all other men—sometimes, +as patron and official superior, upon the reverence, +submission and loyal service of a particular +part of them. +</P> + +<P> +Then, we have the two debtors, with the different +amounts of debt. Both are servants, holding a like +relation to the king. Both are in arrears, the one to +the king, the other to his fellow-servant. Ought not +a common bond and a common condition to produce +in them mutual kindness and sympathy? But how +great the disparity of their debts! ten thousand +talents, and a hundred pence—the latter less than a +millionth part of the former—if the gold talent is +intended, less than a hundred millionth. Surely if +the king could forgive the greater, it were a small +matter with his servant to forgive the less. In comparison +of our sins against God, what are our +brother's sins against us? "As the small dust of +the balance, lighter than vanity itself." +</P> + +<P> +Next, we have the two arrests, with the opposite +methods of their making. Calmly and kindly, in +his accustomed way, worthy of his royal dignity, +and just as he treated others, the king calls his servant +to account. This proceeding was to be expected, +and involves neither harshness nor severity. +But when the man is found so culpably in arrears +with nothing to pay—a case which could not happen +without great dishonesty and wickedness—the +king orders, as he has legal right to do, the sale of +the culprit, with his family and effects, to satisfy +some small part of the royal claim against him. Now +mark the very different conduct of the criminal. +No sooner is he released than he goes out—not staying +a moment to express his gratitude or admire the +mercy shown him—finds the man who owes him +fifteen dollars: and, with a violence unprovoked and +inexcusable, lays hands on him, takes him by the +throat, and exclaims, "Pay me that thou owest!" +Could there be a more unlovely contrast to the conduct +of the king? Such is the difference between +God's dealing with guilty men and man's dealing +with his delinquent brother; the former all mildness +and forbearance, the latter all harshness and severity. +</P> + +<P> +Again, we have the two pleas, with their contrary +receptions by the creditors. The two pleas are identical; +the two receptions, quite opposite. The first +servant falls down before the king, saying, "Have +patience with me, and I will pay thee all;" so falls +down the second servant before the first, with the +very same words upon his lips. Not forgiveness, but +merciful indulgence, is what each debtor craves of +his creditor; and full payment is what each promises. +The payment of a hundred <i>denarii</i> seems quite +practicable, and not at all improbable; but the payment +of ten thousand talents is beyond all power +except that of royalty itself. Yet the wretched +impossibility moves the royal heart to compassion; +while the feasible and probable meets with stern and +cruel refusal from the servile defaulter—all mercy +on the one side, all implacability on the other. If, +when overwhelmed with conscious guilt, you smote +upon your breast and implored the divine mercy, your +penitential tears moved the compassion of Heaven, +how can you now harden your heart against the like +plea of an offending brother? Even if he offer no +plea, can you be utterly indifferent to his grief? Is +this the spirit of Him who prayed for those who were +nailing him to the cross? Perhaps your brother's +heart is almost breaking, while he is too proud to +apologize. A kind word, a look of love, might melt +him into tears at your feet. Oh! give him that +word, that look! It will restore to your arms a +brother—to your heart a peace like that of heaven. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, we have the two issues, with their consequences +in impressive contrast. Great as his debt is, +the king's debtor is released and forgiven; but the +servant's debtor, owing so small a sum, is cast into +prison till he shall pay the debt. But how shall he +pay it in prison? Nay, it is not to secure payment +that he is incarcerated, so much as to gratify the +malignity of a wicked and revengeful heart. After so +great a mercy shown to himself, the creditor cannot +show the smallest mercy to his fellow-servant. And +there the poor man must lie, in a private dungeon, +amidst filth and darkness, his creditor his jailor, no +comforts nor supplies but what are furnished him +by friends without, no hope of deliverance till death +comes to his release. Such is the contrast between +God's dealing with man, and man's dealing with his +brother. He compassionately forgives; we cruelly +proceed to punish. Or if we pretend to forgive, how +different is our forgiveness from his! God forgives +gladly; we reluctantly. God forgives promptly; we +after long delay. God forgives completely; we but +partially and imperfectly. God forgives from the +heart; we only with outward formalities. God forgives +very tenderly; we with indifference or contempt. +God forgives and forgets the crime; we cherish the +bitter memory for many years. God forgives and +takes the pardoned sinner to his heart; we thrust +him away from our presence and our fellowship forever. +God forgives so lovingly that he is said to +delight in mercy and rejoice over the pardoned; we +with such coldness, such hatred, such haughty disdain, +that to meet the object of our clemency in +heaven would spoil our joy! +</P> + +<P> +That the cruel severity of the servile creditor +should touch the hearts of his fellow-servants with +sorrow is no matter of wonder. Stern and inexorable +as were the laws of the age, no man without grief +or anger could witness such inhumanity. In our +day the case would have convoked an indignation +meeting, if not a mob; with denunciatory resolutions, +if not the prompt application of the code of Judge +Lynch. The better method, however, is chosen; and +the sad matter is prudently reported to the king. The +king recalls the late object of his amazing clemency, +in a dignified but very pointed speech remonstrates +with him, and then delivers him to the tormentors +till he shall pay the last farthing of the debt once +forgiven. A righteous but terrible punishment! A +state criminal, he goes to the public prison, the royal +dungeons—perhaps, like the Mammertine and Tullian +at Rome, three stories under ground. The debtor's +prison, however, was ordinarily in the house of +the creditor—often in his cellar; where the prisoner +was kept in chains, subject to the creditor's will, to +be tortured or slain as he chose. Slaves were there +on purpose to torment him, and make his life as +wretched as possible. They scourged him, beat him +with rods, racked him with engines, pulled out his +teeth, plucked out his nails, burned out his eyes, cut +off his nose and ears, tore and mangled his flesh with +hooks and pincers—to make him disclose his hidden +treasures, to induce his friends to pay his debt for +him, or simply to gratify a diabolical spirit of revenge. +That all this has its counterpart in God's retribution +upon the implacable, though almost too terrible for +our faith, is the plain teaching of the parable. Men +and angels rise up in remonstrance with Heaven +against the unforgiving. And when the divine Heart-searcher +calls him to judgment, what answer can he +make to the dread animadversions of the angry king? +Dare he now pray, as he often did on earth, "Forgive +us our debts as we forgive our debtors!" Will he +lift up his voice and sing, as he used to do in the +church, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "That mercy I to others show,<BR> + That mercy show to me!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +It was a mockery then; he will not repeat it now. +Speechless as the unrobed intruder at the marriage +feast, he stands trembling before his Judge. Angels +of justice, take him away! Let us not see his +anguish, nor hear his lamentation! Showing no +mercy, he has lost all claim upon mercy. Conscience +his eternal tormentor, any spot in the universe may +be his dungeon of despair. Ask him now the question +he has often asked with a sneer—"Is there a +hell, and where is it?" He lays his hand upon his +heart and answers—"There is, and it is here!" +Angels of justice, take him away! +</P> + +<P> +"So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto +you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his +brother their trespasses." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch16fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch16fn1text">1</A>] Preached in St. John's, Buffalo, N.Y., 1869. +</P> + +<A NAME="ch16fn2"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch16fn2text">2</A>] Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XVII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +CHRIST WITH HIS MINISTERS.[<A NAME="ch17fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch17fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Matt.</SPAN> +xxviii. 20. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The agony of redemption is accomplished. The +lately crucified and buried is alive forevermore. +Forty days he has walked the earth in his resurrection +body, instructing and comforting his disciples. +The time is come for his return to the Father. He +must enter into heaven itself, now to appear in the +presence of God for us. If he go not away, the +Comforter will not come—the baptism of fire and +power will not descend upon the Church. But before +his departure, he renews the commission of his apostles: +"All power is given unto me, in heaven and in +earth; go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing +them in the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe +all things, whatsoever I have commanded you; +and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of +the world." +</P> + +<P> +Ye publicans and fishermen, what an embassy! +How vast the field! How grand the work! How +glorious the promise! Heaven never gave a sublimer +commission; man never went forth under a +mightier sanction, or on a nobler errand. To utter +the words which were syllabled in thunder from out +the flames of Sinai, to publish the love that was +written in blood upon the cleft rocks of Calvary, +to administer the sacramental mysteries of the new +and everlasting covenant, to negotiate a perpetual +amnesty with this revolted and ruined province of +Jehovah's empire, to convert perishing souls from sin +to righteousness and build them up in the blessed +faith that saves,—this is to do what for ages has +occupied the purest spirits and loftiest intellects of +our race, and enlisted the interest and the energies +of seraphim and cherubim, and furnished constant +employment for all the agencies of the infinite goodness +and wisdom and power. How poor in the +comparison are all earthly diplomacies and royal +ministries! Thrones, triumphs, the homage of the +living world, and the praise of a thousand generations +to come,—what were these to the office and +dignity of Heaven's ambassador! How should the +Christian minister tremble beneath the burden that +weighs down the angel's wing, or rejoice to bear the +tidings sung by celestial voices over the hills of +Bethlehem! And who were sufficient for these +things, but for the Master's promise appended to +the command—"Lo, I am with you alway, even +unto the end of the world!" +</P> + +<P> +"Lord, it is enough. With such assurance, we +will go. With such assistance, we will preach. +With such encouragement, we will baptize. With +so mighty a patronage, we will summon the nations +to thy feet. If thou be with us, we shall fear nothing, +we can do all things. If thou aid and defend +us, no enemy is invincible, no achievement is impracticable. +In court or camp, in palace or prison, in +temple or forum, in city or desert, to Jews or Gentiles, +princes or peasants, scholars or rustics, sages +or savages, we will gladly set forth thy claims and +offer thy salvation." So might the apostles have answered +their ascending Lord; and so, in effect, they +did answer him. They went forth everywhere, and +preached the kingdom of the Crucified. Mighty in +spirit, they conferred not with flesh and blood. +Strong in faith and hope, they consulted neither +present appearances nor future probabilities. Constrained +by the love of Christ, they hastened, with +his message of grace, from city to city, from province +to province, from nation to nation. Nothing retards +them; nothing intimidates them. The word of the +Lord is as fire shut up in their bones, and they are +weary with forbearing. They must speak, or they +will die; and though they die, they will speak. They +cry aloud, and spare not. In the dungeons they lift +up their voices, and in the tempests of the sea they +are not silent. Before awful councils and sceptred +rulers they bear witness to the precious truth. Under +the crimson scourge and on the cruel rack they +steadfastly maintain their testimony. Death only +can effectually interdict their prophesying: and even +in the agonies of death, ere yet the organs of speech +are paralyzed, they offer Christ's salvation to their +murderers, tenderly beseech those who are mocking +their tortures, and bless with loving words the lips +that are cursing them out of the world. And with +what effect, let the early triumphs of the gospel +testify; idols abolished; temples abandoned; cities +converted; churches planted everywhere; whole provinces +embracing the faith of Jesus; monarchs upon +their thrones trembling before manacled preachers; +Christianity spreading, even during the lifetime of +the apostles, as far northward as Scythia, southward +as Ethiopia, eastward as Parthia and India, westward +as Gaul, Spain, and the British Isles; and a little +later, assuming the imperial purple, and lifting the +Labarum, glorified with the cross, as the signal of +salvation to the nations; and all this, because Christ +hath said, and so far hath fulfilled the saying,—"Lo, +I am with you alway, even unto the end of the +world." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But the promise is ours. It extends through all +time. It can never be obsolete, while Christ hath +an ordained servant upon earth. Who talks of +change? Who says the apostolic office, with its +high prerogatives and awful responsibilities, was intended +only for a season, and has long since passed +away? Who sneers and scoffs at the claim of the +Holy Catholic Church to this sublime descent on +the part of her chief pastors, and the consequent +connection of the whole body of her clergy, through +a regular series of ordinations, with the blessed men +first commissioned by our divine Lord to go forth +and disciple all nations? And hath the Master abandoned +those who are obeying the mandate and perpetuating +the sacred succession? Hath the Word +forever settled in heaven come utterly to naught, +and the Rock dissolved on which the Church was +founded, and the gates of hell prevailed against her? +True, the direct inspiration is withdrawn, and the +miraculous endowments are no more; but these are +not essential to the apostolate, and were not intended +to be permanent; being only the needful authentication +of a new revelation from heaven, and therefore +discontinued as soon as the Christian faith was +once well established among men. The work of the +ministry, however, is the same, and its divine sanctions +are the same, and its three orders are the +perpetual ordinance of Jesus Christ. Ay, and its +conflicts are the same, and its succors and consolations +in all its sorrows and sufferings are the same, +and the faithful servant is still as much as ever the +object of his Master's loving care. Whoever else +may abandon him, the glorified Man of sorrows +saith, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." +Wherever he goes, Christ attends him. Wherever +he labors, Christ sustains him. Wherever he preaches +the gospel or administers the sacraments, he has the +express authority and assured blessing of their heavenly +Author. As the Lord stood by St. Paul, and +strengthened him, when all men forsook him; so will +he stand by his ministers in every time of trial, and +strengthen them for every duty and every danger. +Trusting in his might, they will never be left to +their own weakness. Depending upon his counsel, +they will never be abandoned to their own poor +expedients. Weary and faint, his arm will support +them. Doubtful and perplexed, his wisdom will +direct them. Destitute and afflicted, his bounty will +relieve them. Persecuted and calumniated, his providence +will vindicate them. Faithful to their sacred +functions, all their teachings will be clothed with a +divine power, and every priestly act will be hallowed +with a heavenly unction. O my brethren! beside +all your baptismal fonts to-day, at all your altars, +and in all your pulpits, stands he of the wounded +hands, the mangled feet, the thorn-pierced brow, and +the ever-open side, saying,—"Lo, I am with you +alway, even unto the end of the world!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And do we not need such assurance? What is +the end and aim of the gospel ministry? To undo the +work of the Devil; to turn men from darkness +to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; to +reconcile them to the law of holiness, and bring their +rebellious thoughts into captivity to the obedience of +Christ; to draw them against the stream of their +carnal inclinations and worldly ambitions and interests; +to make them love what they naturally hate, +and hate what they naturally love; to graft the degenerate +plant of a strange vine into a new and +heavenly stock, that, nourished by its life, it may +bring forth the wholesome fruits of righteousness; to +assure the penitent of the divine pardon, and feed +the faithful with the bread that cometh down from +heaven; to perfect the saints in that precious knowledge, +and edify the Church in that holy faith, which +are the sources of all spiritual excellence and the +earnests of eternal life; in short, to subvert the seat +of the great usurper, and build upon its wreck the +imperishable throne of the Prince of peace, and give +back into the hand of him whose right it is the +sceptre of a ruined world restored. Are these achievements +to be wrought without the Master's presence? +Are these victories to be won without the Captain +of our salvation? What saith the holy apostle? +"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think +any thing, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of +God, who also hath made us able ministers of the +New Testament, even of the Spirit that giveth life." +Christ with us is at once the guaranty and the glory +of our success. If the word proves powerful to save +the hearer, it is because Christ is with the preacher. +If the water conveys regenerating grace to the infant, +it is because Christ is with the baptizer. If the consecrated +bread and wine impart spiritual comfort and +nourishment to the faithful, it is because Christ is +with the celebrant. If the appointed absolution +and benediction give peaceful assurance of pardon +and heavenly succor to the penitent believer, it is +because Christ is with the officiating priest. If Christ +were not with him, all his learning, his logic and +eloquence, were but a sounding brass or a tinkling +cymbal. If Christ were not with him, all his sublime +sacerdotal functions, though instituted and ordained +by Christ himself, were as powerless upon the +spirits of men as the moonbeams upon the frozen sea. +If Christ were not with him, the blind eye would +not be opened, the dead conscience would not be +quickened, the rebel against God would not be subdued, +the lost wanderer from the fold would not be +restored, the moral leper would still remain festering +in his fatal impurity. Oh! who could undertake +the work of the ministry, with the least hope of +winning souls, awakening sinners, edifying the body +of Christ, or accomplishing effectually any of the +objects of his divine commission, without the infallible +promise—"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto +the end of the world!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Moreover, it is important, in the work of human +salvation, that the excellency of the power should be +of God, and not of us, that no flesh may glory in his +presence. When Joab had captured the city of +Rabbah, he sent for King David to come and claim +the honor of the achievement. When Garibaldi had +conquered the Two Sicilies, he sent for Victor Emmanuel +to come and take possession of the united +kingdom. And Christ must have the credit of his +servants' success in the good fight of faith. The +warfare is ours; the crown belongs to him who +giveth us the victory. "Not unto us, O Lord, not +unto us, but unto thy name give the praise, for thy +loving mercy and for thy truth's sake." But if we +could accomplish aught without his aid, the honor +would be ours, and not the Master's; and there +would be no justice nor reason in the command, "He +that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." Therefore +the Divine Wisdom hath ordered that all our success +shall depend upon the divine blessing; and to this +end, Christ is ever present with those whom he hath +commissioned, helping them mightily with his Holy +Spirit. All the power of the gospel to convert the +soul, all the power of the sacraments to purify the +heart, all the efficiency of Christ's ambassadors in +establishing and fortifying the Church, is attributable +to this unction of the Holy One. Was it not the +angel in the waters of Bethesda, that gave them +their healing virtue? Was it not Jehovah in the +waters of the Jordan, that cured the leprosy of +Naaman the Syrian? And what is it but the gracious +presence of Christ in the preached word and the administered +ordinance, that renders them effectual to +the salvation of those who believe? Is it not as true +to-day, as it was when he said it, nearly nineteen +centuries ago, "Without me ye can do nothing"? +Without Christ, what were our knowledge but ignorance, +our wisdom but folly, our eloquence but noise? +what our profession but an imposture, our ritual but +a solemn farce, and all our zeal but painted fire? It +is God that "always causeth us to triumph in Christ, +and maketh manifest by us the savor of his knowledge +in every place." He who girds us with the sword +must nerve the arm that wields it. Now and forever, +"We see the Lamb in his own light," and +shine only by the reflection of his glory. The ministry, +in its three orders, with all their spiritual endowments, +is the gift of Christ to the Church; and +through these his chosen representatives, though he +is ascended on high, he still hath his tabernacle +with men, and dwelleth manifestly among them; and +millions of saints, throughout the earth and throughout +the ages, united in one body, inspired by one +Spirit, saved through one calling, sealed with one +baptism, professing one faith, cherishing one hope, +obeying one Lord, and adoring one God and Father +of all, are built up in him, a spiritual house, a temple +of living stones, whose foundations are deeper +than the earth, and whose towers are lost in the empyrean. +This great truth, so humiliating to the pride +of man, and so glorifying to the grace of God—this +great truth, that all depends upon Christ, let us keep +constantly in view; listening for the Master's feet +behind his messengers, and looking for the Master's +blessing in all their ministrations; ever inviting his +presence, and never forgetting his promise—"Lo, I +am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And to you, my dear brother, who are now to be +set apart to the functions of the Christian priesthood, +the Redeemer's assurance hath a special significance. +Here we are, seeking the lost sheep in the wilderness, +rescuing the shipwrecked from the devouring waves, +plucking with fear the perishing out of the fire. To +this blessed end we have devoted all our studies and +directed all our labors. This is the glorious aim to +which we have consecrated the flower of youth and +the ripe fruit of manhood. How consoling and encouraging +the Master's promise of his constant presence! +Here is the answer to every anxious question. +Here is the solution of every painful doubt. Christ +is with us; therefore our priesthood involves the gift +of a heavenly power. Christ is with us; therefore +our gospel is vital truth, instinct with a quickening +spirit. Christ is with us; therefore our sacraments +are not mere naked signs, but divine mysteries, infolding +the grace of life. Christ is with us; therefore +the Holy Catholic Church is not a ghastly corpse, +but a living body, composed of living members, united +to a living Head. Christ is with us; therefore let us +not weary in our blessed work, nor faint under the +burden and heat of the day; but look cheerfully forward +to the result, and lighten the toil of tillage with +the hope of harvest. Trials are inevitable. The +work of the ministry is no holiday amusement. He +that follows Christ must know the fellowship of his +suffering. He that preaches the glad tidings must +be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. He that +cultivates Immanuel's land must expect often to +plough the rock and gather his sheaves from the naked +granite. You have embarked in a voyage which is to +be contested with pirates as well as tornadoes; and +if you would save the treasure, you must be ready to +scuttle the ship, though you go down with it. You +have set out in a campaign which requires that you +should burn the bridges behind you, and brave the +iron storm of battle, and march through the bristling +forest of bayonets, and wrestle unto the death with +the powers and principalities of other worlds. But +gird up your loins like a man, in the strength of the +Lord of hosts. Stand firmly for the truth as it is +in Jesus. Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered +to the saints. Hold no parley with expediency. +Be independent as a prophet, and intrepid +as an angel, though gentle as Jesus Christ. Let all +men see that you fear nothing but God, hate nothing +but sin, and seek nothing but souls. Call things +honestly by their right names, and never show yourself +ashamed of the Church and her teaching. Let +every sermon be an echo of the ancient catholic +symbols, a melodious voice in the mighty anthem that +comes ringing down the ages. Be faithful to your +flock in parochial visitation, with godly counsel and +timely prayer. Let the sound of your footsteps on the +stairs be music to the widow and orphans in the garret, +the light of your countenance sunshine in the +dismal basement, and your presence a benediction at +the bed of death. Take heed to yourself, and suffer +not your spirit to be chafed and soured by adverse +criticism or unfriendly speech. Allow nothing to +hinder the regularity of your private devotions, or +rob you of your daily communion with Christ. Come +always from your closet to the chancel and the pulpit, +filled with your Master's charity, and fired with +your Master's zeal. Then shall you come to your +people "in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel +of peace," verifying by every message and every +ministration the Master's precious words—"Lo! I +am with you alway, even unto the end of the +world." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +O my brethren! what a glorious investiture is the +gospel ministry! Whereunto shall I liken it, or with +what comparison shall it be compared? Is there +a glory in science? Ours is the knowledge of the +unknown God. Is there a glory in letters? Ours is +the living lore of the immortals. Is there a glory in +poetry? Ours is the burden of the angelic antiphons. +Is there a glory in eloquence? Ours is the sweet persuasiveness +of a heavenly inspiration. Is there a +glory in heroism? We bear the banners of the Lord +in the good fight of faith. Is there a glory in royalty? +We share the sceptre and the diadem with the Prince +of the kings of the earth. Is there a glory in philanthropy? +We preach the incarnate love of heaven, +born in a cave, cradled in a manger, baptized with +blood in Olivet, and enthroned over a ransomed universe +upon the cross. Is there a glory in the ćsthetic +arts? But where are the forms and colors to rival +those with which we are adorning the new Jerusalem? +and what are the finest bronzes and marbles to +the living statuary with which we are peopling her +palaces? and who shall ever speak of purple robes +and jewelled crowns, that has once beheld the immortal +beauty of the humblest saint in heaven? "The +glory of the terrestrial is one, and the glory of the +celestial is another;" and the Platos and Homers, +the Tullys and Virgils, the Shakspeares and Goethes, +the Bacons and Humboldts, the Raphaels and Angelos, +the Cćsars and Napoleons, the Washingtons +and Wellingtons, with whose fame the earth is ringing, +drawn into comparison with the men of the pulpit +and the altar, have no glory by reason of the +glory which excelleth; and I would rather be a priest +of Christ, with the apostolic seal and signature to +my commission, than wear all the laurels ever won +by genius, and enjoy all the triumphs that ever rewarded +valor, and sit secure in peerless enthronement +over a vassal world! Faithful unto death, nobler +functions await us, and loftier ministrations in a temple +not made with hands. Who shall tell the privileges +of a celestial priesthood? Who shall sing the +raptures of an eternal eucharist? Already we enjoy +the earnest. We have learned something of the ritual, +and are practising the prelude of the anthem. +We stand at the gate, and catch bright glimpses of +the inner glory, and hear the ravishing minstrelsy +of the host, and inhale the perfume from the golden +altar. Soon the portal shall open, and we shall be +summoned to enter; and the white-vested elders shall +advance to meet us, with greetings of gladdest welcome; +and visions of beauty, such as mortal eyes +were never blessed withal, shall smite the sense with +sweet bewilderment; and voices of wondrous melody, +with the accompaniment of many harps, shall be +heard chanting through the corridors—"Come in, +ye blessed of the Lord! come in!" and of all our +blissful fellowships in the everlasting home of the +faithful, our happy intercourse with the best and +purest that ever lived and died, and our long-desired +re-union, realized at length, with those we have loved +and lost, this shall be the crown—to be with Him in +his glory world without end, who made good his +promise to be with us in our ministry "unto the end +of the world!" +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch17fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch17fn1text">1</A>] Preached at the ordination to the priesthood of the Rev. Robert +A. Holland, in St. George's Church, St. Louis, 1872. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XVIII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +KEPT FROM EVIL.[<A NAME="ch18fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch18fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but +that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">John</SPAN> xvii. 15. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +So pleaded the departing Shepherd for the little +flock he was leaving. Though the petition primarily +respected the apostles and first believers, there is no +impropriety in extending its application to their successors +down to the end of time. We, too, are in the +world and exposed to evil; we, too, are incapable of +self-protection, and dependent upon the merciful +guardianship of Heaven; and Christ invokes the +Father's love for our preservation as for theirs: "I +pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the +world, but that thou shouldest keep them from +the evil." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +How often does it happen that the Christian pilgrim, +weary of the way and worn out with sorrow, +or longing for a higher sphere and a holier companionship, +exclaims with Job, "I loathe it, I would not +live alway;" or cries out with David, "O that I had +wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be +at rest;" or responds in the depths of his heart to +the sentiment of St. Paul, "We that are in this tabernacle +do groan, being burdened: not for that we +would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality +might be swallowed up of life." And who shall +blame this longing for rest, this sighing for home, +this desire of a better country? Who would not +quit the scene of toil and strife and danger for the +regions of eternal blessedness and peace? Who that +has any perception of spiritual good, any appreciation +of moral excellence, any sympathy with the +pure and the true, does not prefer heaven to earth? +The desire, however, should be tempered with submission, +and the Christian should await with patience +his heavenly Father's will. God has much for his +saints to do here below. They are lights in the darkness, +living springs in the desert, Bethesda fountains +for the perishing. They are the Noahs, the Josephs, +the Daniels of the world: yea the Abrahams, in whom +all the families of the earth are to be blessed. They +are witnesses of Christ, proofs of his redeeming love, +specimens of his renewing power, and pledges of his +final victory. They must remain a while to win sinners +from the error of their way and save souls from +death. They must remain a while to adorn and +strengthen the Church, to comfort their fellow-Christians, +and relieve surrounding misery. They must +remain a while to glorify the Author and Finisher of +their faith, to weaken the kingdom of Satan, thwart +his malicious design, mortify his pride, and hasten +his fall. They must remain a while to exercise and +improve their own virtues and graces by works of +piety and charity, that so they may perfect their +moral likeness to their Lord, and secure for themselves +a loftier station and a brighter portion among +the saints in light. The world itself, indeed, exists +for their sake, and through their influence with God +on its behalf: and if all the saints had been taken +away with their ascending Saviour, "we should have +been as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah." All which +if we duly consider, we cannot fail to perceive the +wisdom and goodness of the Master's request for his +disciples, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them +out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep +them from the evil." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Now, what is "the evil" from which Christ would +have his people kept?—Sorrow? No: "blessed are +they that mourn." Poverty? No: "blessed are ye +poor." Persecution? No: "blessed are the persecuted." +Temptation? No: "blessed is the man +that endureth temptation." All these and all other +"afflictions of the righteous" are turned into benefits +and beatitudes by the wondrous alchemy of redeeming love. +Over-ruled by divine providence and sanctified +by divine Grace, they are the occasions and +instruments of a salutary discipline, working together +for good to those who love God, calling into exercise +the holiest feelings and highest faculties of the regenerate +soul, and perfecting the believer for his "far +more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." None +of these, therefore, is the evil from which Christ +would have his disciples kept. What is it then? for +he manifestly has some specific evil in view. It is +sin, the great moral evil; or Satan, the dread personal +evil; or both, for sin and Satan are inseparable. +These only can rob you of your peace, comfort, confidence, +purity, spiritual strength, communion with +God, and joyful hope of immortality; and from these +effectually preserved, no earthly affliction or misfortune, +no malice or might of wicked men, can work +you any possible harm, or dim by a single ray one +star of your celestial diadem. From these, therefore,—from +the power of sin and the delusions of Satan—Christ +would have his followers kept; and from +these to guard them, he prayed so fervently to his +Father in heaven. Two of the chief forms of the +evil he deprecates in their behalf are heresy and +schism, with the uncharitableness which they always +engender, and in which they often originate. He +prays that they may be one in him, as he is one with +the Father—united by one faith, cemented by one +love, incorporated in one body—that thus all mankind +may be effectually convinced of the truth and +excellence of his gospel. And oh! how important +must that be, for which the Redeemer prays! There +is nothing else important in the comparison. It is +not important that we should be rich: the poor are +to possess the kingdom. It is not important that we +should be mighty: God hath chosen the feeble for +his agents. It is not important that we should be +distinguished: he hath promised to crown the lowly +with everlasting honors. It is not important that we +should be comfortable: "weeping may endure for a +night, but joy cometh in the morning." But oh! it +is important, beyond the power of tongue to tell or +heart to conceive, that we should be preserved pure +and holy amidst surrounding depravity and pollution, +that we should ever maintain "the unity of the spirit +in the bond of peace." Let us, then, join our petition +to that of the great Redeemer, and watch against +the deceitfulness of sin, and guard against the wiles +and works of Satan, and co-operate with the grace +of God to effect our own salvation, and never forget +that preservation from evil is better than translation +to paradise! He who hath redeemed us would not +have us again captured. He who hath purified us +would not have us again polluted. He who hath +restored our title to the kingdom would not have us +again disinherited. He who hath wrought in us an +incipient preparation for his glory would not have +us again disqualified for our destiny. He who hath +given his life for our ransom, his flesh and blood for +our nourishment, and all his eternal fulness for the +endowment of our immortality, can never be indifferent +to the spiritual wants and welfare of those who +have been baptized into his death; and the request +which he breathed so sweetly for his disciples while +he was yet with them on earth, he has been repeating +for all his people ever since he returned to heaven, +"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out +of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from +the evil." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Trusting in him who thus pleads for his disciples, +and seconding his gracious intercession with our own +supplications, what have we to fear? Shall Jesus +pray in vain for his redeemed? Shall he fail those +who have committed their all to his advocacy? Will +not the Father hear the petitions offered in the name +of the Son with whom he is ever well pleased? Coming +boldly through his merit and mediation to the +throne of grace, shall we not certainly obtain mercy +and find grace to help in time of need? Will God +leave to the lion and the wolf the sheep for whom +the divine Shepherd cares so lovingly and pleads +so earnestly? "Fear not, little flock! it is your +Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." +And "if God be for us, who can be against us?" +What evil agency or influence shall harm those who +"dwell in the secret place of the Most High and +abide under the shadow of the Almighty?" Are not +the redeemed of his dear Son his jewels, his <i>segulla</i>, +his peculiar treasure? Will he not hide them in the +hollow of his hand, and guard them as the apple of +his eye? "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of +God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that +condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, +that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of +God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall +separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, +or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, +or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy +sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted +as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things +we are more than conquerors through him that loved +us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, +nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things +present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, +nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us +from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our +Lord." Such is St. Paul's confidence, and such +should be ours. But such confidence requires our +hearty co-operation with Him who is always praying +for our preservation from evil. We must steadfastly +resist all temptations to sin. We must stand firmly +and fight bravely against the world, the flesh, and +the Devil. We must avail ourselves constantly of all +the helps which the Church offers us in her services +and her sacraments. God's grace is for those who +ask it earnestly and use it faithfully. It is not in +the power of Omnipotence to save from sin and +Satan those who endeavor not to save themselves. +You must be workers together with God, my dear +brethren; and then all his attributes and resources +are pledged to your success, and neither earth nor +hell can do you any harm. Suffer, then, the word +of exhortation, and forget not that the kingdom +is taken by force and held by continual struggle. +Especially important are these counsels and cautions +to you who have just ratified your covenant with +God in confirmation. Your rector assures me he +never knew a more pleasant task than that which +he enjoyed in preparing you for the hands of the +bishop. As you sat before him in the lecture-room, +he felt it a sweet privilege to talk to you so freely of +Christian duty and responsibility. And when a new +name was added to the list of candidates, he said in +his heart—"Here is another gem for my Master's +crown, another guest for his table, another chorister +for his choir!" and he passed the new-comer over +into the hands which were spiked for him to the +cross, and his faith heard the angels rejoicing over +one more sinner that repented. And many a time, +no doubt, returning from the lecture to the privacy +of his chamber, he knelt and commended you all, +with tears of love and joy, to him who gathereth the +lambs with his arms and carrieth them in his bosom. +And often, during that sweet Lenten season, I know, +he wrestled for you with the angel of the covenant +through the livelong night, and ceased not till the +blessing came upon the wings of the morning. Shall +all his labor be lost upon you? Shall the fruit be +blasted in the bud? Shall Satan and his servants +triumph over the grace of God? Shall souls over +which seraphs have sung hallelujahs excite the mirth +and mockery of fiends by their fall? "Watch and +pray that ye enter not into temptation." Observe +daily your closet devotions. Never deny your Saviour +by forsaking the holy eucharist. Cleave to +your Church whatever may be her fortunes. Let +no uncharitableness in the family drive you from +your Mother's bosom. Let no wound that bleeds in +your own breast imbitter you against any of her +children. Oh! how painful it is, to see people who +are angry at others wreaking their revenge upon +themselves! out of malice to their brethren murdering +their own immortal souls! spurning the bread of +life and the wine of the kingdom because they have +a quarrel with the hand that offers them! refusing +to take another step toward heaven, and plunging +incontinently back toward the gulf of hell, because +they have conceived a dislike to some person who +was travelling in their company! "If angels weep, +it is at such a sight!" Oh! do ye not so, beloved! +Hold fast whereunto ye have attained. Let no man +take your crown. Most heartily "I commend you to +God, and to the word of his grace, which is able +to build you up, and to save your souls, and to give +you inheritance with them that are sanctified through +faith in Christ Jesus." And in all my petitions for +you at "the throne of the heavenly Grace," I repeat +the loving words of "the chief Shepherd" for his +little flock—"I pray not that thou shouldest take +them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep +them from the evil." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch18fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch18fn1text">1</A>] Preached, immediately after a confirmation, at a parochial +mission, Illinois, 1873. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XIX. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH.[<A NAME="ch19fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch19fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the +common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and +exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered +to the saints.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Jude</SPAN> 3. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And if such exhortation were needful then, when +prophecy and miracles and the gift of tongues were +still in the Church, authenticating the mission of the +apostles, confirming the doctrines which they taught, +and commending the common salvation to all who +heard them; much more now, when all these signs +and wonders have long since disappeared, and those +holy men of God have been for eighteen centuries enjoying +their repose in Paradise—now, when the predicted +perilous times of the last days are come, and +heresies and schisms everywhere abound, and human +reason is exalted above divine revelation, and religion +is denuded of all that is supernatural, and Omnipotence +is subjected to the laws of science, and +answers to prayer are pronounced impossible, and +Christ is robbed of his essential glory, and man is +become his own redeemer, and every article of the +ancient creeds is called in question, and the authority +of the Church in matters of faith is scoffed at as +an exploded absurdity, and the old dogmatic formulas +of Christian theology are consigned to oblivion +and the bats, and every one's private judgment is +worth more to him than the decisions of all the œcumenical +councils, and there are not wanting those +in every community who deem it wiser to make a +religion for themselves than to accept that which +has been given to them from heaven. Surely, now, +if ever, might some faithful and uncompromising +servant of Jesus Christ, inditing an epistle to his +Christian brethren, assert the necessity of exhorting +them to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered +to the saints. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +What, then, is this faith? and why and how must +we contend for it? These questions allow me to +answer. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +As you all probably know, the word faith is used +in different senses. Suffice it at present to say, +there is a subjective faith, and there is an objective +faith. The former is the act and habit of believing, +which characterizes the Christian life; the latter is +the divine truth believed, comprehending the whole +body of Christian doctrine. When it is said we are +justified by faith, we are saved by faith, we walk by +faith, we live by faith, it is manifestly the habitual +act of Christian believing that is intended—of relying +upon Christ and trusting in him, as our wisdom, +righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; when +St. Paul speaks of holding the mystery of the faith, +exhorts the Corinthians to stand fast in the faith, encourages +Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, +testifies of himself that he has kept the faith, it is +evidently the system of Christian truth that he +refers to—the doctrine that Christ came to reveal, +sent his servants to proclaim, and established his +Church on earth to maintain. This objective faith, +being at once for all time and for all people authoritatively +delivered to the saints—in the primitive +creeds by apostolic tradition, in the Christian Scriptures +by inspiration of God—admits of no alteration +or addition, and needs none to adapt it to the +ever-changing circumstances of men. What it was +eighteen hundred years ago it is to-day; and what it +is to-day it will be eighteen hundred years to come. +Mutation is the law of all things earthly; but heavenly +truth is immutable and eternal. Science is +progressive, developing gradually by the slow process +of induction; but the faith was delivered all at +once, during the lifetime of our Lord on earth and +the ministry of his inspired apostles, and can never +be made more perfect than it was in the beginning. +There are no new revelations in religion, no new +discoveries of Christian truth. We must take the +gospel as it comes to us, without attempting to +improve or presuming to mutilate the system. The +Church, in her militant probation, may pass through +many successive phases; but the faith, like its divine +Author, is "the same yesterday and to-day and forever." +And for this Christians are called to contend—not +for progress, not for science, not for freedom, +not for glory, not for life itself; but for what is +more precious than any or all of these—"the faith +once delivered to the saints." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Earnestly contend?" Whence this necessity? +What more at variance with the prevalent ideas of +the day? Who dreams now of warfare in the cause +of Christian truth? Is not Christianity pre-eminently +the religion of peace and love? Must we reject and +oppose, as unsound or heretical, every thing that does +not happen to fall within the limits of our own particular +belief? May not every man hold his own +opinion without assailing that of another man? Is +not the gospel platform broad enough to afford room +for all? Earnestly contend? "This is a hard saying; +who can hear it?" I answer: there is one +faith delivered, not many faiths; there is one system +of divine truth revealed, not many systems. That +one faith, that one system, whatever it is, we are +required to adopt and maintain, to keep as we would +keep a treasure, to guard as we would guard the +crown-jewels of our King, to fight for as we would +fight for what is dearer to us than life, and devote +ourselves with the zeal of martyrs to its propagation +among those who are ignorant of the blessing. +The apostles knew nothing of compromise in matters +of faith, and they bequeathed an unfinished +warfare to their followers; who maintained the cause +heroically, among sages and savages, in temples and +dungeons, before thrones and tribunals, on the rack +and amid the flames. All this, we know, is the very +opposite of the popular sentiment of the age. Few +among us seem to have any conception of a Christian's +duty to defend the truth as it is in Jesus "to +the last of their blood and their breath," battling +and dying for a creed. The spear and the shield of +the warrior are laid aside, and the trumpet no longer +sounds for the battle, because peace is deemed more +precious than purity, and controversy is more deprecated +than false doctrine, and a man's belief is +regarded as having nothing to do with his conduct +and his character. But the apostles knew that the +Church held a trust which involved inevitable warfare, +and would turn the world into a battle-ground. +This trust they transmitted, through their successors, +from generation to generation, to us; and we are +signed with the sign of the cross in baptism, as a token +of our consecration to "the good fight of faith." +The struggle may be strenuous as that of the wrestler +in the arena, or fierce as that of the hero in the marshalled +host; but this is every man's duty, to maintain +the faith against all assailants, and strive to win +for it a home in every human heart. Do men light +a candle to put it under a bushel or a bed? Does the +sun refuse to shine lest he should offend the bat or +blind the owl? And shall the Christian conceal his +faith or suppress his convictions to please those who +hate the light because their deeds are evil? Nay, +let him proclaim it boldly and defend it bravely, like +a knight-banneret in the army of the Lord of hosts; +and, whatever the cost, let him urge its claims with +becoming zeal upon all whom his voice can reach. +To neglect this is not charity, but apathy; not +humility, but lukewarmness; not liberality of opinion, +but infidelity to Christ. "The Lord hath spoken; +who can but prophesy?" Christ hath commanded +us to proselyte all nations; shall we be recreant to +our responsibility? What value do we set upon the +faith which we are not willing to defend—which we +attempt not to teach to the world? Where is his +love for man, or his loyalty to Christ, who says +nothing, does nothing, gives nothing, for the diffusion +of this heavenly light? His creed may be right, +but his life is wrong. He may have a Christian +head, but he has no Christian heart. He entertains +the faith as a guest, but he does not fight for it as a +prize. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Here, then, is the lesson of the text: our duty, +the duty of all Christians, to contend earnestly for the +dogmatic faith of the Church. Amid the deluge of +ignorance and error and sin, this is the only ark +of safety. Amid the mighty conflict of human +speculations and philosophies, this is the only evangel +of hope. From the beginning the faith has ever had +its enemies and assailants. Wherever angels lodge, +the Sodomites will batter at the door. All along +through the ages, the saints have had to fight for +the one faith, and they must fight for it to the end. +Oh! not of peaceful homes, and tranquil communities, +and brethren dwelling together in unity, do +the words of the apostle breathe; but of divided +tongues, and imbittered spirits, and the tenderest +relations of life bristling around us like the iron +front of battle; and as one who rides along the +line of his marshalled host, he shouts to us across +the centuries, and bids us earnestly contend for the +faith. All those sublime verities for which "the noble +army of martyrs" bled, are committed to the +vigilance and championship not only of the clergy, +but of each baptized believer. Some are to vindicate +them by argument; all by practical exhibitions +of their regenerating power. Who does not kindle +at the thought of being associated in such a struggle +with St. Paul and St. John, with Ignatius and Polycarp, +with Athanasius and Augustine—men whose +names yet thrill the hearts of millions? Now let us +have done with concessions. Away with truce and +armistice. The faith is worth the conflict. None +can afford to be neutral. We must all fight or +perish. Look practically, then, at the solemn necessity +before you. "Multitudes, multitudes, in the +valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in +the valley of decision." Arise, my brethren, armed +with the whole armor of God, and go forth to battle! +Remember that the saints of all ages are with you; +that the victor Lamb is the captain of your host; +that the weapons of your warfare are mighty through +God; that your guerdon is an unfading crown of +glory, and your destined home a house eternal in +the heavens! Go and contend for the faith, as those +contended who now sleep in Jesus! Go and battle +valiantly under his banner, who hath promised you +a seat in his throne! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch19fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch19fn1text">1</A>] Preached at a convocation, Illinois, 1874. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XX. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +THE FRUITLESS FIG-TREE.[<A NAME="ch20fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch20fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +How soon is the fig-tree withered away!—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Matt.</SPAN> xxi. 20. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Next Friday we follow our Saviour to the cross. +The last few days before his death are crowded with +some of the most significant acts of his ministry. +One of these we are now called to contemplate—the +withering of the fruitless fig-tree by his word. +To-day being the anniversary of that event, it is +appropriately chosen as the theme of our discourse. +Like all the other miracles of our Lord, this is a +parable in action. The fruitless tree represents the +Jewish people, and its fate foreshadows their terrible +doom. In this interpretation we are warranted by +a parable of the divine Teacher uttered a few days +earlier—that of the barren fig-tree in the vineyard, +for which the vine-dresser intercedes with the proprietor +and obtains a further probation. The apostles, +who had heard the parable and now saw the +miracle, could scarcely fail to connect the one with +the other, and to refer both to the infidelity and +fearful punishment of the chosen people, as they +exclaimed—"How soon is the fig-tree withered +away!" +</P> + +<P> +Fifteen hundred years before, God had brought a +goodly shoot out of Egypt, and planted it in a very +fruitful hill, and hedged it about with wondrous +providences, and watered it with constant dews and +seasonable rains, and enriched the soil around it +with a thousand gracious appliances, and waited on +it patiently with a careful and diligent husbandry. +And it sent down its roots deep into the earth, and +threw up its leafy branches high toward heaven, and +gave good promise of abundant fruit. Then he sent +his prophets to prune it, and stir the soil around it, +and watch over it night and day. And the wild +beast that gnawed its bark was pierced by the arrow +of the Almighty, and the hand that raised an axe +against it fell smitten by the lightning of heaven. +But, instead of producing figs, it wasted its luxuriant +life in leaves. Then came the Proprietor in person, +hungering for the fruit of his labor; and, finding +none, he tarried and toiled with it three years, and +watered with frequent tears its deceitful foliage. +But all was in vain, and he was forced at last to +pronounce its doom, and leave it blasted and decaying +upon its fruitful hill. +</P> + +<P> +Let us drop the figure. Never before the incarnation +was there another people so highly favored +as the Hebrews. God chose them for his own, and +established his covenant with them, and talked with +them from heaven, and dwelt in their midst upon +the mercy-seat, and led them forty years with a pillar +of cloud and fire in the wilderness, and smote +every enemy that rose up against them, and exterminated +mighty nations to make room for them in +Canaan, and brought them into the goodly land +which he had promised to their fathers—a land +flowing with milk and honey, which he gave them +for a perpetual inheritance. But how often they +forgot his covenant, and forsook his ordinances, and +turned aside after other gods, and provoked him to +anger with their inventions! Then he hewed them +by the prophets and chastised them by the heathen, +but they would not return from their evil ways. He +permitted their cities to be sacked, their young men +to be slain in battle, their virgins to be carried away +captive, and their kings to serve in chains at the +tables of the uncircumcised. When they returned +to him with weeping and supplication, he returned to +them with loving-kindness and tender mercies. "Is +Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? +For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember +him still. Therefore my heart is troubled for +him. I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the +Lord." +</P> + +<P> +But after all, when Christ came, he found only fruitless +foliage upon his long-cherished fig-tree. Mint, +anise, and cummin were scrupulously tithed; but +the weightier matters of the law—judgment, mercy +and faith—were altogether neglected and forgotten. +The phylacteries were large, the prayers were loud +and long, the chief seats in the synagogue were +always occupied, and no poor man in vain stretched +forth his hand for alms; but the religion of the Jew +ran all to superstitious observances and ostentatious +formalities, divine precepts were sacrificed to human +traditions, a nation of hypocrites could not produce +the fruits of righteousness; and, given up at last to +the grossest self-delusion, they rejected their King +and crucified the Lord of glory. How graciously +he had labored! how anxiously he had watched and +waited! and yet there was no grateful return for all +his arduous toil and loving care. But is he willing +to cut down the worthless tree, or blast it with his +curse? See! he is crossing the ridge of Olivet on +his way to Jerusalem, riding in triumph amidst the +acclamations of the multitude who have witnessed +his miracles and confessed his Messiahship, his path +carpeted with their garments and covered with +branches of the palm. Reaching the brow of the +hill, he looks down upon the beautiful city, lying like +a jewelled crown before him. He thinks of all his +labor for her children, and all their base ingratitude +and suicidal unbelief. He knows that those who +are now shouting him on his way with hosannahs +will soon be clamoring for his crucifixion and mocking +around his cross. Full well he knows that the +chosen race will shortly have filled up the measure +of their guilt, and wrath will come upon them to +the uttermost. And as the vision of their ruin rises +upon the eye of his spirit, with the long ages of unparalleled +tribulation and despair which must succeed +the catastrophe of the beloved city, he weeps as +only Infinite Compassion can weep, and laments as +only an incarnate God can lament:—"Oh that thou +hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the +things which belong to thy peace! but now they are +hid from thine eyes; for the days shall come upon +thee, when thine enemies shall cast a trench about +thee, and shall keep thee in on every side, and shall +lay thee even with the ground, and thy children +within thee, and shall not leave in thee one stone +upon another, because thou knewest not the time +of thy visitation." In about sixty years all is fulfilled—the +temple burned, the streets heaped with +the dead, the plough driven over the ruins, and the +hopeless remnant of a reprobate race scattered in +isolated exile over the face of the earth. The curse +has fallen, and "how soon is the fig-tree withered +away!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And we, my brethren—shall we not take warning +from the fate of the unfaithful people? "Dried +up from the roots," the old Jewish tree has been torn +from the soil and cast into the fire; and we—alien +shoots from without the enclosure—have been transplanted +into the vineyard of the Lord. Disinherited +and undone, the murderers of God's Messiah are +strangers and fugitives to-day over the face of the +planet; but we have succeeded to their inheritance, +glorified with new revelations of grace and truth. +Baptized into a better covenant, with a better Mediator +than Moses, we rejoice in the mercies and immunities +of a better theocracy than Israel ever knew. +In the midst of our camp Jehovah has pitched his +tabernacle; and by the more glorious ministration of +the Spirit, through the word and sacraments of an +everlasting testament, he is seeking to make us fruitful +in righteousness and true holiness. Brought +nigh to God by adoption and regeneration, we become +heirs of his kingdom and joint-heirs with his +first-born—partakers of his life and expectants of +his immortality. And now we have enjoyed another +season of merciful visitation, and the daily services +of Lent have been like vernal sun and shower to the +fig-tree. Have we borne fruit, or only leaves? Has +our penitential humiliation been real and effectual, +or only feigned and perfunctory? Have these thirty-six +days in the holy mount deepened our communion +with God and intensified our love of holiness? Are +we purer and wiser than we were on Ash-Wednesday—stronger +to resist evil and do good—more like +Christ in meekness and charity and self-denial? Be +assured, my dear brethren, that your privileges bring +with them a fearful responsibility. If you have +received the grace of God in vain, your Lent has +been a curse, and not a blessing; and the mercies +by which you have failed to profit have enhanced +unspeakably your condemnation. "He that knoweth +his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten +with many stripes;" and "he that, being often +reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be +destroyed, and that without remedy." Ah! how +many of us have no heart for the service of God—no +pleasure in that which enraptures the seraphim! +Conscience impels them one way, but inclination +draws them more powerfully the other; and duty is +constantly sacrificed to carnal gratifications, worldly +interests, and vain ambitions. They fear God, but +love him not; and though they cannot sin without +a tremor, the tremor is not strong enough to repress +the sin. Generally at church, they do all they can +to support the public worship and encourage the +heart of the clergy; but here ends their all of duty, +their all of practical religion, their all of gratitude +for the unspeakable love of Christ—mere foliage +without any satisfying fruit. +</P> + +<P> +And what can the end be but a blasting malediction +from the Master? Long, indeed, may he continue +his merciful efforts to make such Christians +fruitful; but when his grace is habitually rejected or +perverted—when his Holy Spirit is forced to strive +in vain with an obdurate heart and a will obstinately +set on evil—he will withhold his favors, or grant +them less frequently and in inferior measure. Meanwhile +sins multiply, bad habits grow stronger, the +roots of vice strike deeper, and its branches grow +broader and higher; till at length comes the hot wind +from the desert, beneath which every green thing +becomes crisp and sear. Christ rejected, there remaineth +no more sacrifice for sin, and he who has +lived in impenitence dies in despair. Oh! when +conscience presents the long catalogue of uncancelled +crimes, and only a few moments of wasted life +remain, what can the dying sinner do? When his +broken vows, abused mercies, and neglected opportunities, +through all the corridors of memory come +trooping up like the vengeful ghosts of the murdered, +whither will he fly for refuge? Or the advent of the +last enemy may be a sudden surprise, unexpected as +the crash of a ship under full sail upon some sunken +rock; launching the poor soul, all unprovided, with +a shudder and a shriek into an unsounded sea. Or +if a little space be given the delinquent, yet through +the violence of his disorder the mind may be quite +incapable of a rational repentance, drifting like the +wrecked mariner upon a spar at the mercy of wind +and wave. But in whatever form and with whatever +circumstances Death may come, he comes ever to the +impenitent as an avenger—avenger of God's neglected +mercy—avenger of Christ's insulted love; +and a fearful thing it is—fearful beyond all power +of language to express—to die without hope in +Christ and unreconciled to God. Oh! to be forced +out at midnight, amidst howling tempests and roaring +billows—no compass to guide nor star to cheer—on +the eternal voyage! Beware, then, beloved, lest +that come upon you which our blessed Lord foretold +of those who rejected his mission: "Ye shall die in +your sins, and where I am ye cannot come." +</P> + +<P> +With only two exceptions, Christ's recorded miracles +are all works of mercy, wrought for the relief of +suffering and the consolation of sorrow; and even +these exceptions, which may be called miracles of +judgment—performed, the one upon irrational animals, +and the other on an insensible tree—show the +aversion of his tender heart to severity and vengeance. +He is long-suffering, unwilling that any +should perish, desiring that all should be saved and +come to the knowledge of the truth. He smites only +where he cannot cure. As long as there is any hope +of reformation, he spares the unthankful and the +evil; and never, till all possibility of salvation is +past, does he visit the incorrigible with punishment. +Justice must have its claim as well as mercy; and, +mercy rejected, justice must avenge. The terribleness +of the retribution makes nothing against its +righteousness; and though it send a tremor through +all the worlds of God, the obstinate transgressor +shall not go unpunished. Very terrible indeed it is, +and imagination staggers beneath the apprehension +of the wrath of the Lamb; but terrible also was the +deluge, and the fate of Sodom, and the slaughter of +the Egyptian first-born, and the overthrow of Pharaoh +and his host, and the end of Korah and his mutinous +company, and the destruction of seventy thousand +Israelites at a stroke, and the death of a hundred +and eighty-five thousand Assyrians in a single night, +and the sudden catastrophe of Nineveh and Babylon +with all their pomp and their power, and the wrath +which fell in its manifold final infliction upon the +chosen people when the day of their merciful visitation +was over and ended; but the terribleness of the +vengeance did not stay the avenging hand of Justice, +when Mercy, with broken heart, retired and left the +guilty to their fate. And the dawn of the last day +will be terrible, and the coming of the Son of man +will be terrible, and the destruction of the Antichrist +will be terrible, and the conflagration of the +universe will be terrible, and terrible beyond all +precedent the punishment of reprobate impenitence +when the Lord Jesus with his holy angels shall be +revealed from heaven in flaming fire! The tree +may long lift its green boughs to the sun and toss +its gay blossoms to the breeze; but when the Master +comes for fruit and finds nothing but a deceitful +promise, smitten with his curse it shall quickly wither +away. +</P> + +<P> +Let us make haste to avert the vengeance. In this +our gracious day—this clement mediatorial hour—let +us invoke the Holy Spirit to aid us in bringing +forth fruit meet for repentance. Think not that the +work will be easier in coming years, when passion is +weakened, and temptation is lessened, and coercive +grace comes to conquer the rebel will and reclaim +the alien heart. Alas! by every hour's delay you +are riveting the fetters of evil habit, and multiplying +and consolidating the barriers to your salvation; +and the special grace for which you wait will never +come till God shall revise his evangel and Christ +change the whole economy of his kingdom. Now is +your time for conversion, and a better moment will +never occur between this and eternity. Hark! it is +the voice of the Master: "Cut it down! why cumbereth +it the ground?" Hark! it is the voice of the +Vine-dresser: "Lord! let it alone till another Lent! I +will renew my efforts; I will redouble my endeavors; +I will try some new expedients; peradventure next +year will reward thy forbearance with the long-expected +fruit!" Oh! prayer of crucified compassion! +shall it not be answered? Oh! prophecy of +ill-requited mercy! shall it not be fulfilled? Beloved, +it is for you to say. God hath spoken, and uttered +all his heart. Henceforth all depends upon yourselves. +Answer your Saviour's prayer, fulfil your +Saviour's prophecy, and so avert the judgment of +unfruitfulness; or else prepare for the unutterable +alternative—your Saviour's blighting curse! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch20fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch20fn1text">1</A>] Preached at a parochial mission in Memphis, Tenn., 1876. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XXI. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +CHRISTIAN CONTENTMENT.[<A NAME="ch21fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch21fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">Phil.</SPAN> +iv. 11. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +An instance of the moral sublime, which none can +fail to admire, and all should endeavor to emulate. +What an ornament of the gospel is such a spirit! +What a commendation of Christianity is such a testimony! +No human philosophy, no stoical indifference, +no diligence of self-discipline, ever elevated +the soul of man to so serene and pure an atmosphere—nothing +but that religion which the Son of God +brought with him from heaven to earth, the tendency +and design of which is to raise its human subjects +from earth to heaven. "I have learned, in whatsoever +state I am, therewith to be content." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Contentment is satisfaction with one's lot or condition. +The word conveys the idea of fulness and +sufficiency. It is opposed to envy, which is displeased +with the prosperity of others. It is opposed +to ambition, which is not satisfied with equality, but +aspires to superiority. It is opposed to avarice, +which grasps all it can reach, keeps all it obtains, +and "sayeth not it is enough." It is opposed to +anxiety, which is always taking needless thought for +the morrow, saying, "What shall we eat? what shall +we drink? and wherewithal shall we be clothed?" +It is opposed to murmuring and repining, which is +an ungrateful distrust of God, an unjust arraignment +of his providence, an impious impeachment of +his wisdom and goodness, a presumptuous spirit of +rebellion against his righteous government. +</P> + +<P> +St. Paul's statement seems to express complete and +perfect satisfaction. In the highest sense this is applicable +only to Jehovah, who is El Shaddai, God +All-sufficient. But in a lower sense it is true, to a +greater or less degree, of all good men. They have +no sufficiency in themselves, but their sufficiency is +of God. Of his fulness they have all received—the +unsearchable riches of Christ. With the fatness of +his house they are abundantly satisfied, and he makes +them drink from the river of his pleasures. This is +the only satisfying portion of the soul. Without +this, men may be indifferent—may be jovial and +reckless; but these are not contentment—are perhaps +the very opposites of contentment; indifference, +the sullen obstinacy of a perverse and rebellious will, +as far from contentment as it is from submission; +jovial recklessness, the effort of a restless heart to +throw off its burden of care and trouble—the revolt +of the whole man against Providence and against +conscience. But when Divine Love brings us to its +banqueting-house, and God becomes our shield and +exceeding great reward, then the fluctuating soul +returns to its native rest, like Naphthali satisfied +with favor and full with the blessing of the Lord. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When the apostle says—"I have learned, in whatsoever +state I am, therewith to be content," no one +can imagine that he refers to his former state of sin; +for of that he constantly speaks in terms of strong +regret, and as long as he lived he never ceased to +sorrow for the evil he had done. Nor are we to suppose +that he means to express his full satisfaction +with his present state of grace; for he is always hungering +and thirsting after the fulness of God; and +no Christian can be fully satisfied with his spiritual +attainments till he awakes in the likeness of his Lord. +</P> + +<P> +If there can be any doubt of the apostle's meaning, +the verses immediately following may solve it: "I +know both how to be abased and how to abound; +everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both +to be full and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer +need; I can do all things through Christ which +strengtheneth me." These several conditions he had +tested by experience; and found himself able, by the +grace of God, to maintain a calm and unperturbed +spirit amidst all their trying vicissitudes: thoroughly +assured that all were ordered or overruled by Infinite +Wisdom and Love, and must therefore work together +for his good. +</P> + +<P> +In another place he says: "Most gladly will I glory +in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest +upon me; therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in +reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, +for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then +am I strong." To be content in success and prosperity, +were easy enough; but to be content in trials +such as these, immeasurably surpasses the power of +the unsanctified human heart. The apostle, however, +bore his tribulations, not merely with patient submission +and quiet fortitude, but even with exultation; +rejoicing evermore; in every thing giving +thanks; counting the heaviest cross his greatest +blessing; with all his heart glorying in the fellowship +of his Saviour's suffering; willing to live or die, because +in life or death God would be magnified in his +body; and when the alternative presents itself in +imminent prospect, perplexed only as to which he +ought to prefer: "I am in a strait betwixt two; +having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which +is far better; nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is +more needful for you; and having this confidence, I +know that I shall abide and continue with you all +for your furtherance and joy of faith, that your rejoicing +may be more abundant by my coming to you +again." What heroic resignation is here! what disinterested +charity! what transcendent sublimity of +hope! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And how had the apostle attained to such experience? +In what school, from what teacher, had he +learned so great a lesson? Certainly not from nature, +nor from any human system of morality. Ever +since man went forth from the blessed garden, he +has been a restless and unhappy creature, always +seeking repose for his spirit in some inferior good, +and ever disappointed in the end. Contentment is +a lesson to be learned, and to be learned only, in the +school of Christ. There St. Paul learned it, not at +the feet of Gamaliel. There he learned it, under the +tuition of Providence, aided by the Holy Spirit of +grace, by a long and painful course of discipline—by +hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, desertion +and persecution, shipwreck and dungeon, scourging +and stoning, a life of perpetual conflict, and the +frequent menace of death. +</P> + +<P> +So others have learned it. And what a blessed +lesson it is, well learned! Aaron, when his sons +were smitten, "held his peace." And Eli, when informed +of coming judgments, said: "It is the Lord; +let him do what seemeth him good." And Job, +bereft of every earthly comfort, exclaimed: "The +Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed +be the name of the Lord." And David, trained in +every school of affliction, is ever singing of the +loving-kindness of the Lord, and extolling the excellence +of his mercy which endureth forever. Such +contentment as these instances exemplify, nothing +can produce but the grace of God in co-operation +with his providence, the one purifying and the other +disciplining the heart. But when we learn to draw +water from the wells of salvation, we shall imbibe +contentment with the draught. Believing in Christ +as our Saviour, we shall confide in God as our Father. +All made right within, all will be right without. +An Almighty Friend in heaven—"a very present +help in trouble," we have no real cause for anxious +thought or disquieting fear. Faith overcomes all +apprehension of evil, and enables every saint to sing +with the psalmist—"The Lord is my portion, Faith +my soul, therefore will I hope in him;" and to say +with the apostle—"I have learned, in whatsoever +state I am, therewith to be content." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Brethren, let us aspire to this apostolic experience. +In this grace, why should we not equal St. Paul? +Is it not the high calling of every Christian? And +what reason for discontent have we, that this noble +hero had not? Our present state, like his, is God's +appointment, and only for a season; and the discipline +of sorrow and conflict may be no less needful +for us than it was for him, and the result no less a +blessing. +</P> + +<P> +How much worldly good is necessary for any of +us? how much wealth, honor, happiness? Most of +our wants are artificial and unreal. We create them, +or imagine them, and then complain that they are +not supplied. Our first needs—our only absolute +needs—are food and raiment; and having these, we +are divinely counselled to be content. And many +have been content with much less of them than we +possess, and no health for their enjoyment—have +been content without either sufficient food or comfortable +raiment, and for years scarcely an hour of +exemption from pain—content in great poverty and +utter destitution, on the bed of sickness, in the gloom +of the dungeon, under the foreshadow of martyrdom—consoling +themselves with the assurance that God +hath chosen the poor of this world, the afflicted, the +persecuted, rich in faith, and heirs, of his heavenly +kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +And to be content—is it not, after all, the best +way to be well supplied? "Seek first the kingdom +of God and his righteousness, and all these things +shall be added unto you." Will not the Good Shepherd +provide for his confiding sheep? Will not he +who clothes the lilies and feeds the sparrows regard +your necessities, O ye of little faith? Can you not +trust the bounty of your King, the affection of your +Father? "Cast all your care upon him, for he +careth for you." Jacob asked food and raiment, +and God gave him also abundant flocks and herds. +Solomon prayed for a wise and understanding heart, +and received in addition great riches and honor. +With the divine love you are rich, whatever else +you lack; without it poor, whatever else you possess. +</P> + +<P> +And what avails your discontent? What can it +bring you but present trouble and future regret? +Why disquiet yourselves in vain? Can all your +anxiety change the color of a hair, or add a moment +to your little all of life? Does not God know what +is best for you, and will he alter his wise and gracious +economy to gratify your foolish and capricious +desires? What claim have you on him? What +service have you ever done him? What benefit has +he ever received from your virtue? Nay, you are +sharers of a thousand blessings, not one of which +have you merited. Rightly estimating yourselves, +instead of murmuring against God, you would be +ready to say with the pilgrim patriarch: "I am not +worthy of the least of all the mercy and truth which +thou hast shown unto thy servant." +</P> + +<P> +But discontent is ingratitude. Recently redeemed +from the iron furnace, shall the children of Israel +complain of their hard fare in the wilderness, spurn +the manna, clamor for flesh, and talk of the fish they +freely ate in Egypt, of the cucumbers and the melons, +the leeks, the onions, and the garlics? Let them +remember the toils of the brick-kiln, the voice of the +oppressor, the scourge of the task-master, and all +the burdens which there imbittered their lives. And +you, have you not infinitely more ground for gratitude +than for grumbling? God's mercies, fresh every +morning and new every evening, crowd the day and +crown the night. One single gift hath he bestowed—one +unspeakable gift—the channel through which +all others flow—worth more than a solar system to +every child of Adam. Redeemed by the blood of +Christ, every moment becomes an inestimable mercy; +nay, every breath becomes a thousand mercies; nay, +every pulse metes out incalculable mercies by the +million; and while we receive them, what deserve we +but reprobation and ruin infinite? Add to these the +many great and exceeding precious promises with +which the Bible overflows, all pointing to an incorruptible +inheritance reserved for you in heaven; and +tell me, have you no cause to be content? +</P> + +<P> +All things ours—God with all his communicable +fulness—Christ with all his riches of grace and glory—heaven +with all its clustering honors and immunities—who +will not say: "Return unto thy rest, O +my soul! for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with +thee"? Ye who now like Lazarus have your evil +things on earth, will you not hereafter with Lazarus +be comforted in Abraham's bosom? Oh! what is +poverty to you who are to inherit all things—heirs +of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ? What are +toil and pain, reproach and persecution, the utter +prostration of health, the loss of every living friend, +and the burial of all you ever loved below, to you +who look for your Lord's return from heaven, the +renovation of the world, the redemption of the body, +the immortal fellowship of the just, and the termination +of all the sad vicissitudes of time in the blissful +calm of eternal content? +</P> + +<P> +And those of you who are trying to content yourselves +with these fleeting vanities! know ye not that +your treasures will decay, your glories wither, and all +the delights of sense perish with the world? What +will you do when the ground dissolves beneath you, +and the atmosphere around you becomes flame? A +surer trust we proffer you, and a nobler felicity. +Come and feed your famishing souls with the hidden +manna of God, and slake your spirit's thirst from the +fountain of living waters. Here, in the love of God—here, +in the blood of Christ—here, in the assurance +of pardon—here, resting upon the Rock of ages—here, +anchored in a sure and steadfast hope—you +shall learn at last the tranquil blessedness of true +content! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch21fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch21fn1text">1</A>] Preached at Seneca Falls, N.Y., Aug. 12, 1883—the last actual +pulpit-utterance of the author. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<P CLASS="t3b"> +XXII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +"YE KNOW THE GRACE."[<A NAME="ch22fn1text"></A><A HREF="#ch22fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he +was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his +poverty might be rich.—<SPAN CLASS="scap">2 Cor.</SPAN> viii. 9. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +To the rich, commonly, what is more terrible +than poverty? So great, sometimes, their dread of +it, that they seek to avoid or avert it by measures +the most dishonorable and even the most desperate. +Rather than be poor, many will practise the worst +hypocrisies or commit the greatest crimes. For +thirty pieces of silver, more than one Judas has +sold his Saviour to the murderers and his own soul +to Satan; and to escape the possible condition of +Lazarus at his gate, many a Dives has slain himself +in his palace. Horrified at such insanity, we scarcely +wonder at the fear from which it springs. The noblest +spirits quake at the thought of want, and a +prospective reverse of fortune is enough to make +the bravest quail. +</P> + +<P> +Yet are there cases on record in which men and +women, for some worthy principle, have cheerfully +welcomed absolute privation, or patiently endured +the destitution of all things. The fear of God, the +love of truth, devotion to duty, domestic affection, +patriotic sentiment, disinterested philanthropy—have +not some of these again and again led the dwellers +in palaces to the hovel and the hermitage, substituting +for the downy couch a pallet of straw, for the +purple and fine linen a suit of sack-cloth, and for +the daily sumptuous banquet a crust of bread and +a cup of water? While we recognize in such cases +only a conscientious service rendered to God or a +life of superior charity to his rational and immortal +creatures, we can but admire and honor the noble +principle that thus renounces the conveniences and +advantages of high birth and ample fortune for the +lowest conditions of civilized humanity. The impulse +is divine; the spirit is that of Christ. Some +become poor through misfortune, some through improvidence, +some through criminal indulgence, these +through stanch adherence to duty. If they had +not relinquished their riches, they must have repudiated +the authority of conscience and let go their +hold on virtue. Poverty has saved its thousands, +where wealth has ruined its tens of thousands. +</P> + +<P> +Here we are reminded of One who was originally +rich beyond all human conception, but became poorer +than the poorest that ever trod the earth—not because +he desired the change, nor because he could +not help it, nor because it was his bounden duty, +nor because a superior bade him, nor because the +perishing implored him, but because he loved us +with an infinite love—beyond all imagination of +men or angels. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Twas mercy moved his heavenly mind,<BR> + And pity brought him down."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +First, then, we must think of the poverty of Christ +as the manifestation of his grace. What was it but +purest goodness, gratuitous favor, unmerited compassion, +that moved him to forsake his glory and +become the brother of worms and the Man of sorrows? +What saw he in this revolted province of +his boundless empire, that he should come to seek +and save the self-destroyed? Among all the myriads +of Adam's children, what one quality was there worthy +of his love? Who solicited his aid, or repented +of his own sin? What obligation pressed or necessity +impelled the Saviour? Had he remained indifferent +to our helpless woes in the heavenly mansions, +who could have impeached one of his perfections? +Had he smitten this guilty planet from its orbit, +and sent it staggering among the stars—a reprobate +world—a warning to the universe of the ruin +wrought by sin—might not the minstrelsy of heaven +have chanted over its catastrophe—"Just and true +are thy ways, thou King of saints!" Perfectly he +foreknew all that awaited him in his mission of +mercy; yet with what divine alacrity did he vacate +his throne, leave the bosom of his Father, and retire +from the adoring host of heaven—as if a loftier +throne, a more loving bosom, and a worthier concourse +of worshippers, were ready to greet him in +the world to which he came! +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "O love that passeth knowledge! words are vain!<BR> + Language is lost in wonder so divine!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Secondly, we must consider the poverty of Christ +in contrast with his previous riches. How much we +commiserate the poor who have seen better days! +His better days what human art shall depict or finite +mind conceive? Lift up your thoughts to the glorious +state of the Eternal Son in the bosom of God +the Father. As yet the worlds are not; no star +reflects his smile, nor seraph chants his praise; but, +possessed of every divine excellence in the most +transcendent degree, he has within himself an infinite +source of happiness. Now he arises to the +work of creation, and myriads of self-luminous suns, +each with his retinue of rejoicing planets, begin their +eternal march around his throne. All are his, created +by him and for him; and all their countless +billions of rational and immortal beings own him as +their supreme Lord, and adore him as the sole giver +of every good and perfect gift. Down from all this +glory he descended into one of the poorest provinces +of his illimitable realm, assuming the frail and suffering +nature of its fallen people, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "And God with God was man with men."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Having a body and a soul like ours, he was liable to +all our temptations and infirmities; and suffering—the +just for the unjust—that he might bring us to +God, he became poorer than the poorest of those +whom by his poverty he sought to redeem. Surely, +had he so chosen, with all the pomp and splendor +of royal state he might have made his advent; but +see! he comes as the first-born of an obscure family—a +stable his birthplace—a manger his cradle; +through all the years of his youth, subject to his +parents, and toiling at Joseph's side with the carpenter's +saw and plane; and when at the age of +thirty he enters upon his Messianic mission, having +no home but such as a poor fisherman can offer him +at Capernaum; often hungering and thirsting over +the fields and fountains of his own creation, everywhere +hated for his love and persecuted for his +purity; and at last basely betrayed into the hands of +his enemies, abandoned and denied by his disciples, +falsely accused of blasphemy, and cruelly condemned +to the cross; while the powers of hell, in all their +might and their malice, co-operate with the murderers +of the Lord's Anointed; and the loving Father, +laying on him the iniquities of us all, withdraws +from the scene of infamous horrors, and leaves the +immaculate victim to die alone in the darkness. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "O Lamb of God! was ever pain—<BR> + Was ever love—like thine?"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Thirdly, we must contemplate the poverty of +Christ in relation to the enrichment of his people. +For our sake it was—for our benefit—as our substitute—he +became poor, that we through his poverty +might be rich. "What are a million of human +lives," said the great Napoleon, "to the scheme of +a man like me?" Infinitely more sublime was the +scheme of Jesus Christ, sacrificing no human interest +to his own ambition, but enriching all his followers +with the durable riches of righteousness. Benevolence, +not ambition, was the grand impulse of his +action. To save mankind from sin and Satan—to +quicken dead souls with the power of an endless life—he +came forth from the Father, sojourned in voluntary +exile among rebels, and joyfully laid down +his life for their redemption. How much the apostles +write of "the riches of his grace"! How sweetly +they assure us that he "hath chosen the poor of this +world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which +he hath promised to them that love him"! He became +poorer than we, to make us as rich as himself—joint-heirs +with him to an inheritance incorruptible, +undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved for us +in heaven. Already, indeed, the believer is rich in +faith, rich in love, rich in peace, rich in joy, and rich +in hope; but when the dear Lord shall return to +consummate in glory the salvation thus begun by +grace, the saints shall enter with him the everlasting +kingdom, satisfied with his likeness and radiant with +his joy. Rejoice then, O my brother! in the unsearchable +riches of Christ. Is the culprit enriched +by pardon on the scaffold? So Christ hath pardoned +thee. Is the exile enriched by the edict that calls +him home? So Christ hath recalled the banished. +Is the leper enriched by the cure of his foul disease? +So Christ cleanses the soul that comes to him. Is +the disinherited enriched by the restoration of his +lost estate? Jesus has bought back for us our forfeited +possessions, and made them ours by an everlasting +covenant. Is the prisoner enriched by the +power that gives him freedom? If the Son makes +us free, we are free indeed, and hell cannot enslave +the ransomed soul. Is the alien child enriched by +adoption into the royal household, making him heir +to the crown? Brought nigh by redeeming blood, +I become interested in all that belongs to my Lord, +and whatever he receives from the Father I am to +share with him in the kingdom of his glory. His +voluntary poverty in my behalf makes him my +Brother and associates me with him upon the throne. +Taking my earthly station, he raises me to his heavenly +honors. Bearing my manifold infirmities, he +assures me of a share in his infinite blessedness. +Emptying himself of his glory for me, he fills me +with all the fulness of God! Thus we know the +grace of our Lord Jesus Christ—not, indeed, in all +the amplitude of its extension, nor in all the plenitude +of its comprehension; but adequately to our +necessity as sinners, and adequately to our duty and +privilege as Christians—we know it, and rejoice in it +with unspeakable joy. What returns shall we make, +or how express our gratitude? Shall we be like +him who, having promised Mercury part of his nuts, +ate the kernels himself, and gave the god the shells? +Shall we not imitate the Macedonian churches, that +first gave their own selves to the Lord, and then sent +their liberal collections to the poor saints at Jerusalem? +When we have given ourselves, what else can +we withhold from him who gave all his wealth to +enrich us, and has enriched us most by giving us +himself? +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "The mite my willing hand can give,<BR> + At Jesus' feet I lay;<BR> + His grace the tribute will receive,<BR> + And Heaven at large repay."<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ch22fn1"></A> +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#ch22fn1text">1</A>] Written in the last days of September, 1883, but never preached. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +THE REV. DR. JOSEPH CROSS'S WORKS. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<b><i>KNIGHT BANNERET.</i></b> Sermons. By the Rev. <SPAN CLASS="scap">Joseph Cross</SPAN>, +D.D., LL.D. 1 vol. 303 pp. 12mo, cloth. $1.50. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Its literary qualities will charm still another class of readers, for imagination +has filled its pages with pictures from near and from far; fancy has lavished its +every color upon them; they gleam with an unstinted splendor of rhetoric, or +glow with an eager, consuming intensity of conviction."—<i>Am. Church Review.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"The sermons are serious and conservative in theological position, practical +and assisted toward their end by an unusual amount of illustration and metaphor."—<i>The +Independent.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"They [the sermons] are pervaded by an intensely earnest spirit, full of +Christ and his salvation, and suited to be useful. The author's style and method +of treatment are oratorical, and we find many vigorous and eloquent passages."—<i>Lutheran +Quarterly.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"The diction is always magnificent, always elegant, and the thought never +fails of clearness."—<i>The Living Church.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"They are true and brave and zealous presentations of questions of practical +moment; and their perusal will give new strength and a new inspiration to every +honest reader."—<i>Syracuse Daily Journal.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"They are distinguished by remarkable intellectual force, point and brilliancy +of statement, short, vigorous sentences, and a desire to benefit his fellows by +teaching them the truth."—<i>The Keystone.</i> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<b><i>EVANGEL.</i></b> Sermons for Parochial Missions. By the Rev. <SPAN CLASS="scap">Joseph +Cross</SPAN>, D.D., LL.D. 1 vol. 303 pp. 12mo, cloth. $1.50. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Not for a long time have we pored over pages glowing with so much gospel +power and spiritual radiance."—<i>Michigan Christian Advocate.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"This volume of sermons is one of the very best we have recently met with +for the lay reader or for family reading."—<i>Church Guardian.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"They appeal more to the feelings than do the ordinary sermons of church +pastors; but preaching of this kind is needed. The idea that all sermons must +follow a fixed model, either in style and arrangement or in length, tends to a lifeless +formalism. Dr. Cross has an original way, and is very strong in his presentation +of truth."—<i>The Churchman.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"Many books of sermons which are regarded as models have in them much +less of thought and gospel truth."—<i>American Literary Churchman.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"They unfold and enforce wisely and winningly the fundamental truths of +the gospel, and are direct and impressive in style."—<i>The Congregationalist.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"There is in them just what is indispensable to success on such occasions,—the +flowing earnestness of a spirit that burns with the love and glory of the +message it has to deliver."—<i>The Living Church.</i> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<i><b>EDENS OF ITALY.</b></i> By the Rev. <SPAN CLASS="scap">Joseph Cross</SPAN>, D.D., LL.D. +With more than one hundred illustrations, map, and index. +1 vol. Royal 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges. $5.00. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"He writes without exaggeration, and with a strong sense of enjoyment in a +land that constantly surprises him by its varied beauty.... The work takes the +reader along by its clearness, and there is no better test of a descriptive book."—<i>Cincinnati +Commercial.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"The book is one of the most attractive among those intended for holiday +gifts."—<i>New-York Tribune.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"This is one of the handsomest and most substantial of the higher-class gift-books +of the season.... The external appearance of the work is exceedingly +attractive, the stamped design of the cover being in the most perfect taste. The +literary execution of Dr. Cross's book is of a very high order. The author is a +master of descriptive style; and his learning and information, though unobtrusive, +are both extensive and accurate. The study of his subject occupied many +months of intelligent and careful observation."—<i>Good Literature.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"Either because the subjects themselves are wondrously rich and varied in +interest, or because the writer is most happily gifted in the treatment of these +subjects, or for both reasons combined, this book abounds with very choice and +delightful entertainment. It may be compared to a string of gems, all of the +richest kinds, sparkling and flashing with radiant and ever-varying beauty, or to +a garden filled with a great variety of the rarest flowers and fruits: while the +descriptions and pen-pictures are transparently faithful to truth, they also seem +to be the very essence of poetry. The reader is fascinated; he seems to be +travelling upon enchanted ground.... +</P> + +<P> +"The work in its mechanical execution throughout, in paper, type, and binding, +is a splendid specimen of book-making."—<i>Northern Christian Advocate.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"There are very few cities and spots that are omitted in this excellent work, +which has been written and prepared with experience and care. We know of +no work at a reasonable price that answers in its stead."—<i>Boston Sunday Globe.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"One of the elegant books of the season is 'Edens of Italy,' by Rev. Dr. +Joseph Cross."—<i>Springfield Republican.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"The author has written from a full mind and richly-laden memory, aided by +careful notes taken on the spot. The readable quality of the book is aided +by the clearest typographic expression, and the numerous illustrations make the +volume a feast to the eye. Even in this day of attractive bindings, this one is +noticeable for its extreme beauty. The coloring is refined and tasteful; and the +decorative design, which is beautiful and appropriate in conception, has been +artistically carried out. As a whole, the cover is charming in effect, and reflects +great credit on the taste of the house which issues the volume. On the principle +of honor to whom honor is due, it seems hardly just that it is not customary to +permit artists who furnish designs for book-covers, to reap what measure of glory +and profit there is to be had from being publicly credited with the work they +do."—<i>Art Interchange.</i> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<i><b>COALS FROM THE ALTAR.</b></i> Sermons for the Christian Year. By +the Rev. <SPAN CLASS="scap">Joseph Cross</SPAN>, D.D., LL.D. 2 vols. 12mo, cloth. +$1.50 each. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Vol. I., Advent to Ascension.<BR> + Vol. II., Ascension to Advent.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"They are aptly named 'Coals from the Altar,' for they are admirably +adapted to kindle a flame of fire in the Christian heart. The author's wealth of +imagery, his warm sympathy and personal appeals, his fine descriptive powers +and flow of language, his deep pathos and tenderness, do not need the fervor and +emphasis of the living voice to send home the arrow of truth; but his sermons +touch the feelings equally when addressed to the eye, by means of type, and become +an efficient ministry of good."—<i>The Churchman.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"Evangelic truth and apostolic order have no better definition and defence in +the whole range of sermonic literature, than in these glowing 'Coals from the +Altar'"—<i>The Standard of the Cross.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"They are written in a most moderate tone, with much force and beauty of +language, and with great earnestness and tenderness appeal to the hearts and +consciences of readers. For family reading and for lay reading we can warmly +recommend these sermons."—<i>The Church Guardian</i>, Halifax. +</P> + +<P> +"The sermons are eminently scriptural, terse and accurate in style, and are +excellent illustrations of good principles in homiletics."—<i>Lutheran Observer.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Cross shows himself an eloquent and able thinker, and his sermons are +full of spiritual fervor."—<i>The American Bookseller.</i> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<b><i>PAULINE CHARITY.</i></b> Discourses on the Thirteenth Chapter of St. +Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians. By the Rev. <SPAN CLASS="scap">Joseph +Cross</SPAN>, D.D., LL.D. 1 vol. 12mo, cloth. $1.50. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"These sermons are eminently instructive and stimulating; the great central +truth of practical religion is forcibly presented and well illustrated, and the +discourse is often marked with special vigor and eloquence."—<i>Zion's Herald.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"These are clear, instructive, thoroughly evangelical, and highly edifying. +They will serve as good models for young ministers, in style, spirit, and directness +of address."—<i>Lutheran Observer.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"The sermons included in the volume before us are vigorous and fluent; and, +though the author calls them 'old-fashioned homilies,' they are neither dry nor +antiquated in style or thought."—<i>Good Literature.</i> +</P> + +<P> +"These are of sermons which leave an influence that the hearer carries into +his daily thought and conduct."—<i>Boston Globe.</i> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<b><i>OLD WINE AND NEW</i></b>. Occasional discourses. By the Rev. <SPAN CLASS="scap">Joseph +Cross</SPAN>, D.D., LL.D. 1 vol. 12mo, cloth. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +<i>Just Issued.</i> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +Copies mailed postpaid on receipt of price. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +THOMAS WHITTAKER, Publisher,<BR> + <SPAN CLASS="scap">2 and 3 Bible House, New York</SPAN>.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +By JOSEPH CROSS, D.D., LL.D. +</P> + +<BR> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +KNIGHT-BANNERET: Sermons. 12mo, cloth, $1.50 + +EVANGEL: Sermons for Parochial Missions. + 12mo, cloth 1.50 + +EDENS OF ITALY. Profusely illustrated. 4to, + cloth, extra, gilt edges 5.00 + +Tree calf 12.00 +Morocco antique 12.00 + +COALS FROM THE ALTAR: Sermons For + the Christian Year. Volume I., from Advent + to Ascension. Volume II., from Ascension to Advent. + 12mo, cloth, each 1.50 + +PAULINE CHARITY: Discourses on the + Thirteenth Chapter of Saint Paul's First + Epistle to the Corinthians. 12mo, cloth 1.50 + +OLD WINE AND NEW: Occasional Discourses. + 12mo, cloth 1.50 +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +THOMAS WHITTAKER, +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +<i>PUBLISHER</i>, +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE......NEW YORK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Wine and New, by Joseph Cross + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD WINE AND NEW *** + +***** This file should be named 37794-h.htm or 37794-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/9/37794/ + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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