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diff --git a/7051-0.txt b/7051-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1a6cc0 --- /dev/null +++ b/7051-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8677 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Good News of God, by Charles Kingsley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: The Good News of God + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: January 10, 2015 [eBook #7051] +[This file was first posted on March 2, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD*** + + +Transcribed from the 1887 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + THE + GOOD NEWS OF GOD + + + * * * * * + + SERMONS + + * * * * * + + BY + + CHARLES KINGSLEY M.A. + + * * * * * + + London + MACMILLAN AND CO. + AND NEW YORK + 1887 + + [_The Right of Translation is Reserved_] + + * * * * * + + Transferred from Messrs. LONGMAN & CO., 1863 + Reprinted, Fcap. 8vo, 1866, 1874, 1877, 1878 + Reprinted, Crown 8vo, 1878, 1880, 1881, 1883, 1885, 1887 + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS. + + SERMON PAGE + I. THE BEATIFIC VISION 1 + II. THE GLORY OF THE CROSS 10 + III. THE LIFE OF GOD 16 + IV. THE SONG OF THE THREE CHILDREN 26 + V. THE ETERNAL GOODNESS 34 + VI. WORSHIP 43 + VII. GOD’S INHERITANCE 51 + VIII. ‘DE PROFUNDIS’ 57 + IX. THE LOVE OF GOD ITS OWN REWARD 67 + X. THE RACE OF LIFE 73 + XI. SELF-RESPECT AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS 84 + XII. TRUE REPENTANCE 94 + XIII. THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 105 + XIV. HEROES AND HEROINES 116 + XV. THE MEASURE OF THE CROSS 124 + XVI. THE PURE IN HEART 132 + XVII. MUSIC 140 + XVIII. THE CHRIST CHILD 148 + XIX. CHRIST’S BOYHOOD 155 + XX. THE LOCUST-SWARMS 161 + XXI. SALVATION 169 + XXII. THE BEGINNING AND END OF WISDOM 174 + XXIII. HUMAN NATURE 181 + XXIV. THE CHARITY OF GOD 190 + XXV. THE DAYS OF THE WEEK 195 + XXVI. THE HEAVENLY FATHER 203 + XXVII. THE GOOD SHEPHERD 211 + XXVIII. DARK TIMES 219 + XXIX. GOD’S CREATION 229 + XXX. TRUE PRUDENCE 236 + XXXI. THE PENITENT THIEF 249 + XXXII. THE TEMPER OF CHRIST 258 + XXXIII. THE FRIEND OF SINNERS 268 + XXXIV. THE SEA OF GLASS 278 + XXXV. A GOD IN PAIN 291 + XXXVI. ON THE FALL 297 + XXXVII. THE WORTHY COMMUNICANT 304 + XXXVIII. OUR DESERTS 310 + XXXIX. THE LOFTINESS OF GOD 317 + + + + +SERMON I. +THE BEATIFIC VISION. + + + MATTHEW xxii. 27. + + Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy + soul, and with all thy mind. + +THESE words often puzzle and pain really good people, because they seem +to put the hardest duty first. It seems, at times, so much more easy to +love one’s neighbour than to love God. And strange as it may seem, that +is partly true. St. John tells us so—‘He that loves not his brother whom +he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?’ Therefore many +good people, who really do love God, are unhappy at times because they +feel that they do not love him enough. They say in their hearts—‘I wish +to do right, and I try to do it: but I am afraid I do not do it from love +to God.’ + +I think that they are often too hard upon themselves. I believe that +they are very often loving God with their whole hearts, when they think +that they are not doing so. But still, it is well to be afraid of +oneself, and dissatisfied with oneself. + +I think, too—nay, I am certain—that many good people do not love God as +they ought, and as they would wish to do, because they have not been +rightly taught who God is, and what He is like. They have not been +taught that God is loveable; they have been taught that God feels +feelings, and does deeds, which if a man felt, or did, we should call him +arbitrary, proud, revengeful, cruel: and yet they are told to love him; +and they do not know how to love such a being as that. Nor do I either, +my friends. + +Let us therefore think over to-day for ourselves why we ought to love +God; and why both Bible and Catechism bid child as well as man to love +the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, before they bid +us love our neighbours. And keep this in mind all through, that the +reason why we are to love God must depend upon what God’s character is. +For you cannot love any one because you are told to love them. You can +only love them because they are loveable and worthy of your love. And +that they will not be, unless they are loving themselves; as it is +written, we love God because he first loved us. + +Now, friends, look at this one thing first. When we see any man do a +just action, or a kind action, do we not like to see it? Do we not like +the man the better for doing it? A man must be sunk very low in +stupidity and ill-feeling—dead in tresspasses and sins, as the Bible +calls it—if he does not. Indeed, I never saw the man yet, however bad he +was himself, who did not, in his better moments, admire what was right +and good; and say, ‘Bad as I may be, that man is a good man, and I wish I +could do as he does.’ + +One sees the same, but far more strongly, in little children. From their +earliest years, as far as I have ever seen, children like and admire what +is good, even though they be naughty themselves; and if you tell them of +any very loving, generous, or brave action, their hearts leap up in +answer to it. They feel at once how beautiful goodness is. + +But why? + +St. John tells us. That feeling comes, he tells us, from Christ, the +light who is the life of men, and lights every man who comes into the +world; and that light in our hearts, which makes us see, and admire, and +love what is good, is none other than Christ himself shining in our +hearts, and showing to us his own likeness, and the beauty thereof. + +But if we stop there; if we only admire what is good, without trying to +copy it, we shall lose that light. Our corrupt and diseased nature (and +corrupt and diseased it is, as we shall surely find, as soon as we begin +to try to do right) will quench that heavenly spark in us more and more, +till it dies out—as God forbid that it should die out in any of us. For +if it did die out, we should care no more for what is good. We should +see nothing beautiful, and noble, and glorious, in being just, and +loving, and merciful. And then, indeed, we should see nothing worth +loving in God himself:—and it were better for us that we had never been +born. + +But none of us, I trust, are fallen as low as that. We all, surely, +admire a good action, and love a good man. Surely we do. Then I will go +on, to ask you one question more. + +Did it ever strike you, that goodness is not merely _a_ beautiful thing, +but THE beautiful thing—by far the most beautiful thing in the world; and +that badness is not merely _an_ ugly thing, but the ugliest thing in the +world?—So that nothing is to be compared for value with goodness; that +riches, honour, power, pleasure, learning, the whole world and all in it, +are not worth having, in comparison with being good; and the utterly best +thing for a man is to be good, even though he were never to be rewarded +for it: and the utterly worst thing for a man is to be bad, even though +he were never to be punished for it; and, in a word, goodness is the only +thing worth loving, and badness the only thing worth hating. + +Did you ever feel this, my friends? Happy are those among you who have +felt it; for of you the Lord says, Blessed are they that hunger and +thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled. Ay, happy are you +who have felt it; for it is the sign, the very and true sign, that the +Holy Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of goodness, is working in your +hearts with power, revealing to you the exceeding beauty of holiness, and +the exceeding sinfulness of sin. + +But did it never strike you besides, that goodness was one, and +everlasting? Let me explain what I mean. + +Did you never see, that all good men show their goodness in the same way, +by doing the same kind of good actions? Let them be English or French, +black or white, if they be good, there is the same honesty, the same +truthfulness, the same love, the same mercy in all; and what is right and +good for you and me, now and here, is right and good for every man, +everywhere, and at all times for ever. Surely, surely, what is noble, +and loveable, and admirable now, was so five thousand years ago, and will +be five thousand years hence. What is honourable for us here, would be +equally honourable for us in America or Australia—ay, or in the farthest +star in the skies. + +But, some of you may say, men at different times and in different +countries have had very different notions—indeed quite opposite notions, +of what men ought to be. + +I know that some people say so. I can only answer that I differ from +them. True, some men have had less light than others, and, God knows, +have made fearful mistakes enough, and fancied that they could please God +by behaving like devils: but on the first principles of goodness, all the +world has been pretty well agreed all along; for wherever men have been +taught what is really right, there have been plenty of hearts to answer, +‘Yes, this is good! this is what we have wanted all along, though we knew +it not.’ And all the wisest men among the heathen—the men who have been +honoured, and even worshipped as blessings to their fellow men, have +agreed, one and all, in the great and golden rule, ‘Thou shalt love God, +with all thy heart and soul, and thy neighbour as thyself.’ + +Believe about this as you may, my friends, still I believe, and will +believe; I preach, and will preach, this, and nought else but this:—That +there is but one everlasting goodness, which is good in men, good in all +rational beings—yea, good in God himself. + +These last are solemn words, but they are true; and the more you think +over them, the more, I tell you, will you find them true. And to them I +have been trying to lead you; and will try once more. + +For, did it never strike you, again—as it has me—and all the world has +looked different to me since I found it out—that there must be ONE, in +whom all goodness is gathered together; ONE, who must be perfectly and +absolutely good? And did it never strike you, that all the goodness in +the world must, in some way or other, come from HIM? I believe that our +hearts and reasons, if we will listen fairly to them, tell us that it +must be so; and I am certain that the Bible tells us so, from beginning +to end. When we see the million rain-drops of the shower, we say, with +reason, there must be one great sea from which all these drops have come. +When we see the countless rays of light, we say, with reason, there must +be one great central sun from which all these are shed forth. And when +we see, as it were, countless drops, and countless rays of goodness +scattered about in the world, a little good in this man, and a little +good in that, shall we not say, there must be one great sea, one central +sun of goodness, from whence all human goodness comes? And where can +that centre of goodness be, but in the very character of God himself? + +Yes, my friends; if you would know what God is, think of all the noble, +beautiful, loveable actions, tempers, feelings, which you ever saw or +heard of. Think of all the good, and admirable, and loveable people whom +you ever met; and fancy to yourselves all that goodness, nobleness, +admirableness, loveableness, and millions of times more, gathered +together in one, to make one perfectly good character—and then you have +some faint notion of God, some dim sight of God, who is the eternal and +perfect Goodness. + +It is but a faint notion, no doubt, that the best man can have of God’s +goodness, so dull has sin made our hearts and brains: but let us comfort +ourselves with this thought—That the more we learn to love what is good, +the more we accustom ourselves to think of good people and good things, +and to ask ourselves why and how this action and that is good, the more +shall we be able to see the goodness of God. And to see that, even for a +moment, is worth all sights in earth or heaven. + +Worth all sights, indeed. No wonder that the saints of old called it the +‘Beatific Vision,’ that is, the sight which makes a man utterly blessed; +namely, to see, if but for a moment, with his mind’s eye what God is +like, and behold he is utterly good! + +No wonder that they said (and I doubt not that they spoke honestly and +simply what they felt) that while that thought was before them, this +world was utterly nothing to them; that they were as men in a dream, or +dead, not caring to eat or to move, for fear of losing that glorious +thought; but felt as if they were (as they were most really and truly) +caught up into heaven, and taken utterly out of themselves by the beauty +and glory of God’s perfect goodness. No wonder that they cried out with +David, ‘Whom have I in heaven, O Lord, but Thee? and there is none on +earth whom I desire in comparison of Thee.’ No wonder that they said +with St. Peter when he saw our Lord’s glory, ‘Lord, it is good for us to +be here,’ and felt like men gazing upon some glorious picture or +magnificent show, off which they cannot take their eyes; and which makes +them forget for the time all beside in heaven and earth. + +And it was good for them to be there: but not too long. Man was sent +into this world not merely to see, but to do; and the more he sees, the +more he is bound to go and do accordingly. St. Peter had to come down +from the mount, and preach the Gospel wearily for many a year, and die at +last upon the cross. St. Augustine, in like wise, though he would gladly +have lived and died doing nothing but fixing his soul’s eye steadily on +the glory of God’s goodness, had to come down from the mount likewise, +and work, and preach, and teach, and wear himself out in daily drudgery +for that God whom he learnt to serve, even when he could not adore Him in +the press of business, and the bustle of a rotten and dying world. + +But see, my dear friends, and consider it well—Before a man can come to +that state of mind, or anything like it, he must have begun by loving +goodness wherever he saw it; and have settled in his heart that to be +good, and therefore to do good, is the most beautiful thing in the world. +So he will begin by loving his brother whom he has seen, and by taking +delight in good people, and in all honest, true, loving, merciful, +generous words and actions, and in those who say and do them. And so he +will be fit to love God, whom he has not seen, when he finds out (as God +grant that you may all find out) that all goodness of which we can +conceive, and far, far more, is gathered together in God, and flows out +from him eternally over his whole creation, by that Holy Spirit who +proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is the Lord and Giver of life, +and therefore of goodness. For goodness is nothing else, if you will +receive it, but the eternal life of God, which he has lived, and lives +now, and will live for evermore, God blessed for ever. Amen. + +So, my dear friends, it will not be so difficult for you to love God, if +you will only begin by loving goodness, which is God’s likeness, and the +inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit. For you will be like a man who has +long admired a beautiful picture of some one whom he does not know, and +at last meets the person for whom the picture was meant—and behold the +living face is a thousand times more fair and noble than the painted one. +You will be like a child which has been brought up from its birth in a +room into which the sun never shone; and then goes out for the first +time, and sees the sun in all his splendour bathing the earth with glory. +If that child had loved to watch the dim narrow rays of light which shone +into his dark room, what will he not feel at the sight of that sun from +which all those rays had come Just so will they feel who, having loved +goodness for its own sake, and loved their neighbours for the sake of +what little goodness is in them, have their eyes opened at last to see +all goodness, without flaw or failing, bound or end, in the character of +God, which he has shown forth in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the +likeness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person; to +whom be glory and honour for ever. Amen. + + + + +SERMON II. +THE GLORY OF THE CROSS. + + + JOHN xvii. 1. + + Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may + glorify thee. + +I spoke to you lately of the beatific vision of God. I will speak of it +again to-day; and say this. + +If any man wishes to see God, truly and fully, with the eyes of his soul: +if any man wishes for that beatific vision of God; that perfect sight of +God’s perfect goodness; then must that man go, and sit down at the foot +of Christ’s cross, and look steadfastly upon him who hangs thereon. And +there he will see, what the wisest and best among the heathen, among the +Mussulmans, among all who are not Christian men, never have seen, and +cannot see unto this day, however much they may feel (and some of them, +thank God, do feel) that God is the Eternal Goodness, and must be loved +accordingly. + +And what shall we see upon the cross? + +Many things, friends, and more than I, or all the preachers in the world, +will be able to explain to you, though we preached till the end of the +world. But one thing we shall see, if we will, which we have forgotten +sadly, Christians though we be, in these very days; forgotten it, most of +us, so utterly, that in order to bring you back to it, I must take a +seemingly roundabout road. + +Does it seem, or does it not seem, to you, that the finest thing in a man +is magnanimity—what we call in plain English, greatness of soul? And if +it does seem to you to be so, what do you mean by greatness of soul? +When you speak of a great soul, and of a great man, what manner of man do +you mean? + +Do you mean a very clever man, a very far-sighted man, a very determined +man, a very powerful man, and therefore a very successful man? A man who +can manage everything, and every person whom he comes across, and turn +and use them for his own ends, till he rises to be great and glorious—a +ruler, king, or what you will? + +Well—he is a great man: but I know a greater, and nobler, and more +glorious stamp of man; and you do also. Let us try again, and think if +we can find his likeness, and draw it for ourselves. Would he not be +somewhat like this pattern?—A man who was aware that he had vast power, +and yet used that power not for himself but for others; not for ambition, +but for doing good? Surely the man who used his power for other people +would be the greater-souled man, would he not? Let us go on, then, to +find out more of his likeness. Would he be stern, or would he be tender? +Would he be patient, or would he be fretful? Would he be a man who +stands fiercely on his own rights, or would he be very careful of other +men’s rights, and very ready to waive his own rights gracefully and +generously? Would he be extreme to mark what was done amiss against him, +or would he be very patient when he was wronged himself, though indignant +enough if he saw others wronged? Would he be one who easily lost his +temper, and lost his head, and could be thrown off his balance by one +foolish man? Surely not. He would be a man whom no fool, nor all fools +together could throw off his balance; a man who could not lose his +temper, could not lose his self-respect; a man who could bear with those +who are peevish, make allowances for those who are weak and ignorant, +forgive those who are insolent, and conquer those who are ungrateful, not +by punishment, but by fresh kindness, overcoming their evil by his +good.—A man, in short, whom no ill-usage without, and no ill-temper +within, could shake out of his even path of generosity and benevolence. +Is not that the truly magnanimous man; the great and royal soul? Is not +that the stamp of man whom we should admire, if we met him on earth? +Should we not reverence that man; esteem it an honour and a pleasure to +work under that man, to take him for our teacher, our leader, in hopes +that, by copying his example, our souls might become great like his? + +Is it so, my friends? Then know this, that in admiring that man, you +admire the likeness of God. In wishing to be like that man, you wish to +be like God. + +For this is God’s true greatness; this is God’s true glory; this is God’s +true royalty; the greatness, glory, and royalty of loving, forgiving, +generous power, which pours itself out, untiring and undisgusted, in help +and mercy to all which he has made; the glory of a Father who is perfect +in this, that he causeth his rain to fall on the evil and on the good, +and his sun to shine upon the just and on the unjust, and is good to the +unthankful and the evil; a Father who has not dealt with us after our +sins, or rewarded us after our iniquities: a Father who is not extreme to +mark what is done amiss, but whom it is worth while to fear, for with him +is mercy and plenteous redemption;—all this, and more—a Father who so +loved a world which had forgotten him, a world whose sins must have been +disgusting to him, that he spared not his only begotten Son, but freely +gave him for us, and will with him freely give us all things; a Father, +in one word, whose name and essence is love, even as it is the name and +essence of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. + +This, my friends, is the glory of God: but this glory never shone out in +its full splendour till it shone upon the cross. + +For—that we may go back again, to that great-souled man, of whom I spoke +just now—did we not leave out one thing in his character? or at least, +one thing by which his character might be proved and tried? We said that +he should be generous and forgiving; we said that he should bear +patiently folly, peevishness, ingratitude: but what if we asked of him, +that he should sacrifice himself utterly for the peevish, ungrateful men +for whose good he was toiling? What if we asked him to give up, for +them, not only all which made life worth having, but to give up life +itself? To die for them; and, what is bitterest of all, to die by their +hands—to receive as their reward for all his goodness to them a shameful +death? If he dare submit to that, then we should call his greatness of +soul perfect. Magnanimity, we should say, could rise no higher; in that +would be the perfection of goodness. + +Surely your hearts answer, that this is true. When you hear of a father +sacrificing his own life for his children; when you hear of a soldier +dying for his country; when you hear of a clergyman or a physician +killing himself by his work, while he is labouring to save the souls or +the bodies of his fellow-creatures; then you feel—There is goodness in +its highest shape. To give up our lives for others is one of the most +beautiful, and noble, and glorious things on earth. But to give up our +lives, willingly, joyfully for men who misunderstand us, hate us, despise +us, is, if possible, a more glorious action still, and the very +perfection of perfect virtue. Then, looking at Christ’s cross, we see +that, and even more—ay, far more than that. The cross was the perfect +token of the perfect greatness of God, and of the perfect glory of God. + +So on the cross, the Father justified himself to man; yea, glorified +himself in the glory of his crucified Son. On the cross God proved +himself to be perfectly just, perfectly good, perfectly generous, +perfectly glorious, beyond all that man could ever have dared to conceive +or dream. That God must be good, the wise heathens knew; but that God +was so utterly good that he could stoop to suffer, to die, for men, and +by men—that they never dreamed. That was the mystery of God’s love, +which was hid in Christ from the foundation of the world, and which was +revealed at last upon the cross of Calvary by him who prayed for his +murderers—‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That +truly blessed sight of a Saviour-God, who did not disdain to die the +meanest and the most fearful of deaths—that, that came home at once, and +has come home ever since, to all hearts which had left in them any love +and respect for goodness, and melted them with the fire of divine love; +as God grant it may melt yours, this day, and henceforth for ever. + +I can say no more, my friends. If this good news does not come home to +your hearts by its own power, it will never be brought home to you by any +words of mine. + + + + +SERMON III. +THE LIFE OF GOD. + + + 1 JOHN i. 2. + + For the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, + and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and + was manifested unto us! + +WHAT do we mean, when we speak of the Life everlasting? + +Do we mean that men’s souls are immortal, and will live for ever after +death, either in happiness or misery? + +We must mean more than that. At least we ought to mean more than that, +if we be Christian men. For the Bible tells us, that Christ brought life +and immortality to light. Therefore they must have been in darkness +before Christ’s coming; and men did not know as much about life and +immortality before Christ’s coming as they know—or ought to know—now. + +But if we need only believe that we shall live for ever after death in +happiness or misery, then Christ has not brought life and immortality to +light. He has thrown no fresh light upon the matter. + +And why? For this simple reason, that the old heathen knew as much as +that before Christ came. + +The old Greeks and Romans, and Persians, and our own forefathers before +they became Christians, believed that men’s souls would live for ever +happy or miserable. The Mussulmans, Mahommedans, Turks as they are +called in the Prayer-book, believe as much as that now. They believe +that men’s souls live for ever after death, and go to ‘heaven’ or ‘hell.’ + +So those words ‘everlasting Life’ must needs mean something more than +that. What do they mean? + +First. What does everlasting mean? + +It means exactly the same as eternal. The two words are the same: only +everlasting is English, and eternal Latin. But they have the same sense. + +Now everlasting and eternal mean something which has neither beginning +nor end. That is certain. The wisest of the heathen knew that: but we +are apt to forget it. We are apt to think a thing may be everlasting, +because it has no end, though it has a beginning. We are careless +thinkers, if we fancy that. God is eternal because he has neither +beginning nor end. + +But here come two puzzles. + +First. The Athanasian Creed says that there is but one Eternal, that is, +God; and never were truer words written. + +But do we not make out two Eternals? For God is one Eternal; and eternal +life is another Eternal. Now which is right; we, or the Athanasian +Creed? I shall hold by the Athanasian Creed, my friends, and ask you to +think again over the matter: thus—If there be but one Eternal, there is +but one way of escaping out of our puzzle, which makes two Eternals; and +that is, to go back to the old doctrine of St. Paul, and St. John, and +the wisest of the Fathers, and say—There is but one Eternal; and +therefore eternal life is in the Eternal God. And it is eternal Life +because it is God’s life; the life which God lives; and it is eternal +just because, and only because, it is the life of God; and eternal death +is nothing but the want of God’s eternal life. + +Certainly, whether you think this true or not, St. John thought it true; +for he says so most positively in the text. He says that the Life was +manifested—showed plainly upon earth, and that he had seen it. And he +says that he saw it in a man, whom his eyes had seen, and his hands had +handled. How could that be? + +My friends, how else could it be? How can you see life, but by seeing +some one live it? You cannot see a man’s life, unless you see him live +such and such a life, or hear of his living such and such a life, and so +knowing what his life, manners, character, are. And so no one could have +seen God’s life, or known what life God lived, and what character God’s +was, had it not been for the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who +was made flesh, and dwelt among us, that by seeing him, the Son, we might +see the Father, whose likeness he was, and is, and ever will be. + +But now, says St. John, we know what God’s eternal life is; for we know +what Christ’s life was on earth. And more, we know that it is a life +which men may live; for Christ lived it perfectly and utterly, though He +was a man. + +What sort of life, then, is everlasting life? + +Who can tell altogether and completely? And yet who cannot tell in part? +Use the common sense, my friends, which God has given to you, and +think;—If eternal life be the life of God, it must be a good life; for +God is good. That is the first, and the most certain thing which we can +say of it. It must be a righteous and just life; a loving and merciful +life; for God is righteous, just, loving, merciful; and more, it must be +an useful life, a life of good works; for God is eternally useful, doing +good to all his creatures, working for ever for the benefit of all which +he has made. + +Yes—a life of good works. There is no good life without good works. +When you talk of a man’s life, you mean not only what he feels and +thinks, but what he does. What is in his heart goes for nothing, unless +he brings it out in his actions, as far as he can. + +Therefore St. James says, ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works. Shew me +thy faith _without_ thy works,’ (and who can do that?) ‘and I will shew +thee my faith by my works.’ + +And St. John says, there is no use _saying_ you love. ‘Let us love not +in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth;’ and again—and would to +God that most people who talk so glibly about heaven and hell, and the +ways of getting thither, would recollect this one plain text—‘Little +children, let no man deceive you. He that _doeth_ righteousness is +righteous, even as God is righteous.’ And therefore it is that St. Paul +bids rich men ‘be rich also in noble deeds,’ generous and liberal of +their money to all who want, that they may ‘lay hold of that which is +really life,’ namely, the eternal life of goodness. + +And therefore also, my friends, we may be sure that God loves in deed and +in truth: because it is written that God is love. + +For if a man loves, he longs to help those whom he loves. It is the very +essence of love, that it cannot be still, cannot be idle, cannot be +satisfied with itself, cannot contain itself, but must go out to do good +to those whom it loves, to seek and to save that which is lost. And +therefore God is perfect love, and his eternal life a life of eternal +love, because he sends his Son eternally to seek and to save that which +is lost. + +This, then, is eternal life; a life of everlasting love showing itself in +everlasting good works; and whosoever lives that life, he lives the life +of God, and hath eternal life. + +What I have just said will help you, I think, to understand another royal +text about eternal life. + +For now’ we may understand why it is written, that this is life eternal, +to know the true and only God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. For if +eternal life be God’s life, we must know God, and God’s character, to +know what eternal life is like: and if no man has seen God at any time, +and God’s life can only be seen in the life of Christ, then we must know +Christ, and Christ’s life, to know God and God’s life; that the saying +may be fulfilled in us, God hath given to us eternal life, and this life +is in his Son. + +One other royal text, did I say? We may understand many, perhaps all, +the texts which speak of life, and eternal life, if we will look at them +in this way. We may see why St. Paul says that to be spiritually minded +is life; and that the life of Jesus may be manifested in men: and how the +sin of the old heathen lay in this, that they were alienated from the +life of God. We may understand how Christ’s commandment is everlasting +life; how the water which he gives, can spring up within a man’s heart to +everlasting life—all such texts we may, and shall, understand more and +more, if we will bear in mind that everlasting life is the life of God +and of Christ, a life of love; a life of perfect, active, +self-sacrificing goodness, which is the one only true life for all +rational beings, whether on earth or in heaven. + +In heaven, my friends, as well as on earth. Form your own notions, as +you will, about angels, and saints in heaven, for every one must have +some notions about them, and try to picture to himself what the souls of +those whom he has loved and lost are doing in the other world: but bear +this in mind: that if the saints in heaven live the everlasting life, +they must be living a life of usefulness, of love and of good works. + +And here I must say, friends, that however much the Roman Catholics may +be wrong on many points, they have remembered one thing about the life +everlasting, which we are too apt to forget; and that is, that +everlasting life cannot be a selfish, idle life, spent only in being +happy oneself. They believe that the saints in heaven are _not_ idle; +that they are eternally helping mankind; doing all sorts of good offices +for those souls who need them; that, as St. Paul says of the angels, they +are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of +salvation. And I cannot see why they should not be right. For if the +saints’ delight was to do good on earth, much more will it be to do good +in heaven. If they helped poor sufferers, if they taught the ignorant, +if they comforted the afflicted, here on earth, much more will they be +able, much more will they be willing, to help, comfort, teach them, now +that they are in the full power, the full freedom, the full love and zeal +of the everlasting life. If their hearts were warmed and softened by the +fire of God’s love here, how much more there! If they lived God’s life +of love here, how much more there, before the throne of God, and the face +of Christ! + +But if any one shall say, that the souls of good men in heaven cannot +help us who are here on earth, I answer, When did they ascend into +heaven, to find out that? If they had ever been there, friends, be sure +they would have had better news to bring home than this—that those whom +we have honoured and loved on earth have lost the power which they used +to have, of comforting us who are struggling here below. That notion +springs altogether out of a superstitious fancy that heaven is a great +many millions of miles away from this earth—which fancy, wherever men get +it from, they certainly do not get it from the Bible. Moreover it seems +to me, that if the saints in heaven cannot help men, then they cannot be +happy in heaven. Cannot be happy? Ay, must be miserable. For what +greater misery for really good men, than to see things going wrong, and +not to be able to mend them; to see poor creatures suffering, and not to +be able to comfort them? No, my friends, we will believe—what every one +who loves a beloved friend comes sooner or later to believe—that those +whom we have honoured and loved, though taken from our eyes, are near to +our spirits; that they still fight for us, under the banner of their +Master Christ, and still work for us, by virtue of his life of love, +which they live in him and by him for ever. + +Pray to them, indeed, we need not, as if they would help us out of any +self-will of their own. There, I think, the Roman Catholics are wrong. +They pray to the saints as if the saints had wills of their own, and +fancies of their own, and were respecters of persons; and could have +favourites, and grant private favours to those who especially admired and +(I fear I must say it) flattered them. But why should we do that? That +is to lower God’s saints in our own eyes. For if we believe that they +are made perfect, and like perfectly the everlasting life, then we must +believe that there is no self-will in them: but that they do God’s will, +and not their own, and go on God’s errands, and not their own; that he, +and not their own liking, sends them whithersoever he wills; and that if +we ask of _him_—of God our Father himself, that is enough for us. + +And what shall we ask? + +Ask—‘Father, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.’ + +For in asking that, we ask for the best of all things. We ask for the +happiness, the power, the glory of saints and angels. We ask to be put +into tune with God’s whole universe, from the meanest flower beneath our +feet, to the most glorious spirit whom God ever created. We ask for the +one everlasting life which can never die, fail, change, or disappoint: +yea, for the everlasting life which Christ the only begotten Son lives +from eternity to eternity, for ever saying to his Father, ‘Thy will be +done.’ + +Yes—when we ask God to make us do his will, then indeed we ask for +everlasting life. + +Does that seem little? Would you rather ask for all manner of pleasant +things, if not in this life, at least in the life to come? + +Oh, my friends, consider this. We were not put into this world to get +pleasant things; and we shall not be put into the next world, as it seems +to me, to get pleasant things. We were put into this world to do God’s +will. And we shall be put (I believe) into the next world for the very +same purpose—to do God’s will; and if we do that, we shall find pleasure +enough in doing it. I do not doubt that in the next world all manner of +harmless pleasure will come to us likewise; because that will be, we +hope, a perfect and a just world, not a piecemeal, confused, often unjust +world, like this: but pleasant things will come to us in the next life, +only in proportion as we shall be doing God’s will in the next life; and +we shall be happy and blessed, only because we shall be living that +eternal life of which I have been preaching to you all along, the life +which Christ lives and has lived and will live for ever, saying to the +Eternal Father—I come to do thy will—not my will but thine be done. + +Oh! may God give to us all his Spirit; the Spirit by which Christ did his +Father’s will, and lived his Father’s life in the soul and body of a +mortal man, that we may live here a life of obedience and of good works, +which is the only true and living life of faith; and that when we die it +may be said of us—‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; for they +rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.’ + +They rest from their labours. All their struggles, disappointments, +failures, backslidings, which made them unhappy here, because they could +not perfectly do the will of God, are past and over for ever. But their +works follow them. The good which they did on earth—that is not past and +over. It cannot die. It lives and grows for ever, following on in their +path long after they are dead, and bearing fruit unto everlasting life, +not only in them, but in men whom they never saw, and in generations yet +unborn. + + + + +SERMON IV. +THE SONG OF THE THREE CHILDREN. + + + DANIEL iii. 16, 17, 18. + + O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. + If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the + burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O + king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not + serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. + +WE read this morning, instead of the Te Deum, the Song of the Three +Children, beginning, ‘Oh all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: +praise him, and magnify him for ever.’ It was proper to do so: because +the Ananias, Azarias, and Misael mentioned in it, are the same as the +Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, whose story we heard in the first +lesson; and because some of the old Jews held that this noble hymn was +composed by them, and sung by them in the burning fiery furnace, +wherefore it has been called ‘The Song of the Three Children;’ for child, +in old English, meant a young man. + +Be that as it may, it is a glorious hymn, worthy of the Church of God, +worthy of those three young men, worthy of all the noble army of martyrs; +and if the three young men did not actually use the very words of it, +still it was what they believed; and, because they believed it, they had +courage to tell Nebuchadnezzar that they were not careful to answer +him—had no manner of doubt or anxiety whatsoever as to what they were to +say, when he called on them to worship his gods. For his gods, we know, +were the sun, moon, and planets, and the angels who (as the Chaldeans +believed) ruled over the heavenly bodies; and that image of gold is +supposed, by some learned men, to have been probably a sign or picture of +the wondrous power of life and growth which there is in all earthly +things—and that a sign of which I need not speak, or you hear. So that +the meaning of this Song of the Three Children is simply this: + +‘You bid us worship the things about us, which we see with our bodily +eyes. We answer, that we know the one true God, who made all these +things; and that, therefore, instead of worshipping _them_, we will bid +them to worship _him_.’ + +Now let us spend a few minutes in looking into this hymn, and seeing what +it teaches us. + +You see at once, that it says that the one God, and not many gods, made +all things: much more, that things did not make themselves, or grow up of +their own accord, by any virtue or life of their own. + +But it says more. It calls upon all things which God has made, to bless +him, praise him, and magnify him for ever. This is much more than merely +saying, ‘One God made the world.’ For this is saying something about +God’s character; declaring what this one God is like. + +For when you bless a person—(I do not mean when you pray God to bless +him—that is a different thing)—when you bless any one, I say, you bless +him because he is blessed, and has done blessed things: because he has +shown himself good, generous, merciful, useful. You praise a person +because he is praiseworthy, noble, and admirable. You magnify a +person—that is, speak of him to every one, and everywhere, in the highest +terms—because you think that every one ought to know how good and great +he is. And, therefore, when the hymn says, ‘Bless God, praise him, and +magnify him for ever,’ it does not merely confess God’s power. No. It +confesses, too, God’s wisdom, goodness, beauty, love, and calls on all +heaven and earth to admire him, the alone admirable, and adore him, the +alone adorable. + +For this is really to believe in God. Not merely to believe that there +is a God, but to know what God is like, and to know that He is worthy to +be believed in; worthy to be trusted, honoured, loved with heart and mind +and soul, because we know that He is worthy of our love. + +And this, we have a right to say, these three young men did, or whosoever +wrote this hymn; and that as a reward for their faith in God, there was +granted to them that deep insight into the meaning of the world about +them, which shines out through every verse of this hymn. + +Deep? I tell you, my friends, that this hymn is so deep, that it is too +deep for the shallow brains of which the world is full now-a-days, who +fancy that they know all about heaven and earth, just because they happen +to have been born now, and not two hundred years ago. To such this old +hymn means nothing; it is in their eyes merely an old-fashioned figure of +speech to call on sun and stars, green herb and creeping thing, to praise +and bless God. Nevertheless, the old hymn stands in our prayer-books, as +a precious heir-loom to our children; and long may it stand. Though we +may forget its meaning, yet perhaps our children after us will recollect +it once more, and say with their hearts, what we now, I fear, only say +with our lips and should not say at all, if it was not put into our +months by the Prayer-book. + +Do you not understand what I mean? Then think of this:— + +If we were writing a hymn about God, should we dare to say to the things +about us—to the cattle feeding in the fields—much less to the clouds over +our heads, and to the wells of which we drink, ‘Bless ye the Lord, praise +him, and magnify him for ever?’ + +We should not dare; and for two reasons. + +First—There is a notion abroad, borrowed from the old monks, that this +earth is in some way bad, and cursed; that a curse is on it still for +man’s sake: but a notion which is contrary to plain fact; for if we till +the ground, it does _not_ bring forth thorns and thistles to us, as the +Scripture says it was to do for Adam, but wholesome food, and rich +returns for our labour: and which in the next place is flatly contrary to +Scripture: for we read in Genesis viii. 21, how the Lord said, ‘I will +not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake;’ and the Psalms +always speak of this earth, and of all created things, as if there was no +curse at all on them; saying that ‘all things serve God, and continue as +they were at the beginning,’ and that ‘He has given them a law which +cannot be broken;’ and in the face of those words, let who will talk of +the earth being cursed, I will not; and you shall not, if I can help it. + +Another reason why we dare not talk of this earth as this hymn does is, +that we have got into the habit of saying, ‘Cattle and creeping +things—they are not rational beings. How can they praise God? Clouds +and wells—they are not even living things. How can they praise God? Why +speak of them in a hymn; much less speak to them?’ + +Yet this hymn does speak to them; and so do the Psalms and the Prophets +again and again. And so will men do hereafter, when the fashions and the +fancies of these days are past, and men have their eyes opened once more +to see the glory which is around them from their cradle to their grave, +and hear once more ‘The Word of the Lord walking among the trees of the +garden.’ + +But how can this be? How can not only dumb things, but even dead things, +praise God? + +My friends, this is a great mystery, of which the wisest men as yet know +but little, and confess freely how little they know. But this at least +we know already, and can say boldly—all things praise God, by fulfilling +the law which our Lord himself declared, when he said ‘Not every one who +saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he +that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.’ + +By doing the will of the heavenly Father. By obeying the laws which God +has given them. By taking the shape which he has appointed for them. By +being of the use for which he intended them. By multiplying each after +their kind, by laws and means a thousand times more strange than any +signs and wonders of which man can fancy for himself; and by thus showing +forth God’s boundless wisdom, goodness, love, and tender care of all +which he has made. + +Yes, my friends, in this sense (and this is the true sense) all things +can serve and praise God, and all things do serve and praise Him. Not a +cloud which fleets across the sky, not a clod of earth which crumbles +under the frost, not a blade of grass which breaks through the snow in +spring, not a dead leaf which falls to the earth in autumn, but is doing +God’s work, and showing forth God’s glory. Not a tiny insect, too small +to be seen by human eyes without the help of a microscope, but is as +fearfully and wonderfully made as you and me, and has its proper food, +habitation, work, appointed for it, and not in vain. Nothing is idle, +nothing is wasted, nothing goes wrong, in this wondrous world of God. +The very scum upon the standing pool, which seems mere dirt and dust, is +all alive, peopled by millions of creatures, each full of beauty, full of +use, obeying laws of God too deep for us to do aught but dimly guess at +them; and as men see deeper and deeper into the mystery of God’s +creation, they find in the commonest things about them wonder and glory, +such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the +heart of man to conceive; and can only say with the Psalmist, ‘Oh Lord, +thy ways are infinite, thy thoughts are very deep;’ and confess that the +grass beneath their feet, the clouds above their heads—ay, every worm +beneath the sod and bird upon the bough, do, in very deed and truth, +bless the Lord who made them, praise him, and magnify him for ever, not +with words indeed, but with works; and say to man all day long, ‘Go thou, +and do likewise.’ + +Yes, my friends, let us go and do likewise. If we wish really to obey +the lesson of the Hymn of the Three Children, let us do the will of God: +and so worship him in spirit and in truth. Do not fancy, as too many do, +that thou canst praise God by singing hymns to him in church once a week, +and disobeying him all the week long, crying to him ‘Lord, Lord,’ and +then living as if he were not thy Lord, but thou wast thine own Lord, and +hadst a right to do thine own will, and not his. If thou wilt really +bless God, then try to live his blessed life of Goodness. If thou wilt +truly praise God, then behave as if God was praiseworthy, good, and right +in what he bids thee do. If thou wouldest really magnify God, and +declare his greatness, then behave as if he were indeed the Great God, +who ought to be obeyed—ay, who _must_ be obeyed; for his commandment is +life, and it alone, to thee, as well as to all which He has made. Dost +thou fancy as the heathen do, that God needs to be flattered with fine +words? or that thou wilt be heard for thy much speaking, and thy vain +repetitions? He asks of thee works, as well as words; and more, He asks +of thee works first, and words after. And better it is to praise him +truly by works without words, than falsely by words without works. + +Cry, if thou wilt, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;’ but show that +thou believest him to be holy, by being holy thyself. Sing, if Thou +wilt, of ‘The Father of an Infinite Majesty:’ but show that thou +believest his majesty to be infinite, by obeying his commandments, like +those Three Children, let them cost thee what they may. Join, and join +freely, in the songs of the heavenly host; for God has given thee reason +and speech, after the likeness of his only begotten Son, and thou mayest +use them, as well as every other gift, in the service of thy Father. But +take care lest, while thou art trying to copy the angels, thou art not +even as righteous as the beasts of the field. For they bless and praise +God by obeying his laws; and till thou dost that, and obeyest God’s laws +likewise, thou art not as good as the grass beneath thy feet. + +For after all has been said and sung, my friends, the sum and substance +of true religion remains what it was, and what it will be for ever; and +lies in this one word, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments.’ + + + + +SERMON V. +THE ETERNAL GOODNESS. + + + MATTHEW xxii. 39. + + Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. + +WHY are wrong things wrong? Why, for instance, is it wrong to steal? + +Because God has forbidden it, you may answer. But is it so? Whatsoever +God forbids must be wrong. But, is it wrong because God forbids it, or +does God forbid it because it is wrong? + +For instance, suppose that God had not forbidden us to steal, would it be +right then to steal, or at least, not wrong? + +We must really think of this. It is no mere question of words, it is a +solemn practical question, which has to do with our every-day conduct, +and yet which goes down to the deepest of all matters, even to the depths +of God himself. + +The question is simply this. Did God, who made all things, make right +and wrong? Many people think so. They think that God made goodness. +But how can that be? For if God made goodness, there could have been no +goodness before God made it. That is clear. But God was always good, +good from all eternity. But how could that be? How could God be good, +before there was any goodness made? That notion will not do then. And +all we can say is that goodness is eternal and everlasting, just as God +is: because God was and is and ever will be eternally and always good. + +But is eternal goodness one thing, and the eternal God, another? That +cannot be, again; for as the Athanasian Creed tells us so wisely and +well, there are not many Eternals, but one Eternal. Therefore goodness +must be the Spirit of God; and God must be the Spirit of goodness; and +right is nothing else but the character of the everlasting God, and of +those who are inspired by God. + +What is wrong, then? Whatever is unlike right; whatever is unlike +goodness; whatever is unlike God; that is wrong. And why does God forbid +us to do wrong? Simply because wrong is unlike himself. He is perfectly +beautiful, perfectly blest and happy, because he is perfectly good; and +he wishes to see all his creatures beautiful, blest, and happy: but they +can only be so by being perfectly good; and they can only be perfectly +good by being perfectly like God their Father; and they can only be +perfectly like God the Father by being full of love, loving their +neighbour as themselves. + +For what do we mean when we talk of right, righteousness, goodness? + +Many answers have been given to that question. + +The old Romans, who were a stern, legal-minded people, used to say that +righteousness meant to hurt no man, and to give every man his own. The +Eastern people had a better answer still, which our blessed Lord used in +one place, when he told them that righteousness was to do to other people +as we would they should do to us: but the best answer, the perfect +answer, is our Lord’s in the text, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as +thyself.’ This is the true, eternal righteousness. Not a legal +righteousness, not a righteousness made up of forms and ceremonies, of +keeping days holy, and abstaining from meats, or any other arbitrary +commands, whether of God or of man. This is God’s goodness, God’s +righteousness, Christ’s own goodness and righteousness. Do you not see +what I mean? Remember only one word of St. John’s. God is love. Love +is the goodness of God. God is perfectly good, because he is perfect +love. Then if you are full of love, you are good with the same goodness +with which God is good, and righteous with Christ’s righteousness. That +as what St. Paul wished to be, when he wished to be found in Christ, not +having his own righteousness, but the righteousness which is by faith in +Christ. His own righteousness was the selfish and self-conceited +righteousness which he had before his conversion, made up of forms, and +ceremonies, and doctrines, which made him narrow-hearted, bigoted, +self-conceited, fierce, cruel, a persecutor; the righteousness which made +him stand by in cold blood to see St. Stephen stoned. But the +righteousness which is by faith in Christ is a loving heart, and a loving +life, which every man will long to lead who believes really in Jesus +Christ. For when he looks at Christ, Christ’s humiliation, Christ’s +work, Christ’s agony, Christ’s death, and sees in it nothing but utter +and perfect _Love_ to poor sinful, undeserving man, then his heart makes +answer, Yes, I believe in that! I believe and am sure that that is the +most beautiful character in the world; that that is the utterly noble and +right sort of person to be—full of love as Christ was. I ought to be +like that. My conscience tells me that I ought. And I can be like that. +Christ, who was so good himself, must wish to make me good like himself, +and I can trust him to do it. I can have faith in him, that he will make +me like himself, full of the Spirit of love, without which I shall be +only useless and miserable. And I trust him enough to be sure that, good +as he is, he cannot mean to leave me useless or miserable. So, by true +faith in Christ, the man comes to have Christ’s righteousness—that is, to +be loving as Christ was. He believes that Christ’s loving character is +perfect beauty; that he must be the Son of God, if his character be like +that. He believes that Christ can and will fill him with the same spirit +of love; and as he believes, so is it with him, and in him those words +are fulfilled, ‘Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God +dwelleth in him, and he in God;’ and that ‘If a man love me,’ says the +Lord, ‘I and my Father will come to him, and take up our abode with him.’ +Those are wonderful words: but if you will recollect what I have just +said, you may understand a little of them. St. John puts the same thing +very simply, but very boldly. ‘God is Love,’ he says, ‘and he that +dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.’ Strange as it may +seem, it must be so if God be love. Let us thank God that it is true, +and keep in mind what awful and wonderful creatures we are, that God +should dwell in us; what blessed and glorious creatures we may become in +time, if we will only listen to the voice of God who speaks within our +hearts. + +And what does that voice say? The old commandment, my friends, which was +from the beginning, ‘Love one another.’ Whatever thoughts or feeling in +your hearts contradict that; whatever tempts you to despise your +neighbour, to be angry with him, to suspect him, to fancy him shut out +from God’s love, that is not of God. No voice in our hearts is God’s +voice, but what says in some shape or other, ‘Love thy neighbour as +thyself. Care for him, bear with him long, and try to do him good.’ + +For love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth +God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. Still less +can he who is not loving fulfil the law; for the law of God is the very +pattern and picture of God’s character; and if a man does not know what +God is like, he will never know what God’s law is like; and though he may +read his Bible all day long, he will learn no more from it than a dumb +animal will, unless his heart is full of love. For love is the light by +which we see God, by which we understand his Bible; by which we +understand our duty, and God’s dealings, in the world. Love is the light +by which we understand our own hearts; by which we understand our +neighbours’ hearts. So it is. If you hate any man, or have a spite +against him, you will never know what is in that man’s heart, never be +able to form a just opinion of his character. If you want to understand +human beings, or to do justice to their feelings, you must begin by +loving them heartily and freely, and the more you like them the better +you will understand them, and in general the better you will find them to +be at heart, the more worthy of your trust, at least the more worthy of +your compassion. + +At least, so St. John says, ‘He that saith he is in the light, and hates +his brother, is in darkness even till now, and knoweth not whither he +goeth. But he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is +no occasion of stumbling in him.’ + +No occasion of stumbling. That is of making mistakes in our behaviour to +our neighbours, which cause scandal, drive them from us, and make them +suspect us, dislike us—and perhaps with too good reason. Just think for +yourselves. What does half the misery, and all the quarrelling in the +world come from, but from people’s loving themselves better than their +neighbours? Would children be disobedient and neglectful to their +parents, if they did not love themselves better than their parents? Why +does a man kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, covet his +neighbour’s goods, his neighbour’s custom, his neighbour’s rights, but +because he loves his own pleasure or interest better than his +neighbour’s, loves himself better than the man whom he wrongs? Would a +man take advantage of his neighbour if he loved him as well as himself? +Would he be hard on his neighbour, and say, Pay me the uttermost +farthing, if he loved him as he loves himself? Would he speak evil of +his neighbour behind his back, if he loved him as himself? Would he +cross his neighbour’s temper, just because he _will_ have his own way, +right or wrong, if he loved him as himself? Judge for yourselves. What +would the world become like this moment if every man loved his neighbour +as himself, thought of his neighbour as much as he thinks of himself? +Would it not become heaven on earth at once? There would be no need then +for soldiers and policemen, lawyers, rates and taxes, my friends, and all +the expensive and heavy machinery which is now needed to force people +into keeping something of God’s law. Ay, there would be no need of +sermons, preachers and prophets to tell men of God’s law, and warn them +of the misery of breaking it. They would keep the law of their own +free-will, by love. For love is the fulfilling of the law; and as St. +Augustine says, ‘Love you neighbour, and then do what you will—because +you will be sure to will what is right.’ So truly did our Lord say, that +on this one commandment hung all the law and the prophets. + +But though that blessed state of things will not come to the whole world +till the day when Christ shall reign in that new heaven and new earth, in +which Righteousness shall dwell, still it may come here, now, on earth, +to each and every one of us, if we will but ask from God the blessed +gift; to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. + +And then, my friends, whether we be rich or poor, fortunate or +unfortunate, still that spirit of Love which is the Spirit of God, will +be its exceeding great reward. + +I say, its own reward. + +For what is to be our reward, if we do our duty earnestly, however +imperfectly? ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into +the joy of thy Lord.’ + +And what is the joy of our Lord? What is the joy of Christ? The joy and +delight which springs for ever in his great heart, from feeling that he +is for ever doing good; from loving all, and living for all; from knowing +that if not all, yet millions on millions are grateful to him, and will +be for ever. + +My friends, if you have ever done a kind action; if you have ever helped +any one in distress, or given up a pleasure for the sake of others—do you +not know that that deed gave you a peace, a self-content, a joy for the +moment at least, which nothing in this world could give, or take away? +And if the person whom you helped thanked you; if you felt that you had +made that man your friend; that he trusted you now, looked on you now as +a brother—did not that double the pleasure? I ask you, is there any +pleasure in the world like that of doing good, and being thanked for it? +Then that is the joy of your Lord. That is the joy of Christ rising up +in you, as often as you do good; the love which is in you rejoicing in +itself, because it has found a loving thing to do, and has called out the +love of a human being in return. + +Yes, if you will receive it, that is the joy of Christ—the glorious +knowledge that he is doing endless good, and calling out endless love to +himself and to the Father, till the day when he shall give up to his +Father the kingdom which he has won back from sin and death, and God +shall be all in all. + +That is the joy of your Lord. If you wish for any different sort of joy +after you die, you must not ask me to tell you of it; for I know nothing +about the matter save what I find written in the Holy Scripture. + + + + +SERMON VI. +WORSHIP. + + + ISAIAH i. 12, 13. + + When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your + hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is + an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of + assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn + meeting. + +THIS is a very awful text; one of those which terrify us—or at least +ought to terrify us—and set us on asking ourselves seriously and +honestly—‘What do I believe after all? What manner of man am I after +all? What sort of show should I make after all, if the people round me +knew my heart and all my secret thoughts? What sort of show, then, do I +already make, in the sight of Almighty God, who sees every man exactly as +he is?’ + +I say, such texts as this ought to terrify us. It is good to be +terrified now and then; to be startled, and called to account, and set +thinking, and sobered, as it were, now and then, that we may look at +ourselves honestly anti bravely, and see, if we can, what sort of men we +are. + +And therefore, perhaps, it is that this chapter is chosen for the first +Advent Lesson; to prepare us for Christmas; to frighten us somewhat; at +least to set us thinking seriously, and to make us fit to keep Christmas +in spirit and in truth. + +For whom does this text speak of? + +It speaks of religious people, and of a religious nation; and of a +fearful mistake which they were making, and a fearful danger into which +they had fallen. Now we are religious people, and England is a religious +nation; and therefore we may possibly make the same mistake, and fall +into the same danger, as these old Jews. + +I do not say that we have done so; but we may; for human nature is just +the same now as it was then; and therefore it is as well for us to look +round—at least once now and then, and see whether we too are in danger of +falling, while we think that we are standing safe. + +What does Isaiah, then, tell the religious Jews of his day? + +That their worship of God, their church-going, their sabbaths, and their +appointed feasts were a weariness and an abomination to him. That God +loathed them, and would not listen to the prayers which were made in +them. That the whole matter was a mockery and a lie in his sight. + +These are awful words enough—that God should hate and loathe what he +himself had appointed; that what would be, one would think, one of the +most natural and most pleasant sights to a loving Father in +heaven—namely, his own children worshipping, blessing, and praising +him—should be horrible in his sight. There is something very shocking in +that; at least to Church people like us. If we were Dissenters, who go +to chapel chiefly to hear sermons, it would be easy for us to say—‘Of +course, forms and ceremonies and appointed feasts are nothing to begin +with; they are man’s invention at best, and may therefore be easily +enough an abomination to God.’ But we know that they are not so; that +forms and ceremonies and appointed feasts are good things as long as they +have spirit and truth in them; that whether or not they be of man’s +invention, they spring out of the most simple, wholesome wants of our +human nature, which is a good thing and not a bad one, for God made it in +his own likeness, and bestowed it on us. We know, or ought to know, that +appointed feast days, like Christmas, are good and comfortable +ordinances, which cheer our hearts on our way through this world, and +give us something noble and lovely to look forward to month after month; +that they are like landmarks along the road of life, reminding us of what +God has done, and is doing, for us and all mankind. And if you do not +know, I know, that people who throw away ordinances and festivals end, at +least in a generation or two, in throwing away the Gospel truth which +that ordinance or festival reminds us of; just as too many who have +thrown away Good Friday have thrown away the Good Friday good news, that +Christ died for all mankind; and too many who have thrown away Christmas +are throwing away—often without meaning to do so—the Christmas good news, +that Christ really took on himself the whole of our human nature, and +took the manhood into God. + +So it is, my friends, and so it will be. For these forms and festivals +are the old landmarks and beacons of the Gospel; and if a man will not +look at the landmarks, then he will lose his way. + +Therefore, to Church people like us, it ought to be a shocking thing even +to suspect that God may be saying to us, ‘Your appointed feasts my soul +hateth;’ and it ought to set them seriously thinking how such a thing may +happen, that they may guard against it. For if God be not pleased with +our coming to his house, what right have we in his house at all? + +But recollect this, my dear friends, that we are not to use this text to +search and judge others’ faults, but to search and judge our own. + +For if a man, hearing this sermon, looks at his neighbour across the +church, and says in his heart, ‘Ay, such a bad one as he is—what right +has he in church?’—then God answers that man, ‘Who art thou who judgest +another? To his own master he standeth or falleth.’ Yes, my friends, +recollect what the old tomb-stone outside says—(and right good doctrine +it is)—and fit it to this sermon. + + When this you see, pray judge not me + For sin enough I own. + Judge yourselves; mend your lives; + Leave other folks alone. + +But if a man, hearing this sermon, begins to say to himself, Such a man +as I am—so full of faults as I am—what right have I in church? So +selfish—so uncharitable—so worldly—so useless—so unfair (or whatever +other faults the man may feel guilty of)—in one word, so unlike what I +ought to be—so unlike Christ—so unlike God whom I come to worship. How +little I act up to what I believe! how little I really believe what I +have learnt! what right have I in church? What if God were saying the +same of me as he said of those old Jews, ‘Thy church-going, thy coming to +communion, thy Christmas-day, my soul hateth; I am weary to bear it. Who +hath required this at thy hands, to tread my courts?’ People round me +may think me good enough as men go now; but I know myself too well; and I +know that instead of saying with the Pharisee to any man here, ‘I thank +God that I am not as this man or that,’ I ought rather to stand afar off +like the publican, and not lift up so much as my eyes toward heaven, +crying only ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ + +If a man should think thus, my friends, his thoughts may make him very +serious for awhile; nay, very sad. But they need not make him miserable: +need still less make him despair. + +They ought to set him on thinking—Why do I come to church? + +Because it is the fashion? + +Because I want to hear the preacher? + +No—to worship God. + +But what is worshipping God? + +That must depend entirely my friends, upon who God is. + +As I often tell you, most questions—ay, if you will receive it, all +questions—depend upon this one root question, who is God? + +But certainly this question of worshipping God must depend upon who God +is. For how he ought to be worshipped depends on what will please him. +And what will please him, depends on what his character is. + +If God be, as some fancy, hard and arbitrary, then you must worship him +in a way in which a hard arbitrary person would like to be addressed; +with all crouching, and cringing, and slavish terror. + +If God be again, as some fancy, cold, and hard of hearing, then you must +worship him accordingly. You must cry aloud as Baal’s priests did to +catch his notice, and put yourselves to torment (as they did, and as many +a Christian has done since) to move his pity; and you must use +repetitions as the heathen do, and believe that you will be heard for +your much speaking. The Lord Jesus called all such repetitions vain, and +much speaking a fancy: but then, the Lord Jesus spoke to men of a Father +in heaven, a very different God from such as I speak of—and, alas! some +Christian people believe in. + +But, my friends, if you believe in your heavenly Father, the good God +whom your Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to you; and if you will consider +that he is good, and consider what that word good means, then you will +not have far to seek before you find what worship means, and how you can +worship him in spirit and in truth. + +For if God be good, worshipping him must mean praising and admiring +him—adoring him, as we call it—for being good. + +And nothing more? + +Certainly much more. Also to ask him to make us good. That, too, must +be a part of worshipping a good God. For the very property of goodness +is, that it wishes to make others good. And if God be good, he must wish +to make us good also. + +To adore God, then, for his goodness, and to pray to him to make us good, +is the sum and substance of all wholesome worship. + +And for that purpose a man may come to church, and worship God in spirit +and in truth, though he be dissatisfied with himself, and ashamed of +himself; and knows that he is wrong in many things:—provided always that +he wishes to be set right, and made good. + +For he may come saying, ‘O God, thou art good, and I am bad; and for that +very reason I come. I come to be made good. I admire thy goodness, and +I long to copy it; but I cannot unless thou help me. Purge me; make me +clean. Cleanse thou me from my secret faults, and give me truth in the +inward parts. Do what thou wilt with me. Train me as thou wilt. Punish +me if it be necessary. Only make me good.’ + +Then is the man fit indeed to come to church, sins and all:—if he carry +his sins into church not to carry them out again safely and carefully, as +we are all too apt to do, but to cast them down at the foot of Christ’s +cross, in the hope (and no man ever hoped that hope in vain)—that he will +be lightened of that burden, and leave some of them at least behind him. +Ay, no man, I say, ever hoped that in vain. No man ever yet felt the +burden of his sins really intolerable and unbearable, but what the burden +of his sins was taken off him before all was over, and Christ’s +righteousness given to him instead. + +Then a man is fit, not only to come to church, but to come to Holy +Communion on Christmas-day, and all days. For then and there he will +find put into words for him the very deepest sorrows and longings of his +heart. There he may say as heartily as he can (and the more heartily the +better), ‘I acknowledge and bewail my manifold sins and wickedness. The +remembrance of them is grievous unto me; the burden of them is +intolerable:’ but there he will hear Christ promising in return to pardon +and deliver him from all his sins, to confirm and strengthen him in all +goodness. That last is what he ought to want; and if he wants it, he +will surely find it. + +He may join there with the whole universe of God in crying, ‘Holy, holy, +holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory:’ and +still in the same breath he may confess again his unworthiness so much as +to gather up the crumbs under God’s table, and cast himself simply and +utterly upon the eternal property of God’s eternal essence, which +is—always to have mercy. But he will hear forthwith Christ’s own +answer—‘If thou art bad, I can and will make thee good. My blood shall +wash away thy sin: my body shall preserve thee, body, soul, and spirit, +to the everlasting life of goodness.’ + +And so God will bless that man’s communion to him; and bless to him his +keeping of Christmas-day; because out of a true penitent heart and lively +faith he will be offering to the good God the sacrifice of his own bad +self, that God may take it, and make it good; and so will be worshipping +the everlasting and infinite Goodness, in spirit and in truth. + + + + +SERMON VII. +GOD’S INHERITANCE. + + + GAL. iv. 6, 7. + + Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into + your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a + servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. + +THIS is the second good news of Christmas-day. + +The first is, that the Son of God became man. + +The second is, why he became man. That men might become the sons of God +through him. + +Therefore St. Paul says, You are the sons of God. Not—you may be, if you +are very good: but you are, in order that you may become very good. Your +being good does not tell you that you are the sons of God: your baptism +tells you so. Your baptism gives you a right to say, I am the child of +God. How shall I behave then? What ought a child of God to be like? +Now St. Paul, you see, knew well that we could not make ourselves God’s +children by any feelings, fancies, or experiences of our own. But he +knew just as well that we cannot make ourselves behave as God’s children +should, by any thoughts and trying of our own. + +God alone made us His children; God alone can make us behave like his +children. + +And therefore St. Paul says, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our +hearts: by which we cry to God, Our Father. + +But some will say, Have we that Spirit? + +St. Paul says that you have: and surely he speaks truth. + +Let us search, then, and see where that Spirit is in us. It is a great +and awful honour for sinful men: but I do believe that if we seek, we +shall find that He is not far from any one of us, for in Him we live and +move, and have our being; and all in us which is not ignorance, +falsehood, folly, and filth, comes from Him. + +Now the Bible says that this Spirit is the Spirit of God’s Son, the +Spirit of Christ:—and what sort of Spirit is that? + +We may see by remembering what sort of a Spirit Christ had when on earth; +for He certainly has the same Spirit now—the Spirit which proceedeth +everlastingly from the Father and from the Son. + +And what was that Like? What was Christ Like? What was his Spirit Like? +It was a Spirit of Love, mercy, pity, generosity, usefulness, +unselfishness. A spirit of truth, honour, fearless love of what was +right: a spirit of duty and willing obedience, which made Him rejoice in +doing His Father’s will. In all things the spirit of a perfect _Son_, in +all things a lovely, noble, holy spirit. + +And now, my dear friends, is there nothing in you like that? You may +forget it at times, you may disobey it very often: but is there not +something in all your hearts more or less, which makes you love and +admire what is right? + +When you hear of a noble action, is there nothing in you which makes you +approve and admire it? Is there nothing in your hearts which makes you +pity those who are in sorrow and long to help them? Nothing which stirs +your heart up when you hear of a man’s nobly doing his duty, and dying +rather than desert his post, or do a wrong or mean thing? Surely there +is—surely there is. + +Then, O my dear friends, when those feelings come into your hearts, +rejoice with trembling, as men to whom God has given a great and precious +gift. For they are none other than the Spirit of the Son of God, +striving with your hearts that He may form Christ in you, and raise up +your hearts to cry with full faith to God, ‘My Father which art in +heaven!’ + +‘Ah but,’ you will say, ‘we like what is right, but we do not always do +it. We like to see pity and mercy: but we are very often proud and +selfish and tyrannical. We like to see justice and honour: but we are +too apt to be mean and unjust ourselves. We like to see other people +doing their duty: but we very often do not do ours.’ + +Well, my dear friends, perhaps that is true. If it be, confess your sins +like honest men, and they shall be forgiven you. If you can so complain +of yourselves, I am sure I can of myself, ten times more. + +But do you not see that this very thing is a sign to you that the good +and noble thoughts in you are not your own but God’s? If they came out +of your own spirits, then you would have no difficulty in obeying them. +But they came out of God’s Spirit; and our sinful and self-willed spirits +are striving against his, and trying to turn away from God’s light. What +can we do then? We can cherish those noble thoughts, those pure and +higher feelings, when they arise. We can welcome them as heavenly +medicine from our heavenly Father. We can resolve not to turn away from +them, even though they make us ashamed. Not to grieve the Spirit of the +Son of God, even though he grieves us (as he ought to do and will do more +and more), by showing us our own weakness and meanness, and how unlike we +are to Christ, the only begotten Son. + +If we shut our hearts to those good feelings, they will go away and leave +us. And if they do, we shall neither respect our neighbours, nor respect +ourselves. We shall see no good in our neighbours, but become scornful +and suspicious to them; and if we do that, we shall soon see no good in +ourselves. We shall become discontented with ourselves, more and more +given up to angry thoughts and mean ways, which we hate and despise, all +the while that we go on in them. + +And then—mark my words—we shall lose all real feeling of God being our +Father, and we his sons. We shall begin to fancy ourselves his slaves, +and not his children; and God our taskmaster, and not our Father. We +shall dislike the thought of God. We shall long to hide from God. We +shall fall back into slavish terror, and a fearful looking forward to of +judgment and fiery indignation, because we have trampled under foot the +grace of God, the noble, pure, tender, and truly graceful feelings which +God’s Spirit bestowed on us, to fill us with the grace of Christ. + +Therefore, my dear friends, never check any good or right feelings in +yourselves, or in your children; for they come from the spirit of the Son +of God himself. But, as St. Paul says, Phil. iv. 3, ‘Finally, brethren, +whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things are just, what soever +things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of +good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on +these things’, . . . ‘and the God of peace shall be with you.’ Avoid all +which can make you mean, low, selfish, cruel. Cling to all which can +fill your mind with lofty, kindly, generous, loyal thoughts; and so, in +God’s good time, you will enter into the meaning of those great +words—Abba, Father. The more you give up your hearts to such good +feelings, the more you will understand of God; the more nobleness there +is in you, the more you will see God’s nobleness, God’s justice, God’s +love, God’s true glory. The more you become like God’s Son, the more you +will understand how God can stoop to call himself your Father; and the +more you will understand what a Father, what a perfect Father God is. +And in the world to come, I trust, you will enter into the glorious +liberty of the sons of God—that liberty which comes, as I told you last +Sunday, not from doing your own will, but the will of God; that glory +which comes, not from having anything of your own to pride yourselves +upon, but from being filled with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus +Christ, by which you shall for ever look up freely, and yet reverently, +to the Almighty God of heaven and earth, and say, ‘Impossible as the +honour seems for man, yet thou, O God, hast said it, and it is true. +Thou, even thou art my Father, and I thy son in Jesus Christ, who became +awhile the Son of man on earth, that I might become for ever the son of +God in heaven.’ + +And so will come true to us St. Paul’s great words:—If we be sons, then +heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. + +Heirs of God: but what is our inheritance? The same as Christ’s. + +And what is Christ’s inheritance? What but God himself?—The knowledge of +our Father in heaven, of his love to us, and of his eternal beauty and +glory, which fills all heavens and all worlds with light and life. + + + + +SERMON VIII. +‘DE PROFUNDIS.’ + + + PSALM cxxx. 1. + + Out of the deep have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. + +WHAT is this deep of which David speaks so often? He knew it well, for +he had been in it often and long. He was just the sort of man to be in +it often. A man with great good in him, and great evil; with very strong +passions and feelings, dragging him down into the deep, and great light +and understanding to show him the dark secrets of that horrible pit when +he was in it; and with great love of God too, and of order, and justice, +and of all good and beautiful things, to make him feel the horribleness +of that pit where he ought not to be, all the more from its difference, +its contrast, with the beautiful world of light, and order, and +righteousness where he ought to be. Therefore he knew that deep well, +and abhorred it, and he heaps together every ugly name, to try and +express what no man can express, the horror of that place. It is a +horrible pit, mire and clay, where he can find no footing, but sinks all +the deeper for his struggling. It is a place of darkness and of storms, +a shoreless and bottomless sea, where he is drowning, and drowning, while +all God’s waves and billows go over him. It is a place of utter +loneliness, where he sits like a sparrow on the housetop, or a doleful +bird in the desert, while God has put his lovers and friends away from +him, and hid his acquaintance out of his sight, and no man cares for his +soul, and all men seem to him liars, and God himself seems to have +forgotten him and forgotten all the world. It is a dreadful net which +has entangled his feet, a dark prison in which he is set so fast that he +cannot get forth. It is a torturing disgusting disease, which gives his +flesh no health, and his bones no rest, and his wounds are putrid and +corrupt. It is a battle-field after the fight, where he seems to lie +stript among the dead, like those who are wounded and cut away from God’s +hand, and lies groaning in the dust of death, seeing nothing round him +but doleful shapes of destruction and misery, alone in the outer +darkness, while a horrible dread overwhelms him. Yea, it is hell itself, +the pit of hell, the nethermost hell, he says, where God’s wrath burns +like fire, till his tongue cleaves to his gums, and his bones are burnt +up like a firebrand, till he is weary of crying; his throat is dry, his +heart fails him for waiting so long upon his God. + +Yes. A dark and strange place is that same deep pit of God—if, indeed, +it be God’s and God made it. Perhaps God did not make it. For God saw +everything that he had made, and behold it was very good: and that pit +cannot be very good; for all good things are orderly, and in shape; and +in that pit is no shape, no order, nothing but contradiction and +confusion. When a man is in that pit, it will seem to him as if he were +alone in the world, and longing above all things for company; and yet he +will hate to have any one to speak to him, and wrap himself up in himself +to brood over his own misery. When he is in that pit he shall be so +blind that he can see nothing, though his eyes be open in broad noon-day. +When he is in that pit he will hate the thing which he loves most, and +love the thing which he hates most. When he is in that pit he will long +to die, and yet cling to life desperately, and be horribly afraid of +dying. When he is in that pit it will seem to him that God is awfully, +horribly near him, and he will try to hide from God, try to escape from +under God’s hand: and yet all the while that God seems so dreadfully near +him, God will seem further off from him than ever, millions and millions +of miles away, parted from him by walls of iron, and a great gulf which +he can never pass. There is nothing but contradiction in that pit: the +man who is in it is of two minds about himself, and his kin and +neighbours, and all heaven and earth; and knows not where to turn, or +what to think, or even where he is at all. + +For the food which he gets in that deep pit is very hunger of soul, and +rage, and vain desires. And the ground which he stands on in that deep +is a bottomless quagmire, and doubt, and change, and shapeless dread. +And the air which he breathes in that deep is the very fire of God, which +burns up everlastingly all the chalk and dross of the world. + +I said that that deep was not merely the deep of affliction. No: for you +may see men with every comfort which wealth and home can give, who are +tormented day and night in that deep pit in the midst of all their +prosperity, calling for a drop of water to cool their tongue, and finding +none. And you may see poor creatures dying in agony on lonely sick beds, +who are not in that pit at all, but in that better place whereof it is +written, ‘Blessed are they who, going through the vale of misery, use it +for a well, and the pools are filled with water;’ and again, ‘If any man +thirst, let him come to me, and drink;’ and ‘the water that I shall give +him shall be in him a well of water, springing up to everlasting life.’ + +No—that deep pit is a far worse place; an utterly bad place; and yet it +may be good for a man to have fallen into it; and, strangely enough, if +he do fall in, the lower he sinks in it, the better for him at last. +That is another strange contradiction in that pit, which David found, +that though it was a bottomless pit, the deeper he sank in it, the more +likely he was to find his feet set on a rock; the further down in the +nethermost hell he was, the nearer he was to being delivered from the +nethermost hell. + +Of course, if he had staid in that pit, he must have died, body and soul. +No mortal man, or immortal soul could endure it long. No immortal soul +could; for he would lose all hope, all faith in God, all feeling of there +being anything like justice and order in the world, all hope for himself, +or for mankind, lying so in that living grave where no man can see God’s +righteousness, or his faithfulness in that land where all things are +forgotten. + +And his mere mortal body could not stand it. The misery and terror and +confusion of his soul would soon wear out his body, and he would die, as +I have seen men actually die, when their souls have been left in that +deep somewhat too long; shrink together into dark melancholy, and pine +away, and die. And I have seen sweet young creatures too, whom God for +some purpose of his own (which must be good and loving, for _He_ did it) +has let fall awhile into that deep of darkness; and then in compassion to +their youth, and tenderness, and innocence, has lifted them gently out +again, and set their weary feet upon the everlasting Rock, which is +Christ; and has filled them with the light of his countenance, and joy +and peace in believing; and has led them by green pastures and made them +rest by the waters of comfort; and yet, though their souls were healed, +their bodies were not. That fearful struggle has been too much for frail +humanity, and they have drooped, and faded, and gone peacefully after a +while home to their God, as a fair flower withers if the fire has but +once past over it. + +But some I have seen, men and women, who have arisen, like David, out of +that strange deep, all the stronger for their fall; and have found out +another strange contradiction about that deep, and the fire of God which +burns below in it. For that fire hardens a man and softens him at the +same time; and he comes out of it hardened to that hardness of which it +is written, ‘Do thou endure hardness like a good soldier of Jesus +Christ;’ and again, ‘I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I +have finished my course:’ yet softened to that softness of which it is +written, ‘Be ye tenderhearted, compassionate, forgiving one another, even +as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you;’—and again, ‘We have a High +Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing +that he has been tempted in all things like as we are, yet without sin.’ + +Happy, thrice happy are they who have thus walked through the valley of +the shadow of death, and found it the path which leads to everlasting +life. Happy are they who have thus writhed awhile in the fierce fire of +God, and have had burnt out of them the chaff and dross, and all which +offends, and makes them vain, light, and yet makes them dull, drags them +down at the same time; till only the pure gold of God’s righteousness is +left, seven times tried in the fire, incorruptible, and precious in the +sight of God and man. Such people need not regret—they will not +regret—all that they have gone through. It has made them brave, made +them sober, made them patient. It has given them + + The reason firm, the temperate will, + Endurance, foresight, strength and skill; + +and so has shaped them into the likeness of Christ, who was made perfect +by suffering; and though he were a Son, yet in the days of his flesh, +made strong supplication and crying with tears to his Father, and was +heard in that he feared; and so, though he died on the cross and +descended into hell, yet triumphed over death and hell, by dying and by +descending; and conquered them by submitting to them. And yet they have +been softened in that fierce furnace of God’s wrath, into another +likeness of Christ—which after all is still the same; the character which +he showed when he wept by the grave of Lazarus, and over the sinful city +of Jerusalem; which he showed when his heart yearned over the perishing +multitude, and over the leper, and the palsied man, and the maniac +possessed with devils; the character which he showed when he said to the +woman taken in adultery, ‘Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more;’ +which he showed when he said to the sinful Magdalene, who washed his feet +with tears, and wiped them with her hair, ‘her sins, which are many, are +forgiven; for she loved much;’ the likeness which he showed in his very +death agony upon the torturing cross, when he prayed for his murderers, +‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ This is the +character which man may get in that dark deep.—To feel for all, and feel +with all; to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who +weep; to understand people’s trials, and make allowances for their +temptations; to put oneself in their place, till we see with their eyes, +and feel with their hearts, till we judge no man, and have hope for all; +to be fair, and patient, and tender with every one we meet; to despise no +one, despair of no one, because Christ despises none, and despairs of +none; to look upon every one we meet with love, almost with pity, as +people who either have been down into the deep of horror, or may go down +into it any day; to see our own sins in other people’s sins, and know +that we might do what they do, and feel as they feel, any moment, did God +desert us; to give and forgive, to live and let live, even as Christ +gives to us, and forgives us, and lives for us, and lets us live, in +spite of all our sins. + +And how shall we learn this? How shall the bottomless pit, if we fall +into it, be but a pathway to the everlasting rock? + +David tells us: + +‘Out of the deep have I cried unto thee, O Lord.’ + +He cried to God. + +Not to himself, his own learning, talents, wealth, prudence, to pull him +out of that pit. Not to princes, nobles, and great men. Not to +doctrines, books, church-goings. Not to the dearest friend he had on +earth; for they had forsaken him, could not understand him, thought him +perhaps beside himself. Not to his own good works, almsgivings, +church-goings, church-buildings. Not to his own experiences, faith’s +assurances, frames or feelings. The matter was too terrible to be +plastered over in that way, or in any way. He was face to face with God +alone, in utter weakness, in utter nakedness of soul, He cried to God +himself. There was the lesson. + +God took away from him all things, that he might have no one to cry to +but God. + +God took him up, and cast him down: and there he sat all alone, +astonished and confounded, like Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, when she +sat alone upon the parching rock. Like Rizpah, he watched the dead +corpses of all his hopes and plans, all for which he had lived, and which +made life worth having, withering away there by his side. But it was +told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had done. And it is told +to one greater than David, even to Jesus Christ, the Son of David, what +the poor soul does when it sits alone in its despair. Or rather it need +not be told him; for he sees all, weeps over all, will comfort all: and +it shall be to that poor soul as it was to poor deserted Hagar in the +sandy desert, when the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast her +child—the only thing she had left—under one of the shrubs and hurried +away; for she said, ‘Let me not see the child die.’ And the angel of the +Lord called to her out of heaven, saying, ‘The Lord hath heard the voice +of the lad where he is;’ and God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of +water. + +It shall be with that poor soul as it was with Moses, when he went up +alone into the mount of God, and fasted forty days and forty nights amid +the earthquake and the thunderstorm, and the rocks which melted before +the Lord. And behold, when it was past, he talked face to face with God, +as a man talketh with his friend, and his countenance shone with heavenly +light, when he came down triumphant out of the mount of God. + +So shall it be with every soul of man who, being in the deep, cries out +of that deep to God, whether in bloody India or in peaceful England. For +He with whom we have to do is not a tyrant, but a Father; not a +taskmaster, but a Giver and a Redeemer. We may ask him freely, as David +does, to consider our complaint, because he will consider it well, and +understand it, and do it justice. He is not extreme to mark what is done +amiss, and therefore we can abide his judgments. There is mercy with +him, and therefore it is worth while to fear him. He waits for us year +after year, with patience which cannot tire; therefore it is but fair +that we should wait a while for him. With him is plenteous redemption, +and therefore redemption enough for us, and for those likewise whom we +love. He will redeem us from all our sins: and what do we need more? He +will make us perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect. Let him +then, if he must, make us perfect by sufferings. By sufferings Christ +was made perfect; and what was the best path for Jesus Christ is surely +good enough for us, even though it be a rough and a thorny one. Let us +lie still beneath God’s hand; for though his hand be heavy upon us, it is +strong and safe beneath us too; and none can pluck us out of his hand, +for in him we live and move and have our being; and though we go down +into hell with David, with David we shall find God there, and find, with +David, that he will not leave our souls in hell, or suffer his holy ones +to see corruption. Yes; have faith in God. Nothing in thee which he has +made shall see corruption; for it is a thought of God’s, and no thought +of his can perish. Nothing shall be purged out of thee but thy disease; +nothing shall be burnt out of thee but thy dross; and that in thee shall +be saved, and live to all eternity, of which God said at the beginning, +Let us make man in our own image. Yes. Have faith in God; and say to +him once for all, ‘Though thou slay me, yet will I love thee; for thou +lovedst me in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.’ + + + + +SERMON IX. +THE LOVE OF GOD ITS OWN REWARD. + + + DEUT. xxx. 19, 20. + + I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have + set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose + life that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love the + Lord thy God, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy + life and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land + which the Lord God sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob + to give them. + +I SPOKE to you last Sunday on this text. But there is something more in +it, which I had not time to speak of then. + +Moses here tells the Israelites what will happen to them if they keep +God’s law. + +They will love God. That was to be their reward. They were to have +other rewards beside. Beside loving God, it would be well with them and +their children, and they would live long in the land which God had given +them. But their first reward, their great reward, would be that they +would love God. + +If they obeyed God, they would have reason to love him. + +Now we commonly put this differently. + +We say, If you love God, you will obey him; which is quite true. But +what Moses says is truer still, and deeper still. Moses says, If you +obey God, you will love him. + +Again we say, If you love God, God will reward you; which is true; though +not always true in this life. But Moses says a truer and deeper thing. +Moses says that loving God is our reward; that the greatest reward, the +greatest blessing which a man can have, is this—that the man should love +God. Now does this seem strange? It is not strange, nevertheless. + +For there are two sorts of faith; and one must always, I sometimes think, +come before the other. + +The first is implicit faith—blind faith—the sort of faith a child has in +what its parents tell it. A child, we know, believes its parents +blindly, even though it does not understand what they tell it. It takes +for granted that they are right. + +The second is experimental faith—the faith which comes from experience +and reason, when a man looks back upon his life, and on God’s dealings +with him; and then sees from experience what reason he has for trusting +and loving God, who has helped him onward through so many chances and +changes for so many years. + +Now some people cry out against blind implicit faith, as if it was +childish and unreasonable. But I cannot. I think every one learns to +love his neighbour, very much as Moses told the Jews they would learn to +love God; namely, by trusting them somewhat blindly at first. + +Is it not so? Is it not so always with young people, when they begin to +be fond of each other? They trust each other, they do not know why, or +how. Before they are married, they have little or no experience of each +other; of each other’s tempers and characters: and yet they trust each +other, and say in their hearts, ‘He can never be false to me;’ and are +ready to put their honour and fortunes into each other’s hands, to live +together for better for worse, till death them part. It is a blind faith +in each other, that, and those who will may laugh at it, and call it the +folly and rashness of youth. I do not believe that God laughs at it: +that God calls it folly and rashness. It surely comes from God. + +For there is something in each of them worth trusting, worth loving. +True, they may be disappointed in each other; but they need not be. If +they are true to themselves; if they will listen to the better voice +within, and be true to their own better feelings, all will be well, and +they will find after marriage that they did not do a rash and a foolish +thing, when they gave up themselves to each other, and cast in their lot +together blindly to live and die. + +And then, after that first blind faith and love in each other which they +had before marriage, will come, as the years roll by, a deeper, sounder +faith and love from experience.—An experience of which I shall not talk +here; for those who have not felt it for themselves would not know what I +mean; and those who have felt it need no clumsy words of mine to describe +it to them. + +Now, my dear friends, this is one of the things by which marriage is +consecrated to an excellent mystery, as the Prayer-book says. This is +one of the things in which marriage is a pattern and picture of the +spiritual union which is between Christ and his Church. + +First, as I said, comes blind faith. A young person, setting out in +life, has little experience of God’s love; he has little to make him sure +that the way of life, and honour, and peace, is to obey God’s laws. But +he is told so. His Bible tells him so. Wiser and older people than he +tell him so, and God himself tells him so. God himself makes up in the +young person’s heart a desire after goodness. + +Then he takes it for granted blindly. He says to himself, I can but try. +They tell me to taste and see whether the Lord is gracious. I will +taste. They tell me that the way of his commandments is the way to make +life worth loving, and to see good days. I will try. And so the years +go by. The young person has grown middle-aged, old. He or she has been +through many trials, many disappointments; perhaps more than one bitter +loss. But if they have held fast by God; if they have tried, however +clumsily, to keep God’s law, and walk in God’s way, then there will have +grown up in them a trust in God, and a love for God, deeper and broader +far than any which they had in youth; a love grounded on experience. +They can point back to so many blessings which the Lord gave them +unexpectedly; to so many sorrows which the Lord gave them strength to +bear, though they seemed at first sight past bearing; to so many +disappointments which seemed ill luck at the time, and yet which turned +out good for them in the end. And so comes a deep, reasonable love to +their Heavenly Father. Now they have _tasted_ that the Lord is gracious. +Now they can say, with the Samaritans, ‘Now we believe, not because of +thy saying, but because we have heard him ourselves, and know that this +is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’ And when sadness and +affliction come on them, as it must come, they can look back, and so get +strength to look forward. They can say with David, ‘I will go on in the +strength of the Lord God. I will make mention only of his righteousness. +Oh my God, thou hast taught me from my youth up until now; hitherto have +I declared thy wondrous works. Now also, when I am old and grey-headed, +oh Lord, forsake me not, till I have showed thy strength unto this +generation, and thy power to those whom I leave behind me.’ + +And so, by remembering what God _has_ been to them, they can face what is +coming. ‘They will not be afraid of evil tidings,’ as David says; ‘for +their heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.’ + +And when old age comes, and brings weakness and sickness, and low +spirits, still they have comfort. They can say with David again, ‘I have +been young, and now am old, but never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor +his seed begging their bread.’ + +Oh my dear friends, young people especially—there are many things which +you may long for which you cannot have: much happiness which is _not_ +within your reach. But _this_ you can have, if you will but long for it: +this happiness _is_ within your reach, if you will but put out your hand +and take it.—The everlasting unfailing comfort of loving God, and of +knowing that God loves you. Oh choose that now at once. Choose God’s +ways which are pleasantness, and God’s paths which are peace; and then in +your old age, whether you become rich or poor, whether you are left +alone, or go down to your grave in peace with children and grandchildren +to close your eyes, you will still have the one great reward, the true +reward, the everlasting reward which Moses promised the old Israelites. +You will have reason to love God, who has carried you safe through life, +and will carry you safe through death, and to say with all his saints and +martyrs, ‘Many things I know not; and many things I have lost: but this I +know.—I know in whom I have believed; and this I cannot lose; even God +himself, whose name is faithful and true.’ + + + + +SERMON X. +THE RACE OF LIFE. + + + JOHN i. 26. + + There standeth one among you whom ye know not. + +THIS is a solemn text. It warns us, and yet it comforts us. It tells us +that there is a person standing among us so great, that John the Baptist, +the greatest of the prophets, was not worthy to unloose his shoes’ +latchet. + +Some of you know who he is. Some of you, perhaps, do not. If you know +him, you will be glad to be reminded of him to-day. If you do not know +him, I will tell you who he is. + +Only bear this in mind, that whether you know him or not, he is standing +among us. We have not driven him away, and cannot drive him away. Our +not seeing him will not prevent his seeing us. He is always near us; +ready, if we ask him, as the Collect bids us, to ‘come among us, and with +great might succour us.’ + +For, my friends, this is the meaning of the text, as far as it has to do +with us. The noble Collect for to-day tells this, and explains to us +what we are to think of the Epistle and the Gospel. + +The Epistle tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is at hand, and that +therefore we are to fret about nothing, but make our requests known to +him. The Gospel tells us that he stands among us. The Collect tells us +what we are to do, because he is at hand, because he stands among us. + +And what are we to do? + +Recollect my friends, what John the Baptist said, according to St. +Matthew, after the words in the text—‘He shall baptize you with the Holy +Ghost, and with fire.’ + +The Collect asks him to do that—the first half of it at least. To +baptize us with the Holy Ghost, lest he should need to baptize us with +fire. + +For the Collect says, we have all a race to run. We have all a journey +to make through life. We have all so to get through this world, that we +shall inherit the world to come; so to pass through the things of time +(as one of the Collects says) that we finally lose not the things +eternal. God has given each of us our powers and character, marked out +for each of us our path in life, set each of us our duty to do. + +But how shall we make the proper use of our powers? + +How shall we keep to our path in life? + +How shall we do our duty faithfully? + +In short, so as St. Paul puts it—How shall we run our race, so as not to +lose, but to win it? + +For the Collect says—and we ought to have found it out for ourselves +before now—Our sins and wickedness hinder us sorely in running the race +which is set before us. + +Our sins and wickedness. The Collect speaks of these as two different +things; and I believe rightly, for the New Testament speaks of them as +two different things. Sin, in the New Testament, means strictly what we +call “failings,” “defects” a missing the mark, a falling short; as it is +written—All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, that is, of +the likeness of a perfect man. {75} + +Thus, stupidity, laziness, cowardice, bad temper, greediness after +pleasure—these are strictly speaking what the New Testament calls sins. +Wickedness—iniquity—seem to be harder words, and to mean worse offences. +They mean the evil things which a man does, not out of the weakness of +his mortal nature, but out of his own wicked will, and what the Bible +calls the naughtiness of his heart. So wickedness means, not merely open +crimes which are punishable by the law, but all which comes out of a +man’s own wilfulness and perverseness—injustice (which is the first +meaning of iniquity), cunning, falsehood, covetousness, pride, +self-conceit, tyranny, cruelty—these seem to be what the Scripture calls +wickedness. Of course one cannot draw the line exactly, in any matters +so puzzling as questions about our own souls must always be: but on the +whole. I think you will find this rule not far wrong— + +That all which comes from the weakness of a man’s soul, is sin: all which +comes from abusing its strength, is wickedness. All which drags a man +down, and makes him more like a brute animal, is sin: all which puffs him +up, and makes him more like a devil, is wickedness. It is as well to +bear this in mind, because a man may have a great horror of sin, and be +hard enough, and too hard upon poor sinners; and yet all the time he may +be thoroughly, and to his heart’s core, a wicked man. The Pharisees of +old were so. So they are now. Take you care that you be not like to +them. Keep clear of sin: but keep clear of wickedness likewise. + +For, says the Collect, both will hinder you in your race: perhaps cause +you to break down in it, and never reach the goal at all. + +Sin will hinder you, by dragging you back. + +Wickedness will hinder you, by putting you altogether out of the right +road. + +If a man be laden with sins; stupid, lazy, careless, over fond of +pleasure;—much more, if he be given up to enjoying himself in bad ways, +about which we all know too well—then he is like a man who starts in a +race, weak, crippled, over-weighted, or not caring whether he wins or +loses; and who therefore lags behind, or grows tired, or looks round, and +wants to stop and amuse himself, instead of pushing on stoutly and +bravely. And therefore St. Paul bids us lay aside every weight (that is +every bad habit which makes us lazy and careless), and the sin which does +so easily beset us, and run with patience our appointed race, looking to +Jesus, the author of our faith—who stands by to give us faith, +confidence, courage to go on—Jesus, who has compassion on those who are +ignorant, and out of the way by no wilfulness of their own; who can be +touched with the feeling of our infirmities; who can help us, can deliver +us, and who will do what he can, and do all he can. + +He can and will strengthen us, freshen us, encourage us, inspirit us, by +giving us his Holy Spirit, that we may have spirit and power to run our +race, day by day, and tide by tide. And so, if he sees us weak and +fainting over our work, he will baptize us with the Holy Ghost. + +And yet there are times when he will baptize a sinner not only with the +Holy Ghost, but with fire—I am still speaking, mind, of a sinner, not of +a wicked man. + +And when? When he sees the man sitting down by the roadside to play, +with no intention of moving on. I do not say—if he sees the man sitting +down to play at all. God forbid! How can a man run his life-long +race—how can he even keep up for a week, a day, at doing his best at the +full stretch of his power, without stopping to take breath? I cannot, +God knows. If any man can—be it so. Some are stronger than others: but +be sure of this; that God counts it no sin in a man to stop and take +breath. ‘Press forward toward the mark of your high calling,’ St. Paul +says: but he does not forbid a man to refresh and amuse himself +harmlessly and rationally, from time to time, with all the pleasant +things which God has put into this world. They do refresh us, and they +do amuse us, these pleasant things. And God made them, and put them +here. Surely he put them here to refresh and amuse us. He did not +surely put them here to trap us, and snare us, and tempt us not to run +the very race which he himself has set before us? No, no, my friends. +He made pleasant things to please us, amusing things to amuse us. Every +good gift comes from him. + +But if a man thinks of nothing but amusing himself, he is like a horse +who stands still in the middle of a journey, and begins feeding. Let him +do his day’s journey, and feed afterwards; and so get strength for his +next day’s work. But if he will stand still, and feed; if he will forget +that he has any work at all to do; then we shall punish him, to make him +go on. And so will God do with us. He will strike us then; and sharply +too. Much more, if a man gives himself up to sinful pleasure; if he +gives himself up to a loose and profligate life, and, like many a young +man, wastes his substance in riotous living, and devours his heavenly +Father’s gifts with harlots—then God will strike that man; and all the +more sharply the more worth and power there is in the man. The more God +has given the man, the sharper will be God’s stroke, if he deserves it. + +And why? + +Ask yourselves. Suppose that your horse had plunged into a deep ditch, +and was lying there in mire and thorns; would you not strike him, and +sharply too, to make him put out his whole strength, and rise, and by one +great struggle clear himself? + +Of course you would: and the more spirited, the more powerful the animal +was, the sharper you would be with him, because the more sure you would +be that he could answer to your call if he chose. + +Even so does God with us. If he sees us lying down; forgetting utterly +that we have any work or duty to do; and wallowing in the mire of fleshly +lusts, and thorns of worldly cares, then he will strike; and all the more +sharply, the more real worth or power there is in us; that he may rouse +us, and force us to exert ourselves and by one great struggle, like the +mired horse, clear ourselves out of the sin which besets us, and holds us +down, and leap, as it were, once and for all, out of the death of sin, +into the life of righteousness. + +But much more if there be not merely sin in us, but wickedness; +self-will, self-conceit, and rebellion. + +For see, my friends. If we were training a young animal, how should we +treat it? If it were merely weak, we should strengthen and exercise it. +If it were merely ignorant, we should teach it. If it were lazy, we +should begin to punish it; but gently, that it might still have +confidence, faith in us, and pleasure in its work. + +But if we found wickedness in it—vice, as we rightly call it—if it became +restive, that is, rebellious and self-willed, then we should punish it +indeed. Seldom, perhaps, but very sharply; that it might see clearly +that we were the stronger, and that rebellion was of no use at all. + +And so does the Lord with us, my friends. If we will not go his way by +kindness, he will make us go by severity. + +First, when we are christened, and after that day by day, if we ask +him—and often when we ask him not—he gives us the gentle baptism of his +Holy Spirit, freshening, strengthening, encouraging, inspiriting. But if +we will not go on well for that; if we will rebel, and try our own way, +and rush out of God’s road after this and that, in pride and self-will, +as if we were our own masters; then, my friends—then will God baptize us +with fire, and strike with a blow which goes nigh to cut a man in two. +Very seldom he strikes; for he is pitiful, and of tender mercy: but with +a rod as of fire, of which it is written, that it is sharper than a +two-edged sword, and pierces through the joints and marrow. Very seldom: +but very sharply, that there may be no mistake about what the blow means, +and that the man may know, however cunning, or proud, or self-righteous +he may be, that God is the Lord, God is his Master, and will be obeyed; +and woe to him, if he obey him not. And what can a man do then, but +writhe in the bitterness of his soul, and get back into God’s highway as +fast as he can, in fear and trembling lest the next blow cut him in +asunder? And so, by the bitterness of disappointment, or bereavement, or +sickness, or poverty, or worst of all, of shame, will the Lord baptize +the man with fire. + +But all in love, my friends; and all for the man’s good. Does God _like_ +to punish his creatures? _like_ to torment them? Some think that he +does, and say that he finds what they call ‘satisfaction’ in punishing. +I think that they mistake the devil for God. No, my friends; what does +he say himself? ‘Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked; and not +rather that he should turn from his ways, and live?’ Surely he has not. +If he had, do you think that he would have sent us into this world at +all? I do not. And I trust and hope that you will not. Believe that +even when he cuts us to the heart’s core, and baptizes us with fire, he +does it only out of his eternal love, that he may help and deliver us all +the more speedily. + +For God’s sake—for Christ’s sake—for your own sake—keep that in mind, +that Christ’s will, and therefore God’s will, is to help and deliver us; +that he stands by us, and comes among us, for that very purpose. +Consider St. Paul’s parable, in which he talks of us as men running a +race, and of Christ as the judge who looks on to see how we run. But for +what purpose does Christ look on? To catch us out, as we say? To mark +down every fault of ours, and punish wherever he has an opportunity or a +reason? Does he stand there spying, frowning, fault-finding, accusing +every man in his turn, extreme to watch what is done amiss? If an +earthly judge did that, we should call him—what he would be—an +ill-conditioned man. But dare we fancy anything ill-conditioned in God? +God forbid! His conditions are altogether good, and his will a good will +to men; and therefore, say the Epistle and the Collect, we ought not to +be terrified, but to rejoice, at the thought that the Lord is looking on. +However badly we are running our race, yet if we are trying to move +forward at all, we ought to rejoice that God in Christ is looking on. + +And why? + +Why? Because he is looking on, not to torment, but to help. Because he +loves us better than we love ourselves. Because he is more anxious for +us to get safely through this world than we are ourselves. + +Will you understand that, and believe that, once for all, my +friends?—That God is not _against_ you, but _for_ you, in the struggles +of life; that he _wants_ you to get through safe; _wants_ you to succeed; +_wants_ you to win; and that therefore he will help you, and hear your +cry. + +And therefore when you find yourselves wrong, utterly wrong, do not cry +to this man or that man, ‘Do _you_ help me; do you set me a little more +right, before God comes and finds me in the wrong, and punishes me.’ Cry +to God himself, to Christ himself; ask _him_ to lift you up, ask him to +set you right. Do not be like St. Peter before his conversion, and cry, +‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord; wait a little, till I +have risen up, and washed off my stains, and made myself somewhat fit to +be seen.’—No. Cry, ‘Come quickly, O Lord—at once, just because I am a +sinful man; just because I am sore let and hindered in running my race by +my own sins and wickedness; because I am lazy and stupid; because I am +perverse and vicious, _therefore_ raise up thy power, and come to me, thy +miserable creature, thy lost child, and with thy great might succour me. +Lift me up for I have fallen very low; deliver me, for I have plunged out +of thy sound and safe highway into deep mire, where no ground is. Help +myself I cannot, and if thou help me not, I am undone.’ + +Do so. Pray so. Let your sins and wickedness be to you not a reason for +hiding from Christ who stands by; but a reason, the reason of all +reasons, for crying to Christ who stands by. + +And then, whether he deliver you by kind means or by sharp ones, deliver +you he will; and set your feet on firm ground, and order your goings, +that you may run with patience the race which is set before you along the +road of life, and the pathway of God’s commandments, wherein there is no +death. + +This, my friends, is one of the meanings of Advent. This is the meaning +of the Collect, the Epistle, and the Gospel.—That God in Christ stands by +us, ready to help and deliver us; and that if we cry to him even out of +the lowest depth, he will hear our voice. And that then, when he has +once put us into the right road again, and sees us going bravely along it +to the best of the power which he has given us, he will fulfil to us his +eternal promise, ‘Thy sins—and not only thy sins, but thine iniquities—I +will remember no more.’ + + + + +SERMON XI. +SELF-RESPECT AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. + + + PSALM vii. 8. + + Give sentence for me, O Lord, according to my righteousness; and + according to the innocency that is in me. + +IS this speech self-righteous? If so, it is a bad speech; for +self-righteousness is a bad temper of mind; there are few worse. If we +say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in +us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our +sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have +not sinned, we make him a liar. + +This is plain enough; and true as God is true. But there is another +temper of mind which is right in its way; and which is not +self-righteousness, though it may look like it at first sight. I mean +the temper of Job, when his friends were trying to prove to him that he +must be a bad man, and to make him accuse himself of all sorts of sins +which he had not committed; and he answered that he would utter no +deceit, and tell no lies about himself. ‘Till I die I will not remove +mine integrity from me; my righteousness I will hold fast, and will not +let it go; my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.’ I have, on +the whole, tried to be a good man, and I will not make myself out a bad +one. + +For, my friends, with the Bible as with everything else, we must hear +both sides of the question, lest we understand neither side. + +We may misuse St. John’s doctrine, that if we say we have no sin, we +deceive ourselves. We may deceive ourselves in the very opposite way. + +In the first place, some people, having learnt that it is right to +confess their sins, try to have as many sins as possible to confess. I +do not mean that they commit the sins, but that they try to fancy they +have committed them. This is very common now, and has been for many +hundred years, especially among young women and lads who are of a weakly +melancholy temper, or who have suffered some great disappointment. They +are fond of accusing themselves; of making little faults into great ones; +of racking their memories to find themselves out in the wrong; of taking +the darkest possible view of themselves, and of what is going to happen +to them. They forget that Solomon, the wise, when he says, ‘Be not +over-much wicked; neither be thou foolish—why shouldst thou die before +thy time?’—says also, ‘Be not righteous over-much; neither make thyself +over-wise. Why shouldst thou destroy thyself?’ + +For such people do destroy themselves. I have seen them kill their own +bodies, and die early, by this folly. And I have seen them kill their +own souls, too, and enter into strong delusions, till they believe a lie, +and many lies, from which one had hoped that the Bible would have +delivered any and every man. + +One cannot be angry with such people. One can only pity them, and pity +them all the more, when one finds them generally the most innocent, the +very persons who have least to confess. One can but pity them, when one +sees them applying to themselves God’s warnings against sins of which +they never even heard the names, and fancying that God speaks to them, as +St. Paul says that he did to the old heathen Romans, when they were +steeped up to the lips in every crime. + +No—one can do more than pity them. One can pray for them that they may +learn to know God, and who he is: and by knowing him, may be delivered +out of the hands of cunning and cruel teachers, who make a market of +their melancholy, and hide from them the truth about God, lest the truth +should make them free, while their teachers wish to keep them slaves. + +This is one misuse of St. John’s doctrine. There is another and a far +worse misuse of it. + +A man may be proud of confessing his sins; may become self-righteous and +conceited, according to the number of the sins which he confesses. + +So deceitful is this same human heart of ours, that so it is I have seen +people quite proud of calling themselves miserable sinners. I say, proud +of it. For if they had really felt themselves miserable sinners, they +would have said less about their own feelings. If a man really feels +what sin is—if he feels what a miserable, pitiful, mean thing it is to be +doing wrong when one knows better, to be the slave of one’s own tempers, +passions, appetites—oh, if man or woman ever knew the exceeding +sinfulness of sin, he would hide his own shame in the depths of his +heart, and tell it to God alone, or at most to none on earth save the +holiest, the wisest, the trustiest, the nearest and the dearest. + +But when one hears a man always talking about his own sinfulness, one +suspects—and from experience one has only too much reason to suspect—that +he is simply saying in a civil way, ‘I am a better man than you; for I +talk about my sinfulness, and you do not.’ + +For if you answer such a man, as old Job or David would have done, ‘I +will not confess what I have not felt. I have tried and am trying to be +an upright, respectable, sober, right-living man. Let God judge me +according to the innocency that is in me. I know that I am not perfect: +no man is that: but I will not cant; I will not be a hypocrite; and if I +accuse myself of sins which I have not committed, it seems to me that I +shall be mocking God, and deceiving myself. I will trust to God to judge +me fairly, to balance between the good and the evil which is in me, and +deal with me accordingly.’ + +If you speak in that way, the other man will answer you plainly enough, +‘Ah! you are utterly benighted. You are building on legality and +morality. You have not yet learnt the first principles of the Gospel.’ +And with these, and other words, will give you to understand this—That he +thinks he is going to heaven, and you are going to hell. + +Now, my dear friends, you are partly right, and he is partly right. St. +Paul will show you where you are right and where he is right. He does +so, I think, in a certain noble text of his in which he says, ‘I judge +not mine own self; for I know nothing against myself, yet am I not hereby +justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.’ + +Now remember that no man was less self-righteous than St. Paul. No man +ever saw more clearly the sinfulness of sin. No man ever put into words +so strongly the struggle between good and evil which goes on in the human +heart. In one place, even, when speaking of his former life, he calls +himself the chief of sinners. Yet St. Paul, when he had done his duty, +knew that he had done it, and was not afraid to say—as no honest and +upright man need be afraid to say—‘I know nothing against myself.’ For +if you have done right, my friend, it is God who has helped you to do it; +and it is difficult to see how you can honour God, by pretending instead +that he has left you to do wrong. + +This, then, seems to be the rule. If you have done wrong, be not afraid +to confess it. If you have done right, be not afraid to confess that +either. And meanwhile keep up your self-respect. Try to do your duty. +Try to keep your honour bright. Let no man be able to say that he is the +worse for you. Still more let no woman be able to say that she is the +worse for you; for if you treat another man’s daughter as you would not +let him treat yours, where is your honour then, or your clear conscience? +What cares man, what cares God, for your professions of uprightness and +respectability, if you take good care to behave well to men, who can +defend themselves, and take no care to behave well to a poor girl, who +cannot defend herself? Recollect that when Job stood up for his own +integrity, and would not give up his belief that he was a righteous man, +he took care to justify himself in this matter, as well as on others. ‘I +made a covenant with mine eyes,’ he says; ‘why then should I think upon a +maid? If mine heart have been deceived by a woman; or if I have laid +wait at my neighbour’s door;’ ‘Then,’ he says in words too strong for me +to repeat, ‘let others do to my wife as I have done to theirs.’ + +Avoid this sin, and all sins. Let no man be able to say that you have +defrauded him, that you have tyrannized over him; that you have neglected +to do your duty by him. Let no man be able to say that you have rewarded +him evil for evil. If possible, let him not be able to say that you have +even lost your temper with him. Be generous; be forgiving. If you have +an opportunity, be like David, and help him who without a cause is your +enemy; and then you will have a right to say, like David, ‘Give sentence +with me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to the +cleanness of my hands in thy sight.’ + +True—that will not justify you. In God’s sight shall no man living be +justified, if justification is to come by having no faults. What man is +there who lives, and sins not? Who is there among us, but knows that he +is not the man he might be? Who does not know, that even if he seldom +does what he ought not, he too often leaves undone what he ought? And +more than that—none of us but does many a really wrong thing of which he +never knows, at least in this life. None of us but are blind, more or +less, to our own faults; and often blind—God forgive us!—to our very +worst faults. + +Then let us remember, that he who judges us _is the Lord_. + +Now is that a thought to be afraid of? + +David did not think so, when he had done right. For he says, in this +Psalm, ‘Judge me, O Lord!’ + +And when he has done wrong, he thinks so still less; for then he asks God +all the more earnestly, not only to judge him, but to correct him +likewise. ‘Purge me,’ he says, ‘and I shall be clean. Cleanse thou me +from my secret faults, and make me to understand wisdom secretly. For +thou requirest truth in the inward parts.’ + +That is bravely spoken, and worthy of an honest man, who wishes above all +things to be right, whatsoever it may cost him. + +But how did David get courage to ask that? + +By knowing God, and who God was. + +For this, my friends, is the key to the whole matter—as it is to all +matters—Who is God? + +If you believe God to be a hard task-master, and a cruel being, extreme +to mark what is done amiss, an accuser like the devil, instead of a +forgiver and a Saviour, as he really is;—then you will begin judging +yourself wrongly and clumsily, instead of asking God to judge you wisely +and well. + +You will break both of the golden rules which St. Anthony, the famous +hermit, used to give to his scholars.—‘Regret not that which is past; and +trust not in thine own righteousness.’ For you will lose time, and lose +heart, in fretting over old sins and follies, instead of confessing them +once and for all to God, and going boldly to his throne of grace to find +mercy and grace to help you in the time of need; that you may try again +and do better for the future. And so it will be true of you—I am sure I +have seen it come true of many a poor soul—what David found, before he +found out the goodness of God’s free pardon:—‘While I held my tongue, my +bones waxed old through my daily complaining. For thy hand was heavy +upon me night and day; my moisture was like the drought in summer.’ + +And all that while (such contradictory creatures are we all), you may be +breaking St. Anthony’s other golden rule, and trusting in your own +righteousness. + +You will begin trying to cleanse yourself from little outside faults, and +fancying that that is all you have to do, instead of asking God to +cleanse you from your secret faults, from the deep inward faults which he +alone can see; forgetting that they are the root, and the outside faults +only the fruit. And so you will be like a foolish sick man, who is +afraid of the doctor, and therefore tries to physic himself. But what +does he do? Only tamper and peddle with the outside symptoms of his +complaint, instead of going to the physician, that he may find out and +cure the complaint itself. Many a man has killed his own body in that +way; and many a man more, I fear, has killed his own soul, because he was +afraid of going to the Great Physician. + +But if you will believe that God is good, and not evil; if you will +believe that the heavenly Father is indeed _your_ Father; if you will +believe that the Lord Jesus Christ really loves you, really died to save +you, really wishes to deliver you from your sins, and make you what you +ought to be, and what you can be: then you will have heart to do your +duty; because you will be sure that God helps you to do your duty. You +will have heart to fight bravely against your bad habits, instead of +fretting cowardly over them; because you know that God is fighting +against them for you. You will not, on the other hand, trust in your own +righteousness; because you will soon learn that you have no righteousness +of your own: but that all the good in you comes from God, who works in +you to will and to do of his good pleasure. + +And when you examine yourself, and think over your own life and +character, as every man ought to do, especially in Advent and Lent, you +will have heart to say, ‘O God, thou knowest how far I am right, and how +far wrong. I leave myself in thy hand, certain that thou wilt deal +fairly, justly, lovingly with me, as a Father with his son. I do not +pretend to be better than I am: neither will I pretend to be worse than I +am. Truly, I know nothing about it. I, ignorant human being that I am, +can never fully know how far I am right, and how far wrong. I find light +and darkness fighting together in my heart, and I cannot divide between +them. But thou canst. Thou knowest. Thou hast made me; thou lovest me; +thou hast sent thy Son into the world to make me what I ought to be; and +therefore I believe that he will make me what I ought to be. Thou +willest not that I should perish, but come to the knowledge of the truth: +and therefore I believe that I shall not perish, but come to the +knowledge of the truth about thee, about my own character, my own duty, +about everything which it is needful for me to know. And therefore I +will go boldly on, doing my duty as well as I can, though not perfectly, +day by day; and asking thee day by day to feed my soul with its daily +bread. Thou feedest my soul with _its_ daily bread. How much more then +wilt thou feed my mind and my heart, more precious by far than my body? +Yes, I will trust thee for soul and for body alike; and if I need +correcting for my sins, I am sure at least of this, that the worst thing +that can happen to me or any man, is to do wrong and _not_ to be +corrected; and the best thing is to be set right, even by hard blows, as +often as I stray out of the way. And therefore I will take my punishment +quietly and manfully, and try to thank thee for it, as I ought; for I +know that thou wilt not punish me beyond what I deserve, but far below +what I deserve; and that thou wilt punish me only to bring me to myself, +and to correct me, and purge me, and strengthen me. For this I +believe—on the warrant of thine own word I believe it—undeserved as the +honour is, that thou art my Father, and lovest me; and dost not afflict +any man willingly, or grieve the children of men out of passion or out of +spite; and that thou willest not that I should be damned, nor any man; +but willest have all men saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. + + + + +SERMON XII. +TRUE REPENTANCE. + + + EZEKIEL xviii. 27. + + When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath + committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save + his soul alive. + +WE hear a great deal about repentance, and how necessary it is for a man +to repent of his sins; for unless a man repent, he cannot be forgiven. +But do we all of us really know what repentance means? + +I sometimes fear not. I sometimes fear, that though this text stands at +the opening of the Church service, and though people hear it as often as +any text in the whole Bible, yet they have not really learnt the lesson +which God sends them by it. + +What, then, does repentance mean? + +‘Being sorry for what we have done wrong,’ say some. + +But is that all? I suppose there are few wicked things done upon earth, +for which the doers of them are not sorry, sooner or later. A man does a +wrong thing, and his conscience pricks him, and makes him uneasy, and he +says in his heart, ‘I wish after all I had left that alone.’ But the +next time he is tempted to do the same thing, he does it, and is ashamed +of himself afterwards again: but that is not repentance. I suppose that +there have been few murders committed in the world, after which sooner or +later the murderer did not say in his heart—‘Ah, that that man were alive +and well again!’ But that is not repentance. + +For aught I can tell, the very devil is sorry for his sin;—discontented, +angry with himself, ashamed of himself for being a devil. He may be so +to all eternity, and yet never repent. For the dark uneasy feeling which +comes over every man sooner or later, after doing wrong, is not +repentance; it is remorse; the most horrible and miserable of all +feelings, when it comes upon a man in its full strength; the feeling of +hating oneself, being at war with oneself, and with all the world, and +with God who made it. + +But that will save no man’s soul alive. Repentance will save any and +every soul alive, then and there: but remorse will not. Remorse may only +kill him. Kill his body, by making him, as many a poor creature has +done, put an end to himself in sheer despair: and kill his soul at least, +by making him say in his heart, ‘Well, if bad I am, bad I must be. I +hate myself, and God hates me also. All I can do is, to forget my +unhappiness if I can, in business, in pleasure, in drink, and drive +remorse out of my head;’ and often a man succeeds in so doing. The first +time he does a wrong thing, he feels sorry and ashamed after it. Then he +takes courage after awhile, and does it again; and feels less sorrow and +shame; and so again and again, till the sin becomes easier and easier to +him, and his conscience grows more and more dull; till at last perhaps, +the feeling of its being wrong quite dies within—and that is the death of +his soul. + +But of true repentance, it is written, that he who repents shall save his +soul _alive_. And how? + +The word for repentance in Scripture means simply a change of mind. To +change one’s mind is, in Scripture words, to repent. + +Now if a man changes his mind, he changes his conduct also. If you set +out to go to a place and change your mind, then you do not go there. If +as you go on, you begin to have doubts about its being right to go, or to +be sorry that you are going, and still walk on in the same road, however +slowly or unwillingly, that is not changing your mind about going. If +you do change your mind, you will change your steps. You will turn back, +or turn off, and go some other road. + +This may seem too simple to talk of. But if it be, why do not people act +upon it? If a man finds that in his way through life he is on the wrong +road, the road which leads to shame, and sorrow, and death and hell, why +will he confess that he is on the wrong road, and say that he is very +sorry (as perhaps he really may be) that he is going wrong, and yet go +on, and persevere on the wrong path? At least, as long as he keeps on +the road which leads to ruin, he has not changed his mind, or repented at +all. He may find the road unpleasant, full of thorns, and briars, and +pit-falls; for believe me, however broad the road is which leads to +destruction, it is only the _gate_ of it which is easy and comfortable; +it soon gets darker and rougher, that road of sin; and the further you +walk along it, the uglier and more wretched a road it is: but all the +misery which it gives to a man is only useless remorse, unless he fairly +repents, and turns out of that road into the path which leads to life. + +Now the one great business of foolish man in all times has been to save +his soul (as he calls it) without doing right; to go to heaven (as he +calls it) without walking the road which leads to heaven. It is a folly +and a dream. For no man can get to heaven, unless he be heavenly; and +being heavenly is simply being good, and neither more or less. And sin +is death, and no man can save his soul alive, while it is dead in sin. +Still men have been trying to do it in all ages and countries; and as +soon as one plan has failed, they have tried some new one; and have +invented some false repentance which was to serve instead of the true +one. The old Jews seem to have thought that the repentance which God +required was burnt-offerings and sacrifices: that if they could only +offer bullocks and goats enough on God’s altar, he would forgive them +their sins. But David, and Isaiah after him, and Ezekiel after him, +found out that _that_ was but a dream; that that sort of repentance would +save no man’s soul; that God did not require burnt-offerings and +sacrifice for sin: but simply that a man should do right and not wrong. +‘When ye come before me,’ saith the Lord, ‘who has required this at your +hand, to tread my courts?’ They were to bring no more vain offerings: +but to put away the evil of their doings; to cease to do evil, to learn +to do well; to seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, +plead for the widow; and then, and then only, though their sins were as +scarlet, they should be white as snow. For God would take them for what +they were—as good, if they were good; as bad, if they were bad. And this +agrees exactly with the text. ‘When the wicked man turneth away from his +wickedness which he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and +right, he shall save his soul alive.’ + +The Papists again, thought that the repentance which God required, was +for a man to punish himself bitterly for his sins; to starve and torture +himself, to give up all that makes life pleasant, and so to atone. And +good and pious men and women, with a real hatred and horror of sin, tried +this: but they found that making themselves miserable took away their +sins no more than burnt-offerings and sacrifices would do it. Their +consciences were not relieved; they gained no feeling of comfort, no +assurance of God’s love. Then they said, ‘I have not punished myself +enough. I have not made myself miserable enough. I will try whether +more torture and misery will not wipe out my sins.’ And so they tried +again, and failed again, and then tried harder still, till many a noble +man and woman in old times killed themselves piecemeal by slow torments, +in trying to atone for their sins, and wash out in their own blood what +was already washed out in the blood of Jesus Christ. But on the whole, +that was found to be a failure. And now the great mass of the Papists +have fallen back on the wretched notion that repentance merely means +confessing their sins to a priest, and receiving absolution from him, and +doing some little penance too childish to speak of here. + +But is there no false repentance among us English, too, my friends? No +paltry substitute for the only true repentance which God will accept, +which is, turning round and doing right? How many there are, who feel—‘I +am very wrong. I am very sinful. I am on the road to hell. I am +quarrelling and losing my temper, and using bad language.—Or—I am +cheating my neighbour. Or—I am living in adultery and drunkenness: I +must repent before it is too late.’ But what do they mean by repenting? +Coming as often as they can to church or chapel, and reading all the +religious books which they can get hold of: till they come, from often +reading and hearing about the Gospel promises, to some confused notion +that their sins are washed away in Christ’s blood; or perhaps, on the +strength of some violent feelings, believe that they are converted all on +a sudden, and clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness, and +renewed by God’s Spirit, and that now they belong to the number of +believers, and are among God’s elect. + +Now, my dear friends, I complain of no one going to hear all the good +they can; I complain of no one reading all the religious books they can: +but I think—and more, I know—that hearing sermons and reading tracts may +be, and is often, turned into a complete snare of the devil by people who +do not wish to give up their sins and do right, but only want to be +comfortable in their sins. + +Hear sermons if you will; read good books if you will: but bear in mind, +that you know already quite enough to lead you to _repentance_. You need +neither book nor sermon to teach you those ten commandments which hang +here over the communion table: all that books and tracts and sermons can +do is to teach you how to _keep_ those commandments in spirit and in +truth: but I am sure I have seen people read books, and run about to +sermons, in order to enable them to forget those ten commandments; in +order to find excuses for not keeping them; and to find doctrines which +tell them, that because Christ has done all, they need do nothing;—only +_feel_ a little thankfulness, and a little sorrow for sin, and a little +liking to hear about religion: and call that repentance, and conversion, +and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. + +Now, my dear friends, let me ask you as reasonable beings, Do you think +that hearing me or any man preach, can save your souls alive? Do you +think that sitting over a book for an hour a day, or all day long, will +save your souls alive? Do you think that your sins are washed away in +Christ’s blood, when they are there still, and you are committing them? +Would they be here, and you doing them, if they were put away? Do you +think that your sins can be put away out of God’s sight, if they are not +even put out of your own sight? If you are doing wrong, do you think +that God will treat you as if you were doing right? Cannot God see in +you what you see in yourselves? Do you think a man can be clothed in +Christ’s righteousness at the very same time that he is clothed in his +own unrighteousness? Can he be good and bad at once? Do you think a man +can be converted—that is turned round—when he is going on his old road +the whole week? Do you think that a man has repented—that is, changed +his mind—when he is in just the same mind as ever as to how he shall +behave to his family, his customers, and everybody with whom he has to +do? Do you think that a man is renewed by God’s Spirit, when except for +a few religious phrases, and a little more outside respectability, he is +just the old man, the same character at heart he ever was? Do you think +that there is any use in a man’s belonging to the number of believers, if +he does not do what he believes; or any use in thinking that God has +elected and chosen him, when he chooses not to do what God has chosen +that every man must do, or die? + +Be not deceived. God is not mocked. What a man sows, that shall he +reap. Let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, +even as Christ is righteous, and no one else. + +He who tries to do as Christ did, and he only, has Christ’s righteousness +imputed to him, because he is trying to do what Christ did, that which is +lawful and right. He who does righteousness, and he only, has truly +repented, changed his mind about what he should do, and turned away from +his wickedness which he has committed, and is now doing that which is +lawful and right. He who does righteousness, and he only, shall save his +soul alive: not by feeling this thing, or believing about that thing, but +by doing that which is lawful and right. + +We must face it, my dear friends. We cannot deceive God: and God will +certainly not deceive himself. He sees us as we are, and takes us for +what we are. What is right in us, he accepts for the salvation of Jesus +Christ, in whom we are created unto good works. What is wrong in us, he +will assuredly punish, and give us the exact reward of the deeds done in +the body, whether they be good or evil. Every work of ours shall come +into judgment, unless it be repented of, and put away by the only true +repentance—not doing the thing any more. + +God, I say, will judge righteous judgment, and take us as we are. + +For the sake of Jesus the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, +there is full, free, and perfect forgiveness for every sin, when we give +it up. As soon as a man turns round, and, instead of doing wrong, tries +to do right, he need be under no manner of fear or terror any more. He +is taken back into his Father’s house as freely and graciously as the +prodigal son in the parable was. Whatsoever dark score there was against +him in God’s books is wiped out there and then, and he starts clear, a +new man, with a fresh chance of life. And whosoever tells him that the +score is not wiped out, lies, and contradicts flatly God’s holy word. +But as long as a man does _not_ give up his sins, the dark score _does_ +stand against him in God’s books; and no praying, reading, devoutness of +any kind will wipe it out; and as long as he sins, he is still in his +sins, and his sins will be his ruin. Whosoever tells him that they are +wiped out, he too lies, and contradicts flatly God’s holy word. + +For God is just, and true; and therefore God takes us for what we are, +and will do so to all eternity; and you will find it so, my dearest +friends. In spite of all doctrines which men have invented, and then +pretended to find in the Bible, to drug men’s consciences, and confuse +God’s clear light in their hearts, you will find, now and for ever, that +if you do right you will be happy even in the midst of sorrow; if you do +wrong, you will be miserable even in the midst of pleasure. Oh believe +this, my dear friends, and do not rashly count on some sudden magical +change happening to you as soon as you die to make you fit for heaven. +There is not one word in the Bible which gives us reason to suppose that +we shall not be in the next world the same persons which we have made +ourselves in this world. If we are unjust here, we shall, for aught we +know, or can know, try to be unjust there; if we be filthy here, we shall +be so there; if we be proud here, we shall be so there; if we be selfish +here, we shall be so there. What we sow here, we shall reap there. And +it is good for us to know this, and face this. Anything is good for us, +however unpleasant it may be, which drives us from the only real misery, +which is sin and selfishness, to the only true happiness, which is the +everlasting life of Christ; a pure, loving, just, generous, useful life +of goodness, which is the righteousness of Christ, and the glory of +Christ, and which will be our righteousness and our glory also for ever: +but only if we live it; only if we be useful as Christ was, generous as +Christ was, just as Christ was, gentle as Christ was, pure as Christ was, +loving as Christ was, and so put on Christ, not in name and in word, but +in spirit and in truth, that having worn Christ’s likeness in this world, +we may share his victory over all evil in the life to come. + + + + +SERMON XIII. +THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT. + + + (_Twelfth Sunday after Trinity_.) + + II COR. iii. 6. + + God, who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the + letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit + giveth life. + +WHEN we look at the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for to-day one after the +other, we do not see, perhaps, what they have to do with each other. But +they have to do with each other. They agree with each other. They +explain each other. They all three tell us what God is like, and what we +are to believe about God, and why we are to have faith in God. + +The Collect tells of a God who is more ready to hear than we are to pray; +and is ‘wont to give’—that is, usually, and as a matter of course, every +day and all day long, gives us—‘more than either we desire or deserve,’ +of a God who gives and forgives, abundant in mercy. It bids us, when we +pray to God, remember that we are praying to a perfectly bountiful, +perfectly generous God. + +Some people worship quite a different God to that. They fancy that God +is hard; that he sits judging each man by the letter of the law; watching +and marking down every little fault which they commit; extreme to mark +what is done amiss; and that in the very face of Scripture, which says +that God is _not_ extreme to mark what is done amiss; for if he were, who +could abide it? + +Their notion of God is, that he is very like themselves; proud, grudging, +hard to be entreated, expecting everything from men, but not willing to +give without a great deal of continued asking and begging, and outward +reverence, and scrupulous fear lest he should be offended unexpectedly at +the least mistake; and they fancy, like the heathen, that they shall be +heard for their much speaking. They forget altogether that God is their +Father, and knows what they need before they ask, and their ignorance in +asking, and has (as any father fit to be called a father would have) +compassion on their infirmities. + +There is a great deal of this lip-service, and superstitious devoutness, +creeping in now-a-days; a spirit of bondage unto fear. St. Paul warns us +against it, and calls it will-worship, and voluntary humility. And I +tell you of it, that it is not Christian at all, but heathen; and I say +to you, as St. Paul bids me say, God, who made the world, and all +therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in +temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as +though he needed anything, seeing that he giveth to all life and breath, +and all things. For in him we live and move, and have our being, and are +the offspring—the children—of God. + +Away, then, with this miserable spirit of bondage and fear, which insults +that good God which it pretends to honour; and in spirit and in truth, +not with slavish crouchings and cringings, copied from the old heathen, +let us worship _The Father_. + +But this leads us to the Epistle. + +St. Paul tells us how it is that God is wont to give us more than we +either desire or deserve: because he is the Lord and Giver of life, in +whom all created things live and move and have their being. Therefore in +the Epistle he tells us of a Spirit which gives life. + +But some may ask, ‘What life?’ + +The Gospel answers that, and says, ‘All life.’ + +It tells us that our Lord Christ cared not merely for the life of men’s +souls, but for the life of their bodies. That wherever he went he +brought with him, not merely health for men’s souls by his teaching, but +health for their bodies by his miracles. That when he saw a man who was +deaf and had an impediment in his speech, he sighed over him in +compassion; and did not think it beneath him to cure that poor man of his +infirmity, though it was no such very great one. + +For he wished to show men that his heavenly Father cared for them +altogether, body as well as soul; that all health and strength whatsoever +came from him. + +When we hear, therefore, of the Spirit giving life, we are not to fancy +that means only some high devout spiritual life, or that God’s Spirit has +to do only with a few elect saints. That may be a very pleasant fancy +for those who believe themselves to be the elect saints; but the message +of the Gospel is far wider and deeper than that, or any other of vain +man’s narrow notions. It tells us that life—all life which we can see; +all health, strength, beauty, order, use, power of doing good work in +God’s earthly world, come from the Spirit of God, just as much as the +spiritual life which we cannot see—goodness, amiableness, purity, +justice, virtue, power of doing work in God’s heavenly world. This +latter is the higher life: and the former the lower, though good and +necessary in its place: but the lower, as well as the higher, is life; +and comes from the Spirit of God, who gives life and breath to all +things. + +And now, perhaps, we may see what St. Paul meant, by his being a minister +‘not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the +Spirit giveth life.’ + +Do you not see yet, my friends? Then I will tell you. + +If I were to get up in this pulpit, and preach the terrors of the law, +and the wrath of God, and hell fire: if I tried to bind heavy burdens on +you, and grievous to be borne, crying—You _must_ do this, you _must_ feel +that, you _must_ believe the other—while I having fewer temptations and +more education than you, touched not those burdens with one of my +fingers; if I tried to make out as many sins as I could against you, +crying continually, this was wrong, and that was wrong, making you +believe that God is always on the watch to catch you tripping, and +telling you that the least of your sins deserved endless torment—things +which neither I nor any man can find in the Bible, nor in common justice, +nor common humanity, nor elsewhere, save in the lying mouth of the great +devil himself;—or if I put into your hands books of self-examination (as +they are called) full of long lists of sins, frightening poor innocents, +and defiling their thoughts and consciences, and making the heart of the +righteous sad, whom God has not made sad;—if I, in plain English, had my +mouth full of cursing and bitterness, threatening and fault-finding, and +distrustful, and disrespectful, and insolent language about you my +parishioners: why then I might fancy myself a Christian priest, and a +minister of the Gospel, and a very able, and eloquent, and earnest one; +and might perhaps gain for myself the credit of being a ‘searching +preacher,’ by speaking evil of people who are most of them as good and +better than I, and by taking a low, mean, false view of that human nature +which God made in his own image, and Christ justified in his own man’s +flesh, and soul, and spirit; but instead of being an able minister of the +New Covenant, or of the Spirit of God, I should be no such man, but the +very opposite. + +No. I should be one of those of whom the Psalmist says, ‘Their mouths +are full of cursing and bitterness’—and also, ‘Their feet are swift to +shed blood.’ + +To shed blood; to kill with the letter which killeth; and your blood, if +I did succeed in killing your souls, would be upon my foolish head. + +For such preaching as that does kill. + +It kills three things. + +1. It kills the Gospel. It turns the good news of God into the very +worst news possible, and the ministration of righteousness into the +ministration of condemnation. + +2. It kills the souls of the congregation—or would kill them, if God’s +wisdom and love were not stronger than his minister’s folly and hardness. +For it kills in them self-respect and hope, and makes them say to +themselves, ‘God has made me bad, and bad I must be. Let me eat and +drink, for to-morrow I die. God requires all this of me, and I cannot do +it. I shall not try to do it. I shall take my chance of being saved at +last, I know not how.’ It frightens people away from church, from +religion, from the very thought of God. It sets people on spying out +their neighbours’ faults, on judging and condemning, on fancying +themselves righteous and despising others; and so kills in them faith, +hope, and charity, which are the very life of their spirits. + +3. And by a just judgment, it kills the soul of the preacher also. It +makes him forget who he is, what God has set him to do; and at last, even +who God is. It makes him fancy that he is doing God’s work, while he is +simply doing the work of the devil, the slanderer and accuser of the +brethren; judging and condemning his congregation, when God has said, +‘Judge not and ye shall not be judged, condemn not and ye shall not be +condemned.’ It makes him at last like the false God whom he has been +preaching (for every man at last copies the God in whom he believes), +dark and deceiving, proud and cruel;—and may the Lord have mercy upon his +soul! + +But I will tell you how I can be an able minister of the New Testament, +and of the Spirit who gives life. + +If I say to you—and I do say it now, and will say it as long as I am +here—Trust God, because God is good; obey God, because God is good. + +I preach to you the good God of the Collect, even your heavenly Father; +who needs not be won over or appeased by anything which you can do, for +he loves you already for the sake of his dear Son, whose members you are. +He will not hear you the more for your much speaking, for he knows your +necessities before you ask, and your ignorance in asking. He will not +judge you according to the letter of Moses’ law, or any other law +whatsoever, but according to the spirit of your longings and struggles +after what is right. He will not be extreme to mark what you do amiss, +but will help you to mend it, if you desire to mend; setting you straight +when you go wrong, and helping you up when you fall, if only your spirit +is struggling after what is right. + +This all-good heavenly Father I preach to you, and I say to you, Trust +_him_. + +I preach to you a Spirit who is the Lord and Giver of life; who hates +death, and therefore wills not that you should die; who has given you all +the life you have, all health and strength of body, all wit and power of +mind, all right, pure, loving, noble feelings of heart and spirit, and +who is both able and willing to keep them alive and healthy in you for +ever. + +This all-good Spirit of life I preach to you; and I say to you, Trust +_him_. + +I preach to you a Son of God, who is the likeness of his Father’s glory, +and the express image of his person; in order that by seeing him and how +good he is, you may see your heavenly Father, and how good he is +likewise; a Son of God who is your Saviour and your Judge; who judges you +that he may save you, and saves you by judging you; who has all power +given to him in heaven and earth, and declares that almighty power most +chiefly by showing mercy and pity; who, when he was upon earth, made the +deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the blind to see; who ate and drank with +publicans and sinners, and was the friend of all mankind; a Son of God +who has declared everlasting war against disease, ignorance, sin, death, +and all which makes men miserable. Those are his enemies; and he reigns, +and will reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet, and there is +nothing left in God’s universe but order and usefulness, health and +beauty, knowledge and virtue, in the day when God shall be all in all. + +This all-good Son of God I preach to you, and I say to you, Trust _him_, +and obey him. Obey him, not lest he should become angry and harm you, +like the false gods of the heathen, but because his commandments are +life; because he has made them for your good. + +Oh! when will people understand that—that God has not made laws out of +any arbitrariness, but for our good?—That his commandments are _Life_? +David of old knew as much as that. Why do not we know more, instead of +knowing, most of us, much less? It is simple enough, if you will but +look at it with simple minds. God has made us; and if he had not loved +us, he would not have made us at all. God has sent us into the world; +and if he had not loved us, he would not have sent us into the world at +all. In him we live, and move, and have our being, and are the offspring +and children of God. And therefore God alone knows what is good for us; +what is the good life, the wholesome, the safe, the right, the +everlasting life for us. And he sends his Son to tell us—This is the +right life; a life like Christ’s; a life according to God’s Spirit; and +if you do not live that life you will die, not only body but soul also, +because you are not living the life which God meant for you when he made +you. Just as if you eat the wrong food, you will kill your bodies; so if +you think the wrong thoughts, and feel the wrong feelings, and therefore +do the wrong things, you will kill your own souls. God will not kill +you; you will kill yourselves. God grudges you nothing. God does not +wish to hurt you, wish to punish you. He wishes you to live and be +happy; to live for ever, and be happy for ever. But as your body cannot +live unless it be healthy, so your soul cannot live unless it be healthy. +And it cannot be healthy unless it live the right life. And it cannot +live the right life without the right spirit. And the only right spirit +is the Spirit of God himself the Spirit of your Father in heaven, who +will make you, as children should be, like your Father. + +But that Spirit is not far from any of you. In him you live, and move, +and have your being already. Were he to leave you for a moment you would +die, and be turned again to your dust. From him comes all the good of +body and soul which you have already. Trust him for more. Ask him for +more. Go boldly to the throne of his grace, remembering that it is a +throne of _grace_, of kindness, tenderness, patience, bountiful love, and +wealth without end. Do not think that he is hard of hearing, or hard of +giving. How can he be? For he is the Spirit of the all-generous Father +and of the all-generous Son, and has given, and gives now; and delights +to give, and delights to be asked. He is the charity of God; the +boundless love by which all things consist; and, like all love, becomes +more rich by spending, and glorifies himself by giving himself away; and +has sworn by himself—that is, by his own eternal and necessary character, +which he cannot alter or unmake—‘This is the new covenant which I will +make with my people. I will write my laws in their hearts, and in their +minds will I write them; and I will dwell with them, and be their God.’ + +Oh, my friends, take these words to yourselves; and trust in that good +Father in heaven, whose love sent you into this world, and gave you the +priceless blessing of life; whose love sent his Son to show you the +pattern of life, and to redeem you freely from all your sins; whose love +sends his Spirit to give you the power of leading the everlasting life, +and will raise you up again, body and soul, to that same everlasting life +after death. Trust him, for he is your Father. Whatever else he is, he +is that. He has bid you call him that, and he will hear you. If you +forget that he is your Father, you forget him, and worship a false God of +your own invention. And whenever you doubt; whenever the devil, or +ignorant preachers, or superstitious books, make you afraid, and tempt +you to fancy that God hates you, and watches to catch you tripping, take +refuge in that blessed name, and say, ‘Satan, I defy thee; for the +Almighty God of heaven is my Father.’ + + + + +SERMON XIV. +HEROES AND HEROINES. + + + (_Whitsunday_.) + + PSALM xxxii. 8. + + I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I + will guide thee with mine eye. + +THIS is God’s promise; which he fulfilled at sundry times and in +different manners to all the men of the old world who trusted in him. He +informed them; that is, he put them into right form, right shape, right +character, and made them the men which they were meant to be. He taught +them in the way in which they ought to go. He guided them where they +could not guide themselves. + +But God fulfilled this promise utterly and completely on the first +Whitsuntide, when the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles. + +That was an extraordinary and special gift; because the apostles had to +do an extraordinary and special work. They had to preach the Gospel to +all nations, and therefore they wanted tongues with which to speak to all +nations; at least to those of their countrymen who came from foreign +parts, and spoke foreign tongues, that they might carry home the good +news of Christ into all lands. And they wanted tongues of fire, too, to +set their own hearts on fire with divine zeal and earnestness, and to set +on fire the hearts of those who heard them. + +But that was an extraordinary gift. There was never anything like it +before; nor has been, as far as we know, since; because it has not been +needed. + +It is enough for us to know, that the apostles had what they needed. God +called and sent them to do a great work: and therefore, being just and +merciful, he gave them the power which was wanted for that great work. + +But if that is a special case; if there has been nothing like it since, +what has Whitsuntide to do with us? We need no tongues of fire, and we +shall have none on this Whitsunday or any Whitsunday. Has Whitsunday +then no blessing for us? Do we get nothing by it? God forbid, my +friends. + +We get what the apostles got, and neither more nor less; though not in +the same shape as they did. + +God called them to do a work: God calls us, each of us, to do some work. + +God gave them the Holy Spirit to make them able to do their work. God +gives _us_ the Holy Spirit, to make us able to do _our_ work, whatsoever +that may be. + +As their day, so their strength was: as our day is, so our strength shall +be. + +For instance.— + +How often one sees a person—a woman, say—easy and comfortable, enjoying +life, and taking little trouble about anything, because she has no need. +And when one looks at such a woman, one is apt to say hastily in one’s +heart, ‘Ah, she does not know what sorrow is—and well for her she does +not; for she would make but a poor fight if trouble came on her; she +would make but a poor nurse if she had to sit months by a sick bed. She +would become down-hearted, and peevish, and useless. There is no +strength in her to stand in the evil day.’ + +And perhaps that woman would say so of herself. She might be painfully +afraid of the thought of affliction; she might shrink from the notion of +having to nurse any one; from having to give up her own pleasure and ease +for the sake of others; and she would say of herself, as you say of her, +‘What would become of me if sorrow came? _I_ have no strength to stand +in the evil day.’ + +Yes, my friends, and you say true, and she says true. And yet not true +either. She has no strength to stand: but she will stand nevertheless, +for God is able to make her stand. As her day, so her strength shall be. +A day of suffering, anxiety, weariness, all but despair may come to her. +But in that day she shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire; +and then you shall be astonished, and she shall be astonished, at what +she can do, and what she can endure; because God’s Spirit will give her a +right judgment in all things, and enable her, even in the midst of her +sorrow, to rejoice in his holy comfort. And people will call her—those +at least who know her—a ‘heroine.’ And they speak truly and well, and +give her the right and true name. Why, I will tell you presently. + +Or how often it happens to a man to be thrown into circumstances which he +never expected. An officer, perhaps, in war time in a foreign land—in +India now. He has a work to do: a heavy, dangerous, difficult, almost +hopeless work. He does not like it. He is afraid of it. He wishes +himself anywhere but where he is. He has little or no hope of +succeeding; and if he fails, he fears that he will be blamed, +misunderstood, slandered. But he feels he must go through with it. He +cannot turn back; he cannot escape. As the saying is, the bull is +brought to the stake, and he must bide the baiting. + +At first, perhaps, he tries to buoy himself up. He begins his work in a +little pride and self-conceit, and notion of his own courage and cunning. +He tries to fancy himself strong enough for anything. He feeds himself +up with the thought of what people will say of him; the hope of gaining +honour and praise: and that is not altogether a wrong feeling—God forbid! + +But the further the man gets into his work, the more difficult it grows, +and the more hopeless he grows. He finds himself weak, when he expected +to be strong; puzzled when he thought himself cunning. He is not sure +whether he is doing right. He is afraid of responsibility. It is a +heavy burden on him, too heavy to bear. His own honour and good name may +depend upon a single word which he speaks. The comfort, the fortune, the +lives of human beings may depend on his making up his mind at an hour’s +notice to do exactly the right thing at the right time. People round him +may be mistaking him, slandering him, plotting against him, rebelling +against him, even while he is trying to do them all the good he can. +Little comfort does he get then from the thought of what people at home +may say of him. He is set in the snare, and he cannot find his way out. +He is at his own wits’ end; and from whence shall he get fresh wits? Who +will give him a right judgment in all things? Who will give him a holy +comfort in which he can rejoice?—a comfort which will make him cheerful, +because he knows it is a right comfort, and that he is doing right? His +heart is sinking within him, getting chill and cold with despair. Who +will put fresh fire and spirit into it? + +God will. When he has learnt how weak he is in himself, how stupid he is +in himself;—ay, bitter as it is to a brave man to have to confess it, how +cowardly he is in himself—then, when he has learnt the golden lesson, God +will baptize him with the Holy Ghost and with fire. + +A time will come to that man, when, finding no help in himself, no help +in man, he will go for help to God. + +Old words which he learnt at his mother’s knee come back to him—old words +that he almost forgot, perhaps, in the strength and gaiety of his youth +and prosperity. And he prays. He prays clumsily enough, perhaps. He is +not accustomed to praying; and he hardly knows what to ask for, or how to +ask for it. Be it so. In that he is not so very much worse off than +others. What did St. Paul say, even of himself? ‘We know not how to ask +for anything as we ought: but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with +groanings that cannot be uttered’—too deep for words. Yes, in every +honest heart there are longings too deep for words. A man knows he wants +something: but knows not what he wants. He cannot find the right words +to say to God. Let him take comfort. What he does not know, the Holy +Spirit of Whitsuntide—the Spirit of Jesus Christ—does know. Christ knows +what we want, and offers our clumsy prayers up to our heavenly Father, +not in the shape in which we put them, but as they ought to be, as we +should like them to be; and our Father hears them. + +Yes. Our Father hears the man who cries to him, however clumsily, for +light and strength to do his duty. So it is; so it has been always; so +it will be to the end. And then as the man’s day, so his strength will +be. He may be utterly puzzled, utterly down-hearted, utterly hopeless: +but the day comes to him in which he is baptized with the Holy Ghost and +with fire. He begins to have a right judgment; to see clearly what he +ought to do, and how to do it. He grows more shrewd, more prompt, more +steady than he ever has been before. And there comes a fire into his +heart, such as there never was before; a spirit and a determination which +nothing can daunt or break, which makes him bold, cheerful, earnest, in +the face of the anxiety and danger which would have, at any other time, +broken his heart. The man is lifted up above himself, and carried on +through his work, he hardly knows how, till he succeeds nobly, or if he +fails, fails nobly; and be the end as it may, he gets the work done which +God has given him to do. + +And then when he looks back, he is astonished at himself. He wonders how +he could dare so much; wonders how he could endure so much; wonders how +the right thought came into his head at the right moment. He hardly +knows himself again. It seems to him, when he thinks over it all, like a +grand and awful dream. And the world is astonished at him likewise. +They cry, ‘Who would have thought there was so much in this man? who +would have expected such things of him?’ And they call him a hero—and so +he is. + +Yes, the world is right, more right than it thinks in both sayings. Who +would have expected there was so much in the man? For there was not so +much in him, till God put it there. + +And again they are right, too; more right than they think in calling that +man a hero, or that woman a heroine. + +For what is the old meaning, the true meaning of a hero or a heroine? + +It meant—and ought to mean—one who is a son or a daughter of God, and +whom God informs and strengthens, and sends out to do noble work, +teaching them the way wherein they should go. That was the right meaning +of a hero and of a heroine even among the old heathens. Let it mean the +same among us Christians, when we talk of a hero; and let us give God the +glory, and say—There is a man who has entered, even if it be but for one +day’s danger and trial, into the blessings of Whitsuntide and the power +of God’s Spirit; a man whom God has informed and taught in the way +wherein he should go. May that same God give him grace to abide herein +all the days of his life! + +Yes, my friends, may God give us all grace to under stand Whitsuntide, +and feed on the blessings of Whitsuntide; not merely once in a way, in +some great sorrow, great danger, great struggle, great striving point of +our lives; but every day and all day long, and to rejoice in the power of +his Spirit, till it becomes to us—would that it could to-day become to +us;—like the air we breathe; till having got our life’s work done, if not +done perfectly, yet still done, we may go hence to receive the due reward +of our deeds. + + + + +SERMON XV. +THE MEASURE OF THE CROSS. + + + EPHESIANS iii. 18, 19. + + That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the + breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of + Christ, which passeth knowledge. + +THESE words are very deep, and difficult to understand; for St. Paul does +not tell us exactly of what he is speaking. He does not say what it is, +the breadth and length, and depth, and height of which we are to +comprehend and take in. Only he tells us afterwards what will come of +our taking it in; we shall know the love of Christ. + +And therefore many great fathers and divines, whose names there is no +need for me to tell you, but whose opinions we must always respect, have +said that what St. Paul is speaking of is, the Cross of Christ. + +Of course they do not mean the wood of which the actual cross was made. +They mean the thing of which the cross was a sign and token. + +Now of what is the cross a token? + +Of the love of Christ, which is the love of God. + +But of what kind of love? + +Not the love which is satisfied with sitting still and enjoying itself, +as long as nothing puts it out, and turns its love to anger—what we call +mere good nature and good temper; not that, not that, my friends: but +love which will dare, and do, and yearn, and mourn; love which cannot +rest; love which sacrifices itself; love which will suffer, love which +will die, for what it loves;—such love as a father has, who perishes +himself to save his drowning child. + +Now the cross of Christ is a token to us, that God’s love to us is like +that: a love which will dare anything, and suffer anything, for the sake +of saving sinful man. + +And therefore it is, that from the earliest times the cross has been the +special sign of Christians. We keep it up still, when we make the sign +of the cross on children’s foreheads in baptism: but we have given up +using the sign of the cross commonly, because it was perverted, in old +times, into a superstitious charm. Men worshipped the cross like an +idol, or bits of wood which they fancied were pieces of the actual cross, +while they were forgetting what the cross meant. So the use of the cross +fell into disrepute, and was put down in England. + +But that is no reason why we should forget what the cross meant, and +means now, and will mean for ever. Indeed, the better Christians, the +better men we are, the more will Christ’s cross fill us with thoughts +which nothing else can give us; thoughts which we are glad enough, often, +to forget and put away; so bitterly do they remind us of our own +laziness, selfishness, and love of pleasure. + +But still, the cross is our sign. It is God’s everlasting token to us, +that he has told us Christians something about himself which none of the +wisest among the heathen knew; which infidels now do not know; which +nothing but the cross can teach to men. + +There were men among the old heathens who believed in one God; and some +of them saw that he must be, on the whole, a good and a just God. But +they could not help thinking of God (with very rare exceptions) as a +respecter of persons, a God who had favourites; and at least, that he was +a God who loved his friends, and hated his enemies. So the Mussulmans +believe now. So do the Jews; indeed, so they did all along, though they +ought to have known better; for their prophets in the Old Testament told +them a very different tale about God’s love. + +But that was all they could believe—in a God who was not unjust or +wicked, but was at least hard, proud, unbending: while the notion that +God could love his enemies, and bless those who used him despitefully and +persecuted him—much less die for his enemies—that would have seemed to +them impossible and absurd. They stumbled at the stumbling-block of the +cross. God, they thought, would do to men as they did to him. If they +loved him, he would love them. If they neglected him, he would hate and +destroy them. + +But when the apostles preached the Gospel, the good news of Christ +crucified, they preached a very different tale; a tale quite new; utterly +different from any that mankind had ever heard before. + +St. Paul calls it a mystery—a secret—which had been hidden from the +foundation of the world till then, and was then revealed by God’s Spirit; +namely, this boundless love of God, shown by Christ’s dying on the cross. + +And, he says, his great hope, his great business, the thing on which his +heart was set, and which God had sent him into the world to do, was +this—to make people know the love of Christ; to look at Christ’s cross, +and take in its breadth, and length, and depth, and height. It passes +knowledge, he says. We shall never know the whole of it—never know all +that God’s love has done, and will do: but the more we know of it, the +more blessed and hopeful, the more strong and earnest, the more good and +righteous we shall become. + +And what is the breadth of Christ’s cross? My friends, it is as broad as +the whole world; for he died for the whole world, as it is written, ‘He +is a propitiation not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole +world;’ and again, ‘God willeth that none should perish;’ and again, ‘As +by the offence judgment came on all men to condemnation, even so by the +righteousness of one, the gift came upon all men to justification of +life.’ + +And that is the breadth of Christ’s cross. + +And what is the length of Christ’s cross? The length thereof, says an +old father, signifies the time during which its virtue will last. + +How long, then, is the cross of Christ? Long enough to last through all +time. As long as there is a sinner to be saved; as long as there is +ignorance, sorrow, pain, death, or anything else which is contrary to God +and hurtful to man, in the universe of God, so long will Christ’s cross +last. For it is written, he must reign till he hath put all enemies +under his feet; and God is all in all. And that is the length of the +cross of Christ. + +And how high is Christ’s cross? As high as the highest heaven, and the +throne of God, and the bosom of the Father—that bosom out of which for +ever proceed all created things. Ay, as high as the highest heaven; +for—if you will receive it—when Christ hung upon the cross, heaven came +down on earth, and earth ascended into heaven. Christ never showed forth +his Father’s glory so perfectly as when, hanging upon the cross, he cried +in his death-agony, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they +do.’ Those words showed the true height of the cross; and caused St. +John to know that his vision was true, and no dream, when he saw +afterwards in the midst of the throne of God a lamb as it had been slain. + +And that is the height of the cross of Christ. + +And how deep is the cross of Christ? + +This is a great mystery, and one which people in these days are afraid to +look at; and darken it of their own will, because they will neither +believe their Bibles, nor the voice of their own hearts. + +But if the cross of Christ be as high as heaven, then, it seems to me, it +must also be as deep as hell, deep enough to reach the deepest sinner in +the deepest pit to which he may fall. We know that Christ descended into +hell. We know that he preached to the spirits in prison. We know that +it is written, ‘As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made +alive.’ We know that when the wicked man turns from his wickedness, and +does what is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive. We know that +in the very same chapter God tells us that his ways are not unequal—that +he has not one law for one man, and another for another, or one law for +one year, and another for another. It is possible, therefore, that he +has not one law for this life, and another for the life to come. Let us +hope, then, that David’s words may be true after all, when speaking by +the Spirit of God, he says, not only, ‘if I ascend up to heaven, thou art +there;’ but ‘if I go down to hell, thou art there also;’ and let us hope +that _that_ is the depth of the cross of Christ. + +At all events, my friends, I believe that we shall find St. Paul’s words +true, when he says, that Christ’s love passes knowledge; and therefore +that we shall find this also;—that however broad we may think Christ’s +cross, it is broader still. However long, it is longer still. However +high, it is higher still. However deep, it is deeper still. Yes, we +shall find that St. Paul spoke solemn truth when he said, that Christ had +ascended on high that he might fill all things; that Christ filled all in +all; and that he must reign till the day when he shall give up the +kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all. + +And now do you take all this about the breadth and length of Christ’s +cross to be only ingenious fancies, and a pretty play of words? + +Ah, my friends, the day will come when you will find that the measure of +Christ’s cross is the most important question upon earth. + +In the hour of death, and in the day of judgment; then the one thing +which you will care to think of (if you can think at all then, as too +many poor souls cannot, and therefore had best think of it now before +their wits fail them)—the one thing which you will care to think of, I +say, will be—not, how clever you have been, how successful you have been, +how much admired you have been, how much money you have made:—‘Of course +not,’ you answer; ‘I shall be thinking of the state of my soul; whether I +am fit to die; whether I have faith enough to meet God; whether I have +good works enough to meet God.’ + +Will you, my friend? Then you will soon grow tired of thinking of that +likewise, at least I hope and trust that you will. For, however much +faith you may have had, you will find that you have not had enough. +However so many good works you may have done, you will find that you have +not done enough. The better man you are, the more you will be +dissatisfied with yourself; the more you will be ashamed of yourself; +till with all saints, Romanist or Protestant, or other, who have been +worthy of the name of saints, you will be driven—if you are in earnest +about your own soul—to give up thinking of yourself, and to think only of +the cross of Christ, and of the love of Christ which shines thereon; and +ask—Is it great enough to cover my sins? to save one as utterly unworthy +to be saved as I. And so, after all, you will be forced to throw +yourself—where you ought to have thrown yourself at the outset—at the +foot of Christ’s cross; and say in spirit and in truth— + + Nothing in my hand I bring, + Simply to the cross I cling— + +In plain words, I throw myself, with all my sins, upon that absolute and +boundless love of God which made all things, and me among them, and +hateth nothing that he hath made; who redeemed all mankind, and me among +them, and hath said by the mouth of his only-begotten Son, ‘Him that +cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ + + + + +SERMON XVI. +THE PURE IN HEART. + + + TITUS i. 15. + + Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and + unbelieving is nothing pure: but even their mind and conscience is + defiled. + +THIS seems at first a strange and startling saying: but it is a true one; +and the more we think over it, the more we shall find it true. + +All things are pure in themselves; good in themselves; because God made +them. Is it not written, ‘God saw all that he had made, and behold, it +was very good?’ Therefore St. Paul says, that all things are ours; and +that Christ gives us all things richly to enjoy. All we need is, to use +things in the right way; that is, in the way in which God intended them +to be used. + +For God is a God of truth; a true, a faithful, and—if I may so speak—an +honest and honourable, and fair God: not a deceiving or unfair God, who +lays snares for his creatures, or leads them into temptation. That would +be a bad God, a cruel God, very unlike the Father of our Lord Jesus +Christ. He has put us into a good world, and not a wilderness, as some +people call it. If any part of this world be a wilderness, it is because +men have made it so, or left it so, by their own wilfulness, ignorance, +cowardice, laziness, violence. No: God, I say, has put us into a good +world, and given us pure and harmless appetites, feelings, relations. +Therefore all the relations of life are holy. To be a husband, a father, +a brother, a son, is pure and good. To have property and to use it: to +enjoy ourselves in this life as far as we can, without hurting ourselves +or our neighbours; all this is pure, and good, and holy. God does not +grudge or upbraid. He does not frown upon innocent pleasure. For God is +light, and in him is no darkness at all. Therefore he rejoices in seeing +his creatures healthy and happy. Therefore, as I believe, Christ smiles +out of heaven upon the little children at their play; and the laugh of a +babe is heavenly music in his ears. + +All things are pure which God has given to man. And therefore, if a man +be pure in heart, all which God has given him will not only do him no +harm, but do him good. All the comforts and blessings of this life will +help to make him a better man. They will teach him about his own +character; about human nature, and the people with whom he has to do; +ay—about God himself, as it is written, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, +for they shall see God.’ + +All the blessings and comforts of this life, my friends (as well as the +anxieties which must come to those who have a family, or property, even +if he do not meet with losses and afflictions), ought to help to improve +a man’s temper, to call out in him right feelings, to teach him more and +more of the likeness of God. + +If he be a married man, marriage ought to teach him not to live for +himself only, but to sacrifice his own fancies, his own ease, his own +will, for the sake of the woman whom God has given him; as Christ +sacrificed himself, and his own life, for mankind. And so, by the +feelings of a husband, he may enter into the mystery of the love of +Christ, and of the cross of Christ; and so, if only he be pure in heart, +he will see God. + +If he have parents, he may learn by being a son how blessed it is to +obey, how useful to a man’s character to submit: ay, he will find out +more still. He will find out that not by being self-willed and +independent does the finest and noblest parts of his character come out, +but by copying his Father in everything; that going where his Father +sends him; being jealous of his Father’s honour; doing not his own will, +but his Father’s; that all this, I say, is its own reward; for instead of +lowering a man, it raises him, and calls out in him all that is purest, +tenderest, soberest, bravest. I tell you this day—Just as far as you are +good sons to your parents, so far will you be able to understand the +mystery of the co-equal and co-eternal Son of God; who though he were in +the form of God, did not snatch greedily at being on the same footing +with his Father, but emptied himself, and took on him the form of a +slave, that he might do his Father’s will, and reveal his Father’s glory. +And so, if you be only pure in heart, you will see God. + +If, again, a man have children—how they ought to teach him, to train +him;—teach him to restrain his own temper, lest he provoke them to anger; +to be calm and moderate with them, lest he frighten them into lying; to +avoid bad language, gluttony, drunkenness, and every coarse sin, lest he +tempt them to follow his example. I tell you, friends, that you will +find, if you choose, all the noblest, most generous, most Godlike parts +of your character called out to your children; and by having the feelings +of a father to your children, learn what feelings our Father in heaven +has toward us, his human offspring. And so, if only you be pure in +heart, you will see God. + +If again, a man has money, money can teach him (as it teaches hundreds of +pure-hearted men) that charity and generosity are not only a duty, but an +honour and a joy; that ‘mercy is twice blest; it blesses him that gives, +and him that takes;’ that giving is the highest pleasure upon earth, +because it is God’s own pleasure; because the blessedness of God, and the +glory of God is this, that he giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth +not. And so in his wealth—if only he be pure in heart, a man will see +God. + +If, again, a man has health, and strength, and high spirits, they too +will teach him, if his heart be pure. He will learn from them to look up +to God as the Lord and Giver of life, health, strength; of the power to +work, and the power to delight in working: because God himself is ever +full of life, ever busy, ever rejoicing to put forth his almighty power +for the good of the whole universe, as it is written, ‘My Father worketh +hitherto, and I work.’ And so—in every relation of life—if only a man’s +heart be pure, he will see God. + +How, then, can we get the pure heart which will make all things pure to +us? By asking for the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Pure Spirit, +in whom is no selfishness. + +For if our hearts be selfish, they cannot be pure. The pure in heart, is +the same as the man whose eye is single, and that is the man who is not +caring for himself, thinking of himself. If a man be thinking of +himself, he will never enjoy life. The pure blessings which God has +given him will be no blessings to him; as it is written, ‘He that saveth +his life shall lose it.’ + +Do you not know that that is true? Do not the miseries of life (I do not +mean the afflictions, like loss of friends or kin), but the miseries of +life which make a man dark, and fretful, and prevent his enjoying God’s +gifts—do they not come, nineteen-twentieths of them, from thinking about +oneself; from lusting and longing after this and that; from spite, +vanity, bad temper, wounded pride, disappointed covetousness? ‘I cannot +get this or that; that money, that place; this or that fine thing or the +other: and how can I be contented?’ There is a man whose heart is not +pure. ‘That man has used me ill, and I cannot help thinking of it, +brooding over it. I cannot forgive him. How can I be expected to +forgive him?’ There is a man whose heart is not pure; and more, there is +a man who is making himself miserable. + +See again, how a man may make marriage a curse to him instead of a +blessing, without being unfaithful to his wife (which we all know to be +simply abominable and unmanly, and far below anything of which I am +talking now). And how? Simply by bad temper, vanity, greediness, and +selfish love of his own dignity, his own pleasure, his own this, that, +and the other. So, too, he may make his children a torment to him, +instead of letting them be God’s lesson-book to him, in which he may see +the likeness of the angels in heaven. + +He may make his wealth a continual anxiety to him: ay, he may make it, by +ambition, covetousness, and wild speculation, the cause of his shame and +ruin; if only his heart be not pure. + +Ay, there is not a blessing on earth which a man may not turn into a +curse. There is not a good gift of God out of which a man may not get +harm, if only his heart be not pure; as it is written, ‘To those who are +defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure: but even their mind and +conscience are defiled.’ + +But defiled with what? Fouled with what? There is the question. Many +answers have been invented by people who did not believe in that faithful +and true God of whom I told you just now; people who fancied that this +world was a bad world, and that God laid snares for his creatures and +tempted his creatures. But the true answer is only to be got, like most +true answers, by observing; by using our eyes and ears, and seeing what +really makes people turn blessings into curses, and suck poison out of +every flower. + +And that is, simply, self. + +If you want to spoil all that God gives you; if you want to be miserable +yourself, and a maker of misery to others, the way is easy enough. Only +be selfish, and it is done at once. Be defiled and unbelieving. Defile +and foul God’s good gifts by self, and by loving yourself more than what +is right. Do not believe that the good God knows your needs before you +ask, and will give you whatsoever is good for you. Think about yourself; +about what _you_ want, what _you_ like, what respect people ought to pay +_you_, what people think of _you_: and then to you nothing will be pure. +You will spoil everything you touch; you will make sin and misery for +yourself out of everything which God sends you; you will be as wretched +as you choose on earth, or in heaven either. + +In heaven either, I say. For that proud, greedy, selfish, self-seeking +spirit would turn heaven into hell. It did turn heaven into hell, for +the great devil himself. It was by pride, by seeking his own glory—(so, +at least, wise men say)—that he fell from heaven to hell. He was not +content to give up his own will and do God’s will, like the other angels. +He was not content to serve God, and rejoice in God’s glory. He would be +a master himself, and set up for himself, and rejoice in his own glory; +and so, when he wanted to make a private heaven of his own, he found that +he had made a hell. When he wanted to be a little God for himself, he +lost the life of the true God, to lose which is eternal death. And why? +Because his heart was not pure, clean, honest, simple, unselfish. +Therefore he saw God no more, and learnt to hate him whose name is love. + +May God keep our hearts pure from that selfishness which is the root of +all sin; from selfishness, out of which alone spring adultery, foul +living, drunkenness, evil speaking, lying, slandering, injustice, +oppression, cruelty, and all which makes man worse than the beasts. May +God give us those pure hearts of which it is written, that the fruit of +the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, +meekness, temperance. Against such, St. Paul says, there is no law. And +why? Because no law is needed. For, as a wise father says—‘Love, and do +what thou wilt;’ for then thou wilt be sure to will what is right; and, +as St. Paul says, If your heart be pure, all things will be pure to you. + + + + +SERMON XVII. +MUSIC. + + + (_Christmas Day_.) + + LUKE ii. 13, 14. + + And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly + host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on + earth peace, good will toward men. + +YOU have been just singing Christmas hymns; and my text speaks of the +first Christmas hymn. Now what the words of that hymn meant; what Peace +on earth and good-will towards man meant, I have often told you. To-day +I want you, for once, to think of this—that it was a hymn; that these +angels were singing, even as human beings sing. + +Music.—There is something very wonderful in music. Words are wonderful +enough: but music is even more wonderful. It speaks not to our thoughts +as words do: it speaks straight to our hearts and spirits, to the very +core and root of our souls. Music soothes us, stirs us up; it puts noble +feelings into us; it melts us to tears, we know not how:—it is a language +by itself, just as perfect, in its way, as speech, as words; just as +divine, just as blessed. + +Music has been called the speech of angels; I will go further, and call +it the speech of God himself—and I will, with God’s help, show you a +little what I mean this Christmas day. + +Music, I say, without words, is wonderful and blessed; one of God’s best +gifts to men. But in singing you have both the wonders together, music +and words. Singing speaks at once to the head and to the heart, to our +understanding and to our feelings; and therefore, perhaps, the most +beautiful way in which the reasonable soul of man can show itself +(except, of course, doing _right_, which always is, and always will be, +the most beautiful thing) is singing. + +Now, why do we all enjoy music? Because it sounds sweet. But _why_ does +it sound sweet? + +That is a mystery known only to God. + +Two things I may make you understand—two things which help to make +music—melody and harmony. Now, as most of you know, there is melody in +music when the different sounds of the same tune follow each other, so as +to give us pleasure; there is harmony in music when different sounds, +instead of following each other, come at the same time, so as to give us +pleasure. + +But why do they please us? and what is more, why do they please angels? +and more still, why do they please God? Why is there music in heaven? +Consider St. John’s visions in the Revelations. Why did St. John hear +therein harpers with their harps, and the mystic beasts, and the elders, +singing a new song to God and to the Lamb; and the voices of many angels +round about them, whose number was ten thousand times ten thousand? + +In this is a great mystery. I will try to explain what little of it I +seem to see. + +First—There is music in heaven, because in music there is no self-will. +Music goes on certain laws and rules. Man did not make those laws of +music; he has only found them out: and if he be self-willed and break +them, there is an end of his music instantly; all he brings out is +discord and ugly sounds. The greatest musician in the world is as much +bound by those laws as the learner in the school; and the greatest +musician is the one who, instead of fancying that, because he is clever, +he may throw aside the laws of music, knows the laws of music best, and +observes them most reverently. And therefore it was that the old Greeks, +the wisest of all the heathens, made a point of teaching their children +_music_; because, they said, it taught them not to be self-willed and +fanciful, but to see the beauty of order, the usefulness of rule, the +divineness of law. + +And therefore music is fit for heaven; therefore music is a pattern and +type of heaven, and of the everlasting life of God, which perfect spirits +live in heaven; a life of melody and order in themselves; a life of +harmony with each other and with God. Music, I say, is a pattern of the +everlasting life of heaven; because in heaven, as in music, is perfect +freedom and perfect pleasure; and yet that freedom comes not from +throwing away law, but from obeying God’s law perfectly; and that +pleasure comes, not from self-will, and doing each what he likes, but +from perfectly doing the will of the Father who is in heaven. + +And that in itself would be sweet music, even if there were neither voice +nor sound in heaven. For wherever there is order and obedience, there is +sweet music for the ears of Christ. Whatsoever does its duty, according +to its kind which Christ has given it, makes melody in the ears of +Christ. Whatsoever is useful to the things around it, makes harmony in +the ears of Christ. Therefore those wise old Greeks used to talk of the +music of the spheres. They said that sun, moon, and stars, going round +each in its appointed path, made as they rolled along across the heavens +everlasting music before the throne of God. And so, too, the old Psalms +say. Do you not recollect that noble verse, which speaks of the stars of +heaven, and says— + + What though no human voice or sound + Amid their radiant orbs be found? + To Reason’s ear they all rejoice, + And utter forth a glorious voice; + For ever singing as they shine, + The hand that made us is divine. + +And therefore it is, that that noble Song of the Three Children calls +upon sun and moon, and stars of heaven, to bless the Lord, praise him, +and magnify him for ever: and not only upon them, but on the smallest +things on earth;—on mountains and hills, green herbs and springs, cattle +and feathered fowl; they too, he says, can bless the Lord, and magnify +him for ever. And how? By fulfilling the law which God has given them; +and by living each after their kind, according to the wisdom wherewith +Christ the Word of God created them, when he beheld all that he had made, +and behold, it was very good. + +And so can we, my friends; so can we. Some of us may not be able to make +music with our voices: but we can make it with our hearts, and join in +the angels’ song this day, if not with our lips, yet in our lives. + +If thou fulfillest the law which God has given thee, the law of love and +liberty, then thou makest music before God, and thy life is a hymn of +praise to God. + +If thou art in love and charity with thy neighbours, thou art making +sweeter harmony in the ears of the Lord Jesus Christ, than psaltery, +dulcimer, and all kinds of music. + +If thou art living a righteous and a useful life, doing thy duty orderly +and cheerfully where God has put thee, then thou art making sweeter +melody in the ears of the Lord Jesus Christ, than if thou hadst the +throat of a nightingale; for then thou in thy humble place art humbly +copying the everlasting harmony and melody which is in heaven; the +everlasting harmony and melody by which God made the world and all that +therein is, and behold it was very good, in the day when the morning +stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy over the +new-created earth, which God had made to be a pattern of his own +perfection. + +For this is that mystery of which I spoke just now, when I said that +music was as it were the voice of God himself. Yes, I say it with all +reverence: but I do say it. There is music in God. Not the music of +voice or sound; a music which no ears can hear, but only the spirit of a +man, when awakened by the Holy Spirit, and taught to know God, Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. + +There is one everlasting melody in heaven, which Christ, the Word of God, +makes for ever, when he does all things perfectly and wisely, and +righteously and gloriously, full of grace and truth: and from that all +melody comes, and is a dim pattern thereof here; and is beautiful only +because it is a dim pattern thereof. + +And there is an everlasting harmony in God; which is the harmony between +the Father and the Son; who though he be co-equal and co-eternal with his +Father, does nothing of himself, but only what he seeth his Father do; +saying for ever, ‘Not my will, but thine be done,’ and hears his Father +answer for ever, ‘Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.’ + +Therefore, all melody and all harmony upon earth, whether in the song of +birds, the whisper of the wind, the concourse of voices, or the sounds of +those cunning instruments which man has learnt to create, because he is +made in the image of Christ, the Word of God, who creates all things; all +music upon earth, I say, is beautiful in as far as it is a pattern and +type of the everlasting music which is in heaven; which was before all +worlds, and shall be after them; for by its rules all worlds were made, +and will be made for ever, even the everlasting melody of the wise and +loving will of God, and the everlasting harmony of the Father toward the +Son, and of the Son toward the Father, in one Holy Spirit who proceeds +from them both, to give melody and harmony, order and beauty, life and +light, to all which God has made. + +Therefore music is a sacred, a divine, a Godlike thing, and was given to +man by Christ to lift our hearts up to God, and make us feel something of +the glory and beauty of God and of all which God has made. + +Therefore, too, music is most fit for Christmas day, of all days in the +year. Christmas has always been a day of songs, of carols and of hymns; +and so let it be for ever. If we had no music all the rest of the year +in church or out of church, let us have it at least on Christmas day. + +For on Christmas day most of all days (if I may talk of eternal things +according to the laws of time) was manifested on earth the everlasting +music which is in heaven. + +On Christmas day was fulfilled in time and space the everlasting harmony +of God, when the Father sent the Son into the world, that the world +through him might be saved; and the Son refused not, neither shrank back, +though he knew that sorrow, shame, and death awaited him, but answered, +‘A body hast thou prepared me . . . I come to do thy will, oh God!’ and +so emptied himself, and took on himself the form of a slave, and was +found in fashion as a man, that he might fulfil not his own will, but the +will of the Father who sent him. + +On this day began that perfect melody of the Son’s life on earth; one +song and poem, as it were, of wise words, good deeds, spotless purity, +and untiring love, which he perfected when he died, and rose again, and +ascended on high for ever to make intercession for us with music sweeter +than the song of angels and archangels, and all the heavenly host. + +Go home, then, remembering how divine and holy a thing music is, and +rejoice before the Lord this day with psalms and hymns, and spiritual +songs (by which last I think the apostle means not merely church +music—for that he calls psalms and hymns—but songs which have a good and +wholesome spirit in them); and remembering, too, that music, like +marriage, and all other beautiful things which God has given to man, is +not to be taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly; but, even when +it is most cheerful and joyful (as marriage is), reverently, discreetly, +soberly, and in the fear of God. Amen. + + + + +SERMON XVIII. +THE CHRIST CHILD. + + + (_Christmas Day_.) + + LUKE ii. 7. + + And she brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapt him in swaddling + clothes, and laid him in a manger. + +MOTHER and child.—Think of it, my friends, on Christmas day. What more +beautiful sight is there in the world? What more beautiful sight, and +what more wonderful sight? + +What more beautiful? That man must be very far from the kingdom of +God—he is not worthy to be called a man at all—whose heart has not been +touched by the sight of his first child in its mother’s bosom. + +The greatest painters who have ever lived have tried to paint the beauty +of that simple thing—a mother with her babe: and have failed. One of +them, Rafaelle by name, to whom God gave the spirit of beauty in a +measure in which he never gave it, perhaps, to any other man, tried again +and again, for years, painting over and over that simple subject—the +mother and her babe—and could not satisfy himself. Each of his pictures +is most beautiful—each in a different way; and yet none of them is +perfect. There is more beauty in that simple every-day sight than he or +any man could express by his pencil and his colours. And yet it is a +sight which we see every day. + +And as for the wonder of that sight—the mystery of it—I tell you this. +That physicians, and the wise men who look into the laws of nature, of +flesh and blood, say that the mystery is past their finding out; that if +they could find out the whole meaning, and the true meaning of those two +words, mother and child, they could get the key to the deepest wonders of +the world: but they cannot. + +And philosophers, who look into the laws of soul and spirit, say the +same. The wiser men they are, the more they find in the soul of every +new-born babe, and its kindred to its mother, wonders and puzzles past +man’s understanding. + +I will say boldly, my friends, that if one could find out the full +meaning of those two words, mother and child, one would be the wisest +philosopher on earth, and see deeper than all who have ever yet lived, +into the secrets of this world of time which we can see, and of the +eternal world, which no man can see, save with the eyes of his reasonable +soul. + +And yet it is the most common, every-day sight. That only shows once +more what I so often try to show you, that the most common, every-day +things are the most wonderful. It shows us how we are to despise nothing +which God has made; above all, to despise nothing which belongs to human +nature, which is the likeness and image of God. + +Above all, upon this Christmas day it is not merely ignorant and foolish, +but quite sinful and heretical, to despise anything which belongs to +human nature. For on this day God appeared in human nature, and in the +first and lowest shape of it—in the form of a new-born babe, that by +beginning at the beginning, he might end at the end; and being made in +all things like as his brethren, might perfectly and utterly take the +manhood into God. + +This, then, we are to think of, at least on Christmas day—God revealed, +and shown to men, as a babe upon his mother’s bosom. + +Men had pictured God to themselves already in many shapes—some foolish, +foul, brutal—God forgive them;—some noble and majestic. Sometimes they +thought of him as a mighty Lawgiver, sitting upon his throne in the +heavens, with solemn face and awful eyes, looking down upon all the +earth. That fancy was not a false one. St. John saw the Lord so. + +‘And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, +clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a +golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as +snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine +brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many +waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth +went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shining +in his strength.’ + +Sometimes, again, they thought of him as the terrible warrior, going +forth to conquer and destroy all which opposed him; to kill wicked +tyrants, and devils, and all who rebelled against him, and who hurt human +beings. + +And that was not a false fancy either. St. John saw the Lord so. + +‘And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon +him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and +make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many +crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself: and +he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called, +The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon +white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his +mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and +he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of +the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.’ + +But all these were only, as it were, fancies about one side of God’s +character. It was only in the Babe of Bethlehem that the _whole_ of +God’s character shone forth, that men might not merely fear him and bow +before him, but trust in him and love him, as one who could be touched +with the feeling of their infirmities. {151} + +It was on Christmas day that God appeared among men as a child upon a +mother’s bosom. And why? Surely for this reason, among a thousand more, +that he might teach men to feel for him and with him, and to be sure that +he felt for them and with them. To teach them to feel for him and with +him, he took the shape of a little child, to draw out all their love, all +their tenderness, and, if I may so say, all their pity. + +A God in need! A God weak! God fed by mortal woman! A God wrapt in +swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger!—If that sight will not touch our +hearts, what will? + +And by that same sight he has taught men that he feels with them and for +them. God has been through the pains of infancy. God has hungered. God +has wept. God has been ignorant. God has grown, and increased in +stature and in wisdom, and in favour both with God and man. + +And why? That he might take on him our human nature. Not merely the +nature of a great man, of a wise man, of a grown up man only: but _all_ +human nature, from the nature of the babe on its mother’s bosom, to the +nature of the full-grown and full-souled man, fighting with all his +powers against the evil of the world. All this is his, and he is all; +that no human being, from the strongest to the weakest, from the eldest +to the youngest, but may be able to say, ‘What I am, Christ has been.’ + +Take home with you, then, this thought, on this Christmas day, among all +the rest which Christmas ought to put into your minds. Respect your own +children. Look on them as the likeness of Christ, and the image of God; +and when you go home this day, believe that Christ is in them, the hope +of glory to them hereafter. Draw them round you, and say to them—each in +your own fashion—‘My children, God was made like to you this day, that +you might be made like God. Children, this is your day, for on this day +God became a child; that God gives you leave to think of him as a child, +that you may be sure he loves children, sure he understands children, +sure that a little child is as near and as dear to God as kings, nobles, +scholars, and divines.’ + +Yes, my dear children, you may think of God as a child, now and always. +For you Christ is always the Babe of Bethlehem. Do not say to +yourselves, ‘Christ is grown up long ago; he is a full-grown man.’ He +is, and yet he is not. His life is eternal in the heavens, above all +change of time and space; for time and space are but his creatures and +his tools. Therefore he can be all things to all men, because he is the +Son of man. + +Yes; all things to all men. Hearken to me, you children, and you +grown-up children also, if there be any in this church—for if you will +receive it, such is the sacred heart of Jesus—all things to all; and +wherever there is the true heart of a true human being, there, beating in +perfect answer to it, is the heart of Christ. + +To the strong he can be strongest; and to the weak, weakest of all. With +the mighty he can be the King of kings; and yet with the poor he can +wander, not having where to lay his head. With quiet Jacob he goes round +the farm, among the quiet sheep; and yet he ranges with wild Esau over +battle-field, and desert, and far unknown seas. With the mourner he +weeps for ever; and yet he will sit as of old—if he be but invited—and +bless the marriage-feast. For the penitent he hangs for ever on the +cross; and yet with the man who works for God his Father he stands for +ever in his glory, his eyes like a flame of fire, and out of his mouth a +two-edged sword, judging the nations of the earth. With the aged and the +dying he goes down for ever into the grave; and yet with you, children, +Christ lies for ever on his mother’s bosom, and looks up for ever into +his mother’s face, full of young life, and happiness, and innocence, the +everlasting Christ-child in whom you must believe, whom you must love, to +whom you must offer up your childish prayers. + +The day will come when you can no longer think as a child, or pray as a +child, but put away childish things. I do not know whether you will be +the happier for that change. God grant that you may be the better for +it. Meanwhile, go home, and think of the baby Jesus, _your_ Lord, _your_ +pattern, _your_ Saviour; and ask him to make you such good children to +your mothers, as the little Jesus was to the Blessed Virgin, when he +increased in knowledge and in stature, and in favour both with God and +man. + + + + +SERMON XIX. +CHRIST’S BOYHOOD. + + + LUKE ii. 52. + + And Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour both + with God and man. + +I DO not pretend to understand these words. I preach on them because the +Church has appointed them for this day. And most fitly. At Christmas we +think of our Lord’s birth. What more reasonable, than that we should go +on to think of our Lord’s boyhood? To think of this aright, even if we +do not altogether understand it, ought to help us to understand rightly +the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; the right faith about which is, +that he was very man, of the substance of his mother. Now, if he were +very and real man, he must have been also very and real babe, very and +real boy, very and real youth, and then very and real full-grown man. + +Now it is not so easy to believe that as it may seem. It is not so easy +to believe. + +I have heard many preachers preach (without knowing it), what used to be +called the Apollinarian Heresy, which held that our Lord had not a real +human soul, but only a human body; and that his Godhead served him +instead of a human soul, and a man’s reason, man’s feelings. + +About that the old fathers had great difficulty, before they could make +people understand that our Lord had been a real babe. It seemed to +people’s unclean fancies something shocking that our Lord should have +been born, as other children are born. They stumbled at the +stumbling-block of the manger in Bethlehem, as they did at the +stumbling-block of the cross on Calvary; and they wanted to make out that +our Lord was born into the world in some strange way—I know not how;—I do +not choose to talk of it here:—but they would fancy and invent anything, +rather than believe that Jesus was really born of the Virgin Mary, made +of the substance of his mother. So that it was hundreds of years before +the fathers of the Church set people’s minds thoroughly at rest about +that. + +In the same way, though not so much, people found it very hard to believe +that our Lord grew up as a real human child. They would not believe that +he went down to Nazareth, and was subject to his father and mother. +People believe generally now—the Roman Catholics as well as we—that our +Lord worked at his father’s trade—that he himself handled the carpenter’s +tools. We have no certain proof of it: but it is so beautiful a thought, +that one hopes it is true. At least our believing it is a sign that we +do believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ more rightly than +most people did fifteen hundred years ago. For then, too many of them +would have been shocked at the notion. + +They stumbled at the carpenter’s shop, even as they did at the manger and +at the cross. And they invented false gospels—one of which especially, +had strange and fanciful stories about our Lord’s childhood—which tried +to make him out. + +Most of these stories are so childish I do not like to repeat them. One +of them may serve as a sample. Our Lord, it says, was playing with other +children of his own age, and making little birds out of clay: but those +which our Lord made became alive, and moved, and sang like real +birds.—Stories put together just to give our Lord some magical power, +different from other children, and pretending that he worked signs and +wonders: which were just what he refused to work. + +But the old fathers rejected these false gospels and their childish +tales, and commanded Christian men only to believe what the Bible tells +us about our Lord’s childhood; for that is enough for us, and that will +help us better than any magical stories and childish fairy tales of man’s +invention, to believe rightly that God was made man, and dwelt among us. + +And what does the Bible tell us? Very little indeed. And it tells us +very little, because we were meant to know very little. Trust your +Bibles always, my friends, and be sure, if you were meant to know more, +the Bible would tell you more. + +It tells us that Jesus grew just as a human child grows, in body, soul, +and spirit. + +Then it tells us of one case—only one—in which he seemed to act without +his parents’ leave. And as the saying is, the exception proves the rule. +It is plain that his rule was to obey, except in this case; that he was +always subject to his parents, as other children are, except on this one +occasion. And even in this case, he _went_ back with them, it is +expressly said, and was subject to them. + +Now, I do not pretend to explain _why_ our Lord stayed behind in the +temple. + +I cannot explain (who can?) the why and wherefore of what I see people do +in common daily life. + +How much less can one explain why our Lord did this and that, who was +both man and God. + +But one reason, and one which seems to me to be plain, on the very face +of St. Luke’s words—he stayed behind to learn; to learn all he could from +the Scribes and Pharisees, the doctors of the law. + +He told the people after, when grown up, ‘The Scribes and Pharisees sit +in Moses’ seat. All therefore which they command you, that observe and +do.’ And he was a Jew himself, and came to fulfil all righteousness; and +therefore he fulfilled such righteousness as was customary among Jews +according to their law and religion. + +Therefore I do not like at all a great many pictures which I see in +children’s Sunday books, which set the child Jesus in the midst, as on a +throne, holding up his hand as if _he_ were laying down the law, and the +Scribes and Pharisees looking angry and confounded. The Bible says not +that they heard him, but that he heard them; that they were astonished at +his understanding, not that they were confounded and angry. No. I must +believe that even those hard, proud Pharisees, looked with wonder and +admiration on the glorious Child; that they perhaps felt for the moment +that a prophet, another Samuel, had risen up among them. And surely that +is much more like the right notion of the child Jesus, full of meekness +and humility; of Jesus, who, though ‘he were a Son, learnt obedience by +the things which he suffered;’ of Jesus, who, while he increased in +stature, increased in favour with _man_, as well as with God: and surely +no child can increase in favour either with God or man, if he sets down +his elders, and contradicts and despises the teachers whom God has set +over him. No let us believe that when he said, ‘Know ye not that I must +be about my Father’s business?’ that a child’s way of doing the work of +his Father in heaven is to learn all that he can understand from his +teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters, whom God the Father has set +over him. + +Therefore—and do listen to this, children and young people—if you wish +really to think what Christ has to do with _you_, you must remember that +he was once a real human child—not different outwardly from other +children, except in being a perfectly good child, in all things like as +you are, but without sin. + +Then, whatever happens to you, you will have the comfort of +feeling—Christ understands this; Christ has been through this. Child +though I am, Christ can be touched with the feeling of my weakness, for +he was once a child like me. + +And then, if trouble, or sickness, or death come among you—and you all +know how sickness and death _have_ come among you of late—you may be +cheerful and joyful still, if you will only try to be such children as +Jesus was. Obey your parents, and be subject to them, as he was; try to +learn from your teachers, pastors, and masters, as he did; try and pray +to increase daily in favour both with God and man, as he did: and then, +even if death should come and take you before your time, you need not be +afraid, for Jesus Christ is with you. + +Your childish faults shall be forgiven you for Jesus’ sake; your childish +good conduct shall be accepted for Jesus Christ’s sake; and if you be +trying to be good children, doing your little work well where God has put +you, humble, obedient, and teachable, winning love from the people round +you, and from God your Father in heaven, then, I say, you need not be +afraid of sickness, not even afraid of death, for whenever it takes you, +it will find you about your Father’s business. + + + + +SERMON XX. +THE LOCUST-SWARMS. + + + JOEL ii. 12, 13. + + Therefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your + heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and + rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your + God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great + kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. + +THIS is one of the grandest chapters in the whole Old Testament, and one +which may teach us a great deal; and, above all, teach us to be thankful +to God for the blessings which we have. + +I think I can explain what it means best by going back to the chapter +before it. + +Joel begins his prophecy by bitter lamentation over the mischief which +the swarms of insects had done; such as had never been in his days, nor +in the days of his fathers. What the palmer worm had left, the locust +had eaten; what the locust had left, the cankerworm had eaten; and what +the cankerworm had left, the caterpillar had eaten. Whether these names +are rightly rendered, or whether they mean different sorts of locusts, or +the locusts in their different stages of growth, crawling at first and +flying at last, matters little. What mischief they had done was plain +enough. They had come up ‘a nation strong and without number, whose +teeth were like the teeth of a lion, and his cheek-teeth like those of a +strong lion. They had laid his vines waste, and barked his fig-tree, and +made its branches white; and all drunkards were howling and lamenting, +for the wine crop was utterly destroyed: and all other crops, it seems +likewise; the corn was wasted, the olives destroyed; the seed was rotten +under the clods, the granaries empty, the barns broken down, for the corn +was withered; the vine and fig, pomegranate, palm, and apple, were all +gone; the green grass was all gone; the beasts groaned, the herds were +perplexed, because they had no pasture; the flocks of sheep were +desolate.’ There seems to have been a dry season also, to make matters +worse; for Joel says the rivers of waters were dried up—likely enough, if +then, as now, it is the dry seasons which bring the locust-swarms. Still +the locusts had done the chief mischief. They came just as they come now +(only in smaller strength, thank God) in many parts of the East and of +Southern Russia, darkening the sky, and shutting out the very light of +the sun; the noise of their innumerable jaws like the noise of flame +devouring the stubble, as they settled upon every green thing, and gnawed +away leaf and bark; and a fire devoured before them, and behind them a +flame burned; the land was as the garden of Eden before them, and behind +them a desolate wilderness; {162} till there was not enough left to +supply the daily sacrifices, and the meat offering and the drink offering +were withheld from the house of God. + +But what has all this to do with us? There have never, as far as we +know, been any locusts in England. + +And what has this to do with God? Why does Joel tell these Jews that God +sent the locusts, and bid them cry to God to take them away? For these +locusts are natural things, and come by natural laws. And there is no +need that there should be locusts anywhere. For where the wild grass +plains are broken up and properly cultivated, there the locusts, which +lay their countless eggs in the old turf, disappear, and must disappear. +We know that now. We know that when the East is tilled (as God grant it +may be some day) as thoroughly as England is, locusts will be as unknown +there as here; and that is another comfortable proof to us that there is +no real curse upon God’s earth: but that just as far as man fulfils God’s +command to replenish the earth and subdue it, so far he gets rid of all +manner of terrible scourges and curses, which seemed to him in the days +of his ignorance, necessary and supernatural. + +How, then, was Joel right in saying that God sent the locusts? + +In this way, my friends. + +Suppose you or I took cholera or fever. We know that cholera or fever is +preventible; that man has no right to have these pestilences in a +country, because they can be kept out and destroyed. But if you or I +caught cholera or fever by no fault or folly of our own, we are bound to +say, God sent me this sickness. It has some private lesson for _me_. It +is part of my education, my schooling in God’s school-house. It is meant +to make me a wiser and better man; and that he can only do by teaching me +more about himself. So with these locusts, and still more so; for Joel +did not know, could not know, that these locusts could be prevented. But +even if he had known that, it was not his fault or folly, or his +countrymen’s which had brought the locusts. Most probably they were +tilling the ground to the best of their knowledge. Most probably, too, +these locusts were not bred in Palestine at all; but came down upon the +north-wind (as they are said to do now), from some land hundreds of miles +away; and therefore Joel could say—Whatever I do not know about these +locusts, this I know; that God, whose providence orders all things in +heaven and earth, has sent them; that he means to teach you a lesson by +them; that they are part of his schooling to us Jews; that he intends to +make us wiser and better men by them: _and that he can only do by +teaching us more about himself_. + +What, then, does Joel say about the locusts, which he might say to you or +me, if we were laid down by cholera or fever? He does not say, these +troubles have come upon you from devils, or evil spirits, or by any blind +chance of the world about you. He says, they have come on you from _the +Lord_; from the same good, loving, merciful Lord who brought your fathers +out of Egypt, and made a great nation of you, and has preserved you to +this day. And do not fancy that he is changed. Do not fancy that he has +forgotten you, or hates you, or has become cruel, or proud, or unlike +himself. It is you who have forgotten him, and have shown that by living +bad lives; and all he wishes is, to drive you back to him, that you may +live good lives. Turn to him; and you will find him unchanged; the same +loving, forgiving Lord as ever. He requires no sacrifices, no great +offerings on your part to win him round. All he asks is, that you should +confess yourselves in the wrong, and turn and repent. Turn therefore to +the Lord with all your heart, and with weeping, and with fasting, and +with mourning—(which was, and is still the Eastern fashion); and rend +your heart, and not your garments. And why? Because the Lord is very +dreadful, angry and dark, and has determined to destroy you all? Not so: +but because he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great +kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. + +Yes, my friends: and this, you will find, is at the bottom of all true +repentance and turning to God. If you believe that God is dark, and +hard, and cruel, you may be afraid of him: but you cannot repent, cannot +turn to him. The more you think of him the more you will be terrified at +him, and turn from him. But if you believe that God is gracious and +merciful, then you can turn to him; then you can repent with a true +repentance, and a godly sorrow which breeds joy and peace of mind. + +So Joel thought, at least; for he tells them, that if they will but turn +to God, if they will but confess themselves in the wrong, all shall be +well again, and better than before. + +Now, if Joel had been a heathen, worshipping the false gods of the +Canaanites, he would have spoken very differently; he would have said, +perhaps—Baal, the true God, is angry with you, and he has sent the +drought. + +Or, Ashtoreth, the Queen of Heaven, by whose power all seeds grow and all +creatures breed, is angry with you, and she has destroyed the seeds, and +sent the locusts. + +Or, Ammon, the Lord of the sheep, is angry, and he has destroyed your +flocks and herds. + +But one thing we know he would have said—These angry gods want _blood_. +You cannot pacify them without human blood. You must give them the most +dear and precious things you have—the most beautiful and pure. You must +sacrifice boys and girls to them; and then, perhaps, they will be +appeased. + +We _know_ this. We know that the heathen, whenever they were in trouble, +took to human sacrifices. + +The Canaanites—and the Jews when they fell into idolatry—used to burn +their children in the fire to Moloch. + +We know that the Carthaginians, who were of the same blood and language +as the Canaanites, used human sacrifices; and that once when their city +was in great danger, they sacrificed at one time two hundred boys of +their highest families. + +We know that the Greeks and Romans, who had much more humane and rational +notions about their gods, were tempted, in times of great distress, to +sacrifice human beings. It has always been so. The old Mexicans in +America used to sacrifice many thousands of men and women every year to +their idols; and when the Spaniards came and destroyed them off the face +of the earth in the name of the Lord—as Joshua did the Canaanites of +old—they found the walls of the idol temples crusted inches thick with +human blood. Even to this day, the wild Khonds in the Indian mountains, +and the Red men of America, sacrifice human beings at times, and, I fear, +very often indeed; and believe that the gods will be the more pleased, +and more certain to turn away their anger, the more horrible and +lingering tortures they inflict upon their wretched victims. I say, +these things were; and were it not for the light of the Gospel, these +things would be still; and when we hear of them, we ought to bow our +heads to our Father in heaven in thankfulness, and say—what Joel the +prophet taught the Jews to say dimly and in part—what our Lord Jesus and +his apostles taught us to say fully and perfectly— + +It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, at all times and in all +places—whether in joy or sorrow, in wealth or in want, to give thanks to +thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God. + +Through Jesus Christ our Lord, according to whose most true promise the +Holy Ghost came down from heaven upon the apostles, to teach them and to +lead them into all truth, and give them fervent zeal, constantly to +preach the Gospel to all nations, by which we have been brought out of +darkness and error into the clear light and true knowledge of thee and of +thy Son Jesus Christ. + +Yes, my friends, this is the lesson which we have to learn from Joel’s +prophecy, and from all prophecies. This lesson the old prophets learnt +for themselves, slowly and dimly, through many temptations and sorrows. +This lesson our Lord Jesus Christ revealed fully, and left behind him to +his apostles. This lesson men have been learning slowly but surely in +all the hundreds of years which have past since; to know that there is +one Father in heaven, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, +by whom are all things; that they may, in all the chances and changes of +this mortal life, in weal and in woe, in light and in darkness, in plenty +and in want, look up to that heavenly Father who so loved them that he +spared not his only begotten Son, but freely gave him for them, and say, +‘Father, not our will but thine be done. All things come from thy hand, +and therefore all things come from thy love. We have received good from +thy hand, and shall we not receive evil? Though thou slay us, yet will +we trust in thee. For thou art gracious and merciful, long-suffering and +of great goodness. Thou art loving to every man, and thy mercy is over +all thy works. Thou art righteous in all thy ways, and holy in all thy +doings. Thou art nigh to all that call on thee; thou wilt hear their +cry, and wilt help them. For all thou desirest, when thou sendest +trouble on them, is to make them wiser and better men. _And that thou +canst only make them by teaching them more about thyself_.’ + + + + +SERMON XXI. +SALVATION. + + + ISAIAH lix. 15, 16. + + And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no + judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there + was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and + his righteousness it sustained him. + +THIS text is often held to be a prophecy of the coming of our Lord Jesus +Christ. I certainly believe that it is a prophecy of his coming, and of +something better still; namely, his continual presence; and a very noble +and deep one, and one from which we may learn a great deal. + +We may learn from it what ‘salvation’ really is. What Christ came to +save men from, and how he saves them. + +The common notion of salvation now-a-days is this. That salvation is +some arrangement or plan, by which people are to escape hell-fire by +having Christ’s righteousness imputed to them without their being +righteous themselves. + +Now, I have nothing to say about that this morning. It may be so; or, +again, it may not; I read a good many things in books every week the +sense of which I cannot understand. At all events it is not the +salvation of which Isaiah speaks here. + +For Isaiah tells us very plainly, from _what_ God was going to save these +Jews. Not from hell-fire—nothing is said about it: but simply from their +_sins_. As it is written, ‘Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall +save his people from _their sins_.’ + +The case is very simple, if you will look at Isaiah’s own words. These +Jews had become thoroughly bad men. They were not ungodly men. They +were very religious, orthodox, devout men. They ‘sought God daily, and +delighted to know his ways, like a nation that did righteousness, and +forsook not the ordinances of their God: they asked of him the ordinances +of justice; they took delight in approaching unto God.’ + +But unfortunately for them, and for all with whom they had to do, after +they had asked of God the ordinances of justice, they never thought of +doing them; and in spite of all their religion, they were, Isaiah tells +them plainly, rogues and scoundrels, none of whom stood up for justice, +or pleaded for truth, but trusted in vanity, and spoke lies. Their feet +ran to evil, and they made haste to shed innocent blood; the way of peace +they knew not, and they had made themselves crooked paths, speaking +oppression and revolt, and conceiving and uttering words of falsehood; so +that judgment was turned away backward, and justice stood afar off, for +truth was fallen in the street, and equity could not enter. Yea, truth +failed; and he that departed from evil made himself a prey (or as some +render it) was accounted mad. + +And this is in the face of all their religion and their church-going. +Verily, my friends, fallen human beings were much the same then as now; +and there are too many in England and elsewhere now who might sit for +that portrait. + +But how was the Lord going to save these hypocritical, false, unjust men? +Was he going to say to them, Believe certain doctrines about me, and you +shall escape all punishment for your sins, and my righteousness shall be +imputed to you? We do not read a word of that. We read—not that the +Lord’s righteousness was imputed to these bad men, but that it sustained +the Lord himself.—Ah! there is a depth, if you will receive it—a depth of +hope and comfort—a well-spring of salvation for us and all mankind. + +You may be false and dishonest, saith the Lord, but I am honest and true. +Unjust, but I am just; unrighteous, but I am righteous. If men will not +set the world right, then I will, saith the Lord. My righteousness shall +sustain me, and keep me up to my duty, though man may forget his. To me +all power is given in heaven and earth, and I will use my power aright. + +If men are bringing themselves and their country, their religion, their +church to ruin by hypocrisy, falsehood, and injustice, as those Jews +were, then the Lord’s arm will bring salvation. He will save them from +their sins by the only possible way—namely, by taking their sins away, +and making those of them who will take his lesson good and righteous men +instead. It may be a very terrible lesson of vengeance and fury, as +Isaiah says. It may unmask many a hypocrite, confound many a politic, +and frustrate many a knavish trick, till the Lord’s salvation may look at +first sight much more like destruction and misery; for his fan is in his +hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into +his garner: but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. + +But his purpose is, to _save_—to save his people from their sins, to +purge out of them all hypocrisy, falsehood, injustice, and make of them +honest men, true men, just men—men created anew after his likeness. And +this is the meaning of his salvation; and is the only salvation worth +having, for this life or the life to come. + +Oh my friends, let us pray to God, whatsoever else he does for us, to +make honest men of us. For if we be not honest men, we shall surely come +to ruin, and bring all we touch to ruin, past hope of salvation. +Whatsoever denomination or church we belong to, it will be all the same: +we may call ourselves children of Abraham, of the Holy Catholic Church +(which God preserve), or what we will: but when the axe is laid to the +root of the tree, every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn +down, and is cast into the fire; and woe to the foolish fowl who have +taken shelter under the branches of it. + +And we who are coming to the holy communion this day—let us ask +ourselves, What do we want there? Do we want to be made good men, true, +honest, just? Do we want to be saved from our sins? or merely from the +punishment of them after we die? Do we want to be made sharers in that +everlasting righteousness of Christ, which sustains him, and sustains the +whole world too, and prevents it from becoming a cage of wild beasts, +tearing each other to pieces by war and oppression, falsehood and +injustice? _Then_ we shall get what we want; and more. But if not, then +we shall not get what we want, not discerning that the Lord’s body is a +righteous and just and good body; and his blood a purifying blood, which +purifies not merely from the punishment of our sins, but from our sins +themselves. + +And bear in mind, my friends, when times grow evil, and rogues and +hypocrites abound, and all the world seems going wrong, there is one arm +to fall back upon, and one righteousness to fall back upon, which can +never fail you, or the world.— + +The arm of the Lord, which brings salvation to him, that he may give it +to all who are faithful and true; which cannot weaken or grow weary, till +it has cast out of his kingdom all which offends, and whosoever loveth or +maketh a lie.— + +And the eternal righteousness of the Lord, which will do justice by every +living soul of man, and which will never fail or fade away, because it is +his own property, belonging to his own essence, which if he gave up for a +moment he would give up being God. Yes, God is good, though every man +were bad; God is just, though every man were a rogue; God is true, though +every man were a liar; and as long as that is so, all is safe for you and +me, and the whole world:—_if we will_. + + + + +SERMON XXII. +THE BEGINNING AND END OF WISDOM. + + + PROVERBS ii. 2, 3, 5. + + If thou incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thine heart to + understanding; yea, if thou criest after wisdom, and liftest up thy + voice for understanding; then shalt thou understand the fear of the + Lord, and find the knowledge of God. + +WE shall see something curious in the last of these verses, when we +compare it with one in the chapter before. The chapter before says, that +the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That if we wish to be +wise at all, we must _begin_ by fearing God. But this chapter says, that +the fear of the Lord is the _end_ of wisdom too; for it says, that if we +seek earnestly after knowledge and understanding, _then_ we shall +understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. + +So, according to Solomon, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of +wisdom, and the end likewise. It is the starting point from which we are +to set out, and the goal toward which we are to run. + +How can that be? + +If by wisdom Solomon meant high doctrines, what we call theology and +divinity, it would seem more easy to understand: but he does not mean +that, at least in our sense; for his rules and proverbs about wisdom are +not about divinity and high doctrines, but about plain practical +every-day life; shrewd maxims as to how to behave in this life, so as to +thrive and prosper in it. + +And yet again they must be about divinity and theology in some sense. +For what does he say about wisdom in the text? ‘If thou search after +wisdom, thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord;’ and is that all? +No. He says more than that. Thou shalt find, he says, the knowledge of +God. To know God.—What higher theology can there be than that? It is +the end of all divinity, of all religion. It is eternal life itself, to +know God. If a man knows God, he is in heaven there and then, though he +be walking in flesh and blood upon this mortal earth. + +How can all this be? + +Let us consider the words once again. + +Solomon does not say, To understand the fear of the Lord is the beginning +of wisdom, but simply the fear of the Lord is the beginning of it. But +the end of wisdom, he says, is not merely to fear the Lord, but to +understand the fear of the Lord. + +This then, I suppose, is his meaning: We are to begin life by fearing +God, without understanding it: as a child obeys his parents without +understanding the reason of their commands. + +Therefore, says Solomon to the young man, begin with that—with the +solemn, earnest, industrious, God-fearing frame of mind—without that you +will gain no wisdom. You may be as clever as you will, but if you are +reckless and wild, you will gain no wisdom. If you are violent and +impatient; if you are selfish and self-conceited; if you are weak and +self-indulgent, given up to your own pleasures, your cleverness will be +of no use to you. It will be only hurtful to you and to others. A +clever fool is common enough, and dangerous enough. For he is one who +never sees things as they really are, but as he would like them to be. A +bad man, let him be as clever as he may, is like one in a fever, whose +mind is wandering, who is continually seeing figures and visions, and +mistaking them for actual and real things; and so with all his +cleverness, he lives in a dream, and makes mistake upon mistake, because +he knows not things as they are, and sees nothing by the light of Christ, +who is the light of the world, from whom alone all true understanding +comes. + +Begin then with the fear of the Lord. Make up your mind to do what you +are told is right, whether you know the reason of it or not. Take for +granted that your elders know better than you, and have faith in them, in +your teachers, in your Bible, in the words of wise men who have gone +before you: and do right, whatever it costs you. + +If you do not always know the reason at first, you will know it in due +time, and get, so Solomon says, to _understand_ the fear of the Lord. In +due time you will see from experience that you are in the path of life. +You will be able to say with St. Paul, I _know_ in whom I have believed; +and with Job, ‘Before I heard of thee, O Lord, with the hearing of the +ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.’ + +And why? Because, says Solomon, God himself will show you, and teach you +by his Holy Spirit. As our Lord says, ‘The Holy Spirit shall take of +mine, and show it unto you, and lead you into all truth.’ And therefore +Solomon talks of wisdom, who is the Holy Ghost the Comforter, as a person +who teaches men, whose delight is with the sons of men. He speaks of +wisdom as calling to men. He speaks of her as a being who is seeking for +those that seek her, who will teach those who seek after her. + +Yes, this, my friends, is, I believe, the secret of life. At least it is +the secret both of Solomon’s teaching, and our Lord’s, and St. Paul’s, +and St. John’s, that true wisdom is not a thing which man finds out for +himself, but which God teaches him. This is the secret of life—to +believe that God is your Father, schooling and training you from your +cradle to your grave; and then to please him and obey him in all things, +lifting up daily your hands and thankful heart, entreating him to purge +the eyes of your soul, and give you the true wisdom, which is to see all +things as they really are, and as God himself sees them. If you do that, +you may believe that God will teach you more and more how to do, in all +the affairs of life, that which is right in his sight, and therefore good +for you. He will teach you more and more to see in all which happens to +you, all which goes on around you, his fatherly love, his patient mercy, +his providential care for all his creatures. He will reward you by +making you more and more partaker of his Holy Spirit and of truth, by +which, seeing everything as it really is, you will at last—if not in this +life, still in the life to come—grow to see God himself, who has made all +things according to his own eternal mind, that they may be a pattern of +his unspeakable glory; and beyond that, who needs to see? For to know +God, and to see God, is eternal life itself. + +And this true wisdom, which lies in knowing God, and understanding his +laws, is within the reach of the simplest person here. As I told you, +cleverness without godliness will not give it you; but godliness without +cleverness may. + +Therefore let no one say, ‘We are no scholars, nor philosophers, and we +never can be. Are we, then, shut out from this heavenly wisdom?’ God +forbid, my friends. God is no respecter of persons. Only remember one +thing; and by it you, too, may attain to the heavenly wisdom. I said +that the fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. I said that the +fear of the Lord was the end of wisdom. Now let the fear of the Lord be +the middle of wisdom also, and walk in it from youth to old age, and all +will be well. + +That is the short way, the royal road to wisdom. To be good and to do +good. To keep the single eye—the eye which does not look two ways at +once, and want to go two ways at once, as too many do who want to serve +God and mammon, and to be good people and bad people too both at once. +But the single eye of the man, who looks straightforward at everything, +and has made up his mind what it ought to do, and will do, so help him +God. As stout old Joshua said, ‘Choose ye whom ye will serve: but as for +me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ That is the single eye, which +wants simply to know what is right, and do what is right. + +And if a man has that he may be a very wise man indeed, though he can +neither read nor write. + +It is good for a man, of course, to be able to read, that he may know +what wiser men than he have said: above all, that he may know what his +Bible says. But, even if he cannot read, let him fear God, and set his +heart earnestly to know and do his duty. Let him keep his soul pure, and +his body also (for nothing hinders that heavenly wisdom like loose +living), and he will be wise enough for this world, and for the world to +come likewise. + +I tell you, my friends, I have known women, who were neither clever +women, nor learned women, nor anything except good women, whose souls +were pure and full of the Holy Spirit, and who lived lives of prayer, and +sat all day long with Mary at the feet of Jesus.—I have known such women +to have at times a wisdom which all books and all sciences on earth +cannot give. I have known them give opinions on deep matters which +learned and experienced men were glad enough to take. I have known them +have, in a wonderful degree, that wisdom which the Scripture calls +discerning of spirits, being able to see into people’s hearts; knowing at +a glance what they were thinking of, what made them unhappy, how to +manage and comfort them; knowing at a glance whether they were honest or +not, pure-minded or not—a precious and heavenly wisdom, which comes, as I +believe, from none other than the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, +who is the discerner of the secret thoughts of all hearts: and when I +have seen such people, altogether simple and humble, and yet most wise +and prudent, because they were full of the fear of the Lord, and of the +knowledge of God, I could not but ask—Why should we not be all like them? + +My friends, I believe that we may all be more or less like them, if we +will make the fear of the Lord the beginning of our wisdom, and the +middle of our wisdom, and the end of our wisdom. + +Nine-tenths of the mistakes we make in life come from forgetting the fear +of God and the law of God, and saying not, I will do what is right: but—I +will do what will profit me; I will do what I like. If we would say to +ourselves manfully instead all our lives through, I will learn the will +of God, and do it, whatsoever it cost me; we should find in our old age +that God’s Holy Spirit was indeed a guide and a comforter, able and +willing to lead us into all truth which was needful for us. We should +find St. Paul had spoken truth, when he said that godliness has the +promise of _this_ life, as well as of that which is to come. + + + + +SERMON XXIII. +HUMAN NATURE. + + + (_Septuagesima Sunday_.) + + GENESIS i. 27. + + So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he + him; male and female created he them. + +ON this Sunday the Church bids us to begin to read the book of Genesis, +and hear how the world was made, and how man was made, and what the world +is, and who man is. + +And why? + +To prepare us, I think, for Lent, and Passion week, Good Friday, and +Easter day. + +For you must know what a thing ought to be, before you can know what it +ought not to be; you must know what health is, before you can know what +disease is; you must know how and why a good man is good, before you can +know how and why a bad man is bad. You must know what man fell from, +before you can know what man has fallen to; and so you must hear of man’s +creation, before you can understand man’s fall. + +Now in Lent we lament and humble ourselves for man’s fall. In Passion +week we remember the death and suffering of our blessed Lord, by which he +redeemed us from the fall. On Easter day we give him thanks and glory +for having conquered death and sin, and rising up as the new Adam, of +whom St. Paul writes, ‘As in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all +be made alive.’ + +And therefore to prepare us for Lent and Passion week, and Easter day, we +begin this Sunday to read who the first man was, and what he was like +when he came into the world. + +Now we all say that man was created good, righteous, innocent, holy. But +do you fancy that man had any goodness or righteousness of his own, so +that he could stand up and say, I am good; I can take care of myself; I +can do what is right in my own strength? + +If you fancy so, you fancy wrong. The book of Genesis, and the text, +tell us that it was not so. It tells us that man could not be good by +himself; that the Lord God had to tell him what to do, and what not to +do; that the Lord God visited him and spoke to him: so that he could only +do right by faith: by trusting the Lord, and believing him, and believing +that what the Lord told him was the right thing for him; and it tells us +that he fell for want of faith, by not believing the Lord and not +believing that what the Lord told him was right for him. So he was holy, +and stood safe, only as long as he did not stand alone: but the moment +that he tried to stand alone he fell. So that it was with Adam as it is +with you and me. The just man can only live by faith. + +And St. John explains this more fully, when he tells us that the voice of +the Lord, the Word of God whom Adam heard walking among the trees of the +garden, was our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who was the life of Adam and +all men, and the light of Adam and all men. All death and misery, and +all ignorance and darkness, come at first from forgetting the Lord Jesus +Christ, and forgetting that he is about our path and about our bed, and +spying out all our ways; as St. John says, that Christ’s light is always +shining in the darkness of this world, but the darkness comprehendeth it +not; that he came to his own, but his own received him not; but as many +as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, as he +gave to man at first; for St. Luke says, that Adam was the Son of God. +But a son must depend on his father; and therefore man was sent into the +world to depend on God. So do not fancy that man before he fell could do +without God’s grace, though he cannot now. If man had never fallen, he +would have been just as much in need of God’s grace to keep him from +falling. To deny that is the root of what is called the Pelagian heresy. +Therefore the Church has generally said, and said most truly, that ‘Adam +stood by grace in Paradise;’ and had a ‘supernatural gift;’ and that as +long as he used that gift, he was safe, and only so long. + +Now what does supernatural mean? + +It means ‘above nature.’ + +Adam had a human nature: but he wanted something to keep him above that +nature, lest he should die, as all natural things on earth must. Trees +and flowers, birds and beasts, yea, the great earth itself must die, and +have an end in time, because it has had a beginning. + +Man had and has still a human nature; the most beautiful, noble, and +perfect nature in the world; high above the highest animals in rank, +beauty, understanding, and feelings. Human nature is made, so the Bible +tells us, in some mysterious way, after the likeness of God; of Christ, +the eternal Son of man, who is in heaven; for the Bible speaks of the +Word or Voice of God as appearing to man in something of a human voice: +reasoning with him as man reasons with man; and feeling toward him human +feelings. That is the doctrine of the Bible; of David and the prophets, +just as much as of Genesis or of St. Paul. + +That is a great mystery and a great glory: but that alone could not make +man good, could not even keep him alive. + +For God made man for something more noble and blessed than to follow even +his own lofty human nature. God made the animals to follow their natures +each after its kind, and to do each what it liked, without sin. But he +made man to do more than that; to do more than what he _likes_; namely, +to do what he _ought_. God made man to love him, to obey him, to copy +him, by doing God’s will, and living God’s life, lovingly, joyfully, and +of his own free will, as a son follows the father whose will he delights +to do. + +All animals God made to live and multiply, each after their kind: and man +likewise: but the animals he made to die again, and fresh generations, +ay, and fresh kinds of animals to take their place, and do their work, as +we know has happened again and again, both before and since man came upon +the earth. But of man the Bible says, that he was not meant to die: that +into him God breathed the breath, or spirit, of life: of that life of men +who is Jesus Christ the Lord; that in Christ man might be the Son of God. +To man he gave the life of the soul, the moral and spiritual life, which +is—to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God; the +life which is always tending upward to the source from which it came, and +longing to return to God who gave it, and to find rest in him. For in +God alone, in the assurance of God’s love to us, and in the knowledge +that we are living the life of God, can a man’s spirit find rest. So St. +Augustine found, through so many bitter experiences, when (as he tells +us) he tried to find rest and comfort in all God’s creatures one after +another, and yet never found them till he found God, or rather was found +by God, and illuminated (so he says himself) with that grace which by the +fall he lost. + +What then does holy baptism mean? It means that God lifts us up again to +that honour from whence Adam fell. That as Adam lost the honour of being +God’s son, so Jesus Christ restores to us that honour. That as Adam lost +the supernatural grace in which he stood, so God for Christ’s sake freely +gives us back that grace, that we may stand by faith in that Christ, the +Word of God, whom Adam disbelieved and fell away. + +Baptism says, You are not true and right men by nature; you are only +fallen men—men in your wrong place: but by grace you become men indeed, +true men; men living as man was meant to live, by faith, which is the +gift of God. For without grace man is like a stream when the fountain +head is stopped; it stops too—lies in foul puddles, decays, and at last +dries up: to keep the stream pure and living and flowing, the fountain +above must flow, and feed it for ever. + +And so it is with man. Man is the stream, Christ is the fountain of +life. Parted from him mankind becomes foul and stagnant in sin and +ignorance, and at last dries up and perishes, because there is no life in +them. Joined to him in holy baptism, mankind lives, spreads, grows, +becomes stronger, better, wiser year by year, each generation of his +church teaching the one which comes after, as our Lord says, not only, +‘If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink;’ but also, ‘He that +believeth in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water.’ + +Yes, my brethren, if you want to see what man is, you must not look at +the heathens, who are in a state of fallen and corrupt nature, but at +Christians, who are in a state of grace; for they only (those of them, I +mean, who are true to God and themselves), give us any true notion of +what man can be and should be. + +Heathendom is the foul and stagnant pool, parted from Christ, the Fount +of life. Christendom, in spite of all its sins and short-comings, is the +stream always fed from the heavenly Fountain. And holy baptism is the +river of the water of life, which St. John saw in the Revelations, clear +as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, the +trees of which are for the healing of the nations. And when that river +shall have spread over the world, there shall be no more curse, but the +throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in the city of God; and the +nations of them that are saved shall grow to glory and blessedness, such +as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of +man to conceive, but God hath prepared for those who love him. + +Oh, may God hasten that day! May he accomplish the number of his elect +and hasten his kingdom, and the day when there shall not be a heathen +soul on earth, but all shall know him from the least to the greatest, and +the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the +sea! + +Then—when all men are brought into the fold of Christ’s holy Church—then +will they be men indeed; men not after nature, but after grace, and the +likeness of Christ, and the stature of perfect men: and then what shall +happen to this earth matters little; no, not if the earth and all the +works therein, beautiful though they be, be burned up; for though this +world perish, man would still have his portion sure in the city of God +which is eternal in the heavens, and before the face of the Son of man +who is in heaven. + +Oh, my friends, think of this. Think of what you say when you say, ‘I am +a man.’ Remember that you are claiming for yourselves the very highest +honour—an honour too great to make you proud; an honour so great that, if +you understand it rightly, it must fill you with awe, and trembling, and +the spirit of godly fear, lest, when God has put you up so high, you +should fall shamefully again. For the higher the place, the deeper the +fall; and the greater the honour, the greater the shame of losing it. +But be sure that it was an honour before Adam fell. That ever since +Christ has taken the manhood into God, it is an honour now to be a man. +Do not let the devil or bad men ever tempt you to say, I am only a man, +and therefore you cannot expect me to do right. I am but a man, and +therefore I cannot help being mean, and sinful, and covetous, and +quarrelsome, and foul: for that is the devil’s doctrine, though it is +common enough. I have heard a story of a man in America—where very few, +I am sorry to say, have heard the true doctrine of the Catholic Church, +and therefore do not know really that God made man in his own image, and +redeemed him again into his own image by Jesus Christ—and this man was +rebuked for being a drunkard; and what do you fancy his excuse was? +‘Ah,’ he said, ‘you should remember that there is a great deal of human +nature in a man.’ That was his excuse. He had been so ill-taught by his +Calvinist preachers, that he had learnt to look on human nature as +actually a bad thing; as if the devil, and not God, had made human +nature, and as if Christ had not redeemed human nature. Because he was a +man, he thought he was excused in being a bad man; because he had a human +nature in him, he was to be a drunkard and a brute. + +My friends, I trust that you have not so learned Christ. And if you +have, it is from no teaching of your Bible, of your Catechism, or your +Prayer-book; and, I say boldly, from no teaching of mine. The Church +bids you say, Yes; I have a human nature in me; and what nature is that +but the nature which the Son of God took on himself, and redeemed, and +justified it, and glorified it, sitting for ever now in his human nature +at the right hand of God, the Son of man who is in heaven? Yes, I am a +man; and what is it to be a man, but to be the image and glory of God? +What is it to be a man? To belong to that race whose Head is the +co-equal and co-eternal Son of God. True, it is not enough to have only +a human nature which may sin, will sin, must sin, if left to itself a +moment. But you have, unless the Holy Spirit has left you, and your +baptism is of none effect, more than human nature in you: you have divine +grace—that supernatural grace and Spirit of God by which man stood in +Paradise, and by neglecting which he fell. + +Obey that Spirit; from him comes every right judgment of your minds, +every good desire of your hearts, every thought and feeling in you which +raises you up, instead of dragging you down; which bids you do your duty, +and live the life of God and Christ, instead of living the mere +death-in-life of selfish pleasure and covetousness. Obey that Spirit, +and be men: men indeed, that you may not come to shame in the day when +Christ the Son of Man shall take account of you, how you have used your +manhood, body, soul, and spirit. + + + + +SERMON XXIV. +THE CHARITY OF GOD. + + + (_Quinquagesima Sunday_.) + + LUKE xviii. 31, 32, 33. + + All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man + shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, + and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and + they shall scourge him and put him to death; and the third day he + shall rise again. + +THIS is a solemn text, a solemn Gospel; but it is not its solemnity which +I wish to speak of this morning, but this—What has it to do with the +Epistle, and with the Collect? The Epistle speaks of Charity; the +Collect bids us pray for the Holy Spirit of Charity. What have they to +do with the Gospel? + +Let me try to show you. + +The Epistle speaks of God’s eternal charity. The Gospel tells us how +that eternal charity was revealed, and shown plainly in flesh and blood +on earth, in the life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord. + +But you may ask, How does the Epistle talk of God’s charity? It bids men +be charitable; but the name of God is never mentioned in it. Not so, my +friends. Look again at the Epistle, and you will see one word which +shows us that this charity, which St. Paul says we must have, is God’s +charity. + +For, he says, Charity never faileth; that though prophecies shall fail, +tongues cease, knowledge vanish away, charity shall never fail. Now, if +a thing never fail, it must be eternal. And if it be eternal, it must be +in God. For, as I have reminded you before about other things, the +Athanasian Creed tells us (and never was truer or wiser word written) +there is but one eternal. + +But if charity be not in God, there must be two eternals; God must be one +eternal, and charity another eternal; which cannot be. Therefore charity +must be in God, and of God, part of God’s essence and being; and not only +God’s saints, but God himself—suffereth long, and is kind; envieth not, +is not puffed up, seeketh not his own, is not easily provoked, thinketh +no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but in the truth; beareth all things, +believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. + +So St. Augustine believed, and the greatest fathers of old time. They +believed, and they have taught us to believe, that before all things, +above all things, beneath all things, is the divine charity, the love of +God, infinite as God is infinite, everlasting as God is everlasting; the +charity by which God made all worlds, all men, and all things, that they +might be blest as he is blest, perfect as he is perfect, useful as he is +useful; the charity which is God’s essence and Holy Spirit, which might +be content in itself, because it is perfectly at peace in itself; and yet +_cannot_ be content in itself, just because it is charity and love, and +therefore must be going forth and proceeding everlastingly from the +Father and the Son, upon errands of charity, love, and mercy, rewarding +those whom it finds doing their work in their proper place, and seeking +and saving those who are lost, and out of their proper place. + +But what has this to do with the Gospel? Surely, my friends, it is not +difficult to see. In Jesus Christ our Lord, the eternal charity of God +was fully revealed. The veil was taken off it once for all, that men +might see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and know that the +glory of God is charity, and the Spirit of God is love. + +There was a veil over that in old times; and the veil comes over it often +enough now. It was difficult in old times to believe that God was +charity; it is difficult sometimes now. + +Sad and terrible things happen—Plague and famine, earthquake and war. +All these things have happened in our times. Not two months ago, in +Italy, an earthquake destroyed many thousands of people; and in India, +this summer, things have happened of which I dare not speak, which have +turned the hearts of women to water, and the hearts of men to fire: and +when such things happen, it is difficult for the moment to believe that +God is love, and that he is full of eternal, boundless, untiring charity +toward the creatures whom he has made, and who yet perish so terribly, +suddenly, strangely. + +Well, then, we must fall back on the Gospel. We must not be afraid of +the terror of such awful events, but sanctify the Lord God, in our +hearts, and say, Whatever may happen I know that God is love; I know that +his glory is charity; I know that his mercy is over all his works; for I +know that Jesus Christ, who was full of perfect charity, is the express +image of his Father’s person, and the brightness of his Father’s glory. +I know (for the Gospel tells me), that he dared all things, endured all +things, in the depth of his great love, for the sake of sinful men. I +know that when he knew what was going to happen to him; when he knew that +he should be mocked, scourged, crucified, he deliberately, calmly, faced +all that shame, horror, agony, and went up willingly to Jerusalem to +suffer and to die there; because he was full of the Spirit of God, the +spirit of charity and love. I know that he was _so_ full of it, that as +he went up on his fatal journey, with a horrible death staring him in the +face, still, instead of thinking of himself, he was thinking of others, +and could find time to stop and heal the poor blind man by the way side, +who called ‘Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.’ And in him and +his love will I trust, when there seems nothing else left to trust on +earth. + +Oh, my friends, believe this with your whole heart. Whatever happens to +you or to your friends, happens out of the eternal charity of God, who +cannot change, who cannot hate, who can be nothing but what he is and +was, and ever will be—love. + +And when St. Paul tells you, as he told you in the Epistle to-day, to +have charity, to try for charity, because it is the most excellent way to +please God, and the eternal virtue, which will abide for ever in heaven, +when all wisdom and learning, even about spiritual things, which men have +had on earth, shall seem to us when we look back such as a child’s +lessons do to a grown man;—when, I say, St. Paul tells you to try after +charity, he tells you to be like God himself; to be perfect even as your +Father in heaven is perfect; to bear and forbear because God does so: to +give and forgive because God does so; to love all because God loves all, +and willeth that none should perish, but that all should come to the +knowledge of the truth. + +How he will fulfil that; how he fulfilled it last summer with those poor +souls in India, we know not, and never shall know in this life. Let it +be enough for us that known unto God are all his works from the +foundation of the world, and that his charity embraces the whole +universe. + + + + +SERMON XXV. +THE DAYS OF THE WEEK. + + + JAMES i. 17. + + Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh + down from the Father of lights, with whom is neither variableness, + nor shadow of turning. + +IT seems an easy thing for us here to say, ‘I believe in God.’ We have +learnt from our childhood that there is but one God. It seems to us +strange and ridiculous that people anywhere should believe in more gods +than one. We never heard of any other doctrine, except in books about +the heathen; and there are perhaps not three people in this church who +ever saw a heathen man, or talked to him. + +Yet it is not so easy to learn that there is but one God. Were it not +for the church, and the missionaries who were sent into this part of the +world by the church, now 1200 years ago, we should not know it now. Our +forefathers once worshipped many gods, and not one only God. I do not +mean when they were savages; for I do not believe that they ever were +savages at all: but after they were settled here in England, living in a +simple way, very much as country people live now, and dressing very much +as country people do now, they worshipped many gods. + +Now what put that mistake into their minds? It seems so ridiculous to us +now, that we cannot understand at first how it ever arose. + +But if we will consider the names of their old gods, we shall understand +it a little better. Now the names of the old English gods you all know. +They are in your mouths every day. The days of the week are named after +them. The old English kept time by weeks, as the old Jews did, and they +named their days after their gods. Why, would take me too much time to +tell: but so it is. + +Why, then, did they worship these gods? + +First, because man must worship something. Before man fell, he was +created in Christ the image and likeness of God the Father; and therefore +he was created that he might hear his Father’s voice, and do his Father’s +will, as Christ does everlastingly; and after man fell, and lost Christ +and Christ’s likeness, still there was left in his heart some remembrance +of the child’s feeling which the first man had; he felt that he ought to +look up to some one greater than himself, obey some one greater than +himself; that some one greater than himself was watching over him, doing +him good, and perhaps, too, doing him harm and punishing him. + +Then these simple men looked up to the heaven above, and round on the +earth beneath, and asked, Who is it who is calling for us? Who is it we +ought to obey and please; who gives us good things? Who may hurt us if +we make him angry? + +Then the first thing they saw was the sun. What more beautiful than the +sun? What more beneficent? From the sun came light and heat, the growth +of all living things, ay, the growth of life itself. + +The sun, they thought, must surely be a god; so they worshipped the sun, +and called the first day of the week after him—Sunday. + +Next the moon. Nothing, except the sun, seemed so grand and beautiful to +them as the moon, and she was their next god, and Monday was named after +her. + +Then the wind—what a mysterious, awful, miraculous thing the wind seemed, +always moving, yet no one knew how; with immense power and force, and yet +not to be seen; as our blessed Lord himself said, ‘The wind bloweth where +it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence +it cometh or whither it goeth.’ Then—and this is very curious—they +fancied that the wind was a sort of pattern, or type of the spirit of +man. With them, as with the old Jews and Greeks, the same word which +meant wind, meant also a man’s soul, his spirit; and so they grew to +think that the wind was inhabited by some great spirit, who gave men +spirit, and inspired them to be brave, and to prophesy, and say and do +noble things; and they called him Wodin the Mover, the Inspirer; and +named Wednesday after him. + +Next the thunder—what more awful and terrible, and yet so full of good, +than the summer heat and the thunder cloud? So they fancied that the +thunder was a god, and called him Thor—and the dark thunder cloud was +Thor’s frowning eyebrow; and the lightning flash Thor’s hammer, with +which he split the rocks, and melted the winter-ice and drove away the +cold of winter, and made the land ready for tillage. So they worshipped +Thor, and loved him; for they fancied him a brave, kindly, useful god, +who loved to see men working in their fields, and tilling the land +honestly. + +Then the spring. That was a wonder to them again—and is it not a wonder +to see all things grow fresh and fair, after the dreary winter cold? So +the spring was a goddess, and they called her Freya, the Free One, the +Cheerful One, and named Friday after her; and she it was, they thought, +who gave them the pleasant spring time, and youth, and love, and +cheerfulness, and rejoiced to see the flowers blossom, and the birds +build their nests, and all young creatures enjoy the life which God had +given them in the pleasant days of spring. And after her Friday is +named. + +Then the harvest. The ripening of the grain, that too was a wonder to +them—and should it not be to us?—how the corn and wheat which is put into +the ground and dies should rise again, and then ripen into golden corn? +That too must be the work of some kindly spirit, who loved men; and they +called him Seator, the Setter, the Planter, the God of the seed field and +the harvest, and after him Saturday is named. + +And so, instead of worshipping him who made all heaven and earth, they +turned to worship the heaven and the earth itself, like the foolish +Canaanites. + +But some may say, ‘This was all very mistaken and foolish: but what harm +was there in it? How did it make them worse men?’ + +My friends, among these very woodlands here, some thirteen hundred years +ago, you might have come upon one of the places where your forefathers +worshipped Thor and Odin, the thunder and the wind, beneath the shade of +ancient oaks, in the darkest heart of the forest. And there you would +have seen an ugly sight enough. + +There was an altar there, with an everlasting fire burning on it; but why +should that altar, and all the ground around be crusted and black with +blood; why should that dark place be like a charnel house or a butcher’s +shambles; why, from all the trees around, should there be hanging the +rotting carcases, not of goats and horses merely, but of _men_, +sacrificed to Thor and Odin, the thunder and the wind? Why that +butchery, why those works of darkness in the dark places of the world? + +Because that was the way of pleasing Thor and Odin. To that our +forefathers came. To that all heathens have come, sooner or later. They +fancy gods in their own likeness; and then they make out those gods no +better than, and at last as bad as themselves. + +The old English and Danes were fond of Thor and Odin; they fancied them, +as I told you, brave gods, very like themselves: but they themselves were +not always what they ought to be; they had fierce passions, were proud, +revengeful, blood-thirsty; and they thought Thor and Odin must be so too. + +And when they looked round them, that seemed too true. The thunder storm +did not merely melt the snow, cool the air, bring refreshing rain; it +sometimes blasted trees, houses, men; that they thought was Thor’s anger. + +So of the wind. Sometimes it blew down trees and buildings, sank ships +in the sea. That was Odin’s anger. Sometimes, too, they were not brave +enough; or they were defeated in battle. That was because Thor and Odin +were angry with them, and would not give them courage. How were they to +appease Thor and Odin, and put them into good humour again? By giving +them their revenge, by letting them taste blood; by offering them sheep, +goats, horses in sacrifice: and if that would not do, by offering them +something more precious still, living men. + +And so, too often, when the weather was unfavourable, and crops were +blasted by tempest or they were defeated in battle by their enemies, +Thor’s and Odin’s altars were turned into slaughter-places for wretched +human beings—captives taken in war, and sometimes, if the need was very +great, their own children. That was what came of worshipping the heaven +above and the earth around, instead of the true God. Human sacrifices, +butchery, and murder. + +English and Danes alike. It went on among them both; across the seas in +their old country, and here in England, till they were made Christians. +There is no doubt about it. I could give you tale on tale which would +make your blood run cold. Then they learnt to throw away those false +gods who quarrelled among themselves, and quarrelled with mankind; gods +who were proud, revengeful, changeable, spiteful; who had variableness in +them, and turned round as their passions led them. Then they learnt to +believe in the one true God, the Father of lights, in whom is neither +variableness nor shadow of turning. Then they learnt that from one God +came every good and perfect gift; that God filled the sun with light; +that God guided the changes of the moon; that God, and not Thor, gave to +men industry and courage; God, and not Wodin, inspired them with the +spirit which bloweth where it listeth, and raised them up above +themselves to speak noble words and do noble deeds; that God, and not +Friga, sent spring time and cheerfulness, and youth and love, and all +that makes earth pleasant; that God, and not Satur, sent the yearly +wonder of the harvest crops, sent rain and fruitful seasons, filling the +earth with food and gladness. + +But what was there about this new God, even the true God, which the old +missionaries preached, which won the hearts of our forefathers? + +This, my friends, not merely that he was one God and not many, but that +he was a Father of lights, from whom came good gifts, in whom was neither +variableness nor shadow of turning. + +Not merely a master, but a Father, who gave good gifts, because he was +good himself; a God whom they could love, because he loved them; a God +whom they could trust and depend on, because there was no variableness in +him, and he could not lose his temper as Thor and Odin did. That was the +God whom their wild, passionate hearts wanted, and they believed in him. + +And when they doubted, and asked, ‘How can we be sure that God is +altogether good?—how can we be sure that he is always trustworthy, always +the same?’—Then the missionaries used to point them to the crucifix, the +image of Christ upon his cross, and say, ‘There is the token; there is +what God is to you, what God suffered for you; there is the everlasting +sign that he gives good gifts, even to the best of all gifts, even to his +own self, when it was needed; there is the everlasting sign that in him +is neither darkness, passion, nor change, but that he wills all men to be +saved from their own darkness and passions, and from the ruin which they +bring, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, that they have a Father +in heaven.’ + + + + +SERMON XXVI. +THE HEAVENLY FATHER. + + + ACTS xvi. 24–28. + + God that made the world, and all that therein is, seeing that he is + Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . . + For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also + of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. + +I TOLD you last Sunday of the meaning of the days of the week; but one +day I left out—namely, Tuesday. I did so on purpose. I wish to speak of +that day by itself in this sermon. + +I told you how our forefathers worshipped many gods, by fancying that +various things in the world round them were gods—sun and moon, wind and +thunder, spring and harvest. + +But if that seems to you at times wrong and absurd, it seemed so to them +also. They, like all heathens, had at times dreams of one God. + +They thought to themselves—All heaven and earth must have had a +beginning, and they cannot have grown out of nothing, for out of nothing +nothing comes. They must have been made in some way. Perhaps they were +made by some _One_. + +The more they saw of this wonderful world, and all the order and +contrivance in it, the more sure they were that one mind must have +planned it, one will created it. + +But men—they thought—persons, living souls—are not merely made; they are +begotten; they must have a Father, whose sons they are. Perhaps, they +thought, there is somewhere a great Father; a Father of all persons, from +whom all souls come, who was before all things, and all persons, however +great, however ancient they may be. And so, like the Greeks and Romans, +and many other heathen nations, they had dim thoughts of an All-Father, +as they called him; Father of gods and men; the Father of spirits. + +They looked round them too, in this world, and saw that everything in it +must die. The tree, though it stood for a thousand years, must decay at +last; the very rocks and mountains crumbled to dust at last: and so they +thought—truly and wisely enough—Everything which we see near us, perishes +at last: why should not everything which we can see, however far off, +however great, perish? Why should not this earth come to an end? Why +should not sun and moon, wind and thunder, spring and harvest, end at +last? And then will not these gods, who are mixed up with the world, and +live in it, and govern it, die too? If the sun perishes, the sun-god +will perish too. If the thunder ceases for ever, then there will be no +more thunder-god. Yes, they thought—and wisely and truly too—everything +which has a beginning must have an end. Everything which is born, must +die. The sun and the earth, wind and thunder, will perish some day; the +gods of sun and earth, wind and thunder, will die some day. And then +what will be left? Will there be nothing and nowhere? That thought was +too horrible. God’s voice in their hearts, the word of the Lord Jesus +Christ, who lights every man who comes into the world, made them feel +that it was horrible, unreasonable; that it could not be. + +But it was all dim to them, and uncertain. Of one thing only they were +certain, that death reigned, and that death had passed upon all men, and +things, and even gods. Evil beasts, evil gods, evil passions, were +gnawing at the root of all things. A time would come of nothing but rage +and wickedness, fury and destruction; the gods would fight and be slain, +and earth and heaven would be sent back again into shapeless ruin: and +after that they knew no more, though they longed to know. They dreamed, +I say, at moments of a new and a better world, new men, new gods: but how +were they to come? Who would live when all things died? Was there not +somewhere an All-Father, who had eternal life? + +Then they looked round upon the earth, those simple-hearted forefathers +of ours, and said within themselves, Where is the All-Father, if +All-Father there be? Not in this earth; for it will perish. Not in the +sun, moon, or stars, for they will perish too. Where is He who abideth +for ever? + +Then they lifted up their eyes and saw, as they thought, beyond sun, and +moon, and stars and all which changes and will change, the clear blue +sky, the boundless firmament of heaven. + +That never changed; that was always the same. The clouds and storms +rolled far below it, and all the bustle of this noisy world; but there +the sky was still, as bright and calm as ever. The All-Father must be +there, unchangeable in the unchanging heaven; bright, and pure, and +boundless like the heavens; and like the heavens too, silent, and afar +off. + +So they named him after the heaven, Tuith, Tuisco, Divisco—The God who +lives in the clear heaven; and after him Tuesday is called: the day of +Tuisco, the heavenly Father. He was the Father of gods and men; and man +was the son of Tuisco and Hertha—heaven and earth. + +That was all they knew; and even that they did not know; they +contradicted themselves and each other about it. After a time they began +to think that Odin, and not Tuisco, was the All-Father; all was dim and +far off to them. They were feeling after him, as St. Paul says he had +intended them to do: but they did not find him. They did not know the +Father, because they did not know Jesus Christ the Son; as it is written, +‘No man cometh to the Father, but through me;’ and, ‘No man hath seen God +at any time; only the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the +Father, he hath declared him.’ + +Many other heathens had the same thought and the same word; the old +Greeks and Romans, for instance, who many thousand years ago spoke the +same tongue as we did then, called him Zeus or Deus Pater; Jupiter; the +heavenly Father, Father of gods and men; using the same word as our +Tuisco, a little altered. And that same word, changed slightly, means +God now, in Welsh, French, and Italian, and many languages in Europe and +in Asia; and will do so till the end of time. + +That, I say, was all they knew of their Father in heaven, till +missionaries came and preached the Gospel to them, and told them what St. +Paul told the Greeks in my text. + +Now, what did St. Paul tell the Greeks? He came, we read, to Athens in +Greece, and found the city wholly given to idolatry, worshipping all +manner of false gods, and images of them. And yet they were not content +with their false gods. They felt, as our forefathers felt, that there +must be a greater, better, more mighty, more faithful God than all: and +they thought, ‘We will worship him too: for we are sure that he is, +though we know nothing about him.’ So they set up, beside all the altars +and temples of the false gods ‘To the Unknown God.’ And St. Paul passed +by and saw it; and his heart was stirred within him with pity and +compassion; and he rose up and preached them a sermon—the first and the +best missionary sermon which ever was preached on earth, the model of all +missionary sermons; and said, ‘That God whom you ignorantly worship, Him +I will declare unto you.’ + +Now, here was a Gospel; here was good news. St. Paul told them—as the +missionaries afterwards told our forefathers—that one, at least, of their +heathen fancies was not wrong. There was a heavenly Father. Mankind was +not an orphan, come into the world he knew not whence, and going, when he +died, he knew not whither. No, man was not an orphan. From God he came; +to God, if he chose, he might return. The heathen poet had spoken truth +when he said, ‘For we are the offspring of God.’ + +But where was the heavenly Father? Far away in the clear sky, in the +highest heaven beyond all suns and stars? Silent and idle, caring for no +one on earth, content in himself, and leaving sinful man to himself to go +to ruin as he chose? + +‘No,’ says St. Paul, ‘He is not far off from any one of us; for in him we +live, and move, and have our being.’ + +Wonderful words! Eighteen hundred years have past since then, and we +have not spelt out half the meaning of them. It is such good news, such +blessed news, and yet such awful news, that we are afraid to believe it +fully. That the Almighty God should be so near us, sinful men; that we, +in spite of all our sins, should live, and move, and have our being in +God. How can it be true? + +My friends, it would not be true, if something more was not true. We +should have no right to say, ‘I believe in God the Father Almighty,’ +unless we said also, ‘I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.’ +St. Paul, after he had told them of a Father in heaven, went on to tell +them of _a man_ whom that Father had sent to judge the world, having +raised him from the dead.—And there his sermon stopped. Those foolish +Greeks laughed at him; they would not receive the news of Jesus Christ +the Son; and therefore they lost the good news of their Father in heaven. +We can guess from St. Paul’s Epistle what he was going on to tell them. +How, by believing in Jesus Christ the Son, and claiming their share in +him, and being baptized into his name, they might become once more God’s +children, and take their place again as new men and true men in Jesus +Christ. But they would not hear his message. + +Our forefathers did hear that message, and believed it; they had been +feeling after the heavenly Father, and at last they found him, and +claimed their share in Christ as sons of the heavenly Father; and +therefore we are Christian men this day, baptized into God’s family, and +thriving as God’s family must thrive, as long as it remembers that God +dwelleth not in temples made with hands, and needs nothing from man, +seeing that he gives to all life and breath and all things; and is not +far from any one of us, seeing that in him we live, and move, and have +our being, and are the offspring, the children of God. + +Bear that in mind. Bear it in mind, I say, that in God you live, and +move, and have your being. Day and night, going out and coming in, say +to yourselves, ‘I am with God my Father, and God my Father is with me. +There is not a good feeling in my heart, but my heavenly Father has put +it there: ay, I have not a power which he has not given, a thought which +he does not know; even the very hairs of my head are all numbered. +Whither shall I go then from his presence? Whither shall I flee from his +Spirit? For he filleth all things. If my eyes were opened, I should see +at every moment God’s love, God’s power, God’s wisdom, working alike in +sun and moon, in every growing blade and ripening grain, and in the +training and schooling of every human being, and every nation, to whom he +has appointed their times, and the bounds of their habitation, if haply +they may seek after the Lord, and find him in whom they live, and move, +and have their being. Everywhere I should see life going forth to all +created things from God the Father, of whom are all things, and God the +Son, by whom are all things, and God the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver +of that life.’ + +A little of that glorious sight we may see in this life, if our hearts +and reasons are purified by the Spirit of God, to see God in all things, +and all things in God: and more in that life whereof it is written, +‘Beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we +shall be: but this we know, that when he appears, we shall be like him, +for we shall see him as he is.’ To that life may he in his mercy bring +us all. Amen. + + + + +SERMON XXVII. +THE GOOD SHEPHERD. + + + JOHN x. 11. + + I am the good shepherd. + +HERE are blessed words. They are not new words. You find words like +these often in the Bible, and even in ancient heathen books. Kings, +priests, prophets, judges, are called shepherds of the people. David is +called the shepherd of Israel. A prophet complains of the shepherds of +Israel who feed themselves, and will not feed the flock. + +But the old Hebrew prophets had a vision of a greater and better shepherd +than David, or any earthly king or priest—of a heavenly and almighty +shepherd. ‘The Lord is my shepherd,’ says one; ‘therefore I shall not +want.’ And another says, ‘He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He +shall gather his lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and +shall gently lead those who are with young.’ + +This was blessed news; good news for all mankind, if there had been no +more than this. But there is more blessed news still in the text. In +the text, the Lord of whom those old prophets spoke, spoke for himself, +with human voice, upon this earth of ours; and declared that all they had +said was true; and that more still was true. + +I am the good shepherd, he says. And then he adds, The good shepherd +giveth his life for the sheep. + +Oh, my friends, consider these words. Think what endless depths of +wonder there are in them. Is it not wonderful enough that God should +care for men; should lead them, guide them, feed them, condescend to call +himself their shepherd? Wonderful, indeed; so wonderful, that the old +prophets would never have found it out but by the inspiration of Almighty +God. But what a wider, deeper, nobler, more wonderful blessing, and more +blessed wonder, that the shepherd should give his life for the +sheep;—that the master should give his life for the servant, the good for +the bad, the wise one for the fools, the pure one for the foul, the +loving one for the spiteful, the king for those who had rebelled against +him, the Creator for his creatures. That God should give his life for +man! Truly, says St. John, ‘Herein is love. Not that we loved him: but +that he loved us.’ Herein, indeed, is love. Herein is the beauty of +God, and the glory of God; that he spared nothing, shrank from nothing, +that he might save man. Because the sheep were lost, the good shepherd +would go forth into the rough and dark places of the earth to seek and to +save that which was lost. That was enough. That was a thousand times +more than we had a right to expect. Had he done only that he would have +been for ever glorious, for ever adorable, for ever worthy of the praises +and thanks of heaven and earth, and all that therein is. But that seemed +little in the eyes of Jesus, little to the greatness of his divine love. +He would understand the weakness of his sheep by being weak himself; +understand the sorrows of his sheep, by sorrowing himself; understand the +sins of his sheep, by bearing all their sins; the temptations of his +sheep, by conquering them himself; and lastly, he would understand and +conquer the death of his sheep, by dying himself. Because the sheep must +die, he would die too, that in all things, and to the uttermost, he might +show himself the good shepherd, who shared all sorrow, danger and misery +with his sheep, as if they had been his children, bone of his bone and +flesh of his flesh. In all things he would show himself the good +shepherd, and no hireling, who cared for himself and his own wages. If +the wolf came, he would face the wolf, and though the wolf killed him, +yet would he kill the wolf, that by his death he might destroy death, and +him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. He would go where +the sheep went. He would enter into the sheepfold by the same gate as +they did, and not climb over into the fold some other way, like a thief +and a robber. He would lead them into the fold by the same gate. They +had to go into God’s fold through the gate of death; and therefore he +would go in through it also, and die with his sheep; that he might claim +the gate of death for his own, and declare that it did not belong to the +devil, but to him and his heavenly Father; and then having led his sheep +in through the gate of death, he would lead them out again by the gate of +resurrection, that they might find pasture in the redeemed land of +everlasting life, where can enter neither devil, nor wolf, nor robber, +evil spirit, evil man, or evil thing. This, and more than this, he would +do in the greatness of his love. He would become in all things like his +sheep, that he might show himself the good shepherd. Because they died, +he would die; that so, because he rose, they might rise also. + +Oh, my friends, who is sufficient for these things? Not men, not saints, +not angels or archangels can comprehend the love of Christ. How can +they? For Christ is God, and God is love; the root and fountain of all +love which is in you and me, and angels, and all created beings. And +therefore his love is as much greater than ours, or than the love of +angels and archangels, as the whole sun is greater than one ray of +sun-light. Say rather, as much greater and more glorious as the sun is +greater and more glorious than the light which sparkles in the dew-drop +on the grass. The love and goodness and holiness of a saint or an angel +is the light in that dew-drop, borrowed from the sun. The love of God is +the sun himself, which shineth from one part of heaven to the other, and +there is nothing hid from the life-giving heat and light thereof. When +the dew-drop can take in the sun, then can we take in the love of God, +which fills all heaven and earth. + +But there is, if possible, better news still behind—‘I am the good +shepherd; and know my sheep, and am known of mine.’ + +‘I know my sheep.’ Surely some of the words which I have just spoken may +help to explain that to you. ‘I know my sheep.’ Not merely, I know who +are my sheep, and who are not. Of course, the Lord does that. We might +have guessed that for ourselves. What comfort is there in that? No, he +does not say merely, ‘I know _who_ my sheep are; but I know _what_ my +sheep are. I know them; their inmost hearts. I know their sins and +their follies: but I know, too, their longing after good. I know their +temptations, their excuses, their natural weaknesses, their infirmities, +which they brought into the world with them. I know their inmost hearts +for good and for evil. True, I think some of them often miserable, and +poor, and blind, when they fancy themselves strong, and wise, and rich in +grace, and having need of nothing. But I know some of them, too, to be +longing after what is good, to be hungering and thirsting after +righteousness, when they can see nothing but their own sin and weakness, +and are utterly ashamed and tired of themselves, and are ready to lie +down in despair, and give up all struggling after God. I know their +weakness—and of me it is written, ‘I will carry the lambs in mine arms.’ +Those who are innocent and inexperienced in the ways of this world, I +will see that they are not led into temptation; and I will gently lead +those that are with young: those who are weary with the burden of their +own thoughts, those who are yearning and labouring after some higher, +better, more free, more orderly, more useful life; those who long to find +out the truth, and to speak it, and give birth to the noble thoughts and +the good plans which they have conceived: I have inspired their good +desires, and I will bring them to good effect; I will gently lead them,’ +says the Lord, ‘for I know them better than they know themselves.’ + +Yes. Christ knows us better than we know ourselves: and better, too, +than we know him. Thanks be to God that it is so. Or the last words of +the text would crush us into despair—‘I know my sheep, and am known of +mine.’ + +Is it so? We trust that we are Christ’s sheep. We trust that he knows +us: but do we know him? What answer shall we make to that question, Do +you know Christ? I do not mean, Do you know _about_ Christ? You may +know _about_ a person without knowing the person himself when you see +him. I do not mean, Do you know doctrines about Christ? though that is +good and necessary. Nor, Do you know what Christ has done for your soul? +though that is good and necessary also. But, Do you know Christ himself? +You have never seen him. True: but have you never seen any one like +him—even in part? Do you know his likeness when you see it in any of +your neighbours? That is a question worth thinking over. Again—Do you +know what Christ is like? What his character is—what his way of dealing +with your soul, and all souls, is? Are you accustomed to speak to him in +your prayers as to one who can and will hear you; and do you know his +voice when he speaks to you, and puts into your heart good desires, and +longings after what is right and true, and fair and noble, and loving and +patient, as he himself is? Do you know Christ? + +Alas! my friends, what a poor answer we can make to that question? How +little do we know Christ? + +What would become of us, if he were like us?—If he were one who bargained +with us, and said—‘Unless you know me, I will not take the trouble to +know you. Unless you care for me, you cannot expect me to care for you.’ +What would become of us, if God said, ‘As you do to me, so will I do to +you?’ + +But our only hope lies in this, that in Christ the Lord is no spirit of +bargaining, no pride, no spite, no rendering evil for evil. In this is +our hope; that he is the likeness of his Father’s glory, and the express +image of his person; perfect as his Father is perfect; that like his +Father, he causeth his rain to fall on the evil and the good; and his sun +to shine on the just and on the unjust; and is good to the unthankful and +the evil—to you and me—and knows us, though we know him not; and cares +for us, though we care not for him; and leads us his way, like a good +shepherd, when we fancy in our conceit that we are going in our own way. +This is our hope, that his love is greater than our stupidity; that he +will not tire of us, and our fancies, and our self-will, and our +laziness, in spite of all our peevish tempers, and our mean and fruitless +suspicions of his goodness. No! He will not tire of us, but will seek +us, and save us when we go astray. And some day, somewhere, somehow, he +will open our eyes, and let us see him as he is, and thank him as he +deserves. Some day, when the veil is taken off our eyes, we shall see +like those disciples at Emmaus, that Jesus has been walking with us, and +breaking our bread for us, and blessing us, all our lives long; and that +when our hearts burned within us at noble thoughts, and stories of noble +and righteous men and women, and at the hope that some day good would +conquer evil, and heaven come down on earth, then—so we shall find—God +had been dwelling among men all along—even Jesus, who was dead, and is +alive for evermore, and has the keys of death and hell, and knows his +sheep in this world, and in all worlds, past, present, and to come, and +leads them, and will lead them for ever, and none can pluck them out of +his hand. Amen. + + + + +SERMON XXVIII. +DARK TIMES. + + + 1 JOHN iv. 16–18. + + We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is + love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. + 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. There is no + fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath + torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. + +HAVE we learnt this lesson? Our reading, and thinking, and praying, have +been in vain, unless they have helped us to believe and know the love +which God has to us. But, indeed, no reading, or thinking, or praying +will teach us that perfectly. God must teach it us himself. It is easy +to say that God is love; easy to say that Christ died for us; easy to say +that God’s Spirit is with us; easy to say all manner of true doctrines, +and run them off our tongues at second-hand; easy for me to stand up here +and preach them to you, just as I find them written in a book. But do I +believe what I say? Do you believe what you say? There is an awful +question. We believe it all now, or think we believe it, while we are +easy and comfortable: but should we have boldness in the day of +judgment?—Should we believe it all, if God visited us, to judge us, and +try us, and pierce asunder the very joints and marrow of our heart with +fearful sorrow and temptation? O Lord, who shall stand in that day? + +Suppose, for instance, God were to take away the desire of our eyes, with +a stroke. Suppose we were to lose a wife, a darling child; suppose we +were struck blind, or paralytic; suppose some unspeakable, unbearable +shame fell on us to-morrow: could we say then, God is love, and this +horrible misery is a sign of it? He loves me, for he chastens me? Or +should we say, like Job’s wife, and one of the foolish women, ‘Curse God +and die?’ God knows. + +Ah, when that dark day seems coming on us, and bringing some misery which +looks to us beforehand quite unbearable—then how our lip-belief and +book-faith is tried, and burnt up in the fire of God, and in the fire of +our own proud, angry hearts, too! How we struggle and rage at first at +the very thought of the coming misery; and are ready to say, God will not +do this! He cannot—cannot be so unjust, so cruel, as to bring this +misery on me. What have I done to deserve it? Or, if I have deserved +it, what have these innocents done? Why should they be punished for my +sins? After all my prayers, too, and my church-goings, and my tryings to +be good. Is this God’s reward for all my trouble to please him? Then +how vain all our old prayers seem; how empty and dry all ordinances. We +cry, I have cleansed my hands in vain, and in vain washed my heart in +innocency. We have no heart to pray to God. If he has not heard our +past prayers, why should we pray anymore? Let us lie down and die; let +us bear his heavy hand, if we must bear it, sullenly, desperately: but, +as for saying that God is love, or to say that we know the love which God +has for us, we say in our hearts, Let the clergyman talk of that; it is +his business to speak about it; or comfortable, easy people, who are not +watering their pillow with bitter tears all night long. But if they were +in my place (says the unhappy man), they would know a little more of what +poor souls have to go through: they would talk somewhat less freely about +its being a sin to doubt God’s love. He has sent this great misery on +me. How can I tell what more he may not send? How can I help being +afraid of God, and looking up to him with tormenting fear? + +Yes, my friends. These are very terrible thoughts—very wrong thoughts +some of them, very foolish thoughts some of them, though pardonable +enough; for God pardons them, as we shall see. But they are real +thoughts. They are what really come into people’s minds every day; and I +am here to talk to you about what is really going on in your soul, and +mine; not to repeat to you doctrines at second-hand out of a book, and +say, There, that is what you have to believe and do; and, if you do not, +you will go to hell: but to speak to you as men of like passions with +myself; as sinning, sorrowing, doubting, struggling human beings; and to +talk to you of what is in my own heart, and will be in your hearts too, +some day, if it has not been already. This is the experience of all +_real_ men, all honest men, who ever struggled to know and to do what is +right. David felt it all. You find it all through those glorious Psalms +of his. He was no comfortable, book-read, second-hand Christian, who had +an answer ready for every trouble, because he had never had any real +trouble at all. David was not one of them. He had to go through a very +rough training—very terrible and fiery trials, year after year; and had +to say, again and again, ‘I am weary of crying; my heart is dry; my heart +faileth me for waiting so long upon my God. All thy billows and storms +are gone over me. Thou hast laid me in a place of darkness, and in the +lowest deep.’— + +Not by sitting comfortably reading his book, but by such terrible trials +as that, was David taught to trust God to the uttermost; and to learn +that God’s love was so perfect that he need never dread him, or torment +himself with anxiety lest God should leave him to perish. + +Hezekiah felt it, too, good man as he was, when he was sick, and like to +die. And it was not for many a day that he found out the truth about +these dark hours of misery, that by all these things men live, and in all +these things is the life of the Spirit. + +And this was Jacob’s experience, too, on that most fearful night of all +his life, when he waited by the ford of Jabbok, expecting that with the +morning light the punishment of his past sins would come on him; and not +only on him, but on all his family, and his innocent children; when he +stood there alone by the dark river, not knowing whether Esau and his +wild Arabs would not sweep off the earth all he had and all he loved; and +knowing, too, that it was his own fault, that he had brought it all upon +them by his own deceit and treachery. Then, when his sins stared him in +the face, and God rose up to judgment against him, he learnt to pray as +he had never prayed before—a prayer too deep for words. + +‘And Jacob was left alone: and there wrestled a man with him till the +breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, +he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh; and the hollow of his thigh was +out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the +day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, till thou bless me. +And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place +Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ + +So it may be with us. So it must be with us, in the dark day when our +faith is really tried by terrible affliction. + +We must begin as Jacob did. Plead God’s promises, confess the mercies we +have received already. ‘I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies +which thou hast showed to thy servant.’ + +Ask for God’s help, as Jacob did: ‘Deliver me, I pray thee, out of the +hand of Esau my brother.’ Plead his written promises, and the covenant +of our baptism, which tell us that we are God’s children, and God our +Father, as Jacob did according to his light—‘And thou saidst, I will +surely do thee good.’ + +So the proud angry heart will perhaps pass out of us, and we shall set +ourselves more calmly to face the worst, and to try if God’s promises be +indeed true, and God be indeed as he has said, ‘Love.’ + +But do not be astonished, do not be disheartened, if, when the trouble +comes, there comes with it, as to Jacob, a more terrible struggle far, a +struggle too deep for words; if you find out that fine words and set +prayers are nothing in the hour of need, and that you will not be heard +for your much speaking. Ah! the darkness of that time, which perhaps +goes on for days, for months, all alone between you and God himself. +Clergymen and good people may come in with kind words and true words: but +they give no comfort; your heart is still dark, still full of doubt; you +want God himself to speak to your heart, and tell you that he is love. +And you have no words to pray with at last; you have used them all up; +and you can only cling humbly to God, and hold fast. One moment you feel +like a poor slave clinging to his stern master’s arm, and entreating him +not to kill him outright. The next you feel like a child clinging to its +father, and entreating him to save him from some horrible monster which +is going to devour it: but you have no words to pray with, only sighs, +and tears, and groans; you feel that you know not what to pray for as you +ought, know not what is good for you; dare ask for nothing, lest it +should be the wrong thing. And the longer you struggle, the weaker you +become, as Jacob did, till your very bones seem out of joint, your very +heart broken within you, and life seems not worth having, or death +either. + +Only hold fast by God. Only do not despair. Only be sure that God +cannot lie; be sure that he who cared for you from your birth hour cares +for you still; that he who loved you enough to give his own Son for you +hundreds of years before you were born, cannot but love you still; do not +despair, I say; and at last, when you are fallen so low that you can fall +no lower, and so weak that you are past struggling, you may hear through +the darkness of your heart the still small voice of God. Only hold fast, +and let him not go until he bless you, and you shall find with Jacob of +old, that as a prince you have power with God and with man, and have +prevailed. And so God will answer you, as he answered Elijah, at first +out of the whirlwind and the blinding storm: but at last, doubt it not, +with the still small voice which cannot be mistaken, which no earthly ear +can hear, but which is more precious to the broken heart than all which +this world gives, the peace which passes understanding, and yet is the +surest and the only lasting peace. + +But what is the secret of this strange awful struggle? Can you or I +change God’s will by any prayers of ours? God forbid that we should, my +friends, even if we could; for his will is a good will to us, and his +name is Love. + +Do not be afraid of him. If you do, you are not made perfect in love; +you have not yet learnt perfect the lesson of his great love to you. But +what is the secret of this struggle? Why has any poor soul to wrestle +thus with God who made him, before he can get peace and hope? Why is the +trouble sent him at all? It looks at first sight a strange sort of token +of God’s love, to bring the creatures whom he has made into utter misery. + +My friends, these are deep questions. There are plenty of answers for +them ready written: but no answers like the Bible ones, which tell us +that ‘whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth; that these sorrows come on us, +and heaviness, and manifold temptations, in order that the trial of our +faith, being much more precious than that of gold, which perishes though +it be tried with fire, may be found to praise, and honour, and glory at +the appearance of Jesus Christ.’ This is the only answer but it does not +explain the reason. It only gives us hope under it. We do not know that +these dreadful troubles come from God. The Bible tells us ‘that God +tempts no man; that he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the +children of men.’ The Bible speaks at times as if these dark troubles +came from the devil himself; and as if God turned them into good for us +by making them part of our training, part of our education; and so making +some devil’s attempt to ruin us only a great means of our improvement. I +do not know: but this I do know, the troubles are here, and God is love. +At least this is comfortable, that God will let no man be tempted beyond +what he is able: but will with the temptation make a way for us to +escape, that we may be able to bear it. At least this is comfortable, +that our prayers are not needed to change God’s will, because his will is +already that we should be saved; because we are on his side in the battle +against the devil, or the flesh, or the world, or whatever it is which +makes poor souls and bodies miserable, and he on ours: and all we have to +do in our prayers, is to ask advice and orders and strength and courage +from the great Captain of our salvation; that we may fight his battle and +ours aright and to the end. And, my friends, if you be in trouble, if +your heart be brought low within you, remember, only remember, who the +Captain of our salvation is. Who but Jesus who died on the cross—Jesus +who was made perfect by sufferings, Jesus who cried out, ‘My God! my God! +why hast thou forsaken me?’ + +If Christ had to be made perfect by sufferings, much more must we. If he +needed to learn obedience by sorrow, much more must we. If he needed in +the days of his flesh, to make supplication to God his Father with strong +crying and tears, so do we. And if he was heard in that he feared, so, I +trust, we shall be heard likewise. If he needed to taste even the most +horrible misery of all; to feel for a moment that God had forsaken him; +surely we must expect, if we are to be made like him, to have to drink at +least one drop out of his bitter cup. It is very wonderful: but yet it +is full of hope and comfort. Full of hope and comfort to be able, in our +darkest and bitterest sorrow, to look up to heaven, and say, At least +there is one who has been through all this. As Christ was, so are we in +this world; and the disciple cannot be above his master. Yes, we are in +this world as he was, and he was once in this world as we are, he has +been through all this, and more. He knows all this and more. ‘We have a +High Priest above us who can be touched with the feeling of our +infirmities, because he has been tempted in all things like as we are. +yet without sin.’ + +Yes, my friends. Nothing like one honest look, one honest thought, of +Christ upon his cross. That tells us how much he has been through, how +much he endured, how much he conquered, how much God loved us, who spared +not his only-begotten Son, but freely gave him for us. Dare we doubt +such a God? Dare we murmur against such a God? Dare we lay the blame of +our sorrows on such a God—our Father? No; let us believe the blessed +message of our confirmation, which tells us that it is his Fatherly hand +which is ever over us, and that even though that hand may seem heavy for +awhile, it is the hand of him whose very being and substance is love, who +made the world by love, by love redeemed man, by love sustains him still. +Though we went down into hell, says David, he is there; though we took +the wings of the morning, and fled into the uttermost part of the sea, +yet there his hand would hold us, and his right hand guide us still. It +is holding and guiding every one of us now, through storm as well as +through sunshine, through grief as well as through joy; let us humble +ourselves under that mighty hand, and it will exalt us in due time. He +knows, and must know, when that due time is, and, till then, he is still +love, and his mercy is over all his works. + + + + +SERMON XXIX. +GOD’S CREATION. + + + GENESIS i. 31. + + And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. + +THIS is good news, and a gospel. The Bible was written to bring good +news, and therefore with good news it begins, and with good news it ends. + +But it is not so easy to believe. We want faith to believe; and that +faith will be sometimes sorely tried. + +Yes; we want faith. As St. Paul says: ‘Through faith we understand that +the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are seen +were not made of things which appear.’ + +No one can prove to us that God made the world; yet we must believe it; +and what is more, we _do_ believe it, and are certain of it. But all the +proving and arguments in the world will not make us _certain_ that God +made the world; they will only make us feel that it is probable, that it +is reasonable to think so. What, then, does make us _certain_ that God +made the world?—as certain as if we had seen him make it? _Faith_, which +is stronger than all arguments. Faith, which comes down from heaven to +our hearts, and is the gift of God. Faith, which is the light with which +Jesus Christ lights us. Faith, which comes by the inspiration of God’s +Holy Spirit. + +So, again, when we have to believe not only that God made the world, but +that all things which he has made are very good. + +So it is, and you must believe it. God is good, the absolute and perfect +good; and from good nothing can come but good: and therefore all which +God has made is good, as he is; and therefore if anything in the world +seems to be bad, one of two things must be true of it. + +1. Either it is _not_ bad, though it seems so to us; and God will bring +good out of it in his good time, and justify himself to men, and show us +that he is holy in all his works, and righteous in all his ways. + +Or else—If the thing be really bad, then God did not make it. It must be +a disease, a mistake, a failure, of man’s making, or some person’s +making, but not of God’s making. For all that he has made he sees +eternally; and behold, it is very good. + +Now, I can say that; and I believe it; and God grant I may never say +anything else. And yet I cannot prove it to you by any argument. But I +believe it; and I dare say many of you believe it (you all must believe +it, before all is over), by something better than any argument. By +faith—faith, which speaks to the very core and root of a man’s heart and +reason, and teaches him things surer and deeper than all sermons and +books, all proofs and arguments. + +May God, our Heavenly Father, fill our hearts with his Holy Spirit of +faith, that we may believe utterly in his goodness, and therefore believe +in the goodness of all that he has made. + +For at times we shall need that faith very much indeed, not only about +our neighbours, but about ourselves. We shall find it hard to believe +that there is goodness in some of our neighbours; and the better we know +ourselves, we shall find it very difficult to believe that there is +goodness in us. + +For surely this is a great puzzle. + +‘God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good.’ And +God made you and me. Are we therefore very good? Or were we ever very +good? Here is a great mystery. It would seem as if we must have been +very good if God made us. For God can make nothing bad. Surely not. +For he who makes bad things is a bad maker; he who makes bad houses is a +bad builder; and he who makes bad men is a bad maker of men. But God +cannot be a bad maker; for he is perfect and without fault in all his +works. Yet men are bad. + +Yet, on the other hand, if God made us, and the Bible be true, there must +be good in us. When God said, Let that man be; when God first thought of +us, if I may so speak, before the foundation of the world—he thought of +us as good. He created each of us good in his own mind, else he would +not have created us at all. But why were we not good when we came on +earth? Why do we come into this world sinful? Why does God’s thought of +us, God’s purpose about us, seem to have failed? We do not know, and we +need not know. St. Paul tells us that it came by Adam’s fall; that by +Adam’s fall sin entered into the world, and each man, as he came into it, +became sinful. How that was we cannot understand—we need not understand. +Let us believe, and be silent; but let us believe this also, that St. +Paul speaks truth not in this only but in that blessed and glorious news +with which he follows up his sad and bad news. ‘As by the offence of +one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the +righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of +life.’ + +Yes; we may say boldly now, Whatever has been; whatever sin I inherited +from Adam; however sinful I came into this world, God looks on me now, +not as I am in Adam, but as I am in Christ. I am in Christ now, baptized +into Christ, a new creature in Christ; to Christ I belong, and not to +Adam at all; and God looks now, not on the old corrupt nature which I +inherited from Adam, but on the new and good grace which God meant for me +from all eternity, which Christ has given me now. It is that good and +new grace in me which God cares for; it is that good and new grace which +God is working on, to strengthen and perfect it, that I may grow in +grace, and in the likeness of Christ, and become at last what God +intended me to be, when he thought of me first before the foundation of +all worlds, and said, ‘Let us make man [not one man, but all men, male +and female] in our image, after our likeness.’ + +This, again, is a great mystery. Yet our own hearts will tell us, if we +will look at them, that it is true. Are there not, as it were, two +different persons in us, fighting for the mastery? Are we not so +different at different times, that we seem to ourselves, and to our +neighbours, perhaps, to be two different people, according as we give way +to the better nature or to the worse? Even as David—one year living a +heroic and noble life by faith in God, writing Psalms which will live to +the world’s end, and the next committing adultery and murder. Were those +two Davids the same David? Yes; and yet No. The good and noble David +was David when he obeyed the grace of God. The base and foul David was +David when he gave way to his fallen and corrupt nature. + +Even so might we be. Even so, in a less degree, are we sometimes so +unlike ourselves, so ashamed of ourselves, so torn asunder with passions +and lusts, delighting in God’s law and all that is good in our hearts, +and yet finding another law in us which makes us slaves at moments to our +basest passions—to anger, fear, spite, covetousness—that when we think of +it we are ready to cry with St. Paul, ‘Oh, wretched man that I am, who +shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ + +Who? Who but he of whom St. Paul tells us, gives the answer in the very +next verse, ‘I thank God, that God himself will, through Jesus Christ our +Lord.’ + +Oh, my friends, whosoever of you have ever felt angry with yourselves, +discontented with yourselves, ashamed of yourselves (and he that has not +felt so knows no more about himself than a dumb animal does)—you that +have felt so, listen to St. Paul’s glorious news and take comfort. Do +you wish to be right? Do you wish to be what God intended you to be +before all worlds? Do you wish that of you the glorious words may come +true, ‘And God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good?’ + +Then believe this. That all which is good in you God has made; and that +he will take care of what he has made, for he loves it; that all which is +bad in you, God has _not_ made, and therefore he will destroy it; for he +hates all that he has not made, and will not suffer it in his world; and +that if you, your heart, your will, are enlisted on the good side, if you +are wishing and trying that the good nature in you should conquer the +bad, then you are on the side of God himself, and God himself is on your +side; and ‘if God be for you, who shall be against you?’ Before all +worlds, from eternity itself, God said, ‘Let us make man in our own +likeness;’ and nothing can hinder God’s word but the man himself. The +word of God comes down, says the prophet, as the rain and the dew from +heaven, and, like the rain and dew, returns not to him void, but prospers +in the thing whereto he sends it; only if the ground be hard and barren, +and determined to bring forth thorns and briars, rather than corn and +fruit, is it cursed, and near to burning; and only if a man loves his +fallen nature better than the noble, just, loving, generous grace of God, +and gives himself willingly up to the likeness of the beasts which +perish, can God’s purpose towards him become of none effect. + +Take courage, then. If thou dislikest thy sins, so does God. If thou +art fighting against thy worse feelings, so is God. On thy side is God +who made all, and Christ who died for all, and the Holy Spirit who alone +gives wisdom, purity, nobleness. How canst thou fail when he is on thy +side? On thy side are all spirits of just men made perfect, all wise and +good souls and persons in earth and heaven, all good and wholesome +influences, whether of nature or of grace, of matter or of mind. How +canst thou fail if they are on thy side? God, I say, and all that God +has made, are working together to bring true of thee the word of God—‘And +God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good.’ Believe, and +endure to the end, and thou shalt be found in Christ at the last day; +and, being in Christ, have thy share at last in the blessing which the +Father pronounces everlastingly on Christ, and on the members of Christ, +‘This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.’ Amen. + + + + +SERMON XXX. +TRUE PRUDENCE. + + + MATTHEW vi. 34. + + Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take + thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the + evil thereof. + +LET me say a few words to you on this text. Be not anxious, it tells +you. And why? Because you have to be prudent. In practice, fretting +and anxiety help no man towards prudence. We must all be as prudent and +industrious as we can; agreed. But does fretting make us the least more +prudent? Does anxiety make us the least more industrious? On the +contrary, I know nothing which cripples a man more, and hinders him +working manfully, than anxiety. Look at the worst case of all—at a man +who is melancholy, and fancies that all is going wrong with him, and that +he must be ruined, and has a mind full of all sorts of dark, hopeless, +fancies. Does he work any the more, or try to escape one of these +dangers which he fancies are hanging over him? So far from it, he gives +himself up to them without a struggle; he sits moping, helpless, and +useless, and says, ‘There is no use in struggling. If it will come, it +must come.’ He has lost spirit for work, and lost the mind for work, +too. His mind is so full of these dark fears that he cannot turn it to +laying any prudent plan to escape from the very things which he dreads. + +And so, in a less degree, with people who fret and are anxious. They may +be in a great bustle, but they do not get their work done. They run +hither and thither, trying this and that, but leaving everything half +done, to fly off to something else. Or else they spend time unprofitably +in dreaming, and expecting, and complaining, which might be spent +profitably in working. And they are always apt to lose their heads, and +their tempers, just when they need them most; to do in their hurry the +very last things which they ought to have done; to try so many roads that +they choose the wrong road after all, from mere confusion, and run with +open eyes into the very pit which they have been afraid of falling into. +As we say here, they will go all through the wood to cut a straight +stick, and bring out a crooked one at last. My friends, even in a mere +worldly way, the men whom I have seen succeed best in life have always +been cheerful and hopeful men, who went about their business with a smile +on their faces, and took the changes and chances of this mortal life like +men, facing rough and smooth alike as it came, and so found the truth of +the old proverb, that ‘Good times, and bad times, and all times pass +over.’ Of all men, perhaps, who have lived in our days, the most truly +successful was the great Duke of Wellington; and one thing, I believe, +which helped him most to become great, was that he was so wonderfully +free from vain fretting and complaining, free from useless regrets about +the past, from useless anxieties for the future. Though he had for years +on his shoulders a responsibility which might have well broken down the +spirit of any man; though the lives of thousands of brave men, and the +welfare of great kingdoms—ay, humanly speaking, the fate of all +Europe—depended on his using his wisdom in the right place, and one +mistake might have brought ruin and shame on him and on tens of +thousands; yet no one ever saw him anxious, confused, terrified. Though +for many years he was much tried and hampered, and unjustly and foolishly +kept from doing his work as he knew it ought to be down, yet when the +time came for work, his head was always clear, his spirit was always +ready; and therefore he succeeded in the most marvellous way. Solomon +says, ‘Better is he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.’ +Now the Great Duke had learnt in most things to rule his spirit, and +therefore he was able not only to take cities, but to do better still, to +deliver cities,—ay, and whole countries—out of the hand of armies often +far stronger, humanly speaking, than his own. + +And for an example of what I mean I will tell you a story of him which I +know to be true. Some one once asked him what his secret was for winning +battles. And he said that he had no secret; that he did not know how to +win battles, and that no man knew. For all, he said, that man could do, +was to look beforehand steadily at all the chances, and lay all possible +plans beforehand: but from the moment the battle began, he said, no +mortal prudence was of use, and no mortal man could know what the end +would be. A thousand new accidents might spring up every hour, and +scatter all his plaits to the winds; and all that man could do was to +comfort himself with the thought that he had done his best, and to trust +in God. + +Now, my friends, learn a lesson from this, a lesson for the battle of +life, which every one of us has to fight from our cradle to our grave—the +battle against misery, poverty, misfortune, sickness; the battle against +worse enemies even than they—the battle against our own weak hearts, and +the sins which so easily beset us against laziness, dishonesty, +profligacy, bad tempers, hard-heartedness, deserved disgrace, the +contempt of our neighbours, and just punishment from Almighty God. Take +a lesson, I say, from the Great Duke for the battle of life. Be not +fretful and anxious about the morrow. Face things like men; count the +chances like men; lay your plans like men: but remember, like men, that a +fresh chance may any moment spoil all your plans; remember that there are +thousand dangers round you from which your prudence cannot save you. Do +your best; and then like the Great Duke, comfort yourselves with the +thought that you have done your best; and like him, trust in God. +Remember that God is really and in very truth your Father, and that +without him not a sparrow falls to the ground; and are ye not of more +value than many sparrows, O ye of little faith? Remember that he knows +what you have need of before you ask him; that he gives you all day long +of his own free generosity a thousand things for which you never dream of +asking him; and believe that in all the chances and changes of this life, +in bad luck as well as in good, in failure as well as success, in poverty +as well as wealth, in sickness as well as health, he is giving you and +me, and all mankind good gifts, which we in our ignorance, and our +natural dread of what is unpleasant, should never dream of asking him +for: but which are good for us nevertheless; like him from whom they +come, the Father of lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift; +who is neither neglectful, capricious, or spiteful, for in him is neither +variableness, nor shadow of turning, but who is always loving unto every +man, and his mercy is over all his works. + +Bear this in mind, my friends, in all the troubles of life—that you have +a Father in heaven who knows what you have need of before you ask him, +and your infirmity in asking, and who is wont—is regularly accustomed all +day long—to give you more than either you desire or deserve. And bear it +in mind even more carefully, if you ever become anxious and troubled +about your own soul, and the life to come. + +Many people are troubled with such anxieties, and are continually asking, +‘Shall I be saved or not?’ In some this anxiety comes from bad teaching, +and the hearing of false, cruel, and superstitious doctrine. In others +it seems to be mere bodily disease, constitutional weakness and +fearfulness, which prevents their fighting against dark and sad thoughts +when they arise; but in both cases I think that it is the devil himself +who tempts them, the devil himself who takes advantage of their bodily +weakness, or of the false doctrines which they have heard, and begins +whispering in their ears, ‘You have no Father in heaven. God does not +love you. His promises are not meant for you. He does not will your +salvation, but your damnation, and there is no hope for you;’ till the +poor soul falls into what is called religious melancholy, and moping +madness, and despair, and dread of the devil; and often believes that the +devil has got complete power over him, and that he is the slave of Satan +for ever, till, in some cases, the man is even driven to kill himself in +the agony of his despair. + +Now, my friends, the true answer to all such dark thoughts is, ‘Your +Heavenly Father knows what you have need of before you ask him; therefore +be not anxious about the morrow, for the morrow shall take care for the +things of itself; sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.’ + +For in the first place, my friends, the devil was a liar from the +beginning, and therefore the chances are a million to one against his +speaking the truth in any case; and if he tells you that you are going to +be damned, I should take that for a fair sign that you were _not_ going +to be damned, simply because the devil says it, and therefore it _cannot_ +be true. No, my friends, the people who have real reason to be afraid +are just those who are not afraid—the self-conceited, self-satisfied +souls; for the devil attacks them too, as he does every one, by their +weakest point, and has his lie ready for them, and whispers, ‘You are all +right; you are safe; you cannot fall; your salvation is sure.’ Or else, +‘You hold the right doctrine; you are orthodox, and perfectly right, and +whoever differs from you must be wrong;’ and so tempts them to vain +confidence and unclean living, or else into pride, hardness of heart, +self-willed and self-conceited quarrelling and slandering and lying for +the sake of their own party in the Church. It is the self-confident ones +who have reason to fear and tremble; for after pride comes a fall. They +have reason to fear, lest while they are crying peace and safety, and +thanking God that they are not as other men are, sudden destruction come +on them; but you anxious, trembling souls, who are terrified at the sight +of your own sins you who feel how weak you are, and ignorant, and +confused, and unworthy to do aught but cry, ‘God be merciful to me a +sinner!’ you are the very ones who have least reason to be afraid, just +because you are most afraid: you are the true penitents over whom your +Father in heaven rejoices; you are those of whom he has said, ‘I am the +High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity; yet I dwell with him that is +of an humble and contrite heart, to revive the spirit of the humble, and +to comfort the soul of the contrite ones;’ as he will revive and comfort +you, if you will only have faith in God, and take your stand on your +baptism, and from that safe ground defy the devil and all his dark +imaginations, saying, ‘I am God’s child, and God is my father, and +Christ’s blood was shed for me, and the Holy Spirit of God is with me; +and in the strength of my baptism, I will hope against hope; I trust in +the Lord my God, who has called me into this state of salvation, that he +will keep to the end the soul which I have committed to him through Jesus +Christ my Lord.’ + +Yes. Be not anxious for the morrow, and much more, be not anxious for +the life to come. Your Heavenly Father knew that you had need of +salvation long before you asked him. Eighteen hundred years before you +were born, he sent his Son into the world to die for you; when you were +but an infant he called you to be baptized into his Church, and receive +your share of his Spirit. Long before you thought of him, he thought of +you; long before you loved him, he loved you; and if he so loved you, +that he spared not his only begotten Son, but freely gave him for you, +will he not with that Son freely give you all things? Therefore, fear +not, little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the +kingdom. + +And be not anxious about the morrow; for the morrow shall be anxious +about the things of itself. Be anxious about to-day, if you will; and +‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling;’ for it is God who +works in you to will and to do of his good pleasure; and therefore you +can do right; and therefore, again, it is your own fault if you do not do +right. And yet, for that very reason, be not over anxious; for ‘if God +be with you, who can be against you?’ If God, who is so mighty that he +made all heaven and earth, be on our side, surely stronger is he that is +with you than he that is against you. If God, who so loved you that he +gave his only begotten Son for you, be on your side, surely you have a +friend whom you can trust. ‘What can part you from his love?’ St. Paul +asks you; from God’s love, which is as boundless and eternal as God +himself; nothing can part you from it, but your own sin. + +‘But I do sin,’ you say, ‘again and again, and that is what makes me +fearful. I try to do better, but I fall and I fail all day long. I try +not to be covetous and worldly, but poverty tempts me, and I fall; I try +to keep my temper, but people upset me, and I say things of which I am +bitterly ashamed the next minute. Can God love such a one as me?’ My +answer is, If God loved the whole world when it was dead in trespasses +and sins, and _not_ trying to be better, much more will he love you who +are not dead in trespasses and sins, and are trying to be better. If he +were not still helping you; if his Spirit were not with you, you would +care no more to become better than a dog or an ox cares. And if you +fall—why, arise again. Get up, and go on. You may be sorely bruised, +and soiled with your fall, but is that any reason for lying still, and +giving up the struggle cowardly? In the name of Jesus Christ, arise and +walk. He will wash you, and you shall be clean. He will heal you, and +you shall be strong again. What else can a traveller expect who is going +over rough ground in the dark, but to fall and bruise himself, and to +miss his way too many a time: but is that any reason for his sitting down +in the middle of the moor, and saying, ‘I shall never get to my journey’s +end?’ What else can a soldier expect, but wounds, and defeat, too, +often; but is that any reason for his running away, and crying, ‘We shall +never take the place?’ If our brave men at Sebastopol had done so, and +lost heart each time they were beaten back, not only would they have +never taken the place, but the Russians would have driven them long ago +into the sea, and perhaps not a man of them would have escaped. And, be +sure of it, your battle is like theirs. Every one of us has to fight for +the everlasting life of his soul against all the devils of hell, and +there is no use in running away from them; they will come after us +stronger than ever, unless we go to face them. As with our men at +Sebastopol, unless we beat the enemy, the enemy will destroy us; and our +only hope is to fight to-day’s battle like men, in the strength which God +gives us, and trust him to give us strength to fight to-morrow’s battle +too, when it comes. For here again, as it was at Sebastopol, so it is +with our souls. Let our men be as prudent as they might, they never knew +what to-morrow’s battle would be like, or where the enemy might come upon +them; and no more do we. They in general could not see the very enemy +who was close on them; and no more can we see our enemy, near to us +though he is. To-morrow’s temptations may be quite different from +to-day’s. To-day we may be tempted to be dishonest, to-morrow to lose +our tempers, the day afterwards to be vain and conceited, and a hundred +other things. Let the morrow be anxious about the things of itself, +then; and face to-day’s enemy, and do the duty which lies nearest you. +Our brave men did so. They kept themselves watchful, and took all the +precautions they could in a general way, just as we ought to do each in +his own habits and temper; but the great business was, to go steadily on +at their work, and do each day what they could do, instead of giving way +to vain fears and fancies about what they might have to do some day, +which would have only put them out of heart, and confused and distracted +them. And so it came to pass, that as their day so their strength was; +that each day they got forward somewhat, and had strength and courage +left besides to drive back each new assault as it came; and so at last, +after many mistakes and many failures, through sickness and weakness, +thirst and hunger, and every misery except fear which can fall on man, +they conquered suddenly, and beyond their highest hopes:—as every one +will conquer suddenly, and beyond his highest hope, who fights on +manfully under Christ’s banner against sin; against the sin in himself, +and in his neighbours, and in his parish, and faces the devil and his +works wheresoever he may meet them, sure that the devil and his works +must be conquered at the last, because God’s wrath is gone out against +them, and Christ, who executes God’s wrath, will never sheath his sword +till he has put all enemies under his feet, and death be swallowed up in +victory. + +Therefore be not anxious about the morrow. Do to-day’s duty, fight +to-day’s temptation; and do not weaken and distract yourself by looking +forward to things which you cannot see, and could not understand if you +saw them. Enough for you that your Saviour for whom you fight is just +and merciful; for he rewardeth every man according to his work. Enough +for you that he has said, ‘He that is faithful unto death, I will give +him a crown of life.’ Enough for you that if you be faithful over a few +things, he will make you ruler over many things, and bring you into his +joy for evermore. + +But as for vain fears, leave them to those who will not believe God’s +message concerning himself—that he is love, and his mercy over all his +works. Leave them for those who deny God’s righteousness, by denying +that he has had pity on this poor fallen world, but has left it to itself +and its sins, without sending any one to save it. And for real fears, +leave them for those who have no fears; for those who think they see, and +yet are blind; who think themselves orthodox and infallible, and beyond +making a mistake, every man his own Pope; who say that they see, and +therefore their sin remaineth; for those who thank God that they are not +as other men are, and who will find the publicans and harlots entering +into the kingdom of heaven before them; and for those who continue in sin +that grace may abound, and call themselves Christians, while they bring +shame on the name of Christ by their own evil lives, by their worldliness +and profligacy, or by their bitterness and quarrelsomeness; who make +religious profession a by-word and a mockery in the mouths of the +ungodly, and cause Christ’s little ones to stumble. Let them be afraid, +if they will; for it were better for them that a millstone were hanged +about their neck, and they were drowned in the midst of the sea. But +those who hate their sins, and long to leave their sins behind; those who +distrust themselves—let them not be anxious about the morrow; for +to-morrow, and to-day, and for ever, the Almighty Father is watching over +them, the Lord Jesus guiding them wisely and tenderly, and the Holy +Spirit inspiring them more and more to do all those good works which God +has prepared for them to walk in, and to conquer in the life-long battle +against sin, the world, and the devil. + + + + +SERMON XXXI. +THE PENITENT THIEF. + + + LUKE xxiii. 42, 43. + + And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy + kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day + shalt thou be with me in paradise. + +THE story of the penitent thief is a most beautiful and affecting one. +Christians’ hearts, in all times, have clung to it for comfort, not only +for themselves, but for those whom they loved. Indeed, some people think +that we are likely to be too fond of the story. They have been afraid +lest people should build too much on it; lest they should fancy that it +gives them licence to sin, and lead bad lives, all their days, provided +only they repent at last; lest it should countenance too much what is +called a death-bed repentance. + +Now, God forbid that I should try to narrow Christ’s Gospel. Who am I, +to settle who shall be saved, and who shall not? When the disciples +asked the Lord Jesus, ‘Are there few that be saved?’ he would not tell +them. And what Christ did not choose to tell, I am not likely to know. + +But I must say openly, that I cannot see what the story of the penitent +thief has to do with a death-bed repentance; and for this plain reason, +that the penitent thief did not die in his bed. + +On the contrary, he received the due reward of his deeds. He was +crucified; publicly executed, by the most shameful, painful, and +lingering torture; and confessed that it was no more than he deserved. + +Therefore, if any man say to himself—and I am afraid that some do say to +themselves—‘I know I am leading a bad life; and I have no mind to mend it +yet; the penitent thief repented at the last, and was forgiven; so I dare +say that I shall be;’ one has a right to answer him—‘Very well; but you +must first put yourself in the penitent thief’s place. Are you willing +to be hanged, or worse than hanged, as a punishment for your sins in this +world? For, till then, the penitent thief would certainly not be on the +same footing as you.’ + +If a man says to himself, I will go on sinning now, on the chance of +repenting at last, and ‘making my peace with God,’ he is not like the +penitent thief, he is much more like a famous Emperor of Rome, who, +though a Christian in name, put off his baptism till his death-bed, +fancying that by it his sins would be washed away, once and for all, and +made use of the meantime in murdering his eldest son and his nephew, and +committing a thousand follies and cruelties. Whether his death-bed +repentance, purposely put off in order to give him time to sin, was of +any use to him, let your own consciences judge. + +Has, then, this story of the penitent thief no comfort for us? God +forbid! Why else was it put into Christ’s Gospel of good news? Surely, +there is comfort in it. + +Only let us take the story honestly, and word for word as it stands. So +we may hope to be taught by it what it was meant to teach us. + +He was a robber. The word means, not a petty thief, but a robber; and +his being put to such a terrible death shows the same thing. Most +probably he had belonged to one of the bands of robbers which haunted the +mountains of Judea in those days, as they used in old times to haunt the +forests in England, and as they do now in Italy and Spain, and other +waste and wild countries. Some of these robbers would, of course, be +shameless and hardened ruffians; as that robber seems to have been who +insulted our Lord upon the very cross. Others among them would not be +lost to all sense of good. Young men who got into trouble ran away from +home, and joined these robber-bands, and found pleasure in the wild and +dangerous life. + +There is a beautiful story told of such a young robber in the life of the +blessed Apostle St. John. A young man at Ephesus who had become a +Christian, and of whom St. John was very fond, got into trouble while St. +John was away, and had to flee for his life into the mountains. There he +joined a band of robbers, and was so daring and desperate that they soon +chose him as their captain. St. John came back, and found the poor lad +gone. St. John had stood at the foot of the cross years before, and +heard his Lord pardon the penitent thief; and he knew how to deal with +such wild souls. And what did he do? Give him up for lost? No! He set +off, old as he was, by himself, straight for the mountains, in spite of +the warnings of his friends that he would be murdered, and that this +young man was the most desperate and bloodthirsty of all the robbers. At +last he found the young robber. And what did the robber do? As soon as +he saw St. John coming—before St. John could speak a word to him, he +turned, and ran away for shame; and old St. John followed him, never +saying a harsh word to him, but only crying after him, ‘My son, my son, +come back to your father!’ and at last he found him, where he was hidden, +and held him by his clothes, and embraced him, and pleaded with him so, +that the poor fellow burst into tears, and let St. John lead him away; +and so that blessed St. John went down again to Ephesus in joy and +triumph, bringing his lost lamb with him. + +Now, such a man one can well believe this penitent thief to have been. A +man who, however bad he had been, had never lost the feeling that he was +meant for better things; whose conscience had never died out in him. He +may have been such a man. He _must_ have been such a man. For such +faith as he showed on the cross does not grow up in an hour or a day. I +do not mean the feeling that he deserved his punishment (that might come +to a man very suddenly) but the feeling that Christ was the Lord, and the +King of the Jews. He must have bought that by terrible struggles of +mind, by bitter shame and self-reproach. He had heard, I suppose, of +Christ’s miracles and mercy, of his teaching, of his being the friend of +publicans and sinners, had admired the Lord Jesus, and thought him +excellent and noble. But he could not have done that without the Holy +Spirit of God. It was the Holy Spirit striving with his sinful heart, +which convinced him of Christ’s righteousness. But the Holy Spirit would +have convinced him, too, of his own sin. The more he admired our Lord, +the more he must have despised himself for being unlike our Lord; and, +doubt it not, he had passed many bitter hours, perhaps bitter years, +seeing what was right, and yet doing what was wrong from bad habits or +bad company, before he came to his end upon the gallows-tree. And there +while he hung in torture on the cross, the whole truth came to him at +last. God’s Spirit shone truly on him at last, and divided the light +from the darkness in his poor wretched heart. All the good which had +been in him came out once and for all. Christ’s light had been shining +in the darkness of his heart, and the darkness had been trying to take it +in, and close over it, but it could not; and now the light had conquered +the darkness, and all was clear to him at last. He never despised +himself so much, he never admired Christ so much, as when they hung side +by side in the same condemnation. Side by side they hung, scorned alike, +crucified alike, seemingly come alike to open shame and ruin. And yet he +could see that though he deserved all his misery, that the man who hung +by him not only did not deserve it, but was his Lord, the Lord, the King +of the Jews, and that—of course he knew not how—the cross would not +destroy him; that he would come in his kingdom. How he found out that, +no man can tell; the Spirit of God taught him, the Spirit of God alone, +to see in that crucified man the Lord of glory, and to cast himself +humbly before his love and power, in hope that there might be mercy even +for him—‘Lord, remember me when thou comest to thy kingdom.’ There was +faith indeed, and humility indeed; royal faith and royal humility coming +out in that dying robber. And so, if you ask—How was that robber +justified by his works? How could his going into Paradise be the +receiving of the due reward of the deeds done in his body whether they be +good or evil. I say he _was_ justified by his works. He _did_ receive +the due reward of his deeds. One great and noble deed, even that saying +of his in his dying agony,—that showed that whatever his heart had been, +it was now right with God. He could not only confess God’s justice +against sin in his own punishment, but he could see God’s beauty, God’s +glory, yea, God himself in that man who hung by him, helpless like +himself, scourged like himself, crucified like himself, like himself a +scorn to men. He could know that Christ was Christ, even on the cross, +and know that Christ would conquer yet, and come to his kingdom. That +was indeed a faith in the merits of Christ enough to justify him or any +man alive. + +Now what has all this to do with you or me living an easy, comfortable +life in sin here, and hoping to die an easy, comfortable death after all, +and get to heaven by having in a clergyman to read and pray a little with +us; and saying a few words of formal repentance, when perhaps our body +and our mind are so worn out and dulled by illness that we hardly know +what we say? No, my friends, if our hearts be right, we shall not think +of the penitent thief to give us comfort about our own souls; but we +shall think of it and love it, to give us comfort about the souls of many +a man or woman for whom we care. + +How many men there are who are going wrong, very wrong; and yet whom we +cannot help liking, even loving! In the midst of all their sins, there +is something in them which will not let us give them up. Perhaps, +kind-heartedness. Perhaps, an honest respect for good men, and for good +and right conduct; loving the better, while they choose the worse. +Perhaps, a real shame and sorrow when they have broken out and done +wrong; and even though we know that they will go and do wrong again, we +cannot help liking them, cannot give them up. Then let us believe that +God will not give them up, any more than he gave up the penitent thief. +If there be something in them that we love, let us believe that God loves +it also; and what is more, that God put it into them, as he did into the +penitent thief; and let us hope (we cannot of course be certain, but we +may hope) that God will take care of it, and make it conquer, as he did +in the penitent thief. Let us hope that God’s light will conquer their +darkness; God’s strength conquer their weakness; God’s peace, their +violence; God’s heavenly grace their earthly passions. Let us hope for +them, I say. + +When we hear, as we often hear, people say, ‘What a noble-hearted man +that is after all, and yet he is going to the devil!’ let us remember the +penitent thief and have hope. Who would have seemed to have gone to the +devil more hopelessly than that poor thief when he hung upon the cross? +And yet the devil did not have him. There was in him a seed of good, and +of eternal life, which the devil had not trampled out; and that seed +flowered and bore fruit upon the very cross in noble thoughts and words +and deeds. Why may it not be so with others? True, they may receive the +due reward of their deeds. They may end in shame and misery, like the +penitent thief. Perhaps it may be good for them to do so. If a man will +sow the wind, it may be good for him to reap the whirlwind, and so find +out that sowing the wind will not prosper. The penitent thief did so. +As the proverb is, he sowed the gallows-acorn, poor wretch, and he reaped +the gallows-tree; but that gallows-tree taught him to confess God’s +justice, and his own sin, and so it may teach others. + +Yes, let us hope; and when we see some one whom we love, and cannot help +loving, bringing misery on himself by his own folly, let us hope and pray +that the day may come to him when, in the midst of his misery, all that +better nature in him shall come out once and for all, and he shall cry +out of the deep to Christ, ‘I only receive the due reward of my deeds; I +have earned my shame; I have earned my sorrow. Lord, I have deserved it +all. I look back on wasted time and wasted powers. I look round on +ruined health, ruined fortune, ruined hopes, and confess that I deserve +it all. But thou hast endured more than this for me, though thou hast +deserved nothing, and hast done nothing amiss. Thou hast done nothing +amiss by me. Thou hast been fair to me, and given me a fair chance; and +more than that, thou hast endured all for me. For me thou didst suffer; +for me thou hast been crucified; and me thou hast been trying to seek and +to save all through the years of my vanity. Perhaps I have not wearied +out thy love; perhaps I have not conquered thy patience. I will take the +blessed chance. I will still cast myself upon thy love. Lord, I have +deserved all my misery; yet, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy +kingdom. + +Oh, my friends, let us hope that that prayer will go up, even out of the +wildest heart, in God’s good time; and that it will not go up in vain. + + + + +SERMON XXXII. +THE TEMPER OF CHRIST. + + + PHILIPPIANS ii. 4. + + Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. + +WHAT mind? What sort of mind and temper ought to be in us? St. Paul +tells us in this chapter, very plainly and at length, what sort of temper +he means; and how it showed itself in Christ; and how it ought to show +itself in us. + +‘All of you,’ he tells us, ‘be like-minded, having the same love; being +of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or +vain-glory: but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than +himself. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the +things of others.’ + +First, be like-minded, having the same love. Men cannot all be of +exactly the same opinion on every point, simply because their characters +are different; and the old proverb, ‘Many men, many minds,’ will stand +true in one sense to the end of the world. But in another sense it need +not. People may differ in little matters of opinion, without hating and +despising, and speaking ill of each other on these points; they may agree +to differ, and yet keep the same love toward God and toward each other; +they may keep up a kindly feeling toward each other; and they will do so, +if they have in their hearts the same love of God. If we really love +God, and long to do good, and to work for God; if we really love our +neighbours, and wish to help them, then we shall have no heart to +quarrel—indeed, we shall have no time to quarrel—about _how_ the good is +to be done, provided _it is_ done; and we shall remember our Lord’s own +words to St. John, when St. John said, ‘Master, we saw one casting out +devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: wilt thou therefore that we +forbid him?’ + +And Jesus said, ‘Forbid him _not_.’ + +‘Forbid him not,’ said Jesus himself. He that hath ears to hear his +Saviour’s words, let him hear. + +‘Therefore,’ St. Paul says, ‘let nothing be done through strife or +vain-glory.’ It is a very sad thing to think that the human heart is so +corrupt, that we should be tempted to do good, and to show our piety, +through strife or vain-glory. But so it is. Party spirit, pride, the +wish to show the world how pious we are, the wish to make ourselves out +better and more reverent than our neighbours, too often creep into our +prayers and our worship, and turn our feasts of charity into feasts of +uncharitableness, vanity, ambition. + +So it was in St. Paul’s time. Some, he says, preached Christ out of +contention, hoping to add affliction to his bonds. Not that he hated +them for it, or tried to stop them. Any way, he said, Christ was +preached, whether out of party-spirit against him, or out of love to +Christ; any way Christ was preached: and he would and did rejoice in that +thought. Again I say, ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.’ + +‘Esteem others better than ourselves?’ God forgive us! which of us does +that? Is not one’s first feeling not ‘Others are better than me,’ but ‘I +am as good as my neighbour, and perhaps better too?’ People say it, and +act up to it also, every day. If we would but take St. Paul’s advice, +and be humble; if we would take more for granted that our neighbours have +common sense as well as we, experience as well as we, the wish to do +right as well as we—and perhaps more than we have; and therefore listen +_humbly_ (that is St. Paul’s word, bitter though it may be to our carnal +pride), listen humbly to every one who is in earnest, or speaks of what +he knows and feels! People are better than we fancy, and have more in +them than we fancy; and if they do not show that they have, it is three +times out of four our own fault. Instead of esteeming them better than +ourselves, and asking their advice, and calling out their experience, we +are too in such a hurry to show them that we are better than they, and to +thrust our advice upon them, that we give them no encouragement to speak, +often no time to speak; and so they are silent and think the more, and +remain shut up in themselves, and often pass for stupider people and +worse people than they really are. Because we will not begin by doing +justice to our neighbours, we prevent them doing justice to themselves. + +Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of +others. Ah, my friends, if we could but do that heartily and always, +what a different world it would be, and what different people we should +be! If, instead of saying to ourselves, as one is so apt to do, ‘Will +this suit my interest? will this help me?’ we would recollect to say too, +‘Will this suit my neighbours’ interest? Will this harm my neighbours, +though it may help me? For if it hurts them, I will have nothing to do +with it.’ + +If, again, instead of saying to ourselves, as we are too apt to do, ‘This +is what I like, and done it shall be,’ we would generously and +courteously think more of what other people like; what will please them, +instruct them, comfort them, soften for them the cares of life, and +lighten the burden of mortality—how much happier would not only they be, +but we also! + +For this, my friends, is the very likeness of Christ, who pleased not +himself; the very likeness of Christ, who sacrificed himself. + +And for this very reason St. Paul puts it the last of all his advices, +because it is the greatest; the summing up of all; the fulfilment of the +whole law, which says, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;’ and +therefore after it he can give no more advice, for there is none better +left to give: but he goes on at once to speak of Christ, who fulfilled +that whole law of love, and more than fulfilled it; for instead of merely +loving his neighbours _as_ he loved himself (which is all God asks of +us), Christ loved his enemies better than himself, and died for them. + +So says St. Paul.—‘Look not every man on his own things, but on other +people’s interest and comfort also. Let this mind be in you, which was +also in Christ Jesus.’ What mind? The mind which looks not merely on +its own things, its own interest, its own reputation, its own opinions, +likes, and dislikes, but on those of others, and has learnt to live and +let live. + +Yes, this, he says, is the mind of Christ. And this mind, and spirit, +and temper, he showed before all heaven and earth, when, though he was in +the form of God, and therefore, (as some interpret the text) would have +done no robbery, no injustice, by remaining for ever equal with God (that +is, in the co-equal and co-eternal glory which he had with the Father), +yet made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a slave, +and was obedient to death, even the death of the cross. + +My friends, I beseech you, young and old, rich and poor, remember the +full meaning of these glorious words, and of those which follow them. + +‘Wherefore God hath highly exalted him.’ Why? What was it in Christ +which was so precious, so glorious, in the eyes of the Almighty Father, +that no reward seemed too great for him? What but this very spirit of +fellow-feeling and tenderness, charity, self-sacrifice—even the Holy +Spirit of God himself, with which Christ was filled without measure? + +Because Christ utterly and perfectly looked not on his own things, but on +the things of others: because he was pity itself, patience itself, love +itself, in the soul and body of a human being; therefore his Father +declared of him, ‘This, this is my well-beloved Son, in whom I am well +pleased.’ Therefore it was that he highly exalted him; therefore it was +that he proclaimed him to be worthy of all honour and worship, the most +perfect, lovely, admirable, and adorable of all beings in heaven and +earth; not merely because he showed himself to be light of light, or +wisdom of wisdom, or power of power; but because he showed himself to be +love of love, and therefore very God of very God begotten, whom men and +angels could not reverence, admire, adore, imitate too much, but were to +see in him the perfection of all beauty, all virtue, all greatness, the +likeness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person. + +And therefore it is a very good and beautiful old custom to bow when the +name of Jesus is mentioned; at least, when it is mentioned for the first +time, or under any very solemn circumstances. It helps to remind us that +he is really our King and Lord. It helps, too, to remind us that he is +actually and really near us, standing by us, looking at us face to face, +though we see him not; and I am willing to say for myself that whenever I +recollect that he is looking at me (alas! that is not a hundredth part +often enough), I cannot help bowing almost without any will of my own. +But, remember, there is no commandment for it. It is just one of those +things on which a Christian is free to do what he likes, and for which +every Christian is forbidden to judge or blame another, according to St. +Paul’s rule, He that observeth the day, to the Lord he observeth it; and +he that observeth it not, to the Lord he observeth it not. Who art thou +that judgest another? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, +and he shall stand, for God is able to make him stand. Beside, the text +says, if we are to take it literally, as we always ought with Scripture, +not that every _head_ shall bow at the name of Jesus, but every knee. +And to kneel down every time we repeat that holy name would be +impossible. While, on the other hand, we _do_ bow our knees, literally +and in earnest, at the name of Jesus every time we kneel down in church, +every time we kneel down to say our prayers. And if any man is content +with that, no one has the least right to blame him. + +Besides, my friends, there is, I know too well, a great danger in making +too much of these little outward ceremonies, especially with children and +young people. For the heart of man is just as fond as it ever was of +idolatry, and superstition, and will-worship, and voluntary humility, and +paying tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, while it neglects the weightier +matters of the law, justice, mercy, and judgment: and, therefore, there +is very great danger, if we make too much of these ceremonies, harmless +and even good as many of them may be, of getting to rest in them, and +thinking that God is pleased with them themselves. Whereas, what God +looks at is the heart, the spirit, the soul; and whether it is right or +wrong, proud or humble, hard or loving: and if we think so much of the +outward and visible form, that we forget the inward and spiritual grace, +for which it ought to stand, then we lay a snare for our own souls to +turn them away from the worship of the living God, and break the second +commandment. Much more, if we pride ourselves on being more reverent +than our neighbours in these outward forms, and look down on, and grudge +at, those who do not practise them; for then we turn our humility into +pride, and our reverence to Christ into an insult to him; for the true +way to honour Christ is to copy Christ. No one really honours and +admires Christ’s character who does not copy him; and to esteem ourselves +better than others, to say in our hearts, ‘Stand by, for I am holier than +thou,’ to offend and drive away Christ’s little ones, and wound the +consciences of weak brethren by insisting on things against which they +have a prejudice, is to run exactly counter to Christ and the mind of +Christ, and to be more like the Pharisees than the Lord Jesus. That is +not surely esteeming others better than ourselves: that is not surely +looking not merely on our own things, but also on the things of others; +that is not fulfilling the law of love; that is not following St. Paul’s +example, who gave up, he says, doing many things which he thought right, +because they offended weaker spirits than his own. ‘All things,’ he +says, ‘are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient.’ ‘Ay,’ says +he, ‘I would eat no meat while the world standeth, if it cause my brother +to offend.’ + +No, my dear friends, let us rather, in this coming Passion week, take the +lesson which the services of the Church give us in this Epistle. Let us +keep Passion week really and in spirit, by remembering that it means the +week of suffering, in which Christ, instead of pleasing himself, +conquered himself, and gave up himself, and let wicked men do with him +whatsoever they would. Let us honour the holy name of Jesus in spirit +and in truth, and bend not merely our necks or our knees, when we hear +his name, but bend those stiff necks of our souls, and those stubborn +knees of our hearts; let us conquer our self-will, self-opinion, +self-conceit, self-interest, and take his yoke upon us, for he is meek +and lowly of heart. This is the Passion week which he has chosen;—to +distrust ourselves, and our own opinions, likings and fancies. This is +the repentance, and this is the humiliation which he has chosen;—to +entreat him (now and at once, lest by pride we give place to the devil, +and fall while we think we stand) to forgive us every hard, and proud, +and conceited, and self-willed thought, and word, and deed, to which we +have given way since we were born; to pray to him for really new hearts, +really tender hearts, really humble hearts, really broken and contrite +hearts; to look at his beautiful tenderness, patience, sympathy, +understanding, generosity, self-sacrifice; and then to look at ourselves, +and be shocked, and ashamed, and confounded, at the difference between +ourselves and him; and so really to honour the name of Jesus, who humbled +himself, even to the death upon the cross. + +I am not judging you, my friends; I am judging myself lest God judge me; +and telling you how to judge yourselves, lest God judge you. Believe me, +if you will but take his yoke on you, you will find it an easy yoke and a +light burden; you will find yourselves happier, your duty simpler, your +prospects clearer, your path through life smoother, your character higher +and more amiable in the eyes of all, and you yourselves holy and fit to +share on Easter day in the precious body and blood of him who gave +himself up to death that he might draw all men to himself; and so draw +them all to each other, as children of one common Father, and brothers of +Jesus Christ your Lord. + + + + +SERMON XXXIII. +THE FRIEND OF SINNERS. + + + (_Preached in London_.) + + MARK ii. 15, 16. + + And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many + publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: + for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and + Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners they said onto his + disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and + sinners? + +WE cannot wonder at the scribes and Pharisees asking this question. I +think that we should most of us ask the same question now, if we saw the +Lord Jesus, or even if we saw any very good or venerable man, going out +of his way to eat and drink with publicans and sinners. We should be +inclined to say, as the scribes and Pharisees no doubt said, Why go out +of his way to make fellowship with them? to eat and drink with them? He +might have taught them, preached to them, warned them of God’s wrath +against their sins when he could find them out in the street. Or, even +if he could not do that, if he could not find them all together without +going into their house, why sit down and eat and drink? Why not say, +No—I am not going to join with you in that? I am come on a much more +solemn and important errand than eating. I have no time to eat. I must +preach to you, ere it be too late. And you would have no appetite to +eat, if you knew the terrible danger in which your souls are. Besides, +however anxious for your souls I am, you cannot expect me to treat you as +friends, to make companions of you, and accept your hospitality, while +you are living these bad lives. I shall always feel pity and sorrow for +you: but I cannot be a table companion with you, till you begin to lead +very different lives. + +Now if the scribes and Pharisees had said that, should we have thought +them very unreasonable? For whatsoever kinds of sinners the sinners +were, these publicans were the very worst and lowest of company. They +were not innkeepers, as the word means now; they were a kind of +tax-gatherers: but not like ours in England. For first, these taxes were +not taken by the Jewish government, but by the Romans—heathen foreigners +who had conquered them, and kept them down by soldiery quartered in their +country. So that these publicans, who gathered taxes and tribute for the +heathen Cæsar of Rome from their own countrymen, were traitors to their +country, in league with their foreign tyrants, as it were devouring their +own flesh and blood; and all the Jews looked on them (and really no +wonder) with hatred and contempt. Beside, these publicans did not merely +gather the taxes, as they do in free England; they farmed them, +compounded for them with the Roman emperor; that is, they had each to +bring in to the Romans a stated sum of money, each out of his own +district, and to make their own profit out of the bargain by grinding out +of the poor Jews all they could over and above; and most probably calling +in the soldiery to help them if people would not pay. So this was a +trade, as you may easily see, which could only prosper by all kinds of +petty extortion, cruelty, and meanness; and, no doubt, these publicans +were devourers of the poor, and as unjust and hard-hearted men as one +could be. As for those ‘sinners’ who are so often mentioned with them, I +suppose this is what the word means. These publicans making their money +ill, spent it ill also, in a low profligate way, with the worst of women +and of men. Moreover, all the other Jews shunned them, and would not eat +or keep company with them; so they hung all together, and made company +for themselves with bad people, who were fallen too low to be ashamed of +them. The publicans and harlots are often mentioned together; and, I +doubt not, they were often eating and drinking together, God help them! + +And God did help them. The Son of God came and ate and drank with them. +No doubt, he heard many words among them which pained his ears, saw many +faces which shocked his eyes; faces of women who had lost all shame; +faces of men hardened by cruelty, and greediness, and cunning, till God’s +image had been changed into the likeness of the fox and the serpent; and, +worst of all, the greatest pain to him of all, he could see into their +hearts, their immortal souls, and see all the foulness within them, all +the meanness, all the hardness, all the unbelief in anything good or +true. And yet he ate and drank with them. Make merry with them he could +not: who could be merry in such company? but he certainly so behaved to +them that they were glad to have him among them, though he was so unlike +them in thought, and word, and look, and action. + +And why? Because, though he was so unlike them in many things, he was +like them at least in one thing. If he could do nothing else in common +with them, he could at least eat and drink as they did, and eat and drink +with them too. Yes. He was the Son of man, the man of all men, and what +he wanted to make them understand was, that, fallen as low as they were, +they were men and women still, who were made at first in God’s likeness, +and who could be redeemed back into God’s likeness again. + +The only way to do that was to begin with them in the very simplest way; +to meet them on common human ground; to make them feel that, simply +because they were men and women, he felt for them; that, simply because +they were men and women, he loved them; that, simply because they were +men and women, he could not turn his back upon them, for the sake of his +Father and their Father in heaven. If he had left those poor wretches to +themselves; if he had even merely kept apart from their common every-day +life, and preached to them, they would never have felt that there was +still hope for them, simply because they were men and women. They would +have said in their hearts, ‘See; he will talk to us: but he looks down on +us all the time. We are fallen so low, we cannot rise; we cannot mend. +What is there in us that can mend? We are nothing but brutes, perhaps; +then brutes we must remain. Heaven is for people like him, perhaps; but +not for such as us. We are cut off from men. We have no brothers upon +earth, no Father in heaven.’ ‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we +die.’ + +Yes; they would have said this; for people like them will say it too +often now, here in Christian England. + +But when our Lord came to them, ate and drank with them, talked with them +in a homely and simple way (for our Lord’s words are always simple and +homely, grand and deep and wonderful as they are), then do you not see +how _self-respect_ would begin to rise in those poor sinners’ hearts? +Not that they would say, ‘We are better men than we thought we were.’ +No; perhaps his kindness would make them all the more ashamed of +themselves, and convince them of sin all the more deeply; for nothing, +nothing melts the sinner’s hard, proud heart, like a few unexpected words +of kindness—ay, even a cordial shake of the hand from any one who he +fancies looks down on him. To find a loving brother, where he expected +only a threatening schoolmaster—that breaks the sinner’s heart; and most +of all when he finds that brother in Jesus his Saviour. That—the sight +of God’s boundless love to sinners, as it is revealed in the loving face +of Jesus Christ our Lord—that, and that alone, breeds in the sinner the +broken and the contrite heart which is in the sight of God of great +price. And so, those publicans and sinners would not have begun to say, +We are better than we thought: but, We can become better than we thought. +He must see something in us which makes him care for us. Perhaps God may +see something in us to care for. He does not turn his back on us. +Perhaps God may not. He must have some hope of us. May we not have hope +of ourselves? Surely there is a chance for us yet. Oh! if there were! +We are miserable now in the midst of our drunkenness, and our +covetousness, and our riotous pleasures. We are ashamed of ourselves: +and our countrymen are ashamed of us: and though we try to brazen it off +by impudence, we carry heavy hearts under bold foreheads. Oh, that we +could be different! Oh, that we could be even like what we were when we +were little children! Perhaps we may be yet. For he treats us as if we +were men and women still, his brothers and sisters still. He thinks that +we are not quite brute animals yet, it seems. Perhaps we are not; +perhaps there is life in us yet, which may grow up to a new and better +way of living. What shall we do to be saved? + +O blessed charity, bond of peace and of all virtues; of brotherhood and +fellow-feeling between man and man, as children of one common Father. +Ay, bond of all virtues—of generosity and of justice, of counsel and of +understanding. Charity, unknown on earth before the coming of the Son of +man, who was content to be called gluttonous and a wine-bibber, because +he was the friend of publicans and sinners! + +My friends, let us try to follow his steps; let us remember all day long +what it is to be _men_; that it is to have every one whom we meet for our +brother in the sight of God; that it is this, never to meet any one, +however bad he may be, for whom we cannot say, ‘Christ died for that man, +and Christ cares for him still. He is precious in God’s eyes; he shall +be precious in mine also.’ Let us take the counsel of the Gospel for +this day, and love one another, not in word merely—in doctrine, but in +deed and in truth, really and actually; in our every-day lives and +behaviour, words, looks—in all of them let us be cordial, feeling, +pitiful, patient, courteous. Masters with your workmen, teachers with +your pupils, parents with your children, be cordial, and kind, and +patient; respect every one, whether below you or not in the world’s eyes. +Never do a thing to any human being which may lessen his self-respect; +which may make him think that you look down upon him, and so make him +look down upon himself in awkwardness and shyness; or else may make him +start off from you, angry and proud, saying, ‘I am as good as you; and if +you keep apart from me, I will from you; if you can do without me, I can +do without you. I want none of your condescension.’ It is _not_ so. +You cannot do without each other. We can none of us do without the +other; do not let us make any one fancy that he can, and tempt him to +wrap himself up in pride and surliness, cutting himself off from the +communion of saints, and the blessing of being a man among men. + +And if any of you have a neighbour, or a relation fallen into sin, even +into utter shame;—oh, for the sake of Him who ate and drank with +publicans and sinners, never cast them off, never trample on them, never +turn your back upon them. They are miserable enough already, doubt it +not. Do not add one drop to their cup of bitterness. They are ashamed +of themselves already, doubt it not. Do not you destroy in them what +small grain of self-respect still remains. You fancy they are not so. +They seem to you brazen-faced, proud, impenitent. So did the publicans +and harlots seem to those proud, blind Pharisees. Those pompous, +self-righteous fools did not know what terrible struggles were going on +in those poor sin-tormented hearts. Their pride had blinded them, while +they were saying all along, ‘It is we alone who see. This people, which +knoweth not the law, is accursed.’ Then came the Lord Jesus, the Son of +man, who knew what was in man; and he spoke to them gently, cordially, +humanly; and they heard him, and justified God, and were baptized, +confessing their sins; and so, as he said himself, the publicans and +harlots went into the kingdom of God before those proud, self-conceited +Pharisees. + +Therefore, I say, never hurt any one’s self-respect. Never trample on +any soul, though it may be lying in the veriest mire; for that last spark +of self-respect is as its only hope, its only chance; the last seed of a +new and better life; the voice of God which still whispers to it, ‘You +are not what you ought to be, and you are not what you can be. You are +still God’s child, still an immortal soul: you may rise yet, and fight a +good fight yet, and conquer yet, and be a man once more, after the +likeness of God who made you, and Christ who died for you!’ Oh, why +crush that voice in any heart? If you do, the poor creature is lost, and +lies where he or she falls, and never tries to rise again. Rather bear +and forbear; hope all things, believe all things, endure all things; so +you will, as St. John tells you in the Epistle, know that you are of the +truth, in the true and right road, and will assure your hearts before +God. For this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of +his Son Jesus Christ, and believe really that he is now what he always +was, the friend of publicans and sinners, and love one another as he gave +us commandment. That was Christ’s spirit; the fairest, the noblest +spirit upon earth; the spirit of God whose mercy is over all his works; +and hereby shall we know that Christ abideth in us, by his having given +us the same spirit of pity, charity, fellow-feeling and love for every +human being round us. + +And now, I will also give you one lesson to carry home with you—a lesson +which if we all could really believe and obey, the world would begin to +mend from to-morrow, and every other good work on earth would prosper and +multiply tenfold, a hundredfold—ay, beyond all our fairest dreams. And +my lesson is this. When you go out from this church into those crowded +streets, remember that there is not a soul in them who is not as precious +in God’s eyes as you are; not a little dirty ragged child whom Jesus, +were he again on earth, would not take up in his arms and bless; not a +publican or a harlot with whom, if they but asked him, he would not eat +and drink—now, here, in London on this Sunday, the 8th of June, 1856, as +certainly as he did in Jewry beyond the seas, eighteen hundred years ago. +Therefore do to all who are in want of your help as Jesus would do to +them if he were here; as Jesus is doing to them already: for he is here +among us now, and for ever seeking and saving that which was lost; and +all we have to do is to believe that, and work on, sure that he is +working at our head, and that though we cannot see him, he sees us; and +then all will prosper at last, for this brave old earth whereon we are +living now, and for that far braver new heaven and new earth whereon we +shall live hereafter. + + + + +SERMON XXXIV. +THE SEA OF GLASS. + + + (_Trinity Sunday_.) + + REVELATION iv. 9, 10, 11. + + And when those beasts give glory, and honour, and thanks to him that + sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty + elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him + that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the + throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and + honour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy + pleasure they are and were created. + +THE Church bids us read this morning the first chapter of Genesis, which +tells us of the creation of the world. Not merely on account of that +most important text, which, according to some divines, seems to speak of +the ever-blessed Trinity, and brings in God as saying, ‘Let _us_ make man +in _our_ image;’ not, Let me make man in my image; but, Let _us_, in +_our_ image.—Not merely for this reason is Gen. i. a fit lesson for +Trinity Sunday: but because it tells us of the whole world, and all that +is therein, and who made it, and how. It does not tell us why God made +the world; but the Revelations do, and the text does. And therefore +perhaps it is a good thing for us that Trinity Sunday comes always in the +sweet spring time, when all nature is breaking out into new life, when +leaves are budding, flowers blossoming, birds building, and countless +insects springing up to their short and happy life. This wonderful world +in which we live has awakened again from its winter’s sleep. How are we +to think of it, and of all the strange and beautiful things in it? +Trinity Sunday tells us; for Trinity Sunday bids us think of and believe +a matter which we cannot understand—a glorious and unspeakable God, who +is at the same time One and Three. We cannot understand that. No more +can we understand anything else. We cannot understand how the grass +grows beneath our feet. We cannot understand how the egg becomes a bird. +We cannot understand how the butterfly is the very same creature which +last autumn was a crawling caterpillar. We cannot understand how an atom +of our food is changed within our bodies into a drop of living blood. We +cannot understand how this mortal life of ours depends on that same +blood. We do not know even what life is. We do not know what our own +souls are. We do not know what our own bodies are. We know nothing. We +know no more about ourselves and this wonderful world than we do of the +mystery of the ever-blessed Trinity. That, of course, is the greatest +wonder of all. For, as I shall try to show you presently, God himself +must be more wonderful than all things which he has made. But all that +he has made is wonderful; and all that we can say of it is, to take up +the heavenly hymn which this chapter in the Revelations puts into our +mouths, and join with the elders of heaven, and all the powers of nature, +in saying, ‘Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and +power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are +and were created.’ + +Let us do this. Let us open our eyes, and see honestly what a wonderful +world we live in; and go about all our days in wonder and humbleness of +heart, confessing that we know nothing, and that we cannot know; +confessing that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that our soul +knows right well; but that beyond we know nothing; though God knows all; +for in his book were all our members written, which day by day were +fashioned, while as yet there were none of them. ‘How great are thy +counsels, O God! they are more than I am able to express,’ said David of +old, who knew not a tenth part of the natural wonders which we know; +‘more in number than the hairs of my head, if I were to speak of them.’ + +This will keep us from that proud and yet shallow temper of mind which +people are apt to fall into, especially young men who are clever and +self-educated, and those who live in great towns, and so lose the sight +of the wonderful works of God in the fields and woods, and see hardly +anything but what man has made; and therefore forget how weak and +ignorant even the wisest man is, and how little he understands of this +great and glorious world. + +Such people are apt to fancy men are clever enough to understand +anything. Then they say, ‘Why am I to believe anything I cannot +understand?’ And then they laugh at the mysteries of faith, and say, +‘Three Persons in one God! I cannot understand that! Why am I expected +to believe it?’ + +Now, here is the plain answer to such unwise speech (for unwise it is, +let it be dressed up in all fine long words, and show of wisdom), whether +the doctrine be true or not, your not understanding the matter is no +reason against it. Here is the answer: ‘You _do_ believe all day long a +hundred things which you do not understand; which quite surpass your +reason. You believe that you are alive: but you do not understand how +you live. You believe that, though you are made up of so many different +faculties and powers, you are one person: but you cannot understand how. +You believe that though your body and your mind too have gone through so +many changes since you were born, yet you are still one and the same +person, and nobody else but yourself; but you cannot understand that +either. You know it is so; but how and why it is so, you cannot explain; +and the greatest philosopher would not be foolish enough to try to +explain; because, if he is a really great scholar, he knows that it +cannot be explained. You lift your hand to your head: but how you do it, +neither you nor any mortal man knows; and true philosophers tell you that +we shall probably never know. True philosophers tell you that in the +simplest movement of your body, in the growth of the meanest blade of +grass, let them examine it with the microscope, let them think over it +till their brains are weary, there is always some mystery, some wonder +over and above, which neither their glasses nor their brains can explain, +or even find and see, much less give a name to. They know that there is +more in the matter, in the simplest matter, than man can find out; and +they are content to leave the wonder in the hands of God who made it; and +when they have found out all they can, confess, that the more they know, +the less they find they know. + +I tell you frankly, my friends, if you were to see through the microscope +a few of the wonderful things which are going on round you now in every +leaf, and every gnat which dances in the sunbeam; if you were to learn +even the very little which is known about them, you would see wonders +which would surpass your powers of reasoning, just as much as that far +greater wonder of the ever-blessed Trinity; things which you would not +believe, if your own eyes did not show them you. + +And what if it be strange? What is there to surprise us in that? If the +world be so wonderful, how much more wonderful must that great God be who +made the world, and keeps it always living? If the smallest blade of +grass be past our understanding, how much more past our understanding +must be the Absolute, Eternal, Almighty God? Do you not see that common +sense and reason lead us to expect that God should be the most wonderful +of all beings and things; that there must be some mystery and wonder in +him which is greater than all mysteries and wonders upon earth, just as +much as _he_ is greater than all heaven and earth? Which must be most +wonderful, the maker or the thing made? Thou art man, made in the +likeness of God. Thou canst not understand thyself. How much less canst +thou understand God, in whose likeness thou art made! + +For my part, instead of keeping people from learning, lest they should +grow proud, and despise the mysteries of faith, I would make them learn, +and entreat them to learn, and look seriously and patiently at all the +wonderful things which are going on round them all day long; for I am +sure that they would be so much astonished with what they saw on earth, +that they would not be astonished, much less staggered, at anything they +heard of in heaven; and least of all astonished at being told that the +name of Almighty God was too deep for the little brain of mortal man; and +that they would learn more and more to take humbly, like little children, +every hint which the experience of wise and good men of old time gives us +of the everlasting mystery of mysteries, the glory of the Triune God, +which St. John saw in the spirit. + +And what did St. John see? Something beyond even an apostle’s +understanding. Something which he could only see himself dimly, and +describe to us in figures and pictures, as it were, to help us to imagine +that great wonder. + +He was in the spirit, he says, when he saw it. That is, he did not see +it with his bodily eyes, but with his soul, his heart and mind. Not with +his bodily eyes (for no man hath seen God at any time), but with his +mind’s eye, which God had enlightened by his Holy Spirit. + +He sees a throne in heaven, and one sitting on it, bright and pure as +richest precious stone; and round his throne a rainbow like an emerald, +the sign to us of hope, and faithfulness, mercy and truth, which he +himself appointed after the flood, to comfort the fearful hearts of men. +Around him are elders crowned; men like ourselves, but men who have +fought the good fight, and conquered, and are now at rest; pure, as their +white garments tell us; and victorious, as their golden crowns tell us. +And from the throne come thunderings, and lightnings, and voices, as they +did when he spoke to the Jews of old—signs of his terrible power, as +judge, and lawgiver, and avenger of all the wrong which is done on earth. +And there are there, too, seven burning lamps, the seven spirits of God, +which give light and life to all created things, and most of all to +righteous hearts. And before the throne is a sea of glass; the same sea +which St. John saw in another vision, with us human beings standing on +it, and behold it was mingled with fire;—the sea of time, and space, and +mortal life, on which we all have our little day; the brittle and +dangerous sea of earthly life; for it may crack any moment beneath our +feet, and drop us into eternity, and the nether fire, unless we have his +hand holding us, who conquered time, and life, and death, and hell +itself. + +It seems to us to be a great thing now, time, and space, and the world; +and yet it looked small enough to St. John, as it lies in heaven, before +the throne of Christ; and he passes it by in a few words. For what are +all suns and stars, and what are all ages and generations, and millions +and millions of years, compared with eternity; with God’s eternal heaven, +and God whom not even heaven can contain?—One drop of water in comparison +with all the rain clouds of the western sea. + +But there is one comfort for us in St. John’s vision; that brittle, and +uncertain, and dangerous as life may be, yet it is before the throne of +God, and before the feet of Christ. St. John saw it lying there in +heaven, for a sign that in God we live, and move, and have our being. +Let us be content, and hope on, and trust on; for God is with us, and we +with God. + +But St. John saw another wonder. Four beasts—one like a man, one like a +calf, one like an eagle, one like a lion, with six wings each. + +What those living creatures mean, I can hardly tell you. Some wise and +learned men say they mean the four Evangelists: but, though there is much +to be said for it, I hardly think that; for St. John, who saw them, was +one of the four Evangelists himself. Others think they mean great and +glorious archangels; and that may be so. But certainly the Bible always +speaks of angels as shaped like men, like human beings, only more +beautiful and glorious. The two angels, for instance, who appeared to +the three men at our Lord’s tomb, are plainly called in one place, young +men. I think, rather, that these four living creatures mean the powers +and talents which God has given to men, that they may replenish the +earth, and subdue it. For we read of these same living creatures in the +book of the prophet Ezekiel; and we see them also on those ancient +Assyrian sculptures which are now in the British Museum; and we have good +reason to think that is what they mean there. The creature with the +man’s head means reason; the beast with the lion’s head, kingly power and +government; with the eagle’s head, and his piercing eye, prudence and +foresight; with the ox’s head, labour, and cultivation of the earth, and +successful industry. But whatsoever those living creatures mean, it is +more important to see what they do. They give glory, and honour, and +thanks to him who sits upon the throne. They confess that all power, all +wisdom, all prudence, all success in men or angels, in earth or heaven, +comes from God, and is God’s gift, of which he will require a strict +account; for he is Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty; and all things +are of him, and by him, and for him, for ever and ever. + +But who is he who sits upon the throne? Who but the Lord Jesus Christ? +Who but the Babe of Bethlehem? Who but the Friend of publicans and +sinners? Who but he who went about doing good to suffering mortal man? +Who but he who died on the cross? Who but he on whose bosom St. John +leaned at supper, and now saw him highly exalted, having a name above +every name? + +Oh, blest St. John, to see that sight! To see his dear Master in his +glory, after having seen him in his humiliation! God grant us so to +follow in St. John’s steps, that we may see the same sight, unworthy +though we are, in God’s good time. + +And where is God the Father? Yes, where? The heaven, and the heaven of +heavens, cannot contain him, whom no man hath seen, or can see; who +dwells in the light, whom no man can approach unto. Only the only +begotten Son, who dwells in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared +him, and shown to men in his own perfect loveliness and goodness, what +their heavenly Father is. That was enough for St. John; let it be enough +for us. He who has seen Christ has seen the Father, as far as any +created being can see him. The Son Christ is merciful: therefore the +Father is merciful. The Son is just: therefore the Father is just. The +Son is faithful and true: therefore the Father is faithful and true. The +Son is almighty to save: therefore the Father is almighty to save. Let +that be enough for you and me. + +But where is the Holy Spirit? There is no _where_ for spirits. All that +we can say is, that the Holy Spirit is proceeding for ever from the +Father and the Son; going forth for ever, to bring light and life, +righteousness and love, to all worlds, and to all hearts who will receive +him. The lamps of fire which St. John saw, the dove which came down at +Christ’s baptism, the cloven tongues of fire which sat on the +Apostles—these were signs and tokens of the Spirit; but they were not the +Spirit itself. Of him it is written, ‘He bloweth where he listeth, and +thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence he cometh or +whither he goeth.’ + +It is enough for us that he is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Holy +Father, and of the Holy Son; like them eternal, like them +incomprehensible, like them almighty, like them all-wise, all-just, +all-loving, merciful, faithful, and true for ever. + +This is what St. John saw—Christ the crucified, Christ the Babe of +Bethlehem, in the glory which he had before all worlds, and shall have +for ever; with all the powers of this wondrous world crying to him for +ever, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to +come; and the souls of just men made perfect answering those mystic +animals, and joining their hymns of praise to the hymn which goes up for +ever from sun and stars, from earth and sea,—when they find out the +deepest of all wisdom—the lesson which all the wonders of this earth, and +all which ever has happened, or will happen, in space and time, is meant +to teach us:— + +‘Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for +Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were +created.’ + +This is all that I can tell you. It may be a very little: but is it not +enough? What says Solomon the wise? ‘Knowest thou how the bones grow in +the womb?’ Not thou. How, then, wilt thou know God, who made all +things? Thou art fearfully and wonderfully made, though thou art but a +poor mortal man. And is not God more fearfully and wonderfully made than +thou art? It is a strange thing, and a mystery, how we ever got into +this world: a stranger thing still to me, how we shall ever get out of +this world again. Yet they are common things enough—birth and death. +‘Every moment dies a man, every moment one is born:’ and yet you do not +know what is the meaning of birth or death either: and I do not know; and +no man knows. How, then, can we know the mystery of God, in whose hand +are the issues of life and death?—God to whom all live for ever, living +and dead, born and unborn, in heaven and in hell? + +So it is in small things as well as great, in great as well as small; and +so it ever will be. ‘All things begin in some wonder, and in some wonder +all things end,’ said Saint Augustine, wisest in his day of all mortal +men; and all that great scholars have discovered since prove more and +more that Saint Augustine’s words were true, and that the wisest are +only, as a great philosopher once said, and one, too, who discovered more +of God’s works than any man for many a hundred years, even Sir Isaac +Newton himself: ‘The wisest of us is but like a child picking up a few +shells and pebbles on the shore of a boundless sea.’ + +The shells and pebbles are the little scraps of knowledge which God +vouchsafes to us, his sinful children; knowledge, of which at best St. +Paul says, that we know only in part, and prophesy in part, and think as +children; and that knowledge shall vanish away, and tongues shall cease, +and prophecies shall fail. + +And the boundless sea is the great ocean of time—of God’s created +universe, above which his Spirit broods over, perfect in love, and +wisdom, and almighty power, as at the beginning, moving above the face of +the waters of time, giving life to all things, for ever blessing, and for +ever blest. + +God grant us all to see the day when we shall have passed safely across +that sea of time, up to the sure land of eternity; and shall no more +think as children, or know in part; but shall see God face to face, and +know him even as we are known; and find him, the nearer we draw to him, +more wonderful, and more glorious, and more good than ever;—‘Holy, Holy, +Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.’ And +meanwhile, take comfort, and recollect however little you and I may know, +God knows: he knows himself, and you, and me, and all things; and his +mercy is over all his works. + + + + +SERMON XXXV. +A GOD IN PAIN. + + + (_Good Friday_.) + + HEBREWS ii. 9, 50. + + But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the + suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the + grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, + for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many + sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect + through sufferings. + +WHAT are we met together to think of this day? God in pain: God +sorrowing; God dying for man, as far as God could die. Now it is +this;—the blessed news that God suffered pain, God sorrowed, God died, as +far as God could die—which makes the Gospel different from all other +religions in the world; and it is this, too, which makes the Gospel so +strong to conquer men’s hearts, and soften them, and bring them back to +God and righteousness in a way no other religion ever has done. It is +the good news of this good day, well called Good Friday, which wins souls +to Christ, and will win them as long as men are men. + +The heathen, you will find, always thought of their gods as happy. The +gods, they thought, always abide in bliss, far above all the chances and +changes of mortal life; always young, strong, beautiful, needing no help, +needing no pity; and therefore, my friends, never calling out our love. +The heathens never _loved_ their gods: they admired them, thanked them +when they thought they helped them; or they were afraid of them when they +thought they were offended. + +But as far as I can find, they never really loved their gods. Love to +God was a new feeling, which first came into the world with the good news +that God had suffered and that God had died upon the cross. That was a +God to be loved, indeed; and all good hearts loved him, and will love him +still. + +For you cannot really love any one who is quite different from you; who +has never been through what you have. You do not think that he can +understand you; you expect him to despise you, laugh at you. You say, as +I have heard a poor woman say of a rich one, ‘How can she feel for me? +She does not know what poor people go through.’ + +Now it is just that feeling which mankind had about God till Christ died. + +God, or the gods, were beautiful, strong, happy, self-sufficient, up in +the skies; and men on earth were full of sorrow and trouble, disease, +accidents, death; and sin, too; quarrelling and killing, hateful and +hating each other. How could the gods love men? And then men had a +sense of sin; they felt they were doing wrong. Surely the gods hated +them for doing wrong. Surely all the sorrows and troubles which came on +them were punishments for doing wrong. How miserable they were! But the +gods sat happy up in heaven, and cared not for them. Or, if the gods did +care, they cared only for special favourites. If any man was very good, +or strong, or handsome, or clever, or rich, or prosperous, the gods cared +for him—he was a favourite. But what did they care for poor, ugly, +deformed, unfortunate, foolish wretches? Surely the gods despised them, +and had sent them into the world to be miserable. There was no sympathy, +no fellow-feeling between gods and men. The gods did not love men as +men. Why should men love them? And so men did not love them. + +And as there was no love to God before Good Friday, so there was no love +to men. + +If God despised the poor, the deformed, the helpless, the ignorant, the +crazy, why should not man? If God was hard on them, why should not man +oppress and ill-use them? And so you will find that there was no charity +in the world. + +Among some of the Eastern nations—the Hindoos, for instance—when they +were much better men than now, charity did spring up for a while here and +there, in a very beautiful shape; but among Greeks and Romans there was +simply no charity; and you will find little or none among the Jews +themselves. + +The Pharisees gave alms to save their own souls, and feed their own pride +of being good; but had no charity—‘This people, who knoweth not the law, +is accursed.’ As for poor, diseased people, they were born in sin: +either they or their parents had sinned. We may see that the poor of +Judea, as well as Galilee, were in a miserable, neglected, despised +state; and the worst thing that the Pharisees could say of our Lord Jesus +was, that he ate and drank with publicans and sinners. Because there was +no love to God, there was no love to man. There was a great gulf fixed +between every man and his neighbour. + +But Christ came; God came; and became man. And with the blood of his +cross was bridged over for ever the gulf between God and man, and the +gulf between man and man. + +Good Friday showed that there was sympathy, there was fellow-feeling +between God and man; that God would do all for man, endure all for man; +that God so desired to make man like God, that he would stoop to be made +like man. There was nothing God would not do to justify himself to man, +to show men that he did care for them, that he did love the creatures +whom he had made. Yes; God had not forgotten man; God had not made man +in vain. God had not sent man into the world to be wicked and miserable +here, and to perish for ever hereafter. Wickedness and misery were here; +but God had not put them here, and he would not leave them here. He +would conquer them by enduring them. Sin and misery tormented men; then +they should torment the Son of God too. Sin and misery killed men; then +they should kill the Son of God, too: he would taste death for every man, +that men might live by him. He would be made perfect by sufferings: not +made perfectly good (for that he was already), but perfectly able to feel +for men, to understand them, to help them; because he had been tempted in +all things like as they. + +And so on Good Friday did God bridge over the gulf between God and men. +No man can say now, Why has God sent man into the world to be miserable, +while he is happy? For God in Christ was miserable once. No man can +say, God makes me go through pain, and torture, and death, while he goes +through none of such things: for God in Christ endured pain, torture, +death, to the uttermost. And so God is a being which man can love, +admire, have fellow-feeling for; cling to God with all the noble feelings +of his heart, with admiration, gratitude, and tenderness, even on this +day with pity.—As Christ himself said, ‘When I am lifted up, I will draw +all men to me.’ + +And no man can say now, What has God to do with sufferers—sick, weak, +deformed wretches? If he had cared for them, would he have made them +thus? For we can answer, However sick, or weak they may be, God in +Christ has been as weak as they. God has shared their sufferings, and +has been made perfect by sufferings, that they might be made perfect +also. God has sanctified suffering, pain, and sorrow upon his cross, and +made them holy; as holy as health, and strength, and happiness are. And +so on Good Friday God bridged over the gulf between man and man. He has +shown that God is charity and love; and that the way to live for ever in +God is to live for ever in that charity and love to all mankind which God +showed this day upon the cross. + +And, therefore, all _charity_ is rightly called _Christian_ charity; for +it is Christ, and the news of Good Friday, which first taught men to have +charity; to look on the poor, the afflicted, the weak, the orphan, with +love, pity, respect. By the sight of a suffering and dying God, God has +touched the hearts of men, that they might learn to love and respect +suffering and dying men; and in the face of every mourner, see the face +of Christ, who died for them. Because Christ the sufferer is their elder +brother, all sufferers are their brothers likewise. Because Christ +tasted pain, shame, misery, death for all men, therefore we are bound +this day to pray for all men, that they may have their share in the +blessings of Christ’s death; not to look on them any longer as aliens, +strangers, enemies, parted from us and each other and God; but whether +wise or foolish, sick or well, happy or unhappy, alive or dead, as +brothers. We are bound to pray for his Holy Church as one family of +brothers; for all ranks of men in it, that each of them may learn to give +up their own will and pleasure for the sake of doing their duty in their +calling, as Christ did; to pray for Jews, Turks, Heathens, and Infidels; +as for God’s lost children, and our lost brothers, that God would bring +them home to his flock, and touch their hearts by the news of his +sufferings for them; that they may taste the inestimable comfort of +knowing that God so loved them as to suffer, to groan, to die for them +and all mankind. + + + + +SERMON XXXVI. +ON THE FALL. + + + (_Sexagesima Sunday_.) + + GENESIS iii. 12. + + And the man said, The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave + me of the tree, and I did eat. + +THIS morning we read the history of Adam’s fall in the first Lesson. Now +does this story seem strange to you, my friends? Do you say to +yourselves, If I had been in Adam’s place, I should never have been so +foolish as Adam was? If you do say so, you cannot have looked at the +story carefully enough. For if you do look at it carefully, I believe +you will find enough in it to show you that it is a very _natural_ story, +that we have the same nature in us that Adam had; that we are indeed +Adam’s children; and that the Bible speaks truth when it says, ‘Adam +begat a son after his own likeness.’ + +Now, let us see how Adam fell, and what he did when he fell. + +Adam, we find, was not content to be in the image of God. He wanted, he +and his wife, to be as gods, knowing good and evil. Now do, I beseech +you, think a moment carefully, and see what that means. + +Adam was not content to be in the likeness of God; to copy God by obeying +God. He wanted to be a little god himself; to know what was good for +him, and what was evil for him; whereas God had told him, as it were, You +do _not_ know what is good for you, and what is evil for you. I know; +and I tell you to obey me; not to eat of a certain tree in the garden. + +But pride and self-will rose up in Adam’s heart. He wanted to show that +he _did_ know what was good for him. He wanted to be independent, and +show that he could do what he liked, and take care of himself; and so he +ate the fruit which he was forbidden to eat, partly because it was fair +and well-tasted, but still more to show his own independence. + +Now, surely this is natural enough. Have we not all done the very same +thing in our time, nay, over and over again? When we were children, were +we never forbidden to do something which we wished to do? Were we never +forbidden, just as Adam was, to take an apple—something pleasant to the +eye, and good for food? And did we not long for it, and determine to +have it all the more, because it was forbidden, just as Adam and Eve did; +so that we wished for it much more than we should if our parents had +given it to us? Did we not in our hearts accuse our parents of grudging +it to us, and listen to the voice of the tempter, as Eve did, when the +serpent tried to make out that God was niggardly to her, and envious of +her, and did not want her to be wise, lest she should be too like God? + +Have we not said in our heart, Why should my father grudge me that nice +thing when he takes it himself? + +He wants to keep it all to himself. Why should not I have a share of it? +He says it will hurt me. How does he know that? It does not hurt him. +I must be the best judge of whether it will hurt me. I do not believe +that it will: but at least it is but fair that I should try. I will try +for myself. I will run the chance. Why should I be kept like a baby, as +if I had no sense or will of my own? I will know the right and the wrong +of it for myself. I will know the good and evil of it myself. + +Have we not said that, every one of us, in our hearts, when we were +young?—And is not that just what the Bible says Adam and Eve said? + +And then, because we were Adam’s children, with his fallen nature in us, +and original sin, which we inherited from him, we could not help longing +more and more after what our parents had forbidden; we could think, +perhaps, of nothing else; cared for no pleasure, no pay, because we could +not get that one thing which our parents had told us not to touch. And +at last we fell, and sinned, and took the thing on the sly. + +And then? + +Did it not happen to us, as it did to Adam, that a feeling of shame and +guiltiness came over us at once? Yes; of shame. We intended to feed our +own pride: but instead of pride came shame and fear too; so instead of +rising, we had fallen and felt that we had fallen. Just so it was with +Adam. Instead of feeling all the prouder and grander when he had sinned, +he became ashamed of himself at once, he hardly knew why. We had +intended to set ourselves up against our parents; but instead, we became +afraid of them. We were always fancying that they would find us out. We +were afraid of looking them in the face. Just so it was with Adam. He +heard the word of the Lord God, Jesus Christ, walking in the garden. Did +he go to meet him; thank him for that pleasant life, pleasant earth, for +the mere blessing of existence? No. He hid himself among the trees of +the garden. But why hide himself? Even if he had given up being +thankful to God; even if he had learned from the devil to believe that +God grudged him, envied him, had deceived him, about that fruit, why run +away and hide? He wanted to be as God, wise, knowing good and evil for +himself. Why did he not stand out boldly when he heard the voice of the +Lord God and say, I am wise now; I am as a God now, knowing good and +evil; I am no longer to be led like a child, and kept strictly by rules +which I do not understand; I have a right to judge for myself, and choose +for myself; and I have done it, and you have no right to complain of me? + +Perhaps Adam had intended, when he ate the fruit, to stand up for +himself, with some such fine words; as children intend when they disobey. + +But when it came to the point, away went all Adam’s self-confidence, all +Adam’s pride, all Adam’s fine notions of what he had a right to do; and +he hides himself miserably, like a naughty and disobedient child. And +then, like a mean and cowardly one, when he is called out and forced to +answer for himself, he begins to make pitiful excuses. He has not a word +to say for himself. He throws the blame on his wife; it was all the +woman’s fault now—indeed, God’s fault. ‘The woman whom thou gavest to be +with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.’ + +My dear friends, if we want a proof that the Bible is a true, divine, +inspired book, we need go no further than this one story. For, my +friends, have we never said the same? When we felt that we had done +wrong; when the voice of God and of Christ in our hearts was rebuking us +and convincing us of sin, have we never tried to shift the blame off our +own shoulders, and lay it on God himself, and the blessings which he has +given us? on one’s wife—on one’s family—on money—on one’s youth, and +health, and high spirits?—in a word, on the good things which God has +given us? + +Ah, my friends, we are indeed Adam’s children; and have learned his +lesson, and inherited his nature only too fearfully well. For what Adam +did but once, we have done a hundred times; and the mean excuse which +Adam made but once, we make again and again. + +But the loving Lord has patience with us, as he had with Adam, and does +not take us at our word. He did not say to Adam, You lay the blame upon +your wife; then I will take her from you, and you shall see then where +the blame lies. Ungrateful to me! you shall live henceforth alone. And +he does not say to us, You make all the blessings which I have given you +an excuse for sinning! Then I will take them from you, and leave you +miserable, and pour out my wrath upon you to the uttermost! + +Not so. Our God is not such a God as that. He is full of compassion and +long-suffering, and of tender mercy. He knows our frame, and remembers +that we are but dust. He sends us out into the world, as he sent Adam, +to learn experience by hard lessons; to eat our bread in the sweat of our +brow, till we have found out our own weakness and ignorance, and have +learned that we cannot stand alone, that pride and self-dependence will +only lead us to guilt, and misery, and shame, and meanness; and that +there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved from them, +but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +He is the woman’s seed, who, so God promised, was to bruise the head of +the serpent. And he has bruised it. He is the woman’s seed—a man, as we +are men, with a human nature, but one without spot of sin, to make us +free from sin. + +Let us look up to him as often as we find our nature dragging us down, +making us proud and self-willed, greedy and discontented, longing after +this and that. Let us trust in him, ask him, for his grace day by day; +ask him to shape and change us into his likeness, that we may become +daily more and more free; free from sin; free from this miserable longing +after one thing and another; free from our bad habits, and the sin which +does so easily beset us; free from guilty fear, and coward dread of God. +Let us ask him, I say, to change, and purify, and renew us day by day, +till we come to his likeness; to the stature of perfect men, free men, +men who are not slaves to their own nature, slaves to their own pride, +slaves to their own vanity, slaves of their own bad tempers, slaves to +their own greediness and foul lusts: but free, as the Lord Christ was +free; able to keep their bodies in subjection, and rise above nature by +the eternal grace of God; able to use this world without abusing it; able +to thank God for all the _blessings_ of this life, and learn from them +precious lessons; able to thank God for all the _sorrows_ of this life, +and learn from them wholesome discipline: but yet able to rise above them +all, and say, ‘As long as I hold fast to Christ the King of men, this +world cannot harm me. My life, my real human life, does not depend on my +being comfortable or uncomfortable here below for a few short years. My +real life is hid in God with Jesus Christ, who, after he had redeemed +human nature by his perfect obedience, and washed it pure again in the +blood of his cross, for ever sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on +high; that so, being lifted up, he might draw all men unto himself—even +as many as will come to him, that they may have eternal life. + + + + +SERMON XXXVII. +THE WORTHY COMMUNICANT. + + + LUKE xviii. 14. + + I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the + other. + +WHICH of these two men was the more fit to come to the Communion? Most +of you will answer, The publican: for he was more justified, our Lord +himself says, than the Pharisee. True: but would you have said so of +your own accord, if the Lord had not said so? Which of the two men do +you really think was the better man, the Pharisee or the publican? Which +of the two do you think had his soul in the safer state? Which of the +two would you rather be, if you were going to die? Which of the two +would you rather be, if you were going to the Communion? For mind, one +could not have _refused_ the Pharisee, if he had come to the Communion. +He was in no open sin: I may say, no outward sin at all. You must not +fancy that he was a hypocrite, in the sense in which we usually employ +that word. I mean, he was not a man who was leading a wicked life +secretly, while he kept up a show of religion. He was really a religious +man in his own way, scrupulous, and over-scrupulous to perform every duty +to the letter. He went to his church to worship; and he was no +lip-worshipper, repeating a form of words by rote, but prayed there +honestly, concerning the things which were in his heart. He did not say, +either, that he had made himself good. If he was wrong on some points, +he was not on that. He knew where his goodness, such as it was, came +from. ‘God, I thank thee,’ he says, ‘that I am what I am.’ What have we +in this man? one would ask at first sight. What reason for him to stay +away from the Sacrament? He would not have thought himself that there +was any reason. He would, probably, have thought—‘If I am not fit, who +is? Repent me truly of my former sins? Certainly. If I have done the +least harm to any one, I shall be happy to restore it fourfold. If I +have neglected one, the least of God’s services, I shall be only too glad +to keep it all the more strictly for the future. + +‘Intend to lead a new life? I am leading one, and trying to lead one +more and more every day. I shall be thankful to any one who will show me +any new service which I can offer to God, any new act of reverence, any +new duty. + +‘I must go in love and charity with all men? I do so. I have not a +grudge against any human being. Of course, I know the world too well to +be satisfied with it. I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that millions +are living very sinful, shocking lives—extortioners, unjust, adulterers; +and that three people out of four are going straight to hell. I pity +them, and forgive them any wrong which they have done to me. What more +can I do?’ + +This is what the Pharisee would have said. Is this man fit to come to +the Communion? At least he himself thinks so. + +On the other hand, was the publican fit? That is a serious question; one +which we cannot answer, without knowing more about him than our Lord has +chosen to tell us. Many a person is ready enough, in these days, to cry +‘God be merciful to me a sinner!’ who is fit, I fear, neither to come to +the Communion, nor to stay away either. + +It was not so, I suppose, with the old Jews in our Lord’s time. The +Pharisees then were hard legalists, who stood all on works; and, +therefore, if a man broke off from them, and threw himself on God’s grace +and mercy, he did it in a simple, honest, effectual way, like this +publican. + +But now, I am sorry to say, our Pharisees have contrived to make +themselves as proud and self-righteous about their own faith and +repentance, as the Jewish Pharisees did about their own works and +observances; and there has risen up in England and elsewhere a very ugly +new hypocrisy. People now-a-days are too apt to pride themselves on +their own convictions of sin, and their own repentance, till they trust +in their repentance to save them, and not in Christ, just as the Pharisee +trusted in his works to save him, and not in Christ; and when they pray, +I cannot help fearing (for I am sure many of their religious books teach +them it) that they pray very much like that Pharisee, ‘God, I thank thee +that I am not as other men are, carnal, unconverted, unconvinced of sin, +nor even as that plain, moral, respectable man. I am convinced of sin; I +am converted; I have the right frames, and the right feelings, and the +right experiences.’ Oh, of all the cunning snares of the devil, that I +think is the cunningest. Well says the old proverb—‘The devil is old, +and therefore he knows many things.’ + +In old times he made men trust in their own righteousness: and that was +snare enough; now he has learnt how to make men actually trust in their +own sinfulness, and so turn the grace of God into a cloak of pride, and +contempt of their fellow-creatures. + +My friends, do you think that if the publican, after he had said, ‘God be +merciful to me a sinner!’ had said to himself, ‘There—how beautifully I +have repented—how honest I have been to God—I am all right now’—he would +have gone down to his house justified at all? Not he. No more will you +and I, my friends. If we have sinned, what should we be but ashamed of +it? Ay, utterly ashamed. And if we really know what sin is—if we really +see the sinfulness of sin—if we really see ourselves as God sees us—we +shall be too much shocked at the sight of our own hearts to have time to +boast of our being able to see our own hearts. We shall be too full of +loathing and hatred for our sins, too full of longing to get rid of our +sins, and to become righteous and holy, even as God is righteous and +holy, to give way to any pride in our own frames and feelings; and, +instead of thinking ourselves better men than our neighbours because we +see our sins, and fancy they do not see theirs, we shall be almost ready +to think ourselves worse than our neighbours, to think that they cannot +have so much to repent of as we; and as we grow in grace, we shall see +more and more sin in ourselves, till we actually fancy at times that no +one can be as bad as we are, and in lowliness of mind esteem others +better than ourselves. We may carry that too far, too. Certainly there +is no use in accusing ourselves of sins which we have not committed; we +have all quite enough real sins to answer for without inventing more. +But still that is a better frame of mind than the other; for no man can +be too humble, while any man can be too proud. + +But let us all ask God to open our eyes, that we may see ourselves just +as we are, let our sins be many or few. Let us ask God to convince us +really of sin by his Holy Spirit, and show us what sin is, and its +exceeding sinfulness; how ugly and foul sin is, how foolish and absurd, +how mean and ungrateful toward that good God who wishes us nothing but +good, and wishes us, therefore, to be good, because goodness is the only +path to life and happiness; and then we shall be so ashamed of ourselves, +so afraid of our own weakness, so shocked at the difference between +ourselves and the spotless Lord Jesus, that we shall have no time to +despise others, no time to admire our own frames, and feelings, and +repentances. All we shall think of is our own sinfulness, and God’s +mercy; and we shall come eagerly, if not boldly, to the throne of grace, +to find grace and mercy to help us in the time of need; crying, ‘Purge +thou me, O Lord, or I shall never be pure; wash thou me, and then alone +shall I be clean. For thou requirest, not frames or feelings, not pride +and self-conceit, but truth in the inward parts; and wilt make me to +understand wisdom secretly.’ + +Then, indeed, we shall be fit to come to the Holy Communion; for then we +shall be so ashamed of ourselves that we shall truly repent of our +sins—so ashamed of ourselves that we shall long and determine to lead a +new life—so ashamed of ourselves that we shall have no heart to look down +on any of our neighbours, or pass hard judgments on them, but be in love +and charity with all men; and so, in spite of all our past sins, come to +partake worthily of the body and blood of Him who died for our sins, +whose blood will wash them out of our hearts, whose body will strengthen +and refresh us, body and soul, to a new and everlasting life of +humbleness and thankfulness, honesty and justice, usefulness and love. + + + + +SERMON XXXVIII. +OUR DESERTS. + + + LUKE vi. 36–38. + + Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge + not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be + condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be + given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and + running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same + measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. + +ONE often hears complaints against this world, and against mankind; one +hears it said that people are unjust, unfair, cruel; that in this world +no man can expect to get what he deserves. And, of course, there are +great excuses for saying so. There are bad men in the world in plenty, +who do villanous and cruel things enough; and besides, there is a great +deal of dreadful misery in the world, which does not seem to come through +any fault of the poor creatures who suffer it; misery of which we can +only say, ‘Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the glory +of God may be made manifest in him.’ + +But still our Lord tells us in the text, that, on the whole, there is +order lying under all the disorder, justice under all the injustice, +right under all the wrong; and that on the whole we get what we deserve. +‘Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, +and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: +forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you; +good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall +men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, +it shall be measured to you again.’ + +Of course, as I said just now, it is not always so. None knew that +better than the blessed Lord: else why did he come to seek and save that +which was lost? But still the more we look into our own lives, the more +we shall find our Lord’s words true; the more we shall find that on the +whole, in the long run, men will be just and fair to us, and give us, +sooner or later, what we deserve. + +Now, to deserve a thing, properly means to serve for it, to work for it +and earn it, as a natural consequence. If a man puts his hand into the +fire, he _deserves_ to burn it, because it is the nature of fire to burn, +and therefore it burns him, and so he gets his deserts; and if a man does +wrong, he deserves to be unhappy, because it is the nature of sin to make +the sinner unhappy, and so he gets his deserts. God has not to go out of +his way to punish sin; sin punishes itself; and so if a man does right, +he becomes in the long run happy. God has not to go out of his way to +reward him and make him happy; his own good deeds make him happy; he +earns happiness in the comfort of a good conscience, and the love and +respect of those about him; and so he gets his deserts. For our Lord +says, ‘People in the long run will treat you as you treat them. If they +feel and see by experience that you are loving and kind to them, they +will be loving and kind to you; as you do to them, they will, in the long +run, do to you.’ They may mistake you at first, even dislike you at +first. Did they not mistake, hate, crucify the Lord himself? and yet his +own rule came true of him. A few crucified him; but now all civilized +nations worship him as God. Be sure, then, that his rule will come true +of you, though not at first, yet in God’s good time. Therefore hold +still in the Lord, and abide patiently; and he shall make thy +righteousness as clear as the light, and thy just dealing as the +noon-day. + +Now this is a very blessed and comfortable thought. Would to God that +all of us, young people especially, would lay it to heart. How are we to +get comfortably through this life? Or, if we are to have sorrows (as we +all must), how can we make those sorrows as light as possible? How can +we make friends who will comfort us in those sorrows, instead of leaving +us to bear our burden alone, and turning their backs on us just when our +poor hearts are longing for a kind look and a kind word from our +neighbours? Our Lord tells us now. The same measure that you mete +withal, it shall be measured to you again. + +There is his plan. It is a very simple one. It goes on the same +principle as ‘He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth +his life shall save it.’ If we are selfish, and take care only of +ourselves, the day will come when our neighbours will leave us alone in +our selfishness to shift for ourselves. If we set out determining +through life to care about other people rather than ourselves, then they +will care for themselves more than for us, and measure their love to us +by our measure of love to them. But if we care for others, they will +learn to care for us; if we befriend others, they will befriend us. If +we show forth the Spirit of God to them, in kindliness, generosity, +patience, self-sacrifice, the day will surely come when we shall find +that the Spirit of God is in our neighbours as well as in ourselves; that +on the whole they will be just to us, and pay us what we have deserved +and earned. Blessed and comfortable thought, that no kind word, kind +action, not even the cup of cold water given in Christ’s name, can lose +its reward. Blessed thought, that after all our neighbours are our +brothers, and that if we remember that steadily, and treat them as +brothers now, they will recollect it too some day, and treat us as +brothers in return. Blessed thought, that there is in the heart of every +man a spark of God’s light, a grain of God’s justice, which may grow up +in him hereafter, and bear good fruit to eternal life. + +Yes; it is a pleasant thing to find men better than we fancied them. A +pleasant thing; for first, it makes us love them the more, and there is +nothing so pleasant as loving. And more; it does this—it makes us more +inclined to trust God’s justice. We say to ourselves, Men are, we find, +really more just and fair than they seem to us at times; surely God must +be more just and fair than he seems to us at times. For there are times +when it does seem a hard thing to believe that God is just; times when +the devil tempts poor suffering creatures sorely, and tries to make them +doubt their heavenly Father, and say with David, What am I the better for +having done right? Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart; in vain have +I washed my hands in innocency. All the day long have I been punished, +and chastened every morning. Yes; when some poor woman, working in the +field, with all the cares of a family on her, looks up at great people in +their carriages, she is tempted, she must be tempted to say at times, +‘Why am I to be so much worse off than they? Is God just in making me so +poor and them so rich?’ It is a foolish thought. I do believe it is a +temptation of the devil, a deceit of the devil; for rich people are not +really one whit happier or lighter-hearted than poor ones, and all the +devil wishes is to make poor people envy their neighbours, and mistrust +God. But still one cannot wonder at their faith failing them at times. +I do not judge them, still less condemn them; for the text forbids me. +Or again, when some poor creature, crippled from his youth, looks upon +others strong and active, cheerful and happy. Think of a deformed child +watching healthy children at play; and then think, must it not be hard at +times for that child not to repine, and cry to God, ‘Why hast thou made +me thus?’ + +Yes. I will not go on giving fresh instances. The world is but too full +of them. + +But when such thoughts trouble us, here is one comfort—ay, here is our +only comfort—God must be more just than man. Whatsoever appearances may +seem to make against it, he must be. For where did all the justice in +the world come from, but from God? Who put the feeling of justice into +every man’s heart, but God himself? He is the glorious sun, perfectly +bright, perfectly pure; and all the other goodness in the world is but +rays and beams of light sent forth from his great light. So we may be +certain that God is not only as just as man, but millions of times _more_ +just; more just, and righteous, and good than all the just men on earth +put together. We can believe that. We must believe it. Thousands have +believed it already. Thousands of holy sufferers, in prisons and on +scaffolds, in poverty and destitution, on sick-beds of lingering torture, +have believed still that God was just and righteous in all his dealings +with them; and have cried in the hour of their bitterest agony, ‘Though +thou slay me, O Lord, yet will I trust in thee!’ + +Yes. God is just. He has revealed that in the person of his Son Jesus +Christ. There is God’s likeness. There is proof enough that God is not +one who afflicts willingly, or grieves the children of men out of any +neglect or spite, or respecteth one person more than another. It may +seem hard to be sure of that: unless we believe that Jesus is the Christ, +the co-equal and co-eternal Son of the Father, we never shall be sure of +it. Believing in the message of the ever-blessed Trinity, we shall be +sure; for we shall be sure that, ‘Such as the Father is, such is the Son, +and such is the Holy Ghost’—perfect love, perfect justice, perfect mercy; +and therefore we can be sure that in the world beyond the grave the +balance will be made even, again, and for ever; and every mourner be +comforted, and every sufferer be refreshed, and every one receive his due +reward—if they will only now in this life take the lesson of the text, +‘Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not +be condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven; for if you forgive +every one his brother their trespasses, in like wise will your heavenly +Father forgive you.’ Do that; and then you will get your _deserts_ in +the life to come, and by forgiving, and helping, and blessing others, +_deserve_ to be forgiven, and comforted, and blessed yourselves, for the +sake of that Saviour who is day and night presenting all your good works +to his Father and your Father, as a precious and fragrant offering—a +sacrifice with which the God of love is well pleased, because it is, like +himself, made up of love. + + + + +SERMON XXXIX. +THE LOFTINESS OF GOD. + + + ISAIAH lvii. 15. + + For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose + name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that + is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the + humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. + +THIS is a grand text; one of the grandest in the whole Old Testament; one +of those the nearest to the spirit of the New. It is full of Gospel—of +good news: but it is not the whole Gospel. It does not tell us the whole +character of God. We can only get that in the New. We can get it there; +we can get it in that most awful and glorious chapter which we read for +the second lesson—the twenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew. Seen in the +light of that—seen in the light of Christ’s cross and what it tells us, +all is clear, and all is bright, and all is full of good news—at least to +those who are humble and contrite, crushed down by sorrow, and by the +feeling of their own infirmities. + +But what does the text tell us? + +Of a high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity. + +Of a lofty God, Almighty, incomprehensible; so far above us, so different +from us, that we cannot picture him to ourselves; of a glory and majesty +utterly beyond all human fancy or imagination. + +Of a holy God, in whom is no sin, nor taint of sin; who is of purer eyes +than to behold iniquity; who is so perfect, that he cannot be content +with anything which is not as perfect as himself; who looks with horror +and disgust on evil of every shape; who cannot endure it, will at last +destroy it. + +Of a God who abides in eternity—who cannot change—cannot alter his own +decrees and laws, because his decrees and laws are right and necessary, +and proceed out of his own character. If he has said a thing, that thing +must be; because it is the thing which ought to be. + +How, then, shall we think of this lofty, holy, unchangeable God—we who +are low, unholy, changing with every wind that blows? + +Shall we say, ‘He is so far above us, that he cannot feel for us? He is +so holy that he must hate us, and will our punishment, and our damnation +for all our sins?’ + +‘He is eternal, and cannot change his will; and, therefore, if he wills +us to perish, perish we must.’ + +We may think so of God, and dread God, and cry ‘Whither shall I flee from +thy Spirit, and whither shall I go from thy presence?’ We may call to +the mountains to fall on us, and to the hills to cover us, till we try to +forget at all risks the thought of God: and if we do not, there are +plenty who will do it for us. The devil, who slanders and curses God to +men, and men to God, and to each other—he will talk to us of God in this +way. + +And men who preach the devil’s doctrine, will talk to us likewise, and +say, ‘Yes, God is very dreadful, and very angry with you. God certainly +intends to damn you. But _I_ have a plan for delivering you out of God’s +hands; _I_ know what you must do to be saved from God—join _my_ sect or +party, and believe and work with me, and then you will escape God.’ + +But, after all, would it not be wiser, my friends, to hold your own +tongues, and let God himself speak? + +If he had not spoken in the first place, what should we have known of +him? Can man by searching find out God? We should not have known that +there was a high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity, if he had not told +us. Had we not better hear the rest of his message, and let God finish +his own character of himself? + +And what does he say? + +‘I dwell—I, the high and lofty One, who inhabit eternity—with him also, +who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the +humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’ + +Oh, my friends, is not this news? good news and unexpected news, perhaps, +but still as true as what went before it? God hath said the one, and we +believe it: and now he says the other; and shall we not believe it too? + +Come, then, thou humble soul; thou crushed and contrite soul; thou who +fearest that thou art not worthy of God’s care; thou from whom God has +taken so much, that thou fearest that he will take all—come and hear the +Lord’s message to thee—God’s own message; no devil’s message, or man’s +message, but God’s own. + +‘I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for then +the spirit would fail before me, and the souls which I have made. I have +seen thy ways, and will heal thee. I will lead thee, also, and restore +comforts to thee and to thy mourners. I create the fruit of the lips. I +give men cause to thank me, and delight in giving. Peace, peace to him +that is near, and to him that is far off, saith the Lord. If thou art +near me, thou art safe; for if I were to take all else from thee, I +should not take myself from thee. Though thou walkest through the valley +of the shadow of death, I will be with thee. And if thou art far off +from me, wandering in folly and sin, I cry peace to thee still. Why +should I wish to be at war with any of my creatures? saith the Lord. My +will is, that thou shouldst be at peace. I am at peace myself, and I +wish to make all my creatures at peace also, and thee among the rest. I +am whole and perfect myself, and I wish to heal all my creatures, and +make them whole and perfect also, and thee among the rest. + +‘But the wicked? Ay, this is their very misery, that there is no peace +to them. I want them to enter into my peace, and they will not. I am at +peace with them, saith the Lord. I owe them no grudge, poor wretches. +But they will not be at peace with themselves. They are like the +troubled sea, which casts up mire and dirt, and fouls itself. I cast up +no mire nor dirt. I foul nothing. I tempt no man. I, the good God, +create no evil. If the troubled sea fouls itself, so do the wicked make +themselves miserable, and punish themselves by their own lusts, which war +in their members. But they cannot alter _me_, saith the Lord; they +cannot change my temper, my character, my everlasting name. I am that I +am, who inhabit eternity; and no creature, and no creature’s sin, can +make me other than I am. + +And what is that? What is the name, what is the character, what is the +temper of him who inhabits eternity? Look on the cross, and see. + +The cross, at least, will tell you what kind of a God your God is. A +good God; a God of love; a God of boundless forbearance and +long-suffering. Good God! The folly and madness of men’s hearts, who +look on God dying on the cross for them, and begin forthwith puzzling +their brains as to _how_ he died for them; how Christ’s blood washes away +their sins; how it is applied, and to whom; puzzling their brains with +theories of the atonement, and with predestination, and satisfaction, and +forensic justification, and particular redemption, and long words which +(four out of five of them) are not in the Bible, but are spun out of +men’s own minds, as spiders’ webs are from spiders—and, like them, mostly +fit to hamper poor harmless flies. + +How Christ’s death takes away thy sins, thou wilt never know on +earth—perhaps not in heaven. It is a mystery which thou must believe and +adore. But why he died, thou canst see at the first glance—if thou hast +a human heart, and wilt look at what God means thee to look at—Christ +upon his cross. He died because he was _love_—love itself—love +boundless, unconquerable, unchangeable—love which inhabits eternity, and +therefore could not be hardened or foiled by any sin or rebellion of man, +but must love men still; must go out to seek and save them; must dare, +suffer any misery, shame, death itself, for their sake; just because it +is absolute and perfect love, which inhabits eternity. + +Look at that—look at the sight of God’s character, which the cross gives +thee; and then, instead of being terrified at God’s will and decree being +unchangeable and eternal, it will be the greatest possible comfort to +thee that God’s will is unchangeable and eternal, because thou wilt see +from the cross that it is a _good_ will—a will of mercy, forbearance, +long-suffering towards thee and all mankind, eternal in the heavens as +God himself. + +Then let those be afraid who are not afraid; and let those who are +afraid, take heart. Let those who think they stand, take heed lest they +fall. Let those who think they see, take care that they be not blind. +Let those be afraid who fancy themselves right and above all mistakes, +lest they should be full of ugly sins when they fancy themselves most +religious and devout. Let those be afraid who are fond of advising +others, lest they should be in more need of their own medicine than their +patients are. Let those fear who pride themselves on their cunning, lest +with all their cunning they only lead themselves into their own trap. + +But those who are afraid, let them take heart. For what says the high +and holy One, who inhabits eternity? ‘I dwell with him that is of a +humble and contrite heart, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to +revive the heart of the contrite ones.’ + +Let them take heart. Do you feel that you have lost your way in life? +Then God himself will show you your way. Are you utterly helpless, worn +out, body and soul? Then God’s eternal love is ready and willing to help +you up, and revive you. Are you wearied with doubts and terrors? Then +God’s eternal light is ready to show you your way; God’s eternal peace +ready to give you peace. Do you feel yourself full of sins and faults? +Then take heart; for God’s unchangeable will is, to take away those sins +and purge you from those faults. + +Are you tormented as Job was, over and above all your sorrows, by +mistaken kindness, and comforters in whom is no comfort; who break the +bruised reed and quench the smoking flax; who tell you that you must be +wicked, and God must be angry with you, or all this would not have come +upon you? Job’s comforters did so, and spoke very righteous-sounding +words, and took great pains to justify God and to break poor Job’s heart, +and made him say many wild and foolish words in answer, for which he was +sorry afterwards; but after all, the Lord’s answer was, ‘My wrath is +kindled against you three, for you have not spoken of me the thing which +was right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore my servant Job shall pray +for you, for him will I accept;’ as he will accept every humble and +contrite soul who clings, amid all its doubts, and fears, and sorrows, to +the faith that God is just and not unjust, merciful and not cruel, +condescending and not proud—that his will is a good will, and not a bad +will—that he hateth nothing that he hath made, and willeth the death of +no man; and in that faith casts itself down like Job, in dust and ashes +before the majesty of God, content not to understand his ways and its own +sorrows; but simply submitting itself and resigning itself to the good +will of that God who so loved the world that he spared not his only +begotten Son, but freely gave him for us. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{75} Compare Rom. iii. 23 with I Cor. xi. 7. Let me entreat all young +students to consider carefully and honestly the radical meaning of the +words αμαρτια and αμαρτανειν. It will explain to them many seemingly +dark passages of St. Paul, and perhaps deliver them from more than one +really dark superstition. + +{151} I do not quote the Crishna Legends, because they seem to be of +post-Christian date; and also worthless from the notion of a real human +babe being utterly lost in the ascription to Crishna of unlimited magical +powers. + +{162} See, as a counterpart to every detail of Joel’s, the admirable +description of locust-swarms in Kohl’s _Russia_. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD*** + + +******* This file should be named 7051-0.txt or 7051-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/7/0/5/7051 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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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