Discipline and Other Sermons Part 4

Of every organized body it is strictly true, that it is many things, bound together by a certain law, which makes them one thing and no more. And, therefore, every organized body is a mystery, and above reason: but its organization is none the less true for that.

And there are philosophers who will tell you--and wisely and well-- that there must needs be some such mystery in G.o.d; that reason ought to teach us--even if revelation had not--two things. First, that G.o.d must be one; and next, that G.o.d must be many--that is, more than one.

Do I mean that our own reason would have found out for itself the mystery of the ever-blessed Trinity? G.o.d forbid! Nothing less.

There surely is a difference between knowing that a thing must be, and knowing that the thing is, and what it is like; and there surely is a difference between knowing that there is a great mystery and wonder in G.o.d, and knowing what that mystery is.

Man might have found out that G.o.d was one, and yet more than one; but could he have found out what is the essence and character of G.o.d?

Not his own reason, but the Spirit of G.o.d it is which tells him that: tells him that G.o.d is Three in One--that these three are persons-- that these persons are, a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit.

This is what G.o.d has himself condescended to tell us; and therefore this is what he specially wishes us to believe and remember when we think of him. This is G.o.d's name for himself--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Man may give G.o.d what name he chooses. G.o.d's own name, which he has given himself, is likely surely to be the most correct: at least, it is the one of which G.o.d means us to think; for it is the one into which he commanded us to be baptized. Remember that, whenever you hear discourse concerning G.o.d; and if any man, however learned, says that G.o.d is absolute, answer--'It may be so: but I was not baptized into the name of the absolute.' If he tell you, G.o.d is infinite, answer--'It may be so: but I was not baptized into the name of the infinite.' If he tell you, G.o.d is the first cause, answer--'That I doubt not: but I was not baptized into the name of the first cause. I was baptized into the name which G.o.d has given himself--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and I will give him no other name, and think of him by no other name, lest I be committing an act of irreverence toward G.o.d, by presuming to call him one thing, when he has bid me call him another. Absolute, infinite, first cause, and so forth, are deep words: but they are words of man's invention, and words too which plain, hard-working, hard-sorrowing folks do not understand; even if learned men do--which I doubt very much indeed: and therefore I do not trust them, cannot find comfort for my soul in them. But Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are words which plain, hard- working, hard-sorrowing men can understand, and can trust, and can find comfort in them; for they are G.o.d's own words, and, like all G.o.d's words, go straight home to the hearts of men--straight home to the heart of every one who is a father or mother--to the heart of every one who has a parent or a child--to the heart of every one who has the Holy Spirit of G.o.d putting into his mind good desires, and striving to make him bring them into good effect, and be, what he knows he should be, a holy and good man.'

Answer thus, my friends. And think thus of the mystery of the Ever- blessed Trinity. For this is a thoroughly reasonable plan of thought: and more--in thinking thus you will find comfort, guidance, clearness of head, and clearness of conscience also. Only remember what you are to think of. You are not to think merely of the mystery of the question, and to puzzle yourselves with arguments as to how the Three Persons are one; for that is not to think of the Ever- blessed Trinity, but only to think about it. Still less are you to think of the Ever-blessed Trinity under names of philosophy which G.o.d has not given to himself; for that is not to think of the Ever- blessed Trinity at all. You must think of the Ever-blessed Trinity as he is,--of a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit; and to think of him the more earnestly, the more you are sad at heart. It may be that G.o.d has sent that sadness to make you think of him. It may be that G.o.d has cut the very ground from under your feet that you may rest on him, the true and only ground of all created things; as it is written: 'Who is he among you who walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his G.o.d.'

Some will tell you, that if you are sorrowful it is a time for self- examination, and for thinking of your own soul. I answer--In good time, but not yet. Think first of G.o.d; for how can you ever know anything rightly about your own soul unless you first know rightly concerning G.o.d, in whom your soul lives, and moves, and has its being?

Others may tell you to think of G.o.d's dealings with his people. I answer--In good time, but not yet; think first of G.o.d. For how can you rightly understand G.o.d's dealings, unless you first rightly understand who G.o.d is, and what his character is? Right notions concerning your own soul, right notions concerning G.o.d's dealings, can only come from right notions concerning G.o.d himself. He is before all things. Think of him before all things. He is the first, and he is the last. Think of him first in this life, and so you will think of him last, and for ever in the life to come. Think of the Father, that he is a Father indeed, in spirit and in truth. Think of the Son, that he is a Son indeed, in spirit and in truth. Think of the Holy Spirit, that he is a Holy Spirit indeed, in spirit and in truth. So you will be thinking indeed of the Ever-blessed Trinity; and will wors.h.i.+p G.o.d, not with your lips or your thoughts merely, but in spirit and in truth. Think of the Father, that he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the perfect Son must be forever perfectly like the perfect Father. For then you will believe that G.o.d the Father looks on you, and feels for you, exactly as does Jesus Christ your Lord; then you will feel that he is a Father indeed; and will enter more and more into the unspeakable comfort of that word of all words, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'

Think of the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect Son, who, though he is co-equal and co-eternal with his Father, yet came not to do his own will, but his Father's; who instead of struggling, instead of helping himself, cried in his agony: 'Not my will, but thine be done;' and conquered by resignation. So you will enter into the unspeakable comfort of conquering by resignation, as you see that your resignation is to be like the resignation of Christ; not that of trembling fear like a condemned criminal before a judge; not that of sullen necessity, like a slave before his master: but that of the only-begotten Son of G.o.d; the resignation of a child to the will of a father whom he can utterly trust, because that father's name is love.

Think of the Holy Spirit as a person; having a will of his own; who breatheth whither he listeth, and cannot be confined to any feelings or rules of yours, or of any man's; but may meet you in the Sacraments, or out of the Sacraments, even as he will; and has methods of comforting and educating you, of which you will never dream; one whose will is the same as the will of the Father and of the Son, even a good will; just as his character is the same as the character of the Father and of the Son: even love which works by holiness; love which you can trust utterly, for yourself and for all whom you love.

Think, I say, of G.o.d himself as he is; think of his name, by which he has revealed himself, and thus you will--But who am I, to pretend to tell you what you will learn by thinking rightly of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? How can I dare to say how much you will or will not learn? How can I put bounds to G.o.d's teaching? to the workings of him who has said, 'If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him'? How can I tell you in a few words of one sermon all that that means? How can I, or any man, know all that that means? Who is one man, or all men, to exhaust the riches of the glory of G.o.d, or the blessings which may come from thinking of G.o.d's glory? Let it be enough for us to be sure that truly to know G.o.d is everlasting life; and that the more we think of G.o.d by his own revealed name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the more we shall enter, now and hereafter, into eternal life, and into the peace which comes by the true knowledge of him in whom we live, and move, and have our being.

SERMON VIII.--THE END OF RELIGION

EPHESIANS iv. 23, 24.

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put ye on the new man, which after G.o.d is created in righteousness and true holiness.

This text is exceedingly valuable to us for it tells us the end and aim of all religion. It tells us why we are to pray, whether at home or in church; why we are to read our Bibles and good books; why we are to be what is commonly called religious.

It tells us, I say, the end and aim of all religion; namely, that we may put on 'the new man, which after G.o.d'--according to the likeness of G.o.d--'is created in righteousness and true holiness.' So says St.

Paul in another place: 'Be ye therefore followers'--literally, copiers, imitators--'of G.o.d, as dear children.'

Now this is not what you will be told from too many pulpits, and in too many books, now-a-days, is the end of religion. You will be told that the end of religion is to save your soul, and go to heaven.

But experience shows, my friends, in all religions and in all ages, that those who make it their first object in life to save their souls, are but too likely to lose them; as our Lord says, He that saveth his soul, or life--for the words are the same in Scripture-- shall lose it.

And experience shows that in all religions, and in all ages, those who make it their first object in life to get to heaven, are but too likely never to get there: because in their haste, they forget what heaven is, and what is the only way of arriving at it.

Good works, as they call the likeness of G.o.d and the Divine life, are in too many persons' eyes only fruits of faith, or proofs of faith, and not the very end of faith, and of religion--ay, of their very existence here on earth; and therefore they naturally begin to ask,-- How few good works will be enough to prove their faith? And when a man has once set that question before himself, he is sure to find a comfortable answer, and to discover that very few good works indeed,- -a very little sanctification (as it is called), a very little righteousness, and a very little holiness,--will be enough to save his soul, as far at least as he wishes his soul to be saved. My friends, all this springs from that selfish view of religion which is gaining power among us more and more. Christ came to deliver us from our selfishness; from being slaves to our selfish prudence and selfish interest. But we make religion a question of profit and loss, as we make everything else. We ask--What shall I get by being good? What shall I get by wors.h.i.+pping G.o.d? Is it not prudent, and self-interested, and business-like to give up a little pleasure on earth, in the hope of getting a great deal in heaven? Is not religion a good investment? Is it not, considering how short and uncertain life is, the best of all life-insurances?

My friends, we who have to earn our bread and to take honest money for honest work, know well enough what trouble we have to keep out of our daily life that mean, base spirit of self-interest, rather than of duty, which never asks of anything, 'Is it right?' but only 'Will it pay me?'--which, instead of thinking, How can I do this work as well as possible? is perpetually thinking, How can I get most money for the least work? We have to fight against that spirit in worldly matters. For we know, that if we yield to it,--if we sacrifice our duty to our pleasure or our gain,--it is certain to make us do something mean, covetous, even fraudulent, in the eyes of G.o.d and man.

But if we carry that spirit into religion, and our spiritual and heavenly duties; if we forget that that is the spirit of the world; if we forget that we renounced the world at our baptism, and that we therefore promised not to shape our lives by ITS rules and maxims; if our thought is, not of whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, of good report, whatsoever brings us true honour and deserved praise from G.o.d and from man; if we think only that intensely selfish and worldly thought, How much will G.o.d take for saving my soul?--which is the secret thought (alas that it should be so!) of too many of all denominations,--then we shall be in a fair way of killing our souls; so that if they be saved, they will not at all events be saved alive. For we shall kill in our souls just those instincts of purity, justice, generosity, mercy, love, in one word, of unselfishness and unworldliness, which make the very life of the soul, because they are inspired by the Spirit of G.o.d, even the Holy Ghost. And we shall be but too likely not to sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus--as St. Paul tells us we may do even in this life: but to go to our own place--wherever that may be--with selfish Judas, who when he found that his Saviour was not about to restore the kingdom to Israel, and make a great prince of him there and then, made the best investment he could, under the danger which he saw at hand, by selling his Lord for thirty pieces of silver: to remain to all time a warning to those who are religious for self-interest's sake.

What, then, is the end and aim of true Religion? St. Paul tells us in the text. The end and aim, he says, of hearing Christ, the end and aim of learning the truth as it is in Jesus, is this--that we may be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new man, which after G.o.d is created in righteousness and true holiness. To put on the new man; the new pattern of manhood, which is after the pattern of the Son of man, Jesus Christ, and therefore after the pattern and likeness of G.o.d. To be followers, that is, copiers and imitators of G.o.d, that (so says St. Paul) is the end and aim of religion. In one word, we are to be good; and religion, according to St. Paul, is neither more nor less than the act of becoming good, like the good G.o.d.

To be like G.o.d. Can we have any higher and more n.o.ble aim than that?

And yet it is a simple aim. There is nothing fantastic, fanatical, inhuman about it. It is within our reach--within the reach of every man and woman; within the reach of the poorest, the most unlearned.

For how does St. Paul tell us that we can become like G.o.d?

'Wherefore,' he says, 'putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of G.o.d, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as G.o.d for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Do that, he says, and you will be followers of G.o.d, as dear children; and thus will you surely save your souls alive. For they will be inspired by the Spirit of G.o.d, the spirit of goodness, who is the Lord and Giver of life; wherefore they cannot decay nor die, but must live and grow, develop and improve perpetually, becoming better and wiser,--and therefore more useful to their fellow-creatures, more blessed in themselves, and more pleasing to G.o.d their Father, through all eternity. And thus you will surely go to heaven. For heaven will begin on earth, and last on after this earth, and all that binds you to this earth, has vanished in the grave.

Heaven will begin on earth, I say. When St. Paul told these very Ephesians to whom my text was addressed, that G.o.d had made them sit, even then, in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, he did not mean in any wise--what they would have known was not true--that their bodies had been miraculously lifted up above the earth, above the clouds, or elsewhere: no, for he had told them before, in the first chapter, what he meant by heavenly places. G.o.d their Father, he says, had blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ, in that He had chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world--and for what end? For the very end which I have been preaching to you. 'That they should be holy, and without blame before G.o.d, in Love.' That was heaven. If they were that,--holy, blameless, loving, they were in heavenly places already,--in that moral and spiritual heaven in which G.o.d abides for ever. They were with G.o.d, and with all who are like G.o.d, as it is written, 'He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in G.o.d, and G.o.d in him.'

My dear friends, this is the heaven for which we are all to strive--a heaven of goodness, wherein G.o.d dwells. And therefore an eternal and everlasting heaven, as eternal as goodness and as eternal as G.o.d himself; and if we are living in it, we have all we need. But we may begin to live in it here. To what particular place our souls go after death, Scripture does not tell us, and we need not know. To what particular place our souls and bodies go after the resurrection, Scripture tells us not, and we need not know. But this Scripture tells us, and that is enough for us, that they will be in heavenly places, in the presence of Christ and of G.o.d. And this Scripture tells us--and indeed our own conscience and reason tell us likewise-- that though death may alter our place, it cannot alter our character; though it may alter the circ.u.mstances round us, it cannot alter ourselves. If we have been good and pure before death, we shall be good and pure after death. If we have been led and inspired by G.o.d's Spirit before death, so shall we be after death. If we have been in heavenly places before death, thinking heavenly thoughts, feeling heavenly feelings, and doing heavenly deeds, then we shall be in heavenly places after death; for we shall have with us the Spirit of G.o.d, whose presence is heaven; and as long as we are holy, good, pure, unselfish, just, and merciful, we may be persuaded, with St.

Paul, that wheresoever we go, all will be well; for 'neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of G.o.d, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

SERMON IX.--THE HUMANITY OF G.o.d

ST. LUKE xv. 7.

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

There are three parables in this chapter: all agree in one quality-- in their humanity. G.o.d shows us in them that there is something in his character which is like the best and simplest parts of our characters. G.o.d himself likens himself to men, that men may understand him and love him.

Why there should be more joy over the repenting sinner than over the just man who needs no repentance, we cannot explain in words: but our hearts tell us that it is true, beautiful; that it is reasonable, though we can give no reason for it. You know that if you had lost a sheep; if you had lost a piece of money; if you had had a child run away from you, it would be far more pleasant to find that thing which you had lost, than never to have lost it at all. You do not know why. G.o.d tells you that it is a part of his image and likeness in you; that you rejoice over what you have lost and found again, because G.o.d rejoices over what he has lost and found again.

And is not this a gospel, and good news? Is it not good news that we need never be afraid or ashamed to give way to our tenderness and pity? for G.o.d does not think it beneath him to be tender and pitiful.

Is it not good news that we need never be afraid or ashamed to forgive, to take back those who have neglected us, wronged us? for G.o.d does not think it beneath him to do likewise. That we need never show hardness, pride, sternness to our children when they do wrong, but should win them by love and tenderness, caring for them all the more, the less they care for themselves? for G.o.d does even so to us, who have sinned against him far more than our children ever can sin against us.

And is it not good news, again, that G.o.d does care for sinners, and for all kinds and sorts of sinners? Some go wrong from mere stupidity and ignorance, because they know no better; because they really are not altogether accountable for their own doings. They are like the silly sheep, who gets out over the fence of his own fancy: and yet no reasonable man will be angry with the poor thing. It knows no better. How many a poor young thing goes wandering away, like that silly sheep, and having once lost its way, cannot get back again, but wanders on further and further, till it lies down all desperate, tired out, mired in the bogs, and torn about with thorns!

Then the good shepherd does not wait for that sheep to come back. He goes and seeks it far and wide, up hill and down dale, till he finds it; and having found it, he does not beat it, rate it--not even drive it home before him. It is tired and miserable. If it has been foolish, it has punished itself enough for its folly; and all he feels for it is pity and love. It wants rest, and he gives it rest at his own expense. He lays it on his shoulders, and takes it home, calling on all heaven and earth to rejoice with him. Ah, my friends, if that is not the picture of a G.o.d whom you can love, of a G.o.d whom you can trust, what G.o.d would you have?

Some, again, go wrong from ignorance and bad training, bad society, bad education, bad example; and in other countries--though, thank G.o.d, not in this--from bad laws and bad government. How many thousands and hundreds of thousands are ruined, as it seems to us, thereby! The child born in a London alley, reared up among London thieves, taught to swear, lie, steal, never entering a school or church, never hearing the name of G.o.d save in oaths--There is the lost piece of money. It is a valuable thing; the King's likeness is stamped on it: but it is useless, because it is lost, lying in the dust and darkness, hidden in a corner, unable to help itself, and of no use to any one. And so there is many a person, man and woman, who is worth something, who has G.o.d's likeness on them, who, if they were brought home to G.o.d, might be of good use in the world; but they are lost, from ignorance and bad training. They lie in a corner in darkness, not knowing their own value in G.o.d's eyes; not knowing that they bear his image, though it be all crusted over with the dust and dirt of barbarism and bad habits. Then Christ will go after them, and seek diligently till he finds them, and cleanses them, and makes them bright, and of good use again in his Church and his kingdom.

They are worth something, and Christ will not let them be wasted; he will send clergymen, teachers, missionaries, schools, reformatories, penitentiaries, hospitals--ay, and other messengers of his, of whom we never dream, for his ways are as high above our ways as the heaven is above the earth: with all these he sweeps his house, and his blessing is on them all, for by them he finds the valuable coin which was lost.

But there is a third sort of sinner, spoken of in Christ's next parable in this chapter, from which my text is taken, of whom it is not said that G.o.d the Father sends out to seek and to save him. That is the prodigal son, who left his father's house, and strayed away of his own wantonness and free will. Christ does not go out after him.

He has gone away of his own will; and of his own will he must come back: and he has to pay a heavy price for his folly--to taste hunger, shame, misery, all but despair. For understand--if any of you fancy that you can sin without being punished--that the prodigal son is punished, and most severely. He does not get off freely, the moment he chooses to repent, as false preachers will tell you: even after he does repent, and resolves to go back to his father's house, he has a long journey home, in poverty and misery, footsore, hungry, and all but despairing. But when he does get home; when he shows that he has learnt the bitter lesson; when all he dares to ask is, 'Make me as one of thy hired servants,' he is received as freely as the rest. And it is worth while to remark, that our Lord spends on him tenderer words than on those who are lost by mere foolishness or ignorance. Of him it is not said, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found him,'--but, Bring out the best robe, for this my son--not my sheep, not my piece of money, but my son--was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.

In this is a great mystery; one of which one hardly dares to talk: but one which one must think over in one's own heart, and say, 'Oh the depth of the riches and of the knowledge and wisdom of G.o.d! How wonderful are his judgments, and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?' Who indeed? G.o.d is not a tyrant, who must be appeased with gifts; or a taskmaster, who must be satisfied with the labour of his slaves. He is a father who loves his children; who gives, and loveth to give; who gives to all freely, and upbraideth not. He truly willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. His will is a good will; and howsoever much man's sin and folly may resist it, and seem for a time to mar it, yet he is too great and good to owe any man, even the worst, the smallest spite or grudge. Patiently, n.o.bly, magnanimously, G.o.d waits; waits for the man who is a fool, to find out his own folly; waits for the heart which has tried to find pleasure in everything else, to find out that everything else disappoints, and to come back to him, the fountain of all wholesome pleasure, the well-spring of all life fit for a man to live. When the fool finds out his folly; when the wilful man gives up his wilfulness; when the rebel submits himself to law; when the son comes back to his father's house--there is no sternness, no peevishness, no up-braiding, no pride, no revenge; but the everlasting and boundless love of G.o.d wells forth again as rich as ever. He has condescended to wait for his creature; because what he wanted was not his creature's fear, but his creature's love; not his lip-obedience, but his heart; because he wanted him not to come back as a trembling slave to his master, but as a son who has found out at last what a father he has left him, when all beside has played him false. Let him come back thus; and then all is forgiven and forgotten; and all that will be said will be, 'This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.'

SERMON X.--G.o.d'S WORLD