^ I. SERMONS. MACMILLAN & Co., CAMBRIDGE, 3Cont)On : bell & DALDY, 18G, Fleet Street. ©ifOtB : J. H. & JAS. PARKER. lEtilnburgl) : edmondston & douglas. ffilaSgOto : JAMES MACLEHOSE. Bublin: WILLIAM ROBERTSON, SERMONS PREACHT IN HERSTMONCEUX CHURCH. BY JULIUS CHARLES HARE, M.A. HECTOR OF HEKSTMONCEUX, AKCHDEACON OF LEWES, AND LATE FELLOW OF TRIXITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. SECOND SERIES. MACMILLAN AND CO. 1849. // z TO HER WHO WAS THE BLESSING OF MY BELOVED BROTHER AUGUSTUS DURING THE YEARS OF HIS WEDDED LIFE, AND WHOSE LOVE FOR THE POOR OF MY PARISH, SINCE SHE BECAME A WIDOW, HAS BEEN THEIR BLESSING AND MINE. April 6, 1849. .J* J/ 1 •m. fn .-•Mis'4 CONTENTS. SERMON I. THE DUTY OF BUILDING THE LOUd's HOUSE. Haggai I. 2, 4. PAGE Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts : This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's House should be built. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cielcd houses, and this house lie waste ? ....... 1 SERMON H. THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING TO BUILD THE LORd's HOUSE. Haggai i. 5 — 11. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink ; but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you ; but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the House ; and I will take pleasure in it ; and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much ; and lo, it came to little ; and, when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why, saith the Lord of Hosts. Because of My House, which is waste ; and ye run every man to his own house. There- fore the heaven over you is stayed from dew ; and the earth is stayed from her fruit : and I called for a drouth upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine. VIU CONTENTS. PAGE and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. . . . . . . . .23 SERMON III. THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. Haggai I. 7, 8, 12—14. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the House ; and I Avill take pleasure in it ; and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. — Then Zerubbabel, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai their prophet ; and the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message to the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people : and they came and did work in the House of the Lord of Hosts their God 47 SERMON IV. the contrast between the two houses. Haggai ii. 1, 3, 4, 5. In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, — Who is left among you that saw this House in her first glory ? and how do ye see it now ? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing ? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord ; and be strong, O Joshua, the highpriest ; and be strong, all ye people of the land, and work : for I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you, when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you : fear ye not. . 65 SERMON V. the shaking of the nations, Haggai ii. 6, 7. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the CONTENTS. IX PAGE dry land ; and I will shake all nations ; and the Desire of all Nations shall come ; and I will fill this House with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. . . . . . .83 SERMON VI. THE SUPERIORITY OF THE LATTER HOUSE. Haggai II. 8, 9. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the former ; and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts. ....... 101 SERMON VIL the contagion of evil. Haggai ii. 11 — 14. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy 1 And the priests answered and said. No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean ? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai and said : So is this people, and so is this nation before Me, saith the Lord ; and so is every work of their hands ; and that which they offer there is unclean. ....... 123 SERMON VIII. the blessing of calamities. Haggai ii. 20—23. Again the word of the Lord came to Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth ; and I will overthrow the thrones of the kingdoms ; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the Heathen ; and I will overthrow X CONTENTS. PAGE the chariots, and those that ride in them ; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabcl, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, and will make thee as a signet ; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of Hosts. . . . 143 SERMON IX. THE angel's message, Luke ii. 10, 11. And the angel said to them, Fear not : for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people : for to you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. . . . . . . , .107 SERMON X. the only helper. Psalm cxlvi. 5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. ...... 186 SERMON XI. loss and gain. Philii'pians III. 8. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Ciirist Jesus my Lord. . . . . ^ . 205 SERMON XII. the awful alternative. Matthew xii. 30. He that is not with Me is against Me ; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad. ..... 225 # CONTENTS. SERMON XIII. the sword of the gospel. Matthew x. 34. PAGE Think not that I came to send peace on earth : I came not to send peace, but a sword. ...... 245 SERMON XIV. the christian warfare. Matthew x. 34. Think not that I came to send peace on earth : I came not to send peace, but a sword. ...... 265 SERMON XV. christian variance. Matthew x. 35, 36. I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the tiaughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. . . . . . . .281 SERMON XVI. heavenly and earthly love. Matthew x. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ....... 301 SERMON XVII. the object of LIFE. Romans xiv. 7. None of us liveth to himself ; and no man dicth to himself. . 325 XU CONTENTS. SERMON XVIII. poverty and riches. 2 Corinthians viii. 9. PAGE For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Clirist, that, tliough He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich. ...... 343 SERMON XIX. Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. John xii. 12, 13. On the next Jay much people that were come to the feast, when they lieard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna ! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord . 361 SERMON XX. the end of Christ's coming. John xix. 30. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar. He said, It is finished. ........ 381 SERMON XXI. the life of the spirit. Luke xxiv. 5. Why seek ye the living among the dead ? . . . 399 SERMON XXII. the valley of dry bones. ezekiel xxxvii. 3 (^ Can these bones live ! . . • • • • 419 CONTENTS. Xlll SERMON XXIII. HARVEST PARABLES. MaTTIIEW VI. 28. PAGE Cdiisidcr the lilies of the field. ..... 443 SERMON XXIV. THE ANGELIC MISSION. Psalm em. 21. Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excell in strength, that do His coinmandiuents, hearkening to the voice of His word. . . 463 SERMON XXV. the chariots of god. Psalm lxviii. 17. The Chariots of God are thousands of angels. . . . 481 SERMON 1. THE DUTY OF BUILDING THE LORD S HOUSE. Haggai I. 2. 4. Thus spcaketh the Lord of Hosts : This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's House should be built. Is it time for yon, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste ? These words, like all the rest of the prophecies of Haggai, which have come down to us in the Bible, relate to the building of the second Temple. The original Temple built by Solomon, which for its splendour and mag- nificence was the wonder of the world, and of which such a full and particular account is given in the First Book of Kings, was destroyed, when Jerusalem was taken by the army of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. A short time after the taking of the city, Nebuzaradan, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guard, came to Jerusalem, and burnt the House of the Lord., and the king's house ; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men hurnt he with fire (Jer. Hi. 13). So mightily was the Lord's anger kindled against Judah, that He spared not His own House, but gave it up to the minister of destruction. So terrible was the desolation which fell upon the stifFneckt and rebel- lious children of Israel by reason of their sins, that even VOL. II. B THE DUTY tlie church of their fathers, the Temple which had been the glory of the whole earth, was swept away ; and they were no longer allowed to offer up their prayers, where their fathers and forefathers had prayed. With such an awful judgement does God at times visit the sins of an apostate people. May our sins never bring down a like judgement on our beloved country ! As long as Eng- land lifts up her head among the nations of the earth, may her churches still be seen in all parts of the land, rising above the habitations of men, so that, whithersoever the eye turns, the first object it rests on may be the House of God ! Therefore, lest we provoke God to depart from us, and to take away His dwellingplace from the midst of us, let us all be careful duly to prize, and rightly to make use of the great blessing vouchsafed to us, of having the Lord's House in every parish, — in which we are raised out of the corruption of our nature, and consecrated to the service of God, by our Baptism, — in which our whole lives through we meet together to pray to Him, to confess our sins to Him, to receive the assurance of His fatherly forgiveness, to sing His praises, and to worship Him in the beauty of holiness, — to which we come for protection from the guileful wisdom of this world, to hear His word read and explained, — in which, whenever we have lost sight of Him amid the dazzling pleasures or the bewildering cares of life, we may always be sure to find Him amid the congre- gation of His people, — in which we assemble round the Table of the Lord, and are fed with the Bread and Wine of everlasting life, — in which the most momentous and heartstirring act of our human lives, the act that is to make us husbands and fathers, is solemnized, and the favour of God is called down on the home where we are OF BUILDING THE LORD S HOUSE. 3 to set up our rest, — and under the shelter of which our bodies are to lie awaiting the trumpet of the Resurrection. For think how dismal our condition would he, if the Lord were to take away His House from the midst of us ; if we had no church to offer up our prayers in, which even in church we offer up far too coldly and listlessly, — no church to hear about God in, whose name many seldom hear out of church, except when it is taken in vain, — no church to learn the plain law of our duty in, which in the world is blurred by all manner of passions, and scribbled over by all manner of interests, — no church to be gathered together with our brethren in, from whom out of church selfishness is continually dividing us, and setting us against them, — no church to be christened in, no church to be married in, no churchyard to be buried in. We should sink before long into brutal ignorance, into brutal careless- ness, into brutal hardheartedness, into brutal lust, into brutal ferocity : and our end would be just of a piece with our lives : we should be cast out, like dogs, to rot upon a dunghill, by those whose only anxiety would be to rid their houses of our carcass. Such and so precious, my brethren, is the blessing which we enjoy, in having the Lord's House amid our dwellings, set up on high, that all may see it, with its spire ever point- ing to heaven, to remind us, whenever it meets our eyes, how our hearts also ought always to be pointing thither, with the same quiet, stedfast, unchanging, immovable calmness. If the situation of our own church is in many respects inconvenient, at all events it has this advantage, that it stands upon a hill, so as to be clearly seen afar off; and many a time, I think, when the sky has been overcast with driving clouds, and everything else lookt gloomy, B 2 THE DUTY you mixst have observed a pure, still light resting upon it, betokening the light which, amid all the clouds and storms of the world, rests on a heaven-pointing spirit. The children of Israel had such a right feeling of the blessing their Temple had been to them, that, when Cyrus allowed them to return to the land of their fathers, the first work they took in hand was to rebuild it. How they set about this work, with what difficulties and hindrances they had to struggle in carrying it on, and how it was at length accomplisht, is related with many interesting particulars in the book of Ezra ; in the fifth chapter of which we read, that the iiro- phets, Haggai the 'prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo^ 'prophesied to the Jews in the name of the God of Israel, to urge on the work, which had been stopt for some years, — and again, in the sixth chapter, that the elders of the Jews builded, and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo. The two chapters of the prophecies of Haggai bear entirely on this subject ; and you will easily perceive that he is speaking about it in the verses which I just read to you, as the text for our consideration this morning. For you must not fancy, that, because the prophet is speaking to the Jews about their duty of rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem, his words cannot concern you. There are very few passages in Scripture, which, even when at first sight they may seem to refer solely to events long since gone by, will not likewise admit of some general practical application, whereby they may still be made profitable for doctrine, or for reproof, or for correction, or for instruction in righteousness, or, it may be, for several of these purposes, or for all of them at once. For why ? The Bible sets forth the ways and counsels of Him who never changes, and all OF BUILDING THE LORD S HOUSE. O whose words and works are designed by His infinite wisdom for the everlasting good of His creatures. That which God did two thousand years ago, He still does now. That which He said two thousand years ago, He still says now. While the fashion of this world is ever changing, not only from age to age, but from man to man, so that a man is often sorely puzzled to recognise his own image, when he sees it in a brother ; and while the manners and customs, and even the laws of men are so fleeting and shifting, that the selfsame act has been enjoined by one nation as a sacred duty, and execrated as an abomination by another ; of God's laws, on the other hand, no tittle passes away ; and our duty to Him is still the same as it ever was, — the same in itself, although more clearly made known to us, and en- forced upon us by stronger motives to obedience. Thus we owe Him the very same service, the very same obedience, which the Jews owed Him, or rather a still more faithful service, a still more entire obedience : and this greater in- cludes the less. We are bound to do all that the Jews were bound to do, and more ; not, it may be, by perform- ing the selfsame acts which were required of the Jews, but by performing greater acts, or at least by carrying out the principles of those acts more fully and thoroughly. Thus the various commandments delivered to the Jews in the Old Testament, binding as they were on them, are equally binding in their spirit on us : and thus the Old Testament, when viewed in the light of the New, is still a treasure of wisdom, for the enlightening of our understandings, and the ruling of our hves. Accordingly, if we look rightly, with eyes duly purged, we may feel assured that we shall discern some lessons which may be of use to our- selves, in the words of the Lord which were borne by 6 THE DUTY Haggal the prophet to Zerubbabel and the remnant of the Israehtes. At the time when Haggai came to Zerubbabel, the build- ing of the Temple had been interrupted for some years. Disheartened by the difficulties and hindrances they had met with, the people had abandoned this great national and religious work, this great national and religious duty, and had turned aside to build each his own house, and to look each after his own affairs. This was the reason why Haggai was sent to reprove them. Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts : such was his message : This peoiole say. The time is not come, the time that the Lord's House should be built. The people would fain have excused their neglect of their duty, by pleading that the time for performing it was not yet come. The building had been stopt some time before by a decree of King Artaxerxes : but it was now the second year of King Darius ; and yet they had not attempted to resume their work. No ! they said, the time is not come, the time when the Lord''s House should be built. We shall be able to build it better by and by, when we are richer, and have nothing to hinder us, and have plenty of time on our hands. The true reason of their supineness however is set forth in the next question ; where the prophet asks. Is it time for you, ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, while this House lies waste ? They were glad to have an excuse for turning away from building the Lord's House to build houses for themselves : and though this great national calamity, if it had indeed been impossible for them to carry on the building of the Temple, should have made them sit down in sackcloth and ashes, they found plenty of time and means for adorning their own houses in a costly manner, while the Lord's House was left to lie OF BUILDING THE LORD S HOUSE. 7 waste. My brethren, are they the only people, who have ever acted after this fashion ? Surely you already perceive that the rebuke conveyed in our text applies to other per- sons, as well as to the Jews in the days of the prophet Haggai. Yes, brethren, it applies to very many others, and to us among the number. For what the Jews did is only a sample of what mankind have gone on doing ever since : nor is there a single person here present who has not often done the same : happy they who are not doing so at this very moment ! For are we not, have we not all our lives been, equally slack in doing the Lord's work ? equally careless whether we do it or not ? equally apt to turn aside from it, and to do our own work 1 Do we not let it slip through our hands as easily as a ripe chesnut drops out of its husk ? Nay more : the very work which the Jews were called to perform, is one to which we are in like manner called, and of which we are no less negligent. For we too, like them, are called to build up the Lord's House, and that in divers ways. We may not indeed be all called to build up the Lord's House of stone and mortar, with the labour of our own hands. Our pious forefathers, — blessed be God, who breathed such a spirit into them ! — were so largehearted in storing the land abundantly with churches built to endure for ages, that, in many parts of the country, we may be spared from this outward duty of handiwork in building the House of the Lord. But there is another work requisite in building the Lord's House, even soulwork : and from that neither we, nor any other Christians, can be spared. Every Christian is called to bear his part in building up the Church of the Lord spiritually, by prayer and thanksgiving, by faith and righteousness, by holiness and love. For this is the Lord's 8 THE DUTY true Church, not that which is built of stone and brick, but that which is built of the souls of His faithful people. The Church of which we read in the New Testament, is not the building which we now call by that name, but the living Church, the congregation of believers. The other is only the shell, which is worthless, when it is empty. For tell me ! unless the Lord's House be filled with the people of the Lord, to what purpose was it built ? Nothing on earth can be vainer ; no spectacle on earth can be sadder. The sight of a dead body is far less dismal than that of an empty church. The soul which animated that body, may have risen from it into the blessed communion of the Saints in heaven. But the souls which ought to be peopling and animating the church . . . where are they ? Afar from heaven, unwilling even to look up to it, unwilling to walk in the way that leads to it, drowned without a struggle in the cares and pleasures of the world, reckless about God, and a ready prey for the devil. The church, which would have gathered them together, as a hen gathers her chicJcens under her wings, and would have trained up their souls with its fostering care, is to them merely a sign to he spoTcen against. A sign too it will be against them, a sign that the trumpet of the Lord has sounded in their ears, that they have been called time after time to build up His House, and yet that they have paid no heed to the call, but have gone on building the house of sin for all manner of evil spirits to lodge in. This people say, the time is not come, the titne that the Lord^s House should he huilt. Any hindrance, however petty, is deemed insurmountable, — any excuse, however trifling, is held to be perfectly valid, — if it is only to keep a person away from church. One day it is too hot to OF BUILDING THE LORD's HOUSE. 9 come : another clay it is too cold. A slight headach, or any other little ailing, on account of which nobody would think of staying at home on a weekday, is quite enough to make people fancy they are obliged to stay at home on a Sunday. A shower of rain, such as would stop no one from going a shopping, or to visit a friend, or to work in the fields, or to look after his workmen, if it comes on a Sunday, the churchbell rings in vain : it rains ! we say, and draw obstinately closer to the fire. Or the church is so far off, that they who would gladly go twice as far to gain a shilling or two, cannot bring themselves to take such a long walk, when nothing is to be gained, except the grace of God. Or put the case that a person does usually come once a day. Many think that this must needs be quite enough, that God can never be so unreason- able as to expect more than this from them : and they flatter themselves that, seeing they make a practice, unless something happens to prevent them, of spending an hour and a half a week in the House of God, they may take their seat on the bench of respectable churchgoing Chris- tians. For who would have the conscience to ask for more ? Yet how many hours day after day are we will- ing, and even desirous, to give up to business, or, if we have but the means, to idleness, to wantonness, to amuse- ment, to anything, no matter what, that wdll but keep us away from the thoughts of heaven, as though we were afraid of getting there too soon ! We are very ready to spend half-a-dozen hours a day, loitering and dangling in any of the devil's porches : yet we grudge spending more than a couple of hours a week in the House of God, in which God Himself vouchsafes to be present, hearing and answering the petitions of His faithful people. 10 THE DUTY But further, even when we are come to church, even when we are sitting here, are we all diligently employed in building the House of the Lord ? It is not of the bodies of men, that the Lord's House is to be built, but of their hearts and souls and minds. Yet many persons seem to think, that, if they bring their bodies to church, they may leave their hearts and souls and minds behind them. They will sit here without stirring a single feel- ing, without lifting up a single thought, in the work in which they ought to be diligently engaged. Even within the walls of God's House, many are wholly taken up with worldly, weekday thoughts, or spend their time in staring idly about, or more innocently, and not less unprofitably, in sleeping. Nay, my brethren, how many are there among you at this very moment, who are listening to what I am saying, with any thought of the great work for which you ought to have come here, the work of building up the House of the Lord ? How many of you have offered up so much as one prayer to God, since you came into church this morning, with pure, fervent singleness of heart, with that lively faith, which alone can avail to draw down blessings from heaven, with a full assurance that God is here present, listening to your prayers, and reading your inmost thoughts ? How many of you have been as much in earnest, how many of you have had your thoughts as much about you, since you came here to work in your heavenly calling, as you had them yesterday, as you will have them tomorrow, when working in your earthly call- ing ? Or let me invert the question, and ask, how many are there among you, who have not offered up such a prayer ? how many, whose thoughts have been wandering the whole time you have been sitting here ? Ask yourselves OF BUILDING THE LORd's HOUSE. 11 these questions, my brethren ; and, if your consciences condemn you, you may be certain that, whatever you have been doing, you have utterly neglected the work for which you ought to have come here, the work of building up the House of the Lord. This brings me to speak of another way, in which it behoves every Christian to labour in building up the House of the Lord. When we come to church, as members of Chrises congregation, we come, or at least we ought to come, to Christ, according to the words of St Peter, as to a Living Stone, chosen hy God, and precious, in order that we, as lively stones, may he huilt up a spiritual House, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. But moreover every Christian ought himself to be a Temple of God. He is so already, as St Paul tells the Corinthians ; and he ought to become so more and more entirely. This should be the great work of his life, to build himself up as such, with the help of God"'s Spirit dwelling in him, on the rock of an unshakable faith, with the Stone which the builders rejected, as the Headstone of the corner. The great business of every Christian is thus to build himself up, or at least to prepare and fit himself, so far as in him lies, for being thus built up, to prepare and fit his heart and soul and mind for being built up into a Temple of the Lord. For unhappily our hearts and souls and minds, when we desire that they should be thus built up into a Temple of the Lord, are not like new bricks clean and fresh from the kiln, which we have only to take and put in the places where they are to stand. They will already have been built up in one of the many buildings of the world ; and that building must be pulled down, before they can be built up into the House of 12 THE DUTY God. Moreover, when this building has been pulled down, we are sure to find that every thought and every feeling has some of the untempered mortar of the world cleaving to it, from which it must be cleared and purged, before it can be built up into the House of God. Now this is our work, a long and laborious work, to fit all our thoughts and feel- ings for being built up into the House of God, by purging them from the untempered mortar of this world. And when they are so purged, how are we to cement them to- gether ? By good works ; by works of holiness and love. This is the worth of good works. We cannot build up our wall of good works. That would be a wall to our own glory, not to God's. Besides it would sink by its own weight : for eveiy good work, when we would rest upon it, crumbles away. The things which are behind are to be for- gotten. But it leaves a sediment, which is the best mortar for holding our good thoughts and feelings together, and enabling them to stand on the foundation of faith. By help of that mortar too, provided we duly purge our bricks, pro- vided also we are always careful to build on the same foun- dation, we may be enabled to raise our house layer above layer, and story above story, building knowledge above knowledge, and strength above strength, and grace above grace, until God is pleased to call us away from our earthly to His heavenly Temple. This is the Lord's House, which we all ought to be building ; and yet we build it not. We know that we ought to be building it : we know, at least from hearsay, how glorious it is : and yet we build it not. We may per- chance have begun some time ago to build it : but some hindrance came across us : the work was broken off : we turned away from it, and have not talien it in hand again. OF BUILDING THE LORd's HOUSE. 13 When our conscience, or the preacher tells us, that we ought to be building up the House of the Lord, we say, yes ! tve knoic ice ought to huild it up : ive mean to build it hy and hy ; hut not yet : the time is not yet come, the time that the Lord^s House should he huilt. It is so difficult just noio : we have so many other things to do, so many things to think of. Our hands and heads are hoth so full. How can we huild the Lord's House, when we have got to huild our own house ? or at least we have got to adorn it. The roof is not covered in ; the deling s are not finisht. The Lord''s House may well wait ; hut ours cannot. God has so many people to do His work : what can it matter whether there he one more or less 9 But, unless we do our own, it will never he done at all. However, when we have done all that we want to do for ourselves, then our hands will he free, and tve shall he ready to do what we can in huilding up the House of the Lord. Such are the excuses which men make, when they are called upon to build the House of the Lord. In whatso- ever way they are called upon to build it, whether out- wardly or inwardly, — whether of stone and brick, or of Hving souls, — their answer is still the same : The Lord's House may ivait. It is not time to huild it yet. We will huild it hy and hy : hut we have our own houses to huild hefore. How then does the Lord reply to these excuses ? He replies to them by a simple question, simple, but strong and piercing, so simple, that every one must under- stand it, so strong, that every heart must be shaken by it. Is it time for you, ye, to dwell i^i deled houses^ and this House lie waste ? Suppose, brethren, that your father were lying upon his deathbed, would that be a time for you to go and spend the precious hours in playing at a 14 THE DUTY cricketmatch, or in any other sport, even in what at other times, when no higher duty was pressing upon you, might be innocent and free from reproach ? Or suppose your chikh-en were starving for want of food, would that be a time for you to spend your money in buy- ing a new suit of clothes, or some piece of furniture, even one which, were it not for this more urgent need, there would be nothing blamable in buying ? Would you say. Let my dying father" wait till my game is over 9 Let my famishing children wait, till I have got my new clothes, and made some more money to huy them food witli ? Would not a man, who talkt in this way, be a hardhearted, unnatural monster ? No less hardhearted, no less unnatural, — if our eyes were opened to see things according to their true force and worth, — no less monstrous would it be deemed, for men to indulge themselves in whatsoever way, — to dwell in cieled houses, as the prophet terms it, — while the Lord's house is lying waste. The very same is the purport of Elisha''s question to Gehazi : Ls this a time, — now when the land is sore vext by famine, and by forein enemies, and by an ungodly king at home, — is this a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants ? In the year 1813, when the people of Germany rose to throw off the yoke of the cruel oppressor, under whom they had long been pining, a great number of the ladies of Prussia brought their jewels, and cast them into the public trea- sury, that they might be sold, and that the money thus obtained might be employed for the deliverance of their country from the invader. Like stories are told of the matrons of ancient Rome. Now what, at such a time, would have been thought of a woman, who, instead of OF BUILDING THE LORd's HOUSE. 15 following this noble example, had gone and squandered her money in buying fresh gewgaws to deck herself out with ? Would she not be rightly accounted a sister of Jezebel, who, when her son was slain, painted her face, and tired her head, and lookt out of the window, to receive his mur- derer ? If a man, when his country is in danger, thinks only of himself, — of his own comforts, of his own enjoy- ments, of his own luxuries, — then, even by the judgement of Heathen nations, the leprosy of Naaman the Syrian cleaves to him : as long as he lives he is covered from head to foot with the clinging leprosy of shame. So too will it be hereafter with those who have only thought how they themselves might dwell in cieled houses, while the Lord^s House was lying Avaste. They also will go forth from the presence of the Righteous Judge, covered with the burning leprosy of shame and utter confusion. But we saw that the House of the Lord, which it most concerns every Christian, and which every Christian is most especially called upon, to build, is the Temple of God in his own soul. For unless he has built up this on the only Foundation on which it can be built, all the labour he might take in building up any of the Lord's Houses in the outward world would be to little purpose. Only when it is built up within him firmly and lastingly, will he be able to go forth with the strong arm of faith to labour in build- ing it up in the world around him. Yet here again we are so slothful and careless about building the Lord's House, that the prophet may well cry in our ears. Is it time for you, ye, to dwell in cieled houses, while this House lies waste f For here again, instead of setting to work diligently at building the Lord's House, we waste our lives in building and decking out something or other, 16 THE DUTY which in our folly we are readier to regard as our own house. Although the Lord's House, if we built it up in our souls, would be far more really and truly ours than any other house ever can be, ours not merely for a few rounds of Time's great clock, but for eternity, still the earthly part of our nature so lords it over the heavenly, that we look upon anything as ourselves, sooner than our real selves, and think our houses, our lands, our purses, our strength, our learning, our knowledge, — we think that all these things, which a thousand chances may take away from us at any moment, are more ours, than that of which alone Death cannot deprive us, that which must be ours and abide with us inseparably for ever. Hence, instead of labouring dutifully to build up the Lord's House in our souls, we merely think how we may build up some one of this world's houses, not a house to live for ever in, but a tomb to die for ever in. One man will be busied in making the most of his land : he has to think about sowing and reaping, about crops and manures, about weeds and vermin : and so he cannot find time to build up the House of the Lord. Another man wears out his life in trade, and has so much to do, what with buy- ing and selling, with weights and measures, with bills and ledgers, if so be, he may build himself a house, or at least a nest, of pounds, shillings, and pence, — he too prays to be excused from building the House of the Lord. Another builds himself a pleasurehouse, and finds himself, as it were, imbedded in honey, which sticks so to all the wings of his soul, that he cannot stir them, or leave it. Another re- solves to build a high tower of learning, and cries, As to luilding the Lord's House, that is the business of the poor and ignorant. I have a nohler calling, to become like God in OF BUILDING THE LORd's HOUSE. 17 knowledge, to build up a tower for myself which shall reach to the skies, where I will gather a score of stars, and stick them atop of the pinnacles. Now I am not saying that these pursuits, and the others of the same kind, in which, according to the order of this world, the bulk of men spend their lives, are in themselves blamable. I am not saying that the farmer and tradesman and artisan are not to attend to their business, or he whom God has gifted with the power of acquiring knowledge, to his studies. The prophet does not say that the Jews had sinned in building houses for themselves. In what did their sin lie ? In that, while they built and dwelt in cieled houses, they allowed the Lord's House to lie waste. The Lord"'s House may be built in many ways. It may be built of all manner of materials. Everything that this world yields may be turned to use in building it. Only this should always be our first and chief business, to build up the House of the Lord, to build it up in our souls from the foundation, to see that it rest on the right foundation, on the foundation of a living faith, and on the Foundation which has been laid for our faith. The groundwork of our building must be faith ; and our faith must rest on the everlasting Rock ; and then, whatever we build thereon, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, even though our work abide not, yet we shall be saved, when our work is consumed. The Christian may be the wisest of men, even in the wisdom of this world. Only he must not let the wisdom of this world lure him away from the wisdom of Christ, or dazzle his eyes so that he can no longer discern the surpassing beauty of Christ's ■wisdom. He must not let the candlelight of man's under- standing turn out the light of heaven. Else, with all his wisdom, he will only prove himself the more deserving of VOL. II. c 18 THE DUTY the name which the Bible gives to such as know not God. Now to all those who follow any earthly pursuit, of what- soever kind, for the sake of their own pleasure or advan- tage, to the neglect of their great duty of building the House of the Lord, — to all such, — and who is there that has not done so ? who is there, I am afraid I may ask, that does not do so perpetually ? — to all such the Lord cries by the mouth of His prophet. Is it time for you, ye, to dwell in cieled houses, while my House is lying waste ? Perhaps, my brethren, there may be many among you who fancy that you are not concerned in what I have just been saying. Many among you might be apt to tell me. We do not dwell in cieled houses ; we dwell in poor cottages. Nor have we any farm or trade, still less any learning, to loaste our time on, when we could employ it in building the Lord's House. We spend all our time, — and all is scarcely enough, — in earning our hread. What then can we have to do with building the House of the Lord f Much, my friends, very much, just as much as those who are richer. For there is no respect of persons with God. You too are to join with your richer brethren in building up the House of the Lord here in the congregation of His people. For here all the distinctions, which in the world may separate you from them, vanish. Here you are to lift up your voices, yes, brethren, and to lift up your hearts, along with the noblest and richest, in the same confession of sin, in the same supplications and prayers, in the same thanksgivings and praises. Here too the grace and mercy of God is poured down, like the sun- shine, in the same plenteous gladdening stream on the poorest as on the richest, if they will only let their souls come forth from the dark walls of carelessness and unbelief OF BUILDING THE LORD's HOUSE. 19 and worldly mindedness, wherein they are usually im- prisoned. In the world you have to sit down at a meaner table, and must be content with scantier fare : but here you are called to kneel down before the same Table, and to partake of the same heavenly Food ; and, if you receive that Food with faith, the same blessings will be vouchsafed to you. In like manner you too have to build up the Lord's House within your own souls. For poor as you may be, ignorant as you may be, God is no less ready to dwell in your souls, than in the souls of statesmen and princes : and the same Foundation, which has been laid for them, has been laid for you also, to build your House of the Lord on. It is true, you do not dwell in cieled houses ; but that is no reason why you should not desire and en- deavour to build the Lord's House. Kather should this make you still more earnest, still more diligent in building it, seeing that you find no comfort, no pleasure, no satis- faction in any other. Therefore hasten to build the Lord's House. Be diligent in building it within your own souls. Let slip no opportunity of building it here in the congre- gation of His people. For in His House you will find com- fort and pleasure and satisfaction without end. It was to you more especially that Our Blessed Lord declared He came to bring glad tidings, to you who never hear glad tidings from any other voice. Surely, brethren, you must feel, that, when for you also God has prepared a House not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens, it would be a double shame, if you were to waste your lives in patching up a wretched mud-cottage to starve in. Thus it behoves us, one and all, to make it the great work of our lives to build up the Lord's House, both in our own hearts and souls and minds, and in the congregation c 2 20 THE DUTY of His people. We must be careful to carry on both works together ; for neither will prosper without the other. Even a house after the fashion of this world we cannot build singlehanded. The bricklayer needs the help of the brickmaker, the stone-mason of the stonehewer ; the plas- terer, the thatcher, the carpenter must work together, before the commonest house can be made fit for the habita- tion of man. So too, in building the Lord's spiritual House, even within our own souls, we greatly need the help, the teaching, the encouragement of our neighbours. But above all do we need the help of Him who is to dwell in it, without whose help we can effect nothing in building it, without whose inspiration we cannot even desire to build it. You know what a sad sight an empty house is, how cheerless, how desolate, and how soon it falls into decay. So is it with the Lord's House, unless the Lord dwell in it. If we merely sweep and garnish the house, without calling upon the Lord to take up His abode in it, we have been preparing a house for the evil spirits ; and our last state will be worse than the first. But, if we call upon the Lord to come down and abide in us, if we wait patiently for His coming, if we open our hearts and souls to receive Him, if we welcome and cherish every mark of His presence, and subdue and mortify every feeling on account of which He would withdraw that presence from us, then may we hope to build up His House higher and higher, and to make its walls purer and purer; until at length, through the power of Him who is ever ready to work with all such as are desirous of building His House, it may be brought to a likeness to the city described iu the Revela- tion, which was pure gold, as it were pure glass. And then, when the Temple of Grod has thus been built up within us OF BUILDING THE LORd's HOUSE. 21 ill its purity, we shall need no eartlily light or earthly ornaments : for the Glory of God will lighten it ; and the Lamb will be its Light. We may not dwell in cieled houses, while the Lord's House is lying waste. But, when the Lord's House is no longer lying waste, may we then ? Surely, brethren, we shall not desire it, when the Lord's House is once built up within us. The voice of our hearts will then cry with the Psalmist : One day in the LorcCs courts is better than a thousand in any other place upon earth. I would rather he a doorTceeper in the House of my God^ than dwell in the cieled houses and palaces of the world. For one thing have I desired of the Lord, — and that will I seeJc after, — that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His Temple. At least our only other desire will be that the Lord's House may be built up in like manner in the hearts of our brethren, yea, that it may be built up over the whole earth, and that all nations and peoples and languages may be built up as living stones into it. SERMON II. THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING TO BUILD THE lord's house. Haggai I. 5 — 11. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little. Ye eat ; but ye have not enough. Ye drink ; but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you ; but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the House ; and I will take pleasure in it ; and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much ; and lo, it came to little ; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Wliy ? saith the Lord of Hosts. Because of my House that is waste ; and ye run every man to his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew ; and the earth is stayed from her fruit : and I called for a drouth upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringcth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. This is a much longer text, than you are accustomed to hear at the beginning of a sermon. Mostly the preacher takes one or two verses, often no more than a few words out of one verse, as the subject of what he is to say to you ; and here are seven. They all however relate to the same matter, and set forth the will of God, and the course which He is wont to take, with regard to one particular portion of our conduct, thus giving us a fuller and clearer insight into His workings. Therefore, although I might have pickt out one or two verses, which would have contained the main purport of the passage, I 24> THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING have thought it best to read you the whole of Haggai*'s prophetic message. If you attend to the manner in which this portion of the prophecies will he found to bear throughout upon your own condition and duties, it may help you, when you are reading other parts of the pro- phetic books, to make out how they also are stored with rich treasures of wisdom, from which the lowest as well as the highest may draw many profitable lessons. When I was speaking to you about the former verses of this chapter, we were reminded by the prophet's words, how we too in these days are all and each of us called to build the House of the Lord, both in our own souls, and along with the congregation of His people ; and how we too neglect this duty, even as the Israelites did, and waste our lives in building and adorning what we choose rather to regard as our own houses. We saw, how we are still apt to disguise our want of zeal with the selfsame hollow excuse, crying. The time is not come, the time for building the House of the Lord. And we further saw, how the word of God still scatters and shivers all such mock excuses, by the simple question, Is it time for you, ye, to dwell in deled houses, while My House lieth waste ? But God is never content with confounding His enemies. He does not confound, to destroy : He confounds, in order that He may save. He strives with His enemies, to the end that He may not destroy them, to the end that He may compell them to return to Him, that He may compell them to turn back from the pursuit of those things, which. He shews them, end in death, to the paths of life and light, where they shall be blest with the riches of His grace. The courses by which He brings this purpose to pass, are various. The commonest perhaps is the one set before us TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 25 ill the text. Seeing that the motive why we forsake His service is that we may give ourselves up to our own ser- vice, — seeing that self is the mask which Satan puts on, to lure us away from God, and that the baits with which he tempts us are the pleasures of sin, and the charms of self- indulgence, — God mercifully shews us the vanity of those pleasures, the misery and deceitfulness of that self-indul- gence. Hereby He tears off the mask which beguiled us, and proves to us that, in serving self, we are in fact serving Satan. He shews us that the pleasures of sin are only as it were a sprinkling of sugar over the brittle crust of hell ; which, while we are busied in picking up the sugar, cracks beneath us. To save us from falling into that gulf, He makes the crust split before our eyes, ere we have set our feet wholly upon it, and startles us with glimpses of the depths below. He sends us some heavy affliction to humble our pride, to prove to us that, in leaning on earthly things, we lean on a broken reed. He smites down the prop on which we rest. He bereaves us of that in which we have garnered up our hearts. He strips us, as with the blast of winter, of all our blossoms and our leaves, if so be that in our nakedness we may be brought to turn inward, and to put forth the buds of a new life, when He again sends the warm sun of spring to shine upon us. Then too, at the highth of our distresses. He sends His messengers to explain their meaning and purpose. He sharpens the stings of Conscience, which cries to us, Thine own sin has drawn down this thy misery upon thee ; yea, and it will draw doion more terrible misery still, more terrible and without end. He brings out the letters of His law, which before we had scarcely seen, even like the letters which the hand wrote on the wall of the palace of King Belteshazzar. When 26 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING our eye is offending us, and we cannot take courage to pluck it out ourselves, He plucks it out for us, teaching us at the same time that He plucks it out because it oifended us, and because our other eye will be able to see more clearly without it. In the very midwinter of our souls, He allows us to hear the voice of the angels, proclaiming Glory to God, and Peace upon earth, and Goodwill toward all such as seek that Peace through Him who came to bring it. This is the way, many of you must be aware, in which God has often dealt with sinners, when He purpost to call them to repentance : and in the same way He dealt with the children of Israel, when He sent the prophet Haggai to reprove them, and to call them back to their appointed task of building the House of the Lord. They had just been delivered out of their captivity at Babylon, and brought home to Jerusalem : and this was the glorious work, for the sake of which they had been delivered and brought home, in order that they might build the House of the Lord in the city of the Lord, and might dwell therein as the chosen people of the Lord. But from this glorious work they had turned aside. Satan, under his cunning mask of self, had drawn them away from it. He had beguiled them into building and adorn- ing their own houses, while the Lord's House was left to lie waste. The riches which the earth brings forth, and wherewith it glorifies its Maker, calling upon man by its example to do likewise, and to employ those riches for the same purpose, the Israelites consumed upon themselves, feasting and reveling in cieled houses, while the Lord''s House lay waste. They regarded the earth as their ser- vant, spread out beneath their feet for no other purpose than to do their bidding, to feed their wants, and to TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 27 pamper their lusts. Wherefore God vouchsafed to shew them that the earth was not their servant, but His, that it was not spread out beneath the heavens to do their bidding, but His. He vouchsafed to shew them that, although the earth had been ordained by His loving- kindness to bring forth its fi-uits as food for man, and though, with the help of man"'s tillage, it had fulfilled this task readily and abundantly, year after year, and gene- ration after generation, yet it did not accomplish this through any power of its own, or through any power that man could bestow on it ; for that, if the sun and the rain were lockt up in the heavens, the earth would yield no increase, notwithstanding all that man could do to make it. Therefore the heaven over them was stayed from deio ; and the earth was stayed from her fruit. And God called a drouth upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground hringeth forth, and upon msn, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. When the pride of the Israelites had thus been humbled, and their hopes baffled, and their confidence cast down, God sent His prophet to explain to them what was the meaning and purpose of these calamities. He tells them that all this was designed to make them consider their ways, to prove to them how, in the ways in which they were walking, although they were to sow much, they would only reap little, — although they ate, they would not have enough, — although they drank, they would not he filled with drink, — that they might clothe them- selves, but none would he warm, — and that the wages which they earned would be fut into a hag vnth holes. He reminds them of the warnings they had received. 28 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING how they had looht for much, and lo ! it had come to little, — how they had brought it home, and He hadhlown upon it. And He tells them why He had done this. Wh]/ ? saith the Lord of Hosts. Because of My House that is waste ; and ye run every man to his oion house. All this however God did not, in order to leave them in their confusion, but in order to raise them out of it. He bids them consider their ways, to the end that, seeing the miserable consequences to which their selfishness had led, they might turn back from those ways, and cast off that selfishness, and might go up to the Quountain, and bring wood, and build the House of the Lord. If they will do so, God promises that He will still take pleasure in it, and will be glorified in the House they shall build for Him. This was the message which God sent to the Jews by the mouth of the prophet Haggai more than three and twenty hundred years ago. A like message has He often sent to those who have neglected to build His House. He sends it perpetually to individuals : He sends it ever and anon to nations. But to no nation did He ever send it more distinctly, or with a voice of greater power, than to England in these latter years. It is a message, as we have seen, of misery : but it is also a message full of warn- ings, a message of mercy following upon warnings, to the end that the warnings may not be misunderstood, but may be seen in their true light, and may produce the effect they were intended to produce. Yes, my brethren, this mes- sage has been sent to us, to England, in these latter years, with wonderful clearness and power. For we too, the whole English people, had abandoned our appointed task of building the Lord's House, and were dwelling in cieled TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 29 houses, while the Lovtrs House lay waste. Yet we too had been delivered out of captivity. Our Church had been mercifully delivered out of the bondage, beneath which she had long been pining, a heavy, crushing bondage of forms and ceremonies, of ignorance and will-worship. Out of this bondage God had delivered us, and called us to build up His House in spirit and in truth. Yet we did not. Instead of building His House, we fell out among ourselves. We quarreled and parted company. We for- got that we were all members of Christ's Body, and that Christ's Body must be one. We forgot that it is God's ordinance that there should be distinction and diversity among the members, whereby they are better fitted for helping each other, one supplying what the other lacks. We forgot that it is the business of the members to bear each other's infirmities, and that, when any one member is weak, it behoves the others to step forward and discharge its functions. Instead of bearing each other's infirmities, we set about irritating those of our neighbours, and then irritating our own against them. Instead of uniting to perform our parts in working out the one will of God, we resolved to work out each his own will, and to set up our own will as the will of God, and to cast out those who refused to work our will, as though they had refused to work the will of God. And what was the end ? Even what it always is, when men follow their own hearts, — division, widening and multiplying. The members, which would have been preserved in health, had the same life continued to flow through them, and the same spirit to animate them, the excess of the one making amends for the deficiency of the other, — these members, when severed, shrank and wasted, and lost their living energy. When a 30 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING man follows his own will, he puffs out the bubble which lurcB him onward, until it bursts ; and then, finding that it has been an empty phantom, he grows to distrust every- thing beyond the reach of the senses, and sinks into a wor- shiper of their objects, as though these were the only solid realities. Spiritual pride, when its froth has evaporated, is apt to settle down into carnalmindedness. Such for a long time was the condition of England. Although we had been delivered out of our spiritual bondage, although we had been commanded to build up the Lord's House in spirit and in truth, we forgot what we owed to our De- liverer, and took no thought about building His House. We turned aside to build our own houses, and to deck them out with everything that could minister to splendour or luxury. As a nation, we were busy and unweariable in building armies and fleets, in building up an empire that should cover the earth, in building up arts and manufac- tures, in building temples of Mammon in every quarter of the land. We built everything, except the House of the Lord. Even in the lowest, literal sense of the words, we failed miserably in our duty of building houses for the worship of God, sufficient for the wants of the people, in those places where they had outgrown the houses already existing. Still more unmindful were we of our duty of building up the whole nation into a living House of God. While we neglected these duties, of which so many things should have reminded us every day, how could we be otherwise than regardless of that third duty, to which England is especially called, of building up the House of the Lord over the whole earth? We built up our own empire over the earth, but thought not about building up God's Empire. We built palaces, storehouses, magazines, TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 31 banks, exchanges, markets, workhouses, prisons, everything except the House of the Lord. The last words shew that God did not leave us without warnings of judgement, when we neglected to build His House. We did not build His house ; and therefore we had to build workhouses and prisons. In like man- ner time after time we have been warned by manifold outbreaks of national distress, by commercial crashes co- vering a whole district with ruins, by bankruptcy upon bankruptcy, like the minute-guns of a ship in distress, by pauperism spreading like the plague from one end of the land to the other, — by discontent increast and embittered through the very measures devised to allay it, — by these and a number of like signs we have been warned over and over again of God's judgements, because of His House which lies waste, while we run every man to his own house. Though the heavens over us have not been stayed from dew, nor the earth from her fruit, — though no drouth has been called on the land, and the corn, and that which the ground brings forth, or on the labour of men"'s hands, — though all these have brought forth abund- antly with still increasing richness, — yet it is only a more awfiil proof of the evils sure to fall upon those who neglect to build the Lord's House, when, in spite of all these out- ward blessings, in spite of all that the earth can yield to us, still, although we hring in more than was ever brought in by any nation under heaven, we have not enough ; though we eat and drink, we cannot be filled ; and though we sweep the riches of the whole world into our purse, there is a hole in the purse, through which the riches run out, so that it is always empty. Moreover, though year by year the wisdom of the nation is busy in inventing remedies for 32 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING these evils, our remedies also are put into a bag with holes, and are washt away one after another by every spring-tide. Hereby God has called us to consider our ways. Nor has He left us to these dumb ministers of His will. He has also awakened His Church to a livelier consciousness of her prophetic office, and has commanded His servants to go forth and rouse the whole nation to fulfill their great duty of building up the House of the Lord, both at home, and over the world, — by building temples wherever they are needed in the land, that all the people may gather together to worship Him, — by building up the whole people to- gether as living stones in His spiritual House, through the various labours of love in teaching the young and the old, and winning them to the service of God, — and by calling on the furthest isles of the sea to come into the Kingdom of Christ, and to build themselves up as new pillars in the all-overarching House of the Lord. Thus of late years God has sent His messengers in divers manners to bring the message of the prophet Haggai to England, and to call upon her to consider her ways, and to build His House, which she had so long neglected. But I said that this message is not merely sent to nations : it is also sent perpetually to individuals. Indeed nobody ever lived, to whom it has not been sent in one way or other, more or less plainly and forcibly ; even as no one ever lived who has not needed it. For no one ever gave himself up to the work of building the Lord's House, without allow- ing his heart to be distracted by the desire to build some house or other for himself. Now this is the interpretation of the message, which concerns us all the most. For our business is not to consider the ways of the English nation, but to consider our own ways, — not to think how the TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 3S people of England have failed in their duty, but how we have failed in ours, and how we may set about fulfilling it. In truth the message applies to us in all its parts. Our very situation is like that of the Israelites, when the prophet Haggai was sent to them. We, like them, have been de- livered out of captivity. We have been brought out of our captivity in the great Babylon of sin. Like them too, we have been called to the glorious work of building up the House of the Lord who delivered us, — of building it up outwardly, whenever an occasion for doing so comes across us, — of building it uj) continually by joining with our neighbours in His worship, — and of building it up daily in our own souls. There we are to build up that House, in which, when man was first created, God vouch- safed to dwell. But, alas ! it is not in these points alone that we are like the Israelites. As we are like them in having this duty, so are we like them in neglecting it. Instead of doing the Lord''s work, we do what we regard as our own work. Instead of building the Lord's House, we spend our lives in building houses for ourselves. Instead of endeavouring to purify our hearts and souls and minds, so that they may be less unworthy of being the House of the Lord, we daub and besmear and tattoo them, as savages do their bodies, and hang them round with beads and rings and all sorts of tinsel and frippery. We scrape together everything that this world will yield us, to build cieled houses for ourselves. We build them of riches: we build them of pleasure : we build them of honour : we build them of power : we build them of knowledge. All these houses we build for ourselves, and set up self therein as the lord and master of the house, instead of building the House of God. Nay, so enamoured are we of the work VOIi. II. o 34 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING of building houses for ourselves, that, rather than build the House of the Lord in the sight of the sun, we dig dens for ourselves of groveling cares and gnawing jealousies. In- deed if Self is the lord of the house, whatever the materials may seem to be, yet, when the gilding is rubbed off, they are found to be cares and jealousies and disquietudes. In this manner God calls on us, even as He called on the Jews, to consider our ways. What profit, He asks us, have ye in those things, to lohich ye have given up your hearts ? Behold and see how the end. thereof is death ! For this is the only house, which a man has any skill in building for himself. He who spends his life in build- ing a house for himself, spends it in digging his own grave. Yes, my brethren, every house in which Self is set up as its master, is a house of Death. It may seem full of life ; but it is the house of death, of moral death, which is the first death, and always brings the other in its train. It is true, they who spend their lives in building their own houses, may go on for a while without any noticeable calamity. They may seem to stand firmly. They may wear a fair outside. They may keep their hands and their tongues from gross, glaring sin. They may even be sharpsighted enough to find out that honesty is the best policy, and may therefore be thus far honest in their dealings ; not because it is their duty to God, but because it makes for their worldly advantage to bear a good name among their neigh- bours. You know however, there are diseases, in which the sick person may look to the common eye as if there were nothing the matter, and may even wear the glow of health upon his cheeks, while all is corruption within, and Death is just about to seize on its prey. Such is the state TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. .35 of those who waste their lives in building houses for them- selves, instead of building the House of the Lord. They truly waste their lives. Fair as the outside may look, their inward parts are very rottenness ; and the destroyer is waiting by their side, ready to devour them. But God in His mercy will often open their eyes to behold their real condition. He will call on them to consider their ways. Thus He calls on us, on all of us who neglect our duty of building His House. He shews us the vanity of our doings. Ye have sown much, He says to us, and bring in little. Ye eat ; hut ye have not enough. Ye drink ; hut ye are not filed with drink. Ye clothe you ; hut there is none warm. And he who earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a hag with holes. What a picture do these words give us of those who spend their lives in pursuing the good things of this world ! of those who, forsaking their work of building up the House of the Lord, are ever running to and fro, with haggard looks and panting hearts, in the courts of the tem- ple of Mammon ! How true is it in every feature ! Surely there must be those among you, my brethren, who have felt its truth. Are there any who have not ? Surely you must often have thought, when you have lookt upon your lives with reference to this world, that you sow much, and hring in little. Little the worldling will deem it, much as it may be, little compared with his grasping wishes, — little, he thinks, compared with the outlay it has cost him. Little too assuredly it is, even though he should gain the whole world, compared with the price he gives for it, the price of his own soul. Nay, all of us, when we compare ourselves with other created things, — when we think, for instance, of the thousands of leaves which an oak brings forth in full perfection, of the thousands of D 2 S6 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING acorns that it ripens, — unless we have been humbled by learning what is the cause of our barrenness, — must often murmur in our hearts, that we sow so much, and bring in so httle. Again, they who forsake the Lord's House to build their own houses, eat, but they have not enough. Some of them will be so niggardly, as to grudge themselves what is needful for keeping body and soul together. Others will fare sumptuously ; but their fare will be unsatisfying, for this very reason, because it is sumptuous, and pampers their wants, instead of allaying them, just as fuel makes the fire burn more fiercely. They give God no thanks for their meals ; and He sends down no blessing upon them. So too they drink, but are not filled with drink. This, alas ! is known to very many, how drink does not quench thirst, but inflame it. In like manner they clothe themselves, but are not roarm. The time comes when they shiver beneath their warm clothing ; and forasmuch as they have sought comfort in the things of this world, they are brought to cry with Job, Miserable comforters are ye all. Moreover, when they earn loages, they imt it into a bag toith holes. Very many of you, my brethren, must know what this means ; for it is just what you yourselves do. You spend your lives in earning wages. Day after day, week after week, from year"'s end to year's end, and year after year, from your boyhood down to yesterday, you have been earning wages. And what has become of the wages you have been earning ? Have you heapt up a great pile of money ? No : it is all gone : you have put it into a bag with holes ; and no sooner had you received it, than it slipt away from you. Hunger, and the other wants of life, are the holes in the bag, through which your wages ran out. Nor are the poor alone thus made sport of. TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 37 The rich also will tell the same tale, that their money does not abide with them, that they put it into a bag with holes ; and, when they look for it, it is gone. Not only is life a bag, out of which everything slips, through the one great hole of death, when the things that we have 'promded will no longer be ours, so that we can never call any treasure truly ours, excejjt that which we have laid up in heaven ; but the changes and chances of life are ever making lesser holes therein, through which what we put in drops out. Thousands of examples of this have been seen of late years in England. Thousands have found their money melt away, like a pile of snow, while they fancied they were heaping it up mountain-high. For why ? Their purses have had holes in them : and thus, at the very moment wdien they were boasting of their riches, they have been beggared. So is it with pleasure. We can never store it up, except in a bag with holes. We grasp it, when it looks fresh ; and it shrivels in our hands. We gorge it greedily, and find that it froths away, leaving the dregs of pain. So is it with honour. None can have enousfh of it : none can be satisfied with it. More / more ! we keep on crying ; and, while we cry more, it dwindles into nothing. Nor will power content a man, or cheer him, or abide with him. Nor will knowledge. Here again we sow much, to bring in little. The more it in- creases, the less we find it to be ; and when we have at- tained to all knowledge, we learn the lesson of Solomon, that it is vanity and vexation and weariness. Thus every way Satan only fattens his slaves, until he has made sure of them. When they are safe in his clutches, he starves them. They who sell their souls, whether for pleasure, or gain, or fame, or any other temptation, find out in the 38 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING end that they have not only lost their souls, but their pleasure, their gain, their fame, into the bargain. Or shall I give you another example, how the judge- ments declared in the text still pursue those who neglect their appointed task of building up the House of the Lord? It shall be one which you will all understand and feel the truth of. What are you doing here ? You ought, as I have already reminded you, to be building up the House of the Lord along with the congregation of His people, — to be building yourselves up in faith, in knowledge, in righteousness, in love. But are you doing this ? Have you been doing this ever since you came into church ? Do you do this, every time you come to church ? Alas ! no. The thoughts of too many among you, I am afraid, have been busied or idling about other things : and therefore their coming to church is so unprofitable. Therefore, however much may be sown, they bring in little or nothing. However much they hear, there are holes in their minds, through which it slips, even before they go out of church. If you come here with the purpose of building the Lord's House, and lift up your hearts and minds while here, endeavouring to build it with holy thoughts and heavenly affections, then every time you come to church, you will add some fresh stones to the House of God in your souls, building it up higher and higher. But suppose that you had a house, iuch as men live in, to build, and that the bricks and mortar were all prepared for the work, still, if you merely came and sat down by the side of the bricks, and lookt at them, and stared about you, and fell asleep, the house would never be built. If the house is to be built, you must work at it. You must set one brick upon another, TO BUILD THE LORD S HOUSE. 39 and bind them together with mortar. In like manner the words you may hear in church will never build yoii up of themselves into a House of the Lord. If you desire to be built up, you must lay hold on those words, and strive to build them up on the ground of your own souls, and cement them together by living accordingly. Else there will be no nourishment in what you hear. You may even partake of that holy Food, which Christ gives us for the nourishment of our souls, and yet be never nourisht thereby. You may even eat of that Holy Bread, and yet not have enough ; you may drink of that Wine, and yet not be filled ; although, if you received them in faith, they would be the Bread and Wine of everlasting life. It is not that Christ's holy Body and Blood are unable to nourish you. If you receive them in faith, they will nourish you. But if you receive them in unbelief, you will derive no benefit from them. So too, the word of God, which, if you listen to it faithfully and obediently, will build you up on the Rock of Salvation, — this same word, if you do not listen to it in faith, will slip through the crevices in your minds ; and though you were to read the Bible, and come to church all your lives, unless you do so believingly and devoutly, at the end of fifty years you would be never the wiser or better. For this must always be the condition of those who neglect their duty of building up the House of the Lord. Whatever they do will be empty and unprofitable. Often indeed they are not aware of this. A great part of mankind have no notion of it. Not knowing that there is anything more real and sound and satisfying, — and their inborn desire for some deeper, livelier reality having almost died away beneath the mass of weeds overgrowing it, — they 40 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING give tip their hearts to their worldly pursuits, and fancy at times they find pleasure in them. In this listlessness they would perish, unless God in His mercy startle them out of it. This He does at times by depriving them of the object to which they have sold their hearts. At times, by a severer visitation, He will allow them to retain those outward objects, but will deprive them of the power of finding pleasure therein. According to the words of the prophet. He hloivs upon them ; and a blight comes over everything. This is always the effect of sin. It blows upon the sinner's pleasures ; and a blight comes over them. This may not be so in the first instance, or for some time, but will be so in the end, A blight comes over all the objects from which the sinner received pleasure, so that he can no longer receive pleasure from them ; or it comes over his own heart, and dries it up, so that it cannot receive pleasure from anything. The heaven over him is stayed from dew ; and a drouth comes upon his hetirt, and upon his mind, and upon his thoughts, and upon his feelings, and upon his affections, and upon everything that he does. They who build their own houses, instead of the Lord's House, sow much, hut bring in little. They eat ; but they have not enough. They drink, but are not filled with drink. They clothe themselves, but are not warm. And they who earn wages, put it into a bag loith holes. We have seen how true this is, dismally true in all its parts. What then is the remedy ? For surely there is one, God has not left us without one. If you ask the natural man, what is the remedy, Avhen people eat and drink and are clothed, but have not enough, and are not wann, he will tell you, the matter is quite plaiuj that there is one simple remedy, to give them more, more food, more drink, more clothing. Yet, if we bethink TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 41 ourselves of a comparison made use of a little while back, we shall call to mind that the way to put out a fire is not to throw fuel upon it. Nor will the cravings of those ap- petites, which have been excited by this very cause, that we have drawn them away from their only satisfying ob- jects, by forsaking our task of building the House of the Lord, — these cravings will never be appeased, but on the contrary made more ravenous, by all that we can do to gorge them. Examples of this are to be seen every day. One, on the largest scale, was displayed not long ago to the eyes of all Europe, when a man, who had been a common officer, became Emperor of the French nation, and King of Italy. He became absolute soverein over forty millions of people. Now surely, one would have thought, this must be enough : his ambition must be fully satisfied. On the contrary it had become more voracious. He still went about prowling on every side, seeking what he might de- vour : and thus at last he burst. O no, my brethren ! the way to give people enough of the things of this world, is not to give them more of the same things, but to give them something else, totally different, something that will lead them to find enough in that which before left them a hun- gered. The way, the only sure way, is to lead them to build up the House of the Lord ; and then they will always have enough. They who have built up the House of the Lord in their own souls, they who love to build up the House of the Lord along with the congregation of His peo- ple, always have enough. However little they may have, they deem it enough for two reasons ; because, being hum- bled by a conviction of their own unworthiness, they count it to be more than they deserve ; and because, regarding it as the gift of God, they bow with thankful 42 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING submission to His all-blessed will. Above all, having Him as their portion, they have everything in Him, and can feel no further want. Instances of this may be found, through God"'s grace, in all parts of the land, wherever a heart has been built up in humble faith and love, even among the poorest, among those who have nothing but dry bread, and yet have enough, and are thankful for it. Indeed there is no surer evidence that a heart is indeed given up to God, and has a true sense of the mercy shewn to it in the salvation wrought by Christ, than a thankful spirit. Let me tell you of an example, a beautiful example it seems to me, of such a feeling. A friend of mine happened once, when traveling, to fall in with a JNIoravian Missionary. These Missionaries, as many of you know, go forth from their native country, and, so strong is the love of Christ in them, quit their homes, their families, their friends, every- thinor that natural affection or habit endears to them, and wander, homeless and friendless, to the uttermost jiarts of the earth, for the sake of bringing the Heathens to the knowledge and worship of Christ. The one of whom I was speaking had spent more than ten years in Greenland, a country which lies far away in the dreary North, a bar- ren laud of never-ending winter, destitute of all that this world gives to make life enjoyable, and abounding in all manner of hardships and troubles. In the course of con- versation, my friend exprest a hope to the Missionary, that he had seen his labours in the holy cause crowned with success. yes I said the Missionary ; God lias been very hotintiful to me^ and has prospered my poor labours far beyond their deserts. — - Hoio many converts^ my friend askt, ham you made during the ten years that you were in Green- land ^ — Why^ Sir, I think I may say pretty confidently TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE." 43 tliat there are two persons whom I have been the means of hringing over to a saving fofkh. There is also a third in whom I have heen allowed to sow the seeds of life, and of whom I dare hope that God in His oion time will ripen them. The good man was so humble, that he thought nothing of all that he had done and under- gone ; and he counted that he had been abundantly rewarded by God, when, in the course of ten long years of unceasing hardship and toil, he had been enabled to bring two souls to the knowledge of their Saviour. He reckoned, not as we reckon here on earth, where two seems a poor, small number, but as the angels reckon in heaven ; and he remembered that there is joy among them over one sinner that repenteth. Assuredly too he was a blessed man ; and God had indeed dealt bountifully with him ; inasmuch as once and again he had been enabled to accomplish that mightiest and most miraculous of works, the only human work which can gladden the angels in the presence of God. He who had hurled millions of men into the jaws of death, was discon- tented, and desired to hurl more after them. He, through whose means two names had been written in the Book of Life, rejoiced in the thought that his years had been thus profitably employed. Now the graces, which were manifested so beautifully by this Moravian, are always found shedding contentment and happiness on the hearts of those who have laboured dili- gently in building up the House of the Lord. They count nothing of their own labour, and are always thankful to God for the harvest, whatever it may be. Thus they sow little, and bring in much. They eat ; and, no matter what they eat, so that the cravings of hunger are stilled, they have enough. The same holds of their drink, and of their 44 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING clothing. If they have not where to lay their head, they call to mind that herein they are likened to their Saviour : and while their hearts burn with thankfulness to Him who was content to endure so much for their sakes, they rather rejoice than repine at being counted worthy to be admitted into the fellowship of His sufferings. More- over the wages which they earn, they put into a bag from which they will never fall out. For they lay up their trea- sure in heaven ; and sooner shall the sun and moon and stars drop down from the sky, than any work of love shall be forgotten by Him, through whom, and for whose sake it is wrought. They will forget it themselves, as we learn from the parable in which our Lord describes the coming of the Son of Man. But the King will never forget whatsoever has been done for the least of His brethren. In the course of this sermon I have been led to speak more than once of the manner in which the very judge- ments of the Lord, sent by Him upon the Israelites, when they neglected to build His House, have been fulfilled upon England of late years ; and I have said that the causes, which have brought down these judgements upon us, have been the very same, our neglecting to build the Lord's House, and our running each to build our own houses. The whole nation has been worshiping Mammon, has been serving Mammon above every other God ; and hence it has come to pass that the very places which have been the chief temples of the Mammon-worshipers, have been ever and anon visited by the most deplorable distress. So it has been over and over again ; and so it is now. In con- sequence of a stoppage in several branches of our manufac- tures, thousands have been thrown out of work, and, with their whole families, have been brought down to the lowest TO BUILD THE LORd's HOUSE. 45 state of suffering. Tens of thousands of human beings are said to be ahnost starving. Hence our gracious Queen has thought it became her to call upon the rest of her sub- jects to come forward and help their brethren who are in this misery. You have heard the letter I have read to you, in which she commands that a collection shall be made in every parish throughout her dominions, for the relief of the distrest Manufacturers. This is just what ought to be in a Christian country. They who have, should give to those who have not, — not to keep them in idleness, but to relieve their wants, and to preserve them from the sufferings which the chances of life may often bring even upon the most deserving. And we should all rejoice when we are able to give, when we are able to make this, the best, use of the gifts with which God sup- plies us. My brethren, there are thousands and tens of thousands of your fellowcountrymen, — I might say, hundreds of thousands, — who are in the most grievous misery ; and your Queen calls upon you to help them. God calls upon you through His Gospel ; and your Queen, according to God's commandment, has also called upon you, to shew your love to your neighbours by giving to those who are in need. Do not slight their command. Be not like the Priest and the Levite, who past by on the other side. Be like the good Samaritan, who rejoiced in healing and nourishing the unfortunate. As God has de- clared that the love of God cannot dwell in him who shuts up his bowels of compassion from his brother in need, be sure that you do not give this sad proof that the love of God does not dwell in you. But shew that you do love God, by rejoicing to give for the relief of his suffering people. In the Lord's House all the parts support each 46 THE JUDGEMENT ON NEGLECTING TO BUILD &C. other, even as they do in the human body. If they do not, if they cut themselves off from one another, caring only to keep what they have to themselves, the House will be divided against itself, and will fall. But if all the parts support each other, while they are built upon the right Foundation, then the House will be strong; and the destructive powers of Nature will not be able to harm it. SERMON III. THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. Haggai I. 7. 8. 12—14. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and hring wood, and huild the House ; and I will take plea- sure in it ; and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. — Then Zerubbabel^ with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the -words of Haggai the prophet ; and the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message to the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zcrubbabcl, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people : and they came and did work in the House of the Lord of Hosts, their God. In the former Sermons on the message borne by the pro- phet Haggai to the Jews, when they were neglecting their work of rebuilding the House of the Lord at Jerusalem, we were led to consider how we also lie under the same duty of building the Lord's House, and in what ways it behoves us to build it, — how we also neglect this duty, while we spend our time in building what Ave regard as our own houses, and what excuses we bring forward for ne- glecting it, — and lastly, how we also are perpetually warned by Grod in manifold ways to abandon the thankless, unpro- fitable work of building houses for ourselves. The jjro- phet''s words enabled us to discern the utter misery of those who, forsaking their duty of building the Lord's House, waste their lives in building houses for themselves. We saw how they ever sow much, and bring in little, — how they eat, and have not enough, — how they drinJc, and are not 48 THE ENCOURAGEMENT filled with drink ^ — how tliey clothe themselves^ and are never tvarm^ — and how the loages that they earn, tliey put into a bag with holes. We saw how these and the other calami- ties spoken of by the prophet are still evermore brought down on themselves by those who desert their duty of building the House of the Lord. But in the word of God warnings and threats are always accompanied with exhortations and promises. For God does not dwell in darkness, but in light ; and when He sends down a flash of lightning to divide the darkness in which we dwell, and to reveal it to us. He would also raise our eyes to the abode of light, whence the lightning comes down. Were it not so, the threats would profit little. They could only smite us down, and crush us, not lift us, and enable us to stand. It is true indeed that only in the Gospel is the love of God made manifest in its fulness. Only in the Gospel do the promises prevail mightily over the threatenings. The preaching of the Gospel alone be- gins with setting forth those who are blessed. But even in the Law we find the declaration that God will have mercy upon thousands in those who love Him and keep His com- mandments, side by side with the other, that He Avill visit the sins of the fathers upon the children. So too, though the prophets are perpetually denouncing woe against the sins of their own days, their spirits are for ever darting for- ward to catch sight of the glory which the Sun of Right- eousness was to pour upon the earth. Accordingly, while the prophet Haggai reminds the Jews of the many visita- tions of wrath which they have received for having neglected to build the Lord''s House, he at the same time exhorts them to build it, with an assurance that, if they do so, God will look with favour upon them. Thus saifh the Lord of TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 49 Hosts, Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring ^mod, and huild the House; and I will take pleasure in it ; and I will he glorified, saith the Lord. Now, as we have seen that the warnings and judgements which were sent to the Jews, belong to us, so we must not doubt that we too have a share in this exhortation and promise. God teaches us, both by His word, and by blow- ing on our works, and calling down a drouth upon our souls, that, when we fancy we are building houses for ourselves, we are in fact building houses for Satan. He teaches us that the pleasures of sin are not pleasures, but pains, — that the sweetness of sin is not sweetness, but bit- terness, — that the promises of this world, and the shows of this world, however fair and tempting, are false and hollow. Why does He teach us these lessons ? Surely not in order that we should continue building this house of Satan ; not in order that we should again believe the pains of sin to be pleasures, and the bitterness of sin to be sweetness ; not in order that we should again put our trust in the false pro- mises and hollow shows of the world. He who does no- thing in vain, does not send His messengers, in order that they should be disregarded, — His warnings, in order that they should be slighted. When He lays bare the false- hood and trickery of the world, it is in order that we should no longer be deceived by it. When He makes us feel the pains and bitterness of sin, it is in order that we should fly from that which is so painful and bitter. When He opens our eyes to see that, in building houses for ourselves, we are in fact only building houses for Satan, it is in order that we should no longer build these houses of death, but should betake ourselves with all diligence and earnestness to building His House, which, if it is built, will also be a VOL. II. E 50 THE ENCOURAGEMENT house of everlasting life for ourselves. Therefore, when any of you, my brethren, have been warned to consider your ways, by some affliction teaching you what misery awaits such as give up their hearts to this world, remember that God does not call on you to consider your ways, and what evils surround them, and what still worse evils they lead to, with the purpose that you should continue to walk in those miserable ways. After He has bid you consider your ways, how you sow much, and bring in little, — how you eat and drink, but have not enough, — how you clothe your- selves, but are never warm, — and how, whatever you earn, you put into a bag with holes, — He again calls on you to consider your ways, and go up to the mountain, and fetch wood, and build His House, with the assurance that, if you do so. He will take pleasure in it, and will be glorified. Yes, my brethren, assuredly these words also belong to us. The command, blessed be Grod ! belongs to us : the promise too belongs to us. Although we have hitherto, many of us, so shamefully neglected to build His House, — although we have, none of us, been diligent enough in building it, — although we have all been too apt to give ourselves up to building our own houses, — still God is graciously pleased to call on us to build His House, and to promise us that He will take pleasure in it. Nay, as He bids the Jews go up to the mountain, and fetch the wood to build His house, so does He command us likewise to go up to the mountain for the same purpose. To what mountain ? do you ask ? To the mountain of Faith : to the mountain of Duty. It is only on these mountains that we shall find the wood which is wanted for building the House of the Lord. And are they not mountains, my brethren ? Surely you must all know that they are TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 51 SO . . . steep mountains, hard to climb, especially for those whose souls have caught the ague from building up mud- walls in the pestilential marshes of sin. Faith is a hard mountain to climb for all, above all for those who have been living in unbelief. Duty too is a hard mountain to climb for all, above all for those who have been living in self-indulgence. This is a point very necessary to be understood. We cannot build the Lord's House, while we continue in the marsh of sin, in the dead level of sloth, in the quagmire of self-indulgence. If we desire to build the Lord's House, we must go up the two-headed moun- tain of Faith and Duty. For only through Faith can we obtain any wood for building the Lord's House ; and only by Duty, by doing what Faith teaches us we ought to do, can we build it. You must all be able to understand how this cannot be otherwise. Nay, without Faith we can- not so much as know that we have a House of the Lord to build. The natural man cannot conceive that he is called to any such work. And how much Faith do we need, before we can be persuaded that our souls are to be built up into a House, not for ourselves, but for God ! how much, before we can be- lieve that Grod will vouchsafe to dwell in such a House ! How strong and lively must this Faith be, before it can enable us to overcome the temptations of the carnal heart, which would lead us to build up our own house ! How much Faith again do we require, ere we can build up the Lord's House in the congregation of His people ! How much Faith, ere we can listen devoutly to His word ! how much, ere we can join earnestly in prayer ! The difficulty too, you will see, must increase in proportion as we have been accustomed to sit here listlessly and with wandering thoughts. It is solely through Faith, that we can receive e2 52 THE ENCOURAGEMENT any of the graces, which are the only wood whereof the Lord's House can be built : and it is solely by Duty that we can fix those graces in our souls, and build them one upon another. Patience, for instance, we cannot pick up amid the hubbub of the world : we cannot find it among the ever-boiling waters of our own hearts. We must go upon the mountain of Faith, to seek for patience by prayer ; and, when God gives it to us, we must exercise it, and thereby make it a habit in our souls. In the same way, by going up the mountain of Faith and Duty, are we to build up our souls with the grace of meekness, and with the grace of humility, and with the grace of liberality, and with the grace of purity, and with the grace of love. Through Faith alone can we receive these graces from Him who alone can give them ; and except by a dutiful obedience we cannot fix them in our souls. Do your hearts faint within you, my brethren, at the thought of climbing up these high, steep mountains? Alas ! they do faint too often in the very best of us at such a thought. ^Vould you rather lie lazily where you are ? Do you want some strong motive to rouse you out of your natural sluggishness ? What sort of motive must it be, to have sufficient power over you ? In this neighbourhood we have no mountains ; but they who live in, or travel through countries where there are high mountains, are fond of climbing to the top of them, notwithstanding that it will often be a difficult and laborious enterprise. Now what is the motive which leads them to do this? Along with many lesser motives, there is the desire of the grand pro- spect which they hope to gain from the top of the mountain. They hope to look over a wide range of country, to see mountains and hills, and lakes and tarns, and the plain. TO BUILD THE LORD S HOUSE. DO and the gea, to behold the manifold works of God, by which He has vouchsafed to shew forth His glory to the outward eye. Above all do they rejoice, if they can see the sun rise over this grandeur and beauty, bathing every object in light, glorifying them all, and being glorified in them. But this is the very reward which the prophet holds out to the Israelites, the very reward which God's messengers are commanded to hold out to you, that you may be tempted to climb the twoheaded mountain of Faith and Duty. Go uj) to the mountain, the prophet says, in the name of the Lord, and bring wood, and build the House ,• and I will fake pleasure in it ; and I will be glorified in it, saith the Lord. Everything shall be bathed in My light : everything shall be glorified unth My glory. Yes, dear brethren, this is the motive which God holds out to us: this is the reward He promises us, if we will climb the steep mountain of Faith and Duty, to seek after the graces wherewith we are to bvdld His House. He assures us. He will take pleasure in that House, and will be glorified in it. What a mighty motive is this ! what an allpowerful, irresistible one ought it to be ! to know that we can do anything, wherein God will take pleasure ! that we can become anything, wherein God will be glorified ! Can tliis indeed be so \ Surely it is impossible. AVhen the sound of the Gospel goes forth through the nations, and builds them up into a House of God, the pillars whereof girdle the earth, then, in such a House, we can conceive that God would take pleasure and be glorified. Or, when the con- gregation of His people meet together to offer up their vows and praises and thanksgivings to Him, with hearts full of fervent love, this too, we can suppose, may be wellpleasing to God, and may set forth His glory. For so all nations 54 THE ENCOURAGEMENT have believed that those whom they worshipt as gods, took pleasure in their worship. But how can God take pleasure or be glorified in any one of us ? Can the sun be glorified in a nettle, or a rush ? Yet so it is, dear brethren. All of you may do that in which God will take pleasure : all of you may become that in which God will be glorified. The very poorest among you, the meanest, the most igno- rant, he among you who lives in the wretchedest hovel in the whole country round, — even he may accomplish this most blessed and glorious work. Every one of you may build himself up into a House in which God will take pleasure and be glorified. Yes, brethren, even you who may have lived hitherto in selfishness and carelessness and ungodliness, — even you who may have wasted your lives hitherto in building houses of death for yourselves and for Satan, — even you may still build a House of the Lord, in which the Lord will take pleasure and be glorified. For in what does God take pleasure, so much as in the dutiful obedience and love of His servants ? And wherewith can men glorify Him ? Not by their riches ; not by their power ; not by their learning ; not by their talents : by none of these in themselves, or except as the instruments of a heavenlier power ; but by their humility, by their patience, by their perseverance, by their truth, by their gentleness, by their meekness, by their selfdenial, by their holiness. This too is the brightest manifestation of God's glory, which can be seen here on earth, when darkness turns into light, death into life ; when he who had given himself up heart and soul to sin, to work the will of sin, gives himself up heart and soul to righteousness, to work the will of God. Surely, my brethren, this is a most powerful motive. TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 55 Surely it ought to have great sway over every one of us, when on the one hand we see the weariness and dissatis- faction and repining and emptiness, which are sure to befall all such as go about to build houses for themselves ; and on the other hand are assured that, if we build the Lord's House, He will take pleasure in it, and be glorified in it. Surely it is plain that, if God takes pleasure in our work, that work must be blessed upon ourselves also. Yes ; this ought to be a most powerful motive with a reasonable being, and should make him quit his own work, which ends in misery, and throw it aside for ever, and give himself up straightway, with all his heart and soul and mind and strength, to the work in which God will vouchsafe to take pleasure, and by which He will vouchsafe to be glorified. When we think over the matter seriously and calmly, we see that this ought to be so. When the thought is placed clearly before us, we cannot help wishing for a moment that this were indeed the rule of our lives. We may even set about doing that which we have such strong motives for doing. We may begin to climb up the mountain of Faith and Duty. But the mountain is so steep : climbing it gives us so much trouble, costs us so much effort, requires so much selfdenial. In a word, we need so much Faith, to support us in climbing up the mountain of Faith, — and so strong a sense of Duty, to keep us from loitering and turn- ing back, when climbing the mountain of Duty ; — we need, what we can only find at the top, while we are still at the bottom ; and, because we have it not, we flag and abandon our work. At least we should do so, were we left to ourselves. This is one of our great miseries, that Sin has eaten away the nerves of our souls, so that they have no longer any strength in them to do what we wish 56 THE ENCOURAGEMENT them. When set in motion, they do not roll on. Indeed who can roll up a mountain ? One impulse is not strong- enough for such a work ; nor two, nor three. It requires a continued succession of impulses, which can spring" from nothing' but a living principle. This is a sad and gloomy picture. We all know too well that this is our condition, that our best resolutions are shortlived, that our noblest efforts soon droop. We know it ; but we cannot help or remedy it ; and we know not where to find a remedy. But even against this conviction, which might otherwise drive us to despair, we find a full and efficient remedy, the only possible remedy, in our text. Let us look at it, to see what effect the prophet^s message produced upon the Jews. Then Zerubhahel, and Joshua the highpriest, icith all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet ; and the people did fear before the Lord. The prophet's words, setting forth the evils which the people had brought upon themselves, smote them with fear ; and they betook themselves to the task, for the sake of which they had been delivered out of captivity. In like manner assuredly must we be smitten with fear, when the voice of a heavenly messenger reaches our hearts, and reminds us to what end we were delivered out of our captivity, to what end by our baptism we were made members of the body of Christ. There are those who will listen to the bitterest reproaches without being moved. You may even shew them the misery they have brought upon themselves ; you may call on them to open their eyes, and behold what a dreary wilderness encompasses their path ; and they will make answer that their lot is like that of other men, that the whole earth is little better than a wilderness, TO BUILD THE LORd's HOUSE. 57 with a few pleasant spots sprinkled about hero and there, and that for this very reason the only course for a wise man is to stay in those pleasant places as long as he can, and to make the most of them. It may be that only a few will speak out thus ; but many harbour such thoughts in their hearts ; and far more act upon them, without being con- scious of it. On the other hand, when you shew a man, not merely where and what he is, but also where and what he might be, — when you can bring him to believe that he, whose whole life is such a miserable string of vanities and disappointments, even he might do that in which God would take pleasure and be glorified, — then the thought of what he is, compared with what he might be, must needs make him sink to the earth with fear. But such fear is not unmixt with hope. For why ? God has not left us in our misery, in the barren wilderness of sin. He has called us to come out of it, and to go up to the mountain, and to build His house ; and He has promist that, if we do so. He will take pleasure in His house, and be glorified in it. With such an encouragement we cannot let our fears crush us : we cannot but desire to obey this gracious command, and to become partakers in this promise. In the text it is said, that the people obeyed the voice of the Lord ; and the people did fear before the Lord ; as though they had first begun to obey, and then had been struck with fear. At first sight this may seem strange ; and yet it is the natural order. They who continue in wilful disobedience, may be without fear. They may be without knowledge of their sin, without knowledge of their danger. If they take any thought about their disobedience, it will seem to them a light thing ; and they will fancy that it would also be a light and easy matter to turn from their disobedience, and to obey God. 58 THE ENCOURAGEMENT But as soon as we begin to turn to God, and desire to obey Him, we make two sad discoveries. We find out on the one hand how sinful our disobedience has been, and on the other hand how difficult it is for those who have lived in disobedience to become obedient, — how difficult for those whose souls have been groveling all their lives amid the dust and mire of the earth, to lift themselves up to heaven, — how difficult for those who have been building their own houses, and the houses of Sin and Satan, to build the House of the Lord. Therefore, as soon as we begin to desire and endeavour to obey God, fear comes over us. For we feel that the shackles of our carnal nature are hanging around us, and that we cannot throw them off: we see that there is a mighty work before us, and that we are utterly unable to accomplish it: and, inasmuch as we ourselves have always lookt mainly to outward things, we deem that God will do likewise, and consequently that there is so much which we ourselves must needs do in order to inherit eternal life, yet which we cannot do. God however is infinitely more merciful and bountiful than man can believe or conceive. He sees the very first motions and stirrings of an obedient spirit in the heart ; and, when He sees them, He blesses them, and strengthens them, and helps them forward. No sooner had Zerubbabel and the remnant of the people begun to obey the voice of the Lord, than the prophet Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, was sent to them with a fresh message, even this most comfortable and encouraging message, / am with you, saith the Lord. He had been with them long be- fore. He had been with them, and had shewn forth His wonderful lovingkindness in a number of ways. He had brought them out of their captivity ; He had gone before TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 59 them through the wilderness, and had led them back to His city : and just now, by a fresh act of mercy, He had sent His prophet to call them to the work of building His House. Yet the moment they began to obey Him heartily, and were smitten with fear in doing so. He sent them a message of comfort and hope, an assurance that, if they endeavoured to obey Him, He would enable them to obey Him, — an assurance that, if they were dili- gent in building His House, and were disturbed by fears lest, weak and ignorant and helpless as they were, they should be unable to build it in such a manner as to please Him, He would be with them, enlightening their under- standings, nerving their hearts, and strengthening their arms ; so that even they, feeble as they were, should be enabled to build a House in which the God of heaven and earth should take pleasure. Nor is He less kind, less gracious, less bountiful, less merciful, to us who have become His children in Christ Jesus, than He was under the old Covenant to His people Israel. He comes to us from the very first by His Spirit, when we are received into His Church, that Church, which is His new Creation set up on the ruins of a fallen world, and into which none can enter, except he be brought into it by the Spirit of God. Again, He has been with us, as our Guide and Teacher and Director, during the whole of our journey through the wilderness of the world from our childhood upward. Again, it is through Him that we have been brought, whenever we have been brought, into the assembly of His people upon His holy Hill of Zion. Again, He has ever and anon sent His prophets to us with messages of warning and command, calling us to build His House, to build it by Faith, to build it by GO THE ENCOURAGEMENT obedience, to build it by prayer and thanksgiving, and bidding us give heed to the manifold evils and miseries, which spring from our neglecting to build it. Thus in divers ways He has been with us, without our knowing- it, and in spite of our perverse thanklessness in turn- ing away from Him. Yet, when we do begin to turn our hearts toward Him, as soon as we desire earnestly to obey Him, as soon as we desire to serve Him, and when we are smitten with fear at the faintness of our efforts, and the unworthiness of our services, then He comes to us more plainly, more openly, more manifestly, and sends us a message to cheer us with the assurance that He is and will be with us. Yes, brethren, this blessed assurance is vouchsafed to all who sincerely desire and strive to obey God. They feel that they have a Wisdom above their own to guide them, that they have a Strength beyond their own to support them. Thus, by this promise that He would be with them, God stirred up the spirit of Zeruhlalel, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, so that they came and viorht in the House of the Lord of Hosts, their God. Thus too, by the same assurance. He still stirs up the spirit of all who desire to serve Him, so that all their fears and doubts and disquietudes pass away, in the knowledge that God is with them ; and strong in His strength, and wise with His wisdom, they set themselves to work at their appointed task of building up the spiritual House of the Lord, their God, Thus you see how this portion also of the Book of the prophet Haggai applies in all its parts to us, how we also may learn the lessons of duty, as the Jews did, from its commands, and how we also may draw comfort and encou- ragement from its promises. Yes, dear brethren, you also. TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 61 as you have been warned by God time after time, to con- sider your ways, so are you commanded to go up to the mountain, and bring wood, to build up the House of the Lord. Indeed in this parish these words may seem to apply to you specially, even in their literal sense. For as it has pleased God that His House in this parish shall literally be set upon a hill, and that too at some distance from a large part of the people, the words of the text may teach you that this is the mountain which you are especially called to go up, and that this is the place where you are to seek the wood for building the House of the Lord, — that here you are to seek the wisdom and the understanding, which come from the opening of the Scriptures, — and that here you are to seek the strength, which is vouchsafed to all such as come in a right spirit to feed on the lifegiving Body of the Saviour, — and that here you are to seek the love, which grows out of fellowship in prayer and praise, — and that here you are to seek the graces bestowed by the Spirit on all such as seek them. On the other hand, day by day, when your eyes turn toward this quarter, and you see this our church standing on the hill, which for so many hundred years it has crowned and consecrated to the wor- ship of the Lord, as the sight should always remind you of our Saviour's words, declaring that His spiritual Church is a city set upon a hill, so let it also carry back your thoughts to the message sent to the Israelites by the mouth of the prophet Haggai ; and say to yourselves, This is the mountain of the Lord, vnhich He commands us to go up, in order that we may gather toood there for the building up of His House. This however is only a narrow sense of the command, which happens to be peculiarly suited to the circumstances 62 THE ENCOURAGEMENT of our parish. But there are other senses, in which the command, Go up to the mountain, and hring wood, and huild the House of the Lord, may be regarded as addrest to every Christian. Of two of these senses I have spoken ah-eady. I have tokl you how you, and all Christians, are com- manded to go up the mountain of Faith, and to go up the mountain of Duty, and how it is only upon these two mountains, that you can find the wood for building up the House of God in your hearts. But the City of the Lord is compast about by mountains ; and all these mountains does God call on us to go up, and bring wood for the building up of His House. Yes, brethren, many a mountain are you called to go up. You are to go upon Mount JSIoriah, and to behold the father who through faith was ready to offer up his son to the Lord. You are to go upon Mount Horeb, and to learn the name of the Eternal I AM. You are to go upon Mount Sinai, and to hear the voice of the Law. You are to go upon Mount Carmel, and to see how Falsehood is blasted and consumed by the power of Truth. You are to go upon the Mountain of Capernaum, and to listen to the Sermon of the Saviour. You are to go upon the exceeding high Mountain, and to learn how to overcome the Tempter. You are to go upon the Mountain of the Transfiguration, and to see how the human nature can be purified, so as to become exceeding white, and to be glorified into the divine. You are to go upon the Mount of Olives, and to look at the Agony in the warden. You are to go upon Mount Calvary, and to gaze upon Him who died on the Cross. You are to go upon the Mountain in Galilee, and to hear the promise that He will be with you unto the end of the world. All these are, as it were, so many Ararats, on which the Ark of TO BUILD THE LORD's HOUSE. 63 the Church has rested from time to time, since it was first let down from heaven ; and all these mountains you are to go up, if you desire to be preserved in that Ark from the destruction which will swallow up all unholiness and ungodliness and sin and disobedience and unbelief. From all these mountains too, you are to bring down wood for the building of God's House in your souls. You cannot even carry up the wood, as Abraham did for the sacrifice which he was to offer on the mountain in the land of Moriah. But, while for you also God has provided the Lamb for the burnt-oftering, it is only on these Moun- tains that the wood can be found wherewith the sacri- fice of that Lamb can be renewed in our hearts. Thus from JNIount JSIoriah you are to bring down the will to offer up everything that your hearts hold most dear and precious to God. From Mount Horeb you are to bring down the knowledge of the living God. From Mount Sinai you are to bring down obedience. From Mount Carmel you are to bring down the resolution to hold fast to God, and to defy all the powers of Evil that would withdraw you from Him. From the Mountain of Caper- naum you are to bring down the spiritual obedience of love. From the Mountain of the Temptation you are to bring down godly wisdom, to see through the snares of the Tempter, and to baffle his wiles. From the Moun- tain of the Transfiguration you are to bring down holi- ness, and a yearning after heavenly communion. From the Mount of Olives you are to bring down shame for the sins which caused that agony, and repentance, and con- trition. From Mount Calvary you are to bring down the hatred of sin, and love for Him who so loved you, and a readiness to die for Him who died for you, and an 64 ENCOURAGEMENT TO RUILD THE LORd's HOUSE. tindoubting trust in God's infinite mercy. From the Moun- tain in Galilee you are to bring down the assurance that He, who had overcome all the jiowers of Death, will ever be with His Church, and with every faithful member of it, teaching them, supporting them, leading them to all truth. These and the other graces which you are to seek on the Mountains of the Lord, as they stand around Jeru- salem, are the wood wherewith you are to build up the House of the Lord in your souls. They are the graces out of which the image of Christ is to be fashioned within you. And then, when God beholds the image of His beloved Son in you, He will indeed take pleasure therein, and will be glorified in you. O may we all be brought to that state in which God will take pleasure, and be glorified in us ! To that end may we daily go up one or other of God's holy Moiin- tains, to seek the wood wherewith we are to build up the House of the Lord ! So in the last days, when the Moun- tain of the Lord's House shall be establisht on the top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow to it, — when thus, by the word of God, turning back the laws of Nature, the downward-flowing desires of man shall rise upward to the Mountain of the Lord, — and when God will thus take pleasure in the flowing together of the nations, and be glorified in the exaltation of the hearts and minds of His people, — we also shall be received into that blessed com- pany, who will gather around the King upon His holy HillofZion. SERMON IV. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. Haggai ii. 1. 3, 4, 5. In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, — Who is left among you that saw this House in her first glory ? and how do ye see it now ? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing ? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord ; and be strong, O Joshua, the highpriest ; and be strong, all ye people of the land, and work : for I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you, when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you : fear ye not. Some time, nearly a month, had gone by, since the prophet Haggai brought the message which we have been considering to the Israehtes, to encourage them in their work by the assurance that the Lord was with them ; and during that month they had been employed upon it. We may believe that they would set about it heartily and dili- gently. But, as you know, when a house is a building, days and weeks pass away, before it can make a satisfactory appearance. No little time is spent in laying the founda- tions ; no little again in raising the walls to a proper highth ; then more time is needed before the roof can be thrown over : yet, until this is done, there will be nothing to give pleasure in its look. This is the case, you know, even with a small house. Still more time is taken up in building a large house : and when a church, like this, is to be built, many months, if not years, roll by, before it is VOL. II. F 66 THE CONTRAST completed. The first Temple, that built by Solomon, had taken eight years : and, if we call to mind how rich and powerful Solomon was, when he built his Temple, and think how poor and feeble the children of Israel, who returned from the Captivity, were in comparison, we shall easily understand that they might be disheartened, when they saw how little progress they made. Above all would those be cast down, who remembered the old Temple, which was the wonder of the world, in all its splendour and glory. Perhaps, owing to this cause, the people were desponding and flagging in their work, when the prophet Haggai came to them again, and said to them, Who is left among yoii that saw this House in its first glory f and how do ye see it now ? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing ? A despondency, such as the Israelites must needs have felt, is very apt to come over those, who have begun to engage in a great work, after the first flush of their zeal has faded away. More especially is this the case, if the work be undertaken, not for any personal interest of our own, but out of a feeling of duty, in the service of God. When we are labouring for ourselves, our carnal heart encourages us and urges us forward : but when we are doing anything for the good of our brethren, or in the service of God, our carnal heart lies like a heavy drag upon the will. It is sad, how soon we grow weary in such works, how soon we think we have done all that we are called to do, all that we can do, how readily we take for granted that we can do nothing to any purpose, and give over. This is especially the case at first. For the founda- tions of every work that is to be solid and lasting, must be underground and out of sight : and it is long before we BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. G7 grow humble enough to labour diligently, although the fruits of our labour are not to be seen even by our own eyes : it is long before we become willing to work, under the conscioiisness that our strength by itself is unable to do anything, and that our whole sufficiency must come from God. When we first set about a work of duty, it costs us so great an effort, we fancy it ought to produce some great immediate result, in proportion to the effort it has cost us ; whereas the chief part of our strength will probably be spent in overcoming the resistance within ourselves. In fact too our works, at first more especially, are so very frail and imperfect ; we do so little, and nothing well, that, so long as we have not been thoroughly humbled, so long as we continue to attach any value or importance to our labour, we cannot but be disheartened at seeing what a meagre, scanty crop we produce. At the same time a voice will often sound within us, addressing us with a ques- tion not unlike that in the text : Who is there among you that saw this House in its first glory 9 and how do ye see it now P Is it not as nothing in comparison thereof? For example, when our hearts have been moved to undertake any work for the strengthening or spreading of Ohrisfs Church upon earth, and when we have thus been led to look round and consider what she is, how she stands in the midst of the world, must not our hearts faint within us, as we think how she is as nothing in comparison with her first glory ? Yes, my brethren, who amongst you has heard or read of the Church of Christ in her first glory, under the ministry and rule of the holy Apostles, whose lips flowed with the words of heavenly truth, and whose hands wrought the works of heavenly power, when faith was so strong, that miracles were taking place every F 2 68 THE CONTRAST day, above all, those spiritual miracles, by which hearts are turned from Satan to God, and when the love of self was almost extinguisht and become as nothing through the overpowering love of Christ ? And how do ye see that Church now ? Is she not almost as nothing in comparison of her primitive glory ? now, when Faith is so weak, that the power of working miracles would seem to have long past away ? nay, when, in despite of our Lord's declaration that Faith would be able to effect still greater works than His, yet, if the rumour of a miracle reaches our ears, it is scoft at as an absurdity and utter impossi- bility ; as though God had grown old, and feeble from age, — as though His Almighty arm had been shortened in the course of the last eighteen hundred years, — as though the laws of Nature had become too strong for the Lawgiver, so that He can no longer change or suspend them ? How do ye see it now t now that a large part of those who call them- selves Christians are no way to be distinguisht from the profest children of the world ? now that the Cross of Christ is become a mere mark, of less significance, and one that people think less about, than that with which you mark your sheep ? for that teaches you to know your sheep ; but Christ will never recognise His sheep through the cross which we receive at our baptism. How do ye see it now ? now that the love of self and the love of pelf have cast the love of God out of our hearts ; and that every evil passion, and every sinful lust, abound almost as much within the pale of Chrisfs Church as without ? Once there was a time when Christians rejoiced to endure hardship and danger, and even to offer up their lives for Christ's sake, and when it was said of them, Look how these Christians love one another ! And now what do we see BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. 69 instead ? luxury, self-indulgence, sloth, fears, envy, sus- picions, jealousies, quarrels ; so that one might rather be tempted to exclaim, Look how these Christians hate one another ! Or, to turn from the Church of Christ, and from that portion of mankind which has been called out of the world to receive the sanctifying influences of the Spirit, may I not ask the same question with regard to man in his natural state ? Who has ever read or thought what man was in his first glory, when he sprang from the Almighty Word of God, made in the image of his Maker, with a reasonable soul breathed into him, in order that he might shew forth the likeness of his Maker in all his thoughts and feelings and actions ? who has heard or thought what man was, when he walkt in the garden of Eden, pure and upright, unsullied as yet by sin, uncrippled by the waywardness of selfwill, hearing the voice of God in every sound, and seeing the marks of His will in every sight ? And how do ye see him now ! Tainted and soiled from head to foot by vices, maimed and palsied by the act whereby he tore himself off from God, and by the ever- repeated acts whereby that original rent has been renewed and widened, — falter- ing and slipping and stepping astray every moment, even when he half tries to walk uprightly, — banisht from Eden to an earth which his sin has laid under a curse, an outcast from the only true joy, that which is found in the presence of God. Verily, when we compare these two pictures together in thought, fallen man, in his best and most flourishing estate, must seem to us as nothing by the side of his first glory. But, without sending our eyes so far abroad, let us cast them back on our own selves. They who watch the growth of the young, must often have seen a time in their 70 THE CONTRAST history, which was like the teeming and blossoming of spring ; and they will also have seen how the blossoms have fallen off, without leaving any fruit, even if they have not been wholly blighted. Surely too several of us must remember a somewhat similar change in ourselves, when we look back on what we were in the dawn and morning of life. Around the dawn there is often somethins- like a glory, which soon becomes overcast and fades away. How many promises are there, which are never fulfilled ! how many fair and fond hopes did our parents cherish about us ! how many bright dreams did we ourselves indulge in ! For all, whose spirits have not been stunted by ignor- ance, or by early depravity, must have felt something of the kind. Indeed it would seem no less unnatural for youth to be without hopes, than for spring to be without buds. How many grand and aspiring resolutions have we formed with regard to ourselves ! and what has been the end of them ? They have been blasted and stifled. This is the woful end of whatever seems fair and good in the natural man. Our hearts, which were endowed with their manifold feelings in order that they should glow with love toward God and toward our brethren, — how are they now ? Dull as the ashes of yesterday's fire. The hand of death lies heavily upon them ; and they can hardly be roused out of their numbness except by some frantic pas- sion. Our understandings, which were framed to receive and comprehend all the manifestations of divine truth shewn forth, whether in the wonderful riches and order of the outward world, or by the voice of reason, or again by any special revelation, — how do we see them now ? Nar- rowed, pincht, warpt, distorted. Having been trained by yearlong habit to look out sharply for that idone which will BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. 71 serve some one or other of our worldly interests, they have become almost incapable of discerning- anything else. Lynx-eyed to see what will bring food into our own mouths, or money into our own purses, they are blind as moles to the rules and ordinances of the Kingdom of Heaven. The innocent sports of childhood, on which an angel might look down with complacency, giving glory to God for the wonderful capacities of love and happiness bestowed on so small and feeble a creature, have been suc- ceeded in too many cases by an insatiable appetite for worldly frivolities, if not by intemperate revelry and reckless debauchery. Many of the lips which were once taught to lisp the praises of their Almighty Father, now seldom mention the name of God, unless it be to take it in vain, or to join it with profane and blasphemous curses. These are a sample of the changes, which such as live the life of the children of this world, must needs perceive in them- selves, if they are moved to cast their minds seriously back upon bygone days, and to compare what they are with what they once were, and with what they hoped and pur- post to be. Even those who are the best and most respectable, those who have sullied their souls the least with any of the grosser sins, must discern, when they look back on themselves, that, so far as they have been left to themselves, they have grievously fallen short of what they ought to have been, of what they might have been, of what at times they themselves had hoped and resolved to be- come. So that to all it is a melancholy thought, when we are bid to reflect Avhat the Lord's House was in its first glory : and all must be ready to acknowledge, that, for what they themselves have done, its present state is even as nothing in comparison thereof. 72 THE CONTRAST The prophet however was not sent to discourage the Israelites, and to increase their despondency, but to com- fort them, and make them more diligent and hopeful in their work. The words which follow, shew this plainly. Yet now he strong, Zeruhhahel, saith the Lord, and he strong, Joshua, the highpriest, and he strong all ye peo2)le of the land, and work. How were they to become strong l where were they to find strength ? Not in the thought which had just been set so forcibly before them, that their work was as nothing in comparison with the first Temple. Such a thought will never strengthen a man, will never make him work. Nor will it strengthen us and make us work, to call to mind how far the Church of Christ has fallen back from the zeal and holiness of the primitive ages, or how far human nature has fallen from what it was in the garden of Eden. Nor will it strengthen us, and make us work, — rather will our hearts faint and our spirits sink within us, — when, in looking back on our own lives, we remember how treacherous we have been to ourselves, how often our stars have fallen and vanisht in darkness, how often tomorrow has belied today, how often our proudest conceptions have burst and betrayed their hol- lowness. Such thoughts will sadden us and weigh us down, or at the utmost make us wish we were otherwise ; but they give us no strength to do otherwise. Where then are we to look for strength ? Not to ourselves : not to the weakness that has so often failed us ; not to the falsehood that has so often betrayed us. Nor can any earthly friend lend us any powerful aid toward overcoming the infirmities of our will, and healing the corruptions of our desires. Vain therefore would the words of the prophet be, if he merely came to bid us be strong and BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. work, without telling us where we are to find the strength for working. We could only reply, We are not strong, and cannot worJt, at least not to any purpose. Therefore, when the prophet has commanded the Israelites to be strong and work, he goes on to tell them how they are, and may be, strong: for I am loitli i/ou, saith the Lord of Hosts. This same assurance is granted to all who earnestly desire to build up the House of the Lord, either in the world around them, or in their own hearts. If they will work, they shall be strong ; for the Lord of Hosts is with them. Having this assurance, we may lift up our hearts again, and may go forth manfully, and set to work hopefully, in building up the House of the Lord. Of ourselves we could have done nothing of the sort. We could not even have imagined what manner of thing the House of the Lord should be, or on what foundation it should be built, or how a single stone in it can be placed upon another. But whenever we are employed in building the Lord's House, whether in our own souls or in the outward world, then the word of the prophet holds true. If we desire to be strong and work, we shall be strong ; for God will be with us, upholding us, aiding us, strengthening us. Conscious as we may be of our own weakness, we are bound to be no less thoroughly convinced of His Almighty power. Indeed the more fully we know that we cannot stand alone, the more thoroughly ought we to be assured, that, if we lean on Him, neither our own weakness, nor the power of any enemy shall be able to overthrow us. / am with you^ saith the Lord of Hosts. Notwithstand- ing our weakness, notwithstanding our un worthiness, God is with us ; and if we will but be strong and work, we shall find that He is so. I am with you., saith the Lord of 74 THE CONTRAST Hosts. According to the icord that I covenanted with you^ ivhen ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you : fear ye not. We too, my brethren, have GocVs covenanted word, that He will be with us : and that covenanted word was not pledged to us in the days of our zeal and glory. It was not pledged to the Israelites in the days of David, or of Solomon. In that case it might have been argued that, when the glory and the zeal of Solomon and David had past away, the Spirit of God would have departed, even as the spirit of life departs when the body begins to decay. But the word which God covenanted with the Israelites, was covenanted with them when they came out of Egypt, — came, not of their own accord, not by their own strength, not self-delivered, but in great measure against their own will, and delivered by His mighty arm alone. It was while we were yet sinners, that God covenanted His word with us. While we were yet in Egypt, He had mercy on us. He called us out of Egypt, against our own will. Although we struggled against Him, and slew the Deliverer, whom He sent to call us out, still He brought us out ; and, when He did so, He covenanted His word with us. This com- fort, this encouragement, this ground of hope, we all have. We who are set to prophesy to you, and to bid you build the Lord^s House, and to bid you be strong, we are also set to assure you that God is with you. This too is the proof that He is with you, and will be with you : He brought you out of Egypt ; and, when He brought you out of Egypt, He covenanted His word with you. But tvhen were toe Irought out of Egypt ? Egypt is far away., across the seas ; and we have never heen more than a few miles heyond this parish ; we have never set foot on the BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. 75 sea. Alas ! my brethren, would that Egypt were so far away, and that it were so difficult to go thither ! But the true Egypt, the kingdom of Pharaoh, the land of darkness and of sin, is close at hand, and compasses us about on every side. When you came into the world, you came into Egypt. But you were so highly favoured, that you were brought out of Egypt in your childhood : you were brought out of it, when you were first brought into this church. Therefore, every time a child is baptized, you are called upon to pray to God, that, as He led the chil- dren of Israel safely through the Red Sea, thereby figuring His holy baptism, in like manner by the baptism of water He will deliver the child from the evils of this troublesome world, and lead it to the land of everlasting life. Yes, my brethren, all of you were born in Egypt ; and all of you by God's grace have been brought out of it. When you were brought to be baptized in this church, you were brought out of Egypt. But this, alas ! is not all. It was not only in our infancy, and before we were brought into God's Church, that we were abiding in Egypt. Although we were brought out of it, we have gone back thither. Our parents themselves, in too many cases, carry us back thither, by sowing worldly cares, and fostering worldly desires in our hearts, by teaching us to lust after the flesh- pots of Egypt, although the lash of the taskmasters of Egypt scourges all those who lust after its fleshpots. Or, if our parents did not carry us back into Egypt, our own hearts have rusht back thither, and have pitcht their tents there, and have said to themselves, Egypt is a goodly land : why should we leave it ? why should ive not dwell in it, rather than in the waste, dreary wilderness ? Yet God did not allow you to continue there. Again and again He 76 THE CONTRAST has brought you out of it. Every time you come hither to this His House, He calls you out of Egypt : so far as rests with His purpose, He brings you out of it. Every time you come into this church, unless you thwart God's gra- cious purpose, unless you bear the heart and the mind of Egypt hither into his presence. He would bring you out of it, and that not merely for the moment, but so that the heart and mind of His House shall abide with you, so that you may feel as though you were in His House, where- soever you may be. For this is the House of God, which you are every one of you called upon to build, your own house, not your Sunday house merely, but your weekday house. After having come out from your shell like a butterfly, in the light of God*'s House, you are not to go back, and furl up your wings, and wrap yourself up in your cast-off grub-skin. You are to remember that the pillar of cloud will always be with you, that the pillar of fire will always be with you, and that He who walks in the cloud and the fire, is the God who brought you out of Egypt. If you rush back into Egypt, you will no longer see these pillars ; but, so long as you continue patiently in the wilderness, they will always be at hand to guide you. For God does not give His Spirit like a gleam of sun- shine bursting for a moment through the clouds. His Spirit remaineth with those to whom it has been given. This is the prophet's declaration to the Israelites : Ac- cording to the icord which I covenanted with you, lohen ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you. The Spirit of God remained among the Israelites from the time that they came out of Egypt, warning them to flee from sin, and directing their ej'es to the coming Salvation BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. 77 He remained among them in His Law. He remained among them in all the ordinances of His worship. Ever and anon too He raised up prophets and wise men to lift their minds to heaven, to the abode of Eternal Truth. In like manner, my brethren, with a still firmer assurance, with an assur- ance of still more precious gifts vouchsafed to you, we are commissioned by God to declare to you, in the very words of the prophet, that, according to the covenant which He covenanted with you when He brought you out of Egypt, His Spirit remains among you. Do not doubt this, brethren. Do not fancy that God can forget the covenant He made with you. He remembers all your words, the most trifling words that any of you has ever spoken. Much more will He remember His own words, the solemn words which He has commanded His minister to utter in His name : and, if He remembers them, assuredly He will keep them. We may break our vows, the vows that we have covenanted with each other, and the vows that we have covenanted with God. We may break our nuptial vows ; we may break our baptismal vows ; we may break our sacramental vowg. All of us indeed have broken our solemn vows, and, alas ! not once only, or twice. But God never yet broke His vows, was never unmindful of His covenanted mercies : He whose name is the True, was never forsworn. Were this possible, the earth would snap in twain, and the stars would tumble pellmell into the bottomless abyss. When our blessed Lord, into whom we were baptized. He who brought us out of Egypt through the Red Sea of His Blood, was about to shed that Blood on the Cross, whereby alone man can escape out of Egypt, He said that He would send another Comforter to His disciples, even the Holy Spirit of God, who 78 THE CONTRAST would abide with them for ever. Then did the words of the prophet Haggai receive their higher fulfihnent : and from that time to this the Spirit of God has remained with the Church which He brought out of Egypt, according to the covenant which He covenanted with it ; and not only with the whole Church, but with every member of that Church, so as to be always ready to help and to strengthen them, if they would not refuse His help, and turn away from His strength to lean on their own strength. This, my brethren, is the word which I have to bring to you this day, in the name of the Lord of Hosts. / am with you^ says the Lord ; according to the word which I covenanted with you, when I brought you out of Egypt, so My Spirit reniaineth with you. Nothing else remains with us, neither light nor darkness, neither day nor night, neither summer nor winter, neither youth nor age, neither strength nor health, neither sight nor hearing, neither speech nor understanding, neither parents nor brethren, neither teachers nor friends. Think, ye who have made any way in life, what you had twenty, what you had thirty, what you had forty years ago : think what you had, what was with you, when your life was in its first glory ? What were your thoughts then ? what were your feelings then ? Whom did you love and revere then ? who were the friends of your heart then ' Where are they now ? You who have seen many days, will be forced to acknowledge that most of the persons and things that you valued and prized in early days, are no longer what they were. Many of them have past away ; others have changed their character ; hardly any have remained : and even that Avhich has re- mained, you will have had many sure proofs, will not BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. 79 remain much longer. You too who are younger, even you will have found already in your short time, that many things change, that many things pass away. You your- selves have changed ; and many of the things about you have past away. That too which you have now, however dearly you may love and cherish it, however fast the hold you may fancy you have upon it, although all your strongest affections are twined around it, binding it to you, as you deem, inseparably, still that too will not remain ; that too will jDass away. But the Spirit of God does remain. He has remained with the Church from the day when the Father and the Son sent Him down from heaven ; and He will remain with it until the end of the world. So too does He remain with us, my brethren ; He remains amongst us. He has so remained with us from the time when we were first born again by His power ; and He will remain with us, unless we turn wilfully, obstinately away from Him, till the end of our lives. This is the assurance which I am this day commissioned to declare to you, my brethren, — that the Spirit of God remains among you : and there are two lessons drawn in the text from this assurance, on which I must still say a few words. The first lesson we are to draw from the assurance, that the Spirit of God remains among us, is, that we are to be strong and work. Many people, when they are told that the Spirit of God alone works every good work in them, beguile themselves into fancying that they are to wait, doing nothing, that is to say, following the devices of their own slothful or wayward hearts, in the expectation that some supernatural, irresistible impulse will come to them, and stir them to work without and against their 80 THE CONTRAST will. This is much as if the sea were to say, / loill not move ; I will not ehh or flow^ till a storm comes to set me in motion. Storms will come at times, to purify the air, to purify the sea : the sea and the air need them, even when they are pursuing their orderly motions : but if the sea and the air were to be stagnant, except when the storms trouble them, the storms Avould profit them little. In like manner will special visitations of the Spirit be vouchsafed to all God's chosen children : but unless we avail ourselves of the Spirit*'s ordinary gifts, we shall never make a right use of His extraordinary gifts. God gives us His Spirit, in order that we should work, in order that we should believe in Him, in order that we should serve Him, not now and then, by fits and starts, but always, day by day, and hour by hour. Shall we ever finish our house, if that which we build up one moment, we pull down the next, as children do their houses of cards? This, brethren, is not one of the ways in which we are called to be like little children ; and yet we are seldom like them, except in that in which we ought to be unlike them. In old times, when our grand churches and cathe- drals were built, many stories got wing, that, after the masons had been building at the church in the day, the devil came at night and pulled down all that they had been building up. I have seen several churches about which such stories were told. Now what was the meaning of these fables ? For they had a meaning. They meant that the sloth, or the worldlymindedness, or the jealousies and quarrels, or the selfishness of the builders hindered and checkt the work : and through these causes, through the operation of these evil spirits thwarting the work, many of the cathedrals were never finisht at BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. 81 all ; many were centuries in building-. Now that which took place at the building of these outward Houses of Grod, when again the people ran, like the Israelites, after their own houses, — the very same thing takes place continually with all of us, with every one who has ever begun to build the House of the Lord. The evil spirit comes to him ever and anon, and undoes his woi-k. We build up; and we pull down. We sow corn; and then we sow tares. We say that the Spirit must work in us, when He wills to come to us ; and therefore, whatever we do ourselves, we do against the Spirit. We will not believe that the Spirit remains with us. Therefore are we so weak. If we believed that the Spirit remains ever with us, and if in that belief we workt, then we should grow strong. Even weakness becomes comparatively strong through the skill acquired by practice ; whereas strength is always wasted by those who try a work they are not used to. Moreover, through the power of the Spirit, they who work continually in His strength do truly become strong : and that strength is infinitely greater than that which shews itself by fits and starts ; even as the abiding power which rolls the deep waters of the sea in their never-ending ebb and flow, is far greater than the passing violence of the storm which ruffles its surface. The second lesson which the prophet draws from the assurance, that the Spirit of God remains with the Israelites, is contained in the last words of the text : Fear ye not. Now assuredly they who work and are strong in the strength of God's Spirit abiding with them, may boldly say, the Lord is my Helper ; I ivill not fear toliat man can do to me. Yea, they may say, / will not even fear what I can do to myself having this Helper against myself: I VOL. II. G 82 THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES. tvill not fear the iveaJcness and corruption of my own heart. Or rather, I will fear myself : I will fear my own weak- ness and corruption, not however with a fear that shall breed faintness and despondency, hut with a fear tliat^ under the Messing of my heamnly Helper, sJiall breed humility and icatchfulness and diligence and perseverance. I have known a man of whom it was said, that he " feared God, and neither man nor devil." This would be our case, my brethren, if we rightly believed that the Spirit of God remains with us. Strong in His strength, and working therewith, we should know that He who is with us is far mightier than all who are against us. As our En- glish sailors during the last war, when they went into battle, always went with the assurance that they were to conquer, so should we. We should neither fear man nor devil : and even the fear of God, if we felt that His Spirit remains with us, would by degrees lose all that is painful and oppressive and repelling in fear, and would be trans- figured by a constant living communion with Him into reverent, dutiful love. SERMON V. THE SHAKING OF THE NATIONS. Haggai II. 6, 7. For tlius saith the Lord of Hosts : Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ; and I will shake all nations ; and the Desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this House with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. Our last sermon on the prophecies of Haggai ended with a short consideration of those cheering and inspiriting words, wherehy the prophet, after assnring the Israelites that the Spirit of God was remaining among them, commanded them not to fear : and we saw how the same exhortation would come home with its full force to all of us in these days, if we did but feel a right assurance that the Spirit of God is abiding with us. Now the words which I have just read to you, come immediately after that cheering ex- hortation. The prophet had assured the Israelites that God was with them in their work. / am with i/ou, saith the Lord of Hosts. According to the word that I cove- nanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you : fear ye not. He then goes on in these words : For thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Yet once, it is a little while, and L ivill shalze the heamns, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ; and 1 imll shake all nations. These words are connected with those which come before them, by the little word for, and thus seem meant to give a reason for them. Yet at first sight one G 2 84 THE SHAKING might rather suppose them meant to give a reason for the very opposite. At first thought one would rather have expected the prophet to have said, Fear ye, and he ye cast down with trembling ; for the Lord of Hosts icill shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and will shake all nations. When the Lord is ahout to shake the heavens and tlie earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and when He is about to shake all nations, surely the natural effect of these threats must be to make all nations tremble with fear. Yet the prophet's word to the Israelites is, Fear ye not. How can this be I Why, this, my brethren, is only another proof how the order of things in this world is clean contrary to that which prevails in the Kingdom of Heaven. When the children of this world hear that the heavens and the earth and all nations are to be shaken, they are smitten with fear and consternation. When the children of the King- dom hear the same tidings, they lift up their hearts more freely to heaven. Even among the children of the world, there have indeed at times been some, one or two, it may bo, in an age, whose spirits have mounted with dangers, and felt most at home in a storm, men who have been endowed with such energy and elasticity, that they seemed to require some strong pressure to shew all that w^as in them. Such men however have always been rare, and only become bolder in danger, when they can act, and take the lead in acting. When they have to suffer, without acting, their spirits flag and droop. But they who have the assurance that the Spirit of God re- mains with them, will become more fearless in the midst of dangers, even though they have only to suffer, than when everything is calm and prosperous around them. OF THE NATIONS. 85 For they feel, — so sadly is the common order of Nature fallen away from God, — that God is manifesting Himself more plainly, when He is shaking the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. They seem to see His hand more clearly, to read His will more intelligibly, as Daniel read the letters on the wall of king Belte- shazzar's palace, when the enemy was about to destroy it. They seem to feel too that, when God is shaking the heavens and the earth. He also shakes off the dust of this world, which is wont to gather upon their souls, yea, that He bursts the fetters by which their souls were bound in their earthly prisonhouse, even as the fetters of Paul and Silas were burst by the earthquake. There is a beautiful poem, in which a mariner, having committed a grievous sin, is visited with a terrible punish- ment ; and whereas most poets in such cases would represent the oiFender as being overtaken with a violent storm, even as Jonah was when he fled from the presence of the Lord, the punishment of the mariner consists in his being becalmed in the midst of the sea, under " a hot and copper sky,"" where no breath was or motion, until the very deep did rot, and slimy things crawled about upon the slimy sea. This punishment of the unhappy mariner is a sort of type of what the state of the world would be, if God did not from time to time shake it. Were the world becalmed for a continuance, it would grow stagnant and rot ; and all man- ner of vices, which ordinarily are concealed, would walk about openly in the sight of day. Thus it was, for in- stance, in the days before the Flood. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, when God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only 86 THE SHAKING evil cofitinuall^/. There had been nothing for ages to startle men out of their sins, nothing to rouse them out of their torpoui-, nothing to disturb their trust in the earth and its pleasures ; and unless God had arisen, and shaken the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land, the wickedness of man would have gone on increasing, and heaping up higher piles of sins all over the world. Selfish- ness would have become more selfish, vanity more vain, cruelty more cruel, deceit more deceitful, lust more lustful and rampant and riotous. Again, if the Israelites had continued in Egypt, dwelling in Goshen, feeding on the fat of the laud, prospering under the favour of Pharaoh, how entirely would they have forgotten the God of their fathers, and their promist inheritance ! how would they have given themselves up to the fleshpots of Egypt, and to the idola- tries of Egypt ! Therefore, when a wise and farsighted man, a man wise in heavenly wisdom and in the knowledge of God's counsels, was raised up amongst them, what did he wish ? Did he wish, — could a wise man in the place of Moses have wisht, — that the children of Israel should continue prospering in Goshen, under the countenance of Pharaoh, feeding on the fleshpots of Egypt ? Surely he who chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, knew and understood what was really to be desired, and what was really to be feared ? He knew that the wrath of Pharaoh, and the scourges of the taskmasters, were not to be feared, so much as the pleasures and riches and the other manifold temptations of Egypt. He knew that the pleasures of Egypt were sure to breed the plagues of Egypt, frogs and lice and flies, — that they who gave themselves up to those j)leasures, would have their hearts hardened, and would OF THE NATIONS. 87 perish by the plagues, — but that to them who know that the Spirit of God is remaining- with them, the plagues themselves would be the means of preservation, not of destruction. These are two examples out of the ancient history of God's Church, which prove that, if God did not ever and anon shake the earth and the heavens, the Church would perish, and that, when He does so shake the world. He thereby delivers and preserves His Church ; so that all they who know that the Spirit of God remains with them, will not fear when God shakes the world. They alone will not fear. They who trust in the earth, or in anything beneath the heavens, they whose hearts are set on anything that the sea or the dry land brings forth, will fear ; because that in which they trust will be shaken from under them ; that on which they have set their hearts will be swallowed up before them. But they with whom the Spirit of God remains, have a stay and a joy that abide, even though the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land are shaken, a stay and a joy that become more manifest and stronger, when all that usually veils them, or interferes with them, is swept away. In like manner I might shew you by a number of examples taken out of the history of the Church of Christ in all ages, ever since her Lord and Founder went up into heaven, that what the Church has to fear is, not the enmity, but the friendship of the world ; not when the heavens and the earth and all nations are shaken by God, but when a numbing calm creeps over them, and the lusts of the flesh crawl out of their lurking-places over the stagnant waters. I might shew you how time after time, in such seasons of peril, God has saved His Church by shaking the world ; whence they who labour in building 88 THE SHAKING up the Church should learn that, when they hear the rust- ling of the wind by which the heavens and the earth and all nations are to be shaken, they are not to fear ; for, as in the vision of the prophet, it is only by the shaking of the dry bones, that they can come together. Moreover this truth, which has been verified by such a number of proofs in the history of the Church, holds equally firm with regard to the life of every single Christian. Yes, my brethren, even though I were commissioned to tell you that God is about to shake the earth and its in- habitants, — though I had to tell you that He is about to shake the pillars of your earthly happiness and prosperity, — you ought not to fear ; and, if you felt a right assurance that the Spirit of God remains with you, you would not. For what will a wise man, a man wise with the wisdom from above, — what will such a man fear ? Nothing except that wliich would draw him away from God. Least of all would he fear that which is meant to bring him nearer to God. Now this is the very purpose for which God shakes the earth, that He may burst the doors of our earthly prison, and the chains which bind us to the earth. This is the end for which He will shake a man''s prosperity and riches, in order that the man may be led to lay up an un- shakable treasure in heaven. This is the end for which God will overthrow a man's health, in order that he may learn how fleeting a possession bodily health is, and may seek that spiritual health which will abide with him for ever. This is the end for which, according to the purposes of His providence, so far as we are concerned, He takes away our earthly friends, — or at least this is the lesson we are to learn from the loss of them, — in order that we may be brought to feel the inestimable prcciousness of that OF THE NATIONS. 89 Heavenly Friend, from whom neither Hfe nor death can part us. Therefore they who have the assurance that the Spirit of God is abiding with them, will not overmuch fear even the bitterest of such afflictions, knowing that they have a Comforter who will support their hearts xmder them, and purify them thereby. Rather w'ill they look with fear and trembling on those conditions of life, in which the love of the world and the love of man are likely to grow too strong, and to wean and estrange the heart from God. Fear yt not, saith the Lord of Hosts : for yet once, it is a little while, and I will shaJce the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ; and I will shaJce all nations ; and the Desire of all nations shall come ; and I will fill this House with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. They who have tried to read the history of the earth under our feet, by digging into its entrails, and observing the various layers of its rocks, how broken they are, how disjointed, how con- fused, have been led to the conclusion that the earth must have been wonderfully shaken and convulst in the begin- ning, before the Creation of man, and that, only after the earth had been thus shaken and shattered, did God shew- forth His glory upon the earth by making man in His image, by making him who was in a manner the Desire of all creatures, toward whom all creatures had been risino- and tending. Again it was by the convulsion and destruc- tion wrought by the Flood, that God purified the earth, and brought forth His righteousness from the darkness which was gathering around it ; and it was on the face of the breaking clouds that He set the bow of His covenant. Again, as I have already reminded you, it w^as by shaking the earth and the nations, that God brought Israel out of Egypt, and establisht a people upon earth who were to be 90 THE SHAKING the shrine of His presence, the tabernacle of His law, among whom He was to dwell by manifold types and witnesses, among whom too in the fulness of time He was to be born, He, the Desire of all nations, and to live, and to die. As it is only through the pangs and sorrows of the mother that a man can come into the world, so it has ever been through the pangs and sorrows of nations that God has revealed more and more of His will to them. Above all, the Jewish nation was born amid the heaviest sorrows and the severest pangs ; and in like manner was it trained and exercised for the fulfilment of its high mission, in order that the Desire of all nations should be born in it. For this, you know, was the end for which the Jewish people was brought out of Egypt with such a mighty hand, and for which it was fenced off from all the rest of mankind, and for which it was tried and trained by so many suffer- ings and mercies and judgements, — this was the end of its types, and its ceremonies, and its sacrifices, — this was the end of its law, and of its priesthood, and of the prophets who were sent age after age to awaken it to a clearer knowledge of this its heavenly destiny, — that in the fulness of time He who was the Desire of all nations should be born in it. In order that this end should be accomplislit, it was necessary that the Jewish nation should be shaken again and again, — that it should be visited by judgement after judgement. Mercy alone, doctrine alone, prophesy alone was unable to rouse it. When the world wore its smiling face, its power over the carnal heart was so great, that man could not resist the fascination. Therefore time after time God vouchsafed by chastisements to admonish the Jews of the deceit fulness and perishableness of temporal pleasures, in order that they might be moved thereby to OF THE NATIONS, 91 look forward to Him who was to fill the House of the Lord with glory. Thus much then you will easily understand, that our blessed Lord Jesus Christ was the Desire of the Jewish nation, that by His coming God filled His House with glory, and that it was in order to prepare the way for His coming, that the Jewish nation was shaken by so many calamities. But the prophet''s words in the text are, the Desire of all nations shall come. Now how, you may ask, can Jesus Christ be called the Desire of all nations, seeing that the Jews alone had received the promises of His coming, and that by these promises and for the sake of them they had been set apart from the rest of mankind ? You may think that, as the Jews alone had heard of Jesus Christ, He could only be the Desire of the Jews. Now this is so far true, that, the Jews alone having received the dis- tinct promise of a Saviour to be born amongst them, only among the Jews could there be found persons like Simeon, waiting^ with a clear consciousness, /br the Consolation of Is- rael. Only among the Jews was it known that the Saviour was to be the Son of David, and that His messenger was to be sent before Him. Still He, in whom God vouchsafed to reveal the fulness of the Godhead to man, — He, in whom God vouch- safed to dwell as a Man with mankind, — He, in whom and by whom God reconciled man to Himself, and called man to a communion with Himself, — may most justly and truly be called the Desire of all natiofis. He was that Son of God, for whose manifestation the whole race of man was waiting, groaning and travailing in pain together. When St Paul was preaching at Athens, he told the Athenians that he was come to declare that God to them, whom they were worshiping without knowing Him, and who had made 92 THE SHAKING all the nations of men of one blood to seek after the Lord, if they might feel after Him and find Him. St Paul declared that God to the Athenians, whom they were already worshiping in ignorance. Nor was it the Athenians alone who did so : all nations, he says, were made of one blood to seek after God. Accordingly, even amid the thickest darkness spread over the Heathen nations, we mostly find traces, however faint and dim and covered over and distorted, which betoken that this feeling after God had once a place in the heart of the people. This was not confined to the wiser and better men amongst them, to the philosophers ; whose very name, betokening that they were lovers of icisdom^ shews that, however they might be mis- taken as to the means of attaining to wisdom, they had yet a correct feeling, vague and dim as it might be, of that which the human mind is made to desire, of that which was one day to be revealed to it. Even the grossest idolaters, when they fancied that their gods could dwell in images of wood and stone, still shewed that there was a desire in their hearts that God should dwell upon earth. They who worshipt their heroes, shewed a desire that human nature should be elevated to an intimate communion with and participation in the divine. Again, the sacrifices which were offered up by all nations, shewed a desire that they whom they worshipt as gods should be reconciled to them, and that some means of reconciliation should be de- vised. Thus among all nations we find traces, more or less distinct, of a desire for an Incarnate and Reconciled God : and hence you may understand how the prophet in the text could call our Lord Jesus Christ the Desire of all nations. Yet it was only when the nations were shaken, that He who was the true Object and Source of this their OF THE NATIONS. 93 desire could come to tliem. For their hearts were hide- bound through the kists of the flesh ; and a violent shock was needed, in order to burst these bonds. So great in- deed and complete was this shaking, that all the nations then existing upon earth were to pass away, — all the em- pires and kingdoms and republics, with their laws and their institutions, their palaces and their temples, were to be overthrown, — and all things were to become new even in this sense, before the kingdoms of this world could be trans- formed into the Kingdoms of Christ, In like manner ever since, when darkness and worldlymindedness have been creeping over the Church, time after time God has again shaken the nations, and thereby has made the glory of Him who is the Desire of all nations, shine forth more brightly, and fill His Church more and more. But I have often had occasion to point out to you, how God's dealings with nations and with His whole Church are ever after the same principles and pattern as His deal- ings with each particular soul, and that what is true of the whole Church is always true, in a certain sense, with regard to each particular soul. Now this, which is ever true, is true in this instance also. I have been led by the text to speak to you of God's dealings with nations, of His dealings with His Church : but the text may also help you all and each to understand how He has dealt, and how He does and will deal, with your own souls. We have just seen how the Son of God, who came into the world to reconcile man to God, was the Desire of all nations. Now in what sense was He the Desire of all nations? Not mainly, as nations, from anything that belonged to them merely as such ; but far more in that they were made up of human beings, of souls created in the image of God, and fallen 94 THE SHAKING away from God. Therefore, being the Desire of all nations, He was the Desire of the whole human race, of all mankind, not merely collectively, but severally. In other words, He was, and is, the Desire of every man, so far as that man has not degraded and forfeited his humanity, — the conscious Desire of all men who know what they are, and what they ought to be, — the uncon- scious Desire of those who are ignorant of their nature, and of their portion and destiny. Yes, my brethren, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to dwell upon earth in the form of a man, in order that He might reconcile man to God, is the Desire, the more or less unconscious Desire of all the children of men. Even in their natural state, even though they may never have heard of Him, even though they may be utterly unable to understand the meaning of their own wishes, yet He is the real, the only satisfying Object of those wishes. Among you, I trust, are some who have found this out already by your own experience, some who can say with sincerity that He is your Desire now, and who, on look- ing back over your past lives, have found out that He was indeed the secret Desire of your hearts, even when you knew Him not, even when your hearts were turned away from Him. But there must also be some amongst you, and, I fear, not a few, who as yet are unconscious of any such Desire, who know not whither the secret, un- satisfied cravings and pinings of your hearts point. Let me explain this to you by an example, which you may find it easier to understand. You all know how many of your thoughts turn upon the things which you see, how much of the furniture, how much of the riches of your minds comes to them through your eyes. Now suppose that you had OF THE NATIONS. 95 been born blind, or that you had lived all your lives in total darkness, then these thoughts, which have been awakened in you by the objects you have seen, would never have been awakened at all. Yet those faculties of your minds, which have been called forth by sight, would have existed in you notwithstanding : only they would have been stunted or blasted in the germ. Again, you all know there are certain instinctive feelings in every child, which lead it to love its parents. But were a child to be brought up afar from its parents, without any knowledge of them, without any one to stand in their stead, these feelings would not be called forth, and so would be stifled for want of an outlet ; and the poor child would never know the blessed power of filial love, with which it is endowed. Or su^Dpose that it were suckled and brought up, as we read stories of children suckled and fostered, by a she- wolf or a goat, it might transfer a portion of the love, with which its heart was gifted for its real parent, to the dumb animal that performed a part of a parent's office toward it. Thus we may have feelings which sleep and lie hid within us, and are never called forth, or are bestowed upon other than their rightful objects. In like manner, my brethren, in every heart there are a number of feelings, a number of desires, a number of crav- ings, of which Christ is the rightful and only satisfying Object : and when we turn these feelings and desires and cravings away from Him, and try to fix them upon the world, and to feed them with the world, they are always dissatisfied ; nay, the more they are fed and pampered, the hungrier they become. Hence it is that every one who gives up his heart to the world, unless he quenches his conscience by gross 96 THE SHAKING sensuality, or crushes it by trampling- perpetually upon it, is brought to the conviction that all things, according to the words of the Preacher, are vanity and vexation of spirit. For example you have all a desire for rest ; and rest is only to be found in communion with God. You all desire to live for ever ; you cannot even conceive the possibility of dying for ever ; you prize life ; you fear and abhor death. Yet Christ alone can give you everlasting life, can save you from everlasting death. You would fain have power and knowledge, greater at least than you have now ; you would fain have riches ; you spend a large part of your lives in endeavouring to increase your power and knowledge and riches ; and that which you get you would fain keep. Yet the power and knowledge and riches, which you glean or steal from this world, are scanty and meagre and false and fleeting ; while Christ would give you true power, and true knowledge, and true riches, power and knowledge and riches which would abide with you for ever. You have a conscience which reproaches you when you sin ; you would desire, at least in your better mo- ments, not to sin ; you would desire to escape from the shame and infirmity and wretchedness which sin entails upon you. You may seek to overcome sin by your own will ; you may seek to overcome it by maxims of prudence, by a regard for your reputation or your interest, by the wish for honour. Yet all these helps are sure to fail you ; while Christ would enable you to overcome sin, and would raise you above its power and its fears. Again, you desire to have a friend, whom you can love with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and who will love you no less in return, a friend on whom you can rely for counsel and help in all your needs, a friend who will always be OF THE NATIONS. 97 near you, and from whom nothing shall ever part you. Now Christ alone is such a Friend ; and your desire to love and to be loved can only find its fulfilment in Him. In all these and many other ways Christ is the Desire of every child of man, the true Desire of millions who know it not, but who reveal the secret cravings of their hearts by the dissatisfaction they feel at everything else. Moreover, as it is by the shaking of heaven and earth, and of all nations, that the Desire of all nations has come to those nations with whom the Spirit of God abides, so it is by the shaking of our hearts and souls that the Son of God is made manifest to us. This is the work of the Spirit who remains with us, and who takes of the things of Christ and shews them to us, more especially in the hour of affliction ; for then we are readier to look at them, and to draw comfort from them. When we are sur- rounded by the sunshine and flowers and fruits of sum- mer, we give ourselves up to the present, and think little of the winter that will sweep them away ; but amid the dreariness and cold of winter we look forward to the return of summer. When pleasures are thronging on every side of us, even though we feel that they are not quite satisfying, we fancy this arises from our not enjoying enough of them, and we snatch and seize on more ; but, when they are all torn away, we find out how empty they are. Therefore does God shake us, in order that He may manifest His Son to us. He shakes our earthly riches, in order that we may be led to desire heavenly riches, which will never make themselves wings and flee away. He shakes our bodily health, that we may be led to discern how frail a thing the body is, and how vain it is to trust in the body, and to care so much for it, and that VOL. II. H 98 THE SHAKING ■we may be led at the same time to seek for a higher health, a health which no diseases will assail or undermine. If we give up our hearts too entirely to an earthly object of love, He takes the loved one away from us, that we may be led to follow him with our hearts beyond the grave, and to behold him as he stands in the presence of God, and to lift up our eyes and hearts from him to his God and Saviour. Thus every affliction that befalls us is meant, as it were, to take a scale from before our eyes. Above all it is with the conscience of sin that God smites the soul and shakes it, with the terrours and reproaches of sin, with its weakness and shame, with its clinging claws and palsying venom. These thoughts will crowd in dreadful array before the soul of the awakened sinner : he will feel, it may be, as though the gates of hell were thrown open before his eyes, and he were constrained to look through them. But, when this shaking is from God, it is in order that the sinner may behold the Saviour closing the gates of hell, and opening the gates of heaven before him, — that he may behold the Desire of all nations, and the inmost Desire of his own sin-crusht soul, — that the Desire of all nations may come to him, and fill his soul with His glory. Remember what the text says : Yet once^ it is a little while, and I will shah the earth and the heavens ; and I will shake all nations ; and the Desire of all nations shall come. The Lord of Hosts will do this once : He will do it in a little while ; and then the Desire of all nations shall come to you. Be not cast down therefore, my brethren, any of you, when God is shaking you with the conscious- ness of your sins : let not this consciousness drive you to despair. He will only shake you a little while, and not with the purpose of destroying you, but with the OF THE NATIONS. 99 purpose that the Desire of all nations may come to you. Whatever may be the affliction with which God mercifully visits you, His Spirit will always have a remedy suited for it. Out of the treasure of Christ, He will take the very remedy which you want. When you are on the bed of sickness, the Spirit will lead you to the Physician who has power to heal every disease of the body and heart and mind. When you are sorrowing for the loss of a friend, He will lift up your hearts to Him who has vouchsafed to call you friends, and who has promist to abide with you for ever. When you are shaken by the consciousness of your sins. He will open your eyes to behold Him who died on the Cross for your sins, and who has called you to lay your burthen at His feet ; He will open your eyes to behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. At other times these words may come with little power to your hearts : but, when you are shaken with the consciousness of your sins, they shine out like stars from which the clouds have just been swept away ; and they become precious above all other Avords, healing and life-giving. This then is one great lesson which we may learn from our text, that they whom God shakes, if the Spirit of God remains with them, will not fear ; because they know that through this shaking the Desire of all nations will come to them, and fill their souls with His glory. They are not to fear. Who then are to fear ? They who are not shaken. They whom God suffers to abide undisturbed in their worldlymindedness, in their carelessness, in their sins ; they who are sleeping on while the flames are gathering around them, and the smoke is stifling them ; they who are sliding merrily along on the brittle crust of H 2 100 THE SHAKING OF THE NATIONS. hell, which is ready to crack under their feet. Tremble, ■ says another of the Lord's prophets, ye that are at ease ; he troubled ye thoughtless ones. So too another prophet cries, Wo to them that are at ease in Zion ! Are there any of you, my brethren, whose hearts have never been shaken ? who have never known sorrow, care, distress, sickness, trouble of heart and mind ? To you I say, Fear : for to you also the time will come when this ease of yours will be at an end. To you also, and to the whole world, thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Yet a little while, and I will shake the earth and the heavens, and the sea and the dry land ; and I will shake all nations : and then too the Desire of all nations will come, to Jill the whole world with His glory, and to reign for ever and ever. Then also they with whom His Spirit has remained, and who have recognised Him to be their Desire in this world, shall not fear. When the heavens are rejoicing, and the earth is glad, and the sea with its fulness is roaring, and the field is joyful, and all the trees of the forest are rejoicing before the Lord, at His coming to judge the earth, then His saints, who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice, who have given up their hearts and souls to Him, shall be gathered into His pre- sence ; and He will deliver them ; and they shall glorify Him. But to those who have neglected Him, and disre- garded His mercies, and sinned against His commandments, His coming will be as a devouring fire ; and there will be none to deliver them. Therefore fear now, ye who have never known fear, lest ye have to dwell as the slaves of fear for ever. Pray to God, that He will shake you now, ye who have never been shaken, lest, when the day of his last shaking comes, ye be cast out of the Kingdom of Life, into the pit of everlasting Death. SERMON VI. THE SUPERIORITY OF THE LATTER HOUSE. Haggai II. 8, 9. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, The glory of this latter House sliall be greater than of the former ; and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts. From the earlier verses of this chapter, we learnt that the Israelites, who were employed in building the second Temple after their return out of the Captivity, were cast down and dispirited by the thought how poor and mean their work was, compared with the glory of the former Temple. That Temple had been built by Solomon, at the summit of his wealth and power ; and he rightly thought that all his riches was but too little to be em- ployed in adorning the House of God. The Israelites on the other hand, who returned from Babylon, were poor and feeble : they had no gold and silver to deck the Temple with, or to buy other costly materials : and they probably said one to another, Our labour profits little : after the utmost we can do, still the Temple will he poor and mean in comparison with that in which our fathers worshipt. Hence, when the prophet had encouraged the Israelites to proceed in their work by the assurance that God was with them, and by the promise that anon, in a little while, after the earth and the heavens and the nations had been shaken, the Desire of all nations. He for whom their fathers, and all mankind had been looking with earnest expectation. 102 THE SUPERIORITY would come to them, and would fill the Temple with glory, he weut on to tell them that God did not need their silver and gold for the adorning of His House. So far from it, they were all His : the silver is Mine, and tJie gold is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. These words were doubtless meant chiefly to comfort the Israelites under their despondency. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says the Lord. It is Mine already, wheresoever it may he found ; whether it be spread out on the walls of My Temple, and piled up around My altar, — or whether it he stored in the treasuries of princes, — or whe- ther it he still lying in its native chambers iti the immh of the earth, — it is all Mine. Although ye are unable to adorn My Temple therewith, it is still Mine : yea, it is Mine, even though it should be clencht in the hand that would with- hold it from Me. Therefore be not cast dotmi : think not that I desire silver and gold : think not that I shall he dis- satisfied, if I do not obtain it at your hands. Give Me that which ye have ; give it cheerfully ; and that which ye have not I will not require of you. Even if you had all the treasures of Solomon and of Hiram to give Me, what addition would they maJce to the riches of Him, whose tJiey are al- ready, and to whom all the silver and gold in the whole earth belongs, — who alone give it according to My will, and who take it away whensoever it seems good to Me F The silver is Mine ; and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord. These words were spoken to comfort the Israelites who were building the Lord's House at Jerusalem ; and they may in like manner administer comfort to all who are engaged in building the Lord's House, in whatever man- ner, whether in their own souls, or in the world around them. They who give themselves heartily to either of these OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 103 works, cannot but be dispirited by the thought how little they are able to eiFect. Indeed this is one indispensable mark of earnestness in God's service. If we think we are able to do anything, this is a sure proof that we are doing nothing, nay, that we have never even be- gun to do anything, that we have never so much as framed the slightest notion of God's infinite glory, and of our own infinite feebleness and unworthiness. They who do truly feel the preciousness of what God has done for them, above all in reuniting them to Himself by the gift of His Incarnate Son to take their nature upon Him, must needs desire that their love toward God should bear some manner of proportion to that love which God has shewn toward them, — that their gifts to God should in some measure shew forth their sense of His inestimable Gift to them. More especially, as I have remarkt before, do these feelings trouble our hearts in the beginning of a religious course, before we have learnt to give up the thought of our own works, and to look away from ourselves to the work which Christ has wrought for us, and to that which through His Spirit He works in us, or in the world. So long as we continue in the outer court of the Temple, and have not been received into the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God overpowers all other thoughts, we are apt to care much about the offerings we may be able to bring. We desire to make greater progress in holiness, and are angry with ourselves because we do not. Now this feeling is very right, if it leads us to strive more earnestly onward ; and if we have a right faith in God's love, and in the presence of His Spirit working with us and in us, We shall do so. But often, while we attach a value to our own works, and wish to be glorified thereby, 104 THE SUPERIORITY we lose heart when we find how poor they are ; and, in- stead of redoubh'ng our efforts, we slacken and give over. Again, when a person is desirous of serving God in the building up of His Church in the world, he is apt, more especially at first, to become impatient. He would fain see the fruits of his labours. He does not like to wait God's time. He thinks that what has cost him so much trouble, ought to produce more fruit. Hence he too, when he sees how little he does, is tempted to flag and quit his undertaking. Now to all such persons, to whichever class they may belong, the Lord says. The silver is Mine ; and the gold is Mine. All the graces of the Spirit are Mine, to give and to withhold. They abide with Me in all their ful- ness. I need them not at thine hand. But according as it seemeth good to 3Ie, so do I bestow them on thee. Only give Me thy heart, thy whole heart ; and thou shalt receive richer graces in more plentiful abundance. So too all the p>owers of the world are Mine, to set up and to pull doivn, to build and to overthrow. I order. I overrule. I need not thy help to build up My Church. When I will, it shall be built up. Only do thou thy part. Be content ivith the work that is assigned to thee. The loioUer it is, the better for thee. Can it be lowlier than that in which My otmi Son spent His earthly life ? If thy success is little, think how poor were the fruits which My Son saw spring from His teaching. Thus the prophet's declaration, that the silver is the Lord's, and the gold is the Lord's, is full of comfort to those who are disquieted by fears about their own works, if they will receive it rightly. And is it not indeed a declaration full of grace and of comfort ? Do you not feel it to be so? You, who are poor, who have no gold and no silver to give, is it not a comfort that God does not need OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 105 silver and gold from you ? nay, that He will accept your offering, however small it may be ? that He will not regard your offering, but the heart which brings it ? and that, if it be brought with a faithful and dutiful heart, your mite will be as precious in His sight as the costliest offering which Solomon himself could have made ? Is it not a comfort to you, who have little knowledge, and little means of enlarging it, to hear the Lord say, Wisdom is Mine ; and Knowledge is 3Tine ; and Understanding is Mine. It is Mine in its fulness and perfection. I need it not from man. He cannot give Me what is not Mine already. He can only give Me what he has received from Me. Is it not a comfort that your small knowledge may be no less acceptable in God's sight, than all the wisdom of Solomon ? that He will not cast you out because you are ignorant, any more than because you are poor ? Only sit, like Mary, at the feet of Jesus ; and your seat will be more wellpleasing in God's eyes than all the thrones of all the kings upon earth. But is it only to the very poor, to those who are deemed poor by the world, that this declaration brings comfort ? Surely it should be no less cheering to those who are the richest, whether in the world's goods, or in knowledge and understanding. For rich as they may be in the eyes of the world, and in their own eyes, in God's eyes they are miser- ably poor, and only the poorer the richer they deem them- selves. If our riches be our own, it is poverty: if our knowledge be our own, it is ignorance. Neither can be true, unless it be God's already. But when we can say, All that I have, all that I am, is Thine, Lord ; take it, and make it still more Thine. It is Thine hy Creation : it is Thine as Thy gift to thy redeemed servant : sanctify it with Thy Spirit, that if may become wholly Thine ! that it 106 THE SUPERIORITY may he purged from all the pollutions with which my sinful nature has defiled it ! — then our riches, and our knowledge will become true and acceptable to God, the more acceptable, the more entirely they are His already. Moreover, as the prophet's words are meant to cheer those who are troubled by a false humility, so do they cast down our pride, which always lies at the bottom of such false humility. Depart from Me^ they say, ye who think to enrich Me hy your gifts. They were Mine already, Mine hefore you gave them to Me. Depart from Me, ye who attach any value to your services. Your esteem of them destroys their value. By thrusting yourself into them, you spoil them. They can only he acceptahle to Me, when they come as the offering of Love. For Love never counts its services, nor thinks there can be any value in them, except what is con- ferred on them by the acceptance of Him on whom they are bestowed. This was the vice which tainted and destroyed the value of the Pharisee's services. He thought there was a value in them. He though the had done something for God, that he had given something to God, and that he had a claim to a reward from God on account of what he had done ; thereby shewing that he had not been moved by the love of God, or the desire of God's glory, but by the desire of his own glory, and of the reward which he expected to receive. This again is God's controversy with His people, as set before us in the fiftieth Psalm. As in the text He declares that the silver and the gold are His, so in that Psalm He says that what He desires from His servants is not sacri- fices and burnt-oiFerings, not bullocks and he-goats : for all the heasts of the forest are Mine ; and so are the cattle on a thousand hills. I hiow all the hirds of the mountains ; and OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 107 the wild leasts of the field are Mine. The whole living creation is the Lord's, as well as that which is without life ; and if we give Him nothing but outward gifts, we only give Him what is His own already. What then are we to give to God? The only things which are especially our own, the only things in which we share the property with God, the only things which we can take away from God, our own hearts and souls. This is the injunction of the Psalmist, after the declaration that the whole living universe is the Lord's : Offer to God thanlcsgiv- ing, and pay tliy voivs to the Most Highest. An oftering of a willing heart He will not despise ; and this alone can give any value to our other offerings. Yet this itself, as we have seen, can only be acceptable in God's eyes, in propor- tion as it is His already, His not merely by the original title of Creation and Preservation, nor merely by that right of Government which He holds over the whole universe, but His still more intimately as having been bought by Him at the price of the Blood of His Son, and as having been purified from its natural corruptions by the indwelling of His Spirit. Then alone can our souls be wellpleasing in God's eyes, when that which He sees in us, is not ourselves, but Christ dwelling in us. We have been led to this thought by the first words of our text ; and it is the very thought to which we should have been led by the words immediately after. The silver is Mine ; and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this latter House shall he greater than of the former. I have already reminded you of the former part of this chapter, where it is said that the second Temple, which the Israelites were building after their return from their captivity, was as nothing in comparison with the glory 108 THE SUPERIORITY of the former. Yet here it is declared that the glory of the latter House shall be greater than that of the former. How are these two sayings to be reconciled ? When we look at the latter along with the words just before it, where it is said that the silver is the Lords, and the gold is the Lord''s, and when we remember that what saddened the Israelites at the thought of the first Temple was their want of silver and gold wherewith to deck out the second, some persons might be inclined to fancy that God purpost in some miraculous manner to enrich the Israelites with that silver and gold, which He had just declared to be His, so that the adornments of the second Temple should be still grander and more gorgeous than of the first. This however, we know from history, was not the case. Though the Jews, after their return from the Captivity, did in course of time attain to considerable power and wealth, Israel never became again what it had been in the days of Solomon. Nor did the Temple, notwithstanding all that was done by Herod to adorn it, ever reach the splendour of the former. It is a great mistake however, though one we are very apt to fall into in our reasonings about God, to fancy that His thoughts are like our thoughts, and that He must prize and admire what we prize and admire, beauty and grandeur and splendour. Under a notion of this sort men have been fond of making the Houses which they built for the Lord, as grand and mag- nificent as they could. They have thought too that it behoved thein to do so. And so it does. If we have anything good, if we have anything dear to us, if we have anything precious, it especially behoves us to oifer this to God. If we do not, if we give God the refuse of our possessions, and keep what is choice for ourselves, does OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 109 it not shew that we love ourselves more than God ? Thus, if a nation be endowed with skill in building- beautiful houses, it is right that the most beautiful should be those which are built for the honour of God, It is right that everything about God's House should betoken that it has not been built grudgingly, but in a spirit rejoicing to pour forth all that it has. It is right that God's House should not be such as to cramp and chill and deaden our feelings, but to exalt and lift them up. When God has built so beautiful a House for man, and has paved it with the flowers of the field, and has rooft it with the sky, surely there must be some strange tlianklessness in man, if he builds ceiled houses for himself, and thinks a barn or any other mean, shabby building will suffice for the worship of God. Surely there should be something about the House of God, which should shew, even to the outward eye, that it was meant to be a type of the New Jerusalem, of the City the walls of which are jasper, and which itself is pure gold. This our ancestors understood and felt, as we see at this day in all parts of England. This is one of the sights which cheer our eyes in traveling through England. Wherever we look around us, in every parish, in almost every town, we see the tower or spire of God's House rising above the houses of men. At least it was so in old times, and, I trust, will ere long be so again. For it has been a grievous feature in these latter times, that the good spirit of our ancestors in this respect had past away from their children. In these latter times we have been spendthrifts in all other things, but, — nay, rather, for that very reason, — niggardly toward God and His House ; so that one sometimes looks over vast forests of houses in modern 1 10 THE SUPERIORITY towns, and scarcely perceives a church-tower or spire rising out of them. This is a dismal proof how the living love of God has been swallowed up by the dead love of Mammon. At the same time, while we desire, like the Israelites, to shew forth our love of God by rejoicing to beautify His House, it also behoves us to remember that there is an opposite danger, the danger of supposing that, when we have adorned God's outward House, we have done all, or at least the main thing, that we are called upon to do, — the danger of supposing that this is what God chiefly prizes and cares for, that this is the way in which we are to shew forth His glory. Here the text may help us to a truer judgement. The glory of the second Temple, it assures us, was to be greater than that of the former. But this was not to arise from any thing in the building itself. Out- wardly, as I just said, the second Temple was less splendid than the first. Moreover it wanted those things which were the chief glory of the first. It wanted the Ark of the Lord, and the Mercy-seat. It wanted the Shechinah, whereby God manifested His presence in the Holy of Holies. It wanted the sacred fire on the altar, which was first kindled from heaven. How then could its glory be greater I The answer to this question is to be found in the verse just before the text, where it is declared that the Lord of Hosts will Jill His House with glory. The manner in which this was to be done is also set forth in the words which promise that the Desire of all nations shall come. The Desire of all nations shall come ; and I will fill this House with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory which is to fill the Lord's House, is here represented as OF THE LATTER HOUSE. Ill following upon the coming of the Desire of all nations. In truth the very name here given to Him who was to come, ilie Desire of all nations, is in itself a proof that the Advent, which had been the object of such earnest longing for so many generations, and over the whole earth, must needs be glorious. When we look with desire for the coming of anything, it must be something good, or at least that we believe to be good. We wait with desire for the coming of the morning, for the coming of spring with its promise, and of summer with its harvests, and of autumn with its fruits. But few persons in sound mind look with desire for the coming of night or of winter. Thus the things which we desire have each its own glory. Morning has its glory ; and spring has its glory ; and summer has its glory, as we have just now seen, when all the fields were covered with golden corn ; and autumn also has a glory of its own. In proportion too as a thing is the object of general and long-continued desire, in the same propor- tion will its goodness and its glory be greater. Therefore, when God promist that He who was the Desire of all nations should come to His House, He as much as promist that He would fill His House with glory. That glory too must needs be greater than the glory of the former House, which was set up to bear witness of the promise of the Saviour by its oracles and its priesthood and its sacri- fices, even as the glory of fulfilment is greater than the glory of promise. At least in God's works it is so. In man*'s works it may often be otherwise : for in man's works something is evermore coming across to hinder or mar the fulfilment of the jiromise, some outward obstacle it may be, or it may be some inward weakness. But in God's works, in proportion as they are wholly and purely 112 THE SUPERIORITY His, there can be no outward hindrance to mar them, no inward weakness. When He who was the Desire of all nations came, although His coming had shone far off for ages before, and among all nations, yet the glory which surrounded Him surpast all that had gone before Him. Wherefore this was the first word that burst from the lips of the heavenly host, when He who was the Desire of all nations vouchsafed to enshrine His glory in the form of a lowly Babe. Their first word was Glory to God, to Him who was thus manifesting His glory upon earth, yea, who was filling the earth with His glory. Thus then did it come to pass that the glory of the second Temple was greater than that of the first. Not that it was vaster and loftier : not that its architecture was grander or more beautiful : not that it was more richly adorned with gold and costly materials- In all these respects it was inferior to the first Temple. So was it inferior, in that it had not the same visible signs and foreshadowings of the Divine Presence. But He who was the Desire of all nations came to it ; and therefore its glory was greater. He came to it, and filled it with His glory. He offered up the one living, eternal, allworthy Sacrifice, of which all former sacrifices had merely been types. He took away the veil, which till then had lain darkly over the hearts and minds of mankind, even of Grod's chosen people. He rent it asunder, and opened an access for all into the Holy of Holies. This was the surpassing glory of the second Temple, — that the Son of God was brought to it as a Child, and presented to His Heavenly Father, — that He came to it as a Boy, and talkt with the doctors, — and that as a Man He taught in it, and wrought miracles, and OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 113 uttered the pure word of life. Now we saw in the former sermon on the contrast between the two Temples, that there are many similar cases, in which, under the operation of sin, and of time in this sin-worn world, what at first was bright and hopeful and promising-, Avanes away, so that it becomes as nothing in comparison with its first glory : and in like manner do we find that in all these cases, through the working of Christ, through the coming of the Desire of all nations, what had thus waned and decayed may be restored and renewed, until the glory of its latter state is greater than that of the former. For instance, we saw that the condition of man after the Fall was as nothing in comparison with his first glory. Even at best it was as nothing in comparison therewith. Notwithstanding all that the highest reach of his mind, and the utmost strength of his will could eifect, these could only deck him out with gold and pre- cious stones, with earthly and perishable things, the crea- tures of vanity and the prey of decay. But they could not lift him above earthly things, could not endow him with strength to overcome temptation, could not raise him to a living communion with God, such as he had enjoyed in Paradise, and had lost by the Fall. That however which man could not do for himself, He who was the Desire of all nations came to do for him. He came to lift man above earthly things, to give him the victory over temptation, and over sin, and over death, and to raise him to a constant inward communion with God, to a communion, not with God merely as walking about and manifesting Himself in the outward world, but as dwelling in him by His Spirit. Thus, as the Apostle explains to the Hebrews, he who was made a Httle VOT,. II. I 114 THE SUPERIORITY lower than the angels, was crowned with glory and worship, and raised above the angels. Man in Christ, who vouchsafed to take his nature, was raised above the angels ; and this, Jesus Himself tells us, was the end and purpose of His coming, that we also should be as He is, and that He might give us the glory which His Father had given to Him. Thus in Christ human nature, regenerated by the power of His Spirit, is raised to a far higher state of glory than that from which man fell. Of his own self, by his own powers, man would never have risen to such a state. The best he could do for him- self left him far below his original innocence. The know- ledge of good and evil, being attained in defiance of God's commands, by giving ear to the Tempter that lured him into evil, became infinitely more a knowledge of evil than of good. Nay, so far was man from regaining his lost ground, that he went on stumbling, slipping, falling, plunging, lower and lower, deeper and deeper, from one vice into a worse, from one crime into a more shameful one, never quitting his hold on the first, but grasping the new acquisition with a still more passionate eagerness. Hence it was the universal belief in ancient times that the world went on getting worse and worse. All nations had a tra- dition of some sort of a golden age at the beginning of things. But the golden age was followed by a silver, and that by a brazen, and that by an iron ; and nothing like the golden one ever returned. It was only through the power of Christianity that the world could be regenerated, that mankind could be made better, could be raised up- ward : and it is only through the influence of Christianity that men have been led to hope that the world will im- prove. This is the only leaven which can keep it from OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 115 decaying, which can purify and sanctify it. Thus it is from Christianity that philosophers in later times have borrowed the notion, which some of them have turned against Christianity, and many have applied apart from it, that the world even of itself has a tendency to go on improving. Through the power of Christianity, notwithstanding man's slackness and carelessness and heartlessness, — not- withstanding the power of temptation, and the wiles of sin, and the snares of Satan, — notwithstanding all the hindrances which have thus been opposed to the power of Christianity, — the world is become an infinitely better place than it was. The Christian part of the world in these days is Infinitely better than the Heathen ; worse, it may be, shamefully worse, in comparison with what it ought to have been, but still infinitely better. It is infinitely better than it was before the coming of Christ : and through Christ mankind may be raised to a far greater highth of glory than that \^ hich he enjoyed before the Fall. So too is it with each individual man. For each indi- vidual man, so far as he continues in a state of nature, under the dominion of his natural impulses, with no better power to guide him than his own reason and his own will, may well look back Avith shame and sorrow on his early years, and may think with bitter remorse how he has become as nothing in comj^arison with the glory which seemed to hover about his childhood. But they who have been truly and efi^ectually regenerated by the Spirit of Christ, know how here again the glory of the latter House is greater than that of the former. Hence, while those whose hearts are given up to this world, when they become I 2 116 THE SUPERIORITY sentimental, as it is called, will talk in raptures about the innocence of childhood, — they whose hearts have been weaned from the world to Christ, know that the innocence of childhood is nothing more than a bud with a worm gnawing at its heart, and which the first blast of tempta- tion is sure to nip. They know that there is no strength in childhood to resist temptation. But they further know that in manhood also there is no strength to resist tempta- tion ; and therefore they will not exalt manhood above childhood. The only power to resist temptation, the only power to keep the heart pure, the only power to enrich the soul with graces, comes from the Spirit of Christ ; and therefore it is only through the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ that the soul can be filled with glory. Through Him it is filled with glory, in proportion as He dwells in it, and reigns in it, and manifests Himself in it. Yea, it is filled with a true glory, with a glory far surpassing the seeming glory of childhood. Such is the glory which we see in St Paul's life after his conversion. Before his conversion he thought himself righteous ; he was puft up ; he was filled with vainglory : but in his after life, though his deeds were truly glorious, he counted them as nothing : he felt that there was nothing good in himself, and that, whatever good might be in him, could only be in him through Christ dwelling in him. Therefore he says that, if he must needs glory, he will glory of the things which concern his infirmities. For it was in his infirmities that Christ had manifested Himself the most clearly. Thus it is ever. As it is through the infirmities of the natural man that the devil manifests him- self, by leading him to indulge and pamper them, so does Christ manifest Himself through the infirmities of the OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 117 spiritual man, by enabling him to overcome them. Hence, at the same time that he feels his own weakness, he also becomes more distinctly conscious of the strength whereby he is borne up against that weakness. Under the older dispensation it was otherwise. The glory of David's latter days was not so great as that of the earlier. Nor was the glory of Solomon's. They fell, and did not rise again, at least not to a highth like that where they had stood before : for the Comforter was not yet given to lift men out of their sins. But how wonderfully do we find St Peter, and the other Apostles, rising out of their fall through the power of the Spirit ! Through the power of the Spirit they mount from grace to grace, from glory to glory. Thus in them, — and no other- wise in all Christ's chosen saints from their days to these, — we see the fulfilment of the declaration that the glory of the latter House shall be greater than that of the former. Hence, in the pictures of the Apostles and other Saints in old times, their heads used to be surrounded with a glory, even as the head of Christ Himself was, in token that the glory of the Saints was not their own, but the glory of Christ dwelling in them. This glory was made perfect through their weakness ; because the consciousness of every weakness led them to seek more earnestly for strength from Him, from whom they were sure to receive it. Thus they went on from grace to grace. The more the outward man decayed, with his natural powers and affections, and everything in which Nature trusts and prides herself, the more the inward man increast. Every conscious weakness became the seat of a new power ; until at length, as the outward man crumbled away, the spirit, instead of fainting under the pangs of the 118 THE SUPERIORITY dissolution, saw the glories of the new heaven and the new earth bursting forth from the wreck of the old. When we look at a person sinking under the weight of years, under the weight of sickness and suffering, with all his faculties of body and raind crippled and withering away, we can hardly refrain from thinking of the woful con- trast between such a state and the bloom and vigour of youth ; and we say to ourselves that the end of life is as nothing in comparison with its early glory. Yet even of such a person it may be thoroughly true, that the glory of his present state is greater than that of the former. Not through anything outward. The strength of the body has dwindled, its swiftness is palsied, its bloom has faded. Not through any gifts that this world can bestow. Though all the jewels upon earth were hung around a deathbed, they would not bribe death, or soothe pain, or buy back a single hour of youth, or brace a single nerve. Nor even through any powers of the mind. Eloquence is become mute ; Reason has dropt its wing ; Memory has shrunk up ; Wit is no longer able to sparkle. Yet still there is one power, and one only, that can render a deathbed the most glorious moment of life, — Faith, Faith in Him who is the Desire of all nations, the true, the inmost Desire of every human soul, Faith quickened and strengthened by His coming and manifesting Himself in His glory. Here let me remind you, my brethren, of the special privilege which is offered to you this day. You are called upon to lend your aid in order that the children of this neigli- boui'hood may be brought up in the knowledge of Him who was the Desire of all nations, and who fills every house and every soul where He dwells with glory. The perishable, fleeting glory of childhood may still be hovering about OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 119 these children ; but that glory soon passes away ; and, un- less the glory of Christ takes possession of their souls, they will become a prey to the worm that dies not, and to the fire that is not quenclit. For such a purpose you should rejoice to give to God of that silver and gold, which are His, which He gave to you, and which will still be His, even should you withhold them from Him, but which He will vouchsafe to accept at your hands, and which He will sanctify and bless, if you give them to Him ; so that perchance they niay become the means whereby the glor}' of childhood in some of these little ones shall be succeeded, not by gloom and dreariness and pollution, but by a still greater glory, the glory shed by the Desire of all nations on every soul to which He comes. God's faithful servants in all ages have seen and felt in their hearts and souls and minds that the glory even of this earthly world, since it has been renewed, and a fresh life has been breathed into it by the Spirit of Christ, has been infinitely greater than all the glories of the old world. It is far greater even now, as we see it disfigured and be- dimmed by the mixture of still struggling sin. But that partial completion which we see now, is as nothing compared with that which is to be. Though Mount Zion even now, though the Church of Christ even now, is the joy and glory of the whole earth, it is as nothing compared Avith the joy and glory of the New Jerusalem, when all the shreds of the veil, which is still spread out before the clearestsighted eyes, shall have been swept away, and when they who have been washt with the Blood of Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, shall see God face to face, and dwell for ever amid the innumerable company of Saints before the throne of the Eternal Godhead. 1^0 THE SUPERIORITY Then too will the last words of the text receive their per- fect consummation: In that place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts. Peace is the end of all God"'s works. The week in which the world was raised out of its formless void, closed in the heavenly Sabbath. Peace was to be the effect of the goodwill which the Saviour brought down from heaven. Peace is the work of the Saviour in every soul to which He comes. He alone can give true peace; and He does give it always. God will shake the nations ; but it is in order that He may give peace. Christ will shake the heart and soul ; He will shake them out of their torpour and sloth ; He will shake the conscience out of its deathsleep ; but it is to the end that He may give us peace, such peace as is nowhere else to be found. Peace is well known to be the desire of all nations ; but their carnal passions drag them into war ; and He alone, whom the prophet calls the Desire of all nations, can give us this precious blessing. In like manner at the end of the world, when the heavens and the earth shall be shaken, and the stars shall drop from their spheres, and all the generations of men shall be shaken even out of their thousand-yeared sleep, then also will He, who is the Desire of all nations, come to judge the world in right- eousness ; and He will fill the heavens and the earth with His glory, with the glory of His Power, and the glory of His Holiness, and the glory of His Justice, and the glory of His Mercy. Yea, all the redeemed shall be filled with His glory, even as the clouds are filled with the glory of the setting sun ; and they shall mount up to heaven in the glory of the sacrifice which He offered up for them. Then also will He give peace, pure and lasting peace, which no evil desires shall thenceforward disturb, no sin shall OF THE LATTER HOUSE. 121 trouble, no struggllngs and fightings shall shake. For war and strife shall have past away ; and sin shall be cast into hell ; and eternal peace shall flow in endless streams from the face of a reconciled God, over all whom Christ shall lead into the Kingdom won for them by His all-prevailing Intercession. SERMON VII. THE CONTAGION OF EVIL. Haggai II. 11 — 14. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean ? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai and said : So is this people, and so is this nation before Me, saith the Lord ; and so is every work of their hands ; and that which they olfer there is unclean. In our last sermon we were led to consider what is the only Source of all glory and blessing. We have seen that, according to the common course of Nature, as it manifests itself, whether in individuals or in nations and the world at large, man is prone to degenerate and become worse, to depart further and further from that shadow of innocence which still floats around his childhood, to lose more and more of the very semblance of purity, to cramp and warj) his mind, to narrow and harden his heart, and thus to wane and decay, until he becomes as nothing in compari- son M'ith his first glory. At the same time we saw that there is one way, and only one, in which this proneness to degenerate may be subdued, — that there is one way, and only one, in which man may be enabled to wax, instead of waning, nay, to wax even when he is waning, so that the glory of bis latter state shall be greater than that of 124 THE CONTAGION the former. We saw how it is only by the power of Christ, by the coming of Him whom the prophet calls the Desire of all nations, that man's natural proneness to dege- nerate can be overcome, — how it is solely through the coming of Christ that the world has been rescued from the moral plague which was about to destroy it, — and how, whenever He comes to any individual soul, He in like manner redeems it from the clutches of sin, and enables it, unless His work be thwarted and baffled, to mount from grace to grace, and from glory to glory. Christ, through the working of His Spirit, can do this ; and none else can. It is very needful that we should be thoroughly convinced of both these truths, of the latter no less than of the former. We need to be convinced of the former truth, of Chrisfs power to purify and lift up our hearts, in order that we may go in His name to the Father boldly and confidently, whatever our infirmities, whatever our pollutions may be, — that we may not be withheld from seeking His aid by fear or doubt or mis- trust, — but may beseech Him earnestly and trustfully, though with all humility and patience, to purge our hearts from their defilements, and to heal their corruptions, and to deliver them from their bondage, and to raise them up to the heavenly places, where He Himself is sitting at the right hand of God. Nor do we less need to be convinced of the other truth, that no power, except the Spirit of Christ, can work this great work in us, or any part of it ; because there is no commoner errour, none to which men listen more readily, or which is more hurtful to the better portion of mankind, — to those who, being conscious of the evil within them, desire to struggle against it, — than the deceitful notion that there are other powers, beside that of OF EVIL. 125 Christ, whereby this change may be wrought in us. Now a complete refutation of this errour is contained in the passage I have just read to you, which in the book of the prophet stands immediately after the cheering declaration that the glory of the latter House shall surpass that of the former ; and which therefore, with God's help, we ^^ill pro- ceed to consider, looking first at the great necessity that we should have this truth set strongly before us , in con- sequence of the universal, almost unconquerable proneness of our natural heart to believe the contrary. For, slow as we are to believe that Christ can and will purify our hearts and souls, and lift them up to heaven, — a slowness arising from our practical unbelief, which is too often found where there is a verbal confession, of His divine, ever-present power, and confirmed by our utter inability to comprehend or believe in His divine, all-em- bracing love, — slow as we are to believe this, we are ever too ready to believe that we can work a like change in our- selves. We chng to this notion, and will not let it go ; and, though it be torn time after time from our grasp, we still try to lay hold on it again. Thus is self our never- ceasing, never-flagging enemy, that follows us about, and dogs all our steps, and crosses us whithersoever we turn. It is the love of self, that unfits us for loving God. It is self-seeking, that hinders us from seeking God. It is the trust in self, that will not let us trust in God, It is the belief in self, that makes it impossible for us to believe in God. We turn the whole world, the world of thought as well as the outward world, into a huge mirror ; and instead of seeing God, and His ways, and His thoughts, and His purposes therein, we merely see ourselves. Our heart sees nothing to love, except self. Our mind sees nothing to 126 THE CONTAGION know, except self. Our soul sees nothing to believe in, except self. Hence we continue without love, — for selflove poisons all other love, — without knowledge, inasmuch as we view all things out of their right relation and propor- tion, — without faith, which cannot exist, unless it has something out of ourselves to rest on. As we cannot get quit of the notion, that our business in life is to work for ourselves, to pursue our own interest, our own pleasure, our own comfort, our own happiness, — so that, even when the highest truths are set before us, this falsehood intrudes and perverts them, and makes us fancy that the only motives for our being religious and godly are the re- wards promist to godliness ; in like manner we are ever hampered and fettered by the notion that we are our own lords and masters, and that we have the power of shaping and moulding our thoughts and feelings, and of fixing them on whatever objects we please. We think we can do this in our own way, through our own strength, by following our own devices. From the beginning of the world until now, every child of man has been blinded by this delusive errour. Such was the case with our first parents, when they deemed they could make themselves like God by an act of their own, and that too an act of disobedience and defiance to Him. Although the slightest reflexion should have taught them that He who is All- wise can never be deceived or outwitted, and that He who is All-powerful can never be foiled or resisted, they had more confidence in their own understanding than in God's word ; and they felt no doubt that, when they increast in knowledge, they should be able to accomplish whatever they wanted. In spite too of the fatal lesson which they taught us, a like OF EVIL. 127 vain trust in knowledge is almost universal at this clay. They who call themselves philosophers, are constantly as- serting that, if men were more educated, they would he- come honester and better ; notwithstanding the experience of all ages attesting that bad feelings, bad practices, bad habits, are quite as common among the learned as among the ignorant. Other forms of the same mistaken belief, that our understanding has the power of regulating and determining our whole character and conduct, are to be found in all classes. Or else we imagine that we shall improve our hearts and our lives by the ex- ertion of our own will, some by penances and mortifi- cations, others by grand, heroic deeds. Some try to do this, and fail time after time. Others put off the day of trial, cheating themselves with the dream that they shall try hereafter. Yet, often as we must needs witness in ourselves and in others how powerless the understanding is to controll the will, and to keep the feelings and appetites in subjection, — often too as we must have found the resolutions of others, and our own, give way, — often as, if we have watcht our hearts, we must have seen how, according to the sad picture of human nature given by St Paul, that winch we would ice do not, and that which ice hate we do, — still we persist in trusting to ourselves, to our own understanding and will, for the amendment of our hearts and lives. There are certain parts of the earth, which, as many of you will have heard, are laid waste every now and then by earthquakes, or by the eruptions of volcanoes. Now in several of the places which are exposed to these terrible ravages, man has taken up his abode ; and cities have been built there, which the earthquake or the volcano after a time has destroyed. 128 THE CONTAGION Yet the inhabitants, although numbers may have perisht, have almost always built up their city again on the selfsame spot ; and when it has been destroyed a second time, a third time they have built it up; and when it has been destroyed a third time, a fourth time they have built it up ; so that people living far off have marveled and cried out at their madness and infatuation. Yet doubtless they who thus marveled and cried out, were doing the selfsame thing, and had been doing it all their lives. For this is the way of the whole world, to build on that which has failed us, on sand, yea, even on quicksands, and to perse- vere in building thereon, however often it may have failed us. In truth we do this in a twofold manner, both out- wardly and inwardly. We build on the world, on its pro- mises, on its lures ; though the experience of all mankind bears witness that its promises are lies, audits lures cheats: and we build on our own resolutions, on our own wisdom and judgement, on the strength of our own will, though day tells to day, and night to night, that our wisdom is blind- ness and folly, and that our strength is miserable weakness. Yes, my brethren, assuredly there is no one amongst you, who has not said to himself time after time, as often as your conscience has been awakened to catch a glimpse of the evil of your lives, / loill he letter ; I will do hetter ; I will make myself hetter. It may be that some of you are saying so to yourselves at this moment : for a church is the place where such resolutions are formed the oftenest, inas- much as it is the place where people are ever admouisht of their sins. Yet even in church these resolutions are mostly formed in vain ; because even in church, although we are perpetually told of our utter weakness, we will not believe it ; we forget it ; and so we neglect to apply to Him, who OF EVIL. 129 alone can strengthen our resolutions, and enable us to carry them into effect. In the former sermons on these pro- phecies we have seen how the prophet warned the Israelites of their weakness, and told them where they might find strength. We saw too how they did seek for strength there, and obtained it, and received the promise that the glory of the Temple which they were building, should be greater even than that which in the days of their forefathers had been the wonder of the world. Yet two months had but just past away, when he was again sent to them with the message in the text. For doubtless they had again strayed from the truth, in spite of these strong inducements to abide in it. Self had again thrust in between their souls and God. They must have been beginning to rely on themselves, on their own power of rendering themselves acceptable in the sight of God, So that the warning in the text is not addrest solely to those whose hearts have always been estranged from God, but also to those who have felt the power of God, and whose hearts have been lifted up by Him, and who have been enabled to work for a time in His strength. For even the latter are very apt to fall back into the notion that they have a spring of strength in themselves. That warning is taken, as you will easily perceive, from the ordinances of the Levitical Law ; and the uncleanness and holiness spoken of are those pronounced to be such by that Law. Therefore in the first instance they were outward, relating to the rites and ceremonies under the Law. But in this as in very many other cases the ordinances of the ceremonial Law, which at first may seem to be merely positive and arbitrary, were designed to be types and witnesses of moral and spiritual truths. VOL. ir. K 130 THE CONTAGION Indeed the prophet himself in the latter part of the text declares this. As everything toucht by a person, who was unclean from having toucht a dead body, became unclean, even so, he says, every work of the Israelites and all their offerings were unclean. He does not expressly state why ; but he plainly implies that it must have been by reason of their personal uncleanness. Now thus far we can readily go along with the text. You all know that, if a man's hand is covered with dirt, it will defile everything it touches, even that which before may have been clean. In like manner a soul that is covered with any sort of filth or pollution, must defile that which it touches. Or, to take another natural parable setting forth the same truth, as a jaundiced eye sees the reflexion of its own jaundice in the things around it, so does a jaundiced heart. Having the taste of bitterness in itself, it tastes bitterness even in what would otherwise be sweet, and will turn the most harmless, or, it may be, the friendliest conduct into gall. Thus again the worldlyminded will find occasions for indulging their own worldly spirit in all things. The lustful will look in all things for that which will pamper their lust. The covetous will only perceive what will minister to their covetousness. It is quite marvellous with what perverse ingenuity the vain will turn all things into fuel for feeding their vanity. If a soul is full of impurity, though you pour in clean water, it immediately becomes foul. Even when they come to church, the worldlyminded continue worldly- minded, and are often paddling about among worldly thoughts, even while they are sitting in the house of God. The lustful will bring in their lustful thoughts along with them, the vain their vain thoughts, the covetous their OF EVIL. 131 covetousness. Henoe their devotions, if they ofter up any, — the prayers they repeat, if they do repeat any, — are marred through the corruption of their souls; just as a man's hreath and every exhalation from his body is tainted when he has an infectious fever. Such was the case with Ananias, so that, even when he had sold his possession, and was bringing the money to lay at the feet of the disciples, he marred his whole deed through the covetousness which withheld a part of the money, and tempted him to lie to God. So again, when Simon was desiring the best of all gifts, he was declared by Peter to be in the gall of bitterness and the hond of iniquity. These are only examples of sins which almost all are more or less guilty of. Assuredly too you must all have felt, — many of you must have felt over and over again, — that somehow, through some hindrance, the nature of which you cannot understand, but which you are still more unable to conquer, try as you may, you are incapable of giving up your minds for a single moment entirely to pure and holy thoughts, or your heart to earnest, heavenly longings, — that you cannot perform a single deed in the pure love of God and the spirit of self-sacrifice. You may have attempted to do this ; but the oftener and the more diligently and steadily you have made the attempt, the more deeply must you have become conscious of your inability ; because there is a taint of sin in your hearts, which runs through all your thoughts and feelings, through all your words and deeds. Thus we have advanced a step further toward under- standing our text. The first truth which we drew from it, and which is so plain that all must needs recognise it, is, that they whose souls are defiled by some great moral K 2 132 THE CONTAGION impurity, must carry that impurity along with them into everything they may take in hand. As under the Leviti- cal Law the body of a man became unclean by touching a dead body, and made everything it toucht unclean, so does the soul become unclean by touching the dead and deadly carcass of sin. For Sin, the parent of Death in the out- ward world, is itself Death, spiritual Death : and the un- clean ness from this contact also spreads on everything around. Indeed, as we see in the outward world that the higher any creature stands in the scale of life, the more cor- rupt and pestiferous it is in death, even so, as the life of the soul far transcends all animal life, is its death fouler and more pestilential than that of anything outward, ap- proaching in some measure to the terrible plague of that first spiritual sin, which bred the undying worm and the unquenchable fire of hell. The second truth, to which we were led in reflecting upon the former, is, that we are utterly unable to bring forth anything, whether in thought or deed, that shall be perfect in the sight of God, — as unable as we are to build up a sky with our hands, and to lauch a fleet of stars across it. Hereby we betray a secret corruption of our nature, the taint of which spreads through our whole lives. We betray that we have toucht the dead body of Sin. Think what an enormous difference there is, in consequence of this fatal touch, between man and the other parts of the creation. When a tree is healthy, what a number of leaves does it bring forth, each one perfect in its kind ! un- less there be some blight, or some nipping blasts, something not in itself, but from without, to injure them. Now man is made to be lord over the trees ; and the lord should of right be better than that which he rules. Yet when will OF EVIL. 13'6 man bring forth good thoughts and good words and good deeds as abundantly as the tree brings forth its leaves 'i Whereas, if man's nature were sound and healthy, surely the lord of the earth, he who was made in the image of God,, and was endowed with the mighty, teeming powers of thought and speech and desire and affection and action, ought not to be thus surpast by creatures without thought or feeling. Or think again of the beautiful flowers, each perfect in its kind, which a garden brings forth in spring and summer ; and then tell me, where are your flowers, which God appointed you to bring forth 1 Where is the beauty of their form and colour ? where is their sweetness ? where are the living seeds in them ? Nay, what flowers, how many, my brethren, have you brought forth during this last summer ? Think well, have you done anything to which you can give so fair a name ? If not, can it be right that you alone in the universe should utterly fail in fulfilling God's purpose ? Again, what I'ich ears of corn has this autumn ripened ! how full have they been ! how heavy the grain ! Have our deeds during the last autumn been like those ears of corn ? Alas, no ! none of us can say this of himself. Surely then we must all be unclean ; for everything we do has a rotting taint of uncleanness. Hence we may easily arrive at the truth declared in the first part of the text. The words are indeed very sad and disheartening : Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Ask the priests concerning the Laio, saying. If one hear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or witie, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy ^ And the priests answered and said. No. Of course this, like the rest of the text, is meant by the prophet to be applied to moral and sjnritual things. Now we have seen 134 THE CONTAGION that, when a man is unclean, he makes everything he touches unclean. But, alas ! the converse does not hold. Though he were clean, he would not make what he touches clean. This seems very hard, and may rightly make us deeply ashamed of a nature so productive of evil, so barren of good. We have the power of defiling ; but we have not the power of ])urifying. If we consider however, we shall find that this truth also is set forth by types in the outward world, as well as in the Mosaic Law. Thus the outward world manifests that it is the work of the same God, who is also the Author and Ruler of the moral world, and by whom the Law of Moses was ordained. For while the hand covered with dirt, as we were led to remark, defiles what it touches, the clean hand will not make what it touches clean. On the contrary, if it touches what is dirty, it is defiled thereby. In like manner diseases are infectious and conta- gious, but not health. A man who has the plague, or the small- pox, may spread it through a neighbourhood: but, though a man were in perfect health all his life, nobody would catch his health from him. For health, whether of the body or of the soul, must spring from within. Thus again man has the power of inflicting death suddenly, by a blow ; but he has no power of putting life into that which is dead, or indeed of producing life, except by sowing the seeds of it, according to the processes which God has ordained for its production. Nor can we produce moral life, unwilling as we may be to acknowledge this our weak- ness even to ourselves, and although we have a dismal power of producing moral death. In every part of the land it may be seen, how catching vices are : the plague itself is scarcely more so. You, young women, how easily do you become vain ! Although OF EVIL. 135 the renouncing of the pomps and vanities of this world was made a condition of your Baptism, — although you have so lately renewed your baptismal vow at your Confirmation, — although you have been taught again and again, by those who took the kindest interest in your welfare, what mis- chiefs are wont to spring from the love of dress, — how frivolous it makes you at best, how it weans your heart from all godliness, — although many of you must often have felt what a clinging curse your smart clothes are, even here, in the house of God, drawing away your minds from your devotions, and filling them with vainglory and frippery and tinsel, — although you have been warned how many women have forfeited their honour, their peace, their earthly and eternal happiness, for the sake of indulging the miserable love of dress, — still how easily does one young woman after another become tainted with this de- ceitfid love ! how hardly is any young woman preserved from it, or cured of it ! You, young men, how easily do you become idle ! how readily do you catch habits of swear- ing, of foulspeaking, of drinking, notwithstanding all the pains that may have been taken to guard you against them, notwithstanding all the admonitions you have received during your boyhood, notwithstanding the many sad ex- amples of the mischief of such sins, which stand like scare- crows to warn you off from them, — notwithstanding the indubitable certainty that they breed poverty, and pain, and sickness, and misery, and a host of fresh sins. For this is the dismal truth : sin will produce sins, rapidly and abundantly, even as the foulest vermin breed the most rapidly and numerously. Yes ! there can be no question : if a man who is unclean comes into a neighbour- hood, he will make many unclean : but a man bearing that 136 THE CONTAGION which is holy may dwell there for years without making any holy. I might go on speaking in this way of the vices to which each age and class are prone, and of the readiness with which one person after another falls into them. Indeed this acknowledged fact of itself, — that there are habitual vices to which each age and class are prone, — is a proof h5w catching uncleanuess is : whereas nobody ever heard of any virtues to which any age or class are prone ; for cleanness is not catching. I might remind parents how easily they find their children copy one naughty trick after another, how hard it is to break them of a bad habit, or to keep them clear of such, T might bid you all recollect what you have witnest in your own hearts, and in the world around you, how readily people grow to indulge in falsehood, in dishonest practices, in intemperance, in licentiousness, notwithstanding shame and misery, and the stings of con- science, and warnings without number from man and from God. On the other hand I might remind you how difficult and next to impossible it is, to make any man speak the truth constantly with openness of heart, and keep the straight line of uprightness, and deny his appetites, and controll them. But the whole history of the world, from the beginning down to the birth of Christ, conspires in teaching this one sad lesson, that the clean cannot purify, but the unclean are sure to defile. They who invented new vices, new means of pampering men's appetites, new modes of luxury and self-indulgence, found hosts of followers. The idols that were to be worshipt by licentious or bloody rites, found hosts of devotees. But when Wisdom lifted up her voice in the streets, none would listen to her. They who inculcated purity and integrity, preacht to the OF EVIL. 137 winds. Lawgivers tried to make men clean by their laws, but in vain ; philosophers, by their doctrines, but in vain ; poets, by their pictures of noble heroes, but in vain. The more virtuous men, whom God raised up among the Heathens, instead of winning others by their examples, merely brought out the darkness of everything around them. A supprest cry might be heard here and there, that we were clean ! uiJio tvill make us clean ? But the voices which rose from the multitude, and charmed them, were, Come ye^ and sin ! Come and revel in this new sin : taste and see how pleasant it is : look hoio fine and glorious it is. Even the lawgivers themselves in their lives bore witness to the powerlessness of their own laws, the philosophers to that of their own teaching, the poets to that of their grand imaginations. That which was better and purer in them, their nobler conceptions and fancies, had no power to purify their will. Nor is the lesson set before us by the history of the Jews different. How loth were they to quit the fleshpots of Egypt ! how readily did they forsake the true God to follow Baal ! Such was the state of the world, even viewed with the short and dimsighted eyes of man, who sees only what manifests itself outwardly, and stumbles at no sin, unless it be large, and cross his path. What then must it have been in the eyes of Him who beholds all the secrets of the heart, and to whom every impurity is an abomination ? As God abhors all manner of impurity. He willed to purge it away from the earth. How ? By letting loose the waters of a second Flood to sweep away every living creature ? Not so. He willed to speak to the world, Be thou clean. He sent His Son to speak that word to the world, that word which God alone can speak effectively, 138 THE CONTAGION either to the world at large, or to any individual soul. Thus, by speaking this word, Be thou clean, by bidding the unclean spirit depart out of that race, whom no chains or fetters had been able to bind, did the Son of God give a sure witness of His divine power and glory. He came and sj^ake that word for the first time upon earth with power to compell the unclean spirits to obey Him ; and from that time forward it has continually been spoken with power for generation after generation. But the power, when it has gone along with the word, has not been that of the human speaker. Still, as of yore, man cannot purify his brother, any more than he can redeem his brother. Indeed the two acts are so closely linkt together, that they cannot be separated. They must needs spring from the same source. They can only be wrought by the same divine power of the Son and the Sjjirit of God. It is by the Body and Blood of Christ that our souls must be purified and washt from their sins. By the oflfering up of that holy Body and Blood on the cross a change was wrought in the whole order of the world. The Prince of this world was judged. He had been over- come ; and from that time forward he no longer exercised the same absolute sway over the earth. Good was no longer so miserably weaker than evil, that, when it came into contact with evil, the clean became unclean. In St Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians, we see that the law spoken of by the prophet Haggai had been reverst : for he tells them (vii. 14) that the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife, and that the unbelieving xoife is sanctified by the believing husband. Such is the power of Faith, so complete the victory of Faith, that, where Faith is, good prevails over evil. This too was the power OF EVIL. 139 with which the Apostles were sent out to subdue the work], and to gather it into the Church of their Lord. They went forth in the power of Faith ; and through that power, the Spirit of God working with them, they wrought a work, the hke of which had never been seen upon earth. They burst the chains of sin. They cast down its strongholds. They overcame evil by good, pride by meekness, hardness by gentleness, cruelty by patience, lust by purity, hatred by love. This victory was gained once for all by Christ Himself. Through faith in Him the Apostles gained it in battle after battle, and thus gathered the nations into His Kingdom : and whosoever from that time forward has gone out in the same strength, and fought with the same weapons, has always been victorious in the end. The truths we have been considering are among those of which it is the most important that we should all be thoroughly convinced ; and they are fruitful of practical con- sequences with regard to the whole regulation of our lives. For when we are thoroughly convinced that no man has the power to purify either his own soul, or his brother's, then, unless we are content to abide in our impurity, we shall desire to go to Him who has the full power of puri- fying both ; and we shall approach Him with that humility which beseems persons aware of their utter weakness, and with the earnestness of those who know that this is their only hope of safety. Whenever we are smitten with the consciousness of any impurity, if a wish arises in us to get rid of it, we shall not waste our efforts in attempting to get rid of it by any arts of our own, but shall acknowledge that, as God is the only Purifier, so purification can only be obtained in the manner appointed by Him, and through His blessing on whatever means we ourselves may employ. 140 THE CONTAGION Nor shall we cherish any vain hopes of purifying our neighbours by any skill of our own. We shall feel that, since no man can be purified, except by the Spirit of God, it behoves us to pray earnestly and unceasingly for the help of that Spirit. We shall feel that, while the natural man, like some of the giants in heathen fables, has a Imndred arms for the various ministries of this world, and by the help of which he is to subdue the earth, and to make all its creatures serve him, these arms are of no avail to bring down heaven to us, or to lift us up to heaven. But God has given us another arm for this purpose, even the mighty arm of Prayer, whereby we may do both, whereby we may bring down the Spirit of God to dwell in our hearts, and work along with us, while our own spirits mount in holy aspirations higher and higher into the presence of God. Another practical lesson to be drawn from the text re- lates to the choice of our companions. If a man had the plague, you would all keep away from him. When you knew last year that the smallpox was in a house in our parish, how carefully everybody in the parish kept away from that house ! though it was one to which at other times the poor were wont to go with the certainty of finding kindness and assistance. Now moral disease being, as we have seen, no less catching than bodily, you should be no less careful in shunning vicious companions. Shun the drunkard ; shun the swearer ; shun the liar ; sbun the dishonest ; shun the licentious, and the evil-liver. Let a sin be as a plaguespot, to drive you away from a man. Stand not in the way of sinners; sit not in the seat of the scornful. This admoni- tion is needful to all, but especially to you who are yoTing, to you, young men and maidens, whose moral constitutions are not yet formed, and who catch the infection of evil more OF EVIL. 141 easily. On the other hand, \Yhom are you to seek ? Not those who merely lead decent, respectable lives ; not those who pride themselves on their virtues. Their cleanness will not profit you. But seek the friends whom the Psalmist declares he will choose ; seek the faithful in the land ; seek the godly ; seek those in whom the Spii'it of God manifests Himself, through whom the word of God speaks. Seek such as will help you in seeking Him, who alone can make you clean. But some of you may be thinking that this advice is at variance with the practice of Him who was called the Friend of publicans and sinners, and who did not reject the name, inasmuch as, in the highest and truest sense, He was so. But, remember, He did not go to them as their companion, to be a partaker in their pleasures and their sins. Nor did He go to them with the vain thought of puri- fying them by the feeble words of human wisdom. He went to them and kept company with them, in order that He might purify them by the power of God. Indeed this was the very work for which He came down from heaven ; and in this work He spent His whole life. For this pur- pose too He commanded all His disciples, more especially those who are appointed to the ministry of the word, to go to publicans and sinners, yea, to seek them out among all nations and through all ages, bearing that which is holy in their hearts and on their lips, in order to purify all those who will believe in Him through their word. In this sense my brethren, and in this spirit, it is still the duty of every Christian to go to those who are unclean, with the purpose of making them clean, through the power of God, and the word of God. Yes, brethren, it behoves us also, it behoves every one of you, to bear your part in taking up God's mighty 142 THE CONTAGION OF EVIL. word, Be thou cleans and in sending it forth through the earth, that it may purify those who are still lying under the terrible pollutions of Heathen idolatry. At the same time let us pray continually that He, who alone can purify our hearts, and keep them pure, will vouchsafe to do so, until the time arrives when all the world shall enjoy the blessed vision promist to the pure in heart, — when all man- kind, being cleansed from every idolatry of the flesh and of the spirit, shall see God. SERMON VIII. THE BLESSING OF CALAMITIES. Haggai ii. 20—23. Again the word of the Lord came to Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, say- ing, I will shake the heavens and the earth ; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms ; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the Heathen ; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them ; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, and will make thee as a signet ; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of Hosts. These are the concluding words of the prophecies of Haggai ; and they are the only portion of his writings which still remain for us to consider. For, though the last sermon did not come down beyond the fourteenth verse, the five which follow are little else than a repetition of what had already been declared in the first chapter in nearly the selfsame words. There, as here, the prophet sets forth that close connexion between temporal and moral evil, which God was pleased to manifest so especially and so wonderfully in the whole history of the children of Israel. He again tells the people how the lifeless powers of Nature, the barrenness of the earth, the scantiness of the harvest and of the vintage, the blasting and the mil- dew and the hail, had all been ordained to shew forth 144 THE BLESSING GocVs dippleasure, when they turned aside from their ap- pointed work of building His House. On the other hand he promises them that, from the very day on which they laid the foundation of the Lord's Temple, God would bless them. For it was thus, by punishments and by rewards, following close upon the acts which were displeasing or pleasing in God's sight, that He vouchsafed to teach His people in those ages of the childhood of the world. He taught them to eschew evil and to do good, by shewing them how, according to the course of the world, as ap- pointed by Him, evil straightway brought forth woe, while obedience brought forth blessings ; even as we in these days are wont to teach children, by punishing them when they do wrong, that pain is the natural and sure conse- quence of all sin. This lesson is taught in word in almost every page of the Old Testament ; and it was taught to the Israelites in deed continually, from the very birth of their nation to the end of their existence. In fact the Old Testament is one continual declaration and shewing forth of this truth, that Sin, when it has con- ceived, brings forth Death. And though we, under our more spiritual dispensation, wherein we are taught and assisted to set our hearts continually on that which is un- seen and invisible, do not so frequently receive the same outward visitations of judgement, yet the word which God spake at the beginning is still as true as ever : Sin of its own nature brings forth Death, and all the family of Death. Barrenness and leanness and discontent, the blasting and the mildew and the hail, wait upon the ungodly, and blight their hoped for enjoyments ; and when they come, as the prophet says, to a heap of twenty measures, they find there are but ten ; when they come to the pressfat to OF CALAMITIES. 145 draw out fifty vessels, they find that there are but twenty. Yes, my brethren, assuredly, this is so still, as it was in the days of the prophet ; and you all know that it is so. Your own hearts have borne witness to this truth time after time, whenever you have turned away ft-om the ser- vice of God to gather up the pleasures of the world. You have lookt for twenty ; and they have dwindled to ten : you have hoped to get fifty ; and they have shrunk up into twenty. Nay, often the crop you have reapt will have proved to be the very opposite of what you expected. You have gone in chase of pleasure, and have only laid hold on pain, — have sought strength, and have only found weakness and fear, — have gathered poison, instead of sweet- ness and nourishment, — repining and remorse, instead of joy- On the contrary the godly, they who give themselves up to their appointed work of building the House of the Lord, in whatsoever manner, to doing the Lord's will, still find that God blesses them, as He promises by the mouth of the prophet Haggai to bless the Israelites. God blesses them with peace. He blesses them with all manner of spiritual graces. He blesses them with the light of His countenance. Nay, under His blessing, they often find a change in their store, the very reverse of that which be- falls the ungodly : they look for ten, and behold twenty : they come for twenty, and draw forth fifty. They look, as we look up to the heavens after sunset ; and, lo ! star after star comes forth ; and whithersoever they turn their eyes, new stars, without number, appear. Even when the seed is yet in the barn, when the vine and the figtree and the pomegranate and the olive-tree have not yet brought forth, — when their schemes are still in the bud, when their VOL. II. L 146 THE BLESSING wishes are unfulfilled, when they are casting their eyes forward into that future, which to all others is hlank and dark, — they have the assurance that God will bless them, and will do far more for them than they can deserve, or even desire. On these points I spoke to you more fully, when we were treating of that part in the first chapter of our prophet, which answers almost word for word to the five verses just before our text ; and I have merely toucht on them now, for the sake of explaining why I pass over these verses in this course of sermons, in which I "have been endeavouring to lead you through the whole book of this prophet, and to help you in discerning how the words of the ancient prophets, though meant in the first instance to bear on the state of the Jews in their own times, do yet apply, and are full of spiritual instruction, to Christians In our days, and in all ages of the Church. To come now to the words of the text, — they also agree in the main with some which have come before us already In this chapter. For already had the prophet been com- manded to announce God's purpose, how He would shaJce the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and how He would shaJce all nations, and the Desire of all nations should come. These words in the former part of this chapter are nearly the same as those in the text, in which the prophet declares the Lord's message : / will shaJce the heavens, and the earth ; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms ; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the Heathen ; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them ; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one hy the sioord of his hrother. Now these words agree In their purport with those which stand OE CALAMITIES. 147 immediately before them, and of which I have just been speaking-, so far at least that they speak of God as executing judgement. They declare that God will shake the heavens and the earth, and will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and will destroy the strength of kingdoms. All these are works of judgement, works of wrath ; and whenever God executes judgement, it must be against evil. Nothing but evil can move the wrath of God. Nor does God ever shake, or overthrow, or destroy anything, except by reason of evil. He did not make this grand and beautiful world, in order to destroy it. He did not set the sun and the stars in the heavens, in order to cast them down from thence. Still less did He make man, in order to destroy him. When the natural man indeed looks at the manifold processes of destruction, which are ever going on in all parts of the earth, at the various works of ruin, of deso- lation, of slaughter, of death in all its forms, at one time tram})ling out the life of an insect, and the next extinguish- ing nations and empires, — his reason and his fancy combine to make up an image of a god, who cares not about the life or death of his creatures, who merely creates them to shew forth his power and skill, and who ever and anon, as it were, turns over the leaves in the great book of Fate, whereby one generation is cast into nothingness, and another starts into view. This image of god however, which the natural man frames for himself, is very different from the true God, as He has revealed Himself to man- kind in His word, and by the Incarnation of His Only- begotten Son. The true God has no pleasure in the ebb and flow of life and death. He wills life, not death. He Himself has told us that He has no pleasure in the death L 2 148 THE BLESSING of a sinner, but would rather that he should turn from his evil ways and live. The only thing which God wills to destroy, and for the sake of which Death entered into the world, is Sin, — not the sinner, but the sin. When He destroys the sinner, it is solely for the sake of the sin. But sin must be destroyed. God has sworn by Himself, that He will destroy and utterly root it out. Hence the works of destruction spoken of in the text, so far as they are indeed works of destruction, are a part of that warfare which God is continually waging against sin and all manner of evil, and accordingly agree in their spii'it and purpose with the barrenness and blasting and mildew sent upon the Israelites, because they had neglected their appointed work of building the House of the Lord. But further, when God takes in hand a work of destruc- tion, it is never purely and entirely a work of destruction. He has not allowed the Spirit of Evil to gain such entire dominion over His creation, as that nothing should remain for Him to do, but to sweep the whole universe into no- thingness, and to turn all the beings that breathe and move and glitter in the light of day into one vast blot of death. Whenever God executes judgement, Mercy is always going along with judgement. When He shakes, it is not merely in order that what He shakes may crumble into atoms, but in order that some part at least may be roused out of its deadly torpour. When He destroys, it is in order that some, a portion, a remnant, may be saved. When He destroyed the first race of man. He vouchsafed to preserve Noah and his family out of the destruction. When He destroyed the Egyptians in the Red Sea, it was in order to carry the Israelites safe out of the house of their bondage. Were not this God's purpose, He OF CALAMITIES. 149 would be giving up the victory to the Spirit of Evil, and Death would triumph over Life. Hence the barren- ness and the blasting, which were sent as punishments upon the Israelites, were designed to make them turn back to their appointed work. This their object they fulfilled ; and as soon as it was fulfilled, as soon as the Israelites began to labour in earnest at the task which God had ordained for them, He shewed forth His real purpose, — the purpose for which He made man, — the purpose for which He has ever borne with man, — the purpose for which He has visited man with every warning fitted to stir and shake his heart, — and declared. From this day I icill Mess you. So again in the text, although it speaks so much of destruction and desolation, of the shaking of the heavens and the earth, of the overthrow of the throne of kins"- doms, and the destruction of the strength of kingdoms, and the destruction of the chariots and the horsemen, still this is not the end. God does not destroy, for the sake of destroying. The prophet does not close his prophecy with these words of wrath. These are not the sounds which he leaves in the ears of his hearers. He has still a prophecy to add, a sound of comfort to close with. In that day, in the day when this work of destruction is going on, saith the Lord of Hosts, I icill take thee, Zeriibhahel, my ser- vant, and will make thee as a signet ; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of Hosts. This then was the end and purpose of the prophecy. It speaks of terrible and awful things ; but it ends with words of comfort and peace. If we look at its primary meaning, at the manner in which it was immediately to be fulfilled, it declares that, while the nations around Judea were to be shaken and disturbed by wars and divers disasters, and 150 THE BLESSING while many were to perish, Zerubbabel would establish the remnant of God's people in the land of their fathers ; and so, we know, he did. This was an event of very- great interest and importance to the persons to whom Haggai was speaking. But it can no longer be of any direct concern to us ; and therefore, if this were the only way in which the prophecy was to be fulfilled, I should not be preaching to you about it. But even if we try to put on the feelings of the Israelites, and to look at the events of their times as they would naturally look at them, with their hopes and their fears, still we cannot but per- ceive that the words which the prophet uses are too great for such an occasion ; and this, we find, is continually the case in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Hereby they betoken that they rise above their immediate fulfil- ment. They shoot beyond the mark, and look far off" into the distance, to some remoter event. We, as it were, see the germs in them of some grander accomplishment, just as we see the germs of the man in the mind of the child, as we see in everything about a child, that it is not meant to continue a child, but to be something different and greater. Now, in considering the former part of these prophecies, we have found that, while they all related to events which were present, or near at hand, these events were types, and the prophecies themselves were prophetic, of things to be accomplisht long after, and that too in more than one way. Indeed in the main they are types of a threefold fulfilment ; and so are the events spoken of in our text today, the shaking of the nations, and the coming of Zerubbabel. The coming of Zerubbabel, I say, which is spoken of above as the coming of the Desire of all nations, whereby OF CALAMITIES. 151 tlie House of the Lord was to be filled with glory, was a tyj)e of a threefold fulfilment, one of which has already taken place once for all, — one of which has been continually taking place ever since, and is continually taking place at this day, — and one of which will take place hereafter : and all these fulfilments are accompanied by signs more or less like those foretold in the text, as ordained to attend the coming of Zerubbabel. Thus the coming of Zerubbabel was a type of Christ''s coming in the flesh. Indeed the words which the prophet uses, while they are much too grand for Zerubbabel, are found to apply exactly to Him whom Zerubbabel fore- shewed. For Zerubbabel was not the Desire of all nations ; but Christ was, as we saw in the sermon on these words. Zerubbabel could not fill God's House with glory, or at the utmost only with the outward glory of gold and cedar and purple : but Christ did fill it with an infinite, undying, heavenly glory. Perhaps however you may ask how the description of the shaking of the nations, and the over- throw of the throne of kingdoms, and the destruction of the strength of the kingdoms of the Heathen, applies to the coming of Christ ; which, you may remember, is said to have been at a time of universal peace. Now this is very true. The time when our Lord vouchsafed to be born upon earth, was not a time of great war, but the contrary ; and when one recollects the almost ceaseless wars, by which the world had been ravaged for centuries before, it would seem as if the world had been 2:)repared by this universal peace to hail the Advent of the Prince of Peace. Yet on the other hand, if we think what the peace of the world at that time was, we find it was the very opposite to that peace which Christ came to bring. 152 THE BLESSING For it was the peace of death, of moral and spiritual death, of helplessness and slavery under the iron yoke of a crush- ing despotism ; whereas the peace which Christ came to bring, is the peace of life, of love, of harmony, of freedom, of power. But although the exact moment at which our Lord was born, was a moment of universal peace, it had been preceded by long and fierce wars, when the thrones of kingdoms were indeed cast down, and the strength of the kingdoms of the Heathens was destroyed, when almost all the kingdoms of the known earth fell one after another, Judea among the rest, before the iron arm of Rome ; and when the horses and the riders came down, every one hy the sword of his brother, — not only in that all men are sprung from the same parents, so that wars, even among diiferent nations, are still wai'S between brethren, — but also in this, that the coming of Christ was preceded by the fiercest civil wars, which ended in the destruction of the liberties of Rome. It is true, Judea was not the main seat of these wars. They did not spring up from Judea, but far away, from Rome : and to those who look solely at the outward visible connexion of events, they may seem to have nothing to do with the coming of Christ. But God was not the Grod of Judea only. He was the God of the whole earth : and as, in ordaining the course of the seasons, He makes countries far apart bloom and fructify and ripen their fruits together, in like manner, when He vouchsafes to ordain that nations far apart shall be called to the knowledge of His truth. He prepares them for it long before, and over- rules their destinies, without any consciousness on their part ; so that, after moving, as it were, for a time along a dark tunnel, they come out at length unexpectedly OF CALAMITIES. 153 to the light of day. Thus, in looking back at the history of the world, and at the manner in which Christianity spread through it, we find that the shaking of the nations, and the overthrow of the thrones of kingdoms, and the conquest of the kingdoms by Rome, did in a wonderful manner help to further the spread of the Gospel in the first ages. Even in the time of the Apostles, we see in the New Testament, how easy the Apostles found it to go from city to city, and from country to country ; which would not have been the case, unless all these countries had been united in the Empire of Rome. Nor again can we discern how, according to the course of human events, the unity of the Church could have been preserved, unless the chief nations of the earth had already been gathered into one body in the Roman Empire. So that the shaking of the nations, and the overthrow of the thrones of kingdoms, which happened before the birth of our Lord, did indeed prepare the way for His coming. This however can hardly be regarded as a direct fulfil- ment of our prophecy, although it is an example how God's purpose in bringing calamities on mankind is ever, not to blot out life with death, but to bring life out of death. A few j^ears after, on the other hand, when He who was born at Bethlehem, was nailed to the Cross on Mount Calvary, then, we know, at that most awful, most terrible sight, the earth was shaken, and darkness came over the face of heaven, in token of the convulsive rent whereby the whole moral world was at that moment torn asunder, and of the darkness which lay blindingly on the hearts and souls of mankind. Then too, in that time of shaking and darkness, did God take Him whom He had chosen, and made Him as His signet. Then it was, at that very hour, 154 THE BLESSING when Deatli seemed to be triumplung over Life, Evil over Good, and the whole moral order of the world might have been supposed to be going to rack, that God took His Son out of this confusion of all things, and gave Him the victory over Death and over Evil, and ordained that all whom He sealed should be partakers of His Salvation. Thus it was not only after, but through His death, and through the moral convulsions which caused it, and the convulsion of the elements which accompanied it, that He, who was declared to be the Son of God with power by His Resurrection from the dead, laid the foundations of His Church, which was to be God's new creation, risinsf out of the wreck of the old one into the realm of everlasting Life. In like manner, time after time, whenever God has purpost to raise His Church to a higher stage of power and glory, whenever He has especially made it manifest that He who called mankind into that Church, was truly the Desire of all nations, the world has been shaken by the new life which has entered and taken possession of it. Look attentively through the twenty-first chapter of St Luke, where Jesus tells the disciples what signs were to accom- pany the destruction of the Temple, of that very Temple the building of which, we learn from the projihet Haggai, was accompanied by like signs. Then too, our Lord says. Nation was. to rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; and great earthquakes were to be in divers places^ and fearful sights and great signs from heaven: and there were to he signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations^ loith perplexity, the sea and the leaves roaring, mens hearts failing them for fear ; for the powers of heaven were to he shaken. How closely does this description agree with that given by the OF CALAMITIES. 155 prophet Haggai in the text, which, he tells us, was to receive its fulfilment in the events accompanying the rise of Zenibbabel, but which also received a higher fulfilment at the coming of Him of whom Zerubbabel was a type. Moreover, as the prophet tells the Israelites that they are not to fear on account of these convulsions of the elements and of the nations, so does our Lord tell His disciples that, ichen these things hegan to come to pass, they were to look up, and lift up their heads, because their redemption was drawing nigh. For, even as the Desire of all nations was to come in the midst of such convulsions, and to fill the Temple with His Glory, in like manner are the disciples told that, amid the shaking of the nations, they would see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Hence the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish nation, did not lead to the destruction of Chrisfs Church, as the timid might have expected. On the contrary that destruction was the means whereby the Church was spread more widely over the Heathen world, so that the sign of the Son of Man came forward in greater power and glory. A like train and chain of events, by which human wisdom is baffled and set at nought, has occurred over and over again in the history of the Church of Christ. Ever and anon the world is shaken ; nations rise against nations ; or one half of a nation rises against the other half: men perish, eachhy the sword of his brother. The powers of hell seem to be gaining the mastery over the earth, to be letting loose war and famine and pestilence, to be shaking the heavens and the earth, to be overthrowing all law, all order, all peace. Blenh hearts fail tliem for fear, and for looking after the things which are coming on the earth. Yet after a while it turns out that these fears are vain. 156 THE BLESSING that the mastery is not with the powers of hell, but now, as ever, with the powers of heaven, and that, through the midst of all these confusions and convulsions, the sign of the Son of Man comes forth in greater power and glory. Such was the case, for instance, when the northern nations rusht down upon the Roman Empire, and seemed to threaten the destruction, not merely of all order and hap- piness and civilization, but likewise of Chrisfs Church and religion. Then too men's hearts failed them for fear, and for looking after the things which were coming upon the earth. But the end was, that He, who alone can bid the waves be still, did again bid them be still. He, who alone can calm the raging of the people, again calmed it. Cap- tivity was led captive : the conquerors were conquered, and, instead of overthrowing the Church of Christ, were received into it, and became its supporters, and the instru- ments of spreading it over the earth. Something of the same sort took place at the age of the Reformation, when again, through manifold shakings of the nations, and of the heart of man, the Church of Christ came forth from the darkness in renewed power and glory. Therefore the heart of the Christian will not fail when he sees the shaking of the nations, or of the powers of heaven. He will not be troubled or disquieted by fears, as though Evil were about to gain the victory over Good, as though the Prince of this world were about to triumph. The victory of Good over Evil has been gained, the Prince of this world has been overcome and judged, once and for ever. This has been manifested time after time, and will be so again and again unto the end of the world. Hence, in this year also, this wonderful and terrible year, 1848, of which we have now reacht the last day, it behoves us not OF CALAMITIES. 157 to be dismayed by any fears about the Church of Olirist. Though thrones and dominions have been cast down, though law has been trampled underfoot, though order has been turned into confusion, though every sacred institution is assailed, still only let the Church look up and lift up her heart ; and assuredly her redemption will be drawing nigh. Again, as so often before, the sign of the Son of Man will come forward in greater power and glory. He whose house is built upon a rock, will not be dismayed, albeit the winds roar, and the waves beat and dash against it : for he knows that its foundations are sure, and will outlast the passing fury of the temj)est. Rather, he will feel, would he have ground to fear, if the fair, smiling look of the sky, and the quiet calm of the waters were to lure him away from his rock, and to tempt him to build a house upon the sand. Our Lord's promise is, that, from amid the clouds and the storm, the sign of the Son of Man shall come forth with power and great glory. This the prophet Haggai expresses by saying that, when all nations are shaken, the Desire of all nations shall come and Jill the Temple with glory ; and again, in our text, by the declaration that, amid all the convulsions and wars, God will take Zerubhahel^ His servant^ and maJce him as a signet ; for that He had chosen him. By this image the Sacred Writers are wont to express nearness and dearness ; as we read in the prophet Jeremiah, Though Coniah were the signet on My right hand^yet would I pluck thee thence^ — and again, in the Canticles, Set me as a seal wpon thine heart., as a seal upon thine arm. In this sense the expression would only be a feeble one, as all human language must needs be, to signify the intimate union of that Word, which was in the 158 THE BLESSING beginning with God, — of that Wisdom which was from ever- lasting with God, and teas daily His delight, rejoicing always hefore Him. But we may also look at the expres- sion with reference to the use of a signet. For, as Zerub- babel was to be the ruler and prince of the Jews, who were re-establisht at Jerusalem after their return from the Captivity, they were in a manner sealed and stampt with his authority ; even as in every land the people ought to bear the seal and stamp of their soverein. But far more fitly does this expression apply to Christ, by whom we are to be sealed, as many as hope to gain an entrance into the New Jerusalem. As we receive the seal of His Cross in our Baptism, so does it behove us to shew it forth in our lives : nor His Cross merely, although that above all. With His Cross, and through His Cross, we ought also to bear the stamp of His whole Life, of all His thoughts and feelings, of all His words and deeds. Thus are we gradu- ally to be fashioned anew after His likeness ; and thus at last shall we be enabled to awake in it. He should be graven on our hearts. He should be graven on our lives. He should be graven on His whole Church. Everything in it, all its ordinances, all its institutions, ought to bear the stamp of Christ. Nay, so ought everything throughout the whole fabric of Christian society. The whole Church of Christ ought to bear the stamp and image of its Lord : the life of the Head ought to pass through all the members : and in like manner should it be with each individual Christian. Yes, brethren, so should it be with every single one of us. But when does the wax receive the impression of the seal ? Not in its ordi- nary, natural state. Then it is cold and hard. It must be heated with fire : it must be melted. The nations must OF CALAMITIES. 159 be shaken, before the Desire of all nations comes to them. The heavens and the earth are to be shaken, and the throne of kingdoms to be overthrown, and the strength of the kingdoms of the Heathen to be destroyed, before the Lord takes Zerubbabel, and makes him as His signet. Why? Because the nations and the kingdoms of the earth, if they are left to themselves, to follow their own aims, to pursue what they deem their own interests, are still apt to become nations and kingdoms of Heathens. Nor is it otherwise with each individual man. He too, if left to himself, if allowed to go on prospering in this world, if he found no- thing in this world but pleasure and profit and ease, would become a heathen, would never look beyond this world, would never lift his thoughts and desires above it. When his natural appetites and passions, all and each, find, or seem to find, just what they wish in the things around them, they join and grow together, they interlace and intertwine, and form a sort of thick network over him, which keeps out the light and the dew of heaven ; and in order that these may enter in, this network or crust must be broken through. As in the pool of Bethesda, the waters must be troubled by the descent of God's messenger, before any healing influences can have place in them. Nay, as we read in the text that every one shall come clown hy the sword of his Irother^ so at times it is by the struggle and conflict of feelings and passions in a man"'s soul, draw- ing him contrary ways, — some hungering after peace and rest, others after tumultuous, riotous enjoyment, — some craving after love, while others harden the heart and breed hatred, — that he is brought to discern how miserable and chaotic his condition is, and to yearn after a voice that shall say. Let there he lights on his soul, and after the Spirit 160 THE BLESSING that shall come down and calm the raging waters. There is an ancient fable, that a man, having slain a huge, fierce serpent, sowed its teeth, and that from these teeth sprang up a host of armed men, who straightway began fighting against each other, until they were all killed, every one by the sword of his brother. This fable may be understood as a picture of the world when the teeth of Sin were sown in it, and no less as a picture of the soul of man after it has received the same deadly crop. Of such a state of things, the end would long ago have been the moral desolation, if not the utter destruction of mankind, unless God had vouchsafed to shew forth His infinite mercy, as at this season, by sending down Peace upon earth, and Goodwill toward and among men : and the misery of this strife and desolation made men readier to welcome and rejoice in these heavenly gifts. If we cast our eyes abroad over the nations of Europe, and call to mind what has befallen one after another in this last year, — how in one after another the fountains of that great deep, which lies in the breast of man, have seemed to be broken up, and all manner of wild, lawless, untamable passions have been let loose over the earth, — we might fancy, unless we had a trust in a higher order of things, and in an Allwise Ruler who governs it, that Europe would ere long be a moral and social wilderness, a dreary waste overspread with the wreck of a shattered civilization. But, if we have faith, even as a grain of mustard-seed, we may look forward to a higher good springing out of this evil ; we may hope that the sign of the Son of Man will again come forward in greater power and glory. What however shall we say, if we look at home ? From the calamities which have befallen our neighbours, Ave have OF CALAMITIES. 161 been wonderfully and mercifully preserved : yes, mercifully we may call it, even with the amplest acknowledgement that the calamities of our neighbours have also been sent in mercy, to teach them to know the time of their visita- tion. For, if we make a right use of the privileges vouch- safed to us, — if we ascribe our preservation, not to our own arm or head or heart, but to the goodness of our Heavenly Father, — if we are not puft up thereby, but moved to a greater humility and thankfulness to Him who has dealt thus graciously with us, thus immeasurably be- yond our deserts, — if, taking warning from the examples of our neighbours, we learn the insecurity and instability of all earthly things, even of those which may seem the most stable and secure, and are thus brought to seek more earnestly for the things which are above, — if, beholding how thrones and empires may be wrested from man's hands in a moment, we are taught to discern and to follow the only true way of making our possessions our own for ever, by consecrating them to the service of God, and employing them for the good of His people, — then may we also be sharers in the blessings which the calamities of this year are designed to bring upon our neighbours. That which has cast them to the ground, and almost crusht them, has only just grazed us. So too has it been with the cholera. That terrible disease, which has been so destructive in other countries, has been singularly mild as yet here in England. We know not what may be. We know not what the next year may bring forth. It may be ordained that the calamities, which have been sweeping over so many of the nations of Europe, shall also sweep over England. Hitherto however we have been spared. may we all remember that to us also this is the day of our visitation ! 16^ THE BLESSING and that He who is visiting other nations with scourges, is still allowing the light of His countenance to shine upon us ! O may we turn to Him, who visits us thus mercifully and graciously ! and may we shew forth our thankfulness to Him, not only with our lips, but in our lives! May we do so as a nation ! and may we likewise do so each one of us severally ! In God's dealings with us severally during the past year, there will also have been similar diiferences. Doubtless there are some amongst us, whom God has shaken in the course of the last year, — some, whom He has shaken in former years ? What has been the effect of that shaking ? Has it wrought its right work in us ? Has it brought us to seek and to yearn after the Desire of all nations ? Has the Desire of all nations come to us ? Has He come to us and filled our souls with His glory ? Has He sealed us with His seal ? Has He stampt us with His image ? He would have done so, if we had not hindered Him. It was for this end that we were shaken. O ! beware that His shaking be not in vain. Let it not pass away without stirring you, without shaking off the dust from your souls, without bursting the crust of your sins, without opening the spring of a new life within you. On the other hand, there are some amongst you, no doubt, who have never yet been really shaken, who have never yet been visited by any heartsearching sorrow or calamity. All indeed will have had their lesser troubles and cares and vexations : for from these there is no deli- verance or security, except in the peace of God. To such troubles the children of this world are especially liable. Of them, above all, may it be said, that sufficient for each day is the evil thereof, — yea, more than sufficient : for sweet OF CALAMITIES. 163 as its fruits may at times be in the mouth, there is a foun- tain of bitterness in the heart, which turns the sweetness into gall. But such bitterness does not profit us : there is nothing medicinal in it. This bitterness becomes more and more bitter. These troubles become more abundant, more oppressive, more deadening, but do not rouse us out of our torpour. In order that we may be roused out of this, in order that we may be delivered from the crushing weight of our daily vexations and annoyances, we need to be shaken by some great, searching sorrow, some calamity that shall shake the earth under our feet, and make us look abroad for a firmer foundation. Be assured too that such will come to you, ye who have not yet been shaken thereby. God will not allow you to pass away out of this life without some such warning. Only beware that ye do not suffer it to be wasted, to sweep over you without effect- ing its purpose : and to that end observe and profit by the calamities which may befall your neighbours. Learn from them not to give up your hearts to this frail, perishable world. Learn from them to look forward to the time when you will in like manner be tried. Harden not your hearts, so that they shall not feel such a blow : hearts may be so hardened, that, even though a hammer smite them, they will scarcely feel it. Or they may become so corrupt and rotten, that the heaviest blow will make no lasting im- pression. Therefore be always ready to sympathize with the sorrows of others, to weep with those that mourn, to weep with them, and for them, and to mourn for yourselves also, while ye ask yourselves. If tliey do these things in the green tree, what tcill he done in the dry ? If the pious, the faithful, the godly are visited with such calamities, what must be the terrour of the indignation and M 2 164 THE BLESSING wrath, the tribulation and anguish, which are laid up in store for the ungodly ? This year, this strange, this terrible year, eighteen hun- dred and forty-eight, is almost over. In a few hours it will have rolled into the abyss, which has swallowed up all the former births of Time. So will it be with all outward calamities and distresses. They will have past away : and the time will come when there shall be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain, for the children of God. But one thing will not have past away, — Sin ; unless it have been purged by the blood of Him who came to take away the vsins of the world : sin will abide still, and the worm that never dies, and the fire that cannot be quencht. We are standing at the threshold of a new year. So, ere long, ere many years have rolled by, shall we all be standing at the threshold of a new life. The former things will have past away ; and a new order of things will be beginning. From that time forward our portion will either be with the children of God, from whose eyes God Himself will wipe away all tears; or it will be in the abode of the worm that dies not, and of the fire that is not quencht. Here calamities and blessings are mixt up toge- ther ; and through faith calamities may be turned into blessings, while sin on the other hand turns blessings into calamities. Let us, my brethren, strive to be on that side, on which all evil is turned into good, not on that on which all good is turned into evil. Let us labour diligently and perseveringly to build up the House of God, in every way in which He has appointed us to build it, endeavouring to raise it higher and higher with every passing year, not indeed in the vain hope of building up a tower whose top may reach to heaven, but in the assurance, that, although OF CALAMITIES. 165 the house of our earthly tabernacle, fair as it may be, will be dissolved, yet they who have laboured to build the Lord's House upon earth, have a house not made icith hands, eternal, in the heavens, prepared for them. For in the end the opposites, which are now found mixt up together, will be separated everlastingly : and they who have endeavoured in the power of faith to turn evil into good, will find their faith fulfilled in the fruition of Crod's eternal presence ; while they who through sin have ob- stinately turned good into evil, will be banisht from the sight of goodness for ever. Nor is it our own life only that will one day be standing thus on the very brink of its close. The life of England will be so likewise ; yea, so will the life of the world. The times and the seasons the Father has put in His own power ; and it is not for us to know them. Hundreds of years, thousands, it may be, may still have to ebb and flow, before the purpose for which God ordained this world will be accomplisht. But the hour will at last come, when the end of the world will be as close at hand as the end of this present year is now. Then will the heavens and the earth be shaken, with a shaking such as has not been since the creation of the world ; and there will be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars. Then again will the sign of the Son of Man be seen in the hea- vens ; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn ; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Then too will God take His servants, whom He has chosen ; and they will be sealed with the sign of the Son of Man, with the seal of the Living God. The angels of destruction will hear the voice crying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have 166 THE BLESSING OF CALAMITIES. sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And they who are thus sealed shall stand for ever before the Throne, and before the Lamb, cry hi g, Salvation to our God who sitteih upon the Throne, and to the Lamh. Amen. SERMON IX. THE angel's message. Luke xi. 10, 11. Aiul the angel said to tliem, Fear not : for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people : for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. This message, you well know, was first brought as on this day by the angel to the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night in the field by Bethlehem : and this, my brethren, is the very message which I have to bring this day to you. To you, my brethren, I say, in the very words of the angel, am I also ordained to bring good tidings of great joy, the tidings that to you is horn as on this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. This is the blessed mes- sage, which in all parts of the earth is on this day sounding in the ears and gladdening the hearts of Christ's people. Thousands, and tens of thousands, ay, hundreds of thou- sands of voices are on this day taking up the very words of the angel, and proclaiming the same good tidings, some in one language, some in another, in all parts of the earth ; and millions of hearts are rejoicing to hear them. More than eighteen centuries have rolled away since this message was brought to the shepherds of Bethlehem. Some sixty generations of mankind have lived through their span of life, and have gone to their graves, and been gathered to 168 THE angel's message. their fathers ; and to generation after generation the same message has been delivered year by year ; and generation after generation has found that the message is full of truth, that the tidings are indeed of great joy, that a Saviour had indeed been born to them, and that this Saviour was Christ the Lord. Whithersoever the Gospel has spread, it has borne this message on its wings. Nay, it is on account of this very message, that the preaching of Christ is called the Gospel, the good spell, or good news. It has carried these tidings into every nation ; and they who are appointed to preach it, are charged to proclaim them from every pulpit, and to bring them into every house, and to write them, if so be they may, upon every heart. All people and nations and languages, and all in every nation, high and low, rich and poor, young and old, men, women, and children, all and each, are called to hear these good tidings, and to rejoice in them, not indeed on this day alone, — the tidings would be poor and meagre, if their joy were confined to one day in the year, — but on this day more especially, and so that their joy shall spread from this day over every other. Therefore to you I say, as thousands of my brethren are saying at this time to the souls placed under their care, — to you, my dear friends, whom by reason of this very message I call my friends and my brethren, — to you in the words of the angel I say. Fear not, — rather rejoice, and be exceeding glad, and lift up your hearts and your voices in hymns of joyful praise and thanksgiving : for hehold, I brine/ you good tid- ings of great joy^ which shall he, — yea, which now is, and for many hundreds of years has been, — to all people, — to all in every nation who have been willing to give ear to those tidings : for to you is born as on this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. THE angel's message. 169 Thus boundless and endless is the importance and interest of this message. It is a message which God sent an angel from heaven to proclaim in the ears of mankind. It is a message which, He has ordained, shall be carried from land to land, and delivered from age to age, so that its sound shall go forth l.hrough all parts of the earth, and its words unto the end of the world. It is a message which has always and everywhere been the watchword of the Church of Christ, Nay, this message is in truth the very founda- tion, the creative word of the Church ; which is made up, outwardly and in time, of all such as are called to rejoice that a Saviour has been born to them, who is Christ the Lord ; while the true, spiritual, everlasting Church consists of those who do indeed feel that joy. Therefore, seeing that the message concerns us so deeply, and is so full of precious promise, wherein we also are invited to share, greatly must it behove us to listen to it, not merely with our outward ears, but with all the strength of our under- standings and of our hearts, if so be we may be enabled to discern some portion of the high meaning contained in it, and may be made partakers of that joy which it promises so bountifully to all mankind. Fear not. These are the first words which the angel speaks to the shepherds. They are not indeed a part of the message which he is sent to bring to them : but it is by these words that he prepares them for hearing and receiv- ing that message, which otherwise they would have been unable to give ear to, much more to understand. For fear so troubles and bedims and confounds the mind, that he who is under its sway, hardly knows what he does : he cannot see anything clearly as it is, but will look upon his friend as his enemy, and will start back and run away from 170 THE angel's message. the arm which is held out to help and protect him. Fear not! What need was there for the angel to say this? What had happened to frighten the shepherds I All we know of them is, that they were abiding in the field, keeping watch over their fiock hy night, and that, while they were so employed, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Now from this accomit we may learn how we too ought to be employed, if we wish that the angel of the Lord should come to us, and that the glory of the Lord should shine upon us. We should be employed as the shepherds were, when abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. We should be diligent in fulfilling the duties of our calling, what- ever it may be, according to the best of our knowledge, not content with doing our work by halves, — not thinking that we have done enough, when we have done so much, and that we cannot be expected to do more,^ — not satisfied with watching over our flock by day, and idling at night, leaving it to be devoured by the wolves. We must do our utmost, our very best. We must make the most of what we have ; and then more will be given to us. We must strive to do our duty as well as we possibly can under the night of our present knowledge, such as it may be. We must watch, without sleeping or straying, over the flock committed to us. Each of us has a flock of one kind or other entrusted to his care. Each of us has relations, friends, neighbours, with whom he has dealings, with whom he converses, for whose welfare he is bound to do what he can, over whom he is to watch, whom he is to defend from evil, Avhenever need arises. Moreover every one has a flock within himself, a flock of thoughts and feelings and desires and hopes and aspirations : and over this flock also it behoves us to keep THE angel's message. 171 watch, that we may preserve it from harm, from the assaults of temptation, and from that roaring lion who is ever seeking to devour it. If a man be diligent in fulfilling the duties of his calling to the best of his power, — if he is watchful in guarding this twofold flock, — if he is ever care- ful to keep his heart and soul and mind from lawless wishes and wandering thoughts and unruly lusts, at all times and in all places, by night as well as by day, — if he, to whom Christ has committed the charge of any of His sheep, is faithful and persevering in watching over them, according to the light of his present knowledge, — then, he may be assured, God will increase his light, will give him more light : tlie angel of the Lord will come to him ; and the glory of the Lord tcill shine round about him. But I was asking why the augel began by telling the shepherds not to fear. We read, that they were abiding in the field, watching their flocks by night, and that, while they were so employed, the angel of the Lord came upon them^ and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Well ! how did the shepherds feel, when they saw the angel of the Lord come upon them, and His glory shine round about them ? How do you think they must have felt ? Some of you may perhaps fancy, it must have made them very happy, full of joy and delight. Alas ! how would you yourselves feel, supposing that the angel of the Lord were to come suddenly to you, that the glory of the Lord were to shine forth all at once round about you ? You may think this an idle question, for that such wonders never happen in these days. Yet the angel of the Lord has come to you, brethren, often and often, though perhaps you may never have seen him. Nay, the angel of the Lord is come upon you again, on this day, at this moment ; the 172 THE angel's message. glory of the Lortl is shining around you at this moment ; though it is too probable that many of you may not per- ceive it. But if you do perceive it, if you have ever per- ceived it, if you have ever seen the glory of the Lord shine round about you, how did you feel the first time you saw it I Did you feel happy ? were you full of joy and delight ? no! If you were, what you saw was a delusion. It was not the angel of the Lord, or the glory of the Lord, but a phantom of your own brain, which you took to be what it was not. For if you ever did really see the angel and the glory of the Lord, you must have felt, when you first saw them, just as the shepherds felt, of whom we are told that they were sore a/raid. Thus is it always, thus must it always be with man, when he is first startled out of the sleep of his carnal nature, and his eyes open to behold the glory of the Allholy, Allrighteous God, revealing itself to him, and shining round about him. He is struck with fear and with awe. His occupation at the moment, like that of the shepherds who were watching their flocks, may be innocent. He may be engaged in the fulfilment of a duty. His whole life too, as it is not improbable that theirs was, may have been one which in the language of the world would be called innocent, or even praiseworthy. Yet, when the veil which separates man from God is first with- drawn, when the film is taken from his eyes, even as when a great and bright light is suddenly let in on those who have been sitting in darkness, he is dazzled ; he shrinks back ; he cannot burst the bonds, in which the darkness held him, without a painful struggle. Then too for the first time he finds out how dark the darkness was, in which he had hitherto been lying, and which in his blindness he had mistaken for light, and had loved and worshipt as such. THE angel's message. 173 Hence It Is that the fear of God must always be the beginning of wisdom. He who fancies that he has a single spark of true wisdom, he who fancies that he knows any- thing of God, without fearing Him, — without having at least past through the fear of Him, — must be living in a misty dream. The only god he can know anything of, must be a god of his own making, fashioned according to his vain Imaginations, and deckt out with such good quali- ties as he may deem the prettiest and pleasantest. Such a god, a god of his own making, man may Indeed think of without fear ; although the superstitions of all heathen nations bear witness, that even in the natural man there is an almost unquenchable Instinct, through which, when the thought of God comes upon him, he Is led to clothe it In terrour. But if he sees the skirts of the glory of the true God, it must needs fill him with wonder and awe. Then too, as soon as he has been brought to discern God's infinite holiness and purity, and turns his thoughts from these contemplations to God's justice, calling to mind at the same time how far removed his own life has ever been from all likeness to that purity and holiness, how frail it has been, how vain and purposeless, how thickset and bristling, as it were, with sins, Innumerable sorrows may well compass him about, and his fears get such hold on him that he cannot lift up his head. For those who have ever known this fear, — that is to say, for all who have ever seen the angel of the Lord, and on whom the glory of the Lord has ever shone, — for all such there is but one way of being delivered from that fear. There Is but one way In which a man, after having his eyes opened to behold God's holiness, can be delivered from the oppressive fear of God's justice : and that is by 174 THE angel's message. listening to and receiving and believing the message which the angel brought to the shepherds. Fear not ! thus the angel speaks to all such as have been smitten with fear by tlie manifestation of the glory of the Lord : Fear not ! Why are they not to fear 1 Because, he continues, / bring you good tidings of great joy, lohich shall he to all people. For to you has been born a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Fear not, ye whose souls have been awestruck by the terrible glory of the Lord : for I bring you good tidings of great, of blessed joy., tohich has been prepared in the councils of heaven for you and for all mankind. Fear not the terrours of the Lord : God has laid aside those terrours, and is come to dwell amongst you inform and fashion like one of your- selves, that you may learn to love Him with that love which will cast out fear. Instead of His glory and majesty. He has put on the lowliness of a Servant. Instead of His power. He has clothed Himself in the helplessness of a new- born Babe. Instead of Justice, He comes in Mercy : instead of Vengeance, He brings Salvation. Thus full of heavenly comfort is the message of the angel for all those whose hearts are sinking under the fear of the glory of the Lord. He tells them, he tells us, he tells all people, that we are no longer left to contend by ourselves against the enemies of our souls, those enemies without us and within us, whose aim is utterly to blast our peace, our joy, and our hope. Those enemies, when Jesus was born as on this day into the world, had entirely got the mastery over us. They had made us their slaves. They were driving us before them into the bottomless pit, as a mighty wind drives the clouds ; and we were almost as little able as the clouds to withstand them. So too is it by nature with all of us even now : so, I cannot but fear, may it still THE angel's message. 175 be with some of you here present : so has it always been, so must it ever be, with all such as have not been strength- ened against these fierce, devouring enemies by the Saviour who was born on this day in the city of David. Therefore, since you too, my brethren, like all mankind, so greatly need the comfort of this message, to you, I say, is born on this day a Saviour. A Saviour I what will he do for me ? He will save you. From what will He save me ? From everything that you can wish to be saved from ; from every evil that flesh is heir to ; from every curse and woe that is bred in the caverns of hell. Will He indeed save me from all this ? Yes, as sure as God liveth, He will. Will He save me from poverty ? Yes. Will He save me from want? Yes. Will He save ms from hunger ? Yes. Will He save me from sickness ? Yes. Will He save me from pain ? Yes. Will He save me from losing my friends? Yes. Will He save me from the last of all evils, from that which onen are wont to dread as the chief of all, — will He save one from death? Yes. But how will He do all this ? Do I not see that ChrisCs servants, however faithful and dutiful, are just as poor, just as much in want, — that they suffer just as much from hunger, from sickness, from pain, — that they are just as liable to lose their friends, and to die and be swallowed up in the grave, as other people ? Hoio then can you tell me that Christ will save them from all these evils ? I tell you nothing but the truth. He will save you from them all, from these, and from all other evils. He will save those who trust in Him and seek His help, from all evils, so that none shall come nigh them. This He is wont to do in a twofold manner. Some evils He will drive wholly away : of others He will change the nature, so that they shall cease to be 176 THE angel's message. evils. He will take their sting out of them. He will take its sting out of poverty, by giving His people contentment. He will take its sting out of sickness, by giving His people patience. He will take its sting out of sorrow for the loss of friends, by giving His people hope. He will take its sting out of death, by giving His people immortality. You know how, when our bodies are in any way diseased, the medicines which we have to take, are most of them unplea- sant and nauseous at the moment ; and yet they are the only means of restoring us to the sweet and pleasant feeling of health. Most too of these medicines, indeed all that are powerful and eifective, are of such a kind, that, if taken in too large doses, they would harm and even kill us. But when the physician measures them out for us in proper quantities, and mixes them up for us in due proportions, they become, not merely harmless, but wholesome and salu- tary. So is it with the evils of this life. If our souls were in full health and vigour, free from hurtful humours, we might do without them. We might then be allowed to live on without poverty or sickness or sorrow. But un- healthy as our souls are, and liable to all manner of dis- eases, — to bloated appetites, and feverish lusts, to the palsy of the will, and the ossification of the conscience, to the ague of worldlymindedness, and the clinging consumption of selfishness, — if we are to be cured of all these terrible maladies, we need strong and piercing medicines, medicines that will penetrate to the very seat of the disease, and seize on it, and drag it out of its stronghold. Now such is ex- actly the purpose which is often effected by calamities and suffering and affliction. They often do, what nothing else could, in curing us of the diseases which are preying upon our souls. Not that they have any power to do this of THE angel's message. 177 themselves. Of themselves they rather tend to harden and sour the heart still more : and hence by the Heathens, and by all such as are without the knowledge of Christ, they have ever been regarded as purely evil, to be eschewed in every possible way, and to be utterly abhorred. But when they are administered to the soul by Christ, mixt up, as He alone can mix them up, with the healing balm of the Spirit, with patience and contentment and resignation, and the fervour of yearning prayer, and the assurance of faith wrought by finding our prayers answered, then these evils of life, as they are called, instead of being hurtful, become wholesome and medicinal. Thousands upon thousands of those who have been won by the love of Christ to withdraw their hearts from the world, and to give them up to God, will bear witness that no outward means have exercised anything like the same power in weaning their affections from the world, and purging them from those seeds of death which the corruptions of the world have scattered over them, as affliction, in one or other of its searching, purifying forms, when it came to them administered by Christ, with His gi'ace turning it from a poison into a medicine. In this manner will the Saviour, who was born as on this day at Bethlehem, save you from such evils as sickness and other afflictions, which to the children of this world are merely painful and oppressive, but out of which He takes the sting, making them cease to be evils, and converting them into the instruments of blessing. So too is it with poverty, which moreover has a special blessing assigned to it. Before the birth of Jesus Christ, when He who was rich became poor for our sakes, poverty was purely evil. It was a misery and a curse, which had nothing to lighten it ; and VOL. II. N 178 THE angel's message. tliey who were pining- under its weight were despised and trampled on by the pride of wanton, overbearing power. But when Jesus declared that the poor are blessed, because that of such is the Kingdom of Heaven, He at once turned this curse into a blessing, the seed and germ of many bless- ings, of blessings which will not wither and perish, like the things called blessings by the world, but will last for ever. If poverty is in any respect nearer to heaven than riches is, what does it matter, even if it be somewhat more stinted in the fleeting, dubious pleasures of this life. Or would any one wish to have a barren piece of ground at the top of a hill, rather than a rich field in the valley ? If the lowly valley bears the best crop of corn, it is the best land to have. If poverty is likelier than riches to bear heavenly fruits, it is clearly the happier state. Not that Jesus Christ merely saves us from those evils, which are accounted evils by the world. He will also saver us from those far more dangerous evils, which are accounted goods by the world. Even though He has declared it to be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, yet this impossible work He can accomplish, and has accomplisht in numbei'less cases, by teaching His servants to regard their riches as a trust, of which they are merely the stew- ards, charged with the duty and privilege of distributing it for the glory of God and the good of their brethren. Thus He takes the sting out of riches, by giving His people liberality, whereby they employ their earthly treasures in laying up treasure in heaven. So too will He take the sting out of high rank and power, by giving His people humility : and through the mighty operation of His grace the words of the prophet have been fulfilled, and Kings THE ANGEL S MESSAGE. 179 have become the nurshig fathers, and Queens the nursing mothers of His Church. Thus does the Saviour who was born as on this day at Bethlehem, save His people from every sorrow, from every calamity, to which mankind are a prey. He does this ; and He alone can. So does He save us, and He alone can, from that bitterest of human sorrows, when the arm of Death snatches away those with whose lives our own seem to be bound up in almost indissoluble union. To the chil- dren of this world this sorrow is utterly without hope. When the earth closes over the body of a beloved friend, they can never dream of seeing him again. But the good tidings of great joy, which were first proclaimed on this day, assure us that they who believe in Christ shall not die eternally, — -that they who die in the Lord are not really dead, but have merely fallen asleep, — and that we who are left behind are not to be sorry, as though we were without hope, but ought rather to rejoice that they have been delivered from the burthen of the flesh, and from the ceaseless struggle against the temptations of sin, and are united in closer, more perfect union with their Saviour : wherefore it behoves us to strive so to live the life of faith, that, when our last hour comes, we too may die in the Lord, and hereby be reunited to those who are gone before us, in a world where Death has no power. Moreover, as the believer in Christ is delivered from that power of Death, wherewith he is wont to rend men's hearts during their stay in this world, so, if we receive the good tidings of the Saviour with humble and earnest faith, will He take the sting out of Death, when we ourselves are to be laid low ; and even in the moment when we fall under the arm of Death, Jesus Christ will give us the victory over him. N 2 180 THE angel's message. The way in which Christ the Lord, the Saviour born on this day at Bethlehem, saves and dehvers His people from the power and the fear of Death, we learn from St Paul, is by saving and delivering them from Sin.^ Sin, St Paul tells us, is the sting of Death ; and this sting Christ takes away. So too it is by saving and delivering us from Sin, that He saves and delivers us from every other evil : for Sin is the one sting of all the evils that encom- pass man''s life, and spread through it, and turn it into gall and bitterness. This is the one evil in the world, the source and spring of every other evil : and unless this be taken away, no other evil can be : or at least, if other evils were removed for a moment, they would sprout up and swarm anew as abundantly as ever. But from Sin, above all, it is clear and certain that Christ alone can save us. The world may seem to supply us with the means of relieving, or at least of lessening other evils. It will often yield us medicines to heal our sickness, opiates to soothe our pain, food to alleviate our hunger, riches to drive away our poverty, new friends to take the place of old ones. None of the world's remedies are indeed real and lasting : but for a time they seem to do something for us. Against Sin on the other hand the world cannot profit us in the least. Rather does it lure us with sins, and drag us toward them, and plunge us into them, and twine their nets ^around us so that we cannot escape from them, and our very struggles only tighten the knots. Nor have we any power to save ourselves from Sin. On the contrary we mostly give up our hearts to it, and embrace it greedily and blindly ; or, if we try to fly from one sin, it is only by running into another. But He who came on this day to be our Saviour, came above all to save His people from THE angel's message. 181 their sins. This is the special reason for which He was named Jesus, Saviour ; and unless He does this, He will be no Saviour to us. The good tidings of great joy which were proclaimed on this day for all people, will have sounded vainly in our ears. ' We shall receive no more benefit from them than if we had been stocks or stones. Now, if we are to be saved from sin, it is necessary that we should be saved from our own selves,sMi merely from the temptations which the world sets beforV us, and from the outward assaults of Satan, but from the evil lusts which lurk within our own hearts. For this is our great difficulty and misei-y. Sin does not merely assail us from without, but has a living source within, a source which no human art can dry up. We have cut ourselves off from God ; and we cannot reunite ourselves to Him. We have set ujj our own will as the lord of our hearts ; and we cannot cast down and get rid of the idol we have set up. The strong man has taken possession of us ; and we need that a stronger should come and drive him out. / Now no man of himself is, or ever has been, stronger. Tne mighti- est human strength is weaker than the power of Sin. Therefore great was our necessity that some Helper should come to us, who was mightier than all human might, mightier than the might of Sin, who should be able to overcome Sin by his might, and would impart that might to us to enable us also to overcome it. Through Christ we may do so, and assuredly shall, if we put on His armour. Without Him, without His armour, we cannot. The cor- ruption of our nature is such, that, even when we know what is right, even when we desire to do it, we cannot do the things which we would, or refrain from the things which our consciences disapprove. Therefore we requii'e 182 THE angel's message. that our hearts should be endued with a strength above their own, that a new life should be poured into them : and this new life and strength were gained for us by the Saviour who was born on this day, when He obtained gifts from the Father, that the Lord God might dwell amongst us. Hereby moreover He reconciled us to the Father. ^ For this was the great misery, this was the primary curse of sin, that it cut us oiF from God. From the first the con- sciousness of sin made Adam fly and hide himself from the presence of God : and so has it been with all his descend- ants. They shrink from the presence of God ; they shrink from His voice ; they shrink from the voice of their own conscience. They try to hide themselves among the trees of the garden, among the pleasures, the dissipation, the employments of the world. They dread nothing so much as to be alone with their own souls, and with God. That which to the children of God would be the chiefest bless- ing, is to the children of this world the most insupportable curse ; even as though you were to tear their eyes open, and to hold them in the face of the sun. Thus we read that the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel. Yet we were made from the beginning to dwell in the presence of God, to walk before Him, to commune with Him. Therefore God vouchsafed to reconcile us to Himself by sending His Onlybegotten Son to take away our sins, and to bring us nigh to God by His Blood, so that through Him we might have access by one Spirit to the Father, that we might no longer hide ourselves among the trees, but might come boldly to the Throne of Grace. He sent His Son, that in Him we might behold the glory of the Onlybegotten of the THE angel's message. 183 Father, no longer full of terrour, no longer a devouring fire, but full of grace and truth. Through Him, if we have faith in Him, we, who were aliens from God, who were without God in the world, have been made the children of God. Through Him, we are made members of God's household and family, the Church. Through Him, we are purged of our sins by the waters of Baptism. Through Him, we are fed and nourisht by His holy Body and Blood, which He gave for the remission of our sins. Thus through Him, by the power of His word, by the power of His example, by the power of the Sacrifice which He offered up for us on the Cross, and by the graces of the Spirit which He obtained for us and sends down on us, are we prepared and fitted for dwelling in the sight of God, for awakening in His likeness, and beholding His face in righteousness. In all these senses, and in every other sense, in which we can possibly need a Saviour, did He, who was born as on this day, come to be a Saviour to us and to all mankind. From all the evils I have spoken of, and from every other evil, bodily or spiritual, temporal or eternal, He will de- liver us^iilf we ask how He comes to have such power, power "so totally different from, so immeasurably superior to what any other child of man has ever possest, the last words of the text answer this question : because He is Christ the Lord. Because it was He whom God anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Because He was God's anointed Highpriest, who offered up His living Sacrifice once for all upon the Cross for the sins of man- kind. Because He was God's anointed King, whom God sent to rule over the children of men. Bear this in mind, my dear brethren. He who was born at Bethlehem as on 184 THE angel's message. this day, came to be your Saviour : but He can only be your Saviour, if He is your Christ, and your Lord. You must come to Him as the Anointed of the Father, as His Highpriest, anointed to offer sacrifice for the sins of His people, as His King, anointed to rule over them. Take care that you always seek to approach the Father through Him. Through Him, you have access and may come boldly; without Him you cannot. Through Him, you may be delivered from your sins : lay them down in faith at the foot of His Cross. Take care too that He is indeed your Lord, that He rules in you and over you, that He is the Lord of your heart, and of all its feelings and affec- tions, — that He is the Lord of your mind, and of all its thoughts and imaginations, — that He is the Lord of your will, and of all its motions and actions. So will you in- deed be fitted for awakening up in His likeness. So will you feel more and more deeply that the tidings which the angel brought were indeed good and blessed. So will you be prepared for joining, heart and soul and mind, in the song of the angels. Glory to God in the highest^ on earth Peace, Goodwill toward men, — and in that other song of the saints, Blessinf/ and Honour and Glory and Poiver he to Him that sittefh upon the throne, and to the Lamh, for ever and ever. SERMON X. THE ONLY HELPER. PSALM CXLVI, 5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his Help, whose hope is lu the Lord his God. We have just bid farewell to one year of our lives : and at the moment of doing so one can hardly help feeling something like the sadness of parting with an old friend. But that sadness has been quickly turned into joy by the coming of a new one. For, although he is a stranger, we have most of us welcomed him as a fi-iend. Almost every- body feels a fi-esh spring of pleasure at the first dawn of a new year. Whatever the colour of our past life may have been, we are ready at such a moment to hope and believe that there is unknown happiness in store for us. But have we any reasonable ground for such a hope and belief? This is a question which concerns us all deeply. Life, you know, is often compared to a journey. Now we have just got to the end of one stage in that journey, and are starting afresh. When a traveler is in such a case, he is wont to consider well where he is. If there are several roads lying before him, he asks carefully which is the best and shortest and safest to the place he wishes to reach. He bethinks himself what progress he has already made, and casts in his mind how far his strength and his means are likely to hold out. This is just what we should do at 186 THE ONLY HELPER. the beginning of a new year. At such a season it especially behoves every one to consider well where he is, — to con- sider well what progress he has hitherto made in the great journey of life. It behoves every one to use his best dili- gence in order to make out which is the best and straightest and safest among the many roads lying before him. For the journey of life differs from other journies in this, that we cannot retrace our steps. We cannot go back to the point from which we set off a twelvemonth ago. If we fol- low a wrong course, it becomes daily more difficult to make our way across the country, and get back into the right one. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that we should not choose our course hastily and rashly, but should take all pains, and exercise our soundest, soberest judgement, in ascertaining which is the right course, which we ought to take in order that we may at length reach our home. I say, in order that we may at length reach our home : for that is the place we all want to reach, the place we all are, or ought to be, making for. We all indeed have a home already, or something more or less like one : and many has God blest with a home which is truly happy and comfortable ; that is to say, with a home which embraces and enshrines the objects of their warmest and deepest affections, and which therefore strengthens their hearts by keeping them in constant activity and alacrity, and, so to say, always on the wing. For this is the true meaning of the word comfortable : to comfort is to strengthen. This too is the reason why no other place can be so comfortable as our home. Yet even they who have been so favoured as to find such a home, and to fix their staff for life in it, even they are still only pilgrims, wayfarers on the road of life, journeying toward another place, whatever that place THE ONLY HELPER. 187 may be, where their stay will be far more lasting,— journey- ing toward their real home, the home for which their liearts and souls fit them, — toward heaven, if their hearts and souls fit them for heaven, — toward hell, if their hearts and souls fit them for hell. For it is an awful and fearful thought, that there are many, yea, millions upon millions among the sons of men, of whom it would almost seem that they will never be thoroughly and lastingly at home, except in hell. In coming to offer up your prayers here today, you have past through the ground where the fathers and fore- fathers of many of you were once laid, some of them per- haps hundreds of years ago, and out of which they will never rise so long as the world endures. Now surely, in walking through that churchyard, the thought must often strike you, that, as your fathers have been laid there, so you will lie there also, — there, or in some other of the dark pits into which Death casts his prey. None of you can be so idlethoughted as to fancy you can escape that death, which has laid its cold hand on all the children of men. Indeed this is the only thing which can be said about our future lives with absolute certainty, that they will come to an end. We cannot tell for certain what will happen to us even tomorrow. Whatever confidence we may feel, some- thing quite unforeseen may turn up at any moment, and upset our reckonings. A cloud no bigger than a man''s hand may at this moment be rising out of the sea, which before night will overspread the heavens, and rush down in fierce torrents, sweeping our happiness away. But, while every other earthly event is uncertain, this one thing is certain, that sooner or later our lives will come to an end. Before this year, nay, it may be, before this week. 188 THE ONLY HELPER. on which we are now entering, has reacht its close, some of us will perhaps be gathered to our fathers : and few, if any, will number as many more years as there are leaves on this sprig of holly. That such will assuredly be your portion also, as it has been that of all who have lived before you, you must all be aware. With regard to this it will make no difference, whether your years are beset with thorns, like the edges of these leaves, or smooth and bright as their surface. Whether happy or wretched, whether bounding with joy, or burthened and bent down with care and sorrow, whether gliding along the soft, level turf so as hardly to feel we are moving, or having to pick out our path toilsomely and painfully through stony and miry places, we are all of us travelers, journe}^ng toward another spot, and, even while we dream we are at rest, borne ever irresistibly onward. Indeed the longest jour- nies we take, and our rapidest motions, are those of which we are wholly unconscious. We roll through the heavens, round the sun, whirled along by our mother earth : we have just got to the end of one such revolution. And as we do not feel how we are carried through space, so do many take little heed of their progress through time ; although this motion also is ever going on along with the other. Thus we have just been finishing the round of one of Time's great circles. At such a season, I said, it especially behoves us all to look about us, to look carefully where we are, and whither we are going, and to examine whether we are duly pro- vided with all such things as are needful for the rest of our journey, so that we may reach our home. Not that such thoughts are to be laid on the shelf at other seasons, and to be brought forward solely at this. For the beginning THE ONLY HELPER. 189 of a new year is not in itself different from other clays, so that we should need to be different creatures then, from what we are during the rest of the year. The sun rises and sets on Newyearsday, just as on other days. The face of the earth and of the heavens is the same. There is nothing to mark and warn us that another blossom has dropt from Time's everlasting garland. Nor is it other- wise in the moral world. There too no change takes place, either in earthly things, or in heavenly. The Ancient of Days is still the same, today, yesterday, and for ever. The same God rules with the same Almighty sway ; and His will, and His laws are the same. But the beginning of a new year is like other festivals. The thoughts and feelings, which at this season are called forth in a more especial manner, and which ought now to be foremost and uppermost in our hearts, ought likewise to be always present there, always alert. But does not the same hold good of Christmasday, and Good Friday, and Easter, and Holy Thursday ? On those days we especially commemorate the birth of our blessed Lord, and His death, and His rising again, and His ascension into heaven. Not however that we are to turn our minds to those events on those particular days only, and to take no thought about them at other times. What would our religion be, if we were to pick it up in this way bit by bit, and then to put it down and lay it by, till it came into season again ? It is always in season. There is no day on which the sincere Christian will not call to mind, and feel, and thankfully acknowledge from the bottom of his heart, that Christ his Saviour was born for his sake, and died for his sake, and rose again for his sake, and went up into heaven for his sake. Of all these things we are specially reminded every 190 THE ONLY HELPER. time we say the Belief. But because our hearts are too poor and starveling, and our souls too narrow and crampt, to find food and room for all these thoughts and feelings, according to what they require of us, at one and the same moment, therefore it is expedient that each one of these feelings should every now and then be brought forward more especially, and that we should every now and then be more especially called to consider some one of the great works which God has wrought for us, some one of the great proofs of His wonderful lovingkindness and mercy ; to the end that the thoughts and feelings which are kindled thereby, may gain such strength as to be ever wakeful, ever ready at their post. Too many indeed act otherwise, thoughtlessly, fatally, madly otherwise. Although they are willing, or even glad, to have their hearts stirred and roused for a few moments by listening to the story of what Christ has done for them, no sooner have these moments flown by, than they fall back into their drowsy listlessness. Too many think it enough, if they put on their Sunday feelings along with their Sunday clothes ; and then the former are mostly pulled off and laid by some hours before the latter. But this will never serve their end. Our God, you know, is a jealous God. He will have all your heart, all your soul, all your life. If you do not give him all, you will not really give Him any part. You will not be His, except in name : and that which is not God's, that which is not in God"'s keeping, the enemy is ever ready to seize on. The thoughts therefore which this season should stir up in our breasts, are not to be forgotten as soon as tomor- row''s sun rises to give a new turn to your minds. While it is our special business at this season to think seriously THE ONLY HELPER. 191 what helps and supports we have, to bear us up amid the dangers and difficulties of our earthly pilgrimage, we should take care to let these thoughts strike such deep root in us, that they may not wither or be torn up, but may continue to stand, shedding a wholesome shade on the dry, sandy soil which they bind together. Now, among the many thoughts which this season must needs awaken in every sober mind, the first and weightiest is, what have we to trust to during our afterlife in this world ? and what have we to trust to for that incomparably longer period, which will open upon us when this world has past away from our sight, when our eyes will no longer see it, when none of our senses will perceive it, when our bodies will be mouldering away and mixing with the earth around them ? This is the great, momentous question, which you ought to ask yourselves at this season. Let each of you put it to his own heart. Let each of you ask himself. What have I to trust to F what have I to look to f what help have I to support me through the rest of my journey ? what ground have I for hoping that I shall reach the end of it safely and prosperously? Ask yourselves these questions, my bre- thren : and that you might be able to feel the blessed assurance exprest by the Psalmist in the text ! O that you might feel how truly happy is he, who has the God of Jacob for his Help, and whose hope is in the Lord his God. For let us consider a little, what a blessed thing it would be if we could indeed feel that we have this help and this hope, — if we felt that we could look to God for help in every time of need, with a sure, undoubting hope that He would stretch forth His arm and preserve us. Suppose you were looking about for a person in whom to put your trust, on whom to lean all your hopes, — for a 192 THE ONLY HELPER. friend in whom to garner up your heart, — what are the quahties you would most desire to find in him 1 Surely they might he summed up under these three heads ; first, that he should always know how to help and guide you ; next, that he should always he willing and desirous to do so ; and lastly, that he should always he ahle to do so. If we could hut find a friend, in whom these qualities were united, — a friend, who would always know how to help us, and would always wish, and always be ahle to do so, — we might then look forward to the rest of our life without fear or anxiety, assured that, whatever may befall us, his aid will bear us through it. But where are we to meet with such a friend l In no earthly being are these qualities to be found, except very feeble and imperfect. Few men possess any one of them in anything like excel- lence. Most rare is it to meet with a union of the three. Or, should we have the happiness to fall in with a friend thus gifted, we may too soon be carried away from him by the chanceful stream of life ; or he may be snatcht from our arms, and hidden from our eyes in the grave. If we put our trust in our own judgement, in our own good- will, in our own strength, — if we follow any human counsellor, cleave to any human friend, lean on any human ally, — our hope will very often fail us, our support slip away from beneath us, and that too not seldom at the moment of our most threatening danger, of our most press- ing need. The only sure counsel, the only enduring friendship, the only ever-stable support, is that of which the Psalmist speaks in the text, the help which is to be found in the God of Jacob, the hope which is placed in the infinite wisdom, the infinite lovingkindness, and the infinite power of God. THE ONLY HELPER. 193 This may be shewn without much difficulty. All other counsellors may be deceived, and are liable and apt to go wrong. Whether we rely on our own wisdom, or on that of our neighbours and friends, or even of those who are cried up as prudent and discerning by the voice of the people, one as w^ell as the other is liable and apt to err. How often are we at a loss to make out what is really for our good, what we can do, and what we ought to do ! When two or more paths lie before us, how often are we in doubt which to take ! unless we have some higher rule and principle to determine our choice, than the mere guessing at the advantages or losses to which they may lead. Often, in matters of the utmost importance, we are called to make up our minds on the spur of the moment. Even when we have ample time to look about us, it may avail us little. For what is the fore- cast, what the foresight of man? The former is feeble and vague and dim ; the latter is absolutely nothing. The mole itself can see as far into the future. We know not what tomorrow, we know not what the very next moment may bring forth. Nay, we know not what is actually going on at this moment, beyond the narrow span of our senses. We know not wdiether the spoiler may not already have laid hand on some of the pillars of our happiness, and cast them down, — whether the messen- ger of evil tidings, such as came to try the heart of Job, may not even now be awaiting us at our homes. If we try to make up for this want of foresight in ourselves, by building up a pile of calculations founded on the experience and observation of others, it will not seldom happen that our ingenuity itself will be its own foil. When a man is sharpening his policies, he will grind them away to nothing: VOL. 11. o 194 THE ONLY HELPER. and while he is busy in setting his snares, the very object that he wishes to catch by them, will escape and get beyond his grasp. If our eyes arc prying curiously afar off, we overlook what is lying at our doors ; and in the midst of our stargazing, we may stumble against a stone, or fall into a pit. Moreover, weak as our judge- ment is in itself, it is enfeebled still more, and crippled, and hoodwinkt, and oftentimes blinded, by our ajjpetites and passions, which are dazzled by splendour, and fascinated by glare, and beguiled by every fair show, and, in their thirst for some feverish excitement, will greedily swallow whatever gratifies or stimulates them, without heeding whether it be poison or no ; and which, while they thus disable us for seeing the mischief of such things as flatter and pamper them, make the path of duty appear intolerably wearisome and painful. If we seek counsel from a friend indeed, the last-men- tioned hindrances to a right judgement will in some mea- sure vanish : but new ones will come in their stead. Few friends will give us that calm, patient, thoughtful attention, which is requisite to judge of a matter rightly. Even when a friend is willing to do this, he cannot place himself exactly in our situation. Yet from no other point of view can he discern the manifold bearings in which our happi- ness will be affected by such or such a resolution. How seldom will a friend be sincerely earnest in giving us the best advice ! when he is so, how seldom will he know what is the best ! Thus we are every way led to acknow- ledge the justice of the Psalmisfs exclamation, put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man ! for there is no help in them. In whom then are we to put our trust ? In the Lord. THE ONLY HELPER. 195 He sees all the consequences of every act, in their never- ending chain of connexion. He discerns the fruit in the germ, the fullgrown tree in the acorn, the harvest in the seedtime. The course of the destinies of the whole race of man, and of every single member of that race, lies spread out like a map before Him ; and He surveys the whole of our lives, even while we are yet in the womb. The furthest thing is to Him even as the nearest, and the nearest as the furthest. The pettiest creature is not beneath His care ; the vastest does not surpass it. He weighs the mountains in the hollow of His hand, and lifts up and casts down the nations, as it seems good to Him. Nor can any temp- tation sway His judgement awry : no possible bias can cause it to swerve : no illusion can dim its clearness. Yet you have not to go a journey in search of Him. At all times and in all places He is close to your side. He has put the volume of His word into your hands, whereby you may gain the highest wisdom, that of knowing His will : and if you strive to walk according to that will, your con- fidence will never deceive you. Nor does He leave you to make out His will from His word by your own unassisted understandings. He will enlighten your understandings to see, what of themselves they could never perceive in it. Only call upon Him heartily ; and He will hear you : ask Him for counsel ; and He will answer you : and His an- swer will stand fast for ever. Most truly happy therefore, — as the Psalmist declares, after proclaiming the vanity of all human aid, — is he who has the God of Jacob for his Help, and whose hope is in the Lord his God. For God does not merely know what is for our good : He is ever desirous to give it to us, and to lead us toward it. In man there is no certainty that sharpness of wit o 2 196 THE ONLY HELPER. will go along with kindness of heart. Those who are masters in the wisdom of this world, are not often the most benevolent ; and Knowledge, as found in the natural man, is seldom the brother of Charity. On the contrary we are taught by the Apostle that knowledge puffeth up. It will often tempt us to look down on our neighbour, be- cause he is destitute of those precious qualities, which we suppose ourselves to be enricht with. Or it may harden the heart against him, under a notion that the petty trou- bles which distress him are beneath a wise man's care. Even in those who really do love us, how frail and unstable is human love ! how much of selfishness mixes with it, and taints and corrupts it ! Our parents indeed, and they who have been bred up with us under the same sheltering wing, may bear much, may forgive much ; though even their for- bearance may be worn out, their forgiveness may be ex- hausted. But when the ties which bound us to our homes have been cut, when we are lancht upon the broad sea of life, and hav^e to take up with chance companions, who readily call themselves our friends, how soon do we find that a few cross blasts will drive such friends away ! A threatening of danger or disgrace will make them slink from us : a slight appearance of neglect on our part will chill their affection : a trifling difference of opinion may upset it. Nor are we at all surer of our own goodwill, than of that of our friends. We all indeed fancy that we love our- selves : but how soon do we shrink from every trial of our love ! He who truly loves, will watch anxiously and un- ceasingly over the object of his love, to preserve it from the approach of danger. Yet how readily do we allow our watchfulness over ourselves to flag and slumber ! how THE ONLY HELPER. 197 slowly are we roused to such watchfulness ! how much readier are we to let in the enemy who would destroy us, than to keep him out ! He who truly loves, is glad to brave hardships and perils for the good of the object of his love. Yet how quickly will a few obstacles check us, a few dangers daunt us, in the pursuit of our own everlasting good ! He who truly loves, rejoices when he is able to make any great sacrifice for the happiness of the object of his love. Yet what have we ever sacrificed, what worth- less pleasure, what fleeting enjoyment, what petty caprice, what groveling appetite, for our own never-ending happi- ness ? Or, if we have ever done anything of the sort, how tardily, how unwillingly, how ungraciously, has the sacri- fice been made ! No, my brethren, we do not love our- selves, with anything that deserves the name of love. We hug our vices ; we fondle our evil desires ; we pet and pamper our passions ; we cherish the tares that the devil has sown in our hearts : but, as for our immortal souls, our real, original, heavensprung selves, we have no sincere, strong, fervent love for them. Nay, we mostly care so little about them, as to let them drift and dash to and fro at the mercy of the winds and waves. Turn away then from those halfhearted, wavering friends, that you find in the world : or, to speak more wisely, trust them according to the measure of the friendship that they shew for you : but place the ground of your trust deeper in Him, who, though your father and mother forsake you, will still stand by your side. Turn away from that false, treacherous friend, that whispers his soft, guileful words to you out of your own bosom ; and give up your whole heart and soul to the only true Friend, the only ever-faithful Friend, the only Friend who never ceases to watch over 198 THE ONLY HELPER. you with more than a father's care, the only Friend whom no waywardness of yours can weary, whom no neglect can embitter, whom no headstrongness can drive away, whose arms are ever stretcht out to embrace you, whose voice is ever calling you to come to Him. Though you have forsaken Him, He has never forsaken you. Though you have wilfully gone out from His presence, the gates of His compassion have never been closed against you. His angels have followed you, whithersoever you have wan- dered ; and they have strewn your path with blessings. He gave you life. He has given you food and raiment, from day to day, and from year to year, in spite of the ingratitude with which you withhold the thank-offerings due for all His gifts. Every good, every comfort that you enjoy, all the wholesome advice that you have ever been the better for, every kind word or look that has at any time brightened your heart, has been the gift of His never- failing bounty. And He, who has thus richly, thus over- flowingly provided for the prodigal son, when a self-exiled fugitive and vagabond from his Father's house, — what countless, unimaginable blessings must He have in store for the children of the household, and for such as return in penitence, and are received again amongst them ! Hasten then to Him : delay not a moment : do not for a moment run the risk of losing His precious love. You may still return to Him : He is even now calling you to return to Him. Tomorrow it may be too late : ere tomorrow's sun rises, you may have been torn from Him for ever. Or, if the test of true love be, as it is, the willingness to make sacrifices for those whom we love, where can we find, how can it enter into man's heart to conceive so astonishing a proof of love, as that manifested by Him, Avho gave His Only THE ONLY HELPER. 199 begotten Son to come down from the right hand of His glory, and to become subject to all the infirmities and pains of humanity, and to suffer a death of agony and shame, — and all this for your sakes, in order that He may bring you, if you will follow Him, to the abodes of endless peace and joy? Surely then you may trust, that He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for you, will also give you all other things that are for your lasting good. He is willing to give you all things ; and He is also able to give you all things, He, and He alone. Were there no other reason to prove that we ought not to put our trust in man, his weakness would be proof enough. When we are in the fire, no skill of our own, no art of man, can save us from burning. When the waters have closed over our heads, no power of man can save us from drowning. Man cannot change our poverty into riches. He cannot drive away our clinging diseases. He cannot turn our sorrow into joy. He cannot give us back the friends, whom death has taken away. He cannot pluck us up, when we are falling into the bottomless pit. Even when we know what we ought to do for our happiness, and love ourselves enough to have a desire of doing it, how often do we find that our want of strength, either outwardly or inwardly, is such that we cannot bring it to pass ! Or, if we are so fortunate as to have wise friends, zealous in our behalf, who discern what is for our good, and perchance may even be willing to make a considerable sacrifice for our sakes, still their weakness will hinder them from doing much ; and the very help which we most need, they will be unable to give. But, if we cannot rely on the love of our friends, on love which, weak as it is on earth, is still of all powers the 200 THE ONLY HELPER. mightiest, is there anything else on earth endowed with such strength, that we can lean upon it with a full assurance that it will never break or bend under us ? Alas, no ! Or rather, God be praised that there is not ! God be praised that there is nothing in this world to warrant or excuse our idolatry of the earth and its creatures ! Or can we put our trust in bodily strength ? A stroke of sickness may fell it to the ground, may make the strongest man as Aveak as a newborn babe. Even in its prime, how short is its arm ! how little can it accomplish ! how poor is the utmost that it can contribute to our happiness ! Shall we put our trust in the strength of our minds, in our talents ? They too may be wrested from us, without our being even aware of our loss. He who went to sleep priding himself on his towering understanding, may awake in the helplessness of idiocy. At the very best our talents minister little to our happiness, unless they are employed in the service of God. Increase of knowledge is too often increase of care, and not seldom of ignorance ; and much thinking breeds much doubt, and much vexation. Nor can our talents fortify us against the troubles of this life. On the contrary they often make us feel them more keenly. A man on a hill will have to bear ruder blasts, than he whose home is a nook in the valley. But if no gifts either of the body or of the mind can ensure our wellbeing, and fence us in from the assaults of woe, will the outward gifts of fortune, think you, be able to do so ? Ye who are poor, look at the rich : are they really happier than you are ? I speak not of those who have godliness along with their riches : godliness will indeed make the rich happy ; and so will it make the poor. But are those among the rich, who are without godliness. THE ONLY HELPER. 201 more contented with what they have, than you are ? Have they fewer cares to worry them ? fewer desires to prey upon their hearts 1 Are they more at peace, more at one with themselves ? If you could look into their hearts, you would find that you in all these respects are mostly better off than they. For, through God's merciful appointment, the nature of man is so easily attuned to his condition in life, and bends and shapes itself so readily according to his circumstances, that a man s happiness no way depends on what he has, but wholly on what he is. If you are one of the Lord's flock, if God be your Shepherd, then, however poor you may be, you will lack nothing. If you are not of the Lord's fold, if Satan be your Shepherd, however rich you may be, you will lack everything. The more you have, the more you will crave : and, like your master, you will always be prowling about, with insatiable, unappeasable hunger, seeking what you may devour. Thoughts of this kind on the insufficiency of all human means, on the instability of all human greatness, on the helplessness of all human strength, are perpetually forced upon us by the ordinary events of life. One day we see the rich and thriving bankrupted on a sudden by an un- foreseen mischance, bereft of the riches in which they had put their trust, and reduced to the brink of beggary. Another day we see the young and healthy cut off" in the flower of their years, and in the pride of their strength ; while the cripple, at whom in their wantonness they may often have mockt, crawls after their cofiin, and breathes forth his silent prayer of forgiveness as it sinks into the grave. What has their youth, or their strength availed them ? or what did the riches of the rich man profit him, whom they forsook and flew away from? What do these 202 THE ONLY HELPER. things avail or profit their possessors now ? Nothing. This is the very best that can be said of them. For it may be that the only remnant of what was formerly a matter of pride, is now bitterness and misery ; if, as not seldom happens, either the one gift or the other drew away the heart of its possessor from the thoughts of heaven, and led him to set his affections on the things of this world. Such meditations therefore can never be out of place, more especially at this season, when the anniversary which reminds us of the never-resting flow of Time, admonishes us likewise to seek for something lifted above that ever- changeful stream, for something that neither waxes nor wanes beneath the touch of Time. But if hardly a week passes by, without giving birth to something fitted to bring such thoughts into our minds, never was there a period which called them forth more powerfully than this in which we are living. Seldom has the vanity of all human counsel, the powerlessness of all human strength, been laid barer than in this last year. A spirit of sub- version has been passing through the nations of Europe ; and its watchword has been. Destroy/. The shock of the earthquake which burst last spring in France, has been felt through all the countries on its borders. Thrones have tottered from their foundations. One government after another has been overthrown. Ancient institutions, the growth of ages, have been trampled on the ground. The ties of brotherhood, which bound nations together, have been rent in twain. The old feelings, on which society rested, have been torn from under it. Law itself has seemed to have lost its sanctity and its power. At such a time, when revolutions have been almost weekly occurrences, we cannot but look anxiously round in search THE ONLY HELPER. 203 of something stedfast and lasting : and we are struck with dismay at finding that there is no such thing, — that all the strongholds of human policy and power have given way one after the other, — that everything in which man has been wont to put trust, is blown about as it were chaflf. It is a sight as though the mountains were to crumble to pieces, and to bow their heads in the dust. Is everything then thus frail and perishable ? we ask in our dismay. Is there nothing that endures ? nothing that bids defiance to Time ? nothing that continues the same yesterday, today, and to- morrow? Yes, there is One, and only One, who continues always the same, — One, and only One, before whom Time loses its power, — One, and only One, who is now, and ever will be, such as He was in the beginning, — even the Lord Almighty. In like manner will it be at that more awful time, when the earth itself is to be torn from its seat, and the host of heaven are to be scattered, and the heavens are to be rolled together like a scroll, and the stars of heaven are to drop from their thrones, even as a fruit-tree sheds its over-ripe fruit, when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then, in the midst of this wreck of the universe, the angels will uplift their choral cry, Hallelujah ! for the Lord God Omnipo- tent reigneth. Then it will be seen that He who is Alpha, is also Omega, that He who is the Beginning, is also the Ending. Nor will He be alone. Everything that is of God will also survive along with God : for everything that is of God, at the same moment that it became of God, became everlasting. In the same chapter of the Revela- tion, in which we read the sublime declaration just referred to, we also find the comfortable assurance, / will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life 204 THE ONLY HELPER. freely. He thai overcometh shall inherit all things ; and I ivill he his God ; and he shall be My son. Hearken, dear brethren, to the words of the God of Jacob. These are the blessings vouchsafed to those whose hope Is in the Lord their God. Ye have only to thirst for the water of life ; and God will give it to you freely. Overcome the world ; and ye will inherit all things ; and God will be your God ; and ye shall be His children. SERMON XI. LOSS AND GAIN. Philippians III. 8. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. It is impossible to read the beautiful Epistle from which these words are taken, without being struck by the re- peated expressions of joy in it. The Apostle talks again and again of his own great joy ; and again and again he calls on the Philippians to rejoice. This is just after the manner of those who are full of joy. They wish their joy to overflow on all around them. They wish that all around them should share and join in their happiness. Thus, you will remember, our Lord says of the man who loses one of his sheep, and of the woman who loses one of her pieces of silver, that, when they find what they had lost, they call their friends and neighbours together, and say to them, Bejoice with me ; for I have found what I had lost. In sorrow we mostly shut up our hearts, and shun the sight of any one, unless it be a very dear friend. But joy opens the heart, and makes us for the moment overleap the barriers, which at other times keep us apart from our neighbours. Thus, in the Epistle to the Philippians, we see St Paul not only talking of his own joy, but calling on the Philip- pians to rejoice with him, to rejoice in the Lord. Again, 206 LOSS AND GAIN. a little further on, he says, Rejoice in the Lord alway ; and again I say, Rejoice. Now what was it that made St Paul so full of joy ? Had any piece of extraordinary good fortune befallen him ? Had he found a lost sheep, a lost piece of money \ Had this been the case, though he might have called on his neighbours to rejoice with him, he would hardly have bid the Philippians do so, who were many hundred miles off: for his joy on such an account would have past away, long before the tidings of it could reach them. Therefore it must have sprung from a far deeper, stronger, more lasting source. If we look through the Epistle, to make out what that source was, we find that, when St Paul wrote it, he was in prison at Rome, and that he did not know for certain what the issue of his imprisonment would prove, though he rather expected to be set free. So that his joy must rather have been like that of the Apostles, who, when they were beaten by order of the Jewish Council, rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. It must have been a joy akin to that felt by many of the holy martyrs, whose souls, in the midst of torments, were brightened by a light from heaven. If we desire to understand the natuVe and the cause of St Paul's exceeding joy, the text may helj) us to do so. For think a little. When is it that men feel their hearts swell and bound with joy ? You cannot but know that there are certain times and seasons in the course of our earthly life, when, according to the bent of our nature, we feel happier and fuller of joy than at any others. What are they 1 There may be many such ; and in many things they may differ : for one man's heart will be set upon one object, another man's upon another. But at all events LOSS AND GAIN. 207 they will have one feature in common. The most joyful times in our lives will ever be times when our whole hearts and souls are fixt with longing desire upon some one object, and when we have gained it. Thus it is a glad moment to a soldier, when the battle is won. To a lover it is a glad moment, when he wins his bride. Glad too is the moment to the mother, when her newborn child is laid in her arms, and she forgets all her pains for joy that a man is born into the world. It is only when a man is thus at one, at unity with himself as well as with the world around him, when he is lit up and set aglow by one feeling, and when that feeling finds an answer in its object, that he can be said to be thoroughly happy. While our hearts are divided and distracted, as they mostly are, among a number of wishes and pursuits, — so long as we are careful^ like Martha, about many things^ — we can know nothing like the satisfying fulness of joy. Nor can we feel any true joy, while we are living in that careless, drowsy, slothful indifference, in which so many drawl out their days. You know that, in a musical instrument, the strings must be stretcht out and braced tightly, before they will utter a sweet sound. So too must our heartstrings : they must be stretcht out at their full length, harmoniously and in unison, before they will utter the sweet sound of joy. Hence we may learn two lessons about ourselves ; first, that we are made to love one object ; and secondly, that we are made to love that one object with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength. This is the purpose for which we are made ; and it is only in fulfilling this purpose, and so far as we fulfill it, that we are happy. Moreover we can only be happy so long as we continue to fulfill this purpose, so long 208 LOSS AND GAIN. as we continue to love this one object with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. But what is there on earth that we can love in this manner, with the full stretch of all our powers, and that too lastingly ? Nothing : wherefore no one, who gives up his whole heart to any creature of this world, can be lastingly happy. The lot or portion on earth, which comes the nearest to this, and which, when it does so, is the richest in happiness, is the state of marriage, in which the husband and wife, forsaking all else, give themselves up wholly and for life to each other ; that is to say, when marriage is what it ought to be, an entire and perfect union of heart and soul and mind. For this reason the bond of marriage is comj^ared by St Paul to the union between Christ and the Church. But this too, like everything earthly, partakes more or less of the imperfections of earth. It is very seldom an entire union of heart and soul and mind. Mostly it is very far from this. At the best it must come to an end, sooner or later: and then, if it has been nothing more than an earthly union, — if it has not been regarded as a type and foreshadowing of a heavenly union, — if the hearts which have loved each other wholly through life, have not loved each other wholly in God, so as to be enabled to feel that they who have departed from the earth, are still alive with God, — the happiness which may have sprung for a while from this love, will be utterly blasted and confounded. Hence it is only when the heart is given up wholly to God, that any child of man can be thoroughly, lastingly happy. For God is the only Being whom we can love wholly and lastingly. He is the only Being, whom we can love with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. If we love any earthly being with all the strength of our heart, yet LOSS AND GAIN. 209 some passion or other will ever and anon rise up, and jar with this love. Or our understanding will shake it by opening our eyes to discern the imperfections of its object : and though Christian love can cover and lose sight of these imperfections, earthly love cannot, after its first blind dream is over. But the more we love God with our heart, the wider will that love open the eyes of our understanding to behold more and more of His gracious excellences ; and the more does our will become subdued to His will ; so that heart and soul and mind, instead of thwarting one another, help one another onward : instead of pulling contrary ways, they all bear us along the same way. Thus, instead of being careful about many and perishable things, we find that good part which shall not be taken away from us. From what has been said, you may see how the text sets forth the cause which made St Paul so full of joy, when he wrote his letter to the Philippians. For in the text he tells us that his whole heart and soul and mind were fixt upon one Object, and upon one only. He tells us that he had found the Pearl of great price, and that for joy thereof he had sold all that he had, and bought it, — • that he was regardless of everything else, so that he might win Christ, — nay, that so entirely were his affections and desires and longings set upon this one aim, that all other things seemed to him but loss in comparison. He counted all other things loss, in consequence of the sur- passing excellence of the knowledge which he had gained of Jesus Christ, his Lord. Mark his word, my brethren. He counted all other things loss, — not merely worthless and trifling in comparison, but worse, a downright loss ; inasmuch as it is a downright loss, a sheer waste of our VOL. II. p 210 LOSS AND GAIN. lives, to spend them in anything else than in the faith and love of God, as made manifest in the person of His Only- begotten Son. Thus it would be a positive loss, if a man were to shut up his windows, and to go on working by candle-light, when the sun is riding through the sky. It would be a loss, if, instead of receiving good sterling money for the wages of your labour, you were to receive false money. It would be a loss, if, when by going to the right you might have pickt up a fine diamond, or other pre- cious stone, you had unluckily turned to the left, and brought home nothing but dirt and frippery. So is it a loss, if, when God has shewn forth all His goodness and mercy in Christ, we turn away from Christ, and give our- selves up to the pursuit and love of the creature. It is a loss, if we persist in creeping and crawling along amid the things of the earth, when Christ has sent His spirit to bear our hearts and souls up to heaven. If we could but agree on this one point, my brethren, if we could learn to feel as St Paul felt, if we could be brought to perceive that all other things are loss in com- parison with the surpassing excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, we too should feel the same joy which St Paul felt ; we should rejoice, and should call on one another to rejoice ; and again it would be as on that morning of the Creation, when all the sons of God shouted for joy. For consider what a blessed world this would be, if all men united in loving God and Christ, so as to count all other things loss in comparison. Not only would all violence and crime be cast out from the earth ; not only would all God\s commandments be obeyed strictly and un- swervingly ; but everything like an evil desire, everything like an evil feeling or evil thought, would be stifled and LOSS AND GAIN. 211 quenclit ; or rather nothing of the sort would ever spring up. There would be no more hatred, no more envy, no more covetousness, no more illtemper, no more strife, no more emulation, save only the emulation of brothers con- tending which shall love the other the most, and give up the most for the other, and which shall shew the most love, and render the most dutiful service, to their common Father. On the other hand the reason why the world is so full of sin and woe, is, that people will set their hearts upon other things, and count other things gain, in com- parison with what to them seems the worthlessness and the uselessness of the knowledge of Christ. A large part of mankind are much rather disposed to count the know- ledge of Christ loss, in comparison with what they deem the excellence of the things of this world. What will the knowledge of Christ do for us ? they say, at least in their hearts. Will it feed us ? will it make us merry ? will it put money in our purses I' Thus many people look upon Sunday as a day that is almost wasted, as so much lost time, because they cannot spend it as they would, in the service of Ashtaroth, the abomination of the Sidonians, in a wild huntsman's chase after the pleasures of the flesh, or in the service of Mammon, in slavish drudgery for the sake of heaping up a pile of riches. Many would much rather spend the hours, which they are called upon to spend in the house of God, in business, in some frivolous amusement, in gossiping with some idle acquaintance, or in gratifying some sinful desire. Many think that the know- ledge of Christ is loss, because it checks and awes them in pampering their unbridled appetites. Of such persons however, my brethren, I trust that among you there are not many. I would fain hope that there may not be one p 2 212 LOSS AND GAIN. such among- you. If there be such a man in this congre- gation, I pray that God may mercifully wake and rouse him out of his deadly delusion, a delusion which turns this world into a ghastly shadow of hell. But there is another state of mind far commoner, at least among those who attend the worship of God in church, — a state of mind in which people are not desperate enough to give themselves up wholly to the world, and yet have not the resolution to give themselves up wholly to Christ, but would fain keep well with both, would fain have a large share in the good things of this world, and at the same time are not without a hankering after the good things of heaven. This, alas ! is the character of a large body of those who call themselves Christians. They cannot bring themselves to count all things loss, when com- pared with the excellence of the knowledge of Christ : nor do they count the knowledge of Christ loss. They believe, and readily declare, that the knowledge of Christ, accord- ing to the meaning which they attach to that expression, is a very good thing: and they are quite certain, — their senses, their passions, their carnal heart assure them, — that the good things of this world are good things. So at one time they do as Christ commands them, at another as the world bids or tempts them. Christ however is our rightful King ; and a King cannot be served except with undivided allegiance. Every act which is against that allegiance, every act by which we tamper with the enemies of our King, is an act of treason : and he who has taken a first step in treason, will more readily take a second and a third, than retrace the first. For stepping backward is always difficult, especially if one is mounting a hill. When we are wavering between Christ and the LOSS AND GAIN. 213 world, the world has so many lures, it will be daily twining some fresh wire round our hearts, while Christ's hold upon them will be growing slacker and weaker ; until at length the excellence of the knowledge of Christ fades entirely away from our thoughts, and hardly ever rises up before them. What however is this knowledge, which St Paul de- clares to be so excellent, that all other things are but loss in comparison 1 It is the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. He does not say, as we might, speaking generally, without immediate reference to ourselves, the hnoivledge of Christ Jesus our Lord: his expression is, the hnoiv- ledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. It is only this knowledge of Christ, by which we are enabled to perceive and feel His immediate relation to ourselves, — it is only a knowledge, which enables a man to feel, Christ is my Lord^ my Saviour, my Anointed King. — that is so precious as to turn all other things into loss. So long as a person merely looks upon Christ as the Saviour and Lord of the world, he may deem the knowledge of Christ too excellent for him, and may turn away from it to some other knowledge, which, he may fancy, concerns him more closely. But when he has once attained to a full, living conviction that Jesus Christ, the Onlybegotten of the Father, died for him, and rose again for him, — even for him, mean and utterly unworthy as he feels himself to be, — then this knowledge does indeed shine upon his heart and soul with such an overpowering- light, that all other lights grow dim and are lost in it. Even in its general form, the knowledge of Christ, if it be indeed an acknowledgement of Him as the Saviour and Lord of the world, is precious, most precious. It is pre- cious, most precious, though we were to look no further 214 LOSS AND GAIN. than the things of this world, though we look no further than to what this knowledge has effected in loosening the hold of sin on men's souls, and in leading and guiding them in the paths of virtue. Notwithstanding all the hindrances it has met with from the sinful frailty of man, — notwithstanding all the obstacles which have been thrown in its way by the craft and subtilty of the devil, — it has made this world an incomparably happier place, than it was when Christ came to give light to such as were sit- ting in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide their feet into the paths of peace. It has purged the world from a number of idolatrous and cruel superstitions. It has taught us the duty of forgiving our enemies, the duty of loving our neighbours. It has taught us the duty of teaching and providing for the poor.^ Before the coming of Christ, the lot of the poor was never taken into account by the lords and rulers of mankind. They were mere drudges and slaves, and no more regarded than the beasts of the field. Christ first taught the rich and powerful that the poor were their brethren. Jesus Christ was the first person who came to preach any good tidings to the poor. The patience, the meekness, the forbearance, the mercy, the lovingkindness, the active, unwearied bene- ficence, which have often been manifested by the true disciples of Christ, are things altogether without example among the rest of mankind. Now, if the knowledge of Christ has been thus precious, if it has wrought all this good in the world, in despite of the manifold lets and grievous obstacles it has had to encounter, how precious must it be in itself! — I am still speaking only with reference to this present life : — how precious would it have been, how precious would it be now, LOSS AND GAIN. 215 if it were allowed to manifest itself in all its heart-healing power ! Look at the picture of what it would effect, as that picture may be seen here and there in a truly Chris- tian household, — that is, in a household the members of which endeavour to fashion their thoughts and their ac- tions after the rule of the Gospel. What order is there in such a household ! what peace ! what gentleness in all their dealings with one another, each preferring the other ! what patient industry ! what contentment and thank- fulness ! what resignation under affliction ! what love ! Evilspeaking is not heard in such a house ; intemperance of every kind is a stranger to it. There is no jealousy in it, no strife of tongues, no fretfulness, no grumbling or repining. All its members are truly as it were members of one body, moving and acting together without any jar- ring, going, as the phrase is, by clockwork ; the eye of the master guiding the hand of the servant, and the hand of the servant moving according to the eye of the master, while each leg strengthens and steadies and upholds the other, even as it behoves every man to strengthen and steady and uphold his neighbour. Such, so great, so full of blessings is the excellence of the knowledge of Christ, even with regard to this present life. On the other hand, with reference to our life in the world to come, it is everything. All that we know of that life is through Christ. He, and He alone, has brought immor- tality to light. Nay, He not only brought it to light ; but it was His own bountiful gift. For, were it not for the sacrifice of Christ, all men would be concluded, as under sin, so under sin's natural and certain offspring, death. The sentence of death had gone forth against all mankind : In the day that thou siimest, thou shalt die. This is the 216 LOSS AND GAIN. awful sentence written by God in the beginning on the front of sin, to scare men away from it. Yet under that sentence all men fell. In that all sinned, all became sub- ject to death, to immediate, sure, everlasting death. Only because the eternal Son of God vouchsafed to suffer death in the stead of all mankind, He whose death far outweighed the deaths of millions of millions, was the sentence which condemned all mankind to death canceled and recalled. Nor is this all. Not only has Christ overthrown the domi- nion of Death, against which no man before had been able to contend ; not only has He thrown open the gates of immortal life for all who believe in Him; but He is Himself the Way and the Gate, through which alone can any one enter into that life : and, as He calls us to enter into it, so does He enable us to do so. He is ever striving with us, that we may not reject the gracious boon which He holds out to us : He sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts, that we may have the will and the power to accept it : and He is still ever making intercession for us before the throne of His Heavenly Father. This then is the way in which the knowledge of Christ turns all other things into loss. So long as we knew nothing of the life after death, the good things of this world were precious. They were the best things we knew of. This is St PauPs argument: If the dead rise not, then, in that case, let us eat and drink, let us take our fill of the plea- sures of this world ; for tomorrow ice die. In that case the good things of this world would be a gain. When Solomon was the wisest among the sons of men, the queen of Sheba did wisely in coming frc'm the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But if He who was greater than Solomon, had been living in the days LOSS AND GAIN. 217 of Solomon, in that case her journey to hear the wisdom of Solomon would have been a loss. It would have been a loss, a waste of that time, which might have been em- ployed so much more profitably in a journey to hear the wisdom of Christ. Yet the wisdom of Solomon was true wisdom, even when viewed in the light, and tried by the test of the Gospel. Whereas the good things of this world, when viewed in the light of the Gospel, cease to be truly good things, and are found out to be some of them threadbare, others full of holes and flaws, others soiled with all manner of filth, others plaguesmitten and carrying the taint of a burning, devouring disease. The cup which Christ holds out to you, is the cup of everlasting life. The cup which the world holds out to you, is the cup of ever- lasting death. Therefore it is loss, nothing but loss, the greatest of all losses, even though the cup itself may glitter with gold and precious stones, and though the wine in it may be sweet and luscious to the taste. My brethren, all things else are declared by the Apostle to be loss, when compared with the excellence of the know- ledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. So, if you could try them all, one after the other, and then at last were allowed to taste that excellent knowledge of Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you would find that they all had been ; even as, when an overpowering love takes possession of the heart, the things which were pleasing before become wearisome and irksome, if they keep us away from the object of our love. It is not one thing merely that is loss, or another thing, but all things. It is not merely open sin, what the world brands with that name, the barefaced violation of God's command- ments, murder, adultery, theft, swearing, lying, blasphem- ing. These things are indeed loss, deadly loss, for they 218 LOSS AND GAIN. drag the soul down to hell. But even those things which the world holds to be innocent and praiseworthy, — the pleasures which we find in intercourse with our neighbours, labouring in our calling, wealth, honour, learning, — all these are loss, when set against the excellence of the know- ledge of Christ, valuable as they may be when united to that knowledge, and kept in their due place under it. Nay, if we look at the passage in St Paul, from which the text is taken, we find that the things which he there declares to be loss, are the very things which, before he attained to the knowledge of Christ, he esteemed to be the most precious, and which were so truly, — righteousness ac- cording to the Law, and the A^arious things which constitute that righteousness. This righteousness, before Christ came into the world, was the most precious thing in the world : and could it ever have been true and perfect, it would have been precious, not only in the sight of man, but of God. Seeing however that it never had been perfect, — seeing that from the frailty of human nature it never could be otherwise than very imperfect, — seeing that the pursuit of it led men to magnify themselves, and drew them away from Him who could alone give them what they were seeking, a righteousness acceptable in the sight of God, — this too is declared by the Apostle to be loss. So too is it still loss, when men strive after moral excellence by fol- lowing the laws of their own reason, instead of seeking that excellence, in the only way in which we can really attain to it, by a living communion with the Spirit of Christ. For this is the only way to real moral excellence. All other ways lead us afar from it. For all other ways lead us to exalt ourselves, to glorify our own understand- ing, to magnify our own will : and here also it holds as LOSS AND GAIN. S19 a neverfailing truth, that he who exalts himself shall be abased. All other things are loss in comparison with the excel- lence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. Until we have tasted of that knowledge, we cannot be aware how all other things are loss in comparison ; any more than a man, who had never seen the daylight, could be aware what a loss he had suflfered by spending his life in a dark cavern. Thus much however we are sure to find out, even from the trial of outward things, without knowing of anything better, — that they are unsatisfying, that they do not come up to our wishes, that they fall far short of our thoughts. This we find out early. As we gi'ow in years and in wisdom, we find it out more and more ; until at length we are brought to the conviction, that all things are vanity : — and what is this but, in other words, that they are all loss ? — vanity in comparison with any true, satisfying reality, loss in comparison with any true, lasting gain. Thus much we are taught by experience and observation and reflexion, even in this life : and the time will come, when the conviction that all things are loss in comparison with the excellence of the knowledge of Christ, will be graven in letters of fire on our souls. For nothing that this world can afford us, nothing that we can make for ourselves out of this world, will ever bear us up to heaven : and if we do not rise up to heaven at the last day, what will become of us ? when the earth, and all that it was to us, and all that we trusted to in it, sinks from under us, and the wings of our own spirits droop and fail from the wear of life, and the soil of sin, and the hopelessness of a baffled heart. Then, when the earth shall have past away, there will be only two places, heaven and hell ; and he who is 2^0 LOSS AND GAIN. not In the one, must be in the other. This is the meaning of our Lord's declaration : He wlio is not /or us, is against us. He who is not with God, must be afar from God : and nobody can be with God, except those who love God. Indeed this is to be with God, to love Him. The more you love God, the more you will be with Him, the nearer you will be to Him : and when you love God, when you are with God, you must surely see and feel that every- thing which has drawn or kept you away from God, how- ever pleasant or valuable it may have seemed at the time, has been pure loss, — yea, that everything has been loss, except that which has brought you near to God, and led you into His presence, — your knowledge of that Mediator through whom you have been enabled to draw near to God, and your faith in His reconciling atonement. He on the other hand, Avho cannot and will not bring himself to count all other things loss in comparison with the excellence of the knowledge of Christ, — he who desires to stand fair with God,- and yet cannot consent to relin- quish the good things of this world, — he who would drive a bargain with God, and give Him just so much or so much of his heart, — he who would shift to and fro between the temple of God and that of Mammon, now coming with slow pace and mortified look to the former, and anon rushing to offer his vows with eager zeal in the latter . . . you know the old saying, my brethren, concerning those who are aiming at two ends. Only the fall in this case will be into the bottomless pit ; where the evil spirits will burst into a laugh of scorn at him, who deemed that he might employ them as his servants, to feed his pas- sions, and that yet he should escape their clutches, by clinging with one hand to the horns of the altar, while his LOSS AND GAIN. 221 heart was far off in the midst of his idols. In days of yore there was a certain class of people, who wore a parti- coloured dress. And who, do you suppose, were they ? The clowns and fools. This is an emhlem of what we find in life. They who have particoloured sonls, who would wear God's livery on one sleeve, and the deviPs livery on the other, who would stick a few patches of godliness here and there on a ground of worldlymindedness . . . what name do they deserve except the scriptural one of fools? And how dismally common are they ! all who fancy that there is use and value in a makehelieve religion, that, if their souls are made up, like the week, of one holy day and six worldly ones, they shall pass muster. These persons seem to think that the worship which God requires is no more than the act of the body ; or at least they act as if they thought so. But is it their body, such as it is now, that they would wish to go to heaven, without their heart and soul ? While their body is sitting in church, their hearts and souls are often wandering far off, prowling after prey in some of the waste places of the world. Would they be contented then, that in like manner their heart and soul should be cast into hell, provided their body could squeeze into heaven ? It is not our earthly body, our flesh and blood and bones, our arms and legs, that are to rise again : it is our souls. Now, if the soul has never worshipt God, can any one believe that God will receive that soul into His presence, and glorify it for ever therewith, because the body, to which it was once united, would now and then chant his praises with its lips, or fall on its knees before Him. O no, dear brethren ! let none of you deceive himself with these miserable lies. You cannot deceive God with them : deceive not your own selves. At the 222 LOSS AND GAIN. last day we shall all find out, — if we have not found it out before, — that the only wise persons, the only persons who have known the real value of things, who have known what true gain is and true loss, are those who have counted all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. Their gain will then shine forth in surpassing glory ; while those who have gained the whole world by the loss of their own soul, will be taught, when too late, that their seeming gain has been their unutterable loss. This, I said at the beginning, was the reason why St Paul was so full of joy, when he wrote his Epistle to the Philippians, — because he had thoroughly learnt this great lesson, to count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. Such too has been the case ever since. So has it always been with those who have indeed learnt to love God with all their heart and soul and mind. So has it been with those who have learnt to count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. They, and they alone, have tasted the joys of heaven, even while they have been abiding here on earth. They have tasted a joy which nothing could quench, a joy which rose over pain and trouble and suffer- ing of every kind and degree, and which has seemed at times to bear the spirit aloft out of its sufferings to the very gates of heaven. The loss of that, which they had learnt to count loss, could not disturb them. , An example, and a remarkable one of this, has been seen for some years in our parish, in the life of that godly woman, over whose remains I said, a few days since, with the full assurance of hope, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord ; for they rest from their labours. Few persons have had a greater LOSS AND GAIN. portion to bear of the sufferings that flesh is heir to. Her pains were often so intense, it seemed scarcely possible for life to hold out against them. Yet she always found peace amid her fiercest agonies from her faith in her Saviour. Of her it might truly be said, that, though sorrowful, she was always rejoicing. She was a witness to all who saw or heard of her, of the power and excellence of that living knowledge of Christ, of that living faith in Him, which could thus soothe and pour balm over the most terrible mortal agonies. Think then what must be the blessed power, what must be the excellence of that knowledge, when faith is swallowed up in sight, and when the spirit, delivered from its house of mortality, is received into the city where there are no more tears, no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain, and where it is allowed to dwell for ever in the presence of its God and Saviour. Almighty God, who in the front of Thy holy command- ments hast declared that thou art the Lord our God, and that Thou wilt not that we should have any other gods but Thee, purify our hearts, we beseech Thee, from all idolatries of the flesh, and of the things of this world. Enlighten us with Thy Spirit, to understand that whatso- ever would lure us away from Thee, is death, and leads to death, and that nothing has any true life in it, except that wherein Thou livest. Although the corruption of our nature drags down our souls, and would make them cleave to the dust, lift them up, Lord God, lift them up to Thyself, and to that excellent knowledge of Thee which Thy Son Jesus Christ has revealed, purging our eyes from the film wherewith our sinful lusts have overclouded them. 224 LOSS AND GAIN. SO that we may perceive and feel how all things without Him are loss and vanity and weariness and woe. These and all other mercies we implore in the name and for the sake of Him, who has brought us that excellent, saving knowledge, Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. SERMON XII. THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. Matthew xir. 30. He that is not with Me is against Me ; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad. These are awful words to sound in the ears of all nominal, worldly-minded Christians. For do they not declare that such Christians are no Christians at all ? They may call themselves Christians. They may even think themselves Christians. But the text tells them, as plainly as words can speak, Your Christian profession is a mere mochery. The 'pledge which teas given at your haptistn, you are daily treading under foot. The cross, which was then signed upon your forehead, has only markt you among the herd of those by whom the Lord of life was crucified. Your outward services, whatever they may he, are just so much stubble and chaff, of no use except to light up a momentary blaze in the fires of hell. You are not with Me. You have not laboured in gathering with Me, in gathering jewels for My everlasting crown, in gathering souls for the treasury of Heaven. Therefore you can have no part in Me ; you are none of Mine ; you are against Me. You are casting away My offers ; you shut your ears to My entreaties; you thwart My purposes : you do all that in you lies to render My sufferings of no avail. Miserable men, think with whom you must be, if you are against the Son of the living God. Such are the echoes, which, one VOL. II. Q 226 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. might fancy, would roll through the heart of the nominal Christian, when he hears the voice of the Lord crying. He that is not with 3Ie is against Me ; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad. These words draw a broad line of separation through every nation and people that has been called to the know- ledge of the Gospel, separating the sheep from the goats, and giving us the signs and tokens whereby we are to know them. They tell us, who are with Christ, and who are against Him. For seeing that Christ has such a great work to accomplish, the very work for the sake of which He came down from heaven, and put on the nature of man, and which has been going on ever since in the power of His Spirit under His guardian care, — the work of building up His Church, of laying its foundations so broad that all mankind may be gathered into it, and of raising its walls so high, that its top shall reach to Heaven, where His Cross shall stand exalted everlastingly over its top- most pinnacle, — seeing moreover that this work as yet is only begun, or at all events is still very far from its completion, — seeing too that Christ must needs be very desirous that the work, for the sake of which He has done and suffered so much, should go on speedily and prosperously, — all who are with Christ cannot but be zealous and diligent in furthering the accomplishment of this His great work. This they will endeavour to do in two ways, both by preparing and fitting their own souls, so far as they can, for being built into Christ's Church, and also by bringing the souls of others to Him, and pre- paring them for the same purpose. Some will try to cleanse and scrape the bricks, which have already been built into the buildings of this world, — some to bake new THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. 227 bricks, by training up children in the ways of godliness ; some will go forth to the seaside, and j^ick up the stones which may have been cast up there by the waters. They on the other hand, who are not with Christ, who do not gather with Him, who are not working in His service, at the building up of His Church, either in their own souls, or in the souls of their neighbours, — all they who do not take some part or other, according to their abilities, in Chrisfs great work, — are against Christ, and scatter abroad. But, being against Christ, they are with His enemy, who cannot bear anything so united and orderly as a building. His souls are the rubbish of the earth. Their task is to heap up rubbish, on themselves, and on others ; and, like rubbish, they and their works will be cast away and consumed. This is the plain and natural meaning of the words. He that is not with 3Ie, is against Me ; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad. But they may also be understood in another sense, in which they are no less true. They not only mark the vast difference between one class of oaen and another, but also draw the line which separates good from evil in the life and character of the same man : and this is a matter of no small importance in this doublefaced, doublehearted world. For here on earth even those who grow upward the most thrivingly, have also roots which strike downward quite as far : and un- fortunately the roots have a much faster hold than the branches. Indeed the difference between the roots and branches of a tree is no inapt type of the dark and tight bondage in which the servants of sin and of the world are held, and of the glorious liberty which none can enjoy, except such as live and move in the free, heaven-lit q2 2g8 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. atmosphere of the Gospel. Moreover, so long as we lie in this bondage, we are bare and fonl and joyless ; but, as soon as we rise out of it, we are straightway clothed with fresh leaves and fair flowers. Now, as it is true of every tnan living, — yes, my brethren, it is true most assuredly of every one of us also, — that, if we are not with Christ, we are against Him, — so is it likewise true of everything in man, and of everything belonging to man, that, if it is not with Christ, it is against Him, and that, if it does not gather with Him, it scattereth abroad. It is true of all we do, of all we say, of all we feel, of all we think. If our deeds are not with Christ, they are against Him : if our words are not with Christ, they are against Him : if our feelings are not with Christ, they are against Him : if our thoughts are not with Christ, they are against Him. One and all, if they do not gather with Him, they scatter. I do not mean by this, that we are never to do anything, except such acts as belong to the outward offices of religious worship, — nor, that we are never to open our lips, except in prayer, — nor, that we are to stifle and deaden all feelings, except such as look straight upward to Christ, — nor, that we are never to think of any person or thing, except Christ. This would be utterly impossible, at least in this world, where we are set to live, not solely with Christ, and for Christ, but likewise with and for one another. In the next life Christ, and God in Christ, will be All in all. But for the present God vouchsafes only to desire that He be in all, in all our deeds, and in all our words, and in all our feelings, and in all our thoughts. Thus much however He does demand. Would you know why ? One plain, simple reason, so far as relates to ourselves, is, that, unless He is in them, there can be nothing good in them. THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. 229 But how is Christ to be in all our deeds aud words and feelings and thoughts, when we are doing other things, and talking of other things, and feeling toward other things, and thinking about other things? Does this seem to you hard to understand? Go into your garden, and let it teach you this lesson also, along with the many others which a thoughtful observer may draw from it. Look at every flower there. Of what does it speak to you ? what does it shew forth ? The power and glory of the sun. From the rose to the lowly violet, we can hardly look at a flower, without, as it were, seeing a ray of the sun in it. We see that it is the work of the sun, that the sun, shining upon it from heaven, has ripened the juices of the plant, and drawn them out of their hidden cells, and shaped them into some sort of likeness of itself, and dipt them in some one or more of its beautiful colours. This story the flower tells, from the moment when its eye first peeps through the half withdrawn lids, until it drops to the earth. Its Avhole life is a look of grateful love, its breath a thank- ofi'ering of sweet incense. Just so should it be with the life of a Christian. His deeds, his words, his feelings, his very thoughts, should be, as it were, his flowers ; and we should see the light and image of the Sun of Righteousness in them all, even as we see the light, and some sort of image of the visible sun, in every flower that blows. What- ever he does and says and feels and thinks should be attended with an ever- wakeful consciousness that it is done and said and felt and thought before God, in the sight of God, by one who is the servant of God, and the child of God, by one whom duty binds to obey God in everything, and whom love constrains to find his chief happiness in so obeying Him. 230 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. Thus, and thus alone, can the image of God be re- newed in the heart of man. When that image was broken to pieces, and the shattered fragments were lying strewn about, the Son of God, who from all eternity was the Express Image of the Father, came down from heaven to renew it : and the way in which it is to be renewed, is by our fashioning all our members and all our faculties accord- ing to His glorious Pattern, — by bringing them all into subjection to Him, — by trying in all things to do as He did, to speak as He spake, to feel as He felt, to think as He thought, — listening to His gracious invitation, which calls us in all things to work with Him. For, if there be any part of us which is not with Him, it must be against Him. For example, if the body be not with Christ, — if it has not at least been so tamed and broken in, as to obey the reins of the spirit without struggling against them, — if its blood, which is so apt to grow high and restiff, has not been brouo-ht down by temperance and watchful discipline, checking every beginning of evil, — and how seldom is it so brought down ! how much oftener is it pampered in these days by all manner of indulgences ! — the body will be against Christ. Yet, manifest and certain as this is, in few, very few, has the body been rightly subdued. In very few, even among the most earnest and zealous Christians, has it not muttered every now and then and battled against the spirit, and tried to shake off its yoke. In some it will ruffle the spirit by its appetites and lusts, in others trouble the spirit by its weaknesses and infirmities. Some it sours and wearies by pain ; others it drugs and drenches with pleasure ; others again it palsies with sloth and the love of ease. Knowing nothing of Christ, the child and heir of THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. 231 the dust, earthly in its origin, earthly in all its cravings, hanging heavily on the earth, and cleaving so fast thereto, that without some support or other it cannot rise a single yard above the earth, — no wonder that the body is such a clog to the soul, — that it would fain taint the soul with its own earthliness, — that it would bury the soul in earth, and choke it with earth, and stop up all its senses with earth. The body, I say, knows nothing of Christ, and cannot know anything of Him. Therefore the utmost that can be done with the body, is to keep it from being against Christ, to make it the obedient, passive servant of a Christian spirit, moving whithersoever that spirit would lead it, and thus ministering to the purposes of Christ, by lending its aid toward the fulfilment of His will ; even as the hard trunk of a tree, though the sunbeams cannot enter or pierce it, ministers to the purposes of the sun by pouring forth leaves and blossoms at his bidding. With the soul on the other hand, with the heart and the mind and the will, the case is different. They are not merely to become the pas- sive, but the active servants of Christ. They are to be so shaped and trained, as to work for Christ and with Him, to live with Christ and in Him, yea, to find their own life, their rule, their principle, and their motive, in Him, and in Him alone. Indeed this is the right aim and end of our whole education here in our earthly schoolroom, — that we should bring our hearts and minds and wills into such entire subjection to Christ, as to become one with Him, — rising higher and ever higher above the earth, growing purer too and ever purer as we rise, until at length we are lost in Him, as a white cloud melts into the sky. Now with regard to all these powers of our being, — the heart. £82 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. wherewith we feel and love, the mind, wherewith we think and know, and the will, wherewith we purpose and resolve, — I am afraid it cannot be needful for me to stop and shew you, how all and each, if they are not with Christ, are against Him. I am afraid there can be no one here present, whose conscience does not bear manifold witness to the truth of this, — no one, whose conscience does not accuse him, that his heart has often been against Christ, that his mind has often been against Christ, that his will has often been against Christ. Yet why do I say that I am afraid of this ? For if there be such a person here, a person whose conscience does not accuse him of having often been against Christ, such a person assuredly must have been against Christ all his life long; and he must be against Christ at this hour, with no more ears for His preaching than a rock has for the preaching of the waves : and unless God mercifully sends a flash of lightning to startle him out of his cold, heavy sleep, he must be against Christ until the end of time. The only chance there is for any one to be with Christ now, is, if he feels with deep sorrow and shame how often he has been against Him : and few of you, if any, can have reacht such a highth of godliness, as not to have ample reason for feeling with sorrow and shame how often you are still against Christ even now. For to very few here below is it given to be with Christ wholly, and without ever turning away from Him. You may be with Him in the morning ; and yet, so deplorable is our weakness and inconsistency, before night you may have been more than once against Him. You may have let your soul be sullied by the breath of more than one worldly and sinful feeling, of more than one vain and un- THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. 233 holy thought. The commoner case however, even among persons calling themselves Christians, is that of those who are never truly with Christ at all. What then is the state of such persons? Our LorcFs words are so plain, there can be no hesitating about them : all such persons are against Christ. Even among professing Christians, among Christians who come to church, a large number know very little more about Christ than His name. Can these be said to be with Him, — to be with Him as a servant with his master, as a child with his father ? An utter stranger might know as much of Him as they do. And how is it with you, my brethren I Even among you, I much fear, there may be some, — would God they were very few, or rather none! — whose hearts and minds have not been truly with Christ for a single moment since they entered these walls. If so, they must have been against Christ all the while. Even in His own house, in the house where He is especially present, with His words sounding in their ears, they must have been against Him ; they must have been with His enemies, and so against Him. These, I would hope, cannot have been many. There is too much ground however to fear that there may be many amongst you, — many in proportion to the whole number, — whose hearts and minds, since they came into church, though they may have caught a gleam of light now and then, have been more than half the time in darkness, — whose hearts and minds, though their bodies were sitting here, have been wandering more than half the time far away. But if you have been wandering far away from Christ, from His house, from His presence, from the sound of His word, your own sense will tell you that, while you were so, you cannot have been with Him. Where then were you ? The 234 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. terrible words must again be repeated : if you were not with Him, you were against Him. Nay, at this very moment that now is, while I am ringing these words in your ears, while I am trying to stir your souls with these questions, while I am warning you again and again, that, if you are not with Christ, you must be against Him, — even at this one little pinpoint of time, are you all with Christ ? Are your hearts with Him ? are your thoughts with Him ? are you striving to think of Him ? striving to love Him ? How many of you are so striving ? How many are there amongst you, whose thoughts at this moment are far away from this church, and from its Lord now present in the midst of us I How many of you are thinking at this moment about yesterday, or about tomorrow ? about your households, or about your neighbours ? about some one of the world's vile cares, or of its still viler pleasures, that you have in view ? Supposing that the messenger of the Lord were to come down into this church with a thunderbolt in his hand, and were to declare that it was the Lord's purpose to destroy this church and all who are in it, might I dare to entreat the Lord, and say, Lord, peradve^iture there may he fifty found amongst us, luJiose hearts and minds are with Thee at this moment. Wilt Thou destroy this church at a moment when there are fifty persons in it trying to worship Thee in sincerity of heart ? Might I say. Per adventure there are forty persons in it trying sincerely to worship Thee 9 or thirty ? or twenty 9 or ten ? If the Lord in His mercy were to say that He would not destroy us for ten's sake, what would happen ? would He destroy us, or no ? Judge, brethren, — judge, not your neighbours, but yourselves ; ask yourselves, each one of you, — supposing that the angel of THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. 235 the Lord were to say, that the Lord would spare this church, and all who are now assembled in it, if, among the whole number, so many as ten could be found, whose hearts and minds are truly turned to Him at this moment, — ask yourselves, each one of you, could you dare to hope that you for your part would have a place among these ten ? Now what is the cause of this dismal state of things ? How does it come to pass, that, even when we are met together for the purpose of worshiping God, so few of us find it in us to worship Him as we ought to do, with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength? This is not the way you work at the plough, or at your trade, what- ever it may be. Then your thoughts are about your work; you are desirous to do it well ; you consider how you may make it turn out in the best manner. How then does it come to pass, that, when God, in compassion to our infir- mities, — knowing how we are beset by cares and tempta- tions so long as we are out at sea in the midst of the wide, tossing world, — has set up this His church amongst us, from which the world and its cares and its temptations are shut out, where there is nothing to remind us of the world, and where everything said and done is specially meant to re- mind us of God, and of what we have received from His love, and of what we have to fear from His wrath, and of what we need from His mercy, in order to escape that wrath, — how does it come to pass that, when we enter this holy place, from which the world is thus shut out, we bring in the world, and its teazing cares, and its poisonous temptations, caged and kenneled in our hearts ? and that, instead of listening to the word of God, and its light-giving counsels, and its blessed promises, we choose rather to turn 2S6 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. our ears inward, and listen to the screaming and screech- ing, the whimpering and whining within us ? How does it come to pass, that, when God has, as it were, made a garden of Eden for His people in every parish, — a place from which the curse of labour, with all its troubles and pains, has been taken oiF, — a place where we may talk with God, and where God Himself, in the person of His Only- begotten Son, vouchsafes to talk with us, — a place from which we are not driven away by the flaming sword of the cherubim, but to which we are called by the gracious invi- tation. Come to Me, and I will give you rest, — a place where the Law of God is the Tree of Knowledge, and the Gospel of Christ is the Tree of Life, and where we are exhorted and commanded to eat of both until we are filled, — how is it that, even when we come into this our sacred Eden, we bring in the serpent in our bosom, that we may fondle him and play with him while we are sitting here \ INIany of you, I dare say, have heard of the old fable of the man who nurst a viper in his bosom. You know too what return the viper, when it grew strong, made to him for his kindness. It stung him to death. So does sin deal with those who nurse and play with it : as soon as it grows strong, it stings them to death. But I have to answer the question I was just asking, — how it happens that, even when we are in church, so few keep their hearts and minds steadily fixt on the holy work, which, by the very act of coming to church, they profess to be engaged in. The answer is found in that verse of St Peter : The dog returns to his vomit again, and the soio that has been washt to her icallowing in the mire. When our hearts and souls and minds have been taken up all the week with worldly thoughts, and worldly cares, and worldly THE AWFUL ALTERNA'l'lVE. 237 fears, and worldly wishes, it is impossible for us to get quit of these all at once the moment we enter the walls of a church. Even if we really and heartily wish to get rid of them, we cannot. They will start up within us ever and anon, without our calling for them, and even in our despite. We keep our heads bent groundward all the week, like those of the four-footed beasts, as if the only purpose of our eyes and mouths were to look for food and to devour it ; and so it becomes impossible for us to lift them up, with- out bringing on a pain in our necks, which soon makes us hang them down again. Thus we go on from Monday morning to Saturday night grinding in the world's great mill. We do so week after week : and that which is the story of every week now, is also the story of the whole of our past lives. As soon as a child can walk, it is harnest to the mill of the world, and driven round in that mill along the same bare, barren track where all its after years are to be .spent, that track which the dew of heaven is never allowed to moisten, near which no flower can blow, on which no blade of grass can spring up. The child in its mother's arms is husht with songs of the world and its vanities. These are its lullabies, on purpose, it might seem, to drive away its angel, and hinder him from fanning its newborn spirit with his wings. When the boy or girl grows up, worldly tales are told them, to stir up their indolence and carelessness, — worldly prizes are set before them, as the one great object to strive after, — worldly shame and punishments are made use of, as the most powerful means of keeping them from doing wrong. In truth many parents may almost be said to put out their children to be nurst by the devil. The second act too is like the first ; the third is of the same 238 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. kind as the two former. In that class which comprises the great bulk of mankind, the one lesson dinned into the ears of every boy, by father and mother, by brothers and sisters, by uncles and aunts, by cousins and friends, is, that the chief business of life is to get enough to eat and drink, and the chief purpose of life to eat and drink what has been got. This, the lesson of the belly, is imprest upon all, daily and hourly, both by precept and by ex- ample. Among the richer, the lesson is indeed drest out in finer and bigger words ; but it comes to the same thing in the end. We are of the earth : we are to scrape together as much as we can of the good things of the earth : we are to get such a firm footing on the earth, that nothing upon earth shall be able to shake us. In striving to make that footing fast, we stamp till we sink in. JVo matter ! ice shall only stand the safer. Every year we sink deeper and deeper, and deem ourselves more and more secure ; until at length, just as we are exclaiming, Noio we are quite safe, and no i^ower can ever unsettle us, we sink a little lower, and the earth closes over our heads. How then can it be imagined that they, who have thus been away from Christ all the week, and who therefore have been against Him, can turn round suddenly and change their service and their master on a Sunday? When the world, and its cares, and its pleasures, have got such fast hold on our hearts, and have twined round every feel- ing, and have crept into every hole and corner, how can we expect that they will loosen their hold all at once and drop off, the moment we cross the threshold of a church ? How can a holy thought continue pure, if it chances to drop into the midst of so many abominations ? You might as well throw a lily into a pigstye, and think that it will keep its THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. 239 white beauty there. Even if we heartily wisht to cast off the bondage of the world, we should have no strength to do so. But we are in a still worse plight. We have not even strength to wish it. Nay, if God in His mercy brings us out of our bondage, we soon grow faint, and cry, Let us go hack into Egypt. To wliat purpose are we come out from thence^ except to die of hunger and thirst ? I read the other day of an eagle that was chained to a rock near an old castle. A poet, who saw him, pitied the once noble bird, lamenting that he had thus been deprived of " his power, his beauty, and his majesty,""* and could no longer rise, like the last eagle that he had seen, " to draw light from the fountain of the setting sun." Well ! a storm came, and set the poor eagle free. Now what, think you, became of him ? What use did he make of his recovered freedom ? Did he " resume his power, his beauty, and his majesty," and mount, as eagles are Avont, into the upper air, " to draw light from the fountain of the setting sun ? " Alas ! no. As soon as he had been set free, instead of flying back to the haunts of his youth, and the scenes of his glory, he " sped into the castle-dungeon's darkest mew ; " and so he was caught, and kenneled and chained up again. Now this poor eagle, my brethren, — doubtless you all pity him, — but can you not also see in what he is a type of your- selves I Yes, assuredly, this poor eagle is an example of what happens every day among mankind. Only our story is still sadder, our end still more woebegone. We too were set upon the earth, not to cleave to it like the ox and the ass, nor to burrow in it like the mole, but to soar above it like the eagle, and " draw light from the fountain of the setting sun."" Yet sin, worldly-mindedness has chained us to the earth, and stript us of " our power, our beauty, and 240 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. our majesty : " and even when God has sent His angel to set us free, we still linger about the place of our captivity ; when He brings us forth from it, we hasten back into our dungeon's darkest mew. Instead of weeping by the waters of Babylon, while our hearts are yearning at the remem- brance of Zion, we refuse the waters of Siloah that go softly, and, even when sitting beside them, long to rush back to our revelings and debaucheries on the banks of that great river, the river Euphrates. I have been speaking to you of the dismal condition of those who, not being with Christ, are against Him. Our deceitful hearts would fain beguile us into believing, that, if we are not against Christ, that is, openly and avowedly, — if we do not deny Him, and blaspheme Him, and resist Him, — we are with Him. But this is not so, brethren. It is true, our Lord on another occasion used these words, which at first sight may seem to open a much wider gate for nominal Christians. But when our Lord said. He that is not against us is for us, He was not speaking of persons who merely put on the outward form of religion : He was speaking with reference to a man, who, though he had not joined the body of His disciples, was casting out devils in His name, and thereby was shewing a confident belief in the power of that name, and was making use of it for purposes of healing. Thus He was speaking of one, who, though he did not walk outwardly along with the followers of Christ, was with them in heart and purpose. To all such persons these words of our Lord, He that is not against us is for us, are a most gracious assurance that, if they do sincerely desire to serve Him, He will overlook such errours and deficiencies as may arise from their situation and circumstances. But no indulgence is promist in these THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. 241 words to those who have been brought outwardly to the knowledge of Christ, and of His redeeming grace, and who yet continue ahens from Him in heart and will. Such persons come under the terrible sentence of the text : He that is not with Me, is against Me. We have been considering how this manifests itself even in the house of God, in the heartlessness and thought- lessness which taint our very devotions, and turn what ought to be the pure flame of the thank-offerings of the heart, into a thick smouldering smoke, that curls in masses around us, and keeps out the light of heaven. We have also been considering what is the cause of this heartlessness and thoughtlessness, how it comes to pass that so many are thus utterly unable to love God and the things of God, to think about God and the things of God, when they are in church ; and we have seen that it is because they never think about God and the things of God, never love God and the things of God, when they are out of church. Thus is that dismal curse fulfilled in them : From him ivho hath not is taken away even what he hath. But when we know an evil, and its cause, the next question is, What is the remedy % Now here, it is plain, there can be no truly effectual remedy, unless at the same time we get rid of that evil habit which is the cause of the disease. We must do our best that we may have ; we must make the most of whatever is given to us ; and then, according to the promise, to us will be given, and we shall have more ahmi- danily. We must endeavour to make God, and the things of God, the objects of our daily thoughts, of our daily affections ; and then we shall be enabled to feel more and more clearly what a rich blessing is vouchsafed to us in the special presence of God amid the congregation of His VOL. 11. R 242 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. people. For, even if we could suppose it possible for a person to get into heaven, with his heart full of the feelings, and his mind full of the thoughts of hell, heaven would be no heaven for him : he would turn it into a hell for himself. It is idle to try to keep out bad thoughts and feelings, unless you do more. For our hearts will not lie fallow, and continue clean : if they are left so, now that they are under the curse, the evil that is in them will sprout up; and they too, like the earth, will bring forth a plenteous crop of weeds. Therefore, if you wish to keep out worldly and sinful thoughts, you must try to fill your minds with thoughts of righteousness and of God. Does any one fancy that then we should have few things to think about? At first it may seem that they would be but few, scarcely more than the five loaves wherewith Jesus fed the mul- titude ; but if we receive them from His blessed hands, there will be enough to feed the nations ; and a store for after-ages will be left behind. Think of those grand words in which St Paul speaks of the rich treasures of thought vouchsafed to the Christian : Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, wliatsoever things are of good report, — if there he any virtue, and if there he any praise, — think on these things. Here is a glorious and boundless inheritance of thought, which God is pleased to bestow on all such as will bring their minds to learn wisdom in the school of Christ, an inheritance which it would take an eternity to get to the end of, — nay rather, which will go on increasing and enlarging for eter- nity. Many of you must be aware that, if we look up at the sky with a glass, called a telescope, we see a number THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. 243 of stars, which are unseen by the naked eye : and the better our starglass is, the more stars do we see, the more they thicken and multiply. Just so is it with those worlds of thought, which lie in the wisdom of God. The more we gaze at them, the more is our mindsight improved to discern them, and the more worlds of thought do we dis- cover, world beyond world, and world beyond world, — a fresh one, and again a fresh one ever starting forth into view. In this way are we to endeavour that we may always be with Christ, and so never against Him. We are to shun and flee from all those thoughts which would lure us away from Him, whether they be thoughts which would beguile us with the lusts of the flesh, or with the lusts of the eye, or with the pride of life. On the other hand, we are to feed and nourish and strengthen our hearts and minds with the thought of whatsoever is true, of whatso- ever is honest, of whatsoever is just, of whatsoever is pure, of whatsoever is lovely, of whatsoever is of good report, of all virtue, and of all praise. We are to think on these things as they exist in the Eternal Mind and Will of the Father. We are to think on them more especially as made manifest in the life of His Incarnate Son, who is Himself the Fulness of all Truth, and of all Righteousness, and of all Purity, and of all Loveliness, and of all Glory. Above all are we to think on these things as shewn forth on His Cross, when even His mortal, if I may dare so to speak, put on immortality, and His corruptible put on incorruption, and when it was made plain to earthly eyes that in Him the Manhood was indeed taken up into God. Thus, even while we are here, nestling under the wings of Time, may we look out into the deep mysteries of Eternity ; R 2 244 THE AWFUL ALTERNATIVE. and thus in a spiritual sense may we too " draw light from the fountain of the setting snn." Almighty God, who, when by following the lusts of our nature we were all against Thee, didst send Thine Only- begotten Son to bring us back to Thee, and who in Thine infinite bounty hast provided us with such a rich treasure of beauty and truth, for the nurture and training up of our hearts and minds, — who hast spread out Thy glory over our heads in the heavens, and Thy wonderworking love in the firmament of the Gospel, — yea, who hast manifested Thine own Self to us in the person of Thy Son, — grant that our hearts and all that is within us may ever glorify Thee for this Thine unimaginable lovingkindness. Teach us to feel the vanity and worthlessness of everything that would draw us away from Thee, the sin that taints it, the death that cleaves to it ; and lift up our hearts, we humbly beseech Thee, enable us to lift them up, so that the King of Glory may come in, and that we may ever abide with Him, who became Man for us, and died for us, and now liveth and reigneth ever, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. SERMON XIII. THE SWORD OF THE GOSPEL. Matthew x. 34. Think not that I came to send peace on earth : I came not to send peace, but a sword. These are strange and awful words, my brethren ; and we can hardly help starting inwardly when they first strike upon our ears. For think, by whom they were spoken. By the Lamb of God ; by the Prince of Peace ; by Him, at whose coming into the world the angels proclaimed Peace on earth ; by Him, whose Gospel, if men followed its biddings, would turn the whole earth into a Paradise of Peace and Love ; by Him, whose disciples are bound, not only to eschew and cast away all enmity and hatred and illwill and violence and strife, but even to love their enemies, to do good to them, and to soften and melt their hearts by heaping kindnesses, as St Paul exhorts us, like coals of fire upon them. Yes ! these words, which sound so fierce, were spoken by our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. He, whose heart was the living temple of Peace, and whose voice was the breath of Love, when He sent out His twelve Apostles to preach the Kingdom of Heaven to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, tells them, in the speech by which He prepares them for this their mission, that they must not be deceived by the notion that He had come to send peace upon earth ; for that He Jiad not come to send peace ^ hut a sword. 246 THE SWORD Now how are we to explain the seeming contradiction between these words, which look so like the words of a Destroyer, and all the rest of our Lord's life, which in the least things, as well as the greatest, was in the highest perfection the life of a Saviour. That it is to be explained, and most satisfactorily, we may be certain. For, though in all the other sons of men we are perpetually meeting with perplexing inconsistencies and contradictions, it is otherwise in Christ Jesus. A raan''s actions and words will very often sort ill together. He will look as though he were patclit up of pieces awkwardly fitted to each other, huddled together from every quarter of the globe. One might fancy the four winds were holding their court in his breast. He will blow hot and cold with a breath. He is all at sixes and sevens. But in Christ Jesus, as He was to be both the Atonement for the world, and the Atoner and Restorer of harmony within it, everything is at one : everything in Him is in perfect harmony. There are no windings or doublings in His path, no swervings to the right or to the left : it is straight and clear as the path of the sun through the heavens. This is one among the many marks betokening a total difference of nature between Jesus of Nazareth and all the other sous of men. For suppose you were to be told of any man, whom you knew to profess the utmost meekness and gentleness as the rule of his life, that on some occasion he had spoken with bitterness and fierceness, what would you say ? You would not tax him, I trust, as many would be prone to do, with hypocrisy. You would not cry out that his meekness and gentleness were all a pretense, and that his real nature, which he had unguardedly suffered to peep out, was just as full of bad feelings as that of other OF THE GOSPEL. 247 men. This would be very uncharitable. The failings of the good do not prove them to be hypocrites. They merely prove that they are men, and that, as such, their better purposes are almost as apt to be nipt and blighted by sudden gusts of passion, as the blossoms of a fruit-tree in spring, when the East wind is scouring over the earth. So that the feelings which such a sight ought to awaken in us, are, compassion for him who has so fallen, shame and contrition for the frailty of our common nature, and a reso- lution to redouble our watchfulness over ourselves, lest we too be in like manner overtaken. That however which bears on our present subject, is, that in a man nobody would be much surprised at hearing of any inconsistency. But when we meet with anything that looks like an incon- sistency in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, we feel sure that this appearance must arise from some mistake or other. For, as one of the Fathers tells us, " while even in the worst men there is always something good, and even in the best men always something bad, God alone is perfect and without sin ; and one Man alone is perfect and Avithout sin, Jesus Christ : because Christ is God." Moreover, as He was without sin, so must He have been without con- tradiction and inconsistency. For, wherever there is con- tradiction, there must be sin, or at least frailty and infirmity. Sin walks in darkness, in a darkness of its own making, and therefore reels to and fro. Godliness walks in light, in a light which God pours upon it ; and therefore it steps straightforward. Sin, like its child Death, tears us limb from limb, and crumbles us to atoms : whereas Godliness is a higher life, the true life, the life of the spirit, and, spreading itself out through the whole man, makes all his members work together, to the 248 THE SWORD perfecting of that image of God, in which we were made, and to which we have been redeemed. With the assurance therefore, that, whatever seeming contradictions may strike us in our Lord's words, there must be some way of looking at them, in which we shall perceive that they are all parts of the one great flower of Truth, as it were leaves of the rose of Sharon, — bearing this assurance in mind, let us try whether we can explain the contradiction which we seem to have found between the words of the text, and the general spirit of our Saviour's life and doctrine. At the same time, in this, as in all like enquiries, we must remember that, if we do not succeed in discovering the harmony and unity we are seeking, the fault must lie with ourselves. The fogs and mists, which rise from our hearts, darken and cut short our sight. Straight and openly outspread as the path of the sun is, if the earth sends up her clouds overhead, we eannot trace the line of it, or make out how he, who but now was in the east, comes anon to be aglow in the west. Pure and lovely and lifegiving as its light is, if it shines through a mist, it may look firy and wrathful : if it shines through a darkened glass, it burns. If the sun shines through a darkened glass it burns. In following out this image, I have lit on the very explanation we were searching after. Thus it often happens, as we see in the convincing force with which our Lord's parables come home to our understandings, that an image or illustration will lead us at once by a kind of short cut to the truth, at which we could not have arrived, without taking a long round, by the regular highroad of argument. We may now discern, why the love of Christ and. the peace of the Gospel wear such a OF THE GOSPEL. 249 different aspect in our text, from that with which we have grown familiar in other passages of the New Tes- tament. They are looking here through the mists sent up by man's earthly and fleshly nature, in which he hides himself so that the pure light cannot beam in upon him. They are shining through the burning-glass of man's vices. It is not that Christ came down from heaven with the wish and purpose of sending a sword upon earth. On the contrary, the Wisdom from above is peaceable : the fruit of the Spirit is peace. You remember how, when Peter drew his sword, and smote off Malchuses ear, our Lord rebuked him, and said, that they who draw the sword^ shall perish with the sword. Assuredly then He, who would not allow His disciples to make use of a sword at a moment of the foulest treason, when reckless violence was dragging Him who knew no sin to the slaughter, cannot have come down from heaven with the purpose of sending a sword upon earth. Nor did He. Nor does He mean to say that this was the purpose of His coming. If we look at the passage, in the midst of which the text stands, we shall see clearly that, though sending a sword upon earth was to be the effect and consequence of our Lord's coming, it was not the purpose for which He came. This is what we ought always to do, when we meet with hard and startling words in the Scriptures. To make out their true meaning, we must try to make out the meaning with which they were first uttered, the meaning which the writer or speaker designed them to convey. It is by neglecting to do this, by picking out a few words, and taking them away from the place of their birth, and then brooding over them, and trying to hatch some sort of meaning out of them, that 250 THE SWORD foolish and rash men have conjured up so many mis- chievous falsehoods out of the Bible. In this manner the verse we are considering has been brought forward as a defense and justification by godless men, who, keeping their wolvish hearts under the sheep''s clothing of the Gospel, have fancied that they might hide their pride and cruelty, by putting on the mask of zeal for God. Many have dared to give out that they were upholding and spreading the faith of Christ, by putting those whom they called misbelievers to the torture, and recklessly shedding their blood, thus impiously setting up the abo- i^jination of desolation in the Temple of the Allmerclful. Those who have deemed It a matter of boast that they were persecuting their brethren for the sake of righteous- ness, have appealed to these words of our Lord's, as authorizing and commanding them to do so. They have said, You see, Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Head and Fountain of all Mercy, tells us in so many words, that He came to send a sword upon earth. What then does it behove us. His followers, to do, hut to obey Him, to do that which He came to do, and to put all His enemies to the sword ? Such was the way in which the false Prophet of Arabia would seem to have understood our Lord''s words : or such at least was the spirit in which he acted. The deceiver, Mahomet, did Indeed come to send a sword upon earth. This was his purpose. This was the manner in which his faith was to be spread. It was to be preacht by the sword. It was to be written on men"'s hearts with the point of the sword. The sword however has no tongue, wherewith to preach the Gospel. Mighty as it may be in the armory of this world, in the armory of the Kingdom of Heaven it is nought. For what is it that the Gospel wants ? Not OF THE GOSPEL. 251 the obedience of the outward man, which is all the sword can compell a man to yield ; but the obedience of the heart, which the sword will rather estrange than win ; nor even the obedience of the heart, except so far as it is to end in the love of the heart, and to spring again with renewed vigour out of that love. This however cannot be bred by the sword. Violence may cut off love, or uproot it, but cannot sow the seeds of it, or foster it. This then, we may feel certain, cannot possibly be our Lord's meaning : and if we turn to the chapter from which the text is taken, we shall see that nothing can be further from it. That chapter contains a speech or charge, in which Jesus, when sending out His disciples to preach the Gospel for the first time by themselves, gives them a number of rules concerning their conduct, and divers warnings with regard to the difficulties and hindrances which they would have to encounter. Such is the pur- port of the whole chapter : and a little attention will convince you, that the sword spoken of in the text is not a sword which Jesus empowers His disciples to make use of in preaching the Kingdom of Heaven, but a sword which. He tells them, will be used by the enemies of the Gospel against them. Behold^ He says to them, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. What then ? Does He send the sheep to fight against the wolves, and to tear them to pieces 2 Contrary to nature as this would be, it is not more entirely contrary to the nature of a sheep to fight against a wolf and to slay it, than it is contrary to the spirit of Christ, and to the spirit of all such as have the spirit of Christ in them, to make use of a sword as the means of bringing or driving His enemies into the fold. You cannot have forgotten the blessed words which follow. 252 THE SWORD Having told them that He sends them fortli as sheep in the midst of wolves, He adds. Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. This was the weapon wherewith they were to defend themselves against the dangers they were going forth to meet ; not with the sword ; not with the claws of the lion, or the talons of the eagle ; but with that which became them and belonged to them as sheep, with the harmlessness of doves. Then He goes on to tell them of the manifold persecutions they will have to undergo, comforting them against the thought of all such evils by the assurance that he toho endureth to the end shall be saved, and pointing their trust to their Heavenly Father, by whom the very hairs of their head were num- bered. Here, lest they should be misled by the opinions of those among the Jews, who, misunderstanding and mis- applying the prophecies, fancied that the reign of the Messiah was to be a time of universal peace upon earth, He warns them not to harbour such false expectations, not to think that He was come to send peace upon earth ; for that He was not come to send peace, but a sword. That is to say, they were not to dream that the immediate effect of their going forth to preach the Kingdom of Heaven would be that all the world would on a sudden be peace- struck, and that all nations would lay down their arms, as though they had been charmed by magic, and would cast away their quarrels and their enmities, and fall to em- bracing one another. The dominion of Sin over the earth was not to be overthrown thus easily. After spreading wider and wider, and striknig root deeper and deeper, for so many thousand years, it had got too fast hold to be pluckt up in a moment. On the contrary they were to reckon for certain that the Prince of this world would put OF THE GOSPEL. 253 forth all his craft and all his might to thwart and crush them. The sinners, whose consciences they were to en- lighten, but who would harden their hearts against the melting warmth of that light, and who would therefore hate the light, because their deeds were dark, and they were determined that they should continue dark, — these hardened, obstinate sinners, who would hate the light, would also hate those who brought the light, those who, by letting it in upon them, made them feel so uneasy, and disturbed the deathsleep of their souls. For the rising of the Sun of Righteousness was not to bring the whole world at once out of darkness into light. Nor was the whole world to be left any longer, as it had been till then, with the exception of one favoured nation, in darkness, only broken here and there by a few dim gleams of twilight. The light was to be divided from the darkness. His fan was in His hand ; and He was to sever the wheat from the chaff. This is one of the points in which the religion of Christ differed from all the bastard religions which have sprung up in various parts of the earth. It reproved the world of sin. It rejected all communion with evil, all fellowship with iniquity. That which went by the name of religion among the Heathens, did nothing of the sort. Their religion did not claim to reign over the hearts of men. So far was it from calling upon man to be pure, it not seldom called upon him to defile himself with impurity, trying to strengthen itself by an alliance with our worst vices, and even setting up lust and bloodthirstiness on a throne in the heavens. Hence the religions of the heathens did not send a sword upon earth, at least not in the sense spoken of by our Lordi although they fostered and pampered the passions 25i< THE SWORD which lead men to use the sword. They did not wnge war against man's vices, and thus did not stir up his vices to come forth and wage war against them. Nor did they quarrel and war against each other. For, when a people believed in many gods, it mattered little how many there were of them : a few more or less made no difference. They could even take in the gods of other countries, to sit along with their own, and to form a sort of United Par- liament. But when a nation has a king, it cannot take in another king, and divide the crown between them. When a people believes in one God, the first commandment must needs be : Thou shalt have no other gods beside that one. And the second will be like to it : Thou shalt not set up and worship any idol of anything in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. The religions of the Heathens were profane : they did not call upon men to be singlehearted : they were, so to say, prostitute religions. Whereas in the religion of Christ, as St Paul tells us, the mystical union between Christ and His Church is set forth by the holy bond of marriage. They who come to Christ, must come to Him forsaking all else, and keep only to Him. Their union must be for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, to honour, and to obey Him, not however until death part them, but until death makes that union perfect and entire, which at best could only be imperfect in this life. The religions of the Heathens were children of this world : or at all events, if, as learned men have supposed, there were remains of an original Revelation in them, these were so faint that one could hardly make them out. The sons of God, seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, had taken wives of all whom they chose. The scantling OF THE GOSPEL. 255 of pure truth had been mixt up with a mass of the false- hoods which dazzle men's eyes : and in the course of ages almost every mark of the nobler blood had been worn out. Accordingly, being children of the world, these religions did not war against their parent. They did not call man to come out from the world: they did not command him to crucify the world : they did not promise him that he should overcome the world. Thus they sent no sword into the world, none in the sense in which our Lord tells us that He came to send a sword into the world. They left the world in what they called peace, in the peace of sloth, in the peace of self-indulgence, in the peace of a stagnant pool, in the peace of rottenness, in the peace of death. But Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might re- deem us from all iniquity/, and purify for Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good worJcs, would not allow His dis- ciples to continue in this false, hollow peace. He would not allow them to abide under this shadow of death. Awake, He cried, i/e that sleep, and arise from the dead. He called them forth from their darkness ; and when He had poured His light into them. He sent them back to their brethren, who were still slumbering beneath that darkness, to arouse them, and to call them too forth from it. This He did, although He foreknew that many of them would be persecuted in all manner of ways, and assailed with violence, and even put to death, by those whom they were striving to save. He sent them forth to do, what He Himself had come down from heaven to do, although He foreknew that the fate of many of them would be like His. He had come down from heaven to deliver flie world, in spite of the devil, and in spite of the world : and He sent them forth also to be His ministers in the same glorious 256 THE SWORD work of delivering the world, in spite of the devil, and in spite of the world. Was it because He did not love them, that He sent them forth to encounter such perils ? O no ! Think not so, brethren. Call to mind the blessed con- solation which He gives them, that their sufferings were to be a high privilege, inasmuch as by those very sufferings they were to be likened to their Master. The disciple, He tells them, is not above Ms blaster, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough /or the disciple thai he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. Surely, brethren, your hearts will answer : Yes, gracious Lord, it is enough. Surely, if we did but love Christ, and feel the greatness and the glory of the work which He came to accomplish, surely we should bless Him that He has vouchsafed to call us to a fellowship in His sufferings. We should acknowledge that herein above all He gave His disciples the glory which His Father had given to Him. So that the words of the text do not mean, as, when lookt at solely by themselves, they might seem to mean, that Jesus Christ came down from heaven in order to set up the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth, after the manner of earthly conquerors, by sending forth His servants sword- in-hand, to make the nations bow their necks beneath His yoke. Nor did He come to enforce obedience to His laws, after the manner of earthly lawgivers, by the axe of the executioner. The sword, of which He speaks in the text, is not a sword which He empowers His disciples to use in enlarging the bounds of His Kingdom, but a sword which, He warns them, will be used by their enemies against them, for the sake of hindering and destroying them. Nor again, when our Lord says that He came to send a sword upon earth, does He mean that this was His purpose in OF THE GOSPEL. 257 coming-, — that He had any wish, that He took any pleasure in seeing men wield the sword, and rush to the battle. This was indeed to be the effect and consequence of His coming, but not His purpose or wish ; any more than a surgeon, who comes to set a broken limb, or to cut out a cancer, wishes or purposes to give pain. But as, when a limb has been broken, or a foul gangrene is preying upon the body, it is impossible to bring back the botly to a sound state without putting it to pain ; and as in such a case the best and truest friend, the most merciful and the kindest is, not he who would allow the disease to go on uncheckt, and to gain ground, for fear of causing pain, — but he who would do everything in his power to overcome the disease, even at the cost of much pain ; so, when man's will was broken, and his understanding palsied, and all the affections of his heart were swollen and festered by sin, Christ mercifully came to heal him, even though the cure could not be accomplisht without much grievous suffering. The God of peace came to bring peace to mankind. This was His purpose : this was His wish : and this wish and purpose He came to accomplish, even though it could not be accomplisht without breaking up every kind of false peace, — even though He foreknew that many, when they heard of His peace, would take up arms against it, evey though He could not bring down peace, except by sending a sword. In this, the plain and primary sense of the text, the sword, which Christ came to send, was not a sword to be wielded for Him and in His behalf, but against Him, — not by His servants, but by His enemies, by the servants and children of the Evil One. It was because mankind were sold, heart and soul, to Sin, — because they were the slaves A^OL. ir. s g58 THE SWORD of Sin, the willing slaves of Sin, the zealous and riotous slaves of Sin, — because they had been fatted and pampered by Sin, and loved the Sin that pampered them, — therefore was it that, when Christ came to deliver them from their bondage, many pined, like the Israelites in the wilderness, after the fleshpots of Egypt, and murmured and rebelled against their Deliverer. That such was indeed the case, that Christ did indeed come to send a sword upon earth, — that the effect of His coming was to stir up the evil pas- sions of those who would not forsake their sins, until in their frenzy they even went so far as to take up the sword against Him, — this we see first and foremost in the life of our blessed Lord Himself. Although His whole life was spent in going about to do good, — although He scattered blessings around whithersoever He went, blessings of every kind and degree, giving sight to the eye as well as to the mind, and health to the body as Well as to the soul, — although the fulness of the Godhead shone forth in Him in this, that all who saw and heard Him, if they did not stubbornly shut their hearts against Him, were the better and the happier, even as the presence of God fills all who behold Him with joy, — still, notwithstanding these num- berless proofs of the tenderest compassion and love, so blinded and maddened were men by the lusts of the world, that even our Saviour Himself found enemies who lifted up the sword against Him. They came out against Him with swords and staves : all His days were embittered by persecution : and His ministry of love scarcely lasted three short years, before the spirit of Evil mounted to such a pitch of hatred, that it laid its impious hands upon Him, and tried in its brutal fury to put out the Light of Love for ever, OF THE GOSPEL. 259 Moreover, as was the life of the Master, such were the lives of His disciples. It was not under the Old Covenant alone, that the holy men of God had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonment, were stoned, were sawn asunder, were slain with the sword. The saints, who had received the promise, were also allowed to glorify God by their sufferings, and by their death. Nor had they long to wait before the war against them broke out. The book of Acts is full of accounts of what they had to undergo from the very first : and the whole outward history of the early ages of Christianity is a history of the struggles made by the world to destroy Christianity, and of the manner in which Christianity by suffering overcame the world. The blood of thousands of martyrs has borne wit- ness, that Christ did indeed come to send a sword upon earth. But do the words of the text apply solely to the past ages of the Church ? Have they no bearing on our times ? Has the sword which Christ came to send, been sheathed long ago for ever? Divers recent events on the Continent of Europe have proved that it has not, and might lead us to think that an age of fierce persecution may be in store for the purifying of the Church. In England indeed, through God's blessing, the Church has been so safely establisht, that generations have past by, since any one has gone forth with the sword to destroy the believers in Christ. Through God'^s blessing we may believe in Christ, and may confess our belief in Him openly, without fear of outward violence, without any chance of our being put to the sword. Still however even in these days the faithful believer in Christ may at times have hard trials to undergo on account of his faith. Though we are no longer s 2 260 THE SWORD called upon to shed our blood for the Pearl of great price ; yet they who have found it may have to shed many bitter tears, before it becomes their own. In all such trials, of whatsoever kind, — and painful some of them may be to our earthly, human feelings, — this should ever be our consolation, that we are thought worthy to suffer for Christ's sake, worthy to be received into the fellowship of His sufferings. There is also another sense however In which, as I have already hinted, our Saviour came to send a sword upon earth. The sword immediately spoken of in the text is the fleshly sword, which was to be lifted up against Him. But why was this sword lifted up against Christ, and against His disciples ? Because He came, and sent His disciples forth, to wage a mighty war, a war against all the powers of evil. This is the war which Christ came to send upon earth, in the place of all other wars, the war of Good against Evil. He would not allow man*'s better feelings and hopes to lie, as they had lain before His coming, downtrodden and crusht by Evil. He came to rouse them to a warfare against Evil ; and for this warfare He put a sword into their hands, a sword however not of man'^s making, a sword not drawn from any earthly ar- mory, not wrought of any earthly metal. His sword, the sword which He gave to His disciples, in order that they might light against Evil, was a sword of a different kind, even the sword of the Spirit, that sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. This, as the Apostle tells us, is quick and powerful, and sharper than any tiooedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and purposes of the heart. In this higher sense OF THE GOSPEL. 261 also did Christ come to send a sword upon earth. He came to arm man with the sword of the Spirit, wherewith he might fight against all the powers of Evil, wherewith too, if he will trust in it wholly and solely, he may overcome them. This war, my brethren, has been going on ever since Christ came down upon earth. This war is waging at this day, at this hour, in all parts of the earth, wherever the sound of the Gospel has been heard. This war is going on at this hour, in this church. Yes, my brethren, it is going on here, now, at this hour, in this church. Do you ask me, what is the seat of it ? Your hearts . . the heart of every one here present. Into the heart of every one here present the sword of the Spirit is now trying to pierce. Into some perhaps it is only just gaining an entrance. In some it is fighting stoutly. As Michael the archangel battled with the devil about the body of Moses, so is the sword of the Spirit now fighting in your hearts and souls against the same enemy, who is striving to drag you down into his own miserable abode. In some, in not a few, I hope and trust, the sword of the Spirit is already triumph- ant, has already overcome your enemy and God's : and so, if you go on fighting with it, and rely wholly upon it, that sword will still continue to triumph. But assuredly there is no one among you all, nor is there any one, nor has there ever been any one in any part of the world, who does not continually need that sword of the Spirit, which Christ came to send upon earth, to help him in his warfare against the Evil One. Thus Christ came to send a sword upon earth, not merely for His own age, and for those by whom His Gospel was to be borne abroad over the earth, but for all 262 THE SWORD ages, and for all persons. Yes, my brethren, for us also did Christ come to send a sword upon earth, — for us, and for every child of man, who ever has been or shall be called to the knowledge and love of God. This is the weapon, and the only weapon, by which the Kingdom of God has been spread . . the sword of the Spirit. Whenever a vic- tory of whatsoever kind has been gained over the powers of Evil, it has been gained by the sword of the Spirit. If any man has ever died to sin, he can only have died to sin by the sword of the Spirit. If any man has died to the world, there is but one way in which he can have died to the world, — by the sword of the Spirit. If there be any man to whom the world is dead, any who has overcome the world, it is only by the sword of the Spirit, — by that sword of the Spirit with which Jesus Himself, when tempted, overcame the tempter, — that the world can be conquered and slain. / came not to send peace upon earth, our Saviour says, but a siDord. The first sword we read of is the flaming sword, which God placed in the East of the garden of Eden, turning every way^ heeding the way of the Tree of Life. This sword was a type of the Law, which in like manner turned every way, and which also kept men afar from the Tree of Life. But, after Christ came down on earth, this sword was no longer to keep man away from the Tree of Life. For He sent another sword over the earth, the sword of the Spirit, the sword of Life : and by this sword man was to deliver himself from the body of death, which was hanging around him, — which kept him away from the Law, and made it a burthen and a terrour to him, — into the freedom of the spirit of Life. If Christ came, not to send peace, but a sword, it is because, so long OF THE GOSPEL. 26S as we continue here on earth, no peace can be lasting. Even between nations no peace is secure, except where a nation is always able and ready to wield the sword defend- ing itself against its enemies. In like manner it is only by holding the sword of the Spirit ever in our hands and in our hearts, that we can drive back our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, whenever they assail us. It is only when we are clothed in the armour of God, that we can enjoy anything like true peace here on earth, or can attain to the eternal peace of heaven. Almighty God, we render thee our hearty thanks, that, when we were lying buried in the deadly sleep of sin. Thou didst not suffer us to sleep on undisturbed, but didst send Thy Son to awaken us, and to sound the warcry of Salva- tion in our ears, in order that, by enlisting under His victorious banner, and by fighting manfully with the sword of the Spirit, we might seek peace where alone it is to be found, and by so seeking might obtain it. Grant, we beseech Thee, that having heard that cry, we may rise up straightway and follow it. May we come forth instantly from the tents of evil. Suffer us not to linger there. May Ave never henceforward hold parley with the enemy ! May we never fall into his snares ! But may we ever approve ourselves faithful soldiers and servants of Him who overcame the world, that He might teach us to over- come it ! Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful God, for the honour of Him who sent the sword of the Spirit upon earth, the Captain of our Salvation, Jesus Christ. SERMON XIV. THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. Matthew x. 34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. In my former sermon on this text, I tried to explain to you that there are two ways in which our Lord Jesus Christ may be said to have come to send a sword upon earth. He came to send a sword upon earth, in that He came to hft up His voice against sin, and to call mankind to forsake sin, to abhor it, and to spurn it from them. Hereby He provoked all those slaves and minions of sin, who loved sin so that they would not forsake it, and who had set up their rest with sin, and taken up their home in it, — had set up their rest where there is no rest, and taken up their home where there is no home, but trouble, and disquiet, and strife, and desolation, and forlornness. The anger of all these was kindled against Him. Sin trembled for its trembling throne, and sent out its armies to war against Him. Hell from beneath was moved to meet Him at His coming. It stirred up all the chief ones of the earth, — it raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations, — to battle against the God of Peace, and against His Anointed. This, it is jjlain from the rest of the speech out of which the text is taken, is the first and immediate meaning of our Lord''s declaration, that He came to send a sword upon earth. His purpose was to warn His 266 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. disciples of the clangers they would have to encounter, and of the persecutions which would be raised against them. For, though they were sent to preach glad tidings, they were not to expect that all men would welcome those tidings with gladness. Though they were sent to preach the Gospel of peace, they were not to expect that all men would see and acknowledge the loveliness and the blessed- ness of the peace they were called to embrace. In the words of the Psalmist, They were for peace ; but, when they spoke, men cried out for war. There is another sense however, in which, we also found, Christ came to send a sword upon earth. As His coming was a signal for the powers of Evil to lift up the sword of the flesh against Him, so on the other hand was it to arm the servants of Good with a new weapon, a new sword, for their combat against Evil, even with the sword of the Spirit, with that sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. When Christ sent forth His disciples to fight against the Prince of this world, and all his fierce and countless host. He did not send them forth helpless and unarmed. The use of the arms of this world indeed, and of the armour of this world, He forbad them. But He clothed them in other armour, and put other arms in their hands, armour and arms in comparison of which the armour and arms of this world are as nought. He clothed them in the whole armour of God. He girt them about with Truth. He put on them the breastplate of Righteousness. He shod their feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. This being the Gospel they were to bear with them whithersoever they came. He gave them the shield of Faith, wherewith they should be able to quench all the firy darts of the wicked. Moreover He gave them the THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 267 helmet of Salvation, from which every bloAv glanced off, and, even though it were a deathblow, only hastened their entrance through the gate of everlasting life. When they were thus defended and protected, He further gave them a weapon of offense and attack, one such, and one only, that sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, With this sword they were to go forth, defying the craft and malice of their enemies. With this sword they were to assail Sin in all its towers of strength. With this sword they were to pass over the earth, conquering and still to conquer. Our Lord"'s words however, as we have seen in the last sermon, do not refer solely to the early ages of the Church, when Christianity was altogether a stranger upon earth, and when the nations rose up to cast out its very name from amongst them. In a certain sense they bear upon us also, and upon our times, as well as upon the times of the Apostles. Some indeed would fain narrow their meaning to ages which have long past away. Far too many are loth to bear in mind that there is strong meat in Chris- tianity, as well as milk. Too many would regard it as a sort of watergruel religion, which is to comfort them when they fall sick, and are troubled with the fear of death, but which may be left on the shelf as long as they are strong and in health. Too many have such a nervous dread of everything that sounds like severity, such a slothful desire to be left in quiet and at peace, — they forget that there is a peace of death, or at least a torpour of death, which looks like peace, and which at the sound of the last trumpet will be scattered, and will break up into unutterable anguish and horrour and dismay. They forget that there is the peace of the stagnant pool, which is clogged up with mud, and crusted over with weeds, as well as the peace of the 208 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. brioht and pure well, tlirough which the living water is ever rising from an inexhaustible spring. Such persons belong to that brotherhood of lying prophets, against whom vengeance is denounced by God's prophet, because they seduce the people, saying. Peace ; when lo I there is no peace. The spring of living water had ceast to flow : it had been choked or bloclct up by the dregs of sin : or it had been dried up by man's having cut himself oiF from communion with God : and it was necessary that the angel of God should come down and trouble the water, even as he came down and troubled the pool of Bethesda, —that he should tear off the crust of weeds, and break through the clotted mud, before any purifying healthgiving power could rise up. Such was the state of mankind in the days when our Lord appeared upon earth. It was necessary that the water should be troubled. The air had become so impure with the vapours sent up from the earth, it was necessaiy that the sword of the lightning should flash through it to purify it. Such, I say, was the state of mankind, when Christ sent out His disciples to call all nations out of the darkness of ignorance and sin to the light of holiness and truth ; and therefore He armed them for their work with the lightening sword of the Spirit. But the same necessity which existed then, exists still. The carnal, unregenerate heart is no less carnal now, than it was then. The waters must still be troubled, before anything good can come out of them. The air will still grow impure, and needs that the lightning should dart through it to purify it. In these parts of the world, it is true, most people have been baptized into the name and faith of Christ : and he who is jnirified by the water of baptism, unless he quenches the Spirit THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 269 through his unbelief, becomes pure. But how long does our purity abide with us ? Alas ! as we have altered the rite of baptism from the discipline of the early ages, and, instead of dipping the whole body in the water, merely sprinkle a few drops on the forehead, in like manner, in- stead of plunging our whole heart and soul and life in the faith and love and obedience of Christ, very many think it enouQfh if their names are entered as Christians in the parish registers, and if they sprinkle a few outward forms and observances of religion here and there on the surface of their conduct. Be not deceived, my brethren ; deceive not your own selves. Do not cry Peace to your souls, when there is no peace. Do not fancy that the sword, which Christ came to send upon earth, may be sheathed, and that there is no further need for it. That sword is just as necessary now as it ever was. In the Communion- service, you know, we speak of Christ's Church as militant, that is, as being in a state of warfare, here on earth. In like manner you, who have brought your children to be received into Christ's Church at the font, know that we sign every child with the sign of the cross, in token that he shall fight manfully under the banner of Christ crucified, and that he shall continue Christ's faithful soldier to the end of his life. The Church is in a state of warfare . . against whom ? We are plighted to be the faithful sol- diers of Christ, and to fight manfully under His banner . . against whom ? Against sin ; against the world ; and against the devil. These are the very enemies, against whom the Apostles had to wage battle, and for their war- fare against whom our Lord armed them with the sword of the Spirit : and until these enemies, with all their hosts, are utterly subdued, — until they are all put under the feet 270 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. of Christ, — the sword of the Spirit must never be sheathed, but must wave continually over the heads of the faithful, to guard and help them. The time, we trust, will indeed come, when the sword which Christ sent upon earth, may safely be sheathed, — the time when the whole world will be Christian, not in name merely, but in heart and soul. When such a time arrives, the sword of the flesh will rust and moulder away. It will be as in the days of Saul in Israel, when no spear or sword was to be found in all Israel. The sword of the Spirit on the other hand will then no longer be a sword ; but the influence of the Spirit will be as dew bathing every heart, and as light shining around it, and through it, and in it. There will then be no more lightning, but only light. Such will be the state of the world, when it has become thoroughly Christian, Christian in thought and feeling, in word and deed, not in name only, Christian by being like Christ, and by having the Spirit of Christ dwelling in it. But when will that day come ? At present, alas ! it is far, far away. We hear nothing like the sound of its chariot- wheels : we see nothing like the dawn of its rising. The sword of the flesh will do much, — the sword of the Spirit has much, very much, to do, — before such a consummation can be lookt for • and until then the sword of the flesh will still be very busy, and the sword of the Spirit must and ought to be no less so. For our enemies are mighty ; they weary not in laying snares for us ; they let slip no oppor- tunity of attacking us. Sin and the world, — that is, the evil inclinations of our own hearts, and the numberless temptations of every kind held out to us by what we see around, — our natural estrangement from God, and the aptness of the world to widen and perpetuate that THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 271 estrangement, — how can we ever overcome these enemies ? how can we get quit of them ? Even with the help of the sword of the Spirit, it is a hard matter to keep them at bay, a hard matter to keep them from sweeping us into the bottomless pit, — hard, not from the feebleness or bluntness of that sword, but from our slowness and faintness in using it. As for our third enemy, we need that sword every moment against him, and shall do so until he is cast out from the earth, which he will not be without a hard fioht for every inch of ground he gives up. Or is it indeed a light and easy thing to be a Christian in these days ? Do you, any of you, find it a light and easy thing ? Yes I If you were to say what you think, what you really think, if you were to utter those thoughts which shew themselves in your deeds, many of you would say. Yes ! Just as easy as to 'put on one's frock. So your religion hangs about you as loosely as your frock. Whereas it ought to grow to you and become a part of you, like your skin ; so that, whenever you did anything to wound your religion, it should pain you like tearing the skin fi'om the flesh. Is it, I again ask, such an easy matter, my brethren, to be a Christian nowadays ? What is become of those terrible enemies, of whom I was just now speaking ? of those enemies, against whom the early Christians had to fight, and against whom you were pledged to fight at your baptism ? Are they all put to the rout ? By whom ? Not by your arm assuredly. What is be- come of Sin ? Has it fallen asleep ? Has it lost its power of stirring up evil and rebellious desires within you ? Do you never feel any wishes, which it behoves you to stifle and quell I any longing to do that which you ought not to do? any unwillingness to do that which you ought to do? 272, THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. What has happened to the world ? Has it been stript of all those temptations, by which our forefathers were be- guiled? Is there no longer anything in it, from which God has commanded us to abstain, but which seems plea- sant to our eyes, and to be desired for the gratification of some of our carnal appetites ? "What is become of the devil ? Does he no longer go about seeking whom he may devour ? Or has he fallen into his dotage ? and have all his craft and subtilty dwindled into weakness and folly ? Be not deceived, my brethren, by vain, empty words. Do not fancy that you are Christians, because you were christened in your infancy, — that this of itself is enough to make you so for life, and that the privileges which you then received can never be forfeited, but will abide with you unimpaired, whatever your afterlife may be. Do not fancy that you are among the number of Christ's sheep, because you come to church on a Sunday. You are pledged to be Christ"'s soldiers : you are pledged to fight under His banner, under the banner of His cross : you are pledged to fight against sin, against the world, and against the devil. Unless you have fought this fight manfully, you cannot be Chrisfs soldiers : you must be laggards and deserters from His ranks, and, as such, must deserve the punishment which falls upon a laggard and deserter. This is not a matter about which there is any possibility of be- ing mistaken. Either you have fought ; or you have not. Either you have struggled against the sinful desires of your hearts, and against the temptations of the world ; or you have given way to them. If the latter, you are not Christ's soldiers, you are not Christ's servants ; and how can you lay claim to any part in the inheritance of the Grospel ? The world may be likened to a river : heaven lies THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 273 at the head of it, hell at its mouth. The stream in some places may be stronger than in others : but if you wish to get to heaven, in whatever part of the river you may be, you must pull against the stream. If you do not pull, if you let yourselves float along with the stream, it will as- suredly carry you to hell. Thus it has ever been : and thus, until rivers flow backward, it ever will be. Every step you take in the Christian life is a step of hardship and difficulty, against the grain of our nature, and such as can- not be taken without a painful effort ; that is to say, in the first instance. For in this, as in everything else, practice makes easy. In proportion as you grow in grace, one grace after another will in turn sit gracefully and naturally upon you. Yet the time of difficulty and of striving will not be over. For however far you may have advanced in the Christian life, if your advance be real, you will always for- get the things which are behind, and will press onward to the things which are still before you. At every step too, at the last as well as the first, you will need the sword of the Spirit ; you will need the word of God. Day by day, and hour by hour, you will need it, so that you would be powerless and helpless without it. What, for example, is the first step in the Christian life ? Repentance. It was by the call to repentance that the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven: and still, as you know, repentance is the first condition required of such as come to be baptized, after they have reacht years of discretion. Moreover it is only by repentance that those, who have strayed away from that Kingdom, can return back to it. Now is repentance an easy matter ? earnest, sincere, deep, hearty repentance ? It is easy enough, I allow, when you have done anj^thing VOL. II. T 274 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. wrong, to feel sorry for it. Almost everybody will feel so, more or less, except those whose hearts have been hardened and deadened by a long continuance in sin. But this sorrow is not repentance. It is merely the voice of the Spirit, the prompting of the Spirit, calling upon you to repent. It is the groan of God's image in your hearts, every time a fresh crack is made in it. In order to turn this feeling into repentance, you must cherish it ; you must dwell on it ; you must feed your sorrow with the bread of bitterness, and with the water of bitterness, and make it a lasting and ruling power within you. Whereas by nature we do just the reverse. If we follow the leading of our carnal, pleasure-seeking heart, we make haste to quench and banish all such sorrow, by turning to something that looks more inviting. Our carnal nature seeks what is pleasant, and shuns what is painful. But, in order to repent, we must flee from what is pleasant, and tarry and converse with painful thoughts. Yet this we shall never be able to do, unless we tame our love of plea- sure, and bring it into subjection, by the sword of the Spirit. Repentance however is no end in itself. We cannot stop short at repentance, any more than a tear which you shed will stop on your cheek. If you do not wipe it off, the wind will dry it up. Repentance is only the means whereby you are to be led to forsake sin. In order that you may forsake sin, you are brought to feel how miserable it is, how shameful, how hateful, and how God's wrath is upon it. Repentance Is the shroud in which the body of sin is to be burled ; and unless you bury the body of your sin in it, you will be like a corpse walking about in its shroud. The repentance required of those who come THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 275 to be baptized, is a repentance whereby they forsake sin. They are not merely to repent, but likewise to forsake sin. This is the second step in the Christian life. Ts this an easy step ? Would God, any of us found it so ! To the chief part of mankind it is so very difficult, that they are doubting and hesitating all their lives whether they shall take it or no. Now and then they put one foot forward, with the purpose of doing so : but no sooner have they put it forward than they draw it back again, and determine to delay taking such a hard, painful step till another day. An easy matter to forsake sin ! Why, it is almost as much as any man can do, to forsake any one sin, to break himself of any one bad practice. Even this requires much effort, much watchfulness, much per- severance, perseverance in spite of ourselves. But to forsake sin utterly, to forsake every kind of sin, to keep wholly from every sinful deed, and from every sinful word, to root out every sinful wish . . . this is what nothing in the shape of man can do, what nothing upon earth can enable us to do, what nothing can enable us to do, except the sword of the Spirit. In order to accomplish this mighty work, that sword must be used against sin man- fully, sternly, unflinchingly, unsparingly. We must fight as Saul was commanded to fight against Amalek. No mercy must be shewn. Whatever is of evil must be got rid of root and branch, if the soul is to be turned into a garden, wherein God may talk with man. But those who come to be baptized are not merely required to repent and to forsake sin. Another thing is required of them . . . Faith. Is this an easy matter ? to us, who live by sense, by what we see and hear and smell and taste and feel ? to us, whose minds, in this our fallen T 2 276 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. estate, are built up of the bricks and stones scraped to- gether by the senses, and hardly supply anything beyond the mortar to join them ? to us, whose hearts are so chained and kenneled in our senses, that they can seldom get further than their chain^s length from them ? Is it an easy matter for us, who live by sight, to believe in Him who is invisible, and not only to believe in Him, but to have faith in Him, — to have such a strong and lively faith in Him, that we shall see Him more clearly, and with a firmer assurance, than the earth under our feet, and the sky over our heads, and shall hear His voice no less dis- tinctly than that of our parents and brethren ? Here again we need the sword of the Spirit, to fight against that tyrannous despotism of the senses, under which our souls pine and waste away in worse than Egyptian bondage. Again, the highest step in the Christian life, — that step by which the Christian mounts to the skirts of heaven, and gains a foretaste of the bliss enjoyed by the angels, — the love of God, — can that step ever be taken by those who are not furnisht with the sword of the Spirit I How many appetites must be mortified, how many desires must be curbed, how many affections must be subdued, before any one can learn to love God ! They who really love God, must needs love Him above all things, must love Him with all their heart and soul and mind and strength. For how can it be otherwise ? Surely, when the belief in God has gained such life in us, that we can be truly said to love Him, all other things must grow dim and fade away in comparison ; and it will be impossible for us to love any- thing else, except in subordination to God, as His work and creature. Ere this can be, all carnal desires must have died in us : and in no way, by no weapon, can they have THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 277 been put to death, except by the sword of the Spirit. The love of self, and all the feelings which spring from it, must have been extinguisht within us : yea, self must be offered up as a continual sacrifice on the altar of the love of God : and in no way can the love of self be extinguisht, in no way can the sacrifice of self be ofi'ered up, except by the sword of the Spirit. Thus you see, my brethren, it is not an easy, but a very hard matter, to be a Christian. It requires constant watch- fulness, constant diligence, constant efforts and struggles, constant, unwearied zeal. It requires all our strength, all the strength of our hearts, and all the strength of our souls, and all the strength of our minds : and after all, when we have done our very best, our utmost strength is proved to be mere weakness. In no part of our Christian course can we do anything by ourselves : in no part can we do any- thing without the sword of the Spirit. But how are we to wield that sword ? how are we to gain strength to wield it ? We must seek strength from Him who alone can give it. We must seek it by constant and earnest prayer. We must seek it by a careful, dutiful study of that word of God, which is declared to be the sword of the Spirit. We must seek it by a diligent and devout attendance on all the ordi- nances of religion. We must seek it by a faithful partaking of that Holy Communion, whereby the Lord strengthens us with His own strength. I alluded above to the time when no sword was to be found in Israel. But was that a time of peace and happiness l On the contrary it was a time of misery and oppression and degradation : and they who forbad the Israelites to make swords, were their enemies and oppres- sors. In like manner it is ever one of Satan's crafty ^78 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. devices, to keep men from using the sword of the Spirit, either in their own hearts, or in their dealings with their neighbours. He says, God is so merciful, so kind, so indulgent. He can never wish that His creatures should make use of a sword, that they should slay the appe- tites and passions which He Himself implanted in them, that they should fight against the errours which arise from the natural wealmess of their minds. Satan would beguile us into sparing sin, into sparing errour, into allow- ing ourselves and others to continue in sin and errour, to the end that errour and sin may abound more and more. Christ however did come to send a sword upon earth : He tells us so in the text. He commands us to use the sword : He has given us the sword which we are to use : and He will further give us strength to use it. As David in the strength of Faith was enabled to wield the sword of the Philistine, and to cut oif his head therewith, all giant as he was, so may we through Faith be enabled to cut off the head of that huge monster Sin, and to cast it into hell, with the sword of the Spirit. Thus even for our own protection, in order to defend ourselves from the terrible enemies that encompass us, and are ever assailing us in all manner of ways, open and co- vert, we are in continual need of that swoi-d of the Spirit which Christ sent upon earth. We need the word of God, not merely to guide and direct us, and to be the food of our spiritual life, but also as a two-edged sword, where- with to guard that spiritual life from inward as well as outward foes. Were this warfare ever to be over in our own hearts, so that every unruly thought and every rebellious feeling should be entirely subdued, and that Christ should be formed within us after the perfect image THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. J^79 of His peace, even then we should still need the sword of the Spirit to go forth and battle against the enemies who are beleaguering the souls of our brethren, and to deliver them from their bondage. In proportion as any man is formed after the perfect image of Christ, he must be like to Christ in His compassion and love : and they who are most like Him, will feel their hearts burn within them to make their brethren partakers of the priceless blessings which they are enjoying. Here is a field of battle immeasurably wider than the ambition of the boldest conqueror ever dreamt of, spreading over the whole earth, and surrounding us at every step. For in no spot of the world has the dominion of Christ ever yet been establisht in absolute, uncontested supremacy. Few are the spots where His enemies do not openly lift up their heads in defiance and scorn ; hardly any, where they do not prowl about in the dark places of every heart. In the largest part of the world they still reign triumphantly, on thrones of crumbling minds, and mouldering, worm-eaten hearts. Against all these enemies of God and man the Church militant has to fight ; and the only weapon with which she is armed for the battle, is the sword of the Spirit. For more than eighteen hundred years the war has been waged ; and there are no signs of an approaching termination. We have fought feebly and ineffectually, because we have trusted to other arms than that sword with which our Captain supplied us. Nor shall we ever be victorious, until we cast away the scabbard of human force and policy, and go forth to the war with no other weapon than the unsheathed sword of the Spirit. O may that time soon come ! and do Thou, mighty Lord, go forth with our armies ! go forth at the head of Thy Church ! Gird Thee 280 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. with Thine own sword upon Thy thigh, Thou most Mighty, according to Thy worship and renown. Good luck have Thou with Thine honour. Bide on, because of the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness ; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things. For Thou alone canst make wars to cease throughout the icorld. When the victory is gained, Thou wilt break the bow, and snap the spear in sunder, and burn the chariots in the fire. And all shall know that Thou art God ; and Thou shalt be exalted among the Heathen, and Thou shalt be exalted in the earth. SERMON XV. CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. Matthew x. 35, 36. I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. These words form a part of the charge which our Lord gave to His Apostles, when He sent them out for the first time to preach the Kingdom of Heaven : and they follow immediately after the strange and startling declaration, that He was not come to send peace upon earth, but a simrd. Nor are they less strange and startling. Indeed they are connected with that declaration by the little word /or, — For I am come to set a man at variance against Ms father: so that this is one of the ways in which that declaration was to be fulfilled. Nor could there well be a more terrible one. It is scarcely possible to conceive a state of the world more utterly miserable, fuller of evil pas- sions, and more bereft of every good feeling, than that in which the sacred bonds of family affection should be burst and trampled on, and every house should become a scene of hatred and rancour and strife. How then could it be the end of our Saviour's coming, to breed dissensions and quarrels, where all, it would seem even to the natural mind, ought to be unity and love ? Of the meaning of our Lord's declaration, that He icas not come to send peace hat a sivord, I have spoken to you 282 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. pretty fully already. His purpose, we have seen, was to forewarn the disciples of the violent opposition, and the manifold great dangers, which they would have to en- counter, so that they might not be taken by surprise and daunted, but might be prepared for the worst, knowing that their Master had foreseen their sufferings, and that, however their enemies might rage. His help would always be with them. Although they were sent out to preach the Gospel of Peace, although Peace was to be their watchword, and Peace was to be written on their banners, yet, when they spoke, the world, our Lord told them, would be for war. So enamoured was the world of war, such a child of wrath and hatred was it, that no sooner did the sound of peace reach its ears, than its fury began to blaze up more fiercely. It started up like a wild beast from the lair, where it was surrounded by the wreck of its vices ; and it whetted its tusks, and ruslit out to battle against those who had dared to speak to it of peace. The air had become so impure with the foul vapours which had long been gathering, that, until the thunder had rolled, and the lightning flaslit through it, clearness and calmness could not be restored. For this reason, although the purpose of our Lord's coming was indeed to bring peace upon earth, such peace as man had never known, such peace as it had never entered into his imagination to conceive,- — the peace of reconciliation with God, the peace of conscience with himself, the peace of love with his brethren, — this peace could not rise upon the world all at once, like the sun, in silence, and pour her blessed light over it. Inasmuch as human nature, since the Fall, has been so fast bound by death, that life cannot force a way into it, except by vio- lently bursting the crust wherewith death has encased it, — CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. 283 SO tliat only through the pains and struggles of childbirth can the life even of an infant come into the world, and only through the pains and struggles of death can the life of mortality rise into immortality, — in like manner it was only through long and bitter pains, through long and fierce struggles, that that most living of all lives, that most spiritual of all spirits, the life and the spirit which Christ brought down from heaven, could set up its throne upon the earth. The whole race of man had rebelled against their rightful King, and had bowed their knees to a usurper in His stead : and when the Son of their King came to call them back to their allegiance, many of them closed their ears and hardened their hearts against His voice, although it was a voice of mercy. They would not accept His proffered forgiveness, but set Him at defiance, and fought against His servants, and slew them. This, we have seen, was the primary meaning of our Lord's declaration, that He was not come to send peace upon earth, hut a sivord : and I have reminded you of it, because the difficulty, which at first sight may well startle us in the next two verses, the verses we are to consider today, is exactly of the same kind ; so that remembering how we got over it in the one case will help us to get over it in the other. Moreover we saw, that, though in this its primary sense our Lord's declaration bore mainly, if not solely, on the earlier ages of the Church, and on those other periods when God has been pleased to allow that she should be tried and purified by persecutions, yet there are divers senses in which that declaration applies equally to all ages and to all classes of men ; seeing that the Church is set to be militant here on earth, and must always con- tinue to be so, until the powers of darkness are finally 234 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. subdued ; seeing too that we are all still called upon to fight the good fight of faith, and that there are a number of occasions when we shall be overcome, unless we arm our- selves against our enemies with the only unconquerable and all-conquering weapon, the sword of the Spirit. When our Lord said, that He was conie to send a sword upon earth, He did not mean, we saw, that this was His wish and purpose in coming down from heaven, but that this would be the effect of His coming, that His dis- ciples would have to contend against the sword, against principalities and powers, against those whose strength and whose trust lay in the sword, and who would wield the sword against them. But this was not the hardest and bitterest part of the trials which His followers would have to undergo. Still severer trials awaited them, trials so awful and heartrending, that the natural, unenlightened man, in whom there was any shade of goodness or kindness, would have shrunk from them in horrour. For^ our Lord says, / am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ; and a mans foes shall he they of his own household. It is not merely between strangers that My com- ing will stir up quarrels. The war I am come to send through the earth, is not a war of king against king, and of nation against nation. Home, which ought to he the ahode of peace, will he the seat of this war. It is a war in which your foes will he the members of your own house- hold, of your oipn family ; a war in which father will fight against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother. Are not these fearful words, my brethren ? Think who it was that spake them. Can it have been the Son of God? CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. 285 Can it have been the Son of that God, whose nature and essence is Love, and all whose words and works are the words and works of Love ? Can it have been the Son of that God, who has planted the love of our parents in us as the first and holiest of our natural instincts, and who has twined and bound it around our hearts by all the wants of our infancy and childhood ? of that God, who has ordained that our entire and trustful dependence on our parents should be an image and likeness of our entire and trustful dependence upon Him? who has placed our parents over us to stand to us in His stead, and who trains us by the reverential love for our parents to a like reverential love for Himself? of that God, who has confirmed the voice of the heart by the voice of His holy Law, and who, at the very head of the second table, has commanded us to honour our father and mother, as the first and foremost of our human duties ? of that God, who, in order that He might bring home to our hearts how we owe all things to His love, and how He is entitled to the fullest measure of our most dutiful love, has vouchsafed to call Himself our Father ? Can it be that the Son, the Alldutiful, the Onlybegotten Son of the Most High God, who Himself fulfilled the duties of a Son, by being subject to His earthly parents, and by the tender love He shewed for His mother, when He was in the agony of death, — can it be that He came down to earth in order to set the son against the father ? Can it have been, I ask, my brethren, the wish, the purpose, the working of the Son of God, to set the son against the father, and the father against the son, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother? Can it have been His purpose that a man should 286 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. find his foes among the members of his own household ? What is it that does thus rend househohls asunder, and sow divisions and jealousies and enmities in families ? Is it not sin, in its vilest, most hideous, most hateful form ? sin, against which even the natural man revolts, and which he abhors ? sin, not following the bent of Nature, but crossing that bent? sin unnatural, and which Nature herself brands with a curse ? Call to mind some of the examples of such dissensions which have been recorded for our admonition in the Bible. Think who it was that first sowed the seeds of hatred in that garden, which, even amid the dreary wilderness of this world, where wild beasts prowl and rage against each other, ought still to shew forth a likeness of that Paradise, where all was peace and love. Think who it was that first sowed the seeds of hatred in the sacred garden of home. The fratri- cide Cain. In him first was the saying fulfilled, that a man's foes shall be they of his own household. And how was it fulfilled ? By the murder of a brother. Was it then to people the earth with Cains, to send the spirit of Cain through the earth, that the blessed Son of God came down from heaven ? Or let us look a little further on in the history of the world : let us look for an example of variance between a son and a father. When the second father of mankind came forth from the ark, he had three sons. Two of them were dutiful toward their father, and were blest by their father ; and God heard the voice of their father, and confirmed his blessing. The third was undutiful, and tried to bring shame on his father, and hereby brought down a curse on his own head. Could it then be the purpose of our holy and merciful Saviour, that His disciples should cast away the blessing of Shem CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. 287 and of J.ipheth, and should bring down the curse of Ham on their heads? Or think of him, who both in himself and in the events of his life was in so many respects the type of our Saviour, and foreshewed the events that were to befall Him : think of David, and of that his most grievous affliction and punishment, when Absalom took up arms against him. Think of his misery. Think how sin after sin curled round Absalom's heart, and crusht every better feeling, before he could be brought to commit this foul crime. And then again ask yourselves, could it possibly be the purpose of our Lord Jesus Christ to people the world with Cains and Hams and Absaloms, to send the spirit of Cain and Ham and Absalom into the families and households of men ? It could not be so. Thus much assuredly is clear and certain. Whatever our Lord's words may mean, they cannot mean this. Here, as in the verse just before, where He speaks of Himself as coming to send a sword upon earth,— as also in many other passages of Scripture, where we are told of the evils and sins that were to follow upon Christ's coming, — we may be confident that the evils spoken of were not the purpose of His coming, but were merely to be the effects of His coming. He did not come purposing them ; but He came in despite of them, knowing indeed that they would ensue, but knowing likewise that the sal- vation of man could not be accomplisht without, and deem- ing that the redemption of those whom He came to save was a prize worthy of His coming, even though Satan should let loose fresh sins, and stir up new crimes against Him. For why ? All were lying under sin ; all were under the bondage of Satan. Therefore the salvation even of a single soul was so much gained from hell ; 288 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. while they who set themselves to rage against Him, were already the slaves of him in whose service they raged. Moreover, as it will often happen that, when a man is wasting away by some slow, lingering disease, a fever, or some other violent illness, if wisely treated, will, under God's blessing, carry off the seeds of the disease, and re- store his constitution to a healthier frame, in like manner in the diseases of the soul it may be that a violent outbreak of the evil that is in a man may be the only way by which his soul can be cured. He may be wasting sluggishly and torpidly away in deadening, half conscious sin, when his falling into some revolting crime may startle and shock him, and make him look into himself, and shudder at the sight of the ghastly abyss within him. Thus shame and remorse, and the consciousness of his own weakness, of his own sinfulness, may stir him to seek for help, may bring him in true contrition to the feet of Him, who is still able and willing to save him. A fall will often teach a man to walk more steadily. Thus you may understand how our merciful Lord could come down upon earth, although He foresaw the many dreadful evils and crimes which would spring out of His coming, — although He foreknew that Hell from beneath would be moved to meet Him, and would stir up the chief ones of the earth against Him. He did not come with the purpose that Judas should betray Him : but He came although He foreknew that Judas would betray Him. He did not come with the purpose that the Jews should ci'ucify Him : but He came although He foreknew that the Jews would crucify Him ; because He likewise foreknew that, when He was lifted up on the cross, He should draw all men to Him. In like manner. He did CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. 289 not come with the purpose of setting father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother. But He came, although He foreknew that the evil passions, which wouhl be roused by His coming, would even enter into the bosom of families, and sow division and enmity among the members of the same household. For He likewise foresaw that this was one of the ways in which men would be startled out of their sins, when they found that their sinfulness not only drew them into such sins as are agreeable to Nature, but even into those monstrous crimes against which Nature herself revolts. Thus then it was, and thus only, that our Lord came to set the son at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother. This was not the purpose of His coming, but was merely to be the effect of it. No words can put in a stronger light how utterly corrupt human nature had become, how sin had tampered and mixt itself up with the very life-blood of our souls. Not content with polluting and tainting the streams that flow abroad in the open face of day, the Evil One had craftily poisoned the sacred fountain of all our best feelings. He had enlisted them on his side, and thus set up the abomination of deso- lation in that which ought to have been the temple of Peace and Love. Our parents, as I reminded you just now, and as you must doubtless feel to be true, stand in the stead of God to us in our childhood. Indeed God Himself has in a manner declared this, when He calls Himself our Heavenly Father: and He confirms it in His law, where he sets the duty of honouring our parents at the head of our earthly duties. Consider too how this is made manifest by the condition in VOL. 11. u 290 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. which a child comes into the world. Everything that it has it receives from its parents, life, food, clothing, speech, thought, knowledge. They are the authors of its life, the preservers of its life. They watch over it with constant care. They shape its breath into words. They unfold the leaves and blossoms of its mind. They draw forth and foster its feelings. They teach it all it knows. They shape and mould its will, and guide it in the path of duty. All this is their appointed task ; and the chief part of this task they actually do fulfill in most cases, better or worse. Even when they most grievously neglect it, still the child for a long time has none else to stand in the stead of God to it, has no knowledge of any father except its earthly one. It is by trusting in our parents with a perfect, undoubting trust for the supply of all our wants, that we are to be trained to trust with a like undoubting faith in God. It is by obeying our parents, by honouring our parents, by loving our parents, that we are to be trained to obey, to honour, and to love God. Such are the duties of children to- ward their parents, duties which Nature herself teaches them, which necessity enforces upon them, which the voice of God confirms. But wherever there are duties on the one side between man and man, there must be answerable duties on the other side. Accordingly the duties of children toward their parents prove that there must be answerable duties of parents toward their children. Most momentous and sacred duties they are. Every parent is bound to feed and nourish and sup- port and cherish and watch over and guard the children, to whom he has given life : and all these duties he is to fulfill in a twofold manner, both toward their bodies and toward their souls. He is not only to feed and nourish CHRISTIAN VJ^RIANCE. 291 and support their bodies, but also their hearts and minds, with truth, and profitable and edifying knowledge, above all, with the knowledge of God, and of His will, and of Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent to be the Light and Saviour of the world. Every germ of a good feeling also is the parent to cherish and tend and foster in his children, and to watch over and guard them from all approach of evil, whether it assail them from without or from within, by endeavouring to keep them from evil example, and to stifle and crush all bad feelings that shew themselves in their conduct. In this manner is the parent to be the giver of all good gifts to his children. This, my brethren, is what every parent ought to be to his children. This is what every one of you, who is a parent, ought to be to your children. You ought to endeavour to be all this. You ought to pray to God to enable you to be all this. Now, had the dealings of parents toward their children, at the time when our Lord came down on earth, been such as we have just seen they ought to be, had they been diligent in striving to fulfill these momentous and sacred duties, never would He have said that He was come to set the son against the father, and the daughter against her mother. But all these things were otherwise, wofully, terribly otherwise. Satan had blinded the eyes of parents, so that they could not see what was for the good of their children : he had perverted their hearts, so that they could not wish for it. He had won their hearts to worship some one or other of those idols, under the form of which he had maskt himself: and such dominion had that worship gained over their thoughts and feelings, that they did their utmost to bring up their children in it. One's blood runs cold to think to what a u 2 292 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. pitch of cruelty and impurity this frenzy drove them, to think that parents should have cast their own children into the fire in honour of Moloch, to think that mothers should have prostituted their own daughters as an offering accept- able to Ashtaroth. These, it is true, are extreme cases : but there were a number of others, which, though less shocking, were of the same kind. Everywhere parents did that which they ought not to do, guided their children in the way in which they ought not to have gone, fed them with falsehood, nurtured them in iniquity, and were the givers of all evil gifts to them. Thus did it come to pass that, when our Lord came to call the children to depart from the evil paths of their fathers, it was often impossible for them to give ear to Him without setting themselves at variance with their parents. Sometimes indeed, as, you may remember, hap- pened in the instance of the jailor at Philippi, who was baptized along with all his house, God vouchsafed to shew forth the riches of His grace in such a manner, that they who were converted to Him approacht Him hand in hand with all those who were dearest to them, and Mere spared the pang of making a rent in those ties, Avhich no one worthy to Vive can rend without a bitter pang. But such cases could not be common. At all events in many cases, it is plain, this could not happen. When we think of the differences, which, according to the order of the world, prevail both in the characters and circumstances of different men, and which are perpetually found even among the members of the same family, we easily perceive how it could not but often be, that, as our Lord says in St Luke (xii. 52), there should be Jive in 07ie house divided, three against two, and two against three. Some would be more CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. 293 inclined than others, even from their natural disposition, to listen to the invitations of the Gospel. Some would have had their hearts better prepared for it by the events of their lives. Some would be more highly favoured by an oppor- tunity of hearing the voice of a holy Apostle, or some other great preacher of that righteousness which comes by faith. A father, whose heart had been softened by affliction, or whose experience and disappointments had taught him the vanity of earthly things, might feel his spirit leap within him, when called to lay his burthen upon Him, whose yoke is easy, and whose burthen is light ; while his children, in the heyday of their blood and the glow of youthful am- bition, might look with scorn upon Him, who required of them that they should become meek and lowly of heart. Or on the other hand the father might have grown old in the withering service of the world, so that every better feeling was blighted and dried up within him ; while his child, being as yet a novice in the ways of sin, having his eyes and ears still in some measure open for that which they were permitted to see and hear, having a voice within which had not yet been wholly stifled, a yearn- ing for something better, which had not yet been drugged and quencht with poisonous pleasures, might listen with joy to the sound of that wisdom, which brought the tidings of a known, instead of an unknown God, of a God shewing mercy to man, and who was to be served with a holy and spiritual service, — instead of gods alien from man, and worshipt with bloody sacrifices and pompous rites. Even in our days we often find that one or two members of a family will be much readier than the rest to hearken to that call, which sounds equally in the ears of the whole family. Even in these days too, through God's 294 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. mercy, we not seldom find a godly branch springing from an ungodly root. But if this be the case even now, after the blessings of the Gospel have been shining abroad for so many hundred years in the eyes of all minkind, so that every one may behold them compassing him about from his cradle to his grave, and when the word of God is not stinted or checkt, but is preacht freely in every parish, and may be read in every house, — it is plain that such differ- ences must have been far more frequent and stronger, when every godly branch had to spring from an ungodly root, and when some members of a family would often have much greater advantage than others, — when one brother might have the blessed privilege of hearing the words of life from the lips of one of those who had received them from the Saviour Himself, while his brethren might still be lying under such thick darkness, as never to have caught a glimpse of the Dayspring from on high. Hence it was, because of the darkness under which all mankind were then lying, because of the ungodliness in which all were then imprisoned, that our Lord says, He was come to set the son at variance against the father, and the daughter against her mother. Not that He came to call the son, and not the father, the daughter, and not the mother. He came to call all : He came to save all. He came to bring all out of darkness, to deliver all out of prison, — some by His own word, others by the word of His apostles and disciples, others by the word of those who had listened to his apostles and disciples. But inasmuch as some would be ready to receive the word, while others would be hasty and vehement in rejecting it, — and as such differ- ences would often be found even among the members of the same family, — these differences, as we see every day, would CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. 295 often breed variance and strife. Those who still clove to their old gods would feel anger, and, it might be, scorn and even hatred against their brethren who forsook them ; while those who had been brought to the knowledge of the true God, could have no wish more at heart than to make all who were nearest and dearest to them partakers of the same blessing. Our Saviour did not mean that those in whom His word took root, would forthwith be eager to snap all the ties which bound them to their kindred. But from the miserable state of the world, it might in many cases be impossible to preserve them entire. For one thing, and one alone, stands above the duty which we owe to our father and mother, our duty to God. They who had been brought to the knowledge of the true God, could no longer take part with their brethren in the worship of their ancient idols, or join in their rites and ceremonies, or look without the deepest sorrow on the manifold abomina- tions which were then scarcely deemed to be matter of reproach. As the word of God is not a treasure that we are to lock up in our hearts, nor a light that we are to hide beneath a bushel, — as we are to give freely of that treasure, even as we have received freely, and to set up that light upon a candlestick, that it may give light to all who are in the house, — it thus became the duty of all who had received the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and who had seen and acknowledged the errour and the shame of their former ways, to declare the same truth to their brethren, to admonish them of the errour of their ways, to exhort and to reprove them, with all gentleness indeed and all meekness, but at the same time with plainness and straightforwardness, neither veiling the truth, nor consent- ing to allow of any fellowship between the truth and 296 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. falsehood. But how couhi they do this, and not run the risk of setting themselves at variance with those who were resolved to pay no heed to their exhortations and reproofs, with those who clung to their idols, and were determined to cling to them, with those who doted on the pomps and vanities of the world, and lookt with scorn on a crucified Lord, and with loathing on the doctrine of the Cross ? So that it was not our Saviour's wish, or His purpose, to set the son against the father, and the daughter against her mother. In this, as in all other respects. His wish and purpose was to bring down peace and love upon earth. But mankind had been so utterly corrupted by sin, that they turned the peace which He brought into war, the love into hatred. For this must be borne in mind. As the sword which Christ sent on earth was not a sword to be used by His disciples, but against them, in like manner, when He said that He was come to set the son against the father, and the daughter against her mother. He did not mean that the son and the daughter, who received the tidings of the Gospel, would immediately cast off their parents, or admit any feeling of variance and animosity against their parents into their hearts. In these verses, as in that just before, our Saviour is not telling His disciples of that which they were to do, but warning them of that which they were to suffer. He had already said to them a few verses before, when speaking of the persecutions they would have to endure. And the brother imll deliver up the hrother to death, and the father the child : and the children will rise up against their parents, and cause them to he put to death. These words leave no doubt about the meaning of the text. It was not the Christian brother, who would deliver up his Heathen brother to death, nor CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. 297 the Christian father his Heathen child. It was not Abel, who was to slay Cain, nor David, who was to rebell against Absalom. It was not the Christians, who were to perse- cute the Heathens : they were to be persecuted by the Heathens : and to such a pitch of frenzy, our Lord warns His disciples, would the rage of the Heathens mount, that even brothers would accuse their own brothers, and fathers their own children, and children their own parents, so that they might be put to death for the crime of being Christians. Thus it was the Heathen son, who would rise against his Christian father, and the Heathen daughter against the Christian mother. The variance, the strife, the enmity, was to be on the side of those who hated Christianity, not on the side of those who embraced it. The Bible affords us a similar example in the life of Saul and Jonathan. You will remember how Jonathan's love for David was the cause of variance between him and his father. But the variance, the anger, the evil feeling was not on the side of Jonathan. It was only on the side of Saul, who threw his javelin at his son to kill him. Jonathan was faithful to his father even unto death, and in nothing more faithful than when he preserved him from the crime of murdering David. So too has it ever been, so will it ever be, with those who give up their hearts to God, and find peace with Him through faith in his blessed Son. He who came to make all men love one another, did not come to destroy or weaken the ties of natural affection. The Christian child will love its parents, — the Christian parent will love his children, — the Christian brother will love his brethren, — with a far deeper, more dutiful, more lasting, holier love. In the early ages of the Church this love had at times to stand 298 CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. tlie fierce and bitter trial of persecution from those who were dearest to it upon earth. Instances have been re- corded, in which the idolatrous parent gave up his child to suffer death for the crime of being a Christian, instances in which an idolatrous son betrayed an aged father, and brought down the axe on his head, — instances in which the crown of martyrdom was beset with more piercing thorns by the thought of him whose hand placed it on the shrink- ing sufferer's brow. But as the trial in these cases had a double measure of anguish, so in some of them it was re- warded with a double measure of blessing. Sometimes it happened that the father, who had ruthlessly given up his child to death, because it would not join in his idolatrous worship, was toucht by the fortitude which that child manifested in the hour of death, and was brought thereby to acknowledge the power of that faith, which was able to bear up the spirit when the flesh was sinking. Instances are recorded in which the martyrdom of the child was the means appointed by God for converting the heart of the father. Blessed termination of the variance which Christ came to bring between the members of the same house- hold ! Blessed child ! how great must its joy have been to meet that father in the courts of heaven, whom it had left the hardened slave of heathenish idolatries ! How- its heart must have overflowed with thankfulness to Him, who had rendered its sufferings the means of its father's salvation ! Such grievous and terrible trials had the disciples of Christ to undergo in the early ages of the Church. Of the trials to which Christians in these days are exposed, and which may be regarded as in some measure answering to those I have just been mentioning, I shall have to speak to CHRISTIAN VARIANCE. 299 you another Sunday. In the mean time you must all surely perceive that from the heaviest and most heart- rending part of the trials with which God visited the early Christians, we are mercifully spared. Surely too you must feel that we have great reason for thankfulness, in that we are no longer called to follow Christ out of the midst of a Heathen world, in that we are no longer under the neces- sity of setting our face against our parents, and the religion of our parents, when we come through Christ to God. Great cause have we for thankfulness, in that we are born in the bosom of the Church, in that our parents themselves bring us to the baptismal font, in that all the members of the same family come to church together, and join in the worship of God, father along with son, and mother along with daughter. O that we may all prize this great blessing as we ought, and use it as we ought ! and then we may hope that the ties, which unite us here on earth, will never be broken, or at least only for a time, and that those whom we have loved the most dearly upon earth, will be restored to our love imperishably in the presence of the Father of Love. SERMON XVI. HEAVENLY AND EARTHLY LOVE. Matthew x. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. In speaking- to you of our Saviour's declaration, that He was come to set the son at variance against the father, and the daughter against her mother, I tried to exphxin how it was, that the Onlyhegotten Son of the Eternal Father, He whose meat and drink it was to do His Father's will, — He who was the Fulness of all Love in Himself, and the Giver of all Love to others, — He who came to set up the perfect Law of Love, as that in which alone every other law is fulfilled, in which alone every other law lives and moves and has its being, — could yet say of Himself, that He was come to sow division in families, to sow enmity in that which ought to be the home and temple of Love. This declaration, we saw, was intended to bear in a more especial manner on the first age of the Church ; and it was occasioned by the state of the world at the time when the foundations of the Church were to be laid. In laying the foundations of a building, we dig into the earth, and tear up its bosom : and the loftier and massier the building is designed to be, the deeper do we dig, the more we tear up the earth. Whereas, when the foundations have once been laid solidly, the earth closes around them, and supports them ; 30j3 heavenly and the stones are set on, tier above tier, without any further disturbance to it. In like manner, when the foundations of that Church, which was to overarch the world, and to last as long as the world, were to be laid, it was necessary that they should be laid deep in the heart and soul of man ; it was necessary that the hearts of men should be torn and broken up, so that the foundations might not rest on those feelings which spread along the surface, but might be firmly grounded on the central, primary rocks of our nature. Now there were two reasons, we further saw, in the state of the world in our Lord's days, which rendered it unavoid- able that He, who came to call mankind into the Kingdom of Heaven, should in many cases set the son at variance against the father, and the daughter against her mother. In the first place, all the world was then lying in the dark- ness and bondage of idolatrous superstitions. But the change which Christ came to work in mankind, was not to be wrought upon men in a mass : it was to be wrought in each several heart. Hence, as it was always found, that, among those who were called, only some gave ear to the call, while others turned away, it could not but often hap- pen, even among the members of the same household, that some would be moved by the preaching of the Gospel, while others would harden their hearts against it. In such cases, as a man who forsakes his religion has always been accounted worthy of the utmost scorn and loathing, — which indeed he would be, if he forsook it from any worldly mo- tive, — as the very names, apostate and renegade, which are given to such persons, are held to imply everything hateful and abominable, — it could not but be that those who clung to the worship of their old Heathen gods would often abhor AND EARTHLY LOVE. 303 those who abandoned them. Now bitterness, when it arises where love ought to prevail, is ever doubly bitter : anger, among those who meet daily and hourly, is inflamed by perpetual irritations : and to such a pitch was this carried, that there were instances in which the brother delivered up the brother to death, and the father the child, — instances in which children rose up against their jjarents, and caused them to be put to death. Moreover, as all the world was given up to blind idolatry, so was it all given up to the host of vices which idolatry ever brings in its train. The whole head \Aas sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot to the head there was no soundness, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Now the restoration of a sick body to health is always accompanied with pain. So too is it with a sick soul : so is it when a nation is sick : and so was it when the whole race of man was a prey to a deadly moral disease. The only way in which mankind could be healed was by the healing of a few in the first instance, who should then go forth and heal their brethren. But in moral diseases it mostly happens that the sick are not aware of their being so. Indeed the worse the disease, the blinder they often are to it. They will not seldom fancy that they are in perfect health ; and they beguile themselves into supposing that the healthy are sick. When those who are really in health come to heal them, they will grow angry, and rage against them, and drive them away. The children of darkness, as they hate the light, likewise hate the children of light. Hence, as there could not but be cases in which some of both classes would be found within the same household, thus even within their own household would the children of light find their foes. Every affection had 304 HEAVENLY become soiled and stained and tainted through and through, and needed to be purged by fire. Even that love, which was given to us to free the soul from the prisonhouse of self, and to raise it above the mire of sense, had often been turned into the means of riveting its chains still faster, and of clogging it with still grosser pollutions. When the father Avas fain to sell his son, and the mother her daughter, to be the slave of sin, then did our Lord come to set the son at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother. All the world being bound beneath the yoke of idolatry, Christ came to burst this yoke, and to call people away from beneath it, even though some, in hastening to escape from it, should be compelled to fall short in that dutiful obedience, which on all other occasions they owed to their parents. This trial, I have already reminded you, was much more severe and frequent in the first ages of the Church, for which our Lord's warning was especially designed, than it can be now. Blessed be God ! we may almost all of us worship Him in spirit and in truth, without being driven thereby into any variance with our parents. Blessed be His name! the son may now learn to worship Him from and along with his father : the daughter is now taught to lisp her first prayer at her mother's knees, and in many families may be seen day by day kneeling beside her mother in the communion of family worship, and may follow her mother Sunday after Sunday to the house of God, until at length, when the time of trial is over, she follows her mother to her last restingplace in the grave, hoping again before long to lie down there by her side awaiting their common resurrection. Yes, dear children, this is a great blessing, a blessing above all price, which you owe to the love of AND EARTHLY LOVE. 305 your Heavenly Father ; although, as is the case with some other of our greatest blessings, its very greatness and com- monness keeps us from taking notice of it. Think however, what a wretched lot yours would be, if your parents were desirous of bringing you up in the worship of Baal or of Ashtaroth, or of some other idolatroi\s abomination, and if you could not find a way of worshiping the true God, except by turning your backs on the house of your parents, and breaking the commands of those whom, above every earthly being, you are bound to honour and obey. Think of this, my brethren, all of you ; and you will find a fresh ground for deep thankfulness, in that we are all permitted to worship God, brother hand in hand with brother, and children at the feet of their parents ; so that the ties of family love are not rent asunder now, or slack- ened, but mostly rather tightened around us by the love of God. Great, inestimable is this blessing to those who are al- lowed to enjoy it, to those whose parents are truly desirous of bringing them up in the knowledge and service of their God and Saviour. Great, inestimable is the mercy where- by such children are saved from the grievous trial of holding the scales between their duty to their parents and their duty to God, Yes assuredly, this is a great and inesti- mable mercy ; and, blessed be God ! to many in these days it is vouchsafed ; not however to all. As to most of the temptations and trials which the followers of Christ had to go through in the first ages of the Church, there is some- thing answering in these days, so is it with this temptation and heavy trial. In this case also. He whose fan is in His hand, is still working to sever the wheat from the chaff. For the name of Christianity, which is stampt nowadays VOL. II. X . 306 HEAVENLY on every brow, is too often nothing more than a name. The form and dress of faith, in which all persons clothe themselves, is in too many cases a mere form, a mask hiding who we are, instead of a livery shewing to whom we belong ; and even among those who wear the name of Christ, the hearts of far too many are still given np to some idolatry or other. Though the names of the old idols have been swept away, the idols themselves remain, and some of them have as many worshipers as ever. For what were the idols to which the Heathens bowed down, except certain shapes embodying and representing those powers and pleasures of the world, which the carnal mind is still prone, as it was then, to prefer above all things in earth or in heaven ? Now one of the chief causes, as we have seen, of those divisions in families by which the Church in its first ages was so grievously distrest, was, that the parents vvisht to bring up their children in the same idolatry, in which they themselves had spent their lives, and were full of wrath against them when they forsook it. Nor is there any lack of examples of the same thing happening in these days. The great duty of all parents to their children is, to take care, so far as in them lies, that the work begun at the baptism of their children be not brought to nought or thwarted, but carried on, — to take care, so far as in them lies, that the promises made at their baptism be ful- filled, — in a word, to bring up their children as members of Christ, as children of God, and as inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. But do all parents keep this duty steadily in mind, and take it earnestly to heart ? Do they all set themselves diligently and perseveringly to per- form it ? Are there not very many parents, wdiose last AND EARTHLY LOVE. 307 thought about their chikh-en is the welfare of their souls ? many, who, instead of training their children to lift up their hearts to God, are only desirous to break them in as early as possible to bend their necks to the yoke of the world ? many, who feel no scruple in urging their children, who, if they could, would even constrain them, to do sundry things contrary to godliness and to righteousness, for the sake of gaining riches, or power, or favour in the eyes of men ? Nay more : even as the Heathens of old made their children pass through the fire to Moloch, — as, plunging still deeper into the pit of abominations, they prostituted their own daughters in the service of Ashtaroth, — so, in these our days, although Satan has changed his name, and is no longer called JNIoloch or Ashtaroth, — in these our days, when Mammon has set up his golden throne amid the wreck of the idols of old, — there are still found parents who shew little more mercy to their children, than was shewn by the most hardened and ruthless in the ages of Heathen idolatry. There are still found parents who will prostitute their daughters for the sake of gain ; yes, in all ranks there are found such : only some do it openly and barefacedly ; others under the cloak of marriage, binding them at the altar to the ungodly and the profligate, if he have but riches to gild over the rottenness of his heart. Others will train up their children to cringe and fawn ; others will teach them to cheat and lie and thieve ; thus making them pass through the fire of shame, and through the fire of sin, and preparing them for passing through, or rather for abiding in the fires of everlasting misery. With regard to all such cases, our Lord, inasmuch as He came to set up the perfect law of righteousness and holiness, — inasmuch as He came to tear sinners away from their x2 308 HEAVENLY sins, even though the separation drew blood from their hearts, — with regard to all such cases He came to set the son at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother. Wherever the father or mother would lure the children away from the service of God to the service of Satan,— wherever they bid their children do anything that is against the law of God, — there Christ came to call the children away from their obedience to their father and mother ; there He calls ujjon them, He commands them to disobey their parents. For why is it that children are bound to obey their parents? Is it not, — are you not often reminded that it is, — because parents, according to that order of the world which God Himself has ordained, stand in God's stead to their child? because they are appointed by God to lead their child to all good ? and because God Himself in His holy Law has expressly confirmed the command- ment, which He had already written in the order of Nature ? Hereby however it is plain that, as the authority of the parent flows down to him from God, it must not rise up against God. If a father, violating his duty of leading his child to all good, would lead him to manifest evil, then he no longer stands in God's stead, but takes the post of the tempter, and stands in the devil's stead. Then, in such a case, where the evil is in plain contra- diction to the law of God, the child is bound to disobey its father, even as it is bound to disobey the devil. My brethren, I hope and trust there is no one among you, who is in this miserable condition. I hope and trust there is no one among you, whose father or mother would drive or lure him away from the service of God to the service of the devil. But should a case ever arise, in which AND EARTHLY Lt VE. 309 your father or mother were to desire you to do anything plainly against the law of God, then, in that case, re- member, Christ came to set you against your parents, — in that, and in that only. He came to deliver you from Satan, and from all the servants of Satan, even though a parent should at any time be found amongst them. In that case therefore Christ connnands you to disobey your parents. It may be hard, it may be painful to do so ; and to a rightminded and dutiful child it must be hard and painful. But take comfort ; bethink you of the words of the text. If you love Christ above father and mother, above everything that this world can give, above every tie that binds you to it, then, and then only, may you hope to be in some measure worthy of Christ. When your parents would command or persuade you to do anything wrong, anything dishonest, anything base, any- thing false, anything contrary to purity and holiness, then Christ Himself commands you to disobey them, — then, and then only. In everything else you are to obey them. In everything that is not against the law of God, however it may grate against your own will, or harm what you deem your own interests, you are to obey them, to honour them, to bow to their word. Remembering the many grievous burthens which they have borne for your sake, you should submit without repining, or rather re- joicingly, to bear any burthen, however grievous, for their sakes. You should rejoice, even as a debtor is glad when he can pay his creditor what he owes him. Indeed the very words of the commandment in God's law, — Honour thy father and thy mother^ — imply that it is your duty to observe the distinction just spoken of. The instincts of nature teach you to love your parents : God's 310 HEAVENLY law raises that love above itself, into honour and reverence. But honour can only be lively, when it is paid to that which is great and good and noble and generous and pure. It is impossible to honour falsehood : it is impossible to honour cowardice: it is impossible to honour lust, or cruelty, or any kind of sin. The births of darkness cannot become the births of light. That for which God has ordained shame, as its everlasting portion, cannot become the heir of honour. Wicked men, it is true, have often been held in honour among mankind. This however has not been on account of their wickedness, of that which was bad in them, but on account of something good that was mixt up with it, on account of their courage, their energy, their activity, their decision. In like manner you must always be careful to honour your parents, and to shew that you honour them, because they are your parents, even when they compell you to disobey them. There must be nothing like stubbornness in your dis- obedience, nothing like pride, nothing like contempt, nothing like self-satisfaction. You are not to disobey them, because it is your own will and pleasure. Your will and pleasure, were there no higher duty to check and sway you, should be to obey them : and when you are constrained to disobey them, you should do it humbly, meekly, sorrowfully, making it manifest that you only do it because God commands you, mourning in heart to think that they, who ought to lead you to God, should need your guidance to lead them to Him. In fact thus alone can you prove that you really do honour them. Even as, if your father or mother were blind or a cripple, you would shew that you honoured them by leading them gently and patiently in the way in which AND EARTHLY LOVE. 311 they had to go, and, if in their blindness they were to push you toward a ditch or a quagmire, would turn them away and hold them back from it ; in like manner, if tlie eyes of their souls have been blinded, or the strength of their souls crippled by sin, while God has blest you with eyes that can see the truth, and with limbs that can walk toward it, would it not be the part of dutiful children, of children that honour their parents, not to let your parents drag you along with them into evil, not to falter with them when they falter, nor to stumble with them when they stumble, but to hold them up, to steady their feet, to straighten their steps, and to guide them amid their dark- ness by the help of that better light which God has vouch- safed to you ? At the same time, should any such unhappy occasion compell you to become the leader of those, by whom you should rejoice to be led, it would behove you to be especially careful in all other things to shew them a still more watchful kindness, a still tenderer and more respect- ful submission. If you strive to act thus, the Holy Spirit of God will be working along with you, and will bless your efforts : and you will find that, if Christ came to set you at variance against your parents, that variance was only to endure for a time, and was to give place in the end to peace, and unity, and concord, and all the blessed fruits of heavenly, everlasting love. Indeed it is only through such variance, that true lasting peace can be attained. For the peace which was purchast by a tame compliance in sin, would be like the peace of a dead body, which soon putrefies and moulders away. But there is also another trial to which our affections may be exposed, and in which it may cost us a hard strug- gle to shew that we do indeed love Christ above father 312 HEAVENLY and mother. One of the temptations by which Satan is wont to assail us, is fear. How powerful this is over our weak nature, we may see in the example of the disciples, who, when our Saviour was seized by His murderers, one and all forsook Him, and fled. So powerful indeed is it, that the natural man deemed himself unable to devise any remedy against it, except by calling in another form of it to his aid. To overcome the fear of death and of suffering, he called in the fear of shame : and thus everybody is agreed, that to be swayed by fear is shameful. Every- body will acknowledge that it is base, and mean, and un- worthy, not only of a Christian, but of a man, to be frightened out of doing what we believe to be right, even by the fear of death. We are only too ready to speak with scorn of those who do anything through fear. When a man is conscious of having done anything through fear, his own heart bears witness against him, and he cannot help despising himself: and few things anger and pain us more, than to be suspected of having been afraid. He therefore that sins in this way, cannot plead that he has been deceived. To him Satan has appeared in all his hideousness. This is not one of the occasions when he puts on the form of an angel of light. But there are other fears, fears which are a duty and an honour, as much as the aforementioned are a shame and dishonour, — fears which must find room in the heart of every brave man, and can only be absent from a coward's, — the fears for others, above all for those whom we are in any more especial manner bound to love and revere and protect. These may sometimes lead us into a cruel trial. We may be placed in a situation in which it would seem as though we cannot do our duty without bringing sorrow AND EARTHLY LOVE. 313 and ruin on those, in whose defense our arm should be a sword, and our breast a shield. We may be tempted to do wrong for what we deem the good of others, or to ab- stain from doing right, lest it draw down what we deem evil on others. Now these are straits from which the Avisdom of this world cannot find an outlet. Our best and purest and most sacred earthly feelings, it may be, pull us one way : our conscience commands us to go another way- Which are we to follow I and why? and how can we follow the one, without violating the other? What is to be the umpire ? what is to give judgement betwixt them ? Suppose, for instance, that a man, by saying what is untrue, might save his father's or his brother's life : is he to say the untruth, or no I On questions of such a kind the philosophers of this world have found their philosophy at a fault, and have not known which way to decide. Why should I refuse to tell a lie, to give breath to a few words, it may be to a single syllable, when by so doing I might save the life of a father or a brother ? Becmise, a philosopher replies, / am hound to revere the dignity of the human soul. But what is the dignity of the human soul, except as the soul which God made, and Christ has redeemed I It is the dignity of a foundling that knows not its birthplace or its parentage, of a pauper clothed in rags, the faded relics of bygone glory, — the dignity of a lackey that dogs the heels of custom and opinion, — the dignity of a cripple bloated and maimed by the con- sequences of its own intemperance, and only enabled to walk by the crutch of some lifeless maxim. What is such dignity worth I and how many drops of blood will it outweigh ? Might it not be deemed an excess of vanity to prize it above the life of a worm I 314 HEAVENLY For the wisdom of this workl it is as difficult to find a satisfying answer to such a question, as to cast up a highway across the sea. When we get off from our wellknown shores, when we are out of sight of land, this glohe does not supj)ly us with any means of ascertaining whether we are steering East or West, or North or South : nor can we find out our path, save by the help of the stars. Nothing except faith can shew us clearly what we ought to do in the ease we have been considering : still less can anything beside faith strengthen us and enable us to do it. He who has faith can never do evil that good may come. Shght and trifling as the evil, great and precious as the good may seem, he cannot seek the good through the evil, at least not without a breach of faith. For faith tells him that God upholds the right, that God casts down the wrong ; wherefore he who does wrong, in the trust that it may uphold him, runs his neck into the devil's noose. God does this ; and He alone does it. Man does not uphold the right, and cast down the wrong : Nature does not ; the course of the world does not. In the main perchance it may, when we cast our eyes over Nations and generations ; though even this cannot be proved, without calling in the aid of heaven. Nor does this afford us any clue for particular cases ; in which it often happens that, so far as this world goes, wrong is upheld, and right cast down. But faith assures us that God up- holds the right, not in one case merely, or in a majority of cases, but in all, in all without exception. Faith tells us that no good seed ever failed, or ever can fail, to bring forth good fruit, — that no evil seed can bring forth any- thing but evil fruit. Some sins, when we look merely at their consequences in this world, may seem to be of little AND EARTHLY LOVE. 315 moment. But there is no sin, however petty and insignifi- cant the world may deem it, which is not enough to shut us out, were it not for Christ''s atoning sacrifice, from the King- dom of Heaven. The least sin in this respect is even as the greatest, and the greatest even as the least ; and He alone, who reads the heart, can pronounce which is the greater, and which the less. Nor, if we have faith, will Christ leave us in sucli sore doubt and perplexity, as to suppose that love for our bro- ther can ever in any case require us to do what is sinful. Our love for his body may do so. Our love for his earthly Hfe, for his earthly interests, when viewed apart, may do so. But the Gospel teaches us that the body is of no value, ex- cept as the instrument of the souFs earthly life, as its out- ward dwelling and tabernacle : so that to save a man''s body at the risk of hurting his soul would be much such an act of love as to break his legs, lest he should wear out his shoes. The Gospel teaches us that our brother's earthly life, and his earthly interests, dear and precious as they ought to be in our eyes, are only to be dear and precious as secondary and subordinate to his heavenly interests and his heavenly life. It teaches us that our first duty to our bro- ther is to do our utmost for the sake of guiding and leading him toward the Kingdom of Heaven ; that our greatest sin against him is to do anything that may lure him away from it. Surely this rule holds, not only for our words, but also for our deeds. Surely then it would be a sin against our brother's soul, to buy his life with a lie. It would be a sin against his soul, to tempt him to become a partner, even a silent partner, in our falsehood. It would be a sin against his soul, to hold up the example of a false- hood uttered from love, and of a successful falsehood before 316 HEAVENLY him. It would be a sin against his soul, to give him ground for rejoicing that Satan had won the day, and that a sin had been committed for his sake. Whereas who knows whether the example of firm, unshakable truth, of truth openly avoucht in the sight of God, though the heart is rent in twain, — who knows whether this example of the sacrifiee of every feeling on the altar of Duty, — may not be the means of strengthening our brother at the moment of his perilous need, — whether it may not, through God's grace, keep him from falling away from Christ, when the pains of death are rushing upon him ? Who knows whether, while we have shrunk from saving our brother's earthly life by denying the truth, we may not, by confessing the truth, encourage him also to hold fast to it, and so give him the best help that man can give for his perilous passage through death to everlasting life ? This, my brethren, is one of the ways in which we are to shew that we love Christ above every earthly friend. However dear our friend may be to us, even though it were a father or a mother, a son or a daughter, a husband or a wife, we must never commit the slightest sin, albeit to save our friend's life, albeit we saw the axe of the execu- tioner hanging over his head, and could stop it thereby. If we had but faith, if we knew the power of God and of Satan, the lifegiving pi-eciousness of purity and self-sacrifice, and the deadly hatefulness of sin, we should never think of doing so. We should never think it possible that evil could in any way be the means of good, whether to ourselves or to others, nor that good could ever bring forth evil. The fruit of each is always after its kind ; and if we would really benefit our friend, we may feel sure that the best way of doing so is to keep to the law of God in all its AND EARTHLY LOVE. 317 strictness and holiness. At the same time, while we refuse to do anything betokening that we love our friend above God, we should do whatever we can to shew that we love him next to God, and that our love for God does not make us love our friend less, but more. While we shrink from the slightest sin, albeit to save his life, we should do everything else in our power, and even beyond our power, to save him. We should make every exertion, and every sacrifice, except that which is the only sacrifice most men are ready to make, the sacrifice of God's law, and of our own duty and conscience. There is a beautiful story, which some of you will probably know, as it forms the groundwork of one of the best tales of modern times, and which aftbrds a noble example of what I have just been saying. The daughter of a poor Scotch farmer, — her name was Helen Walker, — after her father's death, supported her mother by her unceasing labour, and by submitting to every privation. She had a sister, many years younger, whom she brought up and educated, and loved as her own child. This sister however brought great grief and shame upon her. She fell into foul sin. She was delivered of a child. The child was found dead. The mother was tried for childmurder. This trial was a terrible one for poor Helen. Notwith- standing her sister s sin, she could not forget how she had loved her ; she could not cast her out of her heart : she longed that her sister's life should be spared, so that she might have time to repent. A fearful temptation assailed her. It seemed as though her sister's life hung upon her word : a single falsehood might save her. If she would but say that her sister had made any preparations for the birth of the child, or had ever mentioned it to her, her sister 318 ^ HEAVENLY would be acquitted. Her sister implored her : her love for her sister rent her heart : but Helen said, It is impossible for me to swear to a falsehood. Whatever hetlde, I must speak the truth. Thus the sister was condemned to death ; and the thoughtless lookt upon Helen as hardhearted. But she had shewn that she loved God above her sister. She now shewed how deeply she loved her sister, with a love far deeper than it would have been, had she attempted to save her life by a lie. She resolved to take up a j^etition herself to the King, to spare her sister's life. She walkt to London barefoot, a journey of above four hundred miles ; such a journey in those days, a hundred years ago, being far more difficult and dangerous than it is now ; and though she was only a poor, helpless, peasant, such was the energy and boldness with which her love insjiired her, that she gained the King's pardon, carried it back on foot, and arrived just in time to save her sister's life. I have told you this story, because it is such a beautiful example of the right proportion between love and duty, whereby both are greatly strengthened, — of the right pro- portion between our love to God and our love to our earthly friends. It is an example too, Avhich, if we kept it in mind, might often help to admonish us of our duty. For the temptation which Helen Walker resisted, is a very common one, and comes across us in a number of shapes. We are often tempted to do something that is not quite right, to say something that is not strictly true, for the advantage, as we deem it, of those whom we love : and because our love is feeble and shallow, and shrinks from pain and sacrifices, we yield to the temptation. Sometimes the temptation may be very strong. You, who are fathers, may see your wives and children suffering AND EARTHLY LOVE. 319 from want. At such a time evil thoughts will rise up : you will think you may do anything to save your wife and children from starving. So you may, and ought to do everything, everything in your power, and even heyond your power, provided it be not against the law of God. AVhatever is, you should shrink from, remembering our Lord's words, that, unless you love Him above wife and child, you cannot be worthy of Him. But it is not merely in these difhcult situations, and under such strong excitement, that parents are wont to sin against God, through what they deem their love for their children. Petty temptations are much commoner than strong ones, petty occasions of sin much more fre- quent than those which might be supposed more difficult to resist : and it is by petty occasions and petty tempta- tions that the bulk of mankind fall. They fall into what they call petty sins. But no sin can be such ; and surely the smallness of the temptation must rather aggravate than lessen the sinfulness of yielding to it. Thus many parents, — and I am afraid there may be some such among you, my brethren, — when their children get into any scrape, as it is called, make a point of doing all they can to bring them out of it, and will not scruple to utter un- truths for the sake of screening them from punishment. In acting thus, they will excuse themselves to their own consciences by pleading that their sin has been committed out of love for their children. But the plea is false. True love does not commit sin. Sin is the offspring of selfish- ness, of want of love, of shrinking from selfsacrifice. It is not from love for their children, from seeking their children's good, that these wretched parents utter their falsehoods. It is from selfishness, because they cannot 320 HEAVENLY brook the shame of being supposed to have an ill-con- ditioned child : and so blind is their selfishness, so careless are they about their child's welfare, that, to save them- selves from shame, they encourage their child, both by trying to shelter him from the punishment which might have been useful in correcting him, and by setting him the example of falsehood, wliich he will be sure to follow. Thus here again we find that they who love their earthly friends more than God, do not really love them half so well as those who love them next to God. The former love is sullied by selfishness and impurity ; the latter is purified, and is strengthened by its purity. Therefore you must not suppose, my good children, that, when your Lord and Saviour says. Be who lovetJi father and mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me, — you must not suppose, when you read these words, that Jesus Christ wishes you to fall short in any of the duty, or in any of the honour, or in any of the love, which you owe to your parents. You are to love Him indeed above all things, and above all persons, Him, and the Father, whom He came to reveal to you : but next to Him you are to love your parents. Indeed this is the very force of His words. When He says, that we are to love Him above father and mother and son and daughter, He does not mean that we are to love Him more than those things which hold a low and light place in our affection, but even above those which are, and ought to be, the dearest and strongest of all earthly ties. You are to love Him above all things, above all persons, even more than a child loves its father and mother, even more than a father and mother love their child. This love you are to shew by leaving father and mother for His sake, when He requires you to do so, by AND EARTHLY LOVE. 321 cleaving to Him alwa^^a, even when father or mother would draw or drive you away from Him, In such cases as I have been speaking of, where your love for your parents may seem to be at variance with your love for Christ.^ the love of the creature must give way to that of the Creator. But such cases, — blessed be God ! — are not common. They may happen now and then to many. But in the ordi- nary course of daily life it is otherwise. There the love of Christ does not war against the love of father and mother, or jar with it, or in any way impair it, but strengthen it, purify it, hallow it. The Christian, who loves his parents dearly for their own sakes, will love them far more dearly, with a more lasting and holier love, for Christ's sake. You too, my brethren, who are parents, may glean several important lessons and warnings from our text. For in what cases are your children a pure happiness and blessing ? When they are obedient and dutiful. But when they are disobedient and imdutiful, what are they ? A plague and a curse. Now surely there is no one amongst you, — reckless as any may be about his own soul, given up as he may be to the indulgence of his own appetites, — assuredly there can be no one amongst you, who would wish his children to be a curse instead of a blessing, who would wish them to be undutiful and disobedient, rather than dutiful and obedient. Surely you would all wish that your children should be dutiful and obedient. Bring them to Christ. Teach them their duty to Him, who will make them more dutiful to you. Train them to obey Him, who will make them more obedient to you. Bring them up to love God above all things ; and then, next to God, they will love you. At the same time you must beware diligently VOL. II, Y 32^ HEAVENLY of ever commanding or urging them to do what God has forbidden. Beware of this, as you prize their souls : beware of it, as you prize their love, and would have them honour and obey you. Beware of ever trying to set them at variance against Christ, lest Christ should set them at variance against you, — lest He should stir them up to resist you, — lest He should take them from you now and everlastingly, — lest hereafter, when they are lying in Abraham's bosom, you should be pining and writhing amid the flames of the bottomless pit. But set their affections upon Christ, as well as your own ; and He will endow them with eternal life. He will purge them from that blindness of the flesh, which looks only at the enjoyments of the flesh, and will fix them on that which is undying, on that which we may hope still to love when we rise from the grave. My brethren, if you love father or mother, or son or daughter, more than Christ, you are not worthy of Christ : and if you are not worthy of Christ, you are not worthy of His Kingdom, of that Kingdom into which none can enter, except through Christ's worthiness. And if you cannot enter into Christ's Kingdom, your love must needs wither and die in that place into which love never comes. But if you love Christ above father and mother and son and daughter, then Christ will enable you to love them far more fervently, and far more faithfully, than you could ever have loved them otherwise. He will make your love a blessing to them and to yourselves : and they who have loved each other in Christ, and under the wings of Christ, here below, will still love each other when those wings are unfolded, and spread over the face of heaven, and when all who have been gathered beneath them, will come forth to live in their light, and to love each other for ever. AND EARTHLY LOVE. 323 He who loves father or mother more than Christ, our text declares, is not worthy of Christ : and he who loves son or daughter more than Christ, is not worthy of Christ. But who is worthy of Christ ? Is any one, can any one be worthy of Christ ? What can any one deserve of Him ? In order to be worthy of Christ, we should be able to do something for Christ, to confer some benefit upon Him. But who can do anything of the sort ? No one of woman born. We can pain Christ : we can grieve Him : we can rob Him of that which is His due, of the honour which we owe Him, of the hearts and souls which He bought with the price of His blood. But we can give Him nothing, except that which is His already. Therefore, seeing our infinite poverty, Christ in compassion to us declared that He would take our love in place of all merit, that He would ac- count it as worthiness, that he would reward it as such. No, my brethren, even though we loved Christ above father and mother and son and daughter, still we should not be worthy of Him, except so far as in His infinite grace He vouchsafes to account us so. But look at the other side of the picture. Is not Christ worthy of us 1 Is He not worthy that we should love Him, even above father and mother and son and daugliter ? Is He not worthy that we should leave father and mother and son and daughter, when He requires us to do so, and that we should cleave only to Him, and serve Him only, from morning till evening, from the opening blush of spring till winter sinks into its grave. Yes assuredly, brethren. He is worthy. He who left the bosom of His own Father for our sakes, who left a throne of infinite glory and unimaginable blessedness, to sufl:er pain, and reproach, and persecution, and death, — He who has done a Y 2 324 HEAVENLY AND EARTHLY LOVE. fhousandfold more for us than any earthly father can do, who has suffered a thousandfold more for us than any earthly father can suffer, who has given us a thousandfold more than any earthly father can give, — He assuredly deserves that for His sake we should do all things, should forsake all things, should suffer all things. Our earthly parents deserve much from us : they deserve everything we can do for them, without trenching on our duty to God. But He alone, the Lamb that was slain, is worthy that all mankind should give themselves up to serve Him, to worship Him, to adore Him. He alone, the Lamb that was slain, is worthy to receive power, and i-iches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. O God, who in Thine infinite goodness didst not place us alone upon earth, but hast compast us about with the blessed ties of family love, ordaining that our affections should be the living spring of our duties, and our duties the preservers and purifiers of our affections, lift up our hearts, we humbly beseech Thee, to Thee, so that the beauty and pleasantness of this Thy precious gift may never tempt us to forget the Giver. Enable us to fix our highest desires upon Thee, and upon the grace which Thou hast manifested to us through the incarnation of Thine Onlybegotteu Son. May the love of heaven so strengthen and hallow all our earthly affections, that our love may never be after the flesh and its selfish lusts, but according to the purity of the spirit of selfsacrifice, which Thou hast made known to us in giving us Thine Own Son to be a Sin-offering for our redemption ! Hear us, O God, as Thou allowest us to call Thee Father, for the sake of Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. SERMON XVII. THE OBJECT OF LIFE. Romans xiv. 7. None of us liveth to himself ; and no man dictli to himself. None of us liveth to himself. Are we, my brethren, among the happy persons, of whom this may truly be said ? To whom, for Avhom do we live ? This is a question of great and deep importance, of the utmost importance to everybody, even when we look at it singly and nakedly, with reference to the rule by which we mark out the course of our lives, and to the aim that we set before us in them. But this importance acquires an awful character, when we cast our thoughts forward from this question to that which is forced upon us by the second part of the text : To whom, for whom shall we die i To whom, T ask, for whom do we live ? You should put this question, each of you, anxiously and searchingly, to your own hearts, and should take care that you get a true answer. Nor will it be enough to ask the question once, and to have it answered once, even though the answer should be just what one would wish. For, as long as we live, we are so surrounded by tempters, who would draw us away from what we ought to live for, that, even if we have ground to feel satisfied that we do so live now, we must not rely on our continuing to do so. Each person will have to make his own answer to the question ; and each will too easily be misled into giving that answer a 3^6 THE OBJECT false hue. I cannot answer tlic question for you : I can- not dive into your hearts and bring the answer out of them. This is a work which you must do for yourselves. But perhaps I may help you to find out the true answei*, amid the disguises behind which it is apt to lurk, by shewing you what would be the true answer to the same question, if we were to put it with regard to the bulk of mankind. To whom then, for whom, do the bulk of mankind live I St Paul in our text says, No7ie of us I'lveth to himself. Of whom was he speaking, when he said these words? and in what sense did he use them ? Was he speaking of mankind at large ? Surely this cannot be. Whatever test we may take to try them by, even though it should be that to which it would cost them the least trouble to give a favorable colouring, their words, — if we judge them by the feelings, which, though mostly hidden from sight, seem to sti'ing their words together, — or if we judge them by that which is plainly the end and bent of the chief part of their actions, — it is too manifest that they give the lie to St Paul's saying: they do live to themselves. The object they are manifestly striving after, the object they believe themselves to be striving after, is something they them- selves are to get, something they themselves are to have, something they themselves are to enjoy. The outward things which they pursue are indeed various, according to the variety of the gifts with which God has enricht the world, and which He has made to yield pleasure to man. Some set their hearts upon one thing, some upon another. Some hunt after riches ; but it is after riches for themselves : others after pleasure ; and that too is pleasure for themselves : others after ease and comfort . . . for themselves : others after power . . . for themselves : OF LIFE. 327 others after honour and a good name . . . for themselves : a few after knowledge ; and that too is for themselves. However the tunes may change, the same keynote runs through them all . . . self, self, self. Where does one see any persons, where does one hear of any, labouring steadily, heartily, perseveringly, for the sake of gaining riches for others, or pleasure for others, for the sake of making others easy and comfortable, in order to get power for others, or honour and a good name for others, in order to bestow knowledge on others ? unless it be for the members of their own families, the children sprung from their own loins, whom people regard as in some measure a part of them- selves, and therefore are ready to labour for as such. There are a few persons indeed here and there, who are not unwilHng to spend the odds and ends of their time for the good of others, — who will eat the dinner themselves, and then call in their neighbours to pick up the crumbs under the table, and who, when they have reapt their field, and tied up the sheaves, think they are doing a great thing in letting others come in to glean their leavings. Thus far the natural man has mounted now and then : thus far he may mount. But so long as we are not born again after the likeness of Christ, so long as our natural, carnal heart continues unchanged, so long will self be the idol which that heart sets up and worships ; so long too will the taint of selfishness cleave even to our least blamable actions. For I am not speaking merely or mainly of those, who lead what the voice of the world declares to be a sinful life. I am not speaking of the miserly and the hard- hearted : I am not speaking of the glutton and the drunk- ard : I am not speaking of those who defile themselves 328 THE OBJECT body and soul, and who defile the body and soul of their neighbours, for the pampering of their own selfish and hellborn lusts. Even those whose lives are what the world deems orderly, sober, decent, and respectable, — even those who would shrink from wronging others either by violence or by fraud, — even those who stick to the letter of all the Ten Commandments, — even they have the taint of selfishness cleaving to them, and are often self- ridden in all their thoughts and feelings and actions. Is it not so, my brethren ? Has not your whole experience taught you that this is the case with your neighbours 1 Do not your own hearts murmur, however loth, that this is the case with yourselves ? What are the objects about which you feel the greatest anxiety now ? about which you felt the most anxious yesterday ? What are the objects about which you have felt the most anxious, for the sake of which you have laboured the most diligently, during the past year, nay, during your whole lives, from your cradle upward ? Has it not been with a large part of you, to gain your own bread, to earn your own liveli- hood, your own, and that of your family, to make your- selves as comfortable, as well off as you can ? with some of you, to better yourselves in the world ? with some perhaps, to get the good opinion of your neighbours ? with almost all, so far as you had any power of choosing, to follow your own inclinations, and do what you yourselves liked best? I will suppose for the present that your aims have been of the better sort, that you have not been living in open sin, that your hearts have not been set upon any- thing which God has expressly forbidden. Still in all this you have never cast your thoughts out of and beyond yourselves ; and unless you do so, unless, while you are OF LIFE. 329 toiling to support yourselves, and to raise yourselves in the world, you are also toiling no less diligently to help and support your brethren, — nay, unless this latter wish be foremost and uppermost in your hearts, — you still belong to that class which embraces the great bulk of mankind, that class which, so far as with them rests, give the lie to the words of the text, that class which, to the best of their belief and purpose, are living for themselves. Indeed this is a season of the year when such thoughts are especially forced upon us, your ministers, and when it therefore becomes more especially our duty to bring them home, if we can, to your minds also. For this is the season of the year when you receive your largest share in those blessings which God pours forth every year so bountifully upon all mankind in the fruits of the earth. It is the season of the year when you earn the most by your reaping and gleaning and hop-picking, — and when you are all labouring, men, women, and children, from Monday morning till Saturday night, to swell out your earnings as much as you possibly can. Well, my brethren, for whom are you labouring thus diligently 1 for whom are you earning all you earn I In other words, to whom do you live ? I am not finding fault with you for labouring thus diligently, for doing your utmost just now to swell out your earnings. I only want to remind you of the question which I was asking just now, and the consciousness of which ought to be ever present to your thoughts, and to go along with you at all times, more especially at a time of comparative prosperity, whatever it may be : to whom do you live ? I am afraid the evidence of this season proves that you live in the main for yourselves. What evidence ? Why, it is a sad sight. 330 THE OBJECT a very sad sight, every year at this season, when we ought to see the house of God thronged from one end to the other, — when you ought to rejoice, still more than at other times, that you have the privilege of coming to God's house to thank Him along with your brethren for the blessing which He has poured out upon you and upon all mankind in the harvest, — it is grievous indeed at such a time to see, — as we do see year after year, — that the seats in this church, instead of being fuller, as one might expect they would be, are less full than at other times, especially those Avdiich are usually occupied by the very persons employed in gathering in these larger earnings. Surely this betokens that you must be living all the week wholly to yourselves, and that such a life is at war with the life which you ought to lead, not to yourselves, but to God. It shews what a weary and wearying thing it is to labour for ourselves, seeing that this weariness makes your hearts and minds droop and flag so at the end of the week, that you have no strength to lift them up in praises and thanksgivings to God. Beware, dear breth- ren : this is one of the devil's favorite snares. He is ever trying to turn God's blessings into curses, by mix- ing up the poison of selfishness with them, whereby he seduces you into forgetting the Giver, while all your thoughts and desires are wrapt up in the gift. Now this class of people who live for themselves, com- prises, as I said, all the children of men who are still in a state of nature, all who are under the bondage of a carnal and unregenerate heart. Yet, unless our eyes had been opened to perceive what an empire Sin has gained over our carnal heart, and how this is the very root and foun- tain-head of sin, that we do live to ourselves, it might OF LIFE. 331 strike us as passing strange that any being endowed with the affections which God has given to man, and placed in the condition in which God has placed him, should live to himself. For if we look at that in our nature which is of God's ordaining and framing, not at that which is of man''s fashioning and perverting, we cannot fail to see that we were made, not to live to ourselves, but to live to each other, loving, cherishing, heljiing, supporting each other. We do not even come into the world through our own act, but are brought into it by others ; and when we are first brought into it, we are in a state of utter helplessness. We cannot lift ourselves ; we cannot stir ; we cannot feed ourselves. We can only cry, whereby we move others to pity and help us. Our life cannot be preserved, except through the help afforded us by others. We cannot grow up, without others : we cannot learn to walk, without others : we cannot learn to speak, without others : we cannot learn to do anything, without others to teach us. Anon, when we begin to do something for ourselves, there are still a number of matters in which we want others to help and teach us. We want others to teach us to read and write : we want others to teach us our duty. Neither of these lessons, you well know, could any one learn of himself, without the help of a teacher. Nay, after we have learnt to read, all that we learn by reading we learn from others, and often from persons who have been long lying in their graves. For the law by which men are framed to help and benefit one another, does not apply solely to those who are near to each other in space and time, but spreads through all time and over the whole earth. For instance, the tea which you drink comes to us from China ; the cotton for your clothes is S32 THE OBJECT grown by the people of India or America : and books are blest to be the means, whereby men are enabled to teach and guide, not only those who are living beneath the sun along with them, but also those who come after them, and whereby what was wise and wholesome in the knowledge of former ages is handed down to be a light to mankind for generation after generation. Thus the whole of our earthly life is a never-ending, still-beginning lesson, that we are designed to live for others, not for ourselves. For suppose that we were to live solely for ourselves, — suppose that the heart of selfish- ness were not stretcht so far in all men as to embrace the offspring of their own bodies, — suppose that our parents, our nurses, our teachers, every one through whose kind ministrations we have grown up to be what we are, had lived altogether for themselves, — what would have become of us ? Should we ever have risen from our cradle ? should we ever have had a cradle to rise from ? Surely our first moment would have been our last. We should have been drowned like so many puppies or kittens. Throw the noisy, troublesome brat into a ditch ! \^'ould be the father's cry, the first time his babe squealed, even if the mother had not strangled it beforehand for giving her so much pain. Yes, assuredly, the whole of our early life is a never-ending, still- beginning lesson of love. Only through love, according to that sacred law whereby man- kind are increast, — only through love, unless that law has been foully outraged, do we even come into the world. We come into the world a burthen and grievous pain to our mothers : but through the love which God has planted in a mother's heart, and which makes her rejoice in living more for her child than for herself, this burthen and pain OF LIFE. 3'3S are turned into pleasures. When we have come into the world, still it is only through love, through long, patient, watchful, unwearied love, that we can grow up from the helplessness of infency, through the feebleness of childhood, and the many dangers which beset youth, to the strength of riper years. So all-important indeed is this one lesson, that every other lesson, according to the laws of nature, ought to teach us this also. The child that sucks the milk from its mother's breast, is made to suck in the love of its mother along with it. Every meal it eats should teach it to love those who feed it : indeed even brute animals do so. Every game of its childhood should teach it to love its playmates. Every lesson it learns should teach it to love those who are so kind as to take the trouble of training it up in the ways of knowledge and understanding. Moreover, even after we have come to the full growth of manhood, it is still utterly impossible for any person to live wholly for himself; at least unless he withdraws from the world, and shuts himself up in a cell, or a wilderness. But this is an act so contrary to the appetites, and indeed to the very constitution of our nature, that hardly anybody would frame such a design, unless with a purpose of living, not for himself, but for God. In their ordinary condition, as living- together in the world, men have numberless wants, which bind them together, and make them dependent on each other. We want our brethren to help us in all manner of ways, to protect us from injury and violence, and to supply us with all that we need. This help, which, during the period of our entire helplessness, was given to us freely through the stirrings of natural affection, we cannot obtain, when we are grown up, except by helping others in turn. 334 THE OBJECT He who has been trained, as we have seen, during infancy and childhood and youth, to love others by such manifold ties, is forced, when he passes out of the state of helpless- ness, to do something in the way of helping others, what- ever his station may be, and whether he will or no. The richest man on earth cannot live without the ministries of his poorer brethren : nor can he gain their help, except by making them in some measure sharers in his riches. In- deed, the richer he is, the greater number of his brethren will he need to minister to him ; and the greater number therefore will he himself be compelled to minister to. Every fresh enjoyment he wishes to draw from his wealth, brings a fresh necessity of imparting it to others. Tn like manner the various trades are forced to help each other, and cannot avoid doing so, because they want help, and could never get on without it. Indeed the very reason why, as society multiplies and advances, men are set apart for different trades, is, because by such a division they will help each other far more than each man could ever help himself by following every trade at once. Thus the miller grinds corn for a v/hole neighbourhood, in order that he may supply his neighbours with flour for them to bake into bread. The baker bakes the flour into bread for his neigh- bours, and thus needs the help of the miller, Avho himself, without the help of the baker, would find his labour wasted. Both of these want help from the tailor and shoe- maker, who in their turn want help from them. And all these trades, and all ranks and classes of men, need the help of the husbandman, without whom indeed no people in the world could go on for a month. He is the great helper of all, he and his helpmate the earth, which without him would produce little. OF LIFE. S35 Thus we see that the whole order of Nature, the order of man's natural life, and the order of society bear witness to the purpose of God, that men should not live for them- selves, but for one another. According to that order, it is necessary for the very preservation of our own life, that we should minister to others ; and as men become more civilized, they are bound together by a greater number of mutual ties. So entirely indeed is this the case, that Satan, after his wont, has tried to pervert this truth into the means of supporting and spreading his own falsehoods. Seeing that man is so framed and constituted, that he can- not even exist without the help of others, and is thus absolutely compelled to minister to them, Satan persuades us that the only reason which leads us to minister to others, is the good we hope to gain for ourselves : he persuades us that this is so, and ought to be so. Thus he sets up self- ishness as of right and necessity the ruling principle in our hearts, and would make us believe that it is rightfully the ruling principle, and the one spring of all activity and energy, in the world. I will not enter here into an argu- ment to prove how utterly false, how repugnant to the constitution of man and of society, this doctrine of the Father of lies is. It is enough for us to know that, if this doctrine were true, the whole of Christianity would be an idle fiction, an empty dream. It is enough for us in this place to recollect the words of the text, in which St Paul, speaking of Christians, declares, that none of us llvetli to himself. It is true, these words, as used by St Paul, do not em- brace a meaning quite so wide as I have been attaching to them. For he does not use them with reference to the general principle and motive of all our conduct, but is 336 THE OBJECT merely si^eaklng of a particular class of actions, and of the rule by which we are to determine them. The words however are general, and are no less true in their general, than in his particular application. The text stands in the midst of a passage full of heavenly wisdom, where St Paul tells us how it behoves us to act in doubtful matters, and matters of indifference ; and he exhorts us not to condemn a brother, who is acting according to the persuasion of his own mind, though his persuasion may differ from ours. At the same time he bids us refrain from doing that, whereby a brother may be offended, even though we our- selves may see nothing offensive in it. One man, he says, esteems one day above another : another man esteems every day alike. Let every man he fidly persuaded in his oivn mind. He that regards the day, regards it to the Lord ; and he that regards not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eats, eats to the Lord ; for he gives God thanks : and he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not, and gives God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself ; and no man dieth to himself. For, whether we live, we live to the Lord ; and ivhether ice die, ice die to the Lord. Whether we live or die therefore, we are the Lord'^s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might he Lord hoth of the dead and living. Here you see that St Paul in the text is not speaking of mankind at large, in their natural, unregenerate state, but of those who are the Lord's, of those for whom Christ died, and who there- fore, whether they live or die, or whatever they do, should do everything in reference to Him, Avith an eye to Him, as His servants, and members of His body. So that he is not even speaking of what the great mass of baptized Ciiristians are, but of what they ought to be, though all OP LIFE. 337 more or less fall short of it. He tells us that, as Christians, it behoves us not to live to ourselves. That is to say, we are not to look to our own will, as the rule of our conduct, but to the will of God. We are not to act for our own sakes, but for Christ's sake. Then he goes on to shew, how they who do thus live to Christ, and act for Christ's sake, will re- frain from doing what they themselves like, though in itself innocent, when it may prove a stumbling-block to others. Thus the text is more especially meant as a warning against one particular branch of selfishness, a most mis- chievous and perverse, but very wide-spreading branch, selfwill. It tells us that we are not to live according to our own will, but according to a higher will than our own. This too is a lesson, which the whole order of our nature, and our condition in the world, and the constitution of society are meant to teach us, but a lesson so contrary to the gi-ain of our carnal will, that, though these teachers are endeavouring to drill us out of our selfwill day by day, and year by year, from our cradle to our graves, yet no man in his natural state has ever learnt this lesson fully ; most men are continually struggling against it ; nor has any man ever received it into his heart, except through the working of the Spirit of Christ. Nevertheless this is plainly one of the reasons why we are born so feeble and helpless, and why we continue so long in childhood, in order that we may learn to obey, to walk in leading-strings, in order that our stubborn will may be mortified and crusht. Again in after life, whatever we do, if we are to do it successfully, we must do patiently, submissively, obediently, conform- ing our will to the order of Nature, watching the course of the seasons, and ploughing and sowing accordingly, ministering to Nature, to the end that Nature may minister VOL. II. z 338 THE OBJECT to US. Moreover, when men unite into societies, they are constrained to sacrifice, each his own will, to the will of the society, which is set up on high as law, and claims obedience from all. Yet all these forces, mighty as they would seem to he, and unceasingly as they are acting upon us, all our lives through, are totally unable to subdue our selfwill. Even the pain and misery which it is perpetually bringing upon us, from the many offenses we give, and the many hard rubs we encounter, in indulging it, cannot starve it into subjection. In spite of all the lessons of experience, our own and that of all mankind, we cling pertinaciously to the persuasion that happiness consists in having our own way ; although no man ever had his own way without falling sooner or later into the bottomless pit. Nor will any experience constrain us to acknowledge that it is only by bowing our will to a higher and holier Will, and by seeking what is wellpleasing, not in our own eyes, but in the eyes of Him who surveys and rules and orders all things, that we can find rest and peace. In this, as in other respects, the natural man will ever strive to live to himself. The natural teachers and trainers, whom God has appointed to check and counteract this carnal proneness, cannot prevail upon him to live for others. Nor is there any power mighty enough to burst, and deliver us from, the bonds of our selfishness, except the free Spirit of Christ. We must learn to live to God, to do all things for His glory, and with an eye to His Will ; and when we have been brought by His grace to do this, we shall also learn to live for others, finding our delight in doing what we can to help and comfort them, and being anxious not even to offend their prejudices, if there is nothing in them contrary to the law of God. OF LIFE. 389 The Christian, we are told in the text, must not live for himself. In this, as in all things, he must endeavour to fashion himself after the perfect pattern set before him hy his Heavenly Lord and Master. For Jesus also lived not to Himself, but to God, not seeking His own happiness, His own good, but the happiness and good of all mankind. Indeed this was the very purpose for which He left His throne in the heavens, and became man, and died a crue] death upon the Cross, not to live to Himself, but to God, and to mankind, and this not merely now and then, at certain seasons of special exertion, but always, and in all things. It was to do the will of God that he came into the world; and in doing the will of God He spent His whole life, in doing and in suffering it. This was His meat and drink. Even when a child, He quitted all other things to do His Father''s business. From the first to the last hour of His hfe, He never did anything for Himself, not even what all the rest of mankind do of necessity, and therefore allowably. Whatever He did was for the shew- ing forth of God's glory and mercy and love, and for the sake of leading men to become partakers of that mercy and love, and thus heirs and shewers forth of that glory. You remember how, when he was an hungred after his long fast in the wilderness, the Tempter would have persuaded Him to turn the stones into bread ; yet He would not ; not because He had not the power of working such a miracle, He who afterward fed the five thousand in the wilderness with the five loaves and the two fishes ; but because He would not work miracles for Himself; He would only work them for others. He would not work them to relieve Himself after a long fast ; but He wrought them to relieve others after a short one ; teaching His disciples thereby, that, z 2 340 THE OBJECT while they were to be careless about their own temporal wants and condition, they were not to be careless, but on the contrary desirous and diligent to relieve the temporal wants, and to promote even the temporal wellbeing of others, so far as this may be done without neglect of higher obligations. Thus did Jesus live to God, only doing His own will, so far as His will was one with the will of God ; and, in living to God, He also lived to mankind. In shewing forth the glory of God, He shewed forth God's wonderful love to mankind ; and this love was also His own love, a love so great that He came down from heaven expressly in order to die for mankind. This, my brethren, is the example set before us, to the end that we may follow it in all things, may strive after it all our lives : and thus we shall not live to ourselves. Indeed, whether we attempt to follow this blessed example or no, the only way in which we can really live for our- selves, for our own highest, immortal selves, is by living for God, and for our brethren. It is only by losing our lives, that v/e can find them, — by losing our carnal, selfish life, that we can find our heavenly life with Christ in God. For this you should ever keep in mind, that, whether we live for ourselves, or no, it is most certain that we cannot die for ourselves. When the shadow of this world passes away, the mask of self will drop off ; and then it will be seen for whom we have been really living. Even in this life, by trying to live for ourselves, we dry up the fountainhead of every blessing; we turn our life into a barren waste, with nothing rising out of it but heaps of sand, one of which at length stifles and chokes us. We pile up weariness and vexation and ceaseless discontent and repining for ourselves in this world ; and the only store we lay up OF LIFE. 341 for the world to come is everlasting bitterness and woe. For when the mask of self drops oif, then we shall find that we have been all our lives under a blinding delusion, — that the self for which we supposed ourselves to be working, which we have been caressing and indulging and pampering and fattening, has only been a mask of Satan, — that in fact we have been living all the while for him, — that we have been working in his mines, — that we have been grinding in his mill, — and that, while we deemed ourselves our own lords and masters, we were nothing but his bondsmen and slaves. Such, brethren, will assuredly be the end of those who live for themselves. They will find that they have been living for the carcase which rots, and for the worm which devours it. How blessed on the other hand will be the portion of those, for whom, when the shadow of this world passes away, the true abiding reality will come forth, and who, having lived by faith, will have their faith turned into sight ! They will see Him, in whom they have believed, and for whom they have lived ; and having lived for Him already under the darkness and amid the phantoms of this perishable life, they will live henceforward for Him and with Him for ever, in the pure light of heaven, ministering to Him in all things, and interchanging iinintermitting ministrations of love with the whole Communion of Saints. SERMON XVIII. POVERTY AND RICHES. 2 Corinthians viii. 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became ^joor, that ye through His poverty might be rich. It can scarcely be needful, my brethren, that I should bid you give your best and fullest attention to these words. Most of you, it is probable, are attentive enough already. For we are only too quick in pricking up our ears, the moment we catch the slightest sound that seems to hold out a promise of making us rich. St Paul in the text tells you, that our Lord Jesus Christ became poor, to the end that through His poverty ye might he rich. Now you would all like to become rich. Is it not so ? Will any of you tell me that you have no such wish ? Will any of you make answer that you don't want to be richer than you are ? that you are quite rich enough already ? If there be indeed any amongst you who can make this answer, in all simplicity and sincerity, happy are they. They must be truly rich : and they must have gained their riches in the only way in which true riches can be gained, through the grace and the poverty of our Lord Jesus Christ. But even if there are any such persons amongst you, they must be very few. The main part of you, my brethren, must be like the main part of the world, desiring, striving, toiling to become rich. Your days are worn out .'34I' POVERTY AND RICHES. with labour, your nights are fretted with restless cares, in order that you may become rich, — that is to say, compa- ratively, richer than you are now. For rich is a word, which, in its worldly sense, has no meaning, except com- paratively. That which is riches to one man, would be called poverty by others. Many of you, if you had a hun- dred pounds, would think yourselves as rich as a king. Some of you, if you had only a hundred pounds, would fancy yourselves reduced to beggary. He too that is richest amongst us, would be accounted poor by many who live beyond the bounds of our parish, in other parts of the land, and who gather in their golden harvest from thou- sands on thousands of acres. Nay, would not he himself, if you were to ask him, call himself poor ? Does not he shew by the pains he takes to grow rich, that he does not think himself rich as yet ? He may tell you that he is not rich enough. But that is only another way of saying the same thing: for he who has not enough, can never be rich. Enough^ the proverb tells us, is as good as a feast : in fact Enough is the only feast ; and Enough is the only riches. But have any of you this riches? have any of you enough ? No : you would all be glad to have a little more to eke out what you have already, so that it may be suffi- cient to satisfy your various wants, M'ithout the need of so much trouble and management. You who are poor, and who have to work for your bread, would you not be glad to get rid of this poverty, of this necessity, which presses so hard upon you ? And you who live by the labour of others, while they live by the wages they receive from you, do not you wish that you could employ more labourers, that you could rent more acres, that you could grow larger crops, that in one way or other your moneybags would POVERTY AND RICHES. 345 swell out to twice their present fulness ? Would you not all count it a godsend, as the phrase runs, If anybody were to shew you a way of doubling your present income ? Call to mind the words of the text : in those words you are told how you may become rich. Be your share in the riches of this world small or great, St Paul tells you in what way you may all become rich : and that way is truly a God- send. Whereas the ways by which men are wont to drive at their aim, especially if they are short cuts, might far more fitly in many cases be termed devilsends. From what has been said, you may see what strange things those are, which we call poverty and riches. Poverty is a thing that we all have : or, I ought rather to say, it has us. Its yoke is upon us ; and a main part of our lives is spent in vain struggles to escape from it. Riches on the other hand is a thing that we all want and seek. With the toil of our hands we seek it : with the sweat of our brows we seek it : with the wear and tear of our hearts and minds we seek it : we give up our ease to seek it : we peril our health to seek it : we quit our homes and wander over the wide earth to seek it : and yet, in spite of all we can do, we can scarcely ever manage to lay hold on it. Surely this is a strong reason for suspecting that we must have got upon a wrong sent, and that it is not to be found where we are wont to look for it. Nor is it merely by private persons standing singly, that riches is pursued thus constantly and unweariedly, as though to gain it were the main end for which they came into the world. It has ever been one of the chief objects for which bodies and societies of men unite, and which they seek in and by their union. One of the great pur- poses for which laws are made, is to secure what men have, 346 POVERTY AND RICHES. and to protect and help them in getting more : while on the other hand much thought and goodwill are employed in devising means to check poverty, and to relieve it. But nowhere is it seen more palpably how feeble and helpless man is, when he follows his own ends, trusting in his earthly wisdom. When a nation forgets what ought to be its highest interest and aim, and gives itself up to the pursuit of riches, and cares about nothing so much as how to improve its agriculture, its trade, its commerce, and deems this of greater importance than to provide for the moral and spiritual wellbeing of its people, the sure end of such conduct is, that the very measures which were adopted with the sole view of heaping up riches, will spread poverty far and wide, like a plague, through the land. This is a truth which the blindest may see in the state of England, such as it has been for years past. For year after year, for generation after generation, we have deemed that there is one thing needful ; and that one thing is money. We have gone on greedily piling up money, no matter at what cost : whatever it might cost, we thought we had made an excellent bargain. We cast out our nets into every quarter of the world ; and wherever they caught money or money''s worth, we dragged it into our treasury ; until in the pride of our hearts we began to fancy that there was no end of our riches. Nay, though we never attained to that only sure mark of being rich, the having enough, — though on the contrary, however fast our riches might increase, it was swallowed up straightway by our debts, which left deep, hollow pits, where we had been heaping up our piles of gold, — yet we boasted that we were the richest nation ever seen upon earth ; we POVERTY AND RICHES. ?A7 boasted that there was no end of our riches : and lo, what is the end of it i That the whole country is overrun with a population of paupers, — a thing the like of which has never been seen in the rudest or poorest nations. Our silver and gold have crumbled away before our eyes : and what do we see in their stead ? Hunger, and distress, and discontent, and all that long train of evils which poverty brings upon a people. The poor man's earnings will no longer support him. That spirit, which used to make the husbandman take an honest pride in maintaining his family by his own labour, has been crusht and stifled. That spirit, which led our fathers to shrink from the very thought of begging, which made them desire to say, like St Paul, that they had never been chargeable or burthensome to any man, — that spirit has almost past away from the land. In truth the very measures which were devised for the relief of the poor, — because they were devised solely for relieving their outward, bodily wants, without regard to the iimer man, and the wants of the heart and soul and mind, — have rendered them poorer than ever, — poorer even in body, and still more in spirit, — poorer in spirit, not before God, before whom it behoves every spirit to be poor, but poorer in spirit before man, in whose presence it behoves us to lift up our heads as neighbours and brethren. The measures, I say, which we adopted, trusting in our worldly wisdom, with the purpose of making the poor rich, and the rich richer,' — these very measures, because we adopted them from a trust in our own worldly wisdom, have ended in making the rich poor, and the poor poorer. Nay, — what at first may strike us as still sadder, — even charity itself, in that meagre, imperfect shape, in which it is commonly found, with little thought of any higher duty 348 POVERTY AND RICHES. than that of relieving the bodily wants of the needy, will be of no avail in making the poor rich, but tends much rather to increase than to lessen the number of paupers and beggars. I do not say this with the intent of advising any one amongst you to turn his back upon his brother in distress. God forbid that I should be such a faithless servant to the Master who commands us to give to them that ask us ! I merely want you to observe, how this is another proof of the weakness and worthlessness of mere money, and of the aptness of riches to turn into poverty, unless we have found out the true source of riches, which the grace of Christ has opened to us. If we do not go to this source, and draw from it, we shall never be rich ourselves ; and the only way in which we can make others truly rich, is by guiding and leading them to it. We may learn this from our Lord's words to the dis- ciples, when He is sending them forth on this very mission, in order that they may go through the land, and make all the poor in it rich. Freely ye have received^ He says to them ; freely give. Now what are they here commanded to give ? what had they received ? Are they to give money ? gold and silver and copper \ This cannot be : for in the very next verse He bids them provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in their purses. The gifts they are commanded to give are of another kind, to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, to cast out devils, and to preach the Kingdom of Heaven. These are the gifts which Christ's servants are commanded to give, the very gifts, whatsoever they may be, which they have re- ceived from Him : and as they have received freely, so are they commanded to give freely. They are to exercise all the gifts which they have received from their Master, both POVERTY AND RTCHES. 349 those through which they may do good to the hodies of their brethren, and those through which they may do good to their souls ; and as they have received freely, so are they to give. Above and before all, they are to proclaim the glad tidings of the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, to which the poor are especially called, and in which they will become truly rich, with that riches which neither rust nor moth will corrupt. In other words Christ's disciples, each according to the gift that he himself has received, are commanded to make the poor rich, in the only way in which they can be made so really and lastingly, by calling them through repentance to an inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven, — by teaching them how utterly poor they are in themselves, through the infinite debt which they owe to God, and which they have no means whatever of paying, — and by shewing them on the other hand how perfectly rich they may become, if they will only have faith to seek true riches, through the infinite lovingkindness of God, who has given us His beloved Son to redeem us from all our debts, in order that, if we will receive Him into our hearts, and accept the redemption thus wrought for us. He may, along with His Son, freely give us all things. That is to say, they are to speak of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might he rich. Poverty and riches, we have seen, are strange things. In our thoughts of them, they seem to us to be exact con- traries. He who is rich, we should say, cannot be poor, at least in that wherein he is rich ; nor can he who is poor be rich. In our wishes too they seem to be exact contra- ries : we seek the one, in order that it may save us from 350 POVERTY AND RICHES. the other. Yet there is no clear line of separation markt out between them. They are perpetually running into each other. While we are always fleeing from poverty, it is always pursuing us : and we can never escape from it thoroughly, except by embracing it. When we do so with all our heart, it changes its nature, and turns into riches. Something of this kind would almost seem to be implied in the declaration that Ohrisfs poverty is to make us rich. Still there is something in that declaration which to the understanding of the natural man is very puzzling. How can poverty make any one rich ? How can another person's poverty make me rich ? Another man's riches may : this the natural understanding can well conceive. If a very rich man were to come to us, and give us a large share of his riches, then, according to our notions, we might fancy we should become rich. In like manner, if Christ had come down in kingly state, and had gathered all the silver and gold and precious stones from all the mines in the whole earth into His treasury, and had commanded His ministers to dole them out to His people, this, any one might say, would be the way to make them rich. We have seen however that this is not so, that no amount of such riches will make a man rich, any more than any quantity of fuel that you can throw into a fire will keep in the fire for a continuance, or do more than make it burn more fiercely for the time, and perhaps burn out more rapidly. Thus, when we hear persons speaking of the richest men in England, that is, of those who have the largest rentroU, a rentroll exceeding that of princes, we are almost sure to hear at the same time that they are very poor, and that, when they are askt to give something for a charitable purpose, they will reply that they have nothing to give. POVERTY AND RICHES. 351 Thus too we have been perpetually told concerning- the richest nation ever seen upon earth, that it is so poor it has little or nothing to give toward the moral and religious culture of the people. Therefore Christ did not come with such riches to make men rich. He came with poverty. Having had the riches of all the world from the beginning, He cast away this riches, and became poor, in order that we through His poverty might be rich. With regard to the first part of the text, my brethren, I trust that none of you will be at a loss to understand what St Paul meant, when he said that our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor. You must all know when it was that He was rich, and when and how He became poor. You know that at no one moment of His earthly life was He rich ; and therefore it cannot have been after He came into this world, that He became poor. When then was He rich ? He was rich, when he was with God, even from the be- ginning, inasmuch as from the beginning He was ever with God, dwelling in the bosom of God, sharing in the power of God, sharing in His wisdom, sharing in His glory, shewing forth the wisdom and the power and the glory of God in creating all the worlds, and in creating all the beings with whom the worlds are peopled. He was rich, when He said, Let there be light. The light which has been streaming ever since in such a rich, inexhaustible flood through earth and sea and air and sky, was merely a part of the immeasurable, unimaginable riches, which belonged from the beginning to the Son of God. He was rich, when He bad the earth bring forth its innumerable multitudes and varieties of herbs and plants and trees, and peopled it with living creatures, equally numerous and 352 POVERTY AND RICHES. manifold, with fishes, and insects, and birds, and beasts, endowing each kind with the power of multiplying and reproducing itself through a thousand generations. He was rich when He made man, and gave him such bounteous and wonderful gifts out of His treasurehouse, feelings and affections, thought and speech, reason and will and con- science, faith and hope and love, — when He gave him the power of knowing all things, and their laws, their causes and their eifects, — and of knowing Him who was the Author of all things, — of knowing Him, and honouring Him, and doing His will, and of growing up into His likeness. This was the crowning work in which Christ shewed forth His riches ; and yet in this very work, before long, we find what almost seems a mark of poverty, — the greatest perfection in the creation, and at the same time its first imperfection, the cause too and the origin of every other imperfection. For here, in man, it seemed before long, as though the riches of the Creator had fallen short, and been in a manner exhausted, — as though His purpose had been bafiled, as though His wisdom and power had failed to make what He willed to make. When He who Avas with God from the beginning, made man, He purpost to shew forth His riches by making man rich, richer, far richer than every other creature, by enriching him with earthly riches in giving him the dominion over the earth, and over every thing and every creature upon the earth, and by ordaining that he, who was thus rich in earthly riches, should become the heir of heavenly riches, of the riches of knowledge, of the riches of grace, of the riches of spiritual power. But man, though he was made to be thus rich, made himself poor. He made himself poor, in that he, to whom POVERTY AND RICHES. 353 God had given the dominion over every creature, made himself subject to the creature, and chained his soul to the earth, as a dog is chained to its kennel, and wore himself out in barren, withering drudgery in the service of the master whose yoke he had put on. He made himself poor by this very act, that he coveted to make himself richer, richer in earthly riches, in the pursuit of which he lost his inheritance of heavenly riches. He made himself poor, in that, instead of opening his soul to receive the heavenly riches wherewith God had purpost to fill it, he closed it against that riches, while he gave himself up to acquiring what he deemed far more valuable ; whereby his soul was left empty, and was preyed upon by its own emptiness, until he tried to still the gnawings of that emptiness by feeding it with the creature, but merely inflamed them thereby. He made himself poor, in that he . gave himself u]) to ravenous and insatiable lusts, — in that he sought riches where no riches is to be found, — in that he darkened his understanding, by turning it away from the light, and employing it only to delve in the mines of the senses, — in that, instead of lifting up and spreading out his heart and soul in adoration to God, he dwarft and crampt them by twisting and curling all his thoughts and feelings around the puny idol, self. Such was the condition of abject poverty to which man was reduced, through his craving to become rich, not in the riches of God, which is true and lasting, but in the riches of this world, which perishes and moulders away, when He, who had dwelt in the fulness of all riches from the beginning, lookt down with compassion on His poor and miserable creatures, and desired to raise them out of their poverty, — out of that poverty which arose from their VOL. ir. A A 354 POVERTY AND RICIIFS- craving after the false riches of this world, — and, in order to do so, stript Himself of His riches, of everything- belong- ing to the Godhead, of which He could strip Himself, of His power and glory and majesty, and took upon Him the form of a Servant, shewing thereby in what true riches, in what the true glory of the Godhead lies. For our sakes He became poor. How ? In all manner of ways. He became poor in the very act of taking our nature upon Him, in subjecting Himself to the laws of mortality, to the bonds of Time and Space, to the weaknesses of the flesh, to earthly life and death. Even if He had come to reign over the whole earth, even if He had listened to the voice of the Tempter, and had accepted all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory, even then He would have descended from the summit of power and riches, to that which in comparison would have been miserable poverty. But then He would not have taught us wherein true power and riches consist : He would not have set us an example how we too are to become rich. Therefore He, to whom the highest highth of earthly riches would have been poverty, vouchsafed to become what we deem far poorer, to descend to the lowest depths of earthly poverty. Thus at His very birth He vouchsafed to be born, where the poorest woman in this parish would consider it a calamity to bring forth her child, in a stable. In like manner, when He attained to manhood, and entered upon His ministry, as He Himself tells us, while the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, He had not where to lay His head. And at His death He vouchsafed to descend into the nethermost pit of earthly degradation, was subject to the bitterest agony, to the most revolting shame, to a death whereby He was numbered among the transgressors. POVERTY AND RICHES. 355 Thus did the Son of God become poor : and He became so, St Paul tells us, in order that we through His poverty might be rich. Now how does His poverty pro- duce this effect ? how can it do so ? In a twofold manner : by the example of His life, and by the sacrifice of His death. For our poverty also was of a twofold kind. There was a poverty which haunted us through life, in consequence of our seeking false riches, and setting our hearts upon false riches, whereby we are sure to lose true riches : and there is a poverty to which we become subject in death, an eternal poverty, which awaits all such as have not laid up treasure in heaven. Now from both these kinds of poverty, the poverty of Christ, if we rightly under- stand it, and open our hearts to receive its blessings, will deliver us. The example of Christ's life, if we understand it, and receive its blessing into our hearts, will deliver us from that poverty which arises from our seeking after false riches. For that poverty results in no small measure from our ignorance, from the mist which is over our eyes, and which keeps us from discerning the true value of things, and dis- poses us to be deluded by outward shows. It results from our supposing that riches consists in our having a multitude of the things of this world, gold and silver and jewels, lands and houses, cattle and servants. Yet what is the real value of these things ? what is their value in any time of need, under any grievous trial ? What is their value in sickness ? can they restore us to health ? can they give us strength ? Rather have they been the means of introducing a number of new forms of sickness : for the diseases of the rich are far more numerous and frequent than those of the poor. Or can these outward materials of riches console 2 A 2 356 POVERTY AND RICHES. lis in the time of our sorrow ? can they bring back the friends whom we have lost ? can they quiet the stings of a troubled conscience ? can they stave off Death 1 can we drive him back by sending out an army to fight against him ? Does it not often happen that he seems, as it were, to say to his servants, after the manner of the King of Syria, Jtffht not with small or great, hut only with the King of Israel? Jehoshaphafs royal robes only mark him out for attack : nor does Ahab's disguise save him. Or can you think there would be any satisfaction in having your shroud made of cloth of gold, or the lid of your coffin starred with diamonds ? Your numbed hand, though it lay on velvet, wovild not feel its softness. Your closed eye would not see the brilliancy of the dia- monds over your head. Assuredly in every time of trial we may say to the things of this world, in the words of Job, Miserable comforters are ye all. Therefore, had it been possible for our Lord to be deluded by the bribe of the Tempter, so as to fall down and worship him for the sake of obtaining all the kingdoms of the earth and their glor}^ He would only have sunk thereby into far lower poverty than before. For He would thereby have lost that hea- venly riches, which lay in cleaving to the divine word, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou serve. He would have lost the riches and the power of that word, which was mightier than all the kingdoms of the earth : for it made the devil depart from Him, and angels come and minister to Him, which all the armies of all the kingdoms of the earth could not have done. This, our Lord teaches us, is true riches : this riches the example of His poverty teaches us to seek ; and, if we do seek it, we shall gain it. POVERTY AND RICHES. 357 Moreover our LoriFs example teaches us that true riches, while it does uot cousist in what we have of the things of this world, does consist in what we give. Nor is this to be measured bj the amount given, but by the heart which gives it. Thus the poor widow who gave her two mites, in that she gave more than the rich, was richer, in heaven's estimate, than they. For in giving her all to God, for the good of His Church, she was rich in some measure after the pattern of our Saviour Himself. She had the riches of love : she had the riches of freedom from care and anxiety : she had the riches of a full trust in Him, who feeds the fowls of the air, and clothes the grass of the field. Here you may see plainly, my brethren, how Christ did indeed become poor, in order that you might be rich, and how you may become rich through His poverty. Even the poorest amongst you may become so. For none of you can be poorer than the widow, who became so rich by casting her two mites into the treasury. At the beginning of my sermon, I said that enough is riches. But you must not misunderstand this. You will not be rich, if you have only enough for yourself, or enough for your family. In fact no man will have enough for him- self, or enough for his family, unless he has also enough to give to others. Self will ever cry More ! more ! and he who cries More ! more ! cannot be rich. One's own family, when merely regarded as a wider, bigger self, will always cry More ! more ! But he who has Avhat he can give to his brother in need, will have enough, and be rich : and to this riches you may all attain through Christ's poverty. But it is only through Christ's poverty that you can attain to it ; and, in order to do so, you not only need 358 POVERTY AND RICHES. the example of His poverty during His life, but also the poverty of His death. One of His first declarations, when He had come down from heaven to make the poor rich through His poverty, and went forth to teach them how they were to become so, was, that the poor are blessed, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Now they who have an inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven are rich, they, and they alone, rich not for a few days or years, with the riches which makes itself wings and flies away, but rich to eternity, with riches which nothing can destroy or lessen. Who however are the poor that have this riches ? Have all the poor this riches ? are they all partakers in this blessedness ? Can it be said of all who are poor in the riches of this world, that the Kingdom of Heaven is really, actually theirs. Nobody who knows anything of the state of the world, can suppose this. Something more is needed, in order to attain to this blessing, beside the mere fact of being poor. Nay, even poverty of spirit would not of itself make us rich in heavenly riches, and possessors of the Kingdom of Heaven. For we do not enter into that Kingdom through our own poverty, but through Christ's poverty. So long as we look solely at ourselves, poverty of spirit only teaches us how utterly, irremediably poor we are. But when we remember Christ's poverty, which He put on, to the end that we might thereby become rich, — when we feel the assurance that He died, in order that we through His death might live, — when we know that through His pre- cious Sacrifice we are reconciled to the Father, and that, poor as we are in ourselves, and destitute of every grace. He has obtained the power of the Spirit for us, and through POVERTY AND RICHES. 359 Him will give ns grace for grace, — then for the first time we find out that in Him we are truly rich. So too must it be until the end. When we consider ourselves apart from Christ, when we act without Him, when we look forward without Him, we are always poor, poor in strength, poor in grace, poor in hope. But when we have been brought by His spirit to feel ourselves at one with Him, when we see ourselves in Him, when we think, and pray, and act, not in our own strength, but in His, then we become partakers of that infinite riches, which He had from the beginning with God, and which He laid aside during the poverty of His earthly life, to the end that He might bestow it eternally on every faithful member of His Church. SERMON XIX. Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. John xn, 12, 13. On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when tliey heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna ! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord ! Today is the first day of that great week, in which the redemption of mankind was accomplisht, and the forgive- ness of our sins piirchast, by the sacrifice of the death of Christ. Hence, as our Lord's Passion is the one central act in the history of the workl, — as it is the event of far higher importance and far deeper interest than any other, both to the whole race of man, and to every single mem- ber of that race, — as our everlasting hopes and portion depend upon that act, — and as it is right and fitting that what Christ, as at this time, did and suffered for us, should be continually present before our hearts and minds, above all, during this holy season, — our Church has ordered that all the full and minute accounts given by the four Evan- gelists of our Lord's agony and betrayal and trial and death should be read to her people in the services appointed for this and the five following days; in order that the wonderfvil proofs of His divine grace, and meekness, and patience, and love, should be brought livingly before us, and that He should be set forth before our eyes, as He was by St Paul before those of the Galatians, in the whole 362 Christ's entrance story of His crucifixion, so that we might be moved thereby to feel an answering love toward Him who so loved us. Accordingly the Second Lesson and the Gospel, which have just been read to you, have been filled with the account of the shame and suffering which our Lord had to endure on the last day of His life. Today however was not itself a day of shame and sufter- ing. In former times this Sunday was called Palm Sun- day. As such it is still observed by divers portions of the Christian Church, especially at Rome, where it is a solemn festival, with peculiar ceremonies ; and even with us the name is still in common use. In the Prayerbook indeed it is merely termed the Sunday next before Easter ; but in ordinary speech we mostly keep to the old name. Palm Sunday. The reason why it was so called is contained in the passage of St John, which I have taken for my text : for it seems to have been as on this day, on the first day of the week, five days before His crucifixion, that our blessed Lord entered into Jerusalem, when He went up to keep that last Passover, at which His enemies seized Him and put Him to death. On that occasion, St John tells us, ))mch people, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, tool: branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna ! Blessed is the King of Israel, that comefh in the name of the Lord ! And why, you may like to know, did they carry palm-branches ? Was there any reason for taking these rather than the branches of any other trees ? Palm-branches, we find in the Book of Leviticus (xxiii. 40), were to be borne by the people during the rejoicings at the Feast of Tabernacles. When Simon entered Jerusalem in triumph, we read that he entered with thanksgiving, and branches of palm-trees. INTO JERUSALEM. 363 and with harps and cpnhals and with viols and hymns and songs ; because there teas destroyed a great enemy out of Israel (1 Mace. iii. 51). So again, when his brother, Judas Maccabeus, delivered Jerusalem from the Syrians, the people lare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms (2 Mace. x. 7). And in the Revelation (vii. 9), the great multitude of all nations and kindreds and tong-ues, who stand before the throne, and before the Lamb, are described as being clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. Hence we see, as is also well known from a number of passages in heathen writers, that the palm-tree was regarded in ancient times as a sign and emblem of victory. So that, when the people went out to meet our Saviour with palms in their hands at His last entrance into Jerusalem, they went just as they would have gone to meet a conqueror coming in triumph. The pjilm-branches themselves betokened, what their shouts declared, that they were gone to meet the King of Israel, who was about to enter into His own city, and to take possession of it in the name of the Lord. The words with Avhich they greeted Him were taken from the 118th Psalm, and were thus a confession that Jesus was the long- expected Messiah. Hosanna ! which is a Hebrew invo- cation, signifying. Save, toe beseech Thee I Blessed is the King of Israel, loho cometh in the name of the Lord ! Yet what was the real purpose for which Jesus was going up to Jerusalem I The people, whose minds dreamt of, whose hearts were set on, nothing higher than the power and glory of this world, deemed that He was coming as a conqueror after the fashion of this \\'or]d, to deliver them from the heavy and hated yoke of their enemies, to give them freedom and independence, to set up 364- Christ's entrance the throne of His father David, and to extend His dominion, according to the prophetic declaration, from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth (Psahn Ixxii. 8). Such must doubtless have been their imagina- tions, as was implied by their palm-branches and their hosannas. Poor and feeble and lowly as Jesus was to outward view, they fancied that He was coming to them as a Conqueror and as a King; as the Conqueror of all their enemies, and as a King whose dominion was to stretch over the whole earth. This expectation of theirs was very strange ; for it was wholly against all appear- ances. Thus it is a witness of their faith, of their con- fident assurance that what their ancient prophets had foretold, would indeed come to pass. But there was something about it stranger still, — namely, that at one and the same time their notion of what was to happen was utterly false and perfectly true. For this is a not uncommon mark of the contrariety between earth and heaven, that the selfsame saying will be wholly against the order of the one, and in exact agreement with that of the other. In the sense which the people themselves put upon their hopes, those hopes were totally baffled. Ere a week had past by, He whom they hailed as a Con- queror and a King, was nailed as a criminal to the cross ; and even of those who had shouted Hosanna, and strewn palm -branches in His way, some, it is too probable, had joined in the fierce and fiendish cry, Crucify/ Him ! Never- theless all that they had lookt to see accomplisht out- wardly, on this earth, in this life, was indeed accomplisht spiritually, and in a far higher manner and degree than it had ever entered into their hearts to conceive. The very same event too, which destroyed their hope in the one sense, INTO JERUSALEM. 365 was the means of its fulfilment in the other. Jesus did come as a Conqueror : He did come to give them freedom : He did come to deliver them from their enemies. He came to conquer enemies, against whom no man till then had heen able to lift up his head. He came to give them a freedom, which no man had ever thought it possible to gain. He came as the Conqueror of the Prince of this world : He came to give them freedom from sin : He came to deliver them from the yoke and miserable bondage and malice of Satan, to redeem them from eternal death, and to make them the heirs of eternal life. So too did He come to set up the throne of His Father, of His Heavenly Father, upon earth, and to seat Himself thereon as God manifest in the flesh, and to establish a Kingdom which should embrace all nations and peoples and languages, and to reign over that Kingdom for ever and ever. If the people who went out to meet and greet Him could have foreseen what a few days were to bring about, how would their rejoicings have been quencht ! how would their songs have been stricken with silence ! how would their hopes have quailed to the ground ! The Conquei-or was to be seized and mockt : the Deliverer was to be bound and scourged : His kingly crown was to be turned into a crown of thorns. His throne of glory into a cross of shame : and of all the multitude who were thronging and pressing with clamorous exultation around Him, not one but was to forsake Him and fly. The people knew not what was about to happen ; or they would never have gone out to meet Jesus with palm-branches and hosannas! Jesus Himself, on the other hand, knew ; and yet He did not bid them cast away their palm-branches, or hush their liosannas. For He knew that never, since the 366 Christ's entrance creation of the world, had any man walkt upon earth, to whom such honour could so rightfully be paid. He knew too that what they were doing then, was but a faint image of what would be done through endless ages before the throne of the Lamb. He knew that He was going up to die, that His enemies would lay hands upon Him, and put Him to a cruel death : He knew all the sufferings and shame by which His death was to be attended : He had warned His disciples thereof. But He also knew how His death would be wholly swallowed up in victory, how by that death itself He was to be more than conqueror, how by it He was to overcome death, and how every drop of blood that fell from His holy body would redeem thousands of souls from the captivity of Satan. Therefore our blessed Lord, meek and lowly as He was, and carefully as at other times He had forbidden that out- ward honour should be paid to Him, — carefully as, through His whole life, He had resisted this, as well as every other lure of the Tempter, — yet, on this occasion, when He was about to depart from the earth and from the eyes of man- kind, vouchsafed to allow that the people should come out to meet Him with hosannas, that they should hail Him as their King, that they should strew palm-branches before Him as before a Conqueror. He vouchsafed to allow that they should do what, though done blindly, and though totally mistaken in the sense in which they designed it, was most rightfully due to Him in a far higher sense, to Him above, or rather alone of, all mankind. He vouch- safed to allow that the voices of men should for once recognise, that the earth should for once pay her homage to their Lord. Nay, He not only allowed it ; He even testified his approval of it, when He said that, if the people INTO JERUSALEM. 361 held their peace, the stones would immediately cry out- Hereby, in that He gave His sanction to what the people were doing, although it was done in ignorance and under a delusion, He signified that what they were doing was ex- actly what they ought to have done, if the eyes of their understandings had been opened to discern the true King and Conqueror who was entering into their city, the real worth and glory of the victory which He was about to gain for them, and of the Kingdom which He came to set up amongst them. At the same time He signified that in like manner He ought always to be received and hailed by all to whom He comes, and who know Him as He is, by all whose eyes have been opened, whose understandings have been taught to perceive that the victory has indeed been gained, that the Eternal King has entered and taken possession of His own chosen city, and that His people have been delivered from their enemies, so that they may serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of their lives. Yes, my brethren, you too should go forth in this manner to meet your Saviour, whenever He comes to you. You should not stay slug- gishly at home until He has past by. You should go forth to meet Him with palm-branches in your hands, and should cry, Hosanna ! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord ! So roe would^ some of you may perhaps be thinking ; so we would go forth to meet Him, if He would indeed come to us, as He came to Jerusalem, in the hody, that our eyes might see Him, and that our ears might hear His words so full of grace and truth. Then we should indeed rejoice. how we should rejoice ! We would strip the trees of their branches to do Hhn honour ; we icould cast our garments 368 Christ's entrance before His feet ; we loould cry from the hottom of our souls^ Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord I What ! my brethren, do you then think that it would be any advantage to you, that you would in any way be gainers, in knowledge, in happiness, in faith, in godliness, if our Saviour were to come amongst you in the body I Might it not be with you, as with the Jews, when He came to them, that some of you would not know Him, some might follow Him for a while, and then be oiFended and turn away 1 Might not some even desire to drive Him away ? At all events, if He were walking about upon earth, His victory would not yet have been gained ; your enemies would not yet have been conquered ; He would not be in- terceding for you at the right hand of the Father ; He would not be sending down His Spirit to renew and strengthen and sanctify His people. Or, to speak of a single point, which you may perhaps find it easier to understand, if Jesus Christ were abiding at this day upon earth. He could only be in one place at one time. Therefore, if He were dwelling here with you, all the rest of the world would be without Him. Or, if He were merely to come to you for once, and visit you, and depart, you would be without Him all the rest of your lives. Nay, even if the boldest wish you could form were to be gratified, even if we could suppose the blessed Jesus to be abiding continually here in the midst of this parish, there would be many hours in every day, if not many whole days, when you would be out of His sight, beyond the sound of His voice. But now that He is in heaven. He can be in all places at all times ; just as the sun is not only with you in your garden, but quite as much with your neighbour in his corn-field, and with the sheejj INTO JERUSALEM. 369 on the hills, and with the manufacturers in Lancashire, and with the sailors on the broad sea. In like manner Christ can be here in this church, and in the church in the next parish, and in every church, yea, and in every house of every parish in England, and in France, and in Germany, and in the uttermost parts of the earth. He can be with you in this parish, and with those who have gone from this parish to the woods of America, and with those who have gone to Australia. He was with them when they were in the midst of the ocean, if they only lifted up their hearts to Him : He will be with them in the untrodden forest, if they will but call upon His name. So too can He, and, if you earnestly desire His presence, will He be with you, at all times and seasons, not in church merely, but when you are hibouring in the field, or busied in any household work, or lying upon your bed at night. Nor can any of those calamities which cut you off from the employments and enjoyments of this world, separate you from Him. Sickness, though it keep you from work, though it keep you from church, has no power to keep you from Christ, if you beseech Him to come to you while you are on the bed of sickness. Though you should be blind, so as to see no object in this world, you may still see your Sa- viour. Though you should be so deaf as to hear no earthly sound, no voice of man or woman, the voice of Christ will still find a way to your souls. Indeed it will often happen that the very cause which withdraws you from earthly things, by rendering you more desirous of seek- ing communion with your Saviour, will bring you nearer to Him, will make yon strive more earnestly to draw nigh to Him ; whereupon He also will draw nigh to you. VOL. II. B B 370 Christ's entrance But how are we to know when Christ is comiiig to us? hoio are we to know the time when we should go forth to meet Him ? If He does not come to us in the hodi/, hoio and in what does He come ? In everything, if you will but believe it, sin alone excepted. So too, if you will but believe it, whatsoever befalls you, sin alone excepted, you may cry. Blessed is He that comefh in the name of the Lord. He came to you when you were children, in the love of your parents, in their anxious care for your welfare, in everything that they did for the training up of your hearts and minds, in all the pains that they took to check and subdue the evil spirit within you. He came to you in the lessons of your teachers. He comes to you in the voice of His ministers, in His holy word, in the ordinances of His Church : and as He came to you during your infancy in the water of Bap- tism, so now, if you do not shrink away from Him, He will come to you in that holy Sacrament in which He invites you to a Communion in His Body and Blood. Moreover He has come to you, if you had but believed it, in all the outward blessings of your lives, in your health, in your strength, in the gifts, whatever they may be, of your bodies and of your minds, in every joy, in every pleasure, and in the very power of enjoying- it. Whatsoever good thing you may have received from your birth down to this day, your hearts should always have cried. Blessed is He that cometh, and hringeth me this good gift, in the name of the Lord i Had you done so, it would indeed have been a good thing ; good, not only for a moment, but lastingly ; not merely plea- sant and agreeable to a part of your nature, but whole- some and profitable to the whole. For He who can INTO JERUSALEM. 371 deprive death of its sting, and the grave of its victory, is no less able to take the sting out of all the good things and pleasures of this world, and to strengthen our hearts against them, so that they shall not gain the victory over us. He can enable us so to use those riches, — ■ owing to which it is said to be easier for a camel to pass tliroiigh the eye of a needle^ than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, — that they shall supply us with gold and frankincense and myrrh to be laid at His holy feet. Indeed, unless He could take out this sting. He could not take out the other. Unless He gave us the victory over the temptations of life, He could not give us the victory over death and the grave. This however is the very reason why the good things of this world cease to be blessings, why they are beset and bristle all over with stings, — this is what turns them so often into curses, — that we do not discern how they are brought to us by Him who cometh in the name of the Lord. We look upon them as our own earning, as the fruit of our own toil, as the reward of our own wit, or as the gifts of chance and fortune, or as the gifts of nature and life, and of the dead carcass of the world, or as the gifts of some evil spirit, of ambition, or of covetousness, or of lust, or of fraud and over- reaching. Hence, instead of worshiping and giving up our hearts to Him who cometh in the name of the Lord, we worship and give up our hearts to ourselves, to our own strength and cleverness, or to chance and fortune, or to nature and the dead carcass of the world, or to some of those spirits of evil that the Prince of darkness sends over the earth to beguile and blind mankind, to draw them away from heaven and all its B B 2 37^ Christ's entrance blessed graces, and to prepare and fit them for himself. Yes, my brethren, this is what turns all the blessings of this world into curses, which vex and torment us with hunger and weariness and dissatisfaction, and restless, unappeasable desires. Whereas, if we did indeed behold the hand that brings them to us, if we saw how they are brought to us by Him who cometh in the name of the Lord, they would become doubly, nay, tenfold lovely and precious, from the light of His love shining upon them. You know what a difference it makes in the brightness and beauty of everything in the world around you, when the sun is shining upon it, — how cold and cheerless earth, sea, and sky would be without the sun, — what freshness and gladness beams from them as soon as they are bathed in its light. Such, so great, yea, still greater is the difference which it makes in the whole colour and aspect of our lives, if we look at the events which befall us, as ordained and sent to us by the love of our Heavenly Lord and Saviour. All our joys then are multiplied. He takes the sting out of them, so that they cannot harm us. He purifies them from all alloy, and gives them an abiding, undying sweetness. On the other hand, all our afflictions and sufferings are stript of that which is most painful in them, when they are regarded as brought to us by Him who cometh in the name of the Lord. For, if we believe this, we must straightway feel assured that they are sent to us in mercy, that they are sent to us for our good, that they come to us with medicinal power, to heal some infirmity or disease in our souls. When a physician, on whose skill and friendship, on whose knowledge of your malady and earnest wish to cure it, you can fully INTO JERUSALEM. 373 rely, brings you medicine, you will not push it away because it is unpleasant to the taste ; you will not grumble and murmur about it ; but you will take it thankfully, and will rejoice that you have so wise a friend to watch over your health. In like manner, when you believe and know that you have a Physician in heaven, who is watching unceasingly over the health of your souls, — an AUwise Physician, who can never be mistaken, either about the nature and causes of your malady, or about the best manner of healing it, and whose love for you is so great that He gave His own life for you, in order that He might heal you with the precious balm of His own holy Blood, — and when, under this conviction, you look at the afflictions and calamities that befall you, as medicines ordered by this All wise and loving Physician for the healing of your spiritual infirmities, — you will no longer repine, but will receive them submissively, and will even be thankful for them. You will feel assured that, if you do thus receive them, their bitterness will pass away, and that through the power of your Heavenly Physician they will indeed work good in you. You will find too, that, the fuller the trust you place in Him, the more it is justified by experience. For while repining and struggling frets and inflames a wound, patience soothes and heals it, and breeds peace and humble contentment. In truth, as He who came in the name of the Lord to Jerusalem, was at that very moment about to enter into the lowest deep of suffering, and thereby to work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, so there can be no stronger proof that His followers are thoroughly desirous to serve Him, than when they rejoice to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, and to be made like Him in this respect 374 Christ's entrance also : and they who have loved Christ, have ever felt that their sufferings, far more than their earthly enjoyments, sprang immediately from the love of their Heavenly Lord and Master. In every dispensation and visitation of life, I said, Christ comes to you, if you will but believe it, sin alone excepted. Sin, and whatsoever tempts or provokes you to sin, is brought to you, not by Him who cometh in the name of the Lord, but by him who cometh in the name of Satan. Every temptation is one of Satan''s messen- gers, an angel of the bottomless pit, desiring to drag you down to the place from which it has come. Not how- ever that Christ forsakes you, my brethren, — not that He casts you from Him, when you are assailed by temp- tation, nor even when you have given way to it, and are caught in the snares of sin. Alas for us, if He did ! Alas for us, if He were only a sunshine friend, who departed when the cloud gathered over us ! But this is the very purpose for which He came down from heaven ; this is the very purpose for which He was entering, as on this day, into Jerusalem, — nay, for which He was entering it in triumph, although He was going up to suffer a most pain- ful and shamefiil death, — because He was going up to end and complete His victory over sin, a victory gained, not for Himself, but for the sake of all who would believe in Him, in all nations, and throughout all ages, — for your sakes, my brethren, and for my sake, for the sake of every person here present. He came, not only to conquer our great enemy once for all, but in order that He might be continually with us, with every one who believes in Him, — standing by our side whenever we are attackt, strengthen- ing our arms, nerving our hearts, bidding us be of good INTO JERUSALEM. 375 courage, for that the enemy has already been conquered, bidding us lift up our souls to heaven, for that He has gained us a sure inheritance, if we will but strive to make it sure, in the Kingdom of His Eternal Father. Therefore you must not be cast down, my brethren, because you are harast and worried by temptations. You must not yield to despair, because sin has been spinning its nets around you. You must not think that Christ has forsaken you, and left you to your own weakness and helplessness. He knows your weakness : He knows your need : and in the hour of your need, if you will call upon Him, He will be with you. This, above all, is the time when it behoves you to be ever on the watch for Him, to be ever rising and going forth from your homes, rising with humble, earnest, contrite prayer, and going forth, as far as you can, out of your carnal nature, to meet Him who Cometh in the name of the Lord. The Jews went out to meet Him, trusting in the word of ancient prophecy, and, weak and powerless as He seemed, hailed Him as their King and Deliverer, Much more should we, who have the sure word of history, the record of the fulfilment of the prophecies made to the fathers, — we who are not called to believe in a man clothed with the infirmities of humanity, but in the Son of God, declared to be so with power by His resurrection from the dead, — much more should we feel an undoubting trust that He who came in the name of the Lord, came to be our King, and will deliver us from all our enemies. In this confidence you should go forth to meet Him, and cast your garments, yea, cast your hearts and souls with all their affections and desires before Him, and beseech Him to pass over them with the living wheels of His Spirit, and to drive 376 Christ's entrance the enemy from you. You should go forth with palm- branches in your hands, in the full assurance that the victory has been gained, that the enemy has been con- quered. You should go forth to meet Him who came to be your King, your Saviour, and your Deliverer, and should cry to Him, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. If you do this earnestly, diligently, day by day, you will find that your Saviour does indeed come to you, that He who entered into Jerusalem to die on the cross, and by His death to overcome death, died there and overcame death for you. He will tell you to take up the palm-branch, which you have brought as a token of His victory, and will bid you wear it as a pledge that through Him you too shall be victorious. Day by day you should go forth as His subjects to meet your King, who comes to you in the name of the Lord. You should go forth to meet Him with humble shame and contrition, on account of your disloyalty and rebellion, with yearning prayer for pardon and for- giveness, but, at the same time, with a joyful assurance that He comes to you as the Conqueror of all His enemies, who are your enemies also, and that He will give you the victory over them. You should recognise and acknowledge your King, I have said, in all the dispen- sations of your life. But, above all, should you recognise and acknowledge His Heavenly Kingship, and feel the joyful assurance of His victory, and of His desire to make you partakers of that victory, when He comes to you with the gift of His sanctifying Body and Blood, to refresh and strengthen your souls for their spiritual warfare. Then, when we are admitted into this closest communion with our Saviour, while we acknowledge the INTO JERUSALEM. 377 infinite mercy and grace which vouchsafes to receive us, frail and impure and sinworn as we are, into this partici- pation of His pure and perfect nature, does it behove us to hft up our souls to Him, in the certainty that Righteousness and Heaven are triumjihant over Sin and Hell. Then are we to give thanks to Him for His great glory. Then' are we to cry, with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, Blessed is He who relgneth for ever in the name of the Lord ! My brethren, it will often happen, when we have been hearing the story of Christ's wonderful love and mercv, and of some of the great miracles He wrought for the salvation of mankind, — it will often happen at such times that we too are roused, like the people who went out to meet Jesus when He was coming to Jerusalem. Our hearts are stirred like theirs : we desire to cast ourselves before Him : we start up and go forth with palm-branches in honour of His victory, and cry. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. But remember, — I must not leave you without a warning, — such feelings, although they will often kindle and blaze up in a moment, will also become extinct in another moment, like a fire among the thorns : and alas ! the ease and rapidity with which we catch fire is no proof of life, but often rather of death. Remember that, among the people who went out with their palm-branches to hail the approach of Jesus, and who cast their garments before Him, and cried, Hosanna in the highest ! there was not a man who lifted up his voice in behalf of the same Jesus five days after, when He, who had entered the city as a King in triumph, was led as a criminal to Calvary. There was not a man among them all, who did not forsake Him : perhaps there 378 Christ's entrance may liave been some who joined in reviling and mocking Him : yea, there may have been some who swelled the bloodthirsty yell, Crucify Him ! Such is the miserable weakness of our nature, when we are left to ourselves. Yes, it is miserable ; it is shameful. Yet I fear there can be no one amongst you, whose conscience, if he questioned it strictly, would not declare that this is merely a sample of the inconsistency and waywardness to be found in every breast, and that he himself has more than once done, what seems so monstrous and shocking in the Jews. At this season more especially, when we commemorate our Blessed Lord's Passion and Resurrection, it is scarcely possible for those who attend the services of the Church, if they take the least thought about what they hear, to remain wholly unmoved. Surely, my brethren, if we try to recall some of the Good Fridays and Easters in our past lives, — surely our memory must bear witness, that our hearts have again and again been toucht and melted by the account of what our merciful Lord suffered for us, and that they have been roused and thrilled by the story of His Resurrection, and by the thought of rising like Him to a life of everlasting glory. We must surely be able to recollect, that at this season we have again and again resolved to die to sin, that we have again and again resolved to live to righteousness, that we have resolved to serve God more faithfully, more diligently, and to seek a closer communion with Him through His blessed Son. I am sure, my brethren, that many of you, — I should think that most of you, — must have been stirred by such feel- ings, must have framed such resolutions, — that many, if not most of you, must at this season have taken up a INTO JERUSALEM. 379 palm-branch, and cried to Him who, at this season more especially, tries to enter into the hearts of His people, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord ! And what has been the end ? In too many instances, in more than any of us can remember, in so many that God alone knows them, our good resolutions have burnt out, and we have rolled back into sin : and, it may be in a few days, it may even be in a few hours, we have committed some act whereby we have forsaken and denied our King, and joined the rabble world that mocks and scoffs at Him, and have even crucified Him afresh. Beware therefore, I beseech you, how you waste these seasons of grace, how you neglect these calls which Christ utters in your ears, how you suffer these visitations of His Spirit to fail of their effect. For the time will be, when He who now cometh in the name of the Lord to Salvation, will come in the name of the Lord to Judgement. And then the stones will indeed cry out : all the elements of Nature will bear joyful witness of His coming. Alas, alas, my brethren ! how miserable shall we be on that day, if we have no palm-branches to hold up before the Conqueror, no memorials of victories gained by Him over sin and death in our souls ! if we alone, amid the exultation of the universe, are unable to cry out. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord I Do not then let the better feel- ings and desires, which may have been awakened within you, die away. Do not think it enough, if your hearts are roused once or twice a year, when Christmas and Easter come-round, or even once a week, on a Sunday, to rejoice in your Saviour, to love Him, and to go forth to meet Him. Seek Him daily : go forth to meet Him daily : go forth daily, and cast yourselves before Him. For daily 380 Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. you need that He should enter anew into your souls, and triumph anew over your enemies. Go forth daily with palm-branches to meet Him who gives you the victory, who alone can give it you, and who will give it you if you seek it by fighting under His banner. Whatsoever befalls you, regard it as a token of His love, and cry, Blessed is He that Cometh in the name of the Lord! If you do this. He will indeed give you the victory, now and evermore. He will enable you to lift up the same rejoicing cry, when He comes to cast out sin from the earth, and to clothe His saints in His perfect righteousness : and you too will be called to join the company clothed in the white robes of that righteousness, who ever bear palms in their hands, and cry, Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. Amen. SERMON XX. THE END OF CHRIST's COMING. John xix. 30. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished. Of the words spoken by our Saviour in His last mo- ments, while He was hanging on the Cross, some are recorded by one Evangelist, others by another. Those which I have just read to you, we find only in St John. And most important words, it is clear, they are. Most important words, it would be clear, they must needs be, were it only that they are the last dying words of his beloved Master, which St John has handed down for the edification of the Church. St Luke indeed tells us of other words, which must probably have come after these. His account of our Lord's last moment is : And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice. He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit ; and having said this, He gave up the ghost. But these words, which would seem to have been uttered just as the breath of life was passing awaj^ are not mentioned by St John. The same verse, from which the text is taken, tells us also of our Lord's death : When Jesus had received the vinegar. He said. It is finished : and He howed His head, and gave up the ghost. Now to the last dying words even of an ordinary man, we are wont to listen with jieculiar interest. We fancy that the thoughts which can fill his mind at such a moment, when he is standing on the utmost edge of Time, and about 382 THE END to step out of it into Eternity, must needs have some deep, stirring power, — that what can move him to speak, when he has only strength for a few broken words, must be very dear to his heart. We deem that in such words he may probably tell us the sum and substance of what life has taught him. Now as our Lord's whole life had a meaning and a power far beyond the life of any other among the sons of men, — as all His actions and all His words are so fraught with wisdom, that, although all the wisest of men have been drawing their wisdom from them for eighteen hundred years, no one has ever exhausted the living foun- tain of wisdom which lies in any one of them, — so, we may feel sure, is there an inexhaustible treasure of wisdom in the words which He spake, when His lips were about to be closed, though but for a brief time, by the hand of Death. Accordingly all the Evangelists have recorded some of the words which our blessed Saviour spake from the Cross ; and on these words the Holy Church throughout the world has ever been wont to meditate, more especially on this day ; and in them she has continually found a wellspring of living wisdom. So let us, my brethren, today endeavour to lift up our hearts to Him who died on the Cross, by meditating on those words of His, which have been handed down to us in the text, and which are the last recorded by St John. Let us try to discover and to draw forth some portion of the hidden meaning of those words ; and let us implore the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may be enabled to see our blessed Saviour dying on the Cross, — that we may be enabled to see Him dying for us, for all and each of us, and to hear the words which, amid the pangs of death, drop from His holy lips ; that our under- standings may be enlightened to discern their meaning, OF Christ's coming. 383 and our hearts kindled to receive it with obedient, thankful love. When Jesus had received the vinegar , He said. It is finished : and He homed His head, and gave up the ghost. It is finished. What was finished? what are we to sup- pose that our blessed Lord meant, when He spake that word? To finish, you know, is to bring to an end: and there are two ways in which things may be brought to an end, or finisht. A work is said to be finisht, when it is completed, or brought to perfection. Thus in the Book of Exodus we read, that all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation 'ivas finished ; and again, in the first Book of Kings, that Solomon built the house of the Lord, and finished it ; and again, in the Book of Ezra, that the elders of the Jews rebuilt the house of the Lord, and finished it. In these passages, you will easily see, finishing means completing ; and in like manner the account of the Creation in the Book of Genesis is wound up with these words : Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. On the other hand a thing may come to an end by being destroyed ; and then also it is sometimes said to be finisht. When Daniel is interpreting the writing on the wall to King Belshazzar, he says that the interpre- tation of the first word Mene is, God hath nuynhered thy kingdom, and finished it. So too Gabriel tells Daniel, that seventy weeks are determined upon the Jews, and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins. Again the word is often used to signify merely that some- thing is brought to an end, without regard to the nature of that end ; as we read in St Matthew, When Jesus had finished all these sayings, — Whe7i Jesus had finished all these parables. Thus St Paul, in his Letter to Timothy, 384 THE END says, The time of my departure is at hand ; I have finished my course. Now in which of these senses are we to con- ceive that our Lord on the Cross said, It is finished^ What was finisht at that moment ? what was brought to an end ? and to what manner of end ? When we look at these words along with those which come immediately after them, the first sense in which we are led to understand the word finished, is much like that which it bears in the passage just quoted from St Paul. As St Paul tells Timothy that the time of his departure was at hand, and that he had finished his course, so, and more completely, was our Lord's earthly course then finished, — so entirely finished, that but a moment after- ward He bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Even if this were all that Jesus meant, when He said It is finished, still the word, uttered at such a moment, is one that we could not listen to without deep interest. The end of life, of every life, whatever notion we may be wont to form of that which is to come after, is an awful moment. It is an awful moment even in the eyes of ignorant savages. It is a sudden passing away from all the enjoyments, from all the occupations, from all the powers, which make u]) what we are and have and do in this world. The eye no longer sees ; the limbs no longer move ; the heart ceases to beat : all speech, thought, feeling are extinguisht at once : and from that moment the body, the only part of the man that we see or know any more of, begins to moulder and crumble into dust. Moreover, while we are torn away from everything that we have been accustomed to love and prize and seek, we go we know not whither. Faith alone, enlightened by Revelation, enables us to feel an assurance that death is not annihilation, but a change OF Christ's coming. 385 from one state of being to another. What this new state of being however may be, with what faculties we may be gifted in it, what we may have to do in it, whom we shall find in it, we can frame no conception or imagination. Therefore a man must be very thoughtless and heartless, who could hear any one say that his life was finisht, with- out being moved thereby to something of compassion for him who is departing, and with something of awe at witnessing this evidence and proof of the destiny which awaits himself and all mankind. But when we call to mind all that had gone before, all that we have read this morning in the second Lesson, and in the Gospel, — when we bethink ourselves of all that Jesus had to endure, of the cruel indignities that were heapt upon His innocent head, of the mocking, the buffeting, the scourging, the crown of thorns, — when we remember how even the sight of His bleeding body on the cross did not lull the fury of His enemies, how even then they continued to pierce His heart with words of scorn and shame, — we may understand the exclamation, It is finished, in a further sense, as declaring that now at length His sufferings were come to an end, that His soul was about to flee away and be at rest, and that He should no longer feel wounds from the smiting, or the still more painful scoffing of His persecutors. When we look at them in this light, the words. It is finished, acquire something of a consolatory character. Even after a long and grievous illness we at times see persons looking forward almost wishfully to the moment that is to put an end to their pangs and release their souls from the house of torment : and we ourselves, when all hope of a restoration to health has fled, may almost rejoice that the sufferings of those whom we love VOL. II. c c 386 THE END are in this manner fnished. In a still higher degree was it a joyful moment to the martyrs, when they felt that their spirits were on the point of taking flight from their earthly tabernacles : and stories are told of those who from the midst of the flames cried to the bystanders to pile up more fire around them, and thus to hasten the moment when their torments would be finished. Nay, had we ourselves been among the bystanders, and beheld the poor sufferer, in spite of all his efforts to overcome the weakness of the flesh, writhing beneath the intolerable agony, we could not but have been glad to see that agony come to an end, to hear the words, It is finished, burst from his dying- lips. At the same time, if he whom we saw thus perish, had been a good man, an innocent man, a holy man, if he had spent his life in going about to do good, and had never wronged or hurt any one, — and if his goodness, his inno- cence, his holiness, had been the very cause for which he was condemned to undergo this horrible torture, — not only would our hearts have been filled with the deepest sorrow and compassion for the martyr, but they would have burnt with indignation against his persecutors. We might even have been tempted to wonder, if not to murmur, at the mysterious ordinances, which thus allowed holiness to be crusht, and iniquity to triumph. On the other hand, while we were thus reminded of the wrench which this Avorld has undergone, of the manner in \\hich the whole course of things has been unhinged and disordered, we might find some comfort in the thought that the sufferer was passing into a world, where all that is wrong here will be righted, into a world from which fraud and malice will be wholly cast out, and where the might and the victory will be with Righteousness and Truth. OF CHRIST S COMING. 387 Such, or akin to these, would be the feeHngs with which we should hear the words, It is finished, from the lips of a common man in a like situation ; and such would be the meaning- we should attach to them. But, as uttered by our Saviour on the Cross, those words have a far wider and deeper meaning. For as His life was totally unlike that of all other men, so was His death. He did not live for Himself, or to Himself, nor as one of many : nor did He die so. He died, as He had lived, wholly for mankind, and to God, — for the salvation of mankind, according to the determinate counsel and ordinance of God. Therefore that which He declared to be finisht, when He was about to give up the ghost, must have been the great work, to work which He came into the world, and which was wrought by Him and in Him for all mankind. It must have been the work which, when sacrifices and burnt- offerings and all things else were found unavailing to reconcile man to God, He said that He came to do, and that He was content to do it with His whole heart. Indeed the words which stand just before in the text, prove this : When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar^ He said. It is finished. At first sight there may seem to be no immediate connexion between our Lord's words and His receiving the vinegar : but, if we look at the passage, we see that the Apostle plainly purposes to connect them. What connexion however can there have been between the receiving of the vinegar and the exclamation, It is finished? In the next verse but one before the text, St John says, After this, Jesus hioiving that all things loere now accomplished, that the Scripture anight he fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Hence we learn that our Lord's thirst on the Cross, and the vinegar which was given to Him, had also c c 2 388 THE END been foretold in the Scriptures : and surely you will re- member those words in the 69th Psalm, which we have just been repeating, They gave Me gall to eat ; and, when I was thirsty, they gave Me vinegar to drinlc. This then was finisht : this prophecy had received its fulfilment : and our Lord's words may be regarded as declaring, that not this prophecy only, but all the prophecies which had been uttered from the beginning concerning the coming of Christ, were now receiving their fulfilment, and that the Seed of the woman was now bruising the head of the serpent. Already, in our Lord's divine prayer, as recorded in the seventeenth chapter of our Gospel, He had said, when He besought His Father to glorify Him, / have glorified Thee on earth : I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. He had then finisht everything that He came to do. He had finisht the doctrine which He came to teach, so far as for the present He purpost to make it known. He had finisht and completed the example, which He came to set before men, of a life entirely at one with God, of a life spent throughout in doing the will of God, of a life in which no motion of any other Avill than the will of God was ever allowed to arise in the soul, of a life which had never been sullied or disturbed by a single sinful or selfish act or word or thought. All that He came to do by action had already been finisht. But His greatest trial was still awaiting Him, His work was still incomplete. The hour of the power ofi darkness, as He Himself calls it (Luke xxii. 53), was still to come. His great work was to be completed and made perfect, as every truly great work must be, by suffering. For no work can be really great, unless it be against the course of the world, in unison in- deed with the order of the world as constituted by God, OF Christ's coming. 389 but against that order as perverted by sin, — unless it be an endeavour to correct this perverted order, and to reestab- lish the right one, — nor unless we manifest our own sense of its greatness by our readiness to give up our own personal interests and pleasures and comforts, and to endure hard- ship and pain and bereavements, and death itself, for the sake of its accomplishment. Thus it was by losing His own life in every possible way, — by the agony in the garden, — by the flight and denial of those whom He had chosen out of the world to be His companions and friends, — by the mockery and cruelty of those whom His good- ness and purity rendered more bitter against Him, — by the frantic and murderous cries of the people whom He had loaded with every earthly benefit, and whom He desired to crown with eternal blessings, — and by His closing suiFer- ings on the Cross, — that Jesus was to gain His own life, and the everlasting life of all who will believe in Him. All this then, the whole work of the redemption of man- kind, the whole work which from the beginning He had taken upon Himself, does our Lord in the text declare to he finished. His warfare, the whole of that warfare which He came to wage for mankind, ivas accomplished: the iniquity of mankind was pardoned ; or at least the gate of pardon had been opened for penitent faith. Even as we read that, on the seventh day, when the heavens and the earth, and all their hosts were finished, God rested from all the work that He had made, — in like manner our Saviour on the Cross, — having brought down heaven in all its perfec- tion to earth, and manifested the fulness of the Godhead in the form of a Man, — having thus finisht this His great work, was about to enter into His rest. As God's work was the work of creating the world, and His rest 390 THE END was the rest of governing and guarding and upholding the workl which He had created, so our Saviour's work was that of renewing man's nature, and of laying the founda- tions of His Church, — of laying down Himself, His own Incarnate Deity and Divine Humanity to be its chief Cornerstone ; and His rest was that of watching over and directing and strengthening and sanctifying His Church, and all its members. What has been said may help you in some measure to understand what a vast and awful depth of meaning lay in that short and simple exclamation uttered by our Saviour on the Cross, It is finished. The work which was then declared to he finished, was the greatest work ever wrought upon earth, a work which none but God could work, which the Wisdom of God came down from heaven and dwelt upon earth in the form of a man to work, a work in which all the generations of mankind are more or less interested, and through the power of which alone can any man escape death, can any inherit everlasting life. This work was finisht as on this day by our Saviour on the Cross. Nay, it was finisht about this very hour, or a little earlier : for it \vas about the ninth hour, according to the Jewish way of reckoning time, that is, about three o'clock in the after- noon, that Jesus uttered His last words, and gave up the ghost. Therefore every Sunday afternoon, when you come to church, it would be profitable to you, if you would call to mind that at that very hour the darkness, which was spread over the earth while Jesus was hanging on the Cross, was swept away, — that at that very hour He de- clared the power of darkness to be finisht, — that at that very hour He gave up the ghost to redeem you from the bondage of Satan. If you were to call this to mind every OF Christ's coming. S91 Sunday afternoon, as you walk to church, you would enter the church with a holier and humbler heart, with a heart prepared by love and thankfulness to join in the worship of God ; and you would feel a trustful assurance that, as Christ at that hour finisht His work for you, at the cost of such bitter suffering' and humiliation, so He will assuredly be ready to finish His work in you, and to enable you to finish the work which He has set you to do. For although the great work which Christ came to work was finisht once for all on this day, it was not finisht as when we finish a work, and leave it to itself, and turn to something else. It was wrought, even as the work of the Creation was, in order that it might be the teeming parent of countless works of the same kind, the first in an endless chain that should girdle the earth and stretch through all ages. While in one sense it was an end, in another it was a beginning, — an end of the warfare and struggle which had been desolating the earth hope- lessly ever since the Fall, and a beginning of the peace in which the victory won on that day was to receive its everlasting consummation. The work which Christ on this day finisht for us, was wrought with the intent that it should also be wrought in us by Him, and by us for Him. He conquered Sin and Satan for us, in order that He might conquer them in us, and that we might conquer them for Him, through His love constraining, and His strength enabling us. As all God's words and works are at once universal and individual, embracing the whole order of things, and applying to every single member of it, so the work which our Saviour finisht on the Cross, was finisht at once for His whole Church, and for every single member of that Church, and is to be S92 THE END finisht in and by His whole Cliurch, and in and by every single member of it. . . Yes, my brethren, the work which Christ finisht on the Cross was finisht for every one of you, and is to be finisht by Him in every one of you, and by every one of you for Him. This thought is one which should be a spring of never- failing consolation to us, and at the same time an awful warning. It should be a ueverfailing comfort and en- couragement, to be assured that the work which we are set to do has indeed been finisht for us, and that He who has finisht it is ready to finish it in us, and to help us to finish it for Him. It should be an encouragement, to know that everything we are called to accomplish has actually been accomplisht in the utmost perfection by One bearing the form of a Man, — that the battle, which we are to fight, has been fought, — that the victory, which we are to strive for, has been gained most triumphantly, — that the enemies, against whom we have to contend, have been utterly routed and conquered, — that they come against us with maimed strength and shattered ranks, — • and that we have a way set before us in which, and a strength vouchsafed to us by which, they shall infallibly be conquered again. Yes, my brethren, every one who sets himself to fight against his enemies in the way in which Jesus fought against them, by patience, by meek- ness, by silent endurance, by humility, by faith, by holi- ness, by love, shall assuredly conquer them : and every one who seeks this armour earnestly and diligently from Him, from His example, from His word, from His Spirit, shall obtain it. We know that the work has been finisht, and by whom. We know who is for us : who then can be against us ? No one whom we need fear, if OF Christ's coming. 393 we have but faith : no outward enemy ; nothing but the weakness and waywardness and wilfulness of our own hearts, our passions, our lusts, our appetites, our sloth, our pride, our self-indulgence. But these also we may conquer. For our Saviour has already conquered them for us on His Cross ; or else His victory would not have been complete. His work would not have been finisht : and in like manner we too may conquer them, by the same power, by the power of His Cross, by fixing our hearts on His Cross, and cleaving thereto, — by gazing upon Him as He hangs thereon, finishing His work, and breathing His last breath for us, conquering sin for us, and shewing forth the fulness of His love for us, — and by taking up our Cross also, and learning from Him to crucify the world to ourselves, and ourselves to the world . When thus considered, our Saviour's word is a source of the greatest comfort and encouragement to the believer, who desires to die the death and to live the life of Christ, and to have Christ formed in his heart. But to him who chooses to abide in sin, and who refuses to accept the mercy and grace of Christ's atoning sacrifice, this same word, if he would but attend to it, would bring a most awful warning. For it declares that everything which could be done for his redemption has been finisht, that God has done His utmost, that His mercy is exhausted, that there is no second Saviour, no new way of salvation for him, — that all which had been foretold from the beginning by the types of the Law and by the word of prophecy, that all which the love of God has purpost for the deliverance of man, has come to an end, — and that, if he persists in slighting the proftered mercy, nothing can 394 THE END remain for him but to lie weltering and rotting in his sins, dasht to and fro by the restless waves of remorse and despair. Therefore take home this word to your hearts, my brethren. Think who it was, that said. It is finished ; think when He said it ; the Son of God, on the Cross, when giving up the ghost as a trespass-offering for the sins of mankind. For to you also, dear brethren, will come a time, when you will in like manner say, at least in your hearts. It is finished, and when they who are standing around you will say it of you. Or perhaps their word may be the common one. All is over. But will all be over ? For this life indeed, for this world, all will be over. But here again the end of one state will only be the beginning of another. After your eyes have closed, after your lips have uttered the last exclamation, It is finished^ they will open again to exclaim. It is begun: and that which begins then will last for ever. If you have become partakers through faith in the blessings of Christ's atonement, it will be a beginning of everlasting joy. If you have perisht in your sins, it will be a beginning of everlasting misery. When our Saviour gave uj3 the ghost on the Cross, when He uttered that word, It is finished, in what sense was it vmderstood by those who heard it ? Doubtless it was understood in different, yea, in opposite senses ; and yet both were equally far from the truth. To the disciple whom Jesus loved, to His mother, to the holy women who were with her, it must have been so far a word of comfort, even in the midst of their sorrow and despair, as it told them that the sufferings of Him whom they loved with such devotion, of Him to whom it had been their blessed OF Christ's coming. 395 portion to minister, were come to a close, that He had escaped from the fury of His enemies, that their cruelty would have no further power over Him. But at the same time it must have come to them with a sound of utter hopelessness, of hopelessness for themselves, for the world, almost for God. Their Master, their Teacher, their Guide, their Comforter, the Healer of all their diseases, their loving, compassionate Friend, was taken from them ; and they could not hope to see Him again. So too whatever hopes they may have entertained for the restoration of Israel, for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, of a Kingdom in which Righteousness and Truth should pre- vail over Falsehood and Wrong, in which Good should triumph, and Evil be overpowered and extinguisht, must have been utterly baffled and confounded. He who alone had lived without sin, had fallen a victim to the foulest sin. He who alone had lived wholly for the good of His brethren, had been murdered by His brethren. The crime of Cain had been renewed, in a fouler form, under the sanction of Law and Government ; and the children of Cain were the lords of the earth. Could this then be the mean- ing of our Lord's word, It is finished ? Was it the last expiring cry of Hope and of Peace, of Righteousness and of Truth ? Did it declare that the strife of God with man, that His efforts to save man, to teach him, to guide him, to restore him, were come to an end, that He was now forsaking the world, and giving it over to the powers of Evil. Thoughts of this kind, we may suppose, must have rusht upon those who loved the Lord, who had lived under the shelter of His wings, and who had set all their hopes upon Him for themselves, for the restoration of Israel, and 396 THE END for the establishment of Righteousness and Truth, when they heard the awful word, It is finished ; more especially if they meditated on it in connexion with that terrible ex- clamation just before, His cry to the God who had forsaken Him. Looking at the immediate aspect of things, they could see nothing else than despair, the destruction of Grood, the triumph of Evil. Yet how wide were these thoughts from the truth ! how totally opposite to it ! If they could have cast their eyes forward through forty hours, they would have seen that the hour of the power of dark- ness was also the hour when darkness was to be conquered for ever, — that Evil was only allowed to gain a seeming triumph for a moment, in order that it might be overcome by Good once and for ever, — that the serpent was only allowed to wound the Seed of the woman, to the end that the Seed of the woman might finally bi-uise his head. So, we may always rely, so, we may feel assured on the strength of the victory which was then gained, will it ever be, however threatening the outward face of events may seem, — even though Righteousness and Truth may appear to be trodden underfoot, and Unrighteousness and Falsehood to be sitting upon the thrones of the earth, and parceling out its king- doms to those who will fall down and worship them. Even in the darkest hour, the light is preparing to burst forth ; nor, when it comes, can the darkness stand against it. The mourners shall be comforted. The hungry shall be filled. The meek shall inherit the earth. The dominion of the earth shall be with the Kingdom of Heaven, not with the Kingdom of Hell. On the other hand the enemies, the murderers of Jesus, when they heard that same word, It is finished^ would interpret it according to the lusts of their hearts. OF Christ's coming. 397 They would exult in the thought that heir work was now accomplisht, that they had gained a decisive victory over Him before whose word their unrighteous power had seemed to totter, and that they might hold their revels over His downfall. Their master too, the Prince of this world, — did he not deem that his empire over the earth was now establisht for ever l that, having overcome the first Adam by Sin, and the second by Death, he should henceforward hold the whole race of man in bondage which nothing could disturb ? Did he not lift up his head in the face of heaven, and cry out. The victor^/ is mine ! I have defeated thee ! The earth shall henceforth he mine^ and all thai lives and breathes upon it. Yet this also was a vain delusion, which in forty hours was scattered to the winds. For the second Adam had not been overcome. On the contrary He had overcome Sin ; wherefore Death had no power over Him. It was Sin that had been over- come, Sin in all its forms, with all its snares and weapons ; and before Him who overcomes Sin, Death brightens into Eternal Life. Such was the real state of things then ; and such it will ever be. Evil may seem to be mighty for the moment ; but it shall perish ; for God is against it. Good may seem to be crusht ; but it shall triumph ; for God is for it. Through the power of Jesus and of His Resur- rection, it shall triumph ; and its triumph shall be establisht for ever. In like manner we are led to conclude, from the pro- phetic accounts of the last times, that Evil will then abound and prevail and hold its revels over the earth, while Faith will be weak and rare. Evil will again think that the earth is its own, and that it has driven out Faith for ever. Yet again the hour shall come, when the whole race of man. 398 THE END OF CHRIST's COMING. and all the creatures upon the earth will cry out with one universal, wailing cry, It is finished. That end however will only be the beginning. The power and the glory and the victory will again be with the Lord of Hosts : and that which shall arise out of the wreck of the world, will not be the Kingdom of Hell, but the Kingdom of Heaven. SERMON XXI. THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT. Luke xxiv. 5. Why seek ye the living among the dead ? This question was put to the holy women, who came on the first clay of the week to the sepulcre, bringing the spices and ointments they had prepared, to embalm the body of Jesus. St Luke tells us, that, when they came to the sepulcre, they found the stone rolled away from it ; and they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplext thereabout, hehold, two men stood by them in skming garments. And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, the men said to them. Why seek ye the living among the dead ? He is not here, but is risen. Thus this question, when it was first put, conveyed an assurance of the most blessed comfort. It told the women, that the Lord, whom they were seeking, and whose body, in their faithful love, they had come to embalm, was not dead, but living. As they were the first to visit the sepulcre, with the purpose of performing the last acts of love and reverence to the body of their Lord, they were also the first, among the whole race of man, to hear those joyful words, ffe is risen. Even if the question, when taken along with the words which follow it, was meant to imply a slight reproof to them, for not having relied with fuller confidence on their Lord's declaration, that He should rise again on the third 400 THE LIFE day, at all events nothing can be milder than the manner in which the reproof is exprest ; and its effect is entirely swallowed up in the joy at the tidings which accompany it. For glad tidings indeed they were, that the two men in shining garments brought to the holy women, glad tidings for the whole world through all ages, glad tidings in the first instance especially to them. Do you ask, how it came to pass that these women should be chosen by God to be the first persons to whom the blessed tidings of our Lord's Resurrection should be announced I how they came to be thus in a manner pre- ferred and honoured above all the Apostles? Look at the story ; and you will find a ready answer. They were the first to come to the sepulcre; and in this sense also it is true, that the^ who seek God early shall find Him. For diligence is one of the surest tokens of earnestness and zeal, and, even in the things of this world, will often bear away the prize. Moreover they had come with loving and dutiful hearts, to shew all the honour and reverence they could to the body of their Master ; and many ages before this it had been declared, that those who honour God, He will honour (1 Sam. ii. 80). So that the question in the text, even as it was put in the first instance to the women at the sepulcre, was, so to say, two-edged. There was a slight reproof contained in it, but a far more exceeding power of comfort and joy. Li like manner, as there are divers senses in which the same question may be put to various persons under various circumstances, — indeed as there is hardly anybody to whom it may not at times be put in one sense or other, — so will it always be a two-edged question : and in propor- tion as we deserve the reproof, it will bring us reproof; in OF THE SPIRIT. 401 proportion as we are ready to receive the comfort, it will bring us comfort. It brings reproof to those who persist in seeking the living among the dead : it brings comfort, pre- vailing above the reproof, to those who are willing to seek the living among the living. The ground too of the com- fort will be found to rest mainly in each case on the very event, which was the ground of the comfort afforded by these words to the women at the sepulcre, the Resurrection of our blessed Lord. 'h '"^' ^^^": Why seek ye the living among the dead ? This question, I said, may be put in divers senses, and to various persons, under manifold circumstances. For we are all of us sadly prone to seek the living among the dead, and have been so ever since Adam sought wisdom in the forbidden fruit. The literal meaning of the words, as well as the occasion when they were spoken, leads us to apply the text in the first place to those who are mourning, as the holy women were, for a departed friend. Let them mourn. It is right and wholesome that they should. Sorrow refreshes and purifies the heart, which would else be sultry and sunburnt, even as a shower of rain freshens and purifies the summer air. Our Lord Himself wept at the grave of Lazarus: and a heart must be either of stone or of sand, if such a blow strikes it, without leaving a lasting impression. But our mourning, if it be possible, should be after the man- ner of those mourners, who are pronounced to be blessed, and of whom it is declared that they shall be comforted. We should mourn as not without hope for those who depart hence in the Lord. To mourn without hope is indeed bitter. To mourn for those concerning whom we cannot cherish a hopeful trust that they have departed hence in the Lord, is the bitterest draught VOL. II. D D 402 THE LIFE in the cup of human sorrow. For the only thing that is really, lastingly bitter, is sin. Sin is the sting of death, and the bitterness of death, both when death is drawing nigh to our own souls, and when it falls on our friends. All other bitterness will turn to sweetness. Of this, we cannot understand how it will cease to embitter the joys of the blessed in heaven. To such mourners the words of the text will not apply: for they are not seeking the living among the dead. They who are dead in trespasses and sins, cannot be spoken of by angels as living. Such mourners are indeed mourning over the dead. Happily the abode of death is darkness ; and they cannot pierce through its black veil. We know not what is behind that veil. We know not what may take place in the hour when the spirit is passing through the valley of the shadow of death. We know not how its eyes may be torn open by the light of another world bursting upon them. We know not what effect may be produced by the shock, when the solid earth is cracking under our feet, and vanishing from us like a dream. It may be, that, when there is any- thing sound and true and loving in a spirit, although it has been crusted over by the scum and smoke of the world, this crust may be swept away, and the waters beneath may be enabled by God's grace to gush forth more freely and purely. We must not lean idly on such a staff as this, when we ought to be working in our task of duty : but, when we can find no other support, we may be allowed to rest on this. Only we must not let such an insecure re- liance withhold us from seeking the path of life, while yet it is open before ns, or from urging and warning others to seek it, and to depart from the paths of death. Bitter however as such sorrow must needs be, it may be made to OF THE SPIRIT. 403 produce fruits of sweetness, if it renders us more earnest and diligent in seeking life, and in leading others to seek it. But when we are mourning for those, of whom we can trust that they have departed hence in the Lord, then the words of the text are full of blessed consolation. Even then, through the infirmity of our nature, we often need the reproof. For the heart, when it is wounded, will bleed. When the wound is deep, when that which had become a part of itself, is suddenly torn from it, the wound will smart, and will not soon close. We dwell on the thoughts of him who is gone. We think too much of what he was, and of what he has lost, too little of what he is, and of what he has gained. We are apt to grieve that he should be cut off from life, and the light of the sun, and the bless- ings of a healthful activity, and the joys of friendship and love. We grieve that he should exchange all these things so fair and sweet, for the grave, and darkness, and worms, and mouldering decay. In other words, we seek him among the dead ; we think of him only as lying in the gTave. But the Gospel, coming with the mighty pledge of our Lord's Resurrection, bids us think of him as living, as at rest and in peace, — as enjoying a higher life, and the light of a purer sun, and the blessedness of far more perfect love. It bids us think of him as living with Christ, as having entered into the joy of his Lord, as having been welcomed with delight by the blessed Communion of Saints. It forbids our thinking of any of Christ's servants as among the dead. It assures us that death shall have no dominion over them. This, you may easily see, is the simplest and most natural application of the words of the text. , The cases are almost / D D 2 404 THE LIFE exactly the same. As those words certified the holy women, that their Lord, whom they were mourning as dead, and whom they were seeking in the house of death, was not dead, hut living, so may they still come with the same consolation to the Christian mourner, bringing him the assurance that they who are departed in the Lord are not dead, according to the meaning which the natural man attaches to death, — that they have not past from life into nothingness, nor from a bright and free and happy state to one of darkness and bondage and misery, — that Death has been unable to crush them, that the grave cannot hold them, — that Christ has not left their souls in hell, that He will not suffer His saints to see corruption. This however is a sense in which the text will only come home to us now and then in the course of our lives. For it is only now and then that the shadow of death strikes a chill into us as it passes by, Avhen it carries off one out of our own house- hold, some member of our own family, — one who has been a branch of the same tree, and whose rending away by the storm lays bare the nakedness of the other branches, and leaves them shattered and forlorn,^or one of those choice friends, whom the goodness of God sometimes gives to us, to form one, as it were, of the same cluster of stars. The natural heart would wither away, if it had to seek all who die among the dead : the Christian heart has never yet attained to such a power of love and of faith as to seek them all among the living. But there are other senses of the text, in which we sin against it much oftener, and therefore much oftener deserve the reproof conveyed in it, while we are much tardier in lifting up our hearts to receive the comfort it holds out to us. Li fact, what are we doing all our lives through, so OF THE SPIRIT. 405 long as we follow the bent of our nature, and walk in the ways of the world, except seeking the living among the dead ? As God breathed a living soul into us, and as it is the property of all things to seek that which is like and akin to them, our living soul, after the order of its nature, desires something living. It desires pleasure ; it desires glory ; it desires power ; it desires wisdom ; it desires love. ( Now-all these are living things. They live for ever in the presence of God. They flow from God, and dwell before Him, and compass Him around :j and they are nowhere to be found in their living reality, except in the presence of God, and as flowing from Him. ■/sj'hey are to be found in His law, in studying it, and in doing it. They are to be found in whatever is done or suffered in His service. They are to be found in submission and resig- nation to His will. They are to be found in thankfulness for all His gifts. They are to be found in the humble confession of our sins, and in the assurance of His fatherly forgiveness. They are to be found in every act of com- munion with Him by prayer or praise. They are to be found in faith, and through faith, through faith in the mediation and intercession of the Saviour, and in the present help of the Spirit. They are to be found in the spirit of adoption, in that love, which unites us through Christ to the Father, and whose outstretcht arms embrace all the children of the Father. These are the appointed means whereby we are to seek and to obtain the living objects of our desires. By them we are to seek and to gain pleasure, and glory, and power, and wisdom, — pure living pleasure that will endure for ever,— the glory which encircles whatever is well-pleasing to God, — power over our own hearts, and over sin, the power of doing that which 406 THE LIFE we would, and of refraining from that which we allow not, — and the wisdom which sees all things in God, and God in all things. As God breathed life into the world, and into the soul of man, so nothing can have any true life, except what God breathes into it. Where however do we seek these living things ? whither do we go for them ? Not in the presence of God : not in His living word : not in obedience to Him, and commu- nion with Him. Satan has warpt our minds, and blinded US to the difference between death and life, and deluded us into believing that we shall find these living things among dead things, that we shall be able to suck them out of the dead body of the world, *nay, that we shall be able to draw them from the vapours which steam from the caldron of hell. Adam fancied he should find the living good he craved in the fruit of a tree. Cain fancied he should find it in the death of his brother; Noah, in drunk- enness ; David, in adultery ; Solomon, in voluptuous idolatry. Each of these is the type of a large class of mankind. Each of them has had millions upon millions of disciples in this their death-seeking errour. The whole race of the children of Adam are like their first father in this, that they think they shall gain the living objects of their aim, by making use of the creature according to their own will, not according to the will of God. Satan is evermore whispering and muttering to us, that we shall never become wise by merely walking in the path of duty, and seeking the knowledge of good, without the knowledge of evil, — that we shall never become rich by selfdenial and contentment, — that we shall never become powerful by meekness and patience, — that we shall never become glo- rious by humility and submission. No! he says; if you OF THE SPIRIT. 407 toant to he rich and powerful and glorious^ you must sweep togetlier as much as you can of the precious things of this world. You must get lands ; you must get houses ; you must get flocks and herds ; you must get gold and silver, much . . much . . all that you can . . the more the better. Then you will indeed bo rich : then you will have power over your neighbours : then you ^vill he glorious in the eyes of the world. He says this in one way or other to us all ; and we all believe him.i7 What is this, but seeking the living among the dead^' It was thus that Adam gave up his heart to the creatute ; and thus all his children have done ever since. . You may tell me indeed, many of you, my brethren, that you have never indulged in such high thoughts, — that you have never dreamt of seeking riches, or power, or glory, — and that therefore you must be innocent of this sin of seeking the living among the dead. But the sin I am speaking of is not one of more or less. It is one of kind, not of degree. A fly may be overgreedy, as well as a crocodile or a leviathan. Adam's sin did not lie in his seeking to conquer a large empire, or to fill his treasury with the gold of Ophir. A single apple was enough to draw away his heart from God ; and in giving up his heart to that apple, instead of to God, he sinned. In like manner you, my brethren, who are set upon the earth, as Adam was in the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it, — if you were to fulfill this your task in simple, humble obedience to God, with your hearts fixt upon doing the will of God, and not your own will, upon shewing forth the glory of God, and not, as they are mainly, upon gaining what you can for yourselves, — you would not sin. But , because God is not in all your thoughts, — because you let 408 THE LIFE the thoughts of this world, and the cares of this Avorld, and the desires of this world drive the thought of God out of your hearts, — therefore you sin, like Adam, and all the rest of his children, in seeking the living among the dead. For although the things of this world, as heing God's creatures, have all a certain kind of life in them, when they are regarded in connexion with God, as His creatures, or as His gifts, — and although, when so regarded, they may be made to minister to living purposes, — the moment they are severed from God, that life passes away from them. They become the children of Death ; and they cairy the taint of death along with them, whithersoever they go. Instead of satisfying our desires, they increase our cravings. The more we feed on them, the hungrier and thirstier they make us, with a hunger and thirst that shall never be filled. They abide not with us. Even while they do, they change their features, and lose their charms, and fade : and anon they make themselves wings, and flee away.V^ Or at all events Death snatches them from us, and us from them, and, however rich and powerful and glorious we may have been after the fashion of this world, casts us down into a pit of poverty and weakness and shame. Even though we should contrive to bury ourselves alive in a grave walled with solid gold, the time will come when we must sink out of this grave into one of common earth, the time when we shall find that the worms are no respecters of persons. Therefore, because we are so prone to seek the living among the dead, greatly do we need that the angels should call on us to seek the living among the living. Because, when left to ourselves, we set all our affections on things on the earth, we need to be exhorted continually to set them on things above. Say not that you dare not : say OF THE SPIRIT. 409 not that you cannot. If Christ had not risen from the dead, then indeed there would have been no hope for us. We should have been utterly unable to seek living things in the realm of life : our hearts must have gone on bur- rowing in death, until we sank into it. But now, seeing that Christ is risen out of the bonds of death, and has taken His seat in heavenly places at the right hand of God, we too may lift up our hearts to Him, and, following Him into heavenly places, may seek the living among the living. It is not however merely by giving up our hearts to the things of this world, that we seek the living among the dead. The earthly mind, as its course has been markt out by St James, becomes carnal, and devilish. Satan will not allow it to tarry at this halfway house between heaven and hell : he drags it on nearer and nearer to himself. Being made to seek that which has life in it, we find after all that the things of this world are very dead and dull ; and we want a little sin to give them a zest and flavour. Thus, in the examples cited just now, we saw that the eldest son of Adam far outwent his father, and plunged at once into the nethermost pit of crime. In like manner, though even the temperate en- joyment of the good things of this world, jf-Av^e were forgetful of the Giver, would be sinful, we are soon lured on into the intemperate enjoyment of them, as Noah was. Or we seek that living happiness, which can only be found in the communion of pure love, as David sought it, in the lusts of the flesh : and hence we easily slide down into open idolatry,lseeking the "Tmng God,' as Solomon did, in idols of wood and stone. For in truth every man who gives himself up to the lusts of the carnal mind, is an idolater, as St Paul expressly declares that the covetous 410 THE LIFE man is, making- his money his god. Thus the glutton makes his belly his god, the angry man his gall. The lover of pleasure makes a god of his appetites ; the ambitious man, of power, or fame. So sure are we to roll on in the way downward, — so impossible is it to stop short at the halfway house between heaven and hell, that St Paul, after exhorting us to set our affections on things above, and not on things on the earth, goes on straightway to say. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, — anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication. On account of these things, he tells us, the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. So surely are all these things at once children and parents of death. They brought death into the world. They keep it here. They will not suffer it to be driven out. They make over our souls to death. They keep us afar from the paths of life. Yet it is among these dead, dying, deathdealing things, of which you have just heard such a terrible list, that a large part of mankind seek for something living. Hence the Apostle speaks of those who give themselves up to these things, as being already dead, dead in trespasses and sins ; and he calls on them to awake, and arise from the dead, that they may seek the living among the living : and again the encouragement he makes use of is, that Christ will give them light. He the Lord of light and life, as He overcame the whole family of Death, — as He overcame Death himself, and Sin, the mother of Death, and all that brood of sins that have sprung from the adultery between the flesh and the spirit, — so will He enable you, my brethren, to overcome Death and the OF THE SPIRIT. 411 whole brood of Death. This is the great argnment in the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Eomans. Because Christ has risen from the grave, therefore we are to rise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. Because Christ is gone before us into the region of life, therefore we may lift up our hearts to it. Therefore are we to reckon ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God. Thus, you see, all who give up their hearts to the things of this world, and all who give themselves up to sin, are guilty of seeking the living among the dead ; and, inas- much as their whole life is a lie, the time must come when that lie will burst, and they will perceive that all through their lives they have sought and found nothing but death. Now, seeing that we all do these things far too much, that we all cleave too much to sin, and set our hearts too much on earthly things, fancying that they are necessary to our happiness, and that they will ensure our being happy, it is plain that we all seek the living among the dead^^_ But it is not only when we are cleaving to the earth, or sinking below it, that we do this. Even when we strive to riseai»ove it, the same thing happens. We still feel a hankering after dead things, rather than living. This is a dismal proof of our utter weakness, of the hold that Death has got on our hearts, of the manner in which the spirit of life is almost extinct in them. Look at the history of the Israehtes. They who had been chosen out from all the nations of the earth to receive the knowledge of the living God, fell back time after time into the abominations of idolatry. At the very moment when God was giving them that priceless blessing. His Law, which has been such a great teacher of wisdom and righteousness, wherever it has been known, they were setting up the golden calf, and 412 THE LIFE worshiping it. Again, even after their return from cap- tivity, when open, barefaced idolatry was rooted out, they still contrived to turn the whole worship of the living God into a dead worship of mere rites and ceremonies and ordinances and observances ; so that the name of their lead- ing sect has become a nickname for such as are the slaves of the letter, which kills, to the neglect of the spirit, which alone has life in it. We read the other day, how, at the very moment when they were staining their souls with the foul crime of giving up the pure and innocent Jesus to be crucified, they were so much afraid of incurring a ceremo- nial pollution, that they imnt not into the judgement-hall, lest they should he defiled. Verily this was seeking the living among the dead. They were engaged in a work of death, a work of twofold death. The death of Jesus was their object ; and they sought \i by the death of their own souls. In order that they might slay Him, they were giving themselves up to eternal death. Of this they were not afraid ; but they were afraid of going into the judgement- hall, lest they should he defiled. It was on account of this spirit, that our Lord is perpetually rebuking them, because they strained at a gnat, and swallowed a camel, and again because they tithed mint and anise and cummin, and omitted the graver matters of the Law, judgement, mercy, and faith. So entirely did they seek the living among the dead, thinking to win the favour of God by such dead observances, while they disregarded and trampled upon whatever had real life in it : and, as all who act thus ever must, instead of life they found death. Their hearts became harder still ; and their understandings w^ere so darkened, that, while they trusted God would see and re- ward their petty services, they forgot that He would see OF THE SPIRIT. 413 and punish their gross sins. Or else they must have fancied that they could bribe Him to cease from His anger by a few grains of dust. This form of the sin reproved in the text may not be very common nowadays in this excess. But even after the Resurrection of Jesus, even after He had been declared thereby the Lord of life, and had shewn that death and the things of death should have no part in Him, — even then the same hankering after dead things threw many obstinate hindrances in the way of His great Apostle, St Paul ; who had sundry hard contests to wage against persons maintaining that the grace of God was to be earned by circumcision and fasts and newmoons, instead of coming down as a free gift to be received by faith. The same carnal spirit of bondage, the same spirit of seeking the living among the dead, rather than among the livino-, has been continually wrestling against the free spirit of the Gospel in all ages of the Church. At one time it seemed for a long period to have almost overpowered that spirit : and, though the purpose of the blessed Reformation was to make us again the free servants of the living God, the spirit of bondage is by no means extinct yet. But let me come to other forms of the same spirit, which are more likely to be found amongst you. My brethren, death and dead things have got such a strong hold on our nature, we have fallen so miserably under their dominion, that I must warn you lest you allow the living service of God to wane away into a dead service. What do you come here to church for ? To say your prayers. Is that all ? Alas ! that is a dead act. To pray to God is a living act, an act of living faith, whereby our souls are lifted up to a communion with Him who is 414 THE LIFE invisible. But to say your prayers, if it be no more, is a dead act. In Romish countries people fancy they shall please God by telling a string of beads over and over again. This, you v/ill readily allow, is a dead act ; because they who do so belong to the Romish Church. But letting the words drop from your lips, if that be all, — if they are nothing more than so much breath, and do not spring freshly from the heart, — cannot profit you a whit more than dropping beads through your fingers. On the con- trary it may be worse for you ; because you have the holy words given to you, — words which would kindle the hearts of angels, — words which ought to rise like a flame of fire from the altar of every heart among the children of men ; — and yet your hearts continue so slug- gish, so dead, that you are not even stirred into attempting to understand and feel what you say. Alas too ! are there not many among you, who do not even so much as say their prayers 1 who merely come to church, and sit here, without taking any more part in the service than the stones in the wall, without thinking of God more than they do ? My brethren, can you fancy that by such dead services you can please the living God ? Can it please Him, that you should bring your dead body into His presence, without a living thought or feeling in it ? Surely this cannot be. Indeed this is the reason why you cannot find God ; because you seek Him among the dead, and by that which is dead. Seek Him among the living, on His throne in the heavens, in the Unity of the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Seek Him by that which is most living in yourselves, by living prayer, by living faith, by a living obedience ; and then you will assuredly find Him. --Tq expect any good from dead services is like looking for fruit from a dead OF THE SPIRIT. 415 tree. But a living tree, if it is healthy, and of the right sort, will infallibly bear fruit. Or again let me ask you, What did you come to church for ? To hear the sermon. To hear ! that again is a dead act, if it goes no further, if nothing follows from it. Be- cause you come to church only to hear, therefore you learn nothing ; therefore your ears are dull of hearing, and your hearts are gross, that you cannot understand and feel and do what you hear. When you were young, and had a lesson to learn, it was not enough to hear the words read to you. You had to say them to yourselves over and over again, and to try to write them on your memory. If you had merely listened to the sounds, they would have slipt through. Or suppose that you went out into the field, and there sat idly down and lookt at the field ; would the field ever be ploughed and sown ? would it ever bear a crop ? Yet this is just what people do, who come to church to hear a sermon, and take no further thought about it. Hearing is dead, unless you also believe : believing is dead, unless you also do. Yet on the other hand you cannot do a living work, unless you believe ; nor can you believe, un- less you hear. Thus all living things are knit together : dead things fall asunder. But again there are persons who do much more, and yet come short of a living service of God. There are persons who fancy, as the Pharisees did, that there is great worth in outward acts and observances, in coming very often to church, in fasting, in penances. These persons will be in a better way, than those I spoke of just uow, because they are more in earnest. Yet, if tliese acts are merely outward acts, if they are not the acts of a living faith and love, these persons also are seeking the living among the dead. Nor 416 THE LIFE will such acts form a living religion, any more than yon can make a living tree by nailing a few boards together, i Finally, even they who have escaped from every other delusion, whereby mankind are enticed to seek the living among the dead, are still apt to be cheated by one which begins spinning its web around our heart from the very first dawn of our consciousness, and which we can hardly strip off entirely until we are clothed upon with a robe of a heavenly pattern. So long as we continue in this realm of death, seeking life in death, and paying that honour to dead things, which is only due to living, we cannot but feel a special fondness for those dead things, of which we ourselves are the parents, our own works. We fancy that there is life and stability and jiower in them, that we can live by them, that we can stand upon them, that we can mount up to heaven by their means. This was the delusion which blinded the builders of the tower of Babel. They forgot that everything earthborn and earthmade has a weight in it which drags it down to earth, that it cannot soar of itself, that, if we fling it up, it soon recoils, that, if we try to pile our works one upon another, they rise but a very little way, and soon tumble by their own weight. This they would do, even if God had not confounded the language of all such as build upon their own works. But the confusion which scattered the builders of Babel, still prevails among all nations : and whatever temple of happiness or glory men may ever have thought of erecting for themselves, strife and variance and division and jealousies and animosities have interrupted the work, and left it a ruin, even before it has ever been completed. So too a like confusion of thought and feeling, manymindedness, the want of OF THE SPIRIT. 417 oneness of purpose, have checkt and baffled everybody who has ever tried to build a tower of his own works. Even if he had gone on building at it all his life long, it would have reacht but a very little way toward the depths of the firmament. But no man has ever done anything like this. We stop; we leave off; we pull down. Today destroys the work of yesterday : tomorrow we are discontented and begin afresh. Temptations un- dermine the building ; the dryrot of pride gets into it : ere long it totters and falls. What then ? you may ask ; are we not to do good works ? are we not to come to church and say our 'prayers ? How are weld seek the living God, if ive must not seek Him hy such means f O yes, my brethren, you are to do all these things ; you should do them far more abundantly than you do now. Only you should do them all without any notion of merit, without a thought of earning or deserving anything by them. This is what kills all our works, and turns them into dead works, the spirit of selfishness, our doing them for our own sake, for some advantage that we hope to ourselves from them. This is the serpent that coils round all our deeds and strangles them, the cankerworm that eats into them and spoils them. They should be the works of faith and love ; and then they would be living works. For then they would have a higher life in them, not merely the shadowy, perishable life that we might breathe into them, but a higher, truer life, breathed into them by Him in whom we believe, and whom we love. O yes, my brethren, you are to bring forth the fruit of good works abundantly, far more abundantly than they who perform their dead works for their own benefit. So VOL. II. E R 418 THE LTFE OF THE SPIRIT. too, if you love God, you assuredly will. For think, who will do most for a child, the mother that loves it, or the hired servant that cares not for it, hut merely tends it for her hire ? You are to bring forth the fruit of good works abundantly : but, when you have brought them forth, you are not to pile them up from year to year : fruit, you know, would soon grow mouldy and rot. No, you are to go on bringing forth fresh fruit more and more abundantly ; and if any of the former fruit contained a seed, which shall take root elsewhere and spring up, hereby giving proof that it was indeed living, then you are to be thankful. O yes, my brethren, the Christian is to bring forth the living fruit of good works abundantly ; and he alone can. He can do so, because Christ rose from the dead, and went up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Father, and ever sends His Spirit to His servants, to enable them to bring forth the fruit of good works. By living works we are to seek the living God, by living prayer, by living faith, by a living communion with Him. Power for all these things is given to Christ's servants, because Christ rose from the dead, and sends down the Spirit to help their infirmities. Through Him our prayers will find access to God. Through Him we may be admitted to a living communion with God. And that which lives grows : this is the surest proof of life : when growth ceases, life is on the wane. But true life does not wane. It mounts from grace to grace, from glory to glory : it mounts, not by its own strength, but by God's. And as Christ, having risen from the dead, went up into heaven, so we also, if we rise from the death of sin, and seek Him by the living works of righteousness, shall be borne up to heaven on the wings of faith and love. SERMON XXIT. THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES. EzEKiEL xxxvii. 3. Can these bones live ? Before I speak to you about the meaning of these words, before I make any attempt to help you in discern- ing some of the power that is in them, and some of the manifold uses to which they may be ajjplied, I must re- mind you of the passage in which they stand. It is one of the grandest in the writings of the prophets, the sublime vision in which Ezekiel is carried in the Spirit of the Lord, and set down in the midst of the valley full of dry bones. Many of you, I trust, know it well : but doubtless there are some amongst you who will not recollect all the details ; and therefore I will read you the whole account in his own words. The liand of the Lord^ he says, was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the 'valley which was full of hones, and caused me to pass hy them round about : and hehold, there ivere very many in the open valley ; and lo, they xoere very dry. And He said to me. Son of man, can these bones live ? And I an- stcered, Lord God, Thou Jcnowest. Again He said to me. Prophesy upon these hones ; and say to them, ye dry hones, hear the imrd of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to these hones : Behold, I will cause hreath to enter into you ; and ye shall live : and I will lay sin&ivs upon you, and will E E 2 420 THE VALLEY hring up flesh upon you^ and cover you with skin, and put breath in you ; and ye shall live ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded : and as I p>rophesied, there was a noise ; and hehold, a shaking ; and the hones came together, hone to its hone. And ivhen I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them ; and the shin covered them above; hut there was no breath in them. Then said He to me. Prophesy to the toind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the witid. Thus saith the Lord God : Come from the four loinds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied, as He com- manded me ; and the breath came into them ; and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. In the verses next following, the prophet tells us the reason and purpose for which this vision was vouchsafed to him, and explains what it was specially meant to foreshew. But we will rather consider this grand vision as it stands by itself, without reference for the present to its immediate purpose. We shall easily see that there are several things which it may signify, divers truths of the highest moment which it sets livelily and powerfully before us. This is plain on the face of it. For what does it treat of? Life, and death, in their barest, most glaring contrast ; life, and death, and the way in which the one is to pass into the other, — life, and death, and the huge gulf between them, and how that gulf is to be bridged over, — life, and death, with their unfathomable mysteries, and their world-pervading power. Life, and death ! They compass us on every side : whithersoever we cast our eyes, we see the work- ings of one or the other : we see them perpetually battling and struggling and wrestling ; and now one gains the mas- tery, now the other. But what they are in themselves, we OF DRY BONES. 421 know not. No eye of iiuiu has ever seen either. No foot of uiaii has ever reacht the hidden cave in which either of tlieiu dwells, the dark fountains from which they spring. Yet we see their workings about us, and around us, and above us, and below us, far and near, on high and in the deep. Nor is this all. We feel them within us, in our own tlesh and blood, in our own hearts and souls and uiinds. In all these we feel the workings of life ; and in all these we ever and anon feel a foretaste of the workings of Death, as though he were stretching out his cold, clammy hand, and laying it upon us. By pain and by pleasure we know them, by hope and by fear, by joy and by sorrow. Though their goings are unsearchable, of one thing we have the fullest certainty, that the time will come, when in this battle, so far as it is waged in our bodies, Death will bear away the victory, when Life will quail beneath him, and go out like the flame of a candle if a puff of wind rushes upon it. We know that, however we may feel the stirrings and prancings, the strength and the swiftness of Life within us now, we shall all in no long time, ere very many years roll by, have wasted away, until nothing remahis of us, nothing that eye can see, or any sense of man can discern, except just such a litter of dry bones as the prophet saw in his vision. For the vision which Ezekiel saw was not a thing con- fined to that one valley where he saw it. Wei*e it not that the earth is ever manifesting the workings of life, and blotting out the workings of Death, — were it not that she ever swallows up and hides the spoils which Death has won in his victories over Life, — whithersoever we went, we should see a vision much like that which displayed itself to the eyes of the prophet, when he was first carried 422 THE VALLEY in the Spirit into the valley. We should see, whitherso- ever we went, that in all lands there are vallies, or hills, it may be, or open plains, which are in like manner full of dry bones. Nay, are not we, my brethren, at this very moment in the midst of such a place ? Here, while we are sitting in church, with the word of Life sounding in our ears, and the Spirit of Life hovering over us, are we not at the same time surrounded by a field of dry bones? What is the churchyard I Suppose that some mighty arm were to lift up the earth now spread over the bodies of those who, generation after generation, for six hundred years, have been laid in their last bed beneath the shadow of this house of God, — suppose that everything which is now covering the remains of these bodies were to be swept away, — what should we see, but a vision of dry bones? And what would be the feelings, what would be the thoughts, which at such a sight would rise up within us? what would be the question which would start to our lips ? If we had never heard of another life after this, if we had never had the hope of immortality set before us, we should sink in utter dismay at such a spectacle of the miserable dregs of what was once bright and joyous and hopeful. We should be almost crusht by the thought, that Death should have such power to extinguish Life, and that, while Life lasts so few years. Death should last for ever. But if we had heard of another life after this, of a life into which such as depart from this life are to enter, still, Avhen we saw this poor wreck of so many generations, should we not be moved to cry out, Can these bones live ? Surely it would be by some exclamation of this sort, that we too should give utterance to our feelings, were we to see what the prophet Ezekiel saw, — were we to see what this OF DRY BONES. 423 churchyard hides from our sight, or what is hidden beneath any other churchyard in the land. For in every church- yard there would be the same vision, a vision of dry bones. Even if we had no personal interest in the fate of the bones, if we merely bethought ourselves of what they once were, when they were clothed with flesh, and the breath of life played about them, how they acted and suffered, how they loved and hoped and feared, and were driven to and fro by the same throng of thoughts and feelings, of cares and passions, by which our own bosoms are moved, — we could hardly refrain from giving vent to our compassion and awe by crying out, Can these hones lice ? But when we remembered that the fate of these bones, whatever it may be, will be our own fate also, and the fate of all whom we love and revere, or ever have loved and revered, a fate from which no one of us shall escape, — that they and we shall ere long leave nothing behind us, which the eye of man can discern, except just such dry bones as are lying beneath the earth around us, — when we bethought our- selves that in less than a hundred years the vision which now meets our eyes will be entirely changed, that all of us, who are now sitting here in this church side by side, parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbours, M'ill have slipt out one after another, and have lain down for our last sleep in this churchyard, — most of us in this very churchyard, some perchance in another, — and that of this whole fair sight, which is now filling our eyes, and warming our hearts, nothing will re- main but a heap of dry bones, — then, unless we are already enabled to return a sure, undoubting answer to the ques- tion, we should surely cry with gasping and quivering hearts, Can these hones live 9 424 THE VALLEY In the vision of the prophet, it is the Spirit of the Lord that asks him this question, to remind him of his own weakness, and to lead him to the discernment of God's power, But the questions which God asks us are mostly such as our own reason and conscience, if duly awakened and enlightened, would put. Thus, in this instance, unless we felt so thoroughly assured of the answer to the question, that nothing could shake our confidence in its truth, we too, it seems to me, if our eyes were opened to see the vallies and hills and fields of dry bones with which the whole earth is overspread, could not well refrain from asking, Can these hones live? The prophet's answer is, Lord God, Thou hiorcest. Such too would be the only answer which we could make to the question, unless God Himself had enabled us to return a surer and fuller. The ways and courses of Life and Death are so secret, — the ebbing and flowing of Life, its heaving and swelling, its rising and sinking, the causes which determine these changes, and the laws which regulate them, lie so far beyond our comprehension, that we can never understand, even in the meanest and slightest things, how that which is dead becomes living, or how that which is living dies. We see the changes continually going on. The whole order of Nature shews us how Life is unceasingly laying hold on that which is without life, and feeding upon it, and nourishing itself thereby, — how the trees and plants and herbs feed upon the lifeless elements, turning them into parts of their own living frame, and in their turn are made to minister to a higher kind of life in animals and in man- kind. On the other hand we see how Death is unceas- ingly preying upon life, and paring away this and that from it, and crumbling it down, until it slips altogether away. OF DRY BONES. 425 But how these changes are brought about, we know not : and though we know that whatsoever hves will die, though we can never be led to ask with regard to anything earthly. Can this die ? we cannot tell with the same cer- tainty whether that which is without life will ever be endowed with life. Were we askt concerning any parti- cular object in inanimate nature, concerning a rock or a stone or a clod of earth, whether, through any of the changes which things undergo, when they come under the millwheel of the world, it could ever be ground into life, our answer would probably be, God Jcnoivs. By this expression we are wont at once to confess our own ignorance and God's omniscience. In like manner, if our eyes were sharpened to see the dry bones lying beneath every little mound in our churchyard, — if we were to see all these bones, and to ask ourselves, Can these hones live ? and were left to ourselves to find an answer, — what answer _ could we make, except that of the prophet, The Lord God knoweth ? unless indeed such a spectacle of the crushing might of Death were entirely to confound us, and to make lis cry, No ! it is impossible. That which has never lived may have life breathed into it : hut on these crackt and ragged hones Death has set his mark; and surely they must he his for ever. For xoho can wrest them from him ? Thus might we speak of the bones in the churchyard, if we did not call to mind where the churchyard is, — if we did not call to mind what is in the midst of it, — if there were not a church rising heavenward out of it, and by her look, by her manifold voices, by everything that is said and done within her walls, by the presence which she brings down, by the fellowship into which she raises us, — the deathless fellowship of those who live though they die, 4>26 THE VALLEY — lifting us out of the fear of death, above all the terrours of the graves in the churchyarcl, and of the bones which lie within them. Such is the strange contrast, the strange meeting of contraries, which we find in every church, Death and Life side by side, Death around it, Life within it, Life to which we pass through the field of Death, but which mounts above Death, and will not be kept down by it. Here, in this church, in this house of the living God, we are not to be daunted and perplext by the spoils and trophies of Death, wherewith it is begirt. Here we no longer ask. Can these bones live F nor, if any one were to put us such a question, should we be content to reply, The Lord hioweth. Our answer would be. The Lord knoweth ; and He has revealed His knowledge to us. These bones can live, and shall live, whenever His breath quickens them. But there are two kinds of life, and two kinds of death, of which the one is little more than the shadow and out- ward shell of the other. There is the bodily life, of which I have been speaking hitherto ; and there is also the spi- ritual life, the life of the soul, the true, living life. So too on the other hand is there a spiritual death, the first death, out of which the other issued, and which infallibly breeds the other, and will always continue to breed it. The Apostle speaks of a death in trespasses and sins. What this is, we all know far too well. We do not indeed all know it, so as to have a right conception of the horrour and misery and baseness and shame of this death. Very few are thus clearsighted. Many fancy that they who are lying under the paws, or writhing within the very jaws of this Death, are alive ; nay, that they have a more rampant life in them, than they who have risen out of this dead OF DRY BONES. 427 life fiiul living death into the purer, living life of the spirit. But the spoils and trophies of this death are not hidden from our view in the bowels of the earth : they are not buried : they are spread abroad over the whole face of the earth : they lie around us on every side : whithersoever we go, they start up before us : they haunt us : they pursue us : we cannot escape from them. Yet, when we reflect on the matter, when we think of that which is done in secret, of that which shuns observation, above all, of that which lies hid in men's hearts, of that which they try to keep hid, but which betrays itself ever and anon by invo- luntary sallies and outbursts, Ave become convinced that the signs and tokens of this spiritual Death, which manifest themselves to the eyes of men, are but a small portion of the wreck which Death has wrought in men's souls, — that a few planks of the wreck are floating at top, or cast ashore, but that the main part is swallowed up and con- cealed in the unseen depths. Still, when we merely ponder what we see, what is said and done openly in the sight of the sun, if we have any notion what spiritual life is, how pure, how bright, how lovely, how calm, how orderly, surely the thought must often come across us, must strike as with a hammer upon our hearts, Can these hones live ? This is a far ghastlier vision, brethren, than that which the prophet Ezekiel saw, a vision ghastly and awful and ter- rible in the sight of the holy angels, a vision that is an abomination in the sight of the Allpure God. How then can these bones ever live ? How can these millions of souls, which are dead in trespasses and sins, rise out of this living, never-dying death, out of this death which they are feeding continually with the blood of their hearts ? How can they rise out of it into any true, real, living, spiritual life ? 428 THE VALLEY This is a question to \vhich, in any other place than in the bosom of Christ's Church, we should vainly seek an answer. For the deeper we look into the souls which are lying dead in trespasses and sins, the more searchingly we examine them, the more clearly do we perceive that there is no spring of life in them, no strength whereby they can shake off the Death that is preying upon them. Nor can the outward world give them strength to shake it off. The outward world supplies many things with which Death pampers and fattens his victims, stimulants for every appe- tite, fuel for every passion, but nothing which will lead us to mortify our appetites, to quell our passions, nothing that will spur us to fight against Death, far less enable us to over- come him. Nor can our brother men enable us to overcome Death. It is far more than any man can do, to overcome Death in himself. You all know that no man can over- come it in his body, that no man can give his body a safe- guard against it : and equally impotent is every man to overcome it in his soul, to preserve his soul against it. Nor can any one achieve that victory in another, which he cannot achieve in himself. Here however, in the Church of Christ, in the Church which He set uj) to heal the broken-hearted, we can give a plain and sure answer to the question : These hones can live. Shattered as they may be, worn out, decayed, still they may live. Through Christ''s mercy and grace, through the power of His redemption, tin-ough the working of the Spirit that He obtained for all such as believe in Him, they who in His days were lying utterly dead in trespasses and sins were quickened at the prophesying of His Apostles : and they in these days who are in like manner dead, may still be quickened by the prophesying of His word, and raised up, and made to sit OF DRY BONES. 429 together in Jieavenly places in Christ Jesus. Although they sleep, they may awake, when Chrisfs voice sounds in their ears. They may awake, and arise from the dead, arise out of their spiritual death ; and Christ will give them light that light which is the light of life. Such was the state of the whole world, when Christ came down to save it. The whole world was lying dead in tres- passes and sins ; and nothing was to be seen in the whole race of man, but the wreck of shattered souls. If we look into the first chapter of St Paul's Epistle to the Romans, we are there carried in spirit to a far more appalling and loathsome vision than that which met the eyes of the pro- phet Ezekiel, — to a place not filled with dry bones, but with unrighteousness, with fornication, with covetousness, with envy, with murder, with strife, with deceit, with malignity, with backbiting, with hatred of God, with despitefulness, with pride, with boasting, with undutiful- ness, with implacableness, with unmercifulness, with all things that die, and with all things that kill. When our eyes wander over these carcasses of souls, mouldering and rotting on every side, we can hardly so much as take heart to ask, Can these hones live ? Our reason seems to proclaim too loudly ; They must die : even as they are dead, as they have given themselves up to death, so must they continue dead for ever. Moreover, as this was the state of the whole world when Christ came down from heaven, so was it the state of every country and people, when the sound of the Gospel first reacht it ; so was it the state of England, when that blessed sound first came to our shores. The whole people was lying dead in trespasses and sins : not a spark of spiritual life was to be seen, nothing to kindle the faintest gleam of a hope that the dry bones could over live. 430 THE VALLEY The visions however of which I am speaking do not belong solely to past ages, to the time when Christ first came down to breathe life into the dry bones strewn over the whole earth, or to the time when His lifegiving breath is first felt in each several land, I spoke of these visions as to be seen at this day, even here in England, and alas ! in every part of England. In every part of England we still see dismally many marks of the power and empire of Death, shoals of dry bones lying openly in the face of day, which tempt us to cry out despondingly, Can these hones live ? But it is not openly alone that this spiritual Death works. It also works in secret ; and not merely in the hearts and souls of daring, barefaced sinners, but in every heart. Yes, my brethren, in every heart, in the heart of every one of us, has this spiritual Death wrought. In the heart of every one of us is he still working, more or less it may be, but in all far, far too much. Surely, if we look searchingly into our own hearts, into our own lives, — if we try to call to mind everything that we have said and done from our youth up until now, — if we try to recollect what our feelings have been, what our thoughts, at the various stages of our life, — how, though in many things they may have changed, in this they have been unchanging, that they have ever been cleaving to the dust, or whirling restlessly, even when most innocent, like so many motes, the children of the moment, the heirs of death, around our own heads, — surely we must be convinced that Death has still a terrible dominion over us ; we must be tempted, by this vision of the work of Death in our own souls, to cry out in anguish of conscience. Can these hones live ? Only through faith in Christ are we enabled to answer. Yes, they can live ; not however through anything that OF DRY BONES. 431 they are in themselves ; not through anything that we can breathe into them. Were there no higher Hfe for them to receive, they would be given over wholly to death. When we think what our very best deeds have been, how poor and meagre and starveling, in comparison with what they ought to have been, in comparison with what Christ has done for us, and with what we ought therefore to do for Him, we must needs feel that our best works, so far as they are our own, are dead works, and that there is no real, living life in us, or in anything that we have ever done, except so far as we can say with the Apostle, fVe are crucified with Christ: nevertheless we live; yet not we ; hut Christ liveth i7i us : and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live hy faith in the Son of God, who loved tis, and gave Himself for us. For, bethink you, brethren, what is the life which we desire that these dry bones should live ? Not the poor, narrow, frail life which we might live here on earth ; though even that seems to lie beyond our grasp ; as in the vision of the prophet, had not the Spirit of the Lord shaken and stirred the bones, it would have been impos- sible that they should have been clothed anew, even with mortal flesh. But the life which we would desire and aspire to live, is immortal : and what is there in our mor- tality, that can be deemed worthy, or even capable of putting on immortality ? what is there in our corruption, that can lay claim to put on incorruption ? What deed have we ever done, what word have we ever spoken, what feeling or thought has ever had birth within us, of which we could dare to say, that we desire it should be pre- sented in its nakedness, such as it was when it sprang up, before the allpiercing eye of God, and that it should 432 THE VALLEY stand through eternity before Him ? No assuredly : all our deeds, all our words, all our thoughts, all our feelings, the very best, as well as the worst, have had the stamp of Death upon them, have been such that we ourselves should have grieved and been confounded, if they had not been doomed to be swept away. Therefore, if we were left to ourselves, the more we examined our consciences, the more sternly would they proclaim, These hones cannot live. Thus we are brought to acknowledge and confess, that, if we are to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, it must needs be through the gate of repentance, by casting off our own works, one and all of them, by forgetting everything that is behind, and by pressing forward to that which is before, if so be we may be enabled to apprehend that, for the sake of which we ourselves were apprehended by Christ. Hence, while the question. Can these hones live ? when askt with reference to our own souls, must needs humble us with the conviction that they cannot in themselves, or through anything that we can make of them, or do for them ; on the other hand, if there is any one amongst you, who is struck with fear and dismay at looking into himself, and seeing that there is nothing in hmi worthy, nothing capable of living, that all his works are frail, that all his thoughts are earthbound, that all his feelings are corruptible, let him at least take comfort thus far, as to be assured that in this respect his condition is not worse than that of others ; for that on the soul of every man in a state of nature is graven the inscription, / am the heir of death. So that, as he cannot live through any life that is in him- self, neither can any man : yea, no man can live through any other life than that with which Christ supplies him. OF DRY BONES. But this life Christ has evei- given, and will ever give, abundantly, to all who seek it from Him. Of the j)ieture which the prophet'^s vision sets before us of the two stages in our spiritual life, the time will not allow me to speak. Else it might be interesting to con- sider how the eiFect of his first prophesying, — when the bones came together, and the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them, — answers to the working of the Law ; both as it was seen of old among the Jews, and as it is seen at this day in those who are moved, by whatsoever cause, to strive after moral excellence, without recognising that there is no true life, save that which pro- ceeds from the Spirit of Christ. Whereas, when the Spirit of Christ does indeed breathe upon men, and into tliem, they live and stand upon their feet^ and have so lived and stood from the beginning, an exceedlnci great arm//, even the whole noble Army of Martyrs, the whole Com- munion of Saints. On these thoughts however I cannot dwell ; because I have still to speak to you concerning another sense of the prophet"'s vision, the special sense for the sake of which it was shewn to him, and the very sense which led me to choose it for the subject of my sermon this evening. If we look at the 11th verse of the chapter from which the text is taken, we find that the prophet there gives us the interpretation of the vision. Then He said to me. Son of man, these hones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say. Our hones are dried ; and our hope is lost : we are cut of-' for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus saith the Lord God : Behold, My people, I will open your graces, and cause you to come up out of your VOL. 11. F F 434 THE VALLEY f '. graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, My people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your oion land. Then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. Now this, my brethren, this, the original sense of the vision, was the reason which has led me to preach to you about it today. Why so ? Because on this day the prophet's vision is in a certain sense and measure receiving* its fulfil- ment. Doubtless his words referred, at least in the first instance, to the return of the Jews out of their Babylonian captivity ; and his vision was in some mea- sure fulfilled, when they went back to the land of their fathers. Nor is it given to us to pronounce what further fulfilment awaits it, — whether it is determined in the counsels of God that the Jews shall again come out of their graves, in which they have been lying for so many centuries, and into which they cast themselves, when they rejected and crucified the Saviour, and called down His blood upon themselves and their children. Since that awful cry, they have again become dry bones, scattered abroad on the whole face of the earth. There are divers signs indeed in the events of these latter years, which seem almost to betoken that the dry bones will again come together : and surely it would be a day of rejoicing to the whole Church of Christ upon earth, — it would be a day of rejoicing to the whole Communion of Saints, — it would be a day that would highten the rejoicing of the angels, even in the presence of the Eternal Triune Godhead, — if the children of Israel were at length to rise out of the OF DRY BONES. 435 grave of unbelief, wherein they have so long been lying, and to flock together from the midst of the nations, and to return to the holy hill of Zion, bowing their hearts and souls in humble and contrite adoration before Him whom their fathers crucified. It would be a day of rejoicing, — would it not, my dear brethren' — in which everyone of you would bear part, if God were again to build up the walls of Jerusalem, and to gather the children of Israel there, and to set up the throne of the Son of David over them. The event which has this day taken place, may perhaps be designed by God to prepare the way for this consummation. But, whether it be so or no, that event is in itself so glorious, and so rich in blessed promise, that I cannot refrain from calling upon you, one and all, to join with me in giving thanks to God for so great a mark of His mercy. Of what event am I speaking ? Most of you, I think, must have heard that it has pleased God to honour our Church by ordaining that we should send a Bishop to His own City, to the City of David, to Jerusalem, the City where our blessed Lord walkt and taught, and shed His precious blood. The whole chain of circumstances, by which this event has been brought about, is full of deep interest, and seems to betoken that the Spirit of God is working mightily in the hearts of His whole Church. For the plan, by which such honour is brought upon our Church, did not spring up in the heart of any member of our Church, from whom, if from anybody, one might rather have expected it. The plan sprang up in the heart of a forein King. Strange as it may be thought in these days, that a King should take a warm and zealous interest in the preaching of the Gospel at Jerusalem, the promise F F 2 436 THE VALLEY of God still stands fast, that kings shall be the nursing fathers, and queens the nursing mothers of His Church. As in days of yore many a king burnt with longing to deliver Jerusalem from the yoke of the unbelievers, and set forth from his home, from his dominions, with hosts of followers, to shed his blood in the Holy Land ; so now it has pleased God to raise up a King on the most power- ful Protestant throne in the Continent of Europe, whom He has vouchsafed to inspire with a wiser longing to deliver Jerusalem from the unbeliever, not by the arm of flesh, but by the sword of the Spirit. On this very day a Bishop has been consecrated, in a very few days a Bishoji will set forth, for the City of David, whose office will be to provide that the Gospel shall be preacht in its simplicity and purity in the very city where its voice was first heard. Many things have been working together through God's ordinance in bringing this to pass. All the difficulties, — and there were many, — which seemed to stand in the way, have been wonderfully smoothed and removed. Already, as though " in preparation for this event, a church has been half built by some of our missionaries on the holy hill of Zion : and he who has been appointed to go forth as Bishop, is himself of the seed of Abraham, of the people of David, of the people among whom our blessed Lord vouchsafed to be born, a brother of the holy Aj^ostles. What fruits may spring from this mission of a Bishop of our Church, himself an Israelite, to Jerusalem, we pre- tend not to divine. We cannot tell what eflfect it may jjroduce on the Jews disperst throughout the world, more especially on those among them who have been converted to the faith of Christ in this and other Reformed countries, — whether it may not kindle a desire in them to return to OF DKY BONES. 437 the land of their fathers, — wliether many of those who are still under the veil, may not feel that veil withdrawn from their hearts, when they see this gracious proof of our Messed Lord's mercy to the city where He was crucified. Nor can we at all tell what influence this mission may exercise in stirring up and enlivening and purifying the ancient Christian Churches in the East, which have been waning for centuries under the bondage of the unbeliever ; nor how far it may work to the enlargement of Christ''s Kingdom, when the trumpet of the pure Gospel is blown in the ears of the nations from the hill of Zion. The care of these things we leave humbly, but trustfully and hope- fYilly, to the Divine Head of the Church, well aware that these our undertakings cannot live through any wisdom and strength which we can put into them, but assured that, if He will breathe His wisdom and His strength into them, they shall live. As this is a day however, on which such a mark of Cod's favour is bestowed on our Church, — as it is a day when it would appear as though He were remembering His ancient people Israel, — I have thought it right to speak to you about this blessed and glorious event, trusting that there are not a few amongst you who will rejoice in hearing these glad tidings, who will rejoice to hear that today a father in the Church is consecrated, who is to go forth and to say to Zion, Thy God reigiieth^ and to cry to her. Awake, awake ! put on tUy strength ! put on thy heautlfid garments, JerusaUm, the holy city I I have thought too that there might be not a few amongst you, who would count it a great honour, a privilege, a happiness, to be allowed to give something to help on this godly work, some little gift out of that wherewith God has blest you, to 438 THE VALLEY the Church of Christ at Jerusalem. Thiuk, brethren, what we owe to Jerusalem, what love we ought to bear to it. Jesus walkt in it : Jesus taught in it : Jesus wept over it : Jesus shed His blood in it : Jesus forgave it : Jesus rose again in it. Surely there must be some, — I would fain hope there are many, amongst you, whose hearts will rejoice at the thought of being allowed to give some little offering to the Church of Jesus at Jerusalem. Even you, children, — this is a day which you ought to remember as long as you live : you too, I trust, have learnt to love Jerusalem : you too should be able to rejoice that God is thus sending a minister of His Church to preach His blessed Gospel at Jerusalem. If any of you have any little offering that you would like to make today, you may put it into the plate at the door. If any of you, young or old, who have nothing about you today, feel a wish to bear part in this good work, you may bring me your gift on any day this week. Small as your gifts may be, if they are the gifts of fiiith and love, if God blesses them, they will live, and multij^ly, and bear fruit ; even as the widow''s mite has lived until now, and has continually borne fruit, and multiplied exceedingly, because it was the gift of faith and love, and because God blest it. In truth, of all the offerings that have ever been made, if we take into account the numberless gifts which it has drawn from others, that mite was doubtless far the richest, even in the silver and gold which it has brought into the treasury, as well as in the feelings of the heart which cast it in. Only in the courts of Heaven will it be known what stores of riches have sprung from our Saviour's blessing on that one mite. This, my brethren, is the great cause for thankfulness which we have to God this day ; and as one of the chief OF DRY BONES. 439 persons employed by God in bringing this event to pass is one whom I have the blessing of numbering among my dearest friends, — whereby I have been led to take a still warmer interest in it than I otherwise might have done, — I have thought it behoved me to call upon you, my dear friends and brethren, to share in my joy and thanksgiving. This is a great mark of God's favour which is this day shewn to our Church : nor does it stand alone. Only three Sundays ago the same chief Bishop of our Church, who has today been honoured by consecrating the first Protestant Bishop for the Church of Christ at Jerusalem, was em- ployed in consecrating the first Bishop of New Zealand. Many of you have heard of New Zealand, as a country inhabited by fierce savages, the fiercest perhaps on the face of the earth, cannibals, who delighted in feasting on the flesh, and drinking the blood of their enemies, in eating human flesh, and drinking human blood. Such they were not long since, all of them ; and such, alas ! many of them are still. When we thought of them, when we read the horrible stories which came to us about them, we might well have cried, in the words of the text, Can these hones live ? Yet they do live ; or at least they are beginning to live. The Spirit of God is moving over them, is wrestling mightily with the spirit of Evil amongst them ; and many of them are coming over to the Lord's side, are coming out of the darkness and loathsome bondage of hell into the blessed light and freedom of the Gospel. Already, it appears, from trustworthy accounts, many of them have embraced Christianity with a spirit which manifests itself by bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. Already there are signs of hopeful promise that these bones, which a few years since were so dry, will be clothed all over witli 440 THE VALLEY living flesh, and will stand up, an exceeding great army, an army of true believers and faithful soldiers of Christ. Thus, in whatsoever sense we ask the question. Can these hones live ? the answer is the same : If the Lord breathes upon them, they will live. The bones around this chur.ch, and our own bones, when we are laid amongst them, dead as they may seem and be, will live, if Christ breathes upon them : they will live, and arise, when the last trumpet sounds. On that day, when the breath of life has departed from the last of the children of men, and when the graves have cast up what they have so long been concealing, the whole earth will for a moment be like the vision which Ezekiel saw, one never-ending valley of dry bones. Yet these bones shall live, shall rise up, some of them to live for ever, some of them to die again, a living, never-dying death. Our souls too, poor and dry and barren as they are, dead to all good thoughts, to all good feelings, to all good works, — they too live, and will live, if Christ breathes upon them, and will be strong in His strength, and righteous in His righteousness, and holy in His holiness. So again all these our works, feeble and imperfect as they may be, — these works of the Church in sending forth new preachers of the Gospel to old countries and to new, to the country where its first coming was heralded by the song of the heavenly host, and to countries which then were unheard of, — these works will live and spread and increase, and power will go along with them, if Christ breathes upon them ; and out of the seed which has been sown on these two Sundays, an exceeding great army of saints and martyrs may be added to the Communion in heaven. When Christ came down upon earth, the whole moral OF DRY BONES. 411 world was a valley of bones ; and the more one examined them, the drier they seemed. The natural life, which had in some measure animated them in earlier ages, had past away ; and nothing remained but dry bones. Yet at the voice of Christ, at the preaching of His Gospel, these bones lived and stood up ; and so have the bones of generation after generation from that time to this, and have peopled the courts of heaven. So too, we hope and trust, through the grace of God and the power of Christ, will it be still. Notwithstanding the numberless marks of the terrible power of Death which we see iu every region of the earth, — although so many nations are still covered with gross darkness, — although hundreds of millions of souls are no better than ghastly bones, — although Jerusalem is still fallen and lying in the dust, and her bones are scattered beneath all the winds of heaven, yet, if God so wills it, and His Spirit breathes upon them, there shall be a noise, and a shaking of the nations; and the bones shall come to- gether, bone to bone ; and this earthly Jerusalem, with all its frailties, with all the tokens and seeds of death in it, shall be clothed anew with the heavenly Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, where the nations of those %oho are sated shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth shall hring their glory and honour into it, into the city which has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it : for the glory of God shall lighten it; and the Lamb shall be its light. Amen. SERMON XXIII. HARVEST PARABLES. Matthew vi. 28. Consider the lilies of the field. In some of our sister Churches there is a goodly custom of setting apart a Sunday in every year to be observed as a harvest-feast, as a day of special thanksgiving to God for His bountiful goodness in ordaining that the earth shall continue year after year to bring forth its fruits in due plenty for the food and nourishment of mankind. This is a goodly custom, I say ; and perhaps it is to be regretted that there is no such custom in our Church. For it is a custom which agrees with the pattern set before us in the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. That too, as we find in the 23rd chapter of the Book of Exodus, was appointed as the feast of ingathering, in the end of the year, when they had gathered in their labours out of the field. At this feast it was ordained in the Book of Deuteronomy, that all the people should rejoice, with their servants and the strangers within their gates, because God imuld bless them in all their increase, and in all the works of their hands. Moreover it seems desirable that all the members of the Church should be reminded once a year of God*'s providential care, by which their lives are sustained, and whatever is needed for the support and enjoyment of life is so abundantly suj)- plied. It seems desirable that all persons should be espe- cially reminded by such a solemn feast, that all their 441 HARVEST PAYABLES. earthly blessings also come to them from the only Giver of every good gift, and should be called upon to thank the Giver. Indeed, as these are blessings the value of which all men understand, they may more easily be brought to feel a certain degree of thankfulness to Him from whom they receive them : and while those who have already attained to a consciousness of what they owe to God for His infinitely more precious spiritual gifts, will gladly obey the summons to pour forth their j)raises to Him for His lesser, outward gifts, some of those, who as yet only feel the worth of the latter, may perhaps be awakened to per- ceive how the earthly harvest is in so many ways a type and pledge of the heavenly harvest, which awaits us all at the end of the world. With this view I purpose to speak to you today mainly about the goodness of God as mani- fested in the course of the outward world ; and we may perhaps be enabled with God''s help to discern some of the analogies between the order of the outward world and that of our spiritual life. In so doing let us take the words of the text, which come from the Gospel of the day, along with those which stand before and follow them, as a clue to aid us in finding out some of the lessons which it has pleased our Heavenly Father to teach us by the visible things of the Creation. Consider the lilies of the field. These, my brethren, are words which we may regard as especially addrest to us. In such a feast of thanksgiving as I have been speaking of, it would indeed behove a whole people to join, praising God with their hearts, and telling forth His praises with their lips. For all receive their share of the gifts, on account of which those praises are to be rendered. High and low, rich and poor, men, women, and children, dwellers HARVEST PARABLES. 44.") in cities as well as dwellers in fields, husbandmen and handicraftsmen, they who work at the loom, no less than they who work at the plough, they whose home is on the houseless and barren sea, no less than they whose feet are planted on dry land, — all, one with another, live and are fed by the blessing of God in the harvest. But though this is a season when every mouth should be even more than usually praiseful, and every heart even more than usually thankful, there are some to whom it calls yet more loudly than to others, some by whom the blessing of God in the harvest ought to be felt still more deeply than by the rest of their brethren. And who are they ? Who are these highly favoured persons, on whom God vouchsafes to pour the first fruits, as it were, of His bounty ? Who but we, my friends . . we who dwell in the country, whose paths are amid the grass and the corn, who plough, and sow, and plant, and reap, and gather the fruits into our barns, who walk to and fro on the natural earth, and under the open sky. Hence too we may reasonably deem that our Lord's exhortation to consider the lilies of the field is especially addrest to us. This is the great advantage, the great blessing of living, as we do, in the country. It has been well said by one of our poets, that " God made the country, and man made the town."" They who live in the country may be said to see more of God, so far as He manifests His eternal power and Godhead in the visible works of the Creation. They see more of His star-spangled garment, more of the life that He breathes into all things. They are surrounded by green leaves, instead of red bricks. The living grass is under their feet, ijistead of hard stones. They do not merely see a strip of sky hemmed in between two high 446 HARVEST PARABLES. walls; but it spreads abroad over them, from North to South, and from East to West. Moreover the things vrhich meet their eyes are full of life and motion. The walls of a town are dead. The pavement of its streets is dead. From year's end to year's end they never change, just as blank and barren in spring and summer and autumn, as in winter. When Spring unbars the gates of Winter, and leaps forth through them rejoicing like a bridegroom, and the breath of God flows over the wide earth, and clothes every field with green, and every plant with leaves and blossoms, it passes by towns without touching them. They alone remain unchanged, rising, like so many bare rocks, out of the green sea of life, which rolls wave after wave from pole to pole. But while all that men see, and do, and deal with in towns, is man's work, all that we see and deal with in the country is God's work : and so is the chief part even of what we ourselves do. A craftsman may fancy that what he does is his own work. A shoemaker, for instance, may fancy that the shoes he makes are his own making, — a carpenter, that his table is his own joining, — a brick- layer, that his house is his own building, — a weaver, that his cloth is his own weaving. For they give a compact body and shape and use and value to materials, which in themselves have very little ; and, while the change is so great, it is entirely wrought by the workman, and the work is completed when it passes out of his hands. But the husbandman in a Christian land can hardly help being aware that all he can do is just nothing, except so far as he works together with God, and so far as God is pleased to bless his work. He cannot take it into his head that it is he who pulls the ear out of the ground, or draws forth the HARVEST PARABLES. 447 leaves from their shells, or opens the eyes of the flowers. He buries the seed in the ground ; but he cannot give it a body to rise out of the ground. Indeed, if he were to try to do anything of the sort, he would mar his whole work. He can no more make the seed, which he buries in the ground, rise out of it, than he can make his brother man, whom he buries in the ground, rise out of it. It is God who giveth the seed its body, and to every seed its own body. To one seed He gives the body of a blade of grass, to another that of an ear of corn, to another that of an oak, to another that of a fir, to another that of an appletree bending down with its clusters of seedbearing fruit, like a happy mother with her rosycheeked children hanging from her neck and from her arms. Everything that a countryman sees, everything he is most familiar with, is full of life. It changes. It tells him the story, it shews him the parable, of his own lot. It springs up, and ripens, and fades away, and dies. Whereas every- thing that surrounds a townsman is already so dead, that Death has hardly any further power over it. It will wear out, and decay ; but, having never lived, it never dies. Thus it speaks not of those great laws, whereby all things that have life in them are bound together. And what does the townsman know of God's world, and of the great powers that hold sway in it I What is the sun to him ? It makes a dust in the street. What is the rain 1 It turns the dust into mud. But to the countryman the earth and all that is in it, the heaven and all its host, and all the powers that move about in it, Jire and hail, snoto and cloud, wind and rain, are, as it were, friends, known to him in all their shapes, in their manifold operations. He is better able to understand the saying of the Psalmistj 418 HARVEST PARABLES. who speaks of them as the angels of God, fidJxUing His word. For he knows how they work together in divers hidden ways for the good of the various creatures that live on the face of the earth, — how they are the servants of the Lord of the harvest, whom He sends forth from time to time, as one or other is needed, from the chambers of His power, to perform their several parts in preparing the harvest for His people. Hence it behoves us, whose favoured lot is cast in the country, to feel that the words, Consider the lilies of the field., and the other words of a like purport that stand around them, are more especially addrest to us, who have the fullest opportunities of exercising our minds and strengtheniug our faith, as our Lord directs us, by such thoughts, and who therefore shall have to answer for these opportunities, if we fail to make a right use of them. For a like reason the harvest, which ought to be a season of thanksgiving for all mankind, inasmuch as all live by the harvest, ought to be more especially a season of thanks- giving for us, who dwell in the midst of the fields, and who have seen the green ear shoot, and the yellow ear ripen around us. They who dwell in towns may perchance not know, — or at all events many of them may never call to mind, — how the bread, which is the staff of their life, as well as of yours, is produced, and how the various powers of Nature must combine, in order to bring forth the grain, of which it is made. And if we regard our Lord's com- mand to consider the lilies of the field, as an exhortation to consider the harvest, and the various steps that have led to it, with a view of discerning the spiritual truths which they set forth, the parables which they preach to us, we shall find that we, who live in the country, have HARVEST PARABLES. 449 many great advantages in this respect, which others have not. For they who Hve in towns are not reminded by their daily labours, as you are, how the earth is like the heart of man, unable to bring forth good fruit of itself, still lying under the curse pronounced upon it by reason of sin, and, when left to itself, bearing little better than thorns and thistles. They are not continually reminded, as you are, how, in order that the earth may bring forth good fruit, it is necessary that good seed should be sown in it by the hand of the husbandman ; even as man's heart will never bring forth good fruit, unless the good seed of the word is sown in it by the husbandman whom God sends out to prepare the crop for His spiritual harvest. They see not, as you do, how, in order that the seed may sink into the ground, and find a bed there, where it may lie in wait teeming until the time of its rising again, the ground needs to be cut and broken by the share of the plough and the teeth of the harrow ; even as man''s heart needs to be seamed by affliction, and broken up by repentance, before the seed of God"'s word will sink in and take root and spread out its fibres there. Still less do they call to mind, as you are evermore forced to do, how, when all this has been done, nothing at all has yet been dune, nothing in the way of giving life to the seed, nothing that can warrant our reckoning with any certainty upon the future croji, — how all this amounts to nothing more than the digging of the ground for the foundation, and perhaps the laying of the first row of stones, on which the building is afterward to be raised. They think not how, even after all this has been done, everything still remains to be done, — how the seed has only been committed in faith to Him who orders VOL. II. a a 450 HARVEST PARABLES. all the workings of the natural world, — how, if it were to continue as you leave it, no harvest would ever spring from it, — and how all the rest is the work of that God, by whom the laws of Nature were ordained and are upheld, without any help of man. The}^ are not led, as you are, to observe, how patiently, with what unfailing regularity, day after day, and month after month, the sun looks down from his throne in the heavens with an eye of fatherly love on the children of the harvest, — how he looks down on them, and fosters them with his lifegiving warmth, even while they are hidden in the womb of the earth, — how he calls them out of their slumber, and bids them lift up their heads, and rears them day after day with his smile, and, when they are weary, departs from them for a time, leaving them to rest and refresh their limbs under the cool, quiet curtain of night. Nor have they the same occasions, as you have, for considering how the sun himself would only parch up the grain, unless it were refresht from time to time by the dew and seasonable showers ; just as the light of knowledge, even of heavenly knowledge, would only parch up the soul, unless it were watered and refresht ever and anon with the dew of human, and the rain of divine love. They who live in towns, I say, are not perpetually wit- nessing these and the many other parables, by which the order of Nature is teaching us year by year to reflect on the mysterious birth and growth of our own spiritual life. But we, my brethren, do see these parables. They are continually before our eyes. The very labours in which the chief part of you are engaged, compell you to fix your thoughts on these outward signs of deep spiritual truths. We do know, or at least, ought to know these parables ; HARVEST PARABLES. 451 we do think of them, or at least ought to think of them, and to be led thereby to the truths which they shew forth. We know how the fowls of the air sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet our Heavenly Father feeds them. We know how God clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cut down and consumed. We know, or at least ought to know, how it is God that feeds the fowls of the air, and clothes the grass of the field, and how, without His all-sustaining bounty, the fowls of the air would starve, and the grass of the field would wither. A townsman might perchance be mad enough to fancy that his brick and mortar stand of them- selves, and that God has nothing to do with the house into which he builds them, — that the work of his hands is altogether his own work, and that God has no part in it. Eut we know, or at least ought to know, — inasmuch as we are continually reminded in all manner of ways, — that His working never ceases, or stops, so much as for a moment, — that all things are ever changing, and that nothing which has life in it, from the cedar-tree on the mountain to the hyssop that springs out of the wall, is ever at a standstill, or can subsist for a moment by itself. We are reminded in all manner of ways, that He who keeps all things, and preserves and sustains them all, never slumbers or sleeps. These, my brethren, are among the great advantages which you enjoy over those who dwell in towns. By your labour the harvest is prepared ; and while you are engaged in the labours that prepare it, you see, and ought to be- come familiar with, these parables, whereby God has pleased to manifest the order and workings of our spiritual life. But is all this indeed so ? some of you may feel inclined to ask. Can it be that in the affairs of our own G G 2 452 HARVEST PARABLES. hearts and souls, in the things which are, ahom all, our own, and in which, if in anything, we must have power, God alone gives the increase ? Does all the trouble and pains and watchfulness it costs us to make and keep ourselves good go for nothing ? Well then, if this he so, why should vie take any trouble about the matter? Why not fold our hands, and drop our oars, and drift along whithersoever chance may waft us ? Surely, brethren, you who are engaged in the labours of husbandry, must know what answer to make to these questions. You must know, that, although God alone gives the increase, your labour does not go for nothing. It is nothing, it can effect nothing, by itself; but it does not go for nothing. On the contrary, God has been pleased to appoint that through man''s labour and painstaking the earth shall bring forth her fruit. Man must clear and cleave and break up and prepare the ground ; or it will not be in a condition to bring forth. He must sow the seed ; or there will be nothing whereto God's increase is to be given. Nor do you fold your hands, and give over working, because you know that your work in itself, without God's increase upon it, can do no- thing. In like manner, although we are utterly unable to make the word of God grow up and bear fruit in our hearts, still we have very much to do, — we have to do the very utmost that we can do, — in order that it may not be hindered from growing up and bearing fruit in us. We must endeavour to prepare our hearts for receiving it, by doing what we can to break up the hard and barren soil of selfishness, by using our utmost diligence and watchfulness in clearing and weeding it of those fleshly lusts, which are the only growth apt to spring up readily and rankly from that soil. We must endeavour to grieve over our sins, to HARVEST PARABLES. 453 feel shame at them, to repent of them, to hate and to shun them. We must endeavour to pray frequently and earn- estly that we may be delivered from them. All the thne too, while we are thus striving to prepare and purify our hearts, we must be diligent in sowing the word of God in them. Neither of these labours, as you know, will avail without the other. Ploughing will produce no crop of corn, unless you also sow ; nor will sowing, unless you have already ploughed. Unless you do all this regu- larly and diligently, as diligently as if the harvest depended entirely on your diligence in your part of the work, God will not give His increase, either to the corn in your fields, or to the seed of the word in your hearts. There will be no seed in them to grow up ; or, should a stray grain drop upon them, the fowls of the air will pick it up, or the weeds will choke it. Thus, while other occupations, such as people carry on in towns, tend to pamper that habit of self-reliance, to which our hearts by nature are already so prone, inasmuch as in most instances the result seems to depend almost wholly on ourselves,' — on the other hand the blessing of living as you do in a closer intercourse and communion, in partnership, so to say, with the powers of Nature, is, that your occupation at once teaches you your great weakness, and the necessity of exerting yourselves as though you were full of strength. The harvest, and the labours which prepare the way for it, teach you both these lessons. The lilies of the field rather teach you the former. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, our Lord says : they toil not, neither do they spin ; a7id yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. These words also teach us the same lesson, which we have been trying 454 HARVEST PARABLES. to learn already from the harvest, how the lilies grow not of themselves, how it is not by their own toil that they are clothed, how their garments are not of their own spinning. Nor do they grow by man's making or willing or appoint- ing. Man's hands do not clothe them, or spin their gar- ments. We may plant the lilies, even as we sow the corn ; but, whether it be to the lilies, or to the corn, God alone gives the increase. It is He, our Lord tells us, who clothes the grass of the field. One of the purposes for which our Lord bids His hearers consider the lilies of the field, is to strengthen their faith, with the assurance that He, who so clothes the short lived grass of the field, will much more clothe us. Surely, my brethren, this also is a lesson, which we ought all to learn from the harvest. It ought to fill our hearts with an unbounded faith in the Lord of the harvest, and with an overflowing thankfulness to Him, a thankful- ness in some degree according to the measure of His overflowing bounty. In truth what ground can we have for placing confidence anywhere, unless we find such ground in the harvest for placing confidence in the Lord of the harvest? Think what is the ground on which you place confidence in any of your friends. Because he loves me, you will say ; and you will say very rightly. But love, we know, in this our state of weakness, will often partake of the weakness of our nature. From one cause or other it may fail us, perhaps at the very moment of our need. If however you had a friend, who had been often tried, and who had never failed you, — if moreover you knew that he had been often tried by many others, and that he had never failed any one, — then you would reasonably feel that you might rely entirely upon him. Now surely we have this ground in HARVEST PARABLES. 455 the utmost perfection for trusting vvitli undoubting con- fidence in the Lord of the harvest. For did He ever fail you i Look back through all the years of your life : can you remember a year when the corn did not ripen in this parish ? Have you ever heard any of your friends in other parts of England tell of such a year I It may indeed happen that, when people try to force a growth which is not suited to the climate, in unfavorable seasons it will not ripen ; as, for instance, if you were to turn the cornfields in this parish into vineyards and oliveyards, very often there would be no crop at all. As it is too, you know, seasons will vary ; and some will be more abundant than others. But always, as long as you can remember, the crop, whether more or less abundant, has been amply enough for our wants. Yet, so prone are our hearts to faithlessness in all things, almost every year it will happen that at one time or other people begin to trouble and terrify themselves by finding out, or imagining that they have found out, some sort of reason for being alarmed. One year it is too dry, and, if we have no rain, they say, it will be a very had harvest. Another year there will be a long continuance of wet weather ; and then the saying is, if it does not grow fine, there will he a sad harvest. Thus are we always raking up some if ov other, to disturb our faith, as though we could not walk comfort- ably, unless we had a pebble in our shoes. Yet surely this year (1843), ought especially to teach us how idle and groundless such fears are, as well as sinful. Surel}^ this year ought to teach us that, as the times and seasons are in God's hand, so does He know best how to order them aright. For this year, one may say. He has especially shewn Himself to be the Lord of the harvest. Twice this 456 HARVEST PARABLES. year liave we been east down on account of the weather, which, in our faithless hearts we feared, might spoil the harvest : and twice over has the sun shone forth in his might at the very time when he was most wanted, and has proved the vanity of our fears, and how, notwithstanding our unbelief, the Lord of the harvest has been graciously pleased to bless us. Nor is this ground for putting trust in the Lord of the harvest confined to the brief span of our own lives. If we were to ask our fathers, they would tell us that they had had the same continued proofs of His goodness ; and so would their fathers before them. Every generation, from the days of the Flood downward, would declare that the Covenant which, we read, God made with Noah, — when He declared that, wliile the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease, — has never been broken. Thousands of years have rolled away since ; yet through the whole of that time have these words been fulfilled in every quarter of the earth. Never has a single link been wanting in this long endless chain. As it was in the beginning, so is it still ; and so therefore, may we feel sure, will it be, as long as the earth remains. Every year has had its seed- time ; and every year, through God's blessing, has also had its harvest. Yet this is not an easy, short, simple work, as when you put your dough into the oven, and with the help of a fagot turn it into bread. The work of ripening the harvest is a slow work, the work of many months, a work in accomplishing which a number of powers join. Indeed all the powers upon earth, were they to be leagued together, and all the wisdom of all the nations upon earth, would never be able to ripen a single HARVEST PARABLES. 457 field of corn. In producing the harvest, the powers which are in the sky must work together with those upon the earth, and that too for many months. For many months the sun has risen day after day, and lookt down upon the earth, and has journied through the sky day after day, cherishing and ripening the fruits in every quarter of the globe : and the work which he has carried on day after day, he has also carried on year after year, ripening har- vest after harvest from the time of Noah until now. In truth the very fact of our being here is a proof that he has done so. For think what would happen if God were to withhold His increase from the earth even for a single year, — if the sun were to ride in barren pomp through the sky, and to let no warmth flow down on the fruits of the earth, — or if the clouds were to stiffen and freeze, and to hang like huge, dark, beetling rocks over our heads. All things would die. The grass and the corn would die : all trees and shrubs would die: all insects and worms, all birds and beasts, all men and women and children would die. The earth would be turned into a vast charnelhouse, strewn from end to end with the rotting carcasses of its offspring. Death would sweep over it. He would send out Famine through every land ; and Famine, to make quicker work, would call up Pestilence. They would pass through every town, and through every village, and would enter into every house : and him who escaped from the sword of the one, the other would slay. Such are the evils from which we are preserved by the blessings of the harvest ; and therefore have we the utmost reason to lift up our hearts in thankfulness to the Lord of the harvest, who by His ever- watchful care and over- flowing bounty preserves our souls, and the souls of all 458 HARVEST PARABLES. our fellowcreatures, in life. We have the utmost reason to trust in His goodness, and to praise Him for it. But to what end does the Lord of the harvest vouchsafe to bestow all this care, and to employ all these mighty powers, in preserving us in life ? Is it in order that we too may live through our brief span, and then may die, and be mixt up with the dust? in order that, after the earth and its offspring have fed us for a few years, we may in turn feed the earth and its offspring? Not so, assuredly, my brethren. Everything upon earth seems to mount, to minister to something higher than itself ; and we are not to suppose that we are at the top of the hill, and that, when our time is out, we shall roll down to the bottom. We have been looking at a number of like- nesses between the works which prepare the harvest, and the inward growth of our spiritual life. But the likeness does not stop short with the preparatory steps. We too, my brethren, are ripening for a harvest : our Saviour has plainly told us so : we are ripening for a harvest, which shall be at the end of the world, when angels shall be the reapers. Therefore does our Heavenly Master send us, His servants, into the harvestfield, to prepare you, my dear brethren, for this great final harvest : and there- fore have I been preaching to you this day about your earthly harvest, and about the lessons you may learn from it with regard to your spiritual life, with regard to those precious souls of yours, which the Saviour desires to carry home with Him, and to gather into His heavenly garner. In the words which follow the text, our Lord says to us, Consider the lilies of the fields how they grow : they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet I say to you that Solomon in all his glory ivas not arrayed like one of these. This again HARVEST PARABLES. 459 is one of the features which mark God's works, their beauty. The fruits of the earth from the first have not only been good for food, but also pleasant to the eye. When Spring- arises from his sleep, and comes out of his wintry cavern, shaking the dewdrops from his sunny locks, he sheds beauty over the earth, as the dew of Ifermon, and as the deto that fell upon the hill of Zion. Go into any garden ; walk into any woody deli ; sit down under a branching oak, and look out upon the glowing cornfields : London in all its splendour, though the East and the West minister to it, is not arrayed like one of these. For in the works of man there are ever the marks of efibrt, of strife, of resistance, of confusion, of difficulties only half overcome, of purposes only half ftilfilled ; they are always trying to be something more than they are. But in the vegetable world we are delighted with the sight of perfect harmony and peace. There is no striving, no struggling in it. When Spring and Summer build up their temples through the earth and sky to the glory of God, these also, like the temple of Solomon, are built in silence. You hear not the sound of their coming; you see not their motion ; but thei'e they stand in perfect beauty. So too is it with the lilies of God's spiritual gai'den, with those meek, gentle, peaceful souls, whom Christ arrays in the robes of His righteousness. They too grow up in silence ; and yet, my brethren, I say to you, that Solomon, in all his wisdom and might, was not arrayed like one of these. It is not by the toil of their own hands that the lilies are arrayed in a glory surpassing that of Solomon. Their pure, white garment is not of their own spinning. It is the free gift of God's bounty. Nor have the souls, which are arrayed in a purity like that of the lily, wrought that purity for themselves. Our own hands 460 HARVEST PARABLES. cannot clothe us in it ; our own deeds cannot win it for us. All the wisdom and all the strength and all the courage that have ever been found among the children of men, would never attain to a single thread in that robe of right- eousness. If any are indeed clothed in this purity, like the lilies of the field, it can only be through God's infinite mercy and love. It can only be through their having their souls washt in the blood, and arrayed in the white robes of the Lamb. My brethren, it was my office on Thursday last to lay a sister in her grave beneath our yewtree, who, I trust in a merciful God, was indeed one of these heavenly lilies : and therefore, although I could not but share in the natural sorrow which her friends felt at the passing away of one so lovely, and so much beloved, in the very prime of her youth, I also felt that unspeakable comfort and joy, which God's ministers are allowed to feel, when they can cherish a confident hope that the seed which they are sowing in the grave, is sown there unto everlasting life. Few of you knew this our sister : for she was not a native of this parish, nor even of England. She came to us from a forein land, from the land from which our ancestors came more than a thousand years ago, — from the land from which three hundred years ago it pleased God that we should receive the blessed light of the Reformation, — •from the land from which we have also received many good things in these later times, which fought side by side with us bravely and devotedly thirty years since for the deliverance of Europe from the oppressor, and one of whose sovereins lately invited us to join him in the godly work of sending a Bishop to Jerusalem. Thus she did not come amongst us as a stranger : indeed no Christian, HARVEST PARABLES. 461 coming among Christians, ought to be regarded as a stranger. But there were also other special bonds of union, beside that all-embracing, mighty one. Still, as I said, few of you knew this our sister. For her health, since she has been in our parish, has been too feeble to allow of her going about amongst you, as she otherwise would have done. But you have joined with her in the worship of God in this Church. Many of you have been united to her by that closest and holiest of bonds, when the faithful become one bread by partaking together of the Body of Christ : and all of you will remember how you have been invited Sunday after Sunday for several months to beseech God that He would give her patience under her sufferings, and a happy issue out of all her afflictions. My brethren, God heard our prayer, and granted it : He granted it, I hope and trust, fully in all its parts. He did give her patience under all her sufferings. Her sufferings were great ; but He gave her patience under them, a patience so meek and gentle and submissive, that it won the hearts of all who came near her, so that even those whose hearts had not been won by her before, those who merely came to wait on her in her sickness, grew to love her as a sister. They could not help it. Even the beauty of the earthly lily we cannot look on without pleasure ; the loveliness of the heavenly lily must fill our hearts with love. God heard our prayers, I said, and granted them, T hope and trust, in both their parts. He gave our sister patience under her sufferings ; and He has also, I hope and trust, given her a happy issue out of all her afflictions. This issue has indeed come too soon for the wishes of those who loved her, and who would fain have kept one so dear longer amongst them. But I trust it has not come too 462 HARVEST PARABLES. soon for her who is gone, not before her soul was purified from its earthly alloy, and fitted to become one of the lilies in God's heavenly garden. And if the beauty of the earthly lily, which lives for a day, is such, that our Lord declares that Solomon in all his glory is not to be compared with it, what must be the beauty and the glory and the blessedness of those heavenly lilies, which never decay or fade, but bloom for endless ages in perfect purity, and are knit together in an everlasting crown for Him by whom they were purified ! SERMON XXIV. THE ANGELIC MISSION. Psalm cm. 21, Bless the Lord, yc His angels, that excell in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word. Today, you know, is Michaelmas clay : that is, it is the festival which the Church has set apart in honour of St Michael and all the angels, in honour of Michael the Archangel, as he is called by St Jude, and of all the angels, who, as you have just heard in the passage read from the Revelation, joined with hiin in fighting, under his orders, against the devil and his angels. The word Archangel means Ruler and Prince of the angels. This therefore is the high office and dignity of Michael : he is the Ruler and Prince of the angels : and it has been supposed by some very learned divines, that his name is only one among the many names of the Eternal Son of God, and that Michael the Archangel is no other than that Blessed Word, who came down from the righthand of the Almighty Father, to be the Prince and Saviour of His people. In the little that is said in the Scriptures about Michael the Archangel, there are several things which seem to per- tain more especially to the Son of God. For it is the Son of God, who came down from heaven for the very purpose of overcoming the devil, and who did fight against and overcome him. He came down that He might contend with the devil for the bodies and the souls of His servants. 464 THE ANGELIC MISSION. that He might deliver them soul and body from the power of the destroyer, and might raise them soul and body to an everlasting inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven. In like manner, what we read about Michael in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Daniel, where He is called the Great Prince who standeth for the children of the people^ and in whose time the people shall he delivered, every one that shall he found written in the hook ; and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt ; and they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the frmament ; and they that turn many to righteous7iess, as the stars for ever and ever; — all this, you will already have thought, seems to belong to the Son of God, and to no other. For He alone standeth for the children of the people : He alone can stand for them, as neither man nor angel can : He stands for them in the judgement, and has paid their ransom in their stead : through Him alone can any be delivered : and only at the sound of His voice will any one rise to everlasting life. No wisdom but that which He brings, that which He Himself is, will enable any to shine as the brightness of the firmament : nor is there any righteousness except His, to which any one can be turned with profit, either to himself or to the converter. More- over He is the true Archangel, the Ruler and Lord of the angels : wherefore we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that, when God hringeth in the Firsthegotten into the world. He saith. Let all the angels of God worship Him. To Him too, above all others, do the words of the text apply. He excells in strength, being raised far ahove all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, hut also in that which is to THE ANGELIC MISSION. 46.') come. So does He do the will of God : for this very end He came : Lo, I come to do Thy toill, God. Thus too has He done the will of God from the beginning, even as God doth His own will, which is one with the will of His Son. Through Him, as through Himself, God made the world, and created whatever was created. Through Him God redeemed mankind, and overcame the power of evil. Through Him God sends His Spirit into the hearts of His servants. Through Him, and by Him, God will judge the world according to His own all-perfect justice and holiness. And along with Him will God be the Eternal Glory and Light of the new heavens and the new earth, which shall be made anew by Him, and where all His redeemed shall dwell. Thus, whichever way we look, whether into the past, the present, or the future, whether to things on earth, or to things in heaven, to the sinful race of man, or to the saints and angels that dwell in the presence of God, we only see fresh proofs of the glory of the Onlybegotten Son, fresh evidence how He through all eternity is ever One with the Father. To Him too should all our thoughts ever turn, first and last, in love, in thanksgiving, in adora- tion, in praise, in penitent, contrite humility. Among the many ways however in which it behoves us to glorify God and His eternal Son, one is by the contemplation of His works, by searching out the numberless marks of His wisdom and power and love, so far as He has manifested them to us, whether by placing them before our senses, or by revealing them to us in His sacred Scriptures. And one of these works, to which our attention is especially drawn at this season, is the glorious host of angels, con- cerning whom divers particulars are declared to us in the VOL. II. H H 466 THE ANGELIC MISSION. Bible. Let us look at these things therefore, my brethren, for a little while. Let us try to pick out and put together the scattered pieces of knowledge, which God has given us with regard to His holy angels, taking the text for our guide. For whatever we can learn on such a subject cannot be otherwise than interesting and important ; inas- much as all knowledge increases in dignity and worth in proportion to the dignity and worth of the object to which it relates : and, as there is none of God's works, from which we may not draw some useful lesson, none which may not serve as a type or parable to enforce some moral truth, so, we may be sure, whatsoever we can learn concerning the holy angels, may also be profitable to us by way of instruc- tion and example. Lideed, as they dwell for ever in the presence of God, if we desire to be received hereafter into that glorious presence, we should seek to understand what are the tempers and dispositions, the frame of heart and will, which He vouchsafes thus to bless. Now the text teaches us two things about the angels. It first tells us something about what they are, and then about what they do. The first thing it tells us about them is, that they excell in strength. Li these words strength cannot mean precisely what we mean by strength, when we talk of a strong man. By strength, as applied to man, we usually mean bodily strength, unless there is something in the words to give them a different bearing. But the angels are spirits. Strength therefore, as a quality belong- ing to the angels, and in which they excell, must mean power, might. This agrees exactly with all that we ai'e told of them. They do excell in power, in might. Among all the orders of created beings, the angels are represented as the first, the noblest, the mightiest. They excell or THE ANGELIC MISSION. 467 surpass all others in might. Among earthly beings, that which surpasses all others in might, is man. Man does not surpass all other earthly creatures in strength : on the contrary many are stronger. A horse is stronger : a bull is stronger : a lion, a tiger, an elephant are much stronger. So is a crocodile : so are many large serpents. Yet man is made lord of all these : he is more powerful than all these, because he has not merely a body, like other creatures, but an understanding soul, a spirit, which is the seat and source of his power, and by means of which lie subdues all other creatures. Is man however the first and noblest and mightiest of all created beings ? In his own eyes he too often is so. Nay, in his own eyes he is often not only the first of all created beings, but the absolute lord and master of all the others, entitled to deal with them as he pleases, to drive them to and fro and make havock of them according to his will and pleasure : and he is too ready to forget that there is any other being, created or uncreated, above him : he is too ready to believe that he is his own world, and his own god. Yet, what a miserable, dreary thought would it be, if we were driven to suppose that there is nothing greater or higher or more glorious in the world, than this poor, frail, tottering creature, whom we call man, the child of a day, the sport of temptation, a wreck shat- tered by sin, the prey of the worms ! Even when we have been taught to acknowledge that there is an Almighty, Eternal, Allperfect God, the Creator and Governor of all things, yet, so vast is the distance, so immeasurably wide the gulf, which separates such a God from such helpless, feeble, forlorn, broken-down creatures as men are now, we can hardly help fancying that this immeasurable gulf was H H 2 468 THE ANGELIC MISSION. never intended to be altogether empty and barren, that this Ahnighty and A 11 wise God, when He made the uni- verse, must have framed and fashioned some beings nearer and more like Himself than we are. Here, it is true, there is some sort of support and satisfaction, at least for our minds, which ever crave to make out that what ought to be is, in learning that, when God made us. He did not make us such as we are now ; that He made us upright at first, in His own image, to shew forth that image among the creatures over which He set us to rule. Still we can scarcely refrain from asking. Was it then utterly impossible for God to make a being, that should abide in its first estate, — that should not merely come forth from the mould in His image, but should preserve that image un- decaying and undefaced, only bringing it out more fully and brightly and distinctly, — that, if it changed at all, should change by mounting from strength to strength, from highth to a higher highth ? At times too it will almost seem to us as though there were a waste of power and beauty in creating so grand and glorious a world for a being whose main employment is to turn up a few clods of earth for the support and adornment of his life, until his breath passes away, when a hole a little deeper is dug for him, and a tiny mound is raised over him. That such thoughts force themselves naturally on meifs minds, would be plain even from this, — that there is hardly a heathen nation which has not been led hereby to people the invisible world with beings endowed with powers above those of men : for these are assuredly among the grounds which have given rise to a belief in many gods, and to the w orship of demigods and heroes. Now from the Bible we learn that, corrupted as this belief has been, THE ANGELIC MISSION. 469 there is a fouiulation for it in truth. We learn that the vast gnlf which separates man from God, is not empty, but that there are hosts of beings whom God has placed in it. We learn that the Eternal F'ather does not sit alone on His throne, in unapproachable Omnipotence, waiting for the fulness of time when the redeemed of His Son shall gather around it. We learn that the courts of heaven are not a bare void, but that even now innumerable beings are there, pure and holy and dutiful and faithful, whose chief delight is to hymn the praises of God, and to do His will. Man, we are told, was made a little lower than the angels. But this was man in his first estate, not as he is now, now that he is cripjiled by sin, now that he is become the heir of death. What the difference may be between the nature of men and angels, we know but imperfectly. The main point seems to be this, that, while man is a mixt being, made up of a spiritual soul and of a fleshly body, the angels are pure spirits, herein nearer to God, — only that they are created and finite in all respects, whereas God is infinite and uncreated, — hereby too, it would seem, immortal from the first, without any of the earthly alloy which Time is wont to prey upon, free from decay, free from the power of death. Hence too is it that they excell in power. For as the power of man above the beasts of the field arises from his having a spiritual soul, while they have only fleshly bodies, so do the angels, being pure spirits, being wholly free from the manifold, ever-growing wants and weaknesses of the body, excell mankind in power. Indeed we need only think of the power which the mind has to dart through time and over space, through thousands of years and over thousands of miles in a moment, to get some notion what its power would be, if it were not bound 470 THE ANGELIC MISSION. down to a single spot by the numbing weight of the body ; which, whatever it may have been at first, now that the soul is so weakened and maimed by sin, has become a heavy, intolerable clog to it. The chief excellence of the angels however, the main cause of their strength and power, and of their immense superiority to mankind, is that which is set forth in the following words of the text. After the Psalmist has described the angels as excelling in strength, he adds, that they do God's commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word. For this is the only living source of lasting strength and power. They who do the will of God faithfully and obediently, have Ciod for them ; and then what can be against them ? Their work itself strengthens them, and is like a tide bearing them onward ; because it is His work. They on the other hand who run counter to the will of God, have God against them ; and then what can be for them ? Can a man push back the sea ? can he lay hold on the sun, and drag him out of his course I Then may he hope to be strong, when he is fighting against the will of God. Even in our commonest earthly labours, we may per- ceive how it is by following the will of God, as it is declared in the order of Nature, and in the course of the seasons, that we become strong, — how it is by obeying the laws of Nature that we are enabled to govern Nature. If, for instance, we were to sow our corn with the purpose of reaping it in the middle of winter, what should we reap I Nothing. But if we comply with the order of the seasons, if we try to set our work at one with God's working, we are sure to reap a plentiful harvest, it may be thirtyfold, or it may be sixtyfold, or it may be a THE ANGELIC MISSION. 471 hundredfold, but always enough for our wants, and almost always abundantly more than enough. Just so is it spi- ritually, only with a still greater certainty that the harvest will be according to the use we make of the seedtime. They who go against the will of God, reap nothing ; that is, nothing of what they would wish to reap. For, as they who reap nothing in their temporal harvest, would in fact reap hunger and disease and famine, so they who in their spiritual husbandry sow against the will of God, reap shame and confusion and everlasting woe. This is the word of the pro])het : tliey who sow the tvind, do not merely reap the wind, but the whirlwind. Whereas they who sow according to the will of God, hearkening dutifully to the voice of His word, are sure to reap a harvest of power and joy and peace and endless blessings. This is the strength of the angels : this is their power. It lies in their doing God"'s will, in their hearkening to His word, in their hearkening to that voice, and doing that will, which are the law and the life of the universe. Hence we see the falsehood of that maxim, so common on the lips of those who plume themselves upon their mastery in the wisdom of this world, — that Might is Right, — a maxim which exactly inverts the truth, and whereby the Prince of dai'kness is ever setting himself up against the Lord of heaven. The true principle, which is inverted and perverted in this falsehood, — the principle which ought to be written up in the councilchambers of princes and on the walls of senatehouses, — the principle which explains the secret of the strength of the angels, and indeed of all true strength, that it is in accordance with the will of God, — may be stated in the selfsame words, if we only invert their order, — Right is Might. 472 THE ANGELIC MISSION. Thus ill the petition which we offer up every time we say the Lord"'s prayer, every time we pray that the will of God may be done on earth as it is done by the angels in heaven, as faithfully, as diligently, as perfectly, we also pray that mankind may be restored to the power and might which they have forfeited, and may again excell in strength by doing the commandments of God like the angels in heaven. This indeed is implied in the very word angel. An angel, as many of you must know, is a messenger, a messenger of God ; and the name is more especially applied to those messengers of God, who dwell in His presence, waiting for His commands, and who hasten ever and anon to do His will by going whithersoever He is pleased to send them. Thus in the Bible we often find mention of the angels as coming with messages from God to His servants. They come to tell God's servants what it is His will that they should do. They come to warn them that they should flee from evil. They come to guide them. They come to comfort them with the assurance of God's mercy and ever- watchful love. Now you also, my brethren, all of you have a like charge. In all these respects you are likened to angels ; you are chosen by God to be His angels. In all these respects, if you consider the matter rightly, you will perceive that God has indeed made you little lower than the angels. Nay, after man had cast himself down from the highth on which he was placed, and had sold him- self to the lusts of the flesh, and to the bondage of earth, and had turned himself into the slave of sin, and the enemy of God, God nevertheless vouchsafed to restore us to our high estate, so that again we might be a little lower than the angels. He called us back again to His presence : He THE ANGELIC MISSION. 473 sent His only Son to call us back : He adopted us again into His family. Yes, my brethren, all of you, if you will but believe it, have been called back to dwell in the pre- sence of God. All of you at your baptism were adopted again by God into His blessed family, in which His Only- begotten Son is the Firstborn. You may call Him your Father : you may love Him as your Father : you may serve Him as your Father, not from fear, but from love, not through the fear of wrath, but from the mightier constraint of filial love. You too has He chosen to be His messen- gers ; you too has He sent. As My Father hath sent Me, said our Lord after His resurrection to the Apostles, even so send I you. These words, though in a certain sense they may relate more especially to the Apostles, and to those in all after ages who were to be charged with the ministry of reconciliation, yet in other senses pertain to all Christ's faithful servants. All of them does He send, as His Father sent Him, to do the will of God. He sends them all, according to their station, to make known the glad tidings of salvation, if not publicly, yet in their own family, among their friends, among their neighbours, yea, to every soul that they find in need of instruction and com- fort. Seeing therefore that the angels do the will of God, and fulfill his commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word, it is plain that, if we were carefully to look into whatever we read concerning the appearances of angels in the Bible, — if we were to consider these stories, not as matters of wonder, but as shewing forth what is the will of God, and what His angels. His servants whom He sends on His missions of love, ought to do, — we might learn many things from those stories, as to the manner in which we also ought to fulfill God's commandments, in which we 474 THE ANGELIC MISSION. ought to shew that we are indeed God's angels, and are thankful to Hmi for His exceeding goodness in calling us to be so. Let me illustrate this by an example. In the story of Hagar we twice find mention of an angel. When Hagar fled from the face of Sarah, we read, that the angel of the Lord found her hy a fountain of water in the wilderness, and said, Hagar, Sarah''s maid, whence earnest thou ? and ichither wilt thou go ? and that, on her answering that she was fleeing from her mistress Sarah, he further said, Heturn to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. Now this is one of God"'s commandments to all His angels, — this is one of the purposes for which He sends them forth, — to call back wanderers from the errour of their ways, — to bid them return into the path of duty. Sarah had dealt hardly with Hagar : but Hagar was her handmaid, was bound to serve her, and patiently to bear the treatment she received from her. The angel therefore commanded her to return. In like manner divers occasions may arise, when it may behove any one of us to act after the example of the angel who came to Hagar as she sat by the fountain. When- ever we see a person doing that which is sinful, that which is against God's law, forsaking his post, shrinking or swerv- ing from his duty, painful though it may seem and be, — on all such occasions it behoves the Christian, who is duly thankful to God for having called him to be one of His angels, — it behoves the Christian to go to his erring brother, whom he sees shrinking from his duty, to remind him what his duty is, and what obligations he is under to fulfill it, and to bid him return and do it, however painful it may be, however his heart and will may revolt against it. None can tell how often a right word spoken in season THE ANGELIC MISSION. 475 might have availed to bring the vk^anderer back, more especially if spoken to those who are entering on evil courses. Thousands, yea, millions of souls, so far as we can judge, might have been saved, if one of God's angels had come to them at the right time, and bad them return to their duty. This however should be done early : no time should be lost. There is a season indeed for all things. When a person is borne along by a violent blast of passion, he will be deaf to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. The angel did not meet Hagar at Sarah's door, and bid her go back. He waited till she had sat down by a fountain in the wilderness. Like occasions will often arise, when persons are in the first stages of a sinful course. After a while, when the fever-fit of passion has spent its force, they will sit down in some moment of loneliness ; and the thought of what they have been doing will rise up before their minds; and they will find that they are in the midst of a wilderness. They find themselves in a wilderness, cut off, as it were, from God, afraid of God, afraid of His seeing them ; and they wish to hide themselves from Him, as Adam hid himself among the trees. They find them- selves in a wilderness, cut off also from man. For this is one of the curses which wait upon sin. It makes us feel alone. It makes us feel that we have something to hide from the eyes of man, as well as of God, that we have something to be ashamed of, something which we dare not let men see, lest they should despise and loathe us. If we were pure in heart, we should live in neighbourly kindness, in trustful fellowship, in loving communion with all our brethren ; even as when a stream is pure and transparent, it is also peaceful, and its waters glide along quietly and 476 THE ANGELIC AIISSION. lovingly. It is because our own hearts are impure, that we are suspicious, that we are jealous, that we are envious, that we are haunted by fears which rankle into hatred, that we find ourselves as it were in a wilderness, forsaken, forlorn, lost. Above all will such feelings come upon the young, upon those who are new in the ways of sin, and whose hearts have not yet been hardened so as to feel at home in the wilderness. This therefore is the moment which God's angel will seek out. The angel who came to Hagar, did not wait till she had wandered many days in the wilderness, till she had grown accustomed to it. He came to her as soon as she sat down by the fountain, and by his very first words, Harfar, Sarah's maid, whence earnest thou ? and lohither wilt thou go ? he reminded her of her duty to her mistress, and of the hopeless blank that lay before her. This affords a useful lesson to many, especially to parents. We are far too apt to overlook the beginnings of evil. We are unwilling to appear harsh. We do not like to give pain, to give offense. Thus we let the time for profitable admonition pass by. We let the evil spirit establish himself firmly ; and then it is far more difficult to drive him out. Whereas, if a friendly counsellor were to come to those who do wrong, at the first moment of calm reflexion, — if he were to come and bid them go back to their duty, — if he were to remind them of their deep and manifold obligations to perform that duty, and to tell them that the home which they have quitted is still open to them, — if he were to say to them. Thou child of God and heir of heaven, thou plighted soldier and servant of Christ, tchat hast thou done f and what art thou about to do ? why hast thou forsaJcen the house of thy Master ? and to what house dost thou purpose to THE ANGELIC MISSION. 477 betake thee ? where wilt thou take up thy rest ? such exhor- tations and warnings might often bring them back. The thought might come upon them, as it came upon Hagar, Thou God seest me ! and that thought might no longer be a thought of dread, but of comfort and heahng. To this end however they who go to bring back the wanderer, shouhl bear in mind that they go as the angels of God, not with any power or authority of their own, not with any personal feelings of dislike or ill will, but with love, as the messengers of the God of mercy and love. When they have to reprove sin, they should reprove it, not upon worldly grounds of interest or expediency or reputation, but upon this one ground, that it is against the will of God, and that God sees it. Moreover, in order that our words may bear weight with others, in order that our hearers may be willing to believe that we come to them as the angels of God, and to receive us as such, we must strive in our own lives also to follow the pattern of the angels, and to do God's commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word. Unless we do this, it will be plain that we have no right to the title and office which we assume. Nor can we expect others to believe our words, except we shew in the first instance that we believe them ourselves. The duty, from which we see a brother shrinking, may be a painful one, still we should bid him return to it. We should bid him return and submit to God's will, and to the lawful will of those whom God has set over him. We should remind him of the apostolic command, that we are to submit our- selves one to another, — and of the principle which he lays down for such submission, in the fear of God. Then, as the angel comforts Hagar by telling her that God hath heard her affliction, and that she shall bear a son, and that God will 478 THE ANGELIC MISSION. multiply her seed exceedingly, so may we be allowed to com- fort tliose who turn back from their errours with true contrition of heart, by telling- them how a godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation. Or it may likewise happen, as the angel, who met Balaam when he was setting out on his unrighteous course, appeared to him with a drawn sword in his hand, so, when we are trying to check those who are more hardened in sin, or whose hearts are more entangled in the meshes of the world, it may become our duty to warn them of the terrours of the Lord, to hold up the sword of judgement before their eyes. It may become the duty of parents to punish their children, as well as to reprove them. It may be the duty of others also, according to their station, to become the ministers of punishment. But then above all is it needful that they, who have this hard duty imposed on them, should make it plain that what they do is not done from any personal anger, but as a duty, and as a painful duty, — that they do it not on their own account, but as the angels and ministers of God, of a God who retains not His anger for ever, but who delights in mercy. The other appearance of the angel to Hagar may like- wise afford us an example, and one which it is much easier and pleasanter to follow. This time Hagar had been sent away by Abraham, her master : therefore this time the angel did not bid her return. But, as she had obeyed God's voice before, He did not forsake her or suffer her to perish in the wilderness. The bottle of water which Abraham had given to her was all spent ; and she had cast her child under a bush, and had gone some way off, that she might not see him die. And the angel of God called to her out of heaven^ and said, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear THE ANGELIC MISSION. 479 not : for God hath heard the voice of the lad: arise; lift up the lad: for God loill make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes ; and she saw a ivell of water . Now this, you must all feel, is a mission, on which every Christian is specially sent. Every Christian is sent as one of God's angels, to feed the hungry, and to comfort the mourner. He is to feed the hungry, as, when Elijah was weary and faint in the wilderness, the angel came to him and fed him : and if we do this as God's angels, we shall do it with the same purpose, that they whom we feed may have strength to go on their journey to the mount of God. Words of comfort too, like those of the angel to Hagar, words of comfort spoken to those who are sinking under their sorrows, and giving themselves up to despair, — words of comfort reminding them of God's promises, how He cares for all His servants, reminding them of all that He has done for them, how He has been their Guardian from their mother's womb, — such Avords will often lift up the heart, and make the mourner look around, and find that there is still hope. His eyes will be opened ; and he will see a fountain close by his side, where a moment before he deemed himself utterly forsaken, where he deemed that a barren, parcht wilderness was encompassing him, from which there was no escape. Moreover, as the angel told Hagar that God would make her sou a great nation, so are we, if we go forth as His angels, fully empowered to de- clare, how tribulation is the way whereby God is pleased to work patience in his servants, and how their patience will enable them to gain a livelier and livelier experience of His ever-present aid, and how this experience will afford them a sure rock for hope to build on, and how such hope will never allow them to be ashamed ; for that their 480 THE ANGELIC MISSION. afflictions, if they suffer them to bring forth the right fruit of humble, resigned faith, will be the means of leading them to a crown of everlasting glory. From these examples taken from the story of Hagar, you may see how what you read in the Bible about the holy angels may be turned to profit for the guidance of your own lives, — how the messages on which they are sent by God, are of the selfsame kind as those on which every Christian has been sent by Jesus Christ. I would now gladly go on to speak to you of some other things, in which it would well become us to follow the pattern of the angels, as set before us in the Scriptures. But this would carry me too far. So I must conclude for the present \^'ith exhorting you to bless God, that He has called ns with a holy calling to a fellowship with the angels, and has shewn forth His exceeding mercy and love in making us their partners and companions, in raising us again to a dignity where we are little lower than they are, by sending us forth as His messengers of mercy and love to all mankind. SERMON XXV. THE CHARIOTS OF GOD. Psalm lxviii. 17. The chariots of God are thousands of angels. I SPOKE to yoii last Sunday about the holy angels, of whom we often read in the Bible, and who, we are told, dwell in the immediate presence of God. We were led by our text to consider what the Scripture says concerning the nature of the holy angels, how they excell or surpass all other created beings in strength, or power, or might, and how the main source of this surpassing strength or power lies in this, that they do the commandments of God, hearkening to the voice of His word. We then went on to look at some of the examples which the Bible sets before us, of the manner in which the angels do God's commandments, of the works on which they are employed by Him. This we did in the hope of learning from their examples what we ourselves ought to do, how we ought to live and act, in order that we too may do God's command- ments here on earth in the same manner as they are done by the angels in heaven. For, as God is one, so His Will is ever one Will, one in its principle and purpose, although infinite in its fulness and variety. Everything too that He has made, so far as it does His Will, shews forth what that Will is. All things that God has made, even things without life, declare the Will of God, There is nothing in the w orld, however vor,. II. II. 4:82 THE CHARIOTS small and lowly, from which we may not learn some lesson, which does not set forth some truth, which does not utter some parable, shewing forth the Will of God. This is the way in which we should look at the things around us. This is the way to put life into them, or rather to discern the true life that is in them, to which life at other times we are blind, deeming of them as though they were dead, and merely designed to minister to the wants of our car- nal, not to those of our spiritual life. This is the way to read the story, which the whole universe tells us, in such manifold ways, if we can but spell them out, of the wisdom and goodness of its Maker. As in all the events which take place in the world, the eye of Faith beholds so many revelations of the Will of God, so in everything that exists should Ave in like manner endeavour to discern the manifestation of a divine purpose. Moreover, among God's works, the greatest are more especially rich in lessons. There is no end to the lessons, moral and spiritual, which, when our eyes are opened to perceive them, we may learn from the sun : there is no end to the parables that he preaches to us, if we have only ears to hear them. But if even inanimate things, things without a soul, without a v/ill or reason, teach us lessons whereby we may learn to guide our hearts and lives, inasmuch as they do the Will of God steadily and unchangingly, and inasmuch as God, \vho is One, and has one Will, shews forth that Will in all His works, much more may we expect to learn from those things that have a soul, that have reason and a will, if so be that they also do the Will of God. Hence are the lives of holy men, the lives of God's saints, so full of wholesome in- struction. In them we see, not merely in a type and OF GOD. 483 figure, which may easily escape our notice, and which seldom comes home with power to our hearts, but in living examples which none can misunderstand, in beings of our own flesh and blood, of our own thoughts and feelings, capacities and desires, what we ourselves ought to do, and what we ourselves ought to be. Above all do we see this in the life of our blessed Lord Himself, who therefore vouchsafed to walk so long and openly before the eyes of men, and who therefore ordained that the story of His daily life should be set before us in the Gospels ; in order that we might learn thereby how we ought to fashion our daily lives, in the least things as well as the greatest, according to His perfect pattern. But in the lives of men, alas ! we do not always see lessons and examples of what we ought to do and to be. Oftener, far oftener, do we see what we ought not to be, and what we ought not to do. For men do not the will of God steadily and unchangingly, like the things that are without a soul and a will of their own. Men rather fight against the will of God, and choose to do their own will, which is always apart from God"'s will, and mostly against it, indeed which must be against it, as not having become one with it, by entire subjection under it. There- fore ought we to be glad, and to prize it highly and thankfully, if God in His grace vouchsafes to set before us the examples of spiritual beings, who do His will no less steadily and unchangingly than it is done by the inanimate things which have no will of their own. We should prize all such examples, and gather them together, and try to learn from them what God wills that His servants should do. Now such examples we find in all that the Bible tells I I 2 484 THE CHARIOTS US concerning the holy angels. They are spiritual beings. They do what they do, not blindly and helplessly, as the earth rolls round and bears her fruits, but knowingly and Avillingly. In this they are hke to mankind. Mean- while they differ from mankind, in that they always do the will of God, and not their own will. They do what we ought to do, but do not. For this reason we pray in onr daily prayer, that we may be enabled to do the will of God here on earth, even as it is done by the angels in heaven. Hence, unless we suffer our knowledge to lie dead, it must needs be profitable for us to consider and observe how the angels do the will of God. So may we learn how we also ought to do it : and so may we be stirred by their glorious examples to strive to do likewise, in the hope that we may at length be received into that blessed Communion of Saints, who dwell for ever, along with the angels, in the presence of God. In the last sermon we saw, from the story of Hagar, that two of the works, in which the angels are employed to do the will of God, and in which therefore it behoves all the servants of God to follow their example, are calling back those who are straying from the path of dnty, and comforting and helping those who are in need. Both these works, we saw, are parts of the angelic mission, on which every Christian is sent by his gracious Master, even as they are both parts of the great work which our Master Himself came down from heaven to perform. Now in doing these works, or in whatsoever else we may have to do as Christ's servants, it is most important that we should keep it steadily and distinctly before our thoughts, that, what we do, we do not of ourselves, not as sent by ourselves, at our own bidding, of our own accord, but as OF GOD. 485 Christ's servants, sent by HIni, at His prompting, in obe- dience to His command, and in His strength. Whatever the angels do, they always do as sent by God, as His messengers, coming straight from His throne. Thus, in the story of the angel who appeared to Manoah, we read that, when Manoah would have detained the angel, that he might make ready a kid for him, the angel said, Though thou detain me^ I will not eat of thy Iread ; and, if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it to the Lord. And Manoah said to the angel, What is thy name ? that, when thy sayings come to i^ass, we may do thee honour. And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret. The angels, it is worthy of note, are mostly spoken of nierely in their relation to God, as angels of the Lord, as the bearers of His word and will, without any personal, individual name, with- out any expression to mark out, This is my work : I did it; and I am to he honoured for doing it. So will the Christian angel disclaim all merit of his own, all honour to himself. He will say. My message is the Lord''s message : therefore it is true ; and therefore art thou hound to ohey it. If it were mine, it would he fallihle ; and thou mightest disregard it. Nor did I send myself: I should never have sent myself on any work of the kind, on any message of truth, on any lahour of love. I shotdd have kept my truth, had I found any, to myself, — 7ny love, had I felt any, to myself Nothing hut the Spirit of the Lord could have filed my heart with this truth and this love, which yearns to he communicated to others, not for my sake, hut for theirs; nor could anything hut the Spirit of the Lord have called me forth from my sleep of self-indulgence to communicate it. Therefore thou must not honour me : thou must not offer thy thank-offering to me. If 486 THE CHARIOTS thou wilt offer a thank-offering, offer it to the Lord. And then, as, when the flame of Manoalis hurnt-offering went up toward heaven from off the altar, the angel of the Lord did wonderoudy, and ascended in the flame of the altar, even so will those who have overcome what has been called " the last infirmity of noble minds,"" the desire of personal honour and glory, — they too, who have made this sacrifice, will feel their spii'its mount in the flame of the sacrifice into the presence of God. In this manner, my brethren, will every faithful servant of Christ rejoice to bear in mind, that he is working as Christ's servant, that he is not doing his own frail, perish- able work, but his Master's, which is perfect and imperish- able. He will speak of his Master, as a servant would speak of Him, a servant, whose livery betokens that he is not doing his own work, but his Master's, whose words are ever, / am come to you with a message from my Master. As servants are often employed to announce their Master's coming, so will it be a main part of the Christian's angelic message, to tell of the coming of Christ. This is the great work on which the angels in the Bibleare employed much oftener than on any other. Indeed all their other works, all their other missions, may be regarded as parts and pre- parations for this. Thus, for instance, the angel, who called to Abraham, after the great trial of his faith, wherein he had shewn that he was ready to offer up every purpose and desire and affection to the will of Grod, rewards him with the promise of Christ, with the assurance of the great Sacri- fice which God Himself was to offer up in the fulness of time for the salvation of mankind, with the declaration that in his Seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. The angel had already called to Abraham to stop him from OF GOD. 487 making the great sacrifice which he was about to make. He had called to Abraham to tell him that God accepted the will for the deed, and would not try his heart further, — that, because he was willing to lose his son for God's sake, therefore he should save his son. This again is a hap- piness which God will not seldom vouchsafe to His dutiful angels in these days. He vouchsafes to bless them by making them the ministers and messengers of blessings to others, even, it may be, according to the very form of the blessing which the angel brought to Abraham. They may now and then be em- ployed as the means of restoring the child to its parents, who were already mourning over it as lost, — of bringing it back even out of temporal danger, or oftener out of the perils of sin, amid which it was hardening and withering, and of softening and turning back its heart to the duties of filial love. They may be allowed to come, as the angels came to our blessed Lord in the wilderness, and to minister to those who are hungry and in want. They are often appointed to come, like the angel who came to our Lord in the garden, and to strengthen and lift up the hearts of God's servants in the very bitterness of their agony and afflictions. These are happinesses which such as seek them will find. These are privileges with which God rewards His angels even on earth, not scantily, but according to the riches of His own infinite bounty. At times too, it may happen, they may have to bring tidings of earthly blessings, as the angel tells Abraham that in blessing God will bless him, and in multiplying Avill mul- tiply his seed as the stars of heaven. It may happen that God's angels will have to tell His faithful servants, who have forsaken anything for His sake, that God is ever 488 THE CHARIOTS mindful of His promise, and that they shall receive a hundredfold even in this life. But be this as it may, of the latter and greater blessing pledged to us in the same pro- mise, that God will reward His selfsacrificing servants with everlasting life, all Christ's servants may speak. For in Christ God has given the fullest assurance of that life to all who will come to Him through His Son. Indeed this is the one great message on which God sends out His angels, under the new, as under the old dispensation. Of this the angel spake to Abraham, as the crown of all blessings, when he gave Abraham the assurance of his holy Seed, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. Think, brethren, Avhat a message is this for a poor, weak mortal to bear ! to be the announcer of Him, in whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed ! Must not the lips quiver under the weight of such mighty words ? Must not the heart melt away amid the glory which it is ap- pointed to foreshew ? It is a happiness to be allowed to be the bearer of any good tidings, to tell any friend or neighbour of some pleasure, albeit small, that awaits him. Whereas God"'s angels are charged to speak of Him, in whom not one man, or a few, but all the nations of the earth are to be blessed, and not merely for a time, but for ever. This was the message on which the angel came down from heaven to Zacharias, to speak of him who was to go before the Lord, and to prepare His ways. This was the message which the angel brought to the blessed Virgin, when he told her of the Son whom she was to bring forth, and whose name was to be tailed Jesus. This was the message for the sake of which the angel appeared to Joseph, to tell of Him who was to save His people from their sins. This is the message of good tidings which the angel declared OF GOD, 489 to the shepherds, — the birth of a Saviour, who was Christ the Lord. This was the message in proclaiming which the heavenly host filled the firmament, while they sang of the glory and peace and goodwill which received their accom- plishment therein. This therefore is above all others the angelic message, which all such as recognise their calling to be Christ''s angels will ever feel that they are especially charged to bear : and greatly will they rejoice that they are so charged ; greatly will they rejoice to bear it. But, in order to bear it to others, we must have it graven livingly on our own hearts. We must have our hearts full of it ; and then it will overflow from our lips. As the name angel means a messenger, and as the occasions on which we find mention of angels in the Bible, are chiefly when they are sent by God on some of His messages to His servants, I have spoken to you hitherto mainly of what it behoves us to do, in order that we may approve ourselves followers of the example set us by the angels in heaven. It is not enough however to do like them : we should also be like them. Indeed we cannot really do like them, un- less we are so. In the text they are called the chariots of God : the chariots of God are thousands of angels. That is, they are the chariots of His will : they bear His will about to every part of the universe. This is their delight. They bless God, who vouchsafes thus to employ them. But, when they have fulfilled God's message, then they i-eturn back to Him by whom they were sent forth. They return back to Him, and stand before Him, drinking in fi-esh streams of life and strength and purity and joy from His presence. This is the blessed portion of the angels in heaven ; and this is also the delight of all God's true angels here on earth. They rejoice to be sent on any of God's messages 490 THE CHARIOTS to their brethren, as bearers of advice, or of comfort, or of help, above all as bearers of the glad tidings of salvation. But, when they have fulfilled their message, they hasten to return to God's presence : or, rather should I say, they delight to return to their solitai-y communing with God. For surely God is not less with them, when they are going abroad on His messages, than when they are lifting up their hearts to Him in their hours of lonely meditation. He does not flee from the abodes of men, and acknowledge no temple to be His, except that which stands in the wil- derness. If they are the chariots of God, the chariot does not go forth of itself; but the Lord of the chariot goes with it. As we read in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, the wheels only go where the Spirit goes ; for the Spirit is in the wheels. Nevertheless, as God has ordained that in all things there shall be an interchange and alternation, a rising and a sinking, a going out and a coming in, — as He has ordained that there shall be a time for rest, as well as a time for labour, — so, when the path of the angels was manifested to the Patriarch in his dream, he saw that the angels do not merely descend the heavenly ladder to per- form God''s will on earth, but that they are continually descending and ascending, — descending to bear God's mes- sages abroad, and ascending to return again into His presence. So His angels, who have received this high calling while they dwell in this world, delight, when they have fulfilled their appointed task, to return to their soli- tary communion with God. For they kno^ that, through their Master who sent them forth, they have always access to the Father, that they may always approach Him by prayer, and that, when they so approach Him, He will give ear to their prayers. OF GOD. 491 This therefore is another feature in the nature and cha- racter of the angels, wherein it behoves all such as desire to fulfill their angelic calling to strive after a likeness to their heavenly brethren. Not only should we endeavour to resemble them by doing the will of God in all things, but also by seeking always to dwell in the presence of God. Nay, thus alone shall we be enabled to do the will of God. Unless we abide in Him, He will not abide in us ; and our glory and our strength will depart from us. We are indeed always in God's presence. Whether we believe it, or no, we are in His presence. He sees us, whether we see Him, or no. The difference however is vast, whether we believe and know that we are in His presence, or not. If we do not believe it, if we do not bear it steadily in mind, there will be no comfort in our being before Him. We might as well be away from Him, far off out of His sight. If on the other hand we are careful to keep this conviction constantly before our thoughts, in the inmost depths of our heart and spirit, if we are careful to bear steadily in mind that through Christ we have been received into the number of God's adopted children, that through Him all our prayers will find a ready hearing from our Heavenly Father, then our dwelling in the presence of God will be a source and spring of living strength and consolation and joy. But the angels do not worship God each alone by him- self. The chariots of God are thousands of angels. Around His throne there is an innumerable company of angels. This therefore will ever be the delight of God's true angels here on earth, — this should be the desire and the joy and the comfort of all who wish to be like to the angels, — to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, to 49SJ THE CHARIOTS worship Him, whensoever they may, amid the great con- gregation of His people. As they long to dwell in the presence of God, they will rejoice to come to that place where He has promist to be more especially present, where, feeling more livelily that they are one with Him, they also feel more livelily that they are one through Him with all their brethren ; and there, like the multitude of the heavenly host, they will join with one heart and voice in giving glory to God, for shewing forth His goodwill toward mankind, by sending the Prince of Peace to bring Redemption and Salvation. Nor is this all. They who desire to dwell in the pre- sence of God, must be ever on their guard against the enemies of God, who are lying in wait to draw them away from Him. Yea, they must fight against the enemies of God. Michael and His angels, we read, fought against the dragon and his angels. This war was waged even in heaven ; and this war is ever waging on earth. All Christ's angels are also Christ's soldiers, and are sworn to fight against His enemies, against the dragon and his angels. This fight, the good fight of faith, we have all of us to fight against the powers of evil. We have to fight it without ceasing from our birth even to our death. But we are not left to fight it alone. The angels fought under Michael, that is, as seemed to appear in the last sermon, under the Son of God. So we too are to fight under the same Michael. The warfare is great and terrible ; and it is to be waged in our hearts. This is the battle-field, where every wound must pierce our souls, where every blow draws blood from the body of sin which we carry around us. But He who leads the hosts of heaven, leads us on. Michael does not leave us to fight alone, in our OF GOD. 493 own strength, with our own armour. He leads us on, and, if we follow Him, will endow us with His strength, and clothe us with His armour, which if a man put on, he is sure to conquer, — the whole armour of God. If you put on this armour, my brethren, and go forth to the battle under Michael as your Leader, you will be more than con- querors. When the angels go forth as the chariots of God, nothing can withstand or stay them. At the brightness of His presence, the clouds pass away. Take heed however, all of you, that in this great war- fare you fight on the right side. The warfare is continually waging; and every child of man is engaged in it, on one side or the other. Do ye, dear brethren, fight on the right side: fight under Michael, not against Him. For there were angels who fought against Him : there were angels who fought on the side of the dragon : and these were cast out from heaven. So will you be, if you fight against Michael; nay, if you do not fight for Him. For there is no remaining neutral in this warfare. If you do not fight against Sin, Sin will be your master, and will drive you with her lashes and her scourges, with her maddening lusts and drunkenness, to fight against Michael Himself; even as his own word has declared that he who is not for Him is against Him. This is the very warning which St Peter has given us. If God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to he reserved unto judgement, — then it is plain that the Lord Jcnoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to he punisht, hut chiefs those who toalk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. He who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Walk not after the flesh, my brethren, any of you ; give not yourselves up to the lust of 494 ^ THE CHARIOTS uncleanness : for they who do, will be cast out from heaven ; and their portion will be with the angels that fell. Although you have been restored through Christ to your first estate, nay, to an estate more glorious than your first, — although you have again been made a little lower than the angels, — yet even the angels, some of them, fell, and kept not their first estate : the Son of the Morning fell. Beware then lest you too fall as they did, lest you lose the inheritance which has been restored to you in the Kingdom of Heaven, lest your fall be great and terrible as that of the Son of the Morning. You have to fight under Michael, the Captain of our Salvation, against the dragon and his angels. I have spoken of one battle-field, on which this warfare is to be waged, — our own hearts. But there is another also. We are to fight against sin in our own hearts : we are also to fight against sin for others, in their hearts, and in the world, against all the growths of sin, whether manifest or secret, against all the powers of darkness. We are to endeavour to overthrow and root out the empire of dark- ness in every nook and corner of the earth. This is the warfare which Michael came down from heaven to wage, to fight against sin, not for Himself and in Himself, in others and for others. In this warfare all His chiefest saints have fought continually by His side, not for themselves only and in themselves, but for others and in others ; to the end that whatever lifts itself up against God, every rebellious thought and feeling, every unholy practice, every unrighteous institution, may be thoroughly put down and swept away, and that all things and all persons may be brought into a dutiful conformity to the will of God. Thus the great Apostle St Paul was OF GOD. 495 continually fighting against the powers of evil ; in manifold ways of action and suffering, in behalf of the Churches which he had planted, and for the enlarging of the King- dom of Christ among the nations. Thus that brave sol- dier of Christ and man of God, Martin Luther, was fighting all his life against moral and spiritual darkness in high places, in behalf of the whole Church of Christ. In like manner will all those who go forth as Christ's angels, have to fight continually against evil in behalf of others. This however is a warfare, in which, if we engage in it heartily, we are sure to conquer : for none can engage in it heartily except as the angels of God ; and against the angels of God the dragon and his angels cannot stand. Nay, Michael, we read, disputed with the devil about the body of Moses : and this too is a controversy in which God's servants may be called to engage. They may have to defend and contend for the outward garments of righteousness, as well as the inward spirit. It may be their duty to see that Holiness to the Lord be graven on every stone both of the outward and of the spiritual temple. Or it may become their duty to defend and contend even for the body of the saints, to defend and stand up for the good name of Christ's servants, when envy and malice are slandering and traducing them. Yet even then, when contending with the devil, Michael, we are told, did not bring a railing accusation against him : and this also is a lesson to be kept in mind, that God's angels must speak the language of angels, such language as is meet for the presence of God, — that all their words must be pure and holy, and full of mercy and love, — yes, full of mercy and love, even when they are contending against the enemies of God. 496 THE CHARIOTS The chariots of God are thousands of angels. This is a most comfortable assurance in all our warfare against evil, that there are thousands, yea, thousands of thousands of beings, who are engaged in the same warfare, that all God's servants are engaged in it, that all His saints are engaged in it, that all the good and holy men who have ever lived, the whole glorious company of the Apostles, and the goodly fellowship of Prophets, and the noble army of Martyrs are our fellow-soldiers. But war, though a high and blessed work in God's cause, is not the highest and most blessed. Though there has been war in heaven, yet in heaven there is always peace, peace and joy and holy love. So will God's angels, even when they are warring against evil, have peace in their hearts, peace and joy. One joy, one never-failing, ever-gushing spring of joy, is peculiarly theirs. For, as there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over every sinner that repents, we have here a joy in which all God's servants, all his earthly angels, will ever share. They will ever rejoice in the truth. They will rejoice over every one that comes to the truth, over every one that does it ; and thus, accord- ing to St Paul's exhortation, they will rejoice always. Every fresh sign of grace that they witness or hear of, will to them be a fresh source of joy and thankfulness to their Heavenly Father. Every fresh victory gained by the Spirit of Christ over the powers of evil will make them lift up their hearts in triumph to Him who overcomes. I have been speaking to you of the blessed host of angels, of the many glorious things declared concerning them in the Bible ; and I have tried to shew you how we also are all of us called to be partakers in these glories, — how we also are called to stand in the presence of God, to go forth on OF GOD. 497 His messages of warning and of consolation, to fight against Sin under the Captain of our Salvation, and to share in the holy rejoicing of the blessed. What then ! Is our whole life to be one unbroken chain of joys and glories? Surely this may not be. Surely this is no jiicture of our poor, frail, broken-down nature. The Seraphim cover their faces in the presence of God ; and He charges His angels with folly. With what then must He charge us, if He looks at us, as we are in ourselves ? and how must we cast ourselves to the ground in utter confusion and dread, when we think of standing before Him in our own nakedness ? For what is our nakedness, except the revelation of all that is foul and impure and sinful about us ? Surely we cannot stand before God, as the angels stand before Him, by ourselves. We cannot stand before Him, unless our impurities are washt away in the blood of Christ, unless our frail souls are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We cannot even lift up our hearts to God, we cannot feel that we are His angels, — nay, we cannot but feel that our angelic inherit- ance is forfeited, that we are aliens from God, and servants to His enemies, — unless we are borne up to the throne of Grace by faith in Christ, in Him who took not upon Him the nature of angels, but who took our nature, that we through Him might again be made a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and worship. The name of Hooker will be known to many of you : some will doubtless have read the beautiful story of his life. He was the wisest man, and one of the holiest, whom God has raised up to be a pillar and ornament to our Church : and great as was his wisdom and his holiness, equally great was his humility. Indeed it could not be otherwise : for, had he been less humble, his VOL. II. K K 498 THE CHARIOTS wisdom and holiness would also have been less. Now in his Life we are told that, when he was on his deathbed, he received the blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus. Which being performed, the minister, who gave him that sacrament, thought he saw a reverent joy in his face. But it lasted not long : his infirmities returned suddenly; and he seemed at the point of death. The next morning however he seemed better, and was deep in contemplation. On being askt what his thoughts were, he replied, " That he was meditating the number and nature of angels, and their blessed obedience and order, without which, peace could not be in heaven ; and O that it might be on earth ! After which he said, / have lived to see this world is made up of perturbations ; and I have heen long preparing to leave it, and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of maJcing my account with God, which I now apprehend to he near : and though hy His grace I have loved Him in my youth, and feared Him in my age, and laboured to have a conscience void of offense to Him and to all men, yet, if Thou, Lord, art extreme to mark what I have done amiss, %cho can abide it ? Therefore, where I have failed, Lord, sheio mercy to me. For I plead not my righteousness, hut the forgiveness of my unrighteousness, for His merits who died to purchase a pardon for penitent sinners. And since L owe Thee a death. Lord, let it not be terrible ; and then taJce Thine own time : I submit to it. Let not mine, Lord, but let Thy will be done!''' He then fell into a slumber, and only recovered to speak these few words : " God hath heard my daily petitions : for I am at peace with all men; and He is at peace with me; from which blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this zoorld can neither qive nor taJce from me. More he would have said ; but OF GOD. 499 his spirits failed him ; a quiet sigh put a period to his last breath ; and so he fell asleep." We too, my brethren, have been meditating, like Hooker, about the holy angels. We have been medi- tating on the things which are related concerning them in the word of God. We have been thinking moreover of the various ways, in which we are called to be like them, in which we ought to be like them : but we are not. Even the holiest of men, even the pure spirit of Hooker, turns away from these thoughts to that of his own unrighteous- ness, and pleads not his own righteousness, but the forgive- ness of his unrighteousness through Christ. Surely too, when we compare our lives with the angelic pattern which the Scriptures set before us, — when we see in God's word how glorious our calling is, and in ourselves how poor and miserable are our shortcomings, — we too must feel that we can never stand before God in any righteousness of our own, that we shall never be able to stand before Him, unless we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. This therefore is what we must endeavour to obtain. While we are striving after it, we shall ever be cheered by the song of the heavenly host, declaring how God hath shewn forth His glory by sending peace on earth, as a token of His goodwill toward mankind : and at length, when our course is over, we too shall fall asleep, like Hooker, in the peace of God. Thus alone shall we be fitted for appearing amid the company of the holy angels, and of the spirits of just men made perfect. We have recently past the day which the Church has set apart in honour of the holy angels : we are approaching the day which she has set apart in honour of the Communion of Saints. Into that blessed Communion, we may trust, that through faith in 500 THE CHARIOTS OF GOD. the righteousness of Christ the purified spirit of Hooker entered. Let us too, my brethren, seek, earnestly, dili- gently, perseveringly seek to be clothed in the same righteousness. Then shall we too, when we depart this life, enter into the same blessed Communion, and join with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, in ever praising God, and saying. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts ! heaven and earth are full of Thy glory : Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High. London: Printed by S. & J. Bentley and Henry Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane. CAJVIBRIDGE, Octoler 1855. MACMILLAN & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. .ilSCHYLI Eumenides. The Greek Text with English Notes : with an Introduction, containing an Analysis of C. 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