N>^ ^ ^^ ^^^ NOV If) 191?! Logical se^ BX 9178 .F54 1865 Flint, Robert, 1838-1910. Christ's kingdom upon earth ni 1^^ CHRIST'S KINGDOM UPON EAETH ^^m "^ f«/%^ A NOV 19 1918 CHEIST'S KINGDOM UPON EAE' %0P!CAL S£^'# A SERIES OF DISCOURSES BY THE REV. KOBEET FLINT PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVRRSITV OF ST ANDREWS WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXV TO THE REV. THOMAS T. JACKSON, D.D. PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED AS A TOKEN OP GREAT RESPECT AND AFFECTION BY THE AUTHOR. PKEFATORY NOTE. Three of the Discourses in this volume have been previously published ; the first in 1859, by request of Members of Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science ; the eleventh in a religious periodical, having been preached on the Sabbath after the marriage of the Prince of Wales ; and the last by request of the Members of the Aberdeen University's Missionary Association. It was originally intended that the volume should con- tain a few Discourses on the nature, characteristics, and duties of the Church ; but further consideration has convinced the Author that these subjects can only be suitably treated in another form. C ONTE NT S SERMON I. PAGE "THE EARTH TS THE LORD'S," . . . . 1 " lu the beginning God created tlie heaven and the earth." — Genesis i. 1. " The earth is the Lord's, and the fuhiess thereof ; the world, and they that dwell therein. For He hath fonnded it upon the seas, and established it iipon the floods." — Psalm xxiv. 1, 2. SERMON IL REST IN CHRIST, 22 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." — Matthew xi. 28. SERMON in. THE NATURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH, [>;i '■ Thy kingdom conu'." — Mtitthew vi. In. CONTENTS. ix SERMON IV. THE SEED, 83 Matthew xiii. 3-8, and 18-23. SERMON V. THE TARES, . . . . . .122 MattJmo xiii. 24-30, and 36-43. SERMON VI. THE MUSTARD -SEED, 154 Mattheiv xiii. 31, 32. SERMON VII. THE LEAVEN, 170 Mattheio xiii. 33. SERMON VIII. THE TREASURE, .196 Matthew xiii. 44. SERMON IX. THE PEARL, 222 Matthew xiii. 45, 46. SERMON X. THE NET, . 245 Matthew xiii. 47-50. X CONTENTS. SERMON XI. CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP, 263 '•Render unto Csesar the things whicli are Caesar's." — Matthtw xxii. 21. SERMON XII. THE DUTY OF DIVINITY STUDENTS, . . .286 " Blessed is tliat servant, wlioni his Lord wlien He coinetli shall find so doing." — Lrike xii. 43. S E EM 0 N S. SEEMON I. THE EARTH IS THE LORDS. ''Ill the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." — Gen. i. 1. * ' The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods." — Psalm xxiv. 1, 2. The best of God's gifts are those which are least valued. The light of the sun, water and air, our daily bread and nightly rest, are little esteemed in exact proportion to their exceeding worth. We forget their value — we forget to give God thanks for them, because they are so common. And yet, what is it that is meant by their being so com- mon— what is it that is implied in that? Why, this : that they are so precious, that God, in His kindness, never suffers us to be without them, and puts all His children in possession of them. A 2 SERMON 1. They are common, "because men could not live without them, or could only live in misery. Thus the very extent of God's liberality makes us un- grateful. Now, I wish to remark tliat it is quite the same with truths as it is with things. Whenever a truth becomes very common — whenever, that is to say, it is put by Divine Providence into the minds of all — we begin to neglect it, and to forget that God should be praised for it. "When we hear of the wondrous discoveries of science, and those magnificent prac- tical applications of science which form so charac- teristic a feature in the history of the present age, we stand wrapt in wonder and adoration. " Glory to God in the highest," is the spontaneous utterance of our souls. But meanwhile we forget old truths infinitely more precious than even the grandest discoveries of modern science ; truths nigh to us — yea, in our very hearts, if we would only look there — and not truths afar off, and in books that we are not learned enough to read ; truths which alone can guide us along the dark and perilous way of life. It is right to give all honour to those who discover new truths. Honour to those whom God has made honourable: and God has certainly done high " thp: earth is the loed s. 3 honour to a man when He allows him, first among all the children of men, to look with clear vision on any great law that has been operating from the creation, but of which intellect has not been able hitherto to take any account. God has made a new revelation of Himself to that man, and he may well feel that he is in a sense God's prophet to his fel- low-men ; but neither he nor we should forget that there have been prophets before him, with still more precious messages to mankind than any which science can now disclose ; and that the grandest physical discoveries — those which extend most man's power over the material world — are trifling in their importance, compared with those truths which yield direct and immediate guidance to the spiritual life. All the scientific schools and associations of Europe converse about what is mere hay and straw and stubble, either for individual man or for society, compared with the subjects which Sabbath after Sabbath are presented to you from the pulpit. The laws which regulate the changes of matter and of mind are alike insignificant to you, compared with those old truths that you have listened to from childhood, and which throw a clear light on the mysteries of your own destinies, and tell 4 SEKMOX I. you with precision the duties of each day as it arises. As a truth pre-eminently useful, and yet exceed- ingly apt to be forgotten, I wish you to consider with me the statement in the verses I have read — " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas, and estab- lished it upon the floods." We all know that truth ; we have all known it from our infancy. We cannot tell when we heard it for the first time. Almost the first question put to a child is, Who made you ? With the earliest dawn of its reason, we teach it that a wise and holy Being, who loves it, is the Greater of all the grand and beautiful things it sees. All know that God is the Creator, that "the earth and its fulness are His ; " and yet, just because all know it, most of us feel very little gratitude indeed to God for reveal- ing it in the Bible. Perhaps some of you think that you could easily have found it out without any Bible. If you do, you greatly deceive yourselves. Far better and wiser persons than any here have lived and died without finding it out. Men, abler than any man known to " THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S." 5 live on the earth in the present day, sought for it, grasped after it amidst the darkness, and were not blessed with its light. There have been great men — giants in the intellectual world — men to whose names and memories all scholars and thinkers bow down, as their highly-venerated teachers of lofty and purest wdsdom ; and yet, powerful as they were in intellect, and noble as they were in heart, they never, by all their painful and anxious searchings, discovered, what is so well known to the youngest child here, that " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Had that truth not come to us immediately from the bosom of our Father in heaven, we would have had long wanderings to reach it ; in all probability most of us never would have reached it. The universe would have been a sealed book to us. Blessed then, I say, be the word which has unveiled its mystery ; and may we never think it a light or a trivial one. I wish at this time to tell you the uses of the truth that God is the Creator and the Lord of nature. I believe that most people need to have its uses pointed out to them. But before I do so, I must enter a protest against two great mistakes which men have on the subject of Nature's teachings. The first is the mistake of those who expect far 6 SERMON I. too mucli from Nature. They seem to think that if the spirits of our pent-up, toil-worn, city work- men could only be brought into contact with the clear skies and green fields, most diseases of their souls would be healed for ever. They seem to think that that of itself would purify and ennoble them ; that it would bring them to truth and holi- ness ; that, in fact, it would, by a strict necessity, bring them to God. Alas ! they who thus speak know not what man is. They forget, in par- ticular, these two things about him — the gross darkness of his mind, and the deep perversity of his heart. They forget his ignorance ; his gross darkness of mind. That makes Nature a sealed book to thou- sands. There is not a syllable in all her pages, the spiritual meaning of which they can make out. They see certain characters written there, but it is in an unknown tongue ; and what avails it that a writing is full of instruction and wisdom if the ability to read it be awanting? True, there "are sermons in stones, and books in running streams ; " but notwithstanding, to all but one in a thousand, a stone is just a stone, and no sermon — a running stream is simply a running stream, and no book. The greatest of our recent poets says — " THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S." 7 '' One impulse from a vernal wood May teach ns more of man. Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can." And that is as admirably true as it is admirably beautiful : but then you must be a sage and a good man, or "an impulse from a vernal wood" will teach you absolutely nothing. In fact, here is the truth which is forgotten f We must know God, and love Him, before we can see Him in natural things with any clearness or to any profit. I deny not that Nature may in some small degree lead us to look aright on the Gospel; but I affirm that in a far higher degree the Gospel is needed to make us look aright upon Nature. Awaken, through Christ's death, the love of God within me, and then all Nature will speak to me of God ; otherwise she will hardly speak to me one intelligible word. The Gospel must give me the re(i[uisite intelligence and the requisite interest. Now, this intellectual darkness rests not only on the minds of the ignorant and untaught. You will find men who are most eminent in science, as dead to the religious truths conveyed in the voices of Nature as the rudest peasants. And indeed there is nothing very wonderful that it should be so. We see what is precisely similar to it in many cases. 8 SERMON I. We see men who appear to get by a single glance at the meaning of the most profound and obscure and difficult things in one department of knowledge, quite incompetent to get by any labour beyond the very surface of things in another department. A man may be unequalled for mental power in mathe- matics, and yet his judgment may be worth nothing in regard to a j)olitical or social question. Those who are most successful in the discovery of the laws of the material world, are very rarely competent to investigate the laws of any of the numerous sciences of the mental world. Now, the difference between a physical and a re- ligious truth is much greater than between even a physical and a mental truth. Thoroughly distinct exercises of mind are required to discover a law and to perceive its spiritual meaning. A soul most able to do the one may be most inapt at doing the other. Thus the man of science, no less than the workman or the merchant, needs to be on his guard against that ignorance, the issue of which is practical atheism — utter blindness to the Divine nieaninoj of creation. Those whom I refer to as thus overestimating the religious teaching of Nature, equally forget the perversity of the human heart. The}^ forget that, " THE EARTH IS THE LORD S. 9 in the consciousness of its own guilt, the soul of man turns away from everything which reminds it of God's goodness and holiness, with a deep and intense aversion. Glorious scenery will indeed awaken irresistibly, in the breast of every man of culture, certain grand vague emotions which over- flood the soul with strange pleasures, and make him feel that he is in the presence of a great, mysteri- ous, invisible Being. These emotions he will doubt- less cherish for the delights they give ; and far be it from me to speak of them with any want of reverence. This, however, must be said : They will not in themselves do much for us in the real business of life. "We need something less vague — something so definite and clear that w^e can carry it away with us, and have it for an ever-present help and joy. The man of mere culture, however — the man whose soul is not truly at peace with God — will never seek such definite views. Were Nature to tell him of holiness, justice, and truth, of unrequited love and mercy despised, as well as merely thrill him with a sense of transcendent beauty, he would turn away from it with coldness and sinking of heart. Every word would put him to shame. Again, I say, the Gospel is needed to make us look aright upon 10 SERMON I. Nature, and it is absurd to think that Nature can supply the place of the Gospel. But there is a contrary and more prevalent error. It is the undue depreciation of Nature. It is the forgetting that it has got spiritual uses at all ; that it has any real place in our religious education. There are, it is to be feared, many very good men who make this error ; who think and act often as if the universe were but a stall for provender — a place merely for growing corn and wine in ; who never realise that it too is a revelation, and that if Nature be not complete without the Gospel, neither is the Gospel complete without Nature. But, surely, this glorious universe was never made merely to satisfy the lower or animal wants of our souls — to fill us with food when hungry, with drink when thirsty. No; it speaks to everything that is high- est and holiest in us. It should be approached with profoundest reverence. It will do little for us before we come to Christ ; but there is no over- rating what it will do for us after we have come to Christ. The error I now speak of, however, will be best refuted by simply pointing out what really are the uses of the truth contained in the verses chosen as texts. To that we now proceed. " THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S." 11 And in the first place, It makes " the earth and its fulness " very solemn : it invests it with a deep, religious awe. You are aware what an important fact in the Christian system is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the souls of true believers; what an en- couragement and incentive it is to keep your hearts pure and holy, and to present your bodies unto God as a living sacrifice, acceptable and undefiled. It is its final, its crowning truth ; a fact which gives it an immeasurable superiority over every previous re- velation of God made to the patriarchs and prophets ; a perfectly infinite source of virtue and holiness. What that truth does for the Gospel, the fact that "the earth is the Lord's" does for religion in general. God's presence with Nature causes the Christian to regard it with religious feelings, less deep perhaps, but essentially the same in kind, as the Spirit's presence with all saints makes him look upon his own body. The emotion in the former case is not so powerful, but its objects are boundless. In the latter case it is stronger, but the objects are limited. The presence of the Third Person of the Trinity to our hearts ought not, however, to make us forget the presence of the First Person to all things. Nay, we may venture to say, that if the truth that " the 12 SERMON I. earth is the Lord's " will not make Nature solemn and sacred to us, we will be unmoved by the other truth, that we are a peculiar people in Christ Jesus, through the indwelling of the Spirit. It is impossible for a rightly-constituted heart to feel the close connection of all things with the in- visible and almighty God, and yet not look upon them as bound to be consecrated only to noble uses. The very thought changes at once the universe into a great temple for praise and worship of the Eternal, and all the bounties of Nature into gifts to be laid upon His altar. This is surely no small matter, but the one all-important matter. It is just religion brought really into all that we do. It is just life made a long act of worship — the meanest things among which we move made sacred ; so that the very stones of the street, and the trees of the field, witness to us about God. In the second place. The fact that " the earth is the Lord's " is a source of pure and holy joy, from which we may draw whenever we look upon any- thing in Nature that is fair and well fitted to fulfil the end of its creation. When a man looks upon the fields in autumn, laden with yellow grain rich and ripe for the harvest, "THE EARTH IS THE LORDS. 13 « he cannot help feeling the beauty and pleasantness of the sight ; and when he thinks how many mouths they will fill with food and gladness throughout the land, he must be cold-hearted indeed if he does not feel gratified in his inmost soul by reflecting on the amount of happiness that will thus be diffused among his fellow-men. All this, however, a man might feel without any knowledge of the truth that God is the Creator and Lord of all things ; but teach him so, and not only will he feel all that, but, over and above, he will see in these harvest-fields a sign of the wondrous love wdiich the Father in heaven bears to even the humblest of His children on earth. He will learn to trace out, in all the visible forms of creation, the glorious character of their invisible Author and Possessor. All that is lovely in earth and heaven will be felt more lovely still, because they speak of a beauty and perfection lying beyond the range of the eye of flesh, but witliin the range of faith — a beauty and perfection infinite and inexpressible. Thus the religious man — the man who practically and abidingly realises the truth of my text — sees in Nature more ^han any other man. The knowledge that God is its Creator and Lord, raises him far above itself It makes the earth one great symbol of heaven — the visible of the invisible. It brings 14 SERMON I. the human mind into contact with an infinitely higher and better world. The godless man, the religiously indifferent man, sees no more than half of what the godly man sees ; and that half is cer- tainly the lowest and least valuable half In this respect the godly man alone is a complete, an entire man ; the godless man is but half a man. The importance of this truth cannot be over- estimated. It shows that we need not abandon the pursuits of ordinary life to enjoy the delights of a religious life. It shows that all that we need is a vivid, lasting, operative feeling — a steady, practical conviction — of the connection between heaven and earth ; a true appreciation of the meaning and bear- ing of the opening verse in our Bibles. The man of science is not asked, for instance, to turn away from those special investigations which are engross- ing his attention, and to engage in a perfectly dis- tinct order of contemplations unrelated to the matters he has in hand. He is simply asked to observe and investigate in his own special depart- ment with a fully awakened nature — to let his re- ligious sensibilities have free play about what he is doing ; and his special investigations, being thus consecrated, will of themselves train and educate liim for the duties and delights of the heavenly life. "THE EARTH IS THE LOED'S." 15 But not only does the truth that " the earth and its fulness, the world and all that are therein/' are the Lord's, extend the range of our thoughts and enjoyments ; it also heightens the value of those that are common to the whole race. It makes us bear a deeper and truer love to all God's creatures. The fact that they are His creatures will do more than merely prevent us from^ using them with harsh- ness and cruelty. It will give them an interest in our eyes, and make them objects of delightful con- templation. It will make us begin to look upon all !N"ature with eyes of thoughtfulness and love. It will of necessity constrain us to say, — " He prayeth best who lovetli best All things, both great and small ; For the dear God who loveth us. He made and loveth all." Thirdly, By thus sending men to Nature as well as to Scripture for their religion, our texts tend to give breadth and freedom to the religious character. This is what many sincerely good men sadly want. It is often impossible not to recognise their genuine earnestness and spirituality of mind, when we are greatly repelled by their austerities and their nar- rowness of view. They obviously breathe in the midst of a vitiated atmosphere. There is disease 16 SERMOX I. about their very goodness. Now, when you turn away from the biography of such a man, or from listening to his conversation, and read such a psalm as that which I have read this forenoon — the 104th Psalm — you see into the whole mystery of the dis- ease. There is a great and felt difference. You have come from the company of one who thinks Eelisfion is the denial of Nature into the com- pany of one who thinks it elevates and perfects Nature. You feel that here, where you are now, there beats a heart pious and spiritual indeed, but also of a large and genial humanity, and de- lighting in all natural beauty and excellence. There is nothing artificial or exclusive, nothing making the life rigid and austere, unsociable or ungenial, in such piety, however deep or fervent it may be : whereas it is impossible to describe how much hardness and austerity and sickliness is given to the religious character by making the Bible alone — the Bible arbitrarily severed from Nature and life — the sole source of spiritual growth. I would then, most emphatically, that men would think on the Gospel not less, but on Nature more. There can be no breadth, no geniality otherwise ; no childlike sim- plicity, no readiness to receive Divine impressions. The influences of Nature are constantly needed to 17 keep alive those feelings of admiration, hope, and love, which enter so largely into spiritual life. Again, and fourthly. The great truth under con- sideration ought effectually to destroy in us all pride. It should do so in more ways than one. The very grandeur of Nature, taken in connection with the fact that God made it, must have this tendency. It forces home on us the feeling of our utter insignifi- cancy. You will remember how vividly David has described this feeling as springing up within him on the contemplation of Nature's magnificence. "When I consider," he says, in the 8th Psalm — "when I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained ; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him ? " And in the very psalm from which I have chosen one of my texts, immediately after the words, " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof ; the world, and they that dwell therein : for He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods," he ex- claims, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" and, "Who shall stand in His holy place ?" which is almost the same thought ; the only difference being, that instead of asking, " What is man, that Thou art B 18 SERMON I. mindful of him ? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him ? " he here asks, What is man, or the son of man, that he shouki be permitted to draw near unto Thee, and worship in Thy great and holy presence ? It humbles us too in this other way. God is the Author of creation, and as the Author of creation He is the Author of all the truth that we can ever know. All truth has its source in Him. We make not a single truth; we merely find it. If systems of truth are inventions of the individual, they are good for nothing. Genius in its highest efforts suc- ceeds only in so far as it confines itself to an inter- pretation of the Divine conceptions — to tracing the lines and features in a plan whose foundation was laid at the dawn of creation. If any one cease to be a mere interpreter, if he aspire to be something higher, if he would usurp the place of a legislator over Nature, he cannot but fail. This humility is inculcated by all true science. It is in fact the most valuable lesson which science has to teach us ; and when Scripture, throwing light on science, tells us that this truth, which we have found not to come from man, comes from God, we are brought to feel in a true way the dependence of our souls on the Father of our spirits — the Father of lights, ''THE EAETH IS THE LORD's." 19 " from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift." I would now most gladly proceed to show the political and social consequences contained in the truth that all things are God's ; but to do so even rapidly would require a discourse to itself This would open up to us subjects of intense interest. If any here have paid attention to the speculations of French and German Socialists and Communists, they must be aware what an important part the words, " The earth is the Lord's," have had in their formation. Some of these systems are little more than elaborate misapplications of them ; and others are just elaborate exaggerations of the truth they contain. These speculations will serve a valuable purpose in Providence, I doubt not. It will be a great gain if they make us understand and appreci- ate better this sentence of our Bibles. On the origin of property I believe it throws little light. The difficulties on that point seem insuper- able. The decisions on it have always appeared to me as unsatisfactory and intangible as those on the freedom of the will. But this it certainly shows, that it is impossible for a man to hold anything as his absolute property; that by no price or labour can you purchase an absolute right in a thing. If 20 SERMON I. you believe or say that, because you have inherited an estate, or even because you have bought it with the wealth which you have earned by the hardest labour of body or of mind, it is yours to do with it as you please, or that you are anything more than the steward of it, you contradict most directly the truth that " the earth and its fulness are the Lord's." You say they are yours, not His. If a State law or a political economist encourage you in your opinion, it is none the less false. God is, strictly speaking, the sole proprietor in the universe. He made " the earth and its fulness," and allows us to enjoy them as stewards — " to occupy until He come." We are not at liberty to use anything for our own purposes. Everything must be employed for the common good of all, for the greatest glory of God. Lastly, Our texts remind us that we are the Lord's. We have not even an absolute right in ourselves. We are bound to work out by every power and energy of our nature the will of God in our creation. We are bound to sacrifice life itself in His service, if that be needed. Should I see before me some great work which I can perform to my race, but only by over-exerting every physical and mental energy, so that if I do it I must sink into an early ''THE EARTH IS THE LORD's." 21 grave; still, if the work be of higher value than anything else I can do for my fellow-men with my life, then am I morally bound to sacrifice that life, however pleasant and dear it may be to me. The summons to all of us is, " Be ye holy, as I am holy." God grant that through the strengthening of His Holy Spirit none of us be unfaithful to it. SERMON 11. KEST IN CHRIST. " Come xinto me, all ye that laloiir and are heavy laden, and I will give you 9-t'si."— Matthew xi. 28. Chkist here declares Himself to be God and Saviour by the promise of what Almighty God and a perfect Saviour can alone give. His promise, however, is neither universal nor absolute. It is only made to a specified class of men — the labouring and heaA^y laden ; and to that class only on a specified condi- tion— the coming to Himself. It therefore cannot be understood by us unless we consider it with reference to the persons to whom it is made, and with reference to the condition on which it is made. When so considered it will be found to contain the very marrow, the substance of the Gospel of Christ. The words of the text are all figurative. They proceed on the analogy which exists between the body and the soul of man. They are strictly de- REST IN CHRIST. 23 scriptive of a physical condition, act, and result; but they are applied to a spiritual condition, act, and result. This sort of language has advantages which are very obvious. It is both more concise and more forcible, it both conveys more, and is more easily and more firmly remembered than terms directly and exclusively applicable to spiri- tual realities. It would need, for instance, many such terms to give any adequate notion of the state of mind which Christ speaks of as "labouring and being hea^^ laden," of the act which He speaks of as " a coming unto Himself," and of the result wliich He denotes by the one word "rest." There is a wonderful suggestiveness, a wonderful wealth of meaning in His language, owing to its being figura- tive ; and for the same reason it takes a readier, firmer, and deeper root in the imagination and memory, as it is a law of our being to be more easily and strongly impressed by what is associated with the senses than by what belongs to the pure and abstract intellect. But figurative language has defects as well as advantages. It is apt to be thought much clearer, much simpler than it really is. It is rarely, per- haps, referred faithfully to the invisible realities it is meant to convey information about, rarely com- 24 SERMON II. pared faithfully with these realities. It seems, for example, the simplest of all language to say to any one, "Look to Jesus," and it undoubtedly is very simple, as well as suggestive and impressive, language to one who is sufficiently aware what the Gospel is ; but it is not, whatever may be said or thought to the contrary, either a very simple or very appropriate direction to those who are ex- tremely ignorant as to the general character of the Gospel. It is best, in dealing with all such persons, to tell them plainly, unfiguratively, what the revealed conditions of salvation are, what must be believed, and what must be done by them ; because, until they are thus far instructed, the seemingly simplest figurative language must either carry with it to them no meaning or a false one, in spite of, and even perhaps because of, its apparent simplicity. Until intellectually acquainted with at least the leading facts and principles of the Gospel, they cannot understand "looking to Christ" to mean what it does mean — the belief of these facts and principles, and the acting of them out in life ; but, if they attach a meaning to the expression at all, must suppose it to describe some mystical act of imagina- tion, the sight of some thing or person through the imagination, a kind of ecstatic vision of mind. Thus REST IN CHRIST. 25 they will be led to take a mere delusion for the very essence of the Gospel. Hence the danger of an ignorant and incautious use of the simplest figura- tive language. Why then, it may be asked, did our Saviour make such frequent and varied use of this language ? The reason must be obvious to all who have formed a correct conception of the historical position of His life and mission. Our Saviour came rather to found the Gospel than to preach it, rather to establish the kingdom of God by deeds than to diffuse it by words. Eedemption had to be wrought out ere it could be plainly preached. Christ had to suffer unto death, and the Holy Spirit had to descend, and then men could go forth and without parable or figure describe to their fellow-men what the kingdom of God was, and what was demanded of those who would belong to it. This was what the apostles could do, and the apostles did it. They used plain and direct language.* Our Lord did the same * The single exception, the Apocalypse of St John, i^t only proves what the true rule is, but gives us the reason of the rule. St John could not write of the kingdom of Christ in so far as it was a kingdom yet to come, with the same plainness that he could write of it in so far as it had abeady come. As to the nature of the symbols made use of in this marvellous book, I can find no reason to believe that in even a single instance do they represent particular events and individual per- sons, but many reasons to believe that they exhibit only those great spiritual principles on which the Avhole of God's government, as related 26 SERMON 11. when speaking of the moral law, when condemning vice or commending virtue ; but when speaking of the kingdom which He had to set up by His death, when speaking of the Gospel strictly so called, He did not, and could not, speak plainly and simply as the apostles could do, but had to express Himself partly through parables, partly through symbolical acts or miracles, and partly through figurative lan- guage. This language He varied exceedingly, not only to set forth His Gospel under all aspects, but to guard against the dangers which a sad experience has taught us always results when it is exclusively regarded in the light cast upon it by any one figure or image. Yet even the apparently plainest of His figurative declarations — it is an historical fact certi- fied to us by the evangelists — were not understood except by those who had some special power of spiritual discernment. AVhen He spoke, for ex- ample, of being the true bread from heaven, the multitude wondered if He meant that He would give them His flesh to eat. None understood Him to the mediatorial dispensation of His Sou, proceeds. The so-called historical method of interpretation is not only erroneous in sundry of its applications, hut erroneous from beginning to end, erroneous as a method. The Apocalypse is in no sense or degree a prophetical almanac, but the earliest philosophy of history, and one immeasurably superior to any other which has ever been -wTitten from the same lofty although limited point of view. EEST IN CHRIST. 27 except those who had eyes quickened to see and ears to hear. None understood Him when He spoke of those mysteries of His kingdom, which are now the veriest elements of every Christian creed, except the more than ordinarily thoughtful. It might be useful to trace some of the conse- quences which follow from the fact now stated, especially as the fact itself and all its consequences are often most injuriously overlooked ; but it is necessary that I refrain, and turn to consider the declaration of our Lord which has been chosen as a text. God grant that with grateful and glad hearts we may meditate on, and comply with, the blessed invitation here given us ! That we may speak and hear profitably, let us speak and hear prayerfully. This, then, has first to be noticed, that Christ makes His invitation and promises His reward only to the labouring and heavy laden. He asks nothing from, and promises nothing to those who feel as if they had no burdens to bear, or as if they had strengtli enough in themselves to support all that had been or could be laid upon them. Now there are two feelings essentially characteristic of those who labour and are heavy laden. There is a feeling of pressure on the soul, and there is a feeling of feebleness within it. Indifference or insensibility in its various forms 28 SEEMON II. is in direct antagonism to the former of these feelings; pride or self-dependence in its various forms is in direct antagonism to the latter. There is a feeling of pressure on the soul. Life is realised to involve weighty responsibilities. It is realised to involve tasks difficult and harassing. All the gay and trifling, all the careless and thought- less, all who rejoice with the whole heart in youth or strength, in attractions of body or acquirements of mind, in popular applause or worldly wealth, labour not and bear no load because life lies as yet with no weight upon them, — because they fancy it far lighter and far less serious than it is, — because they have never looked upon it clearly and compre- hensively— have never learned the heaviness of its tasks and the hollowness of its promises, — how real its evils are and how false its joys are. They have seen it only when surrounded with the halo of a transient beauty, with a cloudy and delusive glory. Their experience of it has been wanting alike in depth and breadth, both superficial and one-sided ; its real nature they have not reached, and its darker aspects, its serious trials, have not come round to them. Hence they have no labour, no heaviness of soul, and hence, also, Christ cannot speak to them, nor can His ministers, in His name, in words of direct invita- REST IN CHRIST. 29 tion, for they have not yet reached the stage of thought and feeling where such words would be intelligible to them. Burdens must be felt before the offer to bear them can be valued and accepted. All that we can do for such persons is to assure them in words of solemn and affectionate warning that this lightness of feeling which they possess, this careless buoyancy of heart and spirit, is a delusion, and that when they have come to take a deeper and more comprehensive view of life, and have had to pass through more, they will find out their mistake. It is a serious question then, my friends, for you all — a testing question for you as professing Christians, Have you in God's good providence been brought even thus far 1 Have you been brought to a know- ledge of the seriousness and responsibility of life ? Have you any real sense of its painful pressure upon you ? For while you may have reached that point and yet not be a Christian, if you have not reached it you are assuredly no Christian : yea, in that case, you are far, very far, from being one, and your whole view of the world and of your position in it must be changed, and even reversed, before you can under- stand what Christianity is, and what it aims at — before you can make a meaning out of the injunc- tions of the Gospel, or lay hold of its promises. 30 SERMON II. The feeling of pressure on the soul, the sense of a heavy burden to be borne, may come from various causes. It may come from affliction. God may dis- pel a man's illusive fancies about life by sending loss of health and fortune, by sending pain and sor- row. Many have thus been led, and are daily being- led, to alter their views about it. They find by ex- perience that it can press with a weight they never dreamed of in other days, never for a moment sup- posed possible. They find that, let them nerve them- selves up to bear its burdens as they may, it needs the utmost tension of every faculty to do so ; ay, and that after all they stagger and grow faint — strength ebbing away, hope dying out, darkness creeping over the eyes, and despair settling down on the heart. Or it may come from disappointed desires. So it does in many. They set their hearts on some worldly object or other. They immensely over-estimate the worth of that object, and immensely under-estimate the exertions that must be made to obtain it. It seems within easy reach, but baffles and mocks their attempts to grasp it, until at length, when their strength is exhausted, they behold it disappear and escape them for ever ; or if they succeed in obtain- ing it, find that what they took for precious gold is REST IN CHEIST. 31 merest rubbish — that what they have pursued as the highest good is a vanity or a curse — and that if their life is not to be one long error, ending in awful ruin, they must now, when their vigour is gone and their days are near a close, begin the great work of it over again. Thus wearied with their useless efforts, and in bitterness of heart because of disappointed de- sires, they can understand right well the expostula- tions of the Prophet, "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread ? And labour for that which satisfieth not ? " Guilt, again, is another cause of painful pressure on the soul, and, indeed, the heaviest and sorest of all. Multitudes, it is true, have consciences so dull and dead that they never realise that God has claims upon them which they are not meeting, and that consequently their guilt is fearfully accumulating against them. These, of course, owing to their strange and stupid insensibility, are conscious of no burden. But whenever a man has been aroused even a little out of such fatal lethargy — whenever he has been so quickened in conscience as to ask himself seriously. How does this mass of constantly- increasing guilt affect me in God's sight and as an immortal being ? Will God call me to account for it ? Is it not all standing against me as a debt for 32 SERMON II. which I am responsible to the very uttermost far- thing ? Do not reason and conscience and Scripture declare that what has been sown in the form of sin must be reaped in the form of punishment ? I say when a man has once been brought seriously to put to himself these surely most reasonable questions, and has found, as find he must, that the only answer to them is that his whole life has been an inces- sant and zealous treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath, it is no marvel if he feel crushed down by a dreadful load which he can neither bear nor cast off. Sin, as a present powder within i;s, is another cause, and the last I shall mention. What its weight and might are no man knows until he begins to hate and fight against it. Then it seems to cling the closer and to weigh the heavier, as if its strength were increased by every effort put forth to weaken it. Sin is as certainly stronger than we are, as it is feebler than God is. A single bad habit, when it has once got firmly rooted in the nature, is more than most men can contend successfully against. It re- quires, for instance, a fortitude of character, which, alas ! is very rare, for a confirmed drunkard to free himself from the degrading thraldom of his ruinous passion. What shall we say, then, when the task is KEST m CHRIST. 33 not to get rid of one bad habit, but of all — not to overcome some single vice, but to obtain the victory over a vile heart ? What but that the leopard may more easily change its spots, or the camel pass through the eye of a needle, than any man do this ? What but that the strongest who self-reliantly grapples with sin, resolved in his own strength to conquer and crush it, will SQon find himself grovel- ling as a helpless victim beneath the foot of his antagonist ? Sin as a present power — this too, then, is indeed a burden and a heavy load. I have thus described the nature and pointed out the causes of a sense of pressure on the soul. But a state of painful labour supposes a sense of feeble- ness within, as well as a sense of pressure from without. The heaviest load is no burden where there is strength adequate to its easy support. Hence in every labouring and heavy-laden man the consciousness of outward pressure must be accom- panied by a corresponding consciousness, of inward feebleness. He is one who not only knows the evils of life as they are, but one who knows himself as he is ; one who has obtained self-knowledge in the only way it can be obtained — that is, by laying self-conceit aside. He has searched and tried him- self honestly, making an earnest use of reason, con- c 34 SERMON II. science, experience, and revelation, and has found himself, when weighed in these balances, wanting. It has been painful for flesh and blood to come to such a conclusion, but he has been compelled to come to it ; lie lias been brought to feel that there is no other for him — that if left to himself in any instance he will fail, whether what is required of him be endurance or performance. Have you, my friends, sincerely accepted this humbling conclusion? If you have not, neither have you yet closed with Christ's invitation. Before you can do so, your pride, your self-reliance, must be abandoned. Christ will only deal with you as what you are. He will not begin His work in you by falsehood and flattery. He demands that you renounce, at the very outset, your own wisdom and strength, your own will and self-love, as folly and weakness, and resign your- selves wholly to Himself ; that you place no trust in your own unaided power, either to accomplish duty or to sustain trial, but recognise that, apart from His help. His grace, you must remain fettered by the bonds and crushed by the weight of misery and sin. I have now explained who those are that may be described as " labouring and heavy laden," and the explanation should make easily intelligible what Christ means when He says to all such, "Come BEST IN CHRIST. 35 unto me." That is one of the most abnsed of ex- pressions, one to which mystical and delusive ideas are constantly being attached, one which a school of divines, deemed by many the truest exponent of the Gospel, and the freest from the taint of hetero- doxy, makes the frequent vehicle of errors dangerous and deadly. It is not difficult, perhaps, to perceive how Christ's invitation would be understood by those who heard Him utter it. :N"either His friends nor His foes would put a mystical interpretation on it, any more than they would suppose that He meant a mere bodily approach. His disciples would believe that they had come to Him already, and His enemies would deny that He had a right to demand that they should come to Him; but friends and foes, all who were present, would attach substan- tially the same meaning to His words, would say within themselves, " He asks us to take Him as a teacher and master, to believe what He says, to do what He commands, to defend and promote His cause." None who heard Him could suppose Him to mean less than this, and perhaps none of them could suppose Him to mean more. His mission was still a profound mystery even to the most thoughtful of His disciples. It does not seem to have as yet dawned on them that He was the Son of God ; and although 36 SERMON II. tlicj were all confident that He had some great and good cause to accomplish, what that cause was, and how it was to be accomplished, not one of them could tell. Tliere were needed by them, before they could do so, the enlightenment of His death, and of His ascension, and of the Holy Spirit, and all the other o-ifts which followed His ascension. The notion, therefore, Avhich even our Lord's best hearers must have formed of what He meant by " coming unto Him," could not have been other than very defective every way, than vague and superficial ; but at the same time the notion formed of it by His worst hearers, by the most thoughtless and even the most hostile of them, must have been true as far as it went; and if they had consented to accept what they understood Him to mean, and honestly sought to act on it, it would have been, in the circum- stances, sufficient for them, defective as it was ; for they would have been guided by faithfully following the little light apprehended into ever deeper and truer views of what was meant, until brought at length fully to realise both the invitation and the pro- mise. The conception of His meaning, which must have first been formed, is still the only legitimate one, only we must receive it in all its comprehen- siveness and richness, as becomes those who live in EEST IN CHRIST. 37 these " last days," after the manifestation of God in Christ has been consummated on Calvary and at Pentecost, and when no new fact of the Divine scheme of Eedemption remains to be disclosed. So receiving it, "to come to Christ" means neither more nor less than to become a Christian, and, this mysticism set aside, includes three things which I shall briefly mention. First, it supposes some knowledge of what Christ taught, sufiered, and accomplished — some knowledge of the facts, of the truths, which constitute the Gospel. I venture not to try to define how much knowledge there must be. That is a foolish task many have laboured at, dis- tributing all the truths of the Gospel under the two heads of essential and non-essential. I think very little of these labours, and of the distinction which they proceed upon. But while we may doubt or even deny that there is any fixed amount of know- ledge, any invariable number of truths, essential to all, without respect of persons or circumstances, there can be no reasonable doubt that some know- ledge— it may be very different for different men — is essential to Christian belief. Wherever we are bound to believe, we are bound to have as much knowledge as will make our belief intelligent, reasonable. Belief we know not of what nor 38 SERMON II. why is not a religious but an immoral state of mind, for which God will call us to account and punish us. There is no coming to Christ possi- ble, then, except through some knowledge of, some acquaintance with, what God's AVord tells about Him. It is true that this knowledge, this mere head-knowledge, is no more than a condition im- plied in coming to Him ; it is not the coming itself, but it is nevertheless an essential condition. And, strange as it may sound, true it is, that this preli- minary condition is not unfrequently wanting ; that even in this land of Bibles, and churches, and schools, many are ignorant of the most elementary facts and principles of Eevelation. There is scarcely a clergyman who cannot tell you of cases of most deplorable ignorance on religious matters, which have come under his own personal observation. I, for one, have found grown-up persons, of reputable character, who had been in the habit of attending church all their days, unable to tell where Christ was born and what death He died — unable to tell, indeed, anything about Him. What use can there be in telling these persons to " come to Christ " ? You might as well say to them, " Come to Bouddha," or " Come to Mahomet." Any of these expressions might alike be so employed as to produce, under REST IN CHRIST. 39 certain circumstances, in natures thus darkened, a hysterical revolution, iDut not a spiritual regenera- tion. Preaching can scarcely be of any service to such persons; it must almost inevitably go over their heads. Preaching starts from the facts of Christ's life, instead of stating them ; whereas the simplest statement of facts is here what is needed, and that can be given only by slow and toilsome teaching, not by addresses, not by preaching, how- ever fervent. Let it not be said that this is limiting the power and work of God's Holy Spirit. If it be limiting it, it is at least limiting it as Scripture has taught us to do. It is the uniform doctrine of Scripture that the Holy Spirit has not been given to make a revelation of truths, to impart a know- ledge of facts, but to apply them when known. The Holy Spirit has not been given to teach that the Son of God became incarnate, and sufifered unto death for us, to those who, through carelessness in themselves or neglect in others, are ignorant of these truths ; but to make them living and saving truths to those who do know them. This preliminary knowledge, therefore, of who Christ was, and what He did, and why He did it — this knowledge of what the Gospels say about Him — must be insisted on as the first condition involved in coming unto Him. 40 SERMON 11. The second condition is, The recognition of Christ as made known in Scripture, the recognition of the Gospel of truth and grace revealed by Him, to be of supreme importance. It is necessary that all who come unto Him realise their need of Him ; realise that apart from Him they are undone ; that neither in themselves nor elsewhere, save only in a crucified Saviour, is there any good, any safety, for them. It is necessary that they feel that, apart from the lio-ht which He, by the whole manifestation of God in Him, has shed on the relations of the sinner to God, there is no true light in the world ; that they may torture their reasons to the utmost, and search through every corner and cranny of nature, but that, apart from the scheme of redemption, they will find nothing but darkness. Nature was made before the existence of sin, and can tell the sinner nothing about what will be done in regard to it ; so that if there be not light for us in the only other Divine revelation which has been imparted to our race — that which is through Christ — then on those momen- tous matters, compared with which the grandest results of science are as the dust of the highways contrasted with whatever is of most value among men, there is no light for us anywhere, and w^e are doomed to grope through life in the midst of the EEST IN CHEIST. 41 deepest darkness. It is necessary, likewise, for men to recognise as to their guilt, that if what Christ is said to have suffered and done be not true, there is no good evidence that God will forgive it. There may be no certainty that, on repentance or some other condition. He will not, but neither is there any certainty that He will, nor is there any probability even which rests not on the vaguest, feeblest, most conjectural grounds. It is only from the revelation of God's purposes in Christ that we can rationally conclude in a decided way that there may be forgiveness for the past, and happiness for the eternal future. It is no less necessary for those who would come to Christ to recognise that, apart from Him, sin can neither be got rid of, nor holi- ness established; that the motives which Christ's life and death excite, and the power which the Holy Spirit, one of His gifts, confers, are the only sources whence spiritual life can either be derived or sus- tained in human nature as it is since the Fall ; that, left to themselves or acted upon even by the purest and most powerful influences, these only excluded, there is nothing for them but spiritual death in the present world, and eternal death in the future world. Thus to recognise the supreme importance of Christ as ofi'ered to us in the Gospel, that in Him there are 42 SERMOX II. light, forgiveness, life for us, while apart from Him there are darkness, condemnation, and death for us, is the second thing involved in coming unto Him. It is not enough, however, merely to recognise all this ; we must accept and act on it, and this is the third thing that must be done in order to come to Christ. We must acquiesce in heart and life to the revelation He has made of Himself, allowing the facts and truths of it absolutely to prompt and guide us. Since there is no light in matters spiritual but His, we must renounce our own and accept His, and so suffer Him to be made wisdom unto us ; since God's mercy is manifested to us only through Him, we must not look for mercy from any other source ; since strength to resist sin and perform duty is only to be found in Him, we must seek to be always animated by His love and sustained by His Spirit. We must not stop short of this submission of will and affection, and obedience of life to Him, for we cannot come unto Him by mere knowledge or mere belief, but must sincerely accept of Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp- tion, not separating what God has joined together, not supposing that we can be in Him unless He be also in us. Salvation has two aspects, but is not two thino-s. Christ is the whole of salvation. We o EEST IN CHRIST. 43 in Him, this is our justification; He in us, this is our sanctification ; we in Him and He in us, this is perfect redemption ; and he who comes to Christ at all must receive Him as a perfect redemption — as not only eternal life for him, but a present life in Him. Thus Christ is come to. And now, let me add, take heed that it is Christ you come to — He Himself, and no mere notion, doctrine, or system about Him. " Come unto me " is His invitation here, and He con- stantly demands attachment to His person as the first duty, the essential characteristic of His dis- ciples. " Come, and follow me." " Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow me." " Blessed is he who shall not be ofiended in me." "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He shall come in His glory." Christianity cannot be de- tached from Christ, cannot be received as abstract truth. It must be received as truth embodied in the person of the Almighty Son of God and perfect man, Christ Jesus. The holiest doctrines, even the blessed doctrines of sacrifice and forgive- ness, separated from love to the living Saviour, have no sanctifying virtue in them; yea, even that salt, when thus cast out and trodden imder 44 SEiniON II. foot of men, loses its divine savour. It is not to a princii^le or precept, an abstract creed or impersonal cause, we yield ourselves when we become Chris- tians, but to another will than our own, another self, another person, Christ our Lord. The doctrines of atonement and justification by faith are glorious doctrines if we make a right use of them; but if we abuse them, if we put them in the ]3lace of Christ Himself, they will prove miserable saviours. What think ye of Christ ? What place does He occupy in your heart and life? Is He a mere name for certain doctrines ? or is He that Jesus of Nazareth who hved and laboured, suffered and died, for you, and is now at the right hand of God, to hear your confessions and answer your prayers, to comfort you in your sorrows, and deliver you in your trials, to guide and bless you ? If it be wrong, however, to se]Darate the truths which Christ taught from His person, I forget not that it is also wrong to separate His person from the truths He taught. Take away the person of Christ from what He taught, se]3arate His principles from Himself, and you leave us a mere creed with no life in it, and, of course, with no power to impart life. Take away, on the other hand, what our Lord taught from His person, attempt to show us Christ apart EEST IN CHRIST. ' 45 from the general system of truth He has made Him- self known to iis by, and you leave us to mere ecstasy and mysticism. The only Christ who will profit us is the Christ offered to us in the Gospel. If we would come to Christ, no word of His own, no word of God about Him, must be indifferent to us, but all must, in the measure of our knowledge, be humbly and gratefully received, treasured up in our hearts and practised in our lives, as a revelation of Christ for our acceptance, for our obedience to the invitation of the text. We have now to consider what Christ promises to those who come unto Him. He says He will give them "rest." What are we to understand by that ? Text and context both make clear what it is. It is rest from labour and heaviness — rest not from work, but from what makes work painful and toilsome. Eest from work is inactivity, which God never made man for, and which, instead of confer- ring happiness on him, would make his life intoler- able. The rest which Christ offers us is to be found not in the absolute abandonment of work, but in the doing of His work. " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls." Come to me and follow me ; imitate my example, bear whatever 46 SERMON II. God lays on you in the same sprit as I do, not proudly, not impatiently, but humbly and lovingly : do this, and you will get rest. Look to me, learn of me. I have many burdens to bear, none ever had burdens so many or so heavy, yet, amidst them all, beneath them all, I have rest— true, sure, eternal ; carry your burdens in the same way, and you will enjoy of the same rest. That was what Christ said ; that rest not from work, but in work, was what He promised. It is a rest like that which God, Christ, and the angels have, who are ever working, and yet ever resting. It is not the merely negative rest of inaction, but the positive rest which flows from the free and orderly exercise of the faculties and the satis- faction of the desires. It is exemption indeed from the pain of work, from labour and heaviness, from what makes work a burden, from more work than our strength will stand, or work of such a nature that our will and feelings revolt against it ; but it is enjoyment as well, and enjoyment of the deepest and purest kind. He who has it is not so much secured against burdens and sorrows, as put in pos- session of a strength by which burdens are made light, of a secret by which sorrow is made to yield joy, as to the hero of old out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. EEST IN CHRIST. . 47 This rest can be had in Christ by coming to Him, as has been described, and abiding in Him, but from no other source, and in no other way can it be had. Christ gives with loving heart and bounteous hand to every labouring and heavy-laden soul that comes to Him ''rest" — the beginnings of it in this life, the fulness of it in the future life. Let me show briefly that He does so. The sense of weariness and heaYiness of soul was referred to four causes — to affliction, to disappointed desires, to guilt, to sin. What, then, does Christ do for His people in regard to each of these ? Afflic- tions, we are all aware. He does not exempt them from so long as they are in this present world. Wliile here rest from affliction, in the sense of absence of affliction, it is contrary to His plan, con- trary both to His goodness and wisdom, to grant them. He will fulfil His promise in that sense also when they shall have entered into the perfect rest of heaven. There He shall " wipe away all tears from every eye ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed away." But until the former things have passed away, and espe- cially until sin has passed away, sorrow must be, affliction is needed and good. Believers have, ac- 48 SERMON II. cordingly, their share of all the ordinary ills that flesh is heir to, and they have sorrows even peculiar to themselves. The Gospel, when it enters into a heart, brings with it sorrows as well as joys not pre- viously experienced. It deadens none of the sensi- bilities to suffering— it quickens those that are moral. True, it is not the cause but the occasion of these new griefs ; sin in ourselves or others, sin seen as it never was before, is the real cause ; yet if there had been no spiritual life, there would have been, of course, no spiritual pain, and spiritual pain is not pleasant but painful, yea, of all pain the most painful. The Gospel is not the source of moral grief, but it unlocks it, opens it up, and lets its waters flow forth. But notwithstanding all this, Clirist gives, even in regard to affliction to those who come to Him, much rest in this present world. His own life of suffering, and His teaching about suffering, and the strength of the Holy Spirit which He has obtained to enable suffering to be rightly borne, have altogether changed the character of suffering for those who love Him. He has been careful not to destroy it, but He has converted the evil of it into good. He has rendered it precious, so that its pre- servation to believers is one of the mercies of God. He has, by His example, doctrine, and Spirit, en- EEST IN CHRIST. 49 abled them to glory in affliction, and to count it, even when most severe, " all joy" — pure joy, nothing but joy. He has, in a word, given them in affliction a rest, a positive satisfaction, which physical pain or mental sorrow cannot reach either to disturb or destroy, and which may be great in proportion to the very intensity of the pain and sorrow. Again, Christ gives those ^ who come to Him rest from all those desires which, being doomed inevi- tably to disappointment, exhaust the strength and ruin the happiness of the soul. There is no real satisfaction for the heart in any created object. It has been made to find its rest in the Creator, and must be restless until it rest in Him, which it can only do through Christ, the union between the Father and the Son being so intimate that no man can come unto the Father except through the Son. When our desires, however, are all centred in Christ, and other things are cared for and followed after only in accordance with His will, and in the measure that the supreme affection due to Him allows, then the soul enjoys rest ; not the rest which results from the absence of desire (for that is the rest of death), but the rest which results from the full and legiti- mate satisfaction of desire, which is the rest of life in its utmost vigour. Before the Fall, man was D 50 SERMON IL happy, because he desired ouly what he needed, and obtained all that he desired. Since the Fall, man has been unhappy, because what he needed he has not desired, and what he did not need he has desired. Sin has broken up the proper connection between our desires and our wants. Christ restores it : He leads us through the effectual working of His Spirit to seek everything in Himself, everything in confor- mity to His own righteous will, and then bestows on us everything we seek : He makes every desire the expression of a real want, and then gratifies every desire. He thus delivers us from the restless- ness which perverse desires must ever produce, and gives us the rest which the satisfaction of legitimate desires must ever produce. Again, Christ removes from conscience the awful load of guilt. You remember how in 'Pilgrim's Progress ' it is only when Christian comes up to the cross that his burden loosens from off his shoulders, and falls from off his back, and disappears in the sepulchre standing open a little below. Ah ! John Bunyan, " the Jerusalem sinner saved," knew well the truth of that part of his wondrous dream. The sacrifice of Christ can alone give us assurance of the Divine forgiveness. We may doubt every other evidence of God's readiness to show mercy and REST m CHRIST. 51 grace to sinners, but there is no arguing against it possible in presence of the fact, that He has given His own Son even nnto death for ns. Dull indeed must be the mind, and hard the heart, that can resist that. 0 my friends, let us not dare to think God cannot love us, great although our guilt be ; for look to Calvary, and behold there how He does love us, — behold there; in those death-agonies of Jesus which were the climax and completion of a life of self-denial and suffering, a proof of God's forgiving love towards us, before which doubt is at once irrational and profane. Christ's death, appre- hended by faith, severs the ties that bind our guilt upon us as a burden which exhausts the strength, extinguishes hope, and destroys happiness ; and our souls are able to rise up, in joyous consciousness that the light of God's countenance shines upon them, with the might of a new life. They find rest — rest from the burden of unforgiven guilt. Finally, Christ gives all who come to Him rest from the power of sin. He gradually overcomes and destroys it in them, replacing it with true holiness. The more they live in the contemplation of His character and in dependence on His Spirit, the more deeply they enjoy this rest from sin, this sweet rest of holiness. They experience more and more the 52 SERMON II. sufficiency of Divine grace to regulate their nature and conduct, and as evil grows feebler within them, and their affections come to cling more exclusively and closely to God, the peace and joy of the spiritual life widen and deepen into the great sea of heavenly blessedness, where all is calm because all is holy, where rest is unbroken, where rolls no wave of sin or any trouble. Will you come ? Will you hearken to the invi- tation of Him whom God hath sent to save you — whose own most earnest desire is to save you? God grant that you do. Life and death — the rest of heaven and the misery of hell — are set before you. Make your choice, as men and women on whom God has conferred the gift of reason, and having made your choice, act on it unto the end, as well aware how great will be the recompense of reward. Meekly suffer and nobly strive as Jesus has shown you how to do, and " Soon shalt tlioii fight and bleed no more. Soon, soon thy weary course be o'er. And deep the rest thou then shalt taste." May God, for Christ's sake, bestow His blessing on what has now been said, and to His name be praise, honour, and glory for ever. Amen. SEEMON III. THE NATURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH. " Tluj hingdom come." — Matthew vi. 10. It is of the utmost importance that we form a correct conception of the kingdom which Christ here teaches us to pray for. It obviously cannot be the divine dominion over physical nature, since that is already absolute and perfect. The least things there and the greatest, the speck of dust and the solar system, are alike subject. There is nothing, not even a single movement, in the material world, out of place — other than what God would have it to be. But human nature is not as obedient as physical nature. The will of the Lord is not as supreme actually, as it is rightfully, over the will of man. Good and holy although His will be, it is often contested and set aside. It is so whenever evil is preferred to good, whenever a wrong action is committed instead of a right one. That God's will is thus on innumer- 54 SEEMON III. able occasions displaced by man's wicked will, is an indubitable fact ; and if any theory of the Divine sovereignty cannot or will not accept it, so much the worse for the theory. Theories must conform to fiicts, not facts to theories. True, the Divine sovereignty is also in a sense a fact, as eveiy true theory is ; but its precise nature as a fact must be ascertained from an examination of those very acts of man's will, and those very events of man's history, which manifest his power to reject God's will for his own. It is from a scrutiny of all these acts and events that the truth about it must be evolved, and by them that it must be finally tested ; so that, when any doctrine, any general statement, regarding the Divine sovereignty gainsays a fact of consciousness or of history, it is self-condemned, as mingling as- sumption with what is the only legitimate founda- tion of a theory 'of Providence, with observation — as assigning to the fictions of the mind an equal or even greater authority than to the realities of experience. Laying all assumptions apart, and confining our- selves wholly to what may be observed, this is what we learn regarding Providence. The human race has had a history. Generations after generations have come and gone like the leaves of the forest, but that NATURE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH. 55 history has proceeded onwards without break, with- out stoppage, in obedience to laws the knowledge of which we are only yet groping after. There has been progress, order, plan, from the first day of man's creation down to this present hour, yet man himself has been ignorant of it, and heedless of it. The very conception is a modern one, and is vague, ina- dequate, and in manifold ways positively erroneous, even in the highest minds of our tune. Few have had the slightest glimpse of the order which yet embraced their every action ; fewer still have sought to conform to it. From first to last, from the begin- ning of human history until now, the immense majority of our race have set before them ends of their own, narrow and mean schemes merely for personal good ; and yet, although it has been so, and in the midst of confusion, tumult, and war — the progress, order, plan, I speak of, has been slowly and silently but surely built up. God's eternal purpose has stood fast. His decree has been brought about, and yet the men who have accomplished it have not meant to do so; nay, they have been as ignorant of the Divine plan they were realising, as the bees are of the mathematical principles on which they construct the cells of their honeycombs. Man boasts proudly of his reason ; " He is not like the o6 SERMOX III. lower creatures ; he knows what he does." Does he ? There is something he has been doing without know- ing it ; where his reason has been as blind as any brute's instinct; where all generations and tribes and nations have been, in spite of what opposition their pride and selfishness could give, firmly although unconsciously in God's grasp. When we look up at the heavens which God has made, and ponder on what science tells us of the systems of worlds above us, all proceeding in their courses with perfect regularity, we cannot but humble ourselves in adora- tion before a present reigning God ; yet all the evi- dences of His power and wisdom to be traced in the starry firmament, or any other portion of the material universe, ought to impress us much less, I think, than the sight of how He brings order and His own holy purpose out of the confusion and conflict of millions of human wills which seek merely their own pleasure and good. Yea, verily, the Lord reigneth. Our conviction of that cannot be too strong nor confident. It is what our eyes see ; it is what day unto day utters in our hearing. Yet how easy it is to mingle arbitrary hypothesis with legitimate observation, and form the most per- verse judgments on events in consequence — or rather, I should say, how diflicult to avoid doing so. It is NATUEE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EAKTH. 57 a fact and no theory, it is a matter admitting of the most certain historical proof, that God has embraced within a system of order, the deeds recorded in the darkest and most blood-stained pages of the annals of the world. If we see not this, it is merely because we have not yet learned to read these pages. In the barbarian invasions, in the feudal system, in the papacy, in battles, conquests, massacres, revolu- tions, we who can look back on them calmly from the distance, perceive that God has been present, not suffering them to fall out of His hand, but making them work together for good, and compel- ling the very iniquity and wrath of man to praise Him. History can certify all this to the fullest extent, but how few of those who have philoso- phised on history have adequately received this conviction without going farther, without going on to the acceptance (virtual and silent, or explicit and avowed) of such maxims as these — that everything is for the best — that evil has been as necessary as good — that every monstrous personage and deplor- able period have been as needful and as useful as the holiest of saints and most heroic of epochs — that despotism has been the parent of liberty, and social crime of social virtue — that evil is but good in the making — that this world is the best possible — that 58 SERMON III. not a bad man nor a sin could have been spared, nor their place supplied by a good man nor a virtue, without the world being the worse for the want or the change ; — maxims like these, which underlie and pervade much \mtten history, and most specula- tions on histor}', of the present day. If they be true, however, we are but fools to pray " Thy kingdom come," and in doing so ask we know not what. If true, the origin of e\il is a mystery no longer, but is quite explained — by being quite ex- plained away. If true, there is nothing left in human history or human life for conscience to decide upon. If true, all those aspirations after a better order of affairs than at present exists upon earth — all those aspirations which progress owes its life and strength to, and which no disappointments nor hardships can destroy where they have once gained possession of the mind and heart — are vain and futile ; and Christ erred when He gave His sanction to them, as He here in our text most assuredly did. But confronted by such maxims, threatened with such consequences, I demur and deny. I do so in the name of history itself, asserting that more conscientious studies, more careful inquiries, more adequate and exact analyses of phenomena, would prove that, strictly speaking, evil is never transferred or transformed into good; XATUEE OF god's KINGDOM OX EAETH. 59 that from pure evil nothing but evil comes, and that it seems to be otherwise only because in all evil men and actions and ages there are elements of good mingled with the evil, which account for all the good that ever proceeds from them. I do so also in the name of right reason, of logic. It is no argument, as so many seem to think it is, that since evil is, and since God is of infinite wisdom, it must be better that there should be what evil there is than that it should not be, or than that good should be. Wisdom is shown in the choice of alternatives, and these are in the present case not evil or no e^il, still less evil or good, but evil or the miraculous prevention of evil, so that it follows not that because evil exists it must be better, and God see it to be better, for the world that it should exist than that it should not — that the world, while seemingly perhaps better, would be really worse without it ; it follows merely that it must be better that it should be allowed to exist than that God should directly and miraculously interpose to destroy it, and so cease to govern the world by general laws, or than that He should deal with mankind in a way contrary to their natures as free agents. That is all which sound reason gives us any warrant to conclude, and it allows us to in- terpret facts as we find them, which what may be CO SEKMON III. called historical optimism does not, binding us down to decisions perplexing to morality; is enough to vindicate the divine procedure; leaves evil in ori- gin still unexplained and in nature still detestable ; leaves room for our believing it opposed to God's will, and rebellion against His government, so that wherever it is there His kingdom has not yet come, and He is robbed of that sovereignity wdiich He is most jealous of. We may see, then, so far what kingdom it is for the coming of which Ave are here taught to pray. It is the kingdom of divine power and grace over man's will, its acts and results, of divine order and right- eousness in man's life and all its relations. In the measure that human caprice is replaced by divine law, human perversity by divine holiness, this king- dom is advanced ; and, as the very position of the text in the prayer of which it forms a part suggests to us, W'hen God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven, then it will have fully come. It is the grand theme of the whole Bible ; yea, throughout all his- tory a certain groaning after it may be heard, a cer- tain groping after it may be traced. Nature itself seems to travail in pain and sigh to be renewed. God foretold the victory over evil and reign of righteousness in which His kingdom consists to our « NATURE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH. 61 first parents after their first disobedience. The most ancient patriarchs were cheered and strengthened to walk on earth as pilgrims seeking a better country by the mere hope of it. Jacob in his hour of death hailed its future glories. David sang of it in his sweetest and most rapturous strains. Daniel in his visions saw the four great monarchies of the world coming only to make w^ay for this greater and better and heavenly kingdom, imaged by the stone cut out of the mountains without hands and filling the whole earth. John the Baptist came crying unto men to prepare themselves for the approach of its King. Our Saviour told the Jews of His day that it was " at hand," that it was " near," that it was "presently to be manifested," that it was "among them," that it was " come to them," that it was " preached to them." He, by His life, sufferings, and death, firmly established it, and since His departure from earth it has always been gradually advancing in defiance of opposition, spreading ever more widely over the world, and pervading ever more thoroughly all the relations of human life. It has had many obstacles to encounter, many hard struggles to go through, many martyrs have died for it, but still its course has been one of continuous and wondrous triumph. I fear that this conception of a kingdom of God 62 SERMON III. on earth occupies not in modern religions systems and modern religious life a position similar to the one it holds in the Bihle. It is central there, but it is very far from being central in contemporary thought and practice. Much of the religious teach- ing and preaching of the age, when sifted, comes simply to this, " Keep heaven and earth as widely ajDart in your interests and affections as you can — withdraw your energies of mind and heart from earth as much as you can, direct them towards heaven as much as you can — hold the terrestrial and the celestial life as utterly distinct, if not antagonis- tic, so that whatever is given to the one is taken from the other." The great duty of man is set forth as being to get out of earth into heaven, and not as being to set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. I dare to think that we have erred in leaving the old path ; that that old path is the only true and divine one ; that the notion that the kingdom of God which is to be the great aim of our aspirations and en- deavours, is a kingdom quite separate from earth, where a selfish safety may be sought and found, not a kingdom of righteousness, extending indeed to heaven but commencing on earth — entered into on earth through repentance and faith — established on earth throudi self-denial and holiness — is a false and NATURE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH. fa'3 pernicious notion, which every man who wishes well to his fellows or loves the faith once delivered to the saints must contend earnestly against. The kingdom of God is not meant to separate, but to unite heaven and earth, to embrace both in one, to sanctify the lower through the higher, and to admit into the higher through the lower. He who would reach the top must begin at the bottom. He who does not enter into the kingdom of heaven here will not be able to enter into it elsewhere. The kingdom of God begins within. The tree of evil has its root in the heart, and the axe must be laid to the root, so that the tree, the whole tree, may be cut down and cast into the fire. It is as victory over sin in the soul, as order, righteousness, peace in the soul — an order, righteousness, and peace founded on Christ's sacrifice and produced by the Holy Spirit— that the kingdom of God arises. But what is within must manifest itself without. The law of our Lord Jesus Christ has the same claims to rule society as to rule the individual. It is a law for the whole race. Christ is the rightful head of the whole race, of every man, of every tribe, of every nation. Humanity without Him presents to view only the scattered and bleeding members of a gigantic but lifeless, aimless, torn, and mutilated 64 SERxMON III. body. It has no centre of unity, no coherence of parts, no ruling intelligence, no pervading life, no common aim. Oh, that we felt this as we ought ! To know and acknowledge Christ as the King of our race, to take the place and do the work His will and grace assign us, to persuade our fellow-men by speech and example to do the same, — this, this is to bring in that kingdom which all creation sighs for, wherein no man raises his hand to oppress or hurt his brother man, w^herein dwelleth righteous- ness, freedom, peace, joy. "Thy kingdom come." Let that be the wish of our hearts and the petition of our lips, but let it also be our cry of onset and word of rallying in the battle of life. God calls us to His help against the mighty. He calls us to earnest warfare for the true King and right kingdom. May He give us also grace to hear and to obey. When the kingdom of God on earth is not vu'tu- ally denied altogether, it is sometimes conceived of in a very inadequate and unworthy w^ay. The most common and not the least pernicious of the erroneous notions entertained about it is that of those wdio imagine it to be the Church, and the Church an out- ward organisation, a society represented by certain recognised officers and courts, by synods and assem- blies, councils and convocations, and things of that KATUEE OF GOD S KINGDOM ON EARTH. 65 kind. In the eyes of such persons the power and progress of the Church so conceived of is the meas- ure of the power and progress of the kingdom of God, and the rights of its courts are coextensive with the crown-rights of Christ. Now I cannot think this opinion correct. It seems to me that the Church so understood is very distinct indeed from the kingdom of God. It seems to me even that the kingdom of God has been advancing just as the Church has been retrograding in power. The kingdom of God, we might almost say, has made its progress at the expense of the Church. When the Church had its greatest power, the king- dom of God had almost vanished from society. Society has been brought more and more into the kingdom of God, as the Church has gradually ceased to claim any direct and immediate control over it. The Church of the darkest period of the Middle Ages included within itself all the elements of social life, and exercised authority over them all. Its decisions were laws everywhere, and over every- thing. But as it emerged from the Middle Ages, one form of human activity, one social institution after another, separated from it, asserted its inde- pendence, and made good the assertion. The State first separated itself from the Church, E G6 SERMON III. to whicli a continuous course of subtle yet bold aggression had made it subject. It recovered its independence — it became laic, and not ecclesiastical. This step was virtually made considerably before the Keformation, and was an immense step towards the Reformation. When the Reformation came, it did not attempt to make mankind retrace this step ; it sanctioned and secured it. In all the countries of the Reformation, even in England, where, owing to causes deeply seated in the national character and history, the constitution of the Church was least changed, the ecclesiastical power no longer makes any serious pretensions to the direction and control of the civil power. But the Reformation itself did not effect that absolute separation between the civil and ecclesiastical which has been gradually realised since. That is nowhere more evident than in the history of the Church of Scotland. It for very long concentrated within itself most of that power which is now exerted by various separate and distinct agencies — as by the press, by public meetings, by poor's boards, by town-councils, by Parliament, no less than by the Church courts. The unhappy splitting-up of our Church by contro- versies into many denominations has, without doubt, immensely and perhaps unduly weakened the eccle- NATUKE OF GOD S KINGDOM ON EARTH. 67 siastical power of eacli denomination, and even of them all combined ; but if the Chnrch had remained intact, if there had never been such a thing as dissent from it, the direct power of the Church over the nation would, notwithstanding, have dimin- ished. The progress of the people in civilisation, their growing activity and energy, the application of other organs and agencies for the expression of their thoughts and purposes, would of themselves have infallibly in process of time brought about the result which we now witness. The warfare of sects has only hastened what was inevitable, although we may safely say that it was the very last thing any of these sects desired. But man proposes, and God disposes. The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice. It is not the State only, however, that has freed itself from the authority and control of the Church. It did so first, perhaps, but afterwards Art gained for itself the same independence. It was once entirely under the dominion of the Church. Its emancipation has been long ago complete. Litera- ture followed in the same route, and has reached the same goal. It began to declare its indepen- dence before the Ee formation, and now enjoys that independence to the fullest extent. Then came the Eeformation, when the greatest advance of all was 68 SERMON III. made. Protestantism, by laying down the principle of private judgment, declared the individual man free— declared the spiritual independence of man on every one hut his God ; and now, although the offi- cials and representatives of all the Churches of the whole earth were assembled into one convocation, still, if even that vast and venerable council dared to dictate what was to be held as true, and what rejected as false — dared to assume the office of deciding abso- lutely on spiritual matters — its tyranny would be in- sufferable. All the braver and better men of our time would refuse to allow even so imposing an outward authority as that to stand between them and God — would refuse to sacrifice the rights of reason and of conscience at the bidding even of such a council. Science, later still, broke away from the Church, and if on one or two points its independence be not fully secured, no one can reasonably doubt that even on these points it soon will, and that the very last link of the chain which bound it in subjection will be severed. Meanwhile the general independence of Science is undeniable and undenied. The Church does not dare to dream of imposing restrictions or commands upon it, so far as the interpretation of nature is concerned, even in its most recent and feeble departments. NATURE OF GOD S KINGDOM ON EAETH. 69 Now it is quite manifest that none of these ele- ments of social life, none of these forms of human activity, will ever return into the bosom of the Church again. It has cost humanity too much to separate each one of them from the grasp of the Church, and humanity has gained too much by the separation, when once accomplished, for it to allow of anything of the kind. The Church has lost its authority over these things for ever, and her loss has been the world's gain. AVell, what does this amount to ? Are we to conclude that all these things have become atheistical, irreligious, unchristian, because they have separated themselves from the Church, asserted rights of their own, and jealously guard these rights ? Assuredly no. The Church is not the kingdom of God, and these elements of social life, in separating themselves from the Church, have not separated themselves from the kingdom of God ; nay, by the very act of rejecting the control of the Church they set aside the mediation of the Church between them ♦and the kingdom of God, and secured for themselves, as a portion of their independence, the right of standing in immediate contact with the AVord and kingdom of God. Before their indepen- dence they were related to the kingdom of God only through their connection with the Church; now. 70 SERMON III. since their independence, they may justly claim to be portions of the kingdom of God, each one of them as much a portion of it as the Church itself. If their aims be bad and worldly, of course they are not of the kingdom of God, but opposed to it ; the aims of the Church are, however, often bad and worldly, and then it no more belongs to the kingdom of God than they do. When sanctified, when their aims are good and holy, then they are no less of the kingdom of God than it is. If this, then, be the kingdom of God, when we pray that it may come to any man, we ask that he should, from knowledge and love of the truth, fulfil his duties not to some Church only, but in every relation of life ; and when we ask that it may come to a nation, we pray not merely that aU its members may profess the faith of Christ, not even that they may do so sincerely, but that the whole Kfe of that nation may become Christian. It is to implore that God would take away, would clean destroy for ever, all that corrupts and debases our race either in its individual members or communities, and that He would abundantly bestow and firmly establish aU that comforts, strengthens, and elevates it. And when we try to act on our prayer, as we are mani- festly bound to do, when we not merely give God NATURE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EAETH. 71 these three words, " Thy kingdom come," which, however sincerely given, are surely not all that is demanded from us, but give our endeavours and means also to establish God's kingdom, we must never forget what it is ; we must never forget that to set up the kingdom of God is indeed to plant chui'ches, but to do vastly more than that — even to alter and transform the whole dispositions and acti- vities of a people. Tliis is not to be done exclusively through the Church. The kingdom, of God is not to be established among us in this country solely by the services of the sanctuary, or directly reh'gious exercises and instruction. A legislator by obtaining good laws, a poet by writing ennobling verses, a country gentleman by an active interest in the well- being of those who are on his estates and in his own neighbourhood, and every class of men by the faith- ful discharge of their special duties in commerce or trade, science or art, may help and hasten on the coming of the kingdom of God ^^ithout entering into the ecclesiastical sphere of action. AYhen Christians speak contemptuously about any kind of social reforms and moral improvements in a nation, when they fancy that as Christians these matters concern them not, they show great and lamentable blindness to the true nature of that kingdom which Christ 72 SEKMON III. died to set up on earth, and which He desires ns to pray and labour for. These remarks are as applicable in regard to the extension of God's kingdom over lands where it is not yet known, as to its perfect establishment in lands where it is already received in part. The in- fluence of the British Churches is not the only power which ought to act from this country on India in setting up God's kingdom there. The kingdom of God in Britain is not merely the Church in Britain. Government, education, literature, art, science, and morality, these, sanctified and guided by the Word and Spirit of God, are all ways in which His king- dom, in the measure that it has been realised in this country, ought to operate in the establishment of His kingdom in India and elsewhere. Intelligent Christians will rejoice with a deep and solemn joy alike when they hear of earnest and pious men devoting themselves to the arduous work of diffusing through India a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and when a great and good man is placed at the head of its affairs, for they will see in both events steps towards the accomplishment of what is the incessant prayer of their hearts, " Thy king- dom come." The immense influence of the Church of the NATURE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EAETH. 73 Middle Ages lay in tliis, that she held in her grasp all the elements of social life, and yielded as she pleased all the powers of society. These elements have escaped from the grasp of the Church ; these powers are no longer hers to yield. But if lost to the Church, which embraces only a part of the ac- tivities of men, it does not follow that they should be lost to the kingdom of God, which embraces all the activities of man. What is needed is, that men should clearly recognise that all these different agencies for good, no longer united in the Church, are still, and must for ever be, united in the king- dom of God, and ought all to be employed by those who are members of that kingdom for its wider extension and more thorough establishment. The weakness of modern society, on the other hand, has been that its various powers have remained, after their severance from the Church, separated from one another, giving no help, but often active ojjpo- sition to one another. The only remedy for that is that we should recognise their relationship to one another through recognition of their relationship to the kingdom of God. Then we shall no longer have the spectacle of men eager to send Bibles and mis- sionaries to other lands, while perfectly ignorant or indifferent whether as members of the State they 74 SERMON III. are not assenting to or assisting in what more than counteracts all the good they seek to effect as members of the Church ; but we shall have every power through which Christ's Gospel can express itself again combined, all the forces of God's king- dom mustered together, and put in orderly array to defeat the legions of the adversary, that the empire of the world may be wrested from his tyranny, and the Lord Most High have that dominion which is His due. Far be it from me to depreciate by these remarks the dignity of the Church, or the importance of the work which is specially its own. Although it is a grievous error, requiring to be faithfully exposed, to suppose it the sole agency that is to introduce, extend, and establish the kingdom of God, it has always been, now is, and ever must be, the foremost and most posverful agency; and if other powers do not rally round it, do not freely receive impulse and guidance from it, they will accomplish little. It is of vast importance, nevertheless, that it know its own place and do its own work — that it understand above all its relation to the kingdom of God, which is what determines its place and work. Error on this point has given rise to evils the number and seri- ousness of which it is scarcely possible to exaggerate. NATURE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH. 75 But for such error the world, I think, would have been spared the " divine-right " theories of Episco- pacy, Presbytery, and Independency, — which would have been a great gain and comfort to the world. But for such error it would have been spared also, to a great extent, if not entirely, the controversy on " the headship of Christ" which has raged so long and fiercely in our land — a controversy now hope- lessly unintelligible — a chaos out of which no in- tellect can bring sense or order. A true conception of the kingdom of God in itself and in relation to the Church would have, among many other advantageous results, these : * — * The advantages which I mention in the discourse itself are those which bear upon practical conduct, and I would therefore here indicate one which belongs to theological science. The history of the Christian religion can only be adequately described as the history of the kingdom of God on earth, and not as the history of the Church, still less as the history of a Church. A Roman Catholic cannot take his stand on this, the true point of view. He must start with the assumption that the kingdom of God is identical with the Church of Rome, and con- demn every departure from that Church as rebellion against the dominion of Jesus Christ. He must regard the national life of all the peoples of Europe who have felt most powerfully the impulse given by the Reformation, and freed themselves from the Papal yoke, as essentially anti- Christian. The theory of development employed in Germany by Mohler, in France by De Maistre, in England by Newman, faulty as it is, is the most comprehensive and philosophical conception of Church history, perhaps, possible within the Roman Catholic Church ; and of course the Reformation presents to a Roman Catholic a barrier beyond which the application of the theory is im- possible. It is only from a Protestant historian, then, that we can hope for a history of Christianity, starting from, and determined by, a true and adequate idea of the kingdom of God ; and there has been a continuous progress since the Reformation in this direction. The 76 SERMON III. First, It would save from the absurdity and injus- tice of contrasting the Church with the world, when by the world is meant the kingdom of evil. The kingdom of God forms a true contrast to the king- dom of Satan, since these two kingdoms meet, ex- clude, and oppose each other at all points ; but that contrast is far from equivalent to the distinction between the Church and the world — to the division of thiniTS into ecclesiastical and secular. It is not Protestant historians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had recourse to history chiefly in order to draw from it weapons of defence and attack against Romanism, and misrepresented the centuries before the Reformation in the most violently unjust and uncharitable man- ner. Gottfried Arnold, a representative of the Pietistic movement of Spener and Franke, introduced another, but we can scarcely say more comprehensive, conception. He sought to trace through the ages the presence of a so-called invisible Church, to discover and exhibit the operations of grace in genuinely pious hearts. The result was a sin- gularly exclusive and partial estimate of the development of Christian tnith and life ; all sorts of heretics and enthusiasts being selected for eulogy as children of God and members of this invisible Church, while Roman Catholicism and dominant Protestantism were alike dealt with as if deserted of the Spirit of grace. Arnold and his followers, such as Milner, did service by insisting that the history of religion is not to be severed from practical piety, but no solid or liberal work could be based upon the notion of an hivisible Church. The historical school, represented by Mosheim, SchriJck, Walch, &c., instead of in- trenching itself in a proud and hostile spirit within the narrow stronghold of some particular confession, endeavoured to do justice to all parties, and to find sense in all systems. The explanation of events, however, which it gave was shallow and external. It made no serious, no successful attempt to refer outward events and realised systems to permanent and essential causes. It described changes, but failed to show that they were not arbitrary and accidental — that they were manifestations of a process of groAvth, and regulated by laws of growth. A rationalistic school succeeded, the bold criticism of which ■was useful, but which, treating as it did all received doctrines on the NATURE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH. 77 more certain that every Churcli with its courts is in the world in the sense of having a local habita- tion and a name on the earth, than that the world as kingdom of Satan is in every Church, even the purest. No Church is wholly within the kingdom of God, and wholly without the kingdom of Satan, in its office-bearers, or constitution, or decisions, or deeds. So far as right is concerned, every social agency ought to belong to the kingdom of God as Trinity, atonement, sin, grace, &c., as perversions of primitive Chris- tian truth, virtiially reduced the whole history of Christianity into a history of the corruptions of Christianity, and must be regarded, from our present point of vieAV, as a retrogressive movement. The next step taken was a very great advance. Neander's principal work is the best type and most valuable product of the new school. In that work science and faith, the fullest research and the deepest piety, are seen in beautiful and blessed union, proving, as they can do only when in union, that the truth and grace of Christ have been present in all ages and Churches. Yet even this noble history is not based upon an adequate conception of the kmgdom of God. No thought, indeed, was more dear to Neander than that the Gospel must, like leaven in meal, penneate and transform the world ; but in his History he has only sought to trace its influence on individual piety, the apprehen- sion of Christian truth, and ecclesiastical activity, disregarding its operation on speculation and art, political and social life. Since Neander some have approached a Little more closely than he, in general conception at least, to the true goal, others have fallen farther back from it, others have widely missed it, — none have quite reached it. But what the true goal is, or that it may be reached, there can be no doubt. I shall only add that it is a strange, a startling fact, sugges- tive of how little Scotland has participated in the progress of religious science so far as regards the department of history, that the recently published work of the late Dr Cunningham— 'Historical Theology' — while remarkable both for the learning and intellectual force which so eminently distinguished its lamented author, should yet start from the essentially narrow sixteenth-century point of view — the lowest stage of Protestant historiography. 78 SERMON III. well as the Church ; and, so far as fact is concerned, the Church may as decidedly not be of the king- dom of God, and antagonistic to it, as any social agency. If we do not bear this in mind, we shall inevitably under-estimate what is secular, and over- estimate what is ecclesiastical ; with the former we shall have no sympathy,— to the latter we shall assign an undue importance ; what God hath cleansed we shall call common, and traditions of men we shall receive as ordinances of Christ. Thus a narrow and false mode of looking at life and judo-- ing of events will possess and pervert our judgments. Secondly, The true conception I speak of would save us from giving more than due importance to questions which will otherwise occupy and agitate our minds to an excessive and injurious extent. If the character of the Church had been sufficiently realised as a means, and not as an end, men would have been disinclined at least, if not ashamed, to expend the altogether disproportioned amount of energy they have done on controversies about the constitution and government of their churches, when compared v*^ith what they have put forth in actually establishing the kingdom of God. It is as unhealthy for a Church as for an individual to have its atten- tion constantly concentrated on itself, its OAvn con- NATURE OF GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH. 79 stitution, its own rights and privileges, instead of on its work. But what else can be looked for when the Church is confounded with the kingdom of God — when out of the Church it is assumed that there is only the kingdom of evil ? These miserable con- troversies become momentous matters then, — life- and-death struggles for Christ's kingdom. If Christ is to be King at all, the notion is He must be King here, for He is King nowhere else. But 0 by such blind contests what a contemptible kingship we get for Him ! — a mere acknowledged special kingship over church courts, including a virtual denial of His real kingship everywhere. A mock king we make of Him, and then stand by, passive and self-com- placent, while He is robbed of His rights all around us, and Satan's sway is almost undisputed. Thirdly, It would save the Church from encroach- ment on spheres not its own. IModern history, as we have seen, has been characterised throughout by the various agencies of society successively assert- ing and establishing their independence on the Church. There may be certain respects in which that has gone too far, but there are other respects in which it has not yet reached its legitimate issues. It is quite as common to see churches take posi- tions with regard to the State which they cannot 80 SERMON III. maintain, because essentially unjust, as to see the State encroach upon churches. Science has yet to be freer than it is, where the Bible, not nature, is the basis thereof. The creeds and confessions of most churches, however doctrinally correct, are of an extent and minuteness of decision objectionable, nut only on the ground of perpetuating disunion between equally sincere Christians, but as capable of being made, in the hands of unscrupulous or excited majorities, formidable instruments of terror- ism and oppression. "Now it is only through clear recognition of wliat its relationship to the kingdom of God is, that a church can adjust itself to the other agencies and powers of society, and know what its own sphere is ; where, consequently, it is requisite to yield, and where to resist — where, when, and how. Finally, It would save the Church from desertion of its true work. That work is not the direct and immediate control of any of the powers of society, but it is the indirect and mediate control of all the powers of society. It is a glorious work — the sanc- tification of society in all its elements, agencies, and relations by " the word of truth." The Church may not lay its commands upon othe;' institutions, as if it belonged to the kingdom of God, and they not, but has to teach them that, by light if not in NATURE OF GOD's KINGDOM ON EARTH. 81 fact, tliey belong to the kingdom of God as much as itself, that thus awakening them — art, literature, science, commerce, government — to a sense of their true dignity, of their high vocation, they may walk worthy of it. To bring men under the influence of that holy and blessed Word which " giveth life," and is " the power of God unto salvation," and to per- suade them to act on it in every relationship bravely, faithfully — this is our work as members of the Church ; and 0 ! if we only felt the work to be as momentous as it is, what intensity it would give to our prayers, and what energy to our actions, that the time might speedily arrive when God's kingdom should have fully come, and righteousness cover the whole earth with the same depth and fulness as the watets do the channels of the great deep. This glorious hope, my friends, is it yours ? Can you triumph in the thought of Christ's triumph ? Ah ! that depends on whether you are of this king- dom or against it — whether you are Christ's friend or foe. If you will not have this man to rule over you, if you will dare to resist this God, if you will strive to stay or repel tlie advance of this kingdom, you will perish from the way when His anger begins to burn, and His kingdom will crush over you as it proceeds, onwards, conquering and to conquer. But 82 SERMON III. why resist? Know you not that it is not only Almighty power you oppose, but infinite love ? It is Kins Jesus who seeks our love and service ; King Jesus who came forth from the bosom and down from the throne of the Eternal Father, wrapped Himself round with our frail humanity, felt our in- firmities, carried our sorrows, endured the contra- diction of sinners, sweat great drops as of blood in Gethsemane, bare our sins in His own body on the tree, and now, having ascended up on high, crowns us with the gifts of His grace, and ever liveth to make intercession for us. 0 King of glory, God of love, let all eyes see Thy glory, let all hearts feel Thy love. Come forth in the might of Thy Spirit. Eeign in every soul, in every family, in every church and nation. Eeign over the whole earth, that the whole earth may rejoice. Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen. SEEMON IV. THE SEED. Matthew xiii. 3-8, and 18-23. The seven parables contained in this chapter are closely connected with one another. They all re- late to the same subject, the Kingdom of Heaven. They describe the origin, progress, and issues of that kingdom, both in the individual and in society. They together form a perfect whole, parable fitting on and in to parable, as limb is joined to limb, member to member, to constitute an animal body. With these parables our Lord began a new mode of teaching, a fresh and important stage of His ministry. Hitherto He had been engaged in an- nouncing the approach of the long-looked-for Mes- sianic kingdom, explaining what moral requisites were demanded of those who would belong to it, and proving by miracles that its King was already among men. He now began to disclose the 84 SERMON IV. mysteries of the kingdom, its essential truths, its peculiar features. His teaching by parables was in this respect a real and great advance on that which had preceded it, but not so as to form. It was a mode of instruction adapted to the peculiar stao-e which revelation had reached, but designed to pass away when the truth could be seen and taught in its fulness ; excellent, and even indispensable, for " keeping the seed safe till the time should arrive for the quickening Spirit to come down and give it growth," but to be very little employed in future sowings ; most suggestive during the period when it was applicable to the intelligent and sincere, but even then calculated to perplex darkened minds and to repel hardened hearts. What has been true in some degree of revelation in every form, was in a special degree true of it in this form, — it added to those who had, but from those who had not it took away even that which they had. The parables in this chapter derive a special interest and value from standing at the commence- ment of that period of our Lord's ministry, dur- ing- which the character of His kinodom was the great theme of His teaching. Some have endea- voured to show that Christ's views as to the nature of His kingdom underwent several essential altera- THE SEED. 85 tions, — that the final idea forced upon Him by the course of events was a very different idea from that which He cherished when He came forth from the obscurity of Nazareth. And a recent author, whose reputation as a scholar and literary accomplish- ments have given a remarkably extensive circula- tion to a superficial and saddening book, would persuade us that, although from the outset of His public career the thought of the near and sudden advent of a Divine kingdom, which should revolu- tionise and renew all things, was never absent from the mind of Jesus, yet that His ideas regarding its constitution were vague, various, and conflicting. Sometimes it was the reign of the poor and out- cast,— His Gospel a Gospel of socialism. Himself a democratic chief; at other times it was the literal accomplishment of the Apocalyptic visions of Daniel and Enoch ; and often a kingdom within, dominion over the soul, spiritual deliverance. Ah ! learned and amiable doubter, Christ has refuted thee. These seven parables present us Avith His own sketch of His kingdom. They show us what His general conception of its character really was. They de- scribe it not indeed in its subordinate aspects and lesser features, but in an outline which is not vague, and yet singularly comprehensive. Within that 86 SERMON IV. outline every after-declaration of our Lord on the subject easily finds an appropriate place. It em- braces, to a certain extent, all the ideas which the author 1 refer to has attributed to Christ, for His kingdom was to be a fulfilment of ancient prophecy, and a spiritual kingdom, and a renewal of society, all in one ; and in so far as these ideas are compre- hended within it, there is truth in them and ade- quate evidence for them in the recorded words of our Lord, while in so far as they exclude one another, and cannot be reduced under a general idea, cannot be enclosed within the outline drawn by our Lord, they are false in themselves and capriciously ex- torted from New Testament texts. There is a pro- gress traceable in Christ's disclosures relative to His kingdom. The progress consists, however, not in one idea being taken up, made use of for a time, found to be false and inadequate, and rejected for another, nor in a general conception being gradually obtained from the conflict of several partially con- tradictory particular ones. 'No ! It consists in the filling up of an outline which was from the com- mencement so correct as to call for no chancre either of extension or contraction. It is only when, through want of elevation and breadth of intellect, or some disturbing moral cause, this outline is THE SEED. 87 vaguely discerned, the general principles which determine it imperfectly understood, that men can fancy they are warranted to attribute to Christ confusion of thought, the belief and utterance of irreconcilable opinions. It is not that they have advanced beyond and risen above the thoughts of Christ, but that they have fallen far behind and below them.* In the remarkable group of parables contained in this chapter, the parable of the sower is first in the order of nature as well as of position. It stands in its right place — begins at the beginning. Its theme is the origin of the kingdom of God. That origin * If it be admitted, as surely it must be, tliat the idea of the king- dom of God was only gradually developed even in the teaching of our Lord, the question immediately arises, Was there a corresponding growth in His muid, a corresponding development in His knowledge ? The question is in itself a legitimate one, since our Lord's life on earth, bodily and mental, was conformed to all the laws which God originally impressed on human nature. But very different answers will be given, of course, according to the views taken of the nature of the outward development, the progress in the teaching. If, like Hase or Eenan, we suppose that ideas essentially exclusive and false gave place to others which were broader and truer, the correspondence must be regarded as perfect. Christ must have acquired truth in the measure that He made use of it. If, on the contrary, a general plan, such as we contend for, is found at the commencement of His teaching on the subject, then the principal additions afterwards made, although not necessarily minute details, must have been anticipated, and the most accurate liistory of the outward growth of the idea will still leave us in ignorance, an ignorance which is probably designed and salutary, of the growth of mind in Jesus. This latter, this subjective growth or progress, sound criticism must confess the evangelical re- cords do not enable us to trace. 88 SERMON IV. it traces to " the word," to the diffusion of the truths which God has revealed to man for his guidance and salvation. These truths, it explains, when spread abroad, do not always profit. They have different effects on different minds. The same Divine words addressed to persons of unlike dis- positions or characters have correspondingly varied results. They produce in certain cases what they were meant to do, but in others they fail, through no fault of their own, but through the fault of those who hear them. This is illustrated by an analogy or comparison of singularly minute accu- racy. The truth or word is like the seed which the husbandman sows, and the dispositions with which it is received are like soils of different kinds, the inherent qualities of which account for the different fates that befall the dispersed seed of the Gospel. It is not improbable that when our Lord spoke this parable His eye actually looked upon some scene which presented all the features He mentions. There is in a very admirable book of Eastern travel a striking passage to this effect. The author. Dean Stanley, tells us how, as he was riding along by the beach of the Sea of Galilee, he thought of this parable, and seeing nothing but the steep hill-side, THE SEED. 89 alternately grass and rock, lie began to fancy that Christ could not have drawn His images from the scenery actually before Him at the time, but that His mind must have been dwelling on the distant corn-fields of Samaria or Esdraelon. Then he goes on to say, — " The thought had hardly occurred to me, when a slight recess in the hill-side, close upon the plain, disclosed S.t once, in detail, and with a conjunction which I remember nowhere else in Palestine, every feature of the great parable. There was the undulating corn-field descending to the water's edge. There was the trodden pathway, running through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed from falling here or there on either side of it or upon it ; itself hard with the constant tramp of horse and mule and human feet. There was the good rich soil, which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighbourhood from the bare hills elsewhere descending into the lake, and which, where there is no interruption, produces one vast mass of corn. There was the rocky ground of the hill-side, protruding here and there through the corn-fields, as elsewhere through the grassy slopes. There were the large bushes of thorns — that kind of which tradition says that the crown of thorns was woven — springing up, like the fruit-trees 90 SERMON IV. of the more inland parts, in the very midst of the waving wheat." Christ's eye looked, we may suppose, upon some such scene. Any other eye would have beheld the same outward features of nature ; but what eye save His own could have taken in at a glance the whole spiritual significance of what it saw ? None. Tliere is something vastly beyond mere genius here. Never man saw so much in a similar spectacle before ; never man saw like this man. Nature, which is a sealed book to so many, and to all is a book difficult to read, lay open and clear before Him wherever His eye rested. It is our privilege to know that in the measure in which the Spirit which dwelt in Him without measure dwells in us, the more will our eyes be opened to see as He did — to see through the material and temporal what is Divine and eternal — to see that things on earth are copies of, and made after the pattern of, things in heaven. God grant that to-day we may treasure up in our hearts some of those most precious lessons which, having seen in a fact so simple as the scat- tering of seed upon the ground. He was pleased to disclose in this parable for our spiritual profit. " Behold, a sower went forth to sow." There has been considerable discussion as to who is to be THE SEED. 91 understood by the sower — whether Christ, or the Apostles, or the writers of Scripture, or the Church, or any teacher of Divine truth. The discussion is uncalled for. The aim of the parable is simple and precise — namely, to explain to us what effects the word of God will produce on different hearts. Who sows the word, or how it is sown, is not its subject. Seed must have a sower, and a sower is mentioned, but the sower does not belong to what is essential in the parable ; and hence in the exposition of it which our Lord himself gave, nothing is said about the sower ; He tells us not who the sower is, but what the seed is. It is true that Christ himself was and is the great Sower, and that others are good sowers only in proportion to the faithfulness and zeal with which they scatter the seed which He has put into their hands, and imitate His manner of sowing. This is the truth taught in many a passage of Scripture, but not the truth this parable was spoken to enforce. Here there is mention of a sower merely because seed does not . sow itself, and because the word, which is like seed, implies a speaker. So likewise the parable does not teach us, as is often said, that the heart alone explains all — that barrenness or fertility in noxious products may not 92 SERMON IV. be clue to tlie sower, the sowing, or the seed, as well as to the soil. It does not say that one sower or way of sowing is as good as another, or that tares may not be sown as well as good grain, and mingled in various proportions with the good grain. But it makes, as every parable does, certain assumptions, and employs them to effect the end in view. It assumes that the seed which is sown is the word of God, or what may be called pure seed, and that as it is sown — it is immaterial, so far as the parable is concerned, by whom or how — it falls on different kinds of soil, is heard by men of different characters and dispositions, and, assuming this, it tells us what the result in each case wdll be. This is the sphere within which the teaching of the parable is confined, and it is necessary not to go beyond it. There is much greater danger, in the interpretation of par- ables, of making them say more than they were meant to do, than of making them say less. The seed "is the word," — the word of the kingdom — the word of God. The kingdom of grace, which all the parables in this chapter deal with as their common theme, has its origin in the words w^hich God has spoken, the truths which God has reveal- ed, and can be established only upon them. It cannot be built up on the inventions and fancies of THE SEED. 93 men, however ingenious and beautiful these may seem to be, and still less by force and violence. The seed is the word, and the word is God's message of mercy and truth to our fallen race through Jesus Christ His Son. That may appear small and feeble, but it has the strange vitality in it which makes all seed so marvellous, which makes the mustard-seed grow into a tree that can ^afford a shelter to the birds of the air; and so it, the seed of the word, is what the mighty kingdom which will yet over- shadow and sway all the kingdoms of the earth must spring from. 0 let us have faith in it, and scatter it with a diligent hand. Much may fall where the foot will trample it down, or the birds devour it, or thorns choke it; but even one grain, striking root in good soil, will produce what may well gladden our hearts, what will far more than repay our most painful exertions. The good seed of the word fell on four kinds of soil, each of which is descriptive of a special variety of human character. But it is to be observed, al- though it is strange how few have done so, that in the application of the parable to individuals, these kinds of soil, these varieties of character, are not to be dealt with as exclusive of one another. The hearers of the Gospel cannot be all arranged into 94 SERMON IV. four classes, so distinct that whoever is in any measure in any one class cannot be in any measure in any other. No, each kind of soil is representa- tive not of an individual character, but of a variety or rather type of character. Now no type of human nature explains the whole nature of an actual man. The general complexion and main tendencies of our disposition may leave no doubt as to what parti- cular type we ought to be classed with, and yet many of our qualities both of mind and heart may belong to other moral forms of human nature. Thus there is no unprofitable hearer, perhaps, who is sole- ly a wayside, or a stony-ground, or a thorny-ground hearer, but more or less all these three in one ; and the most attentive and successful of hearers will be the readiest to lament that along with such soil as the word of God can penetrate, root itself in, and cover with produce, there still is in their hearts no small proportion of every sort of evil ground. It is not some little separate portion, therefore, of this parable, but the whole of it, which closely concerns every reader and hearer. No one may say, ' This is true of me, but I have no cause to give heed to that ; if this apply to me, the rest cannot.' All that is here written is for the reproof, correction, and in- struction in righteousness of each one of us. THE SEED. 95 The division of soils, or rather of dispositions re- presented by soils, is in itself very instructive. It teaches ns two lessons at least, which are often for- gotten, to the great injury of the cause of truth and righteousness. I know not indeed any errors con- nected with the preaching of the Gospel, which have had a longer or sadder history than these — the division of men merely into good and bad, believing and incredulous, and the ignoring of the distinction as one always to be implied, as one which must underlie all others. These errors are opposite ex- tremes, equally removed from the truth, which lies between them ; the one has been more prevalent in some generations, and the other in others ; the one is characteristic of an exaggerated evangelicalism, and the other of a dead moderatism ; or, in more general terms, the one is inherent in fanaticism, and the other in formalism ; but both are in their ex- clusiveness condemned by the whole structure of the New Testament, and condemned very plainly in the parable under consideration. First, I say, we are here shown that exclusive ad- herence to the twofold division of men into good and evil is unwarranted and unwise. He who ought to be our model in all things, and especially in every question connected with the diffusion of His own 96 SERMON IV. blessed word, here shows us another and far more reasonable mode of procedure. He teaches us that we are neither to overlook that there are varieties among the evil nor degrees among the good — that we are to deal with men as they really are, and closely consider each sort or form of character in its relation to the truth and grace of God. If we do not, our speaking must be both vague and harsh — vague, because confined to the most general of all the dis- tinctions that can be drawn between man and man ; and harsh, exaggerated, because overlooking all the gradations of character to be found both among the evil and the good ; and it can scarcely fail to injure alike the believer and the unbeliever — on the believer tending to produce despair, and on the unbeliever tending to produce contempt. Such vague, over- drawn descriptions, I say, are apt to make the pious conclude that they are not in any sense or measure Christians, and thus to cause the Gospel do wliat it was never meant to do, " break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax;" while on the worldly they have naturally a contrary effect, leading them in their hearts to say, ' Things are not so ; your saints and sinners are equally fictions of the mind, which have no existence !• nature ; we confess we are not the saints, but neitlier are we the sinners THE SEED. 97 you describe — we are quite as much your saints as your sinners — and that may, perhaps, suffice ;' and thus they are helped to pursue, with quieted con- sciences, the fatal path of indifference and self- satisfaction. But, secondly, we must never ignore the twofold division of men into good and evil as fundamental — as underlying all other grounds of division and dis- tinction. There are varieties of the evil and degrees of the good, but that of itself implies that the two great classes are the evil and the good — those in whom the word received is barren, and those in whom it is fruitful. It requires often a far deeper and keener glance than the human eye is capable of to discern between the good and the evil, the genu- ine and the counterfeit ; but the Divine eye sees at the bottom of each heart, at the centre of each soul, what makes a real and vast difference. There may be worldly men who, from natural excellence of dis- position, advantages of education, or other causes, can fairly challenge comparison, in regard to all the outward proprieties and virtues of conduct, with the general body of true believers ; but there will be an essential difference notwithstanding — a difference in principle, motive, aim. #The root of a man's life is either faith or sense ; its governing affection is either G 98 SERMON IV. love to God or worldly desire ; its chief end is either the glory of God or self-gratification ; its standard is either the invisible and eternal or the seen and temporary ; and I know not how the word of God, which everywhere recognises this distinction, can be applied with efficacy where it is forgotten or rejected* As the sower sow^ed it came to pass that some seed fell " by the wayside," — on the edge of the road, on the narrow strip of land which was the margin alike of the cultivated field and the beaten path. There the seed could find no entrance into the soil beneath, and so it lay exposed on the surface, and was soon either crushed by the foot of the passenger or devoured by the birds of the air. It was wholly * If these remarks are correct, the following statement of one of the most sagacious and honest of men, the late Archbishop of Duhlin, must be very defective and objectionable : — " I have seen in a religi- ous work (and one may often hear the like) a distinct assertion that there are in the world two, and only two, sorts of persons, the ' con- verted' and the 'unconverted.' Now this may, no doubt, be ex- plained in a certain sense in which it would be true, and in which it would not be dangerous ; and some such sense, doubtless, was what the author intended ; but in the most simple and obvious and natural sense it is a j)lain contradiction of our Lord's teaching. 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Contents. Vol. I. The Glenmutchkin Railway. — Vanderdeeken's Message Home. — The Floating Beacon. — Colonna the Painter. -j-Napoieon. — ^A Legend of Gibral- tar.— The Iron Shroud. Vol. II. Lazaro's Legacy. — A Story without a Tail. — Faustus and Queen Eliza- beth.— How I became a Yeoman. — Devereux HaU. — The Metempsychosis. — College Theatricals. Vol. III. A Reading Party in the Long Vacation. — Father Tom and the Pope. — La Petite Madelaine. — Bob Burke's Duel with Ensign Brady. — The Headsman : A Tale of Doom. — The Wearyful Woman. Vol. IV. How I stood for the Dreepdaily Burghs. — First and Last. — The Duke's Dilemma: A Chronicle of Nieseiistein. — The Old Gentleman's Teetotum. — ■ *' Woe to us when we lose the Watery Wall." — My College Friends : Charles Russell, the Gentleman Commoner. — The Magic Lay of the One-Horse Chay. Vol. V. 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