THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD

SERMON I. THE BEATIFIC VISION

MATTHEW xxii. 27. 

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thysoul, and with all thy mind. 

These words often puzzle and pain really good people, because theyseem to put the hardest duty first. It seems, at times, so much moreeasy to love one's neighbour than to love God. And strange as it mayseem, that is partly true. St. John tells us so--'He that loves nothis brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath notseen?' Therefore many good people, who really do love God, areunhappy 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 thatthey are very often loving God with their whole hearts, when theythink that they are not doing so. But still, it is well to be afraidof oneself, and dissatisfied with oneself. 

I think, too--nay, I am certain--that many good people do not loveGod as they ought, and as they would wish to do, because they havenot been rightly taught who God is, and what He is like. They havenot been taught that God is loveable; they have been taught that Godfeels feelings, and does deeds, which if a man felt, or did, weshould call him arbitrary, proud, revengeful, cruel: and yet theyare told to love him; and they do not know how to love such a beingas that. Nor do I either, my friends. 

Let us therefore think over to-day for ourselves why we ought to loveGod; and why both Bible and Catechism bid child as well as man tolove the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, beforethey 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'scharacter is. For you cannot love any one because you are told tolove them. You can only love them because they are loveable andworthy of your love. And that they will not be, unless they areloving themselves; as it is written, we love God because he firstloved us. 

Now, friends, look at this one thing first. When we see any man do ajust action, or a kind action, do we not like to see it? Do we notlike the man the better for doing it? A man must be sunk very low instupidity and ill-feeling--dead in tresspasses and sins, as the Biblecalls it--if he does not. Indeed, I never saw the man yet, howeverbad he was himself, who did not, in his better moments, admire whatwas right and good; and say, 'Bad as I may be, that man is a goodman, and I wish I could do as he does. '

One sees the same, but far more strongly, in little children. Fromtheir earliest years, as far as I have ever seen, children like andadmire what is good, even though they be naughty themselves; and ifyou tell them of any very loving, generous, or brave action, theirhearts leap up in answer to it. They feel at once how beautifulgoodness is. 

But why?

St. John tells us. That feeling comes, he tells us, from Christ, thelight who is the life of men, and lights every man who comes into theworld; and that light in our hearts, which makes us see, and admire, and love what is good, is none other than Christ himself shining inour hearts, and showing to us his own likeness, and the beautythereof. 

But if we stop there; if we only admire what is good, without tryingto copy it, we shall lose that light. Our corrupt and diseasednature (and corrupt and diseased it is, as we shall surely find, assoon as we begin to try to do right) will quench that heavenly sparkin us more and more, till it dies out--as God forbid that it shoulddie out in any of us. For if it did die out, we should care no morefor what is good. We should see nothing beautiful, and noble, andglorious, in being just, and loving, and merciful. And then, indeed, we should see nothing worth loving in God himself:- and it werebetter 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 Iwill go on, to ask you one question more. 

Did it ever strike you, that goodness is not merely A beautifulthing, but THE beautiful thing--by far the most beautiful thing inthe world; and that badness is not merely AN ugly thing, but theugliest thing in the world?--So that nothing is to be compared forvalue with goodness; that riches, honour, power, pleasure, learning, the whole world and all in it, are not worth having, in comparisonwith 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 utterlyworst thing for a man is to be bad, even though he were never to bepunished for it; and, in a word, goodness is the only thing worthloving, and badness the only thing worth hating. 

Did you ever feel this, my friends? Happy are those among you whohave felt it; for of you the Lord says, Blessed are they that hungerand thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled. Ay, happyare 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, isworking in your hearts with power, revealing to you the exceedingbeauty of holiness, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin. 

But did it never strike you besides, that goodness was one, andeverlasting? Let me explain what I mean. 

Did you never see, that all good men show their goodness in the sameway, by doing the same kind of good actions? Let them be English orFrench, black or white, if they be good, there is the same honesty, the same truthfulness, the same love, the same mercy in all; and whatis right and good for you and me, now and here, is right and good forevery man, everywhere, and at all times for ever. Surely, surely, what is noble, and loveable, and admirable now, was so five thousandyears ago, and will be five thousand years hence. What is honourablefor us here, would be equally honourable for us in America orAustralia--ay, or in the farthest star in the skies. 

But, some of you may say, men at different times and in differentcountries have had very different notions--indeed quite oppositenotions, of what men ought to be. 

I know that some people say so. I can only answer that I differ fromthem. True, some men have had less light than others, and, Godknows, have made fearful mistakes enough, and fancied that they couldplease God by behaving like devils: but on the first principles ofgoodness, all the world has been pretty well agreed all along; forwherever men have been taught what is really right, there have beenplenty of hearts to answer, 'Yes, this is good! this is what we havewanted all along, though we knew it not. ' And all the wisest menamong the heathen--the men who have been honoured, and evenworshipped as blessings to their fellow men, have agreed, one andall, in the great and golden rule, 'Thou shalt love God, with all thyheart and soul, and thy neighbour as thyself. '

Believe about this as you may, my friends, still I believe, and willbelieve; 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 youthink over them, the more, I tell you, will you find them true. Andto 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 worldhas looked different to me since I found it out--that there must beONE, in whom all goodness is gathered together; ONE, who must beperfectly and absolutely good? And did it never strike you, that allthe 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 tothem, tell us that it must be so; and I am certain that the Bibletells 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 seafrom which all these drops have come. When we see the countless raysof light, we say, with reason, there must be one great central sunfrom which all these are shed forth. And when we see, as it were, countless drops, and countless rays of goodness scattered about inthe 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 ofgoodness, from whence all human goodness comes? And where can thatcentre of goodness be, but in the very character of God himself?

Yes, my friends; if you would know what God is, think of all thenoble, beautiful, loveable actions, tempers, feelings, which you eversaw or heard of. Think of all the good, and admirable, and loveablepeople 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--andthen you have some faint notion of God, some dim sight of God, who isthe eternal and perfect Goodness. 

It is but a faint notion, no doubt, that the best man can have ofGod's goodness, so dull has sin made our hearts and brains: but letus comfort ourselves with this thought--That the more we learn tolove what is good, the more we accustom ourselves to think of goodpeople and good things, and to ask ourselves why and how this actionand that is good, the more shall we be able to see the goodness ofGod. And to see that, even for a moment, is worth all sights inearth or heaven. 

Worth all sights, indeed. No wonder that the saints of old called itthe 'Beatific Vision, ' that is, the sight which makes a man utterlyblessed; namely, to see, if but for a moment, with his mind's eyewhat God is like, and behold he is utterly good!

No wonder that they said (and I doubt not that they spoke honestlyand simply what they felt) that while that thought was before them, this world was utterly nothing to them; that they were as men in adream, or dead, not caring to eat or to move, for fear of losing thatglorious thought; but felt as if they were (as they were most reallyand truly) caught up into heaven, and taken utterly out of themselvesby the beauty and glory of God's perfect goodness. No wonder thatthey 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. ' Nowonder 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 uponsome glorious picture or magnificent show, off which they cannot taketheir eyes; and which makes them forget for the time all beside inheaven and earth. 

And it was good for them to be there: but not too long. Man wassent into this world not merely to see, but to do; and the more hesees, the more he is bound to go and do accordingly. St. Peter hadto come down from the mount, and preach the Gospel wearily for many ayear, and die at last upon the cross. St. Augustine, in like wise, though he would gladly have lived and died doing nothing but fixinghis soul's eye steadily on the glory of God's goodness, had to comedown from the mount likewise, and work, and preach, and teach, andwear himself out in daily drudgery for that God whom he learnt toserve, even when he could not adore Him in the press of business, andthe bustle of a rotten and dying world. 

But see, my dear friends, and consider it well--Before a man can cometo that state of mind, or anything like it, he must have begun byloving goodness wherever he saw it; and have settled in his heartthat to be good, and therefore to do good, is the most beautifulthing in the world. So he will begin by loving his brother whom hehas seen, and by taking delight in good people, and in all honest, true, loving, merciful, generous words and actions, and in those whosay and do them. And so he will be fit to love God, whom he has notseen, when he finds out (as God grant that you may all find out) thatall goodness of which we can conceive, and far, far more, is gatheredtogether in God, and flows out from him eternally over his wholecreation, by that Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and theSon, and is the Lord and Giver of life, and therefore of goodness. For goodness is nothing else, if you will receive it, but the eternallife of God, which he has lived, and lives now, and will live forevermore, 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 manwho has long admired a beautiful picture of some one whom he does notknow, and at last meets the person for whom the picture was meant--and behold the living face is a thousand times more fair and noblethan the painted one. You will be like a child which has beenbrought 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 hissplendour bathing the earth with glory. If that child had loved towatch 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 thoserays had come Just so will they feel who, having loved goodness forits own sake, and loved their neighbours for the sake of what littlegoodness is in them, have their eyes opened at last to see allgoodness, without flaw or failing, bound or end, in the character ofGod, which he has shown forth in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is thelikeness 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 mayglorify 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 hissoul: if any man wishes for that beatific vision of God; thatperfect sight of God's perfect goodness; then must that man go, andsit down at the foot of Christ's cross, and look steadfastly upon himwho hangs thereon. And there he will see, what the wisest and bestamong the heathen, among the Mussulmans, among all who are notChristian men, never have seen, and cannot see unto this day, howevermuch they may feel (and some of them, thank God, do feel) that God isthe 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 theworld, will be able to explain to you, though we preached till theend of the world. But one thing we shall see, if we will, which wehave forgotten sadly, Christians though we be, in these very days;forgotten it, most of us, so utterly, that in order to bring you backto it, I must take a seemingly roundabout road. 

Does it seem, or does it not seem, to you, that the finest thing in aman 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 ofsoul? When you speak of a great soul, and of a great man, whatmanner of man do you mean?

Do you mean a very clever man, a very far-sighted man, a verydetermined man, a very powerful man, and therefore a very successfulman? A man who can manage everything, and every person whom he comesacross, and turn and use them for his own ends, till he rises to begreat and glorious--a ruler, king, or what you will?

Well--he is a great man: but I know a greater, and nobler, and moreglorious stamp of man; and you do also. Let us try again, and thinkif we can find his likeness, and draw it for ourselves. Would he notbe somewhat like this pattern?--A man who was aware that he had vastpower, and yet used that power not for himself but for others; notfor ambition, but for doing good? Surely the man who used his powerfor other people would be the greater-souled man, would he not? Letus 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 hebe very careful of other men's rights, and very ready to waive hisown rights gracefully and generously? Would he be extreme to markwhat was done amiss against him, or would he be very patient when hewas wronged himself, though indignant enough if he saw otherswronged? Would he be one who easily lost his temper, and lost hishead, and could be thrown off his balance by one foolish man? Surelynot. He would be a man whom no fool, nor all fools together couldthrow off his balance; a man who could not lose his temper, could notlose his self-respect; a man who could bear with those who arepeevish, make allowances for those who are weak and ignorant, forgivethose who are insolent, and conquer those who are ungrateful, not bypunishment, but by fresh kindness, overcoming their evil by hisgood. --A man, in short, whom no ill-usage without, and no ill-temperwithin, could shake out of his even path of generosity andbenevolence. Is not that the truly magnanimous man; the great androyal soul? Is not that the stamp of man whom we should admire, ifwe met him on earth? Should we not reverence that man; esteem it anhonour and a pleasure to work under that man, to take him for ourteacher, our leader, in hopes that, by copying his example, our soulsmight become great like his?

Is it so, my friends? Then know this, that in admiring that man, youadmire the likeness of God. In wishing to be like that man, you wishto be like God. 

For this is God's true greatness; this is God's true glory; this isGod's true royalty; the greatness, glory, and royalty of loving, forgiving, generous power, which pours itself out, untiring andundisgusted, in help and mercy to all which he has made; the glory ofa Father who is perfect in this, that he causeth his rain to fall onthe evil and on the good, and his sun to shine upon the just and onthe unjust, and is good to the unthankful and the evil; a Father whohas not dealt with us after our sins, or rewarded us after ouriniquities: 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 andplenteous redemption;--all this, and more--a Father who so loved aworld which had forgotten him, a world whose sins must have beendisgusting to him, that he spared not his only begotten Son, butfreely 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 isthe name and essence of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. 

This, my friends, is the glory of God: but this glory never shoneout in its full splendour till it shone upon the cross. 

For--that we may go back again, to that great-souled man, of whom Ispoke just now--did we not leave out one thing in his character? orat least, one thing by which his character might be proved and tried?We said that he should be generous and forgiving; we said that heshould bear patiently folly, peevishness, ingratitude: but what ifwe asked of him, that he should sacrifice himself utterly for thepeevish, ungrateful men for whose good he was toiling? What if weasked him to give up, for them, not only all which made life worthhaving, but to give up life itself? To die for them; and, what isbitterest of all, to die by their hands--to receive as their rewardfor all his goodness to them a shameful death? If he dare submit tothat, then we should call his greatness of soul perfect. Magnanimity, we should say, could rise no higher; in that would bethe perfection of goodness. 

Surely your hearts answer, that this is true. When you hear of afather sacrificing his own life for his children; when you hear of asoldier dying for his country; when you hear of a clergyman or aphysician killing himself by his work, while he is labouring to savethe souls or the bodies of his fellow-creatures; then you feel--Thereis goodness in its highest shape. To give up our lives for others isone of the most beautiful, and noble, and glorious things on earth. But to give up our lives, willingly, joyfully for men whomisunderstand us, hate us, despise us, is, if possible, a moreglorious action still, and the very perfection of perfect virtue. Then, looking at Christ's cross, we see that, and even more--ay, farmore than that. The cross was the perfect token of the perfectgreatness of God, and of the perfect glory of God. 

So on the cross, the Father justified himself to man; yea, glorifiedhimself in the glory of his crucified Son. On the cross God provedhimself to be perfectly just, perfectly good, perfectly generous, perfectly glorious, beyond all that man could ever have dared toconceive or dream. That God must be good, the wise heathens knew;but that God was so utterly good that he could stoop to suffer, todie, for men, and by men--that they never dreamed. That was themystery of God's love, which was hid in Christ from the foundation ofthe world, and which was revealed at last upon the cross of Calvaryby him who prayed for his murderers--'Father, forgive them, for theyknow not what they do. ' That truly blessed sight of a Saviour-God, who did not disdain to die the meanest and the most fearful ofdeaths--that, that came home at once, and has come home ever since, to all hearts which had left in them any love and respect forgoodness, and melted them with the fire of divine love; as God grantit may melt yours, this day, and henceforth for ever. 

I can say no more, my friends. If this good news does not come hometo your hearts by its own power, it will never be brought home to youby 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 andwas 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 everafter death, either in happiness or misery?

We must mean more than that. At least we ought to mean more thanthat, if we be Christian men. For the Bible tells us, that Christbrought life and immortality to light. Therefore they must have beenin darkness before Christ's coming; and men did not know as muchabout life and immortality before Christ's coming as they know--orought to know--now. 

But if we need only believe that we shall live for ever after deathin happiness or misery, then Christ has not brought life andimmortality to light. He has thrown no fresh light upon the matter. 

And why? For this simple reason, that the old heathen knew as muchas that before Christ came. 

The old Greeks and Romans, and Persians, and our own forefathersbefore they became Christians, believed that men's souls would livefor ever happy or miserable. The Mussulmans, Mahommedans, Turks asthey 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 thanthat. 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 thesame sense. 

Now everlasting and eternal mean something which has neitherbeginning nor end. That is certain. The wisest of the heathen knewthat: but we are apt to forget it. We are apt to think a thing maybe everlasting, because it has no end, though it has a beginning. Weare careless thinkers, if we fancy that. God is eternal because hehas neither beginning nor end. 

But here come two puzzles. 

First. The Athanasian Creed says that there is but one Eternal, thatis, God; and never were truer words written. 

But do we not make out two Eternals? For God is one Eternal; andeternal life is another Eternal. Now which is right; we, or theAthanasian Creed? I shall hold by the Athanasian Creed, my friends, and ask you to think again over the matter: thus--If there be butone 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 doctrineof St. Paul, and St. John, and the wisest of the Fathers, and say--There is but one Eternal; and therefore eternal life is in theEternal God. And it is eternal Life because it is God's life; thelife which God lives; and it is eternal just because, and onlybecause, it is the life of God; and eternal death is nothing but thewant of God's eternal life. 

Certainly, whether you think this true or not, St. John thought ittrue; for he says so most positively in the text. He says that theLife was manifested--showed plainly upon earth, and that he had seenit. And he says that he saw it in a man, whom his eyes had seen, andhis hands had handled. How could that be?

My friends, how else could it be? How can you see life, but byseeing some one live it? You cannot see a man's life, unless you seehim live such and such a life, or hear of his living such and such alife, and so knowing what his life, manners, character, are. And sono one could have seen God's life, or known what life God lived, andwhat character God's was, had it not been for the incarnation of ourLord Jesus Christ, who was made flesh, and dwelt among us, that byseeing 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 weknow what Christ's life was on earth. And more, we know that it is alife 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 inpart? 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 goodlife; for God is good. That is the first, and the most certain thingwhich we can say of it. It must be a righteous and just life; aloving 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, workingfor 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 andthinks, 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. Shewme thy faith WITHOUT thy works, ' (and who can do that?) 'and I willshew thee my faith by my works. '

And St. John says, there is no use SAYING you love. 'Let us love notin word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth;' and again--andwould to God that most people who talk so glibly about heaven andhell, and the ways of getting thither, would recollect this one plaintext--'Little children, let no man deceive you. He that DOETHrighteousness is righteous, even as God is righteous. ' And thereforeit 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 ofgoodness. 

And therefore also, my friends, we may be sure that God loves in deedand 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 thevery essence of love, that it cannot be still, cannot be idle, cannotbe satisfied with itself, cannot contain itself, but must go out todo good to those whom it loves, to seek and to save that which islost. And therefore God is perfect love, and his eternal life a lifeof eternal love, because he sends his Son eternally to seek and tosave that which is lost. 

This, then, is eternal life; a life of everlasting love showingitself in everlasting good works; and whosoever lives that life, helives the life of God, and hath eternal life. 

What I have just said will help you, I think, to understand anotherroyal text about eternal life. 

For now' we may understand why it is written, that this is lifeeternal, to know the true and only God, and Jesus Christ whom he hassent. For if eternal life be God's life, we must know God, and God'scharacter, to know what eternal life is like: and if no man has seenGod at any time, and God's life can only be seen in the life ofChrist, then we must know Christ, and Christ's life, to know God andGod's life; that the saying may be fulfilled in us, God hath given tous eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 

One other royal text, did I say? We may understand many, perhapsall, the texts which speak of life, and eternal life, if we will lookat them in this way. We may see why St. Paul says that to bespiritually minded is life; and that the life of Jesus may bemanifested 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 howChrist's commandment is everlasting life; how the water which hegives, can spring up within a man's heart to everlasting life--allsuch texts we may, and shall, understand more and more, if we willbear 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 onearth 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 musthave some notions about them, and try to picture to himself what thesouls of those whom he has loved and lost are doing in the otherworld: but bear this in mind: that if the saints in heaven live theeverlasting life, they must be living a life of usefulness, of loveand of good works. 

And here I must say, friends, that however much the Roman Catholicsmay be wrong on many points, they have remembered one thing about thelife everlasting, which we are too apt to forget; and that is, thateverlasting life cannot be a selfish, idle life, spent only in beinghappy oneself. They believe that the saints in heaven are NOT idle;that they are eternally helping mankind; doing all sorts of goodoffices for those souls who need them; that, as St. Paul says of theangels, they are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to thosewho are heirs of salvation. And I cannot see why they should not beright. For if the saints' delight was to do good on earth, much morewill it be to do good in heaven. If they helped poor sufferers, ifthey taught the ignorant, if they comforted the afflicted, here onearth, 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. Iftheir 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 muchmore 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 cannothelp us who are here on earth, I answer, When did they ascend intoheaven, to find out that? If they had ever been there, friends, besure they would have had better news to bring home than this--thatthose whom we have honoured and loved on earth have lost the powerwhich they used to have, of comforting us who are struggling herebelow. That notion springs altogether out of a superstitious fancythat heaven is a great many millions of miles away from this earth--which fancy, wherever men get it from, they certainly do not get itfrom the Bible. Moreover it seems to me, that if the saints inheaven cannot help men, then they cannot be happy in heaven. Cannotbe happy? Ay, must be miserable. For what greater misery for reallygood men, than to see things going wrong, and not to be able to mendthem; to see poor creatures suffering, and not to be able to comfortthem? No, my friends, we will believe--what every one who loves abeloved friend comes sooner or later to believe--that those whom wehave honoured and loved, though taken from our eyes, are near to ourspirits; that they still fight for us, under the banner of theirMaster 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 ofany self-will of their own. There, I think, the Roman Catholics arewrong. They pray to the saints as if the saints had wills of theirown, and fancies of their own, and were respecters of persons; andcould have favourites, and grant private favours to those whoespecially admired and (I fear I must say it) flattered them. Butwhy should we do that? That is to lower God's saints in our owneyes. For if we believe that they are made perfect, and likeperfectly the everlasting life, then we must believe that there is noself-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 theirown liking, sends them whithersoever he wills; and that if we ask ofHIM--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 forthe happiness, the power, the glory of saints and angels. We ask tobe put into tune with God's whole universe, from the meanest flowerbeneath 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 Christthe only begotten Son lives from eternity to eternity, for eversaying to his Father, 'Thy will be done. '

Yes--when we ask God to make us do his will, then indeed we ask foreverlasting life. 

Does that seem little? Would you rather ask for all manner ofpleasant 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 toget pleasant things; and we shall not be put into the next world, asit seems to me, to get pleasant things. We were put into this worldto do God's will. And we shall be put (I believe) into the nextworld 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 inthe next world all manner of harmless pleasure will come to uslikewise; because that will be, we hope, a perfect and a just world, not a piecemeal, confused, often unjust world, like this: butpleasant things will come to us in the next life, only in proportionas we shall be doing God's will in the next life; and we shall behappy and blessed, only because we shall be living that eternal lifeof which I have been preaching to you all along, the life whichChrist lives and has lived and will live for ever, saying to theEternal 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 didhis Father's will, and lived his Father's life in the soul and bodyof a mortal man, that we may live here a life of obedience and ofgood works, which is the only true and living life of faith; and thatwhen we die it may be said of us--'Blessed are the dead who die inthe Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their works do followthem. '

They rest from their labours. All their struggles, disappointments, failures, backslidings, which made them unhappy here, because theycould 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--thatis not past and over. It cannot die. It lives and grows for ever, following on in their path long after they are dead, and bearingfruit unto everlasting life, not only in them, but in men whom theynever 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 theburning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of thine hand, Oking. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will notserve 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 ThreeChildren, 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 thesame as the Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, whose story we heard inthe first lesson; and because some of the old Jews held that thisnoble hymn was composed by them, and sung by them in the burningfiery furnace, wherefore it has been called 'The Song of the ThreeChildren;' for child, in old English, meant a young man. 

Be that as it may, it is a glorious hymn, worthy of the Church ofGod, worthy of those three young men, worthy of all the noble army ofmartyrs; and if the three young men did not actually use the verywords of it, still it was what they believed; and, because theybelieved it, they had courage to tell Nebuchadnezzar that they werenot careful to answer him--had no manner of doubt or anxietywhatsoever as to what they were to say, when he called on them toworship his gods. For his gods, we know, were the sun, moon, andplanets, and the angels who (as the Chaldeans believed) ruled overthe heavenly bodies; and that image of gold is supposed, by somelearned men, to have been probably a sign or picture of the wondrouspower of life and growth which there is in all earthly things--andthat a sign of which I need not speak, or you hear. So that themeaning of this Song of the Three Children is simply this:

'You bid us worship the things about us, which we see with our bodilyeyes. We answer, that we know the one true God, who made all thesethings; and that, therefore, instead of worshipping THEM, we will bidthem to worship HIM. '

Now let us spend a few minutes in looking into this hymn, and seeingwhat 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, orgrow 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, tobless him, praise him, and magnify him for ever. This is much morethan merely saying, 'One God made the world. ' For this is sayingsomething 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 tobless 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. Youpraise a person because he is praiseworthy, noble, and admirable. You magnify a person--that is, speak of him to every one, andeverywhere, in the highest terms--because you think that every oneought to know how good and great he is. And, therefore, when thehymn says, 'Bless God, praise him, and magnify him for ever, ' it doesnot merely confess God's power. No. It confesses, too, God'swisdom, goodness, beauty, love, and calls on all heaven and earth toadmire him, the alone admirable, and adore him, the alone adorable. 

For this is really to believe in God. Not merely to believe thatthere is a God, but to know what God is like, and to know that He isworthy to be believed in; worthy to be trusted, honoured, loved withheart and mind and soul, because we know that He is worthy of ourlove. 

And this, we have a right to say, these three young men did, orwhosoever wrote this hymn; and that as a reward for their faith inGod, there was granted to them that deep insight into the meaning ofthe world about them, which shines out through every verse of thishymn. 

Deep? I tell you, my friends, that this hymn is so deep, that it istoo deep for the shallow brains of which the world is full now-a-days, who fancy that they know all about heaven and earth, justbecause they happen to have been born now, and not two hundred yearsago. To such this old hymn means nothing; it is in their eyes merelyan old-fashioned figure of speech to call on sun and stars, greenherb and creeping thing, to praise and bless God. Nevertheless, theold hymn stands in our prayer-books, as a precious heir-loom to ourchildren; and long may it stand. Though we may forget its meaning, yet perhaps our children after us will recollect it once more, andsay with their hearts, what we now, I fear, only say with our lipsand should not say at all, if it was not put into our months by thePrayer-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 thethings about us--to the cattle feeding in the fields--much less tothe clouds over our heads, and to the wells of which we drink, 'Blessye 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, thatthis earth is in some way bad, and cursed; that a curse is on itstill 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 andthistles to us, as the Scripture says it was to do for Adam, butwholesome food, and rich returns for our labour: and which in thenext place is flatly contrary to Scripture: for we read in Genesisviii. 21, how the Lord said, 'I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake;' and the Psalms always speak of this earth, andof 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 thebeginning, ' and that 'He has given them a law which cannot bebroken;' and in the face of those words, let who will talk of theearth 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 doesis, that we have got into the habit of saying, 'Cattle and creepingthings--they are not rational beings. How can they praise God?Clouds and wells--they are not even living things. How can theypraise 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 theProphets again and again. And so will men do hereafter, when thefashions and the fancies of these days are past, and men have theireyes opened once more to see the glory which is around them fromtheir cradle to their grave, and hear once more 'The Word of the Lordwalking among the trees of the garden. '

But how can this be? How can not only dumb things, but even deadthings, praise God?

My friends, this is a great mystery, of which the wisest men as yetknow but little, and confess freely how little they know. But thisat 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 thekingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father who is inheaven. '

By doing the will of the heavenly Father. By obeying the laws whichGod has given them. By taking the shape which he has appointed forthem. By being of the use for which he intended them. Bymultiplying each after their kind, by laws and means a thousand timesmore strange than any signs and wonders of which man can fancy forhimself; 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) allthings can serve and praise God, and all things do serve and praiseHim. Not a cloud which fleets across the sky, not a clod of earthwhich crumbles under the frost, not a blade of grass which breaksthrough the snow in spring, not a dead leaf which falls to the earthin 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 thehelp of a microscope, but is as fearfully and wonderfully made as youand me, and has its proper food, habitation, work, appointed for it, and not in vain. Nothing is idle, nothing is wasted, nothing goeswrong, in this wondrous world of God. The very scum upon thestanding pool, which seems mere dirt and dust, is all alive, peopledby millions of creatures, each full of beauty, full of use, obeyinglaws of God too deep for us to do aught but dimly guess at them; andas men see deeper and deeper into the mystery of God's creation, theyfind in the commonest things about them wonder and glory, such as eyehath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart ofman to conceive; and can only say with the Psalmist, 'Oh Lord, thyways are infinite, thy thoughts are very deep;' and confess that thegrass beneath their feet, the clouds above their heads--ay, everyworm beneath the sod and bird upon the bough, do, in very deed andtruth, bless the Lord who made them, praise him, and magnify him forever, not with words indeed, but with works; and say to man all daylong, 'Go thou, and do likewise. '

Yes, my friends, let us go and do likewise. If we wish really toobey the lesson of the Hymn of the Three Children, let us do the willof God: and so worship him in spirit and in truth. Do not fancy, astoo many do, that thou canst praise God by singing hymns to him inchurch once a week, and disobeying him all the week long, crying tohim 'Lord, Lord, ' and then living as if he were not thy Lord, butthou wast thine own Lord, and hadst a right to do thine own will, andnot his. If thou wilt really bless God, then try to live his blessedlife of Goodness. If thou wilt truly praise God, then behave as ifGod was praiseworthy, good, and right in what he bids thee do. Ifthou wouldest really magnify God, and declare his greatness, thenbehave 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, tothee, as well as to all which He has made. Dost thou fancy as theheathen do, that God needs to be flattered with fine words? or thatthou 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 theeworks first, and words after. And better it is to praise him trulyby works without words, than falsely by words without works. 

Cry, if thou wilt, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;' but showthat thou believest him to be holy, by being holy thyself. Sing, ifThou wilt, of 'The Father of an Infinite Majesty:' but show that thoubelievest 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 giventhee reason and speech, after the likeness of his only begotten Son, and thou mayest use them, as well as every other gift, in the serviceof thy Father. But take care lest, while thou art trying to copy theangels, 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 dostthat, and obeyest God's laws likewise, thou art not as good as thegrass beneath thy feet. 

For after all has been said and sung, my friends, the sum andsubstance of true religion remains what it was, and what it will befor ever; and lies in this one word, 'If ye love me, keep mycommandments. '

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 Godforbids it, or does God forbid it because it is wrong?

For instance, suppose that God had not forbidden us to steal, wouldit be right then to steal, or at least, not wrong?

We must really think of this. It is no mere question of words, it isa solemn practical question, which has to do with our every-dayconduct, and yet which goes down to the deepest of all matters, evento the depths of God himself. 

The question is simply this. Did God, who made all things, makeright and wrong? Many people think so. They think that God madegoodness. But how can that be? For if God made goodness, therecould have been no goodness before God made it. That is clear. ButGod was always good, good from all eternity. But how could that be?How could God be good, before there was any goodness made? Thatnotion will not do then. And all we can say is that goodness iseternal and everlasting, just as God is: because God was and is andever 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 wiselyand well, there are not many Eternals, but one Eternal. Thereforegoodness must be the Spirit of God; and God must be the Spirit ofgoodness; and right is nothing else but the character of theeverlasting God, and of those who are inspired by God. 

What is wrong, then? Whatever is unlike right; whatever is unlikegoodness; whatever is unlike God; that is wrong. And why does Godforbid us to do wrong? Simply because wrong is unlike himself. Heis perfectly beautiful, perfectly blest and happy, because he isperfectly 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 theirFather; and they can only be perfectly like God the Father by beingfull 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 saythat righteousness meant to hurt no man, and to give every man hisown. The Eastern people had a better answer still, which our blessedLord used in one place, when he told them that righteousness was todo to other people as we would they should do to us: but the bestanswer, the perfect answer, is our Lord's in the text, 'Thou shaltlove thy neighbour as thyself. ' This is the true, eternalrighteousness. Not a legal righteousness, not a righteousness madeup of forms and ceremonies, of keeping days holy, and abstaining frommeats, or any other arbitrary commands, whether of God or of man. This is God's goodness, God's righteousness, Christ's own goodnessand righteousness. Do you not see what I mean? Remember only oneword of St. John's. God is love. Love is the goodness of God. Godis perfectly good, because he is perfect love. Then if you are fullof love, you are good with the same goodness with which God is good, and righteous with Christ's righteousness. That as what St. Paulwished to be, when he wished to be found in Christ, not having hisown righteousness, but the righteousness which is by faith in Christ. His own righteousness was the selfish and self-conceitedrighteousness 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; therighteousness which made him stand by in cold blood to see St. Stephen stoned. But the righteousness which is by faith in Christ isa loving heart, and a loving life, which every man will long to leadwho 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 inthe world; that that is the utterly noble and right sort of person tobe--full of love as Christ was. I ought to be like that. Myconscience 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, andI can trust him to do it. I can have faith in him, that he will makeme like himself, full of the Spirit of love, without which I shall beonly 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'srighteousness--that is, to be loving as Christ was. He believes thatChrist's loving character is perfect beauty; that he must be the Sonof God, if his character be like that. He believes that Christ canand 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, 'Whosoevershall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, andhe in God;' and that 'If a man love me, ' says the Lord, 'I and myFather will come to him, and take up our abode with him. ' Those arewonderful words: but if you will recollect what I have just said, you may understand a little of them. St. John puts the same thingvery simply, but very boldly. 'God is Love, ' he says, 'and he thatdwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. ' Strange as itmay seem, it must be so if God be love. Let us thank God that it istrue, and keep in mind what awful and wonderful creatures we are, that God should dwell in us; what blessed and glorious creatures wemay become in time, if we will only listen to the voice of God whospeaks within our hearts. 

And what does that voice say? The old commandment, my friends, whichwas from the beginning, 'Love one another. ' Whatever thoughts orfeeling in your hearts contradict that; whatever tempts you todespise your neighbour, to be angry with him, to suspect him, tofancy him shut out from God's love, that is not of God. No voice inour 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, andknoweth 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 ofGod is the very pattern and picture of God's character; and if a mandoes not know what God is like, he will never know what God's law islike; and though he may read his Bible all day long, he will learn nomore from it than a dumb animal will, unless his heart is full oflove. For love is the light by which we see God, by which weunderstand his Bible; by which we understand our duty, and God'sdealings, in the world. Love is the light by which we understand ourown 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 knowwhat is in that man's heart, never be able to form a just opinion ofhis character. If you want to understand human beings, or to dojustice to their feelings, you must begin by loving them heartily andfreely, and the more you like them the better you will understandthem, 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 yourcompassion. 

At least, so St. John says, 'He that saith he is in the light, andhates his brother, is in darkness even till now, and knoweth notwhither he goeth. But he that loveth his brother abideth in thelight, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. '

No occasion of stumbling. That is of making mistakes in ourbehaviour to our neighbours, which cause scandal, drive them from us, and make them suspect us, dislike us--and perhaps with too goodreason. Just think for yourselves. What does half the misery, andall the quarrelling in the world come from, but from people's lovingthemselves better than their neighbours? Would children bedisobedient and neglectful to their parents, if they did not lovethemselves better than their parents? Why does a man kill, commitadultery, steal, bear false witness, covet his neighbour's goods, hisneighbour's custom, his neighbour's rights, but because he loves hisown pleasure or interest better than his neighbour's, loves himselfbetter than the man whom he wrongs? Would a man take advantage ofhis neighbour if he loved him as well as himself? Would he be hardon his neighbour, and say, Pay me the uttermost farthing, if he lovedhim as he loves himself? Would he speak evil of his neighbour behindhis back, if he loved him as himself? Would he cross his neighbour'stemper, just because he WILL have his own way, right or wrong, if heloved him as himself? Judge for yourselves. What would the worldbecome like this moment if every man loved his neighbour as himself, thought of his neighbour as much as he thinks of himself? Would itnot become heaven on earth at once? There would be no need then forsoldiers and policemen, lawyers, rates and taxes, my friends, and allthe expensive and heavy machinery which is now needed to force peopleinto keeping something of God's law. Ay, there would be no need ofsermons, preachers and prophets to tell men of God's law, and warnthem of the misery of breaking it. They would keep the law of theirown free-will, by love. For love is the fulfilling of the law; andas St. Augustine says, 'Love you neighbour, and then do what youwill--because you will be sure to will what is right. ' So truly didour Lord say, that on this one commandment hung all the law and theprophets. 

But though that blessed state of things will not come to the wholeworld till the day when Christ shall reign in that new heaven and newearth, 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 fromGod the blessed gift; to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. 

And then, my friends, whether we be rich or poor, fortunate orunfortunate, 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, howeverimperfectly? 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thouinto the joy of thy Lord. '

And what is the joy of our Lord? What is the joy of Christ? The joyand delight which springs for ever in his great heart, from feelingthat he is for ever doing good; from loving all, and living for all;from knowing that if not all, yet millions on millions are gratefulto him, and will be for ever. 

My friends, if you have ever done a kind action; if you have everhelped any one in distress, or given up a pleasure for the sake ofothers--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 worldcould give, or take away? And if the person whom you helped thankedyou; if you felt that you had made that man your friend; that hetrusted you now, looked on you now as a brother--did not that doublethe pleasure? I ask you, is there any pleasure in the world likethat of doing good, and being thanked for it? Then that is the joyof your Lord. That is the joy of Christ rising up in you, as oftenas you do good; the love which is in you rejoicing in itself, becauseit has found a loving thing to do, and has called out the love of ahuman being in return. 

Yes, if you will receive it, that is the joy of Christ--the gloriousknowledge that he is doing endless good, and calling out endless loveto himself and to the Father, till the day when he shall give up tohis Father the kingdom which he has won back from sin and death, andGod shall be all in all. 

That is the joy of your Lord. If you wish for any different sort ofjoy after you die, you must not ask me to tell you of it; for I knownothing about the matter save what I find written in the HolyScripture. 

SERMON VI. WORSHIP

ISAIAH i. 12, 13. 

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at yourhand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense isan abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling ofassemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemnmeeting. 

This is a very awful text; one of those which terrify us--or at leastought to terrify us--and set us on asking ourselves seriously andhonestly--'What do I believe after all? What manner of man am Iafter all? What sort of show should I make after all, if the peopleround me knew my heart and all my secret thoughts? What sort ofshow, then, do I already make, in the sight of Almighty God, who seesevery man exactly as he is?'

I say, such texts as this ought to terrify us. It is good to beterrified now and then; to be startled, and called to account, andset thinking, and sobered, as it were, now and then, that we may lookat ourselves honestly anti bravely, and see, if we can, what sort ofmen we are. 

And therefore, perhaps, it is that this chapter is chosen for thefirst Advent Lesson; to prepare us for Christmas; to frighten ussomewhat; at least to set us thinking seriously, and to make us fitto 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 afearful mistake which they were making, and a fearful danger intowhich they had fallen. Now we are religious people, and England is areligious nation; and therefore we may possibly make the samemistake, 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 isjust the same now as it was then; and therefore it is as well for usto look round--at least once now and then, and see whether we too arein 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, andtheir appointed feasts were a weariness and an abomination to him. That God loathed them, and would not listen to the prayers which weremade in them. That the whole matter was a mockery and a lie in hissight. 

These are awful words enough--that God should hate and loathe what hehimself had appointed; that what would be, one would think, one ofthe most natural and most pleasant sights to a loving Father inheaven--namely, his own children worshipping, blessing, and praisinghim--should be horrible in his sight. There is something veryshocking in that; at least to Church people like us. If we wereDissenters, who go to chapel chiefly to hear sermons, it would beeasy for us to say--'Of course, forms and ceremonies and appointedfeasts are nothing to begin with; they are man's invention at best, and may therefore be easily enough an abomination to God. ' But weknow that they are not so; that forms and ceremonies and appointedfeasts 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 ofthe most simple, wholesome wants of our human nature, which is a goodthing and not a bad one, for God made it in his own likeness, andbestowed it on us. We know, or ought to know, that appointed feastdays, like Christmas, are good and comfortable ordinances, whichcheer our hearts on our way through this world, and give us somethingnoble and lovely to look forward to month after month; that they arelike landmarks along the road of life, reminding us of what God hasdone, 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, atleast in a generation or two, in throwing away the Gospel truth whichthat ordinance or festival reminds us of; just as too many who havethrown away Good Friday have thrown away the Good Friday good news, that Christ died for all mankind; and too many who have thrown awayChristmas are throwing away--often without meaning to do so--theChristmas good news, that Christ really took on himself the whole ofour human nature, and took the manhood into God. 

So it is, my friends, and so it will be. For these forms andfestivals are the old landmarks and beacons of the Gospel; and if aman will not look at the landmarks, then he will lose his way. 

Therefore, to Church people like us, it ought to be a shocking thingeven to suspect that God may be saying to us, 'Your appointed feastsmy soul hateth;' and it ought to set them seriously thinking how sucha thing may happen, that they may guard against it. For if God benot pleased with our coming to his house, what right have we in hishouse at all?

But recollect this, my dear friends, that we are not to use this textto search and judge others' faults, but to search and judge our own. 

For if a man, hearing this sermon, looks at his neighbour across thechurch, and says in his heart, 'Ay, such a bad one as he is--whatright has he in church?'--then God answers that man, 'Who art thouwho judgest another? To his own master he standeth or falleth. 'Yes, my friends, recollect what the old tomb-stone outside says--(andright 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 aman 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 (orwhatever other faults the man may feel guilty of)--in one word, sounlike what I ought to be--so unlike Christ--so unlike God whom Icome to worship. How little I act up to what I believe! how little Ireally believe what I have learnt! what right have I in church? Whatif God were saying the same of me as he said of those old Jews, 'Thychurch-going, thy coming to communion, thy Christmas-day, my soulhateth; 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 mengo now; but I know myself too well; and I know that instead of sayingwith the Pharisee to any man here, 'I thank God that I am not as thisman or that, ' I ought rather to stand afar off like the publican, andnot lift up so much as my eyes toward heaven, crying only 'God, bemerciful to me a sinner. '

If a man should think thus, my friends, his thoughts may make himvery serious for awhile; nay, very sad. But they need not make himmiserable: 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, allquestions--depend upon this one root question, who is God?

But certainly this question of worshipping God must depend upon whoGod is. For how he ought to be worshipped depends on what willplease him. And what will please him, depends on what his characteris. 

If God be, as some fancy, hard and arbitrary, then you must worshiphim in a way in which a hard arbitrary person would like to beaddressed; with all crouching, and cringing, and slavish terror. 

If God be again, as some fancy, cold, and hard of hearing, then youmust worship him accordingly. You must cry aloud as Baal's priestsdid 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 youmust use repetitions as the heathen do, and believe that you will beheard for your much speaking. The Lord Jesus called all suchrepetitions vain, and much speaking a fancy: but then, the LordJesus spoke to men of a Father in heaven, a very different God fromsuch as I speak of--and, alas! some Christian people believe in. 

But, my friends, if you believe in your heavenly Father, the good Godwhom your Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to you; and if you willconsider that he is good, and consider what that word good means, then you will not have far to seek before you find what worshipmeans, and how you can worship him in spirit and in truth. 

For if God be good, worshipping him must mean praising and admiringhim--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 ofgoodness 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 usgood, is the sum and substance of all wholesome worship. 

And for that purpose a man may come to church, and worship God inspirit and in truth, though he be dissatisfied with himself, andashamed 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 forthat very reason I come. I come to be made good. I admire thygoodness, 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, andgive me truth in the inward parts. Do what thou wilt with me. Trainme 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 hecarry his sins into church not to carry them out again safely andcarefully, as we are all too apt to do, but to cast them down at thefoot of Christ's cross, in the hope (and no man ever hoped that hopein vain)--that he will be lightened of that burden, and leave some ofthem at least behind him. Ay, no man, I say, ever hoped that invain. No man ever yet felt the burden of his sins really intolerableand unbearable, but what the burden of his sins was taken off himbefore 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 HolyCommunion on Christmas-day, and all days. For then and there he willfind put into words for him the very deepest sorrows and longings ofhis heart. There he may say as heartily as he can (and the moreheartily the better), 'I acknowledge and bewail my manifold sins andwickedness. The remembrance of them is grievous unto me; the burdenof them is intolerable:' but there he will hear Christ promising inreturn to pardon and deliver him from all his sins, to confirm andstrengthen 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 Thyglory:' and still in the same breath he may confess again hisunworthiness so much as to gather up the crumbs under God's table, and cast himself simply and utterly upon the eternal property ofGod's eternal essence, which is--always to have mercy. But he willhear forthwith Christ's own answer--'If thou art bad, I can and willmake thee good. My blood shall wash away thy sin: my body shallpreserve thee, body, soul, and spirit, to the everlasting life ofgoodness. '

And so God will bless that man's communion to him; and bless to himhis keeping of Christmas-day; because out of a true penitent heartand lively faith he will be offering to the good God the sacrifice ofhis own bad self, that God may take it, and make it good; and so willbe worshipping the everlasting and infinite Goodness, in spirit andin truth. 

SERMON VII. GOD'S INHERITANCE

GAL. Iv. 6, 7. 

Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son intoyour hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more aservant, 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 ofGod 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 verygood. Your being good does not tell you that you are the sons ofGod: your baptism tells you so. Your baptism gives you a right tosay, I am the child of God. How shall I behave then? What ought achild of God to be like? Now St. Paul, you see, knew well that wecould not make ourselves God's children by any feelings, fancies, orexperiences of our own. But he knew just as well that we cannot makeourselves behave as God's children should, by any thoughts and tryingof our own. 

God alone made us His children; God alone can make us behave like hischildren. 

And therefore St. Paul says, God has sent the Spirit of his Son intoour 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 agreat and awful honour for sinful men: but I do believe that if weseek, we shall find that He is not far from any one of us, for in Himwe live and move, and have our being; and all in us which is notignorance, falsehood, folly, and filth, comes from Him. 

Now the Bible says that this Spirit is the Spirit of God's Son, theSpirit of Christ:- and what sort of Spirit is that?

We may see by remembering what sort of a Spirit Christ had when onearth; for He certainly has the same Spirit now--the Spirit whichproceedeth everlastingly from the Father and from the Son. 

And what was that Like? What was Christ Like? What was his SpiritLike? It was a Spirit of Love, mercy, pity, generosity, usefulness, unselfishness. A spirit of truth, honour, fearless love of what wasright: a spirit of duty and willing obedience, which made Himrejoice in doing His Father's will. In all things the spirit of aperfect SON, in all things a lovely, noble, holy spirit. 

And now, my dear friends, is there nothing in you like that? You mayforget it at times, you may disobey it very often: but is there notsomething in all your hearts more or less, which makes you love andadmire what is right?

When you hear of a noble action, is there nothing in you which makesyou approve and admire it? Is there nothing in your hearts whichmakes 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 noblydoing his duty, and dying rather than desert his post, or do a wrongor 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 andprecious gift. For they are none other than the Spirit of the Son ofGod, striving with your hearts that He may form Christ in you, andraise up your hearts to cry with full faith to God, 'My Father whichart in heaven!'

'Ah but, ' you will say, 'we like what is right, but we do not alwaysdo it. We like to see pity and mercy: but we are very often proudand selfish and tyrannical. We like to see justice and honour: butwe are too apt to be mean and unjust ourselves. We like to see otherpeople doing their duty: but we very often do not do ours. '

Well, my dear friends, perhaps that is true. If it be, confess yoursins like honest men, and they shall be forgiven you. If you can socomplain 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 thegood and noble thoughts in you are not your own but God's? If theycame out of your own spirits, then you would have no difficulty inobeying them. But they came out of God's Spirit; and our sinful andself-willed spirits are striving against his, and trying to turn awayfrom God's light. What can we do then? We can cherish those noblethoughts, those pure and higher feelings, when they arise. We canwelcome them as heavenly medicine from our heavenly Father. We canresolve 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 ownweakness and meanness, and how unlike we are to Christ, the onlybegotten Son. 

If we shut our hearts to those good feelings, they will go away andleave us. And if they do, we shall neither respect our neighbours, nor respect ourselves. We shall see no good in our neighbours, butbecome scornful and suspicious to them; and if we do that, we shallsoon see no good in ourselves. We shall become discontented withourselves, 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 beingour Father, and we his sons. We shall begin to fancy ourselves hisslaves, and not his children; and God our taskmaster, and not ourFather. We shall dislike the thought of God. We shall long to hidefrom God. We shall fall back into slavish terror, and a fearfullooking forward to of judgment and fiery indignation, because we havetrampled under foot the grace of God, the noble, pure, tender, andtruly graceful feelings which God's Spirit bestowed on us, to fill uswith the grace of Christ. 

Therefore, my dear friends, never check any good or right feelings inyourselves, or in your children; for they come from the spirit of theSon of God himself. But, as St. Paul says, Phil. Iv. 3, 'Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things arejust, what soever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and ifthere be any praise, think on these things', . . . 'and the God ofpeace 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, youwill enter into the meaning of those great words--Abba, Father. Themore you give up your hearts to such good feelings, the more you willunderstand of God; the more nobleness there is in you, the more youwill see God's nobleness, God's justice, God's love, God's trueglory. The more you become like God's Son, the more you willunderstand how God can stoop to call himself your Father; and themore 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 gloriousliberty of the sons of God--that liberty which comes, as I told youlast Sunday, not from doing your own will, but the will of God; thatglory which comes, not from having anything of your own to prideyourselves upon, but from being filled with the Spirit of God, theSpirit 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 saidit, and it is true. Thou, even thou art my Father, and I thy son inJesus Christ, who became awhile the Son of man on earth, that I mightbecome 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?--Theknowledge of our Father in heaven, of his love to us, and of hiseternal beauty and glory, which fills all heavens and all worlds withlight 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 tobe in it often. A man with great good in him, and great evil; withvery strong passions and feelings, dragging him down into the deep, and great light and understanding to show him the dark secrets ofthat 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, tomake him feel the horribleness of that pit where he ought not to be, all the more from its difference, its contrast, with the beautifulworld of light, and order, and righteousness where he ought to be. Therefore he knew that deep well, and abhorred it, and he heapstogether 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, wherehe can find no footing, but sinks all the deeper for his struggling. It is a place of darkness and of storms, a shoreless and bottomlesssea, where he is drowning, and drowning, while all God's waves andbillows go over him. It is a place of utter loneliness, where hesits 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 hisacquaintance out of his sight, and no man cares for his soul, and allmen seem to him liars, and God himself seems to have forgotten himand forgotten all the world. It is a dreadful net which hasentangled his feet, a dark prison in which he is set so fast that hecannot get forth. It is a torturing disgusting disease, which giveshis flesh no health, and his bones no rest, and his wounds are putridand corrupt. It is a battle-field after the fight, where he seems tolie stript among the dead, like those who are wounded and cut awayfrom God's hand, and lies groaning in the dust of death, seeingnothing round him but doleful shapes of destruction and misery, alonein 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 hisgums, and his bones are burnt up like a firebrand, till he is wearyof crying; his throat is dry, his heart fails him for waiting so longupon 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 butcontradiction and confusion. When a man is in that pit, it will seemto him as if he were alone in the world, and longing above all thingsfor 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 heis in that pit he shall be so blind that he can see nothing, thoughhis eyes be open in broad noon-day. When he is in that pit he willhate the thing which he loves most, and love the thing which he hatesmost. When he is in that pit he will long to die, and yet cling tolife desperately, and be horribly afraid of dying. When he is inthat 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'shand: and yet all the while that God seems so dreadfully near him, God will seem further off from him than ever, millions and millionsof miles away, parted from him by walls of iron, and a great gulfwhich he can never pass. There is nothing but contradiction in thatpit: the man who is in it is of two minds about himself, and his kinand neighbours, and all heaven and earth; and knows not where toturn, 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 inthat deep is a bottomless quagmire, and doubt, and change, andshapeless dread. And the air which he breathes in that deep is thevery fire of God, which burns up everlastingly all the chalk anddross 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 cangive, who are tormented day and night in that deep pit in the midstof all their prosperity, calling for a drop of water to cool theirtongue, and finding none. And you may see poor creatures dying inagony on lonely sick beds, who are not in that pit at all, but inthat better place whereof it is written, 'Blessed are they who, goingthrough the vale of misery, use it for a well, and the pools arefilled with water;' and again, 'If any man thirst, let him come tome, and drink;' and 'the water that I shall give him shall be in hima well of water, springing up to everlasting life. '

No--that deep pit is a far worse place; an utterly bad place; and yetit may be good for a man to have fallen into it; and, strangelyenough, if he do fall in, the lower he sinks in it, the better forhim at last. That is another strange contradiction in that pit, which David found, that though it was a bottomless pit, the deeper hesank 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 tobeing delivered from the nethermost hell. 

Of course, if he had staid in that pit, he must have died, body andsoul. No mortal man, or immortal soul could endure it long. Noimmortal soul could; for he would lose all hope, all faith in God, all feeling of there being anything like justice and order in theworld, all hope for himself, or for mankind, lying so in that livinggrave where no man can see God's righteousness, or his faithfulnessin that land where all things are forgotten. 

And his mere mortal body could not stand it. The misery and terrorand confusion of his soul would soon wear out his body, and he woulddie, as I have seen men actually die, when their souls have been leftin 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; andthen in compassion to their youth, and tenderness, and innocence, haslifted them gently out again, and set their weary feet upon theeverlasting Rock, which is Christ; and has filled them with the lightof his countenance, and joy and peace in believing; and has led themby green pastures and made them rest by the waters of comfort; andyet, though their souls were healed, their bodies were not. Thatfearful struggle has been too much for frail humanity, and they havedrooped, and faded, and gone peacefully after a while home to theirGod, 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, outof that strange deep, all the stronger for their fall; and have foundout another strange contradiction about that deep, and the fire ofGod which burns below in it. For that fire hardens a man and softenshim at the same time; and he comes out of it hardened to thathardness of which it is written, 'Do thou endure hardness like a goodsoldier of Jesus Christ;' and again, 'I have fought a good fight, Ihave kept the faith, I have finished my course:' yet softened to thatsoftness of which it is written, 'Be ye tenderhearted, compassionate, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgivenyou;'--and again, 'We have a High Priest who can be touched with thefeeling of our infirmities, seeing that he has been tempted in allthings like as we are, yet without sin. '

Happy, thrice happy are they who have thus walked through the valleyof the shadow of death, and found it the path which leads toeverlasting life. Happy are they who have thus writhed awhile in thefierce fire of God, and have had burnt out of them the chaff anddross, and all which offends, and makes them vain, light, and yetmakes them dull, drags them down at the same time; till only the puregold of God's righteousness is left, seven times tried in the fire, incorruptible, and precious in the sight of God and man. Such peopleneed not regret--they will not regret--all that they have gonethrough. 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 madeperfect by suffering; and though he were a Son, yet in the days ofhis flesh, made strong supplication and crying with tears to hisFather, and was heard in that he feared; and so, though he died onthe 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'swrath, into another likeness of Christ--which after all is still thesame; the character which he showed when he wept by the grave ofLazarus, and over the sinful city of Jerusalem; which he showed whenhis heart yearned over the perishing multitude, and over the leper, and the palsied man, and the maniac possessed with devils; thecharacter which he showed when he said to the woman taken inadultery, 'Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more;' which heshowed when he said to the sinful Magdalene, who washed his feet withtears, and wiped them with her hair, 'her sins, which are many, areforgiven; for she loved much;' the likeness which he showed in hisvery death agony upon the torturing cross, when he prayed for hismurderers, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 'This is the character which man may get in that dark deep. --To feelfor all, and feel with all; to rejoice with those who rejoice, andweep with those who weep; to understand people's trials, and makeallowances for their temptations; to put oneself in their place, tillwe see with their eyes, and feel with their hearts, till we judge noman, and have hope for all; to be fair, and patient, and tender withevery one we meet; to despise no one, despair of no one, becauseChrist despises none, and despairs of none; to look upon every one wemeet with love, almost with pity, as people who either have been downinto the deep of horror, or may go down into it any day; to see ourown sins in other people's sins, and know that we might do what theydo, and feel as they feel, any moment, did God desert us; to give andforgive, to live and let live, even as Christ gives to us, andforgives us, and lives for us, and lets us live, in spite of all oursins. 

And how shall we learn this? How shall the bottomless pit, if wefall 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 pullhim out of that pit. Not to princes, nobles, and great men. Not todoctrines, books, church-goings. Not to the dearest friend he had onearth; for they had forsaken him, could not understand him, thoughthim perhaps beside himself. Not to his own good works, almsgivings, church-goings, church-buildings. Not to his own experiences, faith'sassurances, frames or feelings. The matter was too terrible to beplastered over in that way, or in any way. He was face to face withGod alone, in utter weakness, in utter nakedness of soul, He cried toGod himself. There was the lesson. 

God took away from him all things, that he might have no one to cryto 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, whenshe sat alone upon the parching rock. Like Rizpah, he watched thedead 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, theSon of David, what the poor soul does when it sits alone in itsdespair. Or rather it need not be told him; for he sees all, weepsover all, will comfort all: and it shall be to that poor soul as itwas to poor deserted Hagar in the sandy desert, when the water wasspent in the bottle, and she cast her child--the only thing she hadleft--under one of the shrubs and hurried away; for she said, 'Let menot see the child die. ' And the angel of the Lord called to her outof heaven, saying, 'The Lord hath heard the voice of the lad where heis;' 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 upalone into the mount of God, and fasted forty days and forty nightsamid the earthquake and the thunderstorm, and the rocks which meltedbefore the Lord. And behold, when it was past, he talked face toface with God, as a man talketh with his friend, and his countenanceshone with heavenly light, when he came down triumphant out of themount of God. 

So shall it be with every soul of man who, being in the deep, criesout of that deep to God, whether in bloody India or in peacefulEngland. For He with whom we have to do is not a tyrant, but aFather; not a taskmaster, but a Giver and a Redeemer. We may ask himfreely, as David does, to consider our complaint, because he willconsider it well, and understand it, and do it justice. He is notextreme to mark what is done amiss, and therefore we can abide hisjudgments. There is mercy with him, and therefore it is worth whileto fear him. He waits for us year after year, with patience whichcannot tire; therefore it is but fair that we should wait a while forhim. With him is plenteous redemption, and therefore redemptionenough for us, and for those likewise whom we love. He will redeemus from all our sins: and what do we need more? He will make usperfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect. Let him then, ifhe must, make us perfect by sufferings. By sufferings Christ wasmade perfect; and what was the best path for Jesus Christ is surelygood enough for us, even though it be a rough and a thorny one. Letus lie still beneath God's hand; for though his hand be heavy uponus, it is strong and safe beneath us too; and none can pluck us outof his hand, for in him we live and move and have our being; andthough we go down into hell with David, with David we shall find Godthere, and find, with David, that he will not leave our souls inhell, or suffer his holy ones to see corruption. Yes; have faith inGod. Nothing in thee which he has made shall see corruption; for itis a thought of God's, and no thought of his can perish. Nothingshall be purged out of thee but thy disease; nothing shall be burntout of thee but thy dross; and that in thee shall be saved, and liveto all eternity, of which God said at the beginning, Let us make manin our own image. Yes. Have faith in God; and say to him once forall, 'Though thou slay me, yet will I love thee; for thou lovedst mein 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 haveset before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore chooselife that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love theLord thy God, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thylife and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the landwhich the Lord God sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacobto give them. 

I spoke to you last Sunday on this text. But there is something morein it, which I had not time to speak of then. 

Moses here tells the Israelites what will happen to them if they keepGod's law. 

They will love God. That was to be their reward. They were to haveother rewards beside. Beside loving God, it would be well with themand their children, and they would live long in the land which Godhad given them. But their first reward, their great reward, would bethat 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. Butwhat Moses says is truer still, and deeper still. Moses says, If youobey 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 anddeeper thing. Moses says that loving God is our reward; that thegreatest reward, the greatest blessing which a man can have, is this--that the man should love God. Now does this seem strange? It isnot strange, nevertheless. 

For there are two sorts of faith; and one must always, I sometimesthink, come before the other. 

The first is implicit faith--blind faith--the sort of faith a childhas in what its parents tell it. A child, we know, believes itsparents blindly, even though it does not understand what they tellit. It takes for granted that they are right. 

The second is experimental faith--the faith which comes fromexperience and reason, when a man looks back upon his life, and onGod's dealings with him; and then sees from experience what reason hehas for trusting and loving God, who has helped him onward through somany chances and changes for so many years. 

Now some people cry out against blind implicit faith, as if it waschildish and unreasonable. But I cannot. I think every one learnsto love his neighbour, very much as Moses told the Jews they wouldlearn to love God; namely, by trusting them somewhat blindly atfirst. 

Is it not so? Is it not so always with young people, when they beginto be fond of each other? They trust each other, they do not knowwhy, or how. Before they are married, they have little or noexperience of each other; of each other's tempers and characters:and yet they trust each other, and say in their hearts, 'He can neverbe false to me;' and are ready to put their honour and fortunes intoeach other's hands, to live together for better for worse, till deaththem part. It is a blind faith in each other, that, and those whowill may laugh at it, and call it the folly and rashness of youth. Ido not believe that God laughs at it: that God calls it folly andrashness. 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 bettervoice within, and be true to their own better feelings, all will bewell, and they will find after marriage that they did not do a rashand a foolish thing, when they gave up themselves to each other, andcast in their lot together blindly to live and die. 

And then, after that first blind faith and love in each other whichthey had before marriage, will come, as the years roll by, a deeper, sounder faith and love from experience. --An experience of which Ishall not talk here; for those who have not felt it for themselveswould not know what I mean; and those who have felt it need no clumsywords of mine to describe it to them. 

Now, my dear friends, this is one of the things by which marriage isconsecrated to an excellent mystery, as the Prayer-book says. Thisis one of the things in which marriage is a pattern and picture ofthe spiritual union which is between Christ and his Church. 

First, as I said, comes blind faith. A young person, setting out inlife, has little experience of God's love; he has little to make himsure that the way of life, and honour, and peace, is to obey God'slaws. But he is told so. His Bible tells him so. Wiser and olderpeople than he tell him so, and God himself tells him so. Godhimself 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 buttry. They tell me to taste and see whether the Lord is gracious. Iwill taste. They tell me that the way of his commandments is the wayto make life worth loving, and to see good days. I will try. And sothe years go by. The young person has grown middle-aged, old. He orshe has been through many trials, many disappointments; perhaps morethan one bitter loss. But if they have held fast by God; if theyhave tried, however clumsily, to keep God's law, and walk in God'sway, then there will have grown up in them a trust in God, and a lovefor God, deeper and broader far than any which they had in youth; alove grounded on experience. They can point back to so manyblessings which the Lord gave them unexpectedly; to so many sorrowswhich the Lord gave them strength to bear, though they seemed atfirst sight past bearing; to so many disappointments which seemed illluck 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. Nowthey have TASTED that the Lord is gracious. Now they can say, withthe Samaritans, 'Now we believe, not because of thy saying, butbecause we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed theChrist, the Saviour of the world. ' And when sadness and afflictioncome on them, as it must come, they can look back, and so getstrength to look forward. They can say with David, 'I will go on inthe strength of the Lord God. I will make mention only of hisrighteousness. Oh my God, thou hast taught me from my youth up untilnow; hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also, when Iam old and grey-headed, oh Lord, forsake me not, till I have showedthy strength unto this generation, and thy power to those whom Ileave behind me. '

And so, by remembering what God HAS been to them, they can face whatis 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 lowspirits, still they have comfort. They can say with David again, 'Ihave been young, and now am old, but never saw I the righteousforsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. '

Oh my dear friends, young people especially--there are many thingswhich you may long for which you cannot have: much happiness whichis NOT within your reach. But THIS you can have, if you will butlong for it: this happiness IS within your reach, if you will butput out your hand and take it. --The everlasting unfailing comfort ofloving God, and of knowing that God loves you. Oh choose that now atonce. Choose God's ways which are pleasantness, and God's pathswhich are peace; and then in your old age, whether you become rich orpoor, whether you are left alone, or go down to your grave in peacewith children and grandchildren to close your eyes, you will stillhave the one great reward, the true reward, the everlasting rewardwhich Moses promised the old Israelites. You will have reason tolove God, who has carried you safe through life, and will carry yousafe through death, and to say with all his saints and martyrs, 'Manythings I know not; and many things I have lost: but this I know. --Iknow in whom I have believed; and this I cannot lose; even Godhimself, 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. Ittells us that there is a person standing among us so great, that Johnthe Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, was not worthy to unloosehis shoes' latchet. 

Some of you know who he is. Some of you, perhaps, do not. If youknow him, you will be glad to be reminded of him to-day. If you donot know him, I will tell you who he is. 

Only bear this in mind, that whether you know him or not, he isstanding among us. We have not driven him away, and cannot drive himaway. Our not seeing him will not prevent his seeing us. He isalways 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 todo with us. The noble Collect for to-day tells this, and explains tous what we are to think of the Epistle and the Gospel. 

The Epistle tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is at hand, and thattherefore we are to fret about nothing, but make our requests knownto him. The Gospel tells us that he stands among us. The Collecttells us what we are to do, because he is at hand, because he standsamong 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 theHoly Ghost, and with fire. '

The Collect asks him to do that--the first half of it at least. Tobaptize us with the Holy Ghost, lest he should need to baptize uswith fire. 

For the Collect says, we have all a race to run. We have all ajourney to make through life. We have all so to get through thisworld, that we shall inherit the world to come; so to pass throughthe things of time (as one of the Collects says) that we finally losenot the things eternal. God has given each of us our powers andcharacter, marked out for each of us our path in life, set each of usour 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 asnot to lose, but to win it?

For the Collect says--and we ought to have found it out for ourselvesbefore now--Our sins and wickedness hinder us sorely in running therace which is set before us. 

Our sins and wickedness. The Collect speaks of these as twodifferent things; and I believe rightly, for the New Testament speaksof them as two different things. Sin, in the New Testament, meansstrictly what we call "failings, " "defects" a missing the mark, afalling short; as it is written--All have sinned, and come short ofthe glory of God, that is, of the likeness of a perfect man. {75}

Thus, stupidity, laziness, cowardice, bad temper, greediness afterpleasure--these are strictly speaking what the New Testament callssins. Wickedness--iniquity--seem to be harder words, and to meanworse offences. They mean the evil things which a man does, not outof the weakness of his mortal nature, but out of his own wicked will, and what the Bible calls the naughtiness of his heart. So wickednessmeans, not merely open crimes which are punishable by the law, butall 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--theseseem to be what the Scripture calls wickedness. Of course one cannotdraw the line exactly, in any matters so puzzling as questions aboutour own souls must always be: but on the whole. I think you willfind this rule not far wrong -

That all which comes from the weakness of a man's soul, is sin: allwhich comes from abusing its strength, is wickedness. All whichdrags 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, iswickedness. It is as well to bear this in mind, because a man mayhave a great horror of sin, and be hard enough, and too hard uponpoor sinners; and yet all the time he may be thoroughly, and to hisheart's core, a wicked man. The Pharisees of old were so. So theyare now. Take you care that you be not like to them. Keep clear ofsin: but keep clear of wickedness likewise. 

For, says the Collect, both will hinder you in your race: perhapscause 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 theright road. 

If a man be laden with sins; stupid, lazy, careless, over fond ofpleasure;--much more, if he be given up to enjoying himself in badways, about which we all know too well--then he is like a man whostarts in a race, weak, crippled, over-weighted, or not caringwhether he wins or loses; and who therefore lags behind, or growstired, or looks round, and wants to stop and amuse himself, insteadof pushing on stoutly and bravely. And therefore St. Paul bids uslay aside every weight (that is every bad habit which makes us lazyand careless), and the sin which does so easily beset us, and runwith patience our appointed race, looking to Jesus, the author of ourfaith--who stands by to give us faith, confidence, courage to go on--Jesus, who has compassion on those who are ignorant, and out of theway by no wilfulness of their own; who can be touched with thefeeling of our infirmities; who can help us, can deliver us, and whowill 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 torun our race, day by day, and tide by tide. And so, if he sees usweak and fainting over our work, he will baptize us with the HolyGhost. 

And yet there are times when he will baptize a sinner not only withthe Holy Ghost, but with fire--I am still speaking, mind, of asinner, 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 mansitting down to play at all. God forbid! How can a man run hislife-long race--how can he even keep up for a week, a day, at doinghis best at the full stretch of his power, without stopping to takebreath? I cannot, God knows. If any man can--be it so. Some arestronger than others: but be sure of this; that God counts it no sinin a man to stop and take breath. 'Press forward toward the mark ofyour high calling, ' St. Paul says: but he does not forbid a man torefresh and amuse himself harmlessly and rationally, from time totime, with all the pleasant things which God has put into this world. They do refresh us, and they do amuse us, these pleasant things. AndGod made them, and put them here. Surely he put them here to refreshand amuse us. He did not surely put them here to trap us, and snareus, and tempt us not to run the very race which he himself has setbefore us? No, no, my friends. He made pleasant things to pleaseus, amusing things to amuse us. Every good gift comes from him. 

But if a man thinks of nothing but amusing himself, he is like ahorse who stands still in the middle of a journey, and beginsfeeding. Let him do his day's journey, and feed afterwards; and soget 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; thenwe 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 giveshimself up to sinful pleasure; if he gives himself up to a loose andprofligate life, and, like many a young man, wastes his substance inriotous living, and devours his heavenly Father's gifts with harlots--then God will strike that man; and all the more sharply the moreworth 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 deepditch, and was lying there in mire and thorns; would you not strikehim, and sharply too, to make him put out his whole strength, andrise, and by one great struggle clear himself?

Of course you would: and the more spirited, the more powerful theanimal was, the sharper you would be with him, because the more sureyou would be that he could answer to your call if he chose. 

Even so does God with us. If he sees us lying down; forgettingutterly that we have any work or duty to do; and wallowing in themire of fleshly lusts, and thorns of worldly cares, then he willstrike; and all the more sharply, the more real worth or power thereis in us; that he may rouse us, and force us to exert ourselves andby one great struggle, like the mired horse, clear ourselves out ofthe 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 ofrighteousness. 

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 shouldwe treat it? If it were merely weak, we should strengthen andexercise it. If it were merely ignorant, we should teach it. If itwere lazy, we should begin to punish it; but gently, that it mightstill have confidence, faith in us, and pleasure in its work. 

But if we found wickedness in it--vice, as we rightly call it--if itbecame restive, that is, rebellious and self-willed, then we shouldpunish it indeed. Seldom, perhaps, but very sharply; that it mightsee clearly that we were the stronger, and that rebellion was of nouse at all. 

And so does the Lord with us, my friends. If we will not go his wayby kindness, he will make us go by severity. 

First, when we are christened, and after that day by day, if we askhim--and often when we ask him not--he gives us the gentle baptism ofhis Holy Spirit, freshening, strengthening, encouraging, inspiriting. But if we will not go on well for that; if we will rebel, and try ourown way, and rush out of God's road after this and that, in pride andself-will, as if we were our own masters; then, my friends--then willGod baptize us with fire, and strike with a blow which goes nigh tocut a man in two. Very seldom he strikes; for he is pitiful, and oftender 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 thejoints and marrow. Very seldom: but very sharply, that there may beno mistake about what the blow means, and that the man may know, however cunning, or proud, or self-righteous he may be, that God isthe Lord, God is his Master, and will be obeyed; and woe to him, ifhe obey him not. And what can a man do then, but writhe in thebitterness of his soul, and get back into God's highway as fast as hecan, in fear and trembling lest the next blow cut him in asunder?And so, by the bitterness of disappointment, or bereavement, orsickness, or poverty, or worst of all, of shame, will the Lordbaptize the man with fire. 

But all in love, my friends; and all for the man's good. Does GodLIKE to punish his creatures? LIKE to torment them? Some think thathe does, and say that he finds what they call 'satisfaction' inpunishing. I think that they mistake the devil for God. No, myfriends; what does he say himself? 'Have I any pleasure in the deathof the wicked; and not rather that he should turn from his ways, andlive?' Surely he has not. If he had, do you think that he wouldhave sent us into this world at all? I do not. And I trust and hopethat you will not. Believe that even when he cuts us to the heart'score, and baptizes us with fire, he does it only out of his eternallove, 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 inmind, that Christ's will, and therefore God's will, is to help anddeliver us; that he stands by us, and comes among us, for that verypurpose. Consider St. Paul's parable, in which he talks of us as menrunning a race, and of Christ as the judge who looks on to see how werun. But for what purpose does Christ look on? To catch us out, aswe say? To mark down every fault of ours, and punish wherever he hasan opportunity or a reason? Does he stand there spying, frowning, fault-finding, accusing every man in his turn, extreme to watch whatis done amiss? If an earthly judge did that, we should call him--what he would be--an ill-conditioned man. But dare we fancy anythingill-conditioned in God? God forbid! His conditions are altogethergood, and his will a good will to men; and therefore, say the Epistleand the Collect, we ought not to be terrified, but to rejoice, at thethought that the Lord is looking on. However badly we are runningour race, yet if we are trying to move forward at all, we ought torejoice that God in Christ is looking on. 

And why?

Why? Because he is looking on, not to torment, but to help. Becausehe loves us better than we love ourselves. Because he is moreanxious for us to get safely through this world than we areourselves. 

Will you understand that, and believe that, once for all, myfriends?--That God is not AGAINST you, but FOR you, in the strugglesof 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 yourcry. 

And therefore when you find yourselves wrong, utterly wrong, do notcry to this man or that man, 'Do YOU help me; do you set me a littlemore right, before God comes and finds me in the wrong, and punishesme. ' 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 hisconversion, 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, andmade myself somewhat fit to be seen. '--No. Cry, 'Come quickly, OLord--at once, just because I am a sinful man; just because I am sorelet 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 forI have fallen very low; deliver me, for I have plunged out of thysound and safe highway into deep mire, where no ground is. Helpmyself 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 reasonfor hiding from Christ who stands by; but a reason, the reason of allreasons, 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 yourgoings, that you may run with patience the race which is set beforeyou 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 themeaning of the Collect, the Epistle, and the Gospel. --That God inChrist stands by us, ready to help and deliver us; and that if we cryto him even out of the lowest depth, he will hear our voice. Andthat then, when he has once put us into the right road again, andsees us going bravely along it to the best of the power which he hasgiven us, he will fulfil to us his eternal promise, 'Thy sins--andnot 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; andaccording 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 wesay that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is notin us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgiveus our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we saythat we have not sinned, we make him a liar. 

This is plain enough; and true as God is true. But there is anothertemper 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 thetemper of Job, when his friends were trying to prove to him that hemust be a bad man, and to make him accuse himself of all sorts ofsins which he had not committed; and he answered that he would utterno deceit, and tell no lies about himself. 'Till I die I will notremove mine integrity from me; my righteousness I will hold fast, andwill not let it go; my heart shall not reproach me as long as Ilive. ' I have, on the whole, tried to be a good man, and I will notmake myself out a bad one. 

For, my friends, with the Bible as with everything else, we must hearboth sides of the question, lest we understand neither side. 

We may misuse St. John's doctrine, that if we say we have no sin, wedeceive ourselves. We may deceive ourselves in the very oppositeway. 

In the first place, some people, having learnt that it is right toconfess 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 fancythey have committed them. This is very common now, and has been formany hundred years, especially among young women and lads who are ofa weakly melancholy temper, or who have suffered some greatdisappointment. They are fond of accusing themselves; of makinglittle faults into great ones; of racking their memories to findthemselves out in the wrong; of taking the darkest possible view ofthemselves, and of what is going to happen to them. They forget thatSolomon, the wise, when he says, 'Be not over-much wicked; neither bethou foolish--why shouldst thou die before thy time?'--says also, 'Benot righteous over-much; neither make thyself over-wise. Whyshouldst thou destroy thyself?'

For such people do destroy themselves. I have seen them kill theirown bodies, and die early, by this folly. And I have seen them killtheir own souls, too, and enter into strong delusions, till theybelieve a lie, and many lies, from which one had hoped that the Biblewould have delivered any and every man. 

One cannot be angry with such people. One can only pity them, andpity them all the more, when one finds them generally the mostinnocent, the very persons who have least to confess. One can butpity them, when one sees them applying to themselves God's warningsagainst sins of which they never even heard the names, and fancyingthat God speaks to them, as St. Paul says that he did to the oldheathen 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 theymay learn to know God, and who he is: and by knowing him, may bedelivered out of the hands of cunning and cruel teachers, who make amarket of their melancholy, and hide from them the truth about God, lest the truth should make them free, while their teachers wish tokeep them slaves. 

This is one misuse of St. John's doctrine. There is another and afar worse misuse of it. 

A man may be proud of confessing his sins; may become self-righteousand conceited, according to the number of the sins which heconfesses. 

So deceitful is this same human heart of ours, that so it is I haveseen people quite proud of calling themselves miserable sinners. Isay, proud of it. For if they had really felt themselves miserablesinners, they would have said less about their own feelings. If aman 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 theslave of one's own tempers, passions, appetites--oh, if man or womanever knew the exceeding sinfulness of sin, he would hide his ownshame in the depths of his heart, and tell it to God alone, or atmost 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, onesuspects--and from experience one has only too much reason tosuspect--that he is simply saying in a civil way, 'I am a better manthan 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, 'Iwill not confess what I have not felt. I have tried and am trying tobe an upright, respectable, sober, right-living man. Let God judgeme according to the innocency that is in me. I know that I am notperfect: no man is that: but I will not cant; I will not be ahypocrite; 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. Iwill trust to God to judge me fairly, to balance between the good andthe evil which is in me, and deal with me accordingly. '

If you speak in that way, the other man will answer you plainlyenough, 'Ah! you are utterly benighted. You are building on legalityand morality. You have not yet learnt the first principles of theGospel. ' And with these, and other words, will give you tounderstand this--That he thinks he is going to heaven, and you aregoing 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. Hedoes so, I think, in a certain noble text of his in which he says, 'Ijudge not mine own self; for I know nothing against myself, yet am Inot hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. '

Now remember that no man was less self-righteous than St. Paul. Noman ever saw more clearly the sinfulness of sin. No man ever putinto words so strongly the struggle between good and evil which goeson in the human heart. In one place, even, when speaking of hisformer 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 notafraid to say--as no honest and upright man need be afraid to say--'Iknow 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 howyou can honour God, by pretending instead that he has left you to dowrong. 

This, then, seems to be the rule. If you have done wrong, be notafraid to confess it. If you have done right, be not afraid toconfess that either. And meanwhile keep up your self-respect. Tryto do your duty. Try to keep your honour bright. Let no man be ableto say that he is the worse for you. Still more let no woman be ableto say that she is the worse for you; for if you treat another man'sdaughter as you would not let him treat yours, where is your honourthen, or your clear conscience? What cares man, what cares God, foryour professions of uprightness and respectability, if you take goodcare to behave well to men, who can defend themselves, and take nocare to behave well to a poor girl, who cannot defend herself?Recollect that when Job stood up for his own integrity, and would notgive up his belief that he was a righteous man, he took care tojustify himself in this matter, as well as on others. 'I made acovenant with mine eyes, ' he says; 'why then should I think upon amaid? If mine heart have been deceived by a woman; or if I have laidwait at my neighbour's door;' 'Then, ' he says in words too strong forme 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 youhave defrauded him, that you have tyrannized over him; that you haveneglected to do your duty by him. Let no man be able to say that youhave rewarded him evil for evil. If possible, let him not be able tosay that you have even lost your temper with him. Be generous; beforgiving. If you have an opportunity, be like David, and help himwho without a cause is your enemy; and then you will have a right tosay, like David, 'Give sentence with me, O Lord, according to myrighteousness, and according to the cleanness of my hands in thysight. '

True--that will not justify you. In God's sight shall no man livingbe justified, if justification is to come by having no faults. Whatman is there who lives, and sins not? Who is there among us, butknows that he is not the man he might be? Who does not know, thateven if he seldom does what he ought not, he too often leaves undonewhat he ought? And more than that--none of us but does many a reallywrong thing of which he never knows, at least in this life. None ofus 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 thisPsalm, 'Judge me, O Lord!'

And when he has done wrong, he thinks so still less; for then he asksGod all the more earnestly, not only to judge him, but to correct himlikewise. 'Purge me, ' he says, 'and I shall be clean. Cleanse thoume 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 aboveall 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 allmatters--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 willbegin judging yourself wrongly and clumsily, instead of asking God tojudge you wisely and well. 

You will break both of the golden rules which St. Anthony, the famoushermit, used to give to his scholars. --'Regret not that which ispast; and trust not in thine own righteousness. ' For you will losetime, and lose heart, in fretting over old sins and follies, insteadof confessing them once and for all to God, and going boldly to histhrone of grace to find mercy and grace to help you in the time ofneed; that you may try again and do better for the future. And so itwill be true of you--I am sure I have seen it come true of many apoor soul--what David found, before he found out the goodness ofGod's free pardon:- 'While I held my tongue, my bones waxed oldthrough my daily complaining. For thy hand was heavy upon me nightand day; my moisture was like the drought in summer. '

And all that while (such contradictory creatures are we all), you maybe breaking St. Anthony's other golden rule, and trusting in your ownrighteousness. 

You will begin trying to cleanse yourself from little outside faults, and fancying that that is all you have to do, instead of asking Godto cleanse you from your secret faults, from the deep inward faultswhich he alone can see; forgetting that they are the root, and theoutside faults only the fruit. And so you will be like a foolishsick man, who is afraid of the doctor, and therefore tries to physichimself. But what does he do? Only tamper and peddle with theoutside symptoms of his complaint, instead of going to the physician, that he may find out and cure the complaint itself. Many a man haskilled his own body in that way; and many a man more, I fear, haskilled his own soul, because he was afraid of going to the GreatPhysician. 

But if you will believe that God is good, and not evil; if you willbelieve that the heavenly Father is indeed YOUR Father; if you willbelieve that the Lord Jesus Christ really loves you, really died tosave you, really wishes to deliver you from your sins, and make youwhat you ought to be, and what you can be: then you will have heartto do your duty; because you will be sure that God helps you to doyour duty. You will have heart to fight bravely against your badhabits, instead of fretting cowardly over them; because you know thatGod is fighting against them for you. You will not, on the otherhand, trust in your own righteousness; because you will soon learnthat you have no righteousness of your own: but that all the good inyou comes from God, who works in you to will and to do of his goodpleasure. 

And when you examine yourself, and think over your own life andcharacter, 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 thouwilt 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 tobe worse than I am. Truly, I know nothing about it. I, ignoranthuman being that I am, can never fully know how far I am right, andhow far wrong. I find light and darkness fighting together in myheart, and I cannot divide between them. But thou canst. Thouknowest. Thou hast made me; thou lovest me; thou hast sent thy Soninto the world to make me what I ought to be; and therefore I believethat he will make me what I ought to be. Thou willest not that Ishould perish, but come to the knowledge of the truth: and thereforeI believe that I shall not perish, but come to the knowledge of thetruth about thee, about my own character, my own duty, abouteverything which it is needful for me to know. And therefore I willgo 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 dailybread. Thou feedest my soul with ITS daily bread. How much morethen wilt thou feed my mind and my heart, more precious by far thanmy body? Yes, I will trust thee for soul and for body alike; and ifI need correcting for my sins, I am sure at least of this, that theworst thing that can happen to me or any man, is to do wrong and NOTto be corrected; and the best thing is to be set right, even by hardblows, as often as I stray out of the way. And therefore I will takemy punishment quietly and manfully, and try to thank thee for it, asI ought; for I know that thou wilt not punish me beyond what Ideserve, but far below what I deserve; and that thou wilt punish meonly to bring me to myself, and to correct me, and purge me, andstrengthen me. For this I believe--on the warrant of thine own wordI believe it--undeserved as the honour is, that thou art my Father, and lovest me; and dost not afflict any man willingly, or grieve thechildren of men out of passion or out of spite; and that thou willestnot that I should be damned, nor any man; but willest have all mensaved, 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 hathcommitted, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall savehis soul alive. 

We hear a great deal about repentance, and how necessary it is for aman to repent of his sins; for unless a man repent, he cannot beforgiven. But do we all of us really know what repentance means?

I sometimes fear not. I sometimes fear, that though this text standsat the opening of the Church service, and though people hear it asoften as any text in the whole Bible, yet they have not really learntthe 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 uponearth, for which the doers of them are not sorry, sooner or later. Aman does a wrong thing, and his conscience pricks him, and makes himuneasy, and he says in his heart, 'I wish after all I had left thatalone. ' But the next time he is tempted to do the same thing, hedoes it, and is ashamed of himself afterwards again: but that is notrepentance. I suppose that there have been few murders committed inthe world, after which sooner or later the murderer did not say inhis heart--'Ah, that that man were alive and well again!' But thatis not repentance. 

For aught I can tell, the very devil is sorry for his sin;--discontented, angry with himself, ashamed of himself for being adevil. He may be so to all eternity, and yet never repent. For thedark uneasy feeling which comes over every man sooner or later, afterdoing wrong, is not repentance; it is remorse; the most horrible andmiserable of all feelings, when it comes upon a man in its fullstrength; 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 andevery soul alive, then and there: but remorse will not. Remorse mayonly kill him. Kill his body, by making him, as many a poor creaturehas done, put an end to himself in sheer despair: and kill his soulat least, by making him say in his heart, 'Well, if bad I am, bad Imust be. I hate myself, and God hates me also. All I can do is, toforget my unhappiness if I can, in business, in pleasure, in drink, and drive remorse out of my head;' and often a man succeeds in sodoing. The first time he does a wrong thing, he feels sorry andashamed after it. Then he takes courage after awhile, and does itagain; and feels less sorrow and shame; and so again and again, tillthe sin becomes easier and easier to him, and his conscience growsmore and more dull; till at last perhaps, the feeling of its beingwrong quite dies within--and that is the death of his soul. 

But of true repentance, it is written, that he who repents shall savehis 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 youset out to go to a place and change your mind, then you do not gothere. If as you go on, you begin to have doubts about its beingright to go, or to be sorry that you are going, and still walk on inthe same road, however slowly or unwillingly, that is not changingyour mind about going. If you do change your mind, you will changeyour 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 peopleact upon it? If a man finds that in his way through life be is onthe wrong road, the road which leads to shame, and sorrow, and deathand hell, why will he confess that he is on the wrong road, and saythat he is very sorry (as perhaps he really may be) that he is goingwrong, and yet go on, and persevere on the wrong path? At least, aslong as he keeps on the road which leads to ruin, he has not changedhis mind, or repented at all. He may find the road unpleasant, fullof thorns, and briars, and pit-falls; for believe me, however broadthe road is which leads to destruction, it is only the GATE of itwhich is easy and comfortable; it soon gets darker and rougher, thatroad of sin; and the further you walk along it, the uglier and morewretched a road it is: but all the misery which it gives to a man isonly useless remorse, unless he fairly repents, and turns out of thatroad into the path which leads to life. 

Now the one great business of foolish man in all times has been tosave 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. Itis a folly and a dream. For no man can get to heaven, unless he beheavenly; and being heavenly is simply being good, and neither moreor less. And sin is death, and no man can save his soul alive, whileit is dead in sin. Still men have been trying to do it in all agesand countries; and as soon as one plan has failed, they have triedsome new one; and have invented some false repentance which was toserve instead of the true one. The old Jews seem to have thoughtthat the repentance which God required was burnt-offerings andsacrifices: that if they could only offer bullocks and goats enoughon God's altar, he would forgive them their sins. But David, andIsaiah after him, and Ezekiel after him, found out that THAT was buta dream; that that sort of repentance would save no man's soul; thatGod did not require burnt-offerings and sacrifice for sin: butsimply that a man should do right and not wrong. 'When ye comebefore me, ' saith the Lord, 'who has required this at your hand, totread my courts?' They were to bring no more vain offerings: but toput away the evil of their doings; to cease to do evil, to learn todo well; to seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge thefatherless, plead for the widow; and then, and then only, thoughtheir sins were as scarlet, they should be white as snow. For Godwould take them for what they were--as good, if they were good; asbad, if they were bad. And this agrees exactly with the text. 'Whenthe wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hathcommitted, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall savehis 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 andtorture himself, to give up all that makes life pleasant, and so toatone. And good and pious men and women, with a real hatred andhorror of sin, tried this: but they found that making themselvesmiserable took away their sins no more than burnt-offerings andsacrifices would do it. Their consciences were not relieved; theygained no feeling of comfort, no assurance of God's love. Then theysaid, 'I have not punished myself enough. I have not made myselfmiserable enough. I will try whether more torture and misery willnot 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 oldtimes killed themselves piecemeal by slow torments, in trying toatone for their sins, and wash out in their own blood what wasalready 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 thePapists have fallen back on the wretched notion that repentancemerely means confessing their sins to a priest, and receivingabsolution from him, and doing some little penance too childish tospeak of here. 

But is there no false repentance among us English, too, my friends?No paltry substitute for the only true repentance which God willaccept, 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 tohell. I am quarrelling and losing my temper, and using badlanguage. --Or--I am cheating my neighbour. Or--I am living inadultery and drunkenness: I must repent before it is too late. ' Butwhat do they mean by repenting? Coming as often as they can tochurch or chapel, and reading all the religious books which they canget hold of: till they come, from often reading and hearing aboutthe Gospel promises, to some confused notion that their sins arewashed away in Christ's blood; or perhaps, on the strength of someviolent feelings, believe that they are converted all on a sudden, and clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness, and renewed byGod'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 goodthey can; I complain of no one reading all the religious books theycan: but I think--and more, I know--that hearing sermons and readingtracts may be, and is often, turned into a complete snare of thedevil 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 inmind, that you know already quite enough to lead you to REPENTANCE. You need neither book nor sermon to teach you those ten commandmentswhich hang here over the communion table: all that books and tractsand sermons can do is to teach you how to KEEP those commandments inspirit 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 tencommandments; in order to find excuses for not keeping them; and tofind doctrines which tell them, that because Christ has done all, they need do nothing;--only FEEL a little thankfulness, and a littlesorrow for sin, and a little liking to hear about religion: and callthat repentance, and conversion, and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. 

Now, my dear friends, let me ask you as reasonable beings, Do youthink 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 daylong, will save your souls alive? Do you think that your sins arewashed away in Christ's blood, when they are there still, and you arecommitting them? Would they be here, and you doing them, if theywere put away? Do you think that your sins can be put away out ofGod's sight, if they are not even put out of your own sight? If youare doing wrong, do you think that God will treat you as if you weredoing right? Cannot God see in you what you see in yourselves? Doyou think a man can be clothed in Christ's righteousness at the verysame time that he is clothed in his own unrighteousness? Can he begood and bad at once? Do you think a man can be converted--that isturned round--when he is going on his old road the whole week? Doyou think that a man has repented--that is, changed his mind--when heis in just the same mind as ever as to how he shall behave to hisfamily, his customers, and everybody with whom he has to do? Do youthink that a man is renewed by God's Spirit, when except for a fewreligious phrases, and a little more outside respectability, he isjust the old man, the same character at heart he ever was? Do youthink that there is any use in a man's belonging to the number ofbelievers, if he does not do what he believes; or any use in thinkingthat God has elected and chosen him, when he chooses not to do whatGod has chosen that every man must do, or die?

Be not deceived. God is not mocked. What a man sows, that shall hereap. Let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness isrighteous, even as Christ is righteous, and no one else. 

He who tries to do as Christ did, and he only, has Christ'srighteousness imputed to him, because he is trying to do what Christdid, that which is lawful and right. He who does righteousness, andhe only, has truly repented, changed his mind about what he shoulddo, and turned away from his wickedness which he has committed, andis now doing that which is lawful and right. He who doesrighteousness, and he only, shall save his soul alive: not byfeeling this thing, or believing about that thing, but by doing thatwhich is lawful and right. 

We must face it, my dear friends. We cannot deceive God: and Godwill certainly not deceive himself. He sees us as we are, and takesus for what we are. What is right in us, he accepts for thesalvation of Jesus Christ, in whom we are created unto good works. What is wrong in us, he will assuredly punish, and give us the exactreward of the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil. Every work of ours shall come into judgment, unless it be repentedof, and put away by the only true repentance--not doing the thing anymore. 

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 theworld, there is full, free, and perfect forgiveness for every sin, when we give it up. As soon as a man turns round, and, instead ofdoing wrong, tries to do right, he need be under no manner of fear orterror any more. He is taken back into his Father's house as freelyand graciously as the prodigal son in the parable was. Whatsoeverdark score there was against him in God's books is wiped out thereand then, and he starts clear, a new man, with a fresh chance oflife. 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 doesNOT give up his sins, the dark score DOES stand against him in God'sbooks; and no praying, reading, devoutness of any kind will wipe itout; and as long as he sins, he is still in his sins, and his sinswill be his ruin. Whosoever tells him that they are wiped out, hetoo lies, and contradicts flatly God's holy word. 

For God is just, and true; and therefore God takes us for what weare, and will do so to all eternity; and you will find it so, mydearest 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 andfor ever, that if you do right you will be happy even in the midst ofsorrow; if you do wrong, you will be miserable even in the midst ofpleasure. Oh believe this, my dear friends, and do not rashly counton some sudden magical change happening to you as soon as you die tomake you fit for heaven. There is not one word in the Bible whichgives us reason to suppose that we shall not be in the next world thesame persons which we have made ourselves in this world. If we areunjust here, we shall, for aught we know, or can know, try to beunjust there; if we be filthy here, we shall be so there; if we beproud here, we shall be so there; if we be selfish here, we shall beso there. What we sow here, we shall reap there. And it is good forus to know this, and face this. Anything is good for us, howeverunpleasant it may be, which drives us from the only real misery, which is sin and selfishness, to the only true happiness, which isthe everlasting life of Christ; a pure, loving, just, generous, useful life of goodness, which is the righteousness of Christ, andthe glory of Christ, and which will be our righteousness and ourglory also for ever: but only if we live it; only if we be useful asChrist was, generous as Christ was, just as Christ was, gentle asChrist was, pure as Christ was, loving as Christ was, and so put onChrist, not in name and in word, but in spirit and in truth, thathaving worn Christ's likeness in this world, we may share his victoryover 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 theletter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spiritgiveth life. 

When we look at the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for to-day one afterthe other, we do not see, perhaps, what they have to do with eachother. But they have to do with each other. They agree with eachother. They explain each other. They all three tell us what God islike, and what we are to believe about God, and why we are to havefaith in God. 

The Collect tells of a God who is more ready to hear than we are topray; and is 'wont to give'--that is, usually, and as a matter ofcourse, every day and all day long, gives us--'more than either wedesire or deserve, ' of a God who gives and forgives, abundant inmercy. It bids us, when we pray to God, remember that we are prayingto a perfectly bountiful, perfectly generous God. 

Some people worship quite a different God to that. They fancy thatGod 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 ofScripture, which says that God is NOT extreme to mark what is doneamiss; 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, butnot willing to give without a great deal of continued asking andbegging, and outward reverence, and scrupulous fear lest he should beoffended unexpectedly at the least mistake; and they fancy, like theheathen, that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Theyforget altogether that God is their Father, and knows what they needbefore they ask, and their ignorance in asking, and has (as anyfather fit to be called a father would have) compassion on theirinfirmities. 

There is a great deal of this lip-service, and superstitiousdevoutness, creeping in now-a-days; a spirit of bondage unto fear. St. Paul warns us against it, and calls it will-worship, andvoluntary humility. And I tell you of it, that it is not Christianat 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 heavenand earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither isworshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeingthat he giveth to all life and breath, and all things. For in him welive and move, and have our being, and are the offspring--thechildren--of God. 

Away, then, with this miserable spirit of bondage and fear, whichinsults that good God which it pretends to honour; and in spirit andin truth, not with slavish crouchings and cringings, copied from theold 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 weeither 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 ofmen's souls, but for the life of their bodies. That wherever he wenthe brought with him, not merely health for men's souls by histeaching, but health for their bodies by his miracles. That when hesaw a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, he sighedover him in compassion; and did not think it beneath him to cure thatpoor man of his infirmity, though it was no such very great one. 

For he wished to show men that his heavenly Father cared for themaltogether, body as well as soul; that all health and strengthwhatsoever came from him. 

When we hear, therefore, of the Spirit giving life, we are not tofancy that means only some high devout spiritual life, or that God'sSpirit has to do only with a few elect saints. That may be a verypleasant fancy for those who believe themselves to be the electsaints; but the message of the Gospel is far wider and deeper thanthat, or any other of vain man's narrow notions. It tells us thatlife--all life which we can see; all health, strength, beauty, order, use, power of doing good work in God's earthly world, come from theSpirit of God, just as much as the spiritual life which we cannotsee--goodness, amiableness, purity, justice, virtue, power of doingwork in God's heavenly world. This latter is the higher life: andthe former the lower, though good and necessary in its place: butthe lower, as well as the higher, is life; and comes from the Spiritof God, who gives life and breath to all things. 

And now, perhaps, we may see what St. Paul meant, by his being aminister 'not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letterkilleth, 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 thelaw, and the wrath of God, and hell fire: if I tried to bind heavyburdens on you, and grievous to be borne, crying--You MUST do this, you MUST feel that, you MUST believe the other--while I having fewertemptations and more education than you, touched not those burdenswith one of my fingers; if I tried to make out as many sins as Icould against you, crying continually, this was wrong, and that waswrong, making you believe that God is always on the watch to catchyou tripping, and telling you that the least of your sins deservedendless torment--things which neither I nor any man can find in theBible, nor in common justice, nor common humanity, nor elsewhere, save in the lying mouth of the great devil himself;--or if I put intoyour hands books of self-examination (as they are called) full oflong lists of sins, frightening poor innocents, and defiling theirthoughts and consciences, and making the heart of the righteous sad, whom God has not made sad;--if I, in plain English, had my mouth fullof cursing and bitterness, threatening and fault-finding, anddistrustful, and disrespectful, and insolent language about you myparishioners: why then I might fancy myself a Christian priest, anda minister of the Gospel, and a very able, and eloquent, and earnestone; and might perhaps gain for myself the credit of being a'searching preacher, ' by speaking evil of people who are most of themas good and better than I, and by taking a low, mean, false view ofthat human nature which God made in his own image, and Christjustified in his own man's flesh, and soul, and spirit; but insteadof being an able minister of the New Covenant, or of the Spirit ofGod, I should be no such man, but the very opposite. 

No. I should be one of those of whom the Psalmist says, 'Theirmouths are full of cursing and bitterness'--and also, 'Their feet areswift 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 foolishhead. 

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 veryworst news possible, and the ministration of righteousness into theministration of condemnation. 

2. It kills the souls of the congregation--or would kill them, ifGod's wisdom and love were not stronger than his minister's folly andhardness. For it kills in them self-respect and hope, and makes themsay to themselves, 'God has made me bad, and bad I must be. Let meeat and drink, for to-morrow I die. God requires all this of me, andI cannot do it. I shall not try to do it. I shall take my chance ofbeing saved at last, I know not how. ' It frightens people away fromchurch, from religion, from the very thought of God. It sets peopleon spying out their neighbours' faults, on judging and condemning, onfancying themselves righteous and despising others; and so kills inthem faith, hope, and charity, which are the very life of theirspirits. 

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 atlast, even who God is. It makes him fancy that he is doing God'swork, while he is simply doing the work of the devil, the slandererand accuser of the brethren; judging and condemning his congregation, when God has said, 'Judge not and ye shall not be judged, condemn notand ye shall not be condemned. ' It makes him at last like the falseGod whom he has been preaching (for every man at last copies the Godin whom he believes), dark and deceiving, proud and cruel;--and maythe Lord have mercy upon his soul!

But I will tell you how I can be an able minister of the NewTestament, 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 amhere--Trust God, because God is good; obey God, because God is good. 

I preach to you the good God of the Collect, even your heavenlyFather; who needs not be won over or appeased by anything which youcan do, for he loves you already for the sake of his dear Son, whosemembers you are. He will not hear you the more for your muchspeaking, for he knows your necessities before you ask, and yourignorance in asking. He will not judge you according to the letterof Moses' law, or any other law whatsoever, but according to thespirit of your longings and struggles after what is right. He willnot be extreme to mark what you do amiss, but will help you to mendit, if you desire to mend; setting you straight when you go wrong, and helping you up when you fall, if only your spirit is strugglingafter 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 hatesdeath, and therefore wills not that you should die; who has given youall the life you have, all health and strength of body, all wit andpower of mind, all right, pure, loving, noble feelings of heart andspirit, and who is both able and willing to keep them alive andhealthy in you for ever. 

This all-good Spirit of life I preach to you; and I say to you, TrustHIM. 

I preach to you a Son of God, who is the likeness of his Father'sglory, and the express image of his person; in order that by seeinghim and how good he is, you may see your heavenly Father, and howgood 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 thatalmighty power most chiefly by showing mercy and pity; who, when hewas upon earth, made the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the blind tosee; who ate and drank with publicans and sinners, and was the friendof all mankind; a Son of God who has declared everlasting war againstdisease, ignorance, sin, death, and all which makes men miserable. Those are his enemies; and he reigns, and will reign, till he has putall enemies under his feet, and there is nothing left in God'suniverse but order and usefulness, health and beauty, knowledge andvirtue, 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, TrustHIM, and obey him. Obey him, not lest he should become angry andharm you, like the false gods of the heathen, but because hiscommandments are life; because he has made them for your good. 

Oh! when will people understand that--that God has not made laws outof any arbitrariness, but for our good?--That his commandments areLIFE? 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, ifyou will but look at it with simple minds. God has made us; and ifhe had not loved us, he would not have made us at all. God has sentus into the world; and if he had not loved us, he would not have sentus into the world at all. In him we live, and move, and have ourbeing, and are the offspring and children of God. And therefore Godalone knows what is good for us; what is the good life, thewholesome, the safe, the right, the everlasting life for us. And hesends his Son to tell us--This is the right life; a life likeChrist's; a life according to God's Spirit; and if you do not livethat life you will die, not only body but soul also, because you arenot living the life which God meant for you when he made you. Justas if you eat the wrong food, you will kill your bodies; so if youthink the wrong thoughts, and feel the wrong feelings, and thereforedo the wrong things, you will kill your own souls. God will not killyou; you will kill yourselves. God grudges you nothing. God doesnot wish to hurt you, wish to punish you. He wishes you to live andbe happy; to live for ever, and be happy for ever. But as your bodycannot live unless it be healthy, so your soul cannot live unless itbe healthy. And it cannot be healthy unless it live the right life. And it cannot live the right life without the right spirit. And theonly right spirit is the Spirit of God himself the Spirit of yourFather in heaven, who will make you, as children should be, like yourFather. 

But that Spirit is not far from any of you. In him you live, andmove, and have your being already. Were he to leave you for a momentyou would die, and be turned again to your dust. From him comes allthe good of body and soul which you have already. Trust him formore. 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 thathe is hard of hearing, or hard of giving. How can he be? For he isthe Spirit of the all-generous Father and of the all-generous Son, and has given, and gives now; and delights to give, and delights tobe asked. He is the charity of God; the boundless love by which allthings consist; and, like all love, becomes more rich by spending, and glorifies himself by giving himself away; and has sworn byhimself--that is, by his own eternal and necessary character, whichhe cannot alter or unmake--'This is the new covenant which I willmake with my people. I will write my laws in their hearts, and intheir minds will I write them; and I will dwell with them, and betheir God. '

Oh, my friends, take these words to yourselves; and trust in thatgood Father in heaven, whose love sent you into this world, and gaveyou the priceless blessing of life; whose love sent his Son to showyou 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 theeverlasting life, and will raise you up again, body and soul, to thatsame 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, andhe will hear you. If you forget that he is your Father, you forgethim, and worship a false God of your own invention. And whenever youdoubt; whenever the devil, or ignorant preachers, or superstitiousbooks, 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 myFather. '

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 indifferent 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 themwhere they could not guide themselves. 

But God fulfilled this promise utterly and completely on the firstWhitsuntide, when the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles. 

That was an extraordinary and special gift; because the apostles hadto do an extraordinary and special work. They had to preach theGospel to all nations, and therefore they wanted tongues with whichto speak to all nations; at least to those of their countrymen whocame from foreign parts, and spoke foreign tongues, that they mightcarry home the good news of Christ into all lands. And they wantedtongues of fire, too, to set their own hearts on fire with divinezeal and earnestness, and to set on fire the hearts of those whoheard them. 

But that was an extraordinary gift. There was never anything like itbefore; nor has been, as far as we know, since; because it has notbeen 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, beingjust and merciful, he gave them the power which was wanted for thatgreat work. 

But if that is a special case; if there has been nothing like itsince, what has Whitsuntide to do with us? We need no tongues offire, 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 notin the same shape as they did. 

God called them to do a work: God calls us, each of us, to do somework. 

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 strengthshall be. 

For instance. -

How often one sees a person--a woman, say--easy and comfortable, enjoying life, and taking little trouble about anything, because shehas no need. And when one looks at such a woman, one is apt to sayhastily in one's heart, 'Ah, she does not know what sorrow is--andwell for her she does not; for she would make but a poor fight iftrouble came on her; she would make but a poor nurse if she had tosit months by a sick bed. She would become down-hearted, andpeevish, and useless. There is no strength in her to stand in theevil day. '

And perhaps that woman would say so of herself. She might bepainfully afraid of the thought of affliction; she might shrink fromthe notion of having to nurse any one; from having to give up her ownpleasure and ease for the sake of others; and she would say ofherself, 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 nottrue either. She has no strength to stand: but she will standnevertheless, for God is able to make her stand. As her day, so herstrength shall be. A day of suffering, anxiety, weariness, all butdespair may come to her. But in that day she shall be baptized withthe Holy Spirit and with fire; and then you shall be astonished, andshe 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 hisholy comfort. And people will call her--those at least who know her--a 'heroine. ' And they speak truly and well, and give her the rightand true name. Why, I will tell you presently. 

Or how often it happens to a man to be thrown into circumstanceswhich he never expected. An officer, perhaps, in war time in aforeign land--in India now. He has a work to do: a heavy, dangerous, difficult, almost hopeless work. He does not like it. Heis afraid of it. He wishes himself anywhere but where he is. He haslittle or no hope of succeeding; and if he fails, he fears that hewill be blamed, misunderstood, slandered. But he feels he must gothrough with it. He cannot turn back; he cannot escape. As thesaying is, the bull is brought to the stake, and he must bide thebaiting. 

At first, perhaps, he tries to buoy himself up. He begins his workin a little pride and self-conceit, and notion of his own courage andcunning. He tries to fancy himself strong enough for anything. Hefeeds himself up with the thought of what people will say of him; thehope of gaining honour and praise: and that is not altogether awrong feeling--God forbid!

But the further the man gets into his work, the more difficult itgrows, and the more hopeless he grows. He finds himself weak, whenhe expected to be strong; puzzled when he thought himself cunning. He is not sure whether he is doing right. He is afraid ofresponsibility. It is a heavy burden on him, too heavy to bear. Hisown honour and good name may depend upon a single word which hespeaks. The comfort, the fortune, the lives of human beings maydepend on his making up his mind at an hour's notice to do exactlythe right thing at the right time. People round him may be mistakinghim, slandering him, plotting against him, rebelling against him, even while he is trying to do them all the good he can. Littlecomfort does he get then from the thought of what people at home maysay 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 hima holy comfort in which he can rejoice?--a comfort which will makehim cheerful, because he knows it is a right comfort, and that he isdoing right? His heart is sinking within him, getting chill and coldwith despair. Who will put fresh fire and spirit into it?

God will. When he has learnt how weak he is in himself, how stupidhe is in himself;--ay, bitter as it is to a brave man to have toconfess it, how cowardly he is in himself--then, when he has learntthe golden lesson, God will baptize him with the Holy Ghost and withfire. 

A time will come to that man, when, finding no help in himself, nohelp in man, he will go for help to God. 

Old words which he learnt at his mother's knee come back to him--oldwords that he almost forgot, perhaps, in the strength and gaiety ofhis youth and prosperity. And he prays. He prays clumsily enough, perhaps. He is not accustomed to praying; and he hardly knows whatto ask for, or how to ask for it. Be it so. In that he is not sovery much worse off than others. What did St. Paul say, even ofhimself? 'We know not how to ask for anything as we ought: but theSpirit maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot beuttered'--too deep for words. Yes, in every honest heart there arelongings too deep for words. A man knows he wants something: butknows not what he wants. He cannot find the right words to say toGod. Let him take comfort. What he does not know, the Holy Spiritof Whitsuntide--the Spirit of Jesus Christ--does know. Christ knowswhat we want, and offers our clumsy prayers up to our heavenlyFather, not in the shape in which we put them, but as they ought tobe, 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 beenalways; so it will be to the end. And then as the man's day, so hisstrength will be. He may be utterly puzzled, utterly down-hearted, utterly hopeless: but the day comes to him in which he is baptizedwith the Holy Ghost and with fire. He begins to have a rightjudgment; to see clearly what he ought to do, and how to do it. Hegrows more shrewd, more prompt, more steady than he ever has beenbefore. And there comes a fire into his heart, such as there neverwas before; a spirit and a determination which nothing can daunt orbreak, which makes him bold, cheerful, earnest, in the face of theanxiety and danger which would have, at any other time, broken hisheart. The man is lifted up above himself, and carried on throughhis work, he hardly knows how, till he succeeds nobly, or if hefails, fails nobly; and be the end as it may, he gets the work donewhich God has given him to do. 

And then when he looks back, he is astonished at himself. He wondershow 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 overit all, like a grand and awful dream. And the world is astonished athim likewise. They cry, 'Who would have thought there was so much inthis man? who would have expected such things of him?' And they callhim 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 wasnot so much in him, till God put it there. 

And again they are right, too; more right than they think in callingthat 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 rightmeaning of a hero and of a heroine even among the old heathens. Letit mean the same among us Christians, when we talk of a hero; and letus give God the glory, and say--There is a man who has entered, evenif it be but for one day's danger and trial, into the blessings ofWhitsuntide and the power of God's Spirit; a man whom God hasinformed and taught in the way wherein he should go. May that sameGod give him grace to abide herein all the days of his life!

Yes, my friends, may God give us all grace to under standWhitsuntide, and feed on the blessings of Whitsuntide; not merelyonce 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, yetstill 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 thebreadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love ofChrist, which passeth knowledge. 

These words are very deep, and difficult to understand; for St. Pauldoes not tell us exactly of what he is speaking. He does not saywhat it is, the breadth and length, and depth, and height of which weare to comprehend and take in. Only he tells us afterwards what willcome of our taking it in; we shall know the love of Christ. 

And therefore many great fathers and divines, whose names there is noneed 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 wasmade. 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 enjoyingitself, 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, myfriends: but love which will dare, and do, and yearn, and mourn;love which cannot rest; love which sacrifices itself; love which willsuffer, love which will die, for what it loves;--such love as afather 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 islike that: a love which will dare anything, and suffer anything, forthe sake of saving sinful man. 

And therefore it is, that from the earliest times the cross has beenthe special sign of Christians. We keep it up still, when we makethe sign of the cross on children's foreheads in baptism: but wehave given up using the sign of the cross commonly, because it wasperverted, in old times, into a superstitious charm. Men worshippedthe cross like an idol, or bits of wood which they fancied werepieces of the actual cross, while they were forgetting what the crossmeant. So the use of the cross fell into disrepute, and was put downin England. 

But that is no reason why we should forget what the cross meant, andmeans now, and will mean for ever. Indeed, the better Christians, the better men we are, the more will Christ's cross fill us withthoughts which nothing else can give us; thoughts which we are gladenough, often, to forget and put away; so bitterly do they remind usof our own laziness, selfishness, and love of pleasure. 

But still, the cross is our sign. It is God's everlasting token tous, that he has told us Christians something about himself which noneof 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; andsome of them saw that he must be, on the whole, a good and a justGod. But they could not help thinking of God (with very rareexceptions) as a respecter of persons, a God who had favourites; andat least, that he was a God who loved his friends, and hated hisenemies. So the Mussulmans believe now. So do the Jews; indeed, sothey did all along, though they ought to have known better; for theirprophets in the Old Testament told them a very different tale aboutGod's love. 

But that was all they could believe--in a God who was not unjust orwicked, but was at least hard, proud, unbending: while the notionthat God could love his enemies, and bless those who used himdespitefully and persecuted him--much less die for his enemies--thatwould have seemed to them impossible and absurd. They stumbled atthe stumbling-block of the cross. God, they thought, would do to menas they did to him. If they loved him, he would love them. If theyneglected him, he would hate and destroy them. 

But when the apostles preached the Gospel, the good news of Christcrucified, 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 thefoundation of the world till then, and was then revealed by God'sSpirit; namely, this boundless love of God, shown by Christ's dyingon the cross. 

And, he says, his great hope, his great business, the thing on whichhis 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'scross, 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 morewe know of it, the more blessed and hopeful, the more strong andearnest, the more good and righteous we shall become. 

And what is the breadth of Christ's cross? My friends, it is asbroad as the whole world; for he died for the whole world, as it iswritten, 'He is a propitiation not for our sins only, but for thesins of the whole world;' and again, 'God willeth that none shouldperish;' and again, 'As by the offence judgment came on all men tocondemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the gift came uponall 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, saysan old father, signifies the time during which its virtue will last. 

How long, then, is the cross of Christ? Long enough to last throughall time. As long as there is a sinner to be saved; as long as thereis ignorance, sorrow, pain, death, or anything else which is contraryto God and hurtful to man, in the universe of God, so long willChrist's cross last. For it is written, he must reign till he hathput all enemies under his feet; and God is all in all. And that isthe length of the cross of Christ. 

And how high is Christ's cross? As high as the highest heaven, andthe throne of God, and the bosom of the Father--that bosom out ofwhich for ever proceed all created things. Ay, as high as thehighest heaven; for--if you will receive it--when Christ hung uponthe 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, forgivethem, for they know not what they do. ' Those words showed the trueheight of the cross; and caused St. John to know that his vision wastrue, and no dream, when he saw afterwards in the midst of the throneof 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 areafraid to look at; and darken it of their own will, because they willneither believe their Bibles, nor the voice of their own hearts. 

But if the cross of Christ be as high as heaven, then, it seems tome, it must also be as deep as hell, deep enough to reach the deepestsinner in the deepest pit to which he may fall. We know that Christdescended into hell. We know that he preached to the spirits inprison. We know that it is written, 'As in Adam all die, even so inChrist shall all be made alive. ' We know that when the wicked manturns from his wickedness, and does what is lawful and right, he willsave his soul alive. We know that in the very same chapter God tellsus that his ways are not unequal--that he has not one law for oneman, and another for another, or one law for one year, and anotherfor another. It is possible, therefore, that he has not one law forthis life, and another for the life to come. Let us hope, then, thatDavid's words may be true after all, when speaking by the Spirit ofGod, 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 thatTHAT is the depth of the cross of Christ. 

At all events, my friends, I believe that we shall find St. Paul'swords true, when he says, that Christ's love passes knowledge; andtherefore that we shall find this also;--that however broad we maythink Christ's cross, it is broader still. However long, it islonger still. However high, it is higher still. However deep, it isdeeper still. Yes, we shall find that St. Paul spoke solemn truthwhen he said, that Christ had ascended on high that he might fill allthings; that Christ filled all in all; and that he must reign tillthe 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'scross to be only ingenious fancies, and a pretty play of words?

Ah, my friends, the day will come when you will find that the measureof Christ's cross is the most important question upon earth. 

In the hour of death, and in the day of judgment; then the one thingwhich you will care to think of (if you can think at all then, as toomany poor souls cannot, and therefore had best think of it now beforetheir 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 youhave been, how much admired you have been, how much money you havemade:- 'Of course not, ' you answer; 'I shall be thinking of the stateof my soul; whether I am fit to die; whether I have faith enough tomeet God; whether I have good works enough to meet God. '

Will you, my friend? Then you will soon grow tired of thinking ofthat likewise, at least I hope and trust that you will. For, howevermuch faith you may have had, you will find that you have not hadenough. However so many good works you may have done, you will findthat you have not done enough. The better man you are, the more youwill be dissatisfied with yourself; the more you will be ashamed ofyourself; till with all saints, Romanist or Protestant, or other, whohave been worthy of the name of saints, you will be driven--if youare 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 Christwhich 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 thrownyourself at the outset--at the foot of Christ's cross; and say inspirit 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 absoluteand boundless love of God which made all things, and me among them, and hateth nothing that he hath made; who redeemed all mankind, andme 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 defiledand unbelieving is nothing pure: but even their mind and conscienceis defiled. 

This seems at first a strange and startling saying: but it is a trueone; and the more we think over it, the more we shall find it true. 

All things are pure in themselves; good in themselves; because Godmade them. Is it not written, 'God saw all that he had made, andbehold, it was very good?' Therefore St. Paul says, that all thingsare ours; and that Christ gives us all things richly to enjoy. Allwe need is, to use things in the right way; that is, in the way inwhich God intended them to be used. 

For God is a God of truth; a true, a faithful, and--if I may sospeak--an honest and honourable, and fair God: not a deceiving orunfair God, who lays snares for his creatures, or leads them intotemptation. That would be a bad God, a cruel God, very unlike theFather 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 thisworld be a wilderness, it is because men have made it so, or left itso, by their own wilfulness, ignorance, cowardice, laziness, violence. No: God, I say, has put us into a good world, and givenus pure and harmless appetites, feelings, relations. Therefore allthe relations of life are holy. To be a husband, a father, abrother, 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 hurtingourselves or our neighbours; all this is pure, and good, and holy. God does not grudge or upbraid. He does not frown upon innocentpleasure. 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 littlechildren at their play; and the laugh of a babe is heavenly music inhis ears. 

All things are pure which God has given to man. And therefore, if aman be pure in heart, all which God has given him will not only dohim no harm, but do him good. All the comforts and blessings of thislife will help to make him a better man. They will teach him abouthis own character; about human nature, and the people with whom hehas to do; ay--about God himself, as it is written, 'Blessed are thepure in heart, for they shall see God. '

All the blessings and comforts of this life, my friends (as well asthe anxieties which must come to those who have a family, orproperty, even if he do not meet with losses and afflictions), oughtto 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 forhimself only, but to sacrifice his own fancies, his own ease, his ownwill, for the sake of the woman whom God has given him; as Christsacrificed himself, and his own life, for mankind. And so, by thefeelings of a husband, he may enter into the mystery of the love ofChrist, and of the cross of Christ; and so, if only he be pure inheart, he will see God. 

If he have parents, he may learn by being a son how blessed it is toobey, how useful to a man's character to submit: ay, he will findout more still. He will find out that not by being self-willed andindependent does the finest and noblest parts of his character comeout, but by copying his Father in everything; that going where hisFather sends him; being jealous of his Father's honour; doing not hisown 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 himall that is purest, tenderest, soberest, bravest. I tell you thisday--Just as far as you are good sons to your parents, so far willyou be able to understand the mystery of the co-equal and co-eternalSon of God; who though he were in the form of God, did not snatchgreedily at being on the same footing with his Father, but emptiedhimself, and took on him the form of a slave, that he might do hisFather's will, and reveal his Father's glory. And so, if you be onlypure in heart, you will see God. 

If, again, a man have children--how they ought to teach him, to trainhim;--teach him to restrain his own temper, lest he provoke them toanger; to be calm and moderate with them, lest he frighten them intolying; to avoid bad language, gluttony, drunkenness, and every coarsesin, 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; andby having the feelings of a father to your children, learn whatfeelings 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 teacheshundreds of pure-hearted men) that charity and generosity are notonly a duty, but an honour and a joy; that 'mercy is twice blest; itblesses him that gives, and him that takes;' that giving is thehighest pleasure upon earth, because it is God's own pleasure;because the blessedness of God, and the glory of God is this, that hegiveth 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 toowill teach him, if his heart be pure. He will learn from them tolook up to God as the Lord and Giver of life, health, strength; ofthe power to work, and the power to delight in working: because Godhimself is ever full of life, ever busy, ever rejoicing to put forthhis almighty power for the good of the whole universe, as it iswritten, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. ' And so--in everyrelation 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 pureto us? By asking for the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the PureSpirit, in whom is no selfishness. 

For if our hearts be selfish, they cannot be pure. The pure inheart, is the same as the man whose eye is single, and that is theman who is not caring for himself, thinking of himself. If a man bethinking of himself, he will never enjoy life. The pure blessingswhich God has given him will be no blessings to him; as it iswritten, 'He that saveth his life shall lose it. '

Do you not know that that is true? Do not the miseries of life (I donot mean the afflictions, like loss of friends or kin), but themiseries of life which make a man dark, and fretful, and prevent hisenjoying God's gifts--do they not come, nineteen-twentieths of them, from thinking about oneself; from lusting and longing after this andthat; from spite, vanity, bad temper, wounded pride, disappointedcovetousness? '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 forgivehim. How can I be expected to forgive him?' There is a man whoseheart is not pure; and more, there is a man who is making himselfmiserable. 

See again, how a man may make marriage a curse to him instead of ablessing, without being unfaithful to his wife (which we all know tobe simply abominable and unmanly, and far below anything of which Iam 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 tohim, instead of letting them be God's lesson-book to him, in which hemay see the likeness of the angels in heaven. 

He may make his wealth a continual anxiety to him: ay, he may makeit, by ambition, covetousness, and wild speculation, the cause of hisshame and ruin; if only his heart be not pure. 

Ay, there is not a blessing on earth which a man may not turn into acurse. There is not a good gift of God out of which a man may notget harm, if only his heart be not pure; as it is written, 'To thosewho are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure: but even their mindand 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 thatfaithful and true God of whom I told you just now; people who fanciedthat this world was a bad world, and that God laid snares for hiscreatures and tempted his creatures. But the true answer is only tobe got, like most true answers, by observing; by using our eyes andears, 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 bemiserable yourself, and a maker of misery to others, the way is easyenough. Only be selfish, and it is done at once. Be defiled andunbelieving. Defile and foul God's good gifts by self, and by lovingyourself more than what is right. Do not believe that the good Godknows your needs before you ask, and will give you whatsoever is goodfor you. Think about yourself; about what YOU want, what YOU like, what respect people ought to pay YOU, what people think of YOU: andthen to you nothing will be pure. You will spoil everything youtouch; you will make sin and misery for yourself out of everythingwhich 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 intohell, for the great devil himself. It was by pride, by seeking hisown glory--(so, at least, wise men say)--that he fell from heaven tohell. 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 rejoicein God's glory. He would be a master himself, and set up forhimself, and rejoice in his own glory; and so, when he wanted to makea private heaven of his own, he found that he had made a hell. Whenhe wanted to be a little God for himself, he lost the life of thetrue God, to lose which is eternal death. And why? Because hisheart was not pure, clean, honest, simple, unselfish. Therefore hesaw God no more, and learnt to hate him whose name is love. 

May God keep our hearts pure from that selfishness which is the rootof 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 thanthe beasts. May God give us those pure hearts of which it iswritten, 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 thenthou wilt be sure to will what is right; and, as St. Paul says, Ifyour 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 heavenlyhost, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and onearth peace, good will toward men. 

You have been just singing Christmas hymns; and my text speaks of thefirst Christmas hymn. Now what the words of that hymn meant; whatPeace on earth and good-will towards man meant, I have often toldyou. To-day I want you, for once, to think of this--that it was ahymn; that these angels were singing, even as human beings sing. 

Music. --There is something very wonderful in music. Words arewonderful enough: but music is even more wonderful. It speaks notto our thoughts as words do: it speaks straight to our hearts andspirits, 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, weknow not how:- it is a language by itself, just as perfect, in itsway, as speech, as words; just as divine, just as blessed. 

Music has been called the speech of angels; I will go further, andcall it the speech of God himself--and I will, with God's help, showyou a little what I mean this Christmas day. 

Music, I say, without words, is wonderful and blessed; one of God'sbest gifts to men. But in singing you have both the wonderstogether, music and words. Singing speaks at once to the head and tothe heart, to our understanding and to our feelings; and therefore, perhaps, the most beautiful way in which the reasonable soul of mancan show itself (except, of course, doing RIGHT, which always is, andalways will be, the most beautiful thing) is singing. 

Now, why do we all enjoy music? Because it sounds sweet. But WHYdoes it sound sweet?

That is a mystery known only to God. 

Two things I may make you understand--two things which help to makemusic--melody and harmony. Now, as most of you know, there is melodyin music when the different sounds of the same tune follow eachother, so as to give us pleasure; there is harmony in music whendifferent sounds, instead of following each other, come at the sametime, so as to give us pleasure. 

But why do they please us? and what is more, why do they pleaseangels? and more still, why do they please God? Why is there musicin heaven? Consider St. John's visions in the Revelations. Why didSt. John hear therein harpers with their harps, and the mysticbeasts, 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 tenthousand times ten thousand?

In this is a great mystery. I will try to explain what little of itI 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 thoselaws of music; he has only found them out: and if he be self-willedand break them, there is an end of his music instantly; all he bringsout is discord and ugly sounds. The greatest musician in the worldis as much bound by those laws as the learner in the school; and thegreatest musician is the one who, instead of fancying that, becausehe is clever, he may throw aside the laws of music, knows the laws ofmusic best, and observes them most reverently. And therefore it wasthat the old Greeks, the wisest of all the heathens, made a point ofteaching their children MUSIC; because, they said, it taught them notto be self-willed and fanciful, but to see the beauty of order, theusefulness of rule, the divineness of law. 

And therefore music is fit for heaven; therefore music is a patternand type of heaven, and of the everlasting life of God, which perfectspirits live in heaven; a life of melody and order in themselves; alife of harmony with each other and with God. Music, I say, is apattern of the everlasting life of heaven; because in heaven, as inmusic, is perfect freedom and perfect pleasure; and yet that freedomcomes not from throwing away law, but from obeying God's lawperfectly; and that pleasure comes, not from self-will, and doingeach what he likes, but from perfectly doing the will of the Fatherwho is in heaven. 

And that in itself would be sweet music, even if there were neithervoice nor sound in heaven. For wherever there is order andobedience, there is sweet music for the ears of Christ. Whatsoeverdoes its duty, according to its kind which Christ has given it, makesmelody in the ears of Christ. Whatsoever is useful to the thingsaround it, makes harmony in the ears of Christ. Therefore those wiseold Greeks used to talk of the music of the spheres. They said thatsun, moon, and stars, going round each in its appointed path, made asthey rolled along across the heavens everlasting music before thethrone of God. And so, too, the old Psalms say. Do you notrecollect that noble verse, which speaks of the stars of heaven, andsays -

What though no human voice or soundAmid 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 callsupon sun and moon, and stars of heaven, to bless the Lord, praisehim, and magnify him for ever: and not only upon them, but on thesmallest things on earth;--on mountains and hills, green herbs andsprings, cattle and feathered fowl; they too, he says, can bless theLord, and magnify him for ever. And how? By fulfilling the lawwhich God has given them; and by living each after their kind, according to the wisdom wherewith Christ the Word of God createdthem, when he beheld all that he had made, and behold, it was verygood. 

And so can we, my friends; so can we. Some of us may not be able tomake music with our voices: but we can make it with our hearts, andjoin in the angels' song this day, if not with our lips, yet in ourlives. 

If thou fulfillest the law which God has given thee, the law of loveand liberty, then thou makest music before God, and thy life is ahymn of praise to God. 

If thou art in love and charity with thy neighbours, thou art makingsweeter 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 dutyorderly and cheerfully where God has put thee, then thou art makingsweeter melody in the ears of the Lord Jesus Christ, than if thouhadst the throat of a nightingale; for then thou in thy humble placeart humbly copying the everlasting harmony and melody which is inheaven; the everlasting harmony and melody by which God made theworld and all that therein is, and behold it was very good, in theday when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of Godshouted for joy over the new-created earth, which God had made to bea pattern of his own perfection. 

For this is that mystery of which I spoke just now, when I said thatmusic was as it were the voice of God himself. Yes, I say it withall reverence: but I do say it. There is music in God. Not themusic of voice or sound; a music which no ears can hear, but only thespirit of a man, when awakened by the Holy Spirit, and taught to knowGod, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

There is one everlasting melody in heaven, which Christ, the Word ofGod, makes for ever, when he does all things perfectly and wisely, and righteously and gloriously, full of grace and truth: and fromthat all melody comes, and is a dim pattern thereof here; and isbeautiful only because it is a dim pattern thereof. 

And there is an everlasting harmony in God; which is the harmonybetween the Father and the Son; who though he be co-equal and co-eternal with his Father, does nothing of himself, but only what heseeth his Father do; saying for ever, 'Not my will, but thine bedone, ' and hears his Father answer for ever, 'Thou art my Son, thisday have I begotten thee. '

Therefore, all melody and all harmony upon earth, whether in the songof birds, the whisper of the wind, the concourse of voices, or thesounds of those cunning instruments which man has learnt to create, because he is made in the image of Christ, the Word of God, whocreates all things; all music upon earth, I say, is beautiful in asfar as it is a pattern and type of the everlasting music which is inheaven; which was before all worlds, and shall be after them; for byits rules all worlds were made, and will be made for ever, even theeverlasting melody of the wise and loving will of God, and theeverlasting harmony of the Father toward the Son, and of the Sontoward the Father, in one Holy Spirit who proceeds from them both, togive melody and harmony, order and beauty, life and light, to allwhich God has made. 

Therefore music is a sacred, a divine, a Godlike thing, and was givento man by Christ to lift our hearts up to God, and make us feelsomething of the glory and beauty of God and of all which God hasmade. 

Therefore, too, music is most fit for Christmas day, of all days inthe year. Christmas has always been a day of songs, of carols and ofhymns; and so let it be for ever. If we had no music all the rest ofthe year in church or out of church, let us have it at least onChristmas day. 

For on Christmas day most of all days (if I may talk of eternalthings according to the laws of time) was manifested on earth theeverlasting music which is in heaven. 

On Christmas day was fulfilled in time and space the everlastingharmony of God, when the Father sent the Son into the world, that theworld through him might be saved; and the Son refused not, neithershrank back, though he knew that sorrow, shame, and death awaitedhim, but answered, 'A body hast thou prepared me I come to do thywill, oh God!' and so emptied himself, and took on himself the formof a slave, and was found in fashion as a man, that he might fulfilnot 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; onesong and poem, as it were, of wise words, good deeds, spotlesspurity, and untiring love, which he perfected when he died, and roseagain, and ascended on high for ever to make intercession for us withmusic sweeter than the song of angels and archangels, and all theheavenly host. 

Go home, then, remembering how divine and holy a thing music is, andrejoice before the Lord this day with psalms and hymns, and spiritualsongs (by which last I think the apostle means not merely churchmusic--for that he calls psalms and hymns--but songs which have agood and wholesome spirit in them); and remembering, too, that music, like marriage, and all other beautiful things which God has given toman, 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 swaddlingclothes, and laid him in a manger. 

Mother and child. --Think of it, my friends, on Christmas day. Whatmore beautiful sight is there in the world? What more beautifulsight, and what more wonderful sight?

What more beautiful? That man must be very far from the kingdom ofGod--he is not worthy to be called a man at all--whose heart has notbeen touched by the sight of his first child in its mother's bosom. 

The greatest painters who have ever lived have tried to paint thebeauty of that simple thing--a mother with her babe: and havefailed. One of them, Rafaelle by name, to whom God gave the spiritof beauty in a measure in which he never gave it, perhaps, to anyother man, tried again and again, for years, painting over and overthat simple subject--the mother and her babe--and could not satisfyhimself. Each of his pictures is most beautiful--each in a differentway; and yet none of them is perfect. There is more beauty in thatsimple every-day sight than he or any man could express by his penciland 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 youthis. That physicians, and the wise men who look into the laws ofnature, of flesh and blood, say that the mystery is past theirfinding out; that if they could find out the whole meaning, and thetrue meaning of those two words, mother and child, they could get thekey to the deepest wonders of the world: but they cannot. 

And philosophers, who look into the laws of soul and spirit, say thesame. The wiser men they are, the more they find in the soul ofevery new-born babe, and its kindred to its mother, wonders andpuzzles past man's understanding. 

I will say boldly, my friends, that if one could find out the fullmeaning of those two words, mother and child, one would be the wisestphilosopher on earth, and see deeper than all who have ever yetlived, into the secrets of this world of time which we can see, andof the eternal world, which no man can see, save with the eyes of hisreasonable soul. 

And yet it is the most common, every-day sight. That only shows oncemore what I so often try to show you, that the most common, every-daythings are the most wonderful. It shows us how we are to despisenothing which God has made; above all, to despise nothing whichbelongs to human nature, which is the likeness and image of God. 

Above all, upon this Christmas day it is not merely ignorant andfoolish, but quite sinful and heretical, to despise anything whichbelongs to human nature. For on this day God appeared in humannature, and in the first and lowest shape of it--in the form of anew-born babe, that by beginning at the beginning, he might end atthe end; and being made in all things like as his brethren, mightperfectly and utterly take the manhood into God. 

This, then, we are to think of, at least on Christmas day--Godrevealed, and shown to men, as a babe upon his mother's bosom. 

Men had pictured God to themselves already in many shapes--somefoolish, foul, brutal--God forgive them;--some noble and majestic. Sometimes they thought of him as a mighty Lawgiver, sitting upon histhrone in the heavens, with solemn face and awful eyes, looking downupon all the earth. That fancy was not a false one. St. John sawthe Lord so. 

'And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son ofman, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the papswith 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 feetlike unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voiceas the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand sevenstars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and hiscountenance was as the sun shining in his strength. '

Sometimes, again, they thought of him as the terrible warrior, goingforth to conquer and destroy all which opposed him; to kill wickedtyrants, and devils, and all who rebelled against him, and who hurthuman 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 satupon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he dothjudge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on hishead were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knewbut 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 werein heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that withit he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod ofiron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath ofAlmighty God. '

But all these were only, as it were, fancies about one side of God'scharacter. It was only in the Babe of Bethlehem that the WHOLE ofGod's character shone forth, that men might not merely fear him andbow before him, but trust in him and love him, as one who could betouched with the feeling of their infirmities. {151}

It was on Christmas day that God appeared among men as a child upon amother's bosom. And why? Surely for this reason, among a thousandmore, that he might teach men to feel for him and with him, and to besure that he felt for them and with them. To teach them to feel forhim and with him, he took the shape of a little child, to draw outall their love, all their tenderness, and, if I may so say, all theirpity. 

A God in need! A God weak! God fed by mortal woman! A God wrapt inswaddling clothes, and laid in a manger!--If that sight will nottouch our hearts, what will?

And by that same sight he has taught men that he feels with them andfor them. God has been through the pains of infancy. God hashungered. God has wept. God has been ignorant. God has grown, andincreased in stature and in wisdom, and in favour both with God andman. 

And why? That he might take on him our human nature. Not merely thenature of a great man, of a wise man, of a grown up man only: butALL 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 withall his powers against the evil of the world. All this is his, andhe 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, amongall the rest which Christmas ought to put into your minds. Respectyour own children. Look on them as the likeness of Christ, and theimage of God; and when you go home this day, believe that Christ isin them, the hope of glory to them hereafter. Draw them round you, and say to them-- each in your own fashion--'My children, God wasmade 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; thatGod gives you leave to think of him as a child, that you may be surehe loves children, sure he understands children, sure that a littlechild is as near and as dear to God as kings, nobles, scholars, anddivines. '

Yes, my dear children, you may think of God as a child, now andalways. For you Christ is always the Babe of Bethlehem. Do not sayto 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, aboveall change of time and space; for time and space are but hiscreatures 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 yougrown-up children also, if there be any in this church--for if youwill receive it, such is the sacred heart of Jesus--all things toall; 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 hecan wander, not having where to lay his head. With quiet Jacob hegoes round the farm, among the quiet sheep; and yet he ranges withwild Esau over battle-field, and desert, and far unknown seas. Withthe mourner he weeps for ever; and yet he will sit as of old--if hebe but invited--and bless the marriage-feast. For the penitent hehangs for ever on the cross; and yet with the man who works for Godhis Father he stands for ever in his glory, his eyes like a flame offire, and out of his mouth a two-edged sword, judging the nations ofthe earth. With the aged and the dying he goes down for ever intothe grave; and yet with you, children, Christ lies for ever on hismother's bosom, and looks up for ever into his mother's face, full ofyoung life, and happiness, and innocence, the everlasting Christ-child in whom you must believe, whom you must love, to whom you mustoffer up your childish prayers. 

The day will come when you can no longer think as a child, or pray asa child, but put away childish things. I do not know whether youwill be the happier for that change. God grant that you may be thebetter for it. Meanwhile, go home, and think of the baby Jesus, YOURLord, YOUR pattern, YOUR Saviour; and ask him to make you such goodchildren to your mothers, as the little Jesus was to the BlessedVirgin, when he increased in knowledge and in stature, and in favourboth with God and man. 

SERMON XIX. CHRIST'S BOYHOOD

LUKE ii. 52. 

And Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour bothwith God and man. 

I do not pretend to understand these words. I preach on them becausethe Church has appointed them for this day. And most fitly. AtChristmas we think of our Lord's birth. What more reasonable, thanthat we should go on to think of our Lord's boyhood? To think ofthis aright, even if we do not altogether understand it, ought tohelp us to understand rightly the incarnation of our Lord JesusChrist; the right faith about which is, that he was very man, of thesubstance of his mother. Now, if he were very and real man, he musthave been also very and real babe, very and real boy, very and realyouth, and then very and real full-grown man. 

Now it is not so easy to believe that as it may seem. It is not soeasy to believe. 

I have heard many preachers preach (without knowing it), what used tobe called the Apollinarian Heresy, which held that our Lord had not areal human soul, but only a human body; and that his Godhead servedhim instead of a human soul, and a man's reason, man's feelings. 

About that the old fathers had great difficulty, before they couldmake people understand that our Lord had been a real babe. It seemedto people's unclean fancies something shocking that our Lord shouldhave been born, as other children are born. They stumbled at thestumbling-block of the manger in Bethlehem, as they did at thestumbling-block of the cross on Calvary; and they wanted to make outthat our Lord was born into the world in some strange way--I know nothow;--I do not choose to talk of it here:- but they would fancy andinvent anything, rather than believe that Jesus was really born ofthe Virgin Mary, made of the substance of his mother. So that it washundreds of years before the fathers of the Church set people's mindsthoroughly at rest about that. 

In the same way, though not so much, people found it very hard tobelieve that our Lord grew up as a real human child. They would notbelieve that he went down to Nazareth, and was subject to his fatherand mother. People believe generally now--the Roman Catholics aswell as we--that our Lord worked at his father's trade--that hehimself handled the carpenter's tools. We have no certain proof ofit: but it is so beautiful a thought, that one hopes it is true. Atleast our believing it is a sign that we do believe the incarnationof our Lord Jesus Christ more rightly than most people did fifteenhundred years ago. For then, too many of them would have beenshocked at the notion. 

They stumbled at the carpenter's shop, even as they did at the mangerand at the cross. And they invented false gospels--one of whichespecially, had strange and fanciful stories about our Lord'schildhood--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 playingwith other children of his own age, and making little birds out ofclay: but those which our Lord made became alive, and moved, andsang like real birds. --Stories put together just to give our Lordsome magical power, different from other children, and pretendingthat he worked signs and wonders: which were just what he refused towork. 

But the old fathers rejected these false gospels and their childishtales, and commanded Christian men only to believe what the Bibletells us about our Lord's childhood; for that is enough for us, andthat will help us better than any magical stories and childish fairytales 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 tellsus very little, because we were meant to know very little. Trustyour Bibles always, my friends, and be sure, if you were meant toknow 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 actwithout his parents' leave. And as the saying is, the exceptionproves the rule. It is plain that his rule was to obey, except inthis case; that he was always subject to his parents, as otherchildren are, except on this one occasion. And even in this case, heWENT 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 thetemple. 

I cannot explain (who can?) the why and wherefore of what I seepeople do in common daily life. 

How much less can one explain why our Lord did this and that, who wasboth man and God. 

But one reason, and one which seems to me to be plain, on the veryface of St. Luke's words--he stayed behind to learn; to learn all hecould from the Scribes and Pharisees, the doctors of the law. 

He told the people after, when grown up, 'The Scribes and Phariseessit in Moses' seat. All therefore which they command you, thatobserve and do. ' And he was a Jew himself, and came to fulfil allrighteousness; and therefore he fulfilled such righteousness as wascustomary among Jews according to their law and religion. 

Therefore I do not like at all a great many pictures which I see inchildren's Sunday books, which set the child Jesus in the midst, ason a throne, holding up his hand as if HE were laying down the law, and the Scribes and Pharisees looking angry and confounded. TheBible says not that they heard him, but that he heard them; that theywere astonished at his understanding, not that they were confoundedand angry. No. I must believe that even those hard, proudPharisees, 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 rightnotion of the child Jesus, full of meekness and humility; of Jesus, who, though 'he were a Son, learnt obedience by the things which hesuffered;' of Jesus, who, while he increased in stature, increased infavour with MAN, as well as with God: and surely no child canincrease in favour either with God or man, if he sets down hiselders, and contradicts and despises the teachers whom God has setover him. No let us believe that when he said, 'Know ye not that Imust be about my Father's business?' that a child's way of doing thework of his Father in heaven is to learn all that he can understandfrom his teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters, whom God theFather has set over him. 

Therefore--and do listen to this, children and young people--if youwish really to think what Christ has to do with YOU, you mustremember that he was once a real human child--not different outwardlyfrom other children, except in being a perfectly good child, in allthings 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 thoughI am, Christ can be touched with the feeling of my weakness, for hewas once a child like me. 

And then, if trouble, or sickness, or death come among you--and youall know how sickness and death HAVE come among you of late--you maybe cheerful and joyful still, if you will only try to be suchchildren as Jesus was. Obey your parents, and be subject to them, ashe was; try to learn from your teachers, pastors, and masters, as hedid; 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 beforeyour time, you need not be afraid, for Jesus Christ is with you. 

Your childish faults shall be forgiven you for Jesus' sake; yourchildish good conduct shall be accepted for Jesus Christ's sake; andif you be trying to be good children, doing your little work wellwhere God has put you, humble, obedient, and teachable, winning lovefrom 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'sbusiness. 

SERMON XX. THE LOCUST-SWARMS

JOEL ii. 12, 13. 

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all yourheart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; andrend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord yourGod, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of greatkindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 

This is one of the grandest chapters in the whole Old Testament, andone which may teach us a great deal; and, above all, teach us to bethankful to God for the blessings which we have. 

I think I can explain what it means best by going back to the chapterbefore it. 

Joel begins his prophecy by bitter lamentation over the mischiefwhich the swarms of insects had done; such as had never been in hisdays, nor in the days of his fathers. What the palmer worm had left, the locust had eaten; what the locust had left, the cankerworm hadeaten; and what the cankerworm had left, the caterpillar had eaten. Whether these names are rightly rendered, or whether they meandifferent sorts of locusts, or the locusts in their different stagesof growth, crawling at first and flying at last, matters little. What mischief they had done was plain enough. They had come up 'anation strong and without number, whose teeth were like the teeth ofa lion, and his cheek-teeth like those of a strong lion. They hadlaid his vines waste, and barked his fig-tree, and made its brancheswhite; and all drunkards were howling and lamenting, for the winecrop was utterly destroyed: and all other crops, it seems likewise;the corn was wasted, the olives destroyed; the seed was rotten underthe clods, the granaries empty, the barns broken down, for the cornwas withered; the vine and fig, pomegranate, palm, and apple, wereall gone; the green grass was all gone; the beasts groaned, the herdswere perplexed, because they had no pasture; the flocks of sheep weredesolate. ' There seems to have been a dry season also, to makematters worse; for Joel says the rivers of waters were dried up--likely enough, if then, as now, it is the dry seasons which bring thelocust-swarms. Still the locusts had done the chief mischief. Theycame just as they come now (only in smaller strength, thank God) inmany parts of the East and of Southern Russia, darkening the sky, andshutting out the very light of the sun; the noise of theirinnumerable jaws like the noise of flame devouring the stubble, asthey settled upon every green thing, and gnawed away leaf and bark;and a fire devoured before them, and behind them a flame burned; theland was as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them adesolate wilderness; {162} till there was not enough left to supplythe daily sacrifices, and the meat offering and the drink offeringwere withheld from the house of God. 

But what has all this to do with us? There have never, as far as weknow, been any locusts in England. 

And what has this to do with God? Why does Joel tell these Jews thatGod sent the locusts, and bid them cry to God to take them away? Forthese locusts are natural things, and come by natural laws. Andthere is no need that there should be locusts anywhere. For wherethe wild grass plains are broken up and properly cultivated, therethe locusts, which lay their countless eggs in the old turf, disappear, and must disappear. We know that now. We know that whenthe East is tilled (as God grant it may be some day) as thoroughly asEngland is, locusts will be as unknown there as here; and that isanother comfortable proof to us that there is no real curse uponGod's earth: but that just as far as man fulfils God's command toreplenish the earth and subdue it, so far he gets rid of all mannerof terrible scourges and curses, which seemed to him in the days ofhis 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 orfever is preventible; that man has no right to have these pestilencesin a country, because they can be kept out and destroyed. But if youor I caught cholera or fever by no fault or folly of our own, we arebound to say, God sent me this sickness. It has some private lessonfor 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 hecan only do by teaching me more about himself. So with theselocusts, and still more so; for Joel did not know, could not know, that these locusts could be prevented. But even if he had knownthat, it was not his fault or folly, or his countrymen's which hadbrought the locusts. Most probably they were tilling the ground tothe best of their knowledge. Most probably, too, these locusts werenot bred in Palestine at all; but came down upon the north-wind (asthey are said to do now), from some land hundreds of miles away; andtherefore Joel could say--Whatever I do not know about these locusts, this I know; that God, whose providence orders all things in heavenand earth, has sent them; that he means to teach you a lesson bythem; that they are part of his schooling to us Jews; that he intendsto make us wiser and better men by them: AND THAT HE CAN ONLY DO BYTEACHING US MORE ABOUT HIMSELF. 

What, then, does Joel say about the locusts, which he might say toyou or me, if we were laid down by cholera or fever? He does notsay, these troubles have come upon you from devils, or evil spirits, or by any blind chance of the world about you. He says, they havecome on you from THE LORD; from the same good, loving, merciful Lordwho brought your fathers out of Egypt, and made a great nation ofyou, and has preserved you to this day. And do not fancy that he ischanged. Do not fancy that he has forgotten you, or hates you, orhas become cruel, or proud, or unlike himself. It is you who haveforgotten him, and have shown that by living bad lives; and all hewishes 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 greatofferings on your part to win him round. All he asks is, that youshould confess yourselves in the wrong, and turn and repent. Turntherefore to the Lord with all your heart, and with weeping, and withfasting, and with mourning--(which was, and is still the Easternfashion); and rend your heart, and not your garments. And why?Because the Lord is very dreadful, angry and dark, and has determinedto destroy you all? Not so: but because he is gracious andmerciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him ofthe evil. 

Yes, my friends: and this, you will find, is at the bottom of alltrue repentance and turning to God. If you believe that God is dark, and hard, and cruel, you may be afraid of him: but you cannotrepent, cannot turn to him. The more you think of him the more youwill be terrified at him, and turn from him. But if you believe thatGod is gracious and merciful, then you can turn to him; then you canrepent with a true repentance, and a godly sorrow which breeds joyand peace of mind. 

So Joel thought, at least; for he tells them, that if they will butturn to God, if they will but confess themselves in the wrong, allshall be well again, and better than before. 

Now, if Joel had been a heathen, worshipping the false gods of theCanaanites, he would have spoken very differently; he would havesaid, perhaps--Baal, the true God, is angry with you, and he has sentthe drought. 

Or, Ashtoreth, the Queen of Heaven, by whose power all seeds grow andall creatures breed, is angry with you, and she has destroyed theseeds, and sent the locusts. 

Or, Ammon, the Lord of the sheep, is angry, and he has destroyed yourflocks and herds. 

But one thing we know he would have said--These angry gods wantBLOOD. You cannot pacify them without human blood. You must givethem the most dear and precious things you have--the most beautifuland 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 introuble, took to human sacrifices. 

The Canaanites--and the Jews when they fell into idolatry--used toburn their children in the fire to Moloch. 

We know that the Carthaginians, who were of the same blood andlanguage as the Canaanites, used human sacrifices; and that once whentheir city was in great danger, they sacrificed at one time twohundred boys of their highest families. 

We know that the Greeks and Romans, who had much more humane andrational notions about their gods, were tempted, in times of greatdistress, to sacrifice human beings. It has always been so. The oldMexicans in America used to sacrifice many thousands of men and womenevery year to their idols; and when the Spaniards came and destroyedthem off the face of the earth in the name of the Lord--as Joshua didthe Canaanites of old--they found the walls of the idol templescrusted inches thick with human blood. Even to this day, the wildKhonds in the Indian mountains, and the Red men of America, sacrificehuman beings at times, and, I fear, very often indeed; and believethat the gods will be the more pleased, and more certain to turn awaytheir anger, the more horrible and lingering tortures they inflictupon their wretched victims. I say, these things were; and were itnot for the light of the Gospel, these things would be still; andwhen we hear of them, we ought to bow our heads to our Father inheaven in thankfulness, and say--what Joel the prophet taught theJews to say dimly and in part--what our Lord Jesus and his apostlestaught us to say fully and perfectly -

It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, at all times and in allplaces--whether in joy or sorrow, in wealth or in want, to givethanks to thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God. 

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, according to whose most true promisethe Holy Ghost came down from heaven upon the apostles, to teach themand to lead them into all truth, and give them fervent zeal, constantly to preach the Gospel to all nations, by which we have beenbrought out of darkness and error into the clear light and trueknowledge of thee and of thy Son Jesus Christ. 

Yes, my friends, this is the lesson which we have to learn fromJoel's prophecy, and from all prophecies. This lesson the oldprophets learnt for themselves, slowly and dimly, through manytemptations and sorrows. This lesson our Lord Jesus Christ revealedfully, and left behind him to his apostles. This lesson men havebeen learning slowly but surely in all the hundreds of years whichhave past since; to know that there is one Father in heaven, of whomare 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, inweal 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 nothis only begotten Son, but freely gave him for them, and say, 'Father, not our will but thine be done. All things come from thyhand, and therefore all things come from thy love. We have receivedgood from thy hand, and shall we not receive evil? Though thou slayus, 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 thyways, and holy in all thy doings. Thou art nigh to all that call onthee; thou wilt hear their cry, and wilt help them. For all thoudesirest, when thou sendest trouble on them, is to make them wiserand better men. AND THAT THOU CANST ONLY MAKE THEM BY TEACHING THEMMORE ABOUT THYSELF. '

SERMON XXI. SALVATION

ISAIAH lix. 15, 16. 

And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was nojudgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that therewas 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 LordJesus Christ. I certainly believe that it is a prophecy of hiscoming, and of something better still; namely, his continualpresence; and a very noble and deep one, and one from which we maylearn a great deal. 

We may learn from it what 'salvation' really is. What Christ came tosave men from, and how he saves them. 

The common notion of salvation now-a-days is this. That salvation issome arrangement or plan, by which people are to escape hell-fire byhaving Christ's righteousness imputed to them without their beingrighteous 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 weekthe sense of which I cannot understand. At all events it is not thesalvation of which Isaiah speaks here. 

For Isaiah tells us very plainly, from WHAT God was going to savethese Jews. Not from hell-fire--nothing is said about it: butsimply from their SINS. As it is written, 'Thou shalt call his nameJesus, 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 Goddaily, and delighted to know his ways, like a nation that didrighteousness, and forsook not the ordinances of their God: theyasked of him the ordinances of justice; they took delight inapproaching 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 neverthought of doing them; and in spite of all their religion, they were, Isaiah tells them plainly, rogues and scoundrels, none of whom stoodup for justice, or pleaded for truth, but trusted in vanity, andspoke lies. Their feet ran to evil, and they made haste to shedinnocent blood; the way of peace they knew not, and they had madethemselves crooked paths, speaking oppression and revolt, andconceiving and uttering words of falsehood; so that judgment wasturned away backward, and justice stood afar off, for truth wasfallen in the street, and equity could not enter. Yea, truth failed;and he that departed from evil made himself a prey (or as some renderit) 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 asnow; and there are too many in England and elsewhere now who mightsit for that portrait. 

But how was the Lord going to save these hypocritical, false, unjustmen? Was he going to say to them, Believe certain doctrines aboutme, and you shall escape all punishment for your sins, and myrighteousness shall be imputed to you? We do not read a word ofthat. We read--not that the Lord's righteousness was imputed tothese bad men, but that it sustained the Lord himself. --Ah! there isa 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 andtrue. Unjust, but I am just; unrighteous, but I am righteous. Ifmen will not set the world right, then I will, saith the Lord. Myrighteousness shall sustain me, and keep me up to my duty, though manmay forget his. To me all power is given in heaven and earth, and Iwill use my power aright. 

If men are bringing themselves and their country, their religion, their church to ruin by hypocrisy, falsehood, and injustice, as thoseJews were, then the Lord's arm will bring salvation. He will savethem from their sins by the only possible way--namely, by takingtheir sins away, and making those of them who will take his lessongood and righteous men instead. It may be a very terrible lesson ofvengeance and fury, as Isaiah says. It may unmask many a hypocrite, confound many a politic, and frustrate many a knavish trick, till theLord's salvation may look at first sight much more like destructionand misery; for his fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purgehis floor, and gather the wheat into his garner: but the chaff hewill burn up with unquenchable fire. 

But his purpose is, to SAVE--to save his people from their sins, topurge out of them all hypocrisy, falsehood, injustice, and make ofthem honest men, true men, just men--men created anew after hislikeness. And this is the meaning of his salvation; and is the onlysalvation worth having, for this life or the life to come. 

Oh my friends, let us pray to God, whatsoever else he does for us, tomake honest men of us. For if we be not honest men, we shall surelycome to ruin, and bring all we touch to ruin, past hope of salvation. Whatsoever denomination or church we belong to, it will be all thesame: we may call ourselves children of Abraham, of the HolyCatholic Church (which God preserve), or what we will: but when theaxe is laid to the root of the tree, every tree that brings not forthgood fruit is hewn down, and is cast into the fire; and woe to thefoolish fowl who have taken shelter under the branches of it. 

And we who are coming to the holy communion this day--let us askourselves, 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 merelyfrom the punishment of them after we die? Do we want to be madesharers in that everlasting righteousness of Christ, which sustainshim, and sustains the whole world too, and prevents it from becominga cage of wild beasts, tearing each other to pieces by war andoppression, falsehood and injustice? THEN we shall get what we want;and more. But if not, then we shall not get what we want, notdiscerning that the Lord's body is a righteous and just and goodbody; and his blood a purifying blood, which purifies not merely fromthe punishment of our sins, but from our sins themselves. 

And bear in mind, my friends, when times grow evil, and rogues andhypocrites abound, and all the world seems going wrong, there is onearm to fall back upon, and one righteousness to fall back upon, whichcan never fail you, or the world. -

The arm of the Lord, which brings salvation to him, that he may giveit to all who are faithful and true; which cannot weaken or growweary, till it has cast out of his kingdom all which offends, andwhosoever loveth or maketh a lie. -

And the eternal righteousness of the Lord, which will do justice byevery living soul of man, and which will never fail or fade away, because it is his own property, belonging to his own essence, whichif he gave up for a moment he would give up being God. Yes, God isgood, though every man were bad; God is just, though every man were arogue; God is true, though every man were a liar; and as long as thatis 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 tounderstanding; yea, if thou criest after wisdom, and liftest up thyvoice for understanding; then shalt thou understand the fear of theLord, and find the knowledge of God. 

We shall see something curious in the last of these verses, when wecompare it with one in the chapter before. The chapter before says, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That if wewish to be wise at all, we must BEGIN by fearing God. But thischapter says, that the fear of the Lord is the END of wisdom too; forit says, that if we seek earnestly after knowledge and understanding, THEN we shall understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledgeof God. 

So, according to Solomon, the fear of the Lord is the beginning ofwisdom, and the end likewise. It is the starting point from which weare 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 anddivinity, it would seem more easy to understand: but he does notmean that, at least in our sense; for his rules and proverbs aboutwisdom are not about divinity and high doctrines, but about plainpractical every-day life; shrewd maxims as to how to behave in thislife, 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 afterwisdom, thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord;' and is that all?No. He says more than that. Thou shalt find, he says, the knowledgeof 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 lifeitself, to know God. If a man knows God, he is in heaven there andthen, 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 thebeginning of wisdom, but simply the fear of the Lord is the beginningof it. But the end of wisdom, he says, is not merely to fear theLord, but to understand the fear of the Lord. 

This then, I suppose, is his meaning: We are to begin life byfearing God, without understanding it: as a child obeys his parentswithout understanding the reason of their commands. 

Therefore, says Solomon to the young man, begin with that--with thesolemn, earnest, industrious, God-fearing frame of mind--without thatyou will gain no wisdom. You may be as clever as you will, but ifyou are reckless and wild, you will gain no wisdom. If you areviolent and impatient; if you are selfish and self-conceited; if youare weak and self-indulgent, given up to your own pleasures, yourcleverness will be of no use to you. It will be only hurtful to youand 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 hewould like them to be. A bad man, let him be as clever as he may, islike one in a fever, whose mind is wandering, who is continuallyseeing figures and visions, and mistaking them for actual and realthings; and so with all his cleverness, he lives in a dream, andmakes mistake upon mistake, because he knows not things as they are, and sees nothing by the light of Christ, who is the light of theworld, from whom alone all true understanding comes. 

Begin then with the fear of the Lord. Make up your mind to do whatyou are told is right, whether you know the reason of it or not. Take for granted that your elders know better than you, and havefaith in them, in your teachers, in your Bible, in the words of wisemen 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 indue time, and get, so Solomon says, to UNDERSTAND the fear of theLord. In due time you will see from experience that you are in thepath of life. You will be able to say with St. Paul, I KNOW in whomI have believed; and with Job, 'Before I heard of thee, O Lord, withthe hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. '

And why? Because, says Solomon, God himself will show you, and teachyou by his Holy Spirit. As our Lord says, 'The Holy Spirit shalltake of mine, and show it unto you, and lead you into all truth. 'And therefore Solomon talks of wisdom, who is the Holy Ghost theComforter, as a person who teaches men, whose delight is with thesons of men. He speaks of wisdom as calling to men. He speaks ofher as a being who is seeking for those that seek her, who will teachthose who seek after her. 

Yes, this, my friends, is, I believe, the secret of life. At leastit 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 manfinds out for himself, but which God teaches him. This is the secretof life--to believe that God is your Father, schooling and trainingyou from your cradle to your grave; and then to please him and obeyhim in all things, lifting up daily your hands and thankful heart, entreating him to purge the eyes of your soul, and give you the truewisdom, which is to see all things as they really are, and as Godhimself sees them. If you do that, you may believe that God willteach you more and more how to do, in all the affairs of life, thatwhich is right in his sight, and therefore good for you. He willteach you more and more to see in all which happens to you, all whichgoes on around you, his fatherly love, his patient mercy, hisprovidential care for all his creatures. He will reward you bymaking you more and more partaker of his Holy Spirit and of truth, bywhich, seeing everything as it really is, you will at last--if not inthis life, still in the life to come--grow to see God himself, whohas made all things according to his own eternal mind, that they maybe a pattern of his unspeakable glory; and beyond that, who needs tosee? For to know God, and to see God, is eternal life itself. 

And this true wisdom, which lies in knowing God, and understandinghis laws, is within the reach of the simplest person here. As I toldyou, cleverness without godliness will not give it you; but godlinesswithout cleverness may. 

Therefore let no one say, 'We are no scholars, nor philosophers, andwe never can be. Are we, then, shut out from this heavenly wisdom?'God forbid, my friends. God is no respecter of persons. Onlyremember one thing; and by it you, too, may attain to the heavenlywisdom. I said that the fear of the Lord was the beginning ofwisdom. I said that the fear of the Lord was the end of wisdom. Nowlet the fear of the Lord be the middle of wisdom also, and walk in itfrom youth to old age, and all will be well. 

That is the short way, the royal road to wisdom. To be good and todo good. To keep the single eye--the eye which does not look twoways at once, and want to go two ways at once, as too many do whowant to serve God and mammon, and to be good people and bad peopletoo both at once. But the single eye of the man, who looksstraightforward at everything, and has made up his mind what it oughtto 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 willserve the Lord. ' That is the single eye, which wants simply to knowwhat is right, and do what is right. 

And if a man has that he may be a very wise man indeed, though he canneither read nor write. 

It is good for a man, of course, to be able to read, that he may knowwhat wiser men than he have said: above all, that he may know whathis Bible says. But, even if he cannot read, let him fear God, andset his heart earnestly to know and do his duty. Let him keep hissoul pure, and his body also (for nothing hinders that heavenlywisdom 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 cleverwomen, nor learned women, nor anything except good women, whose soulswere 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 knownsuch women to have at times a wisdom which all books and all scienceson earth cannot give. I have known them give opinions on deepmatters which learned and experienced men were glad enough to take. I have known them have, in a wonderful degree, that wisdom which theScripture calls discerning of spirits, being able to see intopeople's hearts; knowing at a glance what they were thinking of, whatmade them unhappy, how to manage and comfort them; knowing at aglance whether they were honest or not, pure-minded or not--aprecious and heavenly wisdom, which comes, as I believe, from noneother than the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, who is thediscerner of the secret thoughts of all hearts: and when I have seensuch people, altogether simple and humble, and yet most wise andprudent, because they were full of the fear of the Lord, and of theknowledge of God, I could not but ask--Why should we not be all likethem?

My friends, I believe that we may all be more or less like them, ifwe will make the fear of the Lord the beginning of our wisdom, andthe middle of our wisdom, and the end of our wisdom. 

Nine-tenths of the mistakes we make in life come from forgetting thefear of God and the law of God, and saying not, I will do what isright: 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; weshould find in our old age that God's Holy Spirit was indeed a guideand a comforter, able and willing to lead us into all truth which wasneedful for us. We should find St. Paul had spoken truth, when hesaid that godliness has the promise of THIS life, as well as of thatwhich 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 hehim; male and female created he them. 

On this Sunday the Church bids us to begin to read the book ofGenesis, and hear how the world was made, and how man was made, andwhat the world is, and who man is. 

And why?

To prepare us, I think, for Lent, and Passion week, Good Friday, andEaster day. 

For you must know what a thing ought to be, before you can know whatit ought not to be; you must know what health is, before you can knowwhat disease is; you must know how and why a good man is good, beforeyou can know how and why a bad man is bad. You must know what manfell from, before you can know what man has fallen to; and so youmust hear of man's creation, before you can understand man's fall. 

Now in Lent we lament and humble ourselves for man's fall. InPassion week we remember the death and suffering of our blessed Lord, by which he redeemed us from the fall. On Easter day we give himthanks and glory for having conquered death and sin, and rising up asthe new Adam, of whom St. Paul writes, 'As in Adam all died, even soin Christ shall all be made alive. '

And therefore to prepare us for Lent and Passion week, and Easterday, we begin this Sunday to read who the first man was, and what hewas 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 hisown, so that he could stand up and say, I am good; I can take care ofmyself; 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 goodby himself; that the Lord God had to tell him what to do, and whatnot to do; that the Lord God visited him and spoke to him: so thathe could only do right by faith: by trusting the Lord, and believinghim, and believing that what the Lord told him was the right thingfor him; and it tells us that he fell for want of faith, by notbelieving the Lord and not believing that what the Lord told him wasright for him. So he was holy, and stood safe, only as long as hedid not stand alone: but the moment that he tried to stand alone hefell. So that it was with Adam as it is with you and me. The justman can only live by faith. 

And St. John explains this more fully, when he tells us that thevoice of the Lord, the Word of God whom Adam heard walking among thetrees of the garden, was our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who was thelife of Adam and all men, and the light of Adam and all men. Alldeath and misery, and all ignorance and darkness, come at first fromforgetting the Lord Jesus Christ, and forgetting that he is about ourpath and about our bed, and spying out all our ways; as St. Johnsays, that Christ's light is always shining in the darkness of thisworld, but the darkness comprehendeth it not; that he came to hisown, but his own received him not; but as many as received him, tothem gave he power to become the sons of God, as he gave to man atfirst; for St. Luke says, that Adam was the Son of God. But a sonmust depend on his father; and therefore man was sent into the worldto depend on God. So do not fancy that man before he fell could dowithout 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 himfrom falling. To deny that is the root of what is called thePelagian heresy. Therefore the Church has generally said, and saidmost truly, that 'Adam stood by grace in Paradise;' and had a'supernatural gift;' and that as long as he used that gift, he wassafe, 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 abovethat nature, lest he should die, as all natural things on earth must. Trees and flowers, birds and beasts, yea, the great earth itself mustdie, and have an end in time, because it has had a beginning. 

Man had and has still a human nature; the most beautiful, noble, andperfect nature in the world; high above the highest animals in rank, beauty, understanding, and feelings. Human nature is made, so theBible tells us, in some mysterious way, after the likeness of God; ofChrist, the eternal Son of man, who is in heaven; for the Biblespeaks of the Word or Voice of God as appearing to man in somethingof a human voice: reasoning with him as man reasons with man; andfeeling toward him human feelings. That is the doctrine of theBible; of David and the prophets, just as much as of Genesis or ofSt. Paul. 

That is a great mystery and a great glory: but that alone could notmake man good, could not even keep him alive. 

For God made man for something more noble and blessed than to followeven his own lofty human nature. God made the animals to followtheir 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 thanwhat he LIKES; namely, to do what he OUGHT. God made man to lovehim, to obey him, to copy him, by doing God's will, and living God'slife, lovingly, joyfully, and of his own free will, as a son followsthe 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 freshgenerations, ay, and fresh kinds of animals to take their place, anddo their work, as we know has happened again and again, both beforeand since man came upon the earth. But of man the Bible says, thathe was not meant to die: that into him God breathed the breath, orspirit, 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 lifeof 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 isalways tending upward to the source from which it came, and longingto return to God who gave it, and to find rest in him. For in Godalone, in the assurance of God's love to us, and in the knowledgethat we are living the life of God, can a man's spirit find rest. SoSt. Augustine found, through so many bitter experiences, when (as hetells us) he tried to find rest and comfort in all God's creaturesone after another, and yet never found them till he found God, orrather was found by God, and illuminated (so he says himself) withthat grace which by the fall he lost. 

What then does holy baptism mean? It means that God lifts us upagain to that honour from whence Adam fell. That as Adam lost thehonour of being God's son, so Jesus Christ restores to us thathonour. 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 maystand by faith in that Christ, the Word of God, whom Adam disbelievedand fell away. 

Baptism says, You are not true and right men by nature; you are onlyfallen men--men in your wrong place: but by grace you become menindeed, 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 streamwhen the fountain head is stopped; it stops too--lies in foulpuddles, decays, and at last dries up: to keep the stream pure andliving and flowing, the fountain above must flow, and feed it forever. 

And so it is with man. Man is the stream, Christ is the fountain oflife. Parted from him mankind becomes foul and stagnant in sin andignorance, and at last dries up and perishes, because there is nolife in them. Joined to him in holy baptism, mankind lives, spreads, grows, becomes stronger, better, wiser year by year, each generationof 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;' butalso, 'He that believeth in me, out of him shall flow rivers ofliving water. '

Yes, my brethren, if you want to see what man is, you must not lookat the heathens, who are in a state of fallen and corrupt nature, butat Christians, who are in a state of grace; for they only (those ofthem, I mean, who are true to God and themselves), give us any truenotion of what man can be and should be. 

Heathendom is the foul and stagnant pool, parted from Christ, theFount of life. Christendom, in spite of all its sins and short-comings, is the stream always fed from the heavenly Fountain. Andholy baptism is the river of the water of life, which St. John saw inthe Revelations, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne ofGod and of the Lamb, the trees of which are for the healing of thenations. And when that river shall have spread over the world, thereshall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shallbe in the city of God; and the nations of them that are saved shallgrow to glory and blessedness, such as eye hath not seen, nor earheard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive, but Godhath prepared for those who love him. 

Oh, may God hasten that day! May he accomplish the number of hiselect and hasten his kingdom, and the day when there shall not be aheathen soul on earth, but all shall know him from the least to thegreatest, and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as thewaters 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 thenwhat shall happen to this earth matters little; no, not if the earthand all the works therein, beautiful though they be, be burned up;for though this world perish, man would still have his portion surein the city of God which is eternal in the heavens, and before theface 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 veryhighest honour--an honour too great to make you proud; an honour sogreat that, if you understand it rightly, it must fill you with awe, and trembling, and the spirit of godly fear, lest, when God has putyou up so high, you should fall shamefully again. For the higher theplace, the deeper the fall; and the greater the honour, the greaterthe shame of losing it. But be sure that it was an honour beforeAdam fell. That ever since Christ has taken the manhood into God, itis an honour now to be a man. Do not let the devil or bad men evertempt you to say, I am only a man, and therefore you cannot expect meto 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 thedevil's doctrine, though it is common enough. I have heard a storyof a man in America--where very few, I am sorry to say, have heardthe true doctrine of the Catholic Church, and therefore do not knowreally that God made man in his own image, and redeemed him againinto his own image by Jesus Christ--and this man was rebuked forbeing a drunkard; and what do you fancy his excuse was? 'Ah, ' hesaid, 'you should remember that there is a great deal of human naturein a man. ' That was his excuse. He had been so ill-taught by hisCalvinist preachers, that he had learnt to look on human nature asactually a bad thing; as if the devil, and not God, had made humannature, and as if Christ had not redeemed human nature. Because hewas a man, he thought he was excused in being a bad man; because hehad 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 youhave, it is from no teaching of your Bible, of your Catechism, oryour Prayer-book; and, I say boldly, from no teaching of mine. TheChurch bids you say, Yes; I have a human nature in me; and whatnature is that but the nature which the Son of God took on himself, and redeemed, and justified it, and glorified it, sitting for evernow in his human nature at the right hand of God, the Son of man whois in heaven? Yes, I am a man; and what is it to be a man, but to bethe image and glory of God? What is it to be a man? To belong tothat 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, unlessthe Holy Spirit has left you, and your baptism is of none effect, more than human nature in you: you have divine grace--thatsupernatural 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 youwhich raises you up, instead of dragging you down; which bids you doyour duty, and live the life of God and Christ, instead of living themere death-in-life of selfish pleasure and covetousness. Obey thatSpirit, and be men: men indeed, that you may not come to shame inthe day when Christ the Son of Man shall take account of you, how youhave 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 manshall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: andthey shall scourge him and put him to death; and the third day heshall rise again. 

This is a solemn text, a solemn Gospel; but it is not its solemnitywhich I wish to speak of this morning, but this--What has it to dowith the Epistle, and with the Collect? The Epistle speaks ofCharity; 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 howthat eternal charity was revealed, and shown plainly in flesh andblood 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 bidsmen be charitable; but the name of God is never mentioned in it. Notso, my friends. Look again at the Epistle, and you will see one wordwhich 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 shallfail, tongues cease, knowledge vanish away, charity shall never fail. Now, if a thing never fail, it must be eternal. And if it beeternal, it must be in God. For, as I have reminded you before aboutother things, the Athanasian Creed tells us (and never was truer orwiser word written) there is but one eternal. 

But if charity be not in God, there must be two eternals; God must beone eternal, and charity another eternal; which cannot be. Thereforecharity 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 iskind; envieth not, is not puffed up, seeketh not his own, is noteasily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but inthe truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth allthings, 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 allthings, above all things, beneath all things, is the divine charity, the love of God, infinite as God is infinite, everlasting as God iseverlasting; the charity by which God made all worlds, all men, andall things, that they might be blest as he is blest, perfect as he isperfect, useful as he is useful; the charity which is God's essenceand Holy Spirit, which might be content in itself, because it isperfectly at peace in itself; and yet CANNOT be content in itself, just because it is charity and love, and therefore must be goingforth and proceeding everlastingly from the Father and the Son, uponerrands of charity, love, and mercy, rewarding those whom it findsdoing their work in their proper place, and seeking and saving thosewho are lost, and out of their proper place. 

But what has this to do with the Gospel? Surely, my friends, it isnot difficult to see. In Jesus Christ our Lord, the eternal charityof 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, andknow 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 itoften enough now. It was difficult in old times to believe that Godwas charity; it is difficult sometimes now. 

Sad and terrible things happen--Plague and famine, earthquake andwar. All these things have happened in our times. Not two monthsago, in Italy, an earthquake destroyed many thousands of people; andin India, this summer, things have happened of which I dare notspeak, which have turned the hearts of women to water, and the heartsof men to fire: and when such things happen, it is difficult for themoment 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 afraidof the terror of such awful events, but sanctify the Lord God, in ourhearts, and say, Whatever may happen I know that God is love; I knowthat his glory is charity; I know that his mercy is over all hisworks; for I know that Jesus Christ, who was full of perfect charity, is the express image of his Father's person, and the brightness ofhis Father's glory. I know (for the Gospel tells me), that he daredall things, endured all things, in the depth of his great love, forthe sake of sinful men. I know that when he knew what was going tohappen 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 andlove. I know that he was SO full of it, that as he went up on hisfatal journey, with a horrible death staring him in the face, still, instead of thinking of himself, he was thinking of others, and couldfind time to stop and heal the poor blind man by the way side, whocalled 'Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. ' And in him andhis love will I trust, when there seems nothing else left to trust onearth. 

Oh, my friends, believe this with your whole heart. Whatever happensto 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 isand was, and ever will be--love. 

And when St. Paul tells you, as he told you in the Epistle to-day, tohave charity, to try for charity, because it is the most excellentway to please God, and the eternal virtue, which will abide for everin heaven, when all wisdom and learning, even about spiritual things, which men have had on earth, shall seem to us when we look back suchas a child's lessons do to a grown man;--when, I say, St. Paul tellsyou to try after charity, he tells you to be like God himself; to beperfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect; to bear and forbearbecause God does so: to give and forgive because God does so; tolove 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 thosepoor 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 fromthe foundation of the world, and that his charity embraces the wholeuniverse. 

SERMON XXV. THE DAYS OF THE WEEK

JAMES i. 17. 

Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and comethdown 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. ' Wehave learnt from our childhood that there is but one God. It seemsto us strange and ridiculous that people anywhere should believe inmore gods than one. We never heard of any other doctrine, except inbooks about the heathen; and there are perhaps not three people inthis 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 itnot for the church, and the missionaries who were sent into this partof the world by the church, now 1200 years ago, we should not know itnow. Our forefathers once worshipped many gods, and not one onlyGod. I do not mean when they were savages; for I do not believe thatthey ever were savages at all: but after they were settled here inEngland, living in a simple way, very much as country people livenow, and dressing very much as country people do now, they worshippedmany gods. 

Now what put that mistake into their minds? It seems so ridiculousto us now, that we cannot understand at first how it ever arose. 

But if we will consider the names of their old gods, we shallunderstand it a little better. Now the names of the old English godsyou all know. They are in your mouths every day. The days of theweek are named after them. The old English kept time by weeks, asthe 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 wascreated in Christ the image and likeness of God the Father; andtherefore he was created that he might hear his Father's voice, anddo his Father's will, as Christ does everlastingly; and after manfell, and lost Christ and Christ's likeness, still there was left inhis heart some remembrance of the child's feeling which the first manhad; he felt that he ought to look up to some one greater thanhimself, obey some one greater than himself; that some one greaterthan 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 theearth beneath, and asked, Who is it who is calling for us? Who is itwe ought to obey and please; who gives us good things? Who may hurtus if we make him angry?

Then the first thing they saw was the sun. What more beautiful thanthe 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 thesun, and called the first day of the week after him--Sunday. 

Next the moon. Nothing, except the sun, seemed so grand andbeautiful to them as the moon, and she was their next god, and Mondaywas named after her. 

Then the wind--what a mysterious, awful, miraculous thing the windseemed, always moving, yet no one knew how; with immense power andforce, and yet not to be seen; as our blessed Lord himself said, 'Thewind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. ' Then--andthis is very curious--they fancied that the wind was a sort ofpattern, or type of the spirit of man. With them, as with the oldJews and Greeks, the same word which meant wind, meant also a man'ssoul, his spirit; and so they grew to think that the wind wasinhabited by some great spirit, who gave men spirit, and inspiredthem to be brave, and to prophesy, and say and do noble things; andthey called him Wodin the Mover, the Inspirer; and named Wednesdayafter him. 

Next the thunder--what more awful and terrible, and yet so full ofgood, than the summer heat and the thunder cloud? So they fanciedthat the thunder was a god, and called him Thor--and the dark thundercloud was Thor's frowning eyebrow; and the lightning flash Thor'shammer, with which he split the rocks, and melted the winter-ice anddrove 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, andtilling the land honestly. 

Then the spring. That was a wonder to them again--and is it not awonder to see all things grow fresh and fair, after the dreary wintercold? So the spring was a goddess, and they called her Freya, theFree One, the Cheerful One, and named Friday after her; and she itwas, 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 thelife which God had given them in the pleasant days of spring. Andafter her Friday is named. 

Then the harvest. The ripening of the grain, that too was a wonderto them--and should it not be to us?--how the corn and wheat which isput into the ground and dies should rise again, and then ripen intogolden corn? That too must be the work of some kindly spirit, wholoved men; and they called him Seator, the Setter, the Planter, theGod of the seed field and the harvest, and after him Saturday isnamed. 

And so, instead of worshipping him who made all heaven and earth, they turned to worship the heaven and the earth itself, like thefoolish Canaanites. 

But some may say, 'This was all very mistaken and foolish: but whatharm was there in it? How did it make them worse men?'

My friends, among these very woodlands here, some thirteen hundredyears ago, you might have come upon one of the places where yourforefathers worshipped Thor and Odin, the thunder and the wind, beneath the shade of ancient oaks, in the darkest heart of theforest. And there you would have seen an ugly sight enough. 

There was an altar there, with an everlasting fire burning on it; butwhy should that altar, and all the ground around be crusted and blackwith blood; why should that dark place be like a charnel house or abutcher's shambles; why, from all the trees around, should there behanging the rotting carcases, not of goats and horses merely, but ofMEN, sacrificed to Thor and Odin, the thunder and the wind? Why thatbutchery, why those works of darkness in the dark places of theworld?

Because that was the way of pleasing Thor and Odin. To that ourforefathers came. To that all heathens have come, sooner or later. They fancy gods in their own likeness; and then they make out thosegods no better than, and at last as bad as themselves. 

The old English and Danes were fond of Thor and Odin; they fanciedthem, as I told you, brave gods, very like themselves: but theythemselves were not always what they ought to be; they had fiercepassions, were proud, revengeful, blood-thirsty; and they thoughtThor and Odin must be so too. 

And when they looked round them, that seemed too true. The thunderstorm did not merely melt the snow, cool the air, bring refreshingrain; it sometimes blasted trees, houses, men; that they thought wasThor's anger. 

So of the wind. Sometimes it blew down trees and buildings, sankships in the sea. That was Odin's anger. Sometimes, too, they werenot brave enough; or they were defeated in battle. That was becauseThor 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 humouragain? By giving them their revenge, by letting them taste blood; byoffering them sheep, goats, horses in sacrifice: and if that wouldnot do, by offering them something more precious still, living men. 

And so, too often, when the weather was unfavourable, and crops wereblasted by tempest or they were defeated in battle by their enemies, Thor's and Odin's altars were turned into slaughter-places forwretched human beings--captives taken in war, and sometimes, if theneed was very great, their own children. That was what came ofworshipping the heaven above and the earth around, instead of thetrue God. Human sacrifices, butchery, and murder. 

English and Danes alike. It went on among them both; across the seasin their old country, and here in England, till they were madeChristians. There is no doubt about it. I could give you tale ontale which would make your blood run cold. Then they learnt to throwaway those false gods who quarrelled among themselves, and quarrelledwith mankind; gods who were proud, revengeful, changeable, spiteful;who had variableness in them, and turned round as their passions ledthem. Then they learnt to believe in the one true God, the Father oflights, in whom is neither variableness nor shadow of turning. Thenthey learnt that from one God came every good and perfect gift; thatGod filled the sun with light; that God guided the changes of themoon; that God, and not Thor, gave to men industry and courage; God, and not Wodin, inspired them with the spirit which bloweth where itlisteth, and raised them up above themselves to speak noble words anddo noble deeds; that God, and not Friga, sent spring time andcheerfulness, 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 andgladness. 

But what was there about this new God, even the true God, which theold missionaries preached, which won the hearts of our forefathers?

This, my friends, not merely that he was one God and not many, butthat he was a Father of lights, from whom came good gifts, in whomwas neither variableness nor shadow of turning. 

Not merely a master, but a Father, who gave good gifts, because hewas good himself; a God whom they could love, because he loved them;a God whom they could trust and depend on, because there was novariableness in him, and he could not lose his temper as Thor andOdin did. That was the God whom their wild, passionate heartswanted, and they believed in him. 

And when they doubted, and asked, 'How can we be sure that God isaltogether good?--how can we be sure that he is always trustworthy, always the same?'--Then the missionaries used to point them to thecrucifix, the image of Christ upon his cross, and say, 'There is thetoken; there is what God is to you, what God suffered for you; thereis the everlasting sign that he gives good gifts, even to the best ofall gifts, even to his own self, when it was needed; there is theeverlasting sign that in him is neither darkness, passion, norchange, but that he wills all men to be saved from their own darknessand passions, and from the ruin which they bring, and to come to theknowledge 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 isLord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . . For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain alsoof 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; butone day I left out--namely, Tuesday. I did so on purpose. I wish tospeak of that day by itself in this sermon. 

I told you how our forefathers worshipped many gods, by fancying thatvarious things in the world round them were gods--sun and moon, windand thunder, spring and harvest. 

But if that seems to you at times wrong and absurd, it seemed so tothem also. They, like all heathens, had at times dreams of one God. 

They thought to themselves--All heaven and earth must have had abeginning, and they cannot have grown out of nothing, for out ofnothing 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 andcontrivance in it, the more sure they were that one mind must haveplanned 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 ofall persons, from whom all souls come, who was before all things, andall persons, however great, however ancient they may be. And so, like the Greeks and Romans, and many other heathen nations, they haddim thoughts of an All-Father, as they called him; Father of gods andmen; the Father of spirits. 

They looked round them too, in this world, and saw that everything init must die. The tree, though it stood for a thousand years, mustdecay at last; the very rocks and mountains crumbled to dust at last:and so they thought--truly and wisely enough--Everything which we seenear us, perishes at last: why should not everything which we cansee, however far off, however great, perish? Why should not thisearth 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, whoare 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 thunderceases for ever, then there will be no more thunder-god. Yes, theythought--and wisely and truly too--everything which has a beginningmust have an end. Everything which is born, must die. The sun andthe earth, wind and thunder, will perish some day; the gods of sunand earth, wind and thunder, will die some day. And then what willbe left? Will there be nothing and nowhere? That thought was toohorrible. God's voice in their hearts, the word of the Lord JesusChrist, who lights every man who comes into the world, made them feelthat it was horrible, unreasonable; that it could not be. 

But it was all dim to them, and uncertain. Of one thing only theywere certain, that death reigned, and that death had passed upon allmen, and things, and even gods. Evil beasts, evil gods, evilpassions, were gnawing at the root of all things. A time would comeof nothing but rage and wickedness, fury and destruction; the godswould fight and be slain, and earth and heaven would be sent backagain into shapeless ruin: and after that they knew no more, thoughthey longed to know. They dreamed, I say, at moments of a new and abetter world, new men, new gods: but how were they to come? Whowould 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-heartedforefathers of ours, and said within themselves, Where is the All-Father, if All-Father there be? Not in this earth; for it willperish. 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 clearblue sky, the boundless firmament of heaven. 

That never changed; that was always the same. The clouds and stormsrolled far below it, and all the bustle of this noisy world; butthere the sky was still, as bright and calm as ever. The All-Fathermust be there, unchangeable in the unchanging heaven; bright, andpure, 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 Godwho lives in the clear heaven; and after him Tuesday is called: theday of Tuisco, the heavenly Father. He was the Father of gods andmen; and man was the son of Tuisco and Hertha--heaven and earth. 

That was all they knew; and even that they did not know; theycontradicted themselves and each other about it. After a time theybegan to think that Odin, and not Tuisco, was the All-Father; all wasdim and far off to them. They were feeling after him, as St. Paulsays he had intended them to do: but they did not find him. Theydid not know the Father, because they did not know Jesus Christ theSon; 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 oldGreeks and Romans, for instance, who many thousand years ago spokethe same tongue as we did then, called him Zeus or Deus Pater;Jupiter; the heavenly Father, Father of gods and men; using the sameword as our Tuisco, a little altered. And that same word, changedslightly, means God now, in Welsh, French, and Italian, and manylanguages 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, tillmissionaries came and preached the Gospel to them, and told them whatSt. Paul told the Greeks in my text. 

Now, what did St. Paul tell the Greeks? He came, we read, to Athensin Greece, and found the city wholly given to idolatry, worshippingall manner of false gods, and images of them. And yet they were notcontent with their false gods. They felt, as our forefathers felt, that there must be a greater, better, more mighty, more faithful Godthan all: and they thought, 'We will worship him too: for we aresure 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 UnknownGod. ' And St. Paul passed by and saw it; and his heart was stirredwithin him with pity and compassion; and he rose up and preached thema sermon--the first and the best missionary sermon which ever waspreached 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--asthe 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 anorphan. From God he came; to God, if he chose, he might return. Theheathen poet had spoken truth when he said, 'For we are the offspringof God. '

But where was the heavenly Father? Far away in the clear sky, in thehighest heaven beyond all suns and stars? Silent and idle, caringfor no one on earth, content in himself, and leaving sinful man tohimself to go to ruin as he chose?

'No, ' says St. Paul, 'He is not far off from any one of us; for inhim we live, and move, and have our being. '

Wonderful words! Eighteen hundred years have past since then, and wehave 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 tobelieve it fully. That the Almighty God should be so near us, sinfulmen; that we, in spite of all our sins, should live, and move, andhave our being in God. How can it be true?

My friends, it would not be true, if something more was not true. Weshould have no right to say, 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, 'unless we said also, 'I believe in Jesus Christ, . His only Son, ourLord. ' St. Paul, after he had told them of a Father in heaven, wenton to tell them of A MAN whom that Father had sent to judge theworld, having raised him from the dead. --And there his sermonstopped. Those foolish Greeks laughed at him; they would not receivethe news of Jesus Christ the Son; and therefore they lost the goodnews of their Father in heaven. We can guess from St. Paul's Epistlewhat he was going on to tell them. How, by believing in Jesus Christthe Son, and claiming their share in him, and being baptized into hisname, they might become once more God's children, and take theirplace again as new men and true men in Jesus Christ. But they wouldnot hear his message. 

Our forefathers did hear that message, and believed it; they had beenfeeling after the heavenly Father, and at last they found him, andclaimed their share in Christ as sons of the heavenly Father; andtherefore we are Christian men this day, baptized into God's family, and thriving as God's family must thrive, as long as it remembersthat God dwelleth not in temples made with hands, and needs nothingfrom 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, andmove, 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, andmove, 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 iswith me. There is not a good feeling in my heart, but my heavenlyFather has put it there: ay, I have not a power which he has notgiven, a thought which he does not know; even the very hairs of myhead are all numbered. Whither shall I go then from his presence?Whither shall I flee from his Spirit? For he filleth all things. Ifmy eyes were opened, I should see at every moment God's love, God'spower, God's wisdom, working alike in sun and moon, in every growingblade and ripening grain, and in the training and schooling of everyhuman being, and every nation, to whom he has appointed their times, and the bounds of their habitation, if haply they may seek after theLord, and find him in whom they live, and move, and have their being. Everywhere I should see life going forth to all created things fromGod the Father, of whom are all things, and God the Son, by whom areall things, and God the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of thatlife. '

A little of that glorious sight we may see in this life, if ourhearts and reasons are purified by the Spirit of God, to see God inall things, and all things in God: and more in that life whereof itis written, 'Beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it doth not yetappear what we shall be: but this we know, that when he appears, weshall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ' To that life mayhe 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 likethese often in the Bible, and even in ancient heathen books. Kings, priests, prophets, judges, are called shepherds of the people. Davidis called the shepherd of Israel. A prophet complains of theshepherds of Israel who feed themselves, and will not feed the flock. 

But the old Hebrew prophets had a vision of a greater and bettershepherd than David, or any earthly king or priest--of a heavenly andalmighty shepherd. 'The Lord is my shepherd, ' says one; 'therefore Ishall not want. ' And another says, 'He shall feed his flock like ashepherd. He shall gather his lambs in his arms, and carry them inhis bosom, and shall gently lead those who are with young. '

This was blessed news; good news for all mankind, if there had beenno 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 forhimself, with human voice, upon this earth of ours; and declared thatall they had said was true; and that more still was true. 

I am the good shepherd, he says. And then he adds, The good shepherdgiveth his life for the sheep. 

Oh, my friends, consider these words. Think what endless depths ofwonder there are in them. Is it not wonderful enough that God shouldcare for men; should lead them, guide them, feed them, condescend tocall himself their shepherd? Wonderful, indeed; so wonderful, thatthe old prophets would never have found it out but by the inspirationof Almighty God. But what a wider, deeper, nobler, more wonderfulblessing, and more blessed wonder, that the shepherd should give hislife for the sheep;--that the master should give his life for theservant, the good for the bad, the wise one for the fools, the pureone for the foul, the loving one for the spiteful, the king for thosewho had rebelled against him, the Creator for his creatures. ThatGod should give his life for man! Truly, says St. John, 'Herein islove. 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 intothe rough and dark places of the earth to seek and to save that whichwas lost. That was enough. That was a thousand times more than wehad a right to expect. Had he done only that he would have been forever glorious, for ever adorable, for ever worthy of the praises andthanks of heaven and earth, and all that therein is. But that seemedlittle in the eyes of Jesus, little to the greatness of his divinelove. He would understand the weakness of his sheep by being weakhimself; understand the sorrows of his sheep, by sorrowing himself;understand the sins of his sheep, by bearing all their sins; thetemptations of his sheep, by conquering them himself; and lastly, hewould understand and conquer the death of his sheep, by dyinghimself. Because the sheep must die, he would die too, that in allthings, and to the uttermost, he might show himself the goodshepherd, who shared all sorrow, danger and misery with his sheep, asif they had been his children, bone of his bone and flesh of hisflesh. In all things he would show himself the good shepherd, and nohireling, 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 hekill the wolf, that by his death he might destroy death, and him whohad the power of death, that is, the devil. He would go where thesheep went. He would enter into the sheepfold by the same gate asthey did, and not climb over into the fold some other way, like athief and a robber. He would lead them into the fold by the samegate. They had to go into God's fold through the gate of death; andtherefore 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 thatit 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 wouldlead them out again by the gate of resurrection, that they might findpasture in the redeemed land of everlasting life, where can enterneither devil, nor wolf, nor robber, evil spirit, evil man, or evilthing. This, and more than this, he would do in the greatness of hislove. He would become in all things like his sheep, that he mightshow 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, notsaints, not angels or archangels can comprehend the love of Christ. How can they? For Christ is God, and God is love; the root andfountain of all love which is in you and me, and angels, and allcreated beings. And therefore his love is as much greater than ours, or than the love of angels and archangels, as the whole sun isgreater than one ray of sun-light. Say rather, as much greater andmore glorious as the sun is greater and more glorious than the lightwhich sparkles in the dew-drop on the grass. The love and goodnessand 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, whichshineth from one part of heaven to the other, and there is nothinghid from the life-giving heat and light thereof. When the dew-dropcan take in the sun, then can we take in the love of God, which fillsall heaven and earth. 

But there is, if possible, better news still behind--'I am the goodshepherd; and know my sheep, and am known of mine. '

'I know my sheep. ' Surely some of the words which I have just spokenmay help to explain that to you. 'I know my sheep. ' Not merely, Iknow who are my sheep, and who are not. Of course, the Lord doesthat. We might have guessed that for ourselves. What comfort isthere 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. Iknow their sins and their follies: but I know, too, their longingafter good. I know their temptations, their excuses, their naturalweaknesses, their infirmities, which they brought into the world withthem. I know their inmost hearts for good and for evil. True, Ithink some of them often miserable, and poor, and blind, when theyfancy themselves strong, and wise, and rich in grace, and having needof nothing. But I know some of them, too, to be longing after whatis good, to be hungering and thirsting after righteousness, when theycan see nothing but their own sin and weakness, and are utterlyashamed and tired of themselves, and are ready to lie down indespair, and give up all struggling after God. I know theirweakness--and of me it is written, 'I will carry the lambs in minearms. ' Those who are innocent and inexperienced in the ways of thisworld, I will see that they are not led into temptation; and I willgently lead those that are with young: those who are weary with theburden of their own thoughts, those who are yearning and labouringafter some higher, better, more free, more orderly, more useful life;those who long to find out the truth, and to speak it, and give birthto the noble thoughts and the good plans which they have conceived:I have inspired their good desires, and I will bring them to goodeffect; I will gently lead them, ' says the Lord, 'for I know thembetter 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 lastwords of the text would crush us into despair--'I know my sheep, andam known of mine. '

Is it so? We trust that we are Christ's sheep. We trust that heknows us: but do we know him? What answer shall we make to thatquestion, Do you know Christ? I do not mean, Do you know ABOUTChrist? You may know ABOUT a person without knowing the personhimself when you see him. I do not mean, Do you know doctrines aboutChrist? though that is good and necessary. Nor, Do you know whatChrist has done for your soul? though that is good and necessaryalso. But, Do you know Christ himself? You have never seen him. True: but have you never seen any one like him--even in part? Doyou know his likeness when you see it in any of your neighbours?That is a question worth thinking over. Again--Do you know whatChrist is like? What his character is--what his way of dealing withyour soul, and all souls, is? Are you accustomed to speak to him inyour prayers as to one who can and will hear you; and do you know hisvoice when he speaks to you, and puts into your heart good desires, and longings after what is right and true, and fair and noble, andloving 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 whobargained with us, and said--'Unless you know me, I will not take thetrouble to know you. Unless you care for me, you cannot expect me tocare for you. ' What would become of us, if God said, 'As you do tome, so will I do to you?'

But our only hope lies in this, that in Christ the Lord is no spiritof bargaining, no pride, no spite, no rendering evil for evil. Inthis is our hope; that he is the likeness of his Father's glory, andthe 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 thegood; and his sun to shine on the just and on the unjust; and is goodto the unthankful and the evil--to you and me--and knows us, thoughwe know him not; and cares for us, though we care not for him; andleads us his way, like a good shepherd, when we fancy in our conceitthat we are going in our own way. This is our hope, that his love isgreater than our stupidity; that he will not tire of us, and ourfancies, and our self-will, and our laziness, in spite of all ourpeevish tempers, and our mean and fruitless suspicions of hisgoodness. No! He will not tire of us, but will seek us, and save uswhen we go astray. And some day, somewhere, somehow, he will openour 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 likethose disciples at Emmaus, that Jesus has been walking with us, andbreaking our bread for us, and blessing us, all our lives long; andthat when our hearts burned within us at noble thoughts, and storiesof noble and righteous men and women, and at the hope that some daygood would conquer evil, and heaven come down on earth, then--so weshall find--God had been dwelling among men all along--even Jesus, who was dead, and is alive for evermore, and has the keys of deathand 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 islove; 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 dayof judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world. There is nofear in love but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hathtorment. 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 thelove which God has to us. But, indeed, no reading, or thinking, orpraying 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 forus; easy to say that God's Spirit is with us; easy to say all mannerof true doctrines, and run them off our tongues at second-hand; easyfor me to stand up here and preach them to you, just as I find themwritten in a book. But do I believe what I say? Do you believe whatyou say? There is an awful question. We believe it all now, orthink we believe it, while we are easy and comfortable: but shouldwe 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 thevery joints and marrow of our heart with fearful sorrow andtemptation? 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 islove, and this horrible misery is a sign of it? He loves me, for hechastens me? Or should we say, like Job's wife, and one of thefoolish women, 'Curse God and die?' God knows. 

Ah, when that dark day seems coming on us, and bringing some miserywhich looks to us beforehand quite unbearable--then how our lip-belief and book-faith is tried, and burnt up in the fire of God, andin the fire of our own proud, angry hearts, too! How we struggle andrage at first at the very thought of the coming misery; and are readyto say, God will not do this! He cannot--cannot be so unjust, socruel, as to bring this misery on me. What have I done to deserveit? Or, if I have deserved it, what have these innocents done? Whyshould they be punished for my sins? After all my prayers, too, andmy church-goings, and my tryings to be good. Is this God's rewardfor all my trouble to please him? Then how vain all our old prayersseem; how empty and dry all ordinances. We cry, I have cleansed myhands in vain, and in vain washed my heart in innocency. We have noheart to pray to God. If he has not heard our past prayers, whyshould we pray anymore? Let us lie down and die; let us bear hisheavy hand, if we must bear it, sullenly, desperately: but, as forsaying that God is love, or to say that we know the love which Godhas for us, we say in our hearts, Let the clergyman talk of that; itis his business to speak about it; or comfortable, easy people, whoare not watering their pillow with bitter tears all night long. Butif they were in my place (says the unhappy man), they would know alittle more of what poor souls have to go through: they would talksomewhat less freely about its being a sin to doubt God's love. Hehas sent this great misery on me. How can I tell what more he maynot send? How can I help being afraid of God, and looking up to himwith tormenting fear?

Yes, my friends. These are very terrible thoughts--very wrongthoughts some of them, very foolish thoughts some of them, thoughpardonable enough; for God pardons them, as we shall see. But theyare real thoughts. They are what really come into people's mindsevery day; and I am here to talk to you about what is really going onin your soul, and mine; not to repeat to you doctrines at second-handout of a book, and say, There, that is what you have to believe anddo; and, if you do not, you will go to hell: but to speak to you asmen of like passions with myself; as sinning, sorrowing, doubting, struggling human beings; and to talk to you of what is in my ownheart, and will be in your hearts too, some day, if it has not beenalready. This is the experience of all REAL men, all honest men, whoever 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 nocomfortable, book-read, second-hand Christian, who had an answerready for every trouble, because he had never had any real trouble atall. David was not one of them. He had to go through a very roughtraining--very terrible and fiery trials, year after year; and had tosay, again and again, 'I am weary of crying; my heart is dry; myheart faileth me for waiting so long upon my God. All thy billowsand storms are gone over me. Thou hast laid me in a place ofdarkness, and in the lowest deep. ' -

Not by sitting comfortably reading his book, but by such terribletrials as that, was David taught to trust God to the uttermost; andto 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 liketo die. And it was not for many a day that he found out the truthabout 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 ofall his life, when he waited by the ford of Jabbok, expecting thatwith the morning light the punishment of his past sins would come onhim; and not only on him, but on all his family, and his innocentchildren; when he stood there alone by the dark river, not knowingwhether Esau and his wild Arabs would not sweep off the earth all hehad 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 tojudgment against him, he learnt to pray as he had never prayedbefore--a prayer too deep for words. 

'And Jacob was left alone: and there wrestled a man with him tillthe breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed notagainst him, he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh; and the hollowof 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 theego, till thou bless me. And he blessed him there. And Jacob calledthe name of that place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, andmy life is preserved. '

So it may be with us. So it must be with us, in the dark day whenour faith is really tried by terrible affliction. 

We must begin as Jacob did. Plead God's promises, confess themercies we have received already. 'I am not worthy of the least ofall the mercies which thou hast showed to thy servant. '

Ask for God's help, as Jacob did: 'Deliver me, I pray thee, out ofthe hand of Esau my brother. ' Plead his written promises, and thecovenant of our baptism, which tell us that we are God's children, and God our Father, as Jacob did according to his light--'And thousaidst, I will surely do thee good. '

So the proud angry heart will perhaps pass out of us, and we shallset ourselves more calmly to face the worst, and to try if God'spromises be indeed true, and God be indeed as he has said, 'Love. '

But do not be astonished, do not be disheartened, if, when thetrouble comes, there comes with it, as to Jacob, a more terriblestruggle far, a struggle too deep for words; if you find out thatfine words and set prayers are nothing in the hour of need, and thatyou will not be heard for your much speaking. Ah! the darkness ofthat time, which perhaps goes on for days, for months, all alonebetween you and God himself. Clergymen and good people may come inwith kind words and true words: but they give no comfort; your heartis still dark, still full of doubt; you want God himself to speak toyour heart, and tell you that he is love. And you have no words topray with at last; you have used them all up; and you can only clinghumbly to God, and hold fast. One moment you feel like a poor slaveclinging to his stern master's arm, and entreating him not to killhim outright. The next you feel like a child clinging to its father, and entreating him to save him from some horrible monster which isgoing 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 asyou ought, know not what is good for you; dare ask for nothing, lestit should be the wrong thing. And the longer you struggle, theweaker you become, as Jacob did, till your very bones seem out ofjoint, your very heart broken within you, and life seems not worthhaving, or death either. 

Only hold fast by God. Only do not despair. Only be sure that Godcannot lie; be sure that he who cared for you from your birth hourcares for you still; that he who loved you enough to give his own Sonfor you hundreds of years before you were born, cannot but love youstill; do not despair, I say; and at last, when you are fallen so lowthat 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 voiceof God. Only hold fast, and let him not go until he bless you, andyou shall find with Jacob of old, that as a prince you have powerwith God and with man, and have prevailed. And so God will answeryou, as he answered Elijah, at first out of the whirlwind and theblinding storm: but at last, doubt it not, with the still smallvoice which cannot be mistaken, which no earthly ear can hear, butwhich is more precious to the broken heart than all which this worldgives, the peace which passes understanding, and yet is the surestand the only lasting peace. 

But what is the secret of this strange awful struggle? Can you or Ichange 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, andhis name is Love. 

Do not be afraid of him. If you do, you are not made perfect inlove; you have not yet learnt perfect the lesson of his great love toyou. But what is the secret of this struggle? Why has any poor soulto wrestle thus with God who made him, before he can get peace andhope? Why is the trouble sent him at all? It looks at first sight astrange sort of token of God's love, to bring the creatures whom hehas made into utter misery. 

My friends, these are deep questions. There are plenty of answersfor them ready written: but no answers like the Bible ones, whichtell us that 'whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth; that these sorrowscome on us, and heaviness, and manifold temptations, in order thatthe 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 isthe only answer but it does not explain the reason. It only gives ushope under it. We do not know that these dreadful troubles come fromGod. The Bible tells us 'that God tempts no man; that he does notafflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. ' The Bible speaksat times as if these dark troubles came from the devil himself; andas if God turned them into good for us by making them part of ourtraining, part of our education; and so making some devil's attemptto 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 leastthis is comfortable, that God will let no man be tempted beyond whathe is able: but will with the temptation make a way for us toescape, that we may be able to bear it. At least this iscomfortable, that our prayers are not needed to change God's will, because his will is already that we should be saved; because we areon his side in the battle against the devil, or the flesh, or theworld, 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 askadvice and orders and strength and courage from the great Captain ofour salvation; that we may fight his battle and ours aright and tothe end. And, my friends, if you be in trouble, if your heart bebrought low within you, remember, only remember, who the Captain ofour salvation is. Who but Jesus who died on the cross--Jesus who wasmade perfect by sufferings, Jesus who cried out, 'My God! my God! whyhast 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 heneeded in the days of his flesh, to make supplication to God hisFather with strong crying and tears, so do we. And if he was heardin that he feared, so, I trust, we shall be heard likewise. If heneeded to taste even the most horrible misery of all; to feel for amoment that God had forsaken him; surely we must expect, if we are tobe made like him, to have to drink at least one drop out of hisbitter cup. It is very wonderful: but yet it is full of hope andcomfort. Full of hope and comfort to be able, in our darkest andbitterest sorrow, to look up to heaven, and say, At least there isone who has been through all this. As Christ was, so are we in thisworld; and the disciple cannot be above his master. Yes, we are inthis world as he was, and he was once in this world as we are, he hasbeen through all this, and more. He knows all this and more. 'Wehave a High Priest above us who can be touched with the feeling ofour infirmities, because he has been tempted in all things like as weare. 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 beenthrough, how much he endured, how much he conquered, how much Godloved us, who spared not his only-begotten Son, but freely gave himfor us. Dare we doubt such a God? Dare we murmur against such aGod? Dare we lay the blame of our sorrows on such a God--our Father?No; let us believe the blessed message of our confirmation, whichtells us that it is his Fatherly hand which is ever over us, and thateven though that hand may seem heavy for awhile, it is the hand ofhim whose very being and substance is love, who made the world bylove, by love redeemed man, by love sustains him still. Though wewent down into hell, says David, he is there; though we took thewings 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 wellas through sunshine, through grief as well as through joy; let ushumble ourselves under that mighty hand, and it will exalt us in duetime. He knows, and must know, when that due time is, and, tillthen, 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 goodnews, and therefore with good news it begins, and with good news itends. 

But it is not so easy to believe. We want faith to believe; and thatfaith will be sometimes sorely tried. 

Yes; we want faith. As St. Paul says: 'Through faith we understandthat the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things whichare seen were not made of things which appear. '

No one can prove to us that God made the world; yet we must believeit; and what is more, we DO believe it, and are certain of it. Butall the proving and arguments in the world will not make us CERTAINthat God made the world; they will only make us feel that it isprobable, that it is reasonable to think so. What, then, does makeus CERTAIN that God made the world?--as certain as if we had seen himmake it? FAITH, which is stronger than all arguments. Faith, whichcomes down from heaven to our hearts, and is the gift of God. Faith, which is the light with which Jesus Christ lights us. Faith, whichcomes 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 andperfect good; and from good nothing can come but good: and thereforeall which God has made is good, as he is; and therefore if anythingin 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 willbring 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 allhis ways. 

Or else--If the thing be really bad, then God did not make it. Itmust be a disease, a mistake, a failure, of man's making, or someperson's making, but not of God's making. For all that he has madehe sees eternally; and behold, it is very good. 

Now, I can say that; and I believe it; and God grant I may never sayanything 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 mustbelieve it, before all is over), by something better than anyargument. By faith--faith, which speaks to the very core and root ofa man's heart and reason, and teaches him things surer and deeperthan all sermons and books, all proofs and arguments. 

May God, our Heavenly Father, fill our hearts with his Holy Spirit offaith, that we may believe utterly in his goodness, and thereforebelieve in the goodness of all that he has made. 

For at times we shall need that faith very much indeed, not onlyabout our neighbours, but about ourselves. We shall find it hard tobelieve that there is goodness in some of our neighbours; and thebetter we know ourselves, we shall find it very difficult to believethat 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 weever very good? Here is a great mystery. It would seem as if wemust have been very good if God made us. For God can make nothingbad. Surely not. For he who makes bad things is a bad maker; he whomakes bad houses is a bad builder; and he who makes bad men is a badmaker of men. But God cannot be a bad maker; for he is perfect andwithout fault in all his works. Yet men are bad. 

Yet, on the other hand, if God made us, and the Bible be true, theremust be good in us. When God said, Let that man be; when God firstthought 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 ownmind, else he would not have created us at all. But why were we notgood 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 havefailed? We do not know, and we need not know. St. Paul tells usthat it came by Adam's fall; that by Adam's fall sin entered into theworld, and each man, as he came into it, became sinful. How that waswe cannot understand--we need not understand. Let us believe, and besilent; but let us believe this also, that St. Paul speaks truth notin this only but in that blessed and glorious news with which hefollows up his sad and bad news. 'As by the offence of one, judgmentcame upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness ofone, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. '

Yes; we may say boldly now, Whatever has been; whatever sin Iinherited from Adam; however sinful I came into this world, God lookson me now, not as I am in Adam, but as I am in Christ. I am inChrist now, baptized into Christ, a new creature in Christ; to ChristI belong, and not to Adam at all; and God looks now, not on the oldcorrupt nature which I inherited from Adam, but on the new and goodgrace which God meant for me from all eternity, which Christ hasgiven me now. It is that good and new grace in me which God caresfor; it is that good and new grace which God is working on, tostrengthen and perfect it, that I may grow in grace, and in thelikeness of Christ, and become at last what God intended me to be, when he thought of me first before the foundation of all worlds, andsaid, 'Let us make man [not one man, but all men, male and female] inour image, after our likeness. '

This, again, is a great mystery. Yet our own hearts will tell us, ifwe 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 sodifferent at different times, that we seem to ourselves, and to ourneighbours, perhaps, to be two different people, according as we giveway to the better nature or to the worse? Even as David--one yearliving a heroic and noble life by faith in God, writing Psalms whichwill live to the world's end, and the next committing adultery andmurder. Were those two Davids the same David? Yes; and yet No. Thegood and noble David was David when he obeyed the grace of God. Thebase and foul David was David when he gave way to his fallen andcorrupt nature. 

Even so might we be. Even so, in a less degree, are we sometimes sounlike ourselves, so ashamed of ourselves, so torn asunder withpassions and lusts, delighting in God's law and all that is good inour hearts, and yet finding another law in us which makes us slavesat 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 bodyof this death?'

Who? Who but he of whom St. Paul tells us, gives the answer in thevery next verse, 'I thank God, that God himself will, through JesusChrist our Lord. '

Oh, my friends, whosoever of you have ever felt angry withyourselves, discontented with yourselves, ashamed of yourselves (andhe that has not felt so knows no more about himself than a dumbanimal does)--you that have felt so, listen to St. Paul's gloriousnews and take comfort. Do you wish to be right? Do you wish to bewhat God intended you to be before all worlds? Do you wish that ofyou the glorious words may come true, 'And God saw all that he hadmade, and behold it was very good?'

Then believe this. That all which is good in you God has made; andthat he will take care of what he has made, for he loves it; that allwhich is bad in you, God has NOT made, and therefore he will destroyit; for he hates all that he has not made, and will not suffer it inhis world; and that if you, your heart, your will, are enlisted onthe good side, if you are wishing and trying that the good nature inyou 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 beagainst you?' Before all worlds, from eternity itself, God said, 'Let us make man in our own likeness;' and nothing can hinder God'sword but the man himself. The word of God comes down, says theprophet, as the rain and the dew from heaven, and, like the rain anddew, returns not to him void, but prospers in the thing whereto hesends it; only if the ground be hard and barren, and determined tobring forth thorns and briars, rather than corn and fruit, is itcursed, and near to burning; and only if a man loves his fallennature better than the noble, just, loving, generous grace of God, and gives himself willingly up to the likeness of the beasts whichperish, can God's purpose towards him become of none effect. 

Take courage, then. If thou dislikest thy sins, so does God. Ifthou art fighting against thy worse feelings, so is God. On thy sideis God who made all, and Christ who died for all, and the Holy Spiritwho alone gives wisdom, purity, nobleness. How canst thou fail whenhe is on thy side? On thy side are all spirits of just men madeperfect, all wise and good souls and persons in earth and heaven, allgood and wholesome influences, whether of nature or of grace, ofmatter 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 bringtrue of thee the word of God--'And God saw all that he had made, andbehold it was very good. ' Believe, and endure to the end, and thoushalt be found in Christ at the last day; and, being in Christ, havethy share at last in the blessing which the Father pronounceseverlastingly on Christ, and on the members of Christ, 'This is mybeloved 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 shalltake thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day isthe evil thereof. 

Let me say a few words to you on this text. Be not anxious, it tellsyou. And why? Because you have to be prudent. In practice, fretting and anxiety help no man towards prudence. We must all be asprudent and industrious as we can; agreed. But does fretting make usthe least more prudent? Does anxiety make us the least moreindustrious? On the contrary, I know nothing which cripples a manmore, and hinders him working manfully, than anxiety. Look at theworst case of all--at a man who is melancholy, and fancies that allis going wrong with him, and that he must be ruined, and has a mindfull of all sorts of dark, hopeless, fancies. Does he work any themore, or try to escape one of these dangers which he fancies arehanging over him? So far from it, he gives himself up to themwithout a struggle; he sits moping, helpless, and useless, and says, 'There is no use in struggling. If it will come, it must come. ' Hehas lost spirit for work, and lost the mind for work, too. His mindis so full of these dark fears that he cannot turn it to laying anyprudent plan to escape from the very things which he dreads. 

And so, in a less degree, with people who fret and are anxious. Theymay be in a great bustle, but they do not get their work done. Theyrun hither and thither, trying this and that, but leaving everythinghalf done, to fly off to something else. Or else they spend timeunprofitably in dreaming, and expecting, and complaining, which mightbe spent profitably in working. And they are always apt to losetheir heads, and their tempers, just when they need them most; to doin their hurry the very last things which they ought to have done; totry so many roads that they choose the wrong road after all, frommere confusion, and run with open eyes into the very pit which theyhave been afraid of falling into. As we say here, they will go allthrough the wood to cut a straight stick, and bring out a crooked oneat last. My friends, even in a mere worldly way, the men whom I haveseen succeed best in life have always been cheerful and hopeful men, who went about their business with a smile on their faces, and tookthe changes and chances of this mortal life like men, facing roughand smooth alike as it came, and so found the truth of the oldproverb, that 'Good times, and bad times, and all times pass over. 'Of all men, perhaps, who have lived in our days, the most trulysuccessful was the great Duke of Wellington; and one thing, Ibelieve, which helped him most to become great, was that he was sowonderfully free from vain fretting and complaining, free fromuseless regrets about the past, from useless anxieties for thefuture. Though he had for years on his shoulders a responsibilitywhich might have well broken down the spirit of any man; though thelives of thousands of brave men, and the welfare of great kingdoms--ay, humanly speaking, the fate of all Europe--depended on his usinghis wisdom in the right place, and one mistake might have broughtruin and shame on him and on tens of thousands; yet no one ever sawhim anxious, confused, terrified. Though for many years he was muchtried and hampered, and unjustly and foolishly kept from doing hiswork 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 thereforehe succeeded in the most marvellous way. Solomon says, 'Better is hethat ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city. ' Now the GreatDuke had learnt in most things to rule his spirit, and therefore hewas able not only to take cities, but to do better still, to delivercities, --ay, and whole countries--out of the hand of armies often farstronger, humanly speaking, than his own. 

And for an example of what I mean I will tell you a story of himwhich I know to be true. Some one once asked him what his secret wasfor winning battles. And he said that he had no secret; that he didnot 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 thechances, and lay all possible plans beforehand: but from the momentthe battle began, he said, no mortal prudence was of use, and nomortal man could know what the end would be. A thousand newaccidents might spring up every hour, and scatter all his plaits tothe winds; and all that man could do was to comfort himself with thethought that he had done his best, and to trust in God. 

Now, my friends, learn a lesson from this, a lesson for the battle oflife, which every one of us has to fight from our cradle to ourgrave--the battle against misery, poverty, misfortune, sickness; thebattle against worse enemies even than they--the battle against ourown weak hearts, and the sins which so easily beset us againstlaziness, dishonesty, profligacy, bad tempers, hard-heartedness, deserved disgrace, the contempt of our neighbours, and justpunishment from Almighty God. Take a lesson, I say, from the GreatDuke for the battle of life. Be not fretful and anxious about themorrow. Face things like men; count the chances like men; lay yourplans like men: but remember, like men, that a fresh chance may anymoment spoil all your plans; remember that there are thousand dangersround you from which your prudence cannot save you. Do your best;and then like the Great Duke, comfort yourselves with the thoughtthat you have done your best; and like him, trust in God. Rememberthat God is really and in very truth your Father, and that withouthim not a sparrow falls to the ground; and are ye not of more valuethan many sparrows, O ye of little faith? Remember that he knowswhat you have need of before you ask him; that he gives you all daylong of his own free generosity a thousand things for which you neverdream of asking him; and believe that in all the chances and changesof this life, in bad luck as well as in good, in failure as well assuccess, 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 ourignorance, and our natural dread of what is unpleasant, should neverdream of asking him for: but which are good for us nevertheless;like him from whom they come, the Father of lights, from whom comesevery good and perfect gift; who is neither neglectful, capricious, or spiteful, for in him is neither variableness, nor shadow ofturning, but who is always loving unto every man, and his mercy isover all his works. 

Bear this in mind, my friends, in all the troubles of life--that youhave a Father in heaven who knows what you have need of before youask him, and your infirmity in asking, and who is wont--is regularlyaccustomed all day long--to give you more than either you desire ordeserve. And bear it in mind even more carefully, if you ever becomeanxious and troubled about your own soul, and the life to come. 

Many people are troubled with such anxieties, and are continuallyasking, 'Shall I be saved or not?' In some this anxiety comes frombad teaching, and the hearing of false, cruel, and superstitiousdoctrine. In others it seems to be mere bodily disease, constitutional weakness and fearfulness, which prevents theirfighting against dark and sad thoughts when they arise; but in bothcases I think that it is the devil himself who tempts them, the devilhimself who takes advantage of their bodily weakness, or of the falsedoctrines which they have heard, and begins whispering in their ears, 'You have no Father in heaven. God does not love you. His promisesare not meant for you. He does not will your salvation, but yourdamnation, and there is no hope for you;' till the poor soul fallsinto what is called religious melancholy, and moping madness, anddespair, and dread of the devil; and often believes that the devilhas got complete power over him, and that he is the slave of Satanfor ever, till, in some cases, the man is even driven to kill himselfin the agony of his despair. 

Now, my friends, the true answer to all such dark thoughts is, 'YourHeavenly Father knows what you have need of before you ask him;therefore be not anxious about the morrow, for the morrow shall takecare for the things of itself; sufficient for the day is the evilthereof. '

For in the first place, my friends, the devil was a liar from thebeginning, and therefore the chances are a million to one against hisspeaking the truth in any case; and if he tells you that you aregoing to be damned, I should take that for a fair sign that you wereNOT going to be damned, simply because the devil says it, andtherefore it CANNOT be true. No, my friends, the people who havereal reason to be afraid are just those who are not afraid--the self-conceited, self-satisfied souls; for the devil attacks them too, ashe does every one, by their weakest point, and has his lie ready forthem, and whispers, 'You are all right; you are safe; you cannotfall; your salvation is sure. ' Or else, 'You hold the rightdoctrine; you are orthodox, and perfectly right, and whoever differsfrom you must be wrong;' and so tempts them to vain confidence andunclean living, or else into pride, hardness of heart, self-willedand self-conceited quarrelling and slandering and lying for the sakeof their own party in the Church. It is the self-confident ones whohave reason to fear and tremble; for after pride comes a fall. Theyhave reason to fear, lest while they are crying peace and safety, andthanking God that they are not as other men are, sudden destructioncome on them; but you anxious, trembling souls, who are terrified atthe sight of your own sins you who feel how weak you are, andignorant, and confused, and unworthy to do aught but cry, 'God bemerciful to me a sinner!' you are the very ones who have least reasonto be afraid, just because you are most afraid: you are the truepenitents over whom your Father in heaven rejoices; you are those ofwhom he has said, 'I am the High and Holy One who inhabitetheternity; yet I dwell with him that is of an humble and contriteheart, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to comfort the soul ofthe contrite ones;' as he will revive and comfort you, if you willonly have faith in God, and take your stand on your baptism, and fromthat safe ground defy the devil and all his dark imaginations, saying, 'I am God's child, and God is my father, and Christ's bloodwas shed for me, and the Holy Spirit of God is with me; and in thestrength of my baptism, I will hope against hope; I trust in the Lordmy God, who has called me into this state of salvation, that he willkeep to the end the soul which I have committed to him through JesusChrist my Lord. '

Yes. Be not anxious for the morrow, and much more, be not anxiousfor the life to come. Your Heavenly Father knew that you had need ofsalvation long before you asked him. Eighteen hundred years beforeyou were born, he sent his Son into the world to die for you; whenyou were but an infant he called you to be baptized into his Church, and receive your share of his Spirit. Long before you thought ofhim, he thought of you; long before you loved him, he loved you; andif he so loved you, that he spared not his only begotten Son, butfreely gave him for you, will he not with that Son freely give youall things? Therefore, fear not, little flock; it is your Father'sgood pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

And be not anxious about the morrow; for the morrow shall be anxiousabout the things of itself. Be anxious about to-day, if you will;and 'work out your salvation with fear and trembling;' for it is Godwho works in you to will and to do of his good pleasure; andtherefore you can do right; and therefore, again, it is your ownfault if you do not do right. And yet, for that very reason, be notover anxious; for 'if God be with you, who can be against you?' IfGod, who is so mighty that he made all heaven and earth, be on ourside, surely stronger is he that is with you than he that is againstyou. If God, who so loved you that he gave his only begotten Son foryou, 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'slove, which is as boundless and eternal as God himself; nothing canpart you from it, but your own sin. 

'But I do sin, ' you say, 'again and again, and that is what makes mefearful. I try to do better, but I fall and I fail all day long. Itry not to be covetous and worldly, but poverty tempts me, and Ifall; I try to keep my temper, but people upset me, and I say thingsof which I am bitterly ashamed the next minute. Can God love such aone as me?' My answer is, If God loved the whole world when it wasdead in trespasses and sins, and NOT trying to be better, much morewill he love you who are not dead in trespasses and sins, and aretrying to be better. If he were not still helping you; if his Spiritwere not with you, you would care no more to become better than a dogor an ox cares. And if you fall--why, arise again. Get up, and goon. You may be sorely bruised, and soiled with your fall, but isthat any reason for lying still, and giving up the struggle cowardly?In the name of Jesus Christ, arise and walk. He will wash you, andyou 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 inthe dark, but to fall and bruise himself, and to miss his way toomany a time: but is that any reason for his sitting down in themiddle of the moor, and saying, 'I shall never get to my journey'send?' What else can a soldier expect, but wounds, and defeat, too, often; but is that any reason for his running away, and crying, 'Weshall never take the place?' If our brave men at Sebastopol had doneso, and lost heart each time they were beaten back, not only wouldthey have never taken the place, but the Russians would have driventhem long ago into the sea, and perhaps not a man of them would haveescaped. And, be sure of it, your battle is like theirs. Every oneof us has to fight for the everlasting life of his soul against allthe 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 facethem. As with our men at Sebastopol, unless we beat the enemy, theenemy will destroy us; and our only hope is to fight to-day's battlelike men, in the strength which God gives us, and trust him to giveus strength to fight to-morrow's battle too, when it comes. For hereagain, as it was at Sebastopol, so it is with our souls. Let our menbe as prudent as they might, they never knew what to-morrow's battlewould be like, or where the enemy might come upon them; and no moredo we. They in general could not see the very enemy who was close onthem; 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 wemay be tempted to be dishonest, to-morrow to lose our tempers, theday afterwards to be vain and conceited, and a hundred other things. Let the morrow be anxious about the things of itself, then; and faceto-day's enemy, and do the duty which lies nearest you. Our bravemen did so. They kept themselves watchful, and took all theprecautions they could in a general way, just as we ought to do eachin his own habits and temper; but the great business was, to gosteadily on at their work, and do each day what they could do, instead of giving way to vain fears and fancies about what they mighthave to do some day, which would have only put them out of heart, andconfused and distracted them. And so it came to pass, that as theirday so their strength was; that each day they got forward somewhat, and had strength and courage left besides to drive back each newassault as it came; and so at last, after many mistakes and manyfailures, through sickness and weakness, thirst and hunger, and everymisery 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'sbanner against sin; against the sin in himself, and in hisneighbours, and in his parish, and faces the devil and his workswheresoever he may meet them, sure that the devil and his works mustbe conquered at the last, because God's wrath is gone out againstthem, and Christ, who executes God's wrath, will never sheath hissword till he has put all enemies under his feet, and death beswallowed up in victory. 

Therefore be not anxious about the morrow. Do to-day's duty, fightto-day's temptation; and do not weaken and distract yourself bylooking forward to things which you cannot see, and could notunderstand if you saw them. Enough for you that your Saviour forwhom you fight is just and merciful; for he rewardeth every manaccording to his work. Enough for you that he has said, 'He that isfaithful unto death, I will give him a crown of life. ' Enough foryou that if you be faithful over a few things, he will make you rulerover many things, and bring you into his joy for evermore. 

But as for vain fears, leave them to those who will not believe God'smessage concerning himself--that he is love, and his mercy over allhis works. Leave them for those who deny God's righteousness, bydenying that he has had pity on this poor fallen world, but has leftit to itself and its sins, without sending any one to save it. Andfor real fears, leave them for those who have no fears; for those whothink they see, and yet are blind; who think themselves orthodox andinfallible, and beyond making a mistake, every man his own Pope; whosay that they see, and therefore their sin remaineth; for those whothank God that they are not as other men are, and who will find thepublicans and harlots entering into the kingdom of heaven beforethem; and for those who continue in sin that grace may abound, andcall themselves Christians, while they bring shame on the name ofChrist by their own evil lives, by their worldliness and profligacy, or by their bitterness and quarrelsomeness; who make religiousprofession a by-word and a mockery in the mouths of the ungodly, andcause Christ's little ones to stumble. Let them be afraid, if theywill; for it were better for them that a millstone were hanged abouttheir neck, and they were drowned in the midst of the sea. But thosewho hate their sins, and long to leave their sins behind; those whodistrust themselves--let them not be anxious about the morrow; forto-morrow, and to-day, and for ever, the Almighty Father is watchingover them, the Lord Jesus guiding them wisely and tenderly, and theHoly Spirit inspiring them more and more to do all those good workswhich God has prepared for them to walk in, and to conquer in thelife-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 thykingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-dayshalt thou be with me in paradise. 

The story of the penitent thief is a most beautiful and affectingone. Christians' hearts, in all times, have clung to it for comfort, not only for themselves, but for those whom they loved. Indeed, somepeople think that we are likely to be too fond of the story. Theyhave been afraid lest people should build too much on it; lest theyshould fancy that it gives them licence to sin, and lead bad lives, all their days, provided only they repent at last; lest it shouldcountenance too much what is called a death-bed repentance. 

Now, God forbid that I should try to narrow Christ's Gospel. Who amI, to settle who shall be saved, and who shall not? When thedisciples asked the Lord Jesus, 'Are there few that be saved?' hewould not tell them. And what Christ did not choose to tell, I amnot likely to know. 

But I must say openly, that I cannot see what the story of thepenitent thief has to do with a death-bed repentance; and for thisplain reason, that the penitent thief did not die in his bed. 

On the contrary, he received the due reward of his deeds. He wascrucified; publicly executed, by the most shameful, painful, andlingering torture; and confessed that it was no more than hedeserved. 

Therefore, if any man say to himself--and I am afraid that some dosay to themselves--'I know I am leading a bad life; and I have nomind to mend it yet; the penitent thief repented at the last, and wasforgiven; so I dare say that I shall be;' one has a right to answerhim--'Very well; but you must first put yourself in the penitentthief's place. Are you willing to be hanged, or worse than hanged, as a punishment for your sins in this world? For, till then, thepenitent 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 ofrepenting at last, and 'making my peace with God, ' he is not like thepenitent 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 hisnephew, and committing a thousand follies and cruelties. Whether hisdeath-bed repentance, purposely put off in order to give him time tosin, was of any use to him, let your own consciences judge. 

Has, then, this story of the penitent thief no comfort for us? Godforbid! 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 whichhaunted the mountains of Judea in those days, as they used in oldtimes to haunt the forests in England, and as they do now in Italyand Spain, and other waste and wild countries. Some of these robberswould, of course, be shameless and hardened ruffians; as that robberseems to have been who insulted our Lord upon the very cross. Othersamong them would not be lost to all sense of good. Young men who gotinto trouble ran away from home, and joined these robber-bands, andfound pleasure in the wild and dangerous life. 

There is a beautiful story told of such a young robber in the life ofthe blessed Apostle St. John. A young man at Ephesus who had becomea Christian, and of whom St. John was very fond, got into troublewhile St. John was away, and had to flee for his life into themountains. There he joined a band of robbers, and was so daring anddesperate that they soon chose him as their captain. St. John cameback, and found the poor lad gone. St. John had stood at the foot ofthe 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 friendsthat he would be murdered, and that this young man was the mostdesperate and bloodthirsty of all the robbers. At last he found theyoung 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 aharsh word to him, but only crying after him, 'My son, my son, comeback 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 himso, that the poor fellow burst into tears, and let St. John lead himaway; and so that blessed St. John went down again to Ephesus in joyand triumph, bringing his lost lamb with him. 

Now, such a man one can well believe this penitent thief to havebeen. A man who, however bad he had been, had never lost the feelingthat he was meant for better things; whose conscience had never diedout in him. He may have been such a man. He MUST have been such aman. For such faith as he showed on the cross does not grow up in anhour or a day. I do not mean the feeling that he deserved hispunishment (that might come to a man very suddenly) but the feelingthat Christ was the Lord, and the King of the Jews. He must havebought 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. Buthe could not have done that without the Holy Spirit of God. It wasthe Holy Spirit striving with his sinful heart, which convinced himof Christ's righteousness. But the Holy Spirit would have convincedhim, too, of his own sin. The more he admired our Lord, the more hemust have despised himself for being unlike our Lord; and, doubt itnot, he had passed many bitter hours, perhaps bitter years, seeingwhat was right, and yet doing what was wrong from bad habits or badcompany, before he came to his end upon the gallows-tree. And therewhile he hung in torture on the cross, the whole truth came to him atlast. God's Spirit shone truly on him at last, and divided the lightfrom the darkness in his poor wretched heart. All the good which hadbeen in him came out once and for all. Christ's light had beenshining in the darkness of his heart, and the darkness had beentrying to take it in, and close over it, but it could not; and nowthe light had conquered the darkness, and all was clear to him atlast. He never despised himself so much, he never admired Christ somuch, as when they hung side by side in the same condemnation. Sideby side they hung, scorned alike, crucified alike, seemingly comealike to open shame and ruin. And yet he could see that though hedeserved all his misery, that the man who hung by him not only didnot deserve it, but was his Lord, the Lord, the King of the Jews, andthat--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 cantell; the Spirit of God taught him, the Spirit of God alone, to seein that crucified man the Lord of glory, and to cast himself humblybefore his love and power, in hope that there might be mercy even forhim--'Lord, remember me when thou comest to thy kingdom. ' There wasfaith indeed, and humility indeed; royal faith and royal humilitycoming out in that dying robber. And so, if you ask--How was thatrobber justified by his works? How could his going into Paradise bethe receiving of the due reward of the deeds done in his body whetherthey be good or evil. I say he WAS justified by his works. He DIDreceive the due reward of his deeds. One great and noble deed, eventhat saying of his in his dying agony, --that showed that whatever hisheart had been, it was now right with God. He could not only confessGod's justice against sin in his own punishment, but he could seeGod's beauty, God's glory, yea, God himself in that man who hung byhim, helpless like himself, scourged like himself, crucified likehimself, like himself a scorn to men. He could know that Christ wasChrist, even on the cross, and know that Christ would conquer yet, and come to his kingdom. That was indeed a faith in the merits ofChrist 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, comfortabledeath after all, and get to heaven by having in a clergyman to readand pray a little with us; and saying a few words of formalrepentance, when perhaps our body and our mind are so worn out anddulled 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 togive us comfort about our own souls; but we shall think of it andlove it, to give us comfort about the souls of many a man or womanfor whom we care. 

How many men there are who are going wrong, very wrong; and yet whomwe 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 choosethe worse. Perhaps, a real shame and sorrow when they have brokenout and done wrong; and even though we know that they will go and dowrong again, we cannot help liking them, cannot give them up. Thenlet us believe that God will not give them up, any more than he gaveup 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 putit into them, as he did into the penitent thief; and let us hope (wecannot of course be certain, but we may hope) that God will take careof it, and make it conquer, as he did in the penitent thief. Let ushope that God's light will conquer their darkness; God's strengthconquer their weakness; God's peace, their violence; God's heavenlygrace their earthly passions. Let us hope for them, I say. 

When we hear, as we often hear, people say, 'What a noble-hearted manthat is after all, and yet he is going to the devil!' let us rememberthe penitent thief and have hope. Who would have seemed to have goneto the devil more hopelessly than that poor thief when he hung uponthe cross? And yet the devil did not have him. There was in him aseed of good, and of eternal life, which the devil had not trampledout; and that seed flowered and bore fruit upon the very cross innoble thoughts and words and deeds. Why may it not be so withothers? True, they may receive the due reward of their deeds. Theymay end in shame and misery, like the penitent thief. Perhaps it maybe good for them to do so. If a man will sow the wind, it may begood for him to reap the whirlwind, and so find out that sowing thewind will not prosper. The penitent thief did so. As the proverbis, he sowed the gallows-acorn, poor wretch, and he reaped thegallows-tree; but that gallows-tree taught him to confess God'sjustice, and his own sin, and so it may teach others. 

Yes, let us hope; and when we see some one whom we love, and cannothelp loving, bringing misery on himself by his own folly, let us hopeand pray that the day may come to him when, in the midst of hismisery, all that better nature in him shall come out once and forall, and he shall cry out of the deep to Christ, 'I only receive thedue reward of my deeds; I have earned my shame; I have earned mysorrow. Lord, I have deserved it all. I look back on wasted timeand wasted powers. I look round on ruined health, ruined fortune, ruined hopes, and confess that I deserve it all. But thou hastendured more than this for me, though thou hast deserved nothing, andhast done nothing amiss. Thou hast done nothing amiss by me. Thouhast 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 thouhast been crucified; and me thou hast been trying to seek and to saveall through the years of my vanity. Perhaps I have not wearied outthy love; perhaps I have not conquered thy patience. I will take theblessed chance. I will still cast myself upon thy love. Lord, Ihave deserved all my misery; yet, Lord, remember me when thou comestinto thy kingdom. 

Oh, my friends, let us hope that that prayer will go up, even out ofthe wildest heart, in God's good time; and that it will not go up invain. 

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. Paultells us in this chapter, very plainly and at length, what sort oftemper he means; and how it showed itself in Christ; and how it oughtto 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 strifeor vain-glory: but in lowliness of mind let each esteem othersbetter than himself. Look not every man on his own things, but everyman also on the things of others. '

First, be like-minded, having the same love. Men cannot all be ofexactly the same opinion on every point, simply because theircharacters are different; and the old proverb, 'Many men, manyminds, ' will stand true in one sense to the end of the world. But inanother sense it need not. People may differ in little matters ofopinion, without hating and despising, and speaking ill of each otheron these points; they may agree to differ, and yet keep the same lovetoward God and toward each other; they may keep up a kindly feelingtoward each other; and they will do so, if they have in their heartsthe 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 tohelp them, then we shall have no heart to quarrel--indeed, we shallhave no time to quarrel--about HOW the good is to be done, providedIT 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 thyname, and he followeth not us: wilt thou therefore that we forbidhim?'

And Jesus said, 'Forbid him NOT. '

'Forbid him not, ' said Jesus himself. He that hath ears to hear hisSaviour's words, let him hear. 

'Therefore, ' St. Paul says, 'let nothing be done through strife orvain-glory. ' It is a very sad thing to think that the human heart isso corrupt, that we should be tempted to do good, and to show ourpiety, 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 makeourselves out better and more reverent than our neighbours, too oftencreep into our prayers and our worship, and turn our feasts ofcharity into feasts of uncharitableness, vanity, ambition. 

So it was in St. Paul's time. Some, he says, preached Christ out ofcontention, hoping to add affliction to his bonds. Not that he hatedthem for it, or tried to stop them. Any way, he said, Christ waspreached, whether out of party-spirit against him, or out of love toChrist; any way Christ was preached: and he would and did rejoice inthat thought. Again I say, 'He that hath ears to hear, let himhear. '

'Esteem others better than ourselves?' God forgive us! which of usdoes that? Is not one's first feeling not 'Others are better thanme, ' 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 buttake St. Paul's advice, and be humble; if we would take more forgranted that our neighbours have common sense as well as we, experience as well as we, the wish to do right as well as we--andperhaps more than we have; and therefore listen HUMBLY (that is St. Paul's word, bitter though it may be to our carnal pride), listenhumbly to every one who is in earnest, or speaks of what he knows andfeels! People are better than we fancy, and have more in them thanwe fancy; and if they do not show that they have, it is three timesout of four our own fault. Instead of esteeming them better thanourselves, 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 noencouragement to speak, often no time to speak; and so they aresilent and think the more, and remain shut up in themselves, andoften pass for stupider people and worse people than they really are. Because we will not begin by doing justice to our neighbours, weprevent them doing justice to themselves. 

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on thethings of others. Ah, my friends, if we could but do that heartilyand always, what a different world it would be, and what differentpeople we should be! If, instead of saying to ourselves, as one isso apt to do, 'Will this suit my interest? will this help me?' wewould recollect to say too, 'Will this suit my neighbours' interest?Will this harm my neighbours, though it may help me? For if it hurtsthem, 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 andcourteously think more of what other people like; what will pleasethem, instruct them, comfort them, soften for them the cares of life, and lighten the burden of mortality--how much happier would not onlythey be, but we also!

For this, my friends, is the very likeness of Christ, who pleased nothimself; the very likeness of Christ, who sacrificed himself. 

And for this very reason St. Paul puts it the last of all hisadvices, because it is the greatest; the summing up of all; thefulfilment of the whole law, which says, 'Thou shalt love thyneighbour as thyself;' and therefore after it he can give no moreadvice, for there is none better left to give: but he goes on atonce to speak of Christ, who fulfilled that whole law of love, andmore than fulfilled it; for instead of merely loving his neighboursAS he loved himself (which is all God asks of us), Christ loved hisenemies better than himself, and died for them. 

So says St. Paul. --'Look not every man on his own things, but onother people's interest and comfort also. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. ' What mind? The mind which looksnot merely on its own things, its own interest, its own reputation, its own opinions, likes, and dislikes, but on those of others, andhas learnt to live and let live. 

Yes, this, he says, is the mind of Christ. And this mind, andspirit, and temper, he showed before all heaven and earth, when, though he was in the form of God, and therefore, (as some interpretthe text) would have done no robbery, no injustice, by remaining forever equal with God (that is, in the co-equal and co-eternal glorywhich he had with the Father), yet made himself of no reputation, andtook on him the form of a slave, and was obedient to death, even thedeath of the cross. 

My friends, I beseech you, young and old, rich and poor, remember thefull meaning of these glorious words, and of those which follow them. 

'Wherefore God hath highly exalted him. ' Why? What was it in Christwhich was so precious, so glorious, in the eyes of the AlmightyFather, that no reward seemed too great for him? What but this veryspirit of fellow-feeling and tenderness, charity, self-sacrifice--even the Holy Spirit of God himself, with which Christ was filledwithout measure?

Because Christ utterly and perfectly looked not on his own things, but on the things of others: because he was pity itself, patienceitself, love itself, in the soul and body of a human being; thereforehis Father declared of him, 'This, this is my well-beloved Son, inwhom I am well pleased. ' Therefore it was that he highly exaltedhim; therefore it was that he proclaimed him to be worthy of allhonour and worship, the most perfect, lovely, admirable, and adorableof all beings in heaven and earth; not merely because he showedhimself 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 veryGod of very God begotten, whom men and angels could not reverence, admire, adore, imitate too much, but were to see in him theperfection of all beauty, all virtue, all greatness, the likeness ofhis Father's glory, and the express image of his person. 

And therefore it is a very good and beautiful old custom to bow whenthe name of Jesus is mentioned; at least, when it is mentioned forthe first time, or under any very solemn circumstances. It helps toremind us that he is really our King and Lord. It helps, too, toremind 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 willingto say for myself that whenever I recollect that he is looking at me(alas! that is not a hundredth part often enough), I cannot helpbowing almost without any will of my own. But, remember, there is nocommandment for it. It is just one of those things on which aChristian is free to do what he likes, and for which every Christianis 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 thatobserveth it not, to the Lord he observeth it not. Who art thou thatjudgest another? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, andhe shall stand, for God is able to make him stand. Beside, the textsays, if we are to take it literally, as we always ought withScripture, not that every HEAD shall bow at the name of Jesus, butevery knee. And to kneel down every time we repeat that holy namewould be impossible. While, on the other hand, we DO bow our knees, literally and in earnest, at the name of Jesus every time we kneeldown in church, every time we kneel down to say our prayers. And ifany man is content with that, no one has the least right to blamehim. 

Besides, my friends, there is, I know too well, a great danger inmaking too much of these little outward ceremonies, especially withchildren and young people. For the heart of man is just as fond asit ever was of idolatry, and superstition, and will-worship, andvoluntary 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 maketoo much of these ceremonies, harmless and even good as many of themmay be, of getting to rest in them, and thinking that God is pleasedwith them themselves. Whereas, what God looks at is the heart, thespirit, 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 visibleform, that we forget the inward and spiritual grace, for which itought to stand, then we lay a snare for our own souls to turn themaway from the worship of the living God, and break the secondcommandment. Much more, if we pride ourselves on being more reverentthan our neighbours in these outward forms, and look down on, andgrudge at, those who do not practise them; for then we turn ourhumility into pride, and our reverence to Christ into an insult tohim; for the true way to honour Christ is to copy Christ. No onereally 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 awayChrist's little ones, and wound the consciences of weak brethren byinsisting on things against which they have a prejudice, is to runexactly counter to Christ and the mind of Christ, and to be more likethe Pharisees than the Lord Jesus. That is not surely esteemingothers better than ourselves: that is not surely looking not merelyon our own things, but also on the things of others; that is notfulfilling 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, ' hesays, 'are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient. ' 'Ay, 'says he, 'I would eat no meat while the world standeth, if it causemy brother to offend. '

No, my dear friends, let us rather, in this coming Passion week, takethe lesson which the services of the Church give us in this Epistle. Let us keep Passion week really and in spirit, by remembering that itmeans the week of suffering, in which Christ, instead of pleasinghimself, conquered himself, and gave up himself, and let wicked mendo with him whatsoever they would. Let us honour the holy name ofJesus in spirit and in truth, and bend not merely our necks or ourknees, when we hear his name, but bend those stiff necks of oursouls, and those stubborn knees of our hearts; let us conquer ourself-will, self-opinion, self-conceit, self-interest, and take hisyoke upon us, for he is meek and lowly of heart. This is the Passionweek which he has chosen;--to distrust ourselves, and our ownopinions, likings and fancies. This is the repentance, and this isthe humiliation which he has chosen;--to entreat him (now and atonce, lest by pride we give place to the devil, and fall while wethink we stand) to forgive us every hard, and proud, and conceited, and self-willed thought, and word, and deed, to which we have givenway since we were born; to pray to him for really new hearts, reallytender hearts, really humble hearts, really broken and contritehearts; to look at his beautiful tenderness, patience, sympathy, understanding, generosity, self-sacrifice; and then to look atourselves, and be shocked, and ashamed, and confounded, at thedifference between ourselves and him; and so really to honour thename 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 judgeme; 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 aneasy yoke and a light burden; you will find yourselves happier, yourduty simpler, your prospects clearer, your path through lifesmoother, your character higher and more amiable in the eyes of all, and you yourselves holy and fit to share on Easter day in theprecious body and blood of him who gave himself up to death that hemight draw all men to himself; and so draw them all to each other, aschildren of one common Father, and brothers of Jesus Christ yourLord. 

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, manypublicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples:for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes andPharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners they said onto hisdisciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans andsinners?

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 wesaw 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. Weshould be inclined to say, as the scribes and Pharisees no doubtsaid, Why go out of his way to make fellowship with them? to eat anddrink with them? He might have taught them, preached to them, warnedthem of God's wrath against their sins when he could find them out inthe street. Or, even if he could not do that, if he could not findthem all together without going into their house, why sit down andeat and drink? Why not say, No--I am not going to join with you inthat? I am come on a much more solemn and important errand thaneating. I have no time to eat. I must preach to you, ere it be toolate. And you would have no appetite to eat, if you knew theterrible danger in which your souls are. Besides, however anxiousfor your souls I am, you cannot expect me to treat you as friends, tomake companions of you, and accept your hospitality, while you areliving 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 leadvery different lives. 

Now if the scribes and Pharisees had said that, should we havethought them very unreasonable? For whatsoever kinds of sinners thesinners were, these publicans were the very worst and lowest ofcompany. They were not innkeepers, as the word means now; they werea kind of tax-gatherers: but not like ours in England. For first, these taxes were not taken by the Jewish government, but by theRomans--heathen foreigners who had conquered them, and kept them downby soldiery quartered in their country. So that these publicans, whogathered taxes and tribute for the heathen Caesar of Rome from theirown countrymen, were traitors to their country, in league with theirforeign tyrants, as it were devouring their own flesh and blood; andall the Jews looked on them (and really no wonder) with hatred andcontempt. Beside, these publicans did not merely gather the taxes, as they do in free England; they farmed them, compounded for themwith the Roman emperor; that is, they had each to bring in to theRomans a stated sum of money, each out of his own district, and tomake their own profit out of the bargain by grinding out of the poorJews all they could over and above; and most probably calling in thesoldiery 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 pettyextortion, cruelty, and meanness; and, no doubt, these publicans weredevourers of the poor, and as unjust and hard-hearted men as onecould be. As for those 'sinners' who are so often mentioned withthem, I suppose this is what the word means. These publicans makingtheir money ill, spent it ill also, in a low profligate way, with theworst of women and of men. Moreover, all the other Jews shunnedthem, and would not eat or keep company with them; so they hung alltogether, and made company for themselves with bad people, who werefallen too low to be ashamed of them. The publicans and harlots areoften mentioned together; and, I doubt not, they were often eatingand drinking together, God help them!

And God did help them. The Son of God came and ate and drank withthem. No doubt, he heard many words among them which pained hisears, saw many faces which shocked his eyes; faces of women who hadlost all shame; faces of men hardened by cruelty, and greediness, andcunning, till God's image had been changed into the likeness of thefox and the serpent; and, worst of all, the greatest pain to him ofall, he could see into their hearts, their immortal souls, and seeall the foulness within them, all the meanness, all the hardness, allthe unbelief in anything good or true. And yet he ate and drank withthem. Make merry with them he could not: who could be merry in suchcompany? but he certainly so behaved to them that they were glad tohave him among them, though he was so unlike them in thought, andword, and look, and action. 

And why? Because, though he was so unlike them in many things, hewas like them at least in one thing. If he could do nothing else incommon with them, he could at least eat and drink as they did, andeat and drink with them too. Yes. He was the Son of man, the man ofall men, and what he wanted to make them understand was, that, fallenas low as they were, they were men and women still, who were made atfirst in God's likeness, and who could be redeemed back into God'slikeness again. 

The only way to do that was to begin with them in the very simplestway; 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, simplybecause they were men and women, he could not turn his back uponthem, for the sake of his Father and their Father in heaven. If hehad left those poor wretches to themselves; if he had even merelykept apart from their common every-day life, and preached to them, they would never have felt that there was still hope for them, simplybecause they were men and women. They would have said in theirhearts, 'See; he will talk to us: but he looks down on us all thetime. We are fallen so low, we cannot rise; we cannot mend. What isthere in us that can mend? We are nothing but brutes, perhaps; thenbrutes we must remain. Heaven is for people like him, perhaps; butnot for such as us. We are cut off from men. We have no brothersupon 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 toooften now, here in Christian England. 

But when our Lord came to them, ate and drank with them, talked withthem in a homely and simple way (for our Lord's words are alwayssimple and homely, grand and deep and wonderful as they are), then doyou not see how SELF-RESPECT would begin to rise in those poorsinners' hearts? Not that they would say, 'We are better men than wethought we were. ' No; perhaps his kindness would make them all themore ashamed of themselves, and convince them of sin all the moredeeply; for nothing, nothing melts the sinner's hard, proud heart, like a few unexpected words of kindness--ay, even a cordial shake ofthe hand from any one who he fancies looks down on him. To find aloving brother, where he expected only a threatening schoolmaster--that breaks the sinner's heart; and most of all when he finds thatbrother in Jesus his Saviour. That--the sight of God's boundlesslove to sinners, as it is revealed in the loving face of Jesus Christour Lord--that, and that alone, breeds in the sinner the broken andthe contrite heart which is in the sight of God of great price. Andso, those publicans and sinners would not have begun to say, We arebetter than we thought: but, We can become better than we thought. He must see something in us which makes him care for us. Perhaps Godmay see something in us to care for. He does not turn his back onus. Perhaps God may not. He must have some hope of us. May we nothave hope of ourselves? Surely there is a chance for us yet. Oh! ifthere were! We are miserable now in the midst of our drunkenness, and our covetousness, and our riotous pleasures. We are ashamed ofourselves: and our countrymen are ashamed of us: and though we tryto brazen it off by impudence, we carry heavy hearts under boldforeheads. Oh, that we could be different! Oh, that we could beeven like what we were when we were little children! Perhaps we maybe yet. For he treats us as if we were men and women still, hisbrothers and sisters still. He thinks that we are not quite bruteanimals yet, it seems. Perhaps we are not; perhaps there is life inus yet, which may grow up to a new and better way of living. Whatshall we do to be saved?

O blessed charity, bond of peace and of all virtues; of brotherhoodand fellow-feeling between man and man, as children of one commonFather. Ay, bond of all virtues--of generosity and of justice, ofcounsel and of understanding. Charity, unknown on earth before thecoming of the Son of man, who was content to be called gluttonous anda wine-bibber, because he was the friend of publicans and sinners!

My friends, let us try to follow his steps; let us remember all daylong what it is to be MEN; that it is to have every one whom we meetfor our brother in the sight of God; that it is this, never to meetany one, however bad he may be, for whom we cannot say, 'Christ diedfor that man, and Christ cares for him still. He is precious inGod's eyes; he shall be precious in mine also. ' Let us take thecounsel of the Gospel for this day, and love one another, not in wordmerely--in doctrine, but in deed and in truth, really and actually;in our every-day lives and behaviour, words, looks--in all of themlet us be cordial, feeling, pitiful, patient, courteous. Masterswith your workmen, teachers with your pupils, parents with yourchildren, be cordial, and kind, and patient; respect every one, whether below you or not in the world's eyes. Never do a thing toany human being which may lessen his self-respect; which may make himthink that you look down upon him, and so make him look down uponhimself in awkwardness and shyness; or else may make him start offfrom you, angry and proud, saying, 'I am as good as you; and if youkeep apart from me, I will from you; if you can do without me, I cando 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 theother; do not let us make any one fancy that he can, and tempt him towrap himself up in pride and surliness, cutting himself off from thecommunion 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 drankwith publicans and sinners, never cast them off, never trample onthem, never turn your back upon them. They are miserable enoughalready, doubt it not. Do not add one drop to their cup ofbitterness. They are ashamed of themselves already, doubt it not. Do not you destroy in them what small grain of self-respect stillremains. You fancy they are not so. They seem to you brazen-faced, proud, impenitent. So did the publicans and harlots seem to thoseproud, blind Pharisees. Those pompous, self-righteous fools did notknow what terrible struggles were going on in those poor sin-tormented hearts. Their pride had blinded them, while they weresaying all along, 'It is we alone who see. This people, whichknoweth not the law, is accursed. ' Then came the Lord Jesus, the Sonof man, who knew what was in man; and he spoke to them gently, cordially, humanly; and they heard him, and justified God, and werebaptized, confessing their sins; and so, as he said himself, thepublicans and harlots went into the kingdom of God before thoseproud, self-conceited Pharisees. 

Therefore, I say, never hurt any one's self-respect. Never trampleon any soul, though it may be lying in the veriest mire; for thatlast spark of self-respect is as its only hope, its only chance; thelast seed of a new and better life; the voice of God which stillwhispers to it, 'You are not what you ought to be, and you are notwhat 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 bea man once more, after the likeness of God who made you, and Christwho died for you!' Oh, why crush that voice in any heart? If youdo, the poor creature is lost, and lies where he or she falls, andnever tries to rise again. Rather bear and forbear; hope all things, believe all things, endure all things; so you will, as St. John tellsyou in the Epistle, know that you are of the truth, in the true andright road, and will assure your hearts before God. For this is hiscommandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son JesusChrist, and believe really that he is now what he always was, thefriend of publicans and sinners, and love one another as he gave uscommandment. That was Christ's spirit; the fairest, the noblestspirit upon earth; the spirit of God whose mercy is over all hisworks; and hereby shall we know that Christ abideth in us, by hishaving given us the same spirit of pity, charity, fellow-feeling andlove for every human being round us. 

And now, I will also give you one lesson to carry home with you--alesson which if we all could really believe and obey, the world wouldbegin to mend from to-morrow, and every other good work on earthwould prosper and multiply tenfold, a hundredfold--ay, beyond all ourfairest dreams. And my lesson is this. When you go out from thischurch into those crowded streets, remember that there is not a soulin them who is not as precious in God's eyes as you are; not a littledirty ragged child whom Jesus, were he again on earth, would not takeup in his arms and bless; not a publican or a harlot with whom, ifthey but asked him, he would not eat and drink--now, here, in Londonon this Sunday, the 8th of June, 1856, as certainly as he did inJewry beyond the seas, eighteen hundred years ago. Therefore do toall who are in want of your help as Jesus would do to them if he werehere; as Jesus is doing to them already: for he is here among usnow, and for ever seeking and saving that which was lost; and all wehave to do is to believe that, and work on, sure that he is workingat our head, and that though we cannot see him, he sees us; and thenall will prosper at last, for this brave old earth whereon we areliving now, and for that far braver new heaven and new earth whereonwe 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 thatsat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twentyelders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship himthat liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before thethrone, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, andhonour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thypleasure 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 accountof that most important text, which, according to some divines, seemsto 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. Afit lesson for Trinity Sunday: but because it tells us of the wholeworld, and all that is therein, and who made it, and how. It doesnot tell us why God made the world; but the Revelations do, and thetext does. And therefore perhaps it is a good thing for us thatTrinity Sunday comes always in the sweet spring time, when all natureis breaking out into new life, when leaves are budding, flowersblossoming, birds building, and countless insects springing up totheir short and happy life. This wonderful world in which we livehas awakened again from its winter's sleep. How are we to think ofit, and of all the strange and beautiful things in it? TrinitySunday tells us; for Trinity Sunday bids us think of and believe amatter 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 howthe grass grows beneath our feet. We cannot understand how the eggbecomes a bird. We cannot understand how the butterfly is the verysame creature which last autumn was a crawling caterpillar. Wecannot understand how an atom of our food is changed within ourbodies into a drop of living blood. We cannot understand how thismortal life of ours depends on that same blood. We do not know evenwhat life is. We do not know what our own souls are. We do not knowwhat our own bodies are. We know nothing. We know no more aboutourselves and this wonderful world than we do of the mystery of theever-blessed Trinity. That, of course, is the greatest wonder ofall. For, as I shall try to show you presently, God himself must bemore wonderful than all things which he has made. But all that hehas made is wonderful; and all that we can say of it is, to take upthe heavenly hymn which this chapter in the Revelations puts into ourmouths, and join with the elders of heaven, and all the powers ofnature, in saying, 'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, andhonour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thypleasure they are and were created. '

Let us do this. Let us open our eyes, and see honestly what awonderful world we live in; and go about all our days in wonder andhumbleness of heart, confessing that we know nothing, and that wecannot 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 ofthem. 'How great are thy counsels, O God! they are more than I amable to express, ' said David of old, who knew not a tenth part of thenatural wonders which we know; 'more in number than the hairs of myhead, if I were to speak of them. '

This will keep us from that proud and yet shallow temper of mindwhich people are apt to fall into, especially young men who areclever and self-educated, and those who live in great towns, and solose the sight of the wonderful works of God in the fields and woods, and see hardly anything but what man has made; and therefore forgethow weak and ignorant even the wisest man is, and how little heunderstands of this great and glorious world. 

Such people are apt to fancy men are clever enough to understandanything. Then they say, 'Why am I to believe anything I cannotunderstand?' And then they laugh at the mysteries of faith, and say, 'Three Persons in one God! I cannot understand that! Why am Iexpected to believe it?'

Now, here is the plain answer to such unwise speech (for unwise itis, let it be dressed up in all fine long words, and show of wisdom), whether the doctrine be true or not, your not understanding thematter is no reason against it. Here is the answer: 'You DO believeall day long a hundred things which you do not understand; whichquite surpass your reason. You believe that you are alive: but youdo not understand how you live. You believe that, though you aremade up of so many different faculties and powers, you are oneperson: but you cannot understand how. You believe that though yourbody and your mind too have gone through so many changes since youwere born, yet you are still one and the same person, and nobody elsebut yourself; but you cannot understand that either. You know it isso; but how and why it is so, you cannot explain; and the greatestphilosopher would not be foolish enough to try to explain; because, if he is a really great scholar, he knows that it cannot beexplained. You lift your hand to your head: but how you do it, neither you nor any mortal man knows; and true philosophers tell youthat we shall probably never know. True philosophers tell you thatin the simplest movement of your body, in the growth of the meanestblade of grass, let them examine it with the microscope, let themthink over it till their brains are weary, there is always somemystery, some wonder over and above, which neither their glasses northeir brains can explain, or even find and see, much less give a nameto. They know that there is more in the matter, in the simplestmatter, than man can find out; and they are content to leave thewonder in the hands of God who made it; and when they have found outall they can, confess, that the more they know, the less they findthey know. 

I tell you frankly, my friends, if you were to see through themicroscope a few of the wonderful things which are going on round younow in every leaf, and every gnat which dances in the sunbeam; if youwere to learn even the very little which is known about them, youwould see wonders which would surpass your powers of reasoning, justas much as that far greater wonder of the ever-blessed Trinity;things which you would not believe, if your own eyes did not showthem you. 

And what if it be strange? What is there to surprise us in that? Ifthe world be so wonderful, how much more wonderful must that greatGod be who made the world, and keeps it always living? If thesmallest blade of grass be past our understanding, how much more pastour understanding must be the Absolute, Eternal, Almighty God? Doyou not see that common sense and reason lead us to expect that Godshould be the most wonderful of all beings and things; that theremust be some mystery and wonder in him which is greater than allmysteries and wonders upon earth, just as much as HE is greater thanall heaven and earth? Which must be most wonderful, the maker or thething made? Thou art man, made in the likeness of God. Thou canstnot understand thyself. How much less canst thou understand God, inwhose likeness thou art made!

For my part, instead of keeping people from learning, lest theyshould grow proud, and despise the mysteries of faith, I would makethem learn, and entreat them to learn, and look seriously andpatiently at all the wonderful things which are going on round themall day long; for I am sure that they would be so much astonishedwith what they saw on earth, that they would not be astonished, muchless staggered, at anything they heard of in heaven; and least of allastonished at being told that the name of Almighty God was too deepfor the little brain of mortal man; and that they would learn moreand more to take humbly, like little children, every hint which theexperience of wise and good men of old time gives us of theeverlasting mystery of mysteries, the glory of the Triune God, whichSt. John saw in the spirit. 

And what did St. John see? Something beyond even an apostle'sunderstanding. Something which he could only see himself dimly, anddescribe to us in figures and pictures, as it were, to help us toimagine that great wonder. 

He was in the spirit, he says, when he saw it. That is, he did notsee 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), butwith 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 asrichest precious stone; and round his throne a rainbow like anemerald, the sign to us of hope, and faithfulness, mercy and truth, which he himself appointed after the flood, to comfort the fearfulhearts of men. Around him are elders crowned; men like ourselves, but men who have fought the good fight, and conquered, and are now atrest; pure, as their white garments tell us; and victorious, as theirgolden crowns tell us. And from the throne come thunderings, andlightnings, and voices, as they did when he spoke to the Jews of old--signs of his terrible power, as judge, and lawgiver, and avenger ofall the wrong which is done on earth. And there are there, too, seven burning lamps, the seven spirits of God, which give light andlife to all created things, and most of all to righteous hearts. Andbefore the throne is a sea of glass; the same sea which St. John sawin another vision, with us human beings standing on it, and behold itwas 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 ofearthly life; for it may crack any moment beneath our feet, and dropus into eternity, and the nether fire, unless we have his handholding 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 theworld; and yet it looked small enough to St. John, as it lies inheaven, before the throne of Christ; and he passes it by in a fewwords. For what are all suns and stars, and what are all ages andgenerations, and millions and millions of years, compared witheternity; with God's eternal heaven, and God whom not even heaven cancontain?--One drop of water in comparison with all the rain clouds ofthe 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 thethrone of God, and before the feet of Christ. St. John saw it lyingthere in heaven, for a sign that in God we live, and move, and haveour being. Let us be content, and hope on, and trust on; for God iswith us, and we with God. 

But St. John saw another wonder. Four beasts--one like a man, onelike 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 wiseand learned men say they mean the four Evangelists: but, thoughthere 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 thinkthey mean great and glorious archangels; and that may be so. Butcertainly the Bible always speaks of angels as shaped like men, likehuman beings, only more beautiful and glorious. The two angels, forinstance, who appeared to the three men at our Lord's tomb, areplainly called in one place, young men. I think, rather, that thesefour living creatures mean the powers and talents which God has givento men, that they may replenish the earth, and subdue it. For weread of these same living creatures in the book of the prophetEzekiel; and we see them also on those ancient Assyrian sculptureswhich are now in the British Museum; and we have good reason to thinkthat is what they mean there. The creature with the man's head meansreason; 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, andsuccessful industry. But whatsoever those living creatures mean, itis more important to see what they do. They give glory, and honour, and thanks to him who sits upon the throne. They confess that allpower, all wisdom, all prudence, all success in men or angels, inearth or heaven, comes from God, and is God's gift, of which he willrequire a strict account; for he is Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord GodAlmighty; and all things are of him, and by him, and for him, forever and ever. 

But who is he who sits upon the throne? Who but the Lord JesusChrist? Who but the Babe of Bethlehem? Who but the Friend ofpublicans and sinners? Who but he who went about doing good tosuffering mortal man? Who but he who died on the cross? Who but heon whose bosom St. John leaned at supper, and now saw him highlyexalted, having a name above every name?

Oh, blest St. John, to see that sight! To see his dear Master in hisglory, after having seen him in his humiliation! God grant us so tofollow in St. John's steps, that we may see the same sight, unworthythough we are, in God's good time. 

And where is God the Father? Yes, where? The heaven, and the heavenof heavens, cannot contain him, whom no man hath seen, or can see;who dwells in the light, whom no man can approach unto. Only theonly begotten Son, who dwells in the bosom of the Father, he hathdeclared him, and shown to men in his own perfect loveliness andgoodness, what their heavenly Father is. That was enough for St. John; let it be enough for us. He who has seen Christ has seen theFather, as far as any created being can see him. The Son Christ ismerciful: 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 tosave: therefore the Father is almighty to save. Let that be enoughfor you and me. 

But where is the Holy Spirit? There is no WHERE for spirits. Allthat we can say is, that the Holy Spirit is proceeding for ever fromthe Father and the Son; going forth for ever, to bring light andlife, righteousness and love, to all worlds, and to all hearts whowill receive him. The lamps of fire which St. John saw, the dovewhich came down at Christ's baptism, the cloven tongues of fire whichsat on the Apostles--these were signs and tokens of the Spirit; butthey were not the Spirit itself. Of him it is written, 'He blowethwhere he listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst nottell whence he cometh or whither he goeth. '

It is enough for us that he is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of theHoly Father, and of the Holy Son; like them eternal, like themincomprehensible, 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 ofBethlehem, in the glory which he had before all worlds, and shallhave for ever; with all the powers of this wondrous world crying tohim for ever, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, andis, and is to come; and the souls of just men made perfect answeringthose mystic animals, and joining their hymns of praise to the hymnwhich goes up for ever from sun and stars, from earth and sea, --whenthey find out the deepest of all wisdom--the lesson which all thewonders of this earth, and all which ever has happened, or willhappen, 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 andwere created. '

This is all that I can tell you. It may be a very little: but is itnot enough? What says Solomon the wise? 'Knowest thou how the bonesgrow in the womb?' Not thou. How, then, wilt thou know God, whomade all things? Thou art fearfully and wonderfully made, thoughthou art but a poor mortal man. And is not God more fearfully andwonderfully made than thou art? It is a strange thing, and amystery, how we ever got into this world: a stranger thing still tome, how we shall ever get out of this world again. Yet they arecommon things enough--birth and death. 'Every moment dies a man, every moment one is born:' and yet you do not know what is themeaning of birth or death either: and I do not know; and no manknows. How, then, can we know the mystery of God, in whose hand arethe issues of life and death?--God to whom all live for ever, livingand 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 insome wonder all things end, ' said Saint Augustine, wisest in his dayof all mortal men; and all that great scholars have discovered sinceprove more and more that Saint Augustine's words were true, and thatthe 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 hundredyears, even Sir Isaac Newton himself: 'The wisest of us is but likea child picking up a few shells and pebbles on the shore of aboundless sea. '

The shells and pebbles are the little scraps of knowledge which Godvouchsafes to us, his sinful children; knowledge, of which at bestSt. Paul says, that we know only in part, and prophesy in part, andthink as children; and that knowledge shall vanish away, and tonguesshall cease, and prophecies shall fail. 

And the boundless sea is the great ocean of time--of God's createduniverse, above which his Spirit broods over, perfect in love, andwisdom, and almighty power, as at the beginning, moving above theface of the waters of time, giving life to all things, for everblessing, and for ever blest. 

God grant us all to see the day when we shall have passed safelyacross that sea of time, up to the sure land of eternity; and shallno more think as children, or know in part; but shall see God face toface, and know him even as we are known; and find him, the nearer wedraw to him, more wonderful, and more glorious, and more good thanever;--'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, andis to come. ' And meanwhile, take comfort, and recollect howeverlittle you and I may know, God knows: he knows himself, and you, andme, 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 thesuffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by thegrace 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 manysons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfectthrough sufferings. 

What are we met together to think of this day? God in pain: Godsorrowing; God dying for man, as far as God could die. Now it isthis;--the blessed news that God suffered pain, God sorrowed, Goddied, as far as God could die--which makes the Gospel different fromall other religions in the world; and it is this, too, which makesthe Gospel so strong to conquer men's hearts, and soften them, andbring them back to God and righteousness in a way no other religionever has done. It is the good news of this good day, well calledGood Friday, which wins souls to Christ, and will win them as long asmen 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 thechances and changes of mortal life; always young, strong, beautiful, needing no help, needing no pity; and therefore, my friends, nevercalling out our love. The heathens never LOVED their gods: theyadmired them, thanked them when they thought they helped them; orthey were afraid of them when they thought they were offended. 

But as far as I can find, they never really loved their gods. Loveto God was a new feeling, which first came into the world with thegood 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 hecan understand you; you expect him to despise you, laugh at you. Yousay, as I have heard a poor woman say of a rich one, 'How can shefeel for me? She does not know what poor people go through. '

Now it is just that feeling which mankind had about God till Christdied. 

God, or the gods, were beautiful, strong, happy, self-sufficient, upin 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? Andthen men had a sense of sin; they felt they were doing wrong. Surelythe gods hated them for doing wrong. Surely all the sorrows andtroubles which came on them were punishments for doing wrong. Howmiserable they were! But the gods sat happy up in heaven, and carednot for them. Or, if the gods did care, they cared only for specialfavourites. If any man was very good, or strong, or handsome, orclever, or rich, or prosperous, the gods cared for him--he was afavourite. But what did they care for poor, ugly, deformed, unfortunate, foolish wretches? Surely the gods despised them, andhad 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 asmen. 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 nolove 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 shouldnot man oppress and ill-use them? And so you will find that therewas no charity in the world. 

Among some of the Eastern nations--the Hindoos, for instance--whenthey were much better men than now, charity did spring up for a whilehere and there, in a very beautiful shape; but among Greeks andRomans there was simply no charity; and you will find little or noneamong the Jews themselves. 

The Pharisees gave alms to save their own souls, and feed their ownpride of being good; but had no charity--'This people, who knowethnot the law, is accursed. ' As for poor, diseased people, they wereborn in sin: either they or their parents had sinned. We may seethat the poor of Judea, as well as Galilee, were in a miserable, neglected, despised state; and the worst thing that the Phariseescould say of our Lord Jesus was, that he ate and drank with publicansand sinners. Because there was no love to God, there was no love toman. There was a great gulf fixed between every man and hisneighbour. 

But Christ came; God came; and became man. And with the blood of hiscross was bridged over for ever the gulf between God and man, and thegulf between man and man. 

Good Friday showed that there was sympathy, there was fellow-feelingbetween God and man; that God would do all for man, endure all forman; that God so desired to make man like God, that he would stoop tobe made like man. There was nothing God would not do to justifyhimself to man, to show men that he did care for them, that he didlove 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 tobe wicked and miserable here, and to perish for ever hereafter. Wickedness and misery were here; but God had not put them here, andhe would not leave them here. He would conquer them by enduringthem. Sin and misery tormented men; then they should torment the Sonof God too. Sin and misery killed men; then they should kill the Sonof God, too: he would taste death for every man, that men might liveby him. He would be made perfect by sufferings: not made perfectlygood (for that he was already), but perfectly able to feel for men, to understand them, to help them; because he had been tempted in allthings like as they. 

And so on Good Friday did God bridge over the gulf between God andmen. No man can say now, Why has God sent man into the world to bemiserable, 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 enduredpain, torture, death, to the uttermost. And so God is a being whichman can love, admire, have fellow-feeling for; cling to God with allthe noble feelings of his heart, with admiration, gratitude, andtenderness, 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 havemade them thus? For we can answer, However sick, or weak they maybe, God in Christ has been as weak as they. God has shared theirsufferings, and has been made perfect by sufferings, that they mightbe made perfect also. God has sanctified suffering, pain, and sorrowupon his cross, and made them holy; as holy as health, and strength, and happiness are. And so on Good Friday God bridged over the gulfbetween man and man. He has shown that God is charity and love; andthat the way to live for ever in God is to live for ever in thatcharity and love to all mankind which God showed this day upon thecross. 

And, therefore, all CHARITY is rightly called CHRISTIAN charity; forit is Christ, and the news of Good Friday, which first taught men tohave charity; to look on the poor, the afflicted, the weak, theorphan, with love, pity, respect. By the sight of a suffering anddying God, God has touched the hearts of men, that they might learnto love and respect suffering and dying men; and in the face of everymourner, see the face of Christ, who died for them. Because Christthe sufferer is their elder brother, all sufferers are their brotherslikewise. Because Christ tasted pain, shame, misery, death for allmen, therefore we are bound this day to pray for all men, that theymay have their share in the blessings of Christ's death; not to lookon them any longer as aliens, strangers, enemies, parted from us andeach other and God; but whether wise or foolish, sick or well, happyor unhappy, alive or dead, as brothers. We are bound to pray for hisHoly 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 pleasurefor the sake of doing their duty in their calling, as Christ did; topray for Jews, Turks, Heathens, and Infidels; as for God's lostchildren, and our lost brothers, that God would bring them home tohis flock, and touch their hearts by the news of his sufferings forthem; that they may taste the inestimable comfort of knowing that Godso loved them as to suffer, to groan, to die for them and allmankind. 

SERMON XXXVI. ON THE FALL

(Sexagesima Sunday. )

GENESIS iii. 12. 

And the man said, The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gaveme 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 toyourselves, If I had been in Adam's place, I should never have beenso foolish as Adam was? If you do say so, you cannot have looked atthe story carefully enough. For if you do look at it carefully, Ibelieve you will find enough in it to show you that it is a veryNATURAL story, that we have the same nature in us that Adam had; thatwe are indeed Adam's children; and that the Bible speaks truth whenit 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, Ibeseech you, think a moment carefully, and see what that means. 

Adam was not content to be in the likeness of God; to copy God byobeying God. He wanted to be a little god himself; to know what wasgood for him, and what was evil for him; whereas God had told him, asit were, You do NOT know what is good for you, and what is evil foryou. I know; and I tell you to obey me; not to eat of a certain treein the garden. 

But pride and self-will rose up in Adam's heart. He wanted to showthat 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 becauseit was fair and well-tasted, but still more to show his ownindependence. 

Now, surely this is natural enough. Have we not all done the verysame thing in our time, nay, over and over again? When we werechildren, were we never forbidden to do something which we wished todo? Were we never forbidden, just as Adam was, to take an apple--something pleasant to the eye, and good for food? And did we notlong for it, and determine to have it all the more, because it wasforbidden, just as Adam and Eve did; so that we wished for it muchmore than we should if our parents had given it to us? Did we not inour hearts accuse our parents of grudging it to us, and listen to thevoice of the tempter, as Eve did, when the serpent tried to make outthat God was niggardly to her, and envious of her, and did not wanther to be wise, lest she should be too like God?

Have we not said in our heart, Why should my father grudge me thatnice thing when he takes it himself?

He wants to keep it all to himself. Why should not I have a share ofit? He says it will hurt me. How does he know that? It does nothurt him. I must be the best judge of whether it will hurt me. I donot believe that it will: but at least it is but fair that I shouldtry. I will try for myself. I will run the chance. Why should I bekept like a baby, as if I had no sense or will of my own? I willknow the right and the wrong of it for myself. I will know the goodand evil of it myself. 

Have we not said that, every one of us, in our hearts, when we wereyoung?--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 inus, and original sin, which we inherited from him, we could not helplonging more and more after what our parents had forbidden; we couldthink, perhaps, of nothing else; cared for no pleasure, no pay, because we could not get that one thing which our parents had told usnot to touch. And at last we fell, and sinned, and took the thing onthe sly. 

And then?

Did it not happen to us, as it did to Adam, that a feeling of shameand guiltiness came over us at once? Yes; of shame. We intended tofeed our own pride: but instead of pride came shame and fear too; soinstead of rising, we had fallen and felt that we had fallen. Justso it was with Adam. Instead of feeling all the prouder and granderwhen he had sinned, he became ashamed of himself at once, he hardlyknew why. We had intended to set ourselves up against our parents;but instead, we became afraid of them. We were always fancying thatthey 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, JesusChrist, walking in the garden. Did he go to meet him; thank him forthat pleasant life, pleasant earth, for the mere blessing ofexistence? No. He hid himself among the trees of the garden. Butwhy hide himself? Even if he had given up being thankful to God;even if he had learned from the devil to believe that God grudgedhim, envied him, had deceived him, about that fruit, why run away andhide? He wanted to be as God, wise, knowing good and evil forhimself. Why did he not stand out boldly when he heard the voice ofthe Lord God and say, I am wise now; I am as a God now, knowing goodand evil; I am no longer to be led like a child, and kept strictly byrules 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 tocomplain of me?

Perhaps Adam had intended, when he ate the fruit, to stand up forhimself, with some such fine words; as children intend when theydisobey. 

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 todo; and he hides himself miserably, like a naughty and disobedientchild. And then, like a mean and cowardly one, when he is called outand 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 hiswife; it was all the woman's fault now--indeed, God's fault. 'Thewoman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and Idid 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, myfriends, have we never said the same? When we felt that we had donewrong; when the voice of God and of Christ in our hearts was rebukingus and convincing us of sin, have we never tried to shift the blameoff our own shoulders, and lay it on God himself, and the blessingswhich he has given us? on one's wife--on one's family--on money--onone's youth, and health, and high spirits?--in a word, on the goodthings which God has given us?

Ah, my friends, we are indeed Adam's children; and have learned hislesson, and inherited his nature only too fearfully well. For whatAdam did but once, we have done a hundred times; and the mean excusewhich Adam made but once, we make again and again. 

But the loving Lord has patience with us, as he had with Adam, anddoes not take us at our word. He did not say to Adam, You lay theblame upon your wife; then I will take her from you, and you shallsee then where the blame lies. Ungrateful to me! you shall livehenceforth alone. And he does not say to us, You make all theblessings which I have given you an excuse for sinning! Then I willtake them from you, and leave you miserable, and pour out my wrathupon you to the uttermost!

Not so. Our God is not such a God as that. He is full of compassionand long-suffering, and of tender mercy. He knows our frame, andremembers that we are but dust. He sends us out into the world, ashe sent Adam, to learn experience by hard lessons; to eat our breadin the sweat of our brow, till we have found out our own weakness andignorance, and have learned that we cannot stand alone, that prideand self-dependence will only lead us to guilt, and misery, andshame, and meanness; and that there is no other name under heaven bywhich we can be saved from them, but only the name of our Lord JesusChrist. 

He is the woman's seed, who, so God promised, was to bruise the headof the serpent. And he has bruised it. He is the woman's seed--aman, 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 usdown, making us proud and self-willed, greedy and discontented, longing after this and that. Let us trust in him, ask him, for hisgrace 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 fromthis miserable longing after one thing and another; free from our badhabits, and the sin which does so easily beset us; free from guiltyfear, and coward dread of God. Let us ask him, I say, to change, andpurify, and renew us day by day, till we come to his likeness; to thestature of perfect men, free men, men who are not slaves to their ownnature, slaves to their own pride, slaves to their own vanity, slavesof their own bad tempers, slaves to their own greediness and foullusts: but free, as the Lord Christ was free; able to keep theirbodies in subjection, and rise above nature by the eternal grace ofGod; able to use this world without abusing it; able to thank God forall the BLESSINGS of this life, and learn from them precious lessons;able to thank God for all the SORROWS of this life, and learn fromthem wholesome discipline: but yet able to rise above them all, andsay, 'As long as I hold fast to Christ the King of men, this worldcannot harm me. My life, my real human life, does not depend on mybeing comfortable or uncomfortable here below for a few short years. My real life is hid in God with Jesus Christ, who, after he hadredeemed human nature by his perfect obedience, and washed it pureagain in the blood of his cross, for ever sat down on the right handof the Majesty on high; that so, being lifted up, he might draw allmen unto himself--even as many as will come to him, that they mayhave eternal life. 

SERMON XXXVII. THE WORTHY COMMUNICANT

LUKE xviii. 14. 

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than theother. 

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 havesaid so of your own accord, if the Lord had not said so? Which ofthe two men do you really think was the better man, the Pharisee orthe publican? Which of the two do you think had his soul in thesafer state? Which of the two would you rather be, if you were goingto die? Which of the two would you rather be, if you were going tothe Communion? For mind, one could not have REFUSED the Pharisee, ifhe had come to the Communion. He was in no open sin: I may say, nooutward sin at all. You must not fancy that he was a hypocrite, inthe sense in which we usually employ that word. I mean, he was not aman who was leading a wicked life secretly, while he kept up a showof 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 somepoints, he was not on that. He knew where his goodness, such as itwas, 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 reasonfor him to stay away from the Sacrament? He would not have thoughthimself 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 behappy to restore it fourfold. If I have neglected one, the least ofGod's services, I shall be only too glad to keep it all the morestrictly for the future. 

'Intend to lead a new life? I am leading one, and trying to lead onemore and more every day. I shall be thankful to any one who willshow me any new service which I can offer to God, any new act ofreverence, any new duty. 

'I must go in love and charity with all men? I do so. I have not agrudge against any human being. Of course, I know the world too wellto be satisfied with it. I cannot shut my eyes to the fact thatmillions are living very sinful, shocking lives--extortioners, unjust, adulterers; and that three people out of four are goingstraight to hell. I pity them, and forgive them any wrong which theyhave done to me. What more can I do?'

This is what the Pharisee would have said. Is this man fit to cometo 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 ourLord has chosen to tell us. Many a person is ready enough, in thesedays, 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. ThePharisees then were hard legalists, who stood all on works; and, therefore, if a man broke off from them, and threw himself on God'sgrace and mercy, he did it in a simple, honest, effectual way, likethis publican. 

But now, I am sorry to say, our Pharisees have contrived to makethemselves as proud and self-righteous about their own faith andrepentance, as the Jewish Pharisees did about their own works andobservances; and there has risen up in England and elsewhere a veryugly new hypocrisy. People now-a-days are too apt to pridethemselves 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 inChrist; and when they pray, I cannot help fearing (for I am sure manyof their religious books teach them it) that they pray very much likethat 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; Ihave the right frames, and the right feelings, and the rightexperiences. ' Oh, of all the cunning snares of the devil, that Ithink is the cunningest. Well says the old proverb--'The devil isold, and therefore he knows many things. '

In old times he made men trust in their own righteousness: and thatwas snare enough; now he has learnt how to make men actually trust intheir own sinfulness, and so turn the grace of God into a cloak ofpride, 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--howbeautifully I have repented--how honest I have been to God--I am allright 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, whatshould we be but ashamed of it? Ay, utterly ashamed. And if wereally know what sin is--if we really see the sinfulness of sin--ifwe really see ourselves as God sees us--we shall be too much shockedat the sight of our own hearts to have time to boast of our beingable to see our own hearts. We shall be too full of loathing andhatred for our sins, too full of longing to get rid of our sins, andto become righteous and holy, even as God is righteous and holy, togive way to any pride in our own frames and feelings; and, instead ofthinking ourselves better men than our neighbours because we see oursins, and fancy they do not see theirs, we shall be almost ready tothink ourselves worse than our neighbours, to think that they cannothave so much to repent of as we; and as we grow in grace, we shallsee more and more sin in ourselves, till we actually fancy at timesthat no one can be as bad as we are, and in lowliness of mind esteemothers better than ourselves. We may carry that too far, too. Certainly there is no use in accusing ourselves of sins which we havenot committed; we have all quite enough real sins to answer forwithout inventing more. But still that is a better frame of mindthan the other; for no man can be too humble, while any man can betoo proud. 

But let us all ask God to open our eyes, that we may see ourselvesjust as we are, let our sins be many or few. Let us ask God toconvince us really of sin by his Holy Spirit, and show us what sinis, and its exceeding sinfulness; how ugly and foul sin is, howfoolish and absurd, how mean and ungrateful toward that good God whowishes us nothing but good, and wishes us, therefore, to be good, because goodness is the only path to life and happiness; and then weshall be so ashamed of ourselves, so afraid of our own weakness, soshocked at the difference between ourselves and the spotless LordJesus, that we shall have no time to despise others, no time toadmire our own frames, and feelings, and repentances. All we shallthink of is our own sinfulness, and God's mercy; and we shall comeeagerly, if not boldly, to the throne of grace, to find grace andmercy 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 beclean. For thou requirest, not frames or feelings, not pride andself-conceit, but truth in the inward parts; and wilt make me tounderstand wisdom secretly. '

Then, indeed, we shall be fit to come to the Holy Communion; for thenwe shall be so ashamed of ourselves that we shall truly repent of oursins--so ashamed of ourselves that we shall long and determine tolead a new life--so ashamed of ourselves that we shall have no heartto look down on any of our neighbours, or pass hard judgments onthem, but be in love and charity with all men; and so, in spite ofall our past sins, come to partake worthily of the body and blood ofHim who died for our sins, whose blood will wash them out of ourhearts, whose body will strengthen and refresh us, body and soul, toa new and everlasting life of humbleness and thankfulness, honestyand justice, usefulness and love. 

SERMON XXXVIII. OUR DESERTS

LUKE vi. 36-38. 

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judgenot, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not becondemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall begiven unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, andrunning over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the samemeasure 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 thisworld no man can expect to get what he deserves. And, of course, there are great excuses for saying so. There are bad men in theworld in plenty, who do villanous and cruel things enough; andbesides, there is a great deal of dreadful misery in the world, whichdoes not seem to come through any fault of the poor creatures whosuffer it; misery of which we can only say, 'Neither did this mansin, nor his parents: but that the glory of God may be made manifestin him. '

But still our Lord tells us in the text, that, on the whole, there isorder lying under all the disorder, justice under all the injustice, right under all the wrong; and that on the whole we get what wedeserve. 'Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall notbe condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shallbe given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the samemeasure 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 thatbetter than the blessed Lord: else why did he come to seek and savethat 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 findthat 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 forit and earn it, as a natural consequence. If a man puts his handinto the fire, he DESERVES to burn it, because it is the nature offire 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 thenature 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. Godhas not to go out of his way to reward him and make him happy; hisown good deeds make him happy; he earns happiness in the comfort of agood conscience, and the love and respect of those about him; and sohe gets his deserts. For our Lord says, 'People in the long run willtreat you as you treat them. If they feel and see by experience thatyou 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 maymistake you at first, even dislike you at first. Did they notmistake, hate, crucify the Lord himself? and yet his own rule cametrue of him. A few crucified him; but now all civilized nationsworship him as God. Be sure, then, that his rule will come true ofyou, though not at first, yet in God's good time. Therefore holdstill in the Lord, and abide patiently; and he shall make thyrighteousness as clear as the light, and thy just dealing as thenoon-day. 

Now this is a very blessed and comfortable thought. Would to Godthat all of us, young people especially, would lay it to heart. Howare we to get comfortably through this life? Or, if we are to havesorrows (as we all must), how can we make those sorrows as light aspossible? How can we make friends who will comfort us in thosesorrows, instead of leaving us to bear our burden alone, and turningtheir backs on us just when our poor hearts are longing for a kindlook and a kind word from our neighbours? Our Lord tells us now. The same measure that you mete withal, it shall be measured to youagain. 

There is his plan. It is a very simple one. It goes on the sameprinciple as 'He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he thatloseth his life shall save it. ' If we are selfish, and take careonly of ourselves, the day will come when our neighbours will leaveus alone in our selfishness to shift for ourselves. If we set outdetermining through life to care about other people rather thanourselves, then they will care for themselves more than for us, andmeasure their love to us by our measure of love to them. But if wecare for others, they will learn to care for us; if we befriendothers, they will befriend us. If we show forth the Spirit of God tothem, in kindliness, generosity, patience, self-sacrifice, the daywill surely come when we shall find that the Spirit of God is in ourneighbours as well as in ourselves; that on the whole they will bejust to us, and pay us what we have deserved and earned. Blessed andcomfortable thought, that no kind word, kind action, not even the cupof cold water given in Christ's name, can lose its reward. Blessedthought, that after all our neighbours are our brothers, and that ifwe remember that steadily, and treat them as brothers now, they willrecollect it too some day, and treat us as brothers in return. Blessed thought, that there is in the heart of every man a spark ofGod's light, a grain of God's justice, which may grow up in himhereafter, 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, andthere is nothing so pleasant as loving. And more; it does this--itmakes 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 attimes; surely God must be more just and fair than he seems to us attimes. For there are times when it does seem a hard thing to believethat God is just; times when the devil tempts poor sufferingcreatures 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 myhands in innocency. All the day long have I been punished, andchastened every morning. Yes; when some poor woman, working in thefield, with all the cares of a family on her, looks up at greatpeople in their carriages, she is tempted, she must be tempted to sayat times, 'Why am I to be so much worse off than they? Is God justin making me so poor and them so rich?' It is a foolish thought. Ido believe it is a temptation of the devil, a deceit of the devil;for rich people are not really one whit happier or lighter-heartedthan poor ones, and all the devil wishes is to make poor people envytheir neighbours, and mistrust God. But still one cannot wonder attheir faith failing them at times. I do not judge them, still lesscondemn them; for the text forbids me. Or again, when some poorcreature, crippled from his youth, looks upon others strong andactive, cheerful and happy. Think of a deformed child watchinghealthy children at play; and then think, must it not be hard attimes for that child not to repine, and cry to God, 'Why hast thoumade me thus?'

Yes. I will not go on giving fresh instances. The world is but toofull of them. 

But when such thoughts trouble us, here is one comfort--ay, here isour only comfort--God must be more just than man. Whatsoeverappearances may seem to make against it, he must be. For where didall the justice in the world come from, but from God? Who put thefeeling of justice into every man's heart, but God himself? He isthe glorious sun, perfectly bright, perfectly pure; and all the othergoodness in the world is but rays and beams of light sent forth fromhis great light. So we may be certain that God is not only as justas man, but millions of times MORE just; more just, and righteous, and good than all the just men on earth put together. We can believethat. We must believe it. Thousands have believed it already. Thousands of holy sufferers, in prisons and on scaffolds, in povertyand destitution, on sick-beds of lingering torture, have believedstill that God was just and righteous in all his dealings with them;and have cried in the hour of their bitterest agony, 'Though thouslay me, O Lord, yet will I trust in thee!'

Yes. God is just. He has revealed that in the person of his SonJesus Christ. There is God's likeness. There is proof enough thatGod is not one who afflicts willingly, or grieves the children of menout of any neglect or spite, or respecteth one person more thananother. It may seem hard to be sure of that: unless we believethat Jesus is the Christ, the co-equal and co-eternal Son of theFather, we never shall be sure of it. Believing in the message ofthe ever-blessed Trinity, we shall be sure; for we shall be surethat, 'Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the HolyGhost'--perfect love, perfect justice, perfect mercy; and thereforewe can be sure that in the world beyond the grave the balance will bemade even, again, and for ever; and every mourner be comforted, andevery sufferer be refreshed, and every one receive his due reward--ifthey will only now in this life take the lesson of the text, 'Judgenot, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not becondemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven; for if you forgiveevery one his brother their trespasses, in like wise will yourheavenly Father forgive you. ' Do that; and then you will get yourDESERTS in the life to come, and by forgiving, and helping, andblessing others, DESERVE to be forgiven, and comforted, and blessedyourselves, for the sake of that Saviour who is day and nightpresenting all your good works to his Father and your Father, as aprecious and fragrant offering--a sacrifice with which the God oflove 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, whosename is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also thatis of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of thehumble, 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 ofGospel--of good news: but it is not the whole Gospel. It does nottell 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 gloriouschapter which we read for the second lesson--the twenty-seventhchapter of St. Matthew. Seen in the light of that--seen in the lightof Christ's cross and what it tells us, all is clear, and all isbright, and all is full of good news--at least to those who arehumble and contrite, crushed down by sorrow, and by the feeling oftheir 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, sodifferent from us, that we cannot picture him to ourselves; of aglory 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 purereyes than to behold iniquity; who is so perfect, that he cannot becontent with anything which is not as perfect as himself; who lookswith 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 hisown decrees and laws, because his decrees and laws are right andnecessary, and proceed out of his own character. If he has said athing, that thing must be; because it is the thing which ought to be. 

How, then, shall we think of this lofty, holy, unchangeable God--wewho are low, unholy, changing with every wind that blows?

Shall we say, 'He is so far above us, that he cannot feel for us? Heis so holy that he must hate us, and will our punishment, and ourdamnation for all our sins?'

'He is eternal, and cannot change his will; and, therefore, if hewills us to perish, perish we must. '

We may think so of God, and dread God, and cry 'Whither shall I fleefrom thy Spirit, and whither shall I go from thy presence?' We maycall 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 donot, there are plenty who will do it for us. The devil, who slandersand curses God to men, and men to God, and to each other--he willtalk 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. Godcertainly intends to damn you. But _I_ have a plan for deliveringyou out of God's hands; _I_ know what you must do to be saved fromGod--join MY sect or party, and believe and work with me, and thenyou will escape God. '

But, after all, would it not be wiser, my friends, to hold your owntongues, and let God himself speak?

If he had not spoken in the first place, what should we have known ofhim? Can man by searching find out God? We should not have knownthat there was a high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity, if he hadnot told us. Had we not better hear the rest of his message, and letGod finish his own character of himself?

And what does he say?

'I dwell--I, the high and lofty One, who inhabit eternity--with himalso, who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit ofthe 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 theone, and we believe it: and now he says the other; and shall we notbelieve it too?

Come, then, thou humble soul; thou crushed and contrite soul; thouwho fearest that thou art not worthy of God's care; thou from whomGod has taken so much, that thou fearest that he will take all--comeand hear the Lord's message to thee--God's own message; no devil'smessage, or man's message, but God's own. 

'I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; forthen the spirit would fail before me, and the souls which I havemade. 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 thefruit of the lips. I give men cause to thank me, and delight ingiving. Peace, peace to him that is near, and to him that is faroff, saith the Lord. If thou art near me, thou art safe; for if Iwere 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 willbe with thee. And if thou art far off from me, wandering in follyand sin, I cry peace to thee still. Why should I wish to be at warwith any of my creatures? saith the Lord. My will is, that thoushouldst be at peace. I am at peace myself, and I wish to make allmy creatures at peace also, and thee among the rest. I am whole andperfect myself, and I wish to heal all my creatures, and make themwhole and perfect also, and thee among the rest. 

'But the wicked? Ay, this is their very misery, that there is nopeace to them. I want them to enter into my peace, and they willnot. 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. Theyare like the troubled sea, which casts up mire and dirt, and foulsitself. I cast up no mire nor dirt. I foul nothing. I tempt noman. I, the good God, create no evil. If the troubled sea foulsitself, so do the wicked make themselves miserable, and punishthemselves by their own lusts, which war in their members. But theycannot alter ME, saith the Lord; they cannot change my temper, mycharacter, my everlasting name. I am that I am, who inhabiteternity; and no creature, and no creature's sin, can make me otherthan I am. 

And what is that? What is the name, what is the character, what isthe 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. Agood God; a God of love; a God of boundless forbearance and long-suffering. Good God! The folly and madness of men's hearts, wholook on God dying on the cross for them, and begin forthwith puzzlingtheir brains as to HOW he died for them; how Christ's blood washesaway their sins; how it is applied, and to whom; puzzling theirbrains with theories of the atonement, and with predestination, andsatisfaction, 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 fromspiders--and, like them, mostly fit to hamper poor harmless flies. 

How Christ's death takes away thy sins, thou wilt never know onearth--perhaps not in heaven. It is a mystery which thou mustbelieve and adore. But why he died, thou canst see at the firstglance--if thou hast a human heart, and wilt look at what God meansthee to look at--Christ upon his cross. He died because he was LOVE--love itself--love boundless, unconquerable, unchangeable--love whichinhabits eternity, and therefore could not be hardened or foiled byany sin or rebellion of man, but must love men still; must go out toseek and save them; must dare, suffer any misery, shame, deathitself, 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 crossgives thee; and then, instead of being terrified at God's will anddecree being unchangeable and eternal, it will be the greatestpossible 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 willof 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 areafraid, take heart. Let those who think they stand, take heed lestthey fall. Let those who think they see, take care that they be notblind. Let those be afraid who fancy themselves right and above allmistakes, lest they should be full of ugly sins when they fancythemselves most religious and devout. Let those be afraid who arefond of advising others, lest they should be in more need of theirown medicine than their patients are. Let those fear who pridethemselves on their cunning, lest with all their cunning they onlylead themselves into their own trap. 

But those who are afraid, let them take heart. For what says thehigh and holy One, who inhabits eternity? 'I dwell with him that isof 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 inlife? Then God himself will show you your way. Are you utterlyhelpless, worn out, body and soul? Then God's eternal love is readyand willing to help you up, and revive you. Are you wearied withdoubts and terrors? Then God's eternal light is ready to show youyour way; God's eternal peace ready to give you peace. Do you feelyourself full of sins and faults? Then take heart; for God'sunchangeable will is, to take away those sins and purge you fromthose faults. 

Are you tormented as Job was, over and above all your sorrows, bymistaken kindness, and comforters in whom is no comfort; who breakthe bruised reed and quench the smoking flax; who tell you that youmust be wicked, and God must be angry with you, or all this would nothave come upon you? Job's comforters did so, and spoke veryrighteous-sounding words, and took great pains to justify God and tobreak poor Job's heart, and made him say many wild and foolish wordsin answer, for which he was sorry afterwards; but after all, theLord's answer was, 'My wrath is kindled against you three, for youhave not spoken of me the thing which was right, as my servant Jobhath. Therefore my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will Iaccept;' as he will accept every humble and contrite soul who clings, amid all its doubts, and fears, and sorrows, to the faith that God isjust and not unjust, merciful and not cruel, condescending and notproud--that his will is a good will, and not a bad will--that hehateth nothing that he hath made, and willeth the death of no man;and in that faith casts itself down like Job, in dust and ashesbefore the majesty of God, content not to understand his ways and itsown sorrows; but simply submitting itself and resigning itself to thegood will of that God who so loved the world that he spared not hisonly begotten Son, but freely gave him for us. 

Footnotes:

{75} Compare Rom. Iii. 23 with I Cor. Xi. 7. Let me entreat allyoung students to consider carefully and honestly the radical meaningof the words [Greek text] and [Greek text]. It will explain to themmany seemingly dark passages of St. Paul, and perhaps deliver themfrom more than one really dark superstition. 

{151} I do not quote the Crishna Legends, because they seem to be ofpost-Christian date; and also worthless from the notion of a realhuman babe being utterly lost in the ascription to Crishna ofunlimited magical powers. 

{162} See, as a counterpart to every detail of Joel's, the admirabledescription of locust-swarms in Kohl's RUSSIA.