,,expositions ,,of ,,holy ,,scripture ,,alexander ,,maclaren1 ,d4,d41 ,litt4,d4 ,,ezekiel1 ,,daniel1 ,,and ,,the ,,minor ,,prophets ,,st4 ,,matthew ,,chapters ,i to ,,viii ,,new ,,york ,,george ,h4 ,,doran ,,company 99 99 99 99 99 ,,ezekiel1 ,,daniel1 ,,and ,,the ,,minor ,,prophets ,,contents ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,ezekiel ,,chambers ,,of ,,imagery 7,ezekiel viii4 #ab7 ,a ,,common ,,mistake ,,and ,,lame ,,excuse 7,ezekiel xii4 #bg7 ,,the ,,holy ,,nation 7,ezekiel xxxvi4 #be-ch7 ,,the ,,dry ,,bones ,,and ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,life 7,ezekiel xxxvii4 #a-ad7 ,,the ,,river ,,of ,,life 7,ezekiel xlvii4 #a7 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,daniel ,,youthful ,,confessors 7,daniel i4 #h-ba7 ,,the ,,image ,,and ,,the ,,stone 7,daniel ii4 #cf-di7 ,,harmless ,,fires 7,daniel iii4 #ac-be7 ,,mene1 ,,tekel1 ,,peres 7,daniel v4 #ag-ca7 ,a ,,tribute ,,from ,,enemies 7,daniel vi4 #e7 ,,faith ,,stopping ,,the ,,mouths ,,of ,,lions 7,daniel vi4 #af-bh7 ,a ,,new ,,year',s ,,message 7,daniel xii4 #ac7 ,,hosea ,,the ,,valley ,,of ,,achor 7,hosea ii4 #ae7 ',,let ,,him ,,alone' 7,hosea iv4 #ag7 ',,physicians ,,of ,,no ,,value' 7,hosea v4 #ac1 ,r4,v47 ',,fruit ,,which ,,is ,,death' 7,hosea x4 #a-ae7 ,,destruction ,,and ,,help 7,hosea xiii4 #i7 ,,israel ,,returning 7,hosea xiv4 #a-i7 ,,the ,,dew ,,and ,,the ,,plants 7,hosea xiv4 #e1 #f7 ,,amos ,a ,,pair ,,of ,,friends 7,amos iii4 #c7 ,,smitten ,,in ,,vain 7,amos iv4 #d-ac7 ,,the ,,sins ,,of ,,society 7,amos v4 #d-ae7 ,,the ,,carcass ,,and ,,the ,,eagles 7,amos vi4 #a-h7 ,,ripe ,,for ,,gathering 7,amos viii4 #a-ad7 ,,jonah ,,guilty ,,silence ,,and ,,its ,,reward 7,jonah i4 #a-ag7 ',,lying ,,vanities' 7,jonah ii4 #h7 ,,threefold ,,repentance 7,jonah iii4 #a-aj7 ,,micah ,,is ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,the ,,lord ,,straitened8 7,micah ii4 #g7 ,,christ ,,the ,,breaker 7,micah ii4 #ac7 ,,as ,,god1 ,,so ,,worshipper 7,micah iv4 #e1 ,r4,v47 ',a ,,dew ,,from ,,the ,,lord' 7,micah v4 #g7 ,,god',s ,,requirements ,,and ,,god',s ,,gift 7,micah vi4 #h7 ,,habakkuk ,,the ,,ideal ,,devout ,,life 7,habakkuk iii4 #ai7 ,,zephaniah ,,zion',s ,,joy ,,and ,,god',s 7,zephaniah iii4 #ad1 #ag7 ,,haggai ,,vain ,,toil 7,haggai i4 #f7 ,,brave ,,encouragements 7,haggai ii4 #a-i7 ,,zechariah ,,dying ,,men ,,and ,,the ,,undying ,,word 7,zechariah i4 #e1 #f7 ,,the ,,city ,,without ,,walls 7,zechariah ii4 #d1 #e7 ,a ,,vision ,,of ,,judgment ,,and ,,cleansing 7,zechariah iii4 #a-aj7 ,,the ,,right ,,of ,,entry 7,zechariah iii4 #g7 ,,the ,,source ,,of ,,power 7,zechariah iv4 #a-aj7 ,,the ,,founder ,,and ,,finisher ,,of ,,the ,,temple 7,zechariah iv4 #i7 ,,the ,,priest ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,king ,,of ,,men 7,zechariah vi4 #ac7 ,,malachi ,a ,,dialogue ,,with ,,god 7,malachi i4 #f1 #g7 ,,blemished ,,offerings 7,malachi i4 #h7 ,a ,,dialogue ,,with ,,god 7,malachi ii4 #ab1 #ad1 ,r4,v47 ,,the ,,last ,,word ,,of ,,prophecy 7,malachi iii4 #a-ab7 ,,the ,,unchanging ,,lord 7,malachi iii4 #f7 ,a ,,dialogue ,,with ,,god 7,malachi iii4 #g1 ,r4,v47 ',,stout ,,words1' ,,and ,,their ,,confutation 7,malachi iii4 #ac-ah2 iv4 #a-f7 ,,the ,,last ,,words ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,and ,,new ,,testaments 7,malachi iv4 #f2 ,revelation xxii4 #ba7 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,ezekiel ,,chambers ,,of ,,imagery ',then said ,he unto me1 ,son of man1 hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of ,israel do in the dark1 every man in the chambers of his imagery6'--,,ezekiel viii4 #ab4 ,this is part of a vision which came to the prophet in his captivity4 ,he is carried away in imagination from his home amongst the exiles in the ,east to the ,temple of ,jerusalem4 ,there he sees in one dreadful series representations of all the forms of idolatry to which the handful that were left in the land were cleaving4 ,there meets him on the threshold of the court 'the image of jealousy1' the generalised expression for the aggregate of idolatries which had stirred the anger of the divine husband of the nation4 ,then he sees within the ,temple three groups representing the idolatries of three different lands4 ,first1 those with whom my text is concerned1 who1 in some underground room1 vaulted and windowless1 were bowing down before painted animal forms upon the walls4 ,probably they were the representatives of ,egyptian worship1 for the description of their temple might have been taken out of any book of travels in ,egypt in the present day4 ,it is only an ideal picture that is represented to ,ezekiel1 and not a real fact4 ,it is not at all probable that all these various forms of idolatry were found at any time within the ,temple itself4 ,and the whole cast of the vision suggests that it is an ideal picture1 and not reality1 with which we have to do4 ,hence the number of these idolaters was seventy--the successors of the seventy whom ,moses led up to ,sinai to see the ,god of ,israel6 ,and now here they are grovelling before brute forms painted on the walls in a hole in the dark4 ,their leader bears a name which might have startled them in their apostasy1 and choked their prayers in their throats1 for ,jaazan-iah means 'the ,lord hears4' ,each man has a censer in his hand--self-consecrated priests of self-chosen deities4 ,shrouded in obscurity1 they pleased themselves with the ancient lie1 ',the ,lord sees not2 ,he hath forsaken the earth4' ,and then1 into that ,sanhedrim of apostates there comes1 all unknown to them1 the light of ,god's presence2 and the eye of the prophet marks their evil4 ,i have nothing to do here with the other groups which ,ezekiel saw in his vision4 ,the next set were the representatives of the women of ,israel1 who1 false at once to their womanhood and to their ,god1 were taking part in the nameless obscenities and abominations of the worship of the ,syrian ,adonis4 ,and the next1 who from their numbers seem to be intended to stand for the representatives of the priesthood1 as the former were of the whole people1 represent the worshippers who had fallen under the fascinations of a widespread ,eastern idolatry1 and with their backs to the house of the ,lord were bowing before the rising sun4 ,all these false faiths got on very well together4 ,their worshippers had no quarrel with each other4 ,polytheism1 by its very nature and the necessity of its being1 is tolerant4 ,all its rabble of gods have a mutual understanding1 and are banded together against the only ,one that says1 ',thou shalt have none other gods beside ,me4' ,but now1 ,i take this vision in a meaning which the prophet had no intention to put on it4 ,i do not often do that with my texts1 and when ,i do ,i like to confess frankly that ,i am doing it4 ,so ,i take the words now as a kind of symbol which may help to put into a picturesque and more striking form some very familiar and homely truths4 ,look at that dark-painted chamber that we have all of us got in our hearts2 at the idolatries that go on there1 and at the flashing of the sudden light of ,god who marks1 into the midst of the idolatry1 ',hast thou seen what the ancients of the children of ,israel do in the dark1 each man in the chambers of his imagery8' ,i4 ,think of the dark and painted chamber which we all of us carry in our hearts4 ,every man is a mystery to himself as to his fellows4 ,with reverence1 we may say of each other as we say of ,god--',clouds and darkness are round about ,him4' ,after all the manifestations of a life1 we remain enigmas to one another and mysteries to ourselves4 ,for every man is no fixed somewhat1 but a growing personality1 with dormant possibilities of good and evil lying in him1 which up to the very last moment of his life may flame up into altogether unexpected and astonishing developments4 ,therefore we have all to feel that after all self-examination there lie awful depths within us which we have not fathomed2 and after all our knowledge of one another we yet do see but the surface1 and each soul dwells alone4 ,there is in every heart a dark chamber4 ,oh1 brethren6 there are very1 very few of us that dare tell all our thoughts and show our inmost selves to our dearest ones4 ,the most silvery lake that lies sleeping amidst beauty1 itself the very fairest spot of all1 when drained off shows ugly ooze and filthy mud1 and all manner of creeping abominations in the slime4 ,i wonder what we should see if our hearts were1 so to speak1 drained off1 and the very bottom layer of every thing brought into the light4 ,do you think you could stand it8 ,well1 then1 go to ,god and ask ,him to keep you from unconscious sins4 ,go to ,him and ask ,him to root out of you the mischiefs that you do not know are there1 and live humbly and self-distrustfuliy1 and feel that your only strength is3 ',hold ,thou me up1 and ,i shall be saved4' ',hast thou seen what they do in the dark8' ,still further1 we may take another part of this description with possibly permissible violence as a symbol of another characteristic of our inward nature4 ,the walls of that chamber were all painted with animal forms1 to which these men were bowing down4 ,by our memory1 and by that marvellous faculty that people call the imagination1 and by our desires1 we are for ever painting the walls of the inmost chambers of our hearts with such pictures4 ,that is an awful power which we possess1 and1 alas6 too often use for foul idolatries4 ,i do not dwell upon that1 but ,i wish to drop one very earnest caution and beseeching entreaty1 especially to the younger members of my congregation now4 ,you1 young men and women1 especially you young men1 mind what you paint upon those mystic walls6 ,foul things1 as my text says1 'creeping things and abominable beasts1' only too many of you are tracing there4 ,take care1 for these figures are ineffaceable4 ,no repentance will obliterate them4 ,i do not know whether even ,heaven can blot them out4 ,what you love1 what you desire1 what you think about1 you are photographing on the walls of your immortal soul4 ,and just as to-day1 thousands of years after the artists have been gathered to the dust1 we may go into ,egyptian temples and see the figures on their walls1 in all the freshness of their first colouring1 as if the painter had but laid down his pencil a moment ago2 so1 on your hearts1 youthful evils1 the sins of your boyhood1 the pruriences of your earliest days1 may live in ugly shapes1 that no tears and no repentance will ever wipe out4 ,nothing can do away with 'the marks of that which once hath been4' ,what are you painting on the chambers of imagery in your hearts8 ,obscenity1 foul things1 mean things1 low things8 ,is that mystic shrine within you painted with such figures as were laid bare in some chambers in ,pompeii1 where the excavators had to cover up the pictures because they were so foul8 ,or1 is it like the cells in the convent of ,san ,marco at ,florence1 where ,fra ,angelico's holy and sweet genius has left on the bare walls1 to be looked at1 as he fancied1 only by one devout brother in each cell1 angel imaginings1 and noble1 pure celestial faces that calm and hallow those who gaze upon them8 ,what are you doing1 my brother1 in the dark1 in your chambers of imagery8 ,,ii4 ,now look with me briefly at the second thought that ,i draw from this symbol1--the idolatries of the dark chamber4 ,all these seventy grey-bearded elders that were bowing there before the bestial gods which they had portrayed1 had1 no doubt1 often stood in the courts of the ,temple and there made prayers to the ,god of ,israel1 with broad phylacteries1 to be seen of men4 ,their true worship was their worship in the dark4 ,the other was conscious or unconscious hypocrisy4 ,and the very chamber in which they were gathered1 according to the ideal representation of our text1 was a chamber in1 and therefore partaking of the consecration of1 the ,temple4 ,so their worship was doubly criminal1 in that it was sacrilege as well as idolatry4 ,both things are true about us4 ,a man's true worship is not the worship which he performs in the public temple1 but that which he offers down in that little private chapel1 where nobody goes but himself4 ,worship is the attribution of supreme excellence to1 and the entire dependence of the heart upon1 a certain person4 ,and the people or the things to which a man attributes the highest excellence1 and on which he hangs his happiness and well-being1 these be his gods1 no matter what his outward profession is4 ,you can find out what these are for you1 if you will ask yourself1 and honestly answer1 one or two questions4 ,what is that ,i want most8 ,what is it which makes my ideal of happiness8 ,what is that which ,i feel that ,i should be desperate without8 ,what do ,i think about most naturally and spontaneously1 when the spring is taken off1 and my thoughts are allowed to go as they will8 ,and if the answer to none of these questions is ',god6' then ,i do not know why you should call yourself a worshipper of ,god4 ,it is of no avail that we pray in the temple1 if we have a dark underground shrine where our true adoration is rendered4 ,oh1 dear brethren6 ,i am afraid there are a great many of us nominal ,christians1 connected with ,christian ,churches1 posing before men as orthodox religionists1 who keep this private chapel where we do our devotion to an idol and not to ,god4 ,if our real gods could be made visible1 what a pantheon they would make6 ,all the foul forms painted on that cell of this vision would be paralleled in the creeping things1 which crawl along the low earth and never soar nor even stand erect1 and in the vile1 bestial forms of passion to which some of us really bow down4 ,honour1 wealth1 literary or other distinction1 the sweet sanctities of human love dishonoured and profaned by being exalted to the place which divine love should hold1 ease1 family1 animal appetites1 lust1 drink--these are the gods of some of us4 ,bear with my poor words and ask yourselves1 not whom do you worship before the eye of men1 but who is the ,god to whom in your inmost heart you bow down8 ,what do you do in the dark8 ,that is the question4 ,whom do you worship there8 ,your other worship is not worship at all4 ,do not forget that all such diversion of supreme love and dependence from ,god alone is like the sin of these men in our text1 in that it is sacrilege4 ,they had taken a chamber in the very ,temple1 and turned it into a temple of the false gods4 ,whom is your heart made to enshrine8 ,why6 every stone1 if ,i may so say1 of the fabric of our being bears marked upon it that it was laid in order to make a dwelling-place for ,god4 ,whom are you meant to worship1 by the witness of the very constitution of your nature and make of your spirits8 ,is there anybody but ,one who is worthy to receive the priceless gift of human love absolute and entire8 ,is there any but ,one to whom it is aught but degradation and blasphemy for a man to bow down8 ,is there any being but ,one that can still the tumult of my spirit1 and satisfy the immortal yearnings of my soul8 ,we were made for ,god1 and whensoever we turn the hopes1 the desires1 the affections1 the obedience1 and that which is the root of them all1 the confidence that ought to fix and fasten upon ,him1 to other creatures1 we are guilty not only of idolatry but of sacrilege4 ,we commit the sin of which that wild reveller in ,babylon was guilty1 when1 at his great feast1 in the very madness of his presumption he bade them bring forth the sacred vessels from the ,temple at ,jerusalem2 'and the king and his princes and his concubines drank in them and praised the gods4' ,so we take the sacred chalice of the human heart1 on which there is marked the sign manual of ,heaven1 claiming it for ,god's1 and fill it with the spiced and drugged draught of our own sensualities and evils1 and pour out libations to vain and false gods4 ,brethren6 ,render unto ,him that which is ,his2 and see even upon the walls scrabbled all over with the deformities that we have painted there1 lingering traces1 like those of some dropping fresco in a roofless ,italian church1 which suggest the serene and perfect beauty of the image of the ,one whose likeness was originally traced there1 and for whose worship it was all built4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 look at the sudden crashing in upon the cowering worshippers of the revealing light4 ,apparently the picture of my text suggests that these elders knew not the eyes that were looking upon them4 ,they were hugging themselves in the conceit1 'the ,lord seeth not2 the ,lord hath forsaken the earth4' ,and all the while1 all unknown1 ,god and ,his prophet stand in the doorway and see it all4 ,not a finger is lifted1 not a sign to the foolish worshippers of ,his presence and inspection1 but in stern silence ,he records and remembers4 ,and does that need much bending to make it an impressive form of putting a solemn truth8 ,there are plenty of us--alas6 alas6 that it should be so--to whom it is the least welcome of all thoughts that there in the doorway stand ,god and ,his ,word4 ,why should it be1 my brother1 that the properly blessed thought of a divine eye resting upon you should be to you like the thought of a policeman's bull's-eye to a thief8 ,why should it not be rather the sweetest and the most calming and strength-giving of all convictions--',thou ,god seest me'8 ,the little child runs about the lawn perfectly happy as long as she knows that her mother is watching her from the window4 ,and it ought to be sweet and blessed to each of us to know that there is no darkness where a ,father's eye comes not4 ,but oh6 to the men that stand before bestial idols and have turned their backs on the beauty of the one true ,god1 the only possibility of composure is that they shall hug themselves in the vain delusion3--',the ,lord seeth not4' ,i beseech you1 dear friends1 do not think of ,his eye as the prisoner in a cell thinks of the pin-hole somewhere in the wall1 through which a jailer's jealous inspection may at any moment be glaring in upon him1 but think of ,him your ,brother1 who 'knew what was in man1' and who knows each man1 and see in ,christ the all-knowing ,godhood that loves yet better than it knows1 and beholds the hidden evils of men's hearts1 in order that it may cleanse and forgive all which it beholds4 ,one day a light will flash in upon all the dark cells4 ,we must all be manifest before the judgment-seat of ,christ4 ,do you like that thought8 ,can you stand it8 ,are you ready for it8 ,my friend6 let ,jesus ,christ come to you with ,his light4 ,let ,him come into the dark corners of your hearts4 ,cast all your sinfulness1 known and unknown1 upon ,him that died on the ,cross for every soul of man1 and ,he will come2 and ,his light1 streaming into your hearts1 like the sunbeam upon foul garments1 will cleanse and bleach them white by its shining upon them4 ,let ,him come into your hearts by your lowly penitence1 by your humble faith1 and all these vile shapes that you have painted on its walls will1 like phosphorescent pictures in the daytime1 pale and disappear when the ',sun of ,righteousness1 with healing in ,his beams1 floods your soul1 leaving no part dark1 and turning all into a temple of the living ,god4' ,a ,,common ,,mistake ,,and ,,lame ,,excuse '444 ,he prophesieth of the times that are far off4'--,,ezekiel xii4 #bg4 ,human nature was very much the same in the exiles that listened to ,ezekiel on the banks of the ,chebar and in ,manchester to-day4 ,the same neglect of ,god's message was grounded then on the same misapprehension of its bearings which profoundly operates in the case of many people now4 ,ezekiel had been proclaiming the fall of ,jerusalem to the exiles whose captivity preceded it by a few years2 and he was confronted by the incredulity which fancied that it had a great many facts to support it1 and so it generalised ,god's long-suffering delay in sending the threatened punishment into a scoffing proverb which said1 ',the days are prolonged1 and every vision faileth4' ,to translate it into plain ,english1 the prophets had cried ',wolf6 wolf6' so long that their alarms were disbelieved altogether4 ,even the people that did not go the length of utter unbelief in the prophetic threatening took the comfortable conclusion that these threatenings had reference to a future date1 and they need not trouble themselves about them4 ,and so they said1 according to my text1 ',they of the house of ,israel say1 ,the vision that he sees is for many days to come1 and he prophesieth of the times that are far off4' ',it may be all quite true1 but it lies away in the distant future there2 and things will last our time1 so we do not need to bother ourselves about what he says4' ,so the imagined distance of fulfilment turned the edge of the plainest denunciations1 and was like wool stuffed in the people's ears to deaden the reverberations of the thunder4 ,i wonder if there is anybody here now whom that fits1 who meets the preaching of the gospel with a shrug1 and with this saying1 ',he prophesies of the times that are far off4' ,i fancy that there are a few2 and ,i wish to say a word or two about this ground on which the widespread disregard of the divine message is based4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 notice that the saying of my text--in the application which ,i now seek to make of it--is a truth1 but it is only half a truth4 ,of course1 ,ezekiel was speaking simply about the destruction of ,jerusalem4 ,if it had been true1 as his hearers assumed1 that that was not going to happen for a good many years yet1 the chances were that it had no bearing upon them1 and they were right enough in neglecting the teaching4 ,and1 of course1 when ,i apply such a word as this in the direction in which ,i wish to do now1 we do bring in a different set of thoughts2 but the main idea remains the same4 ,the neglect of ,god's solemn message by a great many people is based1 more or less consciously1 upon the notion that the message of ,christianity--or1 if you like to call it so1 of the gospel2 or1 if you like to call it more vaguely1 religion--has to do mainly with blessings and woes beyond the grave1 and that there is plenty of time to attend to it when we get nearer the end4 ,now is it true that 'he prophesies of times that are far off'8 ,yes6 and ,no6 ,yes6 it is true1 and it is the great glory of ,christianity that it shifts the centre of gravity1 so to speak1 from this poor1 transient1 contemptible present1 and sets it away out yonder in an august and infinite future4 ,it brings to us not only knowledge of the future1 but certitude1 and takes the conception of another life out of the region of perhapses1 possibilities1 dreads1 or hopes1 as the case may be1 and sets it in the sunlight of certainty4 ,there is no more mist4 ,other faiths1 even when they have risen to the height of some contemplation of a future1 have always seen it wrapped in nebulous clouds of possibilities1 but ,christianity sets it clear1 definite1 solid1 as certain as yesterday1 as certain as to-day4 ,it not only gives us the knowledge and the certitude of the times that are afar off1 and that are not times but eternities1 but it gives us1 as the all-important element in that future1 that its ruling characteristic is retribution4 ,it 'brings life and immortality to light1' and just because it does1 it brings the dark orb which1 like some of the double stars in the heavens1 is knit to the radiant sphere by a necessary band4 ,it brings to light1 with life and immortality1 death and woe4 ,it is true--'he prophesies of times that are far off' and it is the glory of the gospel of ,christ's revelation1 and of the religion that is based thereon1 that its centre is beyond the grave1 and that its eye is so often turned to the clearly discerned facts that lie there4 ,but is that all that we have to say about ,christianity8 ,many representations of it1 ,i am free to confess1 from pulpits and books and elsewhere1 do talk as if that was all1 as if it was a magnificent thing to have when you came to die4 ,as the play has it1 ',i said to him that ,i hoped there was no need that he should think about ,god yet1' because he was not going to die4 ,but ,i urge you to remember1 dear brethren1 that all that prophesying of times that are far off has the closest bearing upon this transient1 throbbing moment1 because1 for one thing1 one solemn part of the ,christian revelation about the future is that ,time is the parent of ,eternity1 and that1 in like manner as in our earthly course 'the child is father of the man1' so the man as he has made himself is the author of himself as he will be through the infinite spaces that lie beyond the grave4 ,therefore1 when a ,christian preacher prophesies of times that are afar off1 he is prophesying of present time1 between which and the most distant eternity there is an iron nexus--a band which cannot be broken4 ,nor is that all4 ,not only is the truth in my text but a half truth1 if it is supposed that the main business of the gospel is to talk to us about heaven and hell1 and not about the earth on which we secure and procure the one or the other2 but also it is a half truth because1 large and transcendent1 eternal in their duration1 and blessed beyond all thought in their sweetness as are the possibilities1 the certainties that are opened by the risen and ascended ,christ1 and tremendous beyond all words that men can speak as are the alternative possibilities1 yet these are not all the contents of the gospel message2 but those blessings and penalties1 joys and miseries1 exaltations and degradations1 which attend upon righteousness and sin1 godliness and irreligion to-day are a large part of its theme and of its effects4 ,therefore1 whilst on the one hand it is true1 blessed be ,christ's name6 that 'he prophesies of times that are far off'2 on the other hand it is an altogether inadequate description of the gospel message and of the ,christian body of truth to say that the future is its realm1 and not the present4 ,,ii4 ,so1 then1 in the second place1 my text gives a very good reason for prizing and attending to the prophecy4 ,if it is true that ,god1 speaking through the facts of ,christ's death and ,resurrection and ,ascension1 has given to us the sure and certain hope of immortality1 and has declared to us plainly the conditions upon which that immortality may be ours1 and the woful loss and eclipse into the shadow of which we shall stumble darkling if it is not ours1 then surely that is a reason for prizing and laying to heart1 and living by the revelation so mercifully made4 ,people do not usually kick over their telescopes1 and neglect to look through them1 because they are so powerful that they show them the craters in the moon and turn faint specks into blazing suns4 ,people do not usually neglect a word of warning or guidance in reference to the ordering of their earthly lives because it is so comprehensive1 and covers so large a ground1 and is so certain and absolutely true4 ,surely there can be no greater sign of divine loving-kindness1 of a ,saviour's tenderness and care for us1 than that ,he should come to each of us1 as ,he does come1 and say to each of us1 ',thou art to live for ever2 and if thou wilt take ,me for thy ,life1 thou shalt live for ever1 blessed1 calm1 and pure4' ,and we listen1 and say1 ',he prophesies of times that are far off6' ,oh6 is that not rather a reason for coming very close to1 and for grappling to our hearts and living always by the power of1 that great revelation8 ,surely to announce the consequences of evil1 and to announce them so long beforehand that there is plenty of time to avoid them and to falsify the prediction1 is the token of love4 ,now ,i wish to lay it on the hearts of you people who call yourselves ,christians1 and who are so in some imperfect degree1 whether we do at all adequately regard1 remember1 and live by this great mercy of ,god1 that ,he should have prophesied to us 'of the times that are far off4' ,perhaps ,i am wrong1 but ,i cannot help feeling that1 for this generation1 the glories of the future rest with ,god have been somewhat paled1 and the terrors of the future unrest away from ,god have been somewhat lightened4 ,i hope ,i am wrong1 but ,i do not think that the modern average ,christian thinks as much about heaven as his father did4 ,and ,i believe that his religion has lost something of its buoyancy1 of its power1 of its restraining and stimulating energy1 because1 from a variety of reasons1 the bias of this generation is rather to dwell upon1 and to realise1 the present social blessings of ,christianity than to project itself into that august future4 ,the reaction may be good4 ,i have no doubt it was needed1 but ,i think it has gone rather too far1 and ,i would beseech ,christian men and women to try and deserve more the sarcasm that is flung at us that we live for another world4 ,would ,god it were true--truer than it is6 ,we should see better work done in this world if it were4 ,so ,i say1 that 'he prophesieth of times that are far off' is a good reason for prizing and obeying the prophet4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 this is a very common and a very bad reason for neglecting the prophecy4 ,it does operate as a reason for giving little heed to the prophet1 as ,i have been saying4 ,in the old men-of-war1 when an engagement was impending1 they used to bring up the hammocks from the bunks and pile them into the nettings at the side of the ship1 to defend it from boarders and bullets4 ,and then1 after these had served their purpose of repelling1 they were taken down again and the crew went to sleep upon them4 ,that is exactly what some of my friends do with that misconception of the genius of ,christianity which supposes that it is concerned mainly with another world4 ,they put it up as a screen between them and ,god1 between them and what they know to be their duty--viz41 the acceptance of ,christ as their ,saviour4 ,it is their hammock that they put between the bullets and themselves2 and many a good sleep they get upon it6 ,now1 that strange capacity that men have of ignoring a certain future is seen at work all round about us in every region of life4 ,i wonder how many young men there are in ,manchester to-day that have begun to put their foot upon the wrong road1 and who know just as well as ,i do that the end of it is disease1 blasted reputation1 ruined prospects1 perhaps an early death4 ,why6 there is not a drunkard in the city that does not know that4 ,every man that takes opium knows it4 ,every unclean1 unchaste liver knows it2 and yet he can hide the thought from himself1 and go straight on as if there was nothing at all of the sort within the horizon of possibility4 ,it is one of the most marvellous things that men have that power2 only beaten by the marvel that1 having it1 they should be such fools as to choose to exercise it4 ,the peasants on the slopes of ,vesuvius live very careless lives1 and they have their little vineyards and their olives4 ,yes1 and every morning when they come out1 they can look up and see the thin wreath of smoke going up in the dazzling blue1 and they know that some time or other there will be a roar and a rush1 and down will come the lava4 ,but 'a short life and a merry one' is the creed of a good many of us1 though we do not like to confess it4 ,some of you will remember the strange way in which ordinary habits survived in prisons in the dreadful times of the ,french ,revolution1 and how ladies and gentlemen1 who were going to have their heads chopped off next morning1 danced and flirted1 and sat at entertainments1 just as if there was no such thing in the world as the public prosecutor and the tumbril1 and the gaoler going about with a bit of chalk to mark each door where were the condemned for next day4 ,that same strange power of ignoring a known future1 which works so widely and so disastrously round about us1 is especially manifested in regard to religion4 ,the great bulk of ,english men and women who are not ,christians1 and the little sample of such that ,i have in my audience now1 as a rule believe as fully as we do the truths which they agree to neglect4 ,let me speak to them individually4 ,you believe that death will introduce you into a world of two halves--that if you have been a good1 religious man1 you will dwell in blessedness2 that if you have not1 you will not--yet you never did a single thing1 nor refrained from a single thing1 because of that belief4 ,and when ,i1 and men of my profession1 come and plead with you and try to get through that strange web of insensibility that you have spun round you1 you listen1 and then you say1 with a shrug1 ',he prophesies of things that are far off4' and you turn with relief to the trivialities of the day4 ,need ,i ask you whether that is a wise thing or not8 ,surely it is not wise for a man to ignore a future that is certain simply because it is distant4 ,so long as it is certain1 what in the name of common-sense has the time when it begins to be a present to do with our wisdom in regard to it8 ,it is the uncertainty in future anticipations which makes it unwise to regulate life largely by them1 and if you can eliminate that element of uncertainty--which you can do if you believe in ,jesus ,christ--then the question is not when is the prophecy going to be fulfilled1 but is it true and trustworthy8 ,the man is a fool who1 because it is far off1 thinks he can neglect it4 ,surely it is not wise to ignore a future which is so incomparably greater than this present1 and which also is so connected with this present as that life here is only intelligible as the vestibule and preparation for that great world beyond4 ,surely it is not wise to ignore a future because you fancy it is far away1 when it may burst upon you at any time4 ,these exiles to whom ,ezekiel spoke hugged themselves in the idea that his words were not to be fulfilled for many days to come2 but they were mistaken1 and the crash of the fall of ,jerusalem stunned them before many months had passed by4 ,we have to look forward to a future which must be very near to some of us1 which may be nearer to others than they think1 which at the remotest is but a little way from us1 and which must come to us all4 ,oh1 dear friends1 surely it is not wise to ignore as far off that which for some of us may be here before this day closes1 which will probably be ours in some cases before the fresh young leaves now upon the trees have dropped yellow in the autumn frosts1 which at the most distant must be very near us1 and which waits for us all4 ,what would you think of the crew and passengers of some ship lying in harbour1 waiting for its sailing orders1 who had got leave on shore1 and did not know but that at any moment the blue-peter might be flying at the fore--the signal to weigh anchor--if they behaved themselves in the port as if they were never going to embark1 and made no preparations for the voyage8 ,let me beseech you to rid yourselves of that most unreasonable of all reasons for neglecting the gospel1 that its most solemn revelations refer to the eternity beyond the grave4 ,there are many proofs that man on the whole is a very foolish creature1 but there is not one more tragical than the fact that believing1 as many of you do1 that 'the wages of sin is death1 and the gift of ,god is eternal life through ,jesus ,christ1' you stand aloof from accepting the gift1 and risk the death4 ,the 'times far off' have long since come near enough to those scoffers4 ,the most distant future will be present to you before you are ready for it1 unless you accept ,jesus ,christ as your ,all1 for time and for eternity4 ,if you do1 the time that is near will be pure and calm1 and the times that are far off will be radiant with unfading bliss4 ,,the ,,holy ,,nation ',then will ,i sprinkle clean water upon you1 and ye shall be clean3 from all your filthiness1 and from all your idols1 will ,i cleanse you4 #bf4 ,a new heart also will ,i give you1 and a new spirit will ,i put within you3 and ,i will take away the stony heart out of your flesh1 and ,i will give you an heart of flesh4 #bg4 ,and ,i will put ,my ,spirit within you1 and cause you to walk in ,my statutes1 and ye shall keep ,my judgments1 and do them4 #bh4 ,and ye shall dwell in the land that ,i gave to your fathers2 and ye shall be ,my people1 and ,i will be your ,god4 #bi4 ,i will also save you from all your uncleannesses3 and ,i will call for the corn1 and will increase it1 and lay no famine upon you4 #cj4 ,and ,i will multiply the fruit of the tree1 and the increase of the field1 that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen4 #ca4 ,then shall ye remember your own evil ways1 and your doings that were not good1 and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations4 #cb4 ,not for your sakes do ,i this1 saith the ,lord ,god1 be it known unto you3 be ashamed and confounded for your own ways1 ,o house of ,israel4 #cc4 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god2 ,in the day that ,i shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities ,i will also cause you to dwell in the cities1 and the wastes shall be builded4 #cd4 ,and the desolate land shall be tilled1 whereat2 it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by4 #ce4 ,and they shall say1 ,this land that was desolate is become like the garden of ,eden2 and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced1 and are inhabited4 #cf4 ,then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that ,i the ,lord build the ruined places1 and plant that that was desolate3 ,i the ,lord have spoken it1 and ,i will do it4 #cg4 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god2 ,i will yet for this be enquired of by the house of ,israel1 to do it for them2 ,i will increase them with men like a flock4 #ch4 ,as the holy flock1 as the flock of ,jerusalem in her solemn feasts2 so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men3 and they shall know that ,i am the ,lord4'--,,ezekiel xxxvi4 #be-ch4 ,this great prophecy had but a partial fulfilment1 though a real one1 in the restored ,israel4 ,the land was given back1 the nation was multiplied1 fertility again blessed the smiling fields and vineyards1 and1 best of all1 the people were cleansed 'from all their idols' by the furnace of affliction4 ,nothing is more remarkable than the transformation effected by the captivity1 in regard to the idolatrous propensities of the people4 ,whereas before it they were always hankering after the gods of the nations1 they came back from ,babylon the resolute champions of monotheism1 and never thereafter showed the smallest inclination for what had before been so irresistible4 ,but the fulness of ,ezekiel's prophecy is not realised until ,jeremiah's prophecy of the new covenant is brought to pass4 ,nor does the state of the militant church on earth exhaust it4 ,future glories gleam through the words4 ,they have a 'springing accomplishment' in the ,israel of the restoration1 a fuller in the ,new ,testament church1 and their ultimate realisation in the ,new ,jerusalem1 which shall yet descend to be the bride1 the ,lamb's wife4 ,the principles involved in the prophecy belong to the region of purely spiritual religion1 and are worth pondering1 apart from any question of the place and manner of fulfilment4 ,first comes the great truth that the foundation1 so far as concerns the history of a soul or of a community1 of all other good is divine forgiveness 7v4 #be74 ,ezekiel1 the priest1 casts the promise into ceremonial form1 and points to the sprinklings of the polluted under the law1 or to the ritual of consecration to the priesthood4 ,that cleansing is the removal of already contracted defilement1 especially of the guilt of idolatry4 ,it is clearly distinguished from the operation on the inward nature which follows2 that is to say1 it is the promise of forgiveness1 or of justification1 not of sanctification4 ,from what deep fountains in the divine nature that 'clean water' was to flow1 ,ezekiel does not know2 but we have learned that a more precious fluid than water is needed1 and have to think of ,him 'who came not by water only1 but by water and blood1' in whom we have redemption through ,his blood1 even the forgiveness of our sins4 ,but the central idea of this first promise is that it must be ,god's hand which sprinkles from an evil conscience4 ,forgiveness is a divine prerogative4 ,he only can1 and ,he will1 cleanse from all filthiness4 ,his pardon is universal4 ,the most ingrained sins cannot be too black to melt away from the soul4 ,the dye-stuffs of sin are very strong1 but there is one solvent which they cannot resist4 ,there are no 'fast colours' which ,god's 'clean water' cannot move4 ,this cleansing of pardon underlies all the rest of the blessings4 ,it is ever the first thing needful when a soul returns to ,god4 ,then follows an equally exclusively divine act1 the impartation of a new nature1 which shall secure future obedience 7vs4 #bf1 #bg74 ,who can thrust his hand into the depths of man's being1 and withdraw one life-principle and enshrine another1 while yet the individuality of the man remains untouched8 ,god only4 ,how profound the consciousness of universal obstinacy and insensibility which regards human nature1 apart from such renewal1 as possessing but a 'heart of stone'6 ,there are no sentimental illusions about the grim facts of humanity here4 ,superficial views of sin and rose-tinted fancies about human nature will not admit the truth of the ,scripture doctrine of sinfulness1 alienation from ,god4 ,they diagnose the disease superficially1 and therefore do not know how to cure it4 ,the ,bible can venture to give full weight to the gravity of the sickness1 because it knows the remedy4 ,no surgery but ,god's can perform that operation of extracting the stony heart and inserting a heart of flesh4 ,no system which cannot do that can do what men want4 ,the gospel alone deals thoroughly with man's ills4 ,and how does it effect that great miracle8 ',i will put ,my ,spirit within you4' ,the new life-principle is the effluence of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,the promise does not merely offer the influence of a divine spirit1 working on men as from without1 or coming down upon them as an afflatus1 but the actual planting of ,god's ,spirit in the deep places of theirs4 ,we fail to apprehend the most characteristic blessing of the gospel if we do not give full prominence to that great gift of an indwelling ,spirit1 the life of our lives4 ,cleansing is much1 but is incomplete without a new life-principle which shall keep us clean2 and that can only be ,god's ,spirit1 enshrined and operative within us2 for only thus shall we 'walk in ,his statutes1 and keep ,his judgments4' ,when the ,lawgiver dwells in our hearts1 the law will be our delight2 and keeping it will be the natural outcome and expression of our life1 which is ,his life4 ,then follows the picture of the blessed effects of obedience 7vs4 #bh-cj74 ,these are cast into the form appropriate to the immediate purpose of the prophecy1 and received fulfilment in the actual restoration to the land1 which fulfilment1 however1 was imperfect1 inasmuch as the obedience and renewal of the people's hearts were incomplete4 ,these can only be complete under the gospel1 and1 in the fullest sense1 only in another order than the present4 ,when men fully keep ,god's judgments1 they shall dwell permanently in a good land4 ,israel's hold on its country was its obedience1 not its prowess4 ,our real hold on even earthly good is the choosing of ,god for our supreme good4 ,in the measure in which we can say ',thy law is within my heart1' all things are ours2 and we may possess all things while having nothing in the vulgar world's sense of having4 ,similarly that obedience1 which is the fruit of the new life of ,god's ,spirit in our spirits1 is the condition of close mutual possession in the blessed reciprocity of trust and faithfulness1 love bestowing and love receiving1 by which the quiet heart knows that ,god is its1 and it is ,god's4 ,if stains and interruptions still sometimes break the perfectness of obedience and continuity of reciprocal ownership1 there will be a further cleansing for such sins4 ',if we walk in the light1 the blood of ,jesus ,christ ,his ,son cleanseth us from all sin' 7v4 #bi74 ,the lovely picture of the blessed dwellers in their good land is closed by the promise of abundant harvests from corn and fruit-tree2 that is1 all that nourishes or delights4 ,the deepest truth taught thereby is that he who lives in ,god has no unsatisfied desires1 but finds in ,him all that can sustain1 strengthen1 and minister to growth1 and all that can give gladness and delight4 ,if we make ,god our heritage1 we dwell secure in a good land2 and 'the dust of that land is gold1' and its harvests ever plenteous4 ,very profoundly and beautifully does ,ezekiel put as the last trait in his picture1 and as the upshot of all this cornucopia of blessings1 the penitent remembrance of past evils4 ,undeserved mercies steal into the heart like the breath of the south wind1 and melt the ice4 ,the more we advance in holiness and consequent blessed communion with ,god1 the more clearly shall we see the evil of our past4 ,forgiven sin looks far blacker because it is forgiven4 ,when we are not afraid of sin's consequences1 we see more plainly its sinfulness4 ,when we have tasted ,god's sweetness1 we think with more shame of our ingratitude and folly4 ,if ,god forgets1 the more reason for us to remember our transgressions4 ,the man who 'has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins' is in danger of finding out that he is not purged from them4 ,there is no gnawing of conscience1 nor any fearful looking for of judgment in such remembrance1 but a wholesome humility passing into thankful wonder that such sin is pardoned1 and such a sinner made ,god's friend4 ,the deep foundation of all the blessedness is finally laid bare 7v4 #cb7 as being ,god's undeserved mercy4 ',for ,mine holy name' 7v4 #bb7 is ,god's reason4 ,he is ,his own motive1 and ,he wills that the world should know ,his name1--that is1 ,his manifested character1--and understand how loving and long-suffering ,he is4 ,so ,he wills1 not because such knowledge adds to ,his glory1 but because it satisfies ,his love1 since it will make the men who know ,his name blessed4 ,the truth that ,god's motive is ,his own name's sake may be so put as to be hideous and repellent2 but it really proclaims that ,he is love1 and that ,his motive is ,his poor creatures' blessing4 ,to this great outline of the blessings of the restored nations are appended two subsidiary prophecies1 marked by the recurring ',thus saith the ,lord4' ,the former of these 7vs4 #cc-cf7 deals principally with the new beauty that was to clothe the land4 ,the day in which the inhabitants were cleansed from their sins was to be the day in which the land was to be raised from its ruin4 ,cities are to be rebuilt1 the ground that had lain fallow and tangled with briers and thorns is to be tilled1 and to bloom like ,eden1 a restored paradise4 ,how far the fulfilment has halted behind the promise1 the melancholy condition of ,palestine to-day may remind us4 ,whether the literal fulfilment is to be anticipated or no seems less important than to note that the experience of forgiveness 7and of the consequent blessings described above7 is the precursor of this fair picture4 ,therefore1 the ,church's condition of growth and prosperity is its realisation in the persons of its individual members1 of pardon1 the renewal of the inner man by the indwelling ,spirit1 faithful obedience1 communion with ,god1 and lowly remembrance of past sins4 ,where churches are marked by such characteristics1 they will grow4 ,if they are not1 all their 'evangelistic efforts' will be as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal4 ,the second appended prophecy 7vs4 #cg1 #ch7 is that of increase of population4 ,the picture of the flocks of sheep for sacrifice1 which thronged ,jerusalem at the feasts1 is given as a likeness of the swarms of inhabitants in the 'waste cities4' ,the point of comparison is chiefly the number4 ,one knows how closely a flock huddles and seems to fill the road in endless procession4 ,but the destination as well as the number comes into view4 ,all these patient creatures1 crowding the ways1 are meant for sacrifices4 ,so the inhabitants of the land then shall all yield themselves to ,god1 living sacrifices4 ,the first words of our text point to the priesthood of all believers2 the last words point to the sacrifice of themselves which they have to offer4 ',for this moreover will ,i be inquired of by the house of ,israel4' ,the blessings promised do not depend on our merits1 as we have heard1 but yet they will not be given without our co-operation in prayer4 ,god promises1 and that promise is not a reason for our not asking the gifts from ,him1 but for our asking4 ,faith keeps within the lines of ,god's promise1 and prayers which do not foot themselves on a promise are the offspring of presumption1 not of faith4 ,god 'lets ,himself be inquired of' for that which is in accordance with ,his will2 and1 accordant with ,his will though it be1 ,he will not 'do it for them1' unless ,his flock ask of ,him the accomplishment of ,his own word4 ,,the ,,dry ,,bones ,,and ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,life #a4 ,the hand of the ,lord was upon me1 and carried me out in the spirit of the ,lord1 and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones1 #b4 ,and caused me to pass by them round about3 and1 behold1 there were very many in the open valley2 and1 lo1 they were very dry4 #c4 ,and ,he said unto me1 ,son of man1 can these bones live8 ,and ,i answered1 ,o ,lord ,god1 ,thou knowest4 #d4 ,again ,he said unto me1 ,prophesy upon these bones1 and say unto them1 ,o ye dry bones1 hear the word of the ,lord4 #e4 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god unto these bones2 ,behold1 ,i will cause breath to enter into you1 and ye shall live3 #f4 ,and ,i will lay sinews upon you1 and will bring up flesh upon you1 and cover you with skin1 and put breath in you1 and ye shall live2 and ye shall know that ,i am the ,lord4 #g4 ,so ,i prophesied as ,i was commanded2 and as ,i prophesied1 there was a noise1 and behold a shaking1 and the bones came together1 bone to his bone4 #h4 ,and when ,i beheld1 lo1 the sinews and the flesh came up upon them1 and the skin covered them above3 but there was no breath in them4 #i4 ,then said ,he unto me1 ,prophesy unto the wind1 prophesy1 son of man1 and say to the wind1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god2 ,come from the four winds1 ,o breath1 and breathe upon these slain1 that they may live4 #aj4 ,so ,i prophesied as ,he commanded me1 and the breath came into them1 and they lived1 and stood up upon their feet1 an exceeding great army4 #aa4 ,then ,he said unto me1 ,son of man1 these bones are the whole house of ,israel3 behold1 they say1 ,our bones are dried1 and our hope is lost3 we are cut off for our parts4 #ab4 ,therefore prophesy and say unto them1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god2 ,behold1 ,o ,my people1 ,i will open your graves1 and cause you to come up out of your graves1 and bring you into the land of ,israel4 #ac4 ,and ye shall know that ,i am the ,lord1 when ,i have opened your graves1 ,o ,my people1 and brought you up out of your graves4 #ad4 ,and shall put ,my spirit in you1 and ye shall live1 and ,i shall place you in your own land3 then shall ye know that ,i the ,lord have spoken it1 and performed it1 saith the ,lord4'--,,ezekiel xxxvii4 #a-ad4 ,this great vision apparently took its form from a despairing saying1 which had become a proverb among the exiles1 ',our bones are dried up1 and our hope is lost3 we are clean cut off' 7v4 #aa74 ,ezekiel lays hold of the metaphor1 which had been taken to express the hopeless destruction of ,israel's national existence1 and even from it wrings a message of hope4 ,faith has the prerogative of seeing possibilities of life in what looks to sense hopeless death4 ,we may look at the vision from three points of view1 considering its bearing on ,israel1 on the world1 and on the resurrection of the body4 ,i4 ,the saying1 already referred to1 puts the hopelessness of the mass of the exiles in a forcible fashion4 ,the only sense in which living men could say that their bones were dried up1 and they cut off1 is a figurative one1 and obviously it is the national existence which they regarded as irretrievably ended4 ,the saying gives us a glimpse into the despair which had settled down on the exiles1 and against which ,ezekiel had to contend1 as he had also to contend against its apparently opposite and yet kindred feeling of presumptuous1 misplaced hope4 ,we observe that he begins by accepting fully the facts which bred despair1 and even accentuating them4 ,the true prophet never makes light of the miseries of which he knows the cure1 and does not try to comfort by minimising the gravity of the evil4 ,the bones are very many1 and they are very dry4 ,as far as outward resources are concerned1 despair was rational1 and hope as absurd as it would have been to expect that men1 dead so long that their bones had been bleached by years of exposure to the weather1 should live again4 ,but while ,ezekiel saw the facts of ,israel's powerlessness as plainly as the most despondent1 he did not therefore despair4 ,the question which rose in his mind was ,god's question1 and the very raising it let a gleam of hope in4 ,so he answered with that noble utterance of faith and submission1 ',o ,lord ,god1 ,thou knowest4' ',with ,god all things are possible4' ,presumption would have said ',yes'2 ,unbelief would have said ',no'2 ,faith says1 ',thou knowest4' ,the grand description of the process of resurrection follows the analogy of the order in the creation of man1 giving1 first1 the shaping of the body1 and afterwards the breathing into it of the breath which is life4 ,both stages are wholly ,god's work4 ,the prophet's part was to prophesy to the bones first2 and his word1 in a sense1 brought about the effect which it foretold1 since his ministry was the most potent means of rekindling dying hopes1 and bringing the disjecta membra of the nation together again4 ,the vivid and gigantic imagination of the prophet gives a picture of the rushing together of the bones1 which has no superior in any literature4 ,he hears a noise1 and sees a 'shaking' 7by which is meant the motion of the bones to each other1 rather than an 'earthquake1' as the ,revised ,version has it1 which inserts a quite irrelevant detail71 and the result of all is that the skeletons are complete4 ,then follows the gradual clothing with flesh4 ,there they lie1 a host of corpses4 ,the second stage is the quickening of these bodies with life1 and here again ,ezekiel1 as ,god's messenger1 has power to bring about what he announces2 for1 at his command1 the breath1 or wind1 or spirit1 comes1 and the stiff corpses spring to their feet1 a mighty army4 ,the explanation in the last verses of the text somewhat departs from the tenor of the vision by speaking of ,israel as buried1 but keeps to its substance1 and point the despairing exiles to ,god as the source of national resurrection4 ,but we must not force deeper meaning on ,ezekiel's words than they properly bear4 ,the spirit promised in them is simply the source of life1--literally1 of physical life2 metaphorically1 of national life4 ,however that national restoration was connected with holiness1 that does not enter into the prophet's vision4 ,israel's restoration to its land is all that ,ezekiel meant by it4 ,true1 that restoration was to lead to clearer recognition by ,israel of the name of ,jehovah1 and of all that it implied in him and demanded from them4 ,but the proper scope of the vision is to assure despairing ,israelites that ,god would quicken the apparently slain national life1 and replace them in the land4 ,,ii4 ,we may extend the application of the vision to the condition of humanity and the divine intervention which communicates life to a dead world1 but must remember that no such meaning was in ,ezekiel's thoughts4 ,the valley full of dry bones is but too correct a description of the aspect which a world 'dead in trespasses and sins' bears1 when seen from the mountain-top by pure and heavenly eyes4 ,the activities of godless lives mask the real spiritual death1 which is the condition of every soul that is separate from ,god4 ,galvanised corpses may have muscular movements1 but they are dead1 notwithstanding their twitching4 ,they that live without ,god are dead while they live4 ,again1 we may learn from the vision the preparation needful for the prophet1 who is to be the instrument of imparting divine life to a dead world4 ,the sorrowful sense of the widespread deadness must enter into a man's spirit1 and be ever present to him1 in order to fit him for his work4 ,a dead world is not to be quickened on easy terms4 ,we must see mankind in some measure as ,god sees them if we are to do ,god's work among them4 ,so-called ,christian teachers1 who do not believe that the race is dead in sin1 or who1 believing it1 do not feel the tragedy of the fact1 and the power lodged in their hands to bring the true life1 may prophesy to the dry bones for ever1 and there will be no shaking among them4 ,the great work of the gospel is to communicate divine life4 ,the details of the process in the vision are not applicable in this respect4 ,as we have pointed out1 they are shaped after the pattern of the creation of ,adam1 but the essential point is that what the world needs is the impartation from ,god of ,his ,spirit4 ,we know more than ,ezekiel did as to the way by which that ,spirit is given to men1 and as to the kind of life which it imparts1 and as to the connection between that life and holiness4 ,it is a diviner voice than ,ezekiel's which speaks to us in the name of ,god1 and says to us with deeper meaning than the prophet of the ,exile dreamed of1 ',i will put my ,spirit in you1 and ye shall live4' ,but we may note that it is possible to have the outward form of a living body1 and yet to have no life4 ,churches and individuals may be perfectly organised and perfectly dead4 ,creeds may be articulated most correctly1 every bone in its place1 and yet have no vitality in them4 ,forms of worship may be punctiliously proper1 and have no breath of life in them4 ,religion must have a body1 but often the body is not so much the organ as the sepulchre of the spirit4 ,we have to take heed that the externals do not kill the inward life4 ,again1 we note that this great act of life-giving is ,god's revelation of ,his name1--that is1 of ,his character so far as men can know it4 ',ye shall know that ,i am the ,lord' 7vs4 #ac1 #ad74 ,god makes ,himself known in ,his divinest glory when ,he quickens dead souls4 ,the world may learn what ,he is therefrom1 but they who have experienced the change1 and have1 as it were1 been raised from the grave to new life1 have personal experience of ,his power and faithfulness so sure and sweet that henceforward they cannot doubt ,him nor forget ,his grace4 ,,iii4 ,as to the bearing of the vision on the doctrine of the resurrection little need be said4 ,it does not necessarily presuppose the people's acquaintance with that doctrine1 for it would be quite conceivable that the vision had revealed to the prophet the thought of a resurrection1 which had not been in his beliefs before4 ,the vision is so entirely figurative1 that it cannot be employed as evidence that the idea of the resurrection of the dead was part of the ,jewish beliefs at this date4 ,it does1 however1 seem most natural to suppose that the exiles were familiar with the idea1 though the vision cannot be taken as a revelation of a literal resurrection of dead men4 ,for clear expectations of such a resurrection we must turn to such scriptures as ,daniel xii4 #b1 #ac4 ,,the ,,river ,,of ,,life ,waters issued out from under the threshold of the house 444 ,,ezekiel xlvii4 #a4 ,unlike most great cities1 ,jerusalem was not situated on a great river4 ,true1 the inconsiderable waters of ,siloam--'which flow softly' because they were so inconsiderable--rose from a crevice in the ,temple rock1 and beneath that rock stretched the valley of the ,kedron1 dry and bleached in the summer1 and a rainy torrent during the rainy seasons2 but that was all4 ,so1 many of the prophets1 who looked forward to the better times to come1 laid their finger upon that one defect1 and prophesied that it should be cured4 ,thus we read in a psalm3 ',there is a river1 the divisions whereof make glad the ,city of our ,god4' ,faith saw what sense saw not4 ,again1 ,isaiah says3 ',there'--that is to say1 in the new ,jerusalem--'the glorious ,lord shall be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams4' ,and so1 this prophet casts his anticipations of the abundant outpouring of blessing that shall come when ,god in very deed dwells among men1 into this figure of a river pouring out from beneath the ,temple-door1 and spreading life and fertility wherever its waters come4 ,i need not remind you how our ,lord ,himself uses the same figure1 and modifies it1 by saying that whosoever believeth on ,him1 'out of him shall flow rivers of living waters'2 or how1 in the very last words of the ,apocalyptic seer1 we hear again the music of the ripples of the great stream1 'the river of the water of life proceeding out of the ,throne of ,god and of the ,lamb4' ,so then1 all through ,scripture1 we may say that we hear the murmur of the stream1 and can catch the line of verdure upon its banks4 ,my object now is not only to deal with the words that ,i have read as a starting-point1 but rather to seek to draw out the wonderful significance of this great prophetic parable4 ,i4 ,i notice1 first1 the source from which the river comes4 ,i have already anticipated that in pointing out that it flows from the very ,temple itself4 ,the ,prophet sees it coming out of the house--that is to say1 the ,sanctuary4 ,it flows across the outer court of the house1 passes the altar1 comes out under the threshold1 and then pours itself down on to the plain beneath4 ,this is the symbolical dress of the thought that all spiritual blessings1 and every conceivable form of human good1 take their rise in the fact of ,god's dwelling with men4 ,from beneath the ,temple threshold comes the water of life2 and wherever it is true that in any heart--or in any community--,god dwells1 there will be heard the tinkling of its ripples1 and freshness and fertility will come from the stream4 ,the dwelling of ,god with a man1 like the dwelling of ,god in humanity in the ,incarnation of ,his own dear ,son1 is1 as it were1 the opening of the fountain that it may pour out into the world4 ,so1 if we desire to have the blessings that are possible for us1 we must comply with the conditions1 and let ,god dwell in our hearts1 and make them ,his temples2 and then from beneath the threshold of that temple1 too1 will pour out1 according to ,christ's own promise1 rivers of living water which will be first for ourselves to drink of and be blessed by1 and then will refresh and gladden others4 ,another thought connected with this source of the river of life is that all the blessings which1 massed together1 are included in that one word 'salvation'--which is a kind of nebula made up of many unresolved stars--take their rise from nothing else than the deep heart of ,god ,himself4 ,this river rose in the ,house of the ,lord1 and amidst the mysteries of the ,divine ,presence2 it took its rise1 one might say1 from beneath the ,mercy-seat where the brooding ,cherubim sat in silence and poured itself into a world that had not asked for it1 that did not expect it1 that in many of its members did not desire it and would not have it4 ,the river that rose in the secret place of ,god symbolises for us the great thought which is put into plainer words by the last of the apostles when he says1 ',we love ,him because ,he first loved us4' ,all the blessings of salvation rise from the unmotived1 self-impelled1 self-fed divine love and purpose4 ,nothing moves ,him to communicate ,himself but ,his own delight in giving ,himself to ,his poor creatures2 and it is all of grace that it might be all through faith4 ,still further1 another thought that may be suggested in connection with the source of this river is1 that that which is to bless the world must necessarily take its rise above the world4 ,ezekiel has sketched1 in the last portion of his prophecy1 an entirely ideal topography of the ,holy ,land4 ,he has swept away mountains and valleys1 and levelled all out into a great plain1 in the midst of which rises the mountain of the ,lord's ,house1 far higher than the ,temple hill4 ,in reality1 opposite it rose the ,mount of ,olives1 and between the two there was the deep gorge of the ,valley of the ,kedron4 ,the ,prophet smooths it all out into one great plain1 and high above all towers the ,temple-mount1 and from it there rushes down on to the low levels the fertilising1 life-giving flood4 ,that imaginary geography tells us this1 that what is to bless the world must come from above the world4 ,there needs a waterfall to generate electricity2 the power which is to come into humanity and deal with its miseries must have its source high above the objects of its energy and its compassion1 and in proportion to the height from which it falls will be the force of its impact and its power to generate the quickening impulse4 ,all merely human efforts at social reform1 rivers that do not rise in the ,temple1 are like the rivers in ,mongolia1 that run for a few miles and then get sucked up by the hot sands and are lost and nobody sees them any more4 ,only the perennial stream1 that comes out from beneath the ,temple threshold1 can sustain itself in the desert1 to say nothing of transforming the desert into a ,garden of ,eden4 ,so moral and social and intellectual and political reformers may well go to ,ezekiel1 and learn that the 'river of the water of life1' which is to heal the barren and refresh the thirsty land1 must come from below the ,temple threshold4 ,,ii4 ,note the rapid increase of the stream4 ,the ,prophet describes how his companion1 the interpreter1 measured down the stream a thousand cubits--about a quarter of a mile--and the waters were ankle-deep another thousand1 making half a mile from the start1 and the water was knee-deep4 ,another thousand--or three-quarters of a mile--and the water was waist-deep2 another thousand--about a mile in all--and the water was unfordable1 'waters to swim in1 a river that could not be passed over4' ,where did the increase come from8 ,there were no tributaries4 ,we do not hear of any side-stream flowing into the main body4 ,where did the increase come from8 ,it came from the abundant welling-up in the sanctuary4 ,the fountain was the mother of the river--that is to say1 ,god's ideal for the world1 for the ,church1 for the individual ,christian1 is rapid increase in their experience of the depth and the force of the stream of blessings which together make up salvation4 ,so we come to a very sharp testing question4 ,will anybody tell me that the rate at which ,christianity has grown for these nineteen centuries corresponds with ,ezekiel's vision--which is ,god's ideal8 ,will any ,christian man say1 ',my own growth in grace1 and increase in the depth and fulness of the flow of the river through my spirit and my life correspond to that ideal'8 ,a mile from the source the river is unfordable4 ,how many miles from the source of our first experience do we stand8 ,how many of us1 instead of having 'a river that could not be passed over1 waters to swim in1' have but a poor and all but stagnant feeble trickle1 as shallow as or shallower than it was at first8 ,i was speaking a minute ago about ,mongolian rivers4 ,australian rivers are more like some men's lives4 ,a chain of ponds in the dry season--nay6 not even a chain1 but a series1 with no connecting channel of water between them4 ,that is like a great many ,christian people2 they have isolated times when they feel the voice of ,christ's love1 and yield themselves to the powers of the world to come1 and then there are long intervals1 when they feel neither the one nor the other4 ,but the picture that ought to be realised by each of us is ,god's ideal1 which there is power in the gospel to make real in the case of every one of us1 the rapid and continuous increase in the depth and in the scour of 'the river of the water of life1' that flows through our lives4 ,luther used to say1 ',if you want to clean out a dunghill1 turn the ,elbe into it4' ,if you desire to have your hearts cleansed of all their foulness1 turn the river into it4 ,but it needs to be a progressively deepening river1 or there will be no scour in the feeble trickle1 and we shall not be a bit the holier or the purer for our potential and imperfect ,christianity4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 note the effects of the stream4 ,these are threefold3 fertility1 healing1 life4 ,fertility4 ,in the ,east one condition of fertility is water4 ,irrigate the desert1 and you make it a garden4 ,break down the aqueduct1 and you make the granary of the world into a waste4 ,the traveller as he goes along can tell where there is a stream of water1 by the verdure along its banks4 ,you travel along a plateau1 and it is all baked and barren4 ,you plunge into a wady1 and immediately the ground is clothed with under-growth and shrubs1 and the birds of the air sing among the branches4 ,and so1 says ,ezekiel1 wherever the river comes there springs up1 as if by magic1 fair trees 'on the banks thereof1 whose leaf shall not fade1 neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed4' ,fertility comes second1 the reception of the fertilising agent comes first4 ,it is wasted time to tinker at our characters unless we have begun with getting into our hearts the grace of ,god1 and the new spirit that will be wrought out by diligent effort into all beauty of life and character4 ,ezekiel seems to be copying the first psalm1 or vice versa1 the ,psalmist is copying ,ezekiel4 ,at any rate1 there is a verbal similarity between them1 in that both dwell upon the unfading leaf of the tree that grows planted by rivers of water4 ,and our text goes further1 and speaks about perennial fruitfulness month by month1 all the year round4 ,in some tropical countries you will find blossoms1 buds in their earliest stage1 and ripened fruit all hanging upon one laden branch4 ,such ought to be the ,christian life--continuously fruitful because dependent upon continual drawing into itself1 by means of its roots and suckers1 of the water of life by which we are fructified4 ,there is yet another effect of the waters--healing4 ,as we said1 ,ezekiel takes great liberties with the geography of the ,holy ,land1 levelling it all1 so his stream makes nothing of the ,mount of ,olives1 but flows due east until it comes to the smitten gorge of the ,jordan1 and then turns south1 down into the dull1 leaden waters of the ,dead ,sea1 which it heals4 ,we all know how these are charged with poison4 ,dip up a glassful anywhere1 and you find it full of deleterious matter4 ,they are the symbol of humanity1 with the sin that is in solution all through it4 ,no chemist can eliminate it1 but there is ,one who can4 ',he hath made ,him to be sin for us1 who knew no sin1 that we might be made the righteousness of ,god in ,him4' ,the pure river of the water of life will cast out from humanity the malignant components that are there1 and will sweeten it all4 ,ay1 all1 and yet not all1 for very solemnly the ,prophet's optimism pauses1 and he says that the salt marshes by the side of the sea are not healed4 ,they are by the side of it4 ,the healing is perfectly available for them1 but they are not healed4 ,it is possible for men to reject the influences that make for the destruction of sin and the establishment of righteousness4 ,and although the waters are healed1 there still remain the obstinate marshes with the white crystals efflorescing on their surface1 and bringing salt and barrenness4 ,you can put away the healing and remain tainted with the poison4 ,and then the last thought is the life-giving influence of the river4 ,everything lived whithersoever it went4 ,contrast ,christendom with heathendom4 ,admit all the hollowness and mere nominal ,christianity of large tracts of life in so-called ,christian countries1 and yet why is it that on the one side you find stagnation and death1 and on the other side mental and manifold activity and progressiveness8 ,i believe that the difference between 'the people that sit in darkness' and 'the people that walk in the light is that one has the light and the other has not1 and activity befits the light as torpor befits the darkness4 ,but there is a far deeper truth than that in the figure1 a truth that ,i would fain lay upon the hearts of all my hearers1 that unless we our own selves have this water of life which comes from the ,sanctuary and is brought to us by ,jesus ,christ1 'we are dead in trespasses and sins4' ,the only true life is in ,christ4 ',if any man thirst1 let him come unto ,me1 and drink4 ,he that believeth on ,me1 as the ,scripture hath said1 out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,daniel ,,youthful ,,confessors ',but ,daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat1 nor with the wine which he drank2 therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself4 #i4 ,now ,god had brought ,daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs4 #aj4 ,and the prince of the eunuchs said unto ,daniel1 ,i fear my lord the king1 who hath appointed your meat and your drink2 for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort8 then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king4 #aa4 ,then said ,daniel to ,melzar1 whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over ,daniel1 ,hananiah1 ,mishael1 and ,azariah1 #ab4 ,prove thy servants1 ,i beseech thee1 ten days2 and let them give us pulse to eat1 and water to drink4 #ac4 ,then let our countenances be looked upon before thee1 and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat2 and as thou seest1 deal with thy servants4 #ad4 ,so he consented to them in this matter1 and proved them ten days4 #ae4 ,and at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat4 #af4 ,thus ,melzar took away the portion of their meat1 and the wine that they should drink2 and gave them pulse4 #ag4 ,as for these four children1 ,god gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom2 and ,daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams4 #ah4 ,now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in1 then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before ,nebuchadnezzar4 #ai4 ,and the king communed with them2 and among them all was found none like ,daniel1 ,hananiah1 ,mishael1 and ,azariah2 therefore stood they before the king4 #bj4 ,and in all matters of wisdom and understanding1 that the king enquired of them1 he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm4 #ba4 ,and ,daniel continued even unto the first year of king ,cyrus4'--,,daniel i4 #h-ba4 ,daniel was but a boy at the date of the ,captivity1 and little more at the time of the attempt to make a ,chaldean of him4 ,the last verse says that he 'continued even unto the first year of king ,cyrus1' the date given elsewhere as the close of the ,captivity 7#b ,chron4 xxxvi4 #bb2 ,ezra i4 #a2 vi4 #c74 ,from ,daniel x4 #a we learn that he lived on till ,cyrus's third year1 if not later2 but the date in i4 #ba is probably given in order to suggest that ,daniel's career covered the whole period of the ,captivity1 and burned like a star of hope for the exiles4 ,the incident in our passage is a noble example of religious principle applied to small details of daily life1 and shows how ,god crowns such conscientious self-restraint with success4 ,the lessons which it contains are best gathered by following the narrative4 ,i4 ,the heroic determination of the boyish confessor is first set forth4 ,the plan of taking leading young men from the newly captured nation and turning them into ,babylonians was a stroke of policy as heartless and high-handed as might be expected from a great conqueror4 ,in some measure1 the same thing has been done by all nations who have built up a world-wide dominion4 ,the new names given to the youths1 the attaching of them to the court1 their education in ,babylonish fashion1 all were meant for the same purpose1--to denationalise them1 and strip them of their religion1 and thus to make them tools for more easily governing their countrymen4 ,most men would yield to the influences1 and be so lapped in the comforts of their new position as to become pliable as wax in the conqueror's hands2 but here and there he would come across a bit of stiffer stuff1 which would break rather than bend4 ,such an obstinate piece of humanity was found in the ,hebrew youth1 of some fifteen years1 whose ,hebrew name 7',god is my judge'7 expressed a truth that ruled him1 when the name was exchanged for one that invoked ,bel4 ,it took some firmness for a captive lad1 without friends or influence1 to take ,daniel's stand2 for the motive of his desire to be excused from taking the fare provided can only have been religious4 ,he was determined1 in his brave young heart1 not to 'defile' himself with the king's meat4 ,the phrase points to the pollution incurred by eating things offered to idols1 and does not imply scrupulousness like that of ,pharisaic times1 nor necessarily suggest a late date for the book4 ,probably there had been some kind of religious consecration of the food to ,babylonian gods1 and ,daniel1 in his solitary faithfulness1 was carrying out the same principles which ,paul afterwards laid down for ,corinthian ,christians as to partaking of things offered to idols4 ,similar difficulties are sure to emerge in analogous cases1 and do so1 on many mission fields4 ,the motive here1 then1 is distinctly religious4 ,common life was so woven in with idolatrous worship that every meal was in some sense a sacrifice4 ,therefore ',touch not1 taste not1 handle not1' was the inevitable dictate for a devout heart4 ,daniel seems to have been the moving spirit2 but as is generally the case1 he was able to infuse his own strong convictions into his companions1 and the four of them held together in their protest4 ,the great lesson from the incident is that religion should regulate the smallest details of life1 and that it is not narrow over-scrupulousness1 but fidelity to the highest duty1 when a man sets his foot down about any small matter1 and says1 ',no1 ,i dare not do it1 little as it is1 and pleasant as it might be to sense1 because ,i should thereby be mixed up in a practical denial of my ,god4' ',so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god' 7,neh4 v4 #ae71 is a motto which will require from many a young man abstinence from many things which it would be much easier to accept4 ,,ii4 ,this young confessor was as prudent as he was brave2 and the story goes on to show how wisely he played his part1 and how willing he was to accept all working compromises which might smooth his way4 ,he did not at all want to pose as a martyr1 and had no pleasure in making a noise4 ,the favour which he had won with the high officer who looked after the lads before their formal examination 7graduation we might call it71 is set down in the narrative to the divine favour2 but that favour worked by means1 and no doubt the lad had done his part to win the important good opinion of his superior4 ,the more firm is our determination to take no step beyond the line of duty1 the more conciliatory we should be4 ,but many people seem to think that heroism is shown by rudeness1 and that if we are afraid that we shall some time have to say ',no' very emphatically1 we should prepare for it by a great many preliminary and unnecessary negatives4 ,the very stern need for parting company1 when conscience points one way and companions another1 is a reason for keeping cordially together whenever we can4 ',the prince of the eunuchs' made a very reasonable objection4 ,he had been appointed to see after the health of the lads1 and had ample means at his disposal2 and if they lost their health in this chase after what he could only think a superstitious fad1 the despot whom he served would think nothing of making him answer with his head4 ,his fear gives a striking side-light as to the conditions of service in such a court1 where no man's head was firm between his shoulders4 ,why should the prince of the eunuchs have supposed that the diet asked for would not nourish the lads8 ,it was that of the bulk of men everywhere1 and he had only to go out into the streets or the nearest barrack in ,babylon to see what thews and muscles could be nurtured on vegetable diet and water4 ,but whatever the want of ground in his objection1 it was enough that he made it4 ,note that he puts it entirely on possible harmful results to himself1 and that silences ,daniel1 who had no right to ask another to run his head into the noose1 into which he was ready to put his own1 if necessary4 ,martyrs by proxy1 who have such strong convictions that they think it somebody else's duty to run risk for them1 are by no means unknown4 ,this boy was made of other metal4 ,so1 apparently he gives up the prince of the eunuchs1 and turns to another of the friends whom he had made in his short captivity--the person in whose more immediate charge he and his three friends were4 ,he is named ,melzar in the ,authorised ,version2 but the ,revised ,version more accurately takes that to be a name of office1 and translates it as 'steward4' ,he did the catering for them1 and was sufficiently friendly to listen to ,daniel's reasonable proposal to try the vegetable diet for 'ten days'--probably meaning an indefinite period1 sufficiently long to test results1 which a literal ten days would perhaps scarcely be4 ,so the good-natured steward let the lads have their way1 much wondering in his soul1 no doubt1 why they should take as much trouble to avoid good living as most youths would have taken to get it4 ,,iii4 ,the success of the experiment comes next4 ,we do not need to suppose a miracle as either wrought or suggested by the narrative4 ,the issue might have taught the steward a wholesome lesson in dietetics1 which he and a great many of us much need4 ',a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth1' and his bodily life consisteth not in the abundance and variety of the things that he eateth4 ,the teaching of this lesson is1 not that vegetarianism or total abstinence is obligatory1 for diet is here regarded only as part of idolatrous worship2 but certainly a secondary conclusion1 fairly drawn from the story1 is that vigorous health is best kept up on very simple fare4 ,many dinner-tables1 over which ,god's blessing is formally asked1 are spread in such a fashion as it is hard to suppose deserves ,his blessing4 ,the simpler the fare1 the fewer the wants3 the fewer the wants1 the greater the riches2 the freer the life1 the more leisure for higher pursuits1 and the more sound the bodily health4 ,but the rosy faces and vigorous health of ,daniel and his friends may illustrate1 by a picturesque example1 a large truth--that ,god suffers no man to be a loser by faithfulness1 and more than makes up all that is surrendered for ,his sake4 ,the blessing of ,god on small means makes them fountains of truer joy than large ones unblessed4 ,no man hath left anything for ,christ's sake but he receives a hundred-fold in this life1 if not in the actual blessings surrendered1 at all events in the peace and joy of heart of which they were supposed to be bearers4 ,god fills places emptied by ,himself1 and those emptied by us for ,his sake4 ,,iv4 ,the conscientious abstinence of ,daniel had limits4 ,the learning of the ',chaldeans' was largely ritualistic1 and magic1 incantations1 divination1 and mythology constituted a most important part of it4 ,did not the conscience1 which could not swallow idolatrous food1 resent being forced to assimilate idolatrous learning8 ,no2 for all that learning could be acquired by a faithful monotheist1 and could be used against the system which gave it birth4 ,like ,moses1 or like the young ,pharisee ,saul1 these ,jewish boys nurtured their faith by knowledge of their enemies' belief1 and used their childhood's lessons as weapons in fighting for ,god's truth4 ,it is not every man's duty to become familiar with error1 or to master anti-,christian systems4 ,but if it become ours1 we are not to turn away from the task1 nor to doubt that ,god will keep ,his own truth alight in our minds1 if we realise the danger of the position1 and seek to cling to ,him4 ,v4 ,so we have the last scene in the youths' appearance before ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,a three years' curriculum was considered necessary to turn a ,jewish boy into a ,chaldean expert1 fit to be a traitor to his nation1 an apostate from his ,god1 and a tool of the tyrant4 ,so far as knowledge of the priestly and astronomical science went1 the four ,hebrews came out at the top of the lists4 ,the great king himself1 with that personal interference in all departments which makes a despot's life so burdensome1 put them through their paces1 and was satisfied4 ,his object had been to get instruments with which he could work on the ,captivity1 and1 no doubt1 also to secure servants who had no links with anybody in ,babylon4 ,foreigners1 'kinless loons1' are favourites with despots1 for plain reasons4 ,but ,nebuchadnezzar could not fathom the hearts of the lads4 ,an incarnation of unbridled will would find it difficult to understand a life guided by conscience1 and religious scruples would have sounded as an unknown tongue to him4 ,but yet1 as he and they stood face to face1 who was stronger1 the conqueror or the youths who feared ,god1 and none besides8 ,they were in their right place at the head of the examination lists4 ,they had not said1 ',we do not believe in all this rubbish1 and we are not going to trouble ourselves to master it1' but they had set themselves determinedly to work1 and been all the more persevering because of their objection to the diet4 ,if a young man has to be singular by reason of his religion1 let him be singularly diligent in his work1 and seek to be first1 not merely for his own glory1 but for the sake of the religion which he professes4 ',plain living and high thinking' ought to go together4 ,england and ,america have many names carved high on their annals1 and written deep on their citizens' hearts1 who have nourished a sublime1 studious youth in poverty1 'cultivating literature on a little oatmeal1' and who all their lives have 'scorned delights and lived laborious days4' ,it is the temper which is most likely to succeed1 but which1 whether it succeeds or not1 brings the best blessings to those who cultivate it4 ,such a youth will generally be followed by an honoured manhood like ,daniel's1 but will1 at all events1 be its own reward1 and have ,god's blessing4 ',daniel continued unto the first year of king ,cyrus4' ,these simple words contain volumes4 ,during all the troubles of the nation1 from the king's insanity1 and the murders of his successors1 amidst whirling intrigues1 envies1 plots1 and persecutions1 this one man stood firm1 like a pillar amid blowing sands4 ,so ,god keeps the steadfast soul which is fixed on ,him2 and while the world passeth away1 and the fashion thereof1 he that doeth the will of ,god abideth for ever4 ,,the ,,image ,,and ,,the ,,stone ',this is the dream2 and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king4 #cg4 ,thou1 ,o king1 art a king of kings3 for the ,god of heaven hath given thee a kingdom1 power1 and strength1 and glory4 #ch4 ,and wheresoever the children of men dwell1 the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath ,he given into thine hand1 and hath made thee ruler over them all4 ,thou art this head of gold4 #ci4 ,and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee1 and another third kingdom of brass1 which shall bear rule over all the earth4 #dj4 ,and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron3 forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things3 and as iron that breaketh all these1 shall it break in pieces and bruise4 #da4 ,and whereas thou sawest the feet and toes1 part of potters' clay1 and part of iron1 the kingdom shall be divided2 but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron1 forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay4 #db4 ,and as the toes of the feet were part of iron1 and part of clay1 so the kingdom shall be partly strong1 and partly broken4 #dc4 ,and whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay1 they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men3 but they shall not cleave one to another1 even as iron is not mixed with clay4 #dd4 ,and in the days of these kings shall the ,god of heaven set up a kingdom1 which shall never be destroyed3 and the kingdom shall not be left to other people1 but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms1 and it shall stand for ever4 #de4 ,forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands1 and that it brake in pieces the iron1 the brass1 the clay1 the silver1 and the gold2 the great ,god hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter3 and the dream is certain1 and the interpretation thereof sure4 #df4 ,then the king ,nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face1 and worshipped ,daniel1 and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him4 #dg4 ,the king answered unto ,daniel1 and said1 ,of a truth it is1 that your ,god is a ,god of gods1 and a ,lord of kings1 and a revealer of secrets1 seeing thou couldest reveal this secret4 #dh4 ,then the king made ,daniel a great man1 and gave him many great gifts1 and made him ruler over the whole province of ,babylon1 and chief of the governors over all the wise men of ,babylon4 #di4 ,then ,daniel requested of the king1 and he set ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego1 over the affairs of the province of ,babylon3 but ,daniel sat in the gate of the king4'--,,daniel ii4 #cf-di4 ,the colossal image1 seen by ,nebuchadnezzar in his dream1 was a reproduction of those which met his waking eyes1 and still remain for our wonder in our museums4 ,the mingled materials are paralleled in ancient art4 ,the substance of the dream is no less natural than its form4 ,the one is suggested by familiar sights2 the other1 by pressing anxieties4 ,what more likely than that1 'in the second year of his reign' 7v4 #a71 waking thoughts of the future of his monarchy should trouble the warrior-king1 scarcely yet firm on his throne1 and should repeat themselves in nightly visions8 ,god spoke through the dream1 and ,he is not wont to answer questions before they are asked1 nor to give revelations to men on points which they have not sought to solve4 ,we may be sure that ,nebuchadnezzar's dream met his need4 ,the unreasonable demand that the ',chaldeans' should show the dream as well as interpret it1 fits the character of the king1 as an imperious despot1 intolerant of obstacles to his will1 and holding human life very cheap4 ,daniel's knowledge of the dream and of its meaning is given to him in a vision by night1 which is the method of divine illumination throughout the book1 and may be regarded as a lower stage thereof than the communications to prophets of 'the word of the ,lord4' ,the passage falls into two parts3 the image and the stone4 ,i4 ,the ,image4 ,it was a human form of strangely mingled materials1 of giant size no doubt1 and of majestic aspect4 ,barbarous enough it would have looked beside the marble lovelinesses of ,greece1 but it was quite like the coarser art which sought for impressiveness through size and costliness4 ,other people than ,babylonian sculptors think that bigness is greatness1 and dearness preciousness4 ,this image embodied what is now called a philosophy of history4 ,it set forth the fruitful idea of a succession and unity in the rise and fall of conquerors and kingdoms4 ,the four empires represented by it are diverse1 and yet parts of a whole1 and each following on the other4 ,so the truth is taught that history is an organic whole1 however unrelated its events may appear to a superficial eye4 ,the writer of this book had learned lessons far in advance of his age1 and not yet fully grasped by many so-called historians4 ,but1 further1 the human figure of the image sets forth all these kingdoms as being purely the work of men4 ,not that the overruling divine providence is ignored1 but that the play of human passions1 the lust of conquest and the like1 and the use of human means1 such as armies1 are emphasised4 ,again1 the kingdoms are seen in their brilliancy1 as they would naturally appear to the thoughts of a conqueror1 whose highest notion of glory was earthly dominion1 and who was indifferent to the suffering and blood through which he waded to a throne4 ,when the same kingdoms are shown to ,daniel in chapter vii4 they are represented by beasts4 ,their cruelty and the destruction of life which they caused were uppermost in a prophet's view2 their vulgar splendour dazzled a king's sleeping eyes1 because it had intoxicated his waking thoughts4 ,much worldly glory and many of its aims appear as precious metal to dreamers1 but are seen by an illuminated sight to be bestial and destructive4 ,once more there is a steady process of deterioration in the four kingdoms4 ,gold is followed by silver1 and that by brass1 and that by the strange combination of iron and clay4 ,this may simply refer to the diminution of worldly glory1 but it may also mean deterioration1 morally and otherwise4 ,is it not the teaching of ,scripture that1 unless ,god interpose1 society will steadily slide downwards8 ,and has not the fact been so1 wherever the brake and lever of revelation have not arrested the decline and effected elevation8 ,we are told nowadays of evolution1 as if the progress of humanity were upwards2 but if you withdraw the influence of supernatural revelation1 the evidence of power in manhood to work itself clear of limitations and lower forms is very ambiguous at the best--in reference to morals1 at all events4 ,evil is capable of development1 as well as good2 and perhaps ,nebuchadnezzar's colossus is a truer representation of the course of humanity than the dreams of modern thinkers who see manhood becoming steadily better by its own effort1 and think that the clay and iron have inherent power to pass into fine gold4 ,the question of the identification of these successive monarchies does not fall to be discussed here4 ,but ,i may observe that the definite statement of verse #dd 7'in the days of these kings'7 seems to date the rise of the everlasting kingdom of ,god in the period of the last of the four1 and therefore that the old interpretation of the fourth kingdom as the ,roman seems the most natural4 ,the force of that remark may1 no doubt1 be weakened by the consideration that the ,old ,testament prophets' perspective of the future brought the coming of ,messiah into immediate juxtaposition with the limits of their own vision2 but still it has force4 ,the allocation of each part of the symbol is of less importance for us than the lessons to be drawn from it as a whole4 ,but the singular amalgam of iron and clay in the fourth kingdom is worth notice4 ,no sculptor or metallurgist could make a strong unity out of such materials1 of which the combination could only be apparent and superficial4 ,the fact to which it points is the artificial unity into which the great conquering empires of old crushed their unfortunate subject peoples1 who were hammered1 not fused1 together4 ',they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men' 7ver4 #dc71 may either refer to the attempts to bring about unity by marriages among different races1 or to other vain efforts to the same end4 ,to obliterate nationalities has always been the conquering despot's effort1 from ,nebuchadnezzar to the ,czar of ,russia1 and it always fails4 ,this is the weakness of these huge empires of antiquity1 which have no internal cohesion1 and tumble to pieces as soon as some external bond is loosened4 ,there is only one kingdom which has no disintegrating forces lodged in it1 because it unites men individually to its king1 and so binds them to one another2 and that is the kingdom which ,nebuchadnezzar saw in its destructive aspect4 ,,ii4 ,so we have now to think of the stone cut out without hands4 ,three things are specified with regard to it3 its origin1 its duration1 and its destructive energy4 ,the origin is heavenly1 in sharp contrast to the human origin of the kingdoms symbolised in the colossal man4 ,that idea is twice expressed3 once in plain words1 'the ,god of heaven shall set up a kingdom'2 and once figuratively as being cut out of the mountain without hands4 ,by the mountain we are probably to understand ,zion1 from which1 according to many a prophecy1 the ,messiah ,king was to rule the earth 7,ps4 ii42 ,isa4 ii4 #c74 ,the fulfilment of this prediction is found1 not only in the supernatural birth of ,jesus ,christ1 but in the spread of the gospel without any of the weapons and aids of human power4 ,twelve poor men spoke1 and the world was shaken and the kingdoms remoulded4 ,the seer had learned the omnipotence of ideas and the weakness of outward force4 ,a thought from ,god is stronger than all armies1 and outconquers conquerors4 ,by the mystery of ,christ's ,incarnation1 by the power of weakness in the preachers of the ,cross1 by the energies of the transforming ,spirit1 the ,god of heaven has set up the kingdom4 ',it shall never be destroyed4' ,its divine origin guarantees its perpetual duration4 ,the kingdoms of man's founding1 whether they be in the realm of thought or of outward dominion1 'have their day1 and cease to be1' but the kingdom of ,christ lasts as long as the eternal life of its ,king4 ,he cannot die any more1 and ,he cannot live discrowned4 ,other forms of human association perish1 as new conditions come into play which antiquate them2 but the kingdom of ,jesus is as flexible as it is firm1 and has power to adapt to itself all conditions in which men can live4 ,it will outlast earth1 it will fill eternity2 for when ,he 'shall have delivered up the kingdom to ,his ,father1' the kingdom1 which the ,god of heaven set up1 will still continue4 ,it 'shall not be left to other people4' ,by that1 seems to be meant that this kingdom will not be like those of human origin1 in which dominion passes from one race to another1 but that ,israel shall ever be the happy subjects and the dominant race4 ,we must interpret the words of the spiritual ,israel1 and remember how to be ,christ's subject is to belong to a nation who are kings and priests4 ,the destructive power is graphically represented4 ,the stone1 detached from the mountain1 and apparently self-moved1 dashes against the heterogeneous mass of iron and clay on which the colossus insecurely stands1 and down it comes with a crash1 breaking into a thousand fragments as it falls4 ',like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors' 7,daniel ii4 #ce7 is the debris1 which is whirled out of sight by the wind4 ,christ and ,his kingdom have reshaped the world4 ,these ancient1 hideous kingdoms of blood and misery are impossible now4 ,christ and ,his gospel shattered the ,roman empire1 and cast ,europe into another mould4 ,they have destructive work to do yet1 and as surely as the sun rises daily1 will do it4 ,the things that can be shaken will be shaken till they fall1 and human society will never obtain its stable form till it is moulded throughout after the pattern of the kingdom of ,christ4 ,the vision of our passage has no reference to the quickening power of the kingdom2 but the best way in which it destroys is by transformation4 ,it slays the old and lower forms of society by substituting the purer which flow from possession of the one ,spirit4 ,that highest glory of the work of ,christ is but partially represented here1 but there is a hint in ,daniel ii4 #ce1 which tells that the stone has a strange vitality1 and can grow1 and does grow1 till it becomes an earth-filling mountain4 ,that issue is not reached yet2 but 'the dream is certain4' ,the kingdom is concentrated in its ,king1 and the life of ,jesus1 diffused through ,his servants1 works to the increase of the empire1 and will not cease till the kingdoms of the world are the kingdoms of our ,god and of ,his ,christ4 ,that stone has vital power1 and if we build on it we receive1 by wonderful impartation1 a kindred derived life1 and become 'living stones4' ,it is laid for a sure foundation4 ,if a man stumble over it while it lies there to be built upon1 he will lame and maim himself4 ,but it will one day have motion given to it1 and1 falling from the height of heaven1 when ,he comes to judge the world which ,he rules and has redeemed1 it will grind to powder all who reject the rule of the everlasting ,king of men4 ,,harmless ,,fires ',then ,nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego4 ,then they brought these men before the king4 #ad4 ,nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them1 ,is it true1 ,o ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego1 do not ye serve my gods1 nor worship the golden image which ,i have set up8 #ae4 ,now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet1 flute1 harp1 sackbut1 psaltery1 and dulcimer1 and all kinds of musick1 ye fall down and worship the image which ,i have made2 well3 but if ye worship not1 ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace2 and who is that ,god that shall deliver you out of my hands8 #af4 ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego1 answered and said to the king1 ,o ,nebuchadnezzar1 we are not careful to answer thee in this matter4 #ag4 ,if it be so1 our ,god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace1 and ,he will deliver us out of thine hand1 ,o king4 #ah4 ,but if not1 be it known unto thee1 ,o king1 that we will not serve thy gods1 nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up4 #ai4 ,then was ,nebuchadnezzar full of fury1 and the form of his visage was changed against ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego3 therefore he spake1 and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated4 #bj4 ,and he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego1 and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace4 #ba4 ,then these men were bound in their coats1 their hosen1 and their hats1 and their other garments1 and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace4 #bb4 ,therefore because the king's commandment was urgent1 and the furnace exceeding hot1 the flame of the fire slew those men that took up ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego4 #bc4 ,and these three men1 ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego1 fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace4 #bd4 ,then ,nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied1 and rose up in haste1 and spake1 and said unto his counsellors1 ,did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire8 ,they answered and said unto the king1 ,true1 ,o king4 #be4 ,he answered and said1 ,lo1 ,i see four men loose1 walking in the midst of the fire1 and they have no hurt2 and the form of the fourth is like the ,son of ,god4'--,,daniel iii4 #ac-be4 ,the way in which the ',chaldeans' describe the three recusants1 betrays their motive in accusing them4 ',certain ,jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of ,babylon' could not but be envied and hated1 since their promotion wounded both national pride and professional jealousy4 ,the form of the accusation was skilfully calculated to rouse a despot's rage4 ',they have not regarded thee' is the head and front of their offending4 ,the inflammable temper of the king blazed up according to expectation1 as is the way with tyrants4 ,his passion of rage is twice mentioned 7vs4 #ac1 #ai71 and in one of the instances1 is noted as distorting his features4 ,what a picture of ungoverned fury as of one who had never been thwarted6 ,it is the true portrait of an ,eastern despot4 ,where was ,daniel in this hour of danger8 ,his absence is not accounted for1 and conjecture is useless2 but the fact that he has no share in the incident seems to raise a presumption in favour of the disputed historical character of the ,book1 which1 if it had been fiction1 could scarcely have left its hero out of so brilliant an instance of faithfulness to ,jehovah4 ,nebuchadnezzar's vehement address to the three culprits is very characteristic and instructive4 ,fixed determination to enforce his mandate1 anger which breaks into threats that were by no means idle1 and a certain wish to build a bridge for the escape of servants who had done their work well1 are curiously mingled in it4 ,his question1 best rendered as in the ,revised ,version1 ',is it of purpose 444 that ye' do so and so8 seems meant to suggest that they may repair their fault by pleading inadvertence1 accident1 or the like1 and that ,he will accept the transparent excuse4 ,the renewed offer of an opportunity of worship does not say what will happen should they obey2 and the omission makes the clause more emphatic1 as insisting on the act1 and slurring over the self-evident result4 ,on the other hand1 in the next clause the act is slightly touched 7'if ye worship not'72 and all the stress comes on the grim description of the consequence4 ,this monarch1 who has been accustomed to bend men's wills like reeds1 tries to shake these three obstinate rebels by terror1 and opens the door of the furnace1 as it were1 to let them hear it roar4 ,he finishes with a flash of insolence which1 if not blasphemy1 at least betrays his belief that he was stronger than any god of his conquered subject peoples4 ,but the main point to notice in this speech is the unconscious revelation of his real motive in demanding the act of worship4 ,the crime of the three was not that they worshipped wrongly1 but that they disobeyed ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,he speaks of 'my gods'1 and of the 'image which ,i have set up4' ,probably it was an image of the god of the ,babylonian pantheon whom he took for his special patron1 and was erected in commemoration of some victorious campaign4 ,at all events1 the worship required was an act of obedience to him1 and to refuse it was rebellion4 ,idolatry is tolerant of any private opinions about gods1 and intolerant of any refusal to obey authority in worship4 ,so the early ,christians were thrown to the lions1 not because they worshipped ,jesus1 but because they would not sacrifice at the ,emperor's command4 ,it is not only heathen rulers who have confounded the spheres of civil and religious obedience4 ,nonconformity in ,england was long identified with disloyalty2 and in many so-called ,christian countries to-day a man may think what he likes1 and worship as he pleases in his chamber1 if only he will decently comply with authority and pretend to unite in religious ceremonies1 which those who appoint and practise them observe with tongue in cheek4 ,but we may draw another lesson from this truculent apostle of his god4 ,he is not the only instance of apparent religious zeal which is at bottom nothing but masterfulness4 ',you shall worship my god1 not because he is ,god1 but because he is mine4' ,that is the real meaning of a great deal which calls itself 'zeal for the ,lord4' ,the zealot's own will1 opinions1 fancies1 are crammed down other people's throats1 and the insult in not thinking or worshipping as he does1 is worse in his eyes than the offence against ,god4 ,the kind of furnace in which recusants are roasted has changed since ,nebuchadnezzar's time1 and what is called persecution for religion is out of fashion now4 ,but every advance in the application of ,christian principle to social and civil life brings a real martyrdom on its advocates4 ,every audacious refusal to bow to the habits or opinions of the majority1 is visited by consequences which only the martyr spirit will endure4 ,despots have no monopoly of imperious intolerance4 ,a democracy is more cruel and more impatient of singularity1 and especially of religious singularity1 than any despot4 ,england and ,america have no need to fear the old forms of religious persecution4 ,in both1 a man may profess and proclaim any kind of religion or of no religion4 ,but in both1 the advance guard of the ,christian ,church1 which seeks to apply ,christ's teachings more rigidly to individual and social life1 has to face obloquy1 ostracism1 misrepresentation1 from the world and the fossil church1 for not serving their gods1 nor worshipping the golden image which they have set up4 ,martyrs will be needed and persecutors will exist till the world is ,christian4 ,how did the three confessors meet this rumble of thunder about their ears8 ,the quiet determination of their reply is very striking and beautiful4 ,it is perfectly loyal1 and perfectly unshaken4 ',we have no need to answer thee' 7,revised ,version74 ',it is ill sitting at ,rome and striving with the ,pope4' ,nebuchadnezzar's palace was not precisely the place to dispute with ,nebuchadnezzar2 and as his logic was only ',do as ,i bid you1 or burn1' the sole reply possible was1 ',we will not do as you bid1 and we will burn4' ,the ',if' which is immediately spoken is already in the minds of the speakers1 when they say that they do not need to answer4 ,they think that ,god will take up the taunt which ended the king's tirade4 ,beautifully they are silent1 and refer the blusterer to ,god1 whose voice they believe that ,he will hear in ,his deed4 ',but ,thou shalt answer1 ,lord1 for me1' is the true temper of humble faith1 dumb before power as a sheep before her shearers1 and yet confident that the meek will not be left unvindicated4 ,let us leave ourselves in ,god's hands2 and when conscience accuses1 or the world maligns or threatens1 let us be still1 and feel that we have ,one to speak for us1 and so we may hold our peace4 ,the rendering of verse #ag is doubtful1 but the general meaning is clear4 ,the brave speakers have hope that ,god will rebuke the king's taunt1 and will prove ,himself to be able to deliver out of his hand4 ,so they repeat his very words with singular boldness1 and contradict him to his face4 ,they have no absolute certainty of deliverance1 but whether it comes or not will make no manner of difference to them4 ,they have absolute certainty as to duty2 and so they look the furious tyrant right in the eyes1 and quietly say1 ',we will not serve thy gods4' ,nothing like that had ever been heard in those halls4 ,duty is sovereign4 ,the obligation to resist all temptations to go against conscience is unaffected by consequences4 ,there may be hope that ,god will not suffer us to be harmed1 but whether ,he does or not should make no difference to our fixed resolve4 ,that temper of lowly faith and inflexible faithfulness which these ,hebrews showed in the supreme moment1 when they took their lives in their hands1 may be as nobly illustrated in the small difficulties of our peaceful lives4 ,the same laws shape the curves of the tiny ripples in a basin and of the ,atlantic rollers4 ,no man who cannot say ',i will not' in the face of frowns and dangers1 be they what they may1 and stick to it1 will do his part1 ,he who has conquered regard for personal consequences1 and does not let them deflect his course a hairsbreadth1 is lord of the world4 ,how small ,nebuchadnezzar was by the side of his three victims6 ,how empty his threats to men who cared nothing whether they burned or not1 so long as they did not apostatise6 ,what can the world do against a man who says1 ',it is all one to me whether ,i live or die2 ,i will not worship at your shrines8' ,the fire of the furnace is but painted flames to such an one4 ,the savage punishment intended for the audacious rebels is abundantly confirmed as common in ,babylon by the inscriptions1 which may be seen quoted by many commentators4 ,the narrative is exceedingly graphic4 ,we see the furious king1 with features inflamed with passion4 ,we hear his hoarse1 angry orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter1 which he forgot would be a mercy1 as shortening the victims' agonies4 ,we see the swift execution of the commands1 and the unresisting martyrs bound as they stood1 and dragged away by the soldiers to the near furnace1 the king following4 ,its shape is a matter of doubt4 ,probably the three were thrown in from above1 and so the soldiers were caught by the flames4 ',and these three men 444 fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace' ,their helplessness and desperate condition are pathetically suggested by that picture1 which might well be supposed to be the last of them that mortal eyes would see4 ,down into the glowing mass1 like chips of wood into ,vesuvius1 they sank4 ,the king sitting watching1 to glut his fury by the sight of their end1 had some way of looking into the core of the flames4 ,the story shifts its point of view with very picturesque abruptness after verse #bc4 ,the vaunting king shall tell what he saw1 and thereby convict himself of insolent folly in challenging 'any god' to deliver out of his hand4 ,he alone seems to have seen the sight1 which he tells to his courtiers4 ,the bonds were gone1 and the men walking free in the fire1 as if it had been their element4 ,three went in bound1 four walk there at large2 and the fourth is 'like a son of the gods1' by which expression ,nebuchadnezzar can have meant nothing more than he had learned from his religion2 namely1 that the gods had offspring of superhuman dignity4 ,he calls the same person an angel in ,daniel iii4 #bh4 ,he speaks there as the three would have spoken1 and here as ,babylonian mythology spoke4 ,but the great lesson to be gathered from this miracle of deliverance is simply that men who sacrifice themselves for ,god find in the sacrifice abundant blessing4 ,they may1 or may not1 be delivered from the external danger4 ,peter was brought out of prison the night before his intended martyrdom2 ,james1 the brother of ,john1 was slain with the sword1 but ,god was equally near to both1 and both were equally delivered from ',herod and from all the expectation of the people of the ,jews4' ,the disposal of the outward event is in ,his hands1 and is a comparatively small matter4 ,but no furnace into which a man goes because he will be true to ,god1 and will not yield up his conscience1 is a tenth part so hot as it seems1 and it will do no real harm4 ,the fire burns bonds1 but not ,christ's servants1 consuming many things that entangled1 and setting them free4 ',i will walk at liberty3 for ,i seek ,thy precepts'--even if we have to walk in the furnace4 ,no trials faced in obedience to ,god will be borne alone4 ',when thou passest through the waters1 ,i will be with thee2 444 when thou walkest through the fire1 thou shalt not be burned4' ,the form which ,nebuchadnezzar saw amid the flame1 as invested with more than human majesty1 may have been but one of the ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the martyrs--the embodiment of the divine power which kept the flames from kindling upon them4 ,but we have ,jesus for our ,companion in all trials1 and ,his presence makes it possible for us to pass over hot ploughshares with unblistered feet2 to bathe our hands in fire and not feel the pain2 to accept the sorest consequences of fidelity to ,him1 and count them as 'not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed1' and is made more glorious through these light afflictions4 ,a present ,christ will never fail ,his servants1 and will make the furnace cool even when its fire is fiercest4 ,,mene1 ,,tekel1 ,,peres ',then ,daniel answered and said before the king1 ,let thy gifts be to thyself1 and give thy rewards to another3 yet ,i will read the writing unto the king1 and make known to him the interpretation4 #ah4 ,o thou king1 the most high ,god gave ,nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom1 and majesty1 and glory1 and honour3 #ai4 ,and for the majesty that he gave him1 all people1 nations1 and languages1 trembled and feared before him3 whom he would he slew2 and whom he would he kept alive2 and whom he would he set up2 and whom he would he put down4 #bj4 ,but when his heart was lifted up1 and his mind hardened in pride1 he was deposed from his kingly throne1 and they took his glory from him3 #ba4 ,and he was driven from the sons of men2 and his heart was made like the beasts1 and his dwelling was with the wild asses3 they fed him with grass like oxen1 and his body was wet with the dew of heaven2 till he knew that the most high ,god ruled in the kingdom of men1 and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will4 #bb4 ,and thou his son1 ,o ,belshazzar1 hast not humbled thine heart1 though thou knewest all this3 #bc4 ,but hast lifted up thyself against the ,lord of ,heaven3 and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee1 and thou1 and thy lords1 thy wives1 and thy concubines1 have drunk wine in them2 and thou hast praised the gods of silver1 and gold1 of brass1 iron1 wood1 and stone1 which see not1 nor hear1 nor know3 and the ,god in whose hand thy breath is1 and whose are all thy ways1 hast thou not glorified3 #bd4 ,then was the part of the hand sent from him2 and this writing was written4 #be4 ,and this is the writing that was written1 ',,mene1 ,,mene1 ,,tekel1 ,,upharsin4' #bf4 ,this is the interpretation of the thing3 ,,mene2 ,god hath numbered thy kingdom1 and finished it4 #bg4 ,,tekel2 ,thou art weighed in the balances1 and art found wanting4 #bh4 ,,peres2 ,thy kingdom is divided1 and given to the ,medes and ,persians4 #bi4 ,then commanded ,belshazzar1 and they clothed ,daniel with scarlet1 and put a chain of gold about his neck1 and made a proclamation concerning him1 that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom4 #cj4 ,in that night was ,belshazzar the king of the ,chaldeans slain4 #ca4 ,and ,darius the ,median took the kingdom1 being about threescore and two years old4'--,,daniel v4 #ag-ca4 ,belshazzar is now conceded to have been a historical personage1 the son of the last monarch of ,babylon1 and the other name in the narrative which has been treated as erroneous--namely1 ,darius--has not been found to be mentioned elsewhere1 but is not thereby proved to be a blunder4 ,for why should it not be possible for ,scripture to preserve a name that secular history has not yet been ascertained to record1 and why must it always be assumed that1 if ,scripture and cuneiform or other documents differ1 it is ,scripture that must go to the wall8 ,we do not deal with the grim picture of the drunken orgy1 turned into abject terror as 'the fingers of a man's hand' came forth out of empty air1 and in the full blaze of 'the candlestick' wrote the illegible signs4 ,there is something blood-curdling in the visibility of but a part of the hand and its busy writing4 ,whose was the body1 and where was it8 ,no wonder if the riotous mirth was frozen into awe1 and the wine lost flavour4 ,nor need we do more than note the craven-hearted flattery addressed to ,daniel by the king1 who apparently had never heard of him till the queen spoke of him just before4 ,we have to deal with the indictment1 the sentence1 and the execution4 ,i4 ,the indictment4 ,daniel's tone is noticeably stern4 ,he has no reverential preface1 no softening of his message4 ,his words are as if cut with steel on the rock4 ,he brushes aside the promises of vulgar decorations and honours with undisguised contempt1 and goes straight to his work of rousing a torpid conscience4 ,babylon was the embodiment and type of the godless world-power1 and ,belshazzar was the incarnation of the spirit which made ,babylon4 ,so ,daniel's indictment gathers together the main forms of sin1 which cleave to every godless national or individual life4 ,and he begins with that feather-brained frivolity which will learn nothing by example4 ,nebuchadnezzar's fate might have taught his successors what came of ,god-forgetting arrogance1 and attributing success to oneself2 and his restoration might have been an object-lesson to teach that devout recognition of the ,most ,high as sovereign was the beginning of a king's prosperity and sanity4 ,but ,belshazzar knew all this1 and ignored it all4 ,was he singular in that8 ,is not the world full of instances of the ruin that attends godlessness1 which yet do not check one godless man in his career8 ,the wrecks lie thick on the shore1 but their broken sides and gaunt skeletons are not warnings sufficient to keep a thousand other ships from steering right on to the shoals4 ,of these godless lives it is true1 ',this their way is their folly2 yet their posterity approve their sayings1' and their doings1 and say and do them over again4 ,incapacity to learn by example is a mark of godless lives4 ,further1 ,belshazzar 'lifted up' himself 'against the ,lord of heaven1' and 'glorified not ,him in whose hand was his breath and whose were all his ways4' ,the very essence of all sin is that assertion of self as ,lord1 as sufficient1 as the director of one's path4 ,to make myself my centre1 to depend on myself1 to enthrone my own will as sovereign1 is to fly in the face of nature and fact1 and is the mother of all sin4 ,to live to self is to die while we live2 to live to ,god is to live even while we die4 ,nations and individuals are ever tempted thus to ignore ,god1 and rebelliously to say1 ',who is ,lord over us8' or presumptuously to think themselves architects of their own fortunes1 and sufficient for their own defence4 ,whoever yields to that temptation has let the 'prince of the devils' in1 and the inferior evil spirits will follow4 ,positive acts are not needed2 the negative omission to 'glorify' the ,god of our life binds sin on us4 ,further1 ,belshazzar1 the type of godlessness1 had desecrated the sacrificial vessels by using them for his drunken carouse1 and therein had done just what we do when we take the powers of heart and mind and will1 which are meant to be filled with affections1 thoughts1 and purposes1 that are 'an odour of a sweet smell1 well-pleasing to ,god1' and desecrate them by pouring from them libations before creatures4 ,is not love profaned when it is lavished on men or women without one reference to ,god8 ,is not the intellect desecrated when its force is spent on finite objects of thought1 and never a glance towards ,god8 ,is not the will prostituted from its high vocation when it is used to drive the wheels of a ,god-ignoring life8 ,the coin bears the image and superscription of the true king4 ,it is treason to ,god to render it to any paltry ',caesar' of our own coronation4 ,belshazzar was an avowed idolater1 but many of us are worshipping gods 'which see not1 nor hear1 nor know' as really as he did4 ,we cannot but do so1 if we are not worshipping ,god2 for men must have some person or thing which they regard as their supreme good1 to which the current of their being sets1 which1 possessed1 makes them blessed2 and that is our god1 whether we call it so or not4 ,further1 ,belshazzar was carousing while the ,medes and ,persians were ringing ,babylon round1 and his hand should have been grasping a sword1 not a wine-cup4 ,drunkenness and lust1 which sap manhood1 are notoriously stimulated by peril1 as many a shipwreck tells when desperate men break open the spirit casks1 and go down to their death intoxicated1 and as many an epidemic shows when morality is flung aside1 and mad vice rules and reels in the streets before it sinks down to die4 ,a nation or a man that has shaken off ,god will not long keep sobriety or purity4 ,,ii4 ,after the stern catalogue of sins comes the tremendous sentence4 ,daniel speaks like an embodied conscience1 or like an avenging angel1 with no word of pity1 and no effort to soften or dilute the awful truth4 ,the day for wrapping up grim facts in muffled words was past4 ,now the only thing to be done was to bare the sword1 and let its sharp edge cut4 ,the inscription1 as given in verse #be1 is simply ',numbered1 numbered1 weighed and breakings4' ,the variation in verse #bh 7,peres7 is the singular of the noun used in the plural in verse #be1 with the omission of ',u1' which is merely the copulative 'and4' ,the disjointed brevity adds to the force of the words4 ,apparently1 they were not written in a character which 'the king's wise men' could read1 and probably were in ,aramaic letters as well as language1 which would be familiar to ,daniel4 ,of course1 a play on the word ',peres' suggests the ,persian as the agent of the breaking4 ,daniel simply supplied the personal application of the oracular writing4 ,he fits the cap on the king's head4 ',god hath numbered thy kingdom 444 thou art weighed 444 thy kingdom is divided' 7broken74 ,these three fatal words carry in them the summing up of all divine judgment1 and will be rung in the ears of all who bring it on themselves4 ,belshazzar is a type of the end of every godless world-power and of every such individual life4 ',numbered'--for ,god allows to each his definite time1 and when its sum is complete1 down falls the knife that cuts the threads4 ',weighed'--for 'after death the judgment1' and a godless life1 when laid in the balance which ,his hand holds1 is 'altogether lighter than vanity4' ',breakings'--for not only will the godless life be torn away from its possessions with much laceration of heart and spirit1 but the man himself will be broken like some earthen vessel coming into sharp collision with an express engine4 ,belshazzar saw the handwriting on the same night in which it was carried out in act2 we see it long before1 and we can read it4 ,but some of us are mad enough to sit unconcerned at the table1 and go on with the orgy1 though the legible letters are gleaming plain on the wall4 ,,iii4 ,the execution of the sentence need not occupy us long4 ,belshazzar so little realised the facts1 that he issued his order to deck out ,daniel in the tawdry pomp he had promised him1 as if a man with such a message would be delighted with purple robes and gold chains1 and made him third ruler of the kingdom which he had just declared was numbered and ended by ,god4 ,the force of folly could no further go4 ,no wonder that the hardy invaders swept such an ,imbecile from his throne without a struggle6 ,his blood was red among the lees of the wine-cups1 and the ominous writing could scarcely have faded from the wall when the shouts of the assailants were heard1 the palace gates forced1 and the half-drunken king1 alarmed too late1 put to the sword4 ',he that1 being often reproved1 hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed1 and that without remedy4' ,a ,,tribute ,,from ,,enemies ,then said these men1 ,we shall not find any occasion against this ,daniel1 except we find it against him concerning the law of his ,god4'--,,daniel vi4 #e4 ,daniel was somewhere about ninety years old when he was cast to the lions4 ,he had been for many years the real governor of the whole empire2 and1 of course1 in such a position had incurred much hatred and jealousy4 ,he was a foreigner and a worshipper of another ,god1 and therefore was all the more unpopular1 as a ,brahmin would be in ,england if he were a ,cabinet ,minister4 ,he was capable and honest1 and therefore all the incompetent and all the knavish officials would recognise in him their natural enemy4 ,so1 hostile intrigues1 which grow quickly in courts1 especially in ,eastern courts1 sprung up round him1 and his subordinates laid their heads together in order to ruin him4 ,they say1 in the words of my text1 ',we cannot find any holes to pick4 ,there is only one way to put him into antagonism to the law1 and that is by making a law which shall be in antagonism to ,god's law4' ,and so they scheme to have the mad regulation enacted1 which1 in the sequel of the story1 we find was enforced4 ,these intriguers say1 ',we shall not find any occasion against this ,daniel1 except we find it against him concerning the law of his ,god4' ,now1 then1 if we look at that confession1 wrung from the lips of malicious observers1 we may1 ,i think1 get two or three lessons4 ,i4 ,first1 note the very unfavourable soil in which a character of singular beauty and devout consecration may be rooted and grow4 ,what sort of a place was that court where ,daniel was8 ,half shambles and half pigsty4 ,luxury1 sensuality1 lust1 self-seeking1 idolatry1 ruthless cruelty1 and the like were the environment of this man4 ,and in the middle of these there grew up that fair flower of a character1 pure and stainless1 by the acknowledgment of enemies1 and in which not even accusers could find a speck or a spot4 ,there are no circumstances in which a man must have his garments spotted by the world4 ,however deep the filth through which he has to wade1 if ,god sent him there1 and if he keeps hold of ,god's hand1 his purity will be more stainless by reason of the impurity round him4 ,there were saints in ,caesar's household1 and depend upon it1 they were more saintly saints just because they were in ,caesar's household4 ,you will always find that people who have any goodness in them1 and who live in conditions unusually opposed to goodness1 have a clearer faith1 and a firmer grasp of their ,master1 and a higher ideal of ,christian life1 just because of the foulness in which they have to live4 ,it may sound a paradox1 but it is a deep truth that unfavourable circumstances are the most favourable for the development of ,christian character4 ,for that development comes1 not by what we draw from the things around1 but by what we draw from the soil in which we are rooted1 even ,god ,himself1 in whom the roots find both anchorage and nutriment4 ,and the more we are thrown back upon ,him1 and the less we find food for our best selves in the things about us1 the more likely is our religion to be robust and thorough-going1 and conscious ever of ,his presence4 ,resistance strengthens muscles1 and the more there is need for that in our ,christian lives1 the manlier and the stronger and the better shall we probably be4 ,let no man or woman say1 ',if only circumstances were more favourable1 oh1 what a saint ,i could be2 but how can ,i be one1 with all these unfavourable conditions8 ,how can a man keep the purity of his ,christian life and the fervour of his ,christian communion amidst the tricks and chicanery and small things of ,manchester business8 ,how can a woman find time to hold fellowship with ,god1 when all day long she is distracted in her nursery with all these children hanging on her to look after8 ,how can we1 in our actual circumstances1 reach the ideal of ,christian character8' ,ah1 brother1 if the ideal's being realised depends on circumstances1 it is a poor affair4 ,it depends on you1 and he that has vitality enough within him to keep hold of ,jesus ,christ1 has thereby power enough within him to turn enemies into friends1 and unfavourable circumstances into helps instead of hindrances4 ,your ship can sail wonderfully near to the wind if you trim the sails rightly1 and keep a good1 strong grip on the helm1 and the blasts that blow all but in your face1 may be made to carry you triumphantly into the haven of your desire4 ,remember ,daniel1 in that godless court reeking with lust and cruelty1 and learn that purity and holiness and communion with ,god do not depend on environment1 but upon the inmost will of the man4 ,,ii4 ,notice the keen critics that all good men have to face4 ,in this man's case1 of course1 their eyesight was mended by the microscope of envy and malice4 ,that is no doubt the case with some of us too4 ,but whether that be so or no1 however unobtrusive and quiet a ,christian person's life may be1 there will be some people standing close by who1 if not actually watching for his fall1 are at least by no means indisposed to make the worst of a slip1 and to rejoice over an inconsistency4 ,we do not need to complain of that4 ,it is perfectly reasonable and perfectly right4 ,there will always be a tendency to judge men1 who by any means profess that they are living by the highest law1 with a judgment that has very little charity in it4 ,and it is perfectly right that it should be so4 ,christian people need to be trained to be indifferent to men's opinions1 but they also need to be reminded that they are bound1 as the ,apostle says1 to 'provide things honest in the sight of all men4' ,it is a reasonable and right requirement that they should 'have a good report of them that are without4' ,be content to be tried by a high standard1 and do not wonder1 and do not forget that there are keen eyes watching your conduct1 in your home1 in your relations to your friends1 in your business1 in your public life1 which would weep no tears1 but might gleam with malicious satisfaction1 if they saw inconsistencies in you4 ,remember it1 and shape your lives so that they may be disappointed4 ,if a minister falls into any kind of inconsistency or sin1 if a professing ,christian makes a bad failure in ,manchester1 what a talk there is1 and what a pointing of fingers6 ,we sometimes think it is hard2 it is all right4 ,it is just what should be meted out to us4 ,let us remember that unslumbering tribunal which sits in judgment upon all our professions1 and is very ready to condemn1 and very slow to acquit4 ,,iii4 ,notice1 again1 the unblemished record4 ,these men could find no fault1 'forasmuch as ,daniel was faithful4' ,neither was there any error'--of judgment1 that is1--'or fault'--dereliction of duty1 that is1--'found in him4' ,they were very poor judges of his religion1 and they did not try to judge that2 but they were very good judges of his conduct as prime minister1 and they did judge that4 ,the world is a very poor critic of my ,christianity1 but it is a very sufficient one of my conduct4 ,it may not know much about the inward emotions of the ,christian life1 and the experiences in which the ,christian heart expatiates and loves to dwell1 but it knows what short lengths1 and light weights1 and bad tempers1 and dishonesty1 and selfishness are4 ,and it is by our conduct1 in the things that they and we do together1 that worldly men judge what we are in the solitary depths where we dwell in communion with ,god4 ,it is useless for ,christians to be talking1 as so many of them are fond of doing1 about their spiritual experiences and their religious joy1 and all the other sweet and sacred things which belong to the silent life of the spirit in ,god1 unless1 side by side with these1 there is the doing of the common deeds which the world is actually able to appraise in such a fashion as to extort1 even from them1 the confession1 ',we find no occasion against this man4' ,you remember the pregnant1 quaint old saying1 ',if a ,christian man is a shoeblack1 he ought to be the best shoeblack in the parish4' ,if we call ourselves ,christians1 we are bound1 by the very name1 to live in such a fashion as that men shall have no doubt of the reality of our profession and of the depth of our fellowship with ,christ4 ,it is by our common conduct that they judge us4 ,and the ',christian ,endeavourer' needs to remember1 whether he or she be old or young1 that the best sign of the reality of the endeavour is the doing of common things with absolute rightness1 because they are done wholly for ,christ's sake4 ,it is a sharp test1 and ,i wonder how many of us would like to go out into the world1 and say to all the irreligious people who know us1 ',now come and tell me what the faults are that you have seen in me4' ,there would be a considerable response to the invitation1 and perhaps some of us would learn to know ourselves rather better than we have been able to do4 ',we shall not find any occasion in this ,daniel'--,i wonder if they would find it in that ,daniel--'except we find it concerning the law of his ,god4' ,there is a record for a man6 ,,iv4 ,lastly1 note obedient disobedience4 ,the plot goes on the calculation that1 whatever happens1 this man may be trusted to do what his ,god tells him1 no matter who tells him not to do it4 ,and so on that calculation the law1 surely as mad a one as any ,eastern despot ever hatched1 is passed that1 for a given space of time1 nobody within the dominions of this king1 ,darius1 is to make any petition or request of any man or god1 save of the king only4 ,it was one of the long series of laws that have been passed in order to be broken1 and being broken1 might be an instrument to destroy the men that broke it4 ,it was passed with no intention of getting obedience1 but only with the intention of slaying one faithful man1 and the plot worked according to calculation4 ,what did it matter to ,daniel what was forbidden or commanded8 ,he needed to pray to ,god1 and nothing shall hinder him from doing that4 ,and so1 obediently disobedient1 he brushes the preposterous law of the poor1 shadowy ,darius on one side1 in order that he may keep the law of his ,god4 ,now ,i do not need to remind you how obedience to ,god has in the past often had to be maintained by disobedience to law4 ,i need not speak of martyrs1 nor of the great principle laid down so clearly by the apostle ,peter1 ',we ought to obey ,god rather than man4' ,nor need ,i remind you that if a man1 for conscience sake1 refuses to render active obedience to an unrighteous law1 and unresistingly accepts the appointed penalty1 he is not properly regarded as a law-breaker4 ,if earthly authorities command what is clearly contrary to ,god's law1 a ,christian is absolved from obedience1 and cannot be loyal unless he is a rebel4 ,that is how our forefathers read constitutional obligations4 ,that is how the noble men on the other side of the ,atlantic1 fifty years ago1 read their constitutional obligations in reference to that devilish institution of slavery4 ,and in the last resort--,god forbid that we should need to act on the principle--,christian men are set free from allegiance when the authority over them commands what is contrary to the will and the law of ,god4 ,but all that does not touch us4 ,but ,i will tell you what does touch us4 ,obedience to ,god needs always to be sustained--in some cases more markedly1 in some cases less so--but always in some measure1 by disobedience to the maxims and habits of most men round about us4 ,if they say ',do this1' and ,jesus ,christ says ',don't1' then they may talk as much as they like1 but we are bound to turn a deaf ear to their exhortations and threats4 ',he is a slave that dare not be ,in the right with two or three1' as that peaceful ,quaker poet of ,america sings4 ,and for us1 in our little lives1 the motto1 ',this did not ,i1 because of the fear of the ,lord1' is absolutely essential to all noble ,christian conduct4 ,unless you are prepared to be in the minority1 and now and then to be called 'narrow1' 'fanatic1' and to be laughed at by men because you will not do what they do1 but abstain and resist1 then there is little chance of your ever making much of your ,christian profession4 ,these people calculated upon ,daniel1 and they had a right to calculate upon him4 ,could the world calculate upon us1 that we would rather go to the lions' den than conform to what ,god and our consciences told us to be a sin8 ,if not1 we have not yet learned what it means to be a disciple4 ,the commandment comes to us absolutely1 as it came to the servants in the first miracle1 ',whatsoever ,he saith unto you'--that1 and that only--'whatsoever ,he saith unto you1 do it4' ,,faith ,,stopping ,,the ,,mouths ,,of ,,lions ',then the king commanded1 and they brought ,daniel1 and cast him into the den of lions4 ,now the king spake and said unto ,daniel1 ,thy ,god whom thou servest continually1 ,he will deliver thee4 #ag4 ,and a stone was brought1 and laid upon the mouth of the den2 and the king sealed it with his own signet1 and with the signet of his lords2 that the purpose might not be changed concerning ,daniel4 #ah4 ,then the king went to his palace1 and passed the night fasting3 neither were instruments of musick brought before him3 and his sleep went from him4 #ai4 ,then the king arose very early in the morning1 and went in haste unto the den of lions4 #bj4 ,and when he came to the den1 he cried with a lamentable voice unto ,daniel3 and the king spake and said to ,daniel1 ,o ,daniel1 servant of the living ,god1 is thy ,god1 whom thou servest continually1 able to deliver thee from the lions8 #ba4 ,then said ,daniel unto the king1 ,o king1 live for ever4 #bb4 ,my ,god hath sent ,his angel1 and hath shut the lions' mouths1 that they have not hurt me3 forasmuch as before ,him innocency was found in me2 and also before thee1 ,o king1 have ,i done no hurt1 #bc4 ,then was the king exceeding glad for him1 and commanded that they should take ,daniel up out of the den4 ,so ,daniel was taken up out of the den1 and no manner of hurt was found upon him1 because he believed in his ,god4 #bd4 ,and the king commanded1 and they brought those men which had accused ,daniel1 and they cast them into the den of lions1 them1 their children1 and their wives2 and the lions had the mastery of them1 and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den4 #be4 ,then king ,darius wrote unto all people1 nations1 and languages1 that dwell in all the earth2 ,peace be multiplied unto you4 #bf4 ,i make a decree1 ,that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the ,god of ,daniel3 for ,he is the living ,god1 and stedfast for ever1 and ,his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed1 and ,his dominion shall be even unto the end4 #bg4 ,he delivereth and rescueth1 and ,he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth1 who hath delivered ,daniel from the power of the lions4 #bh4 ,so this ,daniel prospered in the reign of ,darius1 and in the reign of ,cyrus the ,persian4'--,,daniel vi4 #af-bh4 ,daniel was verging on ninety when this great test of his faithfulness was presented to him4 ,he had been honoured and trusted through all the changes in the kingdom1 and1 when the ,medo-,persian conquest came1 the new monarch naturally found in him1 as a foreigner1 a more reliable minister than in native officials4 ',envy doth merit as its shade pursue1' and the crafty trick by which his subordinates tried to procure his fall1 was their answer to ,darius's scheme of making him prime minister4 ,our passage begins in the middle of the story1 but the earlier part will come into consideration in the course of our remarks4 ,i4 ,we note1 first1 the steadfast1 silent confessor and the weak king4 ,darius is a great deal more conspicuous in the narrative than ,daniel4 ,the victim of injustice is silent4 ,he does not seem to have been called on to deny or defend the indictment4 ,his deed was patent1 and the breach of the law flagrant4 ,he1 too1 was 'like a sheep before the shearers1' dumb4 ,his silence meant1 among other things1 a quiet1 patient1 fixed resolve to bear all1 and not to deny his ,god4 ,weak men bluster4 ,heroic endurance has generally little to say4 ,without resistance1 or a word1 the old man1 an hour ago the foremost in the realm1 is hauled off and flung into the pit or den4 ,it is useless and needless to ask its form4 ,the entrance was sealed with two seals1 one the king's1 one the conspirators'1 that neither party might steal a march on the other4 ,fellows in iniquity do not trust each other4 ,so1 down in the dark there1 with the glittering eyeballs of the brutes round him1 and their growls in his ears1 the old man sits all night long1 with peace in his heart1 and looking up trustfully1 through the hole in the roof1 to his ,protector's stars1 shining their silent message of cheer4 ,the passage dwells on the pitiable weakness and consequent unrest of the king4 ,he had not yielded ,daniel to his fate without a struggle1 which the previous narrative describes in strong language4 ',sore displeased1' he 'set his heart' on delivering him1 and 'laboured' to do so4 ,the curious obstacle1 limiting even his power1 is a rare specimen of conservatism in its purest form4 ,so wise were our ancestors1 that nothing of theirs shall ever be touched4 ,infallible legislators can make immutable laws2 the rest of us must be content to learn by blundering1 and to grow by changing4 ,the man who says1 ',i never alter my opinions1' condemns himself as either too foolish or too proud to learn4 ,but probably1 if the question had been about a law that was inconvenient to ,darius himself1 or to these advocates of the constitution as it has always been1 some way of getting round it would have been found out4 ,if the king had been bold enough to assert himself1 he could have walked through the cobweb4 ,but this is one of the miseries of yielding to evil counsels1 that one step taken calls for another4 ',in for a penny1 in for a pound4' ,therefore let us all take heed of small compliances1 and be sure that we can never say about any doubtful course1 ',thus far will ,i go1 and no farther4' ,darius was his servants' servant when once he had put his name to the arrogant decree4 ,he did not know the incidence of his act1 and we do not know that of ours2 therefore let us take heed of the quality of actions and motives1 since we are wholly incapable of estimating the sweep of their consequences4 ,darius's conduct to ,daniel was like ,herod's to ,john the ,baptist and ,pilate's to ,jesus4 ,in all the cases the judges were convinced of the victim's innocence1 and would have saved him2 but fear of others biassed justice1 and from selfish motives1 they let fierce hatred have its way4 ,such judges are murderers4 ,from all come the old lessons1 never too threadbare to be dinned into the ears1 especially of the young1 that to be weak is1 in a world so full of temptation1 the same as to be wicked1 and that he who has a sidelong eye to his supposed interest1 will never see the path of duty plainly4 ,what a feeble excuse to his own conscience was ,darius's parting word to ,daniel6 ',thy ,god1 whom thou servest continually1 ,he will deliver thee6' ,and was flinging him to the lions the right way to treat a man who served ,god continually8 ,or1 what right had ,darius to expect that any god would interfere to stop the consequences of his act1 which he thus himself condemned8 ,we are often tempted to think1 as he did1 that a divine intervention will come in between our evil deeds and their natural results4 ,we should be wiser if we did not do the things that1 by our own confession1 need ,god to avert their issues4 ,but that weak parting word witnessed to the impression made by the lifelong consistency of ,daniel4 ,he must be a good man who gets such a testimony from those who are harming him4 ,the busy minister of state had done his political work so as to extort that tribute from one who had no sympathy with his religion4 ,do we do ours in that fashion8 ,how many of our statesmen 'serve ,god continually' and obviously in their public life8 ,what a contrast between the night passed in the lions' den and the palace6 ',stone walls do not a prison make1 nor iron bars a cage1' and soft beds and luxurious delights of sense bring no ease to troubled consciences4 ,daniel is more at rest1 though his 'soul is among lions1' than ,darius in his palace4 ,peter sleeps soundly1 though the coming morning is to be his last4 ,better to be the victim than the doer of injustice6 ,the verdict of nightly thoughts on daily acts is usually true1 and if our deeds do not bear thinking of 'on our beds1' the sooner we cancel them by penitence and reversed conduct1 the better4 ,but weak men are often prone to swift and shallow regrets1 which do not influence their future any more than a stone thrown into the sea makes a permanent gap4 ,why should ,darius have waited for morning1 if his penitence had moved him to a firm resolution to undo the evil done8 ,he had better have sprung from his bed1 and gone with his guards to open the den in the dark4 ,feeble lamentations are out of place when it is still time to act4 ,the hurried rush to the den in the morning twilight1 and the 'lamentable voice1' so unlike royal impassiveness1 indicate the agitation of an impulsive nature1 accustomed to let the feeling of the moment sway it unchecked4 ,absolute power tends to make that type of man4 ,the question thrown into the den seems to imply that its interior was not seen4 ,if so1 the half-belief in ,daniel's survival is remarkable4 ,it indicates1 as before1 the impression of steadfast devoutness made by the old man's life1 and also a belief that his ,god was possibly a true and potent divinity4 ,such a belief was quite natural1 but it does not mean that ,darius was prepared to accept ,daniel's ,god as his god4 ,his religion was probably elastic and hospitable enough to admit that other nations might have other gods4 ,but his thoughts about this 'living ,god' are a strange medley4 ,he is not sure whether ,he is stronger than the royal lions1 and he does not seem to feel that if a god delivers1 his own act in surrendering a favoured servant of such a god looks very black4 ,a half-belief blinds men to the opposition between their ways and ,god's1 and to the certain issue of their going in one direction and ,god in another4 ,if ,daniel be delivered1 what will become of ,darius8 ,but1 like most men1 he is illogical1 and that question does not seem to have occurred to him4 ,surely this man may sit for a portrait of a weak1 passionate nature1 in the feebleness of his resistance to evil1 the half hopes that wrong would be kept from turning out so badly as it promised1 the childish moanings over wickedness that might still have been mended1 and the incapacity to take in the grave1 personal consequences of his crime4 ,,ii4 ,we next note the great deliverance4 ,the king does not see ,daniel1 and waits in sickening doubt whether any sound but the brutes' snarl at the disturber of their feast will be heard4 ,there must have been a sigh of relief when the calm accents were audible from the unseen depth4 ,and what dignity1 respect1 faith1 and innocence are in them6 ,even in such circumstances the usual form of reverential salutation to the king is remembered4 ,that night's work might have made a sullen rebel of ,daniel1 and small blame to him if he had had no very amiable feelings to ,darius2 but he had learned faithfulness in a good school1 and no trace of returning evil for evil was in his words or tones4 ,the formal greeting was much more than a form1 when it came up from among the lions4 ,it heaped coals of fire on the king's head1 let us hope1 and taught him1 if he needed the lesson1 that ,daniel's disobedience had not been disloyalty4 ,the more religion compels us to disregard the authority and practices of others1 the more scrupulously attentive should we be to demonstrate that we cherish all due regard to them1 and wish them well4 ,how simply1 and as if he saw nothing in it to wonder at1 he tells the fact of his deliverance6 ',my ,god has sent ,his angel1 and hath shut the lions' mouths4' ,he had not been able to say1 as the king did before the den was opened1 ',thy ,god will deliver thee'2 but he had gone down into it1 knowing that ,he was able1 and leaving himself in ,god's care4 ,so it was no surprise to him that he was safe4 ,thankfulness1 but not astonishment1 filled his heart4 ,so faith takes ,god's gifts1 however great and beyond natural possibility they may be2 for the greatest of them are less than the ,love which faith knows to move all things1 and whatsoever faith receives is just like ,him4 ,daniel did not say1 as ,darius did1 that he served ,god continually1 but he did declare his own innocency in ,god's sight and unimpeachable fidelity to the king4 ,his reference is probably mainly to his official conduct2 but the characteristic tone of the ,old ,testament saint is audible1 which ventured on professions of uprightness1 accordant with an earlier stage of revelation and religious consciousness1 but scarcely congruous with the deeper and more inward sense of sin produced by the full revelation in ,christ4 ,but if the tone of the latter part of verse #bb is somewhat strange to us1 the historian's summary in verse #bc gives the eternal truth of the matter3 ',no manner of hurt was found upon him1 because he had trusted in his ,god4' ,that is the basis of the reference in ,hebrews xi4 #cc3 ',through faith 444 stopped the mouths of lions4' ,simple trust in ,god brings ,his angel to our help1 and the deliverance1 which is ultimately to be ascribed to ,his hand muzzling the gaping beasts of prey1 may also be ascribed to the faith which sets ,his hand in motion4 ,the true cause is ,god1 but the indispensable condition without which ,god will not act1 and with which ,he cannot but act1 is our trust4 ,therefore all the great things which it is said to do are due1 not to anything in it1 but wholly to that of which it lays hold4 ,a foot or two of lead pipe is worth little1 but if it is the channel through which water flows into a city1 it is priceless4 ,faith may or may not bring external deliverances1 such as it brought to ,daniel2 but the good cheer which this story brings us does not depend on these4 ,when ,paul lay in ,rome1 shortly before his martyrdom1 the experience of ,daniel was in his mind1 as he thankfully wrote to ,timothy1 ',i was delivered out of the mouth of the lion4' ,he adds a hope which contrasts strangely1 at first sight1 with the clear expectation of a speedy and violent death1 expressed a moment or two before 7',i am already being offered1 and the time of my departure is come'7 when he says1 ',the ,lord will deliver me from every evil work'2 but he had learned that it was possible to pass through the evil and yet to be delivered from it1 and that a man might be thrown to the lions and devoured by them1 and yet be truly shielded from all harm from them4 ,so he adds1 ',and will save me unto ,his heavenly kingdom1' thereby teaching us that the true deliverance is that which carries us into1 or something nearer towards1 the eternal home4 ,thus understood1 the miracle of ,daniel's deliverance is continually repeated to all who partake of ,daniel's faith1 ',thou hast made the ,most ,high thy habitation 444 thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder4' ,the savage vengeance on the conspirators and the proclamation of ,darius must be left untouched4 ,the one is a ghastly example of retributive judgment1 in which1 as sometimes is the case even now1 men fall into the pit they have digged for others1 and it shows the barbarous cruelty of that gorgeous civilisation4 ,the other is an example of how far a man may go in perceiving and acknowledging the truth without its influencing his heart4 ,the decree enforces recognition of ,daniel's ,god1 in language which even prophets do not surpass2 but it is all lip-reverence1 as evanescent as superficial4 ,it takes more than a fright caused by a miracle to make a man a true servant of the living ,god4 ,the final verse of the passage implies ,daniel's restoration to rank1 and gives a beautiful1 simple picture of the old man's closing days1 which had begun so long before1 in such a different world as ,nebuchadnezzar's reign1 and closed in ,cyrus's1 enriched with all that should accompany old age--honour1 obedience1 troops of friends4 ',when a man's ways please the ,lord1 ,he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him4' ,a ,,new ,,years ,,message ',but go thou thy way till the end be3 for thou shalt rest1 and stand in thy lot at the end of the days4'--,,daniel xii4 #ac4 ,daniel had been receiving partial insight into the future by the visions recorded in previous chapters4 ,he sought for clearer knowledge1 and was told that the book of the future was sealed and closed1 so that no further enlightenment was possible for him4 ,but duty was clear1 whatever might be dark2 and there were some things in the future certain1 whatever might be problematic4 ,so he is bidden back to the common paths of life1 and is enjoined to pursue his patient course with an eye on the end to which it conducts1 and to leave the unknown future to unfold itself as it may4 ,i do not need1 ,i suppose1 to point the application4 ,anticipations of what may be before us have1 no doubt1 been more or less in the minds of all of us in the last few days4 ,the cast of them will have been very different1 according to age and present circumstances4 ,but bright or dark1 hopes or dreads1 they reveal nothing4 ,sometimes we think we see a little way ahead1 and then swirling mists hide all4 ,so ,i think that the words of my text may help us not only to apprehend the true task of the moment1 but to discriminate between the things in the unknown future that are hidden and those that stand clear4 ,there are three points1 then1 in this message--the journey1 the pilgrim's resting-place1 and the final home4 ',go thou thy way till the end be3 for thou shalt rest1 and stand in thy lot at the end of the days4' ,let us1 then1 look at these three points briefly4 ,i4 ,the journey4 ,that is a threadbare metaphor for life4 ,but threadbare as it is1 its significance is inexhaustible4 ,but before ,i deal with it1 note that very significant 'but' with which my text begins4 ,the ,prophet has been asking for a little more light to shine on the dark unknown that stretches before him4 ,and his request is negatived--',but go thou thy way4' ,in the connection that means1 ',do not waste your time in dreaming about1 or peering into1 what you can never see1 but fill the present with strenuous service4' ',go thou thy way4' ,never mind the far-off issues2 the step before you is clear1 and that is all that concerns you4 ,plod along the path1 and leave to-morrow to take care of itself4 ,there is a piece of plain practical wisdom1 none the less necessary for us to lay to heart because it is so obvious and commonplace4 ,and then1 if we turn to the emblem with which the continuity of daily life and daily work is set forth here1 as the path along which we travel1 how much wells up in the shape of suggestion1 familiar1 it may be1 but very needful and wholesome for us all to lay to heart6 ,the figure implies perpetual change4 ,the landscape glides past us1 and we travel on through it4 ,how impossible it would be for us older people to go back to the feelings1 to the beliefs1 to the tone and the temper with which we used to look at life thirty or forty years ago6 ,strangely and solemnly1 like the silent motion of some gliding scene in a theatre1 bit by bit1 inch by inch1 change comes over all surroundings1 and1 saddest of all1 in some aspects1 over ourselves4 ',we all are changed1 by still degrees1 ,all but the basis of the soul4' ,and it is foolish for us ever to forget that we live in a state of things in which constant alteration is the law1 as surely as1 when the train whizzes through the country1 the same landscape never meets the eye twice1 as the traveller looks through the windows4 ,let us1 then1 accept the fact that nothing abides with us1 and so not be bewildered nor swept away from our moorings1 nor led to vain regrets and paralysing retrospects when the changes that must come do come1 sometimes slowly and imperceptibly1 sometimes with stunning suddenness1 like a bolt out of the blue4 ,if life is truly represented under the figure of a journey1 nothing is more certain than that we sleep in a fresh hospice every night1 and leave behind us every day scenes that we shall never traverse again4 ,what madness1 then1 to be putting out eager and desperate hands to clutch what must be left1 and so to contradict the very law under which we live6 ,then another of the well-worn commonplaces which are so believed by us all that we never think about them1 and therefore need to be urged1 as ,i am trying1 poorly enough1 to do now--another of the commonplaces that spring from this image is that life is continuous4 ,geologists used to be divided into two schools1 one of whom explained everything by invoking great convulsions1 the other by appealing to the uniform action of laws4 ,there are no convulsions in life4 ,to-morrow is the child of to-day1 and yesterday was the father of this day4 ,what we are1 springs from what we have been1 and settles what we shall be4 ,the road leads somewhither1 and we follow it step by step4 ,as the old nursery rhyme has it-- ',one foot up and one foot down1 ,that's the way to ,london town4' ,we make our characters by the continual repetition of small actions4 ,let no man think of his life as if it were a heap of unconnected points4 ,it is a chain of links that are forged together inseparably4 ,let no man say1 ',i do this thing1 and there shall be no evil consequences impressed upon my life as results of it4' ,it cannot be4 ',to-morrow shall be as this day1 and much more abundant4' ,we shall to-morrow be more of everything that we are to-day1 unless by some strong effort of repentance and change we break the fatal continuity1 and make a new beginning by ,god's grace4 ,but let us lay to heart this1 as a very solemn truth which lifts up into mystical and unspeakable importance the things that men idly call trifles1 that life is one continuous whole1 a march towards a definite end4 ,and therefore we ought to see to it that the direction in which our life runs is one that conscience and ,god can approve4 ,and1 since the rapidity with which a body falls increases as it falls1 the more needful that we give the right direction and impulses to the life4 ,it will be a dreadful thing if our downward course acquires strength as it travels1 and being slow at first1 gains in celerity1 and accrues to itself mass and weight1 like an avalanche started from an ,alpine summit1 which is but one or two bits of snow and ice at first1 and falls at last into the ravine1 tons of white destruction4 ,the lives of many of us are like it4 ,further1 the metaphor suggests that no life takes its fitting course unless there is continuous effort4 ,there will be crises when we have to run with panting breath and strained muscles4 ,there will be long stretches of level commonplace where speed is not needed1 but 'pegging away' is1 and the one duty is persistent continuousness in a course4 ,but whether the task of the moment is to 'run and not be weary1' or to 'walk and not faint1' crises and commonplace stretches of land alike require continuous effort1 if we are to 'run with patience the race that is set before us4' ,mark the emphasis of my text1 ',go thy way till the end4' ,you1 my contemporaries1 you older men6 do not fancy that in the deepest aspect any life has ever a period in it in which a man may 'take it easy4' ,you may do that in regard to outward things1 and it is the hope and the reward of faithfulness in youth and middle age that1 when the grey hairs come to be upon us1 we may slack off a little in regard to outward activity4 ,but in regard to all the deepest things of life1 no man may ever lessen his diligence until he has attained the goal4 ,some of you will remember how1 in a stormy ,october night1 many years ago1 the ,royal ,charter went down when three hours from ,liverpool1 and the passengers had met in the saloon and voted a testimonial to the captain because he had brought them across the ocean in safety4 ,until the anchor is down and we are inside the harbour1 we may be shipwrecked1 if we are careless in our navigation4 ',go thou thy way until the end4' ,and remember1 you older people1 that until that end is reached you have to use all your power1 and to labour as earnestly1 and guard yourself as carefully1 as at any period before4 ,and not only 'till the end1' but 'go thou thy way to the end4' ,that is to say1 let the thought that the road has a termination be ever present with us all4 ,now1 there is a great deal of the so-called devout contemplation of death which is anything but wholesome4 ,people were never meant to be always looking forward to that close4 ,men may think of 'the end' in a hundred different connections4 ,one man may say1 ',let us eat and drink1 for to-morrow we die4' ,another man may say1 ',i have only a little while to master this science1 to make a name for myself1 to win wealth4 ,let me bend all my efforts in a fierce determination--made the fiercer because of the thought of the brevity of life--to win the end4' ,the mere contemplation of the shortness of our days may be an ally of immorality1 of selfishness1 of meanness1 of earthly ambitions1 or it may lay a cooling hand on fevered brows1 and lessen the pulsations of hearts that throb for earth4 ,but whilst it is not wholesome to be always thinking of death1 it is more unwholesome still never to let the contemplation of that end come into our calculations of the future1 and to shape our lives in an obstinate blindness to what is the one certain fact which rises up through the whirling mists of the unknown future1 like some black cliff from the clouds that wreath around it4 ,is it not strange that the surest thing is the thing that we forget most of all8 ,it sometimes seems to me as if the sky rained down opiates upon people1 as if all mankind were in a conspiracy of lunacy1 because they1 with one accord1 ignore the most prominent and forget the only certain fact about their future2 and in all their calculations do not' so number their days' as to 'apply' their 'hearts unto wisdom4' ',go thou thy way until the end1' and let thy way be marked out with a constant eye towards the end4 ,,ii4 ,note1 again1 the resting-place4 ',go thou thy way1 for thou shalt rest4' ,now1 ,i suppose1 to most careful readers that clearly is intended as a gracious1 and what they call a euphemistic way of speaking about death4 ',thou shalt rest'2 well1 that is a thought that takes away a great deal of the grimness and the terror with which men generally invest the close4 ,it is a thought1 of course1 the force of which is very different in different stages and conditions of life4 ,to you young people1 eager1 perhaps ambitious1 full of the consciousness of inward power1 happy1 and1 in all human probability1 with the greater portion of your lives before you in which to do what you desire1 the thought of 'rest' comes with a very faint appeal4 ,and yet ,i do not suppose that there is any one of us who has not some burden that is hard to carry1 or who has not learned what weariness means4 ,but to us older people1 who have tasted disappointments1 who have known the pressure of grinding toil for a great many years1 whose hearts have been gnawed by harassments and anxieties of different kinds1 whose lives are apparently drawing nearer their end than the present moment is to their beginning1 the thought1 ',thou shalt rest1' comes with a very different appeal from that which it makes to these others4 ',there remaineth a rest for the people of ,god1 ,and ,i have had trouble enough for one1' says our great modern poet2 and therein he echoes the deepest thoughts of most of this congregation4 ,that rest is the cessation of toil1 but the continuance of activity--the cessation of toil1 and anxiety1 and harassment1 and care1 and so the darkness is made beautiful when we think that ,god draws the curtain1 as a careful mother does in her child's chamber1 that the light may not disturb the slumberer4 ,but1 dear friends1 that final cessation of earthly work has a double character4 ',thou shalt rest' was said to this man of ,god4 ,but what of people whom death takes away from the only sort of work that they are fit to do8 ,it will be no rest to long for the occupations which you never can have any more4 ,and if you have been living for this wretched present1 to be condemned to have nothing to do any more in it and with it will be torture1 and not repose4 ,ask yourselves how you would like to be taken out of your shop1 or your mill1 or your study1 or your laboratory1 or your counting-house1 and never be allowed to go into it again4 ,some of you know how wearisome a holiday is when you cannot get to your daily work4 ,you will get a very long holiday after you are dead4 ,and if the hungering after the withdrawn occupation persists1 there will be very little pleasure in rest4 ,there is only one way by which we can make that inevitable end a blessing1 and turn death into the opening of the gate of our resting-place2 and that is by setting our heart's desires and our spirit's trust on ,jesus ,christ1 who is the ',lord both of the dead and of the living4' ,if we do that1 even that last enemy will come to us as ,christ's representative1 with ,christ's own word upon his lip1 ',come unto ,me1 ye that are weary and are heavy laden1 and ,i'--because ,he has given ,me the power--',i will give you rest4' ',sleep1 full of rest1 from head to foot2 ,lie still1 dry dust1 secure of change4' ,,iii4 ,that leads me to the last thought1 the home4 ',thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days4' ',stand'--that is ,daniel's way of preaching1 what he has been preaching in several other parts of his book1 the doctrine of the resurrection4 ',thou shalt stand in thy lot4' ,that is a reference to the ancient partition of the land of ,canaan amongst the tribes1 where each man got his own portion1 and sat under his own vine and fig-tree4 ,and so there emerge from these symbolical words thoughts upon which1 at this stage of my sermon1 ,i can barely touch4 ,first comes the thought that1 however sweet and blessed that reposeful state may be1 humanity has not attained its perfection until once again the perfected spirit is mated with1 and enclosed within1 its congenial servant1 a perfect body4 ',corporeity is the end of man4' ,body1 soul1 and spirit partake of the redemption of ,god4 ,but then1 apart from that1 on which ,i must not dwell1 my text suggests one or two thoughts4 ,god is the true inheritance4 ,each man has his own portion of the common possession1 or1 to put it into plainer words1 in that perfect land each individual has precisely so much of ,god as he is capable of possessing4 ',thou shalt stand in thy lot1' and what determines the lot is how we wend our way till that other end1 the end of life4 ',the end of the days' is a period far beyond the end of the life of ,daniel4 ,and as the course that terminated in repose has been1 so the possession of 'the portion of the inheritance of the saints in light' shall be1 for which that course has made men meet4 ,destiny is character worked out4 ,a man will be where he is fit for1 and have what he is fit for4 ,time is the lackey of eternity4 ,his life here settles how much of ,god a man shall be able to hold1 when he stands in his lot at the 'end of the days1' and his allotted portion1 as it stretches around him1 will be but the issue and the outcome of his life here on earth4 ,therefore1 dear brethren1 tremendous importance attaches to each fugitive moment4 ,therefore each act that we do is weighted with eternal consequences4 ,if we will put our trust in ,him1 'in whom also we obtain the inheritance1' and will travel on life's common way in cheerful godliness1 we may front all the uncertainties of the unknown future1 sure of two things--that we shall rest1 and that we shall stand in our lot4 ,we shall all go where we have fitted ourselves1 by ,god's grace1 to go2 get what we have fitted ourselves to possess2 and be what we have made ourselves4 ,to the ,christian man the word comes1 ',thou shalt stand in thy lot4' ,and the other word that was spoken about one sinner1 will be fulfilled in all whose lives have been unfitting them for heaven3 ',judas by transgression fell1 that he might go to his own place4' ,he1 too1 stands in his lot4 ,now settle which lot is yours4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,hosea ,,the ,,valley ,,of ,,achor ',i will give her 444 the valley of ,achor for a door of hope4'--,,hosea ,,ii4 #ae4 ,the ,prophet ,hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of events in the former history of his people4 ,their past seems to him a mirror in which they may read their future4 ,he believes that 'which is to be hath already been1' the great principles of the divine government living on through all the ages1 and issuing in similar acts when the circumstances are similar4 ,so he foretells that there will yet be once more a captivity and a bondage1 that the old story of the wilderness will be repeated once more4 ,in that wilderness ,god will speak to the heart of ,israel4 ,its barrenness shall be changed into the fruitfulness of vineyards1 where the purpling clusters hang ripe for the thirsty travellers4 ,and not only will the sorrows that ,he sends thus become sources of refreshment1 but the gloomy gorge through which they journey--the valley of ,achor--will be a door of hope4 ,one word is enough to explain the allusion4 ,you remember that after the capture of ,jericho by ,joshua1 the people were baffled in their first attempt to press up through the narrow defile that led from the plain of ,jordan to the highlands of ,canaan4 ,their defeat was caused by the covetousness of ,achan1 who for the sake of some miserable spoil which he found in a tent1 broke ,god's laws1 and drew down shame on ,israel's ranks ,when the swift1 terrible punishment on him had purged the camp1 victory again followed their assault1 and ,achan lying stiff and stark below his cairn1 they pressed on up the glen to their task of conquest4 ,the rugged valley1 where that defeat and that sharp act of justice took place1 was named in memory thereof1 the valley of ,achor1 that is1 trouble2 and our ,prophet's promise is that as then1 so for all future ages1 the complicity of ,god's people with an evil world will work weakness and defeat1 but that1 if they will be taught by their trouble and will purge themselves of the accursed thing1 then the disasters will make a way for hope to come to them again4 ,the figure which conveys this is very expressive4 ,the narrow gorge stretches before us1 with its dark overhanging cliffs that almost shut out the sky2 the path is rough and set with sharp pebbles2 it is narrow1 winding1 steep2 often it seems to be barred by some huge rock that juts across it1 and there is barely room for the broken ledge yielding slippery footing between the beetling crag above and the steep slope beneath that dips so quickly to the black torrent below4 ,all is gloomy1 damp1 hard2 and if we look upwards the glen becomes more savage as it rises1 and armed foes hold the very throat of the pass4 ,but1 however long1 however barren1 however rugged1 however black1 however trackless1 we may see if we will1 a bright form descending the rocky way with radiant eyes and calm lips1 ,god's messenger1 ,hope2 and the rough rocks are like the doorway through which she comes near to us in our weary struggle4 ,for us all1 dear friends1 it is true4 ,in all our difficulties and sorrows1 be they great or small2 in our business perplexities2 in the losses that rob our homes of their light2 in the petty annoyances that diffuse their irritation through so much of our days2 it is within our power to turn them all into occasions for a firmer grasp of ,god1 and so to make them openings by which a happier hope may flow into our souls4 ,but the promise1 like all ,god's promises1 has its well-defined conditions4 ,achan has to be killed and put safe out of the way first1 or no shining ,hope will stand out against the black walls of the defile4 ,the tastes which knit us to the perishable world1 the yearnings for ,babylonish garments and wedges of gold1 must be coerced and subdued4 ,swift1 sharp1 unrelenting justice must be done on the lust of the flesh1 and the lust of the eye1 and the pride of life1 if our trials are ever to become doors of hope4 ,there is no natural tendency in the mere fact of sorrow and pain to make ,god's love more discernible1 or to make our hope any firmer4 ,all depends on how we use the trial1 or as ,i say--first stone ,achan1 and then hope6 ,so1 the trouble which detaches us from earth gives us new hope4 ,sometimes the effect of our sorrows and annoyances and difficulties is to rivet us more firmly to earth4 ,the eye has a curious power1 which they call persistence of vision1 of retaining the impression made upon it1 and therefore of seeming to see the object for a definite time after it has really been withdrawn4 ,if you whirl a bit of blazing stick round1 you will see a circle of fire though there is only a point moving rapidly in the circle4 ,the eye has its memory like the soul4 ,and the soul has its power of persistence like the eye1 and that power is sometimes kindled into activity by the fact of loss4 ,we often see our departed joys1 and gaze upon them all the more eagerly for their departure4 ,the loss of dear ones should stamp their image on our hearts1 and set it as in a golden glory4 ,but it sometimes does more than that2 it sometimes makes us put the present with its duties impatiently away from us4 ,vain regret1 absorbed brooding over what is gone1 a sorrow kept gaping long after it should have been healed1 like a grave-mound off which desperate love has pulled turf and flowers1 in the vain attempt to clasp the cold hand below--in a word1 the trouble that does not withdraw us from the present will never be a door of hope1 but rather a grim gate for despair to come in at4 ,the trouble which knits us to ,god gives us new hope4 ,that bright form which comes down the narrow valley is ,his messenger and herald--sent before ,his face4 ,all the light of hope is the reflection on our hearts of the light of ,god4 ,her silver beams1 which shed quietness over the darkness of earth1 come only from that great ,sun4 ,if our hope is to grow out of our sorrow1 it must be because our sorrow drives us to ,god4 ,it is only when we by faith stand in ,his grace1 and live in the conscious fellowship of peace with ,him1 that we rejoice in hope4 ,if we would see ,hope drawing near to us1 we must fix our eyes not on ,jericho that lies behind among its palm-trees1 though it has memories of conquests1 and attractions of fertility and repose1 nor on the corpse that lies below that pile of stones1 nor on the narrow way and the strong enemy in front there2 but higher up1 on the blue sky that spreads peaceful above the highest summits of the pass1 and from the heavens we shall see the angel coming to us4 ,sorrow forsakes its own nature1 and leads in its own opposite1 when sorrow helps us to see ,god4 ,it clears away the thick trees1 and lets the sunlight into the forest shades1 and then in time corn will grow4 ,hope is but the brightness that goes before ,god's face1 and if we would see it we must look at ,him4 ,the trouble which we bear rightly with ,god's help1 gives new hope4 ,if we have made our sorrow an occasion for learning1 by living experience1 somewhat more of ,his exquisitely varied and ever ready power to aid and bless1 then it will teach us firmer confidence in these inexhaustible resources which we have thus once more proved1 ',tribulation worketh patience1 and patience experience1 and experience hope4' ,that is the order4 ,you cannot put patience and experience into a parenthesis1 and omitting them1 bring hope out of tribulation4 ,but if1 in my sorrow1 ,i have been able to keep quiet because ,i have had hold of ,god's hand1 and if in that unstruggling submission ,i have found that from ,his hand ,i have been upheld1 and had strength above mine own infused into me1 then my memory will give the threads with which ,hope weaves her bright web4 ,i build upon two things--,god's unchangeableness1 and ,his help already received2 and upon these strong foundations ,i may wisely and safely rear a palace of ,hope1 which shall never prove a castle in the air4 ,the past1 when it is ,god's past1 is the surest pledge for the future4 ,because ,he has been with us in six troubles1 therefore we may be sure that in seven ,he will not forsake us4 ,i said that the light of hope was the brightness from the face of ,god4 ,i may say again1 that the light of hope which fills our sky is like that which1 on happy summer nights1 lives till morning in the calm west1 and with its colourless1 tranquil beauty1 tells of a yesterday of unclouded splendour1 and prophesies a to-morrow yet more abundant4 ,the glow from a sun that is set1 the experience of past deliverances1 is the truest light of hope to light our way through the night of life4 ,one of the psalms gives us1 in different form1 a metaphor and a promise substantially the same as that of this text4 ',blessed are the men who1 passing through the valley of weeping1 make it a well4' ,they gather their tears1 as it were1 into the cisterns by the wayside1 and draw refreshment and strength from their very sorrows1 and then1 when thus we in our wise husbandry have irrigated the soil with the gathered results of our sorrows1 the heavens bend over us1 and weep their gracious tears1 and 'the rain also covereth it with blessings4' ,no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous1 but grievous2 nevertheless1 afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness4' ,then1 dear friends1 let us set ourselves with our loins girt to the road4 ,never mind how hard it may be to climb4 ,the slope of the valley of trouble is ever upwards4 ,never mind how dark is the shadow of death which stretches athwart it4 ,if there were no sun there would be no shadow2 presently the sun will be right overhead1 and there will be no shadow then4 ,never mind how black it may look ahead1 or how frowning the rocks4 ,from between their narrowest gorge you may see1 if you will1 the guide whom ,god has sent you1 and that ,angel of ,hope will light up all the darkness1 and will only fade away when she is lost in the sevenfold brightness of that upper land1 whereof our ',god ,himself is ,sun and ,moon'--the true ,canaan1 to whose everlasting mountains the steep way of life has climbed at last through valleys of trouble1 and of weeping1 and of the shadow of death4 ',,let ,,him ,,alone' ',ephraim is joined to idols3 let him alone4'--,,hosea iv4 #ag4 ,the tribe of ,ephraim was the most important member of the kingdom of ,israel2 consequently its name was not unnaturally sometimes used in a wider application for the whole of the kingdom1 of which it was the principal part4 ,being the 'predominant partner1' its name was used alone for that of the whole firm1 just as in our own empire1 we often say ',england1' meaning thereby the three kingdoms3 ,england1 ,scotland1 and ,ireland4 ,so ',ephraim' here does not mean the single tribe1 but the whole kingdom of ,israel4 ,now ,hosea himself was a ,northerner1 a subject of that kingdom2 and its iniquities and idolatries weighed heavily on his heart1 and were ripped up and brought to light with burning eloquence in his prophecies4 ,the words of my text have often1 and terribly1 been misunderstood4 ,and ,i wish now to try to bring out their true meaning and bearing4 ,they have a message for us quite as much as they had for the people who originally received them4 ,i4 ,i must begin by explaining what1 in my judgment1 this text does not mean4 ,first1 it is not what it is often taken to be1 a threatening of ,god's abandoning of the idolatrous nation4 ,i dare say we have all heard grim sermons from this text1 which have taken that view of it1 and have tried to frighten men into believing now1 by telling them that1 perhaps1 if they do not1 ,god will never move on their hearts1 or deal with them any more1 but withdraw ,his grace1 and leave them to insensibility4 ,there is not a word of that sort in the text4 ,plainly enough it is not so1 for this vehement utterance of the ,prophet is not a declaration as to ,god1 and what ,he is going to do1 but it is a commandment to some men1 telling them what they are to do4 ',let him alone' does not mean the same thing as ',i will let him alone'2 and if people had only read with a little more care1 they would have been delivered from perpetrating a libel on the divine loving-kindness and forbearance4 ,it is clear enough1 too1 that such a meaning as that which has been forced upon the words of my text1 and is the common use of it1 ,i believe1 in many evangelical circles1 cannot be its real meaning1 because the very fact that ,hosea was prophesying to call ,ephraim from his sin showed that ,god had not let ,ephraim alone1 but was wooing him by ,his prophet1 and seeking to win him back by the words of his mouth4 ,god was doing all that ,he could do1 rising early and sending ,his messenger and calling to ,ephraim3 ',turn ye6 ,turn ye6 why will ye die8' ,for ,hosea1 in the very act of pleading with ,israel on ,god's behalf1 to have declared that ,god had abandoned it1 and ceased to plead1 would have been a palpable absurdity and contradiction4 ,but beyond considerations of the context1 other reasons conclusively negative such an interpretation of this text4 ,i1 for my part1 do not believe that there are any bounds or end to ,god's forbearing pleading with men in this life4 ,i take1 as true1 the great words of the old ,psalm1 in their simplest sense--',his mercy endureth for ever'2 and ,i fall back upon the other words which a penitent had learned to be true by reflecting on the greatness of his own sin3 ',with ,him are multitudes of redemptions'2 and ,i turn from psalmists and prophets to the ,master who showed us ,god's heart1 and knew what ,he spake when ,he laid it down as the law and the measure of human forgiveness which was moulded upon the pattern of the divine1 that it should be 'seventy times seven'--the multiplication of both the perfect numbers into themselves--than which there can be no grander expression for absolute innumerableness and unfailing continuance4 ,no1 no6 men may say to ,god1 ',speak no more to us'2 or they may get so far away from ,him1 as that they only hear ,god's pleading voice1 dim and faint1 like a voice in a dream4 ,but surely the history of ,his progressive revelation shows us that1 rather than such abandonment of the worst1 the law of the divine dealing is that the deafer the man1 the more piercing the voice beseeching and warning4 ,the attraction of gravitation decreases as distance increases1 but the further away we are from ,him1 the stronger is the attraction which issues from ,him1 and would draw us to ,himself4 ,clear away1 then1 altogether out of your minds any notion that there is here declared what1 in my judgment1 is not declared anywhere in the ,bible1 and never occurs in the divine dealings with men4 ,be sure that ,he never ceases to seek to draw the most obstinate1 idolatrous1 and rebellious heart to ,himself4 ,that divine charity 'suffereth long1 and is kind' 444 'hopeth all things1 and beareth all things4' ,again1 let me point out that the words of my text do not enjoin the cessation of the efforts of ,christian people for the recovery of the most deeply sunken in sin4 ',let him alone' is a commandment1 and it is a commandment to ,god's ,church1 but it is not a commandment to despair of any that they may be brought into the fold1 or to give up efforts to that end4 ,if our ,father in heaven never ceases to bear in ,his heart ,his prodigal children1 it does not become those prodigals1 who have come back1 to think that any of their brethren are too far away to be drawn by their loving proclamation of the ,father's heart of love4 ,there is the glory of our ,gospel1 that1 taking far sadder1 graver views of what sin and alienation from ,god are1 than the world's philosophers and philanthropists do1 it surpasses them just as much as in the superb confidence with which it sets itself to the cure of the disease as in the unflinching clearness with which it diagnoses the disease as fatal1 if it be not dealt with by the all-healing ,gospel4 ,all other methods for the restoration and elevation of mankind are compelled to recognise that there is an obstinate residuum that will not and cannot be reached by their efforts4 ,it used to be said that some old cannon-balls1 that had been brought from some of the battlefields of the ,peninsula1 resisted all attempts to melt them down2 so there are 'cannon-balls1' as it were1 amongst the obstinate evil-doers1 and the degraded and 'dangerous' classes1 which mark the despair of our modern reformers and civilisers and elevators1 for no fire in their furnaces can melt down their hardness4 ,no2 but there is the furnace of the ,lord in ,jerusalem1 and the fire of ,god in ,zion1 which can melt them down1 and has done so a hundred and a thousand times1 and is as able to do it again to-day as it ever was4 ,despair of no human soul4 ,that boundless confidence in the power of the ,gospel is the duty of the ,christian ,church4 ',the damsel is not dead1 but sleepeth6' ,they laughed ,him to scorn1 knowing that she was dead4 ,but ,he put out ,his hand1 and said unto her ',talitha cumi1 ,i say unto thee1 ,arise6' ,when we stand on one side of the bed with your social reformers on the other1 and say ',the damsel is not dead1 but sleepeth1' they laugh us to scorn1 and bid us try our ,gospel upon these people in our slums1 or on those heathens in the ,new ,hebrides4 ,we have the right to answer1 ',we have tried it1 and man after man1 and woman after woman have risen from the sick-bed1 like ,peter's wife's mother2 and the fever has left them1 and they have ministered unto ,him4 ,there are no people in the world about whom ,christians need despair1 none that ,christ's ,gospel cannot redeem4 ,whatever my text means1 it does not mean cowardly and unbelieving doubt as to the power of the ,gospel on the most degraded and sinful4 ,,ii4 ,so1 the text enjoins on the ,christian ,church separation from an idolatrous world4 ',ephraim is joined to idols4' ,do you 'let him alone4' ,now1 there has been much harm done by misreading the force of the injunction of separation from the world4 ,there is a great deal of union and association with the most godless people in our circle1 which is inevitable4 ,family bonds1 business connections1 civic obligations--all these require that the ,church shall not withdraw from the world4 ,there is the wide common ground of ,politics and ,art and ,literature1 and a hundred other interests1 on which it does ,christian men no good1 and the world much harm1 if the former withdraw to themselves1 and on the plea of superior sanctity1 leave these great departments of interest and influence to be occupied only by non-,christians4 ,then1 besides these thoughts of necessary union and association upon common ground1 there is the other consideration that absolute separation would defeat the very purpose for which ,christian people are here4 ',ye are the salt of the earth1' said ,christ4 ,yes1 and if you keep the meat on one plate and the salt on another1 what good will the salt be8 ,it has to be rubbed in particle by particle1 and brought into contact over all the surface1 and down into the depths of the meat that it is to preserve from putrefaction4 ,and no ,christian churches or individuals do their duty1 and fulfil their function on earth1 unless they are thus closely associated and intermingled with the world that they should be trying to leaven and save4 ,a cloistered solitude1 or a proud standing apart from the ordinary movements of the community1 or a neglect1 on the plea of our higher duties1 of the duties of the citizen of a free country--these are not the ways to fulfil the exhortation of my text4 ',let the dead bury their dead1' said ,christ2 but ,he did not mean that ,his ,church was to stand apart from the world1 and let it go its own way4 ,it is a bad thing for both when little ,christian coteries gather themselves together1 and talk about their own goodness and religion1 and leave the world to perish4 ,clotted blood is death2 circulated1 it is life4 ,but1 whilst all this is perfectly true--and there are associations that we must not break if we are to do our work as ,christian people--it is also true that it is possible1 in the closest unions with men who do not share our faith1 to do the same thing that they are doing1 with a difference which separates us from them1 even whilst we are united with them4 ,they tell us that1 however dense any material substance may seem to be1 there is always a film of air between contiguous particles4 ,and there should be a film between us and our ,christless friends and companions and partners1 not perceptible perhaps to a superficial observer1 but most real4 ,if we do our common work as a religious duty1 and in the exercise of all our daily occupations 'set the ,lord always before' us1 however closely we may be associated with people who do not so live1 they will know the difference2 never fear6 ,and you will know the difference1 and will not be identified with them1 but separate in a wholesome fashion from them4 ,and1 dear brethren1 if ,i may go a step further1 ,i would venture to say that it seems to me that our ,christian communities want few things more in this day than the reiteration of the old saying1 ',have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness1 but rather reprove them4' ,there is so much in this time to break down the separation between him that believeth in ,christ and him that doth not2 narrowness has come to be thought such an enormous wickedness1 and liberality is so lauded by all sorts of superficial people1 that ,christian men need to be summoned back to their standard4 ',being let go1 they went to their own company'--there is a natural affinity which should1 and will1 if our faith is vital1 draw us to those who1 on the gravest and solemnest things1 have the same thoughts1 the same hopes1 the same faith4 ,i do not urge you1 ,god knows1 to be bigoted and narrow1 and shut yourselves up in your faith1 and leave the world to go to the devil2 but ,i do not wish1 either1 that ,christian people should fling themselves into the arms and nestle in the hearts of persons who do not share with them 'like precious faith4' ,i am sure that there are many ,christian people1 old and young1 who are suffering in their religious life because they are neglecting this commandment of my text4 ',let him alone4' ,there can be no deep affection1 and1 most of all--if ,i may venture on such ground--no wedded love worth the name1 where there is not unanimity in regard to the deepest matters4 ,it does not say much for the religion of a professing ,christian who finds his heart's friends and his chosen companions in people that have no sympathy with the religion which he professes4 ,it does not say much for you if it is so with you1 for the ,christian1 whom you like least1 is nearer you in the depths of your true self than is the non-,christian whom you love most4 ,be sure1 too1 that if we mix ourselves up with ,ephraim1 we shall find ourselves grovelling beside him before his idols ere long4 ,godlessness is infectious4 ,many a young woman1 a professing ,christian1 has married a godless man in the fond hope that she might win him4 ,it is a great deal more frequently the case that he perverts her than that she converts him4 ,do not let us knit ourselves in these close bonds with the worshippers of idols1 lest we 'learn their ways1 and get a snare into our souls4' ',be not unequally yoked with unbelievers4 ,what fellowship hath light with darkness8 ,wherefore1 come out from among them and be ye separate1 saith the ,lord4 ,touch not the unclean thing1 and ,i will be a ,father unto you1 and ye shall be ,my sons and ,my daughters4' ',,physicians ,,of ,,no ,,value' ',when ,ephralm saw his sickness1 and ,judah saw his wound1 then went ,ephraim to ,assyria1 and sent to king ,jareb3 but he is not able to heal you1 neither shall he cure you of your wound4'--,,hosea v4 #ac 7,r4,v474 ,the long tragedy which ended in the destruction of the ,northern ,kingdom by ,assyrian invasion was already beginning to develop in ,hosea's time4 ,the mistaken politics of the kings of ,israel led them to seek an ally where they should have dreaded an enemy4 ,as ,hosea puts it in figurative fashion1 ,ephraim's discovery of his 'sickness' sent him in the vain quest for help to the apparent source of the 'sickness1' that is to ,assyria1 whose king in the text is described by a name which is not his real name1 but is a significant epithet1 as the margin puts it1 'a king that should contend'2 and who1 of course1 was not able to heal nor to cure the wounds which he had inflicted4 ,ephraim's suicidal folly is but one illustration of a universal madness which drives men to seek for the healing of their misery1 and the alleviation of their discomfort1 in the repetition of the very acts which brought these about4 ,the attempt to get relief in such a fashion1 of course1 fails2 for as the verse before our text emphatically proclaims1 it is ,god who has been 'as a moth unto ,ephraim1' gnawing away his strength3 and it is only ,he who can heal1 since in reality it is ,he1 and not the quarrelsome king of ,assyria1 who has inflicted the sickness4 ,thus understood1 the text carries wide lessons1 and may serve us as a starting-point for considering man's discovery of his 'sickness1' man's mad way of seeking healing1 ,god's way of giving it4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 man's discovery of his sickness4 ,the greater part of most lives is spent in mechanical1 unreflecting repetition of daily duties and pleasures4 ,we are all apt to live on the surface1 and it requires an effort1 which we are too indolent to make except under the impulse of some arresting motive1 to descend into the depths of our own souls1 and there to face the solemn facts of our own personality4 ,the last place with which most of us are familiar1 is our innermost self4 ,men are dimly conscious that things within are not well with them2 but it is only one here and there that says so distinctly to himself1 and takes the further step of thoroughly investigating the cause4 ,but that superficial life is at the mercy of a thousand accidents1 each one of which may break through the thin film1 and lay bare the black depths4 ,but there is another aspect of this discovery of sickness1 far graver than the mere consciousness of unrest4 ,ephraim does not see his sickness unless he sees his sin4 ,the greater part of every life is spent without that deep1 all-pervading sense of discord between itself and ,god4 ,small and recurrent faults may evoke recurring remonstrances of conscience1 but that is a very different thing from the deep tones and the clear voice of condemnation in respect to one's whole life and character which sounds in a heart that has learned how 'deceitful and desperately wicked' it is4 ,such a conviction may flash upon a man at any moment1 and from a hundred causes4 ,a sorrow1 a sunset-sky1 a grave1 a sermon1 may produce it4 ,but even when we have come to recognise clearly our unrest1 we have gone but part of the way1 we have become conscious of a symptom1 not of the disease4 ,why is it that man is alone among the creatures in that discontent with externals1 and that dissatisfaction with himself8 ',foxes have holes1 and the birds of the air have roosting-places'3 why is it that amongst all ,god's happy creatures1 and ,god's shining stars1 men stand 'strangers in a strange land1' and are cursed with a restlessness which has not 'where to lay its head'8 ,the consciousness of unrest is but the agitation of the limbs which indicates disease4 ,that disease is the twitching paralysis of sin4 ,like 'the pestilence that walketh in darkness1' it has a fell power of concealing itself1 and the man whose sins are the greatest is always the least conscious of them4 ,he dwells in a region where the malaria is so all-pervading that the inhabitants do not know what the sweetness of an unpoisoned atmosphere is4 ,if there is a 'worst man' in the world1 we may be very sure that no conscience is less troubled than his is4 ,so the question may well be urged on those so terribly numerous amongst us1 whose very unconsciousness of their true condition is the most fatal symptom of their fatal disease4 ,what is the worth of a peace which is only secured by ignoring realities1 and which can be shattered into fragments by anything that compels a man to see himself as he is8 ,in such a fool's paradise thousands of us live4 ',use and wont1' the continual occupation with the trifles of our daily lives1 the fleeting satisfactions of our animal nature1 the shallow wisdom which bids us 'let sleeping dogs lie1' all conspire to mask1 to many consciences1 their unrest and their sin4 ,we abstain from lifting the curtain behind which the serpent lies coiled in our hearts1 because we dread to see its loathly length1 and to rouse it to lift its malignant head1 and to strike with its forked tongue4 ,but sooner or later--may it not be too late--we shall be set face to face with the dark recess1 and discover the foul reptile that has all the while been coiled there4 ,,ii4 ,man's mad way of seeking healing4 ,can there be a more absurd course of action than that recorded in our text8 ',when ,ephraim saw his sickness1 then went ,ephraim to ,assyria4' ,the ,northern ,kingdom sought for the healing of their national calamities from the very cause of their national calamities1 and in repetition of their national sin4 ,a hopeful policy1 and one which speedily ended in the only possible result6 ,but that insanity was but a sample of the infatuation which besets us all4 ,when we are conscious of our unrest1 are we not all tempted to seek to conceal it with what has made it8 ,take examples from the grosser forms of animal indulgence4 ,the drunkard's vulgar proverb recommending 'a hair of the dog that bit you1' is but a coarse expression of a common fault4 ,he is wretched until 'another glass' steadies1 for a moment1 his trembling hand1 and gives a brief stimulus to his nerves4 ,they say that the ,styrian peasants1 who habitually eat large quantities of arsenic1 show symptoms of poison if they leave it off suddenly4 ,these are but samples1 in the physical region1 of a tendency which runs through all lire1 and leads men to drown thought by plunging into the thick of the worldly absorptions that really cause their unrest4 ,the least persistent of men is strangely obstinate in his adherence to old ways1 in spite of all experience of their crooked slipperiness4 ,we wonder at the peasants who have their cottages and vineyards on the slopes of ,vesuvius1 and who build them1 and plant them1 over and over again after each destructive eruption4 ,the tragedy of ,israel is repeated in many of our lives2 and the summing up of the abortive efforts of one of its kings to recover power by following the gods that had betrayed him1 might be the epitaph of the infatuated men who see their sickness and seek to heal it by renewed devotion to the idols who occasioned it3 ',they were the ruin of him and of all ,israel4' ,the experience of the woman who had 'spent all her living on physicians1 and was nothing the better1 but rather the worse1' sums up the sad story of many a life4 ,but again the sense of sin sometimes seeks to conceal itself by repetition of sin4 ,when the dormant snake begins to stir1 it is lulled to sleep again by absorption of occupations1 or by an obstinate refusal to look inwards1 and often by plunging once more into the sin which has brought about the sickness4 ,to seek thus for ease from the stings of conscience1 is like trying to silence a buzzing in the head by standing beside ,niagara thundering in our ears4 ,they used to beat the drums when a martyr died1 in order to drown his testimony2 and so foolish men seek to silence the voice of conscience by letting passions shout their loudest4 ,it needs no words to demonstrate the incurable folly of such conduct2 but alas1 it takes many words far stronger than mine to press home the folly upon men4 ,the condition of such a half-awakened conscience is very critical if it is soothed by any means by which it is weakened and its possessor worsened4 ,in the sickness of the soul homoeopathic treatment is a delusion4 ,ephraim may go to ,assyria1 but there is no healing of him there4 ,,iii4 ,god's way of giving true healing4 ,ephraim thought that1 because the wounds were inflicted by ,assyria1 it was the source to which to apply for bandages and balm4 ,if it had realised that ,assyria was but the battle-axe wherewith the hand of ,god struck it1 it would have learned that from ,god alone could come healing and health4 ,the unrest which betrays the presence in our souls of a deep-seated sin1 is a divine messenger4 ,we terribly misinterpret the true source of all that disturbs us when we attribute it only to the occasions which bring it about2 for the one purpose of all our restlessness is to drive us nearer to ,god1 and to wrench us away from our ,assyria4 ,the true issue of ,ephraim's sickness would have been the penitent cry1 ',come1 let us return to the ,lord our ,god1 for ,he hath smitten1 and ,he will bind us up4' ,it is in the consciousness of loving nearness to ,him that all our unrest is soothed1 and the heaving ocean in our hearts becomes as a summer's sea and 'birds of peace sit brooding on the charmed waves4' ,it is in that same consciousness that conscience ceases to condemn1 and loses its sting4 ,the prophet from whom our text is taken ends his wonderful ministry1 that had been full of fiery denunciations and dark prophecies1 with words that are only surpassed in their tenderness and the outpouring of the heart of ,god1 by the fuller revelation in ,jesus ,christ3 ',o ,israel1 return unto the ,lord thy ,god4 ,take with you words1 and return unto the ,lord1 and say unto ,him3 ,assyria shall not save us1 for in ,thee the fatherless findeth mercy4' ,the divine answer which he was commissioned to bring to the penitent ,israel--',i will heal their backslidings1 ,i will love them freely2 if ,mine anger is turned away from ,me'--is1 in all its wealth of forgiving love but an imperfect prophecy of the great ,physician1 from the hem of whose garment flowed out power to one who 'had spent all her living on physicians and could not be healed of any1' and who confirmed to her the power which she had thought to steal from ,him unawares by the gracious words which bound her to ,him for ever--',daughter1 thy faith hath made thee whole2 go in peace4' ',,fruit ,,which ,,is ,,death' ',israel is an empty vine1 he bringeth forth fruit unto himself3 according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars2 according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images4 #b4 ,their heart is divided2 now shall they be found faulty3 ,he shall break down their altars1 ,he shall spoil their images4 #c4 ,for now they shall say1 ,we have no king1 because we feared not the ,lord2 what then should a king do to us8 #d4 ,they have spoken words1 swearing falsely in making a covenant3 thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field4 #e4 ,the inhabitants of ,samaria shall fear because of the calves of ,beth-aven3 for the people thereof shall mourn over it1 and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it1 for the glory thereof1 because it is departed from it4 #f4 ,it shall be also carried unto ,assyria for a present to king ,jareb3 ,ephraim shall receive shame1 and ,israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel4 #g4 ,as for ,samaria1 her king is cut off as the foam upon the water4 #h4 ,the high places also of ,aven1 the sin of ,israel1 shall be destroyed3 the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars2 and they shall say to the mountains1 ,cover us2 and to the hills1 ,fall on us4 #i4 ,o ,israel1 thou hast sinned from the days of ,gibeah3 there they stood3 the battle in ,gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them4 #aj4 ,it is in my desire that ,i should chastise them2 and the people shall be gathered against them1 when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows4 #aa4 ,and ,ephraim is as an heifer that is taught1 and loveth to tread out the corn2 but ,i passed over upon her fair neck3 ,i will make ,ephraim to ride2 ,judah shall plow1 and ,jacob shall break his clods4 #ab4 ,sow to yourselves in righteousness1 reap in mercy2 break up your fallow ground3 for it is time to seek the ,lord1 till ,he come and rain righteousness upon you4 #ac4 ,ye have plowed wickedness1 ye have reaped iniquity2 ye have eaten the fruit of lies3 because thou didst trust in thy way1 in the multitude of thy mighty men4 #ad4 ,therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people1 and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled1 as ,shalman spoiled ,beth-arbel in the day of battle3 the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children4 #ae4 ,so shall ,beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness3 in a morning shall the king of ,israel utterly be cut off4'--,,hosea x4 #a-ae4 ,the prophecy of this chapter has two themes--,israel's sin1 and its punishment4 ,these recur again and again4 ,reiteration1 not progress of thought1 characterises ,hosea's fiery stream of inspired eloquence4 ,conviction of sin and prediction of judgment are his message4 ,we trace a fourfold repetition of it here1 and further note that in each case there is a double reference to ,israel's sin as consisting in the rebellion which set up a king and in the schism which established the calf worship2 while there is also a double phase of the punishment corresponding to these1 in the annihilation of the kingdom and the destruction of the idols4 ,the first section may be taken to be verses #a-c4 ,the image of a luxuriant vine laden with fruit is as old as ,jacob's blessing of the tribes 7,gen4 xlix4 #bb71 where it is applied to ,joseph1 whose descendants were the strength of the ,northern ,kingdom4 ,hosea has already used it1 and here it is employed to set forth picturesquely the material prosperity of ,israel4 ,probably the period referred to is the successful reign of ,jeroboam ,,ii4 ,but prosperity increased sin4 ,the more fruit or material wealth1 the more altars2 the better the harvests1 the more the obelisks or pillars to gods1 falsely supposed to be the authors of the blessings4 ,the words are as condensed as a proverb1 and are as true to-day as ever4 ,israel had attributed its prosperity to ,baal 7,hosea ii4 #h74 ,the misuse of worldly wealth and the tendency of success to draw us away from ,god1 and to blind to the true source of all blessing1 are as rife now as then4 ,the root of the evil was1 as always1 a heart divided--that is1 between ,god and ,baal--or1 perhaps1 'smooth'2 that is1 dissimulating and insincere4 ,in reality1 ,baal alone possesses the heart which its owner would share between him and ,jehovah4 ',all in all1 or not at all1' is the law4 ,whether ,baals or calves were set beside ,god1 ,he was equally deposed4 ,then1 with a swift turn1 ,hosea proclaims the impending judgment1 setting himself and the people as if already in the future4 ,he hears the first peal of the storm1 and echoes it in that abrupt 'now4' ,the first burst of the judgment shatters dreams of innocence1 and the cowering wretches see their sin by the lurid light4 ,that discovery awaits every man whose heart has been 'divided4' ,to the gazers and to himself masks drop1 and the true character stands out with appalling clearness4 ,what will that light show us to be8 ,an unnamed hand overthrows altars and pillars4 ,no need to say whose it is4 ,one half of ,israel's sin is crushed at a blow1 and the destruction of the other follows immediately4 ,they themselves abjure their allegiance2 for they have found out that their king is a king ,log1 and can do them no good4 ,a king1 set up in opposition to ,god's will1 cannot save4 ,the ruin of their projects teaches godless men at last that they have been fools to take their own way2 for all defences1 recourses1 and protectors1 chosen in defiance of ,god1 prove powerless when the strain comes4 ,the annihilation of one half of their sin sickens them of the other4 ,the calves and the monarchy stood or fell together4 ,it is a dismal thing to have to bear the brunt of chastisement for what we see to have been a blunder as well as a crime4 ,but such is the fate of those who seek other gods and another king4 ,in verse #d ,hosea recurs to ,israel's crime1 and appends a description of the chastisement1 substantially the same as before1 but more detailed1 which continues till verse #h4 ,the sin now is contemplated in its effects on human relations4 ,before1 it was regarded in relation to ,god4 ,but men who are wrong with ,him cannot be right with one another4 ,morality is rooted in religion1 and if we lie to ,god1 we shall not be true to our brother4 ,hence1 passing over all other sins for the present1 ,hosea fixes upon one1 the prevalence of which strikes at the very foundation of society4 ,what can be done with a community in which lying has become a national characteristic1 and that even in formal agreements8 ,honey-combed with falsehood1 it is only fit for burning4 ,sin is bound by an iron link to penalty4 ,therefore1 says ,hosea1 ,god's judgment springs up1 like a bitter plant 7the precise name of which is unknown7 in the furrows1 where the farmer did not know that its seeds lay4 ,they little dreamed what they were sowing when they scattered abroad their lies1 but this is the fruit of these4 ',whatsoever a man soweth1 that shall he also reap'2 and whatever other crop we may hope to gather from our sins1 we shall gather that bitter one which we did not expect4 ,the inevitable connection of sin and judgment1 the bitterness of its results1 the unexpectedness of them1 are all here1 and to be laid to heart by us4 ,then verses #e and #f dilate with keen irony on the fate of the first half of ,israel's sin--the calf4 ,it was thought a god1 but its worshippers shall be in a fright for it4 ',calves1' says ,hosea1 though there was but one at ,beth-el2 and he uses the feminine1 as some think1 depreciatingly4 ',beth-aven' or the 'house of vanity1' he says1 instead of ,beth-el1 'the house of ,god4' ,a fine god whose worshippers had to be alarmed for its safety6 ',its people'--what a contrast to the name they might have borne1 ',my people'6 ,god disowns them1 and says1 ',they belong to it1 not to ,me4' ,the idolatrous priests of the calf worship will tremble when that image1 which had been shamefully their 'glory1' is carried off to ,assyria1 and given as a present to 'king ,jareb'--a name for the king of ,assyria meaning the fighting or quarrelsome king4 ,the captivity of the god is the shame of the worshippers4 ,to be 'ashamed of their own counsel' is the certain fate of all who depart from ,god2 for1 sooner or later1 experience will demonstrate to the blindest that their refuges of lies can neither save themselves nor those who trust in them4 ,but shame is one thing and repentance another2 and many a man will say1 ',i have been a great fool1 and my clever policy has all crumbled to pieces1' who will only therefore change his idols1 and not return to ,god4 ,verse #g recurs to the political punishment of the civil rebellion4 ,the image for the disappearance of the king is striking1 whether we render 'foam' or 'chip1' but the former has special beauty4 ,in the one case we see the unsubstantial bubble1 ',a moment white1 then melts for ever'2 and in the other1 the helpless twig swept down by the stream4 ,either brings vividly before us the powerlessness of ,israel against the roaring torrent of ,assyrian power2 and the figure may be widened out to teach what is sure to become of all man-made and self-chosen refuges when the floods of ,god's judgments sweep over the world4 ,the captivity of the idol and the burst bubble of the monarchy bid us all make ,jehovah our ,god and ,king4 ,the vacant shrine and empty throne are followed by utter and long-continued desolation4 ,thorns and thistles have time to grow on the altars1 and no hand cuts them down4 ,what of the men thus stripped of all in which they had trusted8 ,desperate1 they implore the mountains to fall on them1 as preferring to die1 and the hills to cover them1 as willing to be crushed1 if only they may be hidden4 ,that awful cry is heard again in our ,lord's predictions of judgment1 and in the ,apocalypse4 ,therefore this prophecy foreshadows1 in the destruction of ,israel's confidences and in their shame and despair1 a more dreadful coming day1 in which we shall be concerned4 ,verses #i to #aa again give the sin and its punishment4 ',the days of ,gibeah' recall the hideous story of lust and crime which was the low-water mark of the lawless days of old4 ,that crime had been avenged by merciless war4 ,but its taint had lived on1 and the ,israel of ,hosea's day 'stood1' obstinately persistent1 just where the ,benjamites had been then1 and set themselves in dogged resistance1 as these had done1 'that the battle against the children of unrighteousness might not touch them4' ,stiff-necked setting oneself against ,god's merciful fighting with evil lasts for a little while1 but verse #aj tells how soon and easily it is annihilated4 ,god's 'desire' brushes away all defences1 and the obstinate sinners are like children1 who are whipped when their father wills1 let them struggle as they may4 ,the instruments of chastisement are foreign armies1 and the chastisement itself is described with a striking figure as 'binding them to their two transgressions'2 that is1 the double sin which is the keynote of the chapter4 ,punishment is yoking men to their sins1 and making them drag the burden like bullocks in harness4 ,what sort of load are we getting together for ourselves8 ,when we have to drag the consequences of our doings behind us1 how shall we feel8 ,the figure sets the ,prophet's imagination going1 and he turns it another way1 comparing ,israel to a heifer1 broken in1 and liking the easy work of threshing1 in which the unmuzzled ox could eat its fill1 but now set to harder tasks in the fields4 ,judah1 too1 is to share in the punishment4 ,if men will not serve ,god in and because of prosperous ease1 ,he will try what toil and privation will do4 ,abused blessings are withdrawn1 and the abundance of the threshing-floor is changed for dragging a heavy plough or harrow4 ,verse #ab still deals with the figure suggested in the close of the previous verse4 ,it is the only break in the clouds in this chapter4 ,it is a call to amendment1 accompanied by a promise of acceptance4 ,if we 'sow for righteousness'--that is1 if our efforts are directed to embodying it in our lives--we 'shall reap according to mercy4' ,that is true universally1 whether it is taken to mean ,god's mercy to us1 or ours to others4 ,the aim after righteousness ever secures the divine favour1 and usually ensures the measure which we mete being measured to us again4 ,but sowing is not all2 thorns must be grubbed up4 ,we must not only turn over a new leaf1 but tear out the old one4 ,the old man must be slain if the new man is to live4 ,the call to amend finds its warrant in the assurance that there is still time to seek the ,lord1 and that1 for all ,his threatenings1 ,he is ready to rain blessings upon the seekers4 ,the unwearying patience of ,god1 the possibility of the worst sinner's repentance1 the conditional nature of the threatenings1 the possibility of breaking the bond between sin and sorrow1 the yet deeper thought that righteousness must come from above1 are all condensed in this brief gospel before the ,gospel4 ,but that bright gleam passes1 and the old theme recurs4 ,once more we have sin and punishment exhibited in their organic connection in verses #ac and #ad4 ,israel's past had been just the opposite of sowing righteousness and reaping mercy4 ,wickedness ploughed in1 iniquity will surely be its fruit4 ,sin begets sin1 and is its own punishment4 ,what fruit have we of doing wrong8 ',lies'2 that is1 unfulfilled expectations of unrealised satisfaction4 ,no man gets the good that he aimed at in sinning1 or he gets something more that spoils it4 ,at last the deceitfulness of sin will be found out1 but we may be sure of it now4 ,the root of all ,israel's sin was the root of ours2 namely1 trust in self1 and consequent neglect of ,god4 ,the first half of verse #ac is an exhaustive analysis of the experience of every sinful life2 the second1 a penetrating disclosure of the foundation of it4 ,then the whole closes with the repeated threatening1 dual as before1 and illustrated by the forgotten horrors of some dreadful siege1 one of the 'unhappy1 far-off things1' fallen silent now4 ,a significant variation occurs in the final threatening1 in which ,beth-el is set forth as the cause1 rather than as the object1 of the destruction4 ',they were the ruin of him and of all ,israel4' ,our vices are made the whips to scourge us4 ,our idols bring us no help1 but are the causes of our misery4 ,the ,prophet ends with the same double reference which prevails throughout1 when he once more declares the annihilation of the monarchy1 which1 rather than a particular person1 is meant by 'the king4' ',in the morning' is enigmatical4 ,it may mean 'prematurely1' or 'suddenly1' or 'in a time of apparent prosperity1' or1 more probably1 the ,prophet stands in vision in that future day of the ,lord1 and points to 'the king' as the first victim4 ,the force of the prophecy does not depend on the meaning of this detail4 ,the teaching of the whole is the certainty that suffering dogs sin1 but yet does so by no iron1 impersonal law1 but according to the will of ,god1 who will rain righteousness even on the sinner1 being penitent1 and will endow with righteousness from above every lowly soul that seeks for it4 ,,destruction ,,and ,,help ',o ,israel1 thou hast destroyed thyself2 but in ,me is thine help4'--,,hosea xiii4 #i 7,a4,v474 ',it is thy destruction1 ,o ,israel1 that thou art against ,me1 against thy ,help' 7,r4,v474 ,these words are obscure by reason of their brevity4 ,literally they might be rendered1 ',thy destruction for1 in1 or against ,me2 in1 or against thy ,help4' ,obviously1 some words must be supplied to bring out any sense4 ,our ,authorised ,version has chosen the supplement 'is1' which fails to observe the second occurrence with 'thy ,help' of the preposition1 and is somewhat lax in rendering the 'for' of the second clause by the neutral 'but4' ,it is probably better to read1 as the ,revised ,version1 with most modern interpreters1 ',thou art against ,me1 against thy ,help1' and to find in the second clause the explanation1 or analysis1 of the destruction announced in the first4 ,so we have here the wail of the parental love of ,god over the ruin which ,israel has brought on itself1 and that parental love is setting forth ,israel's true condition1 in the hope that they may discern it4 ,thus1 even the rebuke holds enclosed a promise and a hope4 ,since ,god is their help1 to depart from ,him has been ruin1 and the return to ,him will be life4 ,hosea1 or rather the ,spirit that spake through ,hosea1 blended wonderful tenderness with unflinching decision in rebuke1 and unwavering certainty in foretelling evil with unfaltering hope in the promise of possible blessing4 ,his words are set in the same key as the still more wonderfully tender ones that ,jesus uttered as ,he looked across the valley from ,olivet to the gleaming city on the other side1 and wailed1 ',o ,jerusalem1 ,jerusalem1 how often would ,i have gathered thy children together1 as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings1 and ye would not6 ,therefore your house is left unto you desolate4' ,we may note here ,i4 ,the loving discovery of ruin4 ,it is strange that men should need to be told1 and that with all emphasis1 the evil case in which they are2 and stranger still that they should resent the discovery and reject it4 ,this pathetic pleading is the voice of a divine ,father trying to convince ,his son of misery and danger2 and the obscurity of the text is as if that voice was choked with sobs1 and could only speak in broken syllables the tragical word in which all the evil of ,israel's sin is gathered up--'his destruction1' or 'corruption4' ,it gathers up in one terrible picture the essential nature of sin and the death of the soul1 which is its wages--inward misery and unrest1 outward sorrows1 the decay of mental and moral powers1 the spreading taint which eats its way through the whole personality of a man who has sinned1 and pauses not till it has reduced his corpse to putrefaction4 ,all these1 and a hundred more effects of sin1 are crowded together in that one word 'thy destruction4' ,it is strange that it needs ,god's voice1 and that in its most piercing tones1 to convince men of ruin brought by sin4 ,a mortifying limb is painless4 ,there is no consciousness in the drugged sleep which becomes heavier and heavier till it ends in death4 ,there is no surer sign of the reality and extent of the corruption brought about by sin1 than man's ignorance of it4 ,there is no more tragical proof that a man is 'wretched1 and miserable1 and blind1 and naked' than his vehement affirmation1 ',i am rich1 and have gotten riches1 and have need of nothing1' and his self-complacent rejection of the counsel to 'buy refined gold1 and white garments1 and eye-salve to anoint his eyes4' ,so obstinately unconscious are we of our ruin that even ,god's voice1 whether uttered in definite words1 or speaking in sharp sorrows and punitive acts1 but too often fails to pierce the thick layer of self complacency in which we wrap ourselves1 and to pierce the heart with the arrow of conviction4 ,indeed we may say that the whole process of divine education of a soul1 conducted through many channels of providences1 has for its end mainly this--to convince ,his wandering children that to be against ,him1 against their ,help1 is their destruction4 ,but1 perhaps1 the strangest of all is the attitude which we often take up of resenting the love that would reveal our ruin4 ,it is stupid of the ox to kick against its driver's goad2 but that is wise in comparison with the action of the man who is angry with ,god because ,he warns that departure from ,him is ruin4 ,many of us treat ,christianity as if it had made the mischief which it reveals1 and would fain mend2 and we all need to be reminded that it is cruel kindness to conceal unpleasant truths1 and that the ,gospel is no more to be blamed for the destruction which it declares than is the signalman with his red flag responsible for the broken-down viaduct to which the train is rushing that he tries to save4 ,,ii4 ,the loving appeal to conscience as to the cause4 ,israel's destruction arose from the fact of ,israel having turned against ,god1 its ,help4 ,sin is suicide4 ,god is our ,help1 and only ,help4 ,his will is love and blessing4 ,his only relation to our sin is to hate it1 and fight against it4 ,in conflict of love with lovelessness one of ,his chiefest weapons is to drive home to our consciousness the conviction of our sin4 ,when ,he is driven to punish1 it is our wrongdoing that forces ,him to what ,isaiah calls1 ',his strange act4' ,the ,heavenly ,father is impelled by ,his love not to spare the rod1 lest the sparing spoil the child4 ,an earthly father suffers more punishment than he inflicts upon the little rebel whom1 unwillingly and with tears1 he may chastise2 and ,god's love is more tender1 as it is more wise1 than that of the fathers of our flesh who corrected us4 ',he doth not willingly afflict nor is soon angry'2 and of all the mercies which ,he bestows upon us1 none is more laden with ,his love than the discipline by which ,he would make us know1 through our painful experience1 that it is 'an evil and bitter thing to forsake the ,lord1 and that ,his fear is not in us4' ,in its essence and depth1 separation from ,god is death to the creature that wrenches itself away from the source of life2 and all the weariness and pains of a godless life are1 if we take them as ,he meant them1 the very angels of ,his presence4 ,just as the sole reason for our sorrows lies in our wrongdoing1 the sole cause of our wrongdoing is in ourselves4 ,it is because ',israel is against ,me' that ,israel's destruction rushes down upon it4 ,it could have defended its hankering after ,assyria and idols1 by wise talk about political exigencies and the wisdom of trying to turn possibly powerful enemies into powerful allies1 and the folly of a little nation1 on a narrow strip of territory between the desert and the sea1 fancying itself able to sustain itself uncrushed between the upper millstone of ,assyria on the north1 and the under one1 ,egypt1 on the south4 ,but circumstances are never the cause1 though they may afford the excuse of rebellion against our ,helper1 ,god2 and all the modern talk about environments and the like1 is merely a cloak cast round1 but too scanty to conceal the ugly fact of the alienated will4 ,all the excuses for sin1 which either modern scientific jargon about 'laws1' or hyper-,calvinistic talk about 'divine decrees1' alleges1 are alike shattered against the plain fact of conscience1 which proclaims to every evil-doer1 ',thou art the man6' ,we shall get no further and no deeper than the truth of our text3 ',it is thy destruction that thou art against ,me4' ,the pleading ,god has from the beginning spoken words as tender as they are stern1 and as stern as they are tender4 ,his voice to the sons of men has from of old asked the unanswerable question1 ',why should ye be stricken any more8' and has answered it1 so far as answer is possible1 by the fact1 which is as mysterious as it is undeniable1 ',ye will revolt more and more4' ,god calls upon man to judge between ,him and ,his vineyard1 and asks1 ',what could have been done more to ,my vineyard that ,i have not done unto it8 ,wherefore1 when ,i looked that it should bring forth grapes1 brought it forth wild grapes8' ,the fault lay not in the vine-dresser1 but in some evil influence that had found its way into the life and sap of the vine1 and bore fruits in an unnatural product1 which could not have been traced to the vine-dresser's action4 ,so ,god stands1 as with clean hands1 declaring that ',he is pure from the blood of all men2 that ,he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked'2 and ,his word to the men on whom falls the whole weight of ,his destroying power is1 ',thou hast procured this unto thyself4' ,,iii4 ,the loving forbearance which still offers restoration4 ,he still claims to be ,israel's ,help4 ,separation from ,him has all but destroyed the rebellious2 but it has not in the smallest degree affected the fulness of ,his power1 nor the fervency of ,his desire to help4 ,however earth may be shaken by storms1 or swathed in mist that darkens all things and shuts out heaven1 the sun is still in its tabernacle and pouring down its rays through the cloudless blue that is above the enfolding cloud4 ,our text has wrapped up in it the broad gospel that all our self-inflicted destruction may be arrested1 and all the evil which brought it about swept away4 ,god is ready to prove ,himself our true and only ,helper in that1 as our prophet says1 ',he will ransom us from the power of the grave'2 and1 even when death has laid its cold hand upon us1 will redeem us from it1 and destroy the destruction which had fixed its talons in us4 ,all the guilt is ours2 all the help is ,his2 ,his work is to conquer and cast out our sins1 to heal our sicknesses1 to soothe our sorrows4 ,and ,he has ,himself vindicated ,his great name of our ,help when ,he has revealed ,himself as 'the ,god and ,father of our ,lord and ,saviour ,jesus ,christ4' ,,israel ,,returning ',o ,israel1 return unto the ,lord thy ,god2 for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity4 #b4 ,take with you words1 and turn to the ,lord3 say unto ,him1 ,take away all iniquity1 and receive us graciously3 so will we render the calves of our lips4 #c4 ,asshur shall not save us2 we will not ride upon horses3 neither will we say any more to the work of our hands1 ,ye are our gods3 for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy4 #d4 ,i will heal their backsliding1 ,i will love them freely3 for mine anger is turned away from ,him4 #e4 ,i will be as the dew unto ,israel3 ,he shall grow as the lily1 and cast forth ,his roots as ,lebanon4 #f4 ,his branches shall spread1 and ,his beauty shall be as the olive-tree1 and ,his smell as ,lebanon4 #g4 ,they that dwell under ,his shadow shall return2 they shall revive as the corn1 and grow as the vine3 the scent thereof shall be as the wine of ,lebanon4 #h4 ,ephraim shall say1 ,what have ,i to do any more with idols8 ,i have heard ,him1 and observed ,him3 ,i am like a green fir-tree4 ,from me is thy fruit found4 #i4 ,who is wise1 and ,he shall understand these things8 prudent1 and ,he shall know them8 for the ways of the ,lord are right1 and the just shall walk in them3 but the transgressors shall fall therein4'--,,hosea xiv4 #a-i4 ,hosea is eminently the prophet of divine love and of human repentance4 ,both streams of thought are at their fullest in this great chapter4 ,in verses #a to #c the very essence of true return to ,god is set forth in the prayer which ,israel is exhorted to offer1 while in verses #d to #h the forgiving love of ,god and its blessed results are portrayed with equal poetical beauty and spiritual force4 ,verse #i closes the chapter and the book with a kind of epilogue4 ,i4 ,the summons to repentance4 ',israel1' of course1 here means the ,northern ,kingdom1 with which ,hosea's prophecies are chiefly occupied4 ',thou hast fallen by thine iniquity'--that is the lesson taught by all its history1 and in a deeper sense it is the lesson of all experience4 ,sin brings ruin for nations and individuals1 and the plain teachings of each man's own life exhort each to 'return unto the ,lord4' ,we have all proved the vanity and misery of departing from ,him2 surely1 if we are not drawn by ,his love1 we might be driven by our own unrest1 to go back to ,god4 ,the ,prophet anticipates the clear accents of the ,new ,testament call to repentance in his expansion of what he meant by returning4 ,he has nothing to say about sacrifices1 nor about self-reliant efforts at moral improvement4 ',take with you words1' not 'the blood of bulls and goats4' ,confession is better than sacrifice4 ,what words are they which will avail8 ,hosea teaches the penitent's prayer4 ,it must begin with the petition for forgiveness1 which implies recognition of the petitioner's sin4 ,the cry1 ',take away all iniquity1' does not specify sins1 but masses the whole black catalogue into one word4 ,however varied the forms of our transgressions1 they are in principle one1 and it is best to bind them all into one ugly heap1 and lay it at ,god's feet4 ,we have to confess not only sins1 but sin1 and the taking away of it includes divine cleansing from its power1 as well as divine forgiveness of its guilt4 ,hosea bids ,israel ask that ,god would take away all iniquity2 ,john pointed to 'the ,lamb of ,god1 which taketh away the sin of the world4' ,but beyond forgiveness and cleansing1 the penitent heart will seek that ,god would 'accept the good' in it1 which springs up by ,his grace1 when the evil has been washed from it1 like flowers that burst from soil off which the matted under-growth of poisonous jungle has been cleared4 ,mere negative absence of 'evil' is not all that we should desire or exhibit2 there must be positive good2 and however sinful may have been the past1 we are not too bold when we ask and expect that we may be made able to produce 'good1' which shall be fragrant as sweet incense to ,god4 ,petitions are followed by vows4 ,on the one hand1 the experience of forgiveness and cleansing will put a new song in our mouths1 and instead of animal sacrifices1 we shall render the praise which is better than 'calves' laid on the altar4 ,perhaps the ,septuagint rendering of that difficult phrase 'the calves of our lips1' which is given in ,hebrews xiii4 #ae1 'the fruit of our lips1' is preferable4 ,in either case1 the same thought appears--that the penitent's experience of forgiving and restoring love makes 'the tongue of the dumb sing1' and it will bind men's hearts more closely to ,god than anything besides can do1 so that their old inclinations to false reliances and idolatries drop away from them4 ,the old fable tells us that the storm made the traveller wrap his cloak closer round him1 but the sunshine made him throw it off4 ,judgments often make men cling more closely to their sins1 but forgiving mercy makes them 'cast off the works of darkness4' ,the men who had experienced that in ,god1 the ,israel1 which by its sins had brought down the punishment of ,his repudiation of being its father 7i4 #i71 had found mercy1 would no longer feel temptation to turn to ,assyria for help1 nor to seek protection from ,egypt's cavalry1 nor to debase their manhood by calling stocks and stones1 the work of their own hands1 their gods4 ,what earthly sweetness will tempt1 or what earthly danger will affright1 the heart that is feeling the bliss of union with ,god8 ,would ,judas's thirty pieces of silver attract the disciple reclining on ,jesus' bosom8 ,we are most firmly bound to ,god1 not by our resolves1 but by our experience of ,his all-sufficient mercy4 ,fill the heart with that wine of the kingdom1 and bitter or poisonous draughts will find no entrance into the cup4 ,,ii4 ,god's welcoming answer4 ,the very abruptness of its introduction1 without any explanation as to the speaker1 suggests how swiftly and joyfully the ,father hastens to meet the returning prodigal while he is yet afar off4 ,like pent-up waters rushing forth as soon as a barrier is taken away1 ,god's love pours itself out immediately4 ,his answer ever gives more than the penitent asks--robe and ring and shoes1 and a feast to him who dared not expect more than a place among the hired servants4 ,he gives not by drops1 but in floods1 answering the prayer for the taking away of iniquity by the promise to heal backsliding1 going beyond desires and hopes in the gift of love which asks for no recompense1 is drawn forth by no desert1 but wells up from the depths of ,god's heart1 and strengthens the new1 tremulous trust of the penitent by the assurance that every trace of anger is effaced from ,god's heart4 ,the blessings consequent on the gift of ,god's love are described in lovely imagery1 drawn1 like ,hosea's other abundant similes1 from nature1 and especially from trees and flowers4 ,the source of all fruitfulness is a divine influence1 which comes silently and refreshing as the 'dew1' or1 rather1 as the 'night mist1' a phenomenon occurring in ,palestine in summer1 and being1 accurately1 rolling masses of vapour brought from the ,mediterranean1 which counteract the dry heat and keep vegetation alive4 ,the influences which refresh and fructify our souls must fall in many a silent hour of meditation and communion4 ,they will effloresce into manifold shapes of beauty and fruitfulness1 of which the ,prophet signalises three4 ,the lily may stand for beauty of purity1 though botanists differ as to the particular flower meant4 ,christians should present to the world 'whatsoever things are lovely1' and see to it that their goodness is attractive4 ,but the fragrant1 pure lily has but shallow roots1 and beauty is not all that a character needs in this world of struggle and effort4 ,so there are to be both the lily's blossom and roots like ,lebanon4 ,the image may refer to the firm buttresses of the widespread foot-hills1 from which the sovereign summits of the great mountain range rise1 or1 as is rather suggested by the accompanying similes from the vegetable world1 it may refer to the cedars growing there4 ,their roots are anchored deep and stretch far underground2 therefore they rear towering heads1 and spread broad shelves of dark foliage1 safe from any blast4 ,our lives must be deep rooted in ,god if they are to be strong4 ,boots generally spread beneath the soil about as far as branches extend above it4 ,there should be at least as much underground1 'hid with ,christ in ,god1' as is visible to the world4 ,but beauty and strength are not all4 ,so ,hosea thinks of yet another of the characteristic growths of ,palestine1 the olive1 which is not strikingly beautiful in form1 with its strangely gnarled1 contorted stem1 its feeble branches1 and its small1 pointed1 pale leaves1 but has the beauty of fruitfulriess1 and is green when other trees are bare4 ,such 'beauty' should be ours1 and will be if the 'dew' falls on us4 ,in verse #g there are difficulties1 both as to the application of the 'his1' and as to the reading and rendering of some of the words4 ,but the general drift is clear4 ,it prolongs the tones of the foregoing verses1 keeping to the same class of images1 and expressing fruitfulness1 abundant as the corn and precious as the grape1 and fragrance like the 'bouquet' of the choicest wine4 ,verse #h offers great difficulties on any interpretation4 ,the supplement 'shall say' is questionable1 and it is doubtful whether ,ephraim is the speaker at all1 and whether1 if so1 he speaks all the four clauses1 and who speaks any or all of them1 if not he4 ,to the present writer1 it seems best to take the supplement as right1 and possible to regard the whole verse as spoken by ,ephraim1 though perhaps the last clause is meant to be ,god's utterance4 ,the meaning will then come out as follows4 ,the penitent ,israel again speaks1 after the gracious promises preceding4 ,the tribal name is1 as usual in ,hosea1 equivalent to ,israel1 whose penitent cry we heard at the beginning of the passage4 ,now we hear his glad response to ,god's abundant answer4 ',what have ,i to do any more with idols8' ,he had vowed 7verse #c7 to have no more to do with them1 and the resolve is deepened by the rich grace held forth to him4 ,hosea had lamented ,ephraim's mad adherence to 'his idols' 7iv4 #ag71 but now the union is dissolved1 and by penitence and reception of ,god's grace1 he is joined to the ,lord1 and parted from them4 ,his renunciation of idolatry is based1 in the second clause1 on his experience of what ,god can do1 and on his having heard ,god's gracious voice of pardon and promise4 ,if a man hears ,god1 he will not be drawn to worship at any idol's shrine4 ,further1 in the third clause1 ,ephraim is joyfully conscious of the change that has passed on him1 in accordance with the great promises just spoken1 and with grateful astonishment that such verdure should have burst out from the dry and rotten stump of his own sinful nature1 exclaims1 ',i am like a green fir-tree4' ,that is another reason why he will have no more to do with idols4 ,they could never have made his sapless nature break into leafage4 ,but what of the fourth clause--',from ,me is thy fruit found'8 ,can we understand that to mean that ,ephraim still speaks1 keeping up the image of the previous clause1 and declaring that all the new fruitfulness which he finds in himself he recognises to be ,god's1 both in the sense that1 in reality1 it is produced by ,him1 and that it belongs to ,him8 ,he comes seeking fruit1 and ,he finds it4 ,all our good is ,his1 and we shall be happy1 productive1 and wise1 in proportion as we offer all our works to ,him1 and feel that1 after all1 they are not ours1 but the works of that ,spirit which dwells in penitent and believing hearts4 ,some have thought that this last clause must be taken as spoken by ,god2 but1 even if so taken1 it conveys substantially the same thought as to the divine origin of man's fruitfulness4 ,the last verse is rather a general reflection summing up the whole than an integral part of this wonderful representation of penitence1 pardon1 and fruitfulness4 ,it declares the great truth that the knowledge of the pardoning mercy of ,god1 and of the ways by which ,he weans men from sin and makes them fruitful of good1 makes us truly wise4 ,that knowledge is more than intellectual apprehension2 it is experience4 ,providence has its mysteries1 but they who keep near to ,god1 and are 'just' because they do1 will find the opportunity of free1 unfettered activity in ,god's ways1 and transgressors will stumble therein4 ,therefore wisdom and safety lie in penitence and confession1 which will ever be met by gracious pardon and showers of blessing that will cause our hearts1 which sin has made desert1 to rejoice and blossom like the rose4 ,,the ,,dew ,,and ,,the ,,plants ',i will be as the dew unto ,israel3 he shall grow as the lily1 and cast forth his roots as ,lebanon4 #f4 ,his branches shall spread1 and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree 444'--,hosea xiv4 #e1 #f4 ,like his brethren1 ,hosea was a poet as well as a prophet4 ,his little prophecy is full of similes and illustrations drawn from natural objects2 scarcely any of them from cities or from the ways of men2 almost all of them from ,nature1 as seen in the open country1 which he evidently loved1 and where he had looked upon things with a clear and meditative eye4 ,this whole chapter is full of emblems drawn from the vegetable world4 ,the lily1 the cedar1 the olive1 are in my text4 ,and there follow1 in the subsequent verses1 the corn1 and the vine1 and the green fir-tree4 ,the words which ,i have read1 no doubt originally had simply a reference to the numerical increase of the people and their restoration to their land1 but they may be taken by us quite fairly as having a very much deeper and more blessed reference than that4 ,for they describe the uniform condition of all spiritual life and growth1' ,i will be as the dew unto ,israel'2 and then they set forth some of the manifold aspects of that growth1 and the consequences of receiving that heavenly dew1 under the various metaphors to which ,i have referred4 ,it is in that higher signification that ,i wish to look at them now4 ,i4 ,the first thought that comes out of the words is that for all life and growth of the spirit there must be a bedewing from ,god4 ',i will be as the dew unto ,israel4' ,now1 scholars tell us that the kind of moisture that is meant in these words is not what we call dew1 of which1 as a matter of fact1 there falls1 in ,palestine1 little or none at the season of the year referred to in my text1 but that the word really means the heavy night-clouds that come upon the wings of the south-west wind1 to diffuse moisture and freshness over the parched plains1 in the very height and fierceness of summer4 ,the metaphor of my text becomes more beautiful and striking1 if we note that1 in the previous chapter1 where the ,prophet was in his threatening mood1 he predicts that 'an east wind shall come1 the wind of the ,lord shall come up from the wilderness'--the burning sirocco1 with death upon its wings--'and his spring shall become dry1 and his fountain shall be dried up4' ,we have then to imagine the land gaping and parched1 the hot air having1 as with invisible tongue of flame1 licked streams and pools dry1 and having shrunken fountains and springs4 ,then1 all at once there comes down upon the baking ground and on the faded1 drooping flowers that lie languid and prostrate on the ground in the darkness1 borne on the wings of the wind1 from the depths of the great unfathomed sea1 an unseen moisture4 ,you cannot call it rain1 so gently does it diffuse itself2 it is liker a mist1 but it brings life and freshness1 and everything is changed4 ,the dew1 or the night mist1 as it might more properly be rendered1 was evidently a good deal in ,hosea's mind2 you may remember that he uses the image again in a remarkably different aspect1 where he speaks of men's goodness as being like 'a morning cloud1 and the early dew that passes away4' ,the natural object which yields the emblem was all inadequate to set forth the divine gift which is compared to it1 because as soon as the sun has risen1 with burning heat1 it scatters the beneficent clouds1 and the 'sunbeams like swords' threaten to slay the tender green shoots4 ,but this mist from ,god that comes down to water the earth is never dried up4 ,it is not transient4 ,it may be ours1 and live in our hearts4 ,dear brethren1 the prose of this sweet old promise is ',if ,i depart1 ,i will send ,him unto you4' ,if we are ,christian people1 we have the perpetual dew of that divine ,spirit1 which falls on our leaves and penetrates to our roots1 and communicates life1 freshness1 and power1 and makes growth possible--more than possible1 certain--for us4 ',i'--,myself through ,my ,son1 and in ,my ,spirit--',i will be'--an unconditional assurance--'as the dew unto ,israel4' ,yes6 ,that promise is in its depth and fulness applicable only to the ,christian ,israel1 and it remains true to-day and for ever4 ,do we see it fulfilled8 ,one looks round upon our congregations1 and into one's own heart1 and we behold the parable of ,gideon's fleece acted over again--some places soaked with the refreshing moisture1 and some as hard as a rock and as dry as tinder and ready to catch fire from any spark from the devil's forge and be consumed in the everlasting burnings some day4 ,it will do us good to ask ourselves why it is that1 with a promise like this for every ,christian soul to build upon1 there are so few ,christian souls that have anything like realised its fulness and its depth4 ,let us be quite sure of this--,god has nothing to do with the failure of ,his promise1 and let us take all the blame to ourselves4 ',i will be as the dew unto ,israel4' ,who was ,israel8 ,the man that wrestled all night in prayer with ,god1 and took hold of the angel and prevailed and wept and made supplication to ,him4 ,so ,hosea tells us2 and as he says in the passage where he describes the ,angel's wrestling with ,jacob at ,peniel1 'there ,he spake with us'--when ,he spake1 ,he spake with him who first bore the name4 ,be you ,israel1 and ,god will surely be your dew2 and life and growth will be possible4 ,that is the first lesson of this great promise4 ,,ii4 ,the second is1 that a soul thus bedewed by ,god will spring into purity and beauty4 ,we go back to ,hosea's vegetable metaphors4 ',he shall grow as the lily' is his first promise4 ,if ,i were addressing a congregation of botanists1 ,i should have something to say about what kind of a plant is meant1 but that is quite beside the mark for my present purpose4 ,it is sufficient to notice that in this metaphor the emphasis is laid upon the two attributes which ,i have named--beauty and purity4 ,the figure teaches us that ugly ,christianity is not ,christ's ,christianity4 ,some of us older people remember that it used to be a favourite phrase to describe unattractive saints that they had 'grace grafted on a crab stick4' ,there are a great many ,christian people whom one would compare to any other plant rather than a lily4 ,thorns and thistles and briers are a good deal more like what some of them appear to the world4 ,but we are bound1 if we are ,christian people1 by our obligations to ,god1 and by our obligations to men1 to try to make ,christianity look as beautiful in people's eyes as we can4 ,that is what ,paul said1 ',adorn the teaching'2 make it look well1 inasmuch as it has made you look attractive to men's eyes4 ,men have a fairly accurate notion of beauty and goodness1 whether they have any goodness or any beauty in their own characters or not4 ,do you remember the words3 ',whatsoever things are lovely1 whatsoever things are of good report1 whatsoever things are venerable 444 if there be any praise'--from men--'think on these things'8 ,if we do not keep that as the guiding star of our lives1 then we have failed in one very distinct duty of ,christian people--namely1 to grow more like a lily1 and to be graceful in the lowest sense of that word1 as well as grace full in the highest sense of it4 ,we shall not be so in the lower1 unless we are so in the higher4 ,it may be a very modest kind of beauty1 very humble1 and not at all like the flaring reds and yellows of the gorgeous flowers that the world admires4 ,these are often like a great sunflower1 with a disc as big as a cheese4 ,but the ,christian beauty will be modest and unobtrusive and shy1 like the violet half buried in the hedge-bank1 and unnoticed by careless eyes1 accustomed to see beauty only in gaudy1 flaring blooms4 ,but unless you1 as a ,christian1 are in your character arrayed in the beauty of holiness1 and the holiness of beauty1 you are not quite the ,christian that ,jesus ,christ wants you to be2 setting forth all the gracious and sweet and refining influences of the ,gospel in your daily life and conduct4 ,that is the second lesson of our text4 ,,iii4 ,the third is1 that a ,god-bedewed soul that has been made fair and pure by communion with ,god1 ought also to be strong4 ,he shall cast forth his roots like ,lebanon4 ,now ,i take it that simile does not refer to the roots of that giant range that slope away down under the depths of the ,mediterranean4 ,that is a beautiful emblem1 but it is not in line with the other images in the context4 ,as these are all dependent on the promise of the dew1 and represent different phases of the results of its fulfilment1 it is natural to expect thus much uniformity in their variety1 that they shall all be drawn from plant-life4 ,if so1 we must suppose a condensed metaphor here1 and take ,lebanon to mean the forest which another prophet calls the glory of ,lebanon4 ,the characteristic tree in these1 as we all know1 was the cedar4 ,it is named in ,hebrew by a word which is connected with that for strength4 ,it stands as the very type and emblem of stability and vigour4 ,think of its firm roots by which it is anchored deep in the soil4 ,think of the shelves of massive dark foliage4 ,think of its unchanged steadfastness in storm4 ,think of its towering height2 and thus arriving at the meaning of the emblem1 let us translate it into practice in our own lives4 ,he shall cast forth his roots as ,lebanon4 ,beauty8 ,yes6 ,purity8 ,yes6 ,and braided in with them1 if ,i may so say1 the strength which can say ,no6 which can resist1 which can persist1 which can overcome2 power drawn from communion with ,god4 ,strength and beauty should blend in the worshippers1 as they do in the sanctuary in ,god ,himself4 ,there is nothing admirable in mere force2 there is often something sickly and feeble1 and therefore contemptible in mere beauty4 ,many of us will cultivate the complacent and the amiable sides of the ,christian life1 and be wanting in the manly thews that throw the world1 and can fight to the death4 ,but we have to try and bring these two excellences of character together1 and it needs an immense deal of grace and wisdom and imitation of ,jesus ,christ1 and a close clasp of ,his hand1 to enable us to do that4 ,speak we of strength8 ,he is the type of strength4 ,of beauty8 ,he is the perfection of beauty4 ,and it is only as we keep close to ,him that our lives will be all fair with the reflected loveliness of ,his1 and strong with the communicated power of ,his grace--strong in the ,lord1 and in the power of ,his might4 ,brethren1 if we are to set forth anything1 in our daily lives1 of this strength1 remember that our lives must be rooted in1 as well as bedewed by1 ,god4 ,hosea's emblems1 beautiful and instructive as they are1 do not reach to the deep truth set forth in still holier and sweeter words2 ,i am the ,vine1 ye are the branches4 ,the union of ,christ and ,his people is closer than that between dew and plant4 ,our growth results from the communication of ,his own life to us4 ,therefore is the command stringent and obedience to it blessed1 ,abide in ,me1 for apart from ,me ye can do--and are--nothing4 ,let us remember that the loftier the top of the tree and the wider the spread of its shelves of dark foliage1 if it is steadfastly to stand1 unmoved by the loud winds when they call1 the deeper must its roots strike into the firm earth4 ,if your life is to be a fair temple-palace worthy of ,god's dwelling in1 if it is to be impregnable to assault1 there must be quite as much masonry underground as above1 as is the case in great old buildings and palaces4 ,and such a life must be a life hid with ,christ in ,god1 then it will be strong4 ,when we strike our roots deep into ,him1 our branch also shall not wither1 and our leaf shall be green1 and all that we do shall prosper4 ,the wicked are not so4 ,they are like chaff--rootless1 fruitless1 lifeless1 which the wind driveth away4 ,,iv4 ,lastly1 the ,god-bedewed soul1 beautiful1 pure1 strong1 will bear fruit4 ,that is the last lesson from these metaphors4 ,his beauty shall be as the olive-tree4 ,anybody that has ever seen a grove of olives knows that their beauty is not such as strikes the eye4 ,if it was not for the blue sky overhead1 that rays down glorifying light1 they would not be much to look at or talk about4 ,the tree has a gnarled1 grotesque trunk which divides into insignificant branches1 bearing leaves mean in shape1 harsh in texture1 with a silvery underside4 ,it gives but a quivering shade and has no massiveness1 nor symmetry4 ,ay6 but there are olives on the branches4 ,and so the beauty of the humble tree is in what it grows for man's good4 ,after all1 it is the outcome in fruitfulness which is the main thing about us4 ,god's meaning1 in all ,his gifts of dew1 and beauty1 and purity1 and strength1 is that we should be of some use in the world4 ,the olive is crushed into oil1 and the oil is used for smoothing and suppling joints and flesh1 for nourishing and sustaining the body as food1 for illuminating darkness as oil in the lamp4 ,and these three things are the three things for which we ,christian people have received all our dew1 and all our beauty1 and all our strength--that we may give other people light1 that we may be the means of conveying to other people nourishment1 that we may move gently in the world as lubricating1 sweetening1 soothing influences1 and not irritating and provoking1 and leading to strife and alienation4 ,the question after all is1 ,does anybody gather fruit off us1 and would anybody call us 'trees of righteousness1 the planting of the ,lord1 that ,he may be glorified'8 ,that is lesson four from this text4 ,may we all open our hearts for the dew from heaven1 and then use it to produce in ourselves beauty1 purity1 strength1 and fruitfulness6 99 99 99 99 99 ,,amos ,a ,,pair ,,of ,,friends ',can two walk together1 except they be agreed8'-,,amos ,,iii4 #h4 ,they do not need to be agreed about everything4 ,they must1 however1 wish to keep each others company1 and they must be going by the same road to the same place4 ,the application of the parable is very plain1 though there are differences of opinion as to the bearing of the whole context which need not concern us now4 ,the 'two1' whom the ,prophet would fain see walking together1 are ,god and ,israel1 and his question suggests not only the companionship and communion with ,god which are the highest form of religion and the aim of all forms and ceremonies of worship1 but also the inexorable condition on which alone that height of communion can be secured and sustained4 ,two may walk together1 though the one be ,god in heaven and the other be ,i on earth4 ,but they have to be agreed thus far1 at any rate1 that both shall wish to be together1 and both be going the same road4 ,i4 ,so ,i ask you to look1 first1 at that possible blessed companionship which may cheer a life4 ,there are three phrases in the ,old ,testament1 very like each other1 and yet presenting different facets or aspects of the same great truth4 ,sometimes we read about 'walking before ,god' as ,abraham was bid to do4 ,that means ordering the daily life under the continual sense that we are 'ever in the great ,taskmaster's eye' ,then there is 'walking after ,god1' and that means conforming the will and active efforts to the rule that ,he has laid down1 setting our steps firm on the paths that ,he has prepared that we should walk in them1 and accepting ,his providences4 ,but also1 high above both these conceptions of a devout life is the one which is suggested by my text1 and which1 as you remember1 was realised in the case of the patriarch ,enoch--'walking with ,god4' ,for to walk before ,him may have with it some tremor1 and may be undertaken in the spirit of the slave who would be glad to get away from the jealous eye that rebukes his slothfulness2 and 'walking after ,him' may be a painful and partial effort to keep ,his distant figure in sight2 but to 'walk with ,him' implies a constant1 quiet sense of ,his ,divine ,presence which forbids that ,i should ever be lonely1 which guides and defends1 which floods my soul and fills my life1 and in which1 as the companions pace along side by side1 words may be spoken by either1 or blessed silence may be eloquent of perfect trust and rest4 ,but1 dear brother1 far above us as such experience seems to sound1 such a life is a possibility for every one of us4 ,we may be able to say1 as truly as our ,lord said it1 ',i am not alone1 for the ,father is with me4' ,it is possible that the dreariest solitude of a soul1 such as is not realised when the body is removed from men1 but is felt most in the crowded city where there is none that loves or fathoms and sympathises1 may be turned into blessed fellowship with ,him4 ,yes1 but that solitude will not be so turned unless it is first painfully felt4 ,as ,daniel said1 ',i was left alone1 and ,i saw the great vision4' ,we need to feel in our deepest hearts that loneliness on earth before we walk with ,god4 ,if we are so walking1 it is no piece of fanaticism to say that there will be mutual communications4 ,do you not believe that ,god knows ,his way into the spirits that ,he has endowed with conscious life8 ,do you not believe that ,he speaks now to people as truly as ,he did to prophets and ,apostles of old8 as truly2 though the results of ,his speech to us of to-day be not of the same authority for others as the words that ,he spoke to a ,paul or a ,john4 ,the belief in ,god's communications as for ever sounding in the depths of the ,christian spirit does not at all obliterate the distinction between the kind of inspiration which produced the ,new ,testament and that which is realised by all believing and obedient souls4 ,high above all our experience of hearing the words of ,god in our hearts stands that of those holy men of old who heard ,god's message whispered in their ears1 that they might proclaim it on the housetops to all the world through all generations4 ,but though they and we are on a different level1 and ,god spoke to them for a different purpose1 ,he speaks in our spirits1 if we will comply with the conditions1 as truly as ,he did in theirs4 ,as really as it was ever true that the ,lord spoke to ,abraham1 or ,isaiah1 or ,paul1 it is true that ,he now speaks to the man who walks with ,him4 ,frank speech on both sides beguiles many a weary mile1 when lovers or friends foot it side by side2 and this pair of friends of whom our text speaks have mutual intercourse4 ,god speaks with ,his servant now1 as of old1 'as a man speaketh with his friend'2 and we on our parts1 if we are truly walking with ,him1 shall feel it natural to speak frankly to ,god4 ,as two friends on the road will interchange remarks about trifles1 and if they love each other1 the remarks about the trifles will be weighted with love1 so we can tell our smallest affairs to ,god2 and if we have ,him for our ,pilgrim-,companion1 we do not need to lock up any troubles or concerns of any sort1 big or little1 in our hearts1 but may speak them all to our ,friend who goes with us4 ,the two may walk together4 ,that is the end of all religion4 ,what are creeds for8 ,what are services and sacraments for8 ,what is theology for8 ,what is ,christ's redeeming act for8 ,all culminate in this true1 constant fellowship between men and ,god4 ,and unless1 in some measure1 that result is arrived at in our cases1 our religion1 let it be as orthodox as you like1 our faith in the redemption of ,jesus ,christ1 let it be as real as you will1 our attendances on services and sacraments1 let them be as punctilious and regular as may be1 are all 'sounding brass and tinkling cymbal4' ,get side by side with ,god2 that is the purpose of all these1 and fellowship with ,him is the climax of all religion4 ,it is also the secret of all blessedness1 the only thing that will make a life absolutely sovereign over sorrow1 and fixedly unperturbed by all tempests1 and invulnerable to all 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune4' ,hold fast by ,god1 and you have an amulet against every evil1 and a shield against every foe1 and a mighty power that will calm and satisfy your whole being4 ,nothing else1 nothing else will do so4 ,as ,augustine said1 ',o ,god6 ,thou hast made us for ,thyself1 and in ,thyself only are we at rest4' ,if the ,shepherd is with us we will fear no evil4 ,,ii4 ,now1 a word1 in the next place1 as to the sadly incomplete reality1 in much ,christian experience1 which contrasts with this possibility4 ,i am afraid that very1 very few so-called ,christian people habitually feel1 as they might do1 the depth and blessedness of this communion4 ,and sure ,i am that only a very small percentage of us have anything like the continuity of companionship which my text suggests as possible4 ,there may be1 and therefore there should be1 running unbroken through a ,christian life one long1 bright line of communion with ,god and happy inspiration from the sense of ,his presence with us4 ,is it a line in my life1 or is there but a dot here1 and a dot there1 and long breaks between8 ,the long1 embarrassed pauses in a conversation between two who do not know much of1 or care much for1 each other are only too like what occurs in many professing ,christians' intercourse with ,god4 ,their communion is like those time-worn inscriptions that archaeologists dig up1 with a word clearly cut and then a great gap1 and then a letter or two1 and then another gap1 and then a little bit more legible1 and then the stone broken1 and all the rest gone4 ,did you ever read the meteorological reports in the newspapers and observe a record like this1 ',twenty minutes' sunshine out of a possible eight hours'8 ,do you not think that such a state of affairs is a little like the experience of a great many ,christian people in regard to their communion with ,god8 ,it is broken at the best1 and imperfect at the completest1 and shallow at the deepest4 ,o1 dear brethren6 rise to the height of your possibilities1 and live as close to ,god as ,he lets you live1 and nothing will much trouble you4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 a word about the simple explanation of the failure to realise this continual presence4 ',can two walk together except they be agreed8' ,certainly not4 ,our fathers1 in a sterner and more religious age than ours1 used to be greatly troubled how to account for a state of ,christian experience which they supposed to be due to ,god's withdrawing of the sense of ,his presence from ,his children4 ,whether there is any such withdrawal or not1 ,i am quite certain that that is not the cause of the interrupted communion between ,god and the average ,christian man4 ,i make all allowance for the ups and downs and changing moods which necessarily affect us in this present life1 and ,i make all allowance1 too1 for the pressure of imperative duties and distracting cares which interfere with our communion1 though1 if we were as strong as we might be1 they would not wile us away from1 but drive us to1 our ,father in heaven4 ,but when all such allowances have been made1 ,i come back to my text as the explanation of interrupted communion4 ,the two are not agreed2 and that is why they are not walking together4 ,the consciousness of ,god's presence with us is a very delicate thing4 ,it is like a very sensitive thermometer1 which will drop when an iceberg is a league off over the sea1 and scarcely visible4 ,we do not wish ,his company1 or we are not in harmony with ,his thoughts1 or we are not going ,his road1 and therefore1 of course1 we part4 ,at bottom there is only one thing that separates a soul from ,god1 and that is sin--sin of some sort1 like tiny grains of dust that get between two polished plates in an engine that ought to move smoothly and closely against each other4 ,the obstruction may be invisible1 and yet be powerful enough to cause friction1 which hinders the working of the engine and throws everything out of gear4 ,a light cloud that we cannot see may come between us and a star1 and we shall only know it is there1 because the star is not visibly there4 ,similarly1 many a ,christian1 quite unconsciously1 has something or other in his habits1 or in his conduct1 or in his affections1 which would reveal itself to him1 if he would look1 as being wrong1 because it blots out ,god4 ,let us remember that very little divergence will1 if the two paths are prolonged far enough1 part their other ends by a world4 ,our way may go off from the ways of the ,lord at a very acute angle4 ,there may be scarcely any consciousness of parting company at the beginning4 ,let the man travel on upon it far enough1 and the two will be so far apart that he cannot see ,god or hear ,him speak4 ,take care of the little divergences which are habitual1 for their accumulated results will be complete separation4 ,there must be absolute surrender if there is to be uninterrupted fellowship4 ,such1 then1 is the direction in which we are to look for the reasons for our low and broken experiences of communion with ,god4 ,oh1 dear friends6 when we do as we sometimes do1 wake with a start1 like a child that all at once starts from sleep and finds that its mother is gone--when we wake with a start to feel that we are alone1 then do not let us be afraid to go straight back4 ,only be sure that we leave behind us the sin that parted us4 ,you remember how ,peter signalised himself on the lake1 on the occasion of the second miraculous draught of fishes1 when he floundered through the water and clasped ,christ's feet4 ,he did not say then1 ',depart from ,me1 for ,i am a sinful man1 ,o ,lord6' ,he had said that before on a similar occasion1 when he felt his sin less1 but now he knew that the best place for the denier was with his head on ,christ's bosom4 ,so1 if we have parted from our ,friend1 there should be no time lost ere we go back4 ,may it be true of us that we walk with ,god1 so that at last the great promise may be fulfilled about us1 'that we shall walk with ,him in white1' being by ,his love accounted 'worthy1' and so 'follow' and keep company with1 'the ,lamb whithersoever ,he goeth6' ,,smitten ,,in ,,vain ',come to ,beth-el1 and transgress2 at ,gilgal multiply transgression2 and bring your sacrifices every morning1 and your tithes after three years3 #e4 ,and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven1 and proclaim and publish the free offerings2 for this liketh you1 ,o ye children of ,israel1 saith the ,lord ,god4 #f4 ,and ,i also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities1 and want of bread in all your places2 yet have ye not returned unto ,me1 saith the ,lord4 #g4 ,and also ,i have withholden the rain from you1 when there were yet three months to the harvest2 and ,i caused it to rain upon one city1 and caused it not to rain upon another city2 one piece was rained upon1 and the piece whereupon it rained not withered4 #h4 ,so two or three cities wandered unto one city1 to drink water2 but they were not satisfied2 yet have ye not returned unto ,me1 saith the ,lord4 #i4 ,i have smitten you with blasting and mildew3 when your gardens1 and your vineyards1 and your fig-trees1 and your olive-trees increased1 the palmerworm devoured them3 yet have ye not returned unto ,me1 saith the ,lord4 #aj4 ,i have sent among you the pestilence1 after the manner of ,egypt2 your young men have ,i slain with the sword1 and have taken away your horses2 and ,i have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils2 yet have ye not returned unto ,me1 saith the ,lord4 #aa4 ,i have overthrown some of you1 as ,god overthrew ,sodom and ,gomorrah1 and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning2 yet have ye not returned unto ,me1 saith the ,lord4 #ab4 ,therefore thus will ,i do unto thee1 ,o ,israel2 and because ,i will do this unto thee1 prepare to meet thy ,god1 ,o ,israel4 #ac4 ,for1 lo1 ,he that formeth the mountains1 and createth the wind1 and declareth unto man what is his thought1 that maketh the morning darkness1 and treadeth upon the high places of the earth1 ,the ,lord1 ,the ,god of hosts1 is ,his name4'--,,amos iv4 #d-ac4 ,the reign of ,jeroboam ,,ii4 was one of brilliant military success and of profound moral degradation4 ,amos was a simple1 hardy shepherd from the southern wilds of ,judah1 and his prophecies are redolent of his early life1 both in their homely imagery and in the wholesome indignation and contempt for the silken-robed vice of ,israel4 ,no sterner picture of an utterly rotten social state was ever drawn than this book gives of the luxury1 licentiousness1 and oppressiveness of the ruling classes4 ,this passage deals rather with the religious declension underlying the moral filth1 and sets forth the self-willed idolatry of the people 7vs4 #d1 #e71 their obstinate resistance to ,god's merciful chastisement 7vs4 #f-aa71 and the heavier impending judgment 7vs4 #ab1 #ac74 ,i4 ,indignant irony flashes in that permission or command to persevere in the calf worship4 ,the seeming command is the strongest prohibition4 ,there can be no worse thing befall a man than that he should be left to go on forwardly in the way of his heart4 ,the real meaning is sufficiently emphasised by that second verb1 'and transgress'4 ',flock to one temple after another1 and heap altars with sacrifices which you were never bid to offer1 but understand that what you do is not worship1 but sin4' ,that is a smiting sentence to pass upon elaborate ceremonial4 ,the word literally means treason or rebellion1 and by it ,amos at one blow shatters the whole fabric4 ,note1 too1 that the offering of tithes was not called for by ,mosaic law1 'every three days' 7,revised ,version71 and that the use of leaven in burnt offerings was prohibited by it1 and also that to call for freewill offerings was to turn spontaneousness into something like compulsion1 and to bring ostentation into worship4 ,all these characteristics spoiled the apparent religiousness1 over and above the initial evil of disobedience1 and warrant ,amos's crushing equation1 ',your worship rebellion4' ,all are driven home by the last words of verse #e1 ',so ye love it4' ,the reason for all this prodigal ostentatious worship was to please themselves1 not to obey ,god4 ,that tainted everything1 and always does4 ,the lessons of this burst of sarcasm are plain4 ,the subtle influence of self creeps in even in worship1 and makes it hollow1 unreal1 and powerless to bless the worshipper4 ,obedience is better than costly gifts4 ,the beginning and end of all worship1 which is not at same time 'transgression' is the submission of tastes1 will1 and the whole self4 ,again1 men will lavish gifts far more freely in apparent religious service1 which is but the worship of their reflected selves1 than in true service of ,god4 ,again1 the purity of willing offerings is marred when they are given in response to a loud call1 or1 when given1 are proclaimed with acclamations4 ,let us not suppose that all the brunt of ,amos's indignation fell only on these old devotees4 ,the principles involved in it have a sharp edge1 turned to a great deal which is allowed and fostered among ourselves4 ,,ii4 ,the blaze of indignation changes in the second part of the passage into wounded tenderness1 as the ,prophet speaks in the name of ,god1 and recounts the dreary monotony of failure attending all ,god's loving attempts to arrest ,israel's departure by the mercy of judgment4 ,mark the sad cadence of the fivefold refrain1 ',ye have not returned unto ,me1 saith the ,lord4' ,the 'unto' implies reaching the object to which we turn1 and is not the less forcible but more usual word found in this phrase1 which simply means 'towards' and indicates direction1 without saying anything as to how far the return has gone4 ,so there may have been partial moments of bethinking themselves1 when the chastisement was on ,israel2 but there had been no thorough 'turning1' which had landed them at the side of ,god4 ,many a man turns towards ,god1 who1 for lack of resolved perseverance1 never so turns as to get to ,god4 ,the repeated complaint of the inefficacy of chastisements has in it a tone of sorrow and of wonder which does not belong only to the ,prophet4 ,if we remember who it was who was 'grieved at the blindness of their heart1' and who 'wondered at their unbelief' we shall not fear to recognise here the attribution of the same emotions to the heart of ,god4 ,to ,amos1 famine1 drought1 blasting1 locusts1 pestilence1 and probably earthquake1 were five messengers of ,god1 and ,amos was taught by ,god4 ,if we looked deeper1 we should see more clearly4 ,the true view of the relation of all material things and events to ,god is this which the herdsman of ,tekoa proclaimed4 ,these messengers were not 'miracles1' but they were ,god's messengers all the same4 ,behind all phenomena stands a personal will1 and they are nearer the secret of the universe who see ,god working in it all1 than they who see all forces except the ,one which is the only true force4 ',i give cleanness of teeth4 ,i have withholden the rain4 ,i have smitten4 ,i have sent the pestilence4 ,i have overthrown some of you4' ,to the ,prophet's eye the world is all aflame with a present ,god4 ,let no scientific views1 important and illuminating as these may be1 hide from us the deeper truth1 which lies beyond their region4 ,the child who says ',god1' has got nearer the centre than the scientist who says ',force4' ,but ,amos had another principle1 that ,god sent physical calamities because of moral delinquencies and for moral and religious ends4 ,these disasters were meant to bring ,israel back to ,god1 and were at once punishments and reformatory methods4 ,no doubt the connection between sin and material evils was closer under the ,old ,testament than now4 ,but if we may not argue as ,amos did1 in reference to such calamities as drought1 and failures of harvests1 and the like1 as these affect communities1 we may1 at all events1 affirm that1 in the case of the individual1 he is a wise man who regards all outward evil as having a possible bearing on his bettering spiritually4 ',if a drought comes1 learn to look to your irrigation1 and don't cut down your forests so wantonly1' say the wise men nowadays2 'if pestilence breaks out1 see to your drainage4' ,by all means4 ,these things1 too1 are ,god's commandments1 and we have no right to interpret the consequences of infraction of physical laws as being meant to punish nations for their breach of moral and religious ones4 ,if we were prophets1 we might1 but not else4 ,but still1 is ,god so poor that ,he can have but one purpose in a providence8 ,every sorrow1 of whatever sort1 is meant to produce all the good effects which it naturally tends to produce2 and since every experience of pain and loss and grief naturally tends to wean us from earth1 and to drive us to find in ,god what earth can never yield1 all our sorrows are ,his messengers to draw us back to ,him4 ,amos' lesson as to the purpose of trials is not antiquated4 ,but he has still another to teach us2 namely1 the awful power which we have of resisting ,god's efforts to draw us back4 ',our wills are ours1 we know not how1' but alas6 it is too often not 'to make them ,thine4' ,this is the true tragedy of the world that ,god calls1 and we do refuse1 even as it is the deepest mystery of sinful manhood that ,god calls and we can refuse4 ,what infinite pathos and grieved love1 thrown back upon itself1 is in that refrain1 ',ye have not returned unto ,me6' ,how its recurrence speaks of the long-suffering which multiplied means as others failed1 and of the divine charity1 which 'suffered long1 was not soon angry1 and hoped all things6' ,how vividly it gives the impression of the obstinacy that to all effort opposed insensibility1 and clung the more closely and insanely to the idolatry which was its crime and its ruin6 ,the very same temper is deep in us all4 ,israel holds up the mirror in which we may see ourselves4 ,if blows do not break iron1 they harden it4 ,a wasted sorrow--that is1 a sorrow which does not drive us to ,god--leaves us less impressible than it found us4 ,,iii4 ,again the mood changes1 and the issue of protracted resistance is prophesied 7vs4 #ab1 #ac74 ',therefore' sums up the instances of refusal to be warned1 and presents them as the cause of the coming evil4 ,the higher the dam is piled1 the deeper the water that is gathered behind it1 and the surer and more destructive the flood when it bursts4 ,long-delayed judgments are severe in proportion as they are slow4 ,note the awful vagueness of threatening in that emphatic 'thus1' as if the ,prophet had the event before his eyes4 ,there is no need to specify1 for there can be but one result from such obstinacy4 ,the 'terror of the ,lord' is more moving by reason of the dimness which wraps it4 ,the contact of divine power with human rebellion can only end in one way1 and that is too terrible for speech4 ,conscience can translate 'thus4' ,the thunder-cloud is all the more dreadful for the vagueness of its outline1 where its livid hues melt into formless black4 ,what bolts lurk in its gloom8 ,the certainty of judgment is the basis of a call to repentance1 which may avert it4 ,the meeting with ,god for which ,israel is besought to prepare1 was1 of course1 not judgment after death1 but the impending destruction of the ,northern ,kingdom4 ,but ,amos's prophetic call is not misapplied when directed to that final day of the ,lord4 ,common-sense teaches preparation for a certain future1 and ,amos's trumpet-note is deepened and re-echoed by ,jesus3 ',be ye ready also1 for 444 the ,son of man cometh4' ,note1 too1 that ,israel's peculiar relation to ,god is the very ground of the certainty of its punishment1 and of the appeal for repentance4 ,just because ,he is 'thy ,god1' will ,he assuredly come to judge1 and you may assuredly prepare1 by repentance1 to meet ,him4 ,the conditions of meeting the ,judge1 and being 'found of ,him in peace1' are that we should be 'without spot1 and blameless'2 and the conditions of being so spotless and uncensurable are1 what they were in ,amos's day1 repentance and trust4 ,only we have ,jesus as the brightness of the ,father's glory to trust in1 and ,his all-sufficient work to trust to1 for pardon and purifying4 ,the magnificent proclamation of the name of the ,lord which closes the passage1 is meant as at once a guarantee of ,his judgment and an enforcement of the call to be ready to meet ,him4 ,he in creation forms the solid1 changeless mountains and the viewless1 passing wind4 ,the most stable and the most mobile are ,his work4 ,he reads men's hearts1 and can tell them their thoughts afar off4 ,he is the ,author of all changes1 both in the physical and the moral world1 bringing the daily wonder of sunrise and the nightly shroud of darkness1 and with like alternation blending joy and sorrow in men's lives4 ,he treads 'on the high places of the earth1' making all created elevations the path of ,his feet1 and crushing down whatever exalts itself4 ,thus1 in creation almighty1 in knowledge omniscient1 in providence changing all things and ,himself the same1 subjugating all1 and levelling a path for ,his purposes across every opposition1 ,he manifests ,his name1 as the living1 eternal ,jehovah1 the ,god of the ,covenant1 and therefore of judgment on its breakers1 and as the ,commander and ,god of the embattled forces of the universe4 ,is this a ,god whose coming to judge is to be lightly dealt with8 ,is not this a ,god whom it is wise for us to be ready to meet8 ,,the ,,sins ,,of ,,society ',for thus saith the ,lord unto the house of ,israel1 ,seek ye ,me1 and ye shall live3 #e4 ,but seek not ,beth-el1 nor enter into ,gilgal1 and pass not to ,beer-sheba3 for ,gilgal shall surely go into captivity1 and ,beth-el shall come to nought4 #f4 ,seek the ,lord1 and ye shall live2 lest ,he break out like fire in the house of ,joseph1 and devour it1 and there be none to quench it in ,beth-el4 #g4 ,ye who turn judgment to wormwood1 and leave off righteousness in the earth1 #h4 ,seek ,him that maketh the seven stars and ,orion1 and turneth the shadow of death into the morning1 and maketh the day dark with night3 that calleth for the waters of the sea1 and poureth them out upon the face of the earth3 ,the ,lord is ,his name3 #i4 ,that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong1 so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress4 #aj4 ,they hate him that rebuketh in the gate1 and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly4 #aa4 ,forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor1 and ye take from him burdens of wheat3 ye have built houses of hewn stone1 but ye shall not dwell in them2 ye have planted pleasant vineyards1 but ye shall not drink wine of them4 #ab4 ,for ,i know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins3 they afflict the just1 they take a bribe1 and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right #ac4 ,therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time2 for it is an evil time4 #ad4 ,seek good1 and not evil1 that ye may live3 and so the ,lord1 the ,god of hosts1 shall be with you1 as ye have spoken4 #ae4 ,hate the evil1 and love the good1 and establish judgment in the gate3 it may be that the ,lord ,god of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of ,joseph4'--,,amos v4 #d-ae4 ,the reign of ,jeroboam ,,ii1 in which ,amos prophesied1 was a period of great prosperity and of great corruption4 ,amos1 born in the ,southern ,kingdom1 and accustomed to the simple life of a shepherd1 blazed up in indignation at the signs of misused wealth and selfish luxury that he saw everywhere1 in what was to him almost a foreign country4 ,if one fancies a godly ,scottish ,highlander sent to the ,west end of ,london1 or a ,bible-reading ,new ,england farmer's man sent to ,new ,york's 'upper ten1' one will have some notion of this prophet1 the impressions made1 and the task laid on him4 ,he has a message to our state of society which1 in many particulars1 resembles that which he had to rebuke4 ,there seems to be a slight dislocation in the order of the verses of the passage1 for verse #g comes in awkwardly1 breaking the connection between verses #f and #h1 and itself cut off from verse #aj1 to which it belongs4 ,if we remove the intruding verse to a position after verse #i1 the whole passage is orderly and falls into three coherent parts3 an exhortation to seek ,jehovah1 enforced by various considerations 7vs4 #d-i72 a vehement denunciation of social vices 7vs4 #g1 #aj-ac72 and a renewed exhortation to seek ,god by doing right to man 7vs4 #ad1 #ae74 ,amos's first call to ,israel is but the echo of ,god's to men1 always and everywhere4 ,all circumstances1 all inward experiences1 joy and sorrow1 prosperity and disaster1 our longings and our fears1 they all cry aloud to us to seek ,his face4 ,that loving invitation is ever sounding in our ears4 ,and the promise which ,amos gave1 though it may have meant on his lips the continuance of national life only1 yet had1 even on his lips1 a deeper meaning1 which we now cannot but hear in it4 ,for1 just as to 'seek the ,lord' means more to us than it did to ,israel1 so the consequent life has greatened1 widened1 deepened into life eternal4 ,but ,amos's narrower1 more external promise is true still1 and there is no surer way of promoting true well-being than seeking ,god4 ',with ,thee is the fountain of life1' in all senses of the word1 from the lowest purely physical to the highest1 and it is only they who go thither to draw that will carry away their pitchers full of the sparkling blessing4 ,the fundamental principle of ,amos's teaching is an eternal truth1 that to seek ,god is to find ,him1 and to find ,him is life4 ,but ,amos further teaches us that such seeking is not real nor able to find1 unless it is accompanied with turning away from all sinful quests after vanities4 ,we must give up seeking ,bethel1 ,gilgal1 or ,beersheba1 seats of the calf worship1 if we are to seek ,god to purpose4 ,the sin of the ,northern ,kingdom was that it wanted to worship ,jehovah under the symbol of the calves1 thus trying to unite two discrepant things4 ,and is not a great deal of our ,christianity of much the same quality8 ,too many of us are doing just what ,elijah told the crowds on ,carmel that they were doing1 trying to 'shuffle along on both knees4' ,we would seek ,god1 but we would like to have an occasional visit to ,bethel4 ,it cannot be done4 ,there must be detachment1 if there is to be any real attachment4 ,and the certain transiency of all creatural objects is a good reason for not fastening ourselves to them1 lest we should share their fate4 ',gilgal shall go into captivity1 and ,bethel shall come to nought1' therefore let us join ourselves to the ,eternal ,love and we shall abide1 as it abides1 for ever4 ,the exhortation is next enforced by presenting the consequences of neglecting it4 ,to seek ,him is life1 not to seek ,him incurs the danger of finding ,him in unwelcome ways4 ,that is for ever true4 ,we do not get away from ,god by forgetting ,him1 but we run the risk of finding in ,him1 not the fire which vitalises1 purifies1 melts1 and gladdens1 but that which consumes4 ,the fire is one1 but its effects are twofold4 ,god is for us either that fire into which it is blessedness to be baptized1 or that by which it is death to be burned up4 ,and what can ,bethel1 or calves1 or all the world do to quench it or pluck us out of it8 ,once more the exhortation is urged1 if we link verse #h with verse #f1 and supply ',seek ye' at its beginning4 ,here the enforcement is drawn from the considerations of ,god's workings in nature and history4 ,the shepherd from ,tekoa had often gazed up at the silent splendours of the ,pleiades and ,orion1 as he kept watch over his flocks by night1 and had seen the thick darkness on the wide uplands thinning away as the morning stole op over the mountains across the ,dead ,sea1 and the day dying as he gathered his sheep together4 ,he had cowered under the torrential rains which swept across his exposed homeland1 and had heard ,god's voice summoning the obedient waters of the sea1 that ,he might pour them down in rain4 ,but the moral government of the world also calls on men to seek ,jehovah4 ',he causeth destruction to flash forth on the strong1 so that destruction cometh upon the fortress4' ,high things attract the lightning4 ,godless strength is sure1 sooner or later1 to be smitten down1 and no fortress is so impregnable that ,he cannot capture and overthrow it4 ,surely wisdom bids us seek ,him that does all these wonders1 and make ,him our defence and our high tower4 ,the second part gives a vivid picture of the vices characteristic of a prosperous state of society which is godless1 and therefore selfishly luxurious4 ,first1 civil justice is corrupted1 turned into bitterness1 and prostrated to the ground4 ,then bold denouncers of national sins are violently hated4 ,do we not know that phase of an ungodly and rich society8 ,what do the newspapers say about ,christians who try to be social reformers8 ,are the epithets flung at them liker bouquets or rotten eggs8 ',fanatics and faddists' are the mildest of them4 ,then the poor are trodden down and have to give large parts of their scanty harvests to the rich4 ,have capital and labour just proportions of their joint earnings8 ,would a sermon on verse #aa be welcome in the suburbs of industrial centres1 where the employers have their 'houses of hewn stone'8 ,such houses1 side by side with the poor men's huts1 struck the eye of the shepherd from ,tekoa as the height of sinful luxury1 and still more sinful disproportion in the social condition of the two classes4 ,what would he have said if he had lived in ,england or ,america8 ,justice1 too1 was bought and sold4 ,a murderer could buy himself off1 while the poor man1 who could not pay1 lost his case4 ,we do not bribe juries1 but 7legal7 justice is an expensive luxury still1 and counsel's fees put it out of the reach of poor men4 ,one of the worst features of such a state of society as ,amos saw is that men are afraid to speak out in condemnation of it1 and the ill weeds grow apace for want of a scythe4 ,amos puts a certain sad emphasis on 'prudent1' as if he was feeling how little he could be called so1 and yet there is a touch of scorn in him too4 ,the man who is over-careful of his skin or his reputation will hold his tongue2 even good men may become so accustomed to the glaring corruptions of society in the midst of which they have always lived1 that they do not feel any call to rebuke or wage war against them2 but the brave man1 the man who takes his ideals from ,christ1 and judges society by its conformity with ,christ's standard1 will not keep silence1 and the more he feels that ',it is an evil time' the more will he feel that he cannot but speak out1 whatever comes of his protest4 ,what masquerades as prudence is very often sinful cowardice1 and such silence is treason against ,christ4 ,the third part repeats the exhortation to 'seek1' with a notable difference4 ,it is now 'good' that is to be sought1 and 'evil' that is to be turned from4 ,these correspond respectively to ',jehovah1' and ',bethel1 ,gilgal1 and ,beersheba1' in former verses4 ,that is to say1 morality is the garb of religion1 and religion is the only true source of morality4 ,if we are not seeking the things that are lovely and of good report1 our professions of seeking ,god are false2 and we shall never earnestly and successfully seek good and hate evil unless we have begun by seeking and finding ,god1 and holding ,him in our heart of hearts4 ,modern social reformers1 who fancy that they can sweeten society without religion1 might do worse than go to school to ,amos4 ,notable1 too1 is the lowered tone of confidence in the beneficial result of obeying the ,prophet's call4 ,in the earlier exhortation the promise had been absolute4 ',seek ye ,me1 and ye shall live'2 now it has cooled to 'it may be4' ,is ,amos faltering8 ,no2 but while it is always true that blessed life is found by the seeker after ,god1 because ,he finds the very source of life1 it is not always true that the consequences of past turnings from ,him are diverted by repentance4 ',it may be' that these have to be endured1 but even they become tokens of ,jehovah's graciousness1 and the purified 'remnant of ,joseph' will possess the true life more abundantly because they have been exercised thereby4 ,,the ,,carcass ,,and ,,the ,,eagles ',woe to them that are at ease in ,zion1 and trust in the mountain of ,samaria1 which are named chief of the nations1 to whom the house of ,israel came6 #b4 ,pass ye unto ,calneh1 and see2 and from thence go ye to ,hamath the great2 then go down to ,gath of the ,philistines3 be they better than these kingdoms8 or their border greater than your border8 #c4 ,ye that put far away the evil day1 and cause the seat of violence to come near2 #d4 ,that lie upon beds of ivory1 and stretch themselves upon their couches1 and eat the lambs out of the flock1 and the calves out of the midst of the stall2 #e4 ,that chant to the sound of the viol1 and invent to themselves instruments of musick1 like ,david2 #f4 ,that drink wine in bowls1 and anoint themselves with the chief ointments3 but they are not grieved for the affliction of ,joseph4 #g4 ,therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive1 and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed4 #h4 ,the ,lord ,god hath sworn by ,himself1 saith the ,lord the ,god of hosts1 ,i abhor the excellency of ,jacob1 and hate his palaces3 therefore will ,i deliver up the city with all that is therein4'--,,amos vi4 #a-h4 ,amos prophesied during the reign of ,jeroboam1 the son of ,joash4 ,jeroboam's reign was a time of great prosperity for ,israel4 ,moab1 ,gilead1 and part of ,syria were reconquered1 and the usual effects of conquest1 increased luxury and vainglory1 followed4 ,amos was not an ,israelite born1 for he came from ,tekoa1 away down south1 in the wild country west of the ,dead ,sea1 where he had been a simple herdsman till the divine call sent him into the midst of the corrupt civilisation of the ,northern ,kingdom4 ,the first words of his prophecy give its whole spirit3 ',the ,lord will roar from ,zion4' ,the word rendered 'roar' is the term specially used for the terrible cry with which a lion leaps on its surprised prey 7,amos iii4 #d1 #h74 ,it is from ,zion1 the seat of ,god's ,temple1 that the 'roar' proceeds1 and ,amos's prophecy is but the echo of it in ,israel4 ,the prophecy of judgment in this passage is directed against the sins of the upper classes in ,samaria4 ,they are described in verse #a as the 'notable men 444 to whom the house of ,israel come1' which1 in modern language1 is just 'conspicuous citizens1' who set the fashion1 and are looked to as authorities and leaders1 whether in political or commercial or social life4 ,the word by which they are designated is used in ,numbers i4 #ag3 ',which are expressed by name4' ,the word 'carried back the thoughts of the degenerate aristocracy of ,israel to the faith and zeal of their forefathers' 7,pusey1 ,minor ,prophets1 on this verse74 ,israel1 ,amos calls ',the first of the nations4' ,it is singular that such a title should be given to the nation against whose corruption his one business is to testify1 but probably there is keen irony in the word4 ,it takes ,israel at its own estimate1 and then goes on to show how rotten1 and therefore short-lived1 was the prosperity which had swollen national pride to such a pitch4 ,the chiefs of the foremost nation in the world should surely be something better than the heartless debauchees whom the ,prophet proceeds to paint4 ,anglo-,saxons on both sides of the ,atlantic1 who are by no means deficient in this same complacent estimate of their own superiority to all other peoples1 may take note4 ,the same thought is prominent in the description of these notables as 'at ease4' ,they are living in a fool's paradise1 shutting their eyes to the thunder-clouds that begin to rise slowly above the horizon1 and keeping each other in countenance in laughing at ,amos and his gloomy forecasts4 ,they 'trusted in the mountain of ,samaria1' which1 they thought1 made the city impregnable to assault4 ,no doubt they thought that the ,prophet's talk about doing right and trusting in ,jehovah was very fanatical and unpractical1 just as many in ,england and ,america think that their nations are exalted1 not by righteousness1 but by armies1 navies1 and dollars or sovereigns4 ,verse #b is very obscure to us from our ignorance of the facts underlying its allusions4 ,in fact1 it has been explained in exactly opposite ways1 being taken by some to enumerate three instances of prosperous communities1 which yet are not more prosperous than ,israel1 and by others to enumerate three instances of ,god's judgments falling on places which1 though strong1 had been conquered4 ,in the former explanation1 ,god's favour to ,israel is made the ground of an implied appeal to their gratitude2 in the latter1 ,his judgments on other nations are made the ground of an appeal to their fear1 lest like destruction should fall on them4 ,but the main points of the passage are the photograph of the crimes which are bringing the judgment of ,god1 and the solemn divine oath to inflict the judgment4 ,the crimes rebuked are not the false worship of the calves1 though in other parts of his prophecy ,amos lashes that with terrible invectives1 nor foul breaches of morality1 though these were not wanting in ,israel1 but the vices peculiar to selfish1 luxurious upper classes in all times and countries1 who forget the obligations of wealth1 and think only of its possibilities of self-indulgence4 ,french noblesse before the ,revolution1 and ,english peers and commercial magnates1 and ,american millionaires1 would yield examples of the same sin4 ,the hardy shepherd from ,tekoa had learned 'plain living and high thinking' before he was a prophet1 and would look with wondering and disgusted eyes at the wicked waste which he saw in ,samaria4 ,he begins with scourging the reckless security already referred to4 ,these notables in ,israel were 'at ease' because they 'put far away the evil day1' by refusing to believe that it was at hand1 and paying no heed to prophets' warnings1 as their fellows do still and always1 and as we all are tempted to do4 ,they who see and declare the certain end of national or personal sins are usually jeered at as pessimists1 fanatics1 alarmists1 bad patriots1 or personal ill-wishers1 and the men whom they try to warn fancy that they hinder the coming of a day of retribution by disbelieving in its coming4 ,incredulity is no lightning-conductor to keep off the flash1 and1 listened to or not1 the low growls of the thunder are coming nearer4 ,with one hand these sinners tried to push away the evil day1 while with the other they drew near to themselves that which made its coming certain--'the seat of violence1' or1 rather1 'the sitting1' or 'session4' ,violence1 or wrongdoing1 is enthroned by them1 and where men enthrone iniquity1 ,god's day of vengeance is not far off4 ,then follows a graphic picture of the senseless1 corrupting luxury of the ,samaritan magnates1 on which the ,tekoan shepherd pours his scorn1 but which is simplicity itself1 and almost asceticism1 before what he would see if he came to ,london or ,new ,york4 ,to him it seemed effeminate to loll on a divan at meals1 and possibly it was a custom imported from abroad4 ,it is noted that 'the older custom in ,israel was to sit while eating4' ,the woodwork of the divans1 inlaid with ivory1 had caught his eye in some of his peeps into the great houses1 and he inveighs against them very much as one of the ,pilgrim ,fathers might do if he could see the furniture in the drawing-rooms of some of his descendants4 ,there is no harm in pretty things1 but the aesthetic craze does sometimes indicate and increase selfish heartlessness as to the poverty and misery1 which have not only no ivory on their divans1 but no divans at all4 ,thus stretched in unmanly indolence on their cushions1 they feast on delicacies4 ',lambs out of the flock' and 'calves out of the stall' seem to mean animals too young to be used as food4 ,these gourmands1 like their successors1 prided themselves on having dainties out of season1 because they were more costly then4 ,and their feasts had the adornment of music1 which the shepherd1 who knew only the pastoral pipe that gathered his sheep1 refers to with contempt4 ,he uses a very rare word of uncertain meaning1 which is probably best rendered in some such way as the ,revised ,version does3 ',they sing idle songs4' ,to him their elaborate performances seemed like empty babble4 ,worse than that1 they 'devise musical instruments like ,david4' ,but how unlike him in the use they make of art6 ,what a descent from the praises of ,god to the 'idle songs' fit for the hot dining-halls and the guests there6 ,amos was indignant at the profanation of art1 and thought it best used in the service of ,god4 ,what would he have said if he had been 'fastened into a front-row box' and treated to a modern opera8 ,the revellers 'drink wine in bowls' by which larger vessels than generally employed are intended4 ,they drank to excess1 or as we might say1 by bucketfuls4 ,so the dainty feast1 with its artistic refinement and music1 ends at last in a brutal carouse1 and the heads anointed with the most costly unguents drop in drunken slumber4 ,a similar picture of ,samaritan manners is drawn by ,isaiah 7chap4 xxviii471 and obviously drunkenness was one of the besetting sins of the capital4 ,but the darkest hue in the dark picture has yet to be added3 ',they are not grieved for the affliction 7literally1 the 'breach' or 'wound'7 of ,joseph4' ,the tribe of ,ephraim1 ,joseph's son1 being the principal tribe of the ,northern ,kingdom1 ,joseph is often employed as a synonym for ,israel4 ,all these pieces of luxury1 corrupting and effeminate as they are1 might be permitted1 but heartless indifference to the miseries groaning at the door of the banqueting-hall goes with them4 ',the classes' are indifferent to the condition of 'the masses4' ,put ,amos into modern ,english1 and he is denouncing the heartlessness of wealth1 refinement1 art1 and culture1 which has no ear for the complaining of the poor1 and no eyes to see either the sorrows and sins around it1 or the lowering cloud that is ready to burst in tempest4 ,the inevitable issue is certain1 because of the very nature of ,god4 ,it is outlined with keen irony4 ,amos sees in imagination the long procession of sad captives1 and marching in the front ranks1 the self-indulgent ,sybarites1 whose pre-eminence is now only the melancholy prerogative of going first in the fettered train4 ,what has become of their revelry8 ,it is gone1 like the imaginary banquets of dreams1 and instead of luxurious lolling on silken couches1 there is the weary tramp of the captive exiles4 ,such result must be1 since ,god is what ,he is4 ,he has sworn 'by ,himself'2 ,his being and character are the pledge that it will be so as ,amos has declared4 ,how can such a ,god as ,he is do otherwise than hate the pride of such a selfish1 heartless1 ,god-forgetting aristocracy8 ,how can ,he do otherwise than deliver up the city8 ,god has not changed1 and though ,his mills grind slowly1 they do grind still2 and it is as true for ,england and ,america1 as it was for ,samaria1 that a wealthy and leisurely upper class1 which cares only for material luxury glossed over by art1 which has condescended to be its servant1 is bringing near the evil day which it hugs itself into believing will never come4 ,,ripe ,,for ,,gathering ',thus hath the ,lord ,god shewed unto me3 and behold a basket of summer fruit4 #b4 ,and ,he said1 ,amos1 what seest thou8 ,and ,i said1 ,a basket of summer fruit4 ,then said the ,lord unto me1 ,the end is come upon ,my people of ,israel2 ,i will not again pass by them any more4 #c4 ,and the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day1 saith the ,lord ,god3 there shall be many dead bodies in every place2 they shall cast them forth with silence4 #d4 ,hear this1 ,o ye that swallow up the needy1 even to make the poor of the land to fail4 #e4 ,saying1 ,when will the new moon be gone1 that we may sell corn8 and the sabbath1 that we may set forth wheat1 making the ephah small1 and the shekel great1 and falsifying the balances by deceit8 #f4 ,that we may buy the poor for silver1 and the needy for a pair of shoes2 yea1 and sell the refuse of the wheat8 #g4 ,the ,lord hath sworn by the excellency of ,jacob1 ,surely ,i will never forget any of their works4 #h4 ,shall not the land tremble for this1 and every one mourn that dwelleth therein8 and it shall rise up wholly as a flood2 and it shall be cast out and drowned1 as by the flood of ,egypt4 #i4 ,and it shall come to pass in that day1 saith the ,lord ,god1 that ,i will cause the sun to go down at noon1 and ,i will darken the earth in the clear day3 #aj4 ,and ,i w ill turn your feasts into mourning1 and all your songs into lamentation2 and ,i will bring up sackcloth upon all loins1 and baldness upon every head2 and ,i will make it as the mourning of an only son1 and the end thereof as a bitter day4 #aa4 ,behold1 the days come1 saith the ,lord ,god1 that ,i will send a famine in the land1 not a famine of bread1 nor a thirst for water1 but of hearing the words of the ,lord3 #ab4 ,and they shall wander from sea to sea1 and from the north even to the east1 they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the ,lord1 and shall not find it4 #ac4 ,in that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst4 #ad4 ,they that swear by the sin of ,samaria1 and say1 ,thy ,god1 ,o ,dan1 liveth3 and1 ,the manner of ,beer-sheba liveth2 even they shall fall1 and never rise up again4'--,,amos viii4 #a-ad4 ,there are three visions in the former chapter1 each beginning as verse #a4 ,this one is therefore intended to be taken as the continuation of these1 and it is in substance a repetition of the third1 only with more detail and emphasis4 ,an insolent attempt1 by the priest of ,beth-el1 to silence the ,prophet1 and the fiery answer which he got for his pains1 come between4 ,the stream of ,amos's prophecy flows on1 uninterrupted by the boulder which had tried to dam it up4 ,some courage was needed to treat ,amaziah and his blasphemous bluster as a mere parenthesis4 ,we have first to note the vision and its interpretation4 ,it is such as a countryman1 'a dresser of sycamore trees' would naturally have4 ,experience supplies forms and material for the imagination1 and moulds into which ,god-given revelations run4 ,the point of the vision is rather obscured by the rendering 'summer fruit4' ',ripe fruit' would be better1 since the emblem represents the ,northern ,kingdom as ripe for the dreadful ingathering of judgment4 ,the word for this 7qayits7 and that for 'the end' 7qets7 are alike in sound1 but the play of words cannot be reproduced1 except by some clumsy device1 such as 'the end ripens' or 'the time of ripeness comes4' ,the figure is frequent in other prophecies of judgment1 as1 for instance1 in ,revelation xiv4 #ad-bj4 ,observe the repetition1 from the preceding vision1 of ',i will not pass by them any more4' ,the first two visions had threatened judgments1 which had been averted by the ,prophet's intercession2 but the third1 and now the fourth1 declare that the time for prolonged impunity is passed4 ,just as the mellow ripeness of the fruit fixes the time of gathering it1 so there comes a stage in national and individual corruption1 when there is nothing to be done but to smite4 ,that period is not reached because ,god changes1 but because men get deeper in sin4 ,because 'the harvest is ripe1' the long-delayed command1 ',put in thy sickle' is given to the angel of judgment1 and the clusters of those black grapes1 whose juice in the wine-press of the wrath of ,god is blood1 are cut down and cast in4 ,it is a solemn lesson1 applying to each soul as well as to communities4 ,by neglect of ,god's voice1 and persistence in our own evil ways1 we can make ourselves such that we are ripe for judgment1 and can compel long-suffering to strike4 ,which are we ripening for--the harvest when the wheat shall be gathered into ,christ's barns1 or that when the tares shall be bound in bundles for burning8 ,the tragedy of that fruit-gathering is described with extraordinary grimness and force in the abrupt language of verse #c4 ,the merry songs sung in the palace 7this rendering seems more appropriate here than 'temple'7 will be broken off1 and the singers' voices will quaver into shrill shrieks1 so suddenly will the judgment be4 ,then comes a picture as abrupt in its condensed terribleness as anything in ,tacitus--',many the corpses2 everywhere they fling them2 hush6' ,we see the ghastly masses of dead 7'corpse' is in the singular1 as if a collective noun71 so numerous that no burial-places could hold them2 and no ceremonial attended them1 but they were rudely flung anywhere by anybody 7no nominative is given71 with no accustomed voice of mourning1 but in gloomy silence4 ,it is like ,defoe's picture of the dead-cart in the plague of ,london4 ,such is ever the end of departing from ,god--songs palsied into silence or turned into wailing when the judgment bursts2 death stalking supreme1 and silence brooding over all4 ,the crimes that ripened men for this terrible harvest are next set forth1 in part1 in verses #d to #f4 ,these verses partly coincide verbally with the previous indictment in ,amos ii4 #f1 etc41 which1 however1 is more comprehensive4 ,here only one form of sin is dealt with4 ,and what was the sin that deserved the bad eminence of being thus selected as the chief sign that ,israel was ripe and rotten8 ,precisely the one which gets most indulgence in the ,christian ,church2 namely1 eagerness to be rich1 and sharp1 unkindly dealing4 ,these men1 who were only fit to be swept out of the land1 were most punctual in their religious duties4 ,they would not on any account do business either on a festival or on ,sabbath1 but they were very impatient till--shall we say8 ,monday morning came--that they might get to their beloved work again4 ,their lineal descendants are no strangers on the exchanges1 or in the churches of ,london or ,new ,york4 ,they were not only outwardly scrupulous and inwardly weary of religious observances1 but when they did get to 'business1' they gave short measure and took a long price1 and knew how to turn the scales always in their own favour4 ,it was the expedient of rude beginners in the sacred art of getting the best of a bargain1 to put a false bottom in the ephah1 and to stick a piece of lead below the shekel weight1 which the purchaser had to make go up in the scale with his silver4 ,there are much neater ways of doing the same thing now2 and no doubt some very estimable gentlemen in high repute as ,christians1 who give respectability to any church or denomination1 could have taught these early practitioners a lesson or two4 ,they were as cruel as they were greedy4 ,they bought their brethren as slaves1 and if a poor man had run into their debt for even a pair of shoes1 they would sell him up in a very literal sense4 ,avarice1 unbridled by the fear of ,god1 leads by a short cut to harshness and disregard of the claims of others4 ,there are more ways of buying the needy for a pair of shoes than these people practised4 ,the last touch in the picture is meanness1 which turned everything into money4 ,even what fell through the sieve when wheat was winnowed1 which ought to have been given to anybody1 was carefully scraped up1 and1 dirty as it was1 sold4 ,is not 'nothing for nothing' an approved maxim to-day8 ,are not people held up as shining lights of commerce1 who have the faculty of turning everything into saleable articles8 ,some serious reflections ought to be driven home to us who live in great commercial communities1 and are in manifold ways tempted to 'learn their ways1 and so get a snare unto our souls1' by this gibbeting of tempers and customs1 very common among ourselves1 as the very head and front of the sin of ,israel1 which determined its ripeness for destruction4 ,the catalogue of sins is left incomplete 7compare with chapter ii471 as if holy indignation turned for relief to the thought of the certain judgment4 ,that certainly is strongly affirmed by the representation of the oath of ,jehovah4 ',he can swear by no other1' therefore ,he 'swears by ,himself'2 and the 'excellency of ,jacob' cannot with propriety mean anything else than ,him who is1 or ought to be1 the sole ground of confidence and occasion of 'boasting' to the nation 7,hos4 v4 #e74 ,he gives ,his own being as the guarantee that judgment shall fall4 ,as surely as ,god is ,god1 injustice and avarice will ruin a nation4 ,we talk now about necessary consequences and natural laws rendering penalties inevitable4 ,the ,bible suggests a deeper foundation for their certain incidence--even the very nature of ,god ,himself4 ,as long as ,he is what ,he is1 covetousness and its child1 harshness to the needy1 will be sin against ,him1 and be avenged sooner or later4 ,god has a long and a wide memory1 and the sins which ,he 'remembers' are those which ,he has not forgiven1 and will punish4 ,amos heaps image on image to deepen the impression of terror and confusion4 ,everything is turned to its opposite4 ,the solid land reels1 rises1 and falls1 like the ,nile in flood 7see ,revised ,version74 ,the sun sets at midday1 and noon is darkness4 ,feasts change to mourning1 songs to lamentations4 ,rich garments are put aside for sackcloth1 and flowing locks drop off and leave bald heads4 ,these are evidently all figures vividly piled together to express the same thought4 ,the crash that destroyed their national prosperity and existence would shake the most solid things and darken the brightest4 ,it would come suddenly1 as if the sun plunged from the zenith to the west4 ,it would make joy a stranger1 and bring grief as bitter as when a father or a mother mourns the death of an only son4 ,besides all this1 something darker beyond is dimly hinted in that awful1 vague1 final threat1 ',the end thereof as a bitter day4' ,now all these threats were fulfilled in the fall of the kingdom of ,israel2 but that 'day of the ,lord' was in principle a miniature foreshadowing of the great final judgment4 ,some of the very features of the description here are repeated with reference to it in the ,new ,testament4 ,we cannot treat such prophecies as this as if they were exhausted by their historical fulfilment4 ,they disclose the eternal course of divine judgment1 which is to culminate in a future day of judgment4 ,the oath of ,god is not yet completely fulfilled4 ,assuredly as ,he lives and is ,god1 so surely will modern sinners have to stand their trial2 and1 as of old1 the chase after riches will bring down crashing ruin4 ,we need that vision of judgment as much as ,samaria did when ,amos saw the basket of ripe fruit1 craving1 as it were1 to be plucked4 ,so do obstinate sinners invite destruction4 ,the last section specifies one feature of judgment1 the deprivation of the despised word of the ,lord 7vs4 #aa-ad74 ,like ,saul1 whose piteous wail in the witch's hovel was1 ',god 444 answereth me no more1' they who paid no heed to the word of the ,lord shall one day seek far and wearily for a prophet1 and seek in vain4 ,the word rendered 'wander1' which is used in the other description of people seeking for water in a literal drought 7iv4 #h71 means 'reel1' and gives the picture of men faint and dizzy with thirst1 yet staggering on in vain quest for a spring4 ,they seek everywhere1 from the ,dead ,sea on the east to the ,mediterranean on the west1 and then up to the north1 and so round again to the starting-point4 ,is it because ,judah was south that that quarter is not visited8 ,perhaps1 if they had gone where the ,temple was1 they would have found the stream from under its threshold1 which a later prophet saw going forth to heal the marshes and dry places4 ,why was the search vain8 ,has not ,god promised to be found of those that seek1 however far they have gone away8 ,the last verse tells why4 ,they still were idolaters1 swearing by the 'sin of ,samaria1' which is the calf of ,beth-el1 and by the other at ,dan1 and going on idolatrous pilgrimages to ,beer-sheba1 far away in the south1 across the whole kingdom of ,judah 7,amos v4 #e74 ,it was vain to seek for the word of the ,lord with such doings and worship4 ,the truth implied is universal in its application4 ,god's message neglected is withdrawn4 ,conscience stops if continually unheeded4 ,the ,gospel may still sound in a man's ears1 but have long ceased to reach farther4 ,there comes a time when men shall wish wasted opportunities back1 and find that they can no more return than last summer's heat4 ,there may be a wish for the prophet in time of distress1 which means no real desire for ,god's word1 but only for relief from calamity4 ,there may be a sort of seeking for the word1 which seeks in the wrong places and in the wrong ways1 and without abandoning sins4 ,such quest is vain4 ,but if1 driven by need and sorrow1 a poor soul1 feeling the thirst after the living ,god1 cries from ever so distant a land of bondage1 the cry will be answered4 ,but let us not forget that our ,lord has told us to take heed how we hear1 on the very ground that 'to him that hath shall be given2 and from him that hath not1 even that he hath shall be taken away4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,,jonah ,,guilty ,,silence ,,and ,,its ,,reward ,now the word of the ,lord came unto ,jonah the son of ,amittai1 saying1 #b4 ,arise1 go to ,nineveh1 that great1 city1 and cry against it2 for their wickedness is come up before ,me4 #c4 ,but ,jonah rose up to flee unto ,tarshish from the presence of the ,lord1 and went down to ,joppa2 and he found a ship going to ,tarshish3 so he paid the fare thereof1 and went down into it1 to go with them unto ,tarshish from the presence of the ,lord4 #d4 ,but the ,lord sent out a great wind into the sea1 and there was a mighty tempest in the sea1 so that the ship was like to be broken4 #e4 ,then the mariners were afraid1 and cried every man unto his god1 and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea1 to lighten it of them4 ,but ,jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship2 and he lay1 and was fast asleep4 #f4 ,so the shipmaster came to him1 and said unto him1 ,what meanest thou1 ,o sleeper8 arise1 call upon thy ,god1 if so be that ,god will think upon us1 that we perish not4 #g4 ,and they said every one to his fellow1 ,come1 and let us cast lots1 that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us4 ,so they cast lots1 and the lot fell upon ,jonah4 #h4 ,then said they unto him1 ,tell us1 we pray thee1 for whose cause this evil is upon us2 ,what is thine occupation8 and whence comest thou8 what is thy country8 and of what people art thou8 #i4 ,and he said unto them1 ,i am an ,hebrew2 and ,i fear the ,lord1 the ,god of heaven1 which hath made the sea and the dry land4 #aj4 ,then were the men exceedingly afraid1 and said unto him1 ,why hast thou done this8 ,for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the ,lord1 because he had told them4 #aa4 ,then said they unto him1 ,what shall we do unto thee1 that the sea may be calm unto us8 for the sea wrought1 and was tempestuous4 #ab4 ,and he said unto them1 ,take me up1 and cast me forth into the sea2 so shall the sea be calm unto you3 for ,i know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you4 #ac4 ,nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land2 but they could not3 for the sea wrought1 and was tempestuous against them4 #ad4 ,wherefore they cried unto the ,lord1 and said1 ,we beseech thee1 ,o ,lord1 we beseech thee1 let us not perish for this man's life1 and lay not upon us innocent blood3 for ,thou1 ,o ,lord1 hast done as it pleased ,thee4 #ae4 ,so they took up ,jonah1 and cast him forth into the sea2 and the sea ceased from her raging4 #af4 ,then the men feared the ,lord exceedingly1 and offered a sacrifice unto the ,lord1 and made vows4 #ag4 ,now the ,lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up ,jonah4 ,and ,jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights4'--,,jonah i4 #a-ag4 ,jonah was apparently an older contemporary of ,hosea and ,amos4 ,the ,assyrian power was looming threateningly on the northern horizon1 and a flash or two had already broken from that cloud4 ,no doubt terror had wrought hate and intenser narrowness4 ,to correct these by teaching1 by an instance drawn from ,assyria itself1 ,god's care for the ,gentiles and their susceptibility to ,his voice1 was the purpose of ,jonah's mission4 ,he is a prophet of ,israel1 because the lesson of his history was for them1 though his message was for ,nineveh4 ,he first taught by example the truth which ,jesus proclaimed in the synagogue of ,nazareth1 and ,peter learned on the housetop at ,joppa1 and ,paul took as his guiding star4 ,a truth so unwelcome and remote from popular belief needed emphasis when first proclaimed2 and this singular story1 as it were1 underlines it for the generation which heard it first4 ,its place would rather have been among the narratives than the prophets1 except for this aspect of it4 ,so regarded1 ,jonah becomes a kind of representative of ,israel2 and his history sets forth large lessons as to its function among the nations1 its unwillingness to discharge it1 the consequences of disobedience1 and the means of return to a better mind4 ,note then1 first1 the ,prophet's unwelcome charge4 ,there seems no sufficient reason for doubting the historical reality of ,jonah's mission to ,nineveh2 for we know that intercourse was not infrequent1 and the silence of other records is1 in their fragmentary condition1 nothing wonderful4 ,but the fact that a prophet of ,israel was sent to a heathen city1 and that not to denounce destruction except as a means of winning to repentance1 declared emphatically ,god's care for the world1 and rebuked the exclusiveness which claimed ,him for ,israel alone4 ,the same spirit haunts the ,christian ,church1 and we have all need to ponder the opposite truth1 till our sympathies are widened to the width of ,god's universal love1 and we discern that we are bound to care for all men1 since ,he does so4 ,jonah sullenly resolved not to obey ,god's voice4 ,what a glimpse into the prophetic office that gives us6 ,the divine ,spirit could be resisted1 and the ,prophet was no mere machine1 but a living man who had to consent with his devoted will to bear the burden of the ,lord4 ,one refused1 and his refusal teaches us how superb and self-sacrificing was the faithfulness of the rest4 ,so we have each to do in regard to ,god's message intrusted to us4 ,we must bow our wills1 and sink our prejudices1 and sacrifice our tastes1 and say1 ',here am ,i2 send me4' ,jonah represents the national feelings which he shared4 ,why did he refuse to go to ,nineveh8 ,not because he was afraid of his life1 or thought the task hopeless4 ,he refused because he feared success4 ,god's goodness was being stretched rather too far1 if it was going to take in ,nineveh4 ,jonah did not want it to escape4 ,if he had been sent to destroy it1 he would probably have gone gladly4 ,he grudged that heathen should share ,israel's privileges1 and probably thought that gain to ,nineveh would be loss to ,israel4 ,it was exactly the spirit of the prodigal's elder brother4 ,there was also working in him the concern for his own reputation1 which would be damaged if the threats he uttered turned out to be thunder without lightning1 by reason of the repentance of ,nineveh4 ,israel was set among the nations1 not as a dark lantern1 but as the great lampstand in the ,temple court proclaimed1 to ray out light to all the world4 ,jonah's mission was but a concrete instance of ,israel's charge4 ,the nation was as reluctant to fulfil the reason of its existence as the ,prophet was4 ,both begrudged sharing privileges with heathen dogs1 both thought ,god's care wasted1 and neither had such feelings towards the rest of the world as to be willing to be messengers of forgiveness to them4 ,all sorts of religious exclusiveness1 contemptuous estimates of other nations1 and that bastard patriotism which would keep national blessings for our own country alone1 are condemned by this story4 ,in it dawns the first faint light of that sun which shone at its full when ,jesus healed the ,canaanite's daughter1 or when ,he said1 ',other sheep ,i have1 which are not of this fold4' ,note1 next1 the fatal consequences of refusal to obey the ,god-given charge4 ,we need not suppose that ,jonah thought that he could actually get away from ,god's presence4 ,possibly he believed in a special presence of ,god in the land of ,israel1 or1 more probably1 the phrase means to escape from service4 ,at any rate1 he determined to do his flight thoroughly4 ,tarshish was1 to a ,hebrew1 at the other end of the world from ,nineveh4 ,the ,jews were no sailors1 and the choice of the sea as means of escape indicates the obstinacy of determination in ,jonah4 ,the storm is described with a profusion of unusual words1 all apparently technical terms1 picked up on board1 just as ,luke1 in the only other account of a storm in ,scripture1 has done4 ,what a difference between the two voyages6 ,in the one1 the unfaithful prophet is the cause of disaster1 and the only sluggard in the ship4 ,in the other1 the ,apostle1 who has hazarded his life to proclaim his ,lord1 is the source of hope1 courage1 vigour1 and safety4 ,such are the consequences of silence and of brave speech for ,god4 ,no wonder that the fugitive ,prophet slunk down into some dark corner1 and sat bitterly brooding there1 self-accused and condemned1 till weariness and the relief of the tension of his journey lulled him to sleep4 ,it was a stupid and heavy sleep4 ,alas for those whose only refuge from conscience is oblivion6 ,over against this picture of the insensible ,prophet1 all unaware of the storm 7which may suggest the parallel insensibility of ,israel to the impending divine judgments71 is set the behaviour of the heathen sailors1 or 'salts1' as the story calls them4 ,their conduct is part of the lesson of the book2 for1 heathen as they are1 they have yet a sense of dependence1 and they pray2 they are full of courage1 battling with the storm1 jettisoning the cargo1 and doing everything possible to save the ship4 ,their treatment of ,jonah is generous and chivalrous4 ,even when they hear his crime1 and know that the storm is howling like a wild beast for him1 they are unwilling to throw him overboard without one more effort2 and when at last they do it1 their prayer is for forgiveness1 inasmuch as they are but carrying out the will of ,jehovah4 ,they are so much touched by the whole incident that they offer sacrifices to the ,god of the ,hebrews1 and are1 in some sense1 and possibly but for a time1 worshippers of ,him4 ,all this holds the mirror up to ,israel1 by showing how much of human kindness and generosity1 and how much of susceptibility for the truth which ,israel had to declare1 lay in rude hearts beyond its pale4 ,this crew of heathen of various nationalities and religions were yet men who could be kind to a renegade ,prophet1 peril their lives to save his1 and worship ,jehovah4 ',i have not found so great faith1 no1 not in ,israel1' is the same lesson in another form4 ,we may find abundant opportunities for learning it2 for the characters of godless men1 and of some among the heathen1 may well shame many a ,christian4 ,jonah's conduct in the storm is no less noble than his former conduct had been base4 ,the burst of the tempest blew away all the fog from his mind1 and he saw the stars again4 ,his confession of faith2 his calm conviction that he was the cause of the storm2 his quiet1 unhesitating command to throw him into the wild chaos foaming about the ship2 his willing acceptance of death as the wages of his sin1 all tell how true a saint he was in the depth of his soul4 ,sorrow and chastisement turn up the subsoil4 ,if a man has any good in him1 it generally comes to the top when he is afflicted and looks death in the face4 ,if there is nothing but gravel beneath1 it too will be brought up by the plough4 ,there may be much selfish unfaithfulness overlying a real devoted heart4 ,jonah represented ,israel here too1 both in that the consequence of the national unfaithfulness and greedy1 exclusive grasp of their privileges would lead to their being cast into the roaring waves of the sea of nations1 amid the tumult of the peoples1 and in that1 for them as for him1 the calamity would bring about a better mind1 the confession of their faith1 and acknowledgment of their sin4 ,the history of ,israel was typified in this history1 and the lessons it teaches are lessons for all churches1 and for all ,god's children for all time4 ,if we shirk our duty of witnessing for ,him1 or any other of ,his plain commands1 unfaithfulness will be our ruin4 ,the storm is sure to break where ,his ,jonahs try to hide1 and their only hope lies in bowing to the chastisement and consenting to be punished1 and avowing whose they are and whom they serve4 ,if we own ,him while the storm whistles round us1 the worst of it is past1 and though we have to struggle amid its waves1 ,he will take care of us1 and anything is possible rather than that we should be lost in them4 ,the miracle of rescue is the last point4 ,jonah's repentance saved his life4 ,tossed overboard impenitent he would have been drowned4 ,so ,israel was taught that the break-up of their national life would not be their destruction if they turned to the ,lord in their calamity4 ,the wider lesson of the means of making chastisement into blessing1 and securing a way of escape--namely1 by owning the justice of the stroke1 and returning to duty--is meant for us all4 ,he who sends the storm watches its effect on us1 and will not let ,his repentant servants be utterly overwhelmed4 ,that is a better use to make of the story than to discuss whether any kind of known ,mediterranean fish could swallow a man4 ,if we believe in miracles1 the question need not trouble us4 ,and miracle there must be1 not only in the coincidence of the fish and the ,prophet being in the same bit of sea at the same moment1 but in his living for so long in his strange 'ark of safety4' ,the ever-present providence of ,god1 the possible safety of the nation1 even when in captivity1 the preservation of every servant of ,god who turns to the ,lord in his chastisement1 the exhibition of penitence as the way of deliverance1 are the purposes for which the miracle was wrought and told4 ,flippant sarcasms are cheap4 ,a devout insight yields a worthy meaning4 ,jesus ,christ employed this incident as a symbol of ,his ,death and ,resurrection4 ,that use of it seems hard to reconcile with any view but that the story is true4 ,but it does not seem necessary to suppose that our ,lord regarded it as an intended type1 or to seek to find in ,jonah's history further typical prophecy of ,him4 ,the salient point of comparison is simply the three days' entombment2 and it is rather an illustrative analogy than an intentional prophecy4 ,the subsequent action of the ,prophet in ,nineveh1 and the effect of it1 were true types of the preaching of the ,gospel by the risen ,lord1 through ,his servants1 to the ,gentiles1 and of their hearing the ,word4 ,but it requires considerable violence in manipulation to force the bestowing of ,jonah1 for safety and escape from death1 in the fish's maw1 into a proper prophecy of the transcendent fact of the ,resurrection4 ',,lying ,,vanities' ',they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy4'--,,jonah #aa4 #h4 ,jonah's refusal to obey the divine command to go to ,nineveh and cry against it is best taken1 not as prosaic history1 but as a poetical representation of ,israel's failure to obey the divine call of witnessing for ,god4 ,in like manner1 his being cast into the sea and swallowed by the great fish1 is a poetic reproduction1 for homiletical purposes1 of ,israel's sufferings at the hands of the heathen whom it had failed to warn4 ,the song which is put into ,jonah's mouth when in the fish's belly1 of which our text is a fragment1 represents the result on the part of the nation of these hard experiences4 ',lying vanities' mean idols1 and 'their own mercy' means ,god4 ,the text is a brief1 pregnant utterance of the great truth which had been forced home to ,israel by sufferings and exile1 that to turn from ,jehovah to false gods was to turn from the sure source of tender care to lies and emptiness4 ,that is but one case of the wider truth that an ungodly life is the acme of stupidity1 a tragic mistake1 as well as a great sin4 ,in confirmation and enforcement of our text we may consider3-- ,i4 ,the illusory vanity of the objects pursued4 ,the ,old ,testament tone of reference to idols is one of bitter contempt4 ,its rigid monotheism was intensified and embittered by the universal prevalence of idolatry2 and there is a certain hardness in its tone in reference to the gods of the nations round about1 which has little room for pity1 and finds expression in such names as those of our text--'vanities1' 'lies1' 'nothingness1' and the like4 ,to the ,jew1 encompassed on all sides by idol-worshippers1 the alternative was vehement indignation or entire surrender4 ,the ,mohammedan in ,british ,india exhibits much the same attitude to ,vishnu and ,siva as the ,jew did to ,baal and ,ashtoreth4 ,it is easy to be tolerant of dead gods1 but it becomes treason to ,jehovah to parley with them when they are alive4 ,but the point which we desire to insist upon here is somewhat wider than the vanity of idols4 ,it is the emptiness of all objects of human pursuit apart from ,god4 ,these last three words need to be made very prominent2 for in itself 'every creature of ,god is good1' and the emptiness does not inhere in themselves1 but first appears when they are set in ,his place4 ,he1 and only ,he1 can1 and does1 satisfy the whole nature--is authority for the will1 peace for the conscience1 love for the heart1 light for the understanding1 rest for all seeking4 ,he1 and ,he alone1 can fill the past with the light in which is no regret1 the present with a satisfaction rounded and complete1 the future with a hope certain as experience1 to which we shall ever approximate1 and which we can never exhaust and outgrow4 ,any1 or all1 the other objects of human endeavour may be won1 and yet we may be miserable4 ,the inadequacy of all these ought to be pressed home upon us more than it is1 not only by their limitations whilst they last1 but by the transiency of them all4 ',the fashion of this world passeth away1' as the ,apostle ,john puts it1 in a forcible expression which likens all this frame of things to a panorama being unwound from one roller and on to another4 ,the painted screen is but paint at the best1 and is in perpetual motion1 which is not arrested by the vain clutches of hands that would fain stop the irresistible and tragic gliding past4 ,these vanities are 'lying vanities4' ,there is only one aim of life which1 being pursued and attained1 fulfils the promises by which it drew man after it4 ,it is a bald commonplace1 reiterated not only by preachers but by moralists of every kind1 and confirmed by universal experience1 that a hope fulfilled is a hope disappointed4 ,there is only one thing more tragic than a life which has failed in its aims1 and it is a life which has perfectly succeeded in them1 and has found that what promised to be bread turns to ashes4 ,the word of promise may be kept to the ear1 but is always broken to the hope4 ,many a millionaire loses the power to enjoy his millions by the very process by which he gains them4 ,the old ,jewish thinker was wise not only in taking as the summing up of all worldly pursuits the sad sentence1 ',all is vanity1' but in putting it into the lips of a king who had won all he sought4 ,the sorceress draws us within her charmed circle by lying words and illusory charms1 and when she has so secured the captives1 her mask is thrown off and her native hideousness displayed4 ,,ii4 ,the hard service which lying vanities require4 ,the phrase in our text is a quotation1 slightly altered1 from ,psalm xxxi4 #f3 ',i hate them that regard lying vanities2 but ,i trust in the ,lord4' ,the alteration in the form of the verb as it occurs in ,jonah expresses the intensity of regard1 and gives the picture of watching with anxious solicitude1 as the eyes of a servant turned to his master1 or those of a dog to its owner4 ,the world is a very hard master1 and requires from its servants the concentration of thought1 heart1 and effort4 ,we need only recall the thousand sermons devoted to the enforcement of 'the gospel of getting on1' which prosperous worldlings are continually preaching4 ,a chorus of voices on every side of us is dinning into the ears of every young man and woman the necessity for success in life's struggle of taking for a motto1 ',this one thing ,i do4' ,how many a man is there1 who in the race after wealth or fame1 has flung away aspirations1 visions of noble1 truthful love to life1 and a hundred other precious things8 ,browning tells a hideous story of a mother flinging1 one after another1 her infants to the wolves as she urged her sledge over the snowy plain4 ,no less hideous1 and still more maiming1 are the surrenders that men make when once their hearts have been filled with the foolish ambitions of worldly success4 ,let us fix it in our minds1 that nothing that time and sense can give is worth the price that it exacts4 ',it is only heaven that can be had for the asking2 ,it is only ,god that is given away4' ,all sin is slavery4 ,its yoke presses painfully on the neck1 and its burden is heavy indeed1 and the rest which it promises never comes4 ,,iii4 ,the self-inflicted loss4 ,our text suggests that there are two ways by which we may learn the folly of a godless life--,one1 the consideration of what it turns to1 the other1 the thought of what it departs from4 ',they forsake their own ,mercy1' that is ,god4 ,the phrase is here almost equivalent to ',his name'2 and it carries the blessed thought that ,he has entered into relations with every soul1 so that each man of us--even if he have turned to 'lying vanities'--can still call ,him1 'my own ,mercy4' ,he is ours2 more our own than is anything without us4 ,he is ours1 because we are made for ,him1 and ,he is all for us4 ,he is ours by ,his love1 and by ,his gift of ,himself in the ,son of ,his love4 ,he is ours2 if we take ,him for ours by an inward communication of ,himself to us in the innermost depths of our being4 ,he becomes 'the ,master-,light of all our seeing4' ,in the mysterious inwardness of mutual possession1 the soul which has given itself to ,god and possesses ,him1 has not only communion1 but may even venture to claim as its own the deeper and more mysterious union with ,god4 ,those multiform mercies1 'which endure for ever1' and speed on their manifold errands into every remotest region of ,his universe1 gather themselves together1 as the diffused lights of some nebulae concentrate themselves into a sun4 ,that sun1 like the star that led the wise men from the ,east1 and finally stood over one poor house in an obscure village1 will shine lambent above1 and will pass into1 the humblest heart that opens for it4 ,they who can say1 as we all can if we will1 ',my ,god1' can never want4 ,and if we turn to the alternative in our text1 and consider who they are to whom we turn when we turn from ,god1 there should be nothing more needed to drive home the wholesome conviction of the folly of the wisest1 who deliberately prefers shadow to substance1 lying vanities to the one true and only reality4 ,i beseech you to take that which is your own1 and which no man can take from you4 ,weigh in the scales of conscience1 and in the light of the deepest necessities of your nature1 the whole pile of those emptinesses that have been telling you lies ever since you listened to them2 and place in the other scale the mercy of ,god1 and the ,christ who brings it to you1 and decide which is the weightier1 and which it becomes you to take for your pattern for ever4 ,,threefold ,,repentance ',and the word of the ,lord came unto ,jonah the second time1 saying1 #b4 ,arise1 go unto ,nineveh1 that great city1 and preach unto it the preaching that ,i bid thee4 #c4 ,so ,jonah arose1 and went unto ,nineveh1 according to the word of the ,lord4 ,now ,nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey4 #d4 ,and ,jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey1 and he cried1 and said1 ,yet forty days1 and ,nineveh shall he overthrown4 #e4 ,so the people of ,ninoveh believed ,god1 and proclaimed a fast1 and put on sackcloth1 from the greatest of them even to the least of them4 #f4 ,for word came unto the king of ,nineveh1 and he arose from his throne1 and he laid his robe from him1 and covered him with sackcloth1 and sat in ashes4 #g4 ,and he caused it to be proclaimed and published through ,nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles1 saying1 ,let neither man nor beast1 herd nor flock1 taste anything2 let them not feed1 nor drink water3 #h4 ,but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth1 and cry mightily unto ,god2 yea1 let them turn every one from his evil way1 and from the violence that is in their hands4 #i4 ,who can tell if ,god will turn and repent1 and turn away from ,his fierce anger1 that we perish not8 #aj4 ,and ,god saw their works1 that they turned from their evil way2 and ,god repented of the evil1 that ,he had said that ,he would do unto them2 and ,he did it not4'--,,jonah iii4 #a-aj4 ,this passage falls into three parts3 ,jonah's renewed commission and new obedience 7vs4 #a-d71 the repentance of ,nineveh 7vs4 #e-i71 and the acceptance thereof by ,god 7ver4 #aj74 ,we might almost call these three the repentance of ,jonah1 of ,nineveh1 and of ,god4 ,the evident intention of the narrative is to parallel the ,ninevites turning from their sins1 and ,god's turning from ,his anger and purpose of destruction2 and if the word 'repentance' is not applied to ,jonah1 his conduct sufficiently shows the thing4 ,i4 ,note the renewed charge to the penitent ,prophet1 and his new eagerness to fulfil it4 ,his deliverance and second commission are put as if all but simultaneous1 and his obedience was swift and glad4 ,jonah did not venture to take for granted that the charge which he had shirked was still continued to him4 ,if ,god commands to take the trumpet1 and we refuse1 we dare not assume that we shall still be honoured with the delivery of the message4 ,the punishment of dumb lips is often dumbness4 ,opportunities of service1 slothfully or faintheartedly neglected1 are often withdrawn4 ,we can fancy how ,jonah1 brought back to the better mind which breathes in his psalm1 longed to be honoured by the trust of preaching once more1 and how rapturously his spirit would address itself to the task4 ,duties once unwelcome become sweet when we have passed through the experience of the misery that comes from neglecting them4 ,it is ,god's mercy that gives us the opportunity of effacing past disobedience by new alacrity4 ,the second charge is possibly distinguishable from the first as being less precise4 ,it may be that the exact nature of 'the preaching that ,i bid thee' was not told ,jonah till he had to open his mouth in ,nineveh2 but1 more probably1 the second charge was identical with the first4 ,the word rendered 'preach' is instructive4 ,it means 'to cry' and suggests the manner befitting those who bear ,god's message4 ,they should sound it out loudly1 plainly1 urgently1 with earnestness and marks of emotion in their voice4 ,languid whispers will not wake sleepers4 ,unless the messenger is manifestly in earnest1 the message will fall flat4 ,not with bated breath1 as if ashamed of it2 nor with hesitation1 as if not quite sure of it2 nor with coldness1 as if it were of little urgency1--is ,god's ,word to be pealed in men's ears4 ,the preacher is a crier4 ,the substance of his message1 too1 is set forth4 ',the preaching which ,i bid thee'--not his own imaginations1 nor any fine things of his own spinning4 ,suppose ,jonah had entertained the ,ninevites with dissertations on the evidences of his prophetic authority1 or submitted for their consideration a few thoughts tending to show the agreement of his message with their current opinions in religion1 or an argument for the existence of a retributive ,governor of the world1 he would not have shaken the city4 ,the less the ,prophet shows himself1 the stronger his influence4 ,the more simply he repeats the stern1 plain1 short message1 the more likely it is to impress4 ,god's ,word1 faithfully set forth1 will prove itself4 ,the preacher or teacher of this day has substantially the same charge as ,jonah had2 and the more he suppresses himself1 and becomes but a voice through which ,god speaks1 the better for himself1 his hearers1 and his work4 ,nineveh1 that great aggregate of cities1 was full1 as ,eastern cities are1 of open spaces1 and might well be a three days' journey in circumference4 ,what a task for that solitary stranger to thunder out his loud cry among all these crowds6 ,but he had learned to do what he was bid2 and without wasting a moment1 he 'began to enter into the city a day's journey1' and1 no doubt1 did not wait till the end of the day to proclaim his message4 ,let us learn that there is an element of threatening in ,god's most merciful message1 and that the appeal to terror and to the desire for self-preservation is part of the way to preach the ,gospel4 ,plain warnings of coming evil may be spoken tenderly1 and reveal love as truly as the most soothing words4 ,the warning comes in time4 ',forty days' of grace are granted4 ,the gospel warns us in time enough for escape4 ,it warns us because ,god loves2 and they are as untrue messengers of ,his love as of ,his justice who slur over the declaration of ,his wrath4 ,,ii4 ,note the repentance of ,nineveh 7vs4 #e-i74 ,the impression made by ,jonah's terrible cry is perfectly credible and natural in the excitable population of an ,eastern city1 in which even now any appeal to terror1 especially if associated with religious and prophetic claims1 easily sets the whole in a frenzy4 ,think of the grim figure of this foreign man1 with his piercing voice and half-intelligible speech1 dropped from the clouds as it were1 and stalking through ,nineveh1 pealing out his confident message1 like that gaunt fanatic who walked ,jerusalem in its last agony1 crying1 ',woe6 woe unto the bloody city6' or that other1 who1 with flaming fire on his head and madness in his eyes1 affrighted ,london in the plague4 ,no wonder that alarm was kindled1 and1 being kindled1 spread like wildfire4 ,apparently the movement was first among the people1 who began to fast before the news penetrated to the seclusion of the palace4 ,but the contagion reached the king1 and the popular excitement was endorsed and fanned by a royal decree4 ,the specified tokens of repentance are those of ordinary mourning1 such as were common all over the ,east1 with only the strange addition1 which smacks of heathen ideas1 that the animals were made sharers in them4 ,there is great significance in that 'believed ,god' 7ver4 #e74 ,the foundation of all true repentance is crediting ,god's word of threatening1 and therefore realising the danger1 as well as the disobedience1 of our sin4 ,we shall be wise if we pass by the human instrument1 and hear ,god speaking through the ,prophet4 ,never mind about ,jonah1 believe ,god4 ,we learn from the ,ninevites what is true repentance ,they brought no sacrifices or offerings1 but sorrow1 self-abasement1 and amendment4 ,the characteristic sin of a great military power would be 'violence1' and that is the specific evil from which they vow to turn4 ,the loftiest lesson which prophets found ,israel so slow to learn1 ',a broken and a contrite heart ,thou wilt not despise1' was learned by these heathens4 ,we need it no less4 ,nineveh repented on a peradventure that their repentance might avail4 ,how pathetic that ',who can tell8' 7ver4 #i7 is6 ,we know what they hoped4 ,their doubt might give fervour to their cries1 but our certainty should give deeper earnestness and confidence to ours4 ,the deepest meaning of the whole narrative is set forth in our ,lord's use of it1 when ,he holds up the men of ,nineveh as a condemnatory instance to the hardened consciences of ,his hearers4 ,probably the very purpose of the book was to show ,israel that the despised and yet dreaded heathen were more susceptible to the voice of ,god than they were3 ',i will provoke you to jealousy by them which are no people4' ,the story was a smiting blow to the proud exclusiveness and self-complacent contempt of prophetic warnings1 which marked the entire history of ,god's people4 ,as ,ezekiel was told3 ',thou are not sent 444 to many peoples of a strange speech and of an hard language4444 ,surely1 if ,i sent thee to them1 they would hearken unto thee4 ,but the house of ,israel will not hearken unto thee4' ,it is ever true that long familiarity with the solemn thoughts of ,god's judgment and punishment of sin abates their impression on us4 ,our ,puritan forefathers used to talk about 'gospel-hardened sinners1' and there are many such among us4 ,the man who lives by ,niagara does not hear its roar as a stranger does4 ,the men of ,nineveh will rise in the judgment with other generations than that which was 'this generation' in ,christ's time2 and that which is 'this generation' to-day will1 in many of its members1 be condemned by them4 ,but the wave of feeling soon retired1 and there is no reason to believe that more than a transient impression was made4 ,it does not seem certain that the ,ninevites knew what ',god' they hoped to appease4 ,probably their pantheon was undisturbed1 and their repentance lasted no longer than their fear4 ,transient repentance leaves the heart harder than before1 as half-melted ice freezes again more dense4 ,let us beware of frost on the back of a thaw4 ',repentance which is repented of' is worse than none4 ,,iii4 ,we note the repentance of ,god 7ver4 #aj74 ,mark the recurrence of the word 'turn1' employed in verses #h1 #i1 and #aj in reference to men and to ,god4 ,mark the bold use of the word 'repent1' applied to ,god1 which1 though it be not applied to the ,ninevites in the previous verses1 is implied in every line of them4 ,the same expression is found in ,exodus xxxii4 #ad1 which may be taken as the classical passage warranting its use4 ,the great truth involved is one that is too often lost sight of in dealing with prophecy2 namely1 that all ,god's promises and threatenings are conditional4 ,jeremiah learned that lesson in the house of the potter1 and we need to keep it well in mind4 ,god threatens1 precisely in order that ,he may not have to perform ,his threatenings4 ,jonah was sent to ,nineveh to cry1 ',yet forty days1 and ,nineveh shall be overthrown1' in order that it might not be overthrown4 ,what would have been the use of proclaiming the decree1 if it had been irreversible8 ,there is an implied 'if' in all ,god's words4 ',except ye repent' underlies the most absolute threatenings of evil4 ',if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end1' is presupposed in the brightest and broadest promises of good4 ,the word 'repent' is denied and affirmed to have application to ,god4 ,he is not 'a son of man1 that ,he should repent1' inasmuch as ,his immutability and steadfast purpose know no variableness4 ,but just because they cannot change1 and ,he must ever be against them that do evil1 and ever bless them that turn to ,him with trust1 therefore ,he changes ,his dealings with us according to our relation to ,him1 and because ,he cannot repent1 or be other than ,he was and is1 'repents of the evil that ,he had said that ,he would do' unto sinners when they repent of the evil that they have done against ,him1 inasmuch as ,he leaves ,his threatening unfulfilled1 and 'does it not4' ,so we might almost say that the purpose of this book of ,jonah is to teach the possibility and efficacy of repentance1 and to show how the penitent man1 heathen or ,jew1 ever finds in ,god changed dealings corresponding to his changed heart4 ,the widest charity1 the humbling lesson for people brought up in the blaze of revelation1 that dwellers in the twilight or in the darkness are dear to ,god and may be more susceptible of divine impressions than ourselves1 the rebuke of all pluming ourselves on our privileges1 the boundlessness of ,god's mercy1 are among the other lessons of this strange book2 but none of them is more precious than its truly evangelic teaching of the blessedness of true penitence1 whether exemplified in the renegade ,prophet returning to his high mission1 or the fierce ,ninevites humbled and repentant1 and finding mercy from the ,god of the whole earth4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,micah ,,is ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,the ,,lord ,,straitened8 ',o thou that art named the house of ,jacob1 is the ,spirit of the ,lord straitened8 ,are these ,his doings8'--,,micah ii4 #g4 ,the greater part of so-called ,christendom is to-day#a celebrating the gift of a ,divine ,spirit to the ,church2 but it may well be asked whether the religious condition of so-called ,christendom is not a sad satire upon ,pentecost4 ,there seems a woful contrast1 very perplexing to faith1 between the bright promise at the beginning and the history of the development in the future4 ,how few of those who share in to-day's services have any personal experience of such a gift6 ,how many seem to think that that old story is only the record of a past event1 a transient miracle which has no kind of relation to the experience of the ,christians of this day6 ,there were a handful of believers in one of the towns of ,asia ,minor1 to whom an ,apostle came1 and was so startled at their condition that he put to them in wonder the question that might well be put to multitudes of so-called ,christians amongst us3 ',did you receive the ,holy ,ghost when you believed8' ,and their answer is only too true a transcript of the experience of large masses of people who call themselves ,christians3 ',we have not so much as heard whether there be any ,holy ,ghost4' #a ,whitsunday ,i desire1 then1 dear brethren1 to avail myself of this day's associations in order to press upon your consciences and upon my own some considerations naturally suggested by them1 and which find voice in those two indignant questions of the old ,prophet3--',is the ,spirit of the ,lord straitened8' ',are these'--the phenomena of existing popular ,christianity--'are these ,his doings8' ,and if we are brought sharp up against the consciousness of a dreadful contrast1 it may do us good to ask what is the explanation of so cloudy a day following a morning so bright4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 ,i have to ask you to think with me of the promise of the ,pentecost4 ,what did it declare and hold forth for the faith of the ,church8 ,i need not dwell at any length upon this point4 ,the facts are familiar to you1 and the inferences drawn from them are commonplace and known to us all4 ,but let me just enumerate them as briefly as may be4 ',suddenly there came a sound1 as of the rushing of a mighty wind1 and it filled all the house where they were sitting4 ,and there appeared cloven tongues as of fire1 and it sat upon each of them2 and they were all filled with the ,holy ,ghost4' ,what lay in that8 ,first1 the promise of a ,divine ,spirit by symbols which express some1 at all events1 of the characteristics and wonderfulness of ,his work4 ,the 'rushing of a mighty wind' spoke of a power which varies in its manifestations from the gentlest breath that scarce moves the leaves on the summer trees to the wildest blast that casts down all which stands in its way4 ,the natural symbolism of the wind1 to popular apprehension the least material of all material forces1 and of which the connection with the immaterial part of a man's personality has been expressed in all languages1 points to a divine1 to an immaterial1 to a mighty1 to a life-giving power which is free to blow whither it listeth1 and of which men can mark the effects1 though they are all ignorant of the force itself4 ,the other symbol of the fiery tongues which parted and sat upon each of them speaks in like manner of the divine influence1 not as destructive1 but full of quick1 rejoicing energy and life1 the power to transform and to purify4 ,whithersoever the fire comes1 it changes all things into its own substance4 ,whithersoever the fire comes1 there the ruddy spires shoot upwards towards the heavens4 ,whithersoever the fire comes1 there all bonds and fetters are melted and consumed4 ,and so this fire transforms1 purifies1 ennobles1 quickens1 sets free2 and where the fiery ,spirit is1 there are energy1 swift life1 rejoicing activity1 transforming and transmuting power which changes the recipient of the flame into flame himself4 ,then1 still further1 in the fact of ,pentecost there is the promise of a ,divine ,spirit which is to influence all the moral side of humanity4 ,this is the great and glorious distinction between the ,christian doctrine of inspiration and all others which have1 in heathen lands1 partially reached similar conceptions--that the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ has laid emphasis upon the ,holy ,spirit1 and has declared that holiness of heart is the touchstone and test of all claims of divine inspiration4 ,gifts are much1 graces are more4 ,an inspiration which makes wise is to be coveted1 an inspiration which makes holy is transcendently better4 ,there we find the safeguard against all the fanaticisms which have sometimes invaded the ,christian ,church1 namely1 in the thought that the ,spirit which dwells in men1 and makes them free from the obligations of outward law and cold morality1 is a ,spirit that works a deeper holiness than law dreamed1 and a more spontaneous and glad conformity to all things that are fair and good1 than any legislation and outward commandment could ever enforce4 ,the ,spirit that came at ,pentecost is not merely a ,spirit of rushing might and of swift-flaming energy1 but it is a ,spirit of holiness1 whose most blessed and intimate work is the production in us of all homely virtues and sweet1 unpretending goodnesses which can adorn and gladden humanity4 ,still further1 the ,pentecost carried in it the promise and prophecy of a ,spirit granted to all the ,church4 ',they were all filled with the ,holy ,ghost4' ,this is the true democracy of ,christianity1 that its very basis is laid in the thought that every member of the body is equally close to the ,head1 and equally recipient of the life4 ,there is none now who has a ,spirit which others do not possess4 ,the ancient aspiration of the ,jewish law-giver3 ',would ,god that all the ,lord's people were prophets1 and that the ,lord would put ,his ,spirit upon them1' is fulfilled in the experience of ,pentecost2 and the handmaiden and the children1 as well as the old men and the servants1 receive of that universal gift4 ,therefore sacerdotal claims1 special functions1 privileged classes1 are alien to the spirit of ,christianity1 and blasphemies against the inspiring ,god4 ,if 'one is your ,master1 all ye are brethren1' and if we have all been made to drink into one ,spirit1 then no longer hath any man dominion over our faith nor power to intervene and to intercede with ,god for us4 ,and still further1 the promise of this early history was that of a ,spirit which should fill the whole nature of the men to whom ,he was granted2 filling--in the measure1 of course1 of their receptivity--them as the great sea does all the creeks and indentations along the shore4 ,the deeper the creek1 the deeper the water in it2 the further inland it runs1 the further will the refreshing tide penetrate the bosom of the continent4 ,and so each man1 according to his character1 stature1 circumstances1 and all the varying conditions which determine his power of receptivity1 will receive a varying measure of that gift4 ,yet it is meant that all shall be full4 ,the little vessel1 the tiny cup1 as well as the great cistern and the enormous vat1 each contains according to its capacity4 ,and if all are filled1 then this quick ,spirit must have the power to influence all the provinces of human nature1 must touch the moral1 must touch the spiritual4 ,the temporary manifestations and extraordinary signs of ,his power may well drop away as the flower drops when the fruit has set4 ,the operations of the ,divine ,spirit are to be felt thrilling through all the nature1 and every part of the man's being is to be recipient of the power4 ,just as when you take a candle and plunge it into a jar of oxygen it blazes up1 so my poor human nature immersed in that ,divine ,spirit1 baptized in the ,holy ,ghost1 shall flame in all its parts into unsuspected and hitherto inexperienced brightness4 ,such are the elements of the promise of ,pentecost4 ,,ii4 ,and now1 in the next place1 look at the apparent failure of the promise4 ',is the ,spirit of the ,lord straitened8' ,look at ,christendom4 ,look at all the churches4 ,look at yourselves4 ,will any one say that the religious condition of any body of professed believers at this moment corresponds to ,pentecost8 ,is not the gap so wide that to fill it up seems almost impossible8 ,is not the stained and imperfect fulfilment a miserable satire upon the promise8 ',if the ,lord be with us1' said one of the heroes of ancient ,israel1 'wherefore is all this come upon us8' ,i am sure that we may say the same4 ,if the ,lord be with us1 what is the meaning of the state of things which we see around us1 and must recognise in ourselves8 ,do any existing churches present the final perfect form of ,christianity as embodied in a society8 ,would not the best thing that could happen1 and the thing that will have to happen some day1 be the disintegration of the existing organisations in order to build up a more perfect habitation of ,god through the ,spirit8 ,i do not wish to exaggerate4 ,god knows there is no need for exaggerating4 ,the plain1 unvarnished story1 without any pessimistic picking out of the black bits and forgetting ail the light ones1 is bad enough4 ,take three points on which ,i do not dwell and apply them to yourselves1 dear brethren1 and estimate by them the condition of things around us4 ,first1 say whether the ordinary tenor of our own religious life looks as if we had that ,divine ,spirit in us which transforms everything into its own beauty1 and makes men1 through all the regions of their nature1 holy and pure4 ,then ask yourselves the question whether the standard of devotion and consecration in any church witnesses of the presence of a ,divine ,spirit4 ,a little handful of people1 the best of them very partially touched with the life of ,god1 and very imperfectly consecrated to ,his service1 surrounded by a great mass about whom we can scarcely1 in the judgment of charity1 say even so much1 that is the description of most of our congregations4 ',are these ,his doings8' ,surely somebody else's than ,his4 ,take another question4 ,do the relations of modern ,christians and their churches to one another attest the presence of a unifying ,spirit8 ',we have all been made to drink into one ,spirit1' said ,paul4 ,alas1 alas6 does it seem as if we had8 ,look round professing ,christendom1 look at the rivalries and the jealousies between two chapels in adjoining streets4 ,look at the gulfs between ,christian men who differ only on some comparative trifle of organisation and polity1 and say if such things correspond to the ,pentecostal promise of one ,spirit which is to make all the members into one body8 ',is the ,spirit of the ,lord straitened8 ,are these ,his doings8' ,take another branch of evidence4 ,look at the comparative impotence of the ,church in its conflict with the growing worldliness of the world4 ,i do not forget how much is being done all about us to-day1 and how still ,christ's ,gospel is winning triumphs1 but ,i do not suppose that any man can look thoughtfully and dispassionately on the condition1 say1 for instance1 of ,manchester1 or of any of our great towns1 and mark how the populace knows nothing and cares nothing about us and our ,christianity1 and never comes into our places of worship1 and has no share in our hopes any more than if they lived in ,central ,africa1 and that after eighteen hundred years of nominal ,christianity1 without feeling that some malign influence has arrested the leaping growth of the early ,church1 and that somehow or other that lava stream1 if ,i might so call it1 which poured hot from the heart of ,god in the old days has had its flow checked1 and over its burning bed there has spread a black and wrinkled crust1 whatsoever lingering heat there may still be at the centre4 ',if ,god be with us1 why has all this come upon us8' ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 let us think for a moment of the solution of the contradiction4 ,the indignant questions of my text may be taken1 with a little possibly permissible violence1 as expressing and dismissing some untrue explanations4 ,one explanation that sometimes is urged is1 the ,spirit of the ,lord is straitened4 ,that explanation takes two forms4 ,sometimes you hear people saying1 ',christianity is effete4 ,we have to go now to fresh fountains of inspiration1 and turn away from these broken cisterns that can hold no water4' ,i am not going to argue that question4 ,i do not think for my part that ,christianity will be effete until the world has got up to it and beyond it in its practice1 and it will be a good while before that happens4 ,christianity will not be worn out until men have copied and reduced to practice the example of ,jesus ,christ1 and they have not quite got that length yet4 ,no shadow of a fear that the gospel has lost its power1 or that ,god's ,spirit has become weak1 should be permitted to creep over our hearts4 ,the promise is1 ',i will send another ,comforter1 and ,he shall abide with you for ever4' ,it is a permanent gift that was given to the ,church on that day4 ,we have to distinguish in the story between the symbols1 the gift1 and the consequences of the gift4 ,the first and the last are transient1 the second is permanent4 ,the symbols were transient4 ,the people who came running together saw no tongues of fire4 ,the consequences were transient4 ,the tongues and the miraculous utterances were but for a time4 ,the results vary according to the circumstances2 but the central thing1 the gift itself1 is an irrevocable gift1 and once bestowed is ever with the ,church to all generations4 ,another form of the explanation is the theory that ,god in ,his sovereignty is pleased to withhold ,his ,spirit for reasons which we cannot trace4 ,but it is not true that the gift once given varies in the degree in which it is continued4 ,there is always the same flow from ,god4 ,there are ebbs and flows in the spiritual power of the ,church4 ,yes6 and the tide runs out of your harbours4 ,is there any less water in the sea because it does8 ,so the gift may ebb away from a man1 from a community1 from an epoch1 not because ,god's manifestation and bestowment fluctuate1 but because our receptivity changes4 ,so we dismiss1 and are bound to dismiss1 if we are ,christians1 the unbelieving explanation1 ',the ,spirit of the ,lord is straitened1' and not to sit with our hands folded1 as if an inscrutable sovereignty1 with which we have nothing to do1 sometimes sent more and sometimes less of ,his spiritual gifts upon a waiting ,church4 ,it is not so4 ',with ,him is no variableness4' ,the gifts of ,god are without repentance2 and the ,spirit that was given once1 according to the ,master's own word already quoted1 is given that ,he may abide with us for ever4 ,therefore we have to come back to this1 which is the point to which ,i seek to bring you and myself1 in lowly penitence and contrite acknowledgment--that it is all our own fault and the result of evils in ourselves that may be remedied1 that we have so little of that divine gift2 and that if the churches of this country and of this day seem to be cursed and blasted in so much of their fruitless operations and formal worship1 it is the fault of the churches1 and not of the ,lord of the churches4 ,the stream that poured forth from the throne of ,god has not lost itself in the sands1 nor is it shrunken in its volume4 ,the fire that was kindled on ,pentecost has not died down into grey ashes4 ,the rushing of the mighty wind that woke on that morning has not calmed and stilled itself into the stagnancy and suffocating breathlessness of midday heat4 ,the same fulness of the ,spirit which filled the believers on that day is available for us all4 ,if1 like that waiting ,church of old1 we abide in prayer and supplication1 the gift will be given to us too1 and we may repeat and reproduce1 if not the miracles which we do not need1 yet the necessary inspiration of the highest and the noblest days and saints in the history of the ,church4 ',if ye1 being evil1 know how to give good gifts to your children1 how much more will your ,heavenly ,father give the ,holy ,spirit to them that ask ,him8' ',ask and ye shall receive1' and be filled 'with the ,holy ,ghost and with power4' ,,christ ,,the ,,breaker ',the ,breaker is come up before them3 they have broken up1 and have passed through the gate1 and are gone out by it3 and their king shall pass before them1 and the ,lord on the head of them4'--,,micah ii4 #ac4 ,micah was contemporary with ,isaiah4 ,the two prophets stand1 to a large extent1 on the same level of prophetic knowledge4 ,characteristic of both of them is the increasing clearness of the figure of the personal ,messiah1 and the increasing fulness of detail with which ,his functions are described4 ,characteristic of both of them is the presentation which we find in this text of that ,messiah's work as being the gathering together of the scattered captive people and the leading them back in triumph into the blessed land4 ,such is the image which underlies my text4 ,of course ,i have nothing to do now with questions as to any narrower and nearer historical fulfilment1 because ,i believe that all these ,messianic prophecies which were susceptible of1 and many of which obtained1 a historical and approximate fulfilment in the restoration of the ,jews from the ,babylonish captivity1 have a higher and broader and more real accomplishment in that great deliverance wrought by ,jesus ,christ1 of which all these earlier and partial and outward manifestations were themselves prophecies and shadows4 ,so ,i make no apology for taking the words before us as having their only real accomplishment in the office and working of ,jesus ,christ4 ,he is 'the ,breaker which is come up before us4' ,he it is that has broken out the path on which we may travel1 and in whom1 in a manner which the ,prophet dreamed not of1 'the ,lord is at the head' of us1 and our ,king goes before us4 ,so that my object is simply to take that great name1 the ,breaker1 and to see the manifold ways in which in ,scripture it is applied to the various work of ,jesus ,christ in our redemption4 ,i4 ,i follow entirely the lead of corresponding passages in other portions of ,scripture1 and to begin with1 ,i ask you to think of that great work of our ,divine ,redeemer by which ,he has broken for the captives the prison-house of their bondage4 ,the image that is here before us is either that of some foreign land in which the scattered exiles were bound in iron captivity1 or more probably some dark and gloomy prison1 with high walls1 massive gates1 and barred windows1 wherein they were held2 and to them sitting hopeless in the shadow of death1 and bound in affliction and iron1 there comes one mysterious figure whom the ,prophet could not describe more particularly1 and at ,his coming the gates flew apart1 and the chains dropped from their hands2 and the captives had heart put into them1 and gathering themselves together into a triumphant band1 they went out with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads2 freemen1 and on the march to the home of their fathers4 ',the ,breaker is gone up before them2 they have broken1 and passed through the gate1 and are gone out by it4' ,and is not that our condition8 ,many of us know not the bondage in which we are held4 ,we are held in it all the more really and sadly because we conceit ourselves to be free4 ,those poor1 light-hearted people in the dreadful days of the ,french ,revolution1 used to keep up some ghastly mockery of society and cheerfulness in their prisons2 and festooned the bars with flowers1 and made believe to be carrying on their life freely as they used to do2 but for all that1 day after day the tumbrils came to the gates1 and morning after morning the jailer stood at the door of the dungeons with the fatal list in his hand1 and one after another of the triflers was dragged away to death4 ,and so men and women are living a life which they fancy is free1 and all the while they are in bondage1 held in a prison-house4 ,you1 my brother6 are chained by guilt2 you are chained by sin1 you are chained by the habit of evil with a strength of which you never know till you try to shake it off4 ,and there comes to each of us a mighty ,deliverer1 who breaks the gates of brass1 and who cuts the bars of iron in sunder4 ,christ comes to us4 ,by ,his death ,he has borne away the guilt2 by ,his living ,spirit ,he will bear away the dominion of sin from our hearts2 and if the ,son will make us free we shall be free indeed4 ,oh6 ponder that deep truth1 ,i pray you1 which the ,lord ,christ has spoken in words that carry conviction in their very simplicity to every conscience3 ',he that committeth sin is the slave of sin4' ,and as you feel sometimes--and you all feel sometimes--the catch of the fetter on your wrists when you would fain stretch out your hands to good1 listen as to a true gospel to this old word which1 in its picturesque imagery1 carries a truth that should be life4 ,to us all 'the ,breaker is gone up before us1' the prison gates are open4 ,follow ,his steps1 and take the freedom which ,he gives2 and be sure that you 'stand fast in the liberty wherewith ,christ hath made you free1 and be not entangled again with any yoke of bondage4' ,men and women6 ,some of you are the slaves of your own lusts4 ,some of you are the slaves of the world's maxims4 ,some of you are held in bondage by some habit that you abominate1 but cannot get away from4 ,here is freedom for you4 ,the dark walls of the prison are round us all4 ',the ,scripture hath shut up all in sin1 that ,he might have mercy upon all4' ,blessed be ,his name6 ,as the angel came to the sleeping ,apostle1 and to his light touch the iron gates swung obedient on their hinges1 and ,roman soldiers who ought to have watched their prey were lulled to sleep1 and fetters that held the limbs dropped as if melted2 so1 silently1 in ,his meek and merciful strength1 the ,christ comes to us all1 and the iron gate which leadeth out into freedom opens of its own accord at ,his touch1 and the fetters fall from our limbs1 and we go forth free men4 ',the ,breaker is gone up before us4' ,,ii4 ,again1 take another application of this same figure found in ,scripture1 which sets forth ,jesus ,christ as being the ,opener of the path to ,god4 ',i am the ,way and the ,truth and the ,life1 no man cometh to the ,father but by ,me1' said ,he4 ,and again1 ',by a new and living way which ,he hath opened for us through the veil' 7that is to say1 ,his flesh71 we can have free access 'with confidence by the faith of ,him4' ,that is to say1 if we rightly understand our natural condition1 it is not only one of bondage to evil1 but it is one of separation from ,god4 ,parts of the divine character are always beautiful and sweet to every human heart when it thinks about them4 ,parts of the divine character stand frowning before a man who knows himself for what he is2 and conscience tells us that between ,god and us there is a mountain of impediment piled up by our own evil4 ,to us ,christ comes1 the ,path-finder and the ,path2 the ,pioneer who breaks the way for us through all the hindrances1 and leads us up to the presence of ,god4 ,for we do not know ,god as ,he is except by ,jesus ,christ4 ,we see fragments1 and often distorted fragments1 of the divine nature and character apart from ,jesus1 but the real divine nature as it is1 and as it is in its relation to me1 a sinner1 is only made known to me in the face of ,jesus ,christ4 ,when we see ,him we see ,god2 ,christ's tears are ,god's pity1 ,christ's gentleness is ,god's meekness1 ,christ's tender1 drawing love is not only a revelation of a most pure and sweet ,brother's heart1 but a manifestation through that ,brother's heart of the deepest depths of the divine nature4 ,christ is the heart of ,god4 ,apart from ,him1 we come to the ,god of our own consciences and we tremble2 we come to the ,god of our own fancies and we presume2 we come to the ,god dimly guessed at and pieced together from out of the hints and indications of ,his works1 and ,he is little more than a dead name to us4 ,apart from ,christ we come to a peradventure which we call a ,god2 a shadow through which you can see the stars shining4 ,but we know the ,father when we believe in ,christ4 ,and so all the clouds rising from our own hearts and consciences and fancies and misconceptions1 which we have piled together between ,god and ourselves1 ,christ clears away2 and thus ,he opens the path to ,god4 ,and ,he opens it in another way too1 on which ,i cannot dwell4 ,it is only the ,god manifest in ,jesus ,christ that draws men's hearts to ,him4 ,the attractive power of the divine nature is ail in ,him who has said1 ',i1 if ,i be lifted up1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ,the ,god whom men know1 or think they know1 outside of the revelation of divinity in ,jesus ,christ1 is a ,god before whom they sometimes tremble1 who is far more often their terror than their love1 who is their 'ghastliest doubt' still more frequently than ,he is their 'dearest faith4' ,but the ,god that is in ,christ woos and wins men to ,him1 and from ,his great sweetness there streams out1 as it were1 a magnetic influence that draws hearts to ,him4 ,the ,god that is in ,christ is the only ,god that humanity ever loved4 ,other gods they may have worshipped with cowering terror and with far-off lip reverence1 but this ,god has a heart1 and wins hearts because ,he has4 ,so ,christ opens the way to ,him4 ,and still further1 in a yet higher fashion1 that ,saviour is the ,path-breaker to the ,divine ,presence1 in that ,he not only makes ,god known to us1 and not only makes ,him so known to us as to draw us to ,him1 but in that likewise ,he1 by the fact of ,his ,cross and passion1 has borne and borne away the impediments of our own sin and transgression which rise for ever between us and ,him1 unless ,he shall sweep them out of the way4 ,he has made 'the rough places plain and the crooked things straight'2 levelled the mountains and raised the valleys1 and cast up across all the wilderness of the world a highway along which 'the wayfaring man though a fool' may travel4 ,narrow understandings may know1 and selfish hearts may love1 and low-pitched confessions may reach the ear of the ,god who comes near to us in ,christ1 that we in ,christ may come near to ,him4 ,the ,breaker is gone up before us2 'having therefore1 brethren1 boldness to enter into the holiest of all 444 by a new and living way1 which ,he hath consecrated for us 444 let us draw near with true hearts' ,,iii4 ,then still further1 another modification of this figure is found in the frequent representations of ,scripture1 by which our ,lord is the ,breaker1 going up before us in the sense that ,he is the ,captain of our life's march4 ,we have1 in the words of my text1 the image of the gladly-gathered people flocking after the ,leader4 ',they have broken up1 and have passed through the gate1 and are gone out by it2 and their ,king shall pass before them1 and the ,lord on the head of them4' ,the ,prophet knew not that the ,lord their ,king1 of whom it is enigmatically said that ,he too1 as well as 'the ,breaker1' is to go before them1 was in mysterious fashion to dwell in that ,breaker2 and that those two1 whom ,he sees separately1 are yet in a deep and mysterious sense one4 ,the host of the captives1 returning in triumphant march through the wilderness and to the promised land1 is1 in the ,prophet's words1 headed both by the ,breaker and by the ,lord4 ,we know that the ,breaker is the ,lord1 the ,angel of the ,covenant in whom is the name of ,jehovah4 ,and so we connect with all these words of my text such words as designate our ,saviour as the ,captain of our salvation2 such words as ,his own in which ,he says1 ',when ,he putteth forth ,his sheep ,he goeth before them'--such words as ,his ,apostle used when he said1 ',leaving us an ensample that we should follow in ,his steps4' ,and by all there is suggested this--that ,christ1 who breaks the prison of our sins1 and leads us forth on the path to ,god1 marches at the head of our life's journey1 and is our ,example and ,commander2 and ,himself present with us through all life's changes and its sorrows4 ,here is the great blessing and peculiarity of ,christian morals that they are all brought down to that sweet obligation3 ',do as ,i did4' ,here is the great blessing and strength for the ,christian life in all its difficulties--you can never go where you cannot see in the desert the footprints1 haply spotted with blood1 that your ,master left there before you1 and planting your trembling feet in the prints1 as a child might imitate his father's strides1 may learn to recognise that all duty comes to this3 ',follow ,me'2 and that all sorrow is calmed1 ennobled1 made tolerable1 and glorified1 by the thought that ,he has borne it4 ,the ,roman matron of the legend struck the knife into her bosom1 and handed it to her husband with the words1 ',it is not painful6' ,christ has gone before us in all the dreary solitude1 and in all the agony and pains of life4 ,he has hallowed them all1 and has taken the bitterness and the pain out of each of them for them that love ,him4 ,if we feel that the ,breaker is before us1 and that we are marching behind ,him1 then whithersoever ,he leads us we may follow1 and whatsoever ,he has passed through we may pass through4 ,we carry ,in ,his life the all-sufficing pattern of duty4 ,we have in ,his companionship the all-strengthening consolation4 ,let us leave the direction of our road in ,his hands1 who never says ',go6' but always ',come6' ,this ,general marches in the midst of ,his battalions and sets ,his soldiers on no enterprises or forlorn hopes which ,he has not ,himself dared and overcome4 ,so ,christ goes as our ,companion before us1 the true pillar of fire and cloud in which the present ,deity abode1 and ,he is with us in real companionship4 ,our joyful march through the wilderness is directed1 patterned1 protected1 companioned by ,him1 and when ,he 'putteth forth ,his own sheep1' blessed be ,his name1 ',he goeth before them4' ,,iv4 ,and now1 lastly1 there is a final application of this figure which sets forth our ,lord as the ,breaker for us of the bands of death1 and the ,forerunner 'entered for us into the heavens4' ,christ's resurrection is the only solid proof of a future life4 ,christ's present resurrection life is the power by partaking in which1 'though we were dead1 yet shall we live4' ,he has trodden that path1 too1 before us4 ,he has entered into the great prison-house into which the generations of men have been hounded and hurried2 and where they lie in their graves1 as in their narrow cells4 ,he has entered there2 with one blow ,he has struck the gates from their hinges1 and has passed out1 and no soul can any longer be shut in as for ever into that ruined and opened prison4 ,like ,samson1 ,he has taken the gates which from of old barred its entrance1 and borne them on ,his strong shoulders to the city on the hill1 and now ,death's darts are blunted1 his fetters are broken1 and his gaol has its doors wide open1 and there is nothing for him to do now but to fall upon his sword and to kill himself1 for his prisoners are free4 ',oh1 death6 ,i will be thy plague2 oh1 grave6 ,i will be thy destruction4' ',the ,breaker has gone up before us'2 therefore it is not possible that we should be holden of the impotent chains that ,he has broken4 ,the ,forerunner is for us entered and passed through the heavens1 and entered into the holiest of all4 ,we are too closely knit to ,him1 if we love ,him and trust ,him1 to make it possible that we shall be where ,he is not1 or that ,he shall be where we are not4 ,where ,he has gone we shall go4 ,in heaven1 blessed be ,his name6 ,he will still be the leader of our progress and the captain at the head of our march4 ,for ,he crowns all ,his other work by this1 that having broken the prison-house of our sins1 and opened for us the way to ,god1 and been the leader and the captain of our march through all the pilgrimage of life1 and the opener of the gate of the grave for our joyful resurrection1 and the opener of the gate of heaven for our triumphal entrance1 ,he will still as the ,lamb that is in the midst of the ,throne1 go before us1 and lead us into green pastures and by the still waters1 and this shall be the description of the growing blessedness and power of the saints' life above1 ',these are they which follow the ,lamb whithersoever ,he goeth4' ,,as ,,god1 ,,so ,,worshipper '444 ,all the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god1 and we will walk in the name of the ,lord our ,god for ever and ever4'--,,micah iv4 #e 7,r4,v474 ,this is a statement of a general truth which holds good of all sorts of religion4 ',to walk' is equivalent to carrying on a course of practical activity4 ',the name' of a god is his manifested character4 ,so the expression ',walk in the name' means1 to live and act according to1 and with reference to1 and in reliance on1 the character of the worshipper's god4 ,in the ,lord's prayer the petition ',hallowed be ,thy name' precedes the petition ',thy will be done4' ,from reverent thoughts about the name must flow life in reverent conformity to the will4 ,i4 ,a man's god is what rules his practical life4 ,religion is dependence upon a ,being recognised to be perfect and sovereign1 whose will guides1 and whose character moulds1 the whole life4 ,that general statement may be broken up into parts2 and we may dwell upon the attitude of dependence1 or of that of submission1 or upon that of admiration and recognition of ideal perfection1 or upon that of aspiration2 but we come at last to the one thought--that the goal of religion is likeness and the truest worship is imitation4 ,such a view of the essence of religion gives point to the question1 ,what is our god8 and makes it a very easily applied1 and very searching test1 of our lives4 ,whatever we profess1 that which we feel ourselves dependent on1 that which we invest1 erroneously or rightly1 with supreme attributes of excellence1 that which we aspire after as our highest good1 that which shapes and orders the current of our lives1 is our god4 ,we call ourselves ,christians4 ,i am afraid that if we tried ourselves by such a test1 many of us would fail to pass it4 ,it would thin the ranks of all churches as effectually as did ,gideon's ordeal by water1 which brought down a mob of ten thousand to a little steadfast band of three hundred4 ,no matter to what church we belong1 or how flaming our professions1 our practical religion is determined by our answer to the question1 ,what do we most desire8 ,what do we most eagerly pursue8 ,england has as much need as ever the house of ,jacob had of the scathing words that poured like molten lead from the lips of ,isaiah the son of ,amoz1 ',their land is full of silver and gold1 neither is there any end of their treasures4 ,their land is also full of idols3 they worship the work of their own hands4' ,money1 knowledge1 the good opinion of our fellows1 success in a political career--these1 and the like1 are our gods4 ,there is a worse idolatry than that which bows down before stocks and stones4 ,the aims that absorb us2 our highest ideal of excellence2 that which possessed1 we think would secure our blessedness2 that lacking which everything else is insipid and vain--these are our gods3 and the solemn prohibition may well be thundered in the ears of the unconscious idolaters not only in the ,english world1 but also in the ,english churches4 ',thou shalt not give ,my glory to another1 nor ,my praise to graven images4' ,,ii4 ,the worshipper will resemble his god in character4 ,as we have already said1 the goal of religion is likeness1 and the truest worship is imitation4 ,it is proved by the universal experience of humanity that the level of morality will never rise above the type enshrined in their gods2 or if it does1 in consequence of contact with a higher type in a higher religion1 the old gods will be flung to the moles and the bats4 ',they that make them are like unto them2 so is every one that trusteth in them4' ,that is a universal truth4 ,the worshippers were in the ,prophet's thought as dumb and dead as the idols4 ,they who 'worship vanity' inevitably 'become vain4' ,a ,venus or a ,jupiter1 a ,baal or an ,ashtoreth1 sets the tone of morals4 ,this truth is abundantly enforced by observation of the characters of the men amongst us who are practical idolaters4 ,they are narrowed and lowered to correspond with their gods4 ,low ideals can never lead to lofty lives4 ,the worship of money makes the complexion yellow1 like jaundice4 ,a man who concentrates his life's effort upon some earthly good1 the attainment of which seems to be1 so long as it is unattained1 his passport to bliss1 thereby blunts many a finer aspiration1 and makes himself blind to many a nobler vision4 ,men who are always hunting after some paltry and perishable earthly good1 become like dogs who follow scent with their noses at the ground1 and are unconscious of everything a yard above their heads4 ,we who live amidst the rush of a great commercial community see many instances of lives stiffened1 narrowed1 impoverished1 and hardened by the fierce effort to become rich4 ,and wherever we look with adequate knowledge over the many idolatries of ,english life1 we see similar processes at work on character4 ,everywhere around us 'the peoples are walking every one in the name of his god4' ,that character constitutes the worshipper's ideal2 it is a pattern to which he aims to be assimilated2 it is a good the possession of which he thinks will make him blessed2 it is that for which he willingly sacrifices much which a clearer vision would teach him is far more precious than that for which he is content to barter it4 ,the idolaters walking in the name of their god is a rebuke to the ,christian men who with faltering steps and many an aberration are seeking to walk in the name of the ,lord their ,god4 ,if ,he is in any real and deep sense 'our ,god1' we shall see in ,him the realised ideal of all excellence1 the fountain of all our blessedness1 the supreme good for our seeking hearts1 the sovereign authority to sway our wills2 the measure of our conscious possession of ,him will be the measure of our glad imitation of ,him1 and our joyful spirits1 enfranchised by the assurance of our loving possession of ,him who is love1 will hear ,him ever whisper to us1 ',be ye perfect as your ,father which is in heaven is perfect4' ,the desire to reproduce in the narrow bounds of our human spirits the infinite beauties of the ,lord our ,god will give elevation to our lives1 and dignity to our actions attainable from no other source4 ,if we hallow ,his name1 we shall do ,his will1 and earth will become a foretaste of heaven4 ,,iii4 ,the worshipper will resemble his god in fate4 ,we may observe that it is only of ,god's people that ,micah in our text applies the words 'for ever and ever4' ',the peoples'' worship perishes4 ,they walk for a time in the name of their god1 but what comes of it at last is veiled in silence4 ,it is ,jehovah's worshippers who walk in ,his name for ever and ever1 and of whom the great words are true1 ',because ,i live ye shall live also4' ,we may be sure of this that all the divine attributes are pledged for our immortality2 we may be sure1 too1 that a soul which here follows in the footsteps of ,jesus1 which in its earthly life walked in the name of the ,lord its ,god1 will continue across the narrow bridge1 and go onward 'for ever and ever' in direct progress in the same direction in which it began on earth4 ,the imitation1 which is the practical religion of every ,christian1 has for its only possible result the climax of likeness4 ,the partial likeness is attained on earth by contemplation1 by aspiration1 and by effort2 but it is perfected in the heavens by the perfect vision of ,his perfect face4 ',we shall be like ,him1 for we shall see ,him as ,he is4' ,not till it has reached its goal can the ,christian life begun here be conceived as ended4 ,it shall never be said of any one who tried by ,god's help to walk 'in the name of the ,lord' that he was lost in the desert1 and never reached his journey's end4 ,the peoples who walked in the name of any false god will find their path ending as on the edge of a precipice1 or in an unfathomable bog2 loss1 and woe1 and shame will be their portion4 ,but 'the name of the ,lord is a strong tower1' into which whoever will may run and be safe1 and to walk in the name of the ,lord is to walk on a way 'that shall be called the ,way of ,holiness1 whereon no ravenous beast shall go up1 but the redeemed shall walk there1' and all that are on it 'shall come with singing to ,zion1 and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads4' ',a ,,dew ,,from ,,the ,,lord' ',the remnant of ,jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the ,lord1 that tarrieth not for man1 nor waiteth for the sons of men4'--,,micah v4 #g4 ,the simple natural science of the ,hebrews saw a mystery in the production of the dew on a clear night1 and their poetic imagination found in it a fit symbol for all silent and gentle influences from heaven that refreshed and quickened parched and dusty souls4 ,created by an inscrutable process in silence and darkness1 the dewdrops lay innumerable on the dry plains and hung from every leaf and thorn1 each little globule a perfect sphere that reflected the sun1 and twinkled back the beams in its own little rainbow4 ,where they fell the scorched vegetation lifted its drooping head4 ,that is what ,israel is to be in the world1 says ,micah4 ,he saw very deep into ,god's mind and into the function of the nation4 ,it may be a question as to whether the text refers more especially to the place and office of ,israel when planted in its own land1 or when dispersed among the nations4 ,for1 as you see1 he speaks of 'the remnant of ,jacob' as if he was thinking of the survivors of some great calamity which had swept away the greater portion of the nation4 ,both things are true4 ,when settled in its own land1 ,israel's office was to teach the nations ,god2 when dispersed among the ,gentiles1 its office ought to have been the same4 ,but be that as it may1 the conception here set forth is as true to-day as ever it was4 ,for the prophetic teachings1 rooted though they may be in the transitory circumstances of a tiny nation1 are 'not for an age1 but for all time1' and we get a great deal nearer the heart of them when we grasp the permanent truths that underlie them1 than when we learnedly exhume the dead history which was their occasion4 ,micah's message comes to all ,christians1 and very eminently to ,english ,christians4 ,the subject of ,christian missions is before us to-day1 and some thoughts in the line of this great text may not be inappropriate4 ,we have here1 then1 ,i4 ,the function of each ,christian in his place4 ',the remnant of ,jacob shall be as a dew from the ,lord in the midst of many nations4' ,what made ,israel 'as a dew'8 ,one thing only2 its religion1 its knowledge of ,god1 and its consequent purer morality4 ,it could teach ,greece no philosophy1 no art1 no refinement1 no sensitiveness to the beautiful4 ,it could teach ,rome no lessons of policy or government4 ,it could bring no wisdom to ,egypt1 no power or wealth to ,assyria4 ,but ,god lit ,his candle and set it on a candlestick1 that it 'might give light to all that were in the house4' ,the same thing is true about ,christian people4 ,we cannot teach the world science1 we cannot teach it philosophy or art1 but we can teach it ,god4 ,now the possibility brings with it the obligation4 ,the personal experience of ,jesus ,christ in our hearts1 as the dew that brings to us life and fertility1 carries with it a commission as distinct and imperative as if it had been pealed into each single ear by a voice from heaven4 ,that which made ,israel the 'dew amidst many nations1' parched for want of it1 makes ,christian men and women fit to fill the analogous office1 and calls upon them to discharge the same functions4 ,for--in regard to all our possessions1 and therefore most eminently and imperatively in regard to the best--that which we have1 we have as stewards1 and the ,gospel1 as the ,apostle found1 was not only given to him for his own individual enjoyment1 elevation1 ennobling1 emancipation1 salvation1 but was 'committed to his charge1' and he was 'entrusted' with it1 as he says1 as a sacred deposit4 ,remember1 too1 that1 strange as it may seem1 the only way by which that knowledge of ,god which was bestowed upon ,israel could become the possession of the world was by its first of all being made the possession of a few4 ,people talk about the unfairness1 the harshness1 of the providential arrangement by which the whole world was not made participant of the revelation which was granted to ,israel4 ,the fire is gathered on to a hearth4 ,does that mean that the corners of the room are left uncared for8 ,no6 the brazier is in the middle--as ,palestine was1 even geographically in the centre of the then civilised world--that from the centre the beneficent warmth might radiate and give heat as well as light to 'all them that are in the house4' ,so it is in regard to all the great possessions of the race4 ,art1 literature1 science1 political wisdom1 they are all intrusted to a few who are made their apostles2 and the purpose is their universal diffusion from these human centres4 ,it is in the line of the analogy of all the other gifts of ,god to humanity1 that chosen men should be raised up in whom the life is lodged1 that it may be diffused4 ,so to us the message comes3 ',the ,lord hath need of thee4' ,christ has died2 the ,cross is the world's redemption4 ,christ lives that ,he may apply the power and the benefits of ,his death and of ,his risen life to all humanity4 ,but the missing link between the all sufficient redemption that is in ,christ ,jesus1 and the actual redemption of the world1 is 'the remnant of ,jacob1' the ,christian ,church which is to be 'in the midst of many people1 as a dew from the ,lord4' ,now1 that diffusion from individual centres of the life that is in ,jesus ,christ is the chiefest reason--or at all events1 is one chief reason--for the strange and inextricable intertwining in modern society1 of saint and sinner1 of ,christian and non-,christian4 ,the seed is sown among the thorns2 the wheat springs up amongst the tares4 ,their roots are so matted together that no hand can separate them4 ,in families1 in professions1 in business relations1 in civil life1 in national life1 both grow together4 ,god sows ,his seed thin that all the field may smile in harvest4 ,the salt is broken up into many minute particles and rubbed into that which it is to preserve from corruption4 ,the remnant of ,jacob is in the midst of many peoples2 and you and ,i are encompassed by those who need our ,christ1 and who do not know ,him or love ,him2 and one great reason for the close intertwining is that1 scattered1 we may diffuse1 and that at all points the world may be in contact with those who ought to be working to preserve it from putrefaction and decay4 ,now there are two ways by which this function may be discharged1 and in which it is incumbent upon every ,christian man to make his contribution1 be it greater or smaller1 to the discharge of it4 ,the one is by direct efforts to impart to others the knowledge of ,god in ,jesus ,christ which we have1 and which we profess to be the very root of our lives4 ,we can all do that if we will1 and we are here to do it4 ,every one of us has somebody or other close to us1 bound to us1 perhaps1 by the tie of kindred and love1 who will listen to us more readily than to anybody else4 ,christian men and women1 have you utilised these channels which ,god ,himself1 by the arrangements of society1 has dug for you1 that through them you may pour upon some thirsty ground the water of life8 ,we could also help1 and help far more than any of us do1 in associated efforts for the same purpose4 ,the direct obligation to direct efforts to impart the ,gospel cannot be shirked1 though1 alas6 it is far too often ignored by us professing ,christians4 ,but there is another way by which 'the remnant of ,jacob' is to be 'a dew from the ,lord1' and that is by trying to bring to bear ,christian thoughts and ,christian principles upon all the relations of life in which we stand1 and upon all the societies1 be they greater or smaller--the family1 the city1 or the nation--of which we form parts4 ,we have heard a great deal lately about what people that know very little about it1 are pleased to call 'the ,nonconformist conscience1' ,i take the compliment1 which is not intended1 but is conveyed by the word4 ,but ,i venture to say that what is meant1 is not the ',nonconformist' conscience1 it is the ,christian conscience4 ,we ,nonconformists have no monopoly1 thank ,god1 of that4 ,nay1 rather1 in some respects1 our friends in the ,anglican churches are teaching some of us a lesson as to the application of ,christian principles to civic duty and to national life4 ,i beseech you1 although ,i do not mean to dwell upon that point at all at this time1 to ask yourselves whether1 as citizens1 the vices1 the godlessness1 the miseries--the removable miseries--of our great town populations1 lie upon your hearts4 ,have you ever lifted a finger to abate drunkenness8 ,have you ever done anything to help to make it possible that the masses of our town communities should live in places better than the pigsties in which many of them have to wallow8 ,have you any care for the dignity1 the purity1 the ,christianity of our civic rulers2 and do you1 to the extent of your ability1 try to ensure that ,christ's teaching shall govern the life of our cities8 ,and the same question may be put yet more emphatically with regard to wider subjects1 namely1 the national life and the national action1 whether in regard to war or in regard to other pressing subjects for national consideration4 ,i do not touch upon these2 ,i only ask you to remember the grand ideal of my text1 which applies to the narrowest circle--the family2 and to the wider circles--the city and the nation1 as well as to the world4 ,time was when a bastard piety shrank back from intermeddling with these affairs and gathered up its skirts about it in an ecstasy of unwholesome unworldliness4 ,there is not much danger of that now1 when ,christian men are in the full swim of the currents of civic1 professional1 literary1 national life4 ,but ,i will tell you of what there is a danger--,christian men and women moving in their families1 going into town councils1 going into ,parliament1 going to the polling booths1 and leaving their ,christianity behind them4 ',the remnant of ,jacob shall be as a dew from the ,lord4' ,now let me turn for a moment to a second point1 and that is ,,ii4 ,the function of ,english ,christians in the world4 ,i have suggested in an earlier part of this sermon that possibly the application of this text originally was to the scattered remnant4 ,be that as it may1 wherever you go1 you find the ,jew and the ,englishman4 ,i need not dwell upon the ubiquity of our race4 ,i need not point you to the fact that1 in all probability1 our language is destined to be the world's language some day4 ,i need do nothing more than recall the fact that a man may go on board ship1 in ,liverpool or ,london1 and go round the world2 everywhere he sees the ,union ,jack1 and everywhere he lands upon ,british soil4 ,the ubiquity of the scattered ,englishman needs no illustration4 ,but ,i do wish to remind you that that ubiquity has its obligation4 ,we hear a great deal to-day about ,imperialism1 about 'the ,greater ,britain1' about 'the expansion of ,england4' ,and on one side all that new atmosphere of feeling is good1 for it speaks of a vivid consciousness which is all to the good in the pulsations of the national life4 ,but there is another side to it that is not so good4 ,what is the expansion sought for8 ,trade8 ,yes6 necessarily2 and no man who lives in ,lancashire will speak lightly of that necessity4 ,vulgar greed1 and earth-hunger8 that is evil4 ,glory8 that is cruel1 blood-stained1 empty4 ,my text tells us why expansion should be sought1 and what are the obligations it brings with it4 ',the remnant of ,jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the ,lord' ,there are two kinds of ,imperialism3 one which regards the ,empire as a thing for the advantage of us here1 in this little land1 and another which regards it as a burden that ,god has laid on the shoulders of the men whom ,john ,milton1 two centuries ago1 was not afraid to call ',his ,englishmen4' ,let me remind you of two contrasted pictures which will give far more forcibly than anything ,i can say1 the two points of view from which our world-wide dominion may be regarded4 ,here is one of them3 ',by the strength of my hand ,i have done it1 and by my wisdom1 for ,i am prudent4 ,and ,i have removed the bounds of the people1 and have robbed their treasures1 and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people2 and as one gathereth eggs that are left1 have ,i gathered all the earth2 and there was none that moved a wing1 or opened a mouth1 or peeped4' ,that is the voice of the lust for ,empire for selfish advantages4 ,and here is the other one3 ',the kings of ,tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents2 yea1 all kings shall fall down before ,him2 all nations shall serve ,him1 for ,he shall deliver the needy when he crieth1 the poor also1 and him that hath no helper4 ,he shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence1 and precious shall their blood be in ,his sight4' ,that is the voice that has learned3 ',he that is greatest among you1 let him be your servant'2 and that the dominion founded on unselfish surrender for others is the only dominion that will last4 ,brethren6 that is the spirit in which alone ,england will keep its ,empire over the world4 ,i need not remind you that the gift which we have to carry to the heathen nations1 the subject peoples who are under the aegis of our laws1 is not merely our literature1 our science1 our ,western civilisation1 still less the products of our commerce1 for all of which some of them are asking2 but it is the gift that they do not ask for4 ,the dew 'waiteth not for man1 nor tarrieth for the sons of men4' ,we have to create the demand by bringing the supply4 ,we have to carry ,christ's ,gospel as the greatest gift that we have in our hands4 ,and now1 ,i was going to have said a word1 lastly1 but ,i see it can only be a word1 about-- ,,iii4 ,the failure to fulfil the function4 ,israel failed4 ,pharisaism was the end of it--a hugging itself in the possession of the gift which it did not appreciate1 and a bitter contempt of the nations1 and so destruction came1 and the fire on the hearth was scattered and died out1 and the vineyard was taken from them and 'given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof4' ,change the name1 as the ,latin poet says1 and the story is told about us4 ,england largely fails in this function2 as witness in ,india godless civilians2 as witness on every palm-shaded coral beach in the ,south ,seas1 profligate beach-combers1 drunken sailors1 unscrupulous traders2 as witness the dying out of races by diseases imported with profligacy and gin from this land4 ',a dew from the ,lord6'2 say rather a malaria from the devil6 ',by you1' said the ,prophet1 'is the name of ,god blasphemed among the ,gentiles4' ,by ,englishmen the missionary's efforts are1 in a hundred cases1 neutralised1 or hampered if not neutralised4 ,we have failed because1 as ,christian people1 we have not been adequately in earnest4 ,no man can say with truth that the churches of ,england are awake to the imperative obligation of this missionary enterprise4 ',if ,god spared not the natural branches1 take heed lest ,he spare not thee4' ,israel's religion was not diffusive1 therefore it corrupted2 ,israel's religion did not reach out a hand to the nations1 therefore its heart was paralysed and stricken4 ,they who bring the ,gospel to others increase their own hold upon it4 ,there is a joy of activity1 there is a firmer faith1 as new evidences of its power are presented before them4 ,there is the blessing that comes down upon all faithful discharge of duty2 ',if the house be not worthy1 your peace shall return to you4' ,after all1 our ,empire rests on moral foundations1 and if it is administered by us--and we each have part of the responsibility for all that is done--on the selfish ground of only seeking the advantage of 'the predominant partner1' then our hold will be loosened4 ,there is no such cement of empire as a common religion4 ,if we desire to make these subject peoples loyal fellow-subjects1 we must make them true fellow-worshippers4 ,the missionary holds ,india for ,england far more strongly than the soldier does4 ,if we apply ,christian principles to our administration of our ,empire1 then instead of its being knit together by iron bands1 it will be laced together by the intertwining tendrils of the hearts of those who are possessors of 'like precious faith4' ,brethren1 there is another saying in the ,old ,testament1 about the dew4 ',i will be as the dew unto ,israel1' says ,god through the ,prophet4 ,we must have ,him as the dew for our own souls first4 ,then only shall we be able to discharge the office laid upon us1 to be in the midst of many peoples as 'dew from the ,lord4' ,if our fleece is wet and we leave the ground dry1 our fleece will soon be dry1 though the ground may be bedewed4 ,,god',s ,,requirements ,,and ,,god',s ,,gift ',what doth the ,lord require of thee1 but to do justly1 and to love mercy1 and to walk humbly with thy ,god8'--,,micah vi4 #h4 ,this is the ,prophet's answer to a question which he puts into the mouth of his hearers4 ,they had the superstitious estimate of the worth of sacrifice1 which conceives that the external offering is pleasing to ,god1 and can satisfy for sin4 ,micah1 like his great contemporary ,isaiah1 and the most of the prophets1 wages war against that misconception of sacrifice1 but does not thereby protest against its use4 ,to suppose that he does so is to misunderstand his whole argument4 ,another misuse of the words of my text is by no means uncommon to-day4 ,one has heard people say1 ',we are plain men2 we do not understand your theological subtleties2 we do not quite see what you mean by ,repentance toward ,god1 and faith in ,jesus ,christ4 ,to do justly1 and to love mercy1 and to walk humbly with my ,god1 that is my religion1 and ,i leave all the rest to you4' ,that is our religion too1 but notice that word 'require4' ,it is a harsh word1 and if it is the last word to be said about ,god's relation to men1 then a great shadow has fallen upon life4 ,but there is another word which ,micah but dimly caught uttered amidst the thunders of ,sinai1 and which you and ,i have heard far more clearly4 ,the ,prophet read off rightly ,god's requirements1 but he had not anything to say about ,god's gifts4 ,so his word is a half-truth1 and the more clearly it is seen1 and the more earnestly a man tries to live up to the standard of the requirements laid down here1 the more will he feel that there is something else needed1 and the more will he see that the great central peculiarity and glory of ,christianity is not that it reiterates or alters ,god's requirements1 but that it brings into view ,god's gifts4 ',to do justly1 to love mercy1 to walk humbly with our ,god1' is possible only through repentance towards ,god1 and faith in our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,and if you suppose that these words of my text disclose the whole truth about ,god's relation to men1 and men's to ,god1 you have failed to apprehend the flaming centre of the ,light that shines from heaven4 ,i4 ,so1 then1 the first thing that ,i wish to suggest is ,god's requirements4 ,now1 ,i do not need to say more than just a word or two about the summing-up in my text of the plain1 elementary duties of morality and religion4 ,it covers substantially the same ground1 in a condensed form1 as does the ,decalogue1 only that ,moses began with the deepest thing and worked outwards1 as it were2 laying the foundation in a true relation to ,god1 which is the most important1 and from which will follow the true relation to men4 ,micah begins at the other end1 and starting with the lesser1 the more external1 the purely human1 works his way inwards to that which is the centre and the source of all4 ',to do justly1' that is elementary morality in two words4 ,whatever a man has a right to claim from you1 give him2 that is the sum of duty4 ,and yet not altogether so1 for we all know the difference between a righteous man and a good man1 and how1 if there is only rigidly righteous action1 there is something wanting to the very righteousness of the action and to the completeness of the character4 ',to do' is not enough2 we must get to the heart1 and so 'love mercy4' ,justice is not all4 ,if each man gets his deserts1 as ,shakespeare says1 'who of us shall scape whipping8' ,there must be the mercy as well as the justice4 ,in a very deep sense no man renders to his fellows all that his fellows have a right to expect of him1 who does not render to them mercy4 ,and so in a very deep sense1 mercy is part of justice1 and you have not given any poor creature all that that poor creature has a right to look for from you1 unless you have given him all the gracious and gentle charities of heart and hand4 ,justice and mercy do1 in the deepest view1 run into one4 ,then ,micah goes deeper4 ',and to walk humbly with thy ,god4' ,some people would say that this summary of the divine requirements is defective1 because there is nothing in it about a man's duty to himself1 which is as much a duty as his duty to his fellows1 or his duty to ,god4 ,but there is a good deal of my duty to myself crowded into that one word1 'humbly4' ,for ,i suppose we might almost say that the basis of all our obligations to our own selves lies in this1 that we shall take the right view--that is1 the lowly view--of ourselves4 ,but ,i pass that4 ',to walk humbly with thy ,god4' ',can two walk together unless they be agreed8' ,for walking with ,god there must be communion1 based in love1 and resulting in imitation4 ,and that communion must be constant1 and run through all the life1 like a golden thread through some web4 ,so1 then1 here is the minimum of the divine requirements1 to give everybody what he has a right to1 including the mercy to which he has a right1 to have a lowly estimate of myself1 and to live continually grasping the hand of ,god1 and conscious of ,his overshadowing wing at all moments1 and of conformity to ,his will at every step of the road4 ,that is the minimum2 and the people who so glibly say1 ',that is my religion1' have little consciousness of how far-reaching and how deep-down-going the requirements of this text are4 ,the requirements result from the very nature of ,god1 and our relation to ,him1 and they are endorsed by our own consciences1 for we all know that these1 and nothing less than these are the duties that we owe to ,god4 ,so much for ,god's requirements4 ,,ii4 ,our failure4 ,there is not one of us that has come up to the standard4 ,man after man may be conceived of as bringing in his hands the actions of his life1 and laying them in the awful scales which ,god's hand holds4 ,in the one are ,god's requirements1 in the other my life2 and in every case down goes the weight1 and 'weighed in the balances we are altogether lighter than vanity4' ,we stand before the great ,master in the school1 and one by one we take up our copybooks2 and there is not one of them that is not black with blots and erasures and swarming with errors4 ,the great cliff stands in front of us with the victor's prize on its topmost ledge1 and man after man tries to climb1 and falls bruised and broken at the base4 ',there is none righteous1 no1 not one4' ,micah's requirements come to every man that will honestly take stock of his life and his character as the statement of an unreached and unreachable ideal to which he never has climbed nor ever can climb4 ,oh1 brethren6 if these words are all the words that are to be said about ,god and me1 then ,i know not what lies before the enlightened conscience except shuddering despair1 and a paralysing consciousness of inevitable failure4 ,i beseech you1 take these words1 and go apart with them1 and test your daily life by them4 ,god requires me to do justly4 ,does there not rise before my memory many an act in which1 in regard to persons and in regard to circumstances1 ,i have fallen beneath that requirement8 ,he requires me 'to love mercy4' ,he requires me 'to walk humbly1' and ,i have often been inflated and self-conceited and presumptuous4 ,he requires me to walk with ,himself1 and ,i have shaken away ,his hand from me1 and passed whole days without ever thinking of ,him1 and 'the ,god in whose hands' my 'breath is1 and whose are all' my 'ways1' ,i have 'not glorified4' ,i cannot hammer this truth into your consciences4 ,you have to do it for yourselves4 ,but ,i beseech you1 recognise the fact that you are implicated in the universal failure1 and that ,god's requirement is ,god's condemnation of each of us4 ,if1 then1 that is true1 that all have come short of the requirement1 then there should follow a universal sense of guilt1 for there is the universal fact of guilt1 whether there be the sense of it or not4 ,there must follow1 too1 consequences resulting from the failure of each of us to comply with these divine requirements1 consequences very alarming1 very fatal2 and there must follow a darkening of the thought of ,god4 ',i knew thee that thou wert an austere man1 reaping where thou didst not sow1 and gathering where thou didst not straw4' ,that is the ,god of all the people who take my text as the last word of their religion--,god 'requires of me4 ,the blessed sun in the heavens becomes a lurid ball of fire when it is seen through the mist of such a conception of the divine character1 and its relation to men4 ,there is nothing that so drapes the sky in darkness1 and hides out the great light of ,god1 as the thought of ,his requirements as the last thought we cherish concerning ,him4 ,there follows1 too1 upon this conception1 and the failure that results to fulfil the requirements1 a hopelessness as to ever accomplishing that which is demanded of us4 ,who amongst us is there that1 looking back upon his past in so far as it has been shaped by his own effort and his own unaided strength1 can look forward to a future with any hope that it will mend the past8 ,brethren6 experience teaches us that we have not fulfilled1 and cannot fulfil1 what remains our plain duty1 notwithstanding our inability to discharge it--viz41 ',to do justly1 and to love mercy1 and to walk humbly with our ,god4' ,to think of ,god's requirements1 and of my own failure1 is the sure way to paralyse all activity2 just as that man in the parable who said1 ',thou art an austere man1' went away and hid his talent in the earth4 ,to think of ,god's requirements and my own failures1 if heaven has nothing more to say to me than this stern ',thou shalt1' is the short way to despair4 ,and that is why most of us prefer to be immersed in the trivialities of daily life rather than to think of ,god1 and of what ,he asks from us4 ,for the only way by which some of us can keep our equanimity and our cheerfulness is by ignoring ,him and forgetting what ,he demands1 and never taking stock of our own lives4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 my text leads us to think of ,god's gift4 ,i said it is a half-truth1 for it only tells us of what ,he desires us to be1 and does not tell us of how we may be it4 ,it is meant1 like the law of which it is a condensation1 to be the pedagogue1 to lead the child to ,jesus ,christ1 the true ,master1 and the true ,gift of ,god4 ,god 'requires4' ,yes1 and ,he requires1 in order that we should say to ,him1 ',lord1 ,thou hast a right to ask this1 and it is my blessedness to give it1 but ,i cannot4 ,do ,thou give me what ,thou dost require1 and then ,i can4' ,the gift of ,god is ,jesus ,christ1 and that gift meets all our failures4 ,i have spoken of the sense of guilt that rises from the consciousness of failure to keep the requirements of the divine law2 and the gift of ,god deals with that4 ,it comes to us as we lie wounded1 bruised1 conscious of failure1 alarmed for results1 sensible of guilt1 and dreading the penalties1 and it says to us1 ',thine iniquity is taken away1 and thy sin purged4' ',god requires of thee what thou hast not done4 ,trust yourselves to ,me1 and all iniquity is passed from your souls4' ,i spoke of the hopelessness of future performance1 which results from experience of past failures2 and the gift of ,god deals with that4 ,you cannot meet the requirements4 ,christ will put ,his ,spirit into your spirits1 if you will trust yourselves to ,him1 and then you will meet them1 for the things which are impossible with men are possible with ,god4 ,so1 if led by ,micah1 we pass from ,god's requirements to ,his gifts1 look at the change in the aspect which ,god bears to us4 ,he is no longer standing strict to mark1 and stern to judge and condemn3 but bending down graciously to help4 ,his last word to us is not ',thou shalt do' but ',i will give4' ,his utterance in the ,gospel is not 'do1' but it is 'take'2 and the vision of ,god1 which shines out upon us from the life and from the ,cross of ,jesus ,christ1 is not that of a great ,taskmaster1 but that of ,him who helps all our weakness1 and makes it strength4 ,a ,god who 'requires' paralyses men1 shuts men out from hope and joy and fellowship2 a ,god who gives draws men to ,his heart1 and makes them diligent in fulfilling all ,his blessed requirements4 ,think of the difference which the conception of ,god as giving makes to the spirit in which we work4 ,no longer1 like the ,israelites in ,egypt1 do we try to make bricks without straw1 and break our hearts over our failures1 or desperately abandon the attempt1 and live in neglect of ,god and ,his will2 but joyfully1 with the clear confidence that 'our labour is not in vain in the ,lord1' we seek to keep the commandments which we have learned to be the expressions of ,his love4 ,one of the ,fathers puts all in one lovely sentence3 ',give what ,thou commandest1 and command what ,thou wilt4' ,think1 too1 of the difference which this conception of the giving rather than of the requiring ,god brings into what we have to do4 ,we have not to begin with effort1 we have to begin with faith4 ,the fountain must be filled from the spring before it can send up its crystal pillar flashing in the sunlight2 and we must receive by our trust the power to will and to do4 ,first fill the lamp with oil1 and let the ,master light it1 and then let its blaze beam forth4 ,first1 we have to go to the giving ,god1 with thanks 'unto ,him for ,his unspeakable gift'2 and then we have to say to ,him1 ',thou hast given me ,thy ,son4 ,what dost ,thou desire that ,i shall give to ,thee8' ,we have first to accept the gift1 and then1 moved by the mercy of ,god1 to ask1 ',lord ,i what wilt ,thou have me to do8' 99 99 99 99 99 ,,habakkuk ,,the ,,ideal ,,devout ,,life ',the ,lord ,god is my ,strength1 and ,he will make my feet like hinds' feet1 and ,he will make me to walk upon mine high places4'--,,habbakkuk iii4 #ai4 ,so ends one of the most magnificent pieces of imaginative poetry in ,scripture or anywhere else4 ,the singer has been describing a great delivering manifestation of the ,most ,high ,god1 which1 though he knew it was for the deliverance of ,god's people1 shed awe and terror over his soul4 ,then he gathers himself together to vow that in this ,god1 thus manifested as the ,god of his salvation1 he 'will rejoice1' whatever penury or privation may attach to his outward life4 ,lastly1 he rises1 in these final words1 to the apprehension of what this ,god1 thus rejoiced in1 will become to those who so put their trust and their gladness upon ,himself4 ,the expressions are of a highly metaphorical and imaginative character1 but they admit of being brought down to very plain facts1 and they tell us the results in heart and mind of true faith and communion with ,god4 ,it is to be noticed that a parallel saying1 almost verbatim the same as that of my text1 occurs in the #ahth psalm1 and that there1 too1 it is the last and joyous result of a tremendous manifestation of the delivering energy of ,god4 ,without any attempt to do more than bring out the deep meaning of the words1 ,i note that the three clauses of our text present three aspects of what our lives and ourselves may steadfastly be if we1 too1 will rejoice in the ,god of our salvation4 ,i4 ,first1 such communion with ,god brings ,god to a man for his strength4 ,the #ahth psalm1 which is closely parallel1 as ,i have remarked1 with this one1 gives a somewhat different and inferior version of that thought when it says1 ',it is the ,lord that girdeth me with strength4' ,but ,habakkuk1 though perhaps he could not have put into dogmatic shape all that he meant1 had come farther than that with this3 ',the ,lord is my strength4' ,he not only gives1 as one might put a coin into the hand of a beggar1 while standing separate from him all the while1 but ',he is my strength4' ,and what does that mean8 ,it is an anticipation of that most wonderful and highest of all the ,new ,testament truths which the ,apostle declared when he said3 ',i can do all things in ,christ which strengtheneth me within4' ,it is the anticipation in experience--which always comes before dogmatic formulas that reduce experiences into articulate utterances1 of what the ,apostle recorded when he said that he had heard the voice that declared1 ',my grace is sufficient for thee1 and ,my strength is made perfect in weakness4' ,ah1 brother6 do not let us deprive ourselves of the lofty consolations and the mysterious influx of power which may be ours1 if we will open our eyes to see1 and our hearts to receive1 what is really the central blessing of the ,gospel1 the communication through the same faith as ,habakkuk exercised when he said1 ',i will rejoice in the ,god of my salvation1' of an actual divine strength to dwell in and manifest itself majestically and triumphantly through1 our weakness4 ',the ,lord is my strength1' and if we will rejoice in the ,lord we shall find that ,habakkuk's experience was lower than ours1 inasmuch as he knew less of ,god than we do2 and we shall be able to surpass his saying with the other one of the ,prophet3 ',the ,lord is my strength and song2 ,he also is become my salvation4' ,that is the first blessing that this ancient believer1 out of the twilight of early revelation1 felt as certain to come through communion with ,god4 ,,ii4 ,the second is like unto it4 ,such rejoicing communion with ,god will give light-footedness in the path of life4 ',he makes my feet like hinds' feet4' ,the stag is1 in all languages spoken by people that have ever seen it1 the very type and emblem of elastic1 springing ease1 of light and bounding gracefulness1 that clears every obstacle1 and sweeps swiftly over the moor4 ,and when this singer1 or his brother psalmist in the other psalm that we have referred to1 says1 ',thou makest my feet like hinds' feet1' what he is thinking about is that light and easy1 springing1 elastic gait1 that swiftness of advance4 ,what a contrast that is to the way in which most of us get through our day's work6 ,plod1 plod1 plod1 in a heavy-footed1 spiritless grind1 like that with which the ploughman toils down the sticky furrows of a field1 with a pound of clay at each heel2 or like that with which a man goes wearied home from his work at night4 ,the monotony of trivial1 constantly recurring doings1 the fluctuations in the thermometer of our own spirits2 the stiff bits of road that we have all to encounter sooner or later2 and as days go on1 our diminishing buoyancy of nature1 and the love of walking a little slower than we used to do2 we all know these things1 and our gait is affected by them4 ,but then my text brings a bright assurance1 that swift and easy and springing as the course of a stag on a free hill-side may be the gait with which we run the race set before us4 ,it is the same thought1 under a somewhat different garb1 which the ,apostle has when he tells us that the ,christian soldier ought to have his 'feet shod with the alacrity that comes from the gospel of peace4' ,we are to be always ready to run1 and to run with light hearts when we do4 ,that is a possible result of ,christian communion1 and ought1 far more than it is1 to be an achieved reality with each of us4 ,of course physical conditions vary4 ,of course our spirits go up and down4 ,of course the work that we have to do one day seems easier than the same work does another4 ,all these fluctuations and variations1 and causes of heavy-footedness--and sometimes more sinful ones1 causes of sluggishness--will survive2 but in spite of them all1 and beneath them all1 it is possible that we may have ourselves thus equipped for the road1 and may rejoice in our work 'as a strong man to run a race1' and may cheerily welcome every duty1 and cast ourselves into all our tasks4 ,it is possible1 because communion with ,god manifest in ,christ does1 as we have been seeing1 actually breathe into men a vigour1 and consequently a freshness and a buoyancy that do not belong to themselves1 and do not come from nature or from surrounding things4 ,unless that is true1 that ,christianity gives to a man the divine gladness which makes him ready for work1 ,i do not know what is the good of his ,christianity to him4 ,but not only is that so1 but this same communion with ,god1 which is the opening of the heart for the influx of the divine power1 brings to bear upon all our work new motives which redeem it from being oppressive1 tedious1 monotonous1 trivial1 too great for our endurance1 or too little for our effort4 ,all work that is not done in fellowship with ,jesus ,christ tends to become either too heavy to be tackled successfully1 or too trivial to demand our best energies1 and in either case will be done perfunctorily1 and as the days go on1 mechanically and wearisomely1 as a grind and a pled4 ',thou makest my feet like hinds' feet'--if ,i get the new motive of love to ,god in ,christ well into my heart so that it comes out and influences all my actions1 there will be no more tasks too formidable to undertake1 or too small to be worth an effort4 ,there will be nothing unwelcome4 ,the rough places will be made plain1 and the crooked things straight1 and our feet will be shod with the preparedness of the gospel of peace4 ,if we live in daily communion with ,god1 another thought1 too1 will come in1 which will1 in like manner1 make us ready 'to run with' cheerfulness 'the race that is set before us4' ,we shall connect everything that befalls us1 and everything that we have to do1 with the final issue1 and life will become solemn1 grave1 and blessed1 because it is the outer court and vestibule of the eternal life with ,god in ,christ4 ,they that hold communion with ,him1 and only they1 will1 as another prophet says1 'run and not be weary1' when there come the moments that require a special effort2 and 'will walk and not faint' through the else tediously long hours of commonplace duty and dusty road4 ,,iii4 ,the last of the thoughts here is--,communion with ,god brings elevation4 ',he will make me to walk upon my high places4' ,one sees the herd on the skyline of the mountain ridge1 and at home up there1 far above dangers and attack2 able to keep their footing on cliff and precipice1 and tossing their antlers in the pure air4 ,one wave of the hand1 and they are miles away4 ',he sets me upon my high places'2 if we will keep ourselves in simple1 loving fellowship with ,god in ,christ2 and day by day1 even when 'the fig-tree does not blossom1 and there is no fruit in the vine1' will still 'rejoice in the ,god of our salvation1' ,he will lift us up1 and ,isaiah's other clause in the verse which ,i have quoted will be fulfilled3 ',they shall mount up with wings as eagles4' ,communion with ,god does not only help us to plod and to travel1 but it helps us to soar4 ,if we keep ourselves in touch with ,him1 we shall be like a weight that is hung on to a balloon4 ,the buoyancy of the one will lift the leadenness of the other4 ,if we hold fast by ,christ's hand that will lift us up to the high places1 the heights of ,god1 in so far as we may reach them in this world2 and we shall be at home up there4 ,they will be 'my high places1' that ,i never could have got at by my own scrambling1 but to which ,thou hast lifted me up1 and which1 by ,thy grace1 have become my natural abode4 ,i am at home there1 and walk at liberty in the loftiness1 and fear no fall amongst the cliffs4 ,are you and ,i familiar with these upper ranges of thought and experience and life8 ,do we feel at home there more than down in the bottoms1 amongst the swamps1 and the miasma1 and the mists8 ,where is your home1 brother8 ,the ,mass begins with ,sursum corda3 ',up with your hearts1' and that is the word for us4 ,but the way to get up is to keep ourselves in touch with ,jesus ,christ1 and then ,he will1 even whilst our feet are travelling along this road of earth1 set us at ,his own right hand in the heavenly places1 and make them 'our high places4' ,it is safe up there4 ,the air is pure2 the poison mists are down lower2 the hunters do not come there2 their arrows or their rifles will not carry so far4 ,it is only when the herd ventures a little down the hill that it is in danger from shots4 ,but the elevation will not be such as to make us despise the low paths on which duty--the sufficient and loftiest thing of all--lies for us4 ,our souls may be like stars1 and dwell apart1 and yet may lay the humblest duties upon themselves1 and whilst we live in the high places1 we 'may travel on life's common way in cheerful godliness4' ,communion with ,him will make us light-footed1 and lift us high1 and yet it will keep us at desk1 and mill1 and study1 and kitchen1 and nursery1 and shop1 and we shall find that the high places are reachable in every life1 and in every task4 ,so we may go on until at last we shall hear the ,voice that says1 ',come up higher1' and shall he lifted to the mountain of ,god1 where the living waters are1 and shall fear no snares or hunters any more for ever4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,zephaniah ,,zion',s ,,joy ,,and ,,god',s ',sing1 ,o daughter of ,zion2 shout1 ,o ,israel2 be glad and rejoice with all the heart1 ,o daughter of ,jerusalem4444 #ag4 ,he will rejoice over thee with joy2 ,he will rest in ,his love1 ,he will joy over thee with singing4'--,,zephaniah iii4 #ad1 #ag4 ,what a wonderful rush of exuberant gladness there is in these words6 ,the swift1 short clauses1 the triple invocation in the former verse1 the triple promise in the latter1 the heaped together synonyms1 all help the impression4 ,the very words seem to dance with joy4 ,but more remarkable than this is the parallelism between the two verses4 ,zion is called to rejoice in ,god because ,god rejoices in her4 ,she is to shout for joy and sing because ,god's joy too has a voice1 and breaks out into singing4 ,for every throb of joy in man's heart1 there is a wave of gladness in ,god's4 ,the notes of our praise are at once the echoes and the occasions of ,his4 ,we are to be glad because ,he is glad3 ,he is glad because we are so4 ,we sing for joy1 and ,he joys over us with singing because we do4 ,i4 ,god's joy over ,zion4 ,it is to be noticed that the former verse of our text is followed by the assurance3 ',the ,lord is in the midst of thee'2 and that the latter verse is preceded by the same assurance4 ,so1 then1 intimate fellowship and communion between ,god and ,israel lies at the root both of ,god's joy in man and man's joy in ,god4 ,we are solemnly warned by 'profound thinkers' of letting the shadow of our emotions fall upon ,god4 ,no doubt there is a real danger there2 but there is a worse danger1 that of conceiving of a ,god who has no life and heart2 and it is better to hold fast by this--that in ,him is that which corresponds to what in us is gladness4 ,we are often told1 too1 that the ,jehovah of the ,old ,testament is a stern and repellent ,god1 and the religion of the ,old ,testament is gloomy and servile4 ,but such a misconception is hard to maintain in the face of such words as these4 ,zephaniah1 of whom we know little1 and whose words are mainly forecasts of judgments and woes pronounced against ,zion that was rebellious and polluted1 ends his prophecy with these companion pictures1 like a gleam of sunshine which often streams out at the close of a dark winter's day4 ,to him the judgments which he prophesied were no contradiction of the love and gladness of ,god4 ,the thought of a glad ,god might be a very awful thought2 such an insight as this prophet had gives a blessed meaning to it4 ,we may think of the joy that belongs to the divine nature as coming from the completeness of ,his being1 which is raised far above all that makes of sorrow4 ,but it is not in ,himself alone that ,he is glad2 but it is because ,he loves4 ,the exercise of love is ever blessedness4 ,his joy is in self-impartation2 ,his delights are in the sons of men3 ',as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride1 so shall thy ,god rejoice over thee4' ,his gladness is in ,his children when they let ,him love them1 and do not throw back ,his love on itself4 ,as in man's physical frame it is pain to have secretions dammed up1 so when ,god's love is forced back upon itself and prevented from flowing out in blessing1 some shadow of suffering cannot but pass across that calm sky4 ,he is glad when ,his face is mirrored in ours1 and the rays from ,him are reflected from us4 ,but there is another wonderfully bold and beautiful thought in this representation of the gladness of ,god4 ,note the double form which it assumes3 ',he will rest'--literally1 be silent--'in ,his love2 ,he will joy over thee with singing4' ,as to the former1 loving hearts on earth know that the deepest love knows no utterance1 and can find none4 ,a heart full of love rests as having attained its desire and accomplished its purpose4 ,it keeps a perpetual ,sabbath1 and is content to be silent4 ,but side by side with this picture of the repose of ,god's joy is set with great poetic insight the precisely opposite image of a love which delights in expression1 and rejoices over its object with singing4 ,the combination of the two helps to express the depth and intensity of the one love1 which like a song-bird rises with quivering delight and pours out as it rises an ever louder and more joyous note1 and then drops1 composed and still1 to its nest upon the dewy ground4 ,,ii4 ,zion's joy in ,god4 ,to the ,prophet1 the fact that 'the ,lord is in the midst of thee' was the guarantee for the confident assurance ',thou shalt not fear any more'2 and this assurance was to be the occasion of exuberant gladness1 which ripples over in the very words of our first text4 ,that great thought of ',god dwelling in the midst' is rightly a pain and a terror to rebellious wills and alienated hearts4 ,it needs some preparation of mind and spirit to be glad because ,god is near2 and they who find their satisfaction in earthly sources1 and those who seek for it in these1 see no word of good news1 but rather a 'fearful looking for of judgment' in the thought that ,god is in their midst4 ,the word rendered 'rejoices' in the first verse of our text is not the same as that so translated in the second4 ,the latter means literally1 to move in a circle2 while the former literally means1 to leap for joy4 ,thus the gladness of ,god is thought of as expressing itself in dignified1 calm movements1 whilst ,zion's joy is likened in its expression to the more violent movements of the dance4 ,true human joy is like ,god's1 in that ,he delights in us and we in ,him1 and in that both ,he and we delight in the exercise of love4 ,but we are never to forget that the differences are real as the resemblances1 and that it is reserved for the higher form of our experiences in a future life to 'enter into the joy of the ,lord4' ,it becomes us to see to it that our religion is a religion of joy4 ,our text is an authoritative command as well as a joyful exhortation1 and we do not fairly represent the facts of ,christian faith if we do not 'rejoice in the ,lord always4' ,in all the sadness and troubles which necessarily accompany us1 as they do all men1 we ought by the effort of faith to set the ,lord always before us that we be not moved4 ,the secret of stable and perpetual joy still lies where ,zephaniah found it--in the assurance that the ,lord is with us1 and in the vision of ,his love resting upon us1 and rejoicing over us with singing4 ,if thus our love clasps ,his1 and ,his joy finds its way into our hearts1 it will remain with us that our 'joy may be full'2 and being guarded by ,him whilst still there is fear of stumbling1 ,he will set us at last 'before the presence of ,his glory without blemish in exceeding joy4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,haggai ,,vain ,,toil ',ye have sown much1 and bring in little2 ye eat1 but ye have not enough2 ye drink1 but ye are not filled with drink2 ye clothe you1 but there is none warm2 and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes4'--,,haggai i4 #f ,a large emigration had taken place from the land of captivity to ,jerusalem4 ,the great purpose which the returning exiles had in view was the rebuilding of the ,temple1 as the centre-point of the restored nation4 ,with true heroism1 and much noble and unselfish enthusiasm1 they began the work1 postponing to it all considerations of personal convenience4 ,but the usual fate of all great national enthusiasms attended this4 ,political difficulties1 hard practical realities1 came in the way1 and the task was suspended for a time4 ,a handful remained true to the original ideas2 the rest fell away4 ,personal comfort1 love of ease1 the claims of domestic life1 the greed of gain1 all the ignoble motives which1 like gravitation and friction1 check such movements after the first impulse is exhausted1 came into play4 ,like every great cause1 this one was launched amidst high hopes and honest zeal3 but by degrees the hopes faded and became nothing better than 'godly imaginations4' ,the exiles took to building their own ceiled houses1 and let the ,house of ,god lie waste4 ,they began to think more of settling on the land than of building the ,temple4 ,no doubt they said all the things with which men are wont to hide their selfishness under the mask of duty3--,men must live2 we must take care of ourselves2 it is mad enthusiasm to build a temple when we have not homes2 we mean to build it some time1 but we are practical men and must provide for our wants first4' ,this wisdom of theirs turned out folly1 as it generally does4 ,there came1 as we learn from this prophet1 a season of distress1 in which the harvest1 for which they had sacrificed their duties and their calling1 failed3 and in spite of their prudent diligence1 or rather1 just because of their misplaced and selfish attention to their worldly well-being1 they were poor and hungry4 ',the heaven over them was stayed from dew1 and the earth from her fruit4' ,haggai was sent by ,god to interpret the calamity1 and to urge to the fulfilment of their earlier purposes4 ,his words apply to a supernatural condition of things with which he is dealing1 but they contain truths illustrated by it and true for ever4 ,for us all1 as truly as for those ,jews1 the first thing1 the primary1 all-embracing duty1 is to serve ,god1 to obey1 love1 and live with ,him4 ,the same selfish and worldly excuses have force with us3 ',we have business to look after2 men must live2 we have no time to think about religion2 ,i have built a new mill that occupies my thoughts2 ,i have found a new plaything1 and ,i must try it2 ,i have married a wife1 and therefore ,i cannot come4' ,so ,god and ,his claims1 ,christ and ,his love1 are hustled into a corner to be attended to when opportunity serves1 but to be neglected in the meantime4 ,and the same result follows1 not by miracle1 but by natural necessity4 ,haggai puts these results in our text with bitter1 indignant amplification4 ,his words are all the working out of one idea-the unprofitableness1 on the whole and in the long-run1 of a godless life4 ,he illustrates this in the clauses of our text in various forms1 and my purpose now is simply to apply each of these to the realities of a godless life4 ,i4 ,it is a life of fruitless toil4 ,the ,prophet pictures the sowing1 the abundant seed thrown broadcast1 the long waiting1 and then1 finally1 a wretched harvest--a few prematurely yellow ears and short stalks4 ,i remember a friend telling me that when he was a boy he went out reaping with his father in one of our years of great drought2 and after a day's work threshed out all that he had cut1 and carried it home with him in his handkerchief4 ,that is what ,haggai saw realised in fact1 because the sowing had been without ,god4 ,it is what we may see in others and feel in ourselves4 ,it is the very law and curse of godless toil with its unproductive harvest4 ,the builders set out to build a tower whose top shall reach to heaven1 and they never get higher than a story or two4 ,there is nothing more tragic than the contrast between what a man actually accomplishes in his life and what he planned when he began it4 ,many and many of our lives are like the half-built houses in ,pompeii1 where the stones are lying that had been all squared and polished1 and have never been lifted to their place in the unfinished walls4 ,much of the seed never comes up at all2 and what we gather is always less than what we expected4 ,the prize gleams before us2 when we get it1 is it as good as it looked when it hung tempting at the unreached goal8 ,a fox-brush is scarcely sufficient payment for riding over half a county4 ,ah6 but you say1 there is the enthusiasm and stir of the pursuit4 ,well1 yes2 it is something if it is training you for something1 and if you can say that faculties worth the cultivating are developed in that way3 and whether that is so depends on what you think a man is made for1 and on whether these are faculties which will last and find their scope as long as you last4 ,consider what you are1 what you seek2 and then say whether the most fruitful harvest from which ,god and ,his love are left out is not little4 ,this fruitlessness of toil is inevitable unless it springs from a motive which in itself is sufficient1 pursues a purpose which will surely be accomplished1 and is done in hope of the world where 'our works do follow us4' ,if we are allied to ,christ1 then whether our work be great or small1 apparently successful or frustrated1 it will be all right4 ,though we do not see our fruit1 we know that ,he will bless the springing thereof1 and that no least deed done for ,him but shall in the harvest-day be found waving a nodding head of multiplied results4 ',god giveth it a body as it hath pleased ,him'2 and 'he that goeth forth weeping shall doubtless return1 bringing his sheaves with him4' ',your labour is not in vain to the ,lord4' ,,ii4 ,a godless life is one of unsatisfied hunger and thirst4 ,the poor results of the exiles' toil did not avail to stay gnawing hunger nor slake burning thirst1 and the same result applies only too sadly to lives lived apart from ,god4 ,there are a multitude of desires proper to the human soul besides those which belong to the bodily frame1 and these have their proper objects4 ,is it true that the objects are sufficient to satisfy the desires8 ,does any one of the things for which we toil feed us full when we have it8 ,do we not always want just a little more8 ,and is not that want accompanied with a real and sharp sense of hunger8 ,is it not true the appetite ,,grows with what it feeds on8 ,and even if a man schools himself to something like content1 it comes not because the desire is satisfied1 but because it is somehow bridled4 ,cerberus often breaks his chain1 in spite of honied cakes that have been tossed into the wide mouths of his tripled heads4 ,what do wealth and ambition do for their votaries8 ,and even he who thirsts for nobler occupations and lives for higher aims is often obliged to admit1 in weariness1 that 'this also is vanity4' ,but even when the desire is satisfied1 the man desiring is not4 ,to feed their bodies men starve their souls4 ,how many longings are crushed or neglected by him who pushes eagerly after any one longing6 ,we have either to race from one course to another1 splitting life into intolerable distractions1 or we have to circumscribe and limit ourselves in order to devote all our power to securing one2 and if we secure it1 then a hundred others will bark like a kennel of hounds4 ,and if you say1 ',i know nothing about all this2 ,i have my aims1 and on the whole ,i secure a tolerable satisfaction for them1' do you not know a nameless unrest8 ,if you do not1 then you are so much the poorer and the lower1 and you have murdered part of yourself4 ,some one single tyrannous desire sits solitary in your heart4 ,he has slain all his brethren that he may rule1 as sultans used to do in ,constantinople4 ,one big fish in the aquarium has eaten up all the others4 ,god only satisfies the soul4 ,it is only the 'bread which came down from ,heaven1' of which if we eat our souls shall live1 and be filled as with marrow and fatness4 ,that ,one is all-sufficient in ,his ,oneness4 ,possessing ,him1 we know no satiety2 possessing ,him1 we do not need to maim any part of our nature2 possessing ,him1 we shall not covet divers multifarious objects4 ,the loftiest powers of the soul find in ,him their adequate1 inexhaustible1 eternal object4 ,the lowest desires may1 like the beasts of the forest1 seek their meat from ,god4 ,if we take ,him for our own and live on ,him by faith1 our blessed experience will be1 ',i am full3 ,i have all and abound4' ,,iii4 ,the godless life is one of futile defences4 ',ye clothe you1 but there is none warm4' ,the clothing was to guard against the nipping air that blew shrewdly on their hills1 and it failed to keep them from the weather4 ,we may be indulging in fancy in this application of our text1 but still raiment is as needful as food1 and its failure to answer its purpose points to a real sorrow and insufficiency of a life lived without ,god4 ,in it there is no real defence against the manifold evils which storm upon all of us4 ,when the bitter1 biting weather comes1 what have you to shelter you from the cold blast8 ,some rags of stoical resignation or proverbial commonplaces8 ',what is done cannot be helped'2 ',what cannot be cured must be endured'2 ',it is a long lane that has no turning1' and the like4 ,but what are these8 ,you may have other occupations to interest you1 but these will not heal1 though they may divert your attention from1 your gaping wounds4 ,you have friends1 and the like1 but though you have all these and much beside1 these will not avail4 ',the covering is shorter than that a man can wrap himself in it4' ,naked and shivering1 exposed to the pelting and the pitiless storm1 with rags soaked through1 and chilled to the bone1 what is there but death before the man in the wild weather on some trackless moor8 ,and what is there for us if we have to bear the storms and cold of life without ,god8 ,no doubt most of us struggle through somehow4 ,time heals much2 work does a great deal2 to live is so much1 that no living being can be wholly miserable4 ,other cares and other occupations blossom and grow1 and the brown mounds get covered with sweet springing grass4 ,but how many lie down and die8 ,how many for the rest of their lives go crushed and broken-spirited8 ,how many carry about with them1 deep in their hearts1 a sleepless sorrow8 ,how many have to bear passionate paroxysms of agony and bursts of angry grief1 all of which might have been softened and soothed and made to gleam with the mellow light of hope as from a hidden sun1 if only1 instead of defiantly and weakly fronting the world alone1 they had found in the man ,christ the refuge from the storm and the covert from the tempest4 ,how can a man face all the awful possibilities and the solemn certainties of life without ,god and not go mad8 ,it is impossible to work without ,him2 it is impossible to rejoice without ,him2 but more impossible still1 if that could be1 is it to endure without ,him4 ,it is in union with ,jesus ,christ1 and with ,him alone1 that we shall receive 'the pure linen1 clean and white1' which is a surer defence than the warrior's mail1 and 'being clothed we shall not be found naked4' ,,iv4 ,a godless life is one of fleeting riches4 ,in ,haggai's strong metaphor1 the poor day-labourer earns his small wage and puts it into a ragged bag1 or as we should say1 a pocket with a hole in it2 and when he comes to look for it1 it is gone1 and all his toil is for nothing4 ,what a picture this is of the very experience that befalls all men who work for less wages than ,god's ',well done4' ,take an instance or two3 here is a man who works hard for a long time1 and puts his money into some bank1 and one morning he gets a letter to tell him the bank's doors are closed1 and his savings gone--a bag with holes4 ,here is a man who climbs by slow degrees to the head of his profession and lives in popular admiration1 and some day he sees a younger competitor shooting ahead of him1 and all is lost--a bag with holes4 ,here is a man who has1 by some great discovery1 established his fame or his fortune1 and a new man1 standing on his shoulders1 makes a greater1 and his fame dwarfs and his trade runs into other channels--a bag with holes4 ,here is a man who has conquered a world1 and dies on the rock of ,st4 ,helena1 with his pompous titles stripped off him1 and instead of kingdoms a rood or two of garden1 and instead of his legions1 half a dozen soldiers1 a doctor1 and a jailer--a bag with holes4 ,here is a man who1 having amassed his riches and kept them without loss all his life1 is dying4 ,they cannot go with him4 ,that would not matter2 but unfortunately he has to live yonder1 and he will have 'nothing of all his labour that he can carry away in his hands'--a bag with holes4 ,such loss and final separation befall us all2 but he who loves ,god loses none of his real treasure when he parts from earthly treasures4 ,fortune may turn her wheel as she pleases1 his wealth cannot be taken from him4 ,his riches are laid up in a sure storehouse1 'where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt4' ,we each live for ever4 ,should we not have for our object in life that which is eternal as ourselves8 ,why should we fix our hopes on that which is not abiding--on things that can perish1 on things that we must lose8 ,let us not run this awful risk4 ,do not impoverish or darken life here2 do not condemn yourselves to unfruitful toil1 to unsatisfied desires1 to unguarded calamities1 to unstable possessions2 but come1 as sinful men ought to come1 to ,jesus ,christ for pardon and for life4 ,then1 in due season1 you will reap if you faint not2 and the harvest will not be little1 but 'some sixty-fold and some an hundred-fold'2 then you will 'hunger no more1 neither thirst any more1' but ',he that hath mercy on you will lead you to living fountains of water'2 then you will not have to draw your poor rags round you for warmth1 but shall be clothed with the robe of righteousness and the garment of praise2 then you will never need to fear the loss of your riches1 but bear with you whilst you live your treasures beyond the reach of change1 and will find them multiplied a thousand-fold when you die and go to ,god1 your portion and your joy for ever4 ,,brave ,,encouragements ',in the seventh month1 in the one and twentieth day of the month1 came the word of the ,lord by the prophet ,haggai1 saying1 #b4 ,speak now to ,zerubbabel the son of ,shealtiel1 governor of ,judah1 and to ,joshua the son of ,josedech1 the high priest1 and to the residue of the people1 saying1 #c4 ,who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory8 and how do ye see it now8 is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing8 #d4 ,yet now be strong1 ,o ,zerubbabel1 saith the ,lord2 and be strong1 ,o ,joshua1 son of ,josedech1 the high priest2 and be strong1 all ye people of the land1 saith the ,lord1 and work3 for ,i am with you1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts3 #e4 ,according to the word that ,i covenanted with you when ye came out of ,egypt1 so ,my ,spirit remaineth among you3 fear ye not4 #f4 ,for thus saith the ,lord of ,hosts2 ,yet once1 it is a little while1 and ,i will shake the heavens1 and the earth1 and the sea1 and the dry land2 #g4 ,and ,i will shake all nations1 and the desire of all nations shall come2 and ,i will fill this house with glory1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 #h4 ,the silver is ,mine1 and the gold is ,mine1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 #i4 ,the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former1 saith the ,lord of hosts3 and in this place will ,i give peace1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4'--,,haggai ii4 #a-i4 ,the second year of ,darius1 in which ,haggai prophesied1 was #ebj ,b4,c4 ,political intrigues had stopped the rebuilding of the ,temple1 and the enthusiasm of the first return had died away in the face of prolonged difficulties4 ,the two brave leaders1 ,zerubbabel and ,joshua1 still survived1 and kept alive their own zeal2 but the mass of the people were more concerned about their comforts than about the restoration of the house of ,jehovah4 ,they had built for themselves 'ceiled houses1' and were engrossed with their farms4 ,the ,book of ,ezra dwells on the external hindrances to the rebuilding4 ,haggai goes straight at the selfishness and worldliness of the people as the great hindrance4 ,we know nothing about him beyond the fact that he was a prophet working in conjunction with ,zechariah4 ,he has been thought to have been one of the original company who came back with ,zerubbabel1 and it has been suggested1 though without any certainty1 that he may have been one of the old men who remembered the former house4 ,but these conjectures are profitless1 and all that we know is that ,god sent him to rouse the slackened earnestness of the people1 and that his words exercised a powerful influence in setting forward the work of rebuilding4 ,this passage is the second of his four short prophecies4 ,we may call it a vision of the glory of the future house of ,jehovah4 ,the prophecy begins with fully admitting the depressing facts which were chilling the popular enthusiasm4 ,compared with the former ,temple1 this which they had begun to build could not but be 'as nothing4' ,so the murmurers said1 and ,haggai allows that they are quite right4 ,note the turn of his words3 ',who is left 444 that saw this house in its former glory8' ,there had been many eighteen years ago2 but the old eyes that had filled with tears then had been mostly closed by death in the interval1 and now but few survived4 ,perhaps if the eyes had not been so dim with age1 the rising house would not have looked so contemptible4 ,the pessimism of the aged is not always clear-sighted1 nor their comparisons of what was1 and what is beginning to be1 just4 ,but it is always wise to be frank in admitting the full strength of the opinions that we oppose2 and encouragements to work will never tell if they blink difficulties or seek to deny plain facts4 ,haggai was wise when he began with echoing the old men's disparagements1 and in full view of them1 pealed out his brave incitements to the work4 ,the repetition of the one exhortation1 ',be strong1 be strong1 be strong1' is very impressive4 ,the very monotony has power4 ,in the face of the difficulties which beset every good work the cardinal virtue is strength4 ',to be weak is to be miserable1' and is the parent of failures4 ,one hears in the exhortation an echo of that to ,joshua1 to whom and to his people the command ',be strong and of good courage' was given with like repetition 7,joshua i474 ,but there is nothing more futile than telling feeble men to be strong1 and trembling ones to be very courageous4 ,unless the exhorter can give some means of strength and some reason for courage1 his word is idle wind4 ,so ,haggai bases his exhortation upon its sufficient ground1 ',for ,i am with you1 saith ,jehovah of hosts4' ,strength is a duty1 but only if we have a source of strength available4 ,the one basis of it is the presence of ,god4 ,his name reveals the immensity of ,his power1 who commands all the armies of heaven1 angels1 or stars1 and to whom the forces of the universe are as the ordered ranks of ,his disciplined army2 and who is1 moreover1 the ,captain of earthly hosts1 ever giving victory to those who are ,his 'willing soldiers in the day of ,his power4' ,it is not vain to bid a man be strong1 if you can assure him that ,god is with him4 ,unless you can1 you may save your breath4 ,here is the temper for all ,christian workers4 ,let them realise the duty of strength2 let them have recourse to the ,fountain of strength2 let them mark the purpose of strength1 which is 'work1' as ,haggai puts it so emphatically4 ,we have nothing to do with the magnitude of what we may be able to build4 ,it may be very poor beside the great houses that greater ages or men have been able to rear4 ,but whether it be a temple brave with gold and cedar1 or a log1 it is our business to put all our strength into the task1 and to draw that strength from the assurance that ,god is with us4 ,the difficulties connected with the translation of verse #e need not concern us here4 ,for my purpose1 the general sense resulting from any translation is clear enough4 ,the covenant made of old1 when ,israel came from an earlier captivity1 is fresh as ever1 and ,god's ,spirit is with the people2 therefore they need not fear4 ',fear ye not' is another of the well-meant exhortations which often produce the opposite effect from the intended one4 ,one can fancy some of the people saying1 ',it is all very well to talk about not being afraid2 but look at our feebleness1 our defencelessness1 our enemies2 we cannot but fear1 if we open our eyes4' ,quite true2 and there is only one antidote to fear1 and that is the assurance that ,god's covenant binds ,him to take care of me4 ,unless one believes that1 he must be strangely blind to the facts of life if he has not a cold dread coiled round his heart and ever ready to sting4 ,the ,prophet rises into grand predictions of the glory of the poor house which the weak hands were raising4 ,verses #f-i set things invisible over against the visible4 ,in general terms the ,prophet announces a speedy convulsion1 partly symbolical and partly real1 in which 'all nations' shall be revolutionised1 and as a consequence1 shall become ,jehovah's worshippers1 bringing their treasures to the ,temple1 and so filling the house with glory4 ,this shall be because ,jehovah is the true ,possessor of all their wealth4 ,but the scope of verse #i seems to transcend these promises1 and to point to an undescribed 'glory1' still greater than that of the universal flocking of the nations with their gifts1 and to reach a climax in the wide promise of peace given in the ,temple1 and thence1 as is implied1 flowing out 'like a river' through a tranquillised world4 ',yet once1 it is a little while4' ,how long did the little while last8 ,there were1 possibly1 some feeble incipient fulfilments of the prophecy in the immediate future2 for1 after the exile1 there were convulsions in the political world which resulted in security to the ,jews1 and the religion of ,israel began to draw some scattered proselytes4 ,but the prophecy is not completely fulfilled even now1 and it covers the entire development of the 'kingdom that cannot be moved' until the end of time4 ,the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews thus understands the prophecy 7,hebrews xii4 #bf1 #bg71 and there are echoes of it in ,revelation xxi41 which describes the final form of the ,holy ,city1 the ,new ,jerusalem4 ,so the chronology of prophecy is not altogether that of history2 and while the events stand clear1 their perspective is foreshortened4 ,all the ages are but 'a little while' in the calendar of heaven4 ,in regard to the whole of the prophetic utterances1 we have often to say with the disciples1 ',what is this that he saith1 a little while8' ,eighteen centuries have rolled away since the seer heard1 ',behold1 ,i come quickly1' and the vision still tarries4 ,the old interpretation of 'the desire of all nations' as meaning ,jesus ,christ gave a literal fulfilment of the prophecy by ,his presence in the ,temple2 but that meaning of the phrase is untenable1 both because the verb is in the plural1 which would be impossible if a person were meant1 and because the only interpretation which gives relevancy to verse #h is that the expression means the silver and gold1 there declared to be ,jehovah's4 ,that venerable explanation1 then1 cannot stand4 ,there were offerings from heathen kings1 such as those from ,darius recorded in ,ezra vi4 #f-aj1 and the gifts of ,artaxerxes 7,ezra vii4 #ae71 which may be regarded as incipient accomplishments2 but such facts as these cannot exhaust the prophecy4 ,it must be admitted that nothing happened during the history of that ,temple to answer to the full meaning of this prophecy4 ,but was it therefore a delusion that ,god spoke by ,haggai8 ,we must distinguish between form and substance4 ,the ,temple was the centre point of the kingdom of ,god on earth1 the place of meeting between ,god and men1 the place of sacrifice4 ,the fulfilment of the prophecy is not to be found in any house made with hands1 but in the true ,temple which ,jesus ,christ has builded4 ,he in ,his own humanity was all that the ,temple shadowed and foretold4 ,it is in ,him1 and in the spiritual ,temple which ,he has reared1 that ,haggai's vision will find its full realisation1 which is yet future4 ,the powers that issue from ,him shattered the ,roman empire1 have ever since been casting earth's kingdoms into new moulds1 and have still destructive work to do4 ,the 'once more' began when ,jesus came1 but the final 'shaking' lies in front still4 ,every smaller revolution in thought or sweeping away of institutions is a prelude to that great 'shaking' when everything will go except the kingdom that cannot be moved4 ,its result shall be that the treasures of the nations shall be poured at ,his feet who is 'worthy to receive riches1' even as other prophecies have foretold that 'men shall bring unto ,thee the wealth of the nations' 7,isaiah lx4 #aa2 ,revelation xxi4 #bd1 #bf74 ,in that true ,temple the glory of the ,shechinah1 which was wanting in the second1 for ever abides1 'the glory as of the only-begotten of the ,father'2 and in it dwells for ever the dove of peace1 ready to glide into every heart that enters to worship at the shrine4 ,jesus ,christ is not the 'desire of all nations' which shall come to the ,temple1 but is the ,temple to which the wealth of all nations shall be brought1 in whom the true glory of a manifested ,god abides1 and from whom the peace of ,god which passeth all understanding1 and is ,his own peace too1 shall enter reconciled souls1 and calm turbulent passions1 and reconcile contending peoples1 and diffuse its calm through all the nations of the saved who there 'walk in the light of the ,lord4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,,zechariah ,,dying ,,men ,,and ,,the ,,undying ,,word ',your fathers1 where are they8 and the prophets1 do they live for ever8 #f4 ,but ,my words and ,my statutes1 which ,i commanded ,my servants the prophets1 did they not take hold of your fathers8'-,zechariah i4 #e1 #f4 ,zechariah was the ,prophet of the ,restoration4 ,some sixteen years before this date a feeble band of exiles had returned from ,babylon1 with high hopes of rebuilding the ruined ,temple4 ,but their designs had been thwarted1 and for long years the foundations stood unbuilded upon4 ,the delay had shattered their hopes and flattened their enthusiasm2 and when1 with the advent of a new ,persian king1 a brighter day dawned1 the little band was almost too dispirited to avail itself of it4 ,at that crisis1 two prophets 'blew soul-animating strains1' and as the narrative says elsewhere1 'the work prospered through the prophesying of ,haggai and ,zechariah4' ,my text comes from the first of ,zechariah's prophecies4 ,in it he lays the foundation for all that he has subsequently to say4 ,he points to the past1 and summons up the august figures of the great pre-,exilic prophets1 and reminds his contemporaries that the words which they spoke had been verified in the experience of past generations4 ,he puts himself in line with these1 his mighty predecessors1 and declares that1 though the hearers and the speakers of that prophetic word had glided away into the vast unknown1 the word remained1 lived still1 and on his lips demanded the same obedience as it had vainly demanded from the generation that was past4 ,it has sometimes been supposed that of the two questions in my text the first is the ,prophet's--',your fathers1 where are they8' and that the second is the retort of the people--',the prophets1 do they live for ever8' ',it is true that our fathers are gone1 but what about the prophets that you are talking of8 ,are they any better off8 ,are they not dead1 too8' ,but though the separation of the words into dialogue gives vivacity1 it is wholly unnecessary4 ,and it seems to me that ,zechariah's appeal is all the more impressive if we suppose that he here gathers the mortal hearers and speakers of the immortal word into one class1 and sets over against them the ,eternal ,word1 which lives to-day as it did then1 and has new lessons for a new generation4 ,so it is from that point of view that ,i wish to look at these words now1 and try to gather from them some of the solemn1 and1 as it seems to me1 striking lessons which they inculcate4 ,i follow with absolute simplicity the ,prophet's thoughts4 ,i4 ,the mortal hearers and speakers of the abiding ,word4 ',your fathers1 where are they8 and the prophets1 do they live for ever8' ,it is all but impossible to invest that well-known thought with any fresh force2 but1 perhaps1 if we look at it from the special angle from which the ,prophet here regards it1 we may get some new impression of the old truth4 ,that special angle is to bring into connection the ,eternal ,word and the transient vehicles and hearers of it4 ,did you ever stand in some roofless1 ruined cathedral or abbey church1 and try to gather round you the generations that had bowed and worshipped there8 ,did you ever step across the threshold of some ancient sanctuary1 where the feet of vanished generations had worn down the sand-stone steps at the entrance8 ,it is solemn to think of the fleeting series of men2 it is still more striking to bring them into connection with that everlasting ,word which once they heard1 and accepted or rejected4 ,but let me bring the thought a little closer4 ,there is not a sitting in our churches that has not been sat in by dead people4 ,as ,i stand here and look round ,i can re-people almost every pew with faces that we shall see no more4 ,many of you1 the older habitues of this place1 can do the same1 and can look and think1 ',ah6 he used to sit there2 she used to be in that corner4' ,and ,i can remember many mouldering lips that have stood in this place where ,i stand1 of friends and brethren that are gone4 ',your fathers1 where are they8' ',graves under us1 silent1' is the only answer4 ',and the prophets1 do they live for ever8' ,no memories are shorter-lived than the memories of the preachers of ,god's ,word4 ,take another thought1 that all these past hearers and speakers of the ,word had that ,word verified in their lives4 ',took it not hold of your fathers8' ,some of them neglected it1 and its burdens were upon them1 little as they felt them sometimes4 ,some of them clave to it1 and accepted it1 and its blessed promises were all fulfilled to them4 ,not one of those who1 for the brief period of their earthly lives1 came in contact with that divine message but realised1 more or less consciously1 some blessedly and some in darkened lives and ruined careers1 the solemn truth of its promises and of its threatenings4 ,the ,word may have been received1 or it may have been neglected1 by the past generations2 but whether the members thereof put out a hand to accept1 or withheld their grasp1 whether they took hold of it or it took hold of them--wherever they are now1 their earthly relation to that word is a determining factor in their condition4 ,the syllables died away into empty air1 the messages were forgotten1 but the men that ministered them are eternally influenced by the faithfulness of their ministrations1 and the men that heard them are eternally affected by the reception or rejection of that word4 ,so1 when we summon around us the congregation of the dead1 which is more numerous than the audience of the living to whom ,i now speak1 the lesson that their silent presence teaches us is1 ',wherefore we should give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard4' ,,ii4 ,let us note the abiding ,word1 which these transient generations of hearers and speakers have had to do with4 ,it is maddening to think of the sure decay and dissolution of all human strength1 beauty1 wisdom1 unless that thought brings with it immediately1 like a pair of coupled stars1 of which the one is bright and the other dark1 the corresponding thought of that which does not pass1 and is unaffected by time and change4 ,just as reason requires some unalterable substratum1 below all the fleeting phenomena of the changeful creation--a ,god who is the ,rock-basis of all1 the staple to which all the links hang--so we are driven back and back and back1 by the very fact of the transiency of the transient1 to grasp1 for a refuge and a stay1 the permanency of the permanent4 ',in the year that ,king ,uzziah died ,i saw the ,lord sitting upon a throne'--the passing away of the mortal shadow of sovereignty revealed the undying and true ,king4 ,it is blessed for us when the lesson which the fleeting of all that can flee away reads to us is that1 beneath it all1 there is the ,unchanging4 ,when the leaves drop from the boughs of the trees that veil the face of the cliff1 then the steadfast rock is visible2 and when the generations1 like leaves1 drop and rot1 then the rock background should stand out the more clearly4 ,zechariah meant by the 'word of ,god' simply the prophetic utterances about the destiny and the punishment of his nation4 ,we ought to mean by the 'word of ,god1 which liveth and abideth for ever1' not merely the written embodiment of it in the ,old or ,new ,testament1 but the ,personal ,word1 the ,incarnate ,word1 the everlasting ,son of the ,father1 who came upon earth to be ,god's mouthpiece and utterance1 and who is for us all the ,word1 the ,eternal ,word of the living ,god4 ,it is ,his perpetual existence rather than the continuous duration of the written word1 declaration of ,himself though it is1 that is mighty for our strength and consolation when we think of the transient generations4 ,christ lives4 ,that is the deepest meaning of the ancient saying1 ',all flesh is grass4444 ,the ,word of the ,lord endureth for ever4' ,he lives2 therefore we can front change and decay in all around calmly and triumphantly4 ,it matters not though the prophets and their hearers pass away4 ,men depart2 ,christ abides4 ,luther was once surprised by some friends sitting at a table from which a meal had been removed1 and thoughtfully tracing with his fingers upon its surface with some drop of water or wine the one word ',vivit'2 ,he lives4 ,he fell back upon that when all around was dark4 ,yes1 men may go2 what of that8 ,aaron may have to ascend to the summit of ,hor1 and put off his priestly garments and die there4 ,moses may have to climb ,pisgah1 and with one look at the land which he must never tread1 die there alone by the kiss of ,god1 as the ,rabbis say4 ,is the host below leaderless8 ,the ,pillar of ,cloud lies still over the ,tabernacle1 and burns steadfast and guiding in front of the files of ,israel4 ',your fathers1 where are they8 ,the prophets1 do they live for ever8' ',jesus ,christ is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever4' ,another consideration to be drawn from this contrast is1 since we have this abiding ,word1 let us not dread changes1 however startling and revolutionary4 ,jesus ,christ does not change4 ,but there is a human element in the ,church's conceptions of ,jesus ,christ1 and still more in its working out of the principles of the ,gospel in institutions and forms1 which partakes of the transiency of the men from whom it has come4 ,in such a time as this1 when everything is going into the melting-pot1 and a great many timid people are trembling for the ,ark of ,god1 quite unnecessarily as it seems to me1 it is of prime importance for the calmness and the wisdom and the courage of ,christian people1 that they should grasp firmly the distinction between the divine treasure which is committed to the churches1 and the earthen vessels in which it has been enshrined4 ,jesus ,christ1 the man ,jesus1 the divine person1 ,his incarnation1 ,his sacrifice1 ,his resurrection1 ,his ascension1 the gift of ,his ,spirit to abide for ever with ,his ,church--these are the permanent 'things which cannot be shaken4' ,and creeds and churches and formulas and forms--these are the human elements which are capable of variation1 and which need variation from time to time4 ,no more is the substance of that eternal ,gospel affected by the changes1 which are possible on its vesture1 than is the stateliness of some cathedral touched1 when the reformers go in and sweep out the rubbish and the trumpery which have masked the fair outlines of its architecture1 and vulgarised the majesty of its stately sweep4 ,brethren6 let us fix this in our hearts1 that nothing which is of ,christ can perish1 and nothing which is of man can or should endure4 ,the more firmly we grasp the distinction between the permanent and the transient in existing embodiments of ,christian truth1 the more calm shall we be amidst the surges of contending opinions4 ',he that believeth shall not make haste4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 the present generation and its relation to the abiding ,word4 ,zechariah did not hesitate to put himself in line with the mighty forms of ,isaiah1 and ,jeremiah1 and ,ezekiel1 and ,hosea4 ,he1 too1 was a prophet4 ,we claim1 of course1 no such authority for present utterers of that eternal message1 but we do claim for our message a higher authority than the authority of this ancient ,prophet4 ,he felt that the word of ,god that was put into his lips was a new word1 addressed to a new generation1 and with new lessons for new circumstances1 fitting as close to the wants of the little band of exiles as the former messages1 which it succeeded1 had fitted to the wants of their generation4 ,we have no such change in the message1 for ,jesus ,christ speaks to us all1 speaks to all times and to all circumstances1 and to every generation4 ,and so1 just as ,zechariah based upon the history of the past his appeal for obedience and acceptance1 the considerations which ,i have been trying to dwell upon bring with them stringent obligations to us who stand1 however unworthy1 in the place of the generations that are gone1 as the hearers and ministers of the ,word of ,god4 ,let me put two or three very simple and homely exhortations4 ,first1 see to it1 brother1 that you accept that ,word4 ,by acceptance ,i do not mean a mere negative attitude1 which is very often the result of lack of interest1 the negative attitude of simply not rejecting2 but ,i mean the opening not only of your minds but of your hearts to it4 ,for if what ,i have been saying is true1 and the ,word of ,god has for its highest manifestation ,jesus ,christ ,himself1 then you cannot accept a person by pure head-work4 ,you must open your hearts and all your natures1 and let ,him come in with ,his love1 with ,his pity1 with ,his inspiration of strength and virtue and holiness1 and you must yield yourselves wholly to ,him4 ,think of the generations that are gone4 ,think of their brief moment when the great salvation was offered to them4 ,think of how1 whether they received or rejected it1 that ,word took hold upon them4 ,think of how they regard it now1 wherever they are in the dimness2 and be you wise in time and be not as those of your fathers who rejected the ,word4 ,hold it fast4 ,in this time of unrest make sure of your grasp of the eternal1 central core of ,christianity1 ,jesus ,christ ,himself1 the divine-human ,saviour of the world4 ,there are too many of us whose faith oozes out at their finger ends1 simply because they have so many around them that question and doubt and deny4 ,do not let the floating icebergs bring down your temperature2 and have a better reason for not believing1 if you do not believe1 than that so many and such influential and authoritative men have ceased to believe4 ,when ,jesus asks1 ',will ye also go away8' our answer should be1 ',lord1 to whom shall we go8 ,thou hast the words of eternal life4' ,accept ,him1 hold ,him fast1 trust to ,his guidance in present day questions4 ,zechariah felt that his message belonged to the generation to whom he spoke4 ,it was a new message4 ,we have no new message1 but there are new truths to be evolved from the old message4 ,the questionings and problems1 social1 economical1 intellectual1 moral--shall ,i say political8--of this day1 will find their solution in that ancient word1 ',god so loved the world1 that ,he gave ,his only begotten ,son1 that whosoever believeth in ,him should not perish4' ,there is the key to all problems4 ',in ,him are hid all the treasures and wisdom of knowledge4' ,zechariah pointed to the experiences of a past generation as the basis of his appeal4 ,we can point back to eighteen centuries1 and say that the experiences of these centuries confirm the truth that ,jesus ,christ is the ,saviour of the world4 ,the blessedness1 the purity1 the power1 the peace1 the hope which ,he has breathed into humanity1 the subsidiary and accompanying material and intellectual prosperity and blessings that attend ,his message1 its independence of human instruments1 its adaptation to all varieties of class1 character1 condition1 geographical position1 its power of recuperating itself from corruptions and distortions1 its undiminished adaptedness to the needs of this generation and of each of us--enforce the stringency of the exhortation1 and confirm the truth of the assertion3 ',this is ,my beloved ,son2 hear ye ,him6' ',the voice said1 ,cry4 ,and ,i said1 ,what shall ,i cry8 ,all flesh is grass1 and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field3 the grass withereth1 and the flower thereof falleth away3 but the ,word of our ,god shall stand for ever4' ,three hundred years after ,isaiah a triumphant ,apostle added1 ',this is the word which by the ,gospel is preached unto you4' ,eighteen hundred years after ,peter we can echo his confident declaration1 and1 with the history of these centuries to support our faith1 can affirm that the ,christ of the ,gospel and the ,gospel of the ,christ are in deed and in truth the ,living ,word of the ,living ,god4 ,,the ,,city ,,without ,,walls ',jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls4444 ,for ,i1 saith the ,lord1 will be unto her a wall of fire round about1 and will be the glory in the midst of her4'--,,zechariah ii4 #d1 #e4 ,zechariah was the ,prophet of the returning exiles1 and his great work was to hearten them for their difficult task1 with their small resources and their many foes1 and to insist that the prime condition to success1 on the part of that portion of the nation that had returned1 was holiness4 ,so his visions1 of which there is a whole series1 are very largely concerned with the building of the ,temple and of the city4 ,in this one1 he sees a man with a measuring-rod in his hand coming forth to take the dimensions of the still un-existing city of ,god4 ,the words that ,i have read are the centre portion of that vision4 ,you notice that there are three clauses1 and that the first in order is the consequence of the other two4 ',jerusalem shall be builded as a city without walls 444 for ,i will be a wall of fire round about her1 and the glory in the midst of her4' ,and that exuberant promise was spoken about the ,jerusalem over which ,christ wept when he foresaw its inevitable destruction4 ,when the ,romans had cast a torch into the ,temple1 and the streets of the city were running with blood1 what had become of ,zechariah's dream of a wall of fire round about her8 ,then can the divine fire be quenched8 ,yes4 ,and who quenched it8 ,not the ,romans1 but the people that lived within that flaming rampart4 ,the apparent failure of the promise carries the lesson for churches and individuals to-day1 that in spite of such glowing predictions1 there may again sound the voice that the legend says was heard within the ,temple1 on the night before ,jerusalem fell4 ',let us depart1' and there was a rustling of unseen wings1 and on the morrow the legionaries were in the shrine4 ',if ,god spared not the natural branches1 take heed lest ,he also spare not thee4' ,now let us look1 in the simplest possible way1 at these three clauses1 and the promises that are in them2 keeping in mind that1 like all the divine promises1 they are conditional4 ,the first is this3-- ,i4 ',i will be a wall of fire round about her4' ,i need not dwell on the vividness and beauty of that metaphor4 ,these encircling flames will consume all antagonism1 and defy all approach4 ,but let me remind you that the conditional promise was intended for ,judaea and ,jerusalem1 and was fulfilled in literal fact4 ,so long as the city obeyed and trusted ,god it was impregnable1 though all the nations stood round about it1 like dogs round a sheep4 ,the fulfilment of the promise has passed over1 with all the rest that characterised ,israel's position1 to the ,christian ,church1 and to-day1 in the midst of all the agitations of opinion1 and all the vauntings of men about an effete ,christianity1 and dead churches1 it is as true as ever it was that the living ,church of ,god is eternal4 ,if it had not been that there was a ,god as a wall of fire round about the ,church1 it would have been wiped off the face of the earth long ago4 ,if nothing else had killed it the faults of its members would have done so4 ,the continuance of the ,church is a perpetual miracle1 when you take into account the weakness1 and the errors1 and the follies1 and the stupidities1 and the narrownesses1 and the sins1 of the people who in any given day represent it4 ,that it should stand at all1 and that it should conquer1 seems to me to be as plain a demonstration of the present working of ,god1 as is the existence still1 as a separate individuality amongst the peoples of the earth1 of ,his ancient people1 the ,jews4 ,who was it who said1 when somebody asked him for the best proof of the truth of ,christianity1 ',the ,jews'8 and so we may say1 if you want a demonstration that ,god is working in the world1 ',look at the continuance of the ,christian ,church4' ,in spite of all the vauntings of people that have already discounted its fall1 and are talking as if it needed no more to be reckoned with1 that calm confidence is the spirit in which we are to look around and forward4 ,it does not become any ,christian ever to have the smallest scintillation of a fear that the ship that bears ,jesus ,christ can fail to come to land1 or can sink in the midst of the waters4 ,there was once a timid would-be helper who put out his hand to hold up the ,ark of ,god4 ,he need not have been afraid4 ,the oxen might stumble1 and the cart roll about1 but the ,ark was safe and stable4 ,a great deal may go1 but the wall of fire will be around the ,church4 ,in regard to its existence1 as in regard to the immortal being of each of its members1 the great word remains for ever true3 ',because ,i live ye shall live also4' ,but do not let us forget that this great promise does not belong only to the ,church as a whole1 but that we have each to bring it down to our own individual lives1 and to be quite sure of this1 that in spite of all that sense says1 in spite of all that quivering hearts and weeping eyes may seem to prove1 there is a wall of fire round each of us1 if we are keeping near ,jesus ,christ1 through which it is as impossible that any real evil should pass and get at us1 as it would be impossible that any living thing should pass through the flaming battlements that the ,prophet saw round his ideal city4 ,only we have to interpret that promise by faith and not by sense1 and we have to make it possible that it shall be fulfilled by keeping inside the wall1 and trusting to it4 ,as faith dwindles1 the fiery wall burns dim1 and evil can get across its embers1 and can get at us4 ,keep within the battlements1 and they will flame up bright and impassable1 with a fire that on the outer side consumes1 but to those within is a fire that cherishes and warms4 ,,ii4 ,the next point of the promise passes into a more intimate region4 ,it is well to have a defence from that which is without us2 but it is more needful to have1 if a comparison can be made between the two1 a glory 'in the midst' of us4 ,the one is external defence2 the other inward illumination1 with all which light symbolises--knowledge1 joy1 purity4 ,there is even more than that meant by this great promise4 ,for notice that emphatic little word the--the glory1 not a glory--in the midst of her4 ,now you all know what 'the glory' was4 ,it was that symbolic ,light that spoke of the special presence of ,god1 and went with the ,children of ,israel in their wanderings1 and sat between the ,cherubim4 ,there was no ',shechinah1' as it is technically called1 in that second ,temple4 ,but yet the ,prophet says1 ',the glory'--the actual presence of ,god--'shall be in the midst of her1' and the meaning of that great promise is taught us by the very last vision in the ,new ,testament1 in which the ,seer of the ,apocalypse says1 ',the glory of the ,lord did lighten it' 7evidently quoting ,zechariah71 'and the ,lamb is the light thereof4' ,so the city is lit as by one central glow of radiance that flashes its beams into every corner1 and therefore 'there shall be no night there4' ,now this promise1 too1 bears on churches and on individuals4 ,on the ,church as a whole it bears in this way3 the only means by which a ,christian community can fulfil its function1 and be the light of the world1 is by having the presence of ,god1 in no metaphor1 the actual presence of the illuminating ,spirit in its midst4 ,if it has not that1 it may have anything and everything else--wealth1 culture1 learning1 eloquence1 influence in the world--but all is of no use2 it will be darkness4 ,we are light only in proportion as we are 'light in the ,lord4' ,as long as we1 as communities1 keep our hearts in touch with ,him1 so long do we shine4 ,break the contact1 and the light fades and flickers out4 ,the same thing is true1 dear brethren1 about individuals4 ,for each of us the secret of joy1 of purity1 of knowledge1 is that we be holding close communion with ,god4 ,if we have ,him in the depths of our hearts1 then1 and only then1 shall we be 'light in the ,lord4' ,and now look at the last point which follows1 as ,i have said1 as the result of the other two4 ,,iii4 ',jerusalem shall be without walls4' ,it is to be like the defenceless villages scattered up and down over ,israel4 ,there is no need for bulwarks of stone4 ,the wall of fire is round about4 ,the ,prophet has a vision of a great city1 of a type unknown in those old times1 though familiar to us in our more peaceful days1 where there was no hindrance to expansion by encircling ramparts1 no crowding together of the people because they needed to hide behind the city walls2 and where the growing community could spread out into the outer suburbs1 and have fresh air and ample space4 ,that is the vision of the manner of city that ,jerusalem was to be4 ,it did not come true1 but the ideal was this4 ,it has not yet come true sufficiently in regard to the churches of to-day1 but it ought to be the goal to which they are tending4 ,the more a ,christian community is independent of external material supports and defences the better4 ,i am not going to talk about the policy or impolicy of ,established ,churches1 as they are called4 ,but it seems to me that the principle that is enshrined in this vision is their condemnation4 ,never mind about stone and lime walls1 trust in ,god and you will not need them1 and you will be strong and 'established' just in the proportion in which you are cut loose from all dependence upon1 and consequent subordination to1 the civil power4 ,but there is another thought that ,i might suggest1 though ,i do not know that it is directly in the line of the ,prophet's vision2 and that is--a ,christian ,church should neither depend on1 nor be cribbed and cramped by1 men-made defences of any kind4 ,luther tells us somewhere1 in his parabolic way1 of people that wept because there were no visible pillars to hold up the heavens1 and were afraid that the sky would fall upon their heads4 ,no1 no1 there is no fear of that happening1 for an unseen hand holds them up4 ,a church that hides behind the fortifications of its grandfathers' erection has no room for expansion2 and if it has no room for expansion it will not long continue as large as it is4 ,it must either grow greater1 or grow1 and deserve to grow1 less4 ,the same thing is true1 dear brethren1 about ourselves individually4 ,zechariah's prophecy was never meant to prevent what he himself helped to further1 the building of the actual walls of the actual city4 ,and our dependence upon ,god is not to be so construed as that we are to waive our own common-sense and our own effort4 ,that is not faith2 it is fanaticism4 ,we have to build ourselves round1 in this world1 with other things than the 'wall of fire1' but in all our building we have to say1 ',except the ,lord build the house1 they labour in vain that build it4 ,except the ,lord keep the city1 the watchers watch in vain4' ,but yet neither ,jerusalem nor the ,church1 nor the earthly state of that believer who lives most fully the life of faith1 exhausts this promise4 ,it waits for the day when the city shall descend1 'like a bride adorned for her husband1 having no need of the sun nor of the moon1 for the glory 444 lightens it4' ,having walls1 indeed1 but for splendour1 not for defence2 and having gates1 which have only one of the functions of a gate--to stand wide open1 to the east and the west1 and the north and the south1 for the nations to enter in2 and never needing to be barred against enemies by day1 'for there shall be no night there4' ,a ,,vision ,,of ,,judgement ,,and ,,cleansing ',and he shewed me ,joshua the high priest standing before the ,angel of the ,lord1 and ,satan standing at his right hand to resist him4 #b4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,satan1 ,the ,lord rebuke thee1 ,o ,satan2 even the ,lord that hath chosen ,jerusalem rebuke thee3 is not this a brand plucked out of the fire8 #c4 ,now ,joshua was clothed with filthy garments1 and stood before the ,angel4 #d4 ,and ,he answered and spake unto those that stood before ,him1 saying1 ,take away the filthy garments from him4 ,and unto him ,he said1 ,behold1 ,i have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee1 and ,i will clothe thee with change of raiment4 #e4 ,and ,i said1 ,let them set a fair mitre upon his head4 ,so they set a fair mitre upon his head1 and clothed him with garments4 ,and the ,angel of the ,lord stood by4 #f4 ,and the ,angel of the ,lord protested unto ,joshua1 saying1 #g4 ,thus saith the ,lord of ,hosts1 ,if thou wilt walk in ,my ways1 and if thou wilt keep ,my charge1 then thou shalt also judge ,my house1 and shalt also keep ,my courts1 and ,i will give thee places to walk among these that stand by1 #h4 ,hear now1 ,o ,joshua the high priest1 thou1 and thy fellows that sit before thee3 for they are men wondered at3 for1 behold1 ,i will bring forth ,my servant ,the ,,branch4 #i4 ,for behold the stone that ,i have laid before ,joshua2 upon one stone shall be seven eyes3 behold1 ,i will engrave the graving thereof1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts1 and ,i will remove the iniquity of that land in one day4 #aj4 ,in that day1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts1 shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree4'--,,zechariah iii4 #a-aj4 ,zechariah worked side by side with ,haggai to quicken the religious life of the people1 and thus to remove the gravest hindrances to the work of rebuilding the ,temple4 ,inward indifference1 not outward opposition1 is the real reason for slow progress in ,god's work1 and prophets who see visions and preach repentance are the true practical men4 ,this vision followed ,haggai's prophecy at the interval of a month4 ,it falls into two parts--a symbolical vision and a series of promises founded on it4 ,i4 ,the ,symbolical ,vision 7vs4 #a-e74--,the scene of the vision is left undetermined1 and the absence of any designation of locality gives the picture the sublimity of indefiniteness4 ,three figures1 seen he knows not where1 stand clear before the ,prophet's inward eye4 ,they were shown him by an unnamed person1 who is evidently ,jehovah ,himself4 ,the real and the ideal are marvellously mingled in the conception of ,joshua the high priest--the man whom the people saw every day going about ,jerusalem--standing at the bar of ,god1 with ,satan as his accuser4 ,the trial is in process when the ,prophet is permitted to see4 ,we do not hear the pleadings on either side1 but the sentence is solemnly recorded4 ,the accusations are dismissed1 their bringer rebuked1 and in token of acquittal1 the filthy garments which the accused had worn are changed for the full festal attire of the high priest4 ,what1 then1 is the meaning of this grand symbolism8 ,the first point to keep well in view is the representative character of the high priest4 ,he appears as laden not with individual but national sins4 ,in him ,israel is1 as it were1 concentrated1 and what befalls him is the image of what befalls the nation4 ,his dirty dress is the familiar symbol of sin2 and he wears it1 just as he wore his sacerdotal dress1 in his official capacity1 as the embodied nation4 ,he stands before the judgment seat1 bearing not his own but the people's sins4 ,two great truths are thereby taught1 which are as true to-day as ever4 ,the first is that representation is essential to priesthood4 ,it was so in shadowy and external fashion in ,israel2 it is so in deepest and most blessed reality in ,christ's priesthood4 ,he stands before ,god as our representative--',and the ,lord hath made to meet on ,him the iniquity of us all4' ,if by faith we unite ourselves with ,him1 there ensues a wondrous transference of characteristics1 so that our sin becomes ,his1 and ,his righteousness becomes ours2 and that in no mere artificial or forensic sense1 but in inmost reality4 ,theologians talk of a communicatio idiomatum as between the human and the divine elements in ,christ4 ,there is an analogous passage of the attributes of either to the other1 in the relation of the believer to his ,saviour4 ,the second thought in this symbolic appearance of ,joshua before the angel of the ,lord is that the sins of ,god's people are even now present before ,his perfect judgment1 as reasons for withdrawing from them ,his favour4 ,that is a solemn truth1 which should never be forgotten4 ,a ,christian man's sins do accuse him at the bar of ,god4 ,they are all visible there2 and so far as their tendency goes1 they are like wedges driven in to rend him from ,god4 ,but the second figure in the vision is 'the ,satan1' standing in the plaintiff's place at the ,judge's right hand1 to accuse ,joshua4 ,the ,old ,testament teaching as to the evil spirit who 'accuses' good men is not so developed as that of the ,new1 which is quite natural1 inasmuch as the shadow of bright light is deeper than that of faint rays4 ,it is most full in the latest books1 as here and in ,job2 but doctrinal inferences drawn from such highly imaginative symbolism as this are precarious4 ,no one who accepts the authority of our ,lord can well deny the existence and activity of a malignant spirit1 who would fain make the most of men's sins1 and use them as a means of separating their doers from ,god4 ,that is the conception here4 ,but the main stress of the vision lies1 not on the accuser or his accusation1 but on the ,judge's sentence1 which alone is recorded4 ',the ,angel of the ,lord' is named in verse #a as the ,judge1 while the sentence in verse #b is spoken by 'the ,lord4' ,it would lead us far away from our purpose to inquire whether that ,angel of the ,lord is an earlier manifestation of the eternal ,son1 who afterwards became flesh--a kind of preluding or rehearsing of the ,incarnation4 ,but in any case1 ,god so dwells in ,him as that what the ,angel says ,god says and the speaker varies as in our text4 ,the accuser is rebuked1 and ,god's rebuke is not a mere word1 but brings with it punishment4 ,the malicious accusations have failed1 and their aim is to be gathered from the language which announces their miscarriage4 ,obviously ,satan sought to procure the withdrawal of divine favour from ,joshua1 because of his sin2 that is1 to depose the nation from its place as the covenant people1 because of its transgressions of the covenant4 ,satan here represents what might otherwise have been called1 in theological language1 'the demands of justice4' ,the answer given him is deeply instructive as to the grounds of the divine forbearance4 ,note that ,joshua's guilt as the representative of the people is not denied1 but tacitly admitted and actually spoken of in verse #d4 ,why1 then1 does not the accuser have his way8 ,for two reasons4 ,god has chosen ,jerusalem4 ,his great purpose1 the fruit of ,his undeserved mercy1 is not to be turned aside by man's sins4 ,the thought is the same as that of ,jeremiah3 ',if heaven above can be measured 444 then ,i will also cast off all the seed of ,israel for all that they have done' 7,jer4 xxxi4 #cg74 ,again1 the fact that ,joshua was 'a brand plucked from the burning'--that is1 that the people whom he represented had been brought unconsumed from the furnace of captivity--is a reason with ,god for continuing to extend ,his favour1 though they have sinned4 ,god's past mercies are a motive with him4 ,creatural love is limited1 and too often says1 ',i have forgiven so often1 that ,i am wearied1 and can do it no more4' ,he has1 therefore he will4 ,we often come to the end of our long-suffering a good many times short of the four hundred and ninety a day which ,christ prescribes4 ,but ,god never does4 ,true1 ,joshua and his people have sinned1 and that since their restoration1 and ,satan had a good argument in pointing to these transgressions2 but ,god does not say1 ',i will put back the half-burned brand in the fire again1 since the evil is not burned out of it1' but forgives again1 because ,he has forgiven before4 ,the sentence is followed by the exchange of the filthy garments symbolical of sin1 for the full array of the high priest4 ,ministering angels are dimly seen in the background1 and are summoned to unclothe and clothe ,joshua4 ,the ,prophet ventures to ask that the sacerdotal attire should be completed by the turban or mitre1 probably that headdress which bore the significant writing ',holiness to the ,lord1' expressive of the destination of ,israel and of its ceremonial cleanness4 ,the meaning of this change of clothing is given in verse #d3 ',i have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee4' ,thus the complete restoration of the pardoned and cleansed nation to its place as a nation of priests to ,jehovah is symbolised4 ,to us the gospel of forgiveness fills up the outline in the vision2 and we know how1 when sin testifies against us1 we have an ,advocate with the ,father1 and how the infinite love flows out to us notwithstanding all sin1 and how the stained garment of our souls can be stripped off1 and the 'fine linen clean and white1' the priestly dress on the day of atonement1 be put on us1 and we be made priests unto ,god4 ,,ii4 ,the remainder of the vision is the address of the ,angel of the ,lord to ,joshua1 developing the blessings now made sure to him and his people by this renewed consecration and cleansing4 ,first 7verse #g7 is the promise of continuance in office and access to ,god's presence1 which1 however1 are contingent on obedience4 ,the forgiven man must keep ,god's charge1 if he is to retain his standing4 ,on that condition1 he has 'a place of access among those that stand by'2 that is1 the privilege of approach to ,god1 like the attendant angels4 ,this promise may be taken as surpassing the prerogatives hitherto accorded to the high priest1 who had only the right of entrance into the holiest place once a year1 but now is promised the entree to the heavenly court1 as if he were one of the bright spirits who stand there4 ,they who have access with confidence within the veil because ,christ is there1 have more than the ancient promise of this vision4 ,the main point of verse #h is the promise of the ,messiah1 but the former part of the verse is remarkable4 ,joshua and his fellows are summoned to listen1 'for they are men which are a sign4' ,the meaning seems to be that he and his brethren who sat as his assessors in official functions1 are collectively a sign or embodied prophecy of what is to come4 ,their restoration to their offices was a shadowy prophecy of a greater act of forgiving grace1 which was to be effected by the coming of the ,messiah4 ,the name ',branch' is used here as a proper name4 ,jeremiah 7,jer4 xxiii4 #e2 xxxiii4 #ae7 had already employed it as a designation of ,messiah1 which he had apparently learned from ,isaiah iv4 #b4 ,the idea of the word is that of the similar names used by ,isaiah1 'a shoot out of the stock of ,jesse1 and a ,branch out of his roots' 7,isaiah xi4 #a71 and 'a tender plant1 and as a root out of a dry ground' 7,isaiah liii4 #b72 namely1 that of his origin from the fallen house of ,david1 and the lowliness of his appearance4 ,the ,messiah is again meant by the 'stone' in verse #i4 ,probably there was some great stone taken from the ruins1 to which the symbol attaches itself4 ,the foundation of the second ,temple had been laid years before the prophecy1 but the stone may still have been visible4 ,the ,rabbis have much to say about a great stone which had been in the first ,temple1 and there used for the support of the ark1 but in the second was set in the empty place where the ark should have been4 ,isaiah had prophesied of the 'tried corner-stone' laid in ,zion1 and ,psalm cxviii4 #bb had sung of the stone rejected and made the head of the corner4 ,we go in the track1 then1 of established usage1 when we see in this stone the emblem of ,messiah1 and associate with it all thoughts of firmness1 preciousness1 support1 foundation of the true ,temple1 basis of hope1 ground of certitude1 and whatever other substratum of fixity and immovableness men's hearts or lives need4 ,in all possible aspects of the metaphor1 ,jesus is the ,foundation4 ,and what are the 'seven eyes on the stone'8 ,that may simply be a vivid way of saying that the fulness of divine ,providence would watch over the ,messiah1 bringing ,him when the time was ripe1 and fitting ,him for ,his work4 ,but if we remember the subsequent explanation 7iv4 #aj7 of the 'seven1' as 'the eyes of the ,lord which run to and fro through the whole earth1' and connect this with ,revelation v4 #f1 we can scarcely rest content with that meaning1 but find here the deeper thought that the fulness of the divine ,spirit was given to ,messiah1 even as ,isaiah 7xi4 #b7 prophesies of the sevenfold ,spirit4 ',i will engrave the graving thereof' is somewhat obscure4 ,it seems to mean that the seven eyes will be cut on the stone1 like masons' marks4 ,if the seven eyes are the full energies of the ,holy ,spirit1 ,god's cutting of them on the stone is equivalent to ,his giving them to ,his ,son2 and the fulfilment of the promise was when ,he gave the ,holy ,spirit not 'by measure unto ,him4' ,the blessed purpose of ,messiah's coming and endowment with the ,spirit is gloriously stated in the last clause of verse #i3 ',i will remove the iniquity of that land in one day4' ,jesus ,christ has 'once for all' made atonement1 as the ,epistle to the ,hebrews so often says4 ,the better ,joshua by one offering has taken away sin4 ',the breadth of ,thy land1 ,o ,immanuel1' stretched far beyond the narrow bounds which ,zechariah knew for ,israel's territory4 ,it includes the whole world4 ,as has been beautifully said1 ',that one day is the day of ,golgotha4' ,the vision closes with a picture of the felicity of ,messianic times1 which recalls the description of the golden age of ,solomon1 when ',judah and ,israel dwelt safely1 every man under his vine and under his fig-tree' 7#a ,kings iv4 #be74 ,in like manner the nation1 cleansed1 restored to its priestly privilege of free access to ,god by the ,messiah who comes with the fulness of the ,spirit1 shall dwell in safety1 and shall be knit together by friendship1 and unenvyingly shall each share his good with all others1 recognising in every man a neighbour1 and gladly welcoming him to partake of all the blessings which the true ,solomon has brought to his house and heart4 ,,the ,,right ,,of ,,entry ',i will give thee places to walk among these that stand by4'--,,zechariah iii4 #g4 ,a ,,word or two of explanation will probably be necessary in order to see the full meaning of this great promise4 ,the ,prophet has just been describing a vision of judgment which he saw1 in which the high priest1 as representative of the nation1 stood before the ,angel of the ,lord as an unclean person4 ,he is cleansed and clothed1 his foul raiment stripped off him1 and a fair priestly garment1 with ',holiness to the ,lord' written on the front of it1 put upon him4 ,and then follow a series of promises1 of which the climax is the one that ,i have read4 ',i will give thee a place of access1' says the ,revised ,version1 instead of 'places to walk'2 ',i will give thee a place of access among those that stand by'2 the attendant angels are dimly seen surrounding their ,lord4 ,and so the promise of my text1 in highly figurative fashion1 is that of free and unrestrained approach to ,god1 of a life that is like that of the angels that stand before ,his ,face4 ,so1 then1 the words suggest to us1 first1 what a ,christian life may be4 ,there are two images blended together in the great words of my text2 the one is that of a king's court1 the other is that of a temple4 ,with regard to the former it is a privilege given to the highest nobles of a kingdom--or it was so in old days--to have the right of entree1 at all moments and in all circumstances1 to the monarch4 ,with regard to the latter1 the prerogative of the high priest1 who was the recipient of this promise1 as to access to the ,temple1 was a very restricted one4 ,once a year1 with the blood that prevented his annihilation by the brightness of the ,presence into which he ventured1 he passed within the veil1 and stood before that mysterious ,light that coruscated in the darkness of the ,holy of ,holies4 ,but this ,high ,priest is promised an access on all days and at all times2 and that ,he may stand there1 beside and like the seraphim1 who with one pair of wings veiled their faces in token of the incapacity of the creature to behold the ,creator2 'with twain veiled their feet' in token of the unworthiness of creatural activities to be set before ,him1 'and with twain did fly' in token of their willingness to serve ,him with all their energies4 ,this ,priest passes within the veil when ,he will4 ,or1 to put away the two metaphors1 and to come to the reality far greater than either of them1 we can1 whensoever we please1 pass into the presence before which the splendours of an earthly monarch's court shrink into vulgarity1 and attain to a real reception of the light that irradiates the true ,holy ,place1 before which that which shone in the earthly shrine dwindles and darkens into a shadow4 ,we may live with ,god1 and in ,him1 and wrap a veil and 'privacy of glorious light' about us1 whilst we pilgrim upon earth1 and may have hidden lives which1 notwithstanding all their surface occupation with the distractions and duties and enjoyments of the present1 deep down in their centres are knit to ,god4 ,our lives may on the outside thus be largely amongst the things seen and temporal1 and yet all the while may penetrate through these1 and lay hold with their true roots on the eternal4 ,if we have any religious life at all1 the measure in which we possess it is the measure in which we may ever more dwell in the house of the ,lord1 and have our hearts in the secret place of the ,most ,high1 amid the stillnesses and the sanctities of ,his immediate dwelling4 ,our ,master is the great ,example of this1 of whom it is said1 not only in reference to ,his mysterious and unique union of nature with the ,father in ,his divinity1 but in reference to the humanity which ,he had in common with us all1 yet without sin1 that the ,son of ,man came down from heaven1 and even in the act of coming1 and when ,he had come1 was yet the ,son of ,man 'which is in heaven4' ,thus we1 too1 may have 'a place of access among them that stand by1' and not need to envy the angels and the spirits of the just made perfect1 the closeness of their communion1 and the vividness of their vision1 for the same1 in its degree1 may be ours4 ,we1 too1 can turn all our desires into petitions1 and of every wish make a prayer4 ,we1 too can refer all our needs to ,his infinite supply4 ,we1 too may consciously connect all our doings with ,his will and ,his glory2 and for us it is possible that there shall be1 as if borne on those electric wires that go striding across pathless deserts1 and carry their messages through unpeopled solitudes1 between ,him and us a communication unbroken and continuous1 which1 by a greater wonder than even that of the telegraph1 shall carry two messages1 going opposite ways simultaneously1 bearing to ,him the swift aspirations and supplications of our spirits1 and bringing to us the abundant answer of ,his grace4 ,such a conversation in heaven1 and such association with the bands of the blessed is possible even for a life upon earth4 ,secondly1 let us consider this promise as a pattern for us of what ,christian life should be1 and1 alas6 so seldom is4 ,all privilege is duty1 and everything that is possible for any ,christian man to become1 it is imperative on him to aim at4 ,there is no greater sin than living beneath the possibilities of our lives1 in any region1 whether religious or other it matters not4 ,sin is not only going contrary to the known law of ,god1 but also a falling beneath a divine ideal which is capable of realisation4 ,and in regard to our ,christian life1 if ,god has flung open ,his temple-gates and said to us1 ',come in1 ,my child1 and dwell in the secret place of the ,most ,high1 and abide there under the shadow of the ,almighty1 finding protection and communion and companionship in ,my worship1' there can be nothing more insulting to ,him1 and nothing more fatally indicative of the alienation of our hearts from ,him1 than that we should refuse to obey the merciful invitation4 ,what should we say of a subject who never presented himself in the court to which he had the right of free entree8 ,his absence would be a mark of disloyalty1 and would be taken as a warning-bell in preparation for his rebellion4 ,what should we say of a son or a daughter1 living in the same city with their parents1 who never crossed the threshold of the father's house1 but that they had lost the spirit of a child1 and that if there was no desire to be near there could be no love8 ,so1 if we will ask ourselves1 ',how often do ,i use this possibility of communion with ,god1 which might irradiate all my daily life8' ,i think we shall need little else1 in the nature of evidence1 that our piety and our religious experience are terribly stunted and dwarfed1 in comparison with what they ought to be4 ,there is an old saying1 ',he that can tell how often he has thought of ,god in a day has thought of ,him too seldom4' ,i dare say many of us would have little difficulty in counting on the fingers of one hand1 and perhaps not needing them all1 the number of times in which1 to-day1 our thoughts have gone heavenwards4 ,what we may be is what we ought to be1 and not to use the prerogatives of our position is the worst of sins4 ,again1 my text suggests to us what every ,christian life will hereafter perfectly be4 ,some commentators take the words of my text to refer only to the communion of saints from the earth1 with the glorified angels1 in and after the ,resurrection4 ,that is a poor interpretation1 for heaven is here to-day4 ,but still there is a truth in the interpretation which we need not neglect4 ,only let us remember that nothing--so far as ,scripture teaches us--begins yonder except the full reaping of the fruits of what has been sown here1 and that if a man's feet have not learned the path into the ,temple when he was here upon earth1 death will not be the guide for him into the ,father's presence4 ,all that here has been imperfect1 fragmentary1 occasional1 interrupted1 and marred in our communion with ,god1 shall one day be complete4 ,and then1 oh6 then1 who can tell what undreamed-of depths and sweetnesses of renewed communion and of intercourses begun1 for the first time then1 between 'those that stand by1' and have stood there for ages1 will then be realised8 ',ye are come'--even here on earth--'to an innumerable company of angels1 to the general assembly and ,church of the first-born1' but for us all there may be the quiet hope that hereafter we shall 'dwell in the house of the ,lord for ever'2 and 'in solemn troops and sweet societies' shall learn what fellowship1 and brotherhood1 and human love may be4 ,lastly1 notice1 not from my text but from its context1 how any life may become thus privileged4 ,the promise is preceded by a condition3 ',if thou wilt walk in ,my ways1 and if thou wilt keep ,my charge1 then 444 ,i will give thee access among those that stand by4' ,that is to say1 you cannot keep the consciousness of ,god's presence1 nor have any blessedness of communion with ,him1 if you are living in disobedience of ,his commandments or in neglect of manifest duty4 ,a thin film of vapour in our sky tonight will hide the moon4 ,though the vapour itself may be invisible1 it will be efficacious as a veil4 ,and any sin1 great or small1 fleecy and thin1 will suffice to shut me out from ,god4 ,if we are keeping ,his commandments1 then1 and only then1 shall we have access with free hearts into ,his presence4 ,but to lay down that condition seems the same thing as slamming the door in every man's face4 ,but let us remember what went before my text1 the experience of the priest to whom it was spoken in the vision4 ,his filthy garments were stripped off him1 and the pure white robes worn on the great ,day of ,atonement1 the sacerdotal dress1 were put upon him4 ,it is the cleansed man that has access among 'those that stand by4' ,and if you ask how the cleansing is to be effected1 take the great words of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews as an all-sufficient answer1 coinciding with1 but transcending1 what this vision taught ,zechariah3 ',having1 therefore1 brethren1 boldness to enter into the holiest of all1 by the blood of ,jesus1 444 and having a ,high ,priest over the house of ,god2 let us draw near with a true heart1 in full assurance of faith1 having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience4' ,cleansed by ,christ1 and with ,him for our ,forerunner1 we have boldness and 'access with confidence by the faith of ,him1' who proclaims to the whole world1 ',no man cometh to the ,father but by ,me4' ,,the ,,source ,,of ,,power ',and the ,angel that talked with me came again1 and waked me1 as a man that is wakened out of his sleep1 #b4 ,and said unto me1 ,what seest thou8 ,and ,i said1 ,i have looked1 and behold1 a candlestick all of gold1 with a bowl upon the top of it1 and his seven lamps thereon1 and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof3 #c4 ,and two olive-trees by it1 one upon the right side of the bowl1 and the other upon the left side thereof4 #d4 ,so ,i answered and spake to the ,angel that talked with me1 saying1 ,what are these1 my ,lord8 #e4 ,then the ,angel that talked with me answered and said unto me1 ,knowest thou not what these be8 ,and ,i said1 ,no1 my ,lord4 #f4 ,then ,he answered and spake unto me1 saying1 ,this is the word of the ,lord unto ,zerubbabel1 saying1 ,not by might1 nor by power1 but by ,my ,spirit1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 #g4 ,who art thou1 ,o great mountain8 before ,zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain3 and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings1 crying1 ,grace1 grace unto it4 #h4 ,moreover1 the word of the ,lord came unto me1 saying1 #i4 ,the hands of ,zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house2 his hands shall also finish it2 and thou shalt know that the ,lord of ,hosts hath sent me unto you4 #aj4 ,for who hath despised the day of small things8 for they shall rejoice1 and shall see the plummet in the hand of ,zerubbabel with those seven2 they are the eyes of the ,lord1 which run to and fro through the whole earth4'--,,zechariah iv4 #a-aj4 ,,the preceding vision had reference to ,joshua the priest1 and showed him restored to his prerogative of entrance into the sanctuary4 ,this one concerns his colleague ,zerubbabel1 the representative of civil power1 as he of ecclesiastical1 and promises that he shall succeed in rebuilding the ,temple4 ,the supposition is natural that the actual work of reconstruction was mainly in the hands of the secular ruler4 ,flesh is weak1 and the ,prophet had fallen into deep sleep1 after the tension of the previous vision4 ,that had been shown him by ,jehovah1 but in this vision we have the same angel interpreter who had spoken with ,zechariah before4 ,he does not bring the vision1 but simply wakes the ,prophet that he may see it1 and directs his attention to it by the question1 ',what seest thou8' ,the best way to teach is to make the learner put his conceptions into definite words4 ,we see things more clearly1 and they make a deeper impression1 when we tell what we see4 ,how many lazy looks we give at things temporal as well as at things eternal1 after which we should be unable to answer the ,angel's question6 ,it is not every one who sees what he looks at4 ,the passage has two parts--the vision and its interpretation1 with related promises4 ,the vision may be briefly disposed of4 ,its original is the great lamp which stood in the tabernacle1 and was replaced in the ,solomonic ,temple by ten smaller ones4 ,these had been carried away at the ,captivity1 and we do not read of their restoration4 ,but the main thing to note is the differences between this lamp and the one in the tabernacle4 ,the description here confines itself to these3 ,they are three--the 'bowl' or reservoir above the lamp1 the pipes from it to the seven lights1 and the two olive-trees which stood on either side of the lamp and replenished from their branches the supply in the reservoir4 ,the tabernacle lamp had no reservoir1 and consequently no pipes1 but was fed with oil by the priests4 ,the meaning of the variations1 then1 is plain4 ,they were intended to express the fuller and more immediately divine supply of oil4 ,if the ,revised ,version's rendering of the somewhat doubtful numerals in verse #b be accepted1 each several light had seven pipes1 thus expressing the perfection of its supplies4 ,now1 there can be no doubt about the symbolism of the tabernacle lamp4 ,it represented the true office of ,israel1 as it rayed out its beams into the darkness of the desert4 ,it meant the same thing as ,christ's words1 ',ye are the light of the world1' and as the vision of the seven golden candlesticks1 in ,revelation i4 #ab1 #ac1 #bj4 ,the substitution of separate lamps for one with seven lights may teach the difference between the mere formal unity of the people of ,god in the ,old ,testament and the true oneness1 conjoined with diversity1 in the ,new ,testament ,church1 which is one because ,christ walks in the midst4 ,zechariah's lamp1 then1 called to the minds of the little band of restored exiles their high vocation1 and the changed arrangements for the supply of that oil1 which is the standing emblem for divine communications fitting for service1 or1 to keep to the metaphor1 fitting to shine1 signified the abundance of these4 ,the explanation of the vision is introduced1 as at ,zechariah i4 #i1 #ai1 by the ,prophet's question of its meaning4 ,his angelic teacher is astonished at his dullness1 as indeed heavenly eyes must often be at ours1 and asks if he does not know so familiar an object4 ,the ,prophet's ',no1 my ,lord1' brings full explanation4 ,ingenuously acknowledged ignorance never asks ,heaven for enlightenment in vain4 ,first1 the true source of strength and success1 as shown by the vision1 is declared in plain terms4 ,what fed the lamp8 ,oil1 which symbolises the gift of a divine ,spirit1 if not in the full personal sense as in the ,new ,testament1 yet certainly as a ,god-breathed influence1 preparing prophets1 priests1 kings1 and even artificers1 for their several forms of service4 ,whence came the oil8 ,from the two olive-trees1 which though1 as verse #ad shows1 they represented the two leaders1 yet set forth the truth that their power for their work was from ,god2 for the ,bible knows nothing of 'nature' as a substitute for or antithesis to ,god1 and the growth of the olive and its yield of oil is ,his doing4 ,this1 then1 was the message for ,zerubbabel and his people1 that ,god would give such gifts as they needed1 in order that the light which ,he ,himself had kindled should not be quenched4 ,if the lamp was fed with oil1 it would burn1 and there would be a ,temple for it to stand in4 ,if we try to imagine the feebleness of the handful of discouraged men1 and the ring of enemies round them1 we may feel the sweetness of the promise which bade them not despond because they had little of what the world calls might4 ,we all need the lesson2 for the blustering world is apt to make us forget the true source of all real strength for holy service or for noble living4 ,the world's power at its mightiest is weak1 and the ,church's true power1 at her feeblest1 is omnipotent1 if only she grasps the strength which is hers1 and takes the ,spirit which is given4 ,the eternal antithesis of man's weakness at his haughtiest1 and ,god's strength even in its feeblest possessors1 is taught by that lamp flaming1 whatever envious hands or howling storms might seek to quench it1 because fed by oil from on high4 ,let us keep to ,god's strength1 and not corrupt ,his oil with mixtures of foul-smelling stuff of our own compounding4 ,next1 in the strength of that revelation of the source of might a defiant challenge is blown to the foe4 ,the 'great mountain' is primarily the frowning difficulties which lifted themselves against ,zerubbabel's enterprise1 and more widely the whole mass of worldly opposition encountered by ,god's servants in every age4 ,it seems to bar all advance2 but an unseen ,hand crushes it down1 and flattens it out into a level1 on which progress is easy4 ,the ,hebrew gives the suddenness and completeness of the transformation with great force2 for the whole clause1 ',thou shalt become a plain1' is one word in the original4 ,such triumphant rising above difficulties is not presumption when it has been preceded by believing gaze on the source of strength4 ,if we have taken to heart the former words of the ,prophet1 we shall not be in danger of rash overconfidence when we calmly front obstacles in the path of duty1 assured that every mountain shall be made low4 ,a brave scorn of the world1 both in its sweetnesses and its terrors1 befits ,god's men1 and is apt to fulfil its own confidences2 for most of these terrors are like ghosts1 who will not wait to be spoken to1 but melt away if fairly faced4 ,nor should we forget the other side of this thought2 namely1 that it is the constant drift of ,providence to abase the lofty in mind1 and to raise the lowly4 ,what is high is sure to get many knocks which pass over lower heads4 ,to men of faith every mountain shall either become a plain or be cast into the sea4 ,then follows1 on the double revelation of the source of strength and the futility of opposition1 the assurance of the successful completion of the work4 ,the stone which is to crown the structure shall be brought forth and set in its place amid jubilant prayers not offered in vain1 that 'grace'--that is1 the protecting favour of ,god--may rest on it4 ,the same thought is reiterated and enlarged in the next 'word1' which is somewhat separated from the former1 as if the flow of prophetic communication had paused for a moment1 and then been resumed4 ,in verse #i we have the assurance1 so seldom granted to ,god's workers1 that ,zerubbabel shall be permitted to complete the task which he had begun4 ,it is the fate of most of us to inherit unfinished work from our predecessors1 and to bequeath the like to our successors4 ,and in one aspect1 all human work is unfinished1 as being but a fragment of the fulfilment of the mighty purpose which runs through all the ages4 ,yet some are more happy than others1 in that they see an approximate completion of their work4 ,but whether it be so or not1 our task is to 'do the little we can do1 and leave the rest with ,god1' sure that ,he will work all the fragments into a perfect whole1 and content to do the smallest bit of service for ,him4 ,few of us are strong enough to do separate building4 ,we are like coral insects1 whose reef is one1 though its makers are millions4 ,zerubbabel finished his task1 but its end was but a new beginning of an order of things of which he did not see the end4 ,there are no beginnings or endings1 properly speaking1 in human affairs1 but all is one unbroken flow4 ,one man only has made a real new beginning1 and that is ,jesus ,christ2 and ,he only will really carry ,his work to its very last issues4 ,he is ,alpha and ,omega1 the beginning and the ending4 ,he is the ,foundation of the true ,temple1 and ,he is also the ,headstone of the corner1 the foundation on which all rests1 the apex to which all runs up4 ',when ,he begins1 ,he will also make an end4' ,the completion of the work is to be the token that the 'angel who spake with me' was ,god's messenger4 ,we can know that before the fulfilment1 but we cannot but know it after4 ,better to be sure that the message is from ,god while yet the certainty is the result of faith1 than to be sure of it afterwards1 when the issue has shattered and shamed our doubts4 ,if we realise that ,god's ,spirit is the guarantee for the success of work done for ,god1 we shall escape the vulgar error of measuring the importance of things by their size1 as1 no doubt1 many of these builders were doing4 ,no one will help on the day of great things who despises that of small ones4 ,they say that the seeds of the 'big trees' in ,california are the smallest of all the conifers4 ,i do not vouch for the truth of the statement1 but ,god's work always begins with little seeds1 as the history of the ,church and of every good cause shows4 ',what do these feeble ,jews8' sneered the spectators of their poor little walls1 painfully piled up1 over which a fox could jump4 ,they did very little1 but they were building the city of ,god1 which has outlasted all the mockers4 ,men might look with contempt on the humble beginning1 but other eyes than theirs looked at it with other emotions4 ,the eyes which in the last vision were spoken of as directed on the foundation stone1 gaze on the work with joy4 ,these are the seven eyes of 'the ,lord1' which are 'the seven ,spirits of ,god1 sent forth into all the earth' 7,rev4 v4 #f74 ,the ,spirit is here contemplated in the manifoldness of ,his operations rather than in the unity of ,his person4 ,thus the closing assurance1 which involves the success of the work1 since ,god's eyes rest on it with delight1 comes round to the first declaration1 ',not by might1 not by power1 but by ,my ,spirit4' ,note the strong contrast between 'despise' and 'rejoice4' ,what matter the scoffs of mockers1 if ,god approves8 ,what are they but fools who look at that which moves ,his joy1 and find in it only food for scorn8 ,what will become of their laughter at last8 ,if we try to get so near ,god as to see things with ,his eyes1 we shall be saved from many a false estimate of what is great and what is small1 and may have our own poor little doings invested with strange dignity1 because ,he deigns to behold and bless them4 ,,the ,,founder ,,and ,,finisher ,,of ,,the ,,temple ',the hands of ,zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house2 his hands shall also finish it4'--,,zechariah iv4 #i4 ,i am afraid that ,zerubbabel is very little more than a grotesque name to most ,bible-readers1 so ,i may be allowed a word of explanation as to him and as to the original force of my text4 ,he was a prince of the blood royal of ,israel1 and the civil leader of the first detachment of returning exiles4 ,with ,joshua1 the high priest1 he came1 at the head of a little company1 to ,palestine1 and there pathetically attempted1 with small resources1 to build up some humble house that might represent the vanished glories of ,solomon's ,temple4 ,political enmity on the part of the surrounding tribes stopped the work for nearly twenty years4 ,during all that time1 the hole in the ground1 where the foundations had been dug and a few courses of stones been laid1 gaped desolate1 a sad reminder to the feeble band of the failure of their hopes4 ,but with the accession of a new ,persian king1 new energy sprang up1 and new1 favourable circumstances developed themselves4 ,the ,prophet ,zechariah came to the front1 although quite a young man1 and became the mainspring of the renewed activity in building the ,temple4 ,the words of my text are1 of course1 in their plain1 original meaning1 the prophetic assurance that the man1 grown an old man by this time1 who had been honoured to take the first spadeful of soil out of the earth should be the man 'to bring forth the headstone with shoutings of ,grace1 grace unto it6' ,but whilst that is the original application1 and whilst the words open to us a little door into long years of constrained suspension of work and discouraged hope1 ,i think we shall not be wrong if we recognise in them something deeper than a reference to the ,prince of ,david's line1 concerning whom they were originally spoken4 ,i take them to be1 in the true sense of the term1 a ,messianic prophecy2 and ,i take it that1 just because ,zerubbabel1 a member of that royal house from which the ,messiah was to come1 was the builder of the ,temple1 he was a prophetic person4 ,what was true about him primarily is thereby shown to have a bearing upon the greater ,son of ,david who was to come thereafter1 and who was to build the ,temple of the ,lord4 ,in that aspect ,i desire to look at the words now3 ',his hands have laid the foundation of the house1 and ,his hands shall also finish it4' ,i4 ,there is1 then1 here a large truth as to ,christ1 the true ,temple-builder4 ,it is the same blessed message which was given from ,his own lips long centuries after1 when ,he spoke from heaven to ,john in ,patmos1 and said1 ',i am ,alpha and ,omega1 the ,first and the ,last4' ,the first letter of the ,greek alphabet1 and the last letter of the ,greek alphabet1 and all the letters that lie between1 and all the words that you can make out of the letters--they are all from ,him1 and ,he underlies everything4 ,now that is true about creation1 in the broadest and in the most absolute sense4 ,for what does the ,new ,testament say1 with the consenting voice of all its writers8 ',in the beginning was the ,word1 and the ,word was with ,god1 and the ,word was ,god4 ,without ,him was not anything made that was made4' ,his hands laid the foundations of this great house of the universe1 with its 'many mansions4' ,and what says ,paul8 ',he is the ,beginning1 in ,him all things consist' 444 'that in all things ,he might have the pre-eminence4' ,and what says ,he ,himself from heaven8 ',i am the ,first and the ,last4' ,so1 in regard to everything in the universe1 ,christ is its origin1 and ,christ is its goal and its end4 ,he 'has laid the foundation1 and ,his hands shall also finish it4' ,but1 further1 we turn to the application which is the more usual one1 and say that ,he is the ,beginner and ,finisher of the work of redemption1 which is ,his only from its inception to its accomplishment1 from the first breaking of the ground for the foundations of the ,temple to the triumphant bringing forth of the last stone that crowns the corner and gleams on the topmost pinnacle of the completed structure4 ,there is nothing about ,jesus ,christ1 as it seems to me1 more manifest1 unless our eyes are blinded by prejudice1 than that the ,carpenter of ,nazareth1 who grew up amidst the ordinary conditions of infant manhood1 was trained as other ,jewish children1 increased in wisdom1 spoke a language that had been moulded by man1 and inherited ,his nation's mental and spiritual equipment1 yet stands forth on the pages of these four ,gospels as a perfectly original man1 to put it on the lowest ground1 and as owing nothing to any predecessor1 and not as merely one in a series1 or naturally accounted for by reference to ,his epoch or conditions4 ,he makes a new beginning2 ,he presents a perfectly fresh thing in the history of human nature4 ,just as ,his coming was the introduction into the heart of humanity of a new type1 the second ,adam1 the ,lord from heaven1 so the work that ,he does is all ,his own4 ,he does it all ,himself1 for all that ,his servants do in carrying out the purposes dear to ,his heart is done by ,his working in and through them1 and though we are fellow-labourers with ,him1 ,his hands alone lay every stone of the ,temple4 ,not only does my text1 in its highest application1 point to ,jesus ,christ as the ,author of redemption from its very beginning1 but it also declares that all through the ages ,his hand is at work4 ',shall also finish it'--then ,he is labouring at it now2 and we have not to think of a ,christ who once worked1 and has left to us the task of developing the consequences of ,his completed activity1 but of a ,christ who is working on and on1 steadily and persistently4 ,the builders of some great edifice1 whilst they are laying its lower courses1 are down upon our level1 and as the building rises the scaffolding rises1 and sometimes the platform where they stand is screened off by some frail canvas stretched round it1 so that we cannot see them as they ply their work with trowel and mortar4 ,so ,christ came down to earth to lay the courses of ,his ,temple that had to rest upon earth1 but now the scaffolding is raised and ,he is working at the top stories4 ,though out of our sight1 ,he is at work as truly and energetically as ,he was when ,he was down here4 ,you remember how strikingly one of the ,evangelists puts that thought in the last words of his ,gospel--if1 indeed1 they are his words4 ',he was received up into heaven1 and sat at the right hand of ,god1 and they went everywhere1 preaching the word4' ,well1 that looks as if there were a sad separation between the ,commander and the soldiers that ,he had ordered to the front1 as if ,he were sitting at ease on a hill overlooking the battlefield from a safe distance and sending ,his men to death4 ,but the next words bring ,him and them together--',the ,lord also working with them1 and confirming the word with signs following4' ,and so1 brethren1 a work begun1 continued1 and ended by the same immortal ,hand1 is the work on which the redemption of the world depends4 ,,ii4 ,notice1 secondly1 that we have here the assurance of the triumph of the ,gospel4 ,no doubt1 in the long-forgotten days in which my text was spoken1 there were plenty of over-prudent calculators in the little band of exiles who said1 ',what is the use of our trying to build in face of all this opposition and with these poor resources of ours8' ,they would throw cold water enough on the works of ,zerubbabel1 and on ,zechariah who inspired them4 ,but there came the great word of promise to them1 ',he shall bring forth the headstone with shoutings4' ,the text is the cure for all such calculations by us ,christian people1 and by others than ,christian people4 ,when we begin to count up resources1 and to measure these against the work to be done1 there is little wonder if good men and bad men sometimes concur in thinking that the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ has very little chance of conquering the world4 ,and that is perfectly true1 unless you take ,him into the calculation1 and then the probabilities look altogether different4 ,we are but like a long row of ciphers1 but put one significant figure in front of the row of ciphers and it comes to be of value4 ,and so1 if you are calculating the probabilities of the success of ,christianity in the world and forget to start with ,christ1 you have left out the principal factor in the problem4 ,churches lose their fervour1 their members die and pass away4 ,he renews and purifies the corrupted ,church1 and ,he liveth for ever4 ,therefore1 because we may say1 with calm confidence1 ',his hands have laid the foundation of the house1 and ,his hands are at work on all the courses of it as it rises1' we may be perfectly sure that the ,temple which ,he founded1 at which ,he still toils1 shall be completed1 and not stand a gaunt ruin1 looking on which passers-by will mockingly say1 ',this man began to build and was not able to finish4' ,when ,brennus conquered ,rome1 and the gold for the city's ransom was being weighed1 he clashed his sword into the scale to outweigh the gold4 ,christ's sword is in the scale1 and it weighs more than the antagonism of the world and the active hostility of hell4 ',his hands have laid the foundation2 ,his hands shall also finish it4' ,,iii4 ,still further1 here is encouragement for despondent and timid ,christians4 ,jesus ,christ is not going to leave you half way across the bog4 ,that is not ,his manner of guiding us4 ,he began2 ,he will finish4 ,remember the words of ,paul which catch up this same thought3 ',being confident of this very thing1 that ,he which hath begun a good work in you will perfect the same until the day of ,jesus ,christ4' ,brethren6 if the seed of the kingdom is in our hearts1 though it be but as a grain of mustard seed1 be sure of this1 that ,he will watch over it and bless the springing thereof4 ,so1 although when we think of ourselves1 our own slowness of progress1 our own feeble resolutions1 our own wayward hearts1 our own vacillating wills1 our many temptations1 our many corruptions1 our many follies1 we may well say to ourselves1 ',will there ever be any greater completeness in this terribly imperfect ,christian character of mine than there is to-day8' ,let us be of good cheer1 and not think only of ourselves1 but much rather of ,him who works on and in and for us4 ,if we lift up our hearts to ,him1 and keep ourselves near ,him1 and let ,him work1 ,he will work4 ,if we do not--like the demons in the old monastic stories1 who every night pulled down the bit of walling that the monks had in the daytime built for their new monastery--by our own hands pull down what ,he1 by ,his hand1 has built up1 the structure will rise1 and we shall be 'builded together for a habitation of ,god through the ,spirit4' ,be of good cheer1 only keep near the ,master1 and let ,him do what ,he desires to do for us all4 ,god is 'faithful who hath called us to the fellowship of ,his ,son1' and ,he also will do it4 ,,iv4 ,lastly1 here is a striking contrast to the fate which attends all human workers4 ,there are very few of us who even partially seem to be happy enough to begin and finish any task1 beyond the small ones of our daily life4 ,authors die1 with books half finished1 with sentences half finished sometimes1 where the pen has been laid down4 ,no man starts an entirely fresh line of action2 he inherits much from his past4 ,no man completes a great work that he undertakes2 he leaves it half-finished1 and coming generations1 if it is one of the great historical works of the world1 work out its consequences for good or for evil4 ,the originator has to be contented with setting the thing going and handing on unfinished tasks to his successors4 ,that is the condition under which we live4 ,we have to be contented to do our little bit of work1 that will fit in along with that of a great many others1 like a chain of men who stand between a river and a burning house1 and pass the buckets from end to end4 ,how many hands does it take to make a pin8 ,how many did it take to make the cloth of our dress8 ,the shepherd out in ,australia1 the packer in ,melbourne1 the sailors on the ship that brought the wool home1 the railwayman that took it to ,bradford1 the spinner1 the weaver1 the dyer1 the finisher1 the tailor--they all had a hand in it1 and the share of none of them was fit to stand upright by itself1 as it were1 without something on either side of it to hold it up4 ,so it is in all our work in the world1 and eminently in our ,christian work4 ,we have to be contented with being parts of a mighty whole1 to do our small piece of service1 and not to mind though it cannot be singled out in the completed whole4 ,what does that matter1 as long as it is there8 ,the waters of the brook are lost in the river1 and it1 in turn1 in the sea4 ,but each drop is there1 though indistinguishable4 ,multiplication of joy comes from division of labour1 ',one soweth and another reapeth1' and the result is that there are two to be glad over the harvest instead of one--'that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together4' ,so it is a good thing that the hands that laid the foundations so seldom are the hands that finish the work2 for thereby there are more admitted into the social gladness of the completed results4 ,the navvy that lifted the first spadeful of earth in excavating for the railway line1 and the driver of the locomotive over the completed track1 are partners in the success and in the joy4 ,the forgotten bishop who1 ,i know not how many centuries ago1 laid the foundations of ,cologne ,cathedral1 and the workmen who1 a few years since1 took down the old crane that had stood for long years on the spire1 and completed it to the slender apex1 were partners in one work that reached through the ages4 ,so let us do our little bit of work1 and remember that whilst we do it1 ,he for whom we are doing it is doing it in us1 and let us rejoice to know that at the last we shall share in the 'joy of our ,lord1' when ,he sees of the travail of ,his soul and is satisfied4 ,though ,he builds all ,himself1 yet ,he will let us have the joy of feeling that we are labourers together with ,him4 ',ye are ,god's building'2 but the ,builder permits us to share in ,his task and in ,his triumph4 ,,the ,,priest ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,king ,,of ,,men ',he shall build the ,temple of the ,lord 444 and ,he shall be a ,priest upon ,his throne4'--,,zechariah vi4 #ac4 ,a handful of feeble exiles had come back from their ,captivity4 ',the holy and beautiful house' where their fathers praised ,him was burned with fire4 ,there was no king among them1 but they still possessed a representative of the priesthood1 the other great office of divine appointment4 ,their first care was to rear some poor copy of the ,temple2 and the usual difficulties that attend reconstruction of any sort1 and dog every movement that rests upon religious enthusiasm1 beset them --strong enemies1 and half-hearted friends1 and personal jealousies weakening still more their weak forces4 ,in this time of anarchy1 of toil at a great task with inadequate resources1 of despondency that was rapidly fulfilling its own forebodings1 the ,prophet1 who was the spring of the whole movement1 receives a word in season from the ,lord4 ,he is bidden to take from some of the returned exiles the tribute-money which they had brought1 and having made of it golden and silver crowns--the sign of kingship--to set them on the high priest's head1 thus uniting the sacerdotal and regal offices1 which had always been jealously separated in ,israel4 ,this singular action is explained1 by the words which he is commanded to speak1 as being a symbolic prophecy of ,him who is 'the ,branch'--the well-known name which older prophets had used for the ,messiah--indicating that in ,him were the reality which the priesthood shadowed1 and the rule which was partly delegated to ,israel's king as well as the power which should rear the true temple of ,god among men4 ,it is in accordance with the law of prophetic development from the beginning1 that the external circumstances of the nation at the moment should supply the mould into which the promise is run4 ,the earliest of all ,messianic predictions embraced only the existence of evil1 as represented by the serpent1 and the conquest of it by one who was known but as a son of ,eve4 ,when the history reaches the patriarchal stage1 wherein the family is the predominant conception1 the prophecy proportionately advances to the assurance1 ',in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed4' ,when the mission of ,moses had made the people familiar with the idea of a man who was the medium of revelation1 then a further stage was reached--'a ,prophet shall the ,lord your ,god raise up unto you1 of your brethren1 like unto me4' ,the kingdom of ,david prepared the way for the prediction of the royal dignity of the ,messiah1 as the peaceful reign of ,solomon for the expectation of one who should bring peace by righteousness4 ,the approach of national disaster and sorrow was reflected in ,isaiah's vision of the suffering ,messiah1 and that prophet's announcements of exile had for their counterpoise the proclamation of ,him who should bring liberty to the captive4 ,so1 here1 the kingless band of exiles1 painfully striving to rear again the tabernacle which had fallen down1 are heartened for their task by the thought of the priest-king of the nation1 the builder of an imperishable dwelling-place for ,god4 ,to-day we need these truths not less than ,zechariah's contemporaries did4 ,and1 thank ,god6 we can believe that1 for every modern perplexity1 the blessed old words carry the same strength and consolation4 ,if kings seem to have perished from among men1 if authorities are dying out1 and there are no names of power that can rally the world--yet there is a ,sovereign4 ,if old institutions are crumbling1 and must still further decay ere the site for a noble structure be cleared1 yet ,he shall build the ,temple4 ,if priest be on some lips a name of superstitious folly1 and on others a synonym for all that is despised as effete in religion1 yet this ,priest abideth for ever1 the guide and the hope for the history of humanity and for the individual spirit4 ,let us1 then1 put ourselves under the ,prophet's guidance1 and consider the eternal truths which he preaches to us too4 ,i4 ,the true hope of the world is a priest4 ,the idea of priesthood is universal4 ,it has been distorted and abused2 it has been made the foundation of spiritual tyranny4 ,the priest has not been the teacher nor the elevator of the people4 ,all over the world he has been the ally of oppression and darkness1 he has hindered and cramped social and intellectual progress4 ,and yet1 in spite of all this1 there the office stands1 and wherever men go1 by some strange perversity they take with them this idea1 and choose from among themselves those who1 being endowed with some sort of ceremonial and symbolic purity1 shall discharge for their brethren the double office of representing them before ,god1 of representing ,god to them4 ,that is what the world means1 with absolute and entire unanimity1 by a priest--one who shall be sacrificer1 intercessor1 representative2 bearer of man's worship1 channel of ,god's blessing4 ,how comes it1 that1 in spite of all the cruelties and lies that have gathered round the office1 it lives1 indestructible1 among the families of men8 ,why1 because it springs from1 and corresponds to1 real and universal wants in their nature4 ,it is the result of the universal consciousness of sin4 ,men feel that there is a gulf betwixt them and ,god4 ,they know themselves to be all foul4 ,true1 as their knowledge of ,god dims and darkens1 their conscience hardens and their sense of sin lessens2 but1 as long as there is any notion of ,god at all1 there will be a parallel and corresponding conviction of moral evil4 ,and so1 feeling that1 and feeling it1 as ,i believe1 not because they are rude and barbarous1 but because1 though rude and barbarous1 they still preserve some trace of their true relation to ,god1 they lay hold upon some of their fellows1 and say1 ',here6 be thou for us this thing which we cannot be for ourselves--stand thou there in front of us1 and be at once the expression of our knowledge that we dare not come before our gods1 and likewise1 if it may be1 the medium by which their gifts may come on us1 unworthy4' ,that is a wide-spread and all but universally expressed instinct of human nature4 ,argue about it as you like1 explain it away how you choose1 charge the notions of priesthood and sacrifice with exaggeration1 immorality1 barbarism1 if you will--still the thing remains4 ,and ,i believe for my part that1 so far from that want being one which will be left behind1 with other rude and savage desires1 as men advance in civilisation--it is as real and as permanent as the craving of the understanding for truth1 and of the heart for love4 ,when men lose it1 it is because they are barbarised1 not civilised1 into forgetting it4 ,on that rock all systems of religion and eminently all theories of ,christianity1 that leave out priest and sacrifice1 will strike and split4 ,the ,gospel for the world must be one which will meet all the facts of man's condition4 ,chief among these facts is this necessity of the conscience1 as expressed by the forms in which for thousands of years the worship of mankind has been embodied all but everywhere--an altar1 and a priest standing by its side4 ,i need not pause to remind you how this ,jewish people1 who have at all events taught the world the purest ,theism1 and led men up to the most spiritual religion1 had this same institution of a priesthood for the very centre of its worship4 ,nor need ,i dwell at length on the fact that the ,new ,testament gives--in its full adhesion to the same idea4 ,we are told that all these sacerdotal allusions in it are only putting pure spiritual truth in the guise of the existing stage of religious development--the husk1 not the kernel4 ,it seems to me much rather that the ,old ,testament ceremonial--,temple1 priesthood1 sacrifice--was established for this along with other purposes1 to be a shadow of things to come4 ,christ's office is not metaphorically illustrated by reference to the ,jewish ritual2 but the ,jewish ritual is the metaphor1 and ,christ's office the reality4 ,he is the ,priest4 ,and what is the priest whom men crave8 ,the first requisite is oneness with those whom he represents4 ,men have ever felt that one of themselves must fill this office1 and have taken from among their brethren their medium of communication with ,god4 ,and we have a ,priest who1 'in all things1 is made like unto ,his brethren1' having taken part of their flesh and blood1 and being 'in all points tempted like as we are4' ,the next requisite is that these men1 who minister at earth's altars1 should1 by some lustration1 or abstinence1 or white robe1 or other external sign1 be separated from the profane crowd1 and possess1 at all events1 a symbolic purity--expression of the conviction that a priest must be cleaner and closer to ,god than his fellows4 ,and we have a ,priest who is holy1 harmless1 undefiled1 radiant in perfect purity1 lustrous with the light of constant union with ,god4 ,and again1 as in nature and character1 so in function1 ,christ corresponds to the widely expressed wants of men1 as shown in their priesthoods4 ,they sought for one who should offer gifts and sacrifices on their behalf1 and we have ,one who is 'a merciful and faithful ,high ,priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people4' ,they sought for a man who should pass into the awful presence1 and plead for them while they stood without1 and we lift hopeful eyes of love to the heavens1 'whither the ,forerunner is for us entered1 even ,jesus1 made an ,high ,priest for ever4' ,they sought for a man who should be the medium of divine blessings bestowed upon the worshippers1 and we know who hath gone within the veil1 having ascended up on high1 that ,he might give gifts unto men4 ,the world needs a priest4 ,its many attempts to find such show how deep is the sense of need1 and what he must be who shall satisfy them4 ,we have the ,priest that the world and ourselves require4 ,i believe that modern ,englishmen1 with the latest results of civilisation colouring their minds and moulding their characters1 stand upon the very same level1 so far as this matter is concerned1 as the veriest savage in ,african wilds1 who has darkened even the fragment of truth which he possesses1 till it has become a lie and the parent of lies4 ,you and ,i1 and all our brethren1 alike need a brother who shall be holy and close to ,god1 who shall offer sacrifices for us1 and bring ,god to us4 ,for you and me1 and all our brethren alike1 the good news is true1 'we have a great ,high ,priest that is passed into the heavens1 ,jesus1 the ,son of ,god4' ,that message quenches the fire on every other altar1 and strips the mitre from every other head4 ,it1 and it alone1 meets fully and for ever that strange craving1 which1 though it has been productive of so many miseries and so many errors1 though it has led to grinding tyranny and dark superstitions1 though it has never anywhere found what it longs for1 remains deep in the soul1 indestructible and hungry1 till it is vindicated and enlightened and satisfied by the coming of the true ,priest1' made not after the law of a carnal commandment1 but after the power of an endless life4' ,,ii4 ,our text tells us1 secondly1 that 'the priest of the world is the king of men4' ',he shall be a ,priest upon ,his throne4' ,in ,israel these two offices were jealously kept apart1 and when one monarch1 in a fit of overweening self-importance1 tried to unite in his own person the kingly and the priestly functions1 'the leprosy rose up in his forehead1' even as he stood with the censer in his hand1 and ',uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death4' ,and the history of the world is full of instances1 in which the struggles of the temporal and spiritual power have caused calamities only less intolerable than those which flowed from that alliance of priests and kings which has so often made monarchy a grinding tyranny1 and religion a mere instrument of statecraft4 ,history being witness1 it would seem to be a very doubtful blessing for the world that one man should wield both forms of control without check or limitation1 and be at once king and priest4 ,if the words before us refer to any one but to ,christ1 the prophet had an altogether mistaken notion about what would be good for men1 politically and ecclesiastically1 and we may be thankful that his dream has never come true4 ,but if they point to the ,son of ,david who has died for us1 and declare that because ,he is ,priest1 ,he is therefore ,king--oh6 then they are full of blessed truth concerning the basis and the nature and the purpose of ,his dominion1 which may well make us lift up our heads and rejoice that in the midst of tyranny and anarchy1 of sovereignties whose ultimate resort is force1 there is another kingdom--the most absolute of despotisms and yet the most perfect democracy1 whose law is love1 whose subjects are every one the children of a ,king1 the kingdom of that ,priest-ruler on whose head is ,aaron's mitre1 and more than ,david's crown4 ,he does rule4 ',the kingdom of ,christ' is no unreal fanciful phrase4 ,take the lowest ground4 ,who is it that1 by the words ,he spoke1 by the deeds ,he did1 by the life ,he lived1 has shaped the whole form of moral and religious thought and life in the civilised world8 ,is there ,one among the great of old1 the dead yet sceptred sovereigns1 who still rule our spirits from their urns1 whose living power over thought and heart and deed among the dominant races of the earth is to be compared with ,his8 ,and beyond that1 we believe that1 as the result of ,his mighty work on earth1 the dominion of the whole creation is ,his1 and ,he is ,king of kings1 and ,lord of lords1 that ,his will is sovereign and ,his voice is absolute law1 to which all the powers of nature1 all the confusions of earth's politics1 all the unruly wills of men1 all the pale kingdoms of the dead1 and all the glorious companies of the heavens1 do bow in real though it be sometimes unconscious and sometimes reluctant obedience4 ,the foundation of ,his rule is ,his sacrifice2 or in other words--no truer though a little more modern in their sound--men will do anything for ,him who does that for them4 ,men will yield their whole souls to the warmth and light that stream from the ,cross1 as the sunflower turns itself to the sun4 ,he that can give an anodyne which is not an opiate1 to my conscience--,he that can appeal to my heart and will1 and say1 ',i have given ,myself for thee1' will never speak in vain to those who accept ,his gift1 when ,he says1 ',now give thyself to ,me4' ,brethren6 it is not the thinker who is the true king of men1 as we sometimes hear it proudly said4 ,we need ,one who will not only show but be the ,truth2 who will not only point1 but open and be1 the ,way2 who will not only communicate thought1 but give1 because ,he is1 the ,life4 ,not the rabbi's pulpit1 nor the teacher's desk1 still less the gilded chairs of earthly monarchs1 least of all the tents of conquerors1 are the throne of the true ,king4 ,he rules from the ,cross4 ,the one dominion worth naming1 that over men's inmost spirits1 springs from the one sacrifice which alone calms and quickens men's inmost spirits4 ',thou art the ,king of ,glory1 ,o ,christ1' for ,thou art 'the ,lamb of ,god1 which taketh away the sin of the world4' ,his rule is wielded ,in gentleness4 ,priestly dominion has ever been fierce1 suspicious1 tyrannous4 ',his words were softer than oil1 yet were they drawn swords4' ,but the sway of this merciful and faithful ,high ,priest is full of tenderness4 ,his sceptre is not the warrior's mace1 nor the jewelled rod of gold1 but the reed--emblem of the lowliness of ,his heart1 and of authority guided by love4 ,and all ,his rule is for the blessing of ,his subjects1 and the end of it is that they may be made free by obedience1 emancipated in and for service1 crowned as kings by submission to the ,king of kings1 consecrated as priests by their reliance on the only ,priest over the house of ,god1 whose loving will rests not until it has made all ,his people like ,himself4 ,then1 dear brethren6 amid all the anarchic chaos of this day1 when old institutions are crumbling or crashing into decay1 when the whole civilised world seems slowly and painfully parting from its old moorings1 and like some unwieldy raft1 is creaking and straining at its chains as it feels the impulse of the swift current that is bearing it to an unknown sea1 when venerable names cease to have power1 when old truths are flouted as antiquated1 and the new ones seem so long in making their appearance1 when a perfect ,babel of voices stuns us1 and on every side are pretenders to the throne which they fancy vacant1 let us joyfully welcome all change1 and hopefully anticipate the future4 ,lifting our eyes from the world1 let us fix them on the likeness of a throne above the firmament that is above the cherubs1 and rejoice since there we behold 'the likeness as the appearance of a man upon it4' ',shout1 ,o daughter of ,jerusalem2 behold1 thy ,king cometh unto thee4' ,,iii4 ,our text still further reminds us that the ,priest-,king of men builds among men the ,temple of ,god4 ,the ,prophet and his companions had become familiar in their captivity with the gigantic palaces and temples which ,assyrian and ,babylonian monarchs had a passion for rearing4 ,they had learned to regard the king as equally magnified by his conquests and by his buildings4 ,zechariah foretells that the true ,king shall rear a temple more lasting than ,solomon's1 more magnificent than those which towered on their marble-faced platforms over the ,chaldean plain4 ,christ is ,himself the true ,temple of ,god4 ,whatsoever that shadowed ,christ is or gives4 ,in ,him dwelt all the fulness of the ,godhead4 ',the glory' which once dwelt between the cherubim1 'tabernacled among us' in ,his flesh4 ,as the place of sacrifice1 as the place where men meet ,god1 as the seat of revelation of the divine will1 the true tabernacle which the ,lord hath pitched is the ,manhood of our ,lord4 ,christ builds the temple4 ,by faith1 the individual soul becomes the abode of ,god1 and into our desecrated spirits there comes the ,king of ,glory4 ',know ye not that ye are the temples of ,god8' ,by faith1 the whole body of believing men 'are builded together for an habitation of ,god through the ,spirit4' ,christ builds this temple because ,he is the ,temple4 ,by ,his incarnation and work1 ,he makes our communion with ,god and ,god's dwelling in us possible4 ,by ,his death and sacrifice ,he draws men to ,himself1 and blends them in a living unity4 ,by the gift of ,his ,spirit and ,his life1 ,he hallows their wills1 and makes them partakers of ,his own likeness2 so that 'coming to ,him1 we also are built up a spiritual house4' ,christ builds the temple1 and uses us as ,his servants in the work4 ,our prophecy was given to encourage faint-hearted toilers1 not to supply an excuse for indolence4 ,underlying all our poor labours1 and blessing them all1 is the power of ,christ4 ,we may well work diligently who work in the line of ,his purposes1 after the pattern of ,his labours1 in the strength of ,his power1 under the watchfulness of ,his eye4 ,the little band may be few and feeble2 let them not be fearful1 for ,he1 the throned ,priest1 even ,he1 and not they with their inadequate resources1 shall build the temple4 ,christ builds on through all the ages1 and the prophecy of our text is yet unfulfilled4 ,its fulfilment is the meaning and end of all history4 ,for the present1 there has to be much destructive as well as constructive work done4 ,many a wretched hovel1 the abode of sorrow and want1 many a den of infamy1 many a palace of pride1 many a temple of idols1 will have to be pulled down yet1 and men's eyes will be blinded by the dust1 and their hearts will ache as they look at the ruins4 ,be it so4 ,the finished structure will obliterate the remembrance of poor buildings that cumbered its site4 ,this ,emperor of ours may indeed say1 that ,he found the city of brick and made it marble4 ,have patience if ,his work is slow2 mourn not if it is destructive2 doubt not1 though the unfinished walls1 and corridors that seem to lead nowhere1 and all the confusion of unfinished toils puzzle you1 when you try to make out the plan4 ,see to it1 my brother1 that you lend a hand and help to rear the true temple1 which is rising slowly through the ages1 at which successive generations toil1 and from whose unfinished glories they dying depart1 but which shall be completed1 because the true ,builder 'ever liveth1' and is 'a priest for ever after the order of ,melchizedek4' ,above all1 brethren6 take heed that you are yourselves builded in that temple4 ,travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries long abandoned or once worked by a vanished race1 great blocks squared and dressed1 that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine4 ,but there they lie1 neglected and forgotten1 and the building for which they were hewn has been reared without them4 ,beware lest ,god's grand temple should be built up without you1 and you be left to desolation and decay4 ,trust your souls to ,christ1 and ,he will set you in the spiritual house which the ,king greater than ,solomon is building still4 ,in one of the mosques of ,damascus1 which has been a ,christian church1 and before that was a heathen temple1 the portal bears1 deep cut in ,greek characters1 the inscription1 ',thy kingdom1 ,o ,christ1 is an everlasting kingdom1 and ,thy dominion endureth throughout all generations4' ,the confident words seem contradicted by the twelve centuries of ,mohammedanism on which they have looked down4 ,but though their silent prophecy is unheeded and unheard by the worshippers below1 it shall be proved true one day1 and the crescent shall wane before the steady light of the ,sun of ,righteousness4 ,the words are carven deep over the portals of the temple which ,christ rears2 and though men may not be able to read them1 and may not believe them if they do1 though for centuries traffickers have defiled its courts1 and base-born usurpers have set up their petty thrones1 yet the writing stands sure1 a dumb witness against the transient lies1 a patient prophet of the eternal truth4 ,and when all false faiths1 and their priests who have oppressed men and traduced ,god1 have vanished2 and when kings that have prostituted their great and godlike office to personal advancement and dynastic ambition are forgotten2 and when every shrine reared for obscene and bloody rites1 or for superficial and formal worship1 has been cast to the ground1 then from out of the confusion and desolation shall gleam the temple of ,god1 which is the refuge of men1 and on the one throne of the universe shall sit the ,eternal ,priest--our ,brother1 ,jesus the ,christ4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,malachi ,a ,,dialogue ,,with ,,god ',a son honoureth his father1 and a servant his master3 if then ,i be a ,father1 where is ,mine honour8 and if ,i be a master1 where is ,my fear8 saith the ,lord of ,hosts unto you1 ,o priests1 that despise ,my ,name4 ,and ye say1 ,wherein have we despised ,thy ,name8 #g4 ,ye offer polluted bread upon ,mine altar4 ,and ye say1 ,wherein have we polluted ,thee8'--,,malachi i4 #f1 #g4 ,a charactistic of this latest of the prophets is the vivacious dialogue of which our text affords one example4 ,god speaks and the people question ,his word1 which in reply ,he reiterates still more strongly4 ,the other instances of its occurrence may here be briefly noted1 and we shall find that they cover all the aspects of the divine speech to men1 whether ,he charges sin home upon them or pronounces threatenings of judgment1 or invites by gracious promises the penitent to return4 ,his charges of sin are repelled in our text and in the following verse by the indignant question1 ',wherein have we polluted ,thee8' ,and similarly in the next chapter the divine accusation1 ',ye have wearied the ,lord with your words1' is thrown back with the contemptuous retort1 ',wherein have we wearied ,him8' ,and in like manner in the third chapter1 ',ye have robbed ,me1' calls forth no confession but only the defiant answer1' ,wherein have we robbed ,thee8' ,and in a later verse1 the accusation1 ',your words have been stout against ,me1' is traversed by the question1 ',what have we spoken so much against ,thee8' ,similarly the threatening of judgment that the ,lord will 'cut off' the men that 'profane the holiness of the ,lord' calls forth only the rebutting question1 ',wherefore8' 7ii4 #ad74 ,and even the gracious invitation1 ',return unto ,me1 and ,i will return unto you1' evokes not penitence1 but the stiff-necked reply1 ',wherein shall we return8' 7iii4 #g74 ,in this sermon we may deal with the first of these three cases1 and consider1 ,god's ,indictment1 and man's plea of ',not guilty4' ,i4 ,god's ,indictment4 ,the precise nature of the charge is to be carefully considered4 ,the ,name is the sum of the revealed character1 and that ,name has been despised4 ,the charge is not that it has been blasphemed1 but that it has been neglected1 or under-estimated1 or cared little about4 ,the pollution of the table of the ,lord is the overt act by which the attitude of mind and heart expressed in despising ,his ,name is manifested2 but the overt act is secondary and not primary--a symptom of a deeper-lying disease4 ,and herein our ,prophet is true to the whole tenor of the ,old ,testament teaching1 which draws its indictment against men primarily in regard to their attitude1 and only as a manifestation of that1 to their acts4 ,the same deed may be1 if estimated in relation to human law1 a crime3 if estimated in relation to godless ethics1 a wrong2 and if estimated in the only right way1 namely1 the attitude towards ,god which it reveals1 a sin4 ',the despising of ,his ,name' may be taken as the very definition of sin4 ,it is usual with men to-day to say that ',sin is selfishness'2 but that statement does not go deep enough unless it be recognised that self-regard only becomes sin when it rears its puny self in opposition to1 or in disregard of1 the plain will of ,god4 ,the ',new ,theology1' of course1 minimises1 even where it does not1 as it to be consistent should1 deny the possibility of sin3 for1 if ,god is all and all is ,god1 there can be no opposition1 there can be no divine will to be opposed1 and no human will to oppose it4 ,but the fact of sin certified by men's own consciences is the rock on which ,pantheism must always strike and sink4 ,a superficial view of human history and of human nature may try to explain away the fact of sin by shallow talk about 'heredity' and 'environment1' or about 'ignorance' and 'mistakes'2 but after all such euphemistic attempts to rechristen the ugly thing by beguiling names1 the fact remains1 and conscience bears sometimes unwilling witness to its existence1 that men do set their own inclinations against ,god's commands1 and that there is in them that which is 'not subject to the law of ,god1 neither indeed can be4' ,the root of all sin is the despising of ,his ,name4 ,and as sin has but one root1 it has many branches1 and as working backwards from deed to motive1 we find one common element in all the various acts2 so working outwards from motive to deed1 we have to see one common character stamped upon a tragical variety of acts4 ,the poison-water is exhibited in many variously coloured and tasted draughts1 but however unlike each other they may be1 it is always the same4 ,the great effort of ,god's love is to press home this consciousness of despising ,his ,name upon all hearts4 ,the sorrows1 losses1 and disappointments which come to us all are not meant only to make us suffer1 but through suffering to lead us to recognise how far we have wandered from our ,father1 and to bring us back to ,his heart and our home4 ,the beginning of all good in us is the contrite acknowledgment of our evil4 ,christ's first preaching was the continuation of ,john's message1 ',repent ye1 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'2 and ,his tenderest revelation of the divine love incarnated in ,himself was meant to arouse the penitent confession1 ',i am no more worthy to be called ,thy son1' and the quickening resolve1 ',i will arise and go to my ,father4' ,there is no way to ,god but through the narrow gate of repentance4 ,there is no true reception of the gift of ,christ which does not begin with a vivid and heart-broken consciousness of my own sin4 ,we can pass into1 and abide in1 the large room of joyous acceptance and fellowship1 but we must reach it by a narrow path walled in by gloomy rocks and trodden with bleeding feet4 ,the penitent knowledge of oar sin is the first step towards the triumphant knowledge of ,christ's righteousness as ours4 ,only they who have called out in the agony of their souls1 ',lord1 save us1 we perish1' have truly learned the love of ,god1 and truly possess the salvation that is in ,christ4 ,,ii4 ,man's plea of ',not ,guilty4' ,that such an answer should be given to such a charge is a strange1 solemn fact1 which tragically confirms the true indictment4 ,the effect of all sin is to make us less conscious of its presence1 as persons in an unventilated room are not aware of its closeness4 ,it is with profound truth that the ,apostle speaks of being hardened by the 'deceitfulness' of sin4 ,it comes to us in a cloud and enfolds us in obscure mist4 ,like white ants1 it never works in the open1 but makes a tunnel or burrows under ground1 and1 hidden in some piece of furniture1 eats away all its substance whilst it seems perfectly solid4 ,the man's perception of the standard of duty is enfeebled4 ,we lose our sense of the moral character of any habitual action1 just as a man who has lived all his life in a slum sees little of its hideousness1 and knows nothing of green fields and fresh air4 ,conscience is silenced by being neglected4 ,it can be wrongly educated and perverted1 so that it may regard sin as doing ,god's service2 and the only judgment in which it can be absolutely trusted is the declaration that it is right to do right1 while all its other decisions as to what is right may be biassed by self-interest2 but the force with which it pronounces its only unalterable decision depends on the whole tenor of the life of the man4 ,the sins which are most in accordance with our characters1 and are therefore most deeply rooted in us1 are those which we are least likely to recognise as sins4 ,so1 the more sinful we are1 the less we know it2 therefore there is need for a fixed standard outside of us4 ,the light on the deck cannot guide us2 there must be the lighthouse on the rock4 ,this sad answer of the heart untouched by ,god's appeal prevents all further access of ,god's love to that heart4 ,that love can only enter when the reply to its indictment is1 ',i have despised ,thy name4' ,let us not forget the ,new ,testament modification of the divine accusation4 ',in ,christ' is the ,name of ,god fully and finally revealed to men4 ,for us who live in the blaze of the ineffable brightness of the revelation1 our attitude towards ,him who brings it is the test of our 'hallowing of the ,name' which ,he brings4 ,he ,himself has varied ,malachi's indictment when ,he said1 ',he that despiseth ,me despiseth ,him that sent ,me4' ,our sin is now to be measured by our under-estimate and neglect of ,him1 and chiefly of ,his ,cross4 ,that ,cross prevents our consciousness of sin from becoming despair of pardon4 ,judas went out1 and with bitter weeping1 himself ended his traitorous life4 ,if ,god's last word to us were1 ',ye have despised ,my ,name1' and it sank into our souls1 there would be no hope for any of us4 ,but the message which begins with the universal indictment of sin passes into the message which holds forth forgiveness and freedom as universal as the sin1 and ',god hath concluded all in unbelief that ,he may have mercy upon all4' ,,blemished ,,offerings ',offer it now unto thy governor2 will he be pleased with thee1 or accept thy person8 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4'--,,malachi i4 #h4 ,a word of explanation may indicate my purpose in selecting this1 ,i am afraid1 unfamiliar text4 ,the ,prophet has been vehemently rebuking a characteristic mean practice of the priests1 who were offering maimed and diseased animals in sacrifice4 ,they were probably dishonest as well as mean1 because the worshippers would bring sound beasts1 and the priests1 for their own profit1 slipped in a worthless animal1 and kept the valuable one for themselves4 ,they had become so habituated to this piece of economical religion1 that they saw no harm in it1 and when they offered the lame and the sick and the blind for sacrifice they said to themselves1 ',it is not evil4' ,and so ,malachi1 with the sudden sharp thrust of my text1 tries to rouse their torpid consciences4 ,he says to them3 ',take that diseased creature that you are not ashamed to lay on ,god's altar1 and try what the governor'--the official appointed by the ,persian ,kings to rule over the returned exiles--'will think about it4 ,will an offering of that sort be considered a compliment or an insult8 ,do you think it will smooth your way or help your suit with him8 ,surely ,god deserves as much reverence as the deputy of ,artaxerxes4 ,surely what is not good enough for a ,persian satrap is not good enough for the ,lord of ,hosts4 ,offer it to the governor1 will he be pleased with it8 ,will he accept thy person8' ,now1 it seems to me that this cheap religion of the priests1 and this scathing irony of the ,prophet's counsel need little modification to fit us very closely4 ,you will bear me witness1 ,i think1 that ,i do not often speak to you about money4 ,but ,i am going to try to bring out something about the great subject of ,christian administration of earthly possessions from this text1 because ,i believe that the ,christian consciousness of this generation does need a great deal of rousing and instructing about this matter4 ,i4 ,we note the startling and strange contrast which the text suggests4 ,the diseased lamb was laid without scruple or hesitation on ,god's altar1 and not one of these tricky priests durst have taken it to ,court in order to secure favour there4 ,generalise that1 and it comes to this--the gifts that we lavish on men are the condemnation of the gifts that we bring to ,god2 and further1 we should be ashamed to offer to men what we are not in the least ashamed to bring to ,god4 ,let me illustrate in one or two points4 ,let us contrast in our own consciences1 for instance1 the sort of love that we give to one another with the sort of love that we bring to ,him4 ,how strong1 how perennially active1 how delighting in sacrifice and service1 what a felt source of blessedness is the love that knits many husbands and wives1 many parents and children1 many lovers and friends together6 ,and in dreadful contrast1 how languid1 how sporadic and interrupted1 how reluctant when called upon for service and sacrifice1 how little operative in our lives is the love we bring to ,god6 ,we durst not lay upon the altar of family affection1 of wedded love1 of true friendship1 a love of such a sort as we take to ,god and expect ,him to he satisfied with4 ,it would be an insult if offered to 'the governor1' but we think it good enough for the ,king of kings4 ,here a gushing flood1 there a straitened trickle coming drop by drop2 here a glowing flame that fills life with warmth and light1 there a few dying embers4 ,measure and contrast the love that is lavished by men upon one another1 and the love that is coldly brought to ,him4 ,and ,i think we must all bow our heads penitently4 ,contrast the trust that we put in one another1 and the trust that we direct to ,him4 ,in the one case it is absolute4 ',i am as sure as ,i am of my own existence that so-and-so will always be as true as steel to me1 and will never fail me1 and whatever he1 or she1 does1 or fails to do1 no shadow of suspicion1 or mist of doubt1 will creep across the sunshine of our sky4' ,and in contrast to the firm grasp with which we clasp an infirm human hand1 there is a tremulous touch1 scarcely a grasp at all1 which we lay upon the one ,hand that is strong enough always to be outstretched for our defence and our blessing4 ,contrast your confidence in men1 and your confidence in ,god4 ,are we not all committing the absurdity of absolutely trusting that which has no stability or stay1 and refusing so to trust that which is the ,rock of ,ages8 ,god's faithfulness is absolute1 our faith in it is tremulous4 ,men's faithfulness is uncertain1 our faith in it is entire4 ,we might contrast the submission and obedience with which we follow those who have secured our confidence and evoked our love1 as contrasted with the rebellion1 the reluctance1 the self-will1 which come in to break and mar our submission to ,god4 ,men that will not take ,jesus ,christ for their ,master1 and refuse to follow ,him when ,he speaks1 will bind themselves to some human teacher1 and enrol themselves as disciples in some school of thought or science or philosophy1 with a submission so entire1 that it puts to shame the submission which ,christians render to the ,incarnate ,truth ,himself4 ,and so ,i might go on1 all round the horizon of our human nature1 and signalise the difference that exists between the blemished sacrifices which each part of our being dares to bring to ,god and expects ,him to accept1 and the sacrifices1 unblemished and spotless1 which we carry to one another4 ,but let me say a word more directly about the subject of which ,malachi is speaking4 ,it seems to me that we may well take a very condemnatory contrast between what we offer to ,god in regard to our administration of earthly good1 and what we offer on other altars4 ,contrast what you give1 for directly beneficent and ,christian purposes1 with what you spend1 without two thoughts1 on your own comfort1 indulgence1 recreation1 tastes--sometimes doubtful tastes--and the like4 ,contrast ,england's drink bill and ,england's missionary contribution4 ,we spend ,l#aj1jjj1jjj on some wretched war1 and some of you think it is cheap at the price1 and the whole contributions of ,english ,christians to missionary purposes in a twelvemonth do not amount to a tenth of that sum4 ,you offer that to the spread of ,christ's kingdom4 ',offer it to your ,government1' and try to compound for your share of the ten millions that you are going to spend in shells and gunpowder by the amount you give to ,christian missions1 and you will very soon have the tax-gatherer down on you4 ',will he be pleased with it8' ,this one ,missionary ,society with which we are nominally connected has an income of ,l#gj1jjj a year4 ,i suppose that is about a shilling per head from the members of our congregations4 ,of this congregation there are many that never give us a farthing1 except1 perhaps1 the smallest coin in their pockets when the collecting-box comes round4 ,i do not suppose that there is one of us that applies the underlying principle in our text1 of giving ,god our best1 to this work4 ,i am not going to urge you4 ,it is my business now simply to state1 as boldly and strongly as ,i can1 the fact2 and ,i say with all sadness1 with self-condemnation1 as well as bringing an indictment against my brethren1 but with the clearest conviction that ,i am not exaggerating in the smallest degree1 that the contrast between what we lavish on other things and what we give for ,god's work in the world1 is a shameful contrast1 like that other which the ,prophet gibbeted with his indignant eloquence4 ,,ii4 ,and now let me come to another point--viz41 that we have here suggested and implied the true law and principle on which all ,christian giving of all sorts is to be regulated4 ,and that is--give the best4 ,the diseased animal was no more fit for the altar of ,god than it was for the shambles of the viceroy4 ,it was the entire and unblemished one that would be accepted in either case4 ,but for us ,christian people that general principle has to be expanded4 ,let me do it in two or three sentences4 ,the foundation of all is 'the unspeakable ,gift4' ,jesus ,christ has given ,himself1 ,god has given ,his ,son4 ,and ,jesus ,christ and ,god1 in giving1 gave up that we might receive4 ,do you believe that8 ,do you believe it about yourself8 ,if you do1 then the next step becomes certain4 ,that gift1 truly received by any man1 will infallibly lead to a kindred 7though infinitely inferior7 self-surrender4 ,if once we come within the circle of the attraction of that great ,sun1 if ,i might so say1 it will sweep us clean out of our orbit1 and turn us into satellites reflecting ,his light4 ,to have self for our centre is death and misery1 to have ,christ for our centre is life and blessedness4 ,and the one power that decentralises a man1 and sweeps him into an orbit around ,jesus1 is the faithful acceptance of ,his great gift4 ,just as some little ,state will give up its independence in order to be blessedly absorbed into a great ,empire1 on the frontiers of which it maintains a precarious existence1 so a man is never so strong1 never so blessed1 never so truly himself1 as when the might of ,christ's sacrifice has melted down all his selfishness1 and has made it flow out in rivers of self-surrender1 self-absorption1 self-annihilation1 and so self-preservation4 ',he that loseth his life shall find it4' ,then the next step is that this self-surrender1 consequent upon my faithful acceptance of the ,lord's surrender for me1 changes my whole conception as to what ,i call my possessions4 ,if ,i1 in the depths of my soul1 have yielded myself to ,jesus ,christ1 which ,i shall have done if ,i have truly accepted ,him as yielding ,himself for me1 then the yielding of self draws after it1 necessarily1 and without a question1 a new relation between me and all that ,i have and all that ,i can do4 ,capacities1 faculties1 means1 opportunities1 powers of brain and heart and mind1 and everything else--they all belong to ,him4 ,as in old times a nobleman came and put his hands between the ,king's hands1 and kneeling before him surrendered his lands1 and all his property1 to the over-lord1 and got them back again for his own1 so we shall do1 in the measure in which we have accepted ,christ as our ,saviour and our ,guide4 ,and so1 because am ,his1 ,i shall feel that ,i am ,his steward to administer what ,he gives me1 not for myself1 but for men and for ,god4 ,then there follows another thing1 and that is1 that ,christian giving1 not of money only1 but of money in a very eminent degree1 is only right and truly ,christian when you give yourself with your gift4 ,a great many of us put our sixpence1 or our half-crown1 or our sovereign1 into the plate1 and no part of ourselves goes with it1 except a little twinge of unwillingness to part with it4 ,that is how they fling bones to dogs4 ,that is not how you have to give your money and your efforts to ,god and ,god's cause4 ,farmers nowadays sow their seed-corn out of a machine with a number of little conical receptacles at the back of it and a small hole in the bottom of each1 and as the thing goes bumping along over the furrows1 out they fall4 ,that drill does as well as1 and better than1 the hand of the sower scattering the seed1 but it does not do near as well in the ,christian agriculture in sowing the seed of the ,kingdom4 ,machine-work will not do there2 we have to have the sower's hand1 and the sower's heart with his hand1 as he scatters the seed4 ,brethren6 apply the lesson to yourselves1 and let your sympathies and your prayers and your wishes to help go along with your gifts1 if you intend them to be of any good4 ,and there is another thing1 and that is that1 somehow or other1 if not in the individual gifts1 at all events in their aggregate1 there must be present the fact of sacrifice4 ',i will not offer unto the ,lord burnt offerings of that which doth cost me nothing1' said the old king4 ,and we do not give as we ought1 unless our gifts involve some measure of sacrifice4 ,from many a subscription list some of the biggest donations would disappear1 like the top-writing in one of those old manuscripts where the ,gospel has been half-erased and written over with some foolish legend1 which vanishes when the detergent liquid is applied to the parchment1 if that thought were brought to bear upon it4 ,god asks how much is kept1 not how much is given4 ,now1 dear friends1 these are all threadbare1 elementary1 ',a4,b4,c4' truths4 ,are they the alphabet of our stewardship and administration of our possessions8 ,,iii4 ,one last suggestion ,i would make on this text is that it brings before us the possible blessing and possible grave results of right or wrong ,christian giving4 ',will he be pleased with it8 ,or will he accept thy person8' ,will the governor think the hobbling creature1 blind of an eye1 and infected with some sickness1 to be a beautiful addition to his flock8 ,will it help your suit with him8 ,no6 ,it is ,new ,testament teaching that our faithfulness in the administration of earthly possessions of all sorts has a bearing on our spiritual life4 ,remember our ,lord's triple illustration of this principle1 when ,he speaks about faithfulness 'in that which is least1' leading on to the possession of that which is the greatest2 when ,he speaks of faithfulness in regard to 'the unrighteous ,mammon' leading on to being intrusted with the true riches2 when ,he speaks of faithfulness in our administration of that which is another's--alien to ourselves1 and which may pass into the possession of a thousand more--leading on to our firmer hold1 and our deeper and fuller possession of the riches which1 in the deepest sense of the word1 are our own4 ,one very important element in the development and advance of the religious life is our right use of these earthly things4 ,i have seen many a case in which a man was far better when he was a poor man than he was when a rich one1 in which slowly1 stealthily1 certainly1 the love of wealth has closed round a man like an iron band round a sapling1 and has hindered the growth of his ,christian character1 and robbed him of the best things4 ,and1 ,god be thanked6 one has seen cases1 too1 in which1 by their ,christian use of outward possessions1 men have weakened the dominion of self upon themselves1 have learned the subordinate value of the wealth that can be counted and detached from its possessor1 and have grown in the grace and knowledge of the ,lord and ,saviour ,jesus ,christ4 ,dear friends1 ,god has given all of us something in charge1 the faithful use of which is a potent factor in the growth of our ,christian characters4 ,it is ,new ,testament teaching that our faithful administration of earthly possessions has a bearing on the future4 ,remember what ,jesus ,christ said1 ',that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations4' ,remember what ,his ,apostle says1 ',laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come1 that they may lay hold on eternal life4' ,let no fear of imperilling the great truth of salvation by faith lead us to forget that the faith which saves manifests its vitality and genuineness1 by its effects upon our lives1 and that no small part of our lives is concerned with the right acquisition and right use of these perishable outward gifts4 ,and let us take care that we do not1 in our dread of damaging the free grace of ,god1 forget that although we do not earn blessedness1 here or hereafter1 by gifts whilst we are living or legacies when we are dead1 the administration of money has an important part to play in shaping ,christian character1 and the ,christian character which we acquire here settles our hereafter4 ,brethren6 we all need to revise our scale of giving1 especially in regard to missionary operations4 ,and if we will do that at the foot of the ,cross1 then we shall join the chorus1 ',worthy is the ,lamb that was slain to receive riches1' and we shall come to ,him 'bringing our silver and our gold with us1' rejoicing that ,he gives us the possibility of sharing ,his blessedness1 'according to the word of the ,lord ,jesus which ,he spake1 ,it is more blessed to give than to receive4' ,a ,,dialogue ,,with ,,god ',the ,lord will cut off the man that doeth this 444 out of the tents of ,jacob1 444 #ad4 ,yet ye say1 ,wherefore8 ,because the ,lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth4'--,,malachi ii4 #ab1 #ad 7,r4,v474 ,it is obvious from the whole context that divorce and foreign inter-marriage were becoming increasingly prevalent in ,malachi's time4 ,the conditions in these respects were nearly similar to that prevailing in the times of ,ezra and ,nehemiah4 ,it is these sins which the ,prophet is here vehemently condemning1 and for which he threatens to cut off the transgressors out of the tents of ,jacob1 and to regard no more their offerings and simulated worship4 ,they might cover 'the altar of the ,lord with tears1' but the sacrifice which they laid upon it was polluted by the sins of their daily domestic life1 and therefore was not 'regarded by ,him any more4' ,malachi is true to the prophetic spirit when he denounces a religion which has the form of godliness without its power over the practical life4 ,but his sharp accusations have their edge turned by the question1 ',wherefore8' which again calls out from the ,prophet's lips a more sharply-pointed accusation1 and a solemner warning that none should 'deal treacherously against the wife of his youth1' 'for ,i hate putting away1 saith the ,lord4' ,we may dismiss any further reference to the circumstances of the text1 and regard it as but one instance of man's way of treating the voice of ,god when it warns of the consequences of the sin of man4 ,looked at from such a point of view the words of our text bring before us ,god's merciful threatenings and man's incredulous rejection of them4 ,i4 ,god's merciful threatenings4 ,the fact of sin affects ,god's relation to and dealings with the sinner4 ,it does not prevent the flowing forth of ,his love1 which is not drawn out by anything in us1 but wells up from the depths of ,his being1 like the ,jordan from its source at ,dan1 a broad stream gushing forth from the rock4 ,but that love which is the outgoing of perfect moral purity must necessarily become perfect opposition to its own opposite in the sinfulness of man4 ,the divine character is many-sided1 and whilst 'to the pure' it 'shows itself pure1' it cannot but be that 'to the froward' it 'will show itself froward4' ,man's sin has for its most certain and dreadful consequence that1 if we may so say1 it forces ,god to present the stern side of ,his nature which hates evil4 ,but not merely does sin thus modify the fact of the divine relation to men1 but it throws men into opposition in which they can see only the darkness which dwells in the light of ,god4 ,to the eye looking through a red tinted medium all things are red1 and even the crystal sea before the throne is 'a sea of glass mingled with fire4' ,no sin can stay our reception of a multitude of good gifts appealing to our hearts and revealing the patient love of our ,father in heaven1 but every sin draws after it as certainly as the shadow follows the substance1 evil consequences which work themselves out on the large scale in nations and communities1 and in the smaller spheres of individual life4 ,and surely it is the voice of love and not of anger that comes to warn us of the death which is the wages of sin4 ,it is not ,god who has ordained that 'the soul that sinneth it shall die1' but it is ,god who tells us so4 ,the train is rushing full steam ahead to the broken bridge1 and will crash down the gulph and be huddled1 a hideous ruin1 on the rocks2 surely it is care for life that holds out the red flag of danger1 and surely ,god is not to be blamed if in spite of the flag full speed is kept up and the crash comes4 ,the miseries and sufferings which follow our sins are self-inflicted1 and for the most part automatic4 ',whatsoever a man soweth1 that'--and not some other crop--'will he also reap4' ,the wages of sin are paid in ready money2 and it is as just to lay them at ,god's door as it would be to charge ,him with inflicting the disease which the dissolute man brings upon himself4 ,it is no arbitrary appointment of ,god's that 'he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption'2 nor is it ,his will acting as that of a jealous despot which makes it inevitably true that here and hereafter1 ',every transgression and disobedience shall receive its just recompense of reward1' and that to be parted from ,him is death4 ,if then we rightly understand the connection between sin and suffering1 and the fact that the sorrows which are but the echoes of preceding sins have all a distinctly moral and restorative purpose1 we are prepared rightly to estimate how tenderly the ,god who warns us against our sins by what men call threatenings loves us while ,he speaks4 ,,ii4 ,man's rejection of ,god's merciful threatenings4 ,it is the great mystery and tragedy of life that men oppose themselves to ,god's merciful warnings that all sin is a bitter1 because it is an evil1 thing4 ,he has to lament1 ',i have smitten your children1 and they have received no correction4' ,the question ',wherefore8' is asked in very various tones1 but none of them has in it the accent of true conviction2 and there is a whole world of difference between the lowly petition1 ',show me wherefore ,thou contendest with me1' and the curt1 self-complacent brushing aside of ,god's merciful threatenings in the text4 ,the last thing which most of us think of as the cause of our misfortunes is ourselves2 and we resent as almost an insult the word1 which if we were wise1 we should welcome as the crowning proof of the seeking love of our ,father in heaven4 ,we are more obstinate and foolish than ,balaam1 who persisted in his purpose when the angel with the drawn sword in his hand would have barred his way1 not to the tree of life1 but to death4 ,the awful mystery that a human will can1 and the yet sadder mystery that it does1 set itself against the divine1 is never more unintelligible1 never so stupid1 and never so tragic as when ,god says1 ',turn ye1 turn ye1 why will ye die8' and we say1 ',why need ,i die8 ,i will not turn4' ,the ',wherefore8' of our text is widely asked in the present day as an expression of utter bewilderment at the miseries of humanity1 both in the wide area of this disordered world and in the narrower field of individual lives4 ,there are whole schools of so-called political and social thinkers who have yet to learn that the one thing which the world and the individual need is not a change of conditions or environment1 but redemption from sin4 ,man's sorrows are but a symptom of his disease1 and he is no more to be healed by tinkering with these than a fever-stricken patient can be restored to health by treating the blotches on his skin which tell of the disease that courses through his veins4 ,but sometimes the question is more than an expression of bewilderment2 it conceals an arraignment of ,god's justice1 or even a denial that there is a ,god at all4 ,there are men among us who hesitate not to avow that the miseries of the world have rooted out of their minds a belief in ,him2 and who point to all the ills under which humanity staggers as conclusive against the ancient faith of a ,god of love4 ,they1 too1 forget that that love is righteousness1 and that if there be sin in the world and ,god above it1 ,he must necessarily war against it and hate it4 ,our right response to ,god's merciful threatenings is to ask this question in the right spirit4 ,we are not wise if we turn a deaf ear to ,his warnings1 or go on in a headlong course which ,he by ,his providences declared to be dangerous and fatal4 ,we use them as wise men should1 only if our ',wherefore8' is asked in order to learn our evil1 and having learned it1 to purge our bosoms of the perilous stuff by confession and to seek pardon and victory in ,christ4 ,then we shall 'know the secret of the ,lord' which is 'with them that fear ,him'2 and the mysteries that still hang over our own histories and the world's destiny will have shining down upon them the steadfast light of that love which seeks to make men blessed by making them good4 ,,the ,,last ,,word ,,of ,,prophecy ',behold1 ,i will send ,my messenger1 and he shall prepare the way before ,me3 and the ,lord1 whom ye seek1 shall suddenly come to ,his temple1 even the ,messenger of the covenant1 whom ye delight in3 behold1 ,he shall come1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 #b4 ,but who may abide the day of ,his coming8 and who shall stand when ,he appeareth8 for ,he is like a refiner's fire1 and like fullers' soap3 #c4 ,and ,he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver3 and ,he shall purify the sons of ,levi1 and purge them as gold and silver1 that they may offer unto the ,lord an offering in righteousness4 #d4 ,then shall the offering of ,judah and ,jerusalem be pleasant unto the ,lord1 as in the days of old1 and as in former years4 #e4 ,and ,i will come near to you to judgment2 and ,i will be a swift ,witness against the sorcerers1 and against the adulterers1 and against false swearers1 and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages1 the widow1 and the fatherless1 and that turn aside the stranger from his right1 and fear not ,me1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 #f4 ,for ,i am the ,lord1 ,i change not2 therefore ye sons of ,jacob are not consumed4 #g4 ,even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances1 and have not kept them4 ,return unto ,me1 and ,i will return unto you1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 ,but ye said1 ,wherein shall we return8 #h4 ,will a man rob ,god8 ,yet ye have robbed ,me4 ,but ye say1 ,wherein have we robbed ,thee8 ,in tithes and offerings4 #i4 ,ye are cursed with a curse3 for ye have robbed ,me1 even this whole nation4 #aj4 ,bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse1 that there may be meat in ,mine house1 and prove ,me now herewith1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts1 if ,i will not open you the windows of heaven1 and pour you out a blessing1 that there shall not be room enough to receive it4 #aa4 ,and ,i will rebuke the devourer for your sakes1 and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground2 neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 #ab4 ,and all nations shall call you blessed3 for ye shall be a delightsome land1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4'--,,malachi iii4 #a-ab4 ,deep obscurity surrounds the person of this last of the prophets4 ,it is questioned whether ,malachi is a proper name at all4 ,it is the ,hebrew word rendered in verse #a of our passage ',my messenger1' and this has led many authorities to contend that the prophecy is in fact anonymous1 the name being only a designation of office4 ,whether this is so or not1 the name1 if it is a name1 is all that we know about him4 ,the tenor of his prophecy shows that he lived after the restoration of the ,temple and its worship1 and the sins which he castigates are substantially those with which ,ezra and ,nehemiah had to fight4 ,one ancient ,jewish authority asserts that he was ,ezra2 but the statement has no confirmation1 and if it had been correct1 we should not have expected that such an author would have been anonymous4 ,this dim figure1 then1 is the last of the mighty line of prophets1 and gives strong utterance to the 'hope of ,israel'6 ,one clear voice1 coming from we scarcely know whose lips1 proclaims for the last time1 ',he comes6 ,he comes6' and then all is silence for four hundred years4 ,modern critics1 indeed1 hold that the bulk of the ,psalter is of later date2 but that contention has much to do before it can be regarded as established4 ,the first point worthy of notice in this passage1 then1 is the concentration1 in this last prophetic utterance1 of that element of forward-looking expectancy which marked all the earlier revelation4 ,from the beginning1 the selectest spirits in ,israel had set their faces and pointed their fingers to a great future1 which gathered distinctness as the ages rolled1 and culminated in the ,king from ,david's line1 of whom many psalms sung1 and in the suffering ,servant of the ,lord1 who shines out from the pages of the second part of ,isaiah's prophecy4 ,this ,messianic hope runs through all the ,old ,testament1 like a broadening river4 ',they that went before cried1 ,hosanna6 ,blessed is ,he that cometh4' ,that hope gives unity to the ,old ,testament1 whatever criticism may have to teach about the process of its production4 ,the most important thing about the book is that one purpose informs it all2 and the student who misses the truth that 'the testimony of ,jesus is the spirit of prophecy' has a less accurate conception of the meaning and inter-relations of the ,old ,testament than the unlearned who has accepted that great truth4 ,we should be willing to learn all that modern scholarship has to teach about the course of revelation4 ,but we should take care that the new knowledge does not darken the old certainty that the prophets 'testified beforehand of the sufferings of ,christ and of the glory that should follow1' ,here1 at the very end1 stands ,malachi1 reiterating the assurance which had come down through the centuries4 ,the prophets1 as it were1 had lit a beacon which flamed through the darkness4 ,hand after hand had flung new fuel on it when it burned low4 ,it had lighted up many a stormy night of exile and distress4 ,now we can dimly see one more1 the last of his order1 casting his brand on the fire1 which leaps up again2 and then he too passes into the darkness1 but the beacon burns on4 ,the next point to note is the clear prophecy of a forerunner4 ',my messenger' is to come1 and to 'prepare the way before ,me4' ,isaiah had heard a voice calling1 ',prepare the way of the ,lord1' and ,malachi quotes his words1 and ascribes the same office to the 'messenger4' ,in the last verses of his prophecy he calls this messenger ',elijah the prophet4' ,here1 then1 we have a remarkable instance of a historical detail set forth in prophecy4 ,the coming of the ,lord is to be immediately preceded by the appearance of a prophet1 whose function is to effect a moral and religious reformation1 which shall prepare a path for ,him4 ,this is no vague ideal1 but definite announcement of a definite fact1 to be realised in a historical personality4 ,how came this half-anonymous ,jew1 four hundred years beforehand1 to hit upon the fact that the next prophet in ,israel would herald the immediate coming of the ,lord8 ,there ought to be but one answer possible4 ,another point to note is the peculiar relation between ,jehovah and ,him who comes4 ,emphatically and broadly it is declared that ,jehovah ,himself 'shall suddenly come to ,his temple'2 and then the prophecy immediately passes on to speak of the coming of 'the ,messenger of the covenant1' and dwells for a time exclusively on his work of purifying2 and then again it glides1 without conscious breach of continuity or mark of transition1 into1 ',and ,i will come near to you in judgment4' ,a mysterious relationship of oneness and yet distinctness is here shadowed1 of which the solution is only found in the ,christian truth that the ,word1 which was ,grod1 and was in the beginning with ,god1 became flesh1 and that in ,him ,jehovah in very deed tabernacled among men4 ,the expression 'the ,messenger 7or ,angel7 of the covenant' is connected with the remarkable representations in other parts of the ,old ,testament1 of 'the ,angel of ,jehovah1' in whom many commentators recognise a pre-incarnate manifestation of the eternal ,word4 ,that ',angel' had redeemed ,israel from ,egypt1 had led them through the desert1 had been the ',captain of the ,lord's host4' ,the name of ,jehovah was 'in ,him4' ,he it is whose coming is here prophesied1 and in ,his coming ,jehovah comes to ,his temple4 ,we next note the aspect of the coming which is prominent here4 ,not the kingly1 nor the redemptive1 but the judicial1 is uppermost4 ,with keen irony the ,prophet contrasts the professed eagerness of the people for the appearance of ,jehovah and their shrinking terror when ,he does come4 ,he is 'the ,lord whom ye seek'2 the ,messenger of the covenant is ,he 'whom ye delight in4' ,but all that superficial and partially insincere longing will turn into dread and unwillingness to abide ,his scrutiny4 ,the images of the refiner's fire and the fullers' soap imply painful processes1 of which the intention is to burn out the dross and beat out the filth4 ,it sounds like a prolongation of ,malachi's voice when ,john the ,baptist peals out his herald cry of one whose 'fan was in ,his hand1' and who should plunge men into a fiery baptism1 and consume with fire that destroyed what would not submit to be cast into the fire that cleansed4 ,nor should we forget that our ,lord has said1 ',for judgment am ,i come into the world4' ,he came to 'purify'2 but if men would not let ,him do what ,he came for1 ,he could not but be their bane instead of their blessing4 ,the stone is laid4 ,if we build on it1 it is a sure foundation2 if we stumble over it1 we are broken4 ,the double aspect and effect of the gospel1 which was meant only to have the single operation of blessing1 are clearly set forth in this prophecy1 which first promises purging from sin1 so that not only the 'sons of ,levi' shall offer in righteousness1 but that the 'offerings of ,judah and ,jerusalem shall be pleasant1' and then passes immediately to foretell that ,god will come in judgment and witness against evil-doers4 ,judgment is the shadow of salvation1 and constantly attends on it4 ,neither ,malachi nor the ,baptist gives a complete view of ,messiah's work1 but still less do they give an erroneous one2 for the central portion of both prophecies is ,his purifying energy which both liken to cleansing fire4 ,that real and inward cleansing is the great work of ,christ4 ,it was wrought on as many of ,his contemporaries as believed on ,him1 and for such as did not ,he was a swift ,witness against them4 ,nor are we to forget that the prophecy is not exhausted yet2 for there remains another 'day of ,his coming' for judgment4 ,the prophets did not see the perspective of the future1 and often bring together events widely separated in time1 just as1 to a spectator on a mountain1 distances between points far away towards the horizon are not measurable4 ,we have to allow for foreshortening4 ,this blending of events historically widely apart is to be kept in view in interpreting ,malachi's prediction that the coming would result in ,judah's and ,israel's offerings being 'pleasant unto the ,lord as in former years4' ,that prediction is not yet fulfilled1 whether we regard the name of ,israel and the relation expressed in it as having passed over to the ,christian ,church1 or whether we look forward to that bringing in of all ,israel which ,paul says will be as 'life from the dead4' ,but by slow degrees it is being fulfilled1 and by ,christ men are being led to offer up spiritual sacrifices1 acceptable to ,god4 ,the more directly ,messianic part of this prophecy is closed in verse #f by a great saying1 which at once gives the reason for the coming and for its severe aspect of witness against sin4 ,the unchangeableness of ,god1 which is declared in ,his very name1 guarantees the continued existence of ,israel4 ,as ,paul says in regard to the same subject1 ',the calling of ,god is without change of purpose' 7on ,his part74 ,but it is as impossible that ,god should leave them to their sins1 which would destroy them1 as that ,he should ,himself consume them4 ,therefore ,he will surely come2 and coming1 will deliver from evil4 ,but they who refuse to be so delivered will forfeit that title and the pledge of preservation which it implies4 ,a new paragraph begins with verse #g1 which is not closely connected with the promises preceding4 ,it recurs to the prevailing tone of ,malachi1 the rebuke of negligence in attending to the legal obligations of worship4 ,that negligence is declared to be a reason for ,god's withdrawal from them4 ,but the 'return1' which is promised on condition of their renewed obedience1 can scarcely be identified with the coming just foretold4 ,that coming was to bring about offerings of righteousness which should be pleasant to the ,lord4 ,this section 7vs4 #g-ab7 promises blessings as results of such offerings1 and a 'return' of ,jehovah to ,his people contingent upon their return to ,him4 ,if the two sections of this passage are taken as closely connected1 this one must describe the consequences of the coming4 ,but1 more probably1 this accusation of negligence and promise of blessing on a change of conduct are independent of the previous verses4 ,we1 however1 may fairly take them as exhibiting the obligations of those who have received that great gift of purifying from ,jesus ,christ1 and are thereby consecrated as ,his priests4 ,the key-word of the ,christian life is 'sacrifice'--surrender1 and that to ,god4 ,that is to be stamped on the inmost selves1 and by the act of the will1 on the body as well4 ',yield yourselves to ,god1 and your members as instruments of righteousness to ,him4' ,it is to be written on possessions4 ,malachi necessarily keeps within the limits of the sacrificial system1 but his impetuous eloquence hits us no less4 ,it is still possible to 'rob ,god4' ,we do so when we keep anything as our own1 and use it at our own will1 for our own purposes4 ,only when we recognise ,his ownership of ourselves1 and consequently of all that we call 'ours1' do we give ,him ,his due4 ,all the slave's chattels belong to the owner to whom he belongs4 ,such thorough-going surrender is the secret of thorough possession4 ,the true way to enjoy worldly goods is to give them to ,god4 ,the lattices of heaven are opened1 not to pour down1 as of old1 fiery destruction1 but to make way for the gentle descent of ,god's blessing1 which will more than fill every vessel set to receive it4 ,this is the universal law1 not always fulfilled in increase of outward goods1 but in the better riches of communion and of larger possession in ,god ,himself4 ,he suffers no man to be ,his creditor1 but more than returns our gifts1 as legends tell of some peasant who brought his king a poor tribute of fruits of his fields1 and went away from the presence-chamber with a jewel in his hand4 ,,the ,,unchanging ,,lord ',i am the ,lord1 ,i change not2 therefore ye sons of ,jacob are not consumed4' ,,malachi iii4 #f4 ,the scriptural revelations of the divine ,name are always the basis of intensely practical admonition4 ,the ,bible does not think it worth while to proclaim the ,name of ,god without building on the proclamation promises or commandments4 ,there is no 'mere theology' in ,scripture2 and it does not speak of 'attributes1' nor give dry abstractions of infinitude1 eternity1 omniscience1 unchangeableness1 but lays stress on the personality of ,god1 which is so apt to escape us in these abstract conceptions1 and thus teaches us to think of this personal ,god our ,father1 as infinite1 eternal1 knowing all things1 and never changing4 ,there is all the difference in our attitude towards the very same truth if we think of the unchangeableness of ,god1 or if we think that our ,father ,god is unchangeable4 ,in our text the thought of ,him as unchanging comes into view as the foundation of the continuance of the unfaithful sons of ,jacob in their privileges and in their very lives4 ',i am the ,lord1' ,jehovah1 the ,self-existent1 the ,eternal whose being is not under the limitations of succession and time4 ',because ,i am ,jehovah1 ,i change not'2 and because ,jehovah changes not1 therefore our finite and mortal selves abide1 and our infinite and sinful selves are still the objects of ,his steadfast love4 ,let us consider1 first1 the unchangeable ,god1 and second1 the unchanging ,god as the foundation of our changeful lives4 ,i4 ,the unchangeable ,god4 ,in the great covenant-name ,jehovah there is revealed an existence which reverses all that we know of finite and progressive being1 or finite and mortal being1 or finite and variable nature4 ,with us there are mutations arising from physical nature4 ,the material must needs be subject to laws of growth and decadence4 ,our spiritual nature is subject to changes arising from the advancement in knowledge4 ,our moral nature is subject to fluctuations2 circumstances play upon us1 and 'nothing continueth in one stay4' ,change is the condition of life4 ,it means growth and happiness2 it belongs to the perfection of creatures4 ,but the unchangeableness of ,god is the negation of all imperfection1 it is the negation of all dependence on circumstances1 it is the negation of all possibility of decay or exhaustion1 it is the negation of all caprice4 ,it is the assurance that ,his is an underived1 self-dependent being1 and that with ,him is the fountain of light2 it is the assurance that1 raised above the limits of time and the succession of events1 ,he is in the eternal present1 where all things that were and are1 and are to come1 stand naked and open4 ,it is the assurance that the calm might of ,his eternal will acts1 not in spasms of successive volitions preceded by a period of indecision and equilibrium between contending motives1 but is one continuous uniform energy1 never beginning1 never bending1 never ending2 that the purpose of ,his will is 'the eternal purpose which ,he hath purposed in ,himself4' ,it is the assurance that the clear vision of ,his infinite knowledge1 from the heat of which nothing is hid1 has no stages of advancement1 and no events lying nebulous in a dim horizon by reason of distance1 or growing in clearness as they draw nearer1 but which pierces the mists of futurity and the veils of the past and the infinities of the present1 and 'from the beginning to the end knoweth all things4' ,it is the assurance that the mighty stream of love from the heart of ,god is not contingent on the variations of our character and the fluctuations of our poor hearts1 but rises from ,his deep well1 and flows on for ever1 'the river of ,god' which 'is full of water4' ,it is the assurance that round all the majesty and the mercy which ,he has revealed for our adoration and our trust there is the consecration of permanence1 that we might have a rock on which to build and never be confounded4 ,is there anywhere in the past an act of ,his power1 a word of ,his lip1 a revelation of ,his heart which has been a strength or a joy or a light to any man8 ,it is valid for me1 and is intended for my use4 ',he fainteth not1 nor is weary4' ,the bush burns and is not consumed4 ',i will not alter the thing that has gone out of my lips4' ',by two immutable things in which it is impossible for ,god to lie1 we have strong consolation4' ,,ii4 ,the unchanging ,god as the foundation of our changeful lives4 ,in the most literal sense our text is true4 ,because ,he lives we live also4 ,he is the same for ever1 therefore we are not consumed4 ,the foundation of our being lies beyond and beneath all the mutable things from which we are tempted to believe that we draw our lives1 and is in ,god4 ,the true lesson to be drawn from the mutable phenomena of earth is--heaven4 ,the many links in the chain must have a staple4 ,reason requires that behind all the fleeting shall be the permanent4 ,there must be a basis which does not partake of change4 ,the lesson from all the mutable creation is the immutable ,god4 ,since ,god changes not1 the life of our spirits is not at the mercy of changing events4 ,we look back on a lifetime of changing scenes through which we have passed1 and forward to a similar succession1 and this mutability is sad to many of us1 and in some aspects sad to all1 so powerless we are to fix and arrest any of our blessings4 ,which we shall keep we know not2 we only know that1 as certainly as buds and blossoms of spring drop1 and the fervid summer darkens to ,november fogs and ,december frosts1 so certainly we shall have to part with much in our passage through life4 ,but if we let ,god speak to us1 the necessary changes that come to us will not be harmful but blessed1 for the lesson that the mutability of the mutual is meant to impress upon us is1 the permanency of the divine1 and our dependence1 not on them1 but on ,him4 ,we may look upon all the world of time and chance and think that ,he who ,himself is unchanging changeth all4 ,the eye of the tempest is a point of rest4 ,the point in the heavens towards which1 according to some astronomers1 the whole of the solar system is drifting1 is a fixed point4 ,if we depend on ,him1 then change is not all sad2 it cannot take ,god away1 but it may bring us nearer to ,him4 ,we cannot be desolate as long as we have ,him4 ,we know not what shall be on the morrow4 ,be it so2 it will be ,god's to-morrow4 ,when the leaves drop we can see the rock on which the trees grow2 and when changes strip the world for us of some of its waving beauty and leafy shade1 we may discern more clearly the firm foundation on which our hopes rest4 ,all else changes4 ,be it so2 that will not kill us1 nor leave us utterly forlorn as long as we hear the voice which says1 ',i am the ,lord2 ,i change not2 therefore ye are not consumed4' ,god's purposes and promises change not1 therefore our faith may rest on ,him1 notwithstanding our own sins and fluctuations4 ,it is this aspect of the divine immutability which is the thought of our text4 ,god does not turn from ,his love1 nor cancel ,his promises1 nor alter ,his purposes of mercy because of our sins4 ,if ,god could have changed1 the godless forgetfulness of1 and departure from1 ,him of 'the ,sons of ,jacob' would have driven ,him to abandon ,his purposes2 but they still live--living evidences of ,his long-suffering4 ,and in that preservation of them ,god would have them see the basis of hope for the future4 ,so this is the confidence with which we should cheer ourselves when we look upon the past1 and when we anticipate the future4 ,the sins that have been in our past have deserved that we should have been swept away1 but we are here still4 ,why are we8 ,why do we yet live8 ,because we have to do with an unchanging love1 with a faithfulness that never departs from its word1 with a purpose of blessing that will not be turned aside4 ,so let us look back with this thought and be thankful2 let us look forward with it and be of good cheer4 ,trust yourself1 weak and sinful as you are1 to that unchanging love4 ,the future will have in it faults and failures1 sins and shortcomings1 but rise from yourself to ,god4 ,look beyond the light and shade of your own characters1 or of earthly events to the central light1 where there is no glimmering twilight1 no night1 'no variableness nor shadow of turning4' ,let us live in ,god1 and be strong in hope4 ,forward1 not backward1 let us look and strive2 so our souls1 fixed and steadied by faith in ,him1 will become in a manner partakers of ,his unchangeableness2 and we too in our degree will be able to say1 ',the ,lord is at my side2 ,i shall not be moved4' ,a ,,dialogue ,,with ,,god ',return unto ,me1 and ,i will return unto you1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 ,but ye say1 ,wherein shall we return8'--,,malachi iii4 #g 7,r4,v474 ,in previous sermons we have considered ,god's indictment of man's sin met by man's plea of 'not guilty1' and ,god's threatenings brushed aside by man's question4 ,here we have the climax of self-revealing and patient love in ,god's wooing voice to draw the wanderer back1 met by man's refusing answer4 ,these three divine utterances taken together cover the whole ground of ,his speech to us2 and1 alas6 these three human utterances but too truly represent for the most part our answers to ,him4 ,i4 ,god's invitation to ,his wandering child4 ,the gracious invitation of our text presupposes a state of departure4 ,the child who is tenderly recalled has first gone away4 ,there has been a breach of love4 ,dependence has been unwelcome1 and cast off with the vain hope of a larger freedom in the far-off land2 and this is the true charge against us4 ,it is not so much individual acts of sin but the going away in heart and spirit from our ,father ,god which describes the inmost essence of our true condition1 and is itself the source of all our acts of sin4 ,conscience confirms the description4 ,we know that we have departed from ,him in mind1 having wasted our thoughts on many things and not having had ,him in the multitude of them in us4 ,we have departed from ,him in heart1 having squandered our love and dissipated our desires on many objects1 and sought in the multiplicity of many pearls--some of them only paste--a substitute for the all-sufficient simplicity of the ,one of great price4 ,we have departed from ,him in will1 having reared up puny inclinations and fleeting passions against ,his calm and eternal purpose1 and so bringing about the shock of a collision as destructive to us as when a torpedo-boat crashes in the dark against a battleship1 and1 cut in two1 sinks4 ,the gracious invitation of our text follows1 ',i am the ,lord1 ,i change not2 therefore ye sons of ,jacob are not consumed4' ,threatenings1 and the execution of these in acts of judgment1 are no indication of a change in the loving heart of ,god2 and because it is the same1 however we have sinned against it and departed from it1 there is ever an invitation and a welcome4 ,we may depart from ,him1 but ,he never departs from us4 ,nor does ,he wait for us to originate the movement of return1 but ,he invites us back4 ,by all ,his words in ,his threatenings and in ,his commandments1 as in the acts of ,his providence1 we can hear ,his call to return4 ,the fathers of our flesh never cease to long for their prodigal child's return2 and their patient persistence of hope is but brief and broken when contrasted with the infinite long-suffering of the ,father of spirits4 ,we have heard of a mother who for long empty years has nightly set a candle in her cottage window to guide her wandering boy back to her heart2 and ,god has bade us think more loftily of the unchangeableness of ,his love than that of a woman who may forget1 that she should not have compassion upon the son of her womb4 ,,ii4 ,man's answer to ,god's invitation4 ,it is a refusal which is half-veiled and none the less real4 ,there is no unwillingness to obey professed1 but it is concealed under a mask of desiring a little more light as to how a return is to be accomplished4 ,there are not many of us who are rooted enough in evil as to be able to blurt out a curt ',i will not' in answer to ,his call4 ,conscience often bars the way to such a plain and unmannerly reply2 but there are many who try to cheat ,god1 and who do to some extent cheat themselves1 by professing ignorance of the way which would lead them to ,his heart4 ,some of us have learned only too well to raise questions about the method of salvation instead of accepting it1 and to dabble in theology instead of making sure work of return4 ,some of us would fain substitute a host of isolated actions1 or apparent moral or religious observance1 for the return of will and heart to ,god2 and all who in their consciences answer ,god's call by saying1 ',wherein shall we return8' with such a meaning are playing tricks with themselves1 and trying to hoodwink ,god4 ,but the question of our text has often a nobler origin1 and comes from the depths of a troubled heart4 ,not seldom does ,god's loving invitation rouse the dormant conscience to the sense of sin4 ,the man1 lying broken at the foot of the cliff down which he has fallen1 and seeing the brightness of ,god far above1 has his heart racked with the question3 ,how am ,i1 with lame limbs1 to struggle back to the heights above8 ',how shall man be just with ,god8' ,all the religions of the world1 with their offerings and penances and weary toils1 are vain attempts to make a way back to the ,god from whom men have wandered1 and that question1 ',wherein shall we return8' is really the meaning of the world's vain seeking and profitless effort4 ,god has answered man's question2 for ,christ is at once the way back to ,god1 and the motive which draws us to walk in it4 ,he draws us back by the magnetism of ,his love and sacrifice4 ,we return to ,god when we cling to ,jesus4 ,he is the highest1 the tenderest utterance of the divine voice2 and when we yield to ,his invitation to ,himself we return to ,god4 ,he calls to each of us1 ',come unto ,me1 and ,i will give you rest4' ,what can we reply but1 ',i come2 let me never wander from ,thee'8 ',,stout ,,words1' ,,and ,,their ,,confutation ',your words have been stout against ,me1 saith the ,lord3 yet ye say1 ,what have we spoken so much against ,thee8 #ad4 ,ye have said1 ,it is vain to serve ,god2 and what profit is it that we have kept ,his ordinance1 and that we have walked mournfully before the ,lord of ,hosts8 #ae4 ,and now we call the proud happy2 yea1 they that work wickedness are set up2 yea1 they that tempt ,god are even delivered4 #af4 ,then they that feared the ,lord spake often one to another3 and the ,lord hearkened1 and heard it2 and a book of remembrance was written before ,him for them that feared the ,lord1 and that thought upon ,his name4 #ag4 ,and they shall be ,mine1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts1 in that day when ,i make up ,my jewels2 and ,i will spare them1 as a man spareth his own son that serveth him4 #ah4 ,then shall ye return1 and discern between the righteous and the wicked2 between him that serveth ,god and him that serveth ,him not4 ,,iv4 #a4 ,for1 behold1 the day cometh that shall burn as an oven2 and all the proud1 yea1 and all that do wickedly1 shall be stubble3 and the day that cometh shall burn them up1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts1 that it shall leave them neither root nor branch4 #b4 ,but unto you that fear ,my ,name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings2 and ye shall go forth1 and grow up as calves of the stall4 #c4 ,and ye shall tread down the wicked2 for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet1 in the day that ,i shall do this1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 #d4 ,remember ye the law of ,moses ,my servant1 which ,i commanded unto him in ,horeb for all ,israel1 with the statutes and judgments4 #e4 ,behold1 ,i will send you ,elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the ,lord3 #f4 ,and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children1 and the heart of the children to their fathers1 lest ,i come and smite the earth with a curse4'--,,malachi iii4 #ac-ah2 iv4 #a-f4 ,this passage falls into three parts1--the 'stout words' against ,god which the ,prophet sets himself to confute 7verses #ac-ae72 the prophecy of the day which will show their falsehood 7verse #af to iv4 #c72 and the closing exhortation and prediction 7iv4 #d-f74 ,i4 ,the returning exiles had not had the prosperity which they had hoped4 ,so many of them1 even of those who had served ,god1 began to let doubts darken their trust1 and to listen to the whispers of their own hearts1 reinforced by the mutterings of others1 and to ask3 ',what is the use of religion8 ,does it make any difference to a man's condition8' ,here had they been keeping ,god's charge1 and going in black garments 'before the ,lord1' in token of penitence1 and no good had come to them1 while arrogant neglect of ,his commandments did not seem to hinder happiness1 and 'they that work wickedness are built up4' ,sinful lives appeared to have a firm foundation1 and to rise high and palace-like1 while righteous ones were like huts4 ,goodness seemed to spell ruin4 ,what was wrong in these 'stout words'8 ,it was wrong to attach such worth to external acts of devotion1 as if these were deserving of reward4 ,it was wrong to suspend the duty of worship on the prosperity resulting from it1 and to seek 'profit' from 'keeping his charge4' ,such religion was shallow and selfish1 and had the evils of the later ,pharisaism in germ in it4 ,it was wrong to yield to the doubts which the apparently unequal distribution of worldly prosperity stirred in their hearts4 ,but the doubts themselves were almost certain to press on ,old ,testament believers1 as well as on ,old ,testament scoffers1 especially under the circumstances of ,malachi's time4 ,the fuller light of ,christianity has eased their pressure1 but not removed it1 and we have all had to face them1 both when our own hearts have ached with sorrow and when pondering on the perplexities of this confused world4 ,we look around1 and1 like the psalmist1 see 'the prosperity of the wicked1' and1 like him1 have to confess that our 'steps had wellnigh slipped' at the sight4 ,the old1 old question is ever starting up4 ',doth ,god know8' ,the mystery of suffering and the mystery of its distribution1 the apparent utter want of connection between righteousness and well-being1 are still formidable difficulties in the way of believing in a loving1 all-knowing1 and all-powerful ,god1 and are stock arguments of the unbeliever and perplexities of humble faith4 ,never to have felt the force of the difficulty is not so much the sign of steadfast faith as of scant reflection4 ,to yield to it1 and still more1 to let it drive us to cast religion aside1 is not merely folly1 but sin4 ,so thinks ,malachi4 ,,ii4 ,to the stout words of the doubters is opposed the conversation of the godly4 ',then they that feared the ,lord spake one with another1' nourishing their faith by believing speech with like-minded4 ,the more the truths by which we believe are contradicted1 the more should we commune with fellow-believers4 ,attempts to rob us should make us hold our treasure the faster4 ,bold avowal of the faith is especially called for when many potent voices deny it4 ,and1 whoever does not hear1 ,god hears4 ,faithful words may seem lost1 but they and every faithful act are written in ,his remembrance and will be recompensed one day4 ,if our names and acts are written there1 we may well be content to accept scanty measures of earthly good1 and not be 'envious of the foolish' in their prosperity4 ,malachi's answer to the doubters leaves all other considerations which might remove the difficulty unmentioned1 and fixes on the one1 the prophecy of a future which will show that it is not all the same whether a man is good or bad4 ,it was said of an ,english statesman that he called a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old1 and that is what the ,prophet does4 ,christianity has taught us many other ways of meeting the doubters' difficulty1 but the sheet anchor of faith in that storm is the unconquerable assurance that a day comes when the righteousness of providence will be vindicated1 and the eternal difference between good and evil manifested in the fates of men4 ,the ,prophet is declaring what will be a fact one day1 but he does not know when4 ,probably he never asked himself whether 'the day of the ,lord' was near or far off1 to dawn on earth or to lie beyond mortal life4 ,but this he knew--that ,god was righteous1 and that sometime and somewhere character would settle destiny1 and even outwardly it would be good to be good4 ,he first declares this conviction in general terms1 and then passes on to a magnificent and terrible picture of that great day4 ,the promise1 which lay at the foundation of ,israel's national existence1 included the recognition of it as 'a peculiar treasure unto ,me above all people1' and ,malachi looks forward to that day as the epoch when ,god will show by ,his acts how precious the righteous are in ,his sight4 ,not the whole ,israel1 but the righteous among them1 are the heirs of the old promise4 ,it is an anticipation of the teaching that 'they are not all ,israel which are of ,israel1' ,and it bids us look for the fulfilment of every promise of ,god's to that great day of the ,lord which lies still before us all1 when the gulf between the righteous and the wicked shall be solemnly visible1 wide1 and profound4 ,there have been many 'days which ,i make' in the world's history1 and in a measure each of them has re-established the apparently tottering truth that there is a ,god who judgeth in the earth1 but the day of days is yet to come4 ,no grander vision of judgment exists than ,malachi's picture of 'the day1' lurid1 on the one hand1 with the fierce flame1 before which the wicked are as stubble that crackles for a moment and then is grey ashes1 or as a tree in a forest fire1 which stands for a little while1 a pillar of flame1 and then falls with a crash1 shaking the woods2 and on the otherhand1 radiant with the early beams of healing sunshine1 in whose sweet morning light the cattle1 let out from their pent-up stalls1 gambol in glee4 ,but let us not forget while we admire the noble poetry of its form that this is ,god's oracle1 nor that we have each to settle for ourselves whether that day shall be for us a furnace to destroy or a sun to cheer and enlighten4 ,we can only note in a sentence the recurrence in verse #a of the phrases 'the proud' and they 'that work wickedness1' from verse #ae of chapter iii4 ,the end of those whom the world called happy1 and who seemed stable and elevated1 is to be as stubble before the fire4 ,we must also point out that 'the sun of righteousness' means the sun which is righteousness1 and is not a designation of the ,messiah4 ,nor can we dwell on the picture of the righteous treading down the wicked1 which seems to prolong the previous metaphor of the leaping young cattle4 ,then shall 'the upright have dominion over them in the morning4' ,,iii4 ,the final exhortation and promise point backwards and forwards1 summing up duty in obedience to the law1 and fixing hope on a future reappearance of the leader of the prophets4 ,moses and ,elijah are the two giant figures which dominate the history of ,israel4 ,law and prophecy are the two forms in which ,god spoke to the fathers4 ,the former is of perpetual obligation1 the latter will flash up again in power on the threshold of the day4 ,jesus has interpreted this closing word for us4 ,john came 'in the spirit and power of ,elijah1' and the purpose of his coming was to 'turn the hearts of the fathers to the children' 7,luke i4 #af1 #ag72 that is1 to bring back the devout dispositions of the patriarchs to the existing generations1 and so to bring the 'hearts of the children to their fathers1' as united with them in devout obedience4 ,if ,john's mission had succeeded1 the 'curse' which smote ,israel would have been stayed4 ,god has done all that ,he can do to keep us from being consumed by the fire of that day4 ,the ,incarnation1 ,life1 and ,death of ,jesus ,christ made a day of the ,lord which has the twofold character of that in ,malachi's vision1 for ,he is a 'saviour of life unto life' or 'of death unto death1' and must be one or other to us4 ,but another day of the ,lord is still to come1 and for each of us it will come burning as a furnace or bright as sunrise4 ,then the universe shall 'discern between the righteous and the wicked1 between him that serveth ,god and him that serveth ,him not4' ,,the ,,last ,,words ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,and ,,new ,,testaments ',lest ,i come and smite the earth with a curse4'--,,malachi iv4 #f4 ',the grace of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ be with you all4 ,amen4'--,,revelation xxii4 #ba4 ,it is of course only an accident that these words close the ,old and the ,new ,testaments4 ,in the ,hebrew ,bible ,malachi's prophecies do not stand at the end2 but he was the last of the ,old ,testament prophets1 and after him there were 'four centuries of silence4' ,we seem to hear in his words the dying echoes of the rolling thunders of ,sinai4 ,they gather up the whole burden of the ,law and of the prophets2 of the former in their declaration of a coming retribution1 of the latter in the hope that that retribution may be averted4 ,then1 in regard to ,john's words1 of course as they stand they are simply the parting benediction with which he takes leave of his readers2 but it is fitting that the ,book of which they are the close should seal up the canon1 because it stands as the one prophetic book of the ,new ,testament1 and so reaches forward into the coming ages1 even to the consummation of all things4 ,and just as ,christ in ,his ,ascension was taken from them whilst ,his hands were lifted up in the act of blessing1 so it is fitting that the revelation of which ,he is the centre and the theme should part from us as ,he did1 shedding with its final words the dew of benediction on our upturned heads4 ,i venture1 then1 to look at these significant closing words of the two ,testaments as conveying the spirit of each1 and suggesting some thoughts about the contrast and the harmony and the order that subsist between them4 ,i4 ,i ask you1 first1 to notice the apparent contrast and the real harmony and unity of these two texts4 ',lest ,i come and smite the land with a curse4' ,that last awful word does not convey1 in the original1 quite the idea of our ,english word 'curse4' ,it refers to a somewhat singular institution in the ,mosaic ,law according to which things devoted1 in a certain sense1 to ,god were deprived of life4 ,and the reference historically is to the judgments that were inflicted upon the nations that occupied the land before the ,israelitish invasion1 those ,canaanites and others who were put under 'the ban' and devoted to utter destruction4 ,so1 says my text1 ,israel1 which has stepped into their places1 may bring down upon its head the same devastation2 and as they were swept off the face of the land that they had polluted with their iniquities1 so an apostate and ,god-forgetting ,judah may again experience the same utter destruction falling upon them4 ,if instead of the word 'curse' we were to substitute the word 'destruction1' we should get the true idea of the passage4 ,and the thought that ,i want to insist upon is this1 that here we have distinctly gathered up the whole spirit of millenniums of divine revelation1 all of which declare this one thing1 that as certainly as there is a ,god1 every transgression and disobedience receives1 and must receive1 its just recompense of reward4 ,that is the spirit of law1 for law has nothing to say1 except1 ',do this1 and thou shalt live2 do not this1 and thou shalt die4' ,and then turn to the other4 ',the grace of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ be with you all4' ,what has become of the thunder8 ,all melted into dewy rain of love and pity and compassion4 ,grace is love that stoops2 grace is love that foregoes its claims1 and forgives sins against itself4 ,grace is love that imparts1 and this grace1 thus stooping1 thus pardoning1 thus bestowing1 is a universal gift4 ,the ,apostolic benediction is the declaration of the divine purpose1 and the inmost heart and loftiest meaning of all the words which from the beginning ,god hath spoken is that ,his condescending1 pardoning1 self-bestowing mercy may fall upon all hearts1 and gladden every soul4 ,so there seems to emerge1 and there is1 a very real and a very significant contrast4 ',i come and smite the earth with a curse' sounds strangely unlike ',the grace of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ be with you all4' ,and1 of course1 in this generation there is a strong tendency to dwell upon that contrast and to exaggerate it1 and to assert that the more recent has antiquated the more ancient1 and that now the day when we have to think of and to dread the curse that smites the earth is past1 'because the true ,light now shineth4' ,so ,i ask you to notice that beneath this apparent contrast there is a real harmony1 and that these two utterances1 though they seem to be so diverse1 are quite consistent at bottom1 and must both be taken into account if we would grasp the whole truth4 ,for1 as a matter of fact1 nowhere are there more tender utterances and sweeter revelations of a divine mercy than in that ancient law with its attendant prophets4 ,and as a matter of fact1 nowhere1 through all the thunderings and lightnings of ,sinai1 are there such solemn words of retribution as dropped from the lips of the ,incarnate ,love4 ,there is nothing anywhere so dreadful as ,christ's own words about what comes1 and must come1 to sinful men4 ,is there any depth of darkness in the ,old ,testament teaching of retribution half as deep1 half as black1 and as terrible1 as the gulf that ,christ opens at your feet and mine8 ,is there anything so awful as the threatenings of ,infinite ,love8 ,and the same blending of the widest proclamation of1 and the most perfect rejoicing confidence in1 the universal and all-forgiving love of ,god1 with the teaching of the sharpest retribution1 lies in the writings of this very ,apostle about whose words ,i am speaking4 ,there are nowhere in ,scripture more solemn pictures than those in that book of the ,apocalypse1 of the inevitable consequences of departure from the love and the faith of ,god1 and ,john1 the ,apostle of love1 is the preacher of judgment as none of the other writers of the ,new ,testament are4 ,such is the fact1 and there is a necessity for it4 ,there must be this blending2 for if you take away from your conception of ,god the absolute holiness which hates sin1 and the rigid righteousness which apportions to all evil its bitter fruits1 you have left a maimed ,god that has not power to love but is nothing but weak1 good-natured indulgence4 ,impunity is not mercy1 and punishment is never the negation of perfect love1 but rather1 if you destroy the one you hopelessly maim the other4 ,the two halves are needed in order to give full emphasis to either4 ,each note alone is untrue2 blended1 they make the perfect chord4 ,,ii4 ,and now1 let me ask you to look with me at another point1 and that is1 the relation of the grace to the punishment4 ,is it not love which proclaims judgment8 ,are not the words of my first text1 if you take them all1 merciful1 however they wear a surface of threatening8 ',lest ,i come4' ,then ,he speaks that ,he may not come1 and declares the issue of sin in order that that issue may never need to be experienced by us that listen to ,him4 ,brethren6 both in regard to the ,bible and in regard to human ministrations of the ,gospel1 it is all-important1 as it seems to me at present1 to insist that it is the cruellest kindness to keep back the threatenings for fear of darkening the grace2 and that1 on the other hand1 it is the truest tenderness to warn and to proclaim them4 ,it is love that threatens2 'tis mercy to tell us that the wrath will come4 ,and just as one relation between the grace and the retribution is that the proclamation of the retribution is the work of the grace1 so there is another relation--the grace is manifested in bearing the punishment1 and in bearing it away by bearing it4 ,oh6 there is no adequate measure of what the grace of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ is except the measure of the smiting destruction from which ,he frees us4 ,it is because every transgression receives its just recompense of reward1 because the wages of sin is death1 because ,god cannot but hate and punish the evil1 that we get our truest standard of what ,christ's love is to every soul of us4 ,for on ,him have met all the converging rays of the divine retribution1 and burnt the penal fire into ,his very heart4 ,he has come between every one of us1 if we will1 and that certain incidence of retribution for our evil1 taking upon ,himself the whole burden of our sin and of our guilt1 and bearing that awful death which consists not in the mere dissolution of the tie between soul and body1 but in the separation of the conscious spirit from ,god1 in order that we may stand peaceful1 serene1 untouched1 when the hail and the fire of the divine judgment are falling from the heavens and running along the earth4 ,the grace depends for all our conceptions of its glory1 its tenderness1 and its depth1 on our estimate of the wrath from which it delivers4 ,so1 dear brethren1 remember1 if you tamper with the one you destroy the other2 if there be no fearful judgment from which men need to be delivered1 ,christ has borne nothing for us that entitles ,him to demand our hearts2 and all the ascriptions of praise and adoration to ,him1 and all the surrender of loving hearts1 in utter self-abandonment1 to ,him that has borne the curse for us1 fade and are silent4 ,if you strike out the truth of ,christ's bearing the results of sin from your theology1 you do not thereby exalt1 but you fatally lower the love2 and in the interests of the loftiest conceptions of a divine loving-kindness and mercy that ever have blessed the world1 ,i beseech you1 be on your guard against all teachings that diminish the sinfulness of sin1 and that ask again the question which first of all came from lips that do not commend it to us--',hath ,god said8' or advance to the assertion--',ye shall not surely die4' ,if ',i come to smite the earth with a curse' ceases to be a truth to you1 'the grace of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ' will fade away for you likewise4 ,,iii4 ,now1 still further1 let me ask you to consider1 lastly1 the alternative which these texts open for us4 ,i believe that the order in which they stand in ,scripture is the order in which men generally come to believe them1 and to feel them4 ,i am old-fashioned enough and narrow enough to believe in conversion2 and to believe further that1 as a rule1 the course through which the soul passes from darkness into light is the course which divine revelation took3 first1 the unveiling of sin and its issues1 and then the glad leaping up of the trustful heart to the conception of redeeming grace4 ,but what ,i seek briefly to suggest now is1 not only the order of manifestation as brought out in these words1 but also the alternative which they present to us1 one branch or other of which every soul of you will have to experience4 ,you must have either the destruction or the grace4 ,and1 more wonderful still1 the same coming of the same ,lord will be to one man the destruction1 and to another the manifestation and reception of ,his perfect grace4 ,as it was in the ,lord's first coming1 ',he is set for the rise and the fall of many in ,israel4' ,the same heat softens some substances and bakes others into hardness4 ,a bit of wax and a bit of clay put into the same fire--one becomes liquefied and the other solidified4 ,the same light is joy to one eye and torture to another4 ,the same pillar of cloud was light to the hosts of ,israel1 and darkness and dismay to the armies of ,egypt4 ,the same ,gospel is 'a savour of life unto life1 or of death unto death1' by the giving forth of the same influences killing the one and reviving the other2 the same ,christ is a ,stone to build upon or a ,stone of stumbling2 and when ,he cometh at the last1 ,prince1 ,king1 ,judge1 to you and me1 ,his coming shall be prepared as the morning2 and ye 'shall have a song as when one cometh with a pipe to the mountain of the ,lord'2 or else it shall be a day of darkness and not of light4 ,he comes to me1 to you2 ,he comes to smite or ,he comes to glorify4 ,oh1 brethren6 do not believe that ,god's threatenings are wind and words2 do not let teachings that sap the very foundations of morality and eat all the power out of the ,gospel persuade you that the solemn words1 ',the soul that sinneth it shall die1' are not simple verity4 ,and then1 my brethren1 oh6 then1 do you turn yourselves to that dear ,lord whose grace is magnified in this most chiefly1 that ',he hath borne our sins and carried our sorrows'2 and taking ,him for your ,saviour1 your ,king1 your ,shield1 your ,all1 when ,he cometh it will be life to you2 and the grace that ,he imparts will be heaven for ever more4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,st4 ,,matthew ,chaps4 ,i to ,,viii ,,contents ,,matthew',s ,,genealogy ,,of ,,jesus ,,christ 7,matt4 i4 #a-af7 ,,the ,,nativity 7,matt4 i4 #ah-be7 ,,the ,,name ,,above ,,every ,,name 7,matt4 i4 #ba7 ,,the ,,first-,,fruits ,,of ,,the ,,gentiles 7,matt4 ii4 #a-ab7 ,,the ,,king ,,in ,,exile 7,matt4 ii4 #ac-bc7 ,,the ,,herald ,,of ,,the ,,king 7,matt4 iii4 #a-ab7 ,,the ,,baptism ,,in ,,fire 7,matt4 iii4 #aa7 ,,the ,,baptism ,,of ,,jesus 7,matt4 iii4 #ac-ag7 ,,the ,,dove ,,of ,,god 7,matt4 in4 #af7 ,,the ,,victory ,,of ,,the ,,king 7,matt4 iv4 #a-aa7 ,,the ,,springing ,,of ,,the ,,great ,,light 7,matt4 iv4 #ab-af7 ,,the ,,early ,,welcome ,,and ,,the ,,first ,,ministers ,,of ,,the ,,king 7,matt4 iv4 #ag-be7 ,,the ,,new ,,sinai 7,matt4 v4 #a-af7 ,,the ,,first ,,beatitude 7,matt4 v4 #c7 ,,the ,,second ,,beatitude 7,matt4 v4 #d7 ,,the ,,third ,,beatitude 7,matt4 v4 #e7 ,,the ,,fourth ,,beatitude 7,matt4 v4 #f7 ,,the ,,fifth ,,beatitude 7,matt4 v4 #g7 ,,the ,,sixth ,,beatitude 7,matt4 v4 #h7 ,,the ,,seventh ,,beatitude 7,matt4 v4 #i7 ,,the ,,eighth ,,beatitude 7,matt4 v4 #aj7 ,,salt ,,without ,,savour 7,matt4 v4 #ac7 ,,the ,,lamp ,,and ,,the ,,bushel 7,matt4 v4 #ad-af7 ,,the ,,new ,,form ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,law 7,matt4 v4 #ag-bf7 ',,swear ,,not ,,at ,,all' 7,matt4 v4 #cc-cg7 ,,non-,,resistance 7,matt4 v4 #ch-db7 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,love 7,matt4 v4 #dc-dh7 ,,trumpets ,,and ,,street ,,corners 7,matt4 vi4 #a-e7 ,,solitary ,,prayer 7,matt4 vi4 #f7 ,,the ,,structure ,,of ,,the ,,lord',s ,,prayer 7,matt4 vi4 #i7 ',,our ,,father' 7,matt4 vi4 #i7 ',,hallowed ,,be ,,thy ,,name' 7,matt4 vi4 #i7 ',,thy ,,kingdom ,,come' 7,matt4 vi4 #aj7 ',,thy ,,will ,,be ,,done' 7,matt4 vi4 #aj7 ,,the ,,cry ,,for ,,bread 7,matt4 vi4 #aa7 ',,forgive ,,us ,,our ,,debts' 7,matt4 vi4 #ab7 ',,lead ,,us ,,not ,,into ,,temptation' 7,matt4 vi4 #ac7 ',,deliver ,,us ,,from ,,evil' 7,matt4 vi4 #ac7 ',,thine ,,is ,,the ,,kingdom' 7,matt4 vi4 #ac7 ,,fasting 7,matt4 vi4 #af-ah7 ,,two ,,kinds ,,of ,,treasure 7,matt4 vi4 #aj-bj7 ,,hearts ,,and ,,treasures 7,matt4 vi4 #ba7 ,,anxious ,,care 7,matt4 vi4 #bd-be7 ,,judging1 ,,asking1 ,,and ,,giving 7,matt4 vii4 #a-ab7 ,,our ,,knocking 7,matt4 vii4 #g7 ,,the ,,two ,,paths 7,matt1 vii4 #acdd7 ,,the ,,two ,,houses 7,matt4 vii4 #bd-bf7 ,,the ,,christ ,,of ,,the ,,sermon ,,on ,,the ,,mount 7,matt4 vii4 #bh-bi7 ,,the ,,touch ,,that ,,cleanses 7,matt4 viii4 #ad7 ,,the ,,faith ,,which ,,christ ,,praises 7,matt4 viii4 #h-i7 ,,swift ,,healing ,,and ,,immediate ,,service 7,matt4 viii4 #ad-ae7 ,,the ,,healing ,,christ 7,matt4 viii4 #ag7 ,,christ ,,repressing ,,rash ,,discipleship 7,matt4 viii4 #ai-bj7 ,,christ ,,stimulating ,,sluggish ,,discipleship 7,matt4 viii4 #ba-bb7 ,,the ,,peace-,,bringer ,,in ,,the ,,natural ,,world 7,matt1 viii4 #bc-bg7 ,,the ,,peace-,,bringer ,,in ,,the ,,spiritual ,,world 7,matt4 viii4 #bh-cd7 99 99 99 99 99 ,,matthew',s ,,genealogy ,,of ,,jesus ,,christ ',the book of the generation of ,jesus ,christ1 the son of ,david1 the son of ,abraham4 #b4 ,abraham begat ,isaac2 and ,isaac begat ,jacob2 and ,jacob begat ,judas and his brethren2 #c4 ,and ,judas begat ,phares and ,zara of ,thamar2 and ,phares begat ,esrom2 and ,esrom begat ,aram2 #d4 ,and ,aram begat ,aminadab2 and ,aminadab begat ,naasson2 and ,naasson begat ,salmon2 #e4 ,and ,salmon begat ,booz of ,rachab2 and ,booz begat ,obed of ,ruth2 and ,obed begat ,jesse2 #f4 ,and ,jesse begat ,david the king2 and ,david the king begat ,solomon of her that had been the wife of ,urias2 #g4 ,and ,solomon begat ,roboam2 and ,roboam begat ,abia2 and ,abia begat ,asa2 #h4 ,and ,asa begat ,josaphat2 and ,josaphat begat ,joram2 and ,joram begat ,ozias2 #i4 ,and ,ozias begat ,joatham2 and ,joatham begat ,achaz2 and ,achaz begat ,ezekias2 #aj4 ,and ,ezekias begat ,manasses2 and ,manasses begat ,amon2 and ,amon begat ,josias2 #aa4 ,and ,josias begat ,jechonias and his brethren1 about the time they were carried away to ,babylon3 #ab4 ,and after they were brought to ,babylon1 ,jechonias begat ,salathiel2 and ,salathiel begat ,zorobabel2 #ac4 ,and ,zorobabel begat ,abiud2 and ,abiud begat ,eliakim2 and ,eliakim begat ,azor2 #ad4 ,and ,azor begat ,sadoc2 and ,sadoc begat ,achim2 and ,achim begat ,eliud2 #ae4 ,and ,eliud begat ,eleazar2 and ,eleazar begat ,matthan2 and ,matthan begat ,jacob2 #af4 ,and ,jacob begat ,joseph the husband of ,mary1 of whom was born ,jesus1 who is called ,christ4'--,,matt4 #a4 #a-af4 ,to begin a ,gospel with a genealogy strikes us modern ,westerns as singular1 to say the least of it4 ,to preface the ,life of ,jesus with an elaborate table of descents through forty-one generations1 and then to show that the forty-second had no real connection with the forty-first1 strikes us as irrelevant4 ,clause after clause comes the monotonous 'begat1' till the very last1 when it fails1 and we read instead3 ',jacob begat ,joseph the husband of ,mary1 of whom was born ,jesus4' ,so1 then1 whoever drew up this genealogy knew that ,jesus was not ,joseph's son4 ,why1 then1 was he at the pains to compile it1 and why did the writer of the ,gospel1 if he was not the compiler1 think it important enough to open his narrative8 ,the answer lies in two considerations3 the ruling idea of the whole ,gospel1 that ,jesus is the promised ,jewish ,messiah1 ,david's son and ,israel's king2 and the characteristic ancient idea that the full rights of sonship were given by adoption as completely as by actual descent4 ,joseph was 'of the house and lineage of ,david1' and ,joseph took ,mary's first-born as his own child1 thereby giving ,him inheritance of all his own status and claims4 ,incidentally we may remark that this presentation of ,jesus as ,joseph's heir seems to favour the probability that ,he was regarded as ,his reputed father's first-born child1 and so disfavours the contention that the 'brethren' of ,jesus were ,joseph's children by an earlier marriage4 ,but1 apart from that1 the place of this table of descent at the beginning of the ,gospel makes it clear that the prophecies of the ,messiah as ,david's son were by the ,hebrew mind regarded as adequately fulfilled by ,jesus being by adoption the son of ,joseph1 and that such fulfilment was regarded as important by the evangelist1 not only for strengthening his own faith1 but for urging his ,lord's claims on his fellow-countrymen1 whom he had chiefly in view in writing4 ,such external 'fulfilment' goes but for little with us1 who rest ,jesus' claims to be our ,king on more inward and spiritual grounds1 but it stands on the same level as other similar fulfilments of prophecy which meet us in the ,gospels2 such as the royal entry into ,jerusalem1 'riding upon an ass1' in which the outward1 literal correspondence is but a finger-post1 pointing to far deeper and truer realisation of the prophetic ideal in ,jesus4 ,what1 then1 did the evangelist desire to make prominent by the genealogy8 ,the first verse answers the question4 ,we need not discuss whether the title1 ',the book of the generations of ,jesus ,christ1' applies to the table of descent only1 or to the whole chapter4 ,the former seems the more probable conclusion1 but the point to note is that two facts are made prominent in the title2 viz4 that ,jesus was a true ,jew1 'forasmuch as ,he also is a son of ,abraham1' and was the true king of ,israel1 being the ',son of ,david1' of whom prophets had spoken such great things4 ,if we would take in the full significance of ,matthew's starting-point1 we must set by the side of it those of the other three evangelists4 ,mark plunges at once1 without preface or allusion to earlier days1 into the stir and stress of ,christ's work1 slightly touching on the preliminaries of ,john's mission1 the baptism and temptation1 and hurrying on to the call of the fishermen1 and the busy scenes on the ,sabbath in ,capernaum4 ,luke has his genealogy as well as ,matthew1 but1 in accordance with his universalistic1 humanist tone1 he traces the descent from far behind ,abraham1 even to ',adam1 which was the son of ,god1' and he works in the reverse order to ,matthew1 going upwards from ,joseph instead of downwards to him4 ,john soars high above all earthly birth1 and begins away back in the ,eternities before the world was1 for his theme is not so much the son of ,joseph who was the son of ,david and the son of ,abraham1 or the son of ,adam who was the son of ,god1 as the ,eternal ',word' who 'was with ,god1' and entered into history and time when ,he 'became flesh4' ,we must take all these points of view together if we would understand any of them1 for they are not contradictory1 but complementary4 ,the purpose of ,matthew's genealogy is further brought out by its symmetrical arrangement into three groups of fourteen generations each--an arrangement not arrived at without some free manipulating of the links4 ,the sacred number is doubled in each case1 which implies eminent completeness4 ,each of the three groups makes a whole in which a tendency runs out to its goal1 and becomes1 as it were1 the starting-point for a new epoch4 ,so the first group is pre-monarchical1 and culminates in ,david the ,king4 ,israel's history is regarded as all tending towards that consummation4 ,he is thought of as the first ,king1 for ,saul was a ,benjamite1 and had been deposed by divine authority4 ,the second group is monarchical1 and it1 too1 has a drift1 as it were1 which is tragically marked by the way in which its last stage is described3 ',josias begat ,jechonias and his brethren1 about the time that they were carried away to ,babylon4' ,josiah had four successors1 all of them phantom kings2--,jehoahaz1 who reigned for three months and was taken captive to ,egypt2 his brother ,jehoiakim1 a puppet set up by ,egypt1 knocked down by ,babylon2 his son ,jehoiachin1 who reigned eleven years and was carried captive to ,babylon2 and last1 ,zedekiah1 ,josiah's son1 under whom the ruin of the kingdom was completed4 ,the genealogy does not mention the names of these ill-starred 'brethren1' partly because it traces the line of descent through ',jeconias' or ,jehoiachin1 partly because it despises them too much4 ,a line that begins with ,david and ends with such a quartet6 ,this was what the monarchy had run out to3 ,david at the one end and ,zedekiah at the other1 a bright fountain pouring out a stream that darkened as it flowed through the ages1 and crept at last into a stagnant pond1 foul and evil-smelling4 ,then comes the third group1 and it too has a drift4 ,unknown as the names in it are1 it is the epoch of restoration1 and its 'bright consummate flower' is ',jesus who is called the ,christ4' ,he will be a better ,david1 will burnish again the tarnished lustre of the monarchy1 will be all that earlier kings were meant to be and failed of being1 and will more than bring the day which ,abraham desired to see1 and realise the ideal to which 'prophets and righteous men' unconsciously were tending1 when as yet there was no king in ,israel4 ,a very significant feature of this genealogical table is the insertion in it1 in four cases1 of the names of the mothers4 ,the four women mentioned are ,thamar a harlot1 ,rachab another1 ,ruth the ,moabitess1 and ,bathsheba2 three of them tainted in regard to womanly purity1 and the fourth1 though morally sweet and noble1 yet mingling alien blood in the stream4 ,why are pains taken to show these 'blots in the scutcheon'8 ,may we not reasonably answer--in order to suggest ,christ's relation to the stained and sinful1 and to all who are 'strangers from the covenants of promise4' ,he is to be a ,king with pity and pardon for harlots1 with a heart and arms open to welcome all those who were afar off among the ,gentiles4 ,the shadowy forms of these four dead women beckon1 as it were1 to all their sisters1 be they stained however darkly or distant however remotely1 and assure them of welcome into the kingdom of the king who1 by ,jewish custom1 could claim to be their descendant4 ,the ruling idea of the genealogy is clearly though unostentatiously shown by the employment of the names ',jesus ,christ' and ',christ1' while throughout the rest of this ,gospel the name used habitually is ,jesus4 ,in verse #a we have the full title proclaimed at the very beginning2 then in verse #af1 ',jesus who is called ,christ' repeats the proclamation at the end of the genealogy proper1 while verse #ag again presents the three names with which it began as towering like mountain peaks1 ,abraham1 ,david1 and--supreme above the other two1 the dominant summit to which they led up1 we have once more ',christ4' ,similarly the narrative that follows is of 'the birth of ,jesus ,christ4' ,that name is never used again in this ,gospel1 except in one case where the reading is doubtful2 and as for the form ',jesus who is called ,christ1' by which ,he is designated in the genealogy itself1 the only other instance of it is on the mocking lips of ,pilate1 while the uniform use of ,jesus in the body of this ,gospel is broken only by ,peter in his great confession1 and in1 at most1 four other instances4 ,could the purpose to assert and establish1 at the very outset1 ,his ,messianic1 regal dignity1 as the necessary pre-supposition to all that follows1 be more clearly shown8 ,we must begin our study of ,his life and works with the knowledge that ,he1 of whom these things are about to be told1 is the ,king of ,israel4 ,,the ,,nativity ',now the birth of ,jesus ,christ was on this wise3 ,when as ,his mother ,mary was espoused to ,joseph1 before they came together1 she was found with child of the ,holy ,ghost4 #ai4 ,then ,joseph her husband1 being a just man1 and not willing to make her a publick example1 was minded to put her away privily4 #bj4 ,but while he thought on these things1 behold1 the angel of the ,lord appeared unto him in a dream1 saying1 ,joseph1 thou son of ,david1 fear not to take unto thee ,mary thy wife3 for that which is conceived in her is of the ,holy ,ghost4 #ba4 ,and she shall bring forth a son1 and thou shalt call ,his name ,,jesus3 for ,he shall save ,his people from their sins4 #bb4 ,now all this was done1 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the ,lord by the prophet1 saying1 #bc4 ,behold1 a virgin shall be with child1 and shall bring forth a son1 and they shall call ,his name ,emmanuel1 which being interpreted is1 ,god with us4 #bd4 ,then ,joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the ,lord had bidden him1 and took unto him his wife3 #be4 ,and knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son3 and he called ,his name ,,jesus4'--,,matt4 #a4ah-be4 ,matthew's account of the ,nativity sets ,joseph in the foreground4 ,his pain and hesitation1 his consideration for ,mary1 the divine communication to him1 and his obedience to it1 embarrassing as his position must have been1 take up larger space than the miracle of the birth itself4 ,probably in all this we have an unconscious disclosure of the source of the evangelist's information4 ,at all events1 he speaks as if from ,joseph's point of view4 ,luke1 on the other hand1 has most to say about ,mary's maidenly wonder and meek submission1 her swift hurrying to find help from a woman's sympathy1 as soon as the ,angel of the ,annunciation had spoken1 and the hymn of exultation which ,elisabeth's salutation heartened her to pour forth4 ,surely that narrative could have come from none but her meek and faithful lips8 ,the two accounts beautifully supplement each other1 and give two vivid pictures of these two devout souls1 each sharply tried in a different fashion1 each richly blessed by variously moulded obedience4 ,joseph took up his burden1 and ,mary hers1 because ,god had spoken and they believed4 ,the shock to ,joseph of the sudden discovery1 crashing in on him after he was bound to ,mary1 and in what would else have been the sweet interval of love and longing 'before they came together1' is delicately and unconsciously brought out in verse #ah4 ',she was found'--how the remembrance of the sudden disclosure1 blinding and startling as a lightning flash1 lives in that word6 ,and how the agony of perplexity as to the right thing to do in such a cruel dilemma is hinted at in the two clauses that pull in opposite directions6 ,as a 'just man' and 'her husband1' ,joseph owed it to righteousness and to himself not to ignore his betrothed's condition2 but as her lover and her husband1 how could he put her1 who was still so dear to him1 to public shame1 some of which would cloud his own name8 ,to 'put her away' was the only course possible1 though it racked his soul1 and to do it 'privily' was the last gift that his wounded love could give her4 ,no wonder that 'these things' kept him brooding sadly on them1 nor that his day's troubled thinkings coloured his sleeping hours6 ,the divine guidance1 which is ever given to waiting minds1 was given to him by the way of a dream1 which is one of the ,old ,testament media of divine communications1 and occurs with striking frequency in this and the following chapter1 there being three recorded as sent to ,joseph and one to the ,magi4 ,it is observable1 however1 that to ,joseph it is always 'the'or 'an angel of the ,lord' who appears in the dream1 whereas the dream only is mentioned in the case of the ,magi4 ,the difference of expression may imply a difference in the manner of communication4 ,but in any case1 we need not wonder that divine communications were abundant at such an hour1 nor shall we be startled1 if we believe in the great miracle of the ,word's becoming flesh1 that a flight of subsidiary miracles1 like a bevy of attendant angels1 clustered round it4 ,the most stupendous fact in history is announced by the angel chiefly as the reason for ,joseph's going on with his marriage4 ,surely that strange inversion of the apparent importance of the two things speaks for the historical reliableness of the narrative4 ,the purpose in hand is mainly to remove his hesitation and point his course1 and he is to take ,mary as his wife1 for 'that which is conceived in her is of the ,holy ,ghost4' ,could 'the superstitious veneration of a later age'1 which is supposed to have originated the story of a supernatural birth1 have spoken so8 ,as addressed to ,joseph1 tortured with doubts of ,mary and hesitations as to his duty1 the sequence of the two things is beautifully appropriate1 otherwise it is monstrous4 ,the great mystery1 which lies at the foundation of ,christianity1 is declared in the fewest and simplest words4 ,that ,he who is to show ,god to men1 and to save them from their sins1 must be born of a woman1 is plainly necessary4 ,because 'the children are partakers of flesh and blood1' ,he also must 'take part of the same4' ,that ,he must be free from the taint in nature1 which passes down to all 'who are born of the will of the flesh or of man1' is no less obviously requisite4 ,both requirements are met in the supernatural birth of ,jesus1 and unless both have been met1 ,he is not1 and cannot be1 the world's saviour4 ,nor is that supernatural birth less needful to explain ,his manifestly sinless character than it is to qualify ,him for ,his unique office4 ,the world acknowledges that in ,him it finds a man without blemish and without spot4 ,how comes ,he to be free from the flaws which1 like black streaks in ,parian marble1 spoil the noblest characters8 ,surely if1 after millions of links in the chain1 which have all been of mingled metal1 there comes one of pure gold1 it cannot have had the same origin as the others4 ,it is part of the chain1 'the ,word was made flesh'2 but it has been cast and moulded in another forge1 for it is 'that which is conceived in her is of the ,holy ,ghost4' ',she shall bring forth a son4' ,the angel does not say1 'a son to thee1' but yet ,joseph was to assume the position of father1 and by naming the child to acknowledge it as his4 ,the name of ,jesus or ,joshua was borne by many a ,jewish child then4 ,there was a ,jesus among ,paul's entourage4 ,it recalled the warrior leader1 and1 no doubt1 was often given to children in these days of foreign dominion by fathers who hoped that ,israel might again fight for freedom4 ,but holier thoughts were to be ,joseph's1 and the salvation from ,god which was expressed by the name was to be of another kind than ,joshua had brought4 ,it was to be salvation from sin and from sins4 ,this child was to be a leader too1 a conqueror and a king1 and the mention of ',his people1' taken in connection with ,joseph's having been addressed as 'the son of ,david1' is most significant4 ,he1 too1 is to have a subject people1 and the deliverance which ,he is to bring is not political or to be wrested from ,rome by the sword1 but inward1 moral1 and spiritual1 and therefore to be effected by moral and spiritual weapons4 ,it is the evangelist1 not the angel1 who points to ,isaiah's prophecy4 ,he does so with a certain awe1 as he thinks of the greatness of 'all these things'4 ,undoubtedly the ,hebrew word rendered in ,matthew1 after the ,septuagint1 'virgin'1 does not necessarily imply the full meaning of that word2 and as undoubtedly the prophecy1 as it stands in ,isaiah1 pointed to an event to occur in the immediate future2 yet it is clear1 from the further development of the prophecy by ,isaiah1 and especially from the fourfold name given to the child in ,isaiah ix4 #f1 and the glorious dominion there foretold for ,him1 that ,isaiah conceives of ,him as the ,messiah4 ,and1 since any 'fulfilment' of the glowing prophecies attached to the ,child were1 in ,isaiah's time1 but poor and partial1 the great ,messianic hope was necessarily trained to look further down the stream of time4 ,he who should fill the role set forth was yet to come4 ,matthew believed that it was completely filled by ,jesus1 and we know that he was right4 ,the fulfilment does not depend on the question whether or not the idea of ,virginity is contained in the ,hebrew word1 but on the correspondence between the figure seen by the prophet in the golden haze of his divinely quickened imagination1 and the person to be described in the gospel1 and we know that the correspondence is complete4 ,the name ,immanuel1 to be given to the prophetic child1 breathed the certainty that in ',god with us' ,israel would find the secret of its charmed existence1 even while an ,ahaz was on the throne4 ,the name takes on a deeper meaning when applied to ,him to whom alone it in fullest truth belongs4 ,it proclaims that in ,jesus ,god dwells among us1 and it lays bare the ground of the historical name ,jesus1 for only by a man who is one of ourselves1 and in whom ,god is with us1 can we be saved from our sins4 ,the one ,name is the deep1 solid foundation1 the other is the fortress refuge built upon it4 ,he is ,jesus1 because ,he is ,immanuel4 ,how different the world and his own life looked to ,joseph when he woke6 ,hesitations and agonising doubts of his betrothed's purity had vanished with the night1 and1 instead of the dread that her child would be the offspring of shame1 had come a divinely given certainty that it was 'a holy thing4' ,in the rush of the sudden revulsion1 all that was involved would not be clear1 but the duty that lay nearest him was clear1 and his obedience was as swift as it was glad4 ,he believed1 and his faith took the burden off him1 and brought back the sweet relations which had seemed to be rent for ever4 ,the ,birth was foretold by the angel in a single clause1 it is recorded by the evangelist in another4 ,in both cases1 ,mary's part and ,joseph's are set side by side 7'she shall bring forth 444 and thou shalt call3 she had brought forth 444 and he called'71 and the birth itself is in verse #be recorded mainly in its bearing on ,joseph's marital relations4 ,could such a perspective in the narrative be conceived of from any other point of view than ,joseph's8 ,we do not enter on the controversy as to whether that 'till' and the expression 'first-born' shut us up to the conclusion that ,joseph and ,mary had children4 ,the words are not decisive1 and probably opinions will always differ on the point4 ,mediaevally-minded persons will reject with horror the notion that ,jesus had brethren in the proper sense of the word1 while those who believe that the perfect woman is a happy wife and mother1 will not feel that it detracts from ,mary's sacredness1 nor from her purity1 to believe that she had other children than 'her first-born ,son'4 ,,the ,,name ,,above ,,every ,,name '444 ,thou shalt call ,his name ,,jesus3 for ,he shall save ,his people from their sins'4--,,matt4 #a4 #ba4 ,i4 ,,the historical associations of the name4 ,it was a very common ,jewish name1 and of course was given in memory of the great leader who brought the hosts of ,israel to rest in the promised land4 ,there is no sharper contrast conceivable than between ,joshua and ,jesus4 ,the contrast and the parallel are both most significant4 7a7 ,the contrast4 ,joshua is perhaps one of the least interesting of the ,old ,testament men2 a mere soldier1 fit for the fierce work which he had to do1 rough and hard1 ready and prompt1 of an iron will and a brave heart4 ,the one exhortation given him when he comes to the leadership is 'be strong and of a good courage1' and that seems to have been the main virtue of his character4 ,the task he had to do was a bloody one1 and thoroughly he did it4 ,the difficulties that have been found in the extermination of the ,canaanites may be met by considerations of the changed atmosphere between then and now1 and of their moral putrescence4 ,but no explanation can make the deed other than terrible1 or the man that did it other than fierce and stern4 ,no traits of chivalrous generosity are told of him1 nothing that softens the dreadfulness of war4 ,he showed no touch of pity or compunction1 no lofty1 statesmanlike qualities1 nothing constructive2 he was simply a rough soldier1 with an iron hand and an iron heel1 who burned and slew and settled down his men in the land they had devastated4 ,the very sharpness of the contrast in character is intended to be felt by us4 ,put by the side of this man the image of ,jesus ,christ1 in all ,his meekness and gentleness4 ,does not this speak to us of the profound change which ,he comes to establish among men8 ,the highest ideal of character is no longer the rough soldier1 the strong man1 but the man of meekness1 and gentleness1 and patience4 ,how far the world yet is from understanding all that is meant in the contrast between the first and the second bearers of the name6 ,we have done with force1 and are come into the region of love4 ,there is no place in ,christ's kingdom for arms and vulgar warfare4 ,the strongest thing is love1 armed with celestial armour4 ',truth and meekness and righteousness' are our keenest-edged weapons--this is true for ,christian morals2 and for politics in a measure which the world has not yet learned4 ',put up thy sword into its sheath1' 7b7 ,the parallel4 ,it is not to be forgotten that the work which the soldier did in type is the work which ,christ does4 ,he is the true ,moses who leads us through the wilderness4 ,but also ,he is the ,captain who will bring us into the mountain of ,his inheritance4 ,but besides this1 we too often forget the soldier-like virtues in the character of ,christ4 ,we have lost sight of these very much1 but certainly they are present and most conspicuous4 ,if only we will look at our ,lord's life as a real human one1 and apply the same tests and terms to it which we do to others1 we shall see these characteristics plainly enough4 ,what do we call persistence which1 in spite of all opposition1 goes right on to the end1 and is true to conscience and duty1 even to death8 ,what do we call the calmness which forgets self even in the agonies of pain on the cross8 ,what do we call the virtue which rebukes evil in high places and never blanches nor falters in the utterance of unwelcome truths8 ,daring courage4 ,promptness of action4 ,all conspicuous in ,jesus4 ,iron will4 ,it has become a commonplace thing now to say that the bravery which dares to do right in the face of all opposition is higher than that of the soldier who flings away his life on the battlefield4 ,the soldiers of peace are known now to deserve the laurel no less than the heroes of war4 ,but who can tell how much of the modern world's estimate of the superiority of moral courage to mere brute force is owing to the history of the life of ,christ8 ,we find a further parallel in the warfare through which ,he conquers for us the land4 ,his own struggle 7',i have overcome'71 and the lesson that we too must fight1 and that all our religious life is to be a conflict4 ,it is easy to run off into mere rhetorical metaphor1 but it is a very solemn and a very practical truth which is taught us1 if we ponder that name of the warrior ,leader borne by our ,master as explained to us by ,himself in ,his words1 ',in the world ye shall have tribulation2 but be of good cheer1 ,i have overcome the world4' ,ps4 cx4 ',thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power1 in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning3 thou hast the dew of thy youth4' ,,ii4 ,the significance of the name4 ,joshua means ,god is ,saviour4 ,as borne by the ,israelitish leader1 it pointed both him and the people away from him to the unseen and omnipotent source of their victory1 and was in one word an explanation of their whole history1 with all its miracles of deliverance and preservation of that handful of people against the powerful nations around4 ,it taught the leader that he was only the lieutenant of an unseen ,captain4 ,it taught the soldiers that 'they got not the land in possession by their own arms1 but because ,he had a favour unto them4' #a4 ,god as ,saviour appears in highest manifestation in ,jesus4 ,i do not now mean in regard to the nature of the salvation1 but in regard to the relation between the human and the divine4 ,joshua was the human agent through which the divine will effected deliverance1 but1 as in all helpers and teachers1 he was but the instrument4 ,he could not have said1 ',i lead you1 ,i give you victory4' ,his name taught him that he was not to come in his own name4 ,but 'he shall save'--not merely ,god shall save through him4 ,and 'his people'--not 'the people of ,god' ,all this but points to the broad distinction between ,christ and all others1 in that ,god1 the ,saviour1 is manifest in ,him as in none other4 ,we are not detracting from the glory of ,god when we say that ,christ saves us4 ,christ's consciousness of being ,himself ,salvation is expressed in many of ,his words4 ,he makes claims and puts forward ,his own personality in a fashion that would be blasphemy in any other man1 and yet all the while is true to ,his name1 ',god is the ,saviour4' ,the paradox which lies in these earliest words1 the great gulf between the name and the interpretation on the angel's lips1 is only solved when we accept the teaching which tells us that in that ,word made flesh and dwelling among us1 we behold ',god manifest in the flesh1' and 'in ,christ reconciling the world unto ,himself4' ,the name guards us1 too1 from that very common error of thinking of ,christ as if ,he were more our ,saviour than ,god is4 ,we are not without need of this warning4 ,christ does not bend the divine will to love1 is not more tender than our ,father ,god4 #b4 ,the ,salvation brought by ,jesus is in its nature the loftiest4 ,it is with strong emphasis that the angel defines the sphere of salvation as being 'their sins4' ,the ,messianic expectation had been degraded as it flowed through the generations1 as some pure stream loses its early sparkle1 and gathers scum on its surface from filth flung into it by men4 ,mere deliverance from the ,roman yoke was all the salvation that the mass wanted or expected1 and the tragedy of the ,cross was foreshadowed in this prophecy which declares an inward emancipation from sin as the true work of ,mary's unborn ,son4 ,we can discern the ,jewish error in externalising and materialising the conception of salvation1 but many of us repeat it in essence4 ,what is the difference between the ,jew who thought that salvation was deliverance from ,rome1 and the ',christian' who thinks that it is deliverance not from sin but from its punishment8 ,we have to think of a liberation from sin itself1 not merely from its penalties4 ,this thought has been often obscured by preachers1 and often neglected by ,christians1 in whom selfishness and an imperfect understanding of the gospel have too often made salvation appear as merely a means of escape from impending suffering4 ,all deep knowledge of what ,sin is teaches us that it is its own punishment1 and that the hell of hell is to be under the dominion of evil4 #c4 ,god's people are ,his people4 ,israel was ,god's portion--and ,joshua was but their leader for a time4 ,but the people of ,god are the people of ,christ4 ,the way by which we become the people of ,jesus is simply by faith in ,him4 ,,iii4 ,the usage of the name4 ,it was a common ,jewish name1 but seems to have been almost abandoned since then by ,jews from abhorrence1 by ,christians from reverence4 ,the ,jewish fanatic who during the siege stalked through ,jerusalem shrieking1 ',woe to the city'1 and1 as he fell mortally wounded1 added1 'and to myself also1' was a ,jesus4 ,there is a ,jesus in ,colossians4 ,we find it as the usual appellation in the ,gospels1 as is natural4 ,but in the ,epistles it is comparatively rare alone4 ,the reason1 of course1 is that it brings mainly before us the human personality of ,jesus4 ,so when used alone in later books it emphasises this3 ',this same ,jesus shall so come'4 ',we see ,jesus1 made a little1 etc4' ,found in frequent use by two classes of religionists--,unitarian and ,sentimental4 ,we should seek to get all the blessing out of it1 and to dwell1 taught by it1 on the thoughts of ,his true manhood1 tempted1 our brother1 bone of our bone4 ,we should beware of confining our thoughts to what is taught us by that name4 ,jesus is the ,christ1 the ,son of ,god4 ,even with thoughts of ,his lovely human character let us blend thoughts of ,his ,messianic office and of ,his divine nature4 ,we shall not see all the beauty of ,jesus unless we know ,him as the ,christ1 the ,son of the ,highest4 ,and besides the name written on ,his vesture and his thigh1 ,he bears a name which no man knoweth but ,himself4 ,beyond our grasp is ,his uncommunicable name1 ,his deep character1 but near to us for our love and for our faith is all we need to know4 ,that name which ,he bore in ,his humiliation ,he bears still in ,his glory1 and the name which is above every name1 and at which every knee shall bow1 is the name by which ,jewish mothers called their children1 and through eternity we shall call ,his name ,jesus because ,he hath finally and fully saved us from our sins4 ,,the ,,first-,,fruits ,,of ,,the ,,gentiles ',now when ,jesus was born in ,bethlehem of ,judaea in the days of ,herod the king1 behold1 there came wise men from the east to ,jerusalem1 #b4 ,saying1 ,where is ,he that is born ,king of the ,jews8 for we have seen ,his star in the east1 and are come to worship ,him4 #c4 ,when ,herod the king had heard these things1 he was troubled1 and all ,jerusalem with him4 #d4 ,and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together1 he demanded of them where ,christ should be born4 #e4 ,and they said unto him1 ,in ,bethlehem of ,judaea3 for thus it is written by the prophet1 #f4 ,and thou ,bethlehem1 in the land of ,juda1 art not the least among the princes of ,juda3 for out of thee shall come a ,governor1 that shall rule my people ,israel4 #g4 ,then ,herod1 when he had privily called the wise men1 enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared4 #h4 ,and he sent them to ,bethlehem1 and said1 ,go and search diligently for the young child2 and when ye have found ,him1 bring me word again1 that ,i may come and worship ,him also4 #i4 ,when they had heard the king1 they departed2 and1 lo1 the star1 which they saw in the east1 went before them1 till it came and stood over where the young child was4 #aj4 ,when they saw the star1 they rejoiced with exceeding great joy4 #aa4 ,and when they were come into the house1 they saw the young child with ,mary ,his mother1 and fell down1 and worshipped ,him3 and when they had opened their treasures1 they presented unto ,him gifts2 gold1 and frankincense1 and myrrh4 #ca4 ,and being warned of ,god in a dream that they should not return to ,herod1 they departed into their own country another way4'--,,matt4 ii4 #a-ab4 ,matthew's ,gospel is the gospel of the ,king4 ,it has a distinctly ,jewish colouring4 ,all the more remarkable1 therefore1 is this narrative1 which we should rather have looked for in ,luke1 the evangelist who delights to emphasise the universality of ,christ's work4 ,but the gathering of the ,gentiles to the light of ,israel was an essential part of true ,judaism1 and could not but be represented in the ,gospel which set forth the glories of the ,king4 ,there is something extremely striking and stimulating to the imagination in the vagueness of the description of these ,eastern pilgrims4 ,where they came from1 how long they had been in travelling1 how many they were1 what was their rank1 whither they went1--all these questions are left unsolved4 ,they glide into the story1 present their silent adoration1 and as silently steal away4' ,the tasteless mediaeval tradition knows all about them3 they were three2 they were kings4 ,it knows their names2 and1 if we choose to pay the fee1 we can see their bones to-day in the shrine behind the high altar in ,cologne ,cathedral4 ,how much more impressive is the indefiniteness of our narrative6 ,how much more the half sometimes is than the whole6 ,i4 ,we see here heathen wisdom led by ,god to the cradle of ,christ4 ,it is futile to attempt to determine the nationality of the wise men4 ,possibly they were ,persian magi1 whose astronomy was half astrology and wholly observation1 or they may have travelled from some place even deeper in the mysterious ,east2 but1 in any case1 they were led by ,god through their science1 such as it was4 ,the great lesson which they teach remains the same1 however subordinate questions about the nature of the star and the like may be settled4 ,the sign in the heavens and its explanation were both of ,god1 whether the one was a natural astronomical phenomenon or a supernatural light1 and the other the conclusions of their science or the inbreathing of ,his wisdom4 ,so they stand as representatives of the great truth1 that1 outside the limits of the people of revelation1 ,god moved on hearts and led seeking souls to the light in divers manners4 ,these silent strangers at the cradle carry on the line of recipients of divine messages outside of ,israel which is headed by the mysterious ,melchizedek1 and includes that seer who saw a star arise out of ,jacob1 and which1 in a wider sense1 includes many a 'poet of their own' and many a patient seeker after truth4 ,human wisdom1 as it is called1 is ,god's gift4 ,in itself1 it is incomplete4 ,it raises more questions than it solves4 ,its highest function is to lead to ,jesus4 ,he is ,lord of the sciences1 as of all that belongs to man2 and notwithstanding all the appearances to the contrary at present1 we may be sure that the true scope of all knowledge1 and its certain end1 is to lead to the recognition of ,him4 ,may we not see in these ,magi1 too1 a type of the inmost meaning of heathen religions8 ,these faiths have in them points of contact with ,christianity4 ,besides their falsehoods and abhorrent dark cruelties and lustfulnesses1 they enshrine confessions of wants which the ,king in the cradle alone can supply4 ,modern unbelieving teachers tell us that ,christianity and they are alike products of man's own religious faculty4 ,but the truth is that they are confessions of need1 and ,christianity is the supply of the need4 ,at bottom1 their language is the question of the wise men1 ',where is ,he8' ,their sacrifices proclaim man's need of reconciliation4 ,their stories of the gods coming down in the likeness of men1 speak of his longing for a manifestation of ,god in the flesh4 ,the cradle and the cross are ,heaven's answer to their sad questions4 ,,ii4 ,the contrast of these ,gentiles' joyful eagerness to worship the ,king of ,israel1 with the alarm of his own people at the whisper of his name1 is a prelude of the tragedy of his rejection1 and the passing over of the kingdom to the ,gentiles4 ,notice the bitter and scornful emphasis of that ',herod the king' coming twice in the story in immediate connection with the mention of the true ,king4 ,he was a usurper1 caricaturing the true ,monarch4 ,like most kings who have had 'great' tacked to their names1 his greatness consisted mainly in supreme wickedness4 ,fierce1 lustful1 cunning1 he had ruled without mercy2 and now he was passing through the last stages of an old age without love1 and ringed round by the fears born of his misdeeds4 ,he trembles for his throne1 as well he may1 when he hears of these strangers4 ,probably he does not suppose them mixed up with any attempt to unseat him1 or he would have made short work of them2 unless1 indeed1 his craft led him to dissemble until he had sucked them dry and had used them to lead him to the infant rival1 after which he may have meant to murder them too4 ,but he recognises in their question the familiar tones of the ,messianic hope1 which he knew was ever lying like glowing embers in the breast of the nation1 ready to be blown into a flame4 ,his creatures in the capital might disown it1 but he knew in his secret heart that he was a usurper1 and that at any moment that smouldering hatred and hope might burn up him and his upstart monarchy4 ,an evil conscience is full of fears1 and shrinks from the good news that the ,king of all is at hand4 ,his coming should be joy1 as is that of the bursting spring or the rosy dawn2 but our own sin makes the day of the ,lord darkness and not light1 and sends us cowering into our corners to escape these searching eyes4 ,nor less tragic and perverted is the trouble which 'all ,jerusalem' shared with ,herod4 ,the ,magi had naturally made straight for the capital1 expecting to find the new-born ,king there1 and ,his city jubilant at ,his birth4 ,but they traverse its streets only to meet none who know anything about ,him4 ,they must have felt like men who see1 gleaming from far on some hill-side1 a brightness which has all vanished when they reach the spot1 or like some of our mission converts brought to our ',christian country1' and seeing how little our people care for the ,christ whom they have learned to know4 ,their question indicates utter bewilderment at the contrast between what they had seen in the ,east and what they found in ,jerusalem4 ,they must have been still more perplexed if they observed the effect of their question4 ,nobody in ,jerusalem knew anything about their ,king4 ,that was strange enough4 ,but nobody wanted ,him4 ,that was stranger still4 ,a prophet had long ago called on ',zion' to 'rejoice greatly' because 'thy ,king cometh'2 but now anxiety and terror cloud all faces4 ,it was partly because self-interest bound many to ,herod1 and partly because they all feared that any outburst of ,messianic hopes would lead to fresh cruelties inflicted by the relentless1 trembling tyrant4 ,so the ,magi1 who represented the eagerness of ,gentile hearts grasping the new hopes1 and claiming some share in ,israel's ,messiah1 saw ,his own people careless1 and1 if moved from their apathy1 alarmed at the unwelcome tidings that the promise which had shone as a great light through dreary centuries was at last on the eve of fulfilment4 ,so the first page on the gospel history anticipates the sad issue3 ',they shall come from the east1 and from the west1' and you yourselves shall be thrust out4 ,,iii4 ,then followed the council of the theologians1 with its solemn illustration of the difference between orthodoxy and life1 and of the utter hollowness of mere knowledge1 however accurate1 of the letter of ,scripture4 ,the questions as to the composition of this gathering of authorities1 and of the variations between the quotation of ,micah in the text and its form in the ,hebrew1 do not concern us now4 ,we may remark on the evident purpose of ,god to draw forth the distinct testimony of the ecclesiastical rulers to the place of ,messiah's birth1 and on the fact that this1 the most ancient interpretation of the prophecy1 is vouched to us by existing ,jewish sources as having been the traditional one until the exigencies of controversy with ,christians pushed it aside ,notice the different conduct of ,herod1 the ,magi1 and the scribes4 ,the first is entangled in a ludicrous contradiction4 ,he believes that ,messiah is to be born in ,bethlehem1 and yet he determines to set himself against the carrying out of what he must1 in some sense1 believe to be ,god's purpose4 ',if this infant is ,god's ,messiah1 ,i will kill ,him1' is surely as strange a piece of policy gone mad as ever the world heard of4 ,but it is perhaps not more insane than much of our own action1 when we set ourselves against what we know to be ,god's will1 and consciously seek to thwart it4 ,a child trying to stop a train by pushing against the locomotive has as much chance of success4 ,the scribes1 again1 are quite sure where ,messiah is to be born2 but they do not care to go and see if ,he is born4 ,these strangers1 to whom the hope of ,israel is new1 may rush away1 in their enthusiasm1 to ,bethlehem2 but they1 to whom it had lost all gloss1 and become a commonplace1 would take no such trouble4 ,does not familiarity with the gospel produce much the same effect on many of us8 ,might not the joy and the devotion1 however ignorant if compared with our better knowledge of the letter1 which mark converts from heathenism1 shame the tepid zeal and unruffled composure of us1 who have heard all about ,christ1 till it has become wearisome8 ,here on the very threshold of the gospel story is the first instance of the lesson taught over and over again in it1 namely1 the worthlessness of head knowledge1 and the constant temptation of substituting it for that submission of the will and that trust of the heart1 which alone make religion4 ,the most impenetrable armour against the gospel is the familiar and lifelong knowledge of the gospel4 ,the ,magi1 on their part1 accept with implici confidence the information4 ,they have followed the star2 they have now a more sure word1 and they will follow that4 ,they were led by their science to contact with the true guide4 ,he that is faithful in his use of the dimmest light will find his light brighten4 ,the office of science is not to lead to ,christ by a road discovered by itself1 but to lead to the ,word of ,god which guides to ,him4 ,not by accident1 nor without profound meaning1 did both methods of direction unite to point these earnest seekers1 who were ready to follow every form of guidance1 to the ,monarch whom they sought4 ,,iv4 ,herod's crafty counsel need not detain us4 ,we have already remarked on its absurdity4 ,if the child were not ,messiah1 he need not have been alarmed2 if it were1 his efforts were fruitless4 ,but he does not see this1 and so plots and works underground in the approved fashion of kingcraft4 ,his reason for questioning the ,magi as to the time was1 of course1 to get an approximate age of the infant1 that he might know how widely to fling his net4 ,he did it privately1 so as to keep any inkling of his plot secret till he had secured the further information which he hoped to delude them into bringing4 ,like other students and recluses fed upon great thoughts1 the ,magi were very easily deceived4 ,good1 simple people1 they were no match for ,herod1 and told him all without suspicion1 and set off to look for the child1 quite convinced of his good faith2 while he1 no doubt1 breathed more freely when he had got them out of ,jerusalem1 and congratulated himself on having done a good stroke of business in making them his spies4 ,he was probably within a few months of his death4 ,the world was already beginning to slip from him4 ,but before he passed to his account1 he too was brought within sight of the ,christ1 and summoned to yield his usurped dominion to the true ,king ,how different this old man's reception of the tidings of the nativity from ,simeon's6 ,his hostility1 in its cruelty1 its blundering cunning and its impotence1 is a type of the relations of the world-power to ,christ4 ',the rulers take counsel together1 444 against ,his anointed4 444 ,he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh4' ,v4 ,we have next the discovery of the ,king4 ,the reappearing star becomes the guide to the humble house4 ,it cannot have been an ordinary star1 for no such could have pointed the precise house among all the homes of ,bethlehem4 ,the burst of joy at its reappearance vividly suggests the perplexity of the recent days1 and the support given by its welcome beam to the faith which had accepted1 not perhaps without some misgivings caused by the indifference of the teachers1 the teaching of the prophecy4 ,surely that faith would be more than ever tried by the humble poverty in which they found the ,king4 ,the great paradox of ,christianity1 the manifestation of divinest power in uttermost weakness1 was forced upon them in its most startling form4 ',this child on ,his mother's lap1 with none to do ,him homage1 and in poverty which makes our costly gifts seem out of place1--this is the ,king1 whose coming set stars ablaze and drew us hither4 ,is this all8' ,their ,eastern religions were not unfamiliar with the idea of incarnation4 ,their ,eastern monarchies were splendid4 ,they must have felt a shock at the contrast between what they expected and what they found4 ,they learned the lesson which all have to learn1 that ,christ disappoints as well as fulfils the expectations of men1 that the mightiest power is robed in lowliness1 and the highest manifestation of ,god begins with a helpless infant on ,his mother's knee4 ,these wise men were not repelled4 ,our modern 'wise men are not all as wise as they4 ,,vi4 ,adoration and offering follow discovery4 ,the 'worship' of the ,magi cannot have been adoration in the strict sense4 ,we attribute too much to them if we suppose them aware of ,christ's divinity4 ,but it was clearly more than mere reverence for an earthly ,king4 ,it hovered on the border-line1 and meant an indefinite submission and homage to a partially discerned superiority1 in which the presence of ,god was in some sort special4 ,the old mediaeval interpretation of the offered gold as signifying recognition of ,his kingship1 the frankincense of ,his deity1 and the myrrh of ,his death1 is so beautiful that one would fain wish it true4 ,but it cannot pretend to be more than a fancy4 ,we are on surer ground when we see in the gifts the choicest products of the land of the ,magi1 and learn the lesson that the true recognition of ,christ will ever be attended by the spontaneous surrender to ,him of our best4 ,these gifts would not be of much use to ,mary4 ,if there had been a 'practical man' among the ,magi1 he might have said1 ',what is the use of giving such things to such a household8' ,and it would have been difficult to have answered4 ,but love does not calculate1 and the impulse which leads to consecrate the best we have to ,him is acceptable in ,his sight4 ,this earliest page in the gospel history is a prophecy of the latest4 ,these are the first-fruits of the ,gentiles unto ,christ4 ,they bear 'in their hands a glass which showeth many more1' who at last will come like them to the ,king of the whole earth4 ',they shall bring gold and incense2 and they shall show forth the praises of the ,lord4' ,there were ,gentiles at the cradle and at the cross4 ,the ,magi learned the lessons which the ,east especially needed1 of power in weakness1 royalty in lowliness4 ,incarnation not in monstrous forms or with destructive attributes1 but in feeble infancy which passes through the ordinary stages of development4 ,the ,greeks who sought to see ,jesus when near the hour of ,his death1 learned the lesson for want of which their nation's culture rotted away1 ',except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die1 it abideth alone' ,so these two groups1 one at the beginning1 the other at the end1 one from the mysterious ,east1 the other from the progressive and cultured ,west1 received each a half of the completed truth1 the gospel of ,incarnation and ,sacrifice1 and witness to the sufficiency of ,christ for all human needs1 and to the coming of the time when all the races of men shall gather round the throne to which cradle and cross have exalted ,him1 and shall recognise in ,him the ,prince of all the kings of the earth1 and the ,lamb slain for the sins of the world4 ,,the ,,king ,,in ,,exile ',and when they were departed1 behold1 the angel of the ,lord appeareth to ,joseph in a dream1 saying1 ,arise1 and take the young child and ,his mother1 and flee into ,egypt1 and be thou there until ,i bring thee word3 for ,herod will seek the young child to destroy ,him4 #ad4 ,when he arose1 he took the young child and ,his mother by night1 and departed into ,egypt2 #ae4 ,and was there until the death of ,herod2 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the ,lord by the prophet1 saying1 ,out of ,egypt have ,i called ,my son4 #af4 ,then ,herod1 when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men1 was exceeding wroth1 and sent forth1 and slew all the children that were in ,bethlehem1 and in all the coasts thereof1 from two years old and under1 according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men4 #ag4 ,then was fulfilled that which was spoken by ,jeremy the prophet1 saying1 #ah4 ,in ,rama was there a voice heard1 lamentation1 and weeping1 and great mourning1 ,rachel weeping for her children1 and would not be comforted1 because they are not4 #ai4 ,but when ,herod was dead1 behold1 an angel of the ,lord appeareth to a dream to ,joseph in ,egypt1 #bj4 ,saying1 ,arise1 and take the young child and ,his mother1 and go into the land of ,israel2 for they are dead which sought the young child's life4 #ba4 ,and he arose1 and took the young child and ,his mother1 and came into the land of ,israel4 #bb4 ,but when he heard that ,archelaus did reign in ,judaea in the room of his father ,herod1 he was afraid to go thither2 notwithstanding1 being warned of ,god in a dream1 he turned aside into the parts of ,galilee3 #bc4 ,and he came and dwelt in a city called ,nazareth3 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets1 ,he shall be called a ,nazarene4'--,,matt4 ii4 #ac-bc4 ,delitzsch1 in his ,new ,investigations into the ,origin and ,plan of the ,canonical ,gospels1 tries to show that ,matthew is constructed on the plan of the ,pentateuch4 ,the analogy is somewhat strained1 but there are some striking points of correspondence4 ,he regards ,matthew i4 to ii4 #ae as answering to ,genesis4 ,it begins with the 'genesis of ,jesus1' and1 as the ,old ,testament book ends with the migration of ,israel to ,egypt1 so this section of the ,gospel ends with the flight of the ,holy ,family to the same land4 ,the section from ii4 #ae to the end of the ,sermon on the ,mount answers to ,exodus1 and here the parallels are striking4 ,the murder of the innocents at ,bethlehem by ,herod answers to ,pharaoh's slaughter of ,hebrew children2 the ,exodus1 to the return to ,nazareth2 the call of ,moses at the bush1 to the baptism of ,jesus2 the forty years in the wilderness1 to the forty days' desert hunger and temptation2 and the giving of the law from ,sinai1 to the ,sermon on the ,mount1 which contains the new law for the kingdom of ,god4 ,without supposing that the evangelist moulded his ,gospel on the plan of the ,pentateuch1 we cannot but see that there is a real parallel between the beginnings of the national life of ,israel and the commencement of the life of ,christ4 ,our present text brings this parallel into great prominence4 ,it is divided into three sections1 each of which has for its centre an ,old ,testament prophecy4 ,i4 ,we have first the flight into ,egypt and the prophecy fulfilled therein4 ,the appearance of the angel seems to have followed immediately on the departure of the ,magi4 ,they were succeeded by a loftier visitor from a more distant land1 coming to lay richer gifts and a more absolute homage at the infant's feet4 ,the angel of the ,lord1 who had already eased ,joseph's honest and troubled heart by disclosing the secret of ,mary's child1 comes again4 ,to ,mary he had appeared waking2 her meek eyes could look on him1 and her obedient ears hear his voice4 ,but ,joseph1 who stood on a lower spiritual level1 needed the lower form of revelation by dream1 which betokens less susceptibility in the recipient and less importance in the communication4 ,it is the only form appropriate to his power of receiving1 and four times it is mentioned as granted to him4 ,the warning to the wise men was also conveyed in a dream4 ,we can scarcely help recalling the similar prominence of dreams in the history of the earlier ,joseph1 whose life was moulded in order to bring ,israel into ,egypt4 ,the angel speaks of 'the young child and ,his mother1' reversing the order of nature1 as if he bowed before the infant1 ',lord of men as well as angels1' and would deepen the lesson which so many signs gathering round the cradle were teaching the silent ,joseph1--that ,mary and he were but humble ministers of the child's4 ,the partial instruction given1 and the darkness left lying over the future1 are in accordance with the methods of ,god's leading1 which always gives light enough for the next duty1 and never for the one after that4 ,the prompt and precise obedience of ,joseph to the heavenly vision is emphatically expressed by the verbal repetition of the command in the account of its fulfilment4 ,there was no hesitation1 no reluctance1 no delay4 ,on the very night1 as it appears1 of the dream1 he rose up2 the simple preparations were quickly made2 the wise men's gifts would help to sustain their modest wants1 and before the day broke they were on their road4 ,how strangely blended in our ,lord's life1 from the very dawning1 are dignity and lowliness1 glory and reproach6 ,how soon ,his brows are crowned with thorns6 ,the adoration of the ,magi witnesses to ,him as the ,king of ,israel and the hope of the world4 ,the flight of which that adoration was the direct cause witnesses no less clearly to ,him as despised and rejected1 tasting sorrow in ,his earliest food1 and not having where to lay ,his head4 ,but the most important part of the story is the connection which ,matthew discerns between it and ,hosea's words4 ,in their original place they are not a prophecy at all1 but simply a part of a tender historical resume of ,god's dealings with ,israel1 by which the prophet would touch his contemporaries' hearts into penitence and trust4 ,how1 then1 is the evangelist justified in regarding them as prophetic1 and in looking on ,christ's flight as their fulfilment8 ,the answer is to be found in that analogy between the national and the personal ,israel which runs through all the ,old ,testament1 and reaches its greatest clearness in the second part of ,isaiah's prophecies4 ,jesus ,christ was what ,israel was destined and failed to be1 the true ,servant of ,god1 ,his ,anointed1 ,his ,son1 the medium of conveying ,his name to the world4 ,the ideal of the nation was realised in ,him4 ,his brief stay in ,egypt served the very same purpose in ,his life which their four hundred years there did in theirs1--it sheltered ,him from enemies1 and gave ,him room to grow4 ,just as the infant nation was unawares fostered in the very lap of the country which was the symbol of the world hostile to ,god1 so the infant ,christ was guarded and grew there4 ,the prophecy is a prophecy just because it is history2 for the history was all a shadow of the future1 and ,he is the true ,israel and the ,son of ,god4 ,it would have been fulfilled quite as really1 that is to say1 the parallel between ,christ and the nation would have been as fully carried out1 if ,his place of refuge had been in some other land2 but the precise outward identity helps to point the parallel to unobservant eyes4 ,the great truth taught by it of the typical relation between the nation and the ,person is the key to large regions of ,old ,testament history and prophecy4 ,rightly1 therefore1 does ,matthew call our attention to this pregnant fact1 and bid us see in the divine selection of the place where the young life of ,god manifest in the flesh was sheltered1 a fulfilment of prophecy4 ,egypt was the natural asylum of every fugitive from ,palestine1 but a deeper reason bent the steps of the ,holy ,family to the shelter of its palms and temples4 ,,ii4 ,the slaughter of the innocents1 and the prophecy fulfilled therein4--,herod's fierce rage1 enflamed by the dim suspicion that these wily ,easterns have gone away laughing in their sleeves at having tricked him1 and by the dread that they may be stirring up armed defenders of the infant ,king1 is in full accord with all that we know of him4 ,the critics who find the story of the massacre 'unhistorical1' because ,josephus does not mention it1 must surely be very anxious to discredit the evangelist1 and very hard pressed for grounds to do so1 or they would not commit themselves to the extraordinary assumption that nothing is to be believed outside of the pages of ,josephus4 ,a splash or two of 'blood of poor innocents1' more or less1 found on the ,idumean tyrant's bloody skirts1 could be of little consequence in the eyes of those who knew what a long saturnalia of horrors his reign had been2 and the number of the infants under two years old in such a tiny place as ,bethlehem would be small1 so that their feeble wail might well fail to reach the ears even of contemporaries4 ,but there is no reason for questioning the simple truth of a story so like the frantic cruelty and sleepless suspicion of the grey-headed tyrant1 who was stirred to more ferocity as the shades of death gathered about him1 and power slipped from his rotting hands4 ,of all the tragic pictures which ,scripture gives of a godless old age1 burning with unquenchable hatred to goodness and condemned to failure in all its antagonism1 none is touched with more lurid hues than this4 ,what a contrast between the king de jure1 the cradled infant2 and the king de facto1 going down to his loathsome death1 which all but he longed for6 ,he may well stand as a symbol of the futility of all opposition to ,christ the ,king4 ,the fate of these few infants is a strange one4 ,in their brief lives they have won immortal fame4 ,they died for the ,christ whom they never knew4 ,these lambs were slain for the sake of the ,lamb who lived while ',little flowers of martyrdom1 ,roses by the whirlwind shorn1' ,that quotation1 from ,jeremiah xxxi4 #af1 requires a brief consideration4 ,the original is still less a prophecy than was the passage in ,hosea4 ,it is a highly imaginative and grandly weird personification of the mighty mother of three of the tribes1 stirring in her tomb1 and lifting up the shrill lamentation of ,eastern grief over her children carried away to captivity4 ,that hopeless wail from the grave by ,bethlehem is heard as far north as ,ramah1 beyond ,jerusalem4 ,once again1 says ,matthew1 the same grief might have been imaginatively heard from the long-silent tomb so near the scene of this pitiful tragedy4 ,and the second ancestral weeping was fuller of woe than the bitterness of that first lament2 for this bewailed the actual slaughter of innocents1 and wept the miseries that so soon gathered round the coming of the ,king1 so long waited for4 ,seeing that the prophet's words do not describe a fact1 but are a poetical personification to convey simply the idea of calamity1 which might make the dead mother weep1 the word 'fulfilled' can obviously be applied to them only in a modified and somewhat elastic sense1 and is sufficiently defended if we recognise in the slaughter of these children a woe which1 though small in itself1 yet1 when considered in reference to its inflicter1 a usurping king of the ,jews1 and in reference to its occasion1 the desire to slay the ,god-sent ,king1 and in reference to its innocent victims1 and in reference to its place as first of the tragic series of martyrdoms for ,messiah1 was heavy with a sorer burden of national disaster1 when seen by eyes made wise by death1 than even the captivity which seemed to falsify the promises of ,god and the hopes of a thousand years4 ,,iii4 ,the return to ,nazareth1 and the prophecy fulfilled therein4--,they who patiently wait for guidance1 and move not till the cloud moves1 are never disappointed1 nor left undirected4 ,joseph is a pattern of self-abnegating submission1 and an example of its rewards4 ,the angel ever comes again to those who have once obeyed him and continue to wait4 ,this third appearance is described in the same words as the former4 ,his coming was the appearance of a familiar presence ,his command begins by a verbal repetition of the former summons1 ',arise and take the young child and ,his mother1 and go1' and then passes to a singular allusion to that command to ,moses which was the first step towards the former calling of ,god's son--the nation--out of ,egypt4 ',all the men are dead which sought thy life1' was the encouragement to ,moses to go back4 ',they are dead that sought the young child's life1' is the encouragement to ,joseph4 ,it sums up in one sentence the failure of the first attempt1 and is like an epitaph cut on a tombstone for a man yet living1--a prophecy of the end of all succeeding efforts to crush ,christ and thwart ,his work4 ',the dreaded infant's hand' is mightier than all mailed fists1 or fingers that hold a pen4 ,christ lives and grows2 ,herod rots and dies4 ,apparently ,joseph's intention was to return to ,bethlehem4 ,he may have thought that ,nazareth would scarcely satisfy the angel's injunction to go to the ',land of ,israel1' or that ,david's city was the right home for ,david's heir4 ,at all events1 his perplexity appeals to ,heaven for direction2 and1 for the fourth time1 his course is marked for him by a dream1 whether through the instrumentality of the angel who knew the way to his couch so well1 we are not told1 ,archelaus1 ,herod's son1 who had received ,judaea on the partition at his father's death1 was a smaller ,herod1 as cruel and less able4 ,there was more security in the obscurity of ,nazareth1 under the less sanguinary sway of ,antipas1 whose share of his father's vices was his lust1 rather than his ferocity4 ,so1 after so many wanderings1 and with such strange new experience and thoughts1 the silent1 steadfast ,joseph and the meek mother bring back their mysterious charge and secret to the humble old home4 ,matthew does not seem to have known that it had formerly been their home1 but his account is no contradiction of ,luke's4 ,again he is reminded of a prophecy1 or perhaps1 rather1 of many prophecies1 for he uses the plural 'prophets1' as if he were summing up the tenor of more than one utterance4 ,the words which he gives are not found in any prophet4 ,but we know that to call a man 'a ,nazarene' was the same thing as to call him lowly and despised4 ,the scoff of the ,pharisee to ,nicodemus's timid appeal on ,christ's behalf1 and the guileless ,nathaniel's quest ion1 show that4 ,the fact that ,christ by ,his residence in ,nazareth became known as the ',nazarene1' and so shared in the contempt attaching to all ,galileans1 and especially to the inhabitants of that village1 is a kind of concentration of all the obscurity and ignominy of ,his lot4 ,the name was nailed over ,his head on the cross as a scornful reductio ad absurdum of ,his claims to be ,king of ,israel ,this explanation of the evangelist's meaning does not exclude a reference in his mind to the prophecy in ,isaiah xi4 #a1 where ,messiah is called 'a branch' or more properly1 'a shoot' for which the ,hebrew word is netzer4 ,the name ,nazareth is probably etymologically connected with that word1 and may have been given to the little village contemptuously to express its insignificance4 ,the meaning of the prophecy is that the offspring of ,david1 who should come when the ,davidic house was in the lowest depths of obscurity1 like a tree of which only the stump is left1 should not appear in royal pomp1 or in a lofty condition1 but as insignificant1 feeble1 and of no account4 ,such prophecy was fulfilled in the very fact that ,he was all ,his life known as 'of ,nazareth' and the verbal assonance between that name1 'the shoot' and the word ',nazarene' is a finger-post pointing to the meaning of the place of abode chosen for ,him4 ,the mere fact of residence there1 and the consequent contempt1 do not exhaust the prophecies to which reference is made4 ,these might have been fulfilled without such a literal and external fulfilment4 ,but it serves1 like the literal riding upon an ass1 and many other instances in ,christ's life1 to lead dull apprehensions to perceive more plainly that ,he is the theme of all prophecy1 and that in ,his life the trivial is significant and nothing is accidental4 ,,the ,,herald ,,of ,,the ,,king ',in those days came ,john the ,baptist1 preaching in the wilderness of ,judaea1 #b4 ,and saying1 ,repent ye3 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand4 #c4 ,for this is ,he that was spoken of by the prophet ,esaias1 saying1 ,the voice of one crying in the wilderness1 ,prepare ye the way of the ,lord1 make ,his paths straight4 #d4 ,and the same ,john had his raiment of camel's hair1 and a leathern girdle about his loins2 and his meat was locusts and wild honey4 #e4 ,then went out to him ,jerusalem1 and all ,judaea1 and all the region round about ,jordan1 #f4 ,and were baptized of him in ,jordan1 confessing their sins4 #g4 ,but when he saw many of the ,pharisees and ,sadducees come to his baptism1 he said unto them1 ,o generation of vipers1 who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come8 #h4 ,bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance3 #i4 ,and think not to say within yourselves1 ,we have ,abraham to our father3 for ,i say unto you1 that ,god is able of these stones to raise up children unto ,abraham4 #aj4 ,and now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees3 therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down1 and cast into the fire1 #aa4 ,i indeed baptize you with water unto repentance3 but he that cometh after me is mightier than ,i1 whose shoes ,i am not worthy to clean he shall baptize you with the ,holy ,ghost1 and with fire3 #ab4 ,whose fan is in ,his hand1 and ,he will throughly purge ,his floor1 and gather ,his wheat into the garner2 but ,he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire4'--,,matt4 iii4 #a-ab4 ,matthew's ,gospel is emphatically the ,gospel of the kingdom4 ,the keynote sounded in the story of the ,magi dominates the whole4 ,we have stood by the cradle of the ,king1 and seen the homage and the dread which surrounded it4 ,we have seen the usurper's hatred and the divine guardianship4 ,now we hear the voice of the herald of the ,king4 ,this section may be conveniently treated as falling into two parts3 the first1 from verse #a to verse #f1 a general outline of the ,baptist's person and work2 the second1 from verse #g to end1 a more detailed account of his preaching4 ,i4 ,we have an outline sketch of the herald and of his work4 ,the voice of prophecy had fallen silent for four hundred years4 ,now1 when it is once more heard1 it sounds in exactly the same key as when it ceased4 ,its last word had been the prediction of the day of the ,lord1 and of the coming of ,elijah once more4 ,john was ,elijah over again4 ,there were the same garb1 the same isolation1 the same fearlessness1 the same grim1 gaunt strength1 the same fiery energy of rebuke which bearded kings in the full fury of their self-will4 ,elijah1 ,ahab1 and ,jezebel have their doubles in ,john1 ,herod1 and ,herodias4 ,the closing words of ,malachi1 which ,matthew1 singularly enough1 does not quote1 are the best explication of the character and work of the ,baptist4 ,his portrait is flung on the canvas with the same startling abruptness with which ,elijah is introduced4 ,matthew makes no allusion to his relationship to ,jesus1 has nothing to say about his birth or long seclusion in the desert4 ,he gives no hint that his vague expression 'in these days' covers thirty years4 ,john leaps1 as it were1 into the arena full grown and full armed4 ,his work is described by one word--'preaching'2 out of which all modern associations1 which have too often made it a synonym for long-winded tediousness and toothless platitudes1 must be removed4 ,it means proclaiming1 or acting as a herald1 and implies the uplifted voice and the brief1 urgent message of one who runs before the chariot1 and shouts1 ',the king6 the king6' ,his message is summed up in two sentences1 two blasts of the trumpet3 the call to repentance1 and the rousing proclamation that the kingdom of heaven is at hand4 ,in the former he but reproduces the tone of earlier prophecy1 when he insists on a thorough change of disposition and a true sorrow for sin4 ,but he advances far beyond his precursors in the latter1 which is the reason for repentance4 ,they had seen the vision of the kingdom and the ,king1 'but not nigh4' ,he has to peal into the drowsy ears of a generation which had almost forgotten the ancient hope1 that it was at the very threshold4 ,like some solitary stern crag which catches the light of the sun yet unrisen but hastening upwards1 long before the shadowed valleys1 ,john flamed above his generation all aglow with the light1 as the witness that in another moment it would spring above the eastern horizon4 ,but he sees that this is no joyful message to them4 ,nothing is more remarkable in his preaching than the sombre hues with which his expectation of the day of the ,lord is coloured4 ',to what purpose is the day of the ,lord to you8 ,it is darkness and not light'2 it is to be judgment1 therefore repentance is the preparation4 ,the gleam and purity of lofty spiritual ideas are soon darkened1 as a film forms on quicksilver after short exposure4 ,john's contemporaries thought that the kingdom of heaven meant exclusive privileges1 and their rule over the heathen4 ,they had all but lost the thought that it meant first ,god's rule over their wills1 and their harmony with the glad obedience of heaven4 ,they had to be rudely shaken out of their self-complacency and taught that the livery of the ,king was purity1 and the preparation for ,his coming1 penitence4 ,the next touch in this outline sketch is ,john's fulfilment of prophecy4 ,matthew probably knew that wonderfully touching and lowly answer of his to the deputation from the ecclesiastical authorities1 which at once claimed prophetic authority and disclaimed personal importance1 ',i am the voice of one crying in the wilderness4' ,the prophecy in its original application refers to the preparation of a path in the desert1 for ,jehovah coming to redeem ,his people from captivity4 ,the use made of it by ,matthew1 and endorsed by all the evangelists1 rests on the principle1 without which we have no clue to the significance of the ,old ,testament1 that the history of ,israel is prophetic1 and that the bondage and deliverance are types of the sorer captivity from which ,christ redeems1 and of the grander deliverance which ,he effects4 ,our evangelist gives a vivid picture of the asceticism of ,john1 which was one secret1 as our ,lord pointed out1 of his hold on the people4 ,the more luxuriously self-indulgent men are1 the more are they fascinated by religious self-denial4 ,a man 'clothed in soft raiment' would have drawn no crowds4 ,a religious teacher must be clearly free from sensual appetites and love of ease1 if he is to stir the multitude4 ,john's rough garb and coarse food were not assumed by him to create an impression4 ,he was no mere imitator of the old prophets1 though he wore a robe like ,elijah's4 ,his asceticism was the expression of his severe1 solitary spirit1 detached from the delights of sense1 and even from the softer play of loves1 because the coming kingdom flamed ever before him1 and the age seemed to him to be rotting and ready for the fire4 ,there is no need to bring in irrelevant learning about ,essenes to account for his mode of life4 ,the thoughts which burned in him drove him into the wilderness4 ,he who was possessed with them could not 'come eating and drinking1' and might well seem to sense-bound wonderers as if some demonic force1 other than ordinary motives1 tyrannised over him4 ,the last point in this brief resume of ,john's work is the universal excitement which it produced4 ,he did not come out of the desert with his message4 ,if men would hear it1 they must go to him4 ,and they went4 ,all the southern portion of the country seemed to empty itself into the wilderness4 ,sleeping national hopes revived1 the awe of the coming judgment seized all classes4 ,it was so long since a fiery soul had scattered flaming words1 and religious teachers had for so many centuries been mumbling the old well-worn formulas1 and splitting hairs1 that it was an apocalypse to hear once more the accent of conviction from a man who really believed every word he said1 and himself thrilled with the solemn truths which he thundered4 ,wherever a religious teacher shows that he has ,john's qualities1 as our ,lord in ,his eulogium analysed them--namely1 unalterable resolution1 like an iron pillar1 and not like a reed shaken with the wind1 conspicuous superiority to considerations of ease and comfort1 a direct vision of the unseen1 and a message from ,god1 the crowds will go out to see him2 and even if the enthusiasm be shallow and transient1 some spasm of conviction will pass across many a conscience1 and some will be pointed by him to the ,king4 ,,ii4 ,the second portion of this section is a more detailed account of ,john's preaching1 which ,matthew gives as addressed to the ,pharisees and ,sadducees4 ,we are not to suppose that at any time ,john had a congregation exclusively made up of such2 nor that these words were addressed to them only4 ,what is emphasised is the fact that among the crowds were many of both these parties1 the religious aristocrats who represented two tendencies of mind bitterly antagonistic1 and each unlikely to be drawn to the prophet4 ,self-righteous pedants who had turned religion into a jumble of petty precepts1 and very superior persons who keenly appreciated the good things of this world1 and were too enlightened to have much belief in anything1 and too comfortable to be enthusiasts1 were not hopeful material4 ,if they were drawn into the current1 it must have run strong indeed4 ,these representatives of the highest and coldest classes of the nation had the very same red-hot words flung at them as the mob had4 ,luke tells us that the first words in this summary were spoken to the people4 ,both representations are true4 ,all fared alike4 ,so they should1 and so they always will1 if a real prophet has to talk to them4 ,john's salutation is excessively rough and rude4 ,honeyed words were not in his line2 he had not lived in the desert for all these years1 and held converse with ,god and his own heart1 without having learned that his business was to smite on conscience with a strong hand1 and to tear away the masks which hid men from themselves4 ,the whole spirit of the old prophets was revived in his brusque1 almost fierce1 address to such very learned1 religious1 and distinguished personages4 ,isaiah in his day had called their predecessors 'rulers of ,sodom'2 ,john was not scolding when he called his hearers 'ye offspring of vipers' but charging them with moral corruption and creeping earthliness4 ,the summary of his preaching is like a succession of lightning flashes4 ,we can but note in a word or two each flash as it flames and strikes4 ,the remarkable thing about his teaching is that1 in his hands1 the great hope of ,israel became a message of terror1 the proclamation of the impending kingdom passed into a denunciation of 'the wrath to come1' set forth with a tremendous wealth of imagery as the axe lying at the root of the trees1 the fan winnowing the wheat from the chaff1 the destroying fire4 ,that wrath was inseparable from the coming of the ,king2 for ,his righteous reign necessarily meant punishment of unrighteousness4 ,so all the older prophets had said1 and ,john was but carrying on their testimony4 ,so ,christ has said4 ,no more terrible warnings of the certain judgment of evil which is involved in ,his merciful work1 have ever been given1 than fell from the lips into which grace was poured4 ,we need to-day a clearer discernment of the truth which flamed before ,john's eyes1 that the full proclamation of the kingdom of heaven must include the plain teaching of 'the wrath to come4' ,next comes the urgent demand for reformation of life as the sign of real repentance4 ,john's exhortation does not touch the deepest ground for repentance which is laid in the heart-softening love of ,god manifested in the sacrifice of ,his ,son1 but is based wholly on the certainty of judgment4 ,so far1 it is incomplete2 but the demand for righteous living as the only test of religious emotion is fully ,christian1 and needed in this generation as much as it ever was4 ,all preachers and others concerned in 'revivals' may well learn a lesson1 and while they follow ,john in seeking to arouse torpid consciences by the terrors which are a part of the gospel1 should not forget to demand1 not merely an emotional repentance1 but the solid fruits which alone guarantee the worth of the emotion4 ,the next flash strikes the lofty structure of confidence in their descent4 ,john knows that every man in that listening crowd believes that his birth secured him joy and dominion when ,messiah came4 ,so he wrenches away this shield against which his sharpest arrows were blunted4 ,what a murmur of angry denial must have met his contemptuous1 audacious denial of their trusted privilege6 ,the pebbles on the ,jordan beach1 or the loose rocks scattered so plentifully over the desert1 could be made as good sons of ,abraham as they4 ,a glimpse of the transference of the kingdom to the despised ,gentiles passed across his vision4 ,and in these far-reaching words lay the anticipation1 not only of the destruction of all ,jewish exclusiveness1 but of the miracles of quickening to be wrought on the stony hearts of those beyond its pale4 ,once more with a new emblem the immediate beginning of the judgment is proclaimed1 and its principles and issues are declared4 ,the sharp axe lies at the roots of the tree1 ready to be lifted and buried in its bark4 ,the woodman's eye is looking over the forest2 he marks with the fatal red line the worthless trees1 and at once the swinging blows come down1 and the timber is carted away to be burned4 ,the trees are men4 ,the judgment is an individualising one1 and all-embracing4 ,nothing but actual righteousness of life will endure4 ,all else will be destroyed4 ,the coming of the kingdom implied the coming of the ,king4 ,john knew that the ,king was a man1 and that ,he was at the door4 ,so his sermon reaches its climax in the ringing proclamation of ,his advent4 ,the first noticeable feature in it is the utter humility of the dauntless prophet before the yet veiled ,sovereign4 ,all the fiery force1 the righteous scorn and anger1 the unflinching bravery1 melt into meek submission4 ,he knows the limits of his own power1 and gladly recognises the infinite superiority of the coming ,one4 ,he never moved from that lowly attitude4 ,even when his followers tried to stir up base jealousy in him at being distanced by the ,christ1 who1 as they suggested1 owed ,his first recognition to him1 all that his immovable self-abnegation cared to answer was1 ',he must increase1 but ,i must decrease4' ,he was glad 'to fade in the light of the ,sun that he loved4' ,what a wealth of suppressed emotion and lowly love there is in the words so pathetic from the lips of the lonely ascetic1 whom no home joys had ever cheered3 ',he that hath the bride is the bridegroom4444 ,my joy is fulfilled'6 ,note1 too1 the grand conception of the gifts of the ,king4 ,john knew that his baptism was1 like the water in which he immersed1 cold1 and incapable of giving life4 ,it symbolised1 but did not effect1 cleansing1 any more than his preaching righteousness could produce righteousness4 ,but the ,king would come1 bringing with ,him the gift of a mighty ,spirit1 whose quick energy1 transforming dead matter into its own likeness1 burning out the foul stains from character1 and melting cold hearts into radiant warmth1 should do all that his poor1 cold1 outward baptism only shadowed4 ,form and substance of this great promise gather up many ,old ,testament utterances4 ,from of old1 fire had been the emblem of the divine nature1 not only1 nor chiefly1 as destructive1 but rather as life-giving1 cleansing1 gladdening1 fructifying1 transforming4 ,from of old1 the promise of a divine ,spirit poured out on all flesh had been connected with the kingdom of ,messiah2 and ,john but reiterates the uniform voice of prophecy1 even as he anticipates the crowning gift of the gospel1 in this saying4 ,note1 further1 the renewed prophecy of judgment4 ,there is something very solemn in the stern refrain at the end of each of three consecutive verses1--'with fire4' ,the first and the third refer to the destructive fire2 the second1 to the cleansing ,spirit4 ,but the fire that destroys is not unconnected with that which purifies4 ,and the very same divine flame1 if welcomed and yielded to1 works purity1 and if repelled and scorned1 consumes4 ,the rustic simplicity of the figures of the husbandman with his winnowing-shovel1 the threshing-floor exposed to every wind1 the stored wheat1 the rootless1 lifeless1 worthless chaff1 and the fierce fire in some corner of the autumn field where it is utterly burned up--needs no comment4 ,they add nothing but another vivid picture to the thoughts already dealt with4 ,but the question arises as to the whole of the representation of judgment here3 ,does it look beyond the present world8 ,i see no reason for supposing that ,john was speaking about anything but the sifting and destroying which would attend the coming of the looked-for kingdom on earth4 ,the principles which he laid down are1 no doubt1 true for both worlds2 but the application of them which his prophetic mission embraced1 lies on this side of the grave4 ,note1 further1 the limitations in ,john's knowledge of the ,king4 ,his prophecy unites1 as contemporaneous1 events which1 in fact1 are widely separate1--the coming of ,christ1 and the judgments which ,he executes1 whether on ,israel or in the final 'great day of the ,lord4' ,there is no perspective in prophecy4 ,the future is foreshortened1 and great gulfs of centuries are passed over1 as1 standing on a plain1 we see it as continuous1 though it may really be cleft by deep ravines4 ,he did not know 'what manner of time' the spirit which was in him did 'signify4' ,no doubt his expectations were correct1 in so far as ,christ's coming really sifted and separated1 and was the rising and the falling of many2 but it was not attended by such tokens as ,john inferred4 ,hence we can understand his doubts when in prison1 and learn that a prophet was often mistaken as to the meaning of his message4 ,again1 while we have here a clear prediction of the ,spirit as bestowed by ,christ1 we find no hint of ,his work as the sacrifice for sin1 through whom the guilt which no repentance and no outward baptism could touch was taken away4 ,the ,gospel of ,john gives us later utterances of the ,baptist's1 by which we learn that he advanced beyond the point at which he stood here4 ',behold the ,lamb of ,god1 which taketh away the sin of the world1' was his message after ,christ's baptism4 ,it is the last1 highest voice of prophecy4 ,the proclamation of a kingdom of heaven1 of a king mighty and righteous1 whose coming kindled a fire of judgment1 and a blessed fire of purifying1 into one or other of which all men must be plunged1 contained elements of terror1 as well as of hope4 ,it needed completion by that later word4 ,when ,john stretched out his forefinger1 and with awe-struck voice bade his hearers look at ,jesus coming to him1 prophecy had done its work4 ,the promise had been gradually concentrated on the nation1 the tribe1 the house1 and now it falls on the person4 ,the dove narrows its circling flight till it lights on ,his head4 ,the goal has been reached1 too1 in the clear declaration of ,messiah's work4 ,he is ,king1 ,giver of the ,spirit1 ,judge1 but ,he is before all else the ,sacrifice for the world's sins4 ,therefore he to whom it was given to utter that great saying was a prophet1 and more than a prophet2 and when he had spoken it1 there was nothing more for him to do but to decrease4 ,he was like the breeze before sunrise1 which springs up1 as crying ',the dawn6 the dawn6' and dies away4 ,,the ,,baptism ,,in ,,fire ',he shall baptize you with the ,holy ,ghost1 and with fire4'--,,matt4 iii4 #aa ,there is no more pathetic figure in ,scripture than that of the forerunner of our ,lord4 ,lonely and ascetic1 charged to light against all the social order of which he was a part1 seeing many of his disciples leave him for another master2 then changing the free wilderness for a prison cell1 and tortured by morbid doubts2 finally murdered as the victim of a profligate woman's hate and a profligate man's perverse sense of honour3 he had indeed to bear 'the burden of the ,lord4' ,but perhaps most pathetic of all is the combination in his character of gaunt strength and absolute humility4 ,how he confronts these people whom he had to rebuke1 and yet how1 in a moment1 the flashing eye sinks in lowest self-abasement before ',him that cometh after me'6 ,how true1 amidst many temptations1 he was to his own description of himself3 ',i am a voice'--nothing more4 ,his sinewy arm was ever pointed to the ',lamb of ,god4' ,it is given to very few to know so clearly their limits1 and to still fewer--and these1 men who keep very near ,god--to abide so contentedly within them1 and to acquiesce so thankfully in the brightening glories of ,one whom self-importance and ambition would prompt to take for a rival and an enemy4 ,the words before us signalise at once ,john's lofty conception of the worth of his work1 and his humble consciousness of its worthlessness as compared with ,christ's4 ',i indeed baptize you with water1 but ,he with fire4' ,as is the difference between the two elements1 so is the difference between ,his ministry and mine--the one effecting an outward cleansing1 the other being an inward penetrating power1 which shall search men through and through1 and1 burning1 shall purge away dross and filth4 ,the text comes in the midst of a triple representation of our ,lord's work in its relation to his1 each portion of which ends with the refrain1 'the fire4' ,but these three fires have not the same effects4 ,the first and last destroy1 the second cleanses4 ,these are threatenings1 but this is altogether a promise4 ,there is a fire that consumes the barren tree and the light chaff that is whirled from the threshing-floor by the wind of ,his fan2 but there is also a fire that1 like the genial heat in some greenhouse1 makes even the barren tree glow with blossom and loads its branches with precious fruit4 ,his coming may kindle fire that will destroy1 but its merciful purpose is to plunge us into that fiery baptism of the ,holy ,ghost1 whereof the result is cleansing and life4 ,looking at the words before us1 then1 they lead us to think of that emblem of the ,spirit of ,god1 of ,christ as bestowing it1 and of its effects on us4 ,i venture to offer a few considerations now on each of these points4 ,i4 ,the ,holy ,spirit is fire4 ,it would scarcely be necessary to spend any time in illustrating that truth1 but for the strange misapprehension of the words of our text which ,i believe to be not uncommon4 ,people sometimes read them as if the first portion referred to those who trust in ,christ1 and who therefore receive the blessings of ,his sanctifying energy1 whilst the latter words1 on the other hand1 were a threatening against unbelievers4 ,now1 whatever may be the meaning of the emblem in the preceding and subsequent clauses1 it can have but one meaning in our text itself--and that is1 the purifying influence of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,baptism with the ,holy ,ghost is not one thing and baptism with fire another1 but the former is the reality of which the latter is the symbol4 ,it may be worth while to dwell briefly on the force of the emblem1 which is often misunderstood4 ,fire1 then1 all over the world has been taken to represent the divine energy4 ,even in heathendom1 side by side with the worship of light was the worship of fire4 ,even that cruel ,moloch-worship1 with all its abominations rested upon the notion that the swift power and ruddy blaze of fire were symbols of glorious attributes4 ,though the thought was darkened and marred1 wrongly apprehended and ferociously worked out in ritual1 it was a true thought for all that4 ,and ,scripture has from the beginning used it4 ,it would carry us too far to enumerate the instances which might be adduced4 ,but we may quote a few4 ,when the covenant was made between ,god and ,abraham1 upon which all the subsequent revelation reposed1 the divine presence was represented by a smoking furnace1 and a lamp of fire that passed between the divided pieces of the sacrifice4 ,when the great revelation of the divine ,name was given to ,moses1 which prepared for the great deliverance from ,egypt1 the sign of it was a thorn-bush--one of the many dotted over the desert--burning and unconsumed4 ,surely the ordinary interpretation1 which sees1 in that undying flame1 an emblem of ,israel undestroyed in the furnace of bondage1 is less natural than that which sees in it a sign having the same purpose and the same meaning as the deep words1 ',i am that ,i am4' ,the ,name1 the revelation proper1 is accompanied by the sign which expresses in figure the very same truth--the unwearied power1 the undecaying life of the great self-existent ,god1 who wills and does not change1 who acts and does not faint1 who gives and is none the poorer1 who fills the universe and is ,himself the same1 who burns and is not consumed--the ',i am4' ,further1 we remember how to ,israel the pledge and sacramental seal of ,god's guardianship and guidance was the pillar which1 in the fervid light of the noonday sun1 seemed to be but a column of wavering smoke1 but which1 when the darkness fell1 glowed at the heart and blazed across the sleeping camp1 a fiery guard4 ',who among us1' says the prophet1 'shall dwell with everlasting burnings8' ,the answer is a parallel to the description given in one of the ,psalms in reply to the question1 ',lord1 who shall abide in ,thy tabernacle8' ,from which parallelism1 as well as from the whole tone of the passage1 the conclusion is unavoidable that to ,isaiah 'everlasting burnings' was a symbolic designation of ,god4 ,and1 passing by all other references1 we remember that our ,lord ,himself used the same emblem1 as ,john does1 with apparently the same meaning1 when1 yearning for the fulfilment of ,his work1 ,he said1' ,i am come to send fire on earth--oh that it were already kindled6' ,the day of ,pentecost teaches the same lesson by its fiery tongues2 and the ,seer in ,patmos beheld1 burning before the throne1 the sevenfold lamps of fire which are 'the seven spirits of ,god4' ,thus1 then1 there is a continuous chain of symbolism according to which some aspect of the divine nature1 and especially of the ,spirit of ,god1 is set forth for us by fire4 ,the question1 then1 comes to be--what is that aspect8 ,in answer1 ,i would remind you that the attributes and offices of the ,spirit of ,god are never in ,scripture represented as being destructive1 and are only punitive1 in so far as the convictions of sin1 which ,he works in the heart1 may be regarded as being punishments4 ,the fire of ,god's ,spirit1 at all events1 is not a wrathful energy1 working pain and death1 but a merciful omnipotence1 bringing light and joy and peace4 ,the ,spirit which is fire is a ,spirit which giveth life4 ,so the symbol1 in the special reference in the text1 has nothing of terror or destruction but is full of hope and bright with promise4 ,even in its more general application to the divine nature1 the same thing is to a large extent true4 ,the common impression is the reverse of this4 ,the interpretation which most readers unconsciously supply to the passages of ,scripture where ,god is spoken of as flaming fire1 is that ,god's terrible wrath is revealed in them4 ,i am very far from denying that the punitive and destructive side of the divine character is in the symbol1 but certainly that is not its exclusive meaning1 nor does it seem to me to be its principal one4 ,the emblem is employed over and over again1 in connections where it must mean chiefly the blessed and joyous aspect of ,god's ,name to men4 ,it is unquestionably part of the felicity of the symbol that there should be in it this double force--for so is it the fitter to show forth ,him who1 by the very same attributes1 is the life of those who love ,him and the death of those who turn from ,him4 ,but1 still1 though it is true that the bright and the awful aspects of that ,name are in themselves one1 and that their difference arises from the difference of the eyes which behold them1 yet we are justified1 ,i think1 in saying that this emblem of fire regards mainly the former of these and not the latter4 ,the principal ideas in it seem to be swift energy and penetrating power1 which cleanses and transforms4 ,it is fire as the source of light and heat2 it is fire1 not so much as burning up what it seizes into ashes1 but rather as laying hold upon cold dead matter1 making it sparkle and blaze1 and turning it into the likeness of its own leaping brightness2 it is fire as springing heavenwards1 and bearing up earthly particles in its shooting spires2 it is fire1 as least gross of visible things2--in a word1 it is fire as life1 and not as death1 that is the symbol of ,god4 ,it speaks of the might of ,his transforming power1 the melting1 cleansing1 vitalising influence of ,his communicated grace1 the warmth of ,his conquering love4 ,it has1 indeed1 an under side of possible judgment1 punishment1 and destruction1 but it has a face of blessing1 of life-giving1 of sanctifying power4 ,and therefore the ,baptist spake glad tidings when he said1 ',he shall baptize you with the ,holy ,ghost1 and with fire4' ,,ii4 ,christ plunges us into this divine fire4 ,i presume that scarcely any one will deny that our version weakens the force of ,john's words by translating 'with water1 with the ,holy ,ghost1' instead of 'in water1 in the ,holy ,ghost4' ,one of the most accurate of recent commentators1#b for instance1 in his remarks on this verse1 says that the preposition here 'is to be understood in accordance with the idea of baptism that is immersion1 not as expressing the instrument with which1 but as meaning in1 and expressing the element in which the immersion takes place4' ,i suppose that very few persons would hesitate to agree with that statement4 ,if it is correct1 what a grand idea is conveyed by that metaphor of the completeness of the contact with the ,spirit of ,god into which we are brought6 ,how it represents all our being as flooded with that transforming power6 ,but1 apart from the intensity communicated to the promise by such a figure1 there is another important matter brought distinctly before us by the words1 and that is ,christ's personal agency in effecting this saturating of man's coldness with the fire from ,god4 ,this testimony of ,john's is in full accord with ,christ's claims for ,himself1 and with the whole tenor of ,scripture on the subject4 ,he is the ,lord of the ,spirit4 ,he is come to scatter that fire on the earth4 ,he brings the ruddy gift from heaven to mortals1 carrying it in the bruised reed of ,his humanity2 and1 in pursuance of ,his merciful design1 ,he is bound and suffers for our sakes1 but1 loosed at last from the bands by which it was not possible that ,he should be holden1 and 'being by the right hand of ,god exalted1 ,he hath shed forth this4' ,his mighty work opens the way for the life-giving power of the ,spirit to dwell as an habitual principle1 and not as a mere occasional gift1 among men1 sanctifying their characters from the foundation1 and not merely1 as of old1 bestowing special powers for special functions4 ,he claims to send us the ,comforter4 ,we know but little of such high themes1 but we can clearly see that1 while there may be many other reasons for the full bestowment of the ,spirit of ,god having to be preceded by the gift of ,christ1 one reason must be that the measure of individual and subjective inspiration varies according to the amount of objective revelation4 ,the truth revealed is the condition and the instrument of the ,spirit's working4 ,the sharper that sword of the ,spirit is1 the mightier will be ,his power4 ,hence1 only when the revelation of ,god is complete by the message of ,his ,son1 ,his life1 death1 resurrection1 and ascension1 was the full1 permanent gift of the ,spirit possible1 not to make new revelations1 but to unfold all that lay in the ,word spoken once for all1 in whom the whole ,name of ,god is contained4 #b ,meyer4 ,however that may be1 the main thing for us1 dear friends1 is this--that ,christ gives the ,spirit4 ,in and by ,jesus1 you and ,i are brought into real contact with this cleansing fire4 ,without ,his work1 it would never have burned on earth2 without our faith in ,his work it will never purify our souls4 ,the ,spirit of ,god is not a synonym for the moral influence which the principles of ,christianity exert on men who believe them2 but these principles1 the truths revealed in ,jesus ,christ1 are the means by which the ,spirit works its noblest work4 ,our acceptance of these truths1 then1 our faith in ,him whom these truths reveal1 is absolutely essential to our possession of that cleansing power4 ,the promise is of 'that ,spirit which they that believe on ,him should receive4' ,if we have no faith in ,jesus1 then1 however we may fancy that the gift of ,god can be ours by other means1 the stern answer comes to our fond delusions and mistaken efforts1 ',thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter4' ,oh6 you who are seeking for spiritual elevation1 for intellectual enlightenment1 for the fire of a noble enthusiasm1 for the consecration of pure hearts1 anywhere but in ,christ your ,lord1 will you not listen to the majestic and yet lowly voice1 which blends in its tones grave and loving rebuke1 gentle pity1 wonder and sorrow at our blindness1 earnest entreaty1 and divine authority--',if thou knewest the gift of ,god1 and who it is that speaketh to thee1 thou wouldst have asked of ,him1 and ,he would have given thee living water'8 ,here are we cold1 foul1 dark1 dead3 there is that fire of ,god able to cleanse1 to enlighten1 to give life4 ,how is true contact to be effected between our great need and ,his all-sufficient energy8 ,one voice brings the answer for every ,christian soul1 ',i will send the ,comforter4' ,brethren1 let us cleave to ,him1 and in humble faith ask ,him to plunge us into that fiery stream which1 for all its fire1 is yet a river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of ,god and of the ,lamb4 ',he shall baptize you in the ,holy ,ghost and in fire4' ,,iii4 ,that fiery baptism quickens and cleanses4 ,in ,john's mind1 the difference between the two baptisms1 his and the ,christ's1 expresses accurately the difference between the two ministries and their effects4 ,as has been truly and beautifully said1 he is conscious of something 'cold and negative' in his own teaching1 of which the water of his baptism is a fit representation4 ,his message is divine and true1 but it is hard3 ',repent1 do what you ought1 wait for the ,kingdom and its ,king4' ,and1 when his command has been obeyed1 his disciples come up out of ,jordan1 at the best but superficially cleansed1 and needing that the process begun in them should be perfected by mightier powers than any which his message wields4 ,they need more than that outward washing--they need an inward cleansing2 they need more than the preaching of repentance and morality--they need a gift of life2 they need a new power poured into their souls1 the fiery steam of which1 as it rolls along1 like a lava current through mountain forests1 shall seize and burn every growth of evil in their natures4 ,they need not water1 but ,spirit2 not water1 but ,fire4 ,they need what shall be life to their truest life1 and death to all the death within1 that separates them from the life of ,god4 ,so the two main effects expressed here are these3 quickening and cleansing4 ,fire gives warmth4 ,we talk about ardent desires1 warm hearts1 the glow of love1 the fire of enthusiasm1 and even the flame of life4 ,we draw the contrast with cold natures1 which are loveless and unemotional1 hard to stir and quicken2 we talk about thawing reserve1 about an icy torpor1 and so on4 ,the same general strain of allusion is undoubtedly to be traced in our text4 ,whatever more it means1 it surely means this1 that ,christ comes to kindle in men's souls a blaze of enthusiastic1 divine love1 such as the world never saw1 and to set them aflame with fervent earnestness1 which shall melt all their icy hardness of heart1 and turn cold self-regard into self-forgetting consecration4 ,here1 then1 our text touches upon one of the very profoundest characteristics of ,christianity considered as a power in human life4 ,the contrast between it and all other religions and systems of ethics lies1 amongst other things1 in the stress which it lays upon love and on the earnestness which comes from love2 whereas these are scarcely regarded as elements in virtue according to the world1 and have certainly no place at all in the world's notion of 'temperate religion4' ,christ gives fervour by giving ,his ,spirit4 ,christ gives fervour by bringing the warmth of ,his own love to bear upon our hearts through the ,spirit1 and that kindles ours4 ,where ,his great work for men is believed and trusted in1 there1 and there only1 is there excited an intensity of consequent affection to ,him which glows throughout the life4 ,it is not enough to say that ,christianity is singular among religious and moral systems in exalting fervour into a virtue4 ,its peculiarity lies deeper--in its method of producing that fervour4 ,it is kindled by that ,spirit using as ,his means the truth of the dying love of ,christ4 ,the secret of the ,gospel is not solved by saying that ,christ excites love in our souls4 ,the question yet remains--how8 ,there is but one answer to that4 ,he loved us to the death4 ,that truth laid on hearts by the ,spirit1 who takes of ,christ's and shows them to us1 and that truth alone1 makes fire burst from their coldness4 ,here is the power that produces that inner fervour without which virtue is a name and religion a yoke4 ,here is the contrast1 not only to ,john's baptism1 but to all worldly religion1 to all formalism and decent deadness of external propriety4 ,here is the consecration of enthusiasm--not a lurid1 sullen heat of ignorant fanaticism1 but a living glow of an enkindled nature1 which flames because kindled by the inextinguishable blaze of ,his love who gave ,himself for us4 ',he shall baptize you in fire4' ,then1 dear brethren1 if we profess to have come into personal contact with ,jesus ,christ1 here is a sharp test for us1 and a solemn rebuke to much of our lives4 ,for a ,christian to be cold is sin4 ,our coldness can only come from our neglecting to stir up the gift that is in us4 ,people reproach us with extravagant emotion3 let us confess that we have never deserved that reproach half as much as we ought4 ,the world's ideal of religion is decorous coldness--has not the world's ideal been our practice8 ,we are afraid to be fervent1 but our true danger is icy torpor4 ,we sit frost-bitten and almost dead among the snows1 and all the while the gracious sunshine is pouring down1 that is able to melt the white death that covers us1 and to free us from the bonds that hold us prisoned in their benumbing clasp4 ,no evil is more marked among the ,christian ,churches of this day than precisely the absence of this 'spirit of burning4' ,there is plenty of liberality and effort1 there is much interest in religious questions1 there is genial tolerance and wide culture1 there is a high standard of morality1 and1 on the whole1 a tolerable adherence to it--but there is little love1 and little fervour4 ',i have somewhat against thee1 that thou hast left thy first love4' ,where is that ,spirit which was poured out on ,pentecost8 ,where are the cloven tongues of fire1 where the flame which ,christ died to light up8 ,has it burned down to grey ashes1 or1 like some house-fire1 lit and left untended1 has it gone out after a little ineffectual crackling among the lighter pieces of wood and paper1 without ever reaching the solid mass of obstinate coal8 ,where8 ,the question is not difficult to answer4 ,his promise remains faithful4 ,he does send the ,spirit1 who is fire4 ,but our sin1 our negligence1 our eager absorption with worldly cares1 and our withdrawal of mind and heart from the patient contemplation of ,his truth1 have gone far to quench the ,spirit4 ,is it not so8 ,are our souls on fire with the love of ,god1 aglow with the ardour caught from ,christ's love8 ,does that love which fills our hearts coruscate and flame in our lives1 making us lights in the darkness1 as some firebrand caught up from the hearth will serve for a torch and blaze out into the night8 ',he shall baptize with fire4' ',o ,thou that earnest from above1 ,the pure celestial fire to impart1 ,kindle a flame of sacred love ,on the mean altar of my heart4' ,then there is another thought expressed by this symbol1 namely1 that this baptism gives cleansing as well as warmth1 or rather gives cleansing by warmth4 ,fire purifies4 ,that ,spirit1 which is fire1 produces holiness in heart and character1 by this most chiefly among all ,his manifold operations1 that ,he excites the flame of love to ,god1 which burns our souls clear with its white fervours4 ,this is the ,christian method of making men good1--first1 know ,his love1 then believe it1 then love ,him back again1 and then let that genial heat permeate all your life1 and it will woo forth everywhere blossoms of beauty and fruits of holiness1 that shall clothe the pastures of the wilderness with gladness4 ,did you ever see a blast-furnace8 ,how long would it take a man1 think you1 with hammer and chisel1 or by chemical means1 to get the bits of ore out from the stony matrix8 ,but fling them into the great cylinder1 and pile the fire and let the strong draught roar through the burning mass1 and by evening you can run off a golden stream of pure and fluid metal1 from which all the dross and rubbish is parted1 which has been charmed out of all its sullen hardness1 and will take the shape of any mould into which you like to run it4 ,the fire has conquered1 has melted1 has purified4 ,so with us4 ,love 'shed abroad in our hearts by the ,holy ,ghost given unto us1' love that answers to ,christ's1 love that is fixed upon ,him who is pure and separate from sinners1 will purify us and sever us from our sins4 ,nothing else will4 ,all other cleansing is superficial1 like the water of ,john's baptism4 ,moralities and the externals of religion will wash away the foulness which lies on the surface1 but stains that have sunk deep into the very substance of the soul1 and have dyed every thread in warp and woof to its centre1 are not to be got rid of so4 ,the awful words which our great dramatist puts into the mouth of the queenly murderess are heavy with the weight of most solemn truth4 ,after all vain attempts to cleanse away the stains1 we1 like her1 have to say1 ',there's the smell of the blood still--will these hands ne'er be clean8' ,no1 never2 unless there be something mightier1 more inward in its power1 than the water with which we can wash them1 some better gospel than ',repent and reform4' ,god be thanked1 there is a mightier detergent than all these--even that divine ,spirit which ,christ gives1 and that divine forgiveness which ,christ brings4 ,there1 and there alone1 dear brethren1 we can lose all the guilt of our faultful past1 and receive a new and better life which will mould our future into growing likeness to ,his great purity4 ,oh do not resist that merciful searching fire1 which is ready to penetrate our very bones and marrow1 and burn up the seeds of death which lurk in the inmost intents of the heart6 ,let ,him plunge you into that gracious baptism1 as we put some poor piece of foul clay into the fire1 and like it1 as you glow you will whiten1 and all the spots will melt away before the conquering tongues of the cleansing flame4 ,in that furnace1 heated seven times hotter than any earthly power could achieve1 they who walk live by the presence of the ,son of ,man1 and nothing is consumed but the bonds that held them4 ,his ,spirit is fire1 and that ,spirit of fire is1 therefore1 the ,spirit of holiness4 ,but take one warning word in conclusion4 ,the alternative for every man is to be baptized in the fire or to be consumed by it4 ,the symbol of which we have been speaking sets forth the double thought of purifying and destruction4 ,nothing which we have said as to the former in the least weakens the completing truth that there is in it an under side of possible terror4 ,one of the felicities of the emblem is its capacity to set forth this twofold idea4 ,there is that in the divine nature which the ,bible calls wrath1 the necessary displeasure and aversion of holy love from sin and wrong-doers4 ,there is in the divine procedure even now and here1 the manifestation of that aversion in punishment4 ',the light of ,israel becomes a flaming fire4' ,i have no panorama of hell to exhibit1 and ,i would speak with all reticence on matters so awful2 but this much1 at any rate1 is clear1 that the very same revelation of ,god1 thankfully accepted and submitted to1 is the medium of cleansing and the source of joyful life1 and1 rejected1 becomes the source of sorrow and the occasion of death4 ,every man sees that aspect of ,god's face which he has made himself fit to see4 ,every gift of ,god is to men either a savour of life unto life1 or a savour of death unto death4 ,most chiefly is this so in regard to ,christ and ,his gospel1 who1 though ,he came not to judge but to save1 yet by reason of that very universal purpose of salvation1 becomes a judge in the act of saving1 and a condemnation to those in whom1 by their own faults1 that purpose is not fulfilled4 ,the same pillar of fire which gladdened the ranks of ,israel as they camped by the ,red ,sea1 shone baleful and terrible to the ,egyptian hosts4 ,the same ,ark of the ,covenant whose presence blessed the house of ,obed-edom1 and hallowed ,zion1 and saved ,jerusalem1 smote the ,philistines1 and struck down their bestial gods4 ,christ and ,his gospel even here hurt the men whom they do not save4 ,and we have only to carry that process onwards into another world1 and suppose it made more energetic there1 as it will be1 to feel dimly in how awful a sense it may be that the same fire which gives life may be the occasion of death--and how profound a truth lies in the words-- ',what maketh ,heaven1 that maketh ,hell4' ,yes1 verily2 to be salted with fire or to be consumed by it1 to be baptized in it or to be cast into it1 is the choice offered to us all2 to thee1 my brother1 and to me4 ,israel made its choice1 and in seventy years1 the ,roman standards on ,zion and the flames leaping round the ,temple1 interpreted ,john's words in one of their halves1 while the growing energy of the fire that was lit on ,pentecost fulfilled them in the other4 ,many a nation and ,church has made its choice since then4 ,you have to make yours4 ',the fire shall try every man's work1 of what sort it is4' ,shall our work be gold1 and silver1 and precious stones which shall gleam and flash in the light1 or wood1 hay1 and stubble which shall writhe for a moment in the blaze and perish8 ',our ,god is a consuming fire4' ,shall that be the ground of my confidence that ,i shall one day be pure from all my sins1 or shall it be the parent of my ghastliest fear that ,i may be1 like the chaff1 destroyed by contact with a holy love rejected1 with a ,saviour disbelieved1 with a ,spirit grieved and quenched8 ,choose which4 ,,the ,,baptism ,,of ,,jesus ',then cometh ,jesus from ,galilee to ,jordan unto ,john1 to be baptized of him4 #ad4 ,but ,john forbad ,him1 saying1 ,i have need to be baptized of ,thee1 and comest ,thou to me8 #ae4 ,and ,jesus answering said unto him1 ,suffer it to be so now3 for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness4 ,then he suffered ,him4 #af4 ,and ,jesus1 when ,he was baptized1 went up straightway out of the water3 and1 lo1 the heavens were opened unto ,him1 and ,he saw the ,spirit of ,god descending like a dove1 and lighting upon ,him3 #ag4 ,and lo a voice from heaven1 saying1 ,this is ,my beloved ,son1 in whom ,i am well pleased4'--,,matt4 iii4 #ac-ag4 ,when ,jesus set out from ,galilee to seek baptism from ,john1 ,he took the first step on ,his path of public work2 and it is noteworthy that ,he took it1 apparently1 from self-originated impulse1 and not1 as in the case of the prophets of old1 from obedience to a 'prophetic call4' ',the ,word of the ,lord came to' them2 ,his ,messianic consciousness needed no external stimulus to kindle it into flame4 ,what did ,he mean by seeking baptism8 ,john recognised the incongruity of ,his submitting to a rite which professed repentance and promised cleansing4 ,it does not follow that ,john recognised ,his ,messianic character1 but only that he knew ,his blameless life4 ,the remonstrance witnesses at once to ,john's humble consciousness of sin and to ,jesus' acknowledged purity4 ,christ's answer has a sound of authority1 even in its gentle lowliness1 and it confirms the belief in ,his sinlessness by the absence of any reference to repentance1 and by regarding ,his baptism1 not as a token of repented transgression to be washed away1 but as an act which completed the perfect circle of righteousness1 which ,his life had hitherto drawn4 ,he submitted to the appointed rite1 because ,he would be one with ,his brethren in all obedience4 ,so1 then1 the principle underlying ,his baptism is the principle underlying ,his incarnation1 ,his life of obedience and identification of ,himself with us1 and ,his death4 ',he also ,himself likewise took part of' whatsoever ,his brethren were partakers of1 and therefore ,he was 'numbered with the transgressors' in that1 needing no repentance1 ,he submitted to the baptism of repentance1 and cleansed the cleansing water by being plunged in it4 ,what was the significance of the descent of the ,spirit on ,him8 ,matthew's account implies that the appearance of the descending dove was to ,jesus4 ,john i4 #cb states that it was also visible to ,john4 ,the accompanying voice is as if principally directed to ,john1 according to ,matthew1 while ,mark and ,luke represent it as addressed to ,jesus4 ,both appearance and voice were the tokens of the ,father's approval1 and acceptance of the ,son's consecration of ,himself to the ,messianic work4 ,the dove descending on ,him was the token that henceforward ,his manhood should be anointed with the unbroken influences of the divine ,spirit1 and possess the unbroken consciousness of the ,father's good pleasure1 lying like sunshine on the stormy sea on which ,he had launched4 ,how different the conception of the ,spirit as a dove1 which was ,jesus' experience of it1 from the ,baptist's1 which was that of fire6 ,jesus is in this incident1 as in all1 our pattern and example1 teaching us that we too must yield ourselves to do the ,father's will1 and must identify ourselves with sinners1 if we are to help them and to have the ,father's approval sounding in our hearts1 and the dove of ,god nestling there1 and teaching us1 too1 that gentleness is the divinest and strongest power to win men from evil and for ,god4 ,,the ,,dove ,,of ,,god ',he saw the ,spirit of ,god descending like a dove1 and lighting upon ,him4' ,,matt4 iii4 #af4 ,this ,gospel of ,matthew is emphatically the gospel of the ,kingdom4 ,it sets forth ,jesus as the long-promised ,messiah1 the ,son of ,david4 ,and this conception of ,him and of ,his work1 whilst it runs through the whole of the ,gospel1 is more obviously influential in shaping the selection of incidents and colouring the cast of the language1 in the early portion4 ,hence the genealogy with which the ,gospel begins dwells with emphasis on ,his royal descent from ,david4 ,hence the story of the wise men of the ,east is given1 who came to do their homage to the new-born ,king of the ,jews1 whose innocent poverty and infancy are set in contrast with the court and character of the cruel ,herod who had for an hour usurped the title4 ,hence1 also1 the mission of ,john the ,baptist is all summed up in his proclamation3 ',the ,kingdom of ,heaven is at hand4' ,he is the herald that runs before the chariot of the advancing ,monarch1 and shouts to a slumbering nation1 ',the ,king6 the ,king6' ,preserving the same reference to the royal dignity of ,jesus1 we may look at ,his baptism as being ,his public assumption of ,his ,messianic office1 and at this descent of the ,holy ,spirit as the anointing or coronation of the ,king4 ,as ,his meek head rose1 glistening from the waters of the baptism1 there fluttered down upon ,him the gentle token of the manifest designation from the ,heavens1 which solemnly declared ,him to be the ,son of ,god1 anointed ,messias1 ,king of ,israel and of the world4 ,so in looking at this incident1 ,i take simply two points of view1 and consider its bearing on ,jesus1 and on us4 ,i4 ,as to the former1 we have here the ,coronation of the ,king4 ,we need not spend time upon the question which we have no materials for answering1 viz4--,what was the 'objective material reality' here8 ,we do not know enough about what constitutes 'objective material reality1' nor about what are the laws of prophetic ecstasy and vision1 to discuss such a question as that4 ,nor is there any need to moot it4 ,it does not matter one rush whether bystanders would have seen anything or not4 ,it does not matter in the least whether there was any actual excitation of auditory or visual nerves4 ,it does not matter whether there was anything which people are contented to call material--a word which covers a depth of ignorance4 ,enough for us that this was no fancy1 born in a man's brain1 but an actual manifestation1 whether through sense or apart from sense1 to consciousness1 of a divine outpouring and communication4 ,enough for us that the voice which spoke was ,god's1 and that that which descended was the ,spirit of ,god4 ,as to all other questions1 they may be amusing and interesting1 but they are insoluble1 and therefore unimportant4 ,well1 then1 taking that point of view1 the next question that arises is as to the purpose of this descent of the ,spirit4 ,plainly1 as ,i have said1 it was the coronation and anointing of the ,monarch4 ,but a man is king before he is crowned4 ,coronation is the consequence and not the cause of his royalty4 ,it is but the official and solemn announcement of a previous fact4 ,no additional power1 no fresh authority1 comes of the crowning4 ,and so the first purpose of this great fact is distinctly stated1 in ,john's ,gospel1 as having been the solemn1 divine pointing out of ,messiah to the ,baptist primarily1 but in order that he might bear witness of ,him to others4 ,the words which follow are a commentary on1 and part of the explanation of1 the descent of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,they are ,god's finger1 pointing to ,jesus and saying1 ',arise1 anoint ,him1 for this is ,he4' ,but it must be remembered always that this was neither the beginning of that divine ,spirit's operation upon ,jesus1 nor the beginning of ,his ,messianic nature and consciousness2 nor the beginning of ,his ,sonship4 ,that day was not in deepest truth the 'day' on which the ,son was 'begotten4' ,before the baptism there was the consciousness of ,messiahship witnessed in these words1 so singularly compacted of humility and authority3 ',suffer it to be so now1 for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness'2 and before ,his baptism1 and even before ,his birth1 that divine ,spirit wrought ,his manhood1 and ere the heavens opened1 or the dove fluttered down upon ,his head1 ,he from everlasting was the ,son in the bosom of the ,father4 ,so we see here1 ,i think1 if we follow the lead of the ,scriptural teaching1 not the beginning of powers or communications1 but an advance in these4 ,christ's baptism was an epoch in ,his human development1 inasmuch as it was the public official assumption of ,his ,messianic office4 ,he came from out of the sheltering obscurity of the ,galilean village nestling among its hills4 ,he had now put ,his foot upon the path1 set with knives and hot ploughshares1 along which ,he had to walk to the ,cross4 ,inasmuch as it was an epoch in ,his development 7for ,his manhood was capable of growth and maturing71 and inasmuch as new tasks needed increase of gifts1 and inasmuch as ,his man's nature was subject to the conditions of time1 and capable of expansion and increase of capacity1 therefore1 ,i believe that when ,christ rose from the waters of baptism1 no new gift indeed was ,his1 but such an advance in the communication to ,his manhood of the sustaining ,spirit1 as fully equipped ,him for the new calls of ,his ,messianic work4 ,his manhood needed1 as ours does1 the continual communication of the divine ,spirit1 and ,his manhood1 because it was sinless1 was capable of a complete reception of that ,spirit4 ,sinless though ,he knew ,himself to be1 as ,his own words declare1 ,he yet bowed ,his head to the baptism of repentance1 which ,he needed not for ,himself1 just as ,he afterwards bowed ,his head to a darker1 a sadder baptism1 which ,he had to be baptized with1 though it likewise ,he needed not for ,himself1 because in both the one and the other ,he would make ,himself one with ,his brethren4 ,the ,spirit of ,god had shaped ,his manhood ere ,his birth4 ,the ,spirit of ,god had been abiding in ,his holy infancy and growing youth1 but now it came in larger measure for new needs and ,his ,messiah's work4 ,so1 dear friends1 we see in ,christ1 baptized with the ,spirit of ,god1 the realised ideal of manhood1 ever dependent1 ever needing for its purity that holy influence1 and receiving at every pore that divine gift4 ,what a contrast to our limited partial reception1 broken and interrupted so often6 ,all the doors that are barred in our hearts by sin1 all the windows that are darkened in our souls by vice and self1 in ,him stood open to the day1 and brilliantly receptive of the illumination4 ,and so 'the ,father giveth not the ,spirit by measure unto ,him4' ,notice1 too1 the meaning of the symbol4 ,think of what ,john1 with his incomplete though not inaccurate conceptions1 expected in the ,messiah whom he proclaimed4 ,to him the coming of the ,king was first and chiefly a coming to judgment4 ,there is nothing more remarkable than the aspect of terror which drapes the old hope of ,israel as it comes from ,john's lips4 ,he believes that the ,king is coming1 that ,his coming is to be an awful thing4 ,judgment is to go before ,him1 ,he bears ',his fan in ,his hand1' and kindles 'unquenchable fire1' into which the leafy trees that have no fruit upon them are to be flung1 there to shrivel and crackle and disappear4 ,this is what he expects at the worst1 and at the best a baptism in the ,holy ,ghost1 from ,messiah's hands1 which1 however1 is likewise to be fiery even whilst it quickens1 and searching and destructive even whilst it gladdens4 ,when1 then1 his carpenter cousin is designated as ,messiah1 ,john sees two wonders3 that this is the ,christ1 and that the ,spirit which he had thought of as searching and consuming1 should come fluttering down upon ,his head in the likeness of a dove4 ,old ,testament symbols and natural poetry unite in giving felicity to that emblem4 ',the ,spirit of ,god brooded on the face of the deep1' says ,genesis2 and the word employed describes accurately the action of the mother-bird1 with her soft breast and outstretched wings quickening the life that lies beneath4 ,the dove was pure and allowed for sacrifice4 ,all nations have made it the symbol of meekness1 gentleness1 faithfulness4 ,all these associations determined the form which the descending ,benediction took4 ,what then does it proclaim as to the character of the ,king8 ,purity is the very foundation of ,his royalty4 ,meekness and gentleness are the very weapons of ,his conquest and the sceptre of ,his rule4 ,the dove will outfly all ,rome's eagles and all rapacious1 unclean feeders1 with their strong wings1 and curved talons1 and sharp beaks4 ,the lesson as to the true nature of the true ,kingdom1 which was taught of old when the prophet said ',rejoice greatly1 ,o daughter of ,zion1 thy ,king cometh unto thee1 meek1 riding on an ass1' and not upon the warhorse of secular force2 the lesson which was taught unwittingly1 as to the true nature of the true ,kingdom1 when the scoffers1 speaking a deeper truth than they understood1 put upon ,his brow the crown of thorns1 and forced into ,his hand the sceptre of reed1 was taught here--the lesson that meekness conquers1 and that ,his kingdom is founded in suffering1 and wielded in gentleness4 ,the lesson of the ancient psalm1 which in rapture of prophetic vision beheld the coming of the ,bridegroom1 and said with strange blending of images of war and of peace3 ',thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the ,king's enemies2 in ,thy majesty ride prosperously1 because of meekness2 and ,thy right hand shall teach ,thee terrible things'2--that same lesson was taught when the ,king was crowned1 and in the day of ,his coronation1 that which fell upon ,his bowed1 glistening head1 was the ,dove from ,heaven1 the proclamation that meekness and gentleness are the garment of ,omnipotence4 ,,ii4 ,consider this incident as showing us the gifts of the ,king to ,his subjects4 ,christ has nothing which ,he keeps to ,himself4 ,christ received the ,spirit that ,he might diffuse it through the whole world4 ,whatsoever ,he has received of the ,father ,he gives unto us4 ,this conception of the gift that ,christ has to bestow upon men1 as being the very life-spirit that dwelt in ,his manhood1 and made and kept it pure1 is the highest thought that we can have of what the gospel does for us4 ,you do not understand its meaning if you content yourself with thinking of it as simply the means of escape from wrath4 ,you do not understand its meaning--though1 blessed be ,god6 that is the first part of its mercy to us--if you think of ,christ's gift as only pardon by means of ,his sacrifice on the ,cross4 ,we must rise higher than that2 we must feel1 if we would understand the 'unspeakable gift1' that it is the gift of ,himself to dwell within us by ,his ,spirit as the very spirit of our lives4 ,assimilation by reception of a supernatural life from ,him1 is the teaching of ,pentecost4 ,christ is our life2 'the law of the ,spirit of life in ,christ ,jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and death4' ,therefore1 all ,christian men are spoken of in the ,new ,testament in the same language which is used in reference to their ,master4 ,is ,he the ,son of ,god8 ,they are sons through ,him4 ,is ,he the ,high ,priest8 ,they are priests unto ,god4 ,is ,he the ,light of the ,world8 ,they are1 in their places1 kindled and derived lights4 ,is ,he the ,christ1 the ,messias1 the ,anointed8 ',ye have an unction from the ,holy ,one1' and ,he hath anointed us in ,him4 ,so that it is no arrogance1 though it may be a questionably wise form of expression1 when we say that the object of ,christ's coming is to make us all ,christs1 ,god's anointed1 and to make us so because ,he ,himself in ,his ,spirit dwells in us4 ,christ can do that4 ,he can give this ,spirit4 ,that is the very thing that all other teachers cannot do4 ,they can teach tricks of imitation1 they can galvanise men1 for a little while1 into some kind of copy of their characteristics4 ,they can give them the principles which they themselves have been living on1 but to repeat and to continue the spirit of the ,teacher is the very thing that cannot be done4 ',let a double portion fall upon me1' said ,elisha2 and ,elijah1 knowing the limits of the human relationship between master and disciple1 could only shake his head in doubt and say1 ',thou askest a hard thing2 perhaps thou wilt get it1 perhaps thou wilt not1 but it will not be ,i that will give it you4' ,but ,christ says3 ',i give ,my ,spirit to you all4' ,and let us remember1 too1 how full of blessed teaching1 of rebuke1 and of instruction that symbol is1 in reference to ourselves4 ,to all of us there is offered1 if we like to have it1 this dove-like ,spirit4 ,what does that mean8 ,let us for a moment dwell upon the various uses of the emblem1 for they all carry important lessons4 ,our hearts are like that wild chaos which preceded the present ordered state of things4 ,and over the seething darkness1 full of all formless horrors and half-discerned dead monstrosities1 over all the chaos of disordered wills1 rebellious appetites1 stinging conscience1 darkened perceptions1 there will come1 if we will 7and we may will by ,his help1 which is never far away from us71 gently1 but quickening us into life and reducing confusion into order1 and flooding our cloudy night with light1 that divine ,spirit4 ,the dove that brooded over ,chaos and made it ,cosmos1 will brood over your nature1 and re-create the whole4 ',if any man be in ,christ1 he is a new creation4' ',the old things are passed away4' ,creator ,spirit6 create a clean heart in me4 ,and then again let me remind you that this emblem brings to us another cognate and yet distinct hope1 inasmuch as the dove was the emblem of purity and clean for sacrifice4 ,this is the characteristic of the scriptural doctrine of inspiration1 by which it is distinguished from all heathen and secular conceptions of a similar sort1 viz41 that it puts the moral in the foreground1 and that the ,spirit1 which is the ,spirit of truth1 and of wisdom and of power1 is first and foremost the ,spirit of holiness4 ,so that if a man is not clean1 no matter what his gifts1 no matter what his wisdom1 no matter what his intellectual force1 no matter what his supernatural and miraculous power1 he has not the ,spirit of ,god in him4 ,the ,dove comes1 and where it comes there is peace1 there is purity1 there is sacrifice4 ,if any man have not the ,spirit of holiness he is none of ,christ's4 ,so1 brethren1 remember that not in shining faculty1 not in piercing vision into mystery1 not in the eloquence of honeyed tongue1 nor the power of a swift hand1 not in any of the lesser and subordinate gifts which the world exclusively honours as inspiration1 is the power of the indwelling ,spirit to be manifested4 ,if the ,spirit of ,god is in you1 it is making you clean4 ,still further1 remember how1 as for the ,king so for ,his subjects1 the ,dove that crowns ,him and that dwells in them is the ,spirit of meekness and of gentleness4 ,that is the true force4 ,light1 which is silent1 is mightier than all lightnings4 ,the ,spirit1 which is the ',spirit of love1' is therefore 'the ,spirit of power4' ,the true type of ,christian character1 which the gospel has brought into being1 looks modest1 inconspicuous and humdrum1 by the side of the more brilliant and vulgar beauties of the world's ideals4 ,just as the iridescent hues on a dove's neck1 and the quiet blue of its plumage1 look modest and ,quaker-like beside gaudy parroquets and other bedizened birds1 so the ,christian type of character1 patient1 meek1 gentle1 not self-asserting1 seems pale and sober-tinted beside the world's heroes4 ,but gentleness is the mightiest and will conquer at last4 ,for ,christ and ,christ's followers go forth1 through universal love to universal power4 ,and the last suggestion that ,i offer to you about the significance of this symbol is one that ,i freely admit to be fanciful1 and yet it strikes me as being very beautiful4 ,noah's dove came back to the ark with one leaf in his beak4 ,that was the prophecy and the foretaste of a whole world of beauty and of verdure4 ,the dove that comes to us1 bearing with it some leaf plucked from the tree of life1 which is in the midst of the paradise of ,god1 is the earnest of our inheritance until the day of redemption4 ,all the gifts of that divine ,spirit1 gifts of holiness1 of gentleness1 of wisdom1 of truth--all these are forecasts and anticipations of the perfectness of the heavens4 ,to us1 sailing over a dismal sea1 the ,spirit comes bearing with it a message that tells us of the far-off land and the fair garden of ,god in which the blessed shall walk4 ,dear friends1 remember the one condition on which is suspended our possession of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,it is that we shall have ,christ for our very own by our humble faith4 ,if we are trusting in ,him1 ,he will come and put ,his ,spirit within our hearts4 ,without ,him these hearts are cages of unclean and hateful birds4 ,but the meek presence of the dove of ,god will drive out the obscene1 twilight-loving creatures that build and scream there1 and will fill our hearts with the tranquillity1 the purity1 the gentleness1 the hope1 which are 'the fruit of the ,spirit4' ,,the ,,victory ,,of ,,the ,,king ',then was ,jesus led up of the ,spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil4 #b4 ,and when ,he had fasted forty days and forty nights1 ,he was afterward an hungred4 #c4 ,and when the tempter came to ,him1 he said1 ,if ,thou be the ,son of ,god1 command that these stones be made bread4 #d4 ,but ,he answered and said1 ,it is written1 ,man shall not live by bread alone1 but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of ,god4 #e4 ,then the devil taketh ,him up into the holy city1 and setteth ,him on a pinnacle of the temple1 #f4 ,and saith unto ,him1 ,if ,thou be the ,son of ,god1 cast ,thyself down3 for it is written1 ,he shall give ,his angels charge concerning ,thee3 and in their hands they shall bear ,thee up1 lest at any time ,thou dash ,thy foot against a stone4 #g4 ,jesus said unto him1 ,it is written again1 ,thou shalt not tempt the ,lord thy ,god4 #h4 ,again1 the devil taketh ,him up into an exceeding high mountain1 and sheweth ,him all the kingdoms of the world1 and the glory of them2 #i4 ,and saith unto ,him1 ,all these things will ,i give ,thee1 if ,thou wilt fall down and worship me4 #aj4 ,then saith ,jesus unto him1 ,get thee hence1 ,satan3 for it is written1 ,thou shalt worship the ,lord thy ,god1 and ,him only shalt thou serve4 #aa4 ,then the devil leaveth ,him1 and1 behold1 angels came and ministered unto ,him4'--,,matt4 iv4 #a-aa4 ,every word of the first verses of this narrative is full of meaning4 ',then' marks the immediate connection1 not only in time but in causation1 between the baptism and the temptation4 ,the latter followed necessarily on the former4 ',of the ,spirit'--then ,god does lead ,his ,son into temptation4 ,for us all1 as for ,christ1 it is true that1 though ,god does not tempt as wishing us to fall1 ,he does so order our lives that they carry us into places where the metal of our religion is tried4 ',to be tempted'--then a pure1 sinless human nature is capable of temptation1 and the ,king has to begin his career by a battle4 ',of the devil'--then there is a dark kingdom of evil1 and a personal head of it1 the prince of darkness4 ,he knows ,his rival1 and yet ,he knows him but partially4 ,he strides out to meet him in desperate duel1 as ,goliath did the stripling whom he despised2 and both hosts pause and gaze4 ,to a sinless nature no temptation can arise from within1 but must be presented from without4 ,we leave untouched the question as to the manner of this temptation1 which remains equally real1 whether we conceive that the tempter appeared in bodily form1 and actually carried the body of our ,lord from place to place1 or whether we suppose that1 during it all1 ,christ sat silent1 and apparently alone in the wilderness4 ,we only divert attention from the true importance of the incident by giving prominence to picturesque or questionable externals of it4 ,i4 ,the first assault and repulse1 in the desert4 ,unlike ,john the ,baptist1 whose austere spirit was unfolded in the desert1 ,jesus grew up among men1 passing through and sanctifying childhood and youth1 home duties1 and innocent pleasures4 ,but ere ,he enters on ,his work1 the need which every soul appointed to high and hard tasks has felt1 namely1 the need for seclusion and communion with ,god in solitude1 was felt by ,him4 ,as it had been for ,moses and ,elijah1 the wilderness was ,his school2 and as the collective ,israel1 so the personal ,son of ,god1 has to be led into the wilderness1 that there ,god may 'speak to ,his heart4' ,so deep and rapt was the communion1 that1 for forty days1 spirit so mastered flesh that the need and desire for food were suspended4 ,but when ,he touched earth again1 the pinch of hunger began4 ,analogous cases of the power of high emotion to hold physical wants in abeyance are sufficiently familiar to make so extreme an instance explicable4 ,we have to distinguish in the first temptation between the sphere in which it moves1 the act suggested1 and the true nature of the act as dragged to light in ,christ's answer4 ,the sphere is that of the physical nature4 ,hunger has nothing to do with right or wrong4 ,it asserts itself independent of all considerations4 ,in itself neutral1 it may1 like all physical cravings1 lead to sin4 ,most men are most tempted by fleshly desires4 ,satan had tried the same bait before on the first ,adam4 ,it had answered so well then1 that he thinks himself wise in bringing it out once more4 ,adam1 in his garden1 surrounded by all that sense needed1 had yielded1 and thereby had turned the garden into desert2 ,christ1 in the desert1 pressed by hunger1 does not yield1 and thereby turns the desert into a garden again4 ,at the beginning of ,his course ,he is tempted by the innocent desire to secure physical support2 at its close ,he is tempted by the innocent desire to avoid physical pain4 ,he overcomes both1 and by ,his victories in the wilderness so unlike the garden1 and in ,gethsemane1 another garden1 so unlike the first1 ,he brings 'a statelier ,eden back to man4' ,the act suggested seems not only innocent1 but in accordance with ,his dignity4 ,it was a strange anomaly for 'the ,son of ,god1' on whose head the dove had descended1 and in whose ears the voice had sounded1 to be at the point of starving4 ,what more unbecoming than that one possessed of ,his mysterious closeness to ,god should be suffering from such ignoble necessities8 ,what more foolish than to continue to hunger1 when a word could spread a table in the wilderness8 ,john had said that ,god could make children of ,abraham out of these stones4 ,could ,he not make bread out of them8 ,the suggestion sounds benevolent1 sensible1 almost religious4 ,the need is real1 the remedy possible and easy2 the result desirable as preserving valuable life1 and putting an end to an anomaly1 and the objections apparently nil4 ,the bait is skilfully wound over the barbed hook4 ,christ's answer tears it away1 and discloses the sharp points4 ,he will not discuss with ,satan whether ,he is ,son of ,god or no4 ,to the ,jews ,he was wont to answer1 ',i say unto you'2 to ,satan ,he answers1 ',it is written4' ,he puts honour on 'the sword of the ,spirit1 which is the word of ,god1' and sets us an example of how to wield it4 ,the words quoted are found in the account of ,israel's miraculous sustenance in the desert by the manna1 and are applied by ,christ to ,himself1 not as ,son of ,god1 but as simple man4 ,they contain the great truth that ,god can feed men1 in their physical life1 by bread or without bread4 ,when ,he does it by bread or other ordinary means1 it is even then not the material substance in itself1 but ,his will operating through it1 which feeds4 ,he can abolish all the outward means1 and still keep a man alive4 ,there is no reference to the truth which is sometimes forcibly inserted into this saying1 that man has a higher than bodily life1 and needs more than material bread to feed the hunger of the soul4 ,the whole scope of the words is to state the law of physical nourishment as dependent at last on the divine will1 and therefore equally capable of being accomplished with or without bread1 by ordinary means or apart from these4 ,the bearing of the words on ,christ's hunger is twofold3 ,first1 ,he will not use ,his miraculous powers to provide food1 for that would be to distrust ,god1 and so to cast off ,his filial dependence2 second1 ,he will not separate ,himself from ,his brethren1 and provide for ,himself by a way not open to them1 for that would really be to reverse the very purpose of ,his incarnation and to defeat ,his whole work4 ,he has come to bear all man's burdens1 and shall ,he begin by separating ,himself from them8 ,therefore ,he answers in words which declare the law for 'man1' and thereby merges all that was distinctive in ,his position in a loving participation in our lot4 ,if the ,captain of our ,salvation had begun by refusing to share the privations of the rank and file1 and had provided dainties for ,himself1 what would have become of ,his making common cause with them8 ,the temptation addressed to ,christ's physical nature was1 to put it roughly1 ',look out for yourself4' ,his answer was1 ',as ,son of ,god1 ,i hold by ,my filial dependence4 ,as man1 ,i share ,my brethren's lot1 and am content to live as they live4' ,,ii4 ,the second assault and repulse1 on the temple4 ,we need not touch on the questions as to whether our ,lord's body was really transported to the temple1 and1 if so1 to what part of it4 ,but we may point out that there is nothing in the narrative to warrant the usual interpretation of this temptation1 as being addressed to the desire of recognition1 and as equivalent to the suggestion that our ,lord should show ,himself1 by a stupendous miracle before the multitude1 as the ,messiah4 ,there is nothing about spectators1 and no sign that the dread solitude wrapping these two was broken by others4 ,we must seek for the point of the second temptation in another direction4 ,the very locality chosen for it helps us to the right understanding of it4 ,there were plenty of cliffs in the desert1 down which a fall would have been fatal4 ,why not choose one of them8 ,the temple was ,god's house1 the fitting scene for an attempt to work disaster by the abuse of religious ideas4 ,the former temptation underlies this4 ,that had sought to move ,jesus to cast off ,his filial confidence2 this seeks to pervert that confidence1 and through it to lead ,him to cast off filial obedience4 ,therefore 'the ,devil quotes ,scripture for his purpose4' ,what could be more religious than an act of daring based upon faith1 which again was based on a word which proceeded 'out of the mouth of ,god'8 ,it is not in the suppression of certain words in the quotation that ,satan's error lies4 ,the omitted words are not material4 ,what did he hope to accomplish by this suggestion8 ,if ,jesus was1 in bodily reality1 standing on the summit of the temple1 the tempter1 profoundly disbelieving the promise1 may have thought that the leap would end his anxieties by the death of his rival4 ,but1 at any rate1 he sought to lead ,his faith into wrong paths1 and to incite to what was really sinful self-will under the guise of absolute trust4 ,our ,lord's answer1 again drawn from ,deuteronomy1 strips off the disguise from the action which seemed so trustful4 ,he changes the plural verb of the original passage into the singular1 thus at once taking as ,his own personal obligation the general command1 and pointing a sharp arrow at ,his foe1 who was now knowingly or unknowingly so flagrantly breaking that law4 ,if ,god had bidden ,jesus cast ,himself down1 to do it would have been right4 ,as ,he had not1 to do it was not faith1 but self-will4 ,to cast ,himself into dangers needlessly1 and then to trust ,god 7whom ,he had not consulted about going into them7 to get ,him out1 was to 'tempt ,god4' ,true faith is ever accompanied with true docility4 ,he had come to do ,his ,father's will4 ,a divine 'must' ruled ,his life4 ,was ,he to begin ,his career by throwing off ,his allegiance on pretext of trust8 ,if the ,captain of our ,salvation commences the campaign by rebellion1 how can ,he lead the rank and file to that surrender of their own wills which is victory8 ,the lessons for us from the second temptation are weighty4 ,faith may be perverted4 ,it may even lead to abandoning filial submission4 ,god's promised protection is available1 not in paths of our own choosing1 but only where ,he has sent us4 ,if we take the leap without ,his command1 we shall fall mangled on the very temple pavement4 ,it is when we are 'in the way' which ,he has prescribed that 'the angels of ,god' whom ,he has promised 'meet' us4 ,how many scandals in the falls of good men would have been avoided1 and how many mad enterprises would have been unattempted1 and how much more clearly would the relations of filial faith and filial obedience have been understood1 if the teaching of this second temptation had been laid to heart6 ,,iii4 ,the final assault and repulse1 on the mountain4 ,again the scene changes1 because the stress of the temptation is different4 ,the 'exceeding high mountain' is not to be looked for in our atlases4 ,the manner in which all the glories of the world's kingdoms were flashed in one dazzling panorama1 like an instantaneous photograph1 before ,christ's eyes1 is beyond our knowledge4 ,we note that ,satan has no more to say about 'the ,son of ,god4' ,he has been foiled in both his assaults on ,christ in that character4 ,if ,he stood firm in filial trust and in filial submission1 there was no more to be done4 ,so the tempter tries new weapons1 and seeks to pervert the desire for that dominion over the world which was to be a consequence of the sonship4 ,he has not been able to touch ,him as ,son2 can he not spoil ,him as ,king8 ,they are rivals3 can they not strike up a treaty8 ,jesus thinks that ,he is going to reign as ,god's viceroy2 can ,he not be induced1 as a much quicker way of getting to ,his end1 to become ,satan's8 ,such a scheme sounds very stupid2 but ,satan is very stupid1 for all his wisdom1 and the hopeless folly of his proposal is typical of the absurdities which lie in all sins4 ,there is an old play1 the title of which would be coarse if it were not so true1 ',the ,devil is an ,ass4' ,his boast1 like all his wiles1 is a little truth and a great lie4 ,it is true that his servants do often manage to climb into thrones and other high places4 ,it is true that beggars and worse than beggars on horseback1 and princes and better than princes walking1 is often the rule4 ,it is true that the crowned saints of the world might be counted on the fingers4 ,but1 for all that1 the ,father of lies was like himself in this promise4 ,he did not say that1 if he gives a kingdom to one of his servants1 he takes it from another4 ,he did not say that his gifts are shams1 and fade away when the daylight comes4 ,he did not say that he and his are1 after all1 tools in ,god's hands4 ,what was it that he thought he was appealing to in ,christ8 ,ambition8 ,he knew that ,jesus was destined to be ,king of the earth1 and he blunders to the conclusion that ,his reign is to be such as he could help ,him to4 ,how impossible it is for ,satan to penetrate the depths of that loving heart6 ,how mole-blind evil is to the radiant light of goodness6 ,how hate fails when it tries to fathom love6 ,if all that ,satan meant by 'the glory' of the world had been ,christ's1 ,he would have been no nearer ,his heart's desire4 ,the temptation was not only to fling away the ideal of ,his kingdom1 but to reverse the means for its establishment4 ,neither temptation could originate within ,christ's heart1 but both beset ,him all ,his life4 ,the cravings of ,his followers1 the expectations of ,his race1 the certainty of an enthusiastic response if ,he would put ,himself at their head1 and the equal certainty of death if ,he would not1 were always urging ,him to the very same thing4 ',there is nothing weaker1' says an old school-man1 'than the ,devil stripped naked4' ,the mask is thrown off at last1 and swift and smiting comes the gesture and the word of abhorrence1 ',get thee hence1 ,satan1'--now revealed in thy true colours4 ,jesus still couches ,his refusal in ,scripture words1 as if sheltering ,himself behind their broad shield4 ,it is safest to meet temptation1 not by our own reasonings and thoughts1 but by the words which cannot lie4 ,as ,he had held unmoved1 by ,his filial trust and ,his filial submission1 now ,he clings to the foundation principle of all religion1--the exclusive worship and service of ,god4 ,his kingdom is to be a kingdom of priests2 therefore to begin it by such an act would be suicide4 ,it is to be the victorious antagonist of ,satan's kingdom1 because it is to lead all men to worship ,god alone2 therefore enmity1 not alliance1 is to be between these two4 ,christ's last words are not only ,his final refusal of all the baits1 but the ringing proclamation of war to the death1 and that a war which will end in victory4 ,the enemy's quiver is empty4 ,he feels that he has met more than his match1 so he skulks from the field1 beaten for the first time by having encountered a heart which all his fiery darts failed to inflame1 and dimly foreseeing yet more utter defeat4 ,the last temptation teaches us both the nature of ,christ's kingdom and the means of its establishment4 ,it is a rule over men's hearts and wills1 swaying them to goodness and the exclusive worship and service of ,god4 ,that being so1 the way to found it follows of course4 ,it can only be set up by suffering1 utter self-sacrifice1 gentleness1 and goodness4 ,christ is ,king of all because ,he is servant of all4 ,his cross is ,his throne4 ,his realm is of hearts softened1 cleansed1 made gladly obedient1 and growingly like ,himself4 ,for such a king1 weapons of force are impossible1 and for ,his subjects the same law holds4 ,they have often tried to fight for ,christ with the ,devil's weapons1 to make compliance with him for ends which they thought good1 to keep terms with evil1 or to adopt worldly policy1 craft1 or force4 ,they have never succeeded1 and1 thank ,god6 they never will4 ,that duel was fought for us4 ,there we all conquered1 if we will hold fast by ,him who conquered then1 and thereby taught our 'hands to war' and our 'fingers to fight4' ,the strong man is bound4 ,the spoiling of his house follows of course1 and is but a question of time4 ,,the ,,springing ,,of ,,the ,,great ,,light ',now when ,jesus had heard that ,john was cast into prison1 ,he departed into ,galilee2 #ac4 ,and leaving ,nazareth1 ,he came and dwelt in ,capernaum1 which is upon the sea coast1 in the borders of ,zabulon and ,nephthalim3 #ad4 ,that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by ,esaias the prophet1 saying1 #ae4 ,the land of ,zabulon1 and the land of ,nephthalim1 by the way of the sea1 beyond ,jordan1 ,galilee of the ,gentiles2 #af4 ,the people which sat in darkness saw great light2 and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up4'--,,matt4 iv4 #ab-af4 ,though the narrative of the ,temptation is immediately followed by the notice of ,jesus' return to ,galilee1 there was a space between wide enough to hold all that ,john's ,gospel tells of the gathering of the first disciples1 the brief stay in ,galilee1 the ,jerusalem ministry1 and the journey through ,samaria4 ,john i4 #dc refers to the same point of time as verses #ab-af of this chapter4 ,it is rash to conclude ,matthew's ignorance from his silence1 and it is plain1 from his own words1 that he did not suppose that the return to ,galilee followed the ,temptation as closely in time as it does in his narrative4 ,for he does link the ,temptation to the ,baptism immediately1 by ',then was ,jesus led up of the ,spirit' 7verse #a71 and so some interval of time must be allowed1 during which ,jesus left the wilderness1 and went to some place where ,he could hear of ,john's imprisonment4 ,a gap is necessary4 ,its extent is not indicated1 nor are the reasons for silence as to its contents4 ,but we may as reasonably conjecture that ,matthew's eagerness to get to his main subject1 the ,galilean ministry1 led him to regard the short visit to ,jerusalem as an episode from which little came1 as put his silence down to a very improbable ignorance4 ,the same explanation may account for the slight mention made of ,his 'leaving ,nazareth1' of which ,luke has given the memorable story4 ,john was silenced1 and that moved ,jesus to go back to ,galilee and take up ,his ministry there4 ,his reason has been thought to have been the wish to avoid a similar fate1 but ,he was safer from ,herod in ,jerusalem than in ,capernaum1 within reach of the tyrant's arm1 stretched out from ,tiberias close by1 and the supposition is more probable1 as well as more worthy1 that a directly opposite motive impelled ,him4 ,the voice that had cried1 ',after me cometh a greater than ,i1' was stifled in a dungeon4 ,it was fitting that ,he1 of whom ,john had spoken1 should at once stand forth4 ,there must be no interval between the ringing proclamation by the herald and the appearance of the king1 lest men should say that one more hope had been dashed1 and one more prophet proved a dreamer4 ,and is there not a lesson for all times in the fact that when ,john is silenced1 ,jesus begins to speak8 ,is not the quenching of a light kindled to bear witness to the true ,light1 ever the occasion for that unkindled and unquenchable ,light to burn the more brightly1 though tear-dimmed eyes often fail to see it8 ,the choice of ,capernaum as a residence suggested to ,matthew ,isaiah's prophecy1 which he quotes freely1 fusing into one sentence the geographical terms1 in verse #ae1 which1 in the ,hebrew1 are the close of one paragraph1 and the prophecy in verse #af which1 in the ,hebrew1 begins another4 ,the territory of ,zabulon lay in what is now called ,lower ,galilee1 stretching right across from the northern end of the ,sea of ,gennesaret to the coast of the ,mediterranean1 while that of ,naphtali lay further north4 ',the way of the sea' is here not the designation of another district1 but a specification of those named in the preceding clauses1 and may be rendered 'towards the sea1' while 'beyond ,jordan' is the almost heathen territory on the east bank of the river1 and ',galilee of the ,gentiles' is the general name for all three1 the two tribal territories and the trans-,jordanic district4 ,these are all smelted into one designation1 'the people which sat in darkness1' and thus the whole of verse #ae and the first clause of verse #af make the nominative of the verb 'saw4' ,there is something very impressive in that long-drawn-out accumulation of geographical names1 and in their being all massed in the one sad description of their inert darkness1 and then equally massed as seeing the great light that springs up4 ,the intense pathos of that description and its sad truth to experience should not be unnoticed4 ,they sit in the dark--the attitude of listless languor and constrained inaction1 too true an emblem of the paralysis which falls on all the highest activities of the spirit1 if the light from ,god has been quenched4 ,it is only wild beasts that are active in the night4 ,the lower parts of man's nature may work energetically in that darkness1 but all that makes his glory is torpid in it4 ,christ's light has been the great impulse to progress4 ,races without it sit and do not march4 ,but that is not all1 for the sad picture is sketched again with blacker shadows in the next clause1 which substitutes for 'darkness' the still more tragic words1 'the region and shadow of death4' ,the realm of darkness is the region of death4 ,that dread figure is the lord of it1 and1 grimly enough1 its very intensity of blackness has power to throw a shadow even there where there is no light1 and to deepen the gloom4 ,the second clause advances on the first in another respect1 for while the former spoke only of 'seeing' the light1 the latter tells of the blessed suddenness with which it 'sprung up4' ,the one clause speaks of the human perception1 the other of the divine revelation which precedes it and makes it possible4 ,but had ,matthew any right to see in ,jesus' ,galilean ministry the fulfilment of a prophecy which1 as spoken1 was simply a promise that the northern parts of ,israel which1 by geographical position1 had to bear the first and worst brunt of ,assyrian invasion1 should have deliverance from the oppressor8 ,yes2 for ,isaiah's vision of the light rising on ,israel1 crushed beneath foreign oppression1 was based on a distinctly ,messianic prediction4 ,it was because ,messiah should come that he expected ,assyria to be flung off and ,israel to be set free1 and he was right in the expectation1 for though the ,messiah did not come visibly then1 ,his coming was the guarantee1 and in some sense the cause1 of ,israel's deliverance4 ,nor was ,matthew less right in seeing in that earlier deliverance but a germinant accomplishment of the prophecy1 which1 by its very transiency1 outwardness1 and incompleteness1 pointed onwards to a better spring of the ,light1 and a fuller deliverance from a murkier darkness and a more mortal death4 ',the life was the light of men1' the teacher of all knowledge of ,god1 the source of all light of true joy1 the giver of all light of white purity1 and ,he has risen on a world sitting in darkness that all men may walk in the light1 and be children of the light4 ,,the ,,early ,,welcome ,,and ,,the ,,first ,,ministers ,,of ,,the ,,king ',from that time ,jesus began to preach1 and to say1 ,repent3 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand4 #ah4 ,and ,jesus1 walking by the sea of ,galilee1 saw two brethren1 ,simon called ,peter1 and ,andrew his brother1 casting a net into the sea3 for they were fishers4 #ai4 ,and ,he saith unto them1 ,follow ,me1 and ,i will make you fishers of men4 #bj4 ,and they straightway left their nets1 and followed ,him4 #ba4 ,and going on from thence1 ,he saw other two brethren1 ,james the son of ,zebedee1 and ,john his brother1 in a ship with ,zebedee their father1 mending their nets3 and ,he called them4 #bb4 ,and they immediately left the ship and their father1 and followed ,him4 #bc4 ,and ,jesus went about all ,galilee1 teaching in their synagogues1 and preaching the gospel of the kingdom1 and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people4 #bd4 ,and ,his fame went throughout all ,syria3 and they brought unto ,him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments1 and those which were possessed with devils1 and those which were lunatick1 and those that had the palsy2 and ,he healed them4 #be4 ,and there followed ,him great multitudes of people from ,galilee1 and from ,decapolis1 and from ,jerusalem1 and from ,judaea1 and from beyond ,jordan4'--,,matt4 iv4 #ag-be4 ,in these verses we have a summary of our ,lord's early ,galilean ministry4 ,the events are so presented and combined as to give an impression as of a triumphal progress of the newly anointed monarch4 ,he sweeps through the northern regions1 everywhere exercising the twofold office of teaching and healing1 and everywhere followed by eager crowds4 ,this joyous burst of the new power1 like some strong fountain leaping into the sunshine1 and this rush of popular enthusiasm1 are meant to heighten the impression of the subsequent hostility of the people4 ,the ,king welcomed at first is crucified at last4 ,it was 'roses1 roses1 all the way' in these early days1 but they withered soon4 ,there are three points in these verses3 the ,king acting as ,his own herald2 the ,king calling ,his first servants2 and the ,king wielding ,his power and welcomed by ,his subjects4 ,i4 ,in verse #ag we have a striking picture of the ,king as ,his own herald4 ,the word rendered 'preach' of course means1 literally1 to proclaim as a herald does4 ,it is remarkable that this earliest phase of our ,lord's teaching is described in the same words as ,john's preaching4 ,the stern voice was silenced4 ,instead of the free wilderness1 ,john had now the gloomy walls of ,machaeus for the bound of his activity4 ,but ,jesus takes up his message1 though with a difference4 ,the severe imagery of the axe1 the fan1 the fire1 is not repeated1 as it would seem4 ,sterner words than ,john's could fall hot from the lips into which grace was poured2 but the time for these was not yet come4 ,it may seem singular that ,christ should have spoken of the kingdom1 and been silent concerning the ,king4 ,but such silence was only of a piece with the reticence which marked ,his whole teaching1 and was a sign of ,his wise adaptation of ,his words to the capacity of ,his hearers1 as well as of ,his lowliness4 ,he veiled ,his royalty by deigning to be ,his own herald2 by substituting the proclamation of the abstract1 the kingdom1 for the concrete1 the ,king2 by seeming to careless hearers to be but the continuer of the forerunner's message2 by the simple1 remote region which ,he chose for ,his earliest work4 ,the belief that the kingdom was at hand was equally necessary1 and repentance equally indispensable as preparation for it1 whoever the ,king might be4 ,the same law of congruity between message and hearers1 which ,he enjoined on ,his followers1 when ,he bade them be careful where they flung their pearls1 and which governed ,his own fullest final revelations to ,his truest friends1 when ,he said1 ',i have yet many things to say unto you1 but ye cannot carry them now1' moulded ,his first words to the excited but ignorant crowds4 ,,ii4 ,the ,king's mandate summoning ,his servants4 ,the call of the first four disciples is so told as to make prominent these points3 the brotherhood of the two pairs2 their occupation at the moment of their call2 the brief1 authoritative word of ,christ2 ,his investiture of them with new functions1 which yet in some sense were the prolongation of the old2 their unhesitating1 instantaneous obedience and willing abandonment of their all4 ,these points all help the impression of regal power1 and do something to explain the nature of the kingdom and the heart of the ,king4 ,matthew does not seem to have known of the previous intercourse of the four with ,jesus1 as recorded ,in ,john #a4 ,his narrative1 taken alone1 would lay stress on the strange influence wielded by ,jesus over these busy fishermen4 ,but that influence is no less remarkable1 and becomes more explicable1 on taking ,john's supplemental account into consideration4 ,it tells us that one brother of each pair--namely ,andrew1 and probably ,john--had sought ,jesus on the ,baptist's testimony1 and in that never-to-be-forgotten night had acquired the conviction that ,he was the ,king of ,israel4 ,it tells us1 too1 that ,andrew first found his own brother1 ,simon2 from which we may infer that the other one of the two next found his brother ,james1 and that each brought his own brother to ,jesus4 ,the bond of discipleship was then riveted4 ,but apparently1 when ,jesus went up to ,jerusalem on that first journey recorded only in ,john's ,gospel1 the four went back to their fishing1 and waited for ,his further call4 ,it came in the manner which ,matthew describes4 ,the background1 which ,john enables us to fill in1 shows us that their following was no sudden blind impulse1 but the deliberate surrender of men who knew well what they were doing1 though they had not fathomed the whole truth as to ,his kingdom and their place in it4 ,they knew1 at any rate1 that ,he was the ,messiah and that they were called by a voice1 which they ought to obey1 to be ,his soldiers and partisans4 ,they could not but know that the call meant danger1 hardship1 conflict4 ,they rallied to the call1 as soldiers might when the commander honours them by reading out their names1 as picked for leaders of the storming-party4 ,was this the same incident which ,st4 ,luke narrates as following the first miraculous draught of fishes8 ,that is one of the difficulties in harmonising the synoptic narratives which will always divide opinions4 ,on the whole1 ,i incline to think it most natural to answer 'no4' ,the reasons would take us too far afield4 ,but accepting that view1 we may note through how many stages ,jesus led this group of ,his disciples before they were fully recognised as apostles4 ,first there was their attachment to ,him as disciples1 which in no degree interfered with their trade4 ,then came this call to more close attendance on ,him1 which1 however1 was probably still somewhat intermittent4 ,then followed the call recorded by ,luke1 which finally tore them from their homes2 and1 last of all1 their appointment as apostles4 ,at each stage they 'might have had opportunity to have returned4' ,their vocation in the kingdom dawns on them slowly4 ,they and we are led on1 by little and little and little1 to posts and tasks of which we do not dream at the beginning4 ,duty opens before the docile heart bit by bit4 ,abram is led to ,harran1 and only there learns his ultimate destination4 ,obedience is rewarded by the summons to more complete surrender1 which is also fuller possession of ,him for whom the surrender is made4 ',the word of a king is with power4' ,christ's call is authoritative in its brevity4 ,all duty lies in ',come ye after ,me4' ,he does not need to use arguments4 ,from the very first this meek and lowly man assumes a tone which on other lips we call arrogant4 ,his style is royal4 ,his mouth is autocratic4 ,he knows that ,he has the right to command4 ,and1 strangely enough1 the world admits the right1 and finds nothing unworthy of ,his meekness--a meekness of which ,he was fully conscious1 which is another paradox--in this unconditional claim of absolute submission to his curt orders4 ,what is the explanation of this tone of authority8 ,how comes it that the kingdom which is liberty is1 from its very foundation1 an absolute despotism8 ,that same peremptory summons reaches beyond these four fishermen to us all4 ,they were the first to hear it1 and continued to hold pre-eminence among the disciples1 for they make up the first group of the three quaternions into which the list of the apostles is always divided4 ,but the very same voice speaks to us1 and we are as truly summoned by the ,king to be ,his servants and soldiers as were they4 ,their prompt self-surrendering response is the witness of the power over their hearts which ,jesus had won4 ,the one pair of brothers left their nets floating in the water2 the other left their father with the mesh and the twine in his old hands4 ,it was not much wealth to leave4 ,but he surrenders much who surrenders all1 however little that all may be2 and he surrenders nothing who keeps back anything4 ,one sweet portion of their earthly happiness ,he left them to enjoy1 heightened by discipleship1 for each had his brother by his side1 and natural affection was ennobled by common faith and service4 ,if ,zebedee was left1 ,john still had ,james4 ,true1 ,herod's sword cut their union asunder1 and ,james died first1 and ,john last1 of the twelve2 but years of happy brotherhood were to come before then4 ,so both the surrender which outwardly gives up possessions or friends1 and that which keeps them1 sanctified by being held and used as for and from ,him1 were exemplified in the swift obedience of these four to the call of the ,king4 ',i will make you fishers of men4' ,that shows a kindly wish to make as little as may be of the change of occupation4 ,their old craft is to be theirs still1 only in nobler form4 ,the patience1 the brave facing of the storm and the night1 the observance of the indications which taught where to cast1 the perseverance which toiled all night though not a fin glistened in the net1 would all find place in their new career4 ,nor are these words less royal than was the call4 ,they contain profound hints as to the nature of the kingdom which could scarcely be apprehended at first4 ,but this at least would be clear1 that ,jesus summoned them to service1 to gather in men out of the dreary waves of worldly care and toil into a kingdom of stable rest1 and that by summoning them to service ,he endowed them with power4 ,so ,he does still4 ,all whom ,he summons to follow ,him are meant by ,him to be fishers of men4 ,it was not as apostles1 but as simple disciples1 that these four received this charge and ability4 ,the same command and fitness are given to all ,christians4 ,following ,christ1 surrender1 the obligation of effort to win others1 capacity to do so1 belong to all the subjects of ,christ's kingdom4 ,,iii4 ,the triumphal progress of the ,king4 ,our evangelist evidently masses together without regard to chronological order the broad features of the early ,galilean ministry4 ,he paints it as a time of joyful activity1 of universal recognition1 of swift and far-spreading fame4 ,we do not exaggerate the impression of victorious publicity which they give1 when we call these closing verses the record of the ,king's triumphal progress through ,his dominions4 ,observe the reiterated use of 'all1'--all ,galilee1 all manner of sickness and all manner of disease1 all ,syria1 all that were sick4 ,matthew labours to convey the feeling of universal stir and wide-reaching1 'full-throated' welcome4 ,observe1 too1 that the activity of ,christ is confined to ,galilee1 but the fame of ,him crosses the border into heathendom4 ,the ,king stays on ,his own territory1 but ,he conquers beyond the frontier4 ,syria and the mostly heathen ,decapolis1 and ,peraea 7'beyond ,jordan'71 are moved4 ,the odour of the ointment not only fills the house1 but enriches the scentless outside air4 ,the prophecy contained in the coming of the ,magi is beginning to be fulfilled4 ,from its first preaching1 the kingdom is diffusive4 ,note1 too1 the contrast between ,john's ministry and ,christ's1 in that the former stayed in one spot1 and the crowds had to go out to him1 while the very genius of ,christ's mission expressed itself in that this shepherd king sought the sad and sick1 and 'went about in all ,galilee4' ,observe1 too1 that ,he teaches and preaches the good news of the kingdom1 before ,he heals4 ,john's proclamation of the kingdom had been so charged with threatenings and mingled with fire that it could scarcely be called a 'gospel'2 but here that joyous word1 used for the first time1 is in place4 ,as the tidings came from ,christ's lips1 they were good tidings1 and to proclaim them was ,his first task4 ,the miracles of healing came second4 ,they were not 'the bell before the sermon1' but the benediction after it4 ,they flowed from ,christ in rich abundance4 ,the eager receptiveness of the people1 ignorant as it was1 was greater then than ever afterwards4 ,therefore the flow of miraculous power was more unimpeded4 ,but it may be questioned whether we generally have an adequate notion of the immense number of ,christ's miracles4 ,those recorded are but a small proportion of those done4 ,there were more grapes in the vineyards of ,eshcol than the messengers brought in evidence to the camp4 ,our ,lord's miracles are told by units2 they seem to have been wrought by scores4 ,these early ones were not only attestations of ,his claim to be the ,king1 but illustrations of the nature of ,his kingdom ,he had conquered and bound the strong man1 and now ,he was 'spoiling his house4' ,they were parables of ,his higher work on men's souls1 which ,he comes to cleanse from the oppression of demons1 from the foamings of epilepsy1 from impotence as to doing right4 ,they were tokens of the inexhaustible fountain of power1 and of the swift and equally inexhaustible treasures of sympathy1 which dwelt in ,him4 ,they were ,his first trophies in ,his holy war1 ,his first gifts to ,his subjects4 ,thus compassed with enthusiasm1 and shedding on the wearied new hopes1 and on the sick unwonted health1 and stirring in sluggish souls some aspirations that greatened and inspired1 the ,king appeared4 ,but no illusions deceived ,his calm prescience4 ,from the beginning ,he knew the path which stretched before ,him2 and while the transient loyalty of the ignorant shouted hosannas around ,his steps1 ,he saw the cross at the end1 and the sight did not make ,him falter4 ,,the ,,new ,,sinai ',and seeing the multitudes1 ,he went up into a mountain3 and when ,he was set1 ,his disciples came unto ,him3 #b4 ,and ,he opened his mouth1 and taught them1 saying1 #c4 ,blessed are the poor in spirit3 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven4 #d4 ,blessed are they that mourn3 for they shall be comforted4 #e4 ,blessed are the meek3 for they shall inherit the earth4 #f4 ,blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness3 for they shall be filled4 #g4 ,blessed are the merciful3 for they shall obtain mercy4 #h4 ,blessed are the pure in heart3 for they shall see ,god4 #i4 ,blessed are the peacemakers3 for they shall be called the children of ,god1 #aj4 ,blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake3 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven4 #aa4 ,blessed are ye1 when men shall revile you1 and persecute you1 and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely1 for ,my sake4 #ab4 ,rejoice1 and be exceeding glad3 for great is your reward in heaven3 for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you4 #ac4 ,ye are the salt of the earth3 but if the salt have lost his savour1 wherewith shall it be salted8 it is thenceforth good for nothing1 but to be cast out1 and to be trodden under foot of men4 #ad4 ,ye are the light of the world4 ,a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid4 #ae4 ,neither do men light a candle1 and put it under a bushel1 but on a candlestick2 and it giveth light unto all that are in the house4 #af4 ,let your light so shine before men1 that they may see your good works1 and glorify your ,father which is in heaven4'--,,matt4 v4 #a-af4 ,an unnamed mountain somewhere on the ,sea of ,galilee is the ,sinai of the new covenant4 ,the contrast between the savage desolation of the wilderness and the smiling beauty of the sunny slope near the haunts of men symbolises the contrast in the genius of the two codes1 given from each4 ,there ,god came down in majesty1 and the cloud hid ,him from the people's gaze2 here ,jesus sits amidst ,his followers1 ,god with us4 ,the ,king proclaims the fundamental laws of ,his kingdom1 and reveals much of its nature by the fact that ,he begins by describing the characteristics of its subjects1 as well as by the fact that the description is cast in the form of beatitudes4 ,we must leave unsettled the question as to the relation between the ,sermon on the ,mount and the shorter edition of part of it given by ,luke1 only pointing out that in this first part of ,matthew's ,gospel we are evidently presented with general summaries2 as1 for example1 the summary of the ,galilean ministry in the previous verses1 and the grand procession of miracles which follows in chapters viii4 and ix4 ,it is therefore no violent supposition that here too the evangelist has brought together1 as specimens of our ,lord's preaching1 words which were not all spoken at the same time4 ,his description of the ,galilean ministry in ch4 iv4 #bc1 as 'teaching' and 'healing1' governs the arrangement of his materials from chapter v4 to the end of chapter ix4 ,first comes the sermon1 then the miracles follow4 ,the ,beatitudes1 as a whole1 are a set of paradoxes to the 'mind of the flesh4' ,they were meant to tear away the foolish illusions of the multitude as to the nature of the kingdom2 and they must have disgusted and turned back many would-be sharers in it4 ,they are like a dash of cold water on the fiery1 impure enthusiasms which were eager for a kingdom of gross delights and vulgar conquest4 ,and1 no doubt1 ,jesus intended them to act like ,gideon's test1 and to sift out those whose appetite for carnal good was uppermost4 ,but they were tests simply because they embodied everlasting truths as to the characters of ,his subjects4 ,our narrow space allows of only the most superficial treatment of these deep words4 ,i4 ,the foundation of all is laid in poverty of spirit4 ,the word rendered 'poor' does not only signify one in a condition of want1 but rather one who is aware of the condition1 and seeks relief4 ,if we may refer to ,latin words here1 it is mendicus rather than pauper1 a beggar rather than a poor man1 who is meant4 ,so that to be poor in spirit is to be in inmost reality conscious of need1 of emptiness1 of dependence on ,god1 of demerit2 the true estimate of self1 as blind1 evil1 weak1 is intended2 the characteristic tone of feeling pointed to is self-abnegation1 like that of the publican smiting his breast1 or that of the disease-weakened1 hunger-tortured prodigal1 or that of the once self-righteous ,paul1 ',o wretched man that ,i am6' ,people who do not like evangelical teaching sometimes say1 ',give me the ,sermon on the ,mount4' ,so say ,i4 ,only let us take all of it2 and if we do1 we shall come1 as we shall have frequent occasion to point out1 in subsequent passages1 to something uncommonly like the evangelical theology to which it is sometimes set up as antithetic4 ,for ,christ begins ,his portraiture of a citizen of the kingdom with the consciousness of want and sin4 ,all the rest of the morality of the ,sermon is founded on this4 ,it is the root of all that is heavenly and divine in character4 ,so this teaching is dead against the modern pagan doctrine of self-reliance1 and really embodies the very principle for the supposed omission of which some folk like this ,sermon2 namely1 that our proud self-confidence must be broken down before ,god can do any good with us1 or we can enter ,his kingdom4 ,the promises attached to the ,beatitudes are in each case the results which flow from the quality1 rather than the rewards arbitrarily given for it4 ,so here1 the possession of the kingdom comes by consequence from poverty of spirit4 ,of course1 such a kingdom as could be so inherited was the opposite of that which the narrow and fleshly nationalism of the ,jews wanted1 and these first words must have cooled many incipient disciples4 ,the 'kingdom of heaven' is the rule of ,god through ,christ4 ,it is present wherever wills bow to ,him2 it is future1 as to complete realisation1 in the heaven from which it comes1 and to which1 like its ,king1 it belongs even while on earth4 ,obviously1 its subjects can only be those who feel their dependence1 and in poverty of spirit have cast off self-will and self-reliance4 ',theirs is the kingdom' does not mean 'they shall rule1' but 'of them shall be its subjects4' ,true1 they shall rule in the perfected form of it2 but the first1 and in a real sense the only1 blessedness is to obey ,god2 and that blessedness can only come when we have learned poverty of spirit1 because we see ourselves as in need of all things4 ,,ii4 ,each ,beatitude springs from the preceding1 and all twined together make an ornament of grace upon the neck1 a chain of jewels4 ,the second sounds a more violent paradox than even the first4 ,sorrowing is blessed4 ,this1 of course1 cannot mean mere sorrow as such4 ,that may or may not be a blessing4 ,grief makes men worse quite as often as it makes them better4 ,its waves often flow over us like the sea over marshes1 leaving them as salt and barren as it found them4 ,nor is sorrow always sure of comfort4 ,we must necessarily understand the word here so as to bring it into harmony with the context1 and link it with the former ,beatitude as flowing from it1 as well as with the succeeding4 ,the only intelligible explanation is that this sorrow arises from the contemplation of the same facts concerning self as lead to poverty of spirit1 and is1 in fact1 the emotional side of the same disposition4 ,he who takes the true measure of himself cannot but sorrow over the frightful gulf between what he should and might be and what he is1 for he knows that there is more than misfortune or unavoidable creatural weakness at work4 ,the grim reality of sin has to be reckoned in4 ,personal responsibility and guilt are facts4 ,the soul that has once seen its own past as it is1 and looked steadily down into the depths of its own being1 cannot choose but 'mourn4' ,such contrition underlies all moral progress4 ,the ethical teaching of the ,sermon on the ,mount puts these two1 poverty of spirit and tears for sin1 at the foundation4 ,do its admirers lay that fact to heart8 ,this is ,christ's account of discipleship4 ,we have to creep through a narrow gate1 which we shall not pass but on our knees and leaving all our treasures outside4 ,but once through1 we are in a great temple with far-reaching aisles and lofty roof4 ,such sorrow is sure of comfort4 ,other sorrow is not4 ,the comfort it needs is the assurance of forgiveness and cleansing1 and that assurance has never been sought from the ,king in vain4 ,the comfort is filtered to us in drops here2 it pours in a flood hereafter4 ,blessed the sorrow which leads to experience of the tender touch of the hand that wipes away tears from the face1 and plucks evil from the heart6 ,blessed the mourning1 which prepares for the festal garland and the oil of gladness and the robe of praise1 instead of ashes on the head and sackcloth on the spirit6 ,,iii4 ,meekness here seems to be considered principally as exercised to men1 and it thus constitutes the first of the social virtues1 which henceforward alternate with those having exclusive reference to ,god4 ,it is the grace which opposes patient gentleness to hatred1 injury1 or antagonism4 ,the prominence given to it in ,christ's teaching is one of the peculiarities of ,christian morals1 and is a standing condemnation of much so-called ,christianity4 ,pride and anger and self-assertion and retaliation flaunt in fine names1 and are called manly virtues4 ,meekness is smiled at1 or trampled on1 and the men who exercise it are called ',quakers' and 'poor-spirited' and 'chicken-hearted' and the like4 ,social life among us is in flagrant contradiction of this ,beatitude2 and as for national life1 all ',christian nations' agree that to apply ,christ's precept to it would be absurd and suicidal4 ,he said that the meek should inherit the earth2 statesmen say that the only way to keep a country is to be armed to the teeth1 and let no man insult its flag with impunity4 ,there does not seem much room for 'a spirited foreign policy' or for 'proper regard to one's own dignity' inside this ,beatitude1 does there8 ,but notice that this meekness naturally follows the preceding dispositions4 ,he who knows himself and has learned the depth of his own evil will not be swift to blaze up at slights or wrongs4 ,the true meekness is not mere natural disposition1 but the direct outcome of poverty of spirit and the consequent sorrow4 ,so1 it is a test of their reality4 ,many a man will indulge in confessions of sin1 and crackle up in sputtering heat of indignation at some slight or offence4 ,if he does1 his lowly words have had little meaning1 and the benediction of these promises will come scantily to his heart4 ,does ,christ mean merely to say that meek men will acquire landed properly8 ,is there not a present inheritance of the earth by them1 though they may not own a foot of it8 ,they have the world who enjoy it1 whom it helps nearer ,god1 who see ,him in it1 to whom it is the field for service and the means for growing character4 ,but in the future the kingdom of heaven will be a kingdom of the earth1 and the meek saints shall reign with the ,king who is meek and lowly of heart4 ,,iv4 ,righteousness is conformity to the will of ,god1 or moral perfection4 ,hunger and thirst are energetic metaphors for passionate desire1 and imply that righteousness is the true nourishment of the ,spirit4 ,every longing of a noble spirit is blessed4 ,aspiration after the unreached is the salt of all lofty life4 ,it is better to be conscious of want than to be content4 ,there are hungers which are all unblessed1 greedy appetites for the swine's husks1 which are misery when unsatisfied1 and disgust when satiated4 ,but we are meant to be righteous1 and shall not in vain desire to be so4 ,god never sends mouths but ,he sends meat to fill them4 ,such longings prophesy their fruition4 ,notice that this hunger follows the experience of the former ,beatitudes4 ,it is the issue of poverty of spirit and of that blessed sorrow4 ,observe1 too1 that the desire after1 and not the possession or achievement of1 righteousness is blessed4 ,is not this the first hint of the ,christian teaching that we do not work out or win but receive it8 ,god gives it4 ,our attitude towards that gift should be earnest longing4 ,such a blessed hungerer shall 'receive 444 righteousness from the ,god of his salvation4' ,the certainty that he will do so rests at last on the faithfulness of ,god1 who cannot but respond to all desires which ,he inspires4 ,they are premonitions of ,his purposes1 like rosy clouds that run before the chariot of the sunrise4 ,the desire to be righteous is already righteousness in heart and will1 and reveals the true bent of the soul4 ,its realisation in life is a question of time4 ,the progressive fulfilment here points to completeness in heaven1 when we shall behold ,his face in righteousness1 and be satisfied when we awake in ,his likeness4 ,v4 ,again we have a grace which is exercised to men4 ,mercy is more than meekness4 ,that implied opposition1 and was largely negative4 ,this does not regard the conduct of others at all1 and is really love in exercise to the needy1 especially the unworthy4 ,it embraces pity1 charitable forbearance1 beneficence1 and is revealed in acts1 in words1 in tears4 ,it is blessed in itself4 ,a life of selfishness is hell2 a life of mercy is sweet with some savour of heaven4 ,it is the consequence of mercy received from ,god4 ,poverty of spirit1 sorrow1 hunger after righteousness bring deep experiences of ,god's gentle forbearance and bestowing love1 and will make us like ,him in proportion as they are real4 ,our mercifulness1 then1 is a reflection from ,his4 ,his ought to be the measure and pattern of ours in depth1 scope1 extent of self-sacrifice1 and freeness of its gifts4 ,a stringent requirement6 ,our exercise of mercy is the condition of our receiving it4 ,on the whole1 the world gives us back1 as a mirror does1 the reflection of our own faces2 and merciful men generally get what they give4 ,but that is a law with many exceptions1 and ,jesus means more than that4 ,merciful men get mercy from ,god--not1 of course1 that we deserve mercy by being merciful4 ,that is a contradiction in terms2 for mercy is precisely that which we do not deserve4 ,the place of mercy in this series shows that ,jesus regarded it as the consequence1 not the cause1 of our experience of ,god's mercy4 ,but ,he teaches over and over again that a hard1 unmerciful heart forfeits the divine mercy4 ,it does so1 because such a disposition tends to obscure the very state of mind to which alone ,god's mercy can be given4 ,such a man must have forgotten his poverty and sorrow1 his longings and their rich reward1 and so must have1 for the time1 passed from the place where he can take in ,god's gift4 ,a life inconsistent with ,christian motives will rob a ,christian of ,christian privileges4 ,the hand on his brother's throat destroys the servant's own forgiveness4 ,he cannot be at once a rapacious creditor and a discharged bankrupt4 ,,vi4 ,if detached from its connection1 there is little blessedness in the next ,beatitude4 ,what is the use of telling us how happy purity of heart will make us8 ,it only provokes the despairing question1 ',and how am ,i to be pure8' ,but when we set this word in its place here1 it does bring hope4 ,for it teaches that purity is the result of all that has gone before1 and comes from that purifying which is the sure answer of ,god to our poverty1 mourning1 and longing4 ,such purity is plainly progressive1 and as it increases1 so does the vision of ,god grow4 ,the more the glasses of the telescope are cleansed1 the brighter does the great star shine to the gazer4 ',no man hath seen ,god1' nor can see ,him1 either amid the mists of earth or in the cloudless sky of heaven1 if by seeing we mean perceiving by sense1 or full1 direct comprehension by spirit4 ,but seeing ,him is possible even now1 if by it we understand the knowledge of ,his character1 the assurance of ,his presence1 the sense of communion with ,him4 ,our earthly consciousness of ,god may become so clear1 direct1 real1 and certain1 that it deserves the name of vision4 ,such blessed intuition of ,him is the prerogative of those whose hearts ,christ has cleansed1 and whose inward eye is therefore able to behold ,god1 because it is like ,him4 ',unless the eye were sunlike1 how could it see the sun8' ,we can blind ourselves to ,him1 by wallowing in filth4 ,impurity unfits for seeing purity4 ,swedenborg profoundly said that the wicked see only blackness where the sun is4 ,like all these ,beatitudes1 this has a double fulfilment1 as the kingdom has two stages of here and hereafter4 ,purity of heart is the condition of the vision of ,god in heaven4 ,without holiness1 'no man shall see the ,lord4' ,the sight makes us pure1 and purity makes us see4 ,thus heaven will be a state of ever-increasing1 reciprocally acting sight and holiness4 ,like ,him because we see ,him1 we shall see ,him more because we have assimilated what we see1 as the sunshine opens the petals1 and tints the flower with its own colours the more deeply1 the wider it opens4 ,,vii4 ,once more we have the alternation of a grace exercised to men4 ,if we give due weight to the order of these ,beatitudes1 we shall feel that ,christ's peacemaker must be something more than a mere composer of men's quarrels4 ,for he has to be trained by all the preceding experiences1 and has to be emptied of self1 penitent1 hungering for and filled with righteousness1 and therefore pure in heart as well as1 in regard to men1 meek and merciful1 ere he can hope to fill this part4 ,that apprenticeship deepens the conception of the peace which ,christ's subjects are to diffuse4 ,it is1 first and chiefly1 the peace which enters the soul that has traversed all these stages2 that is to say1 the ,christian peacemaker is first to seek to bring about peace between men and ,god1 by beseeching them to be reconciled to ,him1 and then afterwards1 as a consequence of this1 is to seek to diffuse through all human relations the blessed unity and amity which flow most surely from the common possession of the peace of ,god4 ,of course1 the relation which the subjects of the true ,king bear to all wars and fightings1 to all discord and strife1 is not excluded1 but is grounded on this deeper meaning4 ,the centuries that have passed since the words were spoken1 have not yet brought up the ,christian conscience to the full perception of their meaning and obligation4 ,too many of us still believe that 'great doors and effectual' can be blown open with gunpowder1 and regard this ,beatitude as a counsel of perfection1 rather than as one of the fundamental laws of the kingdom4 ,the ,christian who moves thus among men seeking to diffuse everywhere the peace with ,god which fills his own soul1 and the peace with all men which they only who have the higher peace can preserve unbroken in their quiet1 meek hearts1 will be more or less recognised as ,god-like by men1 and will have in his own heart the witness that he is called by ,god ,his child4 ,he will bear visibly the image of his ,father1 and will hear the voice that speaks to him too as unto a son4 ,,viii4 ,the last ,beatitude crowns all the paradoxes of the series with what sounds to flesh as a stark contradiction4 ,the persecuted are blessed4 ,the previous seven sayings have perfected the portraiture of what a child of the kingdom is to be4 ,this appends a calm prophecy1 which must have shattered many a rosy dream among the listeners1 of what his reception by the world will certainly turn out4 ,jesus is not summoning men to dominion1 honour1 and victory2 but to scorn and suffering4 ,his own crown1 ,he knew1 was first to be twisted of thorns1 and copies of it were to wound ,his followers' brows4 ,yet even that fate was blessed2 for to suffer for righteousness1 which is to suffer for ,him1 brings elevation of spirit1 a solemn joy1 secret supplies of strength1 and sweet intimacies of communion else unknown4 ,the noble army of martyrs rose before ,his thoughts as ,he spoke2 and now1 eighteen hundred years after1 heaven is crowded with those who by axe and stake and gibbet have entered there4 ',the glory dies not1 and the grief is past4' ,they stoop from their thrones to witness to us that ,christ is true1 and that the light affliction has wrought an eternal weight of glory4 ,,the ,,first ,,beatitude ',blessed are the poor in spirit1 for theirs is the ,kingdom of ,heaven4'--,,matt4 v4 #b4 ',ye are not come unto the mount that burned with fire1 nor unto the sound of a trumpet1 and the voice of awful words4' ,with such accompaniments the old law was promulgated1 but here1 in this ,sermon on the ,mount1 as it is called1 the laws of the ,kingdom are proclaimed by the ,king ,himself2 and ,he does not lay them down with the sternness of those written on tables of stone4 ,no rigid 'thou shalt' compels1 no iron 'thou shalt not' forbids2 but each precept is linked with a blessing1 and every characteristic that is required is enforced by the thought that it contributes to our highest good4 ,it fitted well ,christ's character and the lips 'into which grace is poured1' that ,he spake ,his laws under the guise of these ,beatitudes4 ,this1 the first of them1 is dead in the teeth of flesh and sense1 a paradox to the men who judge good and evil by things external and visible1 but deeply1 everlastingly1 unconditionally1 and inwardly true4 ,all that the world commends and pats on the back1 ,christ condemns1 and all that the world shrinks from and dreads1 ,christ bids us make our own1 and assures us that in it we shall find our true blessing4 ',the poor in spirit1' they are the happy men4 ,the reason for the benediction is as foreign to law and earthly thoughts as is the benediction of which it is the reason--'for theirs is the ,kingdom of ,heaven4' ,poverty of spirit will not further earthly designs1 nor be an instrument for what the world calls success and prosperity4 ,but it will give us something better than earth1 it will give us heaven4 ,do you think that that is better than earth1 and should you be disposed to acquiesce in the benediction of those who may lose the world's gifts but are sure to have heaven's felicities8 ,now1 ,i think ,i shall best deal with these words by considering1 most simply1 the fundamental characteristic of a disciple of ,jesus ,christ1 and the blessed issues of that character4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 the fundamental characteristic of ,christ's disciples4 ,now it is to be noticed that ,luke's version of the ,sermon on the ,mount1 which is much briefer than ,matthew's1 omits the words 'in spirit1' and so seems at first sight to be an encomium and benediction upon the outward condition of earthly poverty4 ,matthew1 on the other hand1 says 'poor in spirit4' ,and the difference between the two evangelists has given occasion to some to maintain that one or the other of them misunderstood ,christ's meaning1 and modified ,his expression either by omission or enlargement4 ,but if you will notice another difference between the two forms of the saying in the two ,gospels1 you will1 ,i think1 find an explanation of the one already referred to2 for ,matthew's ,beatitudes are general statements1 ',blessed are'2 and ,luke's are addressed to the circle of the disciples1 ',blessed are ye4' ,and if we duly consider that difference1 we shall see that the general statement necessarily required the explanation which ,matthew's version appends to it1 in order to prevent the misunderstanding that our ,lord was setting so much store by earthly conditions as to suppose that virtue and blessedness were uniformly attached to any of these4 ,jesus ,christ was no vulgar demagogue flattering the poor and inveighing against the rich4 ,luke's 'ye poor' shows at once that ,christ was not speaking about all the poor in outward condition1 but about a certain class of such4 ,no doubt the bulk of ,his disciples were poor men who had been drawn or driven by their sense of need to open their hearts to ,him4 ,outward poverty is a blessing if it drives men to ,god2 it is not a blessing if1 as is often the case1 it drives men from ,him2 or if1 as is still oftener the case1 it leaves men negligent of ,him4 ,so that ,matthew's enlargement is identical in meaning with ,luke's condensed form1 regard being had to the difference in the structure of the two ,beatitudes4 ,and so we come just to this question--,what is this poverty of spirit8 ,i do not need to waste your time in saying what it is not4 ,to me it seems to be a lowly and just estimate of ourselves1 our character1 our achievements1 based upon a clear recognition of our own necessities1 weaknesses1 and sins4 ,the 'poor in spirit4'--,i wonder if it would be very reasonable for a moth that flits about the light1 or a gnat that dances its hour in the sunbeam1 to be proud because it had longer wings1 or prettier markings on them1 than some of its fellows8 ,is it much more reasonable for us to plume ourselves on1 and set much store by1 anything that we are or have done8 ,two or three plain questions1 to which the answers are quite as plain1 ought to rip up this swollen bladder of self-esteem which we are all apt to blow4 ',what hast thou that thou hast not received8' ,where did you get it8 ,how came you by it8 ,how long is it going to last8 ,is it such a very big thing after all8 ,you have written a book2 you are clever as an operator1 an experimenter2 you are a successful student4 ,you have made a pile of money2 you have been prosperous in your earthly career1 and can afford to look upon men that are failures and beneath you in social position with a smile of pity or of contempt1 as the case may be4 ,well6 ,i suppose the distance to the nearest fixed star is pretty much the same from the top of one ant-hill in a wood as from the top of the next one1 though the one may be a foot higher than the other4 ,i suppose that we have all come out of nothing1 and are anything1 simply because ,god is everything4 ,if ,he were to withhold ,his upholding and inbreathing power from any of us for one moment1 we should shrivel into nothingness like a piece of paper calcined in the fire1 and go back into that vacuity out of which ,his fiat1 and ,his fiat alone1 called us4 ,and yet here we are1 setting great store1 some of us1 by our qualities or belongings1 and thinking ever so much of ourselves because we possess them1 and all the while we are but great emptinesses2 and the things of which we are so proud are what ,god has poured into us4 ,you think that is all commonplace4 ,bring it into your lives1 brethren2 apply it to your estimate of yourselves1 and your expectations from other people1 and you will be delivered from a large part of the annoyances and the miseries of your present4 ,but the deepest reason for a habitual and fixed lowly opinion of ourselves lies in a sadder fact4 ,we are not only recipient nothingnesses2 we have something that is our own1 and that is our will1 and we have lifted it up against ,god4 ,and if a man's position as a dependent creature should take all lofty looks and high spirit out of him1 his condition as a sinful man before ,god should lay him flat on his face in the presence of that ,majesty2 and should make him put his hand on his lips and say1 from behind the covering1 ',unclean6 unclean6' ,oh1 brethren1 if we would only go down into the depths of our own hearts1 every one of us would find there more than enough to make all self-complacency and self-conceit utterly impossible1 as it ought to be1 for us for ever4 ,i have no wish1 and ,god knows ,i have no need1 to exaggerate about this matter2 but we all know that if we were turned inside out1 and every foul1 creeping thing1 and every blotch and spot upon these hearts of ours spread in the light1 we could not face one another2 we could scarcely face ourselves4 ,if you or ,i were set1 as they used to set criminals1 up in a pillory with a board hanging round our necks1 telling all the world what we were1 and what we had done1 there would be no need for rotten eggs to be flung at us2 we should abhor ourselves4 ,you know that is so4 ,i know that it is so about myself1 'and heart answereth to heart as in a glass4' ,and are we the people to perk ourselves up amongst our fellows1 and say1 ',i am rich and increased with goods1 and have need of nothing'8 ,do we not know that we are poor and miserable and blind and naked8 ,oh1 brethren1 the proud old saying of the ,greeks1 ',know thyself1' if it were followed out unflinchingly and honestly by the purest saint this side heaven1 would result in this profound abnegation of all claims1 in this poverty of spirit4 ,so little has the world been influenced by ,christ's teaching that it uses 'poor-spirited creature' as a term of opprobrium and depreciation4 ,it ought to be the very opposite2 for only the man who has been down into the dungeons of his own character1 and has cried unto ,god out of the depths1 will be able to make the house of his soul a fabric which may be a temple of ,god1 and with its shining apex may pierce the clouds and seem almost to touch the heavens4 ,a great poet has told us that the things which lead life to sovereign power are self-knowledge1 self-reverence1 and self-control4 ,and in a noble sense it is true1 but the deepest self-knowledge will lead to self-abhorrence rather than to self-reverence2 and self-control is only possible when1 knowing our own inability to cope with our own evil1 we cast ourselves on that ,lamb of ,god who beareth away the sin of the world1 and ask ,him to guide and to keep us4 ,the right attitude for us is1 ',he did not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven1 but smote upon his breast1 saying1 ,god be merciful to me a sinner4' ,and then1 sweeter than angels' voices fluttering down amid the blue1 there will come that gracious word1 ',blessed are the poor in spirit1 for theirs is the ,kingdom of ,heaven4' ,,ii4 ,turn1 now1 to the blessed issues of this characteristic4 ,christ does not say 'joyful1' 'mirthful1' 'glad4' ,these are poor1 vulgar words by the side of the depth and calmness and permanence which are involved in that great word 'blessed4' ,it is far more than joy1 which may be turbulent and is often impure4 ,it is far deeper than any gladness which has its sources in the outer world1 and it abides when joys have vanished1 and all the song-birds of the spring are silent in the winter of the soul4 ',blessed are the poor 444 for theirs is the ,kingdom of ,heaven4' ,the bulk of the remaining ,beatitudes point onward to a future2 this deals with the present4 ,it does not say 'shall be1' but 'is the ,kingdom4' ,it is an all-comprehensive promise1 holding the succeeding ones within itself1 for they are but diverse aspects--modified according to the necessities which they supply--of that one encyclopaedia of blessings1 the possession of the ,kingdom of ,heaven4 ,now the ,kingdom of ,heaven 7or of ,god7 is a state in which the will of ,god is absolutely and perfectly obeyed4 ,it is capable of partial realisation here1 and is sure of complete fulfilment hereafter4 ,to the early hearers of these words the phrase would necessarily suggest the idea which bulked so large in prophecy and in ,judaism1 of the ,messianic ,kingdom2 and we may well lay hold of that thought to suggest the first of the elements of this blessedness4 ,that poverty of spirit is blessed because it is an indispensable condition of becoming ,christ's men and subjects4 ,i believe1 dear friends1 for my part1 that the main reason why so many of us are not out-and-out ,christian men and women1 having entered really into that ,kingdom which is obedience to ,god in ,christ1 is because we have a superficial knowledge1 or no knowledge at all1 of our own sinful condition1 and of the gravity of that fact4 ,intellectually1 ,i take it that an under-estimate of the universality and of the awfulness of sin has a great deal to do in shaping all the maimed1 imperfect1 partial views of ,christ1 ,his character and nature1 which afflict the world4 ,it is the mother of most of our heresies4 ,and1 practically1 if you do not feel any burden1 you do not care to hear about ,one who will carry it4 ,if you have no sense of need1 the message that there is a supply will fall perfectly ineffectual upon your ears4 ,if you have not realised the truth that whatever else you may be1 of which you might be proud--wise1 clever1 beautiful1 accomplished1 rich1 prosperous--you have this to take all the self-conceit out of you1 that you are a sinful man--if you have not realised that1 it will be no gospel to you that ,jesus ,christ has died1 the just for the unjust1 and lives to cleanse us4 ,brethren1 there is only one way into the true and full possession of ,christ's salvation1 and that is through poverty of spirit4 ,it is the narrow door1 like the mere low slits in the wall which in ancient times were the access to some wealth-adorned palace or stately structure--narrow openings that a man had to stoop his lofty crest in order to enter4 ,if you have never been down on your knees before ,god1 feeling what a wicked man or woman you are1 ,i doubt hugely whether you will ever stand with radiant face before ,god1 and praise ,him through eternity for ,his mercy to you4 ,if you wish to have ,christ for yours1 you must begin1 where ,he begins ,his ,beatitudes1 with poverty of spirit4 ,it is blessed because it invites the riches of ,god to come and make us wealthy4 ,it draws towards itself communication of ,god's infinite self1 with all ,his quickening and cleansing and humbling powers4 ,grace is attracted by the sense of need1 just as the lifted finger of the lightning rod brings down fire from heaven4 ,the heights are barren2 it is in the valleys that rivers run1 and flowers bloom4 ',god resisteth the proud1 and giveth grace to the humble4' ,if we desire to have ,him1 who is the one source of all blessedness1 in our hearts1 as a true possession1 we must open the door for ,his entrance by poverty of spirit4 ,desire brings fulfilment2 and they who know their wants1 and only they1 will truly long that they may be supplied4 ,this poverty of spirit is blessed because it is its own reward4 ,all self-esteem and self-complacency are like a hedgehog1 as some one has said1 'rolled up the wrong way1 tormenting itself with its prickles4' ,and the man that is always1 or often1 thinking how much above ,a1 ,b1 or ,c he is1 and how much ,a1 ,b1 or ,c ought to offer of incense to him1 is sure to get more cuffs than compliments1 more enmity than affection2 and will be sore all over with wounded vanities of all sorts4 ,but if we have learned ourselves1 and have departed from these lofty thoughts1 then to be humble in spirit is to be wise1 cheerful1 contented1 simple1 restful in all circumstances4 ,you remember ,john ,bunyan's shepherd boy1 down in the valley of humiliation4 ,heart's-ease grew there1 and his song was1 ',he that is low need fear no fall4' ,if we have this true1 deep-rooted poverty of spirit1 we shall be below the tempest1 which will go clean over our heads4 ,the oaks catch the lightnings2 the grass and the primroses are unscorched4 ',the day of the ,lord shall be upon all high things1 and the loftiness of men shall be brought low4' ,so1 dear brethren1 blessedness is not to be found outside us4 ,we need not ask 'who shall go up into the heavens1 or who shall descend into the deep1' to bring it4 ,it is in thee1 if at all4 ,christ teaches us that the sources of all true blessedness are within us2 there or nowhere is ,eden4 ,if we have the tempers and dispositions set forth in these ,beatitudes1 condition matters but very little4 ,if the source of all blessedness is within us1 the first step to it all is poverty of spirit4 ',be ye clothed with humility4' ,the ,master girt ,himself with the servant's towel1 and ,his disciples are to copy ,him who said3 ',take ,my yoke upon you4444 ,i am meek and lowly in heart 444 and ye shall find rest'--and is not that blessedness8--'ye shall find rest unto your souls4' ,,the ,,second ,,beatitude ',blessed are they that mourn3 for they shall be comforted4'--,,matt4 v4 #d4 ,an ordinary superficial view of these so-called ,beatitudes is that they are simply a collection of unrelated sayings4 ,but they are a great deal more than that4 ,there is a vital connection and progress in them4 ,the jewels are not flung down in a heap2 they are wreathed into a chain1 which whosoever wears shall have 'an ornament of grace about his neck4' ,they are an outgrowth from a common root2 stages in the evolution of ,christian character4 ,now1 ,i tried to show in the former sermon how the root of them all is the poverty of spirit which is spoken of in the preceding verse2 and how it really does lie at the foundation of the highest type of human character1 and in its very self is sure of possessing the ,kingdom of ,heaven4 ,and now ,i turn to the second of these ,beatitudes4 ,like all the others1 it is a paradox1 for it starts from a wholly different conception from the common one1 of what is man's chief good4 ,if the aims which usually engross us are really the true aims of life1 then there is no meaning in this saying of our ,lord1 for then it had been better not to sorrow at all than to sorrow and be comforted4 ,but if the true purpose for which we are all gifted with this solemn gift of life is that we may become 'imitators of ,god as dear children1' then there are few things for which men should be more thankful than the sacred sorrow1 than which there are few instruments more powerful for creating the type of character which we are set here to make our own4 ,all lofty1 dignified1 serious thinkers and poets 7who for the most of men are the best teachers7 had spoken this same thought as well as ,christ4 ,but ,he speaks it with a difference all ,his own1 which deepens incalculably its solemnity1 and sets the truth of the otherwise sentimental saying1 which flies often in the face of human nature1 upon immovable foundations4 ,let me ask you1 then1 to look with me1 in the simplest possible way1 at the two thoughts of our text1 as to who are the mourners that are 'blessed1' and as to what is the consolation that they receive4 ,i4 ,the mourners who are blessed4 ',blessed are they that mourn4' ,ah6 that is not a universal bliss4 ,all mourners are not blessed4 ,it would be good news1 indeed1 to a world so full of miseries that men sometimes think it were better not to be1 and holding so many wrecked and broken hearts1 if every sorrow had its benediction4 ,but just as we saw in the preceding discourse that the poverty which ,christ pronounced blessed is not mere straitness of circumstances1 or lack of material wealth1 so here the sorrow1 round the head of which ,he casts this halo of glory1 is not that which springs from the mere alteration of external circumstances1 or from any natural causes4 ,the influence of the first saying runs through all the ,beatitudes1 and since it is 'the poor in spirit' who are there pronounced happy1 so here we must go far deeper than mere outward condition1 in order to find the ground of the benediction pronounced4 ,let us be sure1 to begin with1 of this1 that no condition1 be it of wealth or woe1 is absolutely and necessarily good1 but that the seat of all true blessedness lies within1 in the disposition which rightly meets the conditions which ,god sends4 ,so ,i would say1 first1 that the mourners whom ,christ pronounces 'blessed' are those who are 'poor in spirit4' ,the mourning is the emotion which follows upon that poverty4 ,the one is the recognition of the true estimate of our own characters and failings2 the other is the feeling that follows upon that recognition4 ,the one is the prophet's clear-sighted ',i am a man of unclean lips'2 the other is the same prophet's contemporaneous wail1 ',woe is me1 for ,i am undone6' ,and surely1 brethren1 if you and ,i have ever had anything like a glimpse of what we really are1 and have brought ourselves into the light of ,god's face1 and have pondered upon our characters and our doings in that--not 'fierce' but all-searching1 'light' that flashes from ,him1 there can be no attitude1 no disposition1 more becoming the best1 the purest1 the noblest of us1 than that ',woe is me1 for ,i am undone6' ,oh1 dear friends1 if--not as a theological term1 but as a clinging1 personal fact--we realise what sin against ,god is1 what must necessarily come from it1 what aggravations ,his gentleness1 ,his graciousness1 ,his constant beneficence cause1 how facilely we do the evil thing and then wipe our lips and say1 ',we have done no harm1' we should be more familiar than we are with the depths of this experience of mourning for sin4 ,i cannot too strongly urge upon you my own conviction--it may be worth little1 but ,i am bound to speak it--that there are few things which the so-called ,christianity of this day needs more than an intenser realisation of the fact1 and the gravity of the fact1 of personal sinfulness4 ,there lies the root of the shallowness of so much that calls itself ,christianity in the world to-day4 ,it is the source of almost all the evils under which the ,church is groaning4 ,and sure ,i am that if millions of the people that complacently put themselves down in the census as ,christians could but once see themselves as they are1 and connect their conduct with ,god's thought about it1 they would get shocks that would sober them4 ,and sure ,i am that if they do not thus see themselves here and now1 they will one day get shocks that will stupefy them4 ,and so1 dear friends1 ,i urge upon you1 as ,i would upon myself1 as the foundation and first step towards all the sunny heights of ,god-likeness and blessedness1 to go down1 down deep into the hidden corners1 and see how1 like the elders of ,israel whom the prophet beheld in the dark chamber1 we worship creeping things1 abominable things1 lustful things1 in the recesses within4 ,and then we shall possess more of that poverty of spirit1 and the conscious recognition of our own true character will merge into the mourning which is altogether blessed4 ,now1 note1 again1 how such sorrow will refine and ennoble character4 ,how different our claims upon other men would be if we possessed this sober1 saddened estimate of what we really are6 ,how our petulance1 and arrogance1 and insisting upon what is due to us of respect and homage and deference would all disappear6 ,how much more rigid would be our guard upon ourselves1 our own emotions1 our own inclinations and tastes6 ,how much more lenient would be our judgment of the openly and confessedly naughty ones1 who have gone a little further in act1 but not an inch further in essence1 than we have done6 ,how different our attitude to our fellows2 and how lowly our attitude to ,god6 ,such sorrow would sober us1 would deliver us from our lusting after the gauds of earth1 would make us serious and reflective1 would bring us to that 'sad1 wise valour' which is the conquering characteristic of humanity4 ,there is nothing more contemptible than the lives which1 for want of this self-knowledge1 foam away in idle mirth1 and effervesce in what the world calls 'high spirits4' ',there is no music in the life ,that sounds with idiot laughter solely1 ,there's not a string attuned to mirth ,but has its chords in melancholy4' ,so said one whose reputation in ,english literature is mainly that of a humorist4 ,he had learned that the only noble humanity is that in which the fountains of laughter and of tears lie so close together that their waters intermingle4 ,i beseech you not to confound the 'laughter of fools1' which is the 'crackling of thorns under the pot1' with the true1 solemn1 ennobling gladness which lives along with this sorrow of my text4 ,further1 such mourning infused into the sorrow that comes from external disasters will make it blessed too4 ,as ,i have said1 there is nothing in any condition of life which necessarily and universally makes it blessed4 ,though poets and moralists and ,christian people have talked a great deal1 and beautifully and truly1 about the sanctifying and sweetening influences of calamity1 do not let us forget that there are perhaps as many people made worse by their sorrows as are made better by them4 ,there is such a thing as being made sullen1 hard1 selfish1 negligent of duty1 resentful against ,god1 hopeless1 by the pressure of our calamities4 ,blessed be ,god1 there is such a thing as being drawn to ,him by them6 ,then they1 too1 come within the sweep of this benediction of the ,master1 and outward distress is glorified into the sorrow which is blessed4 ,a drop or two of this tincture1 the mourning which comes from poverty of spirit1 slipped into the cup of affliction1 clears and sweetens the waters1 and makes them a tonic bitter4 ,brethren1 if our outward losses and disappointments and pains help us to apprehend1 and are accepted by us in the remembrance of1 our own unworthiness1 then these1 too1 are ,god's sweet gifts to us4 ,one word more4 ,this mourning is perfectly compatible with1 and indeed is experienced in its purest form only along with1 the highest and purest joy4 ,i have been speaking about the indispensable necessity of such sadness for all noble life4 ,but let us remember1 on the other hand1 that no one has so much reason to be glad as he has who1 in poverty of spirit1 has clasped and possesses the wealth of the ,kingdom4 ,and if a man1 side by side with this profound and saddened sense of his own sinfulness1 has not a hold of the higher thing--,christ's righteousness given to penitence and faith--then his knowledge of his own unworthiness is still too shallow to inherit a benediction4 ,there is no reason why1 side by side in the ,christian heart1 there should not lie--there is every reason why there should lie--these two emotions1 not mutually discrepant and contradictory1 but capable of being blended together--the mourning which is blessed1 and the joy which is unspeakable and full of glory4 ,,ii4 ,and now a word or two with regard to the consolation which such mourning is sure to receive4 ,it is not true1 whatever sentimentalists may say1 that all sorrow is comforted and therefore blessed4 ,it may be forgotten4 ,pain may sting less2 men may betake themselves to trivial1 or false1 unworthy1 low alleviations1 and fancy that they are comforted when they are only diverted4 ,but the sorrow meant in my text necessarily ensures for every man who possesses it the consolation which follows4 ,that consolation is both present and future4 ,as for the present1 the mourning which is based1 as our text bases it1 on poverty of spirit1 will certainly bring after it the consolation of forgiveness arid of cleansing4 ,christ's gentle hand laid upon us1 to cause our guilt to pass away1 and the inveterate habits of inclination towards evil to melt out of our nature1 is ,his answer to ,his child's cry1 ',woe is me1 for ,i am undone6' ,and anything is more probable than that ,christ1 hearing a man thus complain of himself before ,him1 should fail to send ,his swift answer4 ,ah1 brethren6 you will never know how deep and ineffably precious are the consolations which ,christ can give1 unless you have learned despair of self1 and have come helpless1 hopeless1 and yet confident1 to that great ,lord4 ,make your hearts empty1 and ,he will fill them2 recognise your desperate condition1 and ,he will lift you up4 ,the deeper down we go into the depths1 the surer is the rebound and the higher the soaring to the zenith4 ,it is they who have poverty of spirit1 and mourning based upon it1 and only they1 who pass into the sweetest1 sacredest1 secretest recesses of ,christ's heart1 and there find all-sufficient consolation4 ,in like manner1 that consolation will come in its noblest and most sufficing form to those who take their outward sorrows and link them with this sense of their own ill-desert4 ,oh1 dear friends1 if ,i am speaking to any one who to-day has a burdened heart1 let such be sure of this1 that the way to consolation lies through submission2 and that the way to submission lies through recognition of our own sin4 ,if we will only 'lie still1 let ,him strike home1 and bless the rod1' the rod will blossom and bear fruit4 ,the water of the cataract would not flash into rainbow tints against the sunshine1 unless it had been dashed into spray against black rocks4 ,and if we will but say with good old ,dr4 ,watts1 ',when ,his strokes are felt1 ,his strokes are fewer than our crimes1 ,and lighter than our guilt1' it will not be hard to bow down and say1 ',thy will be done1' and with submission consolation will be ours4 ,is there anything to say about that future consolation8 ,very little1 for we know very little4 ,but ',god ,himself shall wipe away all tears from their eyes4' ,the hope of that consolation is itself consolation1 and the hope becomes all the more bright when we know and measure the depths of our own evil4 ,earth needs to be darkened in order that the magic1 ethereal beauty of the glow in the western heavens may be truly seen4 ,the sorrow of earth is the background on which the light of heaven is painted4 ,so1 dear friends1 be sure of this1 that the one thing which ought to move a man to sadness is his own character4 ,for all other causes of grief are instruments for good4 ,and be sure of this1 too1 that the one thing which can ensure consolation adequate to the grief is bringing the grief to the ,lord ,christ and asking ,him to deal with it4 ,his first word of ministry ran parallel with these two ,beatitudes4 ,when ,he spoke them ,he began with poverty of spirit1 and passed to mourning and consolation1 and when ,he opened ,his lips in the synagogue of ,nazareth ,he began with1 ',the ,spirit of the ,lord is upon ,me1 because ,he hath anointed ,me to preach good tidings unto the poor1 to give unto them that mourn in ,zion a diadem for ashes1 the oil of joy for mourning1 the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness4' ,,the ,,third ,,beatitude ',blessed are the meek6 for they shall inherit the earth1'--,,matt1 v4 #e4 ,the originality of ,christ's moral teaching lies not so much in the novelty of ,his precepts as in the new relation in which ,he sets them1 the deepening which ,he gives them1 the motives on which ,he bases them1 and the power which ,he communicates to keep them4 ,others before ,him had pronounced a benediction on the meek1 but our ,lord means far more than they did1 and1 both in ,his description of the character and in the promise which ,he attaches to it1 ,he vindicates the uniqueness of ,his notion of a perfect man4 ,the world's ideal is1 on the whole1 very different from ,his4 ,it inclines to the more conspicuous and so-called heroic virtues2 it prefers a great1 flaring1 yellow sunflower to the violet hiding among the grass1 and making its presence known only by fragrance4 ',blessed are the strong1 who can hold their own1' says the world4 ',blessed are the meek1' says ,christ4 ,the ,psalmist had said it before ,him1 and had attached verbally the same promise to the word4 ,but our ,lord means more than ,david did when he said1 ',the meek shall inherit the earth4' ,i ask you to think with me now1 first1 what this ,christian meekness is2 then1 whence it issues2 and then1 whither it leads4 ,i4 ,what ,christian meekness is4 ,now1 the ordinary use of the word is to describe an attitude1 or more properly a disposition1 in regard to men1 especially in regard to those who depreciate1 or wrong1 or harm us4 ,but the ,christian conception of meekness1 whilst it includes that1 goes far deeper2 and1 primarily1 has reference to our attitude1 or rather our disposition1 towards ,god4 ,and in that aspect1 what is it8 ,meek endurance and meek obedience1 the accepting of ,his dealings1 of whatever complexion they are1 and however they may tear or desolate our hearts1 without murmuring1 without sulking1 without rebellion or resistance1 is the deepest conception of the meekness which ,christ pronounces blessed4 ,when sorrow comes upon us1 unless we have something more than natural strength bestowed upon us1 we are all but certain1 like fractious children when beaten1 to kick and plunge and scream1 or to take the infliction of the sorrow as being an affront and an injury4 ,if we have any claim to this benediction1 we must earn it by accepting our sorrows2 then the accepted sorrow becomes a solemn joy1 or almost akin thereto4 ,the ox that kicks against the goads only does two things thereby2 it does not get away from them1 but it wounds its own hocks1 and it drives the sharp points deeper into the ragged wounds4 ,let ,him strike1 dear friend1 for when ,he strikes ,he cuts clean2 and there is no poison on the edge of ,his knife4 ,meekness towards ,god is1 first1 patient endurance of ,his ,will4 ,and1 in reference to ,him1 it is1 next1 unquestioning docility and obedience4 ,its seat is in the will4 ,when the will is bowed1 a man is far on his road to perfection2 and the meaning of all that ,god does with us--joys and sorrows1 light and darkness1 when ,his hand gives1 and when ,his hand withdraws1 as when ,his authoritative voice commands1 and the sweet impulses of ,his love graciously constrain--is that our wills may be made plastic and flexible1 like a piece of wrought leather1 to every touch of ,his hand4 ,true meekness goes far deeper down than any attitude towards men4 ,it lays hold on the sovereign will of ,god as our supreme good1 and delights in absolutely and perfectly conforming itself thereto4 ,and then there follows1 as a matter of course1 that which is usually the whole significance of the word1 the meekness which is displayed in our attitude towards men4 ,the truly meek heart remains unprovoked amidst all provocation4 ,most men are like dogs that answer bark for bark1 and only make night hideous and themselves hoarse thereby4 ,but it is our business to meet evil with good2 and the more we are depreciated1 the more we are harmed1 the more we are circled about by malice and by scorn1 the more patiently and persistently to love on4 ,ah1 brethren1 it is easy to say and hard to do thus2 but it is a plain ,christian duty4 ,old-fashioned people believe that the sun puts out the fire4 ,i know not how that may be1 but sure ,i am that the one thing that puts out the fire of antagonism and wrath and malice in those who dislike or would harm us is that we should persistently shine upon1 and perchance overcome1 evil with good4 ,provoked1 we remain1 if we are truly meek1 masters of ourselves and calm and equable1 and so are blessed in ourselves4 ,meekness makes no claims upon others4 ,plenty of people are sore all over with the irritation caused by not getting what they consider due respect4 ,they howl and whine because they are not appreciated4 ,do not expect much of men4 ,make no demands1 if for no better reason than because the more you demand the less you will get2 and the less you seem to think to be your due1 the more likely you are to receive what you desire4 ,but that is a poor1 shallow ground4 ,the true exhortation is1 ',be ye imitators of ,god1 as dear children4' ,ah1 what a different world we should live in if the people that say1 ',oh1 the ,sermon on the ,mount is my religion1' really made it their religion6 ,how much friction would be taken out of all our lives2 how all society would be revolutionised1 and earth would become a ,paradise6 ,but there is another thing to be taken into account in the description of meekness4 ,that grace1 as the example of our ,lord shows1 harmonises with undaunted bravery and strenuous resistance to the evil in the world4 ,on our own personal account1 there are to be no bounds to our patient acceptance of personal wrong2 on the world's account1 there are to be no bounds to our militant attitude against public evils4 ,only let us remember that 'the wrath of men worketh not the righteousness of ,god4' ,if contending theologians1 and angry philanthropists1 and social reformers1 that are ready to fly at each other's throats for the sacred cause of humanity1 would only remember that there is no good to be done except in this spirit1 there would be more likelihood of the errors and miseries of mankind being redressed than1 alas6 there is to-day4 ,gentleness is the strongest force in the world1 and the soldiers of ,christ are to be priests1 and to fight the battles of the ,kingdom1 robed1 not in jingling1 shining armour or with sharp swords1 nor with fierce and eager bitterness of controversy1 but in the meekness which overcomes4 ,you may take all the steam-hammers that ever were forged and batter at an iceberg1 and1 except for the comparatively little heat that is developed by the blows and melts some smell portion1 it will be ice still1 though pulverised instead of whole4 ,but let it get into the silent drift of the ,arctic current1 and let it move quietly down to the southward1 then the sunbeams smite its coldness to death1 and it is dissipated in the warm ocean4 ,meekness is conqueror4 ',be not overcome of evil1 but overcome evil with good4' ,,ii4 ,notice whence this ,christian meekness flows4 ,you observe the place which this ,beatitude holds in the linked series of these precious sayings4 ,it follows upon 'poverty of spirit' and 'mourning4' ,and it follows1 too1 upon the 'comfort' which the mourner is promised that he will receive4 ,it is the conduct and disposition towards ,god and man which follows from the inward experience described in the two former ,beatitudes1 which had relation only to ourselves4 ,the only thing that can be relied upon as an adequate cold water douche to our sparks of anger1 resentment1 retaliation1 and rebellion is that we shall have passed through the previous experiences1 have learned a just and lowly estimate of ourselves1 have learned to come to ,god with penitence in our hearts1 and have been raised by ,his gracious hand from the dust where we lay at ,his feet1 and been welcomed to ,his embrace4 ,he who thus has learned himself1 and has felt repentance1 and has received the comfort of forgiveness and cleansing1 he1 and he only1 is the man who1 under all provocation and in any and every circumstance1 can be absolutely trusted to live in the spirit of meekness4 ,if ,i have found out anything of my own sin1 if my eyes have been filled with tears and my heart with conscious unworthiness before ,him1 oh1 then1 surely ,i shall not kick or murmur against discipline of which the main purpose is to rid me of the evil which is slaying me2 but rather ,i shall recognise in the sorrows that do fall upon me1 in the losses and disappointments and empty places in my life and heart1 one way of ,god's fulfilling ,his great promise1 ',from all your filthiness1 and from all your idols1 ,i will cleanse you4' ,the man who has thus learned the purpose1 the highest purpose1 of sorrow1 is not likely to remonstrate with ,god for giving him too much of the cleansing medium4 ,in like manner1 if we have1 in any real way1 received for our own the comfort which ,god gives to the penitent heart1 we shall be easily pleased with anything that ,he sends4 ,and if we have measured ourselves1 not against ourselves1 but against ,his law1 and have found out how much we owe unto our ,lord1 it is not likely that we shall take our brother by the throat and say1 ',pay me that thou owest4' ,if any treat me badly1 try to rob me1 harm me1 sneer at me1 or turn the cold shoulder to me1 who am ,i that ,i should resent that8 ,oh1 brethren1 we need1 for our right relation to our fellows1 a deeper conviction of our sinfulness before ,him4 ,many of us are blessed with natural tendencies to meekness1 but these are insufficient4 ,many of us seek to cultivate this grace from true and right1 though not the deepest1 motives4 ,let us reinforce them by that which comes from the consideration of the place which this ,beatitude holds in the wreathed chain1 and remember that 'poverty of spirit' and 'mourning' must precede it4 ,now1 there is a sharp test for us ,christian people4 ,if ,i have learned myself1 and have penitently received ,god's pardon1 ,i shall be meek with ,god and with man4 ,if ,i am not meek with ,god and with man1 have ,i received ,god's pardon8 ,one great reason why so many of you ,christian people have so little consciousness of ,god's forgiving mercy1 as a constant joy in your lives1 is because you have so little obeyed the commandment1 ',be ye imitators of ,god1 and walk in love1 as ,god hath forgiven and loved us4' ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 note whither this meekness leads4 ',they shall inherit the earth4' ,the words are quoted1 as ,i have already said1 from one of the psalms1 and in the ,psalmist's mouth they had1 ,i suppose1 especial reference to ,israel's peaceful possession of the promised land1 which in that ,old ,dispensation was made contingent on the people's faithfulness4 ,in that aspect1 and looking at this ,sermon on the ,mount as the programme of the ,king ,himself1 what a bucket of cold water such words as these must have poured on the hot ,messianic expectations of the carnal ,jew6 ,here was a ,king that did not expect to win back the land by armed rebellion against the ,roman legions1 but said1 ',be meek1 and you will truly possess it1 whether there is a ,pilate in the procurator's house at ,caesarea or not4' ,but for us the words have a double reference1 as all the promises annexed to these ,beatitudes have4 ,they apply to the present2 they apply to the future4 ,and that is no mere looseness of interpretation1 eking out an insufficient verification of them here upon earth by some dim hopes of a future fulfilment1 but it flows from the plain fact that the gifts which a man receives on condition of his being a true disciple are one and the same in essence1 and only differ in degree1 here and hereafter4 ,circumstances alter1 no doubt1 and there will be much in that heavenly state unlike that which we experience here4 ,but the essence of ,christian blessedness is the same in this world and in the furthest reach of the shining but dim eternity beyond4 ,and so we take the double reference of these words to be inherent in the facts of the case1 and not to be a makeshift of interpretation4 ,there is a present inheritance of the earth which goes1 as certainly as the shadow with the sunshine1 with the meekness spoken of in our text4 ,not literal1 of course1 for it is not true that this ,christian grace has in it any tendency whatever to draw to itself material good of any sort4 ,the world in outward possession belongs to the strong men1 to the men of faculty1 of force and push and ambition4 ,if you want to get through a crowd1 make your elbows as sharp1 and your feet upon the toes of your neighbours as heavy as you can1 and a road will be made for you2 but1 in the majority of cases1 the meek man on the edge of the crowd will stop there4 ,nor is it true that there would be any real blessedness1 though the earth were ours in that outward sense4 ,for you cannot measure happiness by the acre1 nor does an outward condition of the most full-fed abundance1 and of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice1 and above the gnawings of care1 ensure to any man even the shabby blessedness that the world knows1 to say nothing of the solid beatitude that ,christ proclaims4 ,so we must go deeper than that for the meaning of 'inherit4' ,whatever are our circumstances1 it is true that this calm1 equable1 submissive acceptance of the divine will and obedience to it1 and this loving and unresentful attitude towards men1 bring with them necessarily a peacefulness of heart which gets the highest good out of the modicum of material supplies which ,god's providence may send us4 ,it used to be the idea that gods and beatified spirits were nourished1 not by the gross1 material flesh of the sacrifices1 but by a certain subtle aroma and essence that went up in the incense smoke4 ,so ,christ's meek men do live and thrive1 and are blessed in a true possession of earthly good1 even though their outward portion of it may be very small4 ',better is a little that a righteous man hath than the riches of many wicked4' ,and1 beyond that1 there is a further fulfilment of this promise1 upon which ,i venture to say but very little4 ,it seems to me very probable that our ,lord's words here fall in with what appears to be a general stream of representation throughout ,scripture1 to the effect that the perfected form of the ,kingdom of ,god is to be realised in this renovated earth1 when it becomes the 'new earth in which dwelleth righteousness4' ,whether that be so or no1 at all events we may fairly gather from the words the thought that in the ultimate state of assimilation and fellowship with ,god and ,christ to which ,christian people have a right to look forward1 there will be an external universe on which they will exercise their activities1 and from which they will draw as yet unimagined delights4 ,but1 at all events1 dear brethren1 we may be sure of this blessed thought1 that they who meekly live1 knowing and mourning their sin1 and who meekly take to their hearts as their only hope the comfort of ,christ's pardon and cleansing1 who are meekly recipient1 meekly enduring1 meekly obedient1 shall have in their hearts1 even here1 a quiet fountain of peace which shall make the wilderness rejoice and blossom as the rose1 and hereafter shall be crowned with the lordship of all4 ,meekness overcomes1 'and he that overcometh shall inherit all things4' ,,the ,,fourth ,,beatitude ',blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness3 for they shall be filled4'--,,matt4 v4 #f4 ,two preliminary remarks will give us the point of view from which ,i desire to consider these words now4 ,first1 we have seen1 in previous sermons1 that these paradoxes of the ,christian life which we call the ,beatitudes are a linked chain1 or1 rather1 an outgrowth from a common root4 ,each presupposes all the preceding4 ,now1 of course1 it is a mistake to expect uniformity in the process of building up character1 and stages which are separable and successive in thought may be simultaneous and coalesce in fact4 ,but none the less is our ,lord here outlining successive stages in the growth of a true ,christian life4 ,i shall have more to say about the place in the series which this ,beatitude holds1 but for the present ,i simply ask you to remember that it has a background and set of previous experiences1 out of which it springs1 and that we shall not understand the depth of ,christ's meaning if we isolate it from these and regard it as standing alone4 ,then1 another consideration is the remarkable divergence in this ,beatitude from the others4 ,the 'meek1' the 'merciful1' the 'pure in heart' the 'peacemakers1' have all attained to certain characteristics4 ,but this is not a benediction pronounced upon those who have attained to righteousness1 but upon those who long after it4 ,desire1 which has reached such a pitch as to be comparable to the physical craving of a hungry man for food or to the imperious thirst of parched throats1 seems a strange kind of blessedness2 but it is better to long for a higher--though it be unattained--good than to be content with a lower which is possessed4 ,better to climb1 though the summit be far and the path be steep1 than to browse amongst the herds in the fat valleys4 ,aspiration is blessedness when it is worthily directed4 ,let us1 then1 look at these two points of this ,beatitude2 this divine hunger of the soul1 and its satisfaction which is sure4 ,i4 ,note1 then1 the hunger which is blessed4 ,now 'righteousness' has come to be a kind of theological term which people use without attaching any very distinct meaning to it4 ,and it would be little improvement to substitute for 'righteousness' the abstraction of moral conformity to the will of ,god4 ,suppose we try to turn the words of my text into modern ,english1 and instead of saying1 ',blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness1' say1 ,blessed are the men and women that long more than for anything else to be good4 ,does not that sound a little more near our daily lives than the well-worn and threadbare word of my text8 ,righteousness is neither more nor less than in spirit a will submitted to ,god1 and in conduct the practice of whatsoever things are noble and lovely and of good report4 ,the production of such a character1 the aiming after the perfection of spirit and of conduct1 is the highest aim that a man can set before him4 ,there are plenty of other hungers of the soul that are legitimate4 ,there are many of them that are bracing and ennobling and elevating4 ,it is impossible not to hunger for the supply of physical necessities4 ,it is good to long for love1 for wisdom4 ,it is better to long most to be good men and women4 ,for what are we here for8 ,to enjoy8 ,to work8 ,to know8 ,yes6 ,but it is not conduct1 and it is still less thought1 and it is least of all enjoyment1 in any of its forms1 which is the purpose of life1 and ought to be our aim here upon earth4 ,we are here to learn to be2 and the cultivation and production of characters that lie parallel with the will of ,god is the ,omega of all our life in the flesh4 ,all these other things1 even the highest of them1 the yearning desire ',to follow knowledge1 like a sinking star1 ,beyond the furthest bounds of human thought1' ought to be subordinate to this further purpose of being good men and women4 ,all these are scaffolding2 the building is a character conformed to ,god's will and assimilated to ,christ's likeness4 ,that commends itself as a statement of man's chief end to all reasonable and thoughtful men in their deepest and truest moments4 ,and so1 whilst we must let our desires go out on the lower levels1 and seek to draw to ourselves the various gifts that are necessary for the various phases and sides of our being1 here is one that a man's own conscience tells him should stand clearly supreme and dominant--the hunger and thirst after righteousness4 ,still further1 notice how this desire1 on which our ,lord pronounces ,his benediction1 comes in a series4 ,i know that all men have latent1 and sometimes partially and fragmentarily operative in their lives and manifest on the surface1 sporadic desires after goodness4 ,the existence of these draws the line between man and devil4 ,and there is no soul on earth which has not sometimes felt the longing to be better than it is1 to its own consciousness1 to-day4 ,but the yearning which our ,lord blesses comes after1 and is the result of1 the previous characteristics which ,he has described4 ,there must be the poverty of spirit which recognises our own insufficiency and unworthiness2 or1 to put it into simpler words1 we must know ourselves to be sinners4 ,there must be the mourning which follows upon that revelation of ourselves2 the penitence which does not wash away sin1 but which makes us capable of receiving forgiveness4 ,there must be the comfort which comes from pardon received2 and there must be the yielding of ourselves to the ,supreme ,will1 which is the true root of all meekness1 in the face of antagonism from creatures and of opposition from circumstances4 ,when thus a man's self-conceit is beaten out of him1 and he knows how far he is from the possession of any real1 deep righteousness of his own2 and when1 further1 his heart has glowed with the consciousness of forgiveness2 and when1 further1 his will has bowed itself before the ,father in heaven1 then there will spring in his heart a hungering and thirsting1 deeper far and far more certain of fruition1 than ever can be realised in another heart1 a stranger to such experiences4 ,brethren1 if we are ever to possess the righteousness which is itself blessed1 it must be because we have the hunger and the thirst which are sharpened and accentuated by profound discovery of our own evil1 lowly penitence before ,god1 and glad assurance of free and full forgiveness4 ,then note1 still further1 how that which is pronounced blessed is not the realisation of a desire1 but the desire itself4 ,and that is so1 not only because1 as ,i said1 all noble aspiration is good1 fulfilled or unfulfilled1 and aim is of more importance than achievement1 and what a man strongly wishes is often the revelation of his deepest self1 and the prophecy of what he will be2 but ,christ puts the desire for a certain quality here as in line with the possession of a number of other qualities attained1 because ,he would hint to us that such a righteousness as shall satisfy the immortal hunger and thirst of our souls is one to be received in answer to longing1 and not to be manufactured by our own efforts4 ,it is a gift2 and the condition of receiving the gift is to wish it honestly1 earnestly1 deeply1 continually4 ,the ,psalmist had a glimpse of the same truth when he crowned his description of the man who was fit to ascend the hill of the ,lord1 and to stand in ,his holy place1 with1 'he shall receive the blessing from the ,lord1 and righteousness from the ,god of his salvation4' ,of course1 in saying that the first step towards the possession of this divinely bestowed and divinely blessed righteousness is not effort but longing1 ,i do not forget that the retention of it1 and the working of it into our characters1 and out in our conduct1 must be the result of our own continual diligence4 ,but it is effort based on faith2 and it is mainly1 as ,i believe1 the effort to keep open the line of communication between us and ,god1 the great ,giver1 which ensures our possession of this gift of ,god4 ,dear friends1 the righteousness that avails for us is not of our making1 but of ,god's giving1 through ,jesus ,christ4 ,so1 before ,i pass to the other thoughts of my text1 may ,i pause here for a moment8 ',blessed are they that hunger and thirst'--think of the picture that that suggests--the ravenous desire of a starving man1 the almost fierce longing of a parched throat4 ,is that a picture of the intensity1 of the depth1 of our desires to be good8 ,do we professing ,christian men and women long to be delivered from our evils and to be clothed in righteousness1 with an honesty and an earnestness and a continuity of longing which would make such words as these of my text anything else1 if applied to us1 than the bitterest irony8 ,oh1 one looks out over the ,christian ,church1 and one looks--which is more to the purpose--into one's own heart1 and contrasts the tepid1 the lazy1 the occasional1 and1 ,i am afraid1 the only half-sincere wishes to be better1 with the unmistakable earnestness and reality of our longings to be rich1 or wise1 or prosperous1 or famous1 or happy in our domestic relationships1 and the like4 ,alas6 alas6 that the whole current of the great river of so many professing ,christians' desires runs towards earth and creatures1 and the tiniest little trickle is taken off1 like a lade for a mill1 from the great stream1 and directed towards higher things4 ,it is hunger and thirst after righteousness that is blessed4 ,you and ,i can tell whether our desires deserve such a name as that4 ,,ii4 ,and now1 secondly1 the satisfying of this divine hunger of the soul4 ',they shall be filled1' says our ,lord4 ,now all these promises appended to the ,beatitudes have a double reference--to the certainty of the present1 and to the perfection of the future4 ,that there is such a double reference may be made very obvious if we notice that the first of the promises1 which includes them all1 and of which the others are but aspects and phases1 is cast into the present tense1 whilst the remainder stand in the future4 ',theirs is the ,kingdom of ,heaven1' not shall be--'they shall be comforted1' they 'shall inherit the earth1' and so on4 ,so1 then1 we are warranted1 indeed we are obliged1 to regard this great promise in the text as having two epochs of fulfilment--one partially here upon earth1 one complete hereafter4 ,and these two differ1 not in kind1 but in degree4 ,so then1 with regard even to the present1 'they shall be filled4' ,should not that be a gospel to the seeking spirit of man1 who knows so well what it is to be crucified with the pangs of a vain desire1 and to set his heart upon that which never comes into his hands8 ,there is one region in which nothing is so impossible as that any desire should be in vain1 or any wish should be unfulfilled1 and it is the region into which ,christ points us in these great words of my text4 ,turn away from earth1 where fulfilled desires and unfulfilled are often equally disappointed ones4 ,turn away from the questionable satisfactions which come to those whose hearts go out in longing for love1 wisdom1 wealth1 transitory felicity2 and be sure of this1 that the one longing which never will be disappointed1 nor1 when answered1 will prove to have given us but ashes instead of bread1 is the longing to be like ,god and like ,christ4 ,that desire alone is sure to be fulfilled1 and1 being fulfilled1 is sure to be blessed4 ,it is not true that all desires after righteousness are fulfilled4 ,those which spring up1 as ,i have said1 in men's hearts sporadically1 and apart from the background of the experiences of my text1 are not always1 not often1 even partially accomplished4 ,there are in every land1 no doubt1 souls that thirst after righteousness1 as they are able to discern it4 ,and we are sure of this1 that no such effort and longing passes unnoticed by ,him 'who hears the young ravens when they cry1' and is not deaf to the prayer of men who long to be good4 ,but the experience of the bulk of us1 apart from ,jesus ,christ1 is 'the things that ,i would not1 these ,i do1 and the things that ,i would1 these ,i do not4' ,the hunger and thirst after righteousness1 imperfect as they are1 which are felt at intervals by all men1 do not avail to break the awful continuity of their conduct as evil in the sight of ,god and of their own consciences4 ,and so1 just because every man knows something of the sting of this desire after righteousness1 which yet remains for the most part unfulfilled1 the world is full of sadness4 ',oh1 wretched man that ,i am1 who shall deliver me from the body of this death8' comes to be the expression of the noblest amongst us4 ,then this great ,gospel comes to us1 and the ,nazarene confidently fronts a world dimly conscious of its need1 and sometimes miserable because it is bad1 and says3 ',ho6 every one that thirsteth1 come ye to the waters4444 ,come to ,me1 and drink4' ,what right had ,he to stand thus and promise that every desire after goodness should be fulfilled in ,him8 ,he had the right1 because ,he ,himself had the power and the purpose to fulfil it4 ,for this is the very heart of ,his ,gospel3 that ,he will give to every one who asks it that spirit of life which was ,his own1 and which 'shall make us free from the law of sin and death4' ,thus1 dear friends1 we have to be content to take the place of recipients1 and to accept1 not to work out for ourselves1 this righteousness for which1 more or less feebly1 and all of us too feebly1 we do sometimes long4 ,oh1 believe me1 away from ,him you will never receive into your characters a goodness that will satisfy yourselves4 ,siberian prisoners sometimes break their chains and escape for some distance4 ,they are generally taken back and again shut up in their captivity4 ,if we are able1 as we are in some measure1 to break the bondage of evil in ourselves1 we are not able to complete our emancipation by any skill1 effort1 or act of ours4 ,we must be content to receive the blessing4 ,there is no loom of earth which can weave1 and no needle that man's hands can use which can stitch together1 the pure garment that befits a soul4 ,we must be content to take the robe of righteousness which ,jesus ,christ has wrought1 and to strip off1 by ,his help1 the ancient self1 splashed with the filth of the world1 and spotted by the flesh3 and to 'put on the new man1' which ,christ1 and ,christ alone1 bestows4 ,as for the future fulfilment of this promise--desire will live in heaven1 desire will dilate the spirit1 the dilated spirit will be capable of fuller gifts of ,god-likeness1 and increased capacity will ensure increased reception4 ,thus1 through eternity1 in blessed alternation1 we shall experience the desire that brings new gifts and the satisfying that produces new desires4 ,dear friends1 all that ,i have been trying to say in this sermon is gathered up into the one word--'that ,i may be found in ,him1 not having my own righteousness1 but that which is through the faith of ,christ1 the righteousness which is of ,god by faith4' ,,the ,,fifth ,,beatitude ',blessed are the merciful3 for they shall obtain mercy4'--,,matt4 v4 #g4 ,,the divine simplicity of the ,beatitudes covers a divine depth1 both in regard to the single precepts and to the sequence of the whole4 ,i have already pointed out that the first of the series ,is to be regarded as the root and germ of all the subsequent ones4 ,if for a moment we set it aside and consider only the fruits which are successively developed from it1 we shall see that the remaining members of the sequence are arranged in pairs1 of which each contains1 first1 a characteristic more inward and relating to the deep things of individual religion2 and1 second1 a characteristic which has its field of action in our relations to men4 ,for example1 the 'mourners' and the 'meek' are paired4 ,those who 'hunger and thirst after righteousness' and the 'merciful' are paired4 ',the pure in heart' and 'the peacemakers' are paired4 ,now that sequence can scarcely be accidental4 ,it is the application in detail of the great principle which our ,lord endorsed in its ,old ,testament form when ,he said that the first great commandment1 the love of ,god1 had a companion consequent on and like unto it1 the love of our neighbour4 ,religion without beneficence1 and beneficence without religion1 are equally maimed4 ,the one is a root without fruit1 and the other a fruit without a root4 ,the selectest emotions1 the lowliest faith1 the loftiest aspirations1 the deepest consciousness of one's own unworthiness--these priceless elements of personal religion--are of little worth unless there are inseparably linked with them meekness1 mercifulness1 and peacemaking4 ',what ,god hath joined together1 let not man put asunder4' ,if any ,christian people have neglected the service of man for the worship of ,god1 they are flying in the face of ,christ's teaching4 ,if any antagonists of ,christianity attack it on the ground that it fosters such neglect1 they mistake the system that they criticise1 and are judging it by the imperfect practice of the disciples instead of by the perfect precepts of the ,master4 ,so1 then1 here we have a characteristic lodged in the very heart of this series of ,beatitudes which refers wholly to our demeanour to one another4 ,my remarks now will1 therefore1 be of a very homely1 commonplace1 and practical kind4 ,i4 ,note the characteristic on which our ,lord here pours out ,his blessing--,mercy4 ,now1 like all the other members of this sequence1 with the exception1 perhaps1 of the last1 this quality refers to disposition much rather than to action4 ,conduct is included1 of course2 but conduct only secondarily4 ,jesus ,christ always puts conduct second1 as all wise and great teachers do4 ',as a man thinketh in his heart so is he4' ,that is the keynote of all noble morality4 ,and none has ever carried it out more thoroughly than has the morality of the ,gospel4 ,it is a poor translation and limitation of this great word which puts in the foreground merely merciful actions4 ,the mercifulness of my text is1 first and foremost1 a certain habitual way of looking at and feeling towards men1 especially to men in suffering and need1 and most especially to men who have proved themselves bad and blameworthy4 ,it is implied that a rigid retribution would lead to severer methods of judgment and of action4 ,therefore the first characteristic of the merciful man is that he is merciful in his judgments2 not making the worst of people1 no ,devil's ,advocate in his estimates of his fellows2 but1 endlessly1 and1 as the world calls it1 foolishly and incredibly1 gentle in his censures1 and ever ready to take the charitable--which is generally the truer--construction of acts and motives4 ,that is a very threadbare thought1 brother1 but the way to invest commonplace with startling power is to bring it into immediate connection with our own life and conduct4 ,and if you will try to walk by this threadbare commonplace for a week1 ,i am mistaken if you do not find out that it has teeth to bite and a firm grip to lay upon you4 ,threadbare truth is not effete until it is obeyed1 and when we try to obey it1 it ceases to be commonplace4 ,again1 ,i may remind you that this mercifulness1 which is primarily an inward emotion1 and a way1 as ,i said1 of thinking of1 and of looking at1 unworthy people1 must necessarily1 of course1 find its manifestation in our outward conduct4 ,and there will be1 what ,i need not dilate upon1 a readiness to help1 to give1 to forgive not only offences against society and morality1 but offences against ourselves4 ,i need not dwell longer upon this first part of my subject4 ,i wished mainly to emphasise that to begin with action1 in our understanding of mercifulness1 is a mistake2 and that we must clear our hearts of antipathies1 and antagonisms1 and cynical suspicions1 if we would inherit the blessings of our text4 ,before ,i go further1 ,i would point out the connection between this incumbent duty of mercifulness and the preceding virtue of meekness4 ,it is hard enough to bear 'the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes1' without one spot of red in the cheek1 one perturbation or flush of anger in the heart2 and to do that might task us all to the utmost4 ,but that is not all that ,christ's ethics require of us4 ,it is not sufficient to exercise the passive virtue of meekness2 there must be the active one of mercifulness4 ,and to call for that is to lay an additional weight upon our consciences1 and to strain and stretch still further the obligation under which we come4 ,we have not done what the worst men and our most malicious enemies have a right to receive from us when we say1 with the cowardly insincerity of the world1 ',i can forgive but ,i cannot forget4' ,that is no forgiveness1 and that is no mercifulness ,it is not enough to stand still1 unresisting4 ,there must be a hand of helpfulness stretched out1 and a gush of pity and mercifulness in the heart1 if we are to do what our ,master has done for us all1 and what our ,master requires us to do for one another4 ,mercifulness is the active side of the passive meekness4 ,further1 in a word1 ,i would note here another thing1 and that is--what a sad1 stern1 true view of the condition of men in the world results from noticing that the only three qualities in regard to our relation to them which ,christ sets in this sevenfold tiara of diamonds are meekness in the face of hatred and injustice2 mercifulness in the face of weakness and wickedness2 peacemaking in the face of hostility and wrangling4 ,what a world in which we have to live1 where the crowning graces are those which presuppose such vices as do these6 ,ah6 dear friends1 'as sheep in the midst of wolves' is true to-day4 ,and the one conquering power is patient gentleness1 which recompenses all evil with good1 and is the sole means of transforming and thus overcoming it4 ,people talk a great deal1 and a good deal of it very insincerely1 about their admiration for these precepts gathered together in this chapter4 ,if they would try to live them for a fortnight1 they would perhaps pause a little longer than some of them do before they said1 as do people that detest the theology of the ,new ,testament1 ',the ,sermon on the ,mount is my religion4' ,is it8 ,it does not look very like it4 ,at all events1 if it is1 it is a religion behind which practice most wofully limps4 ,,ii4 ,let me ask you to look at what ,i have already in part referred to--the place in this series which ,mercifulness holds4 ,now1 of course1 ,i know1 and nothing that ,i say now is to be taken for a moment as questioning or underestimating it1 that1 altogether apart from religion1 there is interwoven into the structure of human nature that sentiment of mercifulness which our ,lord here crowns with ,his benediction4 ,but it is not that natural1 instinctive sentiment--which is partially unreliable1 and has little power apart from the reinforcement of higher thoughts to carry itself consistently through life--that our ,lord is here speaking about2 but it is a mercifulness which is more than an instinct1 more than a sentiment1 more than the natural answer of the human heart to the sight of compassion and distress1 which is1 in fact1 the product of all that has preceded it in this linked chain of characteristics and their blessings4 ,and so ,i ask you to recall these4 ',poor in spirit1' 'mourning1' 'meek1' 'hungering and thirsting after righteousness'--these are the springs that feed the flow of this river2 and if it be not fed from them1 but from the surface-waters of human sentiment and instinct1 it will dry up long before it has availed to refresh barren places1 and to cool thirsty lips4 ,and note also the preceding promises1 'theirs is the kingdom of heaven'2 'they shall be comforted'2 'they shall inherit the earth2 'they shall be filled4' ,these are experiences which1 again1 are another collection of the head-waters of this stream4 ,that is to say1 the true1 lasting1 reliable1 conquering mercifulness has a double source4 ,the consciousness of our own weakness1 the sadness that creeps over the heart when it makes the discovery of its own sin1 the bowed submission primarily to the will of ,god1 and secondarily to the antagonisms which1 in subservience to that will1 we may meet in life1 and the yearning desire for a fuller righteousness and a more lustrous purity in our own lives and characters--these are the experiences which will make a man gentle in his judgment of his brother1 and full of melting charity in all his dealings with him4 ,if ,i know how dark my own nature is1 how prone to uncommitted evils1 how little ,i have to thank myself for the virtues that ,i have practised1 which are largely due to my exemption from temptation and to my opportunities1 and how little ,i have in my own self that ,i can venture to bring to the stern judgment which ,i am tempted to apply to other people1 then the words of censure will falter on my tongue1 and the bitter construction of my brother's conduct and character will be muffled in silence4 ',except as to open outbreakings1' said one of the very saintliest of men1 ',i want nothing of what ,judas and ,cain had4' ,if we feel this1 we shall ask ourselves1 ',who art thou that judgest another man's servant8' and the condemnation of others will stick in our throats when we try to utter it4 ,and1 on the other hand1 if ,i1 through these paths of self-knowledge1 and lowly estimate of self1 and penitent confession of sin1 and flexibility of will to ,god1 and yearning1 as for my highest food and good1 after a righteousness which ,i feel ,i do not possess1 have come into the position in which my poverty is1 by ,his gift1 made rich1 and the tears are wiped away from off my face by ,his gracious hand1 and a full possession of large blessings bestowed on my humble will1 and the righteousness for which ,i long imparted to me1 shall ,i not have learned how divine a thing it is to give to the unworthy1 and so be impelled to communicate what ,i have already received8 ',be ye therefore imitators of ,god1 as beloved children2 and walk in love as ,christ also hath loved us4' ,they only are deeply1 through and through1 universally and always merciful who have received mercy4 ,the light is reflected at the same angle as it falls1 and the only way by which there can come from our faces and lives a glory that shall lighten many dark hearts1 and make sunshine in many a shady place1 is that these hearts shall have turned full to the very fountain itself of heavenly radiance1 and so 'have received of the ,lord that which also' they 'deliver' unto men4 ,and so1 brethren1 there are two plain1 practical exhortations from these thoughts4 ,one is1 let us ,christian people learn the fruits of ,god's mercy1 and be sure of this1 that our own mercifulness in regard to men is an accurate measure of the amount of the divine mercy which we have received4 ,the other is1 let all of us learn the root of man's mercy to men4 ,there is plenty1 of a sort1 of philanthropy and beneficent and benevolent work and feeling to-day1 entirely apart from all perception of1 and all faith in1 the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ1 in so far as the individuals who exercise that beneficence are concerned4 ,i1 for my part1 am narrow enough to believe that the streams of non-,christian charitableness1 which run in our land and in other lands to-day1 have been fed from ,christ's fountain1 though the supply has come underground1 and bursts into light apparently unconnected with its source4 ,if there had been no ,new ,testament there would have been very little of the beneficence which flouts the ,new ,testament to-day4 ,historically1 it is the great truths1 which we conveniently summarise as being evangelical ,christianity1 that have been mother to the new charity that1 since ,christ1 has been breathed over the world4 ,i1 for my part1 believe that if you strike out the doctrine of universal sinfulness1 if you cover over the ,cross of ,christ1 if you do not find in it the manifestation of a ,god who is endlessly merciful to the most unworthy1 you have destroyed the basis on which true and operative benevolence will rest4 ,so then1 dear brethren1 let us all seek to get a humbler and a truer conception of what we ourselves are1 and a loftier and truer faith of what ,god in ,christ is2 and then to remember that if we have these1 we are bound to1 and we shall1 show that we have them1 by making that which is the anchor of our hope the pattern of our lives4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 notice the requital1 ',they shall obtain mercy4' ,now1 it is a wretched weakening of that great thought to suppose that it means that if ,a4 is merciful to ,b41 ,b4 will be merciful to ,a4 ,that is sometimes true1 and sometimes it is not4 ,it does not so very much matter whether it is true or not2 that is not what ,jesus ,christ means4 ,all these ,beatitudes are ,god's gifts1 and this is ,god's gift too4 ,it is ,his mercy which the merciful man obtains4 ,but you say3 ',have you not just been telling us that this sense and experience of ,god's mercy must precede my mercy1 and now you say that my mercy must precede ,god's8' ,no2 ,i do not say that it must precede it2 ,i do say that my mercifulness is1 as it were1 lodged between the segments of a golden circle1 and has on one side the experience of the divine mercy which quickens mine by thankfulness and imitation2 on the other side1 the larger experience of the divine mercy which follows upon my walking after the example of my ,lord4 ,this is only one case of the broad general principle1 'to him that hath shall be given1 and from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath4' ,salvation is no such irreversible gift as that once bestowed a man can go on anyhow and it will continue2 but it is given in such a fashion as that1 for its retention1 and still more for its increase1 there must be a certain line of feeling and of action4 ,our ,lord does not mean to say1 of course1 that this one isolated member of a series carries with it the whole power of bringing down upon a man the blessings which are only due to the combination of the whole series1 but that it stands as one of that linked band which shall receive the blessing from on high4 ,and the blessing here is stated in accordance with the particular ,grace in question1 according to that great law of retaliation which brings life unto life and death unto death4 ,no man who1 having received the mercy of ,god1 lives harsh1 hard1 self-absorbed1 implacable1 and uncommunicative1 will keep that mercy in any vivid consciousness or to any blessed issue4 ,the servant took his fellow-servant by the throat1 and said1 ',pay me that thou owest1' and his master said1 ',deliver him to the tormentors until he pay the uttermost farthing4' ,you receive your salvation as a free gift2 you keep it by feelings and conduct correspondent to the gift4 ,though benevolence which has an eye to self is no benevolence1 it is perfectly legitimate1 and indeed absolutely necessary1 that whilst the motive for mercifulness is mercy received1 the encouragement to mercifulness should be mercy still to be given4 ',walk in love1 as ,christ also hath loved us'2 and when you think of your own unworthiness1 and of the great gifts which a gracious ,god has given1 let these impel you to move amongst men as copies of ,god1 and be sure that you deepen your spiritual life1 not only by meditation and by faith1 but by practical work1 and by showing towards all men mercy like the mercy which ,god has bestowed upon you4 ,,the ,,sixth ,,beatitude ',blessed are the pure in heart3 for they shall see ,god4'--,,matt4 v4 #h4 ,,at first hearing one scarcely knows whether the character described in this great saying1 or the promise held out1 is the more inaccessible to men4 ',the pure in heart'3 who may they be8 ,is there one of us that can imagine himself possessed of a character fitting him for the vision of ,god1 or such as to make him bear with delight that dazzling blaze8 ',they shall see ,god1' whom 'no man hath seen at any time1 nor can see4' ,surely the requirement is impossible1 and the promise not less so4 ,but does ,jesus ,christ mock us with demands that cannot be satisfied1 and dangle before us hopes that can never be realised8 ,there have been many moralists and would-be teachers who have done that4 ,what would be the use of saying to a man lying on a battlefield sore wounded1 and with both legs shot off1 ',if you will only get up and run1 you will be safe'8 ,what would be the use of telling men how blessed they would be if they were the opposite of what they are8 ,but that is not ,christ's way4 ,these words1 lofty and remote as they seem1 are in truth amongst the most hopeful and radiant that ever came from even ,his lips4 ,for they offer the realisation of an apparently impossible character1 they promise the possession of an apparently impossible vision2 and they soothe fears1 and tell us that the sight from which1 were it possible1 we should sometimes fain shrink1 is the source of our purest gladness4 ,so there are three things1 it seems to me1 worth our notice in these great words--,how hearts can be made pure2 how the pure heart can see ,god2 and how the sight can be simple blessedness4 ,i4 ,how hearts can be made pure4 ,now1 the key which has unlocked for us1 in previous sermons1 the treasures of meaning in these ,beatitudes1 is especially necessary here4 ,for1 as ,i have said1 if you take this to be a mere isolated saying1 it becomes a mockery and a pain4 ,but if you connect it1 as our ,lord would have us connect it1 with all the preceding links of this wreathed chain describing the characteristics of a devout soul1 then it assumes an altogether different appearance4 ',the pure in heart' are they who have exercised and received the previous qualifications and bestowments from ,god4 ,that is to say1 there must precede all such purity as is capable of the divine vision1 the poverty of spirit which recognises its true condition1 the mourning which rightly feels the gravity and awfulness of that condition1 the desire for its opposite1 which will never be the 'hunger and thirst' of a soul1 except it is preceded by a profound sense of sin and the penitence that ensues thereupon4 ,but when these things have gone before1 and when they have been accompanied1 as they surely will be1 with the results that flow from them without an interval of time--viz4 enrichment with possession of the kingdom1 the comforting and drying of the tears of penitence1 and the possession of a righteousness bestowed because it is desired1 and not won because it is worked for--then1 and only then1 will the heart be purged and defecated from its evils and its self-regard1 and its eyes opened and couched and strengthened to behold undazzled the eternal light of ,god4 ,the word of my text1 standing alone1 ministers despair4 ,regarded where ,christ set it1 as one of the series of characteristics which ,he has been describing1 it kindles the brightest and surest hope4 ',can the ,ethiopian change his skin1 or the leopard his spots8' ,no2 but ,god can change them2 and the implication of my text1 regarded in its due relation to these other ,beatitudes1 is just that the requisite purity is not of man's working1 but is ,god's gift4 ,the same truth which here results from the study of the place of our text in this series is condensed into a briefer1 but substantially equivalent1 form in the saying of another part of the ,new ,testament1 about 'purifying their hearts by faith4' ,dear brethren1 we come back to the old truth--all a man's hope of1 and effort after1 reformation and self-improvement must begin with the consciousness of sin1 the lament over it1 the longing for divine goodness1 the opening of the heart for the reception thereof2 and only then can we rise to these serene heights of purity of heart4 ,this1 and this alone1 is the way by which 'a clean thing' can be brought 'out of an unclean one4' and men stained and foul with evil1 and bound under the chains of that which is the mother of all evil1 the undue making themselves the centres of their lives1 can be washed and cleansed and emancipated1 and ,god be made the end and the aim1 the motive and the goal1 the power and the reward1 of all their work4 ,righteousness is a gift to begin with1 and it is a gift bestowed on condition of 'repentance toward ,god1 and faith in our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4' ,we all have longings after purity1 suppressed1 dashed1 contradicted a thousand times in our lives day by day1 but there they are2 and the only way by which they can be fully satisfied is when we go with our foul hands1 empty as well as foul1 and lift them up to ,god1 and say1 ',give what ,thou commandest1 even the clean heart1 and we shall be clean4' ,but then1 do not let us forget1 either1 that this gift bestowed not once and for ever1 but continuously if there be continuous desire1 is to be utilised1 appropriated1 worked into our characters1 and worked out in our lives1 by our own efforts1 as well as by our own faith4 ',having1 therefore1 these promises1 dearly beloved1 let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiniess of flesh and spirit1 perfecting holiness in the fear of the ,lord4' ',every man that hath this' gift bestowed1 'purifieth himself even as ,he is pure4' ,he that brings to us the gift of regeneration1 by which we receive the new nature which is free from sin1 calls to each of us as ,he presents to us the basin with the cleansing water1 ',wash you1 make you clean2 put away the evil of your doings2 444 cease to do evil1 learn to do well4' ',what ,god hath joined together let not man put asunder1' viz4 the act of faith by which we receive1 the act of diligence by which we use1 the purifying power4 ,,ii4 ,note how the pure heart sees ,god4 ,one is tempted to plunge into mystical depths when speaking upon such a text as this1 but ,i wish to resist the temptation now1 and to deal with it in a plain1 practical fashion4 ,of course ,i need not remind you1 or do more than simply remind you1 that the matter in question here is no perception by sense of ,him who is invisible1 nor is it1 either1 an adequate and direct knowledge and comprehension of ,him who is infinite1 and whom a man can no more comprehend than he can stretch his short arms round the flaming orb of the central sun4 ,but still1 there is a relation to ,god possible for sinful men when they have been purified through the faith that is in ,jesus ,christ1 which is so direct1 so immediate1 that it deserves the name of vision2 and which1 as ,i believe1 is the ground of a firmer certitude1 and of a no less clear apprehension1 than is the sense from which the name is borrowed4 ,for the illusions of sense have no place in the sight which the pure heart has of its ,father1 ,god4 ,only1 remember that here1 and in the interpretation of all such ,scriptural words1 we have ever to be guided and governed by the great principle which our ,lord laid down1 under very solemn circumstances1 when ,he said3 ',he that hath seen ,me hath seen the ,father4' ,jesus ,christ1 whose name from eternity is the ,word1 is1 from eternity to eternity1 that which the name indicates--viz4 the revealing activity of the eternal ,god4 ,and1 as ,i believe1 wherever there have been kindled in men's hearts1 either by the contemplation of nature and providence1 or by the intuitions of their own spirits1 any glints or glimpses of a ,god1 there has been the operation of 'the ,light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world4' ,and far beyond the limits of historical ,revelation within ,israel1 as recorded in ,scripture1 that ,eternal ,word has been unveiling1 as men's dim eyes were capable of perceiving it1 the light of the knowledge of the glory of ,god4 ,but for us who stand in the full blaze of that historical manifestation in the character and work of ,jesus ,christ our ,saviour1 our vision of ,god is neither more nor less than the apprehension and the realisation of ,christ as ',god manifest in the flesh4' ,whether you call it the vision of ,god1 or whether you call it communion with ,god in ,jesus ,christ1 or whether you fall back upon the other metaphor of ,god dwelling in us and we dwelling in ,god1 it all comes to the same thing1 the consciousness of ,his presence1 the realisation of ,his character1 the blessed assurance of loving relations with ,him1 and the communion in mind1 heart1 will1 and conduct1 with ,god who has come near to us all in ,jesus ,christ4 ,now1 ,i need not remind you1 ,i suppose1 that for such a realisation and active1 real communion1 purity of heart is indispensable4 ,that is no arbitrary requirement1 but inherent1 as we all know1 in the very nature of the case4 ,if we think of what ,he is1 we shall feel that only the pure in heart can really pass into loving fellowship with ,him4 ',how can two walk together except they be agreed8' ,and if we reflect upon the history of our own feelings and realisation of ,god's presence with us1 we shall see that impurity always drew a membrane over the eye of our souls1 or cast a mist of invisibility over the heavens4 ,the smallest sin hides ,god from us4 ,a very1 very little grain of dye stuff will darken miles of a river1 and make it incapable of reflecting the blue sky and the sparkling stars4 ,the least evil done and loved blurs and blots1 if it does not eclipse1 for us the doers the very ,sun of ,righteousness ,himself4 ,no sinful men can walk in the midst of that fiery furnace and not be consumed4 ',the pure in heart'--and only they--'shall see ,god4' ,nor need ,i remind you1 ,i suppose1 that in this1 as in all these ,beatitudes1 the germinal fulfilment in the present life is not to be parted off by a great gap from the perfect fulfilment in the life which is to come4 ,and so ,i do not dwell so much on the differences1 great and wonderful as these must necessarily be1 between the manner of apprehension and communion with ,god which it is reserved for heaven to bestow upon us1 and the manner of those which we may enjoy here2 but ,i rather would point to the blessed thought that in essence they are one1 however in degree they may be different4 ,no doubt1 changed circumstances1 new capacities1 the withdrawal of time and sense1 the dropping away of the veil of flesh1 which is the barrier between us and the unseen order of things in which 'we live and move and have our being1' will induce changes and progresses in the manner and in the degree of that vision about which it would be folly for us to speak4 ,if there were anything here with which we could compare the state of the blessed in heaven1 in so far as it differs from their state on earth1 we could form some conception of these differences2 but if there were anything here with which we could compare it1 it would be less glorious than it is4 ,it is well that we should have to say1 ',eye hath not seen1 nor ear heard1 neither have entered into the heart of man1 the things that ,god hath prepared4' ,so let us be thankful that 'it doth not yet appear what we shall be'2 and let us never allow our ignorance of the manner to make us doubt or neglect the fact1 seeing that we know 'that when ,he shall appear 444 we shall see ,him as ,he is4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 notice how this sight brings blessedness4 ,there is nothing else that will 'satisfy the eye with seeing4' ,the vision of ,god1 even in that incipient and imperfect form which is possible upon earth1 is the one thing that will calm our distractions1 that will supply our needs1 that will lift our lives to a level of serene power and blessedness1 unattainable by any other way4 ,such a sight will dim all the dazzling illusions of earth1 as1 when the sun leaps into the heavens1 the stars hide their faces and faint into invisibility4 ,it will make us lords of ourselves1 masters of the world1 kings over time and sense and the universe4 ,everything will be different when 'earth is crammed with heaven1 and every common bush afire with ,god4' ,that is what is possible for a ,christian holding fast by ,jesus ,christ1 and in ,him having communion with the ,father and the ,holy ,spirit4 ,brethren1 ,i venture to say no word about the blessedness of that future4 ,heaven's golden gates keep their secret well4 ,even the purest joys of earth1 about which poets have sung for untold centuries1 after all singing need to be tasted before they are conceived of2 and all our imaginings about the blessedness yonder is but like what a chrysalis might dream in its tomb as to the life of the radiant winged creature which it would one day become4 ,let us be content to be ignorant1 and believe with confidence that we shall find that the vision of ,god is the heaven of heavens4 ,we shall owe that eternal vision to the eternal ,revealer2 for1 as ,i believe1 ,scripture teaches us that it is only in ,him that the glorified saints see the ,father1 as it is only in ,him that here on earth we have the vision of ,god4 ,that sight is not1 like the bodily sense to which it is compared1 a far-off perception of an ungrasped brightness1 but it is the actual possession of what we behold4 ,we see ,god when we have ,god4 ,when we have ,god we have enough4 ,but ,i dare not close without one other word4 ,there is a vision of ,god possible to an impure heart1 in which there is no blessedness4 ,there comes a day in which 'they shall call upon the rocks to fall and cover them from the face of ,him that sits upon the throne4' ,the alternative is before each of us1 dear friends--either 'every eye shall see ,him1 and they also which pierced ,him2 and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of ,him'2 or1 ',i shall behold ,thy face in righteousness4 ,i shall be satisfied1 when ,i awake1 with ,thy likeness4' ,if we cry1 ',create a clean heart in me1 ,o ,god6' ,he will answer1 ',i will give you a new heart1 and take away the stony heart out of your flesh1 and ,i will give you a heart of flesh1 and ,i will pour clean water upon you1 and ye shall be clean4' ,,the ,,seventh ,,beatitude ',blessed are the peacemakers3 for they shall be called the children of ,god4' ,,matt4 v4 #i4 ,this is the last ,beatitude descriptive of the character of the ,christian4 ,there follows one more1 which describes his reception by the world4 ,but this one sets the top stone1 the shining apex1 upon the whole temple-structure which the previous ,beatitudes had been gradually building up4 ,you may remember that ,i have pointed out in previous sermons how all these various traits of the ,christian life are deduced from the root of poverty of spirit4 ,you may also remember how ,i have had occasion to show that if we consider that first ,beatitude1 ',blessed are the poor in spirit1' as the root and mother of all the rest1 the remainder are so arranged as that we have alternately a grace which regards mainly the man himself and his relations to ,god1 and one which also includes his relations to man4 ,now there are three of these which look out into the world1 and these three are consummated by this one of my text4 ,these are 'the meek1' which describes a man's attitude to opposition and hatred2 'the merciful1' which describes his indulgence in judgment and his pitifulness in action2 and 'the peacemakers4' ,for ,christian people are not merely to bear injuries and to recompense them with pity and with love1 but they are actively to try to bring about a wholesomer and purer state of humanity1 and to breathe the peace of ,god1 which passes understanding1 over all the janglings and struggles of this world4 ,so1 ,i think1 if we give a due depth of significance to that name 'peacemaker1' we shall find that this grace worthily completes the whole linked series1 and is the very jewel which clasps the whole chain of ,christian and ,christ-like characteristics4 ,i4 ,how are ,christ's peacemakers made8 ,now there are certain people whose natural disposition has in it a fine element1 which diffuses soothing and concord all around them4 ,i dare say we all have known such--perhaps some good woman1 without any very shining gifts of intellect1 who yet dwelt in such peace of heart herself that conflict and jangling were rebuked in her presence4 ,and there are other people who love peace1 and seek after it in the cowardly fashion of letting things alone2 whose 'peacemaking' has no nobler source than hatred of trouble1 and a wish to let sleeping dogs lie4 ,these1 instead of being peacemakers1 are war-makers1 for they are laying up materials for a tremendous explosion some day4 ,but it is a very different temper that ,jesus ,christ has in view here1 and ,i need only ask you to do again what we have had occasion to do in the previous sermons of this series--to link this characteristic with those that go before it1 of which it is regarded as being the bright and consummate flower and final outcome4 ,no man can bring to others that which he does not possess4 ,vainly will he whose own heart is torn by contending passions1 whose own life is full of animosities and unreconciled outstanding causes of alienation and divergence between him and ,god1 between him and duty1 between him and himself1 ever seek to shed any deep or real peace amongst men4 ,he may superficially solder some external quarrels1 but that is not all that ,jesus ,christ means4 ,his peacemakers are created by having passed through all the previous experiences which the preceding verses bring out4 ,they have learned the poverty of their own spirits4 ,they have wept tears1 if not real and literal1 yet those which are far more agonising--tears of spirit and conscience--when they have thought of their own demerits and foulnesses4 ,they have bowed in humble submission to the will of ,god1 and even to that will as expressed by the antagonisms of man4 ,they have yearned after the possession of a fuller and nobler righteousness than they have attained4 ,they have learned to judge others with a gentle judgment because they know how much they themselves need it1 and to extend to others a helping hand because they are aware of their own impotence and need of succour4 ,they have been led through all these1 often painful1 experiences into a purity of heart which has been blessed by some measure of vision of ,god2 and1 having thus been equipped and prepared1 they are fit to go out into the world and say1 in the presence of all its tempests1 ',peace6 be still4' ,something of the miracle-working energy of the ,master whom they serve will be shed upon those who serve ,him4 ,brethren1 the peacemaker who is worthy of the name must have gone through these deep spiritual experiences4 ,i do not say that they are to come in regular stages1 separable from each other4 ,that is not the way in which a character mounts towards ,god4 ,it does so not by a flight of steps1 at distinctly different elevations1 but rather by an ascending slope4 ,and1 although these various ,christian graces which precede that of my text are separable in thought1 and are linked in the fashion that our ,lord sets forth in experience1 they may be1 and often are1 contemporaneous4 ,but whether separated from one another in time or not1 whether this life-preparation1 of which the previous verses give us the outline1 has been realised drop by drop1 or whether it has been all flooded on to the soul at once1 as it quite possibly has1 in some fashion or other it must precede our being the sort of peacemakers that ,christ desires and blesses4 ,there is only one more point that ,i would make here before ,i go on1 and that is1 that it is well to notice that the climax of ,christian character1 according to ,jesus ,christ ,himself1 is found in our relations to men1 and not in our relation to ,god4 ,worship of heart and spirit1 devout emotions of the sacredest1 sweetest1 most hallowed and hallowing sort1 are absolutely indispensable1 as ,i have tried to show you4 ,but equally1 if not more1 important is it for us to remember that the purest communion with ,god1 and the selectest emotional experiences of the ,christian life1 are meant to be the bases of active service2 and that1 if such service does not follow these1 there is good reason for supposing that these are spurious1 and worth very little4 ,the service of man is the outcome of the love of ,god4 ,he who begins with poverty of spirit is perfected when1 forgetting himself1 and coming down from the mountain-top1 where the ,shekinah cloud of the ,glory and the audible voice are1 he plunges into the struggles of the multitude below1 and frees the devil-ridden boy from the demon that possesses him4 ,begin by all means with poverty of spirit1 or you will never get to this--',blessed are the peacemakers4' ,but see to it that poverty of spirit leads to the meekness1 the mercifulness1 the peace-bringing influence which ,christ has pronounced blessed4 ,,ii4 ,what is the peace which ,christ's peacemakers bring8 ,this is a very favourite text with people that know very little of the depths of ,christianity4 ,they fancy that it appeals to common sense and men's natural consciences1 apart altogether from minutenesses of doctrine or of ,christian experience4 ,they are very much mistaken4 ,no doubt there is a surface of truth1 but only a surface1 in the application that is generally given to these words of our text1 as if it meant nothing more than 'he is a good man that goes about and tries to make contending people give up their quarrels1 and produces a healing atmosphere of tranquillity wherever he goes4' ,that is perfectly true1 but there is a great deal more in the text than that4 ,if we consider the ,scriptural usage of this great word 'peace1' and all the ground that it covers in human experience2 if we remember that it enters as an element into ,christ's own name1 the ',peace-,bringer1' the ',prince of ,peace'2 and if we notice1 as ,i have already done1 the place which this ,beatitude occupies in the series1 we shall be obliged to look for some far deeper meaning before we can understand the sweep of our ,lord's intention here4 ,i do not think that ,i am going one inch too far1 or forcing meanings into ,his words which they are not intended to bear1 when ,i say that the first characteristic of the peace1 which ,his disciples have been passed through their apprenticeship in order to fit them to bring1 is the peace of reconciliation with ,god4 ,the cause of all the other fightings in the world is that men's relation to the ,father in heaven is disturbed1 and that1 whilst there flow out from ,him only amity and love1 these are met by us with antagonism often1 with opposition of will often1 with alienation of heart often1 and with indifference and forgetfulness almost uniformly4 ,so the first thing to be done to make men at peace with one another and with themselves is to rectify their relation to ,god1 and bring peace there4 ,we often hear in these days complaints of ,christian ,churches and ,christian people because they do not fling themselves1 with sufficient energy to please the censors1 into movements which are intended to bring about happier relations in society4 ,the longest way round is sometimes the shortest way home4 ,it does not belong to all of us ,christians1 and ,i doubt whether it belongs to the ,christian ,church as such at all1 to fling itself into the movements to which ,i have referred4 ,but if a man go and carry to men the great message of a reconciled and a reconciling ,god manifest in ,jesus ,christ1 and bringing peace between men and ,god1 he will have done more to sweeten society and put an end to hostility than ,i think he will be likely to do by any other method4 ,christian men and women1 whatever else you and ,i are here for1 we are here mainly that we may preach1 by lip and life1 the great message that in ,christ is our peace1 and that ,god 'was in ,christ reconciling the world to ,himself4' ,we are not to leave out1 of course1 that which is so often taken as being the sole meaning of the great word of my text4 ,there is much that we are all bound to do to carry the tranquillising and soothing influences of ,gospel principles and of ,christ's example into the littlenesses of daily life4 ,any fool can stick a lucifer match into a haystack and make a blaze4 ,it is easy to promote strife4 ,there is a malicious love of it in us all2 and ill-natured gossip has a great deal to do in bringing it about4 ,but it takes something more to put the fire out than it did to light it1 and there is no nobler office for ,christians than to seek to damp down all these devil's flames of envy and jealousy and mutual animosity4 ,we have to do it1 first1 by making very sure that we do not answer scorn with scorn1 gibes with gibes1 hate with hate1 but 'seek to overcome evil with good4' ,it takes two to make a quarrel1 and your most hostile antagonist cannot break the peace unless you help him4 ,if you are resolved to keep it1 kept it will be4 ,may ,i say another word8 ,i think that our text1 though it goes a good deal deeper1 does also very plainly tell us ,christian folk what is our duty in relation to literal warfare4 ,there is no need for me to discuss here the question as to whether actual fighting with armies and swords is ever legitimate or not4 ,it is a curious kind of ,christian duty certainly1 if it ever gets to be one4 ,and when one thinks of the militarism that is crushing ,europe and driving her ignorant classes to wild schemes of revolution2 and when one thinks of the hell of battlefields1 of the miseries of the wounded1 of mourning widows1 of ruined peaceful peasants1 of the devil's passions that war sets loose1 some of us find it extremely hard to believe that all that is ever in accordance with the mind of ,christ4 ,but whether you agree with me in that or no1 surely my text points to the duty of the ,christian ,church to take up a very much more decisive position in reference to the military spirit than1 alas6 it ever has done4 ,certainly it does seem to be not very obviously in accordance with ,christ's teachings that men-of-war should be launched with a religious service1 or that ,te ,deums should be sung because thousands have been killed4 ,it certainly does seem to be something like a satire on ,european ,christianity that one of the chief lessons we have taught the ,east is that we have instructed the ,japanese how to use ,western weapons to fight their enemies4 ,surely1 surely1 if ,christian churches laid to heart as they ought these plain words of the ,master1 they would bring their united influence to bear against that demon of war1 and that pinchbeck1 spurious glory which is connected with it4 ',blessed are the peacemakers'3 let us try to earn the benediction4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 note the issue of this peacemaking4 ',they shall be called the sons of ,god4' ,called8 ,by whom8 ,christ does not say1 but it should not be difficult to ascertain4 ,it seems to me that to suppose that it is by men degrades this promise1 instead of making it the climax of the whole series4 ,besides1 it is not true that if a ,christian man lives as ,i have been trying to describe1 protesting against certain evils1 trying to diffuse an atmosphere of peace round about him2 and1 above all1 seeking to make known the ,name of the great ,peacemaker1 men will generally call him a 'son of ,god4' ,the next verse but one tells us what they will call him4 ',blessed are ye when men shall revile you1 and persecute you1 and say all manner of evil against you falsely for ,my sake4' ,they are a great deal more likely to have stones and rotten eggs flung at them than to be pelted with bouquets of scented roses of popular approval4 ,no6 no6 it is not man's judgment that is meant here4 ,it matters very little what men call us4 ,it matters everything what ,god calls us4 ,it is ,he who will call them 'sons of ,god4' ,so the ,apostle ,john thought that ,christ meant1 for he very beautifully and touchingly quotes this passage when he says1 ',beloved6 behold what manner of love the ,father hath bestowed upon us1 that we should be called the sons of ,god4' ,god's calling is a recognition of men for what they are4 ,god owns the man that lives in the fashion that we have been trying to outline--,god owns him for ,his child2 manifestly a son1 because he has the ,father's likeness4 ',be ye therefore imitators of ,god as beloved children1 and walk in love4' ,god in ,christ is the first ,peacemaker1 and they who go about the world proclaiming ,his peace and making peace1 bear the image of the heavenly1 and are owned by ,god as ,his sons4 ,what does that owning mean8 ,well1 it means a great deal which has yet to be disclosed1 but it means this1 too1 that the whisper of the ,voice which owns us for children will be heard by ourselves4 ,the ,spirit which cries1 ',abba1 ,father6' will open our ears to hear ,him say1 ',thou art ,my beloved ,son4' ,or1 to put it into plain ,english1 there is no surer way by which we can come to the calm1 happy1 continual consciousness of being the children of ,god than by this living like ,him1 to spread the peace of ,god over all hearts4 ,i have said in former sermons that all these promises1 which are but the natural outcome of the characteristics to which they are attached1 have a double reference1 being fulfilled in germ here1 and in maturity hereafter4 ,like the rest1 this one has that double reference4 ,for the consciousness1 here and now1 that we are the children of ,god is but1 as it were1 the morning twilight of what shall hereafter be an typesetting meridian sunshine4 ,what depths of divine assimilation1 what mysteries of calm1 peaceful1 filial fellowship1 what riches beyond count of divine inheritance1 lie in the name of son1 the possession of these alone can tell4 ,for the same ,apostle1 whose comment upon these words we have already quoted1 goes on to say1 ',it doth not yet appear what we shall be4' ,only we have one assurance1 wide enough for all anticipation1 and firm enough for solid hope3 ',if children1 then heirs2 heirs of ,god1 and joint-heirs with ,christ4' ,he must make us sons before we can be called sons of ,god4 ,he must give us peace with ,god1 with ourselves1 with men1 with circumstances1 before we can go forth effectually to bring peace to others4 ,if ,he has given us these good things1 ,he has bound us to spread them4 ,let us do so4 ,and if our peace ever is spoken in vain as regards others1 it will come back to us again2 and we shall be kept in perfect peace1 even in the midst of strife1 until we enter at last into the city of peace and serve the ,king of ,peace for ever4 ,,the ,,eighth ,,beatitude ',blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake3 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven4'--,,matt4 v4 #aj4 ,we have seen the description of the true subjects of the kingdom growing into form and completeness before our eyes in the preceding verses1 which tell us what they are in their own consciousness1 what they are in their longings1 what they become in inward nature by ,god's gift of purity1 how they move among men as angels of ,god1 meek1 merciful1 peace-bringing4 ,is anything more needed for complete portraiture1 any added touch to the picture8 ,yes--what the world is to them1 what are its wages for such work1 what its perception of such characters4 ,their relations to it are those of peace-bringers1 reconcilers2 its to them are those of hostility and dislike4 ,blessed are the persecuted for righteousness' sake4 ,i take these words to be as universal and permanent in their application as any which have preceded them4 ,this characteristic is1 like all the others1 the result of those which go before it and presupposes their continuous operation4 ,the benediction which is attached is not an arbitrary promise1 but stands in as close a relation of consequence to the characteristic as do the others4 ,and it is marked out as the last in the series by being a repetition of the first1 to express the idea of completeness1 a rounded whole2 to suggest that all the others are but elements of this1 and that the initial blessing given to the poor in spirit is identical with that which is the reward of the highest ,christian character1 the one possessing implicitly what the other has in full development4 #a4 ,the world's recompense to the peace-bringers4 ,it may be thought that this clause1 at all events1 has reference to special epochs only1 and especially to the first founding of ,christianity4 ,such a reference1 of course1 there is4 ,and very remarkable is it how clearly and honestly ,christ always warned would-be disciples of what they would earn in this world by following ,him4 ,but ,he seems to take especial pains to show that ,he here proclaims a principle of equal generality with the others1 by separating the application of it to ,his immediate hearers which follows in the next verse1 from the universal statement in the text4 ,their individual experience was but to illustrate the general rule1 not to exhaust it4 ,and you remember how frequently the same thought is set forth in ,scripture in the most perfectly general terms4 #a4 ,notice that antagonism is inevitable between a true ,christian and the world4 ,take the character as it is sketched in verses preceding4 ,point by point it is alien from the sympathies and habits of irreligious men4 ,the principles are different1 the practices are different4 ,a true ,christian ought to be a standing rebuke to the world1 an incarnate conscience4 ,there are but two ways of ending that antagonism3 either by bringing the world up to ,christian character1 or letting ,christian character down to the world4 #b4 ,the certain and uniform result is opposition and dislike--persecution in its reality4 ,darkness hateth light4 ,some will1 no doubt1 be touched2 there is that in all men which acknowledges how awful goodness is4 ,but the loftier character is not loved by the lower which if loves4 ,aristides 'the ,just4' ,christ ,himself4 ,as to practice--a righteous life will not make a man 'popular4' ,and as for 'opinions'--earnest religious opinions of any sort are distasteful4 ,not the profession of them1 but the reality of them--especially those which seem in any way new or strange--make the average man angrily intolerant of an earnest ,christianity which takes its creed seriously and insists on testing conventional life by it4 ,indolence1 self-complacency1 and inborn conservatism join forces in resenting the presence of such inconvenient enthusiasts1 who upset everything and want to 'turn the world upside down4' ',the moping owl doth to the moon complain ,of such as1 wandering near her ivy tower4 ,molest her ancient1 solitary reign4' ,the seeds of the persecuting temper are in human nature1 and they germinate in the storms which ,christianity brings with it4 #c4 ,the phases vary according to circumstances4 ,we have not to look for the more severe and gross kinds of persecution4 ,the tendency of the age is to visit no man with penalties for his belief1 but to allow the utmost freedom of thought4 ,the effect of ,christianity upon popular morality has been to bring men up towards the standard of ,christ's righteousness4 ,the long proclamation of ,christian truth in ,england has the effect of making mere profession of it a perfectly safe and even proper thing4 ,but the antagonism remains at bottom the same4 ,let a man earnestly accept even the creeds of established religion and live by them1 and he will find that out4 ,let him seek to proclaim and enforce some of those truths of ,christianity whose bearing upon social and economical and ecclesiastical questions is but partially understood4 ,let him set up and stick to a high standard of ,christian morality and see what comes of it1 in business1 say1 or in social life4 ',all that will live godly will suffer persecution4' #d4 ,the present forms are perhaps not less hard to bear than the old ones4 ,they are1 no doubt1 very small in contrast with the lions in the arena or the fires of ,smithfield4 ,the curled lip1 the civil scorn1 the alienation of some whose good opinion we would fain have1 or1 if we stand in some public position1 the poisonous slanders of the press1 and the contumacious epithets1 are trivial but very real tokens of dislike4 ,we have the assassin's tongue instead of the assassin's dagger4 ,but yet such things may call for as much heroism as braving a rack1 and the spirit that shoots out the tongue may be as bad as the spirit that yelled1 ',christianos ad leones4' #e4 ,the great reason why professing ,christians now know so little about persecution is because there is so little real antagonism4 ',if ye were of the world1 the world would love his own4' ,the ,church has leavened the world1 but the world has also leavened the ,church2 and it seems agreed by common consent that there is to be no fanatical goodness of the early primitive pattern4 ,of course1 then1 there will be no persecution1 where religion goes in silver slippers1 and you find ,christian men running neck and neck with others1 and no man can tell which is which4 ,then1 again1 many escape by avoiding plain ,christian duty1 shutting themselves up in their own little coteries4 7a7 ,let us be sure that we never flinch from our ,christian character to buy anybody's good opinion4 ,it is not for us to lower our flags to whoever fires across our bows4 ,do you never feel it an effort to avow your principles8 ,do you never feel that they are being smiled away in society8 ,are you not flattered by being shown that this religion of yours is the one thing that stands between you and cordial reception by these people8 7b7 ,let us be sure that it is righteousness and ,christ which are the grounds of anything of the sort we have to bear1 and not our own faults of temper and character4 7c7 ,let us be sure that we are not persecutors our selves4 ,to be so is inherent in human nature4 ,men have often been both confessors and inquisitors4 ,the spirit of censorious judgment1 of fierce hate1 of impatient intolerance1 has often disgraced ,christian men4 ,it is for us to be only and always meek1 merciful peace-bringers2 and if men will not accept truth1 to seek to win and woo them1 not to be angry4 ,it is very hard to be both firm and tolerant1 not letting the foolish heart expand into a lazy glow of benevolence to all beliefs1 and so perilling one's own1 nor letting intense adherence to our own convictions darken into impotent wrath against their harshest opponents4 ,but let us remember that as ,god is our great example of mercy1 so ,christ is our great example of patience1 both under the world's unbelief and the world's persecution4 ,,ii4 ,god's ,gift to the persecuted4 ',the kingdom of heaven4' ,this last promise is the same as the first--to express completeness1 a rounded whole4 ,all the others are but elements of this4 ,that highest reward given to the perfectest saint is but the fuller possession of what is given in germ to the humblest and sinfullest at the very first4 ,the poor in spirit gets it at the beginning4 ,it is not implied by this promise that a ,christian man's blessedness depends on the accident of some other person's behaviour to him1 or that martyrs have a place which none others can reach4 ,but theirs is the kingdom of heaven as a natural result of the character which brings about persecution1 and as a natural result of the development of that character which persecution brings about4 ,this promise1 like all the others1 has its twofold fulfilment4 ,there is a present recompense4 ,persecution is the result of a character which brings ,christians into the kingdom4 ,theirs is the kingdom--they are subjects4 ,to them it is given to enter4 ,persecution makes the present consciousness of the possession of the kingdom more vivid and joyous4 ,it brings the enforced sense of a vocation separate from the hostile world's4 ,as ,thomas ,fuller puts it somewhere1 in troublous times the ,church builds high1 just as the men do in cities where there is little room to expand on the ground level4 ,persecution brightens and solidifies hope1 and thus may become infinitely sweet and blessed4 ,how often it has been given to the martyr1 as it was given to ,stephen1 to see heaven opened and ,jesus standing at the right hand of ,god1 as if risen to ,his feet to uphold as well as to receive ,his servant4 ,paul and ,silas made the prison walls ring with their praises1 though their backs were livid with wales and stained with blood4 ,and we1 in our far smaller trials for ,christ's sake1 may have the same more conscious possession of the kingdom and brightened hope of yet fuller possession of it4 ,there is a future recompense in the perfect kingdom1 where men are rewarded according to their capacities4 ,and if the way in which we have met the world's evil has been right1 then that will have made us fit for a fuller possession4 ,in closing we recur to the thought of all these ,beatitudes as a chain and the beginning of all as being penitence and faith4 ,many a poor man1 or many a little child1 may have a higher place in heaven than some who have died at the stake for their ,lord1 for not our history1 but our character1 determines our place there1 and all the fulness of the kingdom belongs to every one who with penitent heart comes to ,god in ,christ1 and then by slow degrees from that root brings forth first the blade1 then the ear1 then the full corn in the ear4 ,here is ,jesus' ideal of character--poor in spirit1 mourning1 meek1 hungering and thirsting after righteousness1 merciful1 pure in heart1 peacemakers1 persecuted for righteousness' sake4 ,to be these is to be blessed4 ,and here is ,jesus' ideal of what1 over and above the inherent blessedness of such a character1 constitutes the true blessedness of a soul--the possession of the kingdom of heaven1 comfort from ,god1 the inheritance of the earth of which the inheritor may not own a yard1 full satisfaction of the longing after righteousness1 the obtaining of mercy from ,god1 the name of sons of ,god1 and1 last as first1 the possession of the kingdom of heaven4 ,is ,jesus' ideal yours8 ,do you believe that such a character is the highest that a man can attain1 that in itself it is truly blessed1 and will bring about results in contrast with which all baser-born joys are coarse and false8 ,happy will you be if you so believe1 and if so believing you make the ideal which ,he paints your aim1 and therefore secure the blessedness which ,he attaches to it as your exceeding great reward4 ,,salt ,,without ,,savour ',ye are the salt of the earth3 but if the salt have lost his savour1 wherewith shall it be salted8 ,it is thenceforth good for nothing1 but to be cast out1 and to be trodden under foot of men4'--,,matt4 v4 #ac4 ,these words must have seemed ridiculously presumptuous when they were first spoken1 and they have too often seemed mere mockery and irony in the ages since4 ,a ,galilean peasant1 with a few of his rude countrymen who had gathered round him1 stands up there on the mountain1 and says to them1 ',you1 a handful1 are the people who are to keep the world from rotting1 and to bring it to all its best light4' ,strange when we think that ,christ believed that these men were able to do these grand functions because they drew their power from ,himself6 ,stranger still to think that1 notwithstanding all the miserable inconsistencies of the professing ,church ever since1 yet1 on the whole1 the experience of history has verified these words6 ,and although some wise men may curl their lips with a sneer as they say about us ,christians1 ',ye are the salt of the earth6' yet the most progressive1 and the most enlightened1 and the most moral portion of humanity has derived its impulse to progress1 its enlightenment as to the loftiest truths1 and the purest portion of its morality1 from the men who received their power to impart these from ,jesus ,christ4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 ,i have to say two or three things now1 which ,i hope will be plain and earnest and searching1 about the function of the ,christian ,church1 and of each individual member of it1 as set forth in these words2 about the solemn possibility that the qualification for that function may go away from a man2 about the grave question as to whether such a loss can ever be repaired2 and about the certain end of the saltless salt4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 as to the high task of ,christ's disciples as here set forth4 ',ye are the salt of the earth'6 ,the metaphor wants very little explanation1 however much enforcement it may require4 ,it involves two things3 a grave judgment as to the actual state of society1 and a lofty claim as to what ,christ's followers are able to do to it4 ,a grave judgment as to the actual state of society--it is corrupt and tending to corruption4 ,you do not salt a living thing4 ,you salt a dead one that it may not be a rotting one4 ,and1 ,christ says by implication here1 what ,he says plainly more than once in other places3--',human society1 without ,my influence1 is a carcass that is rotting away and disintegrating2 and you1 faithful handful1 who have partially apprehended the meaning of ,my mission1 and have caught something of the spirit of ,my life1 you are to be rubbed into that rotting mass to sweeten it1 to arrest decomposition1 to stay corruption1 to give flavour to its insipidity1 and to save it from falling to pieces of its own wickedness4 ,ye are the salt of the earth4' ,now1 it is not merely because we are the bearers of a truth that will do all this that we are thus spoken of1 but we ,christian men are to do it by the influence of conduct and character4 ,there are two or three thoughts suggested by this metaphor4 ,the chief one is that of our power1 and therefore our obligation1 to arrest the corruption round us1 by our own purity4 ,the presence of a good man hinders the devil from having elbow-room to do his work4 ,do you and ,i exercise a repressive influence 7if we do not do anything better71 so that evil and low-toned life is ashamed to show itself in our presence1 and skulks back as do wrong-doers from the bull's-eye of a policeman's lantern8 ,it is not a high function1 but it is a very necessary one1 and it is one that all ,christian men and women ought to discharge--that of rebuking and hindering the operation of corruption1 even if they have not the power to breathe a better spirit into the dead mass4 ,but the example of ,christian men is not only repressive4 ,it ought to tempt forth all that is best and purest and highest in the people with whom they come in contact4 ,every man who does right helps to make public opinion in favour of doing right2 and every man who lowers the standard of morality in his own life helps to lower it in the community of which he is a part4 ,and so in a thousand ways that ,i have no need to dwell upon here1 the men that have ,christ in their hearts and something of ,christ's conduct and character repeated in theirs are to be the preserving and purifying influence in the midst of this corrupt world4 ,there are two other points that ,i name1 and do not enlarge upon4 ,the first of them is--salt does its work by being brought into close contact with the substance upon which it is to work4 ,and so we1 brought into contact as we are with much evil and wickedness1 by many common relations of friendship1 of kindred1 of business1 of proximity1 of citizenship1 and the like1--we are not to seek to withdraw ourselves from contact with the evil4 ,the only way by which the salt can purify is by being rubbed into the corrupted thing4 ,and once more1 salt does its work silently1 inconspicuously1 gradually4 ',ye are the light of the world1' says ,christ in the next verse4 ,light is far-reaching and brilliant1 flashing that it may be seen4 ,that is one side of ,christian work1 the side that most of us like best1 the conspicuous kind of it4 ,ay6 but there is a very much humbler1 and1 as ,i fancy1 a very much more useful1 kind of work that we have all to do4 ,we shall never be the 'light of the world1' except on condition of being 'the salt of the earth4' ,you have to play the humble1 inconspicuous1 silent part of checking corruption by a pure example before you can aspire to play the other part of raying out light into the darkness1 and so drawing men to ,christ ,himself4 ,now1 brethren1 why do ,i repeat all these common1 threadbare platitudes1 as ,i know they are8 ,simply in order to plant upon them this one question to the heart and conscience of you ,christian men and women3--,is there anything in your life that makes this text1 in its application to you1 other else than the bitterest mockery8 ,,ii4 ,the grave possibility of the salt losing its savour4 ,there is no need for asking the question whether such loss is a physical fact or not1 whether in the natural realm it is possible for any forms of matter that have saline taste to lose it by any cause4 ,that does not at all concern us4 ,the point is that it is possible for us1 who call ourselves--and are--,christians1 to lose our penetrating pungency1 which stays corruption2 to lose all that distinguishes us from the men that we are to better4 ,now ,i think that nobody can look upon the present condition of professing ,christendom2 or1 in a narrower aspect1 upon the present condition of ,english ,christianity2 or in a still narrower1 nobody can look round upon this congregation2 or in the narrowest view1 none of us can look into our own hearts--without feeling that this saying comes perilously near being true of us4 ,and ,i beg you1 dear ,christian friends1 while ,i try to dwell on this point1 to ask yourselves this question--,lord1 is it ,i8 and not to be thinking of other people whom you may suppose the cap will fit4 ,there is1 then1 manifest on every side--first of all1 the obliteration of the distinction between the salt and the mass into which it is inserted1 or to put it into other words1 ,christian men and women swallow down bodily1 and practise thoroughly1 the maxims of the world1 as to life1 as to what is pleasant and what is desirable1 and as to the application of morality to business4 ,there is not a hair of difference in that respect between hundreds and thousands of professing ,christian men1 and the irreligious man that has his office up the same staircase4 ,i know1 of course1 that there are in every communion saintly men and women who are labouring to keep themselves unspotted from the world1 but ,i know too that in every communion there are those1 whose religion has next to no influence on their general conduct1 and does not even keep them from corruption1 to say nothing of making them sources of purifying influence4 ,you cannot lay the flattering unction to your souls that the reason why there is so little difference between the ,church and the world to-day is because the world has grown so much better4 ,i know that to a large extent the principles of ,christian ethics have permeated the consciousness of a country like this1 and have found their way even amongst people who make no profession at all of being ,christians4 ,thank ,god for it2 but that does not explain it all4 ,if you take a red-hot ball out of a furnace and lay it down upon a frosty moor1 two processes will go on--the ball will lose heat and the surrounding atmosphere will gain it4 ,there are two ways by which you equalise the temperature of a hotter and a colder body3 the one is by the hot one getting cold1 and the other is by the cold one getting hot4 ,if you are not heating the world1 the world is freezing you4 ,every man influences all men round him1 and receives influences from them1 and if there be not more exports than imports1 if there be not more influences and mightier influences raying out from him than are coming into him1 he is a poor creature1 and at the mercy of circumstances4 ',men must either be hammers or anvil'2--must either give blows or receive them4 ,i am afraid that a great many of us who call ourselves ,christians get a great deal more harm from the world than we ever dream of doing good to it4 ,remember this1 'you are the salt of the earth1' and if you do not salt the world1 the world will rot you4 ,is there any difference between your ideal of happiness and the irreligious one8 ,is there any difference between your notion of what is pleasure1 and the irreligious one8 ,is there any difference in your application of the rules of morality to daily life1 any difference in your general way of looking at things from the way of the ungodly world8 ,yes1 or ,no8 ,is the salt being infected by the carcass1 or is it purifying the corruption8 ,answer the question1 brother1 as before ,god and your own conscience4 ,then there is another thing4 ,there can be no doubt but that all round and shared by us1 there are instances of the cooling of the fervour of ,christian devotion4 ,that is the reason for the small distinction in character and conduct between the world and the ,church to-day4 ,an ,arctic climate will not grow tropical fruits1 and if the heat have been let down1 as it has been let down1 you cannot expect the glories of character and the pure unworldliness of conduct that you would have had at a higher temperature4 ,nor is there any doubt but that the present temperature is1 with some of us1 a distinct loss of heat4 ,it was not always so low4 ,the thermometer has gone down4 ,there are1 no doubt1 some among us who had once a far more vigorous ,christian life than they have to-day2 who were once far more aflame with the love of ,god than they are now4 ,and although ,i know1 of course1 that as years go on emotion will become less vivid1 and feeling may give place to principle1 yet ,i know no reason why1 as years go on1 fervour should become less1 or the warmth of our love to our ,master should decline4 ,there will be less spluttering and crackling when the fire burns up2 there may be fewer flames2 but there will be a hotter glow of ruddy1 unflaming heat4 ,that is what ought to be in our ,christian experience4 ,nor can there be any doubt1 ,i think1 but that the partial obliteration of the distinction between the ,church and the world1 and the decay of the fervour of devotion which leads to it1 are both to be traced to a yet deeper cause1 and that is the loss or diminution of actual fellowship with ,jesus ,christ4 ,it was that which made these early disciples 'salt4' ,it was that which made them 'light4' ,it is that1 and that alone1 which makes devotion burn fervid1 and which makes characters glow with the strange saintliness that rebukes iniquity1 and works for the purifying of the world4 ,and so ,i would remind you that fellowship with ,jesus ,christ is no vague exercise of the mind but is to be cultivated by three things1 which ,i fear me are becoming less and less habitual amongst professing ,christians3--,meditation1 the study of the ,bible1 private prayer4 ,if you have not these--and you know best whether you have them or not--no power in heaven or earth can prevent you from losing the savour that makes you salt4 ,,iii4 ,now ,i come to the next point1 and that is the solemn question3 ,is there a possibility of re-salting the saltless salt1 of restoring the lost savour8 ',wherewithal shall it be salted8' says the ,master4 ,that is plain enough1 but do not let us push it too far4 ,if the ,church is meant for the purifying of the world1 and the ,church itself needs purifying1 is there any power in the world that will do it8 ,if the army joins the rebels1 is there any force that will bring back the army to submission8 ,our ,lord is speaking about ordinary means and agencies4 ,he is saying in effect1 if the one thing that is intended to preserve the meat loses its power1 is there anything lying about that will salt that8 ,so far1 then1 the answer seems to be--,no4 ,but ,christ has no intention that these words should be pushed to the extreme of asserting that if salt loses its savour1 if a man loses the pungency of his ,christian life1 he cannot win it back1 by going again to the source from which he received it at first4 ,there is no such implication in these words4 ,there is no obstacle in the way of a penitent returning to the fountain of all power and purity1 nor of the full restoration of the lost savour1 if a man will only bring about a full reunion of himself with the source of the savour4 ,dear brethren1 the message is to each of us2 the same pleading words1 which the ,apocalyptic seer heard from ,heaven1 come to you and me3 ',remember1 therefore1 from whence thou art fallen1 and repent1 and do the first works4' ,and all the savour and the sweetness that flow from fellowship with ,jesus ,christ will come back to us in larger measure than ever1 if we will come back to the ,lord4 ,repentance and returning will bring back the saltness to the salt1 and the brilliancy to the light4 ,,iv4 ,but one last word warns us what is the certain end of the saltless salt4 ,as the other ,evangelist puts it3 ',it is neither good for the land nor for the dunghill4' ,you cannot put it upon the soil2 there is no fertilising virtue in it4 ,you cannot even fling it into the rubbish-heap2 it will do mischief there4 ,pitch it out into the road2 it will stop a cranny somewhere between the stones when once it is well trodden down by men's heels4 ,that is all it is fit for4 ,god has no use for it1 man has no use for it4 ,if it has failed in doing the only thing it was created for1 it has failed altogether4 ,like a knife that will not cut1 or a lamp that will not burn1 which may have a beautiful handle1 or a beautiful stem1 and may be highly artistic and decorated2 but the question is1 ,does it cut1 does it burn8 ,if not1 it is a failure altogether1 and in this world there is no room for failures4 ,the poorest living thing of the lowest type will jostle the dead thing out of the way4 ,and so1 for the salt that has lost its savour1 there is only one thing to be done with it--cast it out1 and tread it under foot4 ,yes2 where are the ,churches of ,asia ,minor1 the patriarchates of ,alexandria1 of ,antioch1 of ,constantinople2 the whole of that early ,syrian1 ,palestinian ,christianity3 where are they8 ,where is the ,church of ,north ,africa1 the ,church of ,augustine8 ',trodden under foot of men6' ,over the archway of a mosque in ,damascus you can read the half-obliterated inscription--',thy ,kingdom1 ,o ,christ1 is an everlasting ,kingdom1' and above it--',there is no ,god but ,god1 and ,mohammed is ,his prophet6' ,the salt has lost his savour1 and been cast out4 ,and does any one believe that the ,churches of ,christendom are eternal in their present shape8 ,i see everywhere the signs of disintegration in the existing embodiments and organisations that set forth ,christian life4 ,and ,i am sure of this1 that in the days that are coming to us1 the storm in which we are already caught1 all dead branches will be whirled out of the tree4 ,so much the better for the tree6 ,and a great deal that calls itself organised ,christianity will have to go down because there is not vitality enough in it to stand4 ,for you know it is low vitality that catches all the diseases that are going2 and it is out of the sick sheep's eyeholes that the ravens peck the eyes4 ,and it will be the feeble types of spiritual life1 the inconsistent ,christianities of our churches1 that will yield the crop of apostates and heretics and renegades1 and that will fall before temptation4 ,brethren1 remember this3 ,unless you go back close to your ,lord1 you will go further away from ,him4 ,the deadness will deepen1 the coldness will become icier and icier2 you will lose more and more of the life1 and show less and less of the likeness1 and purity1 of ,jesus ,christ until you come to this--,i pray ,god that none of us come to it--',thou hast a name that thou livest1 and art dead4' ,dead6 ,my brother1 let us return unto the ,lord our ,god1 and keep nearer ,him than we ever have done1 and bring our hearts more under the influence of ,his grace1 and cultivate the habit of communion with ,him2 and pray and trust1 and leave ourselves in ,his hands1 that ,his power may come into us1 and that we in the beauty of our characters1 and the purity of our lives1 and the elevation of our spirits1 may witness to all men that we have been with ,christ2 and may1 in some measure1 check the corruption that is in the world through lust4 ,,the ,,lamp ,,and ,,the ,,bushel ',ye are the light of the world4 ,a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid4 #ae4 ,neither do men light a candle1 and put it under a bushel1 but on a candlestick2 and it giveth light unto all that are in the house4 #af4 ,let your light so shine before men1 that they may see your good works1 and glorify your ,father which is in heaven4'--,matt4 v4 #ad-af4 ,the conception of the office of ,christ's disciples contained in these words is a still bolder one than that expressed by the preceding metaphor1 which we considered in the last sermon4 ',ye are the salt of the earth' implied superior moral purity and power to arrest corruption4 ',ye are the light of the world' implies superior spiritual illumination1 and power to scatter ignorance4 ,that is not all the meaning of the words1 but that is certainly in them4 ,so then1 our ,lord here gives ,his solemn judgment that the world1 without ,him and those who have learned from ,him1 is in a state of darkness2 and that ,his followers have that to impart which will bring certitude and clearness of knowledge1 together with purity and joy and all the other blessed things which are 'the fruit of the light4' ,that high claim is illustrated by a very homely metaphor4 ,in every humble house from which ,his peasant-followers came1 there would be a lamp--some earthen saucer with a little oil in it1 in which a wick floated1 a rude stand to put it upon1 a meal-chest or a flour-bin1 and a humble pallet on which to lie4 ,these simple pieces of furniture are taken to point this solemn lesson4 ',when you light your lamp you put it on the stand1 do you not8 ,you light it in order that it may give light2 you do not put it under the meal-measure or the bed4 ,so ,i have kindled you that you may shine1 and put you where you are that you may give light4' ,and the same thought1 with a slightly different turn in the application1 lies in that other metaphor1 which is enclosed in the middle of this parable about the light3 'a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid4' ,where they stood on the mountain1 no doubt they could see some village perched upon a ridge for safety1 with its white walls gleaming in the strong ,syrian sunlight2 a landmark for many a mile round4 ,so says ,christ3 ',the ,city which ,i found1 the true ,jerusalem1 like its prototype in the ,psalm1 is to be conspicuous for situation1 that it may be the joy of the whole earth4' ,i take all this somewhat long text now because all the parts of it hold so closely together1 and converge upon the one solemn exhortation with which it closes1 and which ,i desire to lay upon your hearts and consciences1 ',let your light so shine before men4' ,i make no pretensions to anything like an artificial arrangement of my remarks1 but simply follow the words in the order in which they lie before us4 ,i4 ,first1 just a word about the great conception of a ,christian man's office which is set forth in that metaphor1 ',ye are the light of the world4' ,that expression is wide1 'generic1' as they say4 ,then in the unfolding of this little parable our ,lord goes on to explain what kind of a light it is to which ,he would compare ,his people--the light of a lamp kindled4 ,now that is the first point that ,i wish to deal with4 ,christian men individually1 and the ,christian ,church as a whole1 shine by derived light4 ,there is but ,one who is light in ,himself4 ,he who said1 ',i am the light of the world1 he that followeth ,me shall not walk in darkness1' was comparing ,himself to the sunshine1 whereas when ,he said to us1 ',ye are the light of the world2 men do not light a lamp and put it under a bushel1' ,he was comparing us to the kindled light of the lamp1 which had a beginning and will have an end4 ,before1 and independent of1 ,his historical manifestation in the flesh1 the ,eternal ,word of ,god1 who from the beginning was the ,life1 was also the light of men2 and all the light of reason and of conscience1 all which guides and illumines1 comes from that one source1 the ,everlasting ,word1 by whom all things came to be and consist4 ',he was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world4' ,and further1 the historic ,christ1 the ,incarnate ,word1 is the source for men of all true revelation of ,god and themselves1 and of the relations between them2 the ,incarnate ,ideal of humanity1 the ,perfect ,pattern of conduct1 who alone sheds beams of certainty on the darkness of life1 who has left a long trail of light as ,he has passed into the dim regions beyond the grave4 ,in both these senses ,he is the light1 and we gather our radiance from ,him4 ,we shall be 'light' if we are 'in the ,lord4' ,it is by union with ,jesus ,christ that we partake of ,his illumination4 ,a sunbeam has no more power to shine if it be severed from the sun than a man has to give light in this dark world if ,he be parted from ,jesus ,christ4 ,cut the current and the electric light dies2 slacken the engine and the electric arc becomes dim1 quicken it and it burns bright4 ,so the condition of my being light is my keeping unbroken my communication with ,jesus ,christ2 and every variation in the extent to which ,i receive into my heart the influx of ,his power and of ,his love is correctly measured and represented by the greater or the lesser brilliancy of the light with which ,i reflect ,his radiance4 ,ye were some time darkness1 but now are ye light in the ,lord4' ,keep near to ,him1 and a firm hold of ,his hand1 and then you will be light4 ,and now ,i need not dwell for more than a moment or two upon what ,i have already said is included in this conception of the ,christian man as being light4 ,there are two sides to it3 one is that all ,christian people who have learned to know ,jesus ,christ and have been truly taught of ,him1 do possess a certitude and clearness of knowledge which make them the lights of the world4 ,we advance no claims to any illumination as to other than moral or religious truth4 ,we leave all the other fields uncontested4 ,we bow humbly with confessed ignorance and with unfeigned gratitude and admiration before those who have laboured in them1 as before our teachers1 but if we are true to our ,master1 and true to the position in which ,he has placed us1 we shall not be ashamed to say that we believe ourselves to know the truth1 in so far as men can ever know it1 about the all-important subject of ,god and man1 and the bond between them4 ,to-day there is need1 ,i think1 that ,christian men and women should not be reasoned or sophisticated or cowed out of their confidence that they have the light because they do know ,god4 ,it is proclaimed as the ultimate word of modern thought that we stand in the presence of a power which certainly is1 but of which we can know nothing except that it is altogether different from ourselves1 and that it ever tempts us to believe that we can know it1 and ever repels us into despair4 ,our answer is ,yes6 we could have told you that long ago1 though not altogether in your sense2 you have got hold of half a truth1 and here is the whole of it3--',no man hath seen ,god at any time1 nor can see ,him6' 7a ,gospel of despair1 verified by the last words of modern thinkers71 'the only begotten ,son1 which is in the bosom of the ,father1 ,he hath declared ,him4' ,christian men and women1 ',ye are the light of the world4' ,darkness in yourselves1 ignorant about many things1 ungifted with lofty talent1 you have possession of the deepest truth2 do not be ashamed to stand up and say1 even in the presence of ,mars' ,hill1 with all its ,stoics and ,epicureans3--',whom ye ignorantly'--alas6 not 'worship'--',whom ye ignorantly speak of1 ,him declare we unto you4' ,and then there is the other side1 which ,i only name1 moral purity4 ,light is the emblem of purity as well as the emblem of knowledge1 and if we are ,christians we have within us1 by virtue of our possession of an indwelling ,christ1 a power which teaches and enables us to practise a morality high above the theories and doings of the world4 ,but upon this there is the less need to dwell1 as it was involved in our consideration of the previous figure of the salt4 ,,ii4 ,and now the next point that ,i would make is this1 following the words before us--the certainty that if we are light we shall shine4 ,the nature and property of light is to radiate4 ,it cannot choose but shine2 and in like manner the little village perched upon a hill there1 glittering and twinkling in the sunlight1 cannot choose but be seen4 ,so1 says ,christ1 ',if you have ,christian character in you1 if you have ,me in you1 such is the nature of the ,christian life that it will certainly manifest itself4' ,let us dwell upon that for a moment or two4 ,take two thoughts3 ,all earnest ,christian conviction will demand expression2 and all deep experience of the purifying power of ,christ upon character will show itself in conduct4 ,all earnest conviction will demand expression4 ,everything that a man believes has a tendency to convert its believer into its apostle4 ,that is not so in regard to common every-day truths1 nor in regard even to truths of science1 but it is so in regard to all moral truth4 ,for example1 if a man gets a vivid and intense conviction of the evils of intemperance and the blessings of abstinence1 look what a fiery vehemence of propagandism is at once set to work4 ,and so all round the horizon of moral truth which is intended to affect conduct2 it is of such a sort that a man cannot get it into brain and heart without causing him before long to say--',this thing has mastered me1 and turned me into its slave2 and ,i must speak according to my convictions4' ,that experience works most mightily in regard to ,christian truth1 as the highest4 ,what shall we say1 then1 of the condition of ,christian men and women if they have not such an instinctive need of utterance8 ,do you ever feel this in your heart3--',thy word shut up in my bones was like a fire4 ,i was weary of forbearing1 and ,i could not stay'8 ,professing ,christians1 do you know anything of the longing to speak your deepest convictions1 the feeling that the fire within you is burning through all envelopings1 and will be out8 ,what shall we say of the men that have it not8 ,god forbid ,i should say there is no fire1 but ,i do say that if the fountain never rises into the sunlight above the dead level of the pool1 there can be very little pressure at the main2 that if a man has not the longing to speak his religious convictions1 those convictions must be very hesitating and very feeble2 that if you never felt ',i must say to somebody ,i have found the ,messias1' you have not found ,him in any very deep sense1 and that if the light that is in you can be buried under a bushel1 it is not much of a light after all1 and needs a great deal of feeding and trimming before it can be what it ought to be4 ,on the other hand1 all deep experience of the purifying power of ,christ upon character will show itself in conduct4 ,it is all very well for people to profess that they have received the forgiveness of sins and the inner sanctification of ,god's ,spirit4 ,if you have1 let us see it1 and let us see it in the commonest1 pettiest affairs of daily life4 ,the communication between the inmost experience and the outermost conduct is such as that if there be any real revolution deep down1 it will manifest itself in the daily life4 ,i make all allowance for the loss of power in transmission1 for the loss of power in friction4 ,i am glad to believe that you and ,i1 and all our imperfect brethren1 are a great deal better in heart than we ever manage to show ourselves to be in life4 ,thank ,god for the consolation that may come out of that thought--but notwithstanding ,i press on you my point that1 making all such allowance1 and setting up no impossible standard of absolute identity between duty and conduct in this present life1 yet1 on the whole1 if we are ,christian people with any deep central experience of the cleansing power and influence of ,christ and ,his grace1 we shall show it in life and in conduct4 ,or1 to put it into the graphic and plain image of my text1 ,if we are light we shall shine4 ,,iii4 ,again1 and very briefly1 this obligation of giving light is still further enforced by the thought that that was ,christ's very purpose in all that ,he has done with us and for us4 ,the homely figure here implies that ,he has not kindled the lamp to put it under the bushel1 but that ,his purpose in lighting it was that it might give light4 ,god has made us partakers of ,his grace1 and has given to us to be light in the ,lord1 for this among other purposes1 that we should impart that light to others4 ,no creature is so small that it has not the right to expect that its happiness and welfare shall be regarded by ,god as an end in ,his dealings with it2 but no creature is so great that it has the right to expect that its happiness or well-being shall be regarded by ,god and itself as ,god's only end in ,his dealings with it4 ,he gives us ,his grace1 ,his pardon1 ,his love1 the quickening of ,his ,spirit by our union with ,jesus ,christ2 ,he gives us our knowledge of ,him1 and our likeness to ,him--what for8 ',for my own salvation1 for my happiness and well-being1' you say4 ,certainly1 blessed be ,his name for ,his love and goodness6 ,but is that all ,his purpose8 ,paul did not think so when he said1 ',god who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts that we might give to others the light of the knowledge of the glory of ,god in the face of ,jesus ,christ4' ,and ,christ did not think so when ,he said1 ',men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel1 but that it may give light to all that are in the house4' ',heaven doth with us as we with torches do3 not light them for themselves4' ,the purpose of ,god is that we may shine4 ,the lamp is kindled not to illumine itself1 but that it may 'give light to all that are in the house4' ,consider again1 that whilst all these things are true1 there is yet a solemn possibility that men--even good men--may stifle and smother and shroud their light4 ,you can do1 and ,i am afraid a very large number of you do do1 this2 by two ways4 ,you can bury the light of a holy character under a whole mountain of inconsistencies4 ,if one were to be fanciful1 one might say that the bushel or meal-chest meant material well-being1 and the bed1 indolence and love of ease4 ,i wonder how many of us ,christian men and women have buried their light under the flour-bin and the bed1 so interpreted8 ,how many of us have drowned our consecration and devotion in foul waters of worldly lusts1 and have let the love of earth's goods1 of wealth and pleasure and creature love1 come like a poisonous atmosphere round the lamp of our ,christian character1 making it burn dim and blue8 ,and we can bury the light of the ,word under cowardly and sheepish and indifferent silence4 ,i wonder how many of us have done that8 ,like blue-ribbon men that button their great-coats over their blue ribbons when they go into company where they are afraid to show them1 there are many ,christian people that are devout ,christians at the ,communion ,table1 but would be ashamed to say they were so in the miscellaneous company of a railway carriage or a table d'hote4 ,there are professing ,christians who have gone through life in their relationships to their fathers1 sisters1 wives1 children1 friends1 kindred1 their servants and dependants1 and have never spoken a loving word for their ,master4 ,that is a sinful hiding of your light under the bushel and the bed4 ,,iv4 ,and so the last word1 into which all this converges1 is the plain duty3 ,if you are light1 shine6 ',let your light so shine before men1' nays the text1 'that they may see your good works and glorify your ,father which is in ,heaven4' ,in the next chapter our ,lord says3 ',take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them4 ,thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are2 for they love to pray standing in the synagogues that they may be seen of men4' ,what is the difference between the two sets of men and the two kinds of conduct8 ,the motive makes the difference for one thing1 and for another thing1 ',let your light so shine' does not mean 'take precautions that your goodness may come out into public1' but it means ',shine6' ,you find the light1 and the world will find the eyes1 no fear of that6 ,you do not need to seek 'to be seen of men1' but you do need to shine that men may see4 ,the lighthouse keeper takes no pains that the ships tossing away out at sea may behold the beam that shines from his lamp2 all that he does is to feed it and tend it4 ,and that is all that you and ,i have to do--tend the light1 and do not1 like cowards1 cover it up4 ,modestly1 but yet bravely1 carry out your ,christianity1 and men will see it4 ,do not be as a dark lantern1 burning with the slides down and illuminating nothing and nobody4 ,live your ,christianity1 and it will be beheld4 ,and remember1 candles are not lit to be looked at4 ,candles are lit that something else may be seen by them4 ,men may see ,god through your words1 through your conduct1 who never would have beheld ,him otherwise1 because ,his beams are too bright for their dim eyes4 ,and it is an awful thing to think that the world always--always--takes its conception of ,christianity from the ,church1 and neither from the ,bible nor from ,christ2 and that it is you and your like1 you inconsistent ,christians1 you people that say your sins are forgiven and yet are doing the old sins day by day which you say are pardoned1 you low-toned1 unpraying1 worldly ,christian men1 who have no elevation of character and no self-restraint of life and no purity of conduct above the men in your own profession and in your own circumstances all round you--it is you that are hindering the coming of ,christ's ,kingdom1 it is you that are the standing disgraces of the ,church1 and the weaknesses and diseases of ,christendom4 ,i speak strongly1 not half as strongly as the facts of the case would warrant2 but ,i lay it upon all your consciences as professing ,christian people to see to it that no longer your frivolities1 or doubtful commercial practices1 or low1 unspiritual tone of life1 your self-indulgence in household arrangements1 and a dozen other things that ,i might name--that no longer do they mar the clearness of your testimony for your ,master1 and disturb with envious streaks of darkness the light that shines from ,his followers4 ,how effectual such a witness may be none who have not seen its power can suppose4 ,example does tell4 ,a holy life curbs evil1 ashamed to show itself in that pure presence4 ,a good man or woman reveals the ugliness of evil by showing the beauty of holiness4 ,more converts would be made by a ,christ-like ,church than by many sermons4 ,oh6 if you professing ,christians knew your power and would use it1 if you would come closer to ,christ1 and catch more of the light from ,his face1 you might walk among men like very angels1 and at your bright presence darkness would flee away1 ignorance would grow wise1 impurity be abashed1 and sorrow comforted4 ,be not content1 ,i pray you1 till your own hearts are fully illumined by ,christ1 having no part dark--and then live as remembering that you have been made light that you may shine4 ',arise1 shine1 for thy light is come1 and the glory of the ,lord is risen upon thee4' ,,the ,,new ,,form ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,law ',think not that ,i am come to destroy the law or the prophets3 ,i am not come to destroy1 but to fulfil4 #ah4 ,for verily ,i say unto you1 ,till heaven and earth pass1 one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law1 till all be fulfilled4 #ai4 ,whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments1 and shall teach men so1 he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven3 but whosoever shall do and teach them1 the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven4 #bj4 ,for ,i say unto you1 ,that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and ,pharisees1 ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven4 #ba4 ,ye have heard that it was said by them of old time1 ,thou shalt not kill2 and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment3 #bb4 ,but ,i say unto you1 ,that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment2 and whosoever shall say to his brother1 ,raca1 shall be in danger of the council2 but whosoever shall say1 ,thou fool1 shall be in danger of hell-fire4 #bc4 ,therefore1 if thou bring thy gift to the altar1 and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee2 #bd4 ,leave there thy gift before the altar1 and go thy way2 first be reconciled to thy brother1 and then come and offer thy gift4 #be4 ,agree with thine adversary quickly1 whiles thou art in the way with him2 lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge1 and the judge deliver thee to the officer1 and thou be cast into prison4 #bf4 ,verily ,i say unto thee1 ,thou shalt by no means come out thence1 till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing4'--,,matt4 v4 #ag-bf4 ,this passage falls naturally into two parts--the former extending from verse #ag to #bj inclusive2 the latter1 from verse #ba to the end4 ,in the former1 the ,king of the true kingdom lays down the general principles of the relation between its laws and the earlier revelation of the divine will2 in the latter1 ,he exemplifies this relation in one case1 which is followed1 in the remainder of the chapter1 by three other illustrative examples4 ,i4 ,the ,king laying down the law of ,his kingdom in its relation to the older law of ,god4 ,the four verses included in this section give a regular sequence of thought3 verse #ag declaring our ,lord's personal relation to the former revelation as fulfilling it2 verse #ah basing that statement of the purpose of ,his coming on the essential permanence of the old law2 verses #ai and #bj deducing thence the relation of ,his disciples to that law1 and that in such a way that verse #ai corresponds to verse #ah1 and affirms that this permanent law is binding in its minutest details on ,his subjects1 while verse #bj corresponds to verse #ag1 and requires their deepened righteousness as answering to ,his fulfilment of the law4 ,the first thing that strikes one in looking at these verses is their authoritative tone4 ,there may1 even thus early in ,christ's career1 have been some murmurs that ,he was taking up a position of antagonism to ,mosaism1 which may account for the 'think not' which introduces the section4 ,but however that may be1 the swift transition from the ,beatitudes to speak of ,himself and of the meaning of ,his work is all of a piece with ,his whole manner2 for certainly never did religious teacher open his mouth1 who spoke so perpetually about ,himself as did the meek ,jesus4 ',i came' declares that ,he is 'the coming ,one1' and is really a claim to have voluntarily appeared among men1 as well as to be the long-expected ,messiah4 ,with absolute decisiveness ,he states the purpose of ,his coming4 ,he knows the meaning of ,his own work1 which so few of us do1 and it is safe to take ,his own account of what ,he intends1 as it so seldom is4 ,his opening declaration is singularly composed of blended humility and majesty4 ,its humility lies in ,his placing ,himself1 as it were1 in line with previous messengers1 and representing ,himself as carrying on the sequence of divine revelation4 ,it would not have been humble for anybody but ,him to say that1 but it was so for ,him4 ,its majesty lies in ,his claim to 'fulfil' all former utterances from ,god4 ,his fulfilment of the law properly so called is twofold3 first1 in ,his own proper person and life1 ,he completes obedience to it1 realises its ideal2 second1 in ,his exposition of it1 both by lip and life1 ,he deepens and intensifies its meaning1 changing it from a letter which regulates the actions1 to a spirit which moves the inward man4 ,so these first words point to the peculiarity of ,his coming as being ,his own act1 and make two daring assertions1 as to ,his character1 which ,he claims to be sinless1 and as to ,his teaching1 which he claims to be an advance upon all the former divine revelation4 ,as to the former1 ,he speaks here as ,he did to ,john1 'thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness4' ,no trace of consciousness of sin or defect appears in any words or acts of ,his4 ,the calmest conviction that ,he was perfectly righteous is always manifest4 ,how comes it that we are not repelled by such a tone8 ,we do not usually admire self-complacent religious teachers4 ,why has nobody ever given ,christ the lie1 or pointed to ,his unconsciousness of faults as itself the gravest fault8 ,strange inaugural discourse for a humble sage and saint to assert his own immaculate perfection1 stranger still that a listening world has said1 ',amen6' ,note1 too1 the royal style here4 ,in this part of the ',sermon' our ,lord twice uses the phrase1 ',i say unto you1' which ,he once introduces with ,his characteristic 'verily4' ,once ,he employs it to give solemnity to the asseveration which stretches forward to the end of this solid-seeming world1 and once ,he introduces by it the stringent demand for ,his followers' loftier righteousness4 ,his unsupported word is given us as our surest light in the dark future1 ,his bare command as the most imperative authority4 ,this style goes kingly2 it calls for absolute credence and unhesitating submission4 ,when ,he speaks1 even if we have nothing but ,his word1 it is ours neither 'to make reply' nor 'to reason why1' but simply to believe1 and swiftly to do4 ,rabbis might split hairs and quote other rabbis by the hour2 philosophers may argue and base their teachings on elaborate demonstrations2 moralists may seek to sway the conscience through reason2 legislators to appeal to fear and hope4 ,he speaks1 and it is done2 ,he commands1 and it stands fast4 ,there is nothing else in the world the least like the superb and mysterious authority with which ,he fronts the world1 and1 as ,fountain of knowledge and ,source of obligation1 summons us all to submit and believe1 by that ',verily1 ,i say unto you4' ,verse #ah4 ,next we have to notice the exuberant testimony to the permanence of the law4 ,not the smallest of its letters1 not even the little marks which distinguished some of them1 or the flourishes at the top of some of them1 should pass1--as we might say1 not even the stroke across a written 't1' which shows that it is not 'l4' ,the law shall last as long as the world4 ,it shall last till it be accomplished4 ,and what then8 ,the righteousness which it requires can never be so realised that we shall not need to realise it any more1 and in the new heavens righteousness dwelleth4 ,but in a very real sense law shall cease when fulfilled4 ,there is no law to him who can say1 ',thy law is within my heart4' ,when law has become both 'law and impulse1' it has ceased to be law1 in so far as it no longer stands over against the doer as an external constraint4 ,verse #ai4 ,on this permanence of the law ,christ builds its imperative authority in ,his kingdom4 ,obviously1 the 'kingdom of heaven' in verse #ai means the earthly form of that kingdom4 ,the ,king republishes1 as it were1 the old code1 and adopts it as the basis of ,his law4 ,he thus assumes the absolute right of determining precedence and dignity in that kingdom4 ,the sovereign is the 'fountain of honour1' whose word ennobles4 ,observe the merciful accuracy of the language4 ,the breach of the commandments either in theory or in practice does not exclude from the kingdom1 for it is1 while realised on earth1 a kingdom of sinful men aiming after holiness2 but the smallest deflection from the law of right1 in theory or in practice1 does lower a man's standing therein1 inasmuch as it makes him less capable of that conformity to the ,king1 and consequent nearness to ,him1 which determines greatness and smallness there4 ,dignity in the kingdom depends on ,christ-likeness1 and ,christ-likeness depends on fulfilling1 as ,he did1 all righteousness4 ,small flaws are most dangerous because least noticeable4 ,more ,christian men lose their chance of promotion in the kingdom by a multitude of little sins than by single great ones4 ,verse #bj4 ,as the ,king has ,himself by ,his perfect obedience fulfilled the law1 ,his subjects likewise must1 in their obedience1 transcend the righteousness of those who best knew and most punctiliously kept it4 ,the scribes and ,pharisees are not here regarded as hypocrites1 but taken as types of the highest conformity with the law which the old dispensation afforded4 ,the new kingdom demands a higher1 namely a more spiritual and inward righteousness1 one corresponding to the profounder meaning which the ,king gives to the old commandment4 ,and this loftier fulfilment is not merely the condition of dignity in1 but of entrance at all into1 the kingdom4 ,inward holiness is the essence of the character of all its subjects4 ,how that holiness is to be ours is not here told1 except in so far as it is hinted by the fact that it is regarded as the issue of the ,king's fulfilling the law4 ,these last words would have been terrible and excluding if they had stood alone4 ,when they follow ',i am come to fulfil1' they are a veiled gospel1 implying that by ,his fulfilment the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us4 ,,ii4 ,we have an illustrative example in the case of the old commandment against murder4 ,this part of the passage falls into three divisions--each occupying two verses4 ,first we have the deepening and expansion of the commandment4 ,this part begins with the royal style again4 ',what was said to them of old' is left in its full authority4 ',but ,i say unto you' represents ,jesus as possessing co-ordinate authority with that law1 of which the speaker is unnamed1 perhaps because the same ,word of ,god which now spoke in ,him had spoken it4 ,we need but refer here to the ,jewish courts and ,sanhedrim1 and to that valley of ,hinnom1 where the offal of ,jerusalem and the corpses of criminals were burned1 nor need we discuss the precise force of ',raca' and 'thou fool4' ,the main points to be observed are1 the distinct extension of the conception of 'killing' to embrace malevolent anger1 whether it find vent or is kept close in the heart2 the clear recognition that1 whilst the emotion which is the source of the overt act is of the same nature as the act1 and that therefore he who 'hateth his brother is a murderer1' there are degrees in criminality1 according as the anger remains unexpressed1 or finds utterance in more or less bitter and contemptuous language2 that consequently there are degrees in the severity of the punishment which is administered by no earthly tribunal2 and that1 finally1 this stern sentence has hidden in it the possibility of forgiveness1 inasmuch as the consequence of the sin is liability to punishment1 but not necessarily suffering of it4 ,the old law had no such mitigation of its sentence4 ,verses #bc1 #bd4 ,the second part of this illustrative example intensifies the command by putting obedience to it before acts of external worship4 ,the language is vividly picturesque4 ,we see a worshipper standing at the very altar while the priest is offering his sacrifice4 ,in that sacred moment1 while he is confessing his sins1 a flash across his memory shows him a brother offended1--rightly or wrongly it matters not4 ,the solemn sacrifice is to pause while he seeks the offended one1 and1 whatever the other man's reception of his advances may be1 he cleanses his own bosom of its perilous stuff2 then he may come back and go on with the interrupted worship4 ,nothing could put in a clearer light the prime importance of the command than this setting aside of sacred religious acts for its sake4 ',obedience is better than sacrifice4' ,and the little word 'therefore1' at the beginning of verse #bc1 points to the terrible penalties as the reason for this urgency4 ,if such destruction may light on the angry man1 nothing should come between him and the conquest of his anger4 ,such self-conquest1 which will often seem like degradation1 is more acceptable service to the ,king1 and truer worship1 than all words or ceremonial acts4 ,deep truths as to the relations between worship1 strictly so called1 and life1 lie in these words1 which may well be taken to heart by those whose altar is ,calvary1 and their gift the thank-offering of themselves4 ,verses #be1 #bf4 ,the third part is a further exhortation to the same swiftness in casting out anger from the heart1 thrown into a parabolic form4 ,when you quarrel with a man1 says ,christ in effect1 prudence enjoins to make it up as soon as possible1 before he sets the law in motion4 ,if once he1 as plaintiff1 has brought you before the judge1 the law will go on mechanically through the stages of trial1 condemnation1 surrender to the prison authorities1 and confinement till the last farthing has been paid4 ,so1 if you are conscious that you have an adversary1--and any man that you hate is your adversary1 for he will appear against you at that solemn judgment to come1--agree with him1 put away the anger out of your heart at once4 ,in the special case in hand1 the 'adversary' is the man with whom we are angry4 ,in the general application of the precept to the whole series of offences against the law1 the adversary may be regarded as the law itself4 ,in either interpretation1 the stages of appearing before the judge and so on up till the shutting up in prison are the stages of the judgment before the tribunal1 not of earth1 but of the kingdom of heaven4 ,they point to the same dread realities as are presented in the previous verses under the imagery of the ,jewish courts and the foul fires of the valley of ,hinnom4 ,christ closes the grave parable with ,his solemn ',verily ,i say unto thee'--as looking on the future judgment1 and telling us what ,his eyes saw4 ,the words have no bearing on the question of the duration of the imprisonment1 for ,he does not tell us whether the last farthing could ever be paid or not2 but they do teach this lesson1 that1 if once we fall under the punishments of the kingdom1 there is no end to them until the last tittle of the consequences of our breach of its law has been paid4 ,to delay obedience1 and still more to delay abandoning disobedience1 is madness1 in view of the storm that may at any moment burst on the heads of the rebels4 ,thus ,he deepens and fulfils one precept of the old law by extending the sweep of its prohibition from acts to thoughts1 by setting obedience to it above sacrifice and worship1 and by picturing in solemn tones of parabolic warning the consequences of having the disobeyed precept as our unreconciled adversary4 ,in this one case we have a specimen of ,his mode of dealing with the whole law1 every jot of which ,he expanded in ,his teaching1 and perfectly observed in ,his life4 ,a gospel is hidden even in these warnings1 for it is distinctly taught that the offended law may cease to be our adversary1 and that we may be reconciled with it1 ere yet it has accused us to the judge4 ,it was not yet time to proclaim that the ,king 'fulfilled' the law1 not only by life1 but by death1 and that therefore all ,his believing subjects 'are justified from all things1 from which ye could not be justified by the law1' as well as endowed with the righteousness by which they fulfil that law in deeper reality1 and fairer completeness1 than did those 'of old time1' who loved it most4 ',,swear ,,not ,,at ,,all' ',again1 ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time1 ,thou shalt not forswear thyself1 but shalt perform unto the ,lord thine oaths3 #cd4 ,but ,i say unto you1 ,swear not at all2 neither by heaven2 for it is ,god's throne3 #ce4 ,nor by the earth2 for it is ,his footstool2 neither by ,jerusalem2 for it is the city of the great ,king4 #cf4 ,neither shalt thou swear by thy head1 because thou canst not make one hair white or black4 #cg4 ,but let your communication be1 ,yea1 yea2 ,nay1 nay3 for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil4'--,,matt4 v4 #cc-cg4 ,in ,his treatment of the sixth and seventh commandments1 ,jesus deepened them by bringing the inner man of feeling and desire under their control4 ,in ,his treatment of the old commandments as to oaths1 ,he expands them by extending the prohibitions from one kind of oath to all kinds4 ,the movement in the former case is downwards and inwards2 in the latter it is outwards1 the compass sweeping a wider circle4 ,perjury1 a false oath1 was all that had been forbidden4 ,he forbids all4 ,we may note that the forms of colloquial swearing1 which our ,lord specifies1 are not to be taken as an exhaustive enumeration of what is forbidden4 ,they are in the nature of a parenthesis1 and the sentence runs on continuously without them--',swear not at all 444 but let your communication be ,yea1 yea2 ,nay1 nay4' ,the reason appended is equally universal1 for it suggests the deep thought that 'whatsoever is more than these' that is to say1 any form of speech that seeks to strengthen a simple1 grave asseveration by such oaths as ,he has just quoted1 'cometh of evil' inasmuch as it springs from1 and reveals1 the melancholy fact that his bare word is not felt binding by a man1 and is not accepted as conclusive by others4 ,if lies were not so common1 oaths would be needless4 ,and oaths increase the evil from which they come1 by confirming the notion that there is no sin in a lie unless it is sworn to4 ,the oaths specified are all colloquial1 which were and are continually and offensively mingled with common speech in the ,east4 ,nowhere are there such habitual liars1 and nowhere are there so many oaths4 ,every traveller there knows that1 and sees how true is ,christ's filiation of the custom of swearing from the custom of falsehood4 ,but these poisonous weeds of speech not only tended to degrade plain veracity in the popular mind1 but were themselves parents of immoral evasions1 for it was the teaching of some ,rabbis1 at all events1 that an oath 'by heaven' or 'by earth' or 'by ,jerusalem' or 'by my head' did not bind4 ,that further relaxation of the obligation of truthfulness was grounded on the words quoted in verse #cc1 for1 said the immoral quibblers1 'it is thine oaths to the ,lord that thou shalt perform1 and for these others you may do as you like' ,therefore our ,lord insists that every oath1 even these mutilated1 colloquial ones which avoid ,his name1 is in essence an appeal to ,god1 and has no sense unless it is4 ,to swear such a truncated oath1 then1 has the still further condemnation that it is certainly an irreverence1 and probably a quibble1 and meant to be broken4 ,it must be fully admitted that there is little in common between such pieces of senseless profanity as these oaths1 or the modern equivalents which pollute so many lips to-day1 and the oath administered in a court of justice1 and it may further be allowed weight that ,jesus does not specifically prohibit the oath 'by the ,lord1' but it is difficult to see how the principles on which ,he condemns are to be kept from touching even judicial oaths4 ,for they1 too1 are administered on the ground of the false idea that they add to the obligation of veracity1 and give a guarantee of truthfulness which a simple affirmation does not give4 ,nor can any one1 who knows the perfunctory formality and indifference with which such oaths are administered and taken1 and what a farce 'kissing the book' has become1 doubt that even judicial oaths tend to weaken the popular conception of the sin of a lie and the reliance to be placed upon the simple ',yea1 yea2 ,nay1 nay4' ,,non-,,resistance ',ye have heard that it hath been said1 ,an eye for an eye1 and a tooth for a tooth3 #ci4 ,but ,i say unto you1 ,that ye resist not evil3 but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek1 turn to him the other also4 #dj4 ,and if any man will sue thee at the law1 and take away thy coat1 let him have thy cloke also4 #da4 ,and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile1 go with him twain4 #db4 ,give to him that asketh thee1 and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away4'--,,matt4 v4 #ch-db4 ,the old law directed judges to inflict penalties precisely equivalent to offences--'an eye for an eye1 and a tooth for a tooth' 7,exod4 xxi4 #bd71 but that direction was not for the guidance of individuals4 ,it was suited for the stage of civilisation in which it was given1 and probably was then a restriction1 rather than a sanction1 of the wild law of retaliation4 ,jesus sweeps it away entirely1 and goes much further than even its abrogation4 ,for ,he forbids not only retaliation but even resistance4 ,it is unfortunate that in this1 as in so many instances1 controversy as to the range of ,christ's words has so largely hustled obedience to them out of the field1 that the first thought suggested to a modern reader by the command ',resist not evil' 7or1 an evil man7 is apt to be1 ,is the ,quaker doctrine of uniform non-resistance right or wrong1 instead of1 ,do ,i obey this precept8 ,if we first try to understand its meaning1 we shall be in a position to consider whether it has limits1 springing from its own deepest significance1 or not4 ,what1 then1 is it not to resist8 ,our ,lord gives three concrete illustrations of what ,he enjoins1 the first of which refers to insults such as contumelious blows on the cheek1 which are perhaps the hardest not to meet with a flash of anger and a returning stroke2 the second of which refers to assaults on property1 such as an attempt at legal robbery of a man's undergarment2 the third of which refers to forced labour1 such as impressing a peasant to carry military or official baggage or documents--a form of oppression only too well known under ,roman rule in ,christ's days4 ,in regard to all three cases1 ,he bids ,his disciples submit to the indignity1 yield the coat1 and go the mile4 ,but such yielding without resistance is not to be all4 ,the other cheek is to be given to the smiter2 the more costly and ample outer garment is to be yielded up2 the load is to be carried for two miles4 ,the disciple is to meet evil with a manifestation1 not of anger1 hatred1 or intent to inflict retribution1 but of readiness to submit to more4 ,it is a hard lesson1 but clearly here1 as always1 the chief stress is to be laid1 not on the outward action1 but on the disposition1 and on the action mainly as the outcome and exhibition of that4 ,if the cheek is turned1 or the cloak yielded1 or the second mile trudged with a lowering brow1 and hate or anger boiling in the heart1 the commandment is broken4 ,if the inner man rises in hot indignation against the evil and its doer1 he is resisting evil more harmfully to himself than is many a man who makes his adversary's cheeks tingle before his own have ceased to be reddened4 ,we have to get down into the depths of the soul1 before we understand the meaning of non-resistance4 ,it would have been better if the eager controversy about the breadth of this commandment had oftener become a study of its depth1 and if1 instead of asking1 ',are we ever warranted in resisting8' men had asked1 ',what in its full meaning is non-resistance8' ,the truest answer is that it is a form of ,love1--love in the face of insults1 wrongs1 and domineering tyranny1 such as are illustrated in ,christ's examples4 ,this article of ,christ's ,new ,law comes last but one in the series of instances in which ,his transfiguring touch is laid on the ,old ,law1 and the last of the series is that to which ,he has been steadily advancing from the first--namely1 the great ,commandment of ,love4 ,this precept stands immediately before that1 and prepares for it4 ,it is1 as suffused with the light of the sun that is all but risen1 ',resist not evil1' for ',love beareth all things4' ,it is but a shallow stream that is worried into foam and made angry and noisy by the stones in its bed2 a deep river flows smooth and silent above them4 ,nothing will enable us to meet 'evil' with a patient yielding love which does not bring the faintest tinge of anger even into the cheek reddened by a rude hand1 but the 'love of ,god shed abroad in the heart1' and when that love fills a man1 'out of him will flow a river of living water1' which will bury evil below its clear1 gentle abundance1 and1 perchance1 wash it of its foulness4 ,the 'quality of' this non-resistance 'is twice blessed1' 'it blesseth him that gives and him that takes4' ,for the disciple who submits in love1 there is the gain of freedom from the perturbations of passion1 and of steadfast abiding in the peace of a great charity1 the deliverance from the temptation of descending to the level of the wrong-doer1 and of losing hold of ,god and all high visions4 ,the tempest-ruffled sea mirrors no stars by night1 nor is blued by day4 ,if we are to have real communion with ,god1 we must not flush with indignation at evil1 nor pant with desire to shoot the arrow back to him that aimed it at us4 ,and in regard to the evil-doer1 the most effectual resistance is1 in many cases1 not to resist4 ,there is something hid away somewhere in most men's hearts which makes them ashamed of smiting the offered left cheek1 and then ashamed of having smitten the right one4 ',it is a shame to hit him1 since he does not defend himself1' comes into many a ruffian's mind4 ,the safest way to travel in savage countries is to show oneself quite unarmed4 ,he that meets evil with evil is 'overcome of evil'2 he that meets it with patient love is likely in most cases to 'overcome evil with good4' ,and even if he fails1 he has1 at all events1 used the only weapon that has any chance of beating down the evil1 and it is better to be defeated when fighting hate with love than to be victorious when fighting it with itself1 or demanding an eye for an eye4 ,but1 if we take the right view of this precept1 its limitations are in itself4 ,since it is love confronting1 and seeking to transform evil into its own likeness1 it may sometimes be obliged by its own self not to yield4 ,if turning the other cheek would but make the assaulter more angry1 or if yielding the cloak would but make the legal robber more greedy1 or if going the second mile would but make the press-gang more severe and exacting1 resistance becomes a form of love and a duty for the sake of the wrong-doer4 ,it may also become a duty for the sake of others1 who are also objects of love1 such as helpless persons who otherwise would be exposed to evil1 or society as a whole4 ,but while clearly that limit is prescribed by the very nature of the precept1 the resistance which it permits must have love to the culprit or to others as its motive1 and not be tainted by the least suspicion of passion or vengeance4 ,would that professing ,christians would try more to purge their own hearts1 and bring this solemn precept into their daily lives1 instead of discussing whether there are cases in which it does not apply6 ,there are great tracts in the lives of all of us to which it should apply and is not applied2 and we had better seek to bring these under its dominion first1 and then it will be time enough to debate as to whether any circumstances are outside its dominion or not4 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,love ',ye have heard that it hath been said1 ,thou shalt love thy neighbour1 and hate thine enemy4 #dd4 ,but ,i say unto you1 ,love your enemies1 bless them that curse you1 do good to them that hate you1 and pray for them which despitefully use you1 and persecute you2 #de4 ,that ye may be the children of your ,father which is in heaven3 for ,he maketh ,his sun to rise on the evil and on the good1 and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust4 #df4 ,for if ye love them which love you1 what reward have ye8 do not even the publicans the same8 #dg4 ,and if ye salute your brethren only1 what do ye more than others6 do not even the publicans so8 #dh4 ,be ye therefore perfect1 even as your ,father which is in heaven is perfect4'--,,matt4 v4 #dc-dh4 ,the last of the five instances of our ,lord's extending and deepening and spiritualising the old law is also the climax of them4 ,we may either call it the highest or the deepest1 according to our point of view4 ,his transfiguring touch invests all the commandments with which ,he has been dealing with new inwardness1 sweep1 and spirituality1 and finally ,he proclaims the supreme1 all-including commandment of universal love4 ',it hath been said1 ,thou shalt love thy neighbour'--that comes from ,lev4 xix4 #ah2 but where does 'and hate thine enemy' come from8 ,not from ,scripture1 but in the passage in ,leviticus 'neighbour' is co-extensive with 'children of thy people1' and the hatred and contempt of all men outside ,israel which grew upon the ,jews found a foothold there4 ',who is my neighbour8' was apparently a well-discussed question in the schools of the ,rabbis1 and1 whether any of these teachers ever committed themselves to plainly formulating the principle or not1 practically the duty of love was restricted to a narrow circle1 and the rest of the wide world left out in the cold4 ,but not only was the circumference of love's circle drawn in1 but to hate an enemy was elevated almost into a duty4 ,it is the worst form of retaliation4 ',an eye for an eye' is bad enough1 but hate for hate plunges men far deeper in the devil's mire4 ,to flash back from the mirror of the heart the hostile looks which are flung at us1 is our natural impulse2 but why should we always leave it to the other man to pitch the keynote of our relations with him8 ,why should we echo only his tones8 ,cannot we leave his discord to die into silence and reply to it by something more musical8 ,two thunder-clouds may cast lightnings at each other1 but they waste themselves in the process4 ,better to shine meekly and victoriously on as the moon does on piled masses of darkness till it silvers them with its quiet light4 ,so ,jesus bids us do4 ,we are to suppress the natural inclination to pay back in the enemy's own coin1 to 'give him as good as he gave us1' to 'show proper spirit1' and all the other fine phrases with which the world whitewashes hatred and revenge4 ,we are not only to allow no stirring of malice in our feelings1 but we are to let kindly emotions bear fruit in words blessing the cursers1 and in deeds of goodness1 and1 highest of all1 in prayers for those whose hate is bitterest1 being founded on religion1 and who are carrying it into action in persecution4 ,we cannot hate a man if we pray for him2 we cannot pray for him if we hate him4 ,our weakness often feels it so hard not to hate our enemies1 that our only way to get strength to keep this highest1 hardest commandment is to begin by trying to pray for the foe1 and then we gradually feel the infernal fires dying down in our temper1 and come to be able to meet his evil with good1 and his curses with blessings4 ,it is a difficult lesson that ,jesus sets us4 ,it is a blessed possibility that ,jesus opens for us1 that our kindly emotions towards men need not be at the mercy of theirs to us4 ,it is a fair ideal that ,he paints1 which1 if ,christians deliberately and continuously took it for their aim to realise1 would revolutionise society1 and make the fellowship of man with man a continual joy4 ,think of what any community1 great or small1 would be1 if enmity were met by love only and always4 ,its fire would die for want of fuel4 ,if the hater found no answering hate increasing his hate1 he would often come to answer love with love4 ,there is an old legend spread through many lands1 which tells how a princess who had been changed by enchantment into a loathly serpent1 was set free by being thrice kissed by a knight1 who thereby won a fair bride with whom he lived in love and joy4 ,the only way to change the serpent of hate into the fair form of a friend is to kiss it out of its enchantment4 ,no doubt1 partial anticipations of this precept may be found1 buried under much ethical rubbish1 elsewhere than in the ,sermon on the ,mount1 and more plainly in ,old ,testament teaching1 and in ,rabbinical sayings2 but ,christ's 'originality' as a moral teacher lies not so much in the absolute novelty of ,his commandments1 as in the perspective in which ,he sets them1 and in the motives on which ,he bases them1 and most of all in ,his being more than a teacher1 namely1 the ,giver of power to fulfil what ,he enjoins4 ,christian ethics not merely recognises the duty of love to men1 but sets it as the foundation of all other duties4 ,it is root and trunk1 all others are but the branches into which it ramifies4 ,christian ethics not merely recognises the duty1 but takes a man by the hand1 leads him up to his ,father ,god1 and says3 ,there1 that is your pattern1 and a child who loves his ,father will try to copy his ways and be made like ,him by his love4 ,so ,morality passes into ,religion1 and through the transition receives power beyond its own4 ,the perfection of worship is imitation1 and when men 'call ,him ,father' whom they adore1 imitation becomes the natural action of a child who loves4 ,a dew-drop and a planet are both spheres1 moulded by the same law of gravitation4 ,the tiny round of our little drops of love may be not all unlike the colossal completeness of that ,love1 which owns the sun as ',his sun1' and rays down light and distils rain over the broad world4 ,god loves all men apart altogether from any regard to character1 therefore ,he gives to all men all the good gifts that they can receive apart from character1 and if evil men do not get ,his best gifts1 it is not because ,he withholds1 but because they cannot take4 ,there are human love-gifts which cannot be bestowed on enemies or evil persons4 ,it is not possible1 nor fit1 that a ,christian should feel to such as he does to those who share his faith and sympathies2 but it is possible1 and therefore incumbent1 that he should not only negatively clear his heart of malice and hatred1 but that he should positively exercise such active beneficence as they will receive4 ,that is ,god's way1 and it should be ,his children's4 ,the thought of the divine pattern naturally brings up the contrast between it and that which goes by the name of love among men4 ,just because ,christians are to take ,god as their example of love1 they must transcend human examples4 ,here again ,jesus strikes the note with which ,he began ,his teaching of ,his disciples' 'righteousness'2 but very significantly ,he does not now point to ,pharisees1 but to publicans1 as those who were to be surpassed4 ,the former1 no doubt1 were models of 'righteousness' after a rigid1 whitewashed-sepulchre sort1 but the latter had bigger hearts1 and1 bad as they were and were reputed to be1 they loved better than the others4 ,jesus is glad to see and point to even imperfect sparks of goodness in a justly condemned class4 ,no doubt1 publicans in their own homes1 with wife and children round them1 let their hearts out1 and could be tender and gentle1 however gruff and harsh in public4 ,when ,jesus says 'even the publicans1' ,he is not speaking in contempt1 but in recognition of the love that did find some soil to grow on1 even in that rocky ground4 ,but is not the bringing in of the 'reward' as a motive a woful downcome8 and is love that loves for the sake of reward1 love at all8 ,the criticism and questions forget that the true motive has just been set forth1 and that the thought of 'reward' comes in1 only as secondary encouragement to a duty which is based upon another ground4 ,to love because we shall gain something1 either in this world or in the next1 is not love but long-sighted selfishness2 but to be helped in our endeavours to widen our love so as to take in all men1 by the vision of the reward1 is not selfishness but a legitimate strengthening of our weakness4 ,especially is that so1 in view of the fact that 'the reward' contemplated is nothing else than the growth of likeness to the ,father in heaven1 and the increase of filial consciousness1 and the clearer1 deeper cry1 ',abba1 ,father4' ,if longing for1 and having regard to1 that 'recompense of reward' is selfishness1 and if the teaching which permits it is immoral1 may ,god send the world more of such selfishness and of teachers of it6 ,but the reference to the shrunken love-streams that flow among men passes again swiftly to the former thought of likeness to ,god as the great pattern4 ,like a bird glancing downwards for a moment to earth1 and then up again and away into the blue1 our ,lord's words re-soar1 and settle at last by the throne of ,god4 ,the command1 ',be ye perfect1 even as your ,father which is in heaven is perfect1' may be intended to refer only to the immediately preceding section1 but one is inclined to regard it rather as the summing up of the whole of the preceding series of commandments from verse #bj onwards4 ,the sum of religion is to imitate the ,god whom we worship4 ,the ideal which draws us to aim at its realisation must be absolutely perfect1 however imperfect may be all our attempts to reproduce it4 ,we sometimes hear it said that to set up perfection as our goal is to smite effort dead and to enthrone despair4 ,but to set up an incomplete ideal is the surest way to take the heart out of effort after it4 ,it is the ,christian's prerogative to have ever gleaming before him an unattained aim1 to which he is progressively approximating1 and which1 unreached1 beckons1 feeds hope of endless approach1 and guarantees immortality4 ,,trumpets ,,and ,,street ,,corners ',take heed that ye do nob your alms before men1 to be seen of them3 otherwise ye have no reward of your ,father which is in heaven4 #b4 ,therefore1 when thou doest thine alms1 do not sound a trumpet before thee1 as the hypocrites do in the synagogues1 and in the streets1 that they may have glory of men4 ,verily ,i say unto you1 ,they have their reward4 #c4 ,but when thou doest alms1 let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth2 #d4 ,that thine alms may be in secret3 and thy ,father1 which seeth in secret1 ,himself shall reward thee openly4 #e4 ,and when thou prayest1 thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are3 for they love to pray standing in the synagogues1 and in the corners of the streets1 that they may be seen of men4 ,verily ,i say unto you1 ,they have their reward4'--,,matt4 vi4 #a-e4 ,our ,lord follows ,his exposition of the deepened sense which the old law assumes in ,his kingdom1 by a warning against the most subtle foes of true righteousness4 ,he first gives the warning in general terms in verse #a1 and then flashes its light into three dark corners1 and shows how hankering after men's praise corrupts the beneficence which is our duty to our neighbour1 the devotion which is our duty to ,god1 and the abstinence which is our duty to ourselves4 ,we deal now with the two former4 ,we have first the general warning1 given out like the text of a sermon1 or the musical phrase which underlies the various harmonies of some concerto4 ,the first word implies that the evil is a subtle and seducing one4 ',take heed' as of something which may steal into and mar the noblest lives4 ,the serpent lies coiled under the leaves1 and may sting and poison the unwary hand4 ,the generality of the warning1 and the logical propriety of the whole section1 require the adoption of the reading of the ,revised ,version1 namely1 'righteousness4' ,the thing to be taken heed of is not the doing it 'before men1' which will often be obligatory1 often necessary1 and never in itself wrong1 but the doing it 'to be seen of them4' ,not the number of spectators1 but the furtive glance of our eyes to see if they are looking at us1 makes the sin4 ,we are to let our good works shine1 that men may glorify our ,father4 ,pious souls are to shine1 and yet to be hid1--a paradox which can be easily solved by the obedient4 ,if our motive is to make ,god's glory more visible1 we shall not be seeking to be ourselves admired4 ,the harp-string's swift vibrations1 as it gives out its note1 make it unseen4 ,the reason for the warning goes on two principles3 one that righteousness is to be rewarded1 over and above its own inherent blessedness2 another1 that the prospect of the reward is a legitimate stimulus1 over and above the prime reason for righteousness1 namely1 that it is righteous4 ,the ,new ,testament morality is not good enough for some very superfine people1 who are pleased to call it selfish because it lets a martyr brace himself in the fire by the vision of the crown athwart the smoke4 ,somehow or other1 however1 that selfish morality gets itself put in practice1 and turns out more unselfish people than its assailants manage to produce4 ,perhaps the motive which they attack may be part of the reason4 ,the mingling of regard for man's approbation with apparently righteous acts absolutely disqualifies them for receiving ,god's reward1 for it changes their whole character1 and they are no longer what they seem4 ,charity given from that motive is not charity1 nor prayer offered from it devotion4 ,i4 ,the general warning is applied to three cases1 of which we have to deal with two4 ,our ,lord speaks first of ostentatious almsgiving4 ,note that we are not to take 'blowing the trumpets' as actual fact4 ,nobody would do that in a synagogue4 ,the meaning of all attempts1 however concealed1 to draw attention to one's beneficence1 is just what the ear-splitting blast would be2 and the incongruity of startling the worshippers with the harsh notes is like the incongruity of doing good and trying to attract notice4 ,i think ,christ's ear catches the screech of the brazen abomination in a good many of the ways of raising and giving money1 which find favour in the ,church to-day4 ,this is an advertising age1 and flowers that used to blush unseen are forced now under glass for exhibition4 ,no one needs to blow his own trumpet nowadays4 ,we have improved on the ruder methods of the ,pharisees1 and newspapers and collectors will blow lustily and loud for us1 and defend the noise on the ground that a good example stimulates others4 ,perhaps so1 though it may be a question what it stimulates to1 and whether ,b's gift1 drawn from him in imitation or emulation of ,a's1 is any liker ,christ's idea of gifts than was ,a's1 given that ,b might hear of it4 ,to a very large extent1 the money getting and giving arrangements of the modern ,church are neither more nor less than the attempt to draw ,christ's chariot with the devil's traces4 ,christ condemned ostentation4 ,his followers too often try to make use of it4 ',they have their reward4' ,observe that have means have received in full1 and note the emphasis of that their4 ,it is all the reward that they will ever get1 and all that they are capable of4 ,the pure and lasting crown1 which is a fuller possession of ,god ,himself1 has no charms for them1 and could not be given4 ,and what a poor thing it is which they seek--the praise of men1 a breath1 as unsubstantial and short-lived as the blast of the trumpet which they blew before their selfish benevolence4 ,their charity was no charity1 for what they did was not to give1 but to buy4 ,their gift was a speculation4 ,they invested in charity1 and looked for a profit of praise4 ,how can they get ,god's reward8 ,true benevolence will even hide the giving right hand from the idle left1 and1 as far as may be1 will dismiss the deed from the doer's consciousness4 ,such alms1 given wholly out of pity and desire to be like the all-giving ,father1 can be rewarded1 and will be1 with that richer acquaintance with ,him and more complete victory over self1 which is the heaven of heaven and the foretaste of it now4 ,in its coarsest forms1 this ostentation is out and out hypocrisy1 which consciously assumes a virtue which it has not4 ,but far more common and dangerous is the subtle1 unconscious mingling of it with real charity--the eye wandering from the poor1 whom the hand is helping1 to the bystanders--and it is this mingling which we have therefore to take most heed to avoid4 ,one drop of this sour stuff will curdle whole gallons of the milk of human kindness4 ,the hypocrisy which hoodwinks ourselves is more common and perilous than that which blinds others4 ,,ii4 ,we need not dwell at length on the second application of the general warning--to prayer2 as the words are almost1 and the thoughts entirely1 identical with those of the former verses4 ,if there be any action of the spirit which requires the complete exclusion of thoughts of men1 it is prayer1 which is the communion of the soul alone with ,god4 ,it is as impossible to pray1 and at the same time to think of men1 as to look up and down at once4 ,if we think of prayer1 as formalists in all times have done1 as so many words1 then it will not seem incongruous to choose the places where men are thickest for 'saying our prayers1' and we shall do it with all the more spirit if we have spectators4 ,that accounts for a great deal of the 'devotion' in ,mohammedan and ,roman ,catholic countries which travellers with no love for ,protestant ,christianity are so fond of praising4 ,but if we think of prayer as ,christ did1 as being the yearning of the soul to ,god1 we shall feel that the inmost chamber and the closed door are its fitting accompaniments4 ,of course1 our ,lord is not forbidding united prayer2 for each of the assembled worshippers may be holding communion with ,god1 which is none the less solitary though shared by others1 and none the less united though in it each is alone with ,god4 ,,iii4 ,our ,lord passes for a time from the more immediate subject of ostentation to add other teaching about prayer1 which still farther unfolds its true conception4 ,another corruption arising from the error of thinking that prayer is an outward act1 is 'vain repetition1' characteristic of all heathen religion1 and resting upon a profound disbelief in the loving willingness of ,god to help4 ,of course1 earnest1 reiterated prayer is not vain repetition4 ,jesus is not here condemning ,his own agony in ,gethsemane when ,he thrice 'said the same words4' ,the persistence in prayer1 which is the child of faith1 is no relation to the parrot-like repetition which is the child of disbelief1 nor does the condemnation of the one touch the other4 ,the frenzied priests who yelled1 ',o ,baal1 hear us6' all the long day2 the ,buddhists who repeat the sacred invocation till they are stupefied2 the poor devotee who thinks merit is proportioned to the number of ,paternosters and ,aves1 are all instances of this gross mechanical conception of prayer4 ,are there no similar superstitions nearer home8 ,are there no ministers or congregations that we ever heard of1 who have a regulation length for their prayers1 and would scarcely think they had prayed at all if their devotions were as short as most of the prayers in the ,bible8 ,are we in no danger of believing what ,christ here tells us is pure heathenism--that many words may move ,god8 ,the only real remedy against such degradation of the very idea of prayer lies in the deeper conceptions of ,god and of it which ,christ here gives4 ,he knows our needs before we ask4 ,then what is prayer for8 ,not to inform ,him1 nor to move ,him1 unwilling1 to have mercy1 as if1 like some proud prince1 ,he required a certain amount of recognition of ,his greatness as the price of ,his favours1 but to fit our own hearts by conscious need and true desire and dependence1 to receive the gifts which ,he is ever willing to give1 but we are not always fit to receive4 ,as ,st4 ,augustine has it1 the empty vessel is by prayer carried to the full fountain4 ,,solitary ,,prayer ',enter into thy closet1 and when thou hast shut thy door1 pray to thy ,father which is in secret1'--,,matt4 vi4 #f4 ,an old heathen who had come to a certain extent under the influence of ,christ1 called prayer 'the flight of the solitary to the ,solitary4' ,there is a deep truth in that1 though not all the truth4 ,prayer is not only the most intensely individual act that a man can perform1 but it is also the highest social act4 ,christ came not to carry solitary souls by a solitary pathway to heaven1 but to set the solitary in families and to rear up a church4 ,of that church the highest function is united worship4 ,no one is likely to fall into the mistake of supposing that this passage before us condemns praying in the synagogues1 or even1 if need were1 at the street corners4 ,it does not1 of course1 interdict social public prayer1 though it enjoins solitary secret communion with the solitary1 secret ,god4 ,i4 ,what is the practice here enjoined8 ,since 'that they may be seen of men' constitutes the evil1 we may fairly say that ,christ is not here prescribing the place where1 but the spirit in which1 we ought to pray2 that what ,he condemns is not the fact of praying where we can be seen1 but of picking out the place in order that we may be seen2 that1 in a word1 the contrast here is between ostentation and sincerity4 ,a man that has sidelong looks at the passers-by in his devotions has not much devotion4 ,but then1 as a material help to this1 we need solitude and secrecy2 they are not indispensable1 but almost so4 ,and in that solitude what is to be our occupation8 ,one word answers the question--,communion4 ,we are to be alone that we may more fully and thrillingly feel that we are with ,god4 ,that communion will have an intellectual element in which we try to rise to perception of the high truths as to ,god1 or in meditation gaze on ,him1 and a petitionary element in which we ask for the communication of ,his grace according to our needs4 ,,ii4 ,what is the special worth of such a habit8 #a4 ,the truths that we profess to believe are in their nature such as can only be vividly realised by such an exercise4 ,they are all matters of faith1 not of sense4 ,god is a spirit1 and is felt near by none but still and waiting spirits4 ,our religion has to do with the ,unseen1 the ,solemn1 the ,profound1 the ,remote4 ,these are not to be fully felt hastily4 ,they are like mountains that grow on us as we gaze1 like a fair scene that we must be alone in1 rightly to feel4 ,they must be allowed to saturate the soul4 ,the eye must be slowly accustomed to the light4 #b4 ,the pressure of the world can only be resisted by such an exercise4 ,our business as ,christians is to keep ourselves free from it4 #c4 ,the tone and balance of our own minds can only be preserved and restored thus4 ,solitude is the mother-country of the strong4 ',i was left alone1 and ,i saw this great vision4' ,we get hot and fevered1 interested and absorbed1 and we need solitude as a counterpoise4 #d4 ,what is the connection of this with other kinds of worship and with our life's work8 ,it has a function of its own4 ,these cannot be substituted for it--public worship1 reading ,christian books1 bring a different class of feelings altogether into play4 ,they are not to be excluded by it4 ,they find their true foundation in it4 ,a tree's branches stretch to the same circumference as its roots4 #e4 ,what is the special need of this precept for this age8 ,it is neglected in our modern life4 ,the evils of our modern ,christianity1 the low tone of religion1 the small grasp of ,christian truth1 the irreligious cast of religious work4 ,the thought of being alone with ,god will be a joy--or a terror4 ,,the ,,structure ,,of ,,the ,,lord',s ,,prayer ',after this manner therefore pray ye4'--,,matt4 vi4 #i4 ',after this manner' may or may not imply that ,christ meant this prayer to be a form1 but ,he certainly meant it for a model4 ,and they who drink in its spirit1 and pray1 seeking ,god's glory before their own satisfaction1 and1 while trustfully asking from ,his hand their daily bread1 rise quickly to implore the supply of their spiritual hunger1 do pray after this manner1' whether they use these words or no4 ,all begins with the recognition of the ,fatherhood of ,god4 ,the clear and fixed contemplation of ,god is the beginning of all true prayer1 and that contemplation does not fasten on ,his remote and partially intelligible attributes1 nor strive to climb to behold ,him as in ,himself1 but grasps ,him as related to us4 ,the ,fatherhood of ,god implies ,his communication of life1 ,his tenderness1 and our kindred4 ,this is the prayer of the children of the kingdom1 and can only be truly offered by those who1 by faith in the ,son1 have received the adoption of sons4 ,it gathers all such into a family1 so delivering their prayer from selfish absorption in their own joys or needs4 ,as our ,father 'in ,heaven1' ,he is lifted clear above earth's limitations1 changes1 and imperfections4 ,so childlike familiarity is sublimed into reverence1 our hearts are drawn upward1 and freed from the oppressive and narrowing attachment to earth and sense4 ,the perfect sevenfold petitions of the prayer fall into two halves1 corresponding roughly to the first and second tables of the decalogue4 ,the first half consists of three petitions1 which refer to ,god and ,his kingdom4 ,they are three1 in accordance with the symbolism of numbers which1 in the ,old ,testament1 always regards three as the sacred number of completeness and of divinity4 ,the second half consists of four petitions1 which refer to ourselves4 ,they are four--the number which symbolises the creature4 ,the lessons taught by the order in which these two halves occur do not need to be dwelt upon4 ,god first and man second1 ,his glory before our wants--that is the true order4 ,for how few of us is it the spontaneous order6 ,do we first rise to ,god1 and only secondly descend to ourselves8 ,note1 too1 the sequence in each of these halves4 ,in the first we may say that we begin from above and come down1 or from within and come outwards4 ,in the second1 the process is the opposite4 ,we begin on the lowest level with our external needs1 and go upwards and inwards to removal of sin1 exemption from temptation1 and complete deliverance from evil4 ,the first half gives us the beginning1 middle1 and end of ,god's purposes for the world4 ,the recognition of ,his name is the basis of ,his kingdom1 and ,his kingdom is the sphere in which alone ,his will is done4 ,the second half1 in like manner1 gives us the beginning1 middle1 and end of ,his dealings with the individual1 the common mercies of daily bread1 forgiveness1 guidance1 protection in conflict1 and final deliverance4 ,the 'name' of ,god is ,his revealed character4 ,he hallows it when ,he so acts as to make ,his holiness manifest4 ,we hallow it when we regard it as the holy thing which it is4 ,that petition is first1 because the knowledge of ,god as ,he is self-revealed is the deepest want of men1 and the spread of that knowledge and reverence is the way by which ,his kingdom comes4 ,god's kingdom is ,his rule over men's hearts4 ,christ began ,his ministry by proclaiming its near approach1 and in effect brought it to earth4 ,but it spreads slowly in the individual heart1 and in the world4 ,therefore1 this second petition is ever in place1 until the consummation4 ,god's rule is established through the hallowing of ,his name2 for it is a rule which works on men through their understandings1 and seeks no ignorant submission4 ,the sum of this first half is1 ',thy will be done1 as in ,heaven1 so on earth4' ,obedience to that will is the end of ,god's self-revelation4 ,it makes all the difference whether we begin with the thought of the name or of the will4 ,in the latter case1 religion will be slavish and submission sullen4 ,there is no more horrible and paralysing conception of ,god than that of mere sovereign will4 ,but if we think of ,him as desiring that we should know ,his name1 and as gathering all its syllables into the one perfect ',word of ,god'2 then we are sure that ,his will must be intelligible and good4 ,obedience becomes delight1 and the surrender of our wills to ,his the glad expression of love4 ,he who begins with ',thy will be done' is a slave1 and never really does the will at all2 he who begins with ',our ,father1 hallowed be ,thy name1' is a son1 and his will1 gladly yielding1 is free in surrender1 strong in self-abnegation1 and restful in putting the reins into ,god's hands4 ,the two halves make a whole4 ,the second1 which deals with our needs1 starts with the cry for bread1 and climbs up slowly through the ills of life1 from bodily hunger to trespasses and human unkindness and personal weakness1 and a world of temptation1 and the double evil of sin and of sorrow1 and so regains at last the starting-point of the first half1 ,heaven and ,god4 ,the probable meaning of the difficult word rendered 'daily' seems to be 'sufficient for our need4' ,the lessons of the petition are that ,god's children have a claim for the supply of their wants1 since ,he is bound1 as a faithful ,creator1 not to send mouths without sending meat to fill them1 but that our desires should be limited to our actual necessities1 and our cravings1 as well as our efforts for the bread that perishes1 made into prayers4 ,such a prayer rightly used would put an end to much wicked luxury among ,christians1 and to many questionable ways of getting wealth4 ',bless my cheating1 my sharp practice1 my half lies6' ,if we dare not pray this prayer over what we do in 'earning our living1' we had better ask ourselves whether we are not rather earning our death4 ,sin is debt ,incurred to ,god4 ,so ,christ taught in the previous chapter by ,his parable of agreeing with the adversary2 and in the other parables of the two debtors 7,luke vii4 #da7 and of the unmerciful servant 7,matt4 xviii4 #bc74 ,as universal as the need for bread is the need for pardon4 ,it is the first want of the spiritual nature1 but it is a constantly recurring want1 as this petition teaches us4 ,forgiveness is the cancelling of a debt2 but we must not forget that it is a ,father's forgiveness1 and therefore does not merely1 or even chiefly1 imply the removal of penalty1 but much rather the unimpeded flow of the ,father's love1 and consequently the removal of the miserable consciousness of separation from ,him4 ,the appended comparison 'as we have forgiven' does not mean that our forgiveness is the reason for ,god's forgiveness of us4 ,the ground of our pardon is ,christ's work1 the condition of it our faith2 but1 as we saw in considering the ,beatitudes1 the condition on which the children of the kingdom can retain the blessing of the divine pardon is their imitation of it4 ,the next petition is the expression of conscious weakness4 ,the forgiven man1 though in his deepest soul hating sin1 is still surrounded with sparks which may fire the combustibles in his heart4 ,if we ask not to be led into temptation1 because we want a smooth and easy road1 we are wrong4 ,if we do so from self-distrust and fear lest we fall1 then it is allowable4 ,but perhaps we may draw a distinction between being tempted and being led into temptation4 ,the former may mean the presentation of an inducement to do evil which we cannot hope to escape1 and which it is not well that we should escape4 ,the latter may mean the further step of embracing or being entangled in it by consenting to it4 ,we do not need to dread the entrance into the ,valley of the ,shadow of ,death1 for if the ,lord be with us we shall pass through it4 ,our prayer may mean1 lead us1 not into1 but through1 the trial4 ,it is the plaint of conscious weakness1 the recognition of ,god as ordering our path1 the cry of a heart which desires holiness most of all1 and which trusts in ,god's upholding hand in the hour of trial4 ',deliver us from evil' is a petition which1 in its width1 fits the close of the prayer better than does the translation of the ,revised ,version4 ,there seems an echo of the words in ,paul's noble confidence while the headsman's axe was so near1 ',the ,lord will deliver me from every evil work4' ,entire exemption from evil of every sort1 whether sin or sorrow1 is the true end of our prayers1 as it is the crown of ,god's purpose4 ,nothing less can satisfy our yearnings2 nothing less can fulfil the divine desire for us4 ,nothing less should be the goal of our faith and hope4 ,to the height of meek assurance1 and the reaching out of our souls in desire which is the pledge of its own fulfilment1 ,christ would have us attain on the wings of prayer4 ,they can have no narrower bonds to the horizon of their hopes1 nor any lesser blessing for the satisfaction of their longings1 whose prayer begins with ',our ,father which art in heaven'2 for where the ,father is1 the child must wish to be1 and some day will be1 to go out no more4 ',,our ,,father' ',our ,father which art in heaven4'--,matt4 vi4 #i4 ,the words of ,christ1 like the works of ,god1 are inexhaustible4 ,their depth is concealed beneath an apparent simplicity which the child and the savage can understand4 ,but as we gaze upon them and try to fathom all their meaning1 they open as the skies above us do when we look steadily into their blue chambers1 or as the sea at our feet does when we bend over to pierce its clear obscure4 ,the poorest and weakest learns from them the lesson of divine love and a mighty helper2 the reverent1 loving contemplation of the profoundest souls1 and the experience of all the ages discern ever new depths in them and feel that much remains unlearned4 ',they did all eat and were filled1 men1 women1 and children--and they took up of fragments that were left five baskets full4' ,this is especially true about the ,lord's ,prayer4 ,we teach it to our children1 and its divine simplicity becomes their lisping tongues and little folded hands4 ,but the more we ponder it1 and try to make it the model of our prayers1 the more wonderful does its fulness of meaning appear1 the more hard does it become to pray 'after this manner4' ,there is everything in it3 the loftiest revelation of ,god in ,his relations to us and in ,his purposes with the world2 the setting forth of all our relations to ,him1 to ,his purposes1 and to one another2 the grandest vision of the future for mankind2 the care for the smallest wants of each day4 ,as a theology1 it smites into fragments all false1 unworthy human thoughts of ,god4 ,as an exposition of religion1 the man who has drunk in its spirit has ceased from self-will and sin4 ,as a foundation of social morals it lays deep the only basis for true human brotherhood1 and he who lives in its atmosphere will live in charity and helpfulness with all mankind4 ,as a guide for personal life1 it gives us authoritatively the order and relative worth of all human desires1 and with these the order and subordination of our pursuits and life's aims4 ,as a prayer it is all comprehensive and intended to be so1 holding within the perfect seven of its petitions1 all for which we should come to ,god1 and resting them all on ,his divine name1 and closing them all with a chorus of thanksgiving4 ,as a prophecy it opens the loftiest vision1 beyond which none is possible1 of the final transformation of this world into the kingdom in which ,god's will shall be perfectly done1 and of the final deliverance from1 all evil of the struggling1 sinning1 sorrowing souls of ,his children4 ,i desire to try in a series of sermons to set forth what little ,i can see of the depth and comprehensiveness of this model of all prayer1 and of its ever fresh applicability to the wants and difficulties of our days as of all days4 ,but before dealing with that great invocation of the divine name on which all rests1 a word or two must be said touching the introductory clause4 ',after this manner pray ye4' ,the question which is usually made prominent in thinking of these words is really a very subordinate one4 ,did ,christ intend to establish a form1 or only to give an example8 ,churchmen say1 a form2 ,dissenters generally say1 an example4 ,but it would be better for both ,churchmen and ,dissenters to try to realise for themselves what 'this manner' is4 ,unquestionably1 whether our ,lord is giving us a form or not1 ,his chief object was not to prescribe words4 ,to pray is not to repeat petitions1 and ,his commandment has for its chief meaning a much deeper one than that ,he was giving us either a form which we are to incorporate verbally with our prayers1 or an outline according to which our spoken supplications are to be shaped4 ,whether in addition to this we are to regard the very words as to be used by us1 will be determined by each man and church according as he regards the use of set forms in prayer as being the true and noblest manner of prayer4 ,such use is certainly not inconsistent with the utmost spirituality1 but the habitual use of forms1 especially their exclusive use1 seems to many of us to be dangerous1 regard being had to the tendency of human nature to rest in them4 ,and it is not without significance that this very prayer of our ,lord's1 which was given as the corrective of vain repetitions and idle1 heathenish chattering of forms of prayer1 has itself come to be the saddest instance in all ,christendom of these very faults1 while the beads slip through the fingers of the mechanical repeater of muttered ,paternosters4 ,instead of wrangling about this subordinate question1 let us try to pray after this manner4 ,we shall find it hard1 but blessed4 ,be sure that every prayer not after this manner is after a wrong manner4 ,this prayer helps to reverse our foolish desire to make earth foremost4 ,the true end of prayer is to get our wills harmonised with ,his1 not to bend ,his to ours4 ,surely if self-denial and submission be the very heart of ,christianity1 that should be most expressed in prayer which is the very sanctuary of religion4 ,the prayers that are to be offered after this manner will not be passionate1 petulant pleadings or prescriptions to ,god to do this or that1 but in them ,god and ,his glory will be first1 ,i second1 and through ,him and as ,he wills4 ,ah1 brethren6 this is an awful requirement of ,christ's4 ,who dare take such holy words into his lips8 ,it is a hard matter to pray as ,christ taught us4 ,the prayer seems to move in a height of unapproachable elevation1 and the air there is too thin and pure for our gross lungs4 ,for be it remembered1 we are not praying after this manner unless our lives in some sort repeat and confirm our prayers4 ,do our hearts seek first the ,kingdom of ,god and ,his righteousness8 ,are our energies given to this1 as their noblest aim1 to hallow ,god's name2 or does the very blood in our hearts throb hot1 passionate desires for worldly things1 and ,god's name and kingdom and will seem dreamy and far-off objects which kindle no desire in our souls and rule no effort of our lives1 like suns far away which shed little light upon the earth and sway not its rolling tides1 that are obedient to the nearer but borrowed light of the changeful moon8 ,if so1 no matter whether we use this form or not1 we are not praying after this manner4 ,look1 now1 at this first clause1 which is the basis of all4 ,i4 ,the divine ,name which is the ground and object of all our prayers4 ,it is not merely a formula of address1 like the superscription on a letter1 but the reality of ,his character as revealed before us4 ,there is inseparable from all prayer the effort to conceive worthily of ,him to whom we speak2 to raise our souls to that height4 ,how much of our prayer1 even while truest1 fails here6 ,we may be distinctly conscious of our wants2 our wishes may be right1 and our confidence may be firm that ,god will give us what we ask2 yet how often there is no vivid thought of ,him filling the mind6 ,how often our prayers are offered to a mere name6 ,how seldom through the cloud-wrack beneath ,his feet do we see ,his face6 ,this absorbed contemplation is the necessary preliminary of all real prayer1 and there is a truth in the thought that such losing of self in gazing on ,god is the highest form of prayer4 ,we should feel as some peasant come to court who stands on the threshold of the presence-chamber1 and forgetting his grievances and his embassy1 gazes entranced on the splendour and benignity of his sovereign4 ,look1 then1 at this ,name3 what it expresses4 ,it is not new4 ,the ,jews dimly had it1 and even ,greek and other paganisms knew of a 'father of ,gods and men4' ,the name of ,father carries with it primarily the idea of the ,source of life 7'we also are ,his offspring'71 and also1 secondarily1 that of loving care4 ,how wonderful1 how beautiful1 that that earthly relation should find its deepest reality in ,god6 ,god be thanked that1 'like as a father pitieth his children1 so the ,lord pitieth them that fear ,him4' ,but the true ,christian idea of ,god's fatherhood is more than all this4 ,this is a prayer for disciples1 for those who alone can really pray4 ,all men are ,god's children because all draw their life from ,him1 were made in ,his image1 and are objects of ,his love4 ,but there is a fatherhood and a sonship which are not universal1 and for which another birth is necessary4 ,its conditions are plainly laid down by the ,evangelist3 ',to as many as received ,him1 to them gave ,he power to become sons of ,god1' and by the ,apostle1 ',ye are the children of ,god through faith in ,christ ,jesus4' ,we are made sons through ,jesus4 ,we are made sons by faith4 ,and now1 how should this ,fatherhood affect our prayers8 ,we shall come with hope and familiar confidence1 for 'your heavenly ,father knoweth what things ye have need of4' ,does a father love to have his children about him8 ,does a child shrink from telling its wishes to a father8 ,also we must bend our wills to ,his--to a ,father4 ,contrast that conception with the ideas of ,god which we are all tempted to cherish1 the slavish one which dwells upon the gulf between ,god and man1 with the cold deity of 'natural religion1' with the ,epicurean notion of ,him which divorces ,him from all living interest in ,his creation4 ,contrast it with the ghastly image which our consciences and our fears frame1 the heathen notion of an avenger and cruel4 ,we do not need to seek to avert ,his anger4 ,this mighty word shatters all cowering terror and abject prostration4 ,and it is a vow as well as an ,invocation1 binding us to supreme love to ,him1 to obedience to ,him1 to moral conformity with ,him4 ,be ye perfect as your ,father which is in heaven is perfect4 ,the noblest prayer is ',abba1 ,father4' ,,ii4 ,the loftiness and perfectness of that divine ,name4 ',in heaven4' ,not fact1 but symbol1 to express ,his exaltation above the earth1 and so suggesting all ideas of remoteness from creatures1 from earth's limitations and conditions1 changes and imperfection1 and showing the gulf between man and ,god4 #a4 ,the thought that ,he is in heaven deepens our reverence1 love casting out fear1 but making us more lowly4 ,it leads to familiar yet awe-stricken approach4 #b4 ,it exalts the preciousness of the ,fatherhood1 as being free from all weakness and all change4 ,it reveals a better ,father than we can know here2 one not narrow of view1 infirm of purpose1 weak in tenderness1 bounded in power4 ,as the heavens stretch calm and serene above us1 far from all our trouble and noise1 unvexed1 pitying1 and dropping rain and dew on earth1 so is ,he4 #c4 ,it draws our hearts and hopes to our ,father's home4 #d4 ,it delivers us from worship of the visible and from worship by means of the visible4 ,so the ,name guards against placing stress on externals and secondary forms1 places1 times of worship4 ,,iii4 ,the ,community of ,brotherhood of the ,worshippers4 ,our ,father4 #a4 ,all true enjoyment of blessings depends on our being willing to share them4 ,to keep for ourselves is to lose4 ,we enter by faith into a great community4 #b4 ,the effect of this on our prayers3 to destroy their selfishness4 ,we bow to ,him of whom the whole family is named4 #c4 ,effect on our lives4 ,dare we rise from our knees to plan and plot for ourselves8 ,how we are tempted to forget our brotherhood in personal animosities1 vanity1 and self-interest1 competing with others6 ,our differences of ideas arising from differences of race1 training1 occupation1 country1 fling us apart4 ,our differences of wealth and position alienate us4 ,our differences of conception of ,christianity often separate and embitter us4 ,but do these not crumble when we say ',our ,father'8 ,think of the generations who have gone to the grave saying this prayer4 ,what a prophecy of the heaven1 where all shall be gathered and each feel his sense of ,fatherhood increased by his brethren6 ,and this is the only possible basis for true fraternity among men4 ,opinion8 ,men are not thinking machines4 ,interest8 ,men are not ruled by calculations1 and such union is the destruction of true unity4 ,common aims8--shallow4 ,nation or race8--artificial and not capable of universality4 ,there is no brotherhood but that which rests on ,god's ,fatherhood1 ,christ's ,sonship4 ,for the world ,christ has come1 therefore we are no more 'strangers and foreigners4' ,therefore1 listening to ,his voice1 and trusting in ,him who has made us heirs together with ,him1 let us lift up our voices1 ',our ,father1' and therein proclaim that ,god who loves every soul of man1 who knows each man's wants1 who bends over him in pitying tenderness1 who can neither die nor change1 and who will gather into ,his eternal home all ,his prodigal children and keep them blessed by ,his side for evermore4 ',,hallowed ,,be ,,thy ,,name' ',hallowed be ,thy name4'--,matt4 vi4 #i4 ,name is character so far as revealed4 ,i4 ,what is meaning of ,petition8 ,hallowed means to make holy2 or to show as holy2 or to regard as holy4 ,the second of these is ,god's hallowing of ,his ,name4 ,the third is men's4 ,the prayer asks that ,god would so act as to show the holiness of ,his character1 and that men1 one and all1 may see the holiness of ,his character4 i4e4 ,hallowed by divine self-revelation4 ,hallowed by human recognition4 ,hallowed by human adoration and appropriate sentiments4 ,hallowed by human action4 ,,ii4 ,on what it rests3 ,on the ,fatherhood of ,god4 ,on the confidence that ,god wills that ,his ,name should be known4 ,in other words1 the petition rests on the assurance of ,god's fatherly love1 which cannot but will that ,his children should know their ,father as ,he is4 ,on the fact that men need the knowledge of the ,name4 ,on the conviction that men cannot attain it for themselves4 ,that ,christ is the great means of ,his hallowing ,his ,name4 ,his finished work does not render this prayer unnecessary4 ',i have declared ,thy name1 and will declare it4' ,that this is to be issue of all4 ,a grand prophecy4 ,,iii4 ,why put first4 ,singular1 that so remote a petition should stand at beginning4 ,we should begin not with ourselves1 but with ,god2 not with temporal wants1 not even with our own spiritual ones4 ,we begin not with men1 but with ,god4 ,it is ,god's glory even more than men's knowledge of ,him that the petition contemplates4 ,and though the two things coincide1 which of them is foremost in our minds makes an infinite difference4 ,then in regard to ,god1 we first ask not that ,his law may be kept1 but that ,his nature may be known4 ,the place of this petition in the prayer is explained by considerations which suggest very important thoughts for ourselves and all men4 ,that true knowledge of ,god is the deepest and fundamental necessity for all men4 ,that the knowledge will affect their whole scheme of thought and life4 ,that the most important of all questions is1 ,how does a man think of ,god8 ,that the ,inward comes before the ,outward4 ,that knowledge is the guide of emotions and of practical life1 as set forth here in the order of petitions4 ,this sequence of petitions corrects many errors into which we are apt to fall4 7a7 ,that religion is chiefly to give us forgiveness4 7b7 ,that accurate knowledge of ,god and ,his will matters comparatively little if we have devout emotions and experiences4 7c7 ,that plans for the reformation of men should begin with the exterior1 leaving theological subtleties to themselves4 ,but this is not a theological subtlety4 ',seek ye first the kingdom of ,god1' is a maxim for social reformation as well as for individual life4 ,,iv4 ,to what practical life this prayer binds us4 ,following in our estimates1 aims1 and practice the sequence which it prescribes4 ,desiring for world most of all that it may hallow the ,name4 ,seeking for ourselves to hallow it4 ,seeking for ourselves that we may be the means of others doing so4 ,the ever-present remembrance1 that the name of ,god is blasphemed or hallowed1 that ,god is glorified or disgraced1 by us4 ,that to be like ,his name is true way to commend it4 ,do you know this name8 ',,thy ,,kingdom ,,come' ',thy kingdom come4--,,matt4 vi4 #aj4 ',the ,lord reigneth1 let the earth be glad'2 ',the ,lord reigneth1 let the people tremble1' was the burden of ,jewish psalmist and prophet from the first to the last4 ,they have no doubt of ,his present dominion4 ,neither man's forgetfulness and man's rebellion1 nor all the dark crosses and woes of the world1 can disturb their conviction that ,he is then and for ever the sole ,lord4 ,the kingdom is come1 then4 ,yet ,john the ,baptist broke the slumbers of that degenerate people with the trumpet-call1 ',repent1 for the kingdom is at hand4' ,it is not come1 then--but coming4 ,and the ,master said1 ',if ,i by the finger of ,god cast out devils1 no doubt the kingdom of ,god is come nigh unto you4' ,it is come1 then1 in ,him4 ,this prayer throws it forward again into the future1 and far down on the stream of prophecy2 we hear borne up to us through the darkness the shouts that shall hail a future day when here on earth the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our ,lord and of ,his ,christ4 ,it is a kingdom1 then1 that has ever been1 and yet has stages of progress1 a kingdom that was established in ,jesus2 a kingdom that has a past1 a present1 and a future on earth4 ,it is after this world that the words are said1 ',come1 ye blessed1 enter into the kingdom4' ,it is a kingdom1 then1 manifested on earth1 and yet a kingdom into which death1 who keeps the keys of all secrets1 admits us4 ,once more--the kingdom of ,god is within you4 ',the kingdom of ,god is righteousness1 and peace1 and joy4' ,but there is beyond earth to be a manifestation of the kingdom in a more perfect form4 ,it is 'the kingdom of heaven1' not only because the ,king is ',our ,father which art in heaven1' but because we cannot completely come into it1 or it into us1 till we pass out of earth by death1 and enter through that gate into the city4 ,he has translated us into the kingdom of ,his dear ,son4 ,it is a dominion1 then1 over heart and soul1 having its realm within1 standing not so much in outward institutions as in inner experiences2 and yet a kingdom which1 though like leaven hid1 shall like leaven be seen in its effects2 though like a seed buried deep1 shall like a seed blossom into a mighty tree2 though it cometh not with observation1 yet is like to the lightning that flashes with a kind of omnipresence in its rapid course from end to end1 everywhere at once2 which though it be within1 yet clearly is meant to rule over all outward acts1 and one day to have all kings bowing down before it4 ,these are the varieties with which the one thought of the kingdom of ,god1 or of heaven1 is presented in ,scripture4 ,it is eternal yet revealed in time1 ever here but ever coming1 ever coming but never come on earth1 but entered when we go yonder1 ruling us man by man1 inward1 spiritual1 unseen1 and yet moulding nations and institutions1 outward and visible1 compelling sight and filling all the earth4 ,but these varieties are not contradictions1 still less are they the effects of a vague and imperfect notion which means anything or everything according to the fancy of the writer4 ,the conception is clear and well defined4 ,the kingdom of ,god is an organised community which is subject to the will of the personal ,god4 ,the elements of subordination and society are both there4 ,on the one hand there is the ,ruler1 on the other there is the mass of subjects4 ,the whole of the varieties in the use of the term can be all reconciled in the one simple central notion1 but we cannot afford to lose sight of any of them if we would understand what is meant by this prayer4 ,let us take these thoughts which ,i have suggested1 as expressing the ,scriptural meaning of this phrase1 and by their help try to ascertain what this prayer suggests4 ,i4 ,god reigns1 yet we pray for the coming of ,his kingdom4 ,that is to acknowledge that the world has departed from ,him4 ,it is at once to separate ourselves from those who see in it no signs of departure and rebellion4 ,it is to confess that1 ,lord as ,he is whether men believe it or no1 whether men will it or no1 yet that the relation of common subordination as to a supreme ,lord which we hold with all creatures is not all that we are fit for1 not all that we should be4 ,that dominion which the psalmist saw making the sea and the fulness thereof rejoice1 which is at once the control and the upholding1 the sustaining and the commanding1 of all orders of being1 is not the whole of the dominion which can be exercised over man4 ,the rule1 which we share with the trees of the field and the tribes of life1 is not all2 and the unwilling control which the thought of an overruling ,providence demands that we shall believe that ,god exercises over all the workings of men--that is not enough4 ,and the terrible bending of men into unconscious instruments1 by which ,he that sitteth in the heavens laughs at princes' and rulers' counsel1 speaking to the tyrant as the rod of ,his anger1 using men as the axe with which ,he hews1 and the staff in ,his hand1 and then casting away the tool into the fire--that is not the kingdom that men are made to be4 ,something more1 even the loving1 willing submission of heart and life to ,him is possible1 is needed1 unless1 indeed1 it is true that a man hath no pre-eminence over a beast4 ,enough for them that ,he feedeth them when they cry2 enough for them that led they know not how1 and fed by they know not whom1 they live they know not why1 do they know not what1 and die they know not when4 ,but 'be ye not as the horse or the mule which have no understanding'2 it is our prerogative to be led by ,his eye speaking to the heart1 not by ,his bridle appealing to the sense2 to do ,him loyal service1 to understand ,his purposes1 to sympathise with them1 and sympathising to execute4 ,this our prayer gives us the clear distinction1 then1 between mere blind obedience and the true goal of man4 ,the kingdom is other and better than the creature-wide dominion4 ,and then1 this prayer reposes on the confession that that higher1 better form of obedience is not yet attained4 ,in a word1 it can only be prayed aright by a man who feels that the world has gone away from ,god and ,his commandments4 ,we separate ourselves by it from all who think that this present state is the natural condition of men1 the order into which they were born1 the kind of world which ,god intended2 and we assert1 in sight of all the evils and sore sorrows that fill the world1 that this is not ,god's intention4 ,people tell us that the doctrine of a fall1 an earth which has departed from ,god1 a race which has rebelled1 is a gloomy and dark one1 covering the face of life with sackcloth4 ,but it seems to me that instead of being so1 it is the only conviction that can make a man bear to see the world as it is4 ,brethren1 which of these two is the gloomy--the creed that says1 ,look at all these men dying--in dumb ignorance1 living in brutal sin2 look at blood1 rapine1 lies1 battlefields1 broken hearts1 hopes that never set to fruit but died in the bud1 the stream of sad groans1 and sadder curses1 and wild mirth1 saddest of all4 ,look at it all1 coming to pass on this fair earth amid the pomp of sunsets and the calm beauty of autumn1 and beneath the cold stars1 in a world where the noblest creature is the saddest1 and accept for explanation that it is the necessary road for the perfecting of the creature2 that it is all for the best1 that it is exactly what ,god meant the world to be2--or the creed which sees the same things and says3 ',this is not what ,god intended3 an enemy hath done this'8 ,sin hath entered into the world1 and death by sin4 ,the ,christian doctrine does not make the facts1 but only the ,christian doctrine can explain them4 ,it seems to me that if ,i believed that life as ,i see it in the world1 and as ,i feel it in myself1 is life as ,god meant it to be1 ,i should either go mad or be a wise man1 not a fool1 if ,i were to look up at the unpitying stars that could sing for joy over such a creation1 and say1 ,there is no ,god4 ,it is a refuge from such possible horrors1 not an aggravation of them1 which this prayer teaches us when it teaches us to pray for a kingdom yet to come1 from which men have departed1 and in departing have worked for themselves all this woe and ruin4 ,,ii4 ,the kingdom for the coming of which we pray is established already4 ,christ has established it4 ,his name is ,king of kings and ,lord of lords4 ,he is ,prince of all the kings of the earth4 ,he is crowned with glory and honour4 ,by ,him1 that is to say1 it becomes possible for men to serve ,god with the energies of their will1 and by ,him it becomes possible for men to take the pardon which ,god gives in ,him4 ,he founds the kingdom1 and ,he exercises the dominion4 ,on an eternal relation and on an historical fact that dominion of ,his is grounded1--on an eternal relation inasmuch as ,he1 the everlasting ,word of ,god1 has from the beginning been the ,lord and ,king of the world2 on an historical fact inasmuch as that eternal ,word has been manifested on earth1 and tasted death for every man4 ,christ founds the kingdom1 for ,he by ,his ,incarnation and ,sacrifice sets forth the weightiest motives for service2 ,he opens the path to return2 ,he brings ,god's forgiveness to men1 and so shall rule over them for ever--a ,king and ,priest upon ,his throne3 the ,prince of all the kings of the earth1 both because ,he has from everlasting been the anointed ,king1 and because in time ,he has been1 and will for ever be1 the faithful and true witness1 and the first begotten from the dead4 ,the foundation is thus laid1 the dominion established1 the kingdom is come2 but we are to pray for its perfecting as the one hope of the world4 ,then let us remember that we are thus guarded from the error that is always rife1 of looking for some new thing as the one deliverance for earth4 ,it is sad to mark how undying that tendency is4 ,age after age1 men have had the heartache of seeing hopes blasted1 and fair schemes for the regeneration of the world knocked to pieces about the ears of their projectors1 and yet they hope on4 ,every period1 as every man1 has its times of credulity1 its firm conviction that it has found the one thing needful1 and the shout of ,eureka goes ever up4 ,alas1 alas6 time after time the old experience is repeated1 and the gratulations die down into gloomy silence4 ,yet men hope on4 ,what a strange testimony at once of the futility of all the past attempts1 and of the indestructible conviction that men have of the certainty that the world will be better and brighter some day1 that undying expectation is6 ,it is sorrowful and yet ennobling to think of the persistency of the expectation1 and the disappointment of it4 ,god forbid that ,i should say a word to seem to disparage it6 ,not so4 ,i say the expectations are of ,god1 and if men give them false shapes1 and scarcely understand them when they utter them1 that does not in any degree make the expectation less noble or less true4 ,but what ,i wish to urge is this1 that the ,christian attitude towards all such hopes should not be unsympathising4 ,rather we are bound to say 'yes1 it is so1 and we know how4' ,we are bound to proclaim that it is not any new thing that we expect1 but only the working out of the old4 ,god be thanked that it is not6 ,the evils are not new1 they have been from the beginning2 and ,god has surely not been so cruel to the world as to leave it till now in the dark4 ,our hopes are not set on any new1 untried remedy4 ,this bridge across the ,infinite for us is not a frail plank on which no one has yet walked1 and which may crack and break when the timid foot of the first passenger is on the centre1 but it is a tried structure upon which ages have walked4 ,then if ,i have any hearers who are fancying that the gospel is worn out1 any who are glowing with the anticipation of great new things1 who scarcely know how1 but believe that somehow1 the ills that have in all ages cursed humanity are to be exorcised by some new methods of social organisation or the like--,i pray them to ponder this prayer and to receive its lesson4 ,do not say1 you are but adding one more to the ,babel of opinions which confound us4 ,not so4 ,we are not arguing for an opinion1 we are proclaiming a fact4 ,we are not ventilating a nostrum1 we are preaching a divine revelation1 a divine revealer4 ,we are not setting forth our notion of the evil1 and our idea of what may be a remedy4 ,we are telling men ,god's word about both4 ,we are preaching an old1 old truth3 not man's opinion1 but ,god's act2 not man's device1 but ,christ's power4 ,we proclaim that the kingdom of ,god is nigh you1 and while a ,babel1 as you say1 of private opinions1 of passionate complaints1 of despairing cries afflicts the silence1 one serene voice rises1 ',come unto ,me1 all ye that are weary and heavy laden1' and after that sole voice rings out the twofold choral anthem--of praise1 ',rejoice1 ,o earth1 for thy ,king is come'2 and of prayer1 ',thy kingdom come4' ,,iii4 ,we pray for the coming of a kingdom which is inward and spiritual4 ,i do not mean to weary you with any proofs that this is so4 ,the whole language of ,christ1 the whole tenor of ,scripture1 the common sense of the case1 the testimony of our own souls as to what we want most1 confirm this4 ,but it is enough to note the admitted fact2 to enforce the thought that thus the kingdom assumes a purely individual character1 and that thus its power over individuals is the pledge of its power over masses1 and is its way of exercising universal sway4 ',we have all of us one human heart1 and therefore what the kingdom can do and has done for me or for any oilier man1 it can do for all4 ,let me remind you of two or three consequences that flow from this thought4 #a4 ,lessons for politicians1 for all men1 as to the true way to cure the evils of the world3 ,not by external arrangements2 not by better laws2 not by education2 not by progress in arts2 not by trade1 etc4 ,you must go deeper than these 'pills to cure an earthquake'--it is the soul1 the individual will that is diseased2 and the one cure for the world's evil is that it should be right with ,god2 and that loyal1 hearty obedience by ,christ should be in it4 #b4 ,lessons for ,christian men as to hasty externalising of the kingdom3 ,theocracies1 ,state ,churches1 and the like4 #c4 ,we pray for a kingdom that will be external4 ,if spirit1 then body2 if individuals1 then communities4 ,it is to be all-comprehensive governing3--institutions1 arts1 sciences4 ,all spheres of human life are capable of sanctification and will receive it4 ,a prophet had a vision of a day when the very bells of the horses should bear the same inscription of 'holiness to the ,lord' as was engraved on the ,high ,priest's mitre1 and when every pot and pan in the kitchens of ,jerusalem should be sacred as the vessels of the ,temple4 ,the fault of ,christians in losing sight of this--how all the aspects are reconciled--and how this must be the completion--the point to which all tends2 how clearly maimed the gospel would be if such were not the goal4 ,so much1 then1 the prayer assumes3--the certainty that the world is wrong2 the certainty that the kingdom is the only thing to set it right2 the certainty that it can set it all right2 the certainty that it will4 #d4 ,we pray for a kingdom to come which cannot be fully realised on this side the grave4 ,large as are the capabilities of this scene1 they are not large enough for the full display of all the blessedness that lies in that kingdom4 ,and so it is not all a mistake when men say1 ',ah1 this world can never do for us'2 it is not all an unhealthy dream that says1 ',i am weary of this2 let me die4' ,think of the chorus of voices that present this prayer--the unconscious cries that have gone up2 the voices of sorrow and want4 ,the cry hath entered into the ears of the ,lord ,god of ,sabaoth2 the creature groaneth and travaileth2 all men unconsciously pray this prayer when they weep and when they hope4 ,christian men pray it when they mourn their rebellious wilfulness and when they feel the weight of all this anarchic world1 or when their work in bringing it back to its ,king seems almost vain1 the souls underneath the altar pray it when they cry1 ',how long1 ,o ,lord1 how long8' ,and ah1 dear friends--there should come a sadder1 humbler cry from us1 each feeling his own sinful heart4 ,to me the glory of that coming1 and the life from the dead which it shall be to the world1 will be as nothing unless ,i know the ,king and trust ,him4 ,let us each re-echo the cry of that dying thief1 which ,he cannot refuse to answer1 ',lord1 remember me when ,thou comest in ,thy kingdom4' ',,thy ,,will ,,be ,,done' ',thy will be done in earth1 as it is in heaven4'--,,matt4 vi4 #aj4 ,it makes all the difference whether the thought of the name1 or that of the will1 of ,god be the prominent one4 ,if men begin with the will1 then their religion will be slavish1 a dull1 sullen resignation1 or a painful1 weary round of unwelcome duties and reluctant abstainings4 ,the will of an unknown ,god will be in their thoughts a dark and tyrannous necessity1 a mysterious1 inscrutable force1 which rules by virtue of being stronger1 and demands only obedience4 ,there is no more horrible conception of ,god than that which makes ,him merely or mainly sovereign will4 ,but when we think first of ,god as desiring that ,his name should be known1 and to that end mirroring ,himself in all the great and beautiful1 the ordered whole of creation1 and energising through all the complexities of human affairs1 and gathering the scattered syllables of ,his name into one full and articulate utterance in the ,word of ,god1 then our thoughts of ,his will become reverent and loving2 we are sure that the will of the self-revealing ,god must be intelligible1 we are sure that the will of the loving ,god must be good4 ,then our obedience becomes different1 and instead of being slavish is filial2 instead of being reluctant submission to a mightier force1 is glad conformity to the fountain of love and goodness2 instead of being sullen resignation1 is trustful reliance2 instead of being painful execution of unwelcome duties1 is spontaneous expression in acts which are easy of the indwelling love4 ,he who begins with ',thy will be done' is a slave1 and never really does the will at all2 he who begins with ',our ,father1 hallowed1' is a son1 and obeys from the heart4 ,this1 then1 is one reason for the order in which the clauses of the prayer follow each other1 perhaps the chief reason4 ,let us consider-- ,i4 ,obedience is here set forth as the end of all divine revelation4 ,,ii4 ,as the issue in man of all religious thought and emotion4 ,,iii4 ,as the sum of all ,christ's and our desires for men4 ,,iv4 ,as the bond which unites all creation into one4 ,i4 ,obedience to the will of ,god is the end of all divine revelation4 ,god's name is made known before ,his will is proclaimed4 ,that order suggests as to ,god's will-- #a4 ,that it is not mere naked omnipotent authority4 #b4 ,that it is not inscrutable4 #c4 ,that its scope and direction are to be determined by ,his name4 ,all these thoughts are included in this1 that it is the will of a loving1 good ,god1 the will of a ,father4 ,how that destroys all harsh1 awful ideas such as those of a stony fate1 or a cold necessity1 or an omnipotent tyrant1 or an inscrutable sovereign4 ,how ,christianity has been affected by these ideas--extreme ,calvinism1 for instance2 but it is more profitable to think how the tendency to them lies in us all4 ,,ii4 ,obedience is the issue of all religion4 ,the knowledge of the name1 and the hallowing of it must go first4 ,note-- #a4 ,how inward the nature of obedience is4 ,this sequence of petitions shifts the centre from without to within1 from actions to dispositions4 #b4 ,how nothing is obedience that is not cheerful and loving4 ,not constrained1 not sullen1 not task-work4 #c4 ,how naturally dominant over all life the principles of ,god's truth are4 ,let them be known1 and all the rest will follow4 ,they have power to control all acts1 great and small4 #d4 ,how impossible practical righteousness is without religion4 ,the ,name is the true basis of morality4 ,we hear a great deal about life rather than creed2 the ,gospel is both4 ,the one foundation of theoretical and practical morals is the will of ,god4 #e4 ,how maimed and spurious is religion without practical obedience4 ,religion in the form of thought and of emotion is intended to influence life4 ,the ultimate result of ,god's revelation of ,himself and of ,god's kingdom among men is the conformity of our life and actions with the ,will of ,god4 ,that is the test of our religion4 ,character and conduct are all important4 ,here is a lesson for us all as to what the final issue of religious profession ought to be4 ,knowledge of ,god1 true reverent thoughts of ,him1 submission in spirit to ,his kingdom--all these have for their final sphere the full sanctification of the nature and the free1 spontaneous obedience of the life4 ,we are all tempted to separate between our consciousness and emotions of a religious nature1 and our daily life4 ,many a man is a good ,christian in his heart1 with real religious feeling1 but when you get him into the field of the world he is full of sins4 ,there must always be a disproportion in this world between convictions1 resolutions1 and actions2 we imperfectly live out our principles2 the force of gravity pulls down the arrow1 and however true the bow and careful the aim and strong the hand1 its course will be a curve1 not a straight line4 ,our machinery does not work in vacuo1 and the force of friction and atmosphere opposes it and brings it to a standstill4 ,this must be2 but the discrepancy may be indefinitely lessened1 and this prayer is a prophecy and kindles a hope4 ,,iii4 ,obedience is the sum of all ,christ's desires for the world4 ,this is the last loftiest petition1 beyond that there is nothing1 for if our wills are conformed to ,god's1 then we are perfect and blessed4 #a4 ,the loftiest dignity of man is to obey4 ,we have will3 ,god has will4 ,ours is evidently meant to submit1 ,his to rule4 ,he only is what he ought to be whose whole soul bows to the divine command4 #b4 ,the will submitted to ,god is free1 strong1 restful4 ,he does not desire that it should be crushed or absorbed1 but freely acting in obedience4 ,that will is truly free which is delivered from bondage1 and the burden of sin and evil4 ,submission to ,god strengthens the will4 ,sin overbears it1 as we all know4 ,obedience braces and nerves it4 ,submission to ,god makes it restful4 ,it is the conflict of self-will which troubles us4 ,peace is to will as ,god does2 so ,he flows through us1 and ,he is 'the living will that shall endure4' #c4 ,the results of obedience will be perfect blessedness4 ,god's will is only for our good4 ,his will for men and nations observed would change the face of the world4 ,then this prayer includes everything that ardent lovers of their kind would desire4 ,how ,christianity reforms from within1 giving new life and letting that work on laws and institutions4 ,here is a lesson for all social reformers and for ,christian men to see to it that they1 for the world1 try to spread the knowledge of ,his name1 and for themselves1 seek to be harmonised with ,his will4 ,but this petition sets forth an apparently unattainable example as our pattern of obedience4 ',as in heaven1' refers perhaps to the visible universe1 which has always left on thoughtful minds the impression of beauty and order1 and is the great revelation in nature of the omnipotent will of ,god4 ,there clouds float on in peacefulness obeying ,him1 there stars burn and planets roll on their mighty revolutions4 ',these all continue this day1 according to ,thine ordinance4' ,but that is by no means the exhaustive idea of this clause4 ,we should not desire1 were it possible1 that men should be lowered to the level of the stars1 doing a will which they know not1 and swayed by a force which they have no eyes to discern4 ,the obedience1 the only true obedience1 is that of spiritual beings who know ,god and can turn themselves to contemplate the will which rules their currents1 as the sea looks up to the moon that sways its tides4 ,so the reference is obviously to higher orders of beings1 either higher by creation as angels1 or higher because they have died1 and are glorious saints before the ,throne4 ,this petition1 then1 is a revelation as well4 ,for the doing of ,god's will there must be spiritual beings1 like ourselves4 ,if our doing it like them is the highest last desire which ,he who came to do that will can form for us1 and is the ultimate goal which1 if reached1 the world's history would be crowned1 then these spiritual beings must do it perfectly4 ,their obedience must be complete4 ,there can be no interruption to it from sin1 no effort in it because of weakness1 no resistance because of temptation1 no flaw because of ignorance1 no pause because of weariness1 no pain because of rebellious will4 ,their obedience must be free1 constant1 spontaneous1 happy4 ,it must cover all their lives4 ,their whole being must be a sacrifice and service to the ,god whom they behold1 and their life must be a life of activity4 ,it is not the knowledge that floods the perfect spirits in heaven that is proposed for our example1 nor their blessedness1 but their service4 ,so the thoughts of those who regard that heavenly existence only as idleness are corrected1 and we are taught that1 while we know little as to that future life1 the conformity to the will of ,god1 which in its present partial attainment is the secret of the purest blessedness1 in its perfection will be the heaven of heaven4 ,then again1 there is here the grand idea that the whole creation will be bound into a unity by obedience to one will4 ,we and they now form one whole1 because now we serve the one ,lord4 ,and there comes a time when there shall be one ,lord and ,his name one2 when the omnipresent energy of ,his will in the physical universe shall be but a faint shadow of the universal dominion of ,his loving will in all ,his creatures4 ,then indeed it will be true1 ',thou doest according to ,thy will in the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of earth4' ,what glorious harmonies will sound then1 when all co-operate with ,god and with one another1 and one purpose1 and one will1 and one love fills the whole creation6 ,the petition has a bearing of this upon the dreams of moralists and reformers4 ,they were true1 they shall be more than fulfilled4 ,earth will be no longer separated from heaven1 but united with it1 and from one extremity of creation to another will be no creature which does not obey and rejoice4 ,,the ,,cry ,,for ,,bread ',give us this day our daily bread4'--,,matt4 vi4 #aa4 ,what a contrast there is between the two consecutive petitions1 ,thy will be done1 and ,give us this day6 ,the one is so comprehensive1 the other so narrow2 the one loses self in the wide prospect of an obedient world1 the other is engrossed with personal wants2 the one rises to such a lofty1 ideal height1 the other is dragged down to the lowest animal wants4 ,and yet this apparent bathos is apparent only1 and the fact that so narrow and earthly a petition has its place in the pattern of all prayer is full of instruction4 ,no less instructive is the place which it has4 ,a single word about that place may constitute a fitting introduction to our remarks now4 ,we have already seen how the former petitions constitute together a great whole4 ,that first part of the prayer expresses the desires which should ever be foremost in a good man's soul--those which have to do with ,god1 and point to the advancement of ,his glory4 ,it begins1 as ,i said1 with the inward1 and advances to the outward1 as must ever be the law of progress in the sanctifying of human souls and life4 ,it begins with heaven and brings heaven down to earth1 that earth may become like heaven1 and both 'according well may make one music4' ,then1 in the second part of the prayer we come to individual wants4 ,these have their legitimate place in our approaches to ,god4 ,prayer is not merely communion with ,god1 not merely reverent contemplation of ,his fatherly and holy name1 though that should always be first and chiefest in it4 ,it is not merely the expression of absorbed contemplation1 but of a nature that desires and is dependent4 ,nor is it only the utterance of world-wide desires1 and the expression of a being that has conquered self4 ,the perfection of man is not to have no desires1 or to be petrified or absorbed into a state without a will and without a wish1 still less to be elevated into a condition of absolute possession of all he seeks1 without a want4 ,and the perfection of prayer is not that it should be the utterance of that impossible emotion1 'disinterested love' to ,god1 but that it should be the recognition of our dependence on ,god1 the expression of our many wants1 and the frank telling ,him1 with wills submitted1 or rather conformed1 to ,his1 what we need4 ,to pray is to adore2 to pray is also to ask4 ,we have to say ,our ,father1 and we have also to say1 ,give us1 being sure that if we1 being evil1 know how to give good gifts to our children1 much more does ,he know how to give good things to them that ask ,him4 ,so much for the general considerations applicable to the whole of this second part4 ,as to the connection of its several petitions with each other1 it may be noticed that it is the exact opposite of the former part4 ,that began with the highest and came downwards2 this begins with the lowest and goes upwards4 ,that began with the inward and worked outwards2 this begins with the outward and passes inwards4 ,that set forth the heavenly order in its gradual self-revelation1 working the transformation of earth2 this sets forth the earthly order in its gradual appropriation of ,heaven's gifts4 ,the former declares1 that foremost in importance and in ,god's order are the spiritual blessings which come from knowledge of ,his name2 the latter1 beginning with the prayer for bread1 and thence advancing to deeper necessities1 reminds us1 that in the order of time the least important is still the condition of all the rest4 ,the loftiest pinnacles looking out to the morning sky must have their foundations rooted in common earth4 ',that was not first which is spiritual1 but that which is natural1 and afterwards that which is spiritual4' ,this order1 then1 is in symmetrical opposition to that of the previous part4 ,there is a rhythmical correspondence in inverted movement1 like the expansion and contraction of the heart1 or the rise and fall of a fountain4 ,it is worth noticing how these two opposed halves make one whole2 and as the former begins with contemplation of the fatherly greatness in the heavens1 so the latter part1 starting with the cry for bread1 climbs slowly up through all the ills of life1 and passing from want to trespass1 human unkindness and hatred1 and again to personal weakness and a tempting world1 and the evil of sin and the evil of sorrow1 reaches once more after cries and tears the point from which all began1 and rises to heaven and ,god4 ,the doxology comes circling round to the invocation1 and the prayer1 which has winged its weary way through all weltering floods of human sorrow and want1 comes back like ,noah's dove1 with peace born of its flight1 to its home in ,god1 and ends where it began4 ,they whose prayer and whose lives start with ',our ,father which art in ,heaven1' will end with the confidence and the praise1 ',thine is the kingdom and the honour4' ,now looking at this petition in itself1 ,i note-- ,i4 ,the prayer for ,bread4 ,this contains first an important lesson as to what may be legitimately the subject of our prayers4 ,the ,lord by this juxtaposition condemns the overstrained and fantastic spiritualism which tramples down earthly wants and condemns desires rooted in our physical nature as sin4 ,it is a wonderful testimony from ,jesus of the worth of common gifts1 that the desire for them should here stand beside that great one for the doing of ,god's will4 ,there is nothing here of the false asceticism which undervalues the life which now is1 nothing of the morbid tone of feeling which despises and condemns as sinful the due appreciation of and desire for the blessings of this life4 ,to give predominance to material wants and earthly good is heathen and unchristian1 therefore the petition for these follows the others4 ,but to despise them and pretend to be indifferent to them is heathen and unchristian too2 therefore the prayer for them finds its place among the others4 ,so the right understanding of this prayer is a barrier against the opposite evils of a false sensuousness which forgets the spirit that is in the flesh1 and of a false spirituality which forgets the flesh that is around the spirit4 ,he who made us desire truth in the inward parts1 made us also to desire our daily bread1 and we observe ,his order when we do both1 and seek the ,kingdom of ,god1 not exclusively1 but first4 ,and not only is this petition the vindication of a healthy naturalism1 but it also shows us that we may rightly make prayers of our desires for earthly things4 ,we sometimes hear it said that we have only a right to ask ,god for such gifts as holiness and conformity to ,his will4 ,this has a truth1 a great truth1 in it4 ,but it may be overstrained4 ,we are to subdue our wishes1 we are to be more anxious for our soul's health than for our bodily wants4 ,we are to present our desires concerning all things in this life1 with an implied 'if it be ,thy will1' but while all that is true1 we are also to ask ,him for these lower blessings4 ,our prayers should include all which we desire1 all which we need4 ,our desires should be such as we can turn into prayers4 ,if we dare not ask ,god for a thing1 do not let us seek for it4 ,but whatever we do want1 let us go to ,him for it1 and be sure that ,he does not wish lip homage and fine-sounding petitions for things for which we do not really care1 but that ,he does desire that we should be frank with ,him1 making a prayer of every wish1 and seeing that we have neither wishes which we dare not make prayers1 nor prayers which are not really wishes4 ,let our supplications cover all the ground of our daily wants1 and be true to our own souls4 ,if any man lack anything1 let him ask of ,god1 who giveth to all men life and breath and all things4 ,then still further--the prayer is the recognition of ,god as the ,giver of daily bread4 ',thou openest ,thine hand1' says the old psalm1 'and satisfiest the desire of every living thing4' ,there is no part of the divine dealings of which the ,bible speaks more frequently and more lovingly than ,his supply of all creatures' wants4 ,it is a grand thought1 ',who feedeth the young ravens when they cry1 who maketh the grass to grow on the mountains4 ,the eyes of all wait upon ,thee4' ,there is a magnificent verse in the #ajdth ,psalm1 which regards even the roar of the lion prowling for its prey in midnight forests as a cry to ,god--',the young lions seek their meat from ,god4' ,as ,luther says somewhere in his rough prose--',even to feed the sparrows ,god spends more than the revenues of the ,french king would buy4' ,and that universal bounty applies truly to those whose lot is ',in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread4' ,for us it is true4 ,god feeds us4 ',thou givest meat to them that fear ,thee1 ,thou wilt ever be mindful of ,thy covenant4' ,in giving us our daily bread1 ,his hand is hid under second causes1 but these should not mask the truth from us4 ,god is the life of nature4 ,his will is the power whose orderly working we call nature's laws4 ,force is the sign manual of ,god4 ,there would be no harvest1 no growth1 unless to each seed ,god gave a body as it hath pleased ,him4 ,the existence of bread is the effect of ,his work4 ',he hath not left ,himself without witness in that ,he giveth rain from heaven and fruitful seasons1 filling our hearts with food and gladness4' as ,paul said to the rough farmer folk of ,lycaonia4 ,the distribution of the bread is of ,god4 ,by second causes1 our work and other means4 ,be it so4 ,here is a steam engine1 in one room away at one end of your mill2 here is a spindle whirring five hundred yards off4 ,what then8 ,who thinks that that bit of belting moves the drum round which it turns1 or that the cog-wheel that carries the motion originates it8 ,the motion here has force at the other end1 the effect here has its cause in ,god4 ,the nourishment by bread is of ,god4 ',man doth not live by bread alone1 but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of ,god4' ,the reason why any natural substance has properties is by reason of present will of ,god2 they reside not in itself1 but in ,him4 ,all this we say that we believe when we pray this prayer4 ,how much it conflicts with our modern habit of putting ,god as far away from daily life as we can6 ,the prayer is the consecration of our work for bread4 ,the indirect way by which it is answered is a great blessing1 and it pledges us to labour4 ,orare est laborare4 ,not1 as it is sometimes quoted1 as if toil was to do instead of prayer1 but that active life may be consecrated to ,god1 and all our efforts which terminate in gaining bread for ourselves and for those we love may become prayer1 and be offered to ,god4 ,how can we pray for ,god to give us our daily bread1 and then go to seek it by means which we dare not avow or defend in our prayers8 ,bless my cheating1 bless my sharp practice1 bless my half-heartedness4 ,it is no part of my business to apply principles to details of conduct1 but it is my business to say--take this prayer for a test1 and if you dare not pray it over what you do in earning your living1 ask yourself whether you are not rather earning your death4 ,then the prayer is a pledge of thankful recognition of ,god in our blessings4 ,ah6 dear friends1 are we not all guilty in this8 ,how utterly heathenish is our oblivion of ,god in our daily life6 ,how far we have come from that temper which recognises ,him in all joys1 and begins every new day with ,him6 ,daily mercies demand daily songs of praise4 ,his love wakens us morning by morning4 ,it follows us all the day long with its fatherly benefits4 ,it reveals itself anew every time ,he spreads our table1 every time ,he gives us teaching or joy4 ,and our thanksgiving and consciousness of ,his presence should be as constant as are ,his gifts4 ',my voice shalt thou hear in the morning4' ',they walk all the day long in the light of ,thy countenance4' ',i will both lay me down in peace and sleep4' ',they ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart4' ,,ii4 ,the union with our brethren in our prayer4 ',give us4' ,the struggle for existence is represented by many as the very law of human life4 ,the fight for bread is the great antagonist of brotherly regard for our fellows4 ,trade is said to be warfare2 and then others starting from that conception that one man's gains are some other man's losses1 proclaim with undoubted truth on these premises 'property is robbery4' ,but surely this clause of our prayer teaches us a more excellent way4 ,we are not to be like stiff-necked men who fight with one another for the drop of brackish water caught in the corner of a sail1 but we are to be as children bowing down together before a great ,father1 all sitting at ,his table where nothing wants1 and where even the pet dogs below it eat of the crumbs4 ,the main thing is to note how our ,lord teaches us here to identify ourselves with others1 to make common cause with them in our petition for bread4 ,he who rightly enters into the meaning of this prayer1 and feels the unity which it supposes1 can scarcely regard his possessions as given to himself alone1 or to be held without regard to other people4 ,we are all one in need2 high and low1 rich and poor1 we all hang on ,god for the same supplies4 ,we are all one in reception of ,his gifts4 ,is it becoming in one who is a member of such a whole1 to clasp his portion in both his hands and carry it off to a corner where he gnaws it by himself8 ,that is how wolves feast1 with one foot on their bone and a watchful eye all round for thieves1 not how men1 brethren1 should feast4 ,i am not here to deal with economical questions1 or to apply principles to details1 but surely one may say that this petition contemplates as possible a better state of things than 'each for himself1' whether ,god is for us all or no1 and that it does teach that at all events a man is part of a whole which has a claim on his possessions4 ',neither said any man that aught which he possessed was his own4' ,the ,christian doctrine of property does not seem to be communism4 ,you have your property4 ,it is your own4 ,you have the power1 and as far as law is concerned1 the right1 to do with it none but selfish acts4 ,you have it1 but you are not an owner--only a steward4 ,you have it1 but you hold it not for your own sake1 but as a trustee4 ,you have it as a member of a family1 a great community4 ,you have it that you may dispense to others1 you have it that you may help to multiply the bonds of affection to benefactors and of love to the great ,giver4 ,and this liberality is founded1 according to this petition1 in our common relation to ,god4 ,we do not want charity--we want justice4 ,the needy cannot enforce their claims1 but their cry enters into the ears of the ,lord1 and what is withheld from them is 'kept back by fraud4' ,the ,bible always puts benevolence and liberality on the ground of their being a debt4 ',withhold not good from him to whom it is due4' ,so how1 beside this prayer1 does it look to see two men who have united in it1 the one being ,dives clothed and faring sumptuously1 and the other ,lazarus with scraps for his food and dogs for his doctors8 ,there is many a contrast like that to-day4 ,all ,i have to say is--that such contrasts are not meant as the product of ,christianity and civilisation and commerce for eighteen hundred years1 and that one chief way of ending them is that we shall learn to feel and live the true communism which traces all a man's possessions to ,god1 and feels that he has received them as a member of a community for the blessing of all1 even as ,christ taught when ,he bid us say1 ',give us our daily bread4' ,,iii4 ,the prayer for bread for to-day4 ,this carries with it precious truths as to the manner of the divine gifts and the limit of our cares and anxieties4 ,god gives not all at once1 but continuously1 and in portions sufficient for the day4 ,as with the manna fresh gathered every morning1 so all our gifts from ,him are given according to the present exigencies4 ,note the beauty and blessedness of this method of supplying our wants4 ,it gives to each moment its own special character1 it gives to each the glory of having in it a fresh gift of ,god4 ,it binds all together in one long line of brightness made up of an infinite number of points1 each a separate act of divine love1 each a glittering sign of ,his presence4 ,it brings ,god very near to all life4 ,it draws us closer to ,him1 by giving us at each moment opportunity and need for feeling our dependence upon ,him1 by bringing us once again to ,his throne that our wants may be supplied4 ,and as each moment1 so each day1 comes with its new duties and its new wants4 ,yesterday's food nourishes us not to-day4 ,to-day's strength must come from this day's ,god and ,his new supplies4 ,and thus the monotony of life is somewhat broken1 and there come to us all the fresh vigour and the new hope of each returning day1 and the merciful wall of the night's slumber is built up between us and yesterday with its tasks and its weariness4 ,and fresh elastic hopes1 along with renewed dependence on ,god1 should waken us morning by morning1 as we look into the unknown hours and say1 ',give us this day our daily bread4' ,then1 again1 let us learn not to try to abrogate this wise ordinance by onward-looking anxieties4 ,we have to exercise forethought1 and not to possess it is to be a poor creature1 below the ant and the bee4 ,no man is in a favourable position for intellectual or moral growth who has not some certainty in his life1 and a reasonable prospect of such perpetuity as is compatible with this changeful state4 ,but that is a very different thing from the careful1 anxious forebodings in which we are all so prone to indulge4 ,these are profitless and harmful1 robbing us of strength and contributing nothing to our wisdom or to our security4 ,they are contrary to this law of the divine dealings that we shall get our rations as we need them1 no sooner2 that the path will be opened when we come to it1 not till then4 ,god knows the line of march1 and will issue our route each morning4 ,god looks after the commissariat and saves us the trouble of carrying it4 ,let us try not to be 'over-inquisitive to cast the fashion of uncertain evils1' nor magnify trouble in the fog of our own thoughts1 but limit our cares to to-day1 and let to-morrow alone1 for our ,god will be in it as ,he has been in the past4 ,he will never take us where ,he will not go with us4 ,each day will have its own brightness1 as each place its own rainbow4 ,if we are led into dry lands1 there will be a fountain opened in the desert1 and ,he will feed us by ,his ravens ere we shall want4 ,bread shall be given and water made sure4 ,to-morrow shall be as this day4 ,then let the veil still hang1 nor try to lift it with the hand of forecasting thought1 nor be over-careful to make the future sure by earthly means1 but let present blessings be parents of bright hopes4 ,remember ,him who is the same yesterday1 and to-day1 and for ever4 ,in ,him the past is unwept for and the future sure4 ,accept the merciful limitations on ,his gifts1 and let them be the limitations which you set to your own desires while you pray1 ',give us this day our daily bread4' ,,iv4 ,the prayer for bread suited to our needs4 ',daily bread' clearly cannot be the right rendering1 for after 'this day' that would be weak repetition4 ,the word is difficult1 for it only occurs here and there in ,luke4 ,it may be rendered 'for the coming 7day71' but that can scarcely be supposed to be our ,lord's meaning1 when ,his precept to take no thought for the morrow is remembered4 ,a more satisfactory rendering is1 'sufficient for our subsistence1' the bread which we need to sustain us4 ,such a petition points to desires limited by our necessities4 ,what we should wish1 and what we have a right to ask from ,god1 is what we need--no more and no less4 ,this does not reduce us all to one level1 but leaves ,him to settle what we do want4 ,how different this prayer in the mouth of a king and of a pauper6 ,but it does rebuke immoderate and unbridled desires4 ,god does not limit us to mere naked necessaries--,he giveth liberally1 and means life to be beautiful and adorned4 ,that which is over and above bread is to a large extent that which makes life graceful and refined1 and ,i have no wish to preach a crusade against it2 but ,i have just as little hesitation in declaring what it is not left to pulpit moralists to say1 that the falsely luxurious style of living among us looks very strange by the side of this petition4 ,so much luxury which does not mean refinement2 so much ostentatious expenditure which does not represent increased culture or pleasure or anything but a resolve to be on a level with somebody else2 so much which is so ludicrously unlike the poor little shrimp of a man or woman that sits in the centre of it all6 ',plain living and high thinking are no more4' ',my riches consist not in the abundance of my possessions1 but in the fewness of my wants4' ',the less a man needs1 the nearer is he to the gods4' ,so1 what a lesson for us all in this age1 where everyone of us is tempted to adopt a scale of what is necessary very far beyond the truth4 ,young and old--dare1 if need be1 to be poor4 ',having food and raiment1 let us therewith be content4' ,we cannot all become rich1 but let us learn to bring down our desires to1 and bound them by1 our true wants4 ,christ has taught us here to put this petition after these loftier ones1 and ,he has taught us to pass quickly by it to the more noble and higher needs of the soul4 ,do we treat it thus1 making it a secondary element in our wishes8 ,if so1 then our days will be blessed1 each filled with fresh gifts from ,god1 and each leading us to ,him who is the true ,bread that came down from ,heaven4 ',,forgive ,,us ,,our ,,debts' ',forgive us our debts1 as we forgive our debtors4'--,,matt4 vi4 #ab4 ,the sequence of the petitions in the second half of the ,lord's ,prayer suggests that every man who needs to pray for daily bread needs also to pray for daily forgiveness4 ,the supplication for the supply of our bodily needs precedes the others1 because it deals with a need which is fundamental indeed1 but of less importance than those which prompt the subsequent petitions4 ,god made us to need bread1 we have made ourselves to need pardon4 ,the answer to the later petition is as certain as that to the earlier4 ,he who gives meat will not withhold forgiveness4 ,give and forgive refer to our deepest wants1 but how many who feel the one are all unconscious of the other6 ,i4 ,the consciousness of sin1 of which this petition is the expression4 ',debt' and 'duty' are one word4 ',owe' and 'ought' are one word4 ,duty is what is due4 ,ought is what we owe--to some one or other4 ,we are under obligations all round1 which conscience tells us that we have not fulfilled4 ,the unfulfilled obligation or duty becomes a debt4 ,we divide our obligations into duties to ,god1 our neighbours1 and ourselves2 but the division is superficial1 for whatever we owe to ourselves or to men1 we owe also to ,god1 and the non-fulfilment of our obligations to ,him is sin4 ',no man liveth to himself1 444 we live unto ,god4' ,our consciences accuse us of undone duties to ourselves1 the indulgence of evil tempers1 a slack hand over ourselves1 a careless husbandry which leaves furrows full of weeds1 failure to bend the bow to the uttermost1 to keep the mirror bright4 ,it accuses us of undone duties to our neighbours1 unkindness1 neglect of opportunities of service1 and many another ugly fault4 ,duties undone are debts not only to ourselves or to our fellows1 but to ,god4 ,the great ,over-lord reckons offences against ,his vassals as crimes against ,himself4 ,that graver aspect of our faults as being sins may seem a gloomy thought1 but it is really one full of blessing1 for it lodges the true power of remission of our burdensome debts in the hands of the one true creditor1 whom the prayer has taught us to call ',our ,father4' ,that consciousness of sin should be as universal as the sense of bodily hunger2 but1 alas6 it is too often dormant4 ,it is especially needful to try to awake it in this generation1 when the natural tendency of the heart to ignore it is strengthened by talk of heredity and environment1 and by the disposition to think of sin with pity rather than reprobation4 ,men are apt to regard a consciousness of sin as morbid4 ,they will acknowledge failure or imperfection1 but there is little realisation of sin1 and therefore little sense of the need for a deliverer4 ,if men are ever to be brought to a saving grip of ,jesus ,christ1 they must have learned a far more heart-piercing consciousness of their sin than this morally relaxed age possesses4 ,,ii4 ,the cry to which that consciousness gives voice4 ,we often ask for forgiveness2 have we any definite notion of what we are asking for8 ,when we forgive one another1 he who forgives puts away alienation of heart1 every cloud of suspicion from his mind1 and his feeling and his conduct are as if there had never been a jar or an offence1 or are more tender and loving because of the offence that is now forgiven4 ,he who is forgiven has1 on his part1 a deeper shame for the offence1 which looks far darker now1 when it is blotted out1 than it did before forgiveness4 ,both are eager to show love1 not in order to erase the past1 but because the past is erased4 ,when a father forgives his child1 does that merely or chiefly mean that he spares the rod2 or does it not much rather mean that he lets his love flow out to the little culprit1 undammed back by the child's fault8 ,and when ,god forgives ,he does so1 not so much as a judge but rather as the ,father4 ,it is the father's heart that the child craves when it cries for pardon4 ,the remission of punishment is an element1 but by no means the chief element1 in man's forgiveness1 and that is still more true as to ,god's4 ,there are present1 and for the most part outward1 consequences of a forgiven man's sin which are not averted by forgiveness1 and which it is for his good that he should not escape4 ,but when the assurance of ,god's unhindered love rests on a pardoned soul1 those consequences of its sins which it has to reap cease to be penal and become educative1 cease to be the expressions only of ,god's hatred of evil1 and become expressions of ,his love to the forgiven evil-doer4 ',i will be his ,father1 and he shall be ,my son4 ,if he commit iniquity1 ,i will chasten him with the rod of men 444 but ,my mercy shall not depart from him4' ,,iii4 ,the startling addition to the cry4 ',as we forgive4' ,is1 then1 our poor forgiveness the measure or condition of ,god's8 ,at first sight that addition seems to impose a limit on ,his pardon which might well plunge us into despair4 ,but reflection on the words brings to light more comforting1 though solemnly warning1 thoughts4 ,we learn that our human forgiveness is the faint reflection of the light of ,his4 ,we have a right to infer ,his gentleness1 forbearance1 and forgiveness from the existence of such gracious qualities in ourselves4 ,god is all that is good in men4 ',whatsoever things are reverend1 whatsoever things are honourable1 whatsoever things are lovely--all these are in ,him1 and all as they are seen in men are from ,him4 ',he that formed the eye1 shall not ,he see8' ,we forgive1 and will not ,he8 ,in a very real sense our forgiving is the condition of our being forgiven4 ,we are accustomed to hear that faith and repentance are conditions of receiving the divine forgiveness4 ,but the very same disposition which1 when directed to ,god1 produces faith and repentance1 when directed to men1 produces a forgiving temper4 ,a deep sense of my own unworthiness1 and of having no ground of right to stand on1 will surely lead me to be lenient and placable to others4 ,we cannot cut our lives into halves1 and be inwardly filled with contrition1 and outwardly full of assertion of our rights4 ,we cannot plead with ,god to do for us what we will not do for others4 ,our prayer for forgiveness must1 if it is real1 influence our whole behaviour2 and if it is not real1 it will not be answered4 ,the possession of ,god's forgiveness will make us forgiving4 ',forgiving one another1 even as also ,god in ,christ hath forgiven you4 ,be ye therefore imitators of ,god1 as beloved children4' ,our continuous possession and conscious enjoyment of ,god's forgiveness will be contingent on our forgivingness4 ,he who took his fellow-servant by the throat and half choked him in his determination to exact the last farthing of his debt was1 by the act1 cancelling his own discharge and piling up a mountain of debt1 against himself4 ,our consciousness of forgiveness will be most clear and satisfying when we are forgiving those who trespass against us4 ,we shall pardon most spontaneously and fully when our hearts are warm with the beams of ,god's pardon4 ',,lead ,,us ,,not ,,into ,,temptation' ',and lead us not into temptation4'--,,matt4 vi4 #ac4 ,the petition of the previous clause has to do with the past1 this with the future2 the one is the confession of sin1 the other the supplication which comes from the consciousness of weakness4 ,the best man needs both4 ,forgiveness does not break the bonds of evil by which we are held4 ,but forgiveness increases our consciousness of weakness1 and in the new desire which comes from it to walk in holiness1 we are first rightly aware of the strength and frequency of inducements to sin4 ,a man may by mere natural conscience know something of what temptation is1 but only he understands its strength who resists it4 ,the sense of forgiveness and the new desires and love thereby developed1 lead to the falling of the mask from the deceitful forms that gleam around us4 ,he who is forgiven has his eyesight purged1 and can see that these are not what they seem1 but demons that lure us to our destruction4 ,it is true that the sign of the ,cross compels the foul thing to appear in its own true form4 ',then started up in his own shape the fiend4' ,the love which comes from forgiveness and the new sympathies which it engenders are the ,ithuriel's spear4 ,what a wonderful change passes upon the siren tempters when we believe that ,christ has pardoned us1 and have learned to love ,him6 ,then the fishtail is seen below the sunlit waters4 ,forgiveness is one of the chief means of teaching us our sin4 ,the removal of all dread of personal consequences1 which it effects1 leaves us free to contemplate with calmed hearts the moral character of our actions4 ,the revelation of ,god's love which is made in forgiveness quickens our consciences as well as purges them1 and our standard of purity is raised4 ,the effort to live rightly1 which is the sure result of ,god's love believed1 first teaches us thoroughly how wrong we are4 ,we know the strength of the current when we try to pull against it4 ,looking to ,god as our ,father1 our blackness shows blacker against the radiant purity of ,his white light4 ,forgiveness does not at once and wholly annihilate the tendency to transgress4 ,true1 the belief that ,god has forgiven supplies the strongest motives for holiness1 and the new life which comes to every man who so believes will by degrees conquer all the lingering garrisons of the ,philistines which hold scattered strong-posts in the land4 ,but though this be so1 still the purifying process is a slow and gradual one1 and evil may be forced out of the heart while yet it is in the blood4 ,the central will may be cleansed while yet habits continue to be strong1 and the power of resistance1 new-born as it is1 may be weak in act though omnipotent in nature4 ,all sin leaves some tendency to recurrence4 ,the path which one avalanche has hollowed lies ready for another4 ,it is true1 on the one side1 that no purity is so bright and no obedience so steadfast as that of the man who has been cleansed and reclaimed from rebellion4 ,but it is also true that1 on the road to that ultimate purity1 a pardoned man has to struggle daily with the bitter relics of his old self1 to wage war against evils the force of which he never knew till he tried to resist them1 against sins which were all sleek1 and velvety1 and purring1 as long as he fondled and stroked them1 but which flash out sharp claws when he would fling them from their dens in his heart4 ,forgiveness does not at once conquer sin1 and forgiveness leads to deeper consciousness of sin4 ,hence the order of petitions here4 ,following on the prayer for pardon1 comes that for shelter from and in temptation which arises from deep consciousness of our own weakness and liability to fall4 ,temptation has two parts in it--the circumstances which lead to sin1 the desire which is addressed by them4 ,there must be tinder as well as spark1 if there is to be flame4 ,fire falling on water or upon bare rock will kindle nothing4 ,god sends the one1 we make the other4 ,the ,prayer3-- ,i4 ,expresses our recognition of ,god as ordering all circumstances4 ,there is the general faith that ,his ,providence orders our lot1 and the specific that ,god orders and brings about temptations4 ,to tempt is to present inducements to sin1 but a secondary significance is to do so maliciously1 and with desire that we should fall4 ,it is in this secondary sense that ,james denies that ,god tempts any man4 ,we tempt ourselves1 or evil tempts us4 ,but ,god does tempt in so far as ,he presents outward circumstances which become occasions of falling or of standing1 as we take them4 ,he sends temptations1 ,he sends trials1 and the two only differ in name1 and in what is implied in the word1 of the disposition of the sender4 ,christ was led into the wilderness by the ,spirit to be tempted4 ,if ,god does not in malice tempt1 still ,he does in mercy try4 ,god sends trials2 we make them temptations4 ,,ii4 ,implies that our chiefest wish is holiness1 our greatest dread sin4 ,this is the only negative petition4 ,what would be our deprecatory prayers8 ,lead us not into sorrow1 loss1 poverty1 disease1 death8 ,how we fill our prayers with womanish shriekings and fears6 ,this petition can come only from a man whose will is resigned and fixed on ,god4 ,one thing he fears1 and that is to sin4 ,the one thing to be desired is not outward well-being1 but inward character4 ,think of our lives3 what do we dread most8 ,,iii4 ,expresses our self-distrust4 ,it is from consciousness of our weakness that we pray thus4 ,the language at first sight seems to breathe only a wish to be exempt from temptation4 ,if that were its meaning1 it were contrary to ,christ's teaching and to the whole tenor of ,scripture4 ,but such a wish is included in it1 and corresponds to one tone of mind1 and to what ought always to be our feeling4 ,we rightly shrink from temptation because we know our own weakness4 ,that is the only allowable ground2 if we do it from indolence1 or dread of trouble1 we are wrong4 ,if flesh shrinks from pain1 we are 'carnal and walk as men4' ,if we desire simply to have a smooth path1 then we have yet to learn what our ,master meant when ,he said1 ',in the world ye shall have tribulation4' ,his servants should 'count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations4' ,but if we rightly understand our own weakness1 we shall dread to meet the enemy1 because we know how often circumstances make all the difference between saint and sinner4 ,,iv4 ,expresses our reliance on ,god if temptation comes4 ,i take to be 'tempted' as being presentation of inducement to sin4 ,i take to 'enter into temptation' as the further step of consenting to it4 ,perhaps there may be hovering in the words of the petition a half-conscious allusion to a captive being led into a prison4 ,what we should chiefly desire is that ,god would lead us not into1 but through and out of1 temptation4 ,to pray simply for exemption from trial is-- #a4 ,to ask what is impossible4 ,all scenes of life1 all stages1 both sexes1 all relations1 all professions1 are and ever will be full of inducements to sin4 ,whether any given circumstance will tempt you or not depends on what you are4 ,if there is nothing adhesive on you1 it will not stick4 #b4 ,to ask what would not be for our good4 ,effect of conquered temptation on the ,christian life4 ,effect on character4 ,the old belief that the strength of a slain enemy passed into his slayer is true in regard to a ,christian's overcome temptations4 ,effect on grasp of truth4 ,effect on consciousness of relation to ,god4 ,effect on ,future4 ,so then we ought to desire not so much exemption from temptation1 as strength in it4 ,and ,he will always be at our side to grant us this4 ,we should seek not freedom from furnace1 but ,his presence in it2 not to be guided away from the dark valley1 but through it4 ,his prayer is our model2 ,his life is our pattern1 who was tempted 'though ,he were the ,son'2 ,his strength is our hope4 ,he is 'able to succour them that are tempted4' ,we identify ourselves in such a prayer with all who have sinned1 and knowing that we are men of like passions1 and that we may fall like them1 we cry 'lead us not4' ,he who offers this prayer from such motives will best and most willingly meet temptation when it comes4 ,the soldier who goes into the field with careful circumspection1 knowing the enemy's strength and his own weakness1 is the most likely to conquer4 ,it is the presumptuous men1 confident in their own strength1 who are sure to get beaten4 ',,deliver ,,us ,,from ,,evil' ',but deliver us from evil4'--,,matt4 vi4 #ac4 ,the two halves of this prayer are like a calm sky with stars shining silently in its steadfast blue1 and a troubled earth beneath1 where storms sweep1 and changes come1 and tears are ever being shed4 ,the one is so tranquil1 the other so full of woe and want4 ,what a dark picture of human conditions lies beneath the petitions of this second half6 ,hunger and sin and temptation1 and wider still1 that tragic word which includes them all--evil4 ,forgiveness and defence and deliverance--what sorrows these presuppose6 ,each step of these latter supplications seems to carry us deeper into the shadow and the darkness1 each to present a darker aspect of what human life really is2 and now that we have reached the last1 we have an all-comprehensive cry which holds within its meaning every ill that flesh is heir to4 ,but seeing that we have to do with a prayer1 we have also to do with a prophecy4 ,we know that if we ask anything according to ,his will1 ,he heareth us1 and therefore the sadder the want which is expressed1 the fuller of hope is the prayer4 ,this petition gives a dark picture of human wants1 but whatsoever thing we pray about or against1 we thereby profess to believe to be contrary to ,god's will1 and to be certain of removal by ,him2 and when our ,lord commanded us to say ',our ,father1 444 deliver us from evil1' ,he gave us the lively hope that all which is included in that terribly wide word should be swept away1 and that ,he would break every yoke and let ,his oppressed go free4 ,the whole sum of human sorrow is gathered into one petition1 that we may all feel that every item of it is capable of attenuation and extinction2 and so our prayer1 in the very clause which seems to sound the lowest depth1 really rises to the loftiest height1 and the words which sound likest a wail over all the misery that is done under the sun1 have in them the notes of triumph4 ',the sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest thought4' ,the most jubilant and confident prayer is that which feels most keenly the burden of evil1 and 'falling with its weight of sins 'upon the great world's altar-stairs1' cries to ,god for deliverance4 ,consider1 then3-- ,i4 ,the width of this petition4 ,what is evil8 ,well1 we leave ,god to decide what it is1 but also we have no reason that ,i can see for limiting the impressive width of the word4 ,it is a profound insight into the nature of evil which1 in our own language and in other tongues1 uses one word to express both what we call sin1 and what we call sorrow4 ,and ,i know not why we should suppose that our ,lord does not include both of these here4 ,there is what we call physical evil1 pain1 sorrow1 meaning thereby whatever wars against our well-being and happiness4 ,there is what we call moral evil1 sin1 meaning thereby whatever wars against our purity4 ,both are evil4 ,men's consciences tell them so of the one4 ,men's sensibilities tell them so of the other4 ,you cannot sophisticate a man into believing that he is not suffering when his flesh is racked or his heart wounded4 ,it is evil to be in pain4 ,it is evil to carry a heavy heart4 ,it is evil to be stripped of what we have long been accustomed to lean upon4 ,it is evil to be crushed down by loss and want4 ,it is evil to stand by the black hole that swallows the coffin that holds the light of our eyes4 ,it is evil to have the arrows of calumny or hate sticking in our quivering spirits4 ,it is evil to be battered with the shocks of change and doom in the world1 to have to toil at ungrateful tasks beyond our strength4 ,the life which turns the child's rounded features into the thin face lined and wrinkled1 and the child's elastic run into the slow1 heavy tread1 is after all a life which in its outward aspects is a life of evil4 ,and many a man who has had little sympathy with what seem to him the hazy platitudes of the rest of the prayer1 learns to pray this clause1 and is always ready to pray it4 ,for we may be sure of this1 that they who make the world their all are they who feel its evils most keenly4 ,from how many lips unused to prayer are cries every hour going up in this sorrowful world which really mean1 'deliver us from evil'6 ,but it is not only these external evils which the prayer includes4 ,it means every kind of sin1 all dominion of what is contrary to ,god's will4 ,and the petition is 'deliver1' pull us out1 drag us from4 ,it is a cry for the entire emancipation or utter extinction of evil in its effect upon us4 ,so this petition in its clear recognition of evil sets forth man's condition distinctly1 and is opposed to that false stoicism which tries to argue men out of their senses1 and convince them that the fire which burns them is only a painted fire4 ,christianity has nothing in common with that insensibility to suffering which it is sometimes supposed to teach4 ,christ wept1 and bade the daughters of ,jerusalem weep also4 ,christianity has deep words to say about evil and pain as being salutary and for our good1 and about submission to ,god's will as being better than wild wishes to be delivered now and at once from all pain and sorrow4 ,but it begins with full admission that evil is evil1 and all its teachings presuppose that4 ,job was tormented by the well-meaning platitudes of his friends1 who lifted up their hands in holy horror that he did not lie on his dunghill1 as if it had been a bed of roses2 and ,job1 who felt all the sorrow of his losses and ground out many a wrong saying between his teeth1 was justified because he had held by the truth that his senses taught him1 that pain was bitter and bad1 and by the other which his faith taught him1 that ,god must be good4 ,he could not reconcile them4 ,we can in part2 but our ,lord has taught us in this prayer that it is not to be done by denying or sophisticating facts4 ,then let us use this prayer in all its breadth1 and feel that it covers all which makes our hearts heavy1 and all which makes our consciences sore4 ',from all evil and mischief--plague1 pestilence1 and famine1 as well as envy1 hatred1 and hypocrisy--from sin1 from the crafts and assaults of the devil1--,good ,lord1 deliver us4' ',in all time of our tribulation2 in all time of our wealth1 in the hour of death1 and in the day of judgment1--,good ,lord1 deliver us4' ,,ii4 ,the unity and source of the evil4 ,the singular number suggests that all evil1 multiform as it seems1 is at bottom one4 ,it is a great weltering coil1 but wilderness and tangle as it appears1 there is a tap root from which it all comes1 like a close-clinging mass of ivy which is choking the life out of an elm-tree4 ,if that root were grubbed up1 all would fall4 ,it is like some huge sea monster 'floating many a rood1' but there is only one life in it4 ,the hydra has a hundred heads1 but one heart4 ,and the place in the prayer in which this clause comes suggests what that is--sin4 ,that place implies that all human sorrows and sufferings are consequences of human evil4 ,and that is true inasmuch as many of them are distinctly and naturally its results4 ,disease is often the result of dissipation1 poverty of indolence1 friendlessness of selfishness4 ,how many of the miseries of our great cities1 how many of the miseries of nations1 result from criminal neglect and injustice6 ',man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn4' ,ah6 if all men were saying from the heart1 ',thy will be done1' how many of their griefs would be at an end6 ,and it is true that sorrows are the consequences of sin inasmuch as suffering has been introduced by ,god into the world because of sin4 ,he has been forced by our rebellion to use judgments1 and that to bring us back4 ,and it is true that sorrows are the consequences of sin inasmuch as the sting is taken out of them when our sins are forgiven and we love ,god4 ,then they so change their characters as scarcely to deserve to be called by their old name1 and the paradox1 'sorrowful yet always rejoicing1' becomes a sober fact of experience4 ,,iii4 ,the divine opposition to evil4 ,this prayer implies that all evil is contrary to ,his will4 ,the one kind is so1 absolutely and always4 ,the other is a method to which ,he has had recourse1 but not that which1 if things had gone right1 ,he would have adopted4 ,so this prayer breathes confidence that ,god will overcome both kinds4 ,how much there is to make us believe that evil is eternal4 ,how apt we are to fall into despair1 to lose heart for ourselves and our fellows2 to say that it has always been so1 and it always will be so4 ,for all social reformers here is encouragement4 ,for ourselves1 when we seem to do so little in setting ourselves right1 here is confidence4 ,but it must be ,god who conquers the world's evil4 ,our most potent weapon in the struggle with our own and the world's evil is the earnest offering of this petition4 ,think of the failure of godless schemes2 how often we have been on the verge of political and other millenniums4 ,only the ,god1 who cures sin1 can cure the world's ills4 ,we are not to substitute praying for working4 ,god may answer our prayer by setting us to work4 ,remember that you pledge yourselves to work for your fellows by that ,us1 and to try to reduce1 were it by ever so little1 the sum of human misery4 ,,iv4 ,the manner of ,god's deliverance from evil4 ,god delivers us by ,christ1 that is the sum of all4 ,he delivers us from sin by ,his answers to the previous petitions4 ,he delivers us from suffering by teaching us how to bear it1 and by showing us the meaning of it4 ,the evil in evil is taken away4 ,there shines a brightness round about the devouring fire 7,ezek4 i4 #d74 ',all things work together for good4' ,finally1 ,he delivers by taking us to ,himself4 ,this prayer goes beyond present experience4 ,it is the yearning for full redemption4 ,it is the last which is answered4 ,but there lies in it a not indistinct prophecy of that great and blessed time when we shall be like ,him1 and delivered from all evil4 ,for ourselves and for the world it carries the assurance that neither sorrow nor sin shall be permitted to deform for ever the face of this fair creation2 but that the day comes when ,god's name being everywhere hallowed1 and ,his will done on earth1 and ,his kingdom set up1 and all our wants supplied1 and all our sins forgiven1 and all temptations taken out of the way1 evil of every kind shall be scourged out of ,god's universe1 and 'the ransomed of the ,lord shall return with joy upon their heads1 and sorrow and sighing shall flee away4' ,then shall this mighty prayer be answered1 the prayer of ,god's children in all ages1 the prayer which ,he offers before the ,throne who on earth prayed1 ',not that ,thou shouldest take them out of the world1 but that ,thou shouldest keep them from the evil'2 the prayer which the white-robed souls offer when they cry1 ',how long1 ,o ,lord1 how long8' the prayer which1 all unconsciously1 the sobs1 and cries1 and sorrows of six thousand years have been offering2 the prayer which is every hour being answered in hourly mercies1 and multitudes of forgivenesses and gracious guiding2 the prayer which has been steadily tending towards its fulfilment1 through all the ages during which ,god's name has been growing in men's love1 and ,his will more and more obeyed1 and ,his kingdom more and more fully come2 the prayer which will be at last completely realised when all ,his children shall stand before ,his ,throne happy and good1 and the noise of earth's evil shall sound only in the ear of memory1 like the murmur of some far-off sea heard from the sacred mountain1 or the remembrance of the tempest when all the winds are still4 ,if our prayer is1 ',deliver us from evil1' our life's experience will be that ',he delivered us from so great a death and will deliver1' our dying word will be thanksgiving to 'the angel who delivered us from all evil1' and our death will bring the full deliverance for which while here we pray1 and admit us into that region of unmingled good and blessing and purity1 whose distant brightness we1 tossing on the unquiet sea1 behold from afar and long to possess4 ',after this manner pray ye1' and to you the promise will be blessedly fulfilled1 ',because he hath set his love upon ,me1 therefore will ,i deliver him4 ,i will set him on high1 because he hath known ,my name' 7,ps4 xci4 #ad74 ',,thine ,,is ,,the ,,kingdom' ',thine is the kingdom1 and the power1 and the glory1 for ever4 ,amen4' ,,matt4 vi4 #ac4 ,there is no reason to suppose that this doxology was spoken by ,christ4 ,it does not occur in any of the oldest and most authoritative manuscripts of ,matthew's ,gospel4 ,it does not seem to have been known to the earliest ,christian writers4 ,long association has for us intertwined the words inextricably with our ,lord's ,prayer1 and it is a wound to reverential feeling to strike out what so many generations have used in their common supplications4 ,no doubt this doxology is appropriate as a conclusion1 and serves to give an aspect of completeness4 ,it sounds cold and cheerless to end our prayer with 'evil4' ,but the question is not one of feeling or of our notions of fitness1 but purely one of criticism1 and the only evidence which has any right to be heard in settling the text of the ,new ,testament is dead against this clause4 ,if we regard that evidence1 we are obliged to say that the doxology has no business here4 ,how it stands here is a question which may be answered satisfactorily4 ,when the ,lord's ,prayer came to be used in public worship1 it was natural to append to it a doxology1 just as in chanting the psalms it became the habit to repeat at the end of each the ,gloria4 ,this doxology1 originally written on the margin of the gospel1 would gradually creep into the text1 and once there1 was naturally retained4 ,it does not follow that1 because ,christ did not speak it1 we ought not to use it4 ,it should not be in the ,bible1 but it may well be in our prayers4 ,if we think that our ,lord gave us a pattern rather than a form1 we are quite justified in extending that pattern by any additions which harmonise with its spirit4 ,if we think ,he gave us a form to be repeated verbatim1 then we ought not to add to it this doxology4 ,at first sight it seems as if the prayer without it were incomplete4 ,it contains loving desires1 lowly dependence1 humble penitence1 earnest wishes for cleansing1 but there appears none of that rapturous praise which is also an element in all true devotion4 ,and this may have been one reason for the addition of the doxology4 ,but ,i think that that absence of praise and joy is only apparent2 the first clause of the prayer expresses the highest form of both4 ,the doxology1 if you will think of it1 adds nothing to the contemplation of the divine character which the prayer has already taught us4 ,it is only a repetition at the close of what we had at the beginning1 and its conception1 lofty and grand as it is1 falls beneath that of ',our ,father4' ,we might almost say that the doxology is incongruous with the prayer as presenting a less blessed1 spiritual1 distinctively ,christian thought of ,god4 ,that would be going too far1 but ,i cannot but feel a certain change in tone1 a dropping from the loftiest elevation down to the celebration of the lower aspects of the divine4 ',kingdom1 power1 and glory' are grand1 but they do not reach the height of ascription of praise which sounds in the very first words of the prayer4 ,properly speaking1 too1 this doxology is not a part of the prayer4 ,it expresses two things3 the devout contemplation of ,god which the whole course of the petitions has excited in the soul--and in that aspect it is the ,church's echo to the ,lord's ,prayer2 and the confidence with which we pray--and in that aspect it is rather the utterance of meditative reflection asking of itself its reasons for hope and stirring itself up to lay hold on ,god4 ,notice1 then-- ,i4 ,the meaning of the doxology4 ,kingdom1 power1 and glory correspond to kingdom1 will1 and hallowing in the first part4 ,the order is not the same1 but it is still substantially identical4 ',thine the kingdom4' ,all earthly things1 the whole fates of men here1 are ruled by ,him4 ,the prayer asked that it might be so2 here we declare that it is so already1 not1 of course1 in the deepest sense1 but that even now and here ,he rules with authority4 ',thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom1' and this conviction is inseparable from our ,christianity4 ,how hard it is to believe it at all times1 from what we see around us6 ,the temptation is to think that the kingdom is men's1 or belongs to blind fate1 or chance1 and our own evil hearts ever suggest that the kingdom is our own4 ,satan said1 ',all is mine1 and ,i will give it ,thee4' ,the affairs of the world seem so far from ,god1 we are so tempted to believe that ,he is remote from it1 that nations and their rulers and the field of politics are void of ,him4 ,we see craft and force and villainy ruling1 we see kingdoms far from any perception that society is for man and from ,god4 ,we see ,dei gratia on our coins1 and 'by the grace of the ,devil' for real motto4 ,we see long tracks of godless crime and mean intrigue1 and here and there a divine gleam falling from some heroic deed of sacrifice4 ,we see king and priest playing into each other's hands1 and the people destroyed1 whatever be the feud4 ,but we are to believe that the world is the kingdom of ,god2 to learn whence comes all human rule1 and to be sure that even here and now ',thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom4' ',thine the ,power4' ,not merely has ,he authority over1 but ,he works indeed through all--the whole world and all creatures are the field of the ever present energy of ,god4 ,that is a simple truth1 deep but clear1 that all power comes from ,him4 ,he is the cause of all changes1 physical and all other4 ,force is the garment of the present ,god1 and among men all power is from ,him4 ,his will is the creative word4 ',thine the ,glory4' ,god's glory is the praise which comes from the accomplishment of ,his purpose and will4 ,this is the end of all ,creation and ,manifestation4 ,the thought of ,scripture is that all things are for the greater glory of ,god4 ,it may be a most cold-blooded and cruel doctrine1 or it may be a most blessed one4 ,all depends on what is our conception of the character of the ,god whose self-revelation is ,his glory4 ,an almighty ,devil is the ,god of many people4 ,but we have learned to say ',our ,father1' and hence this thought is blessed4 ,unless we had so learned1 the thought that ,his end was ,his glory would make ,him a selfish tyrant4 ,but since we know ,him to be our ,father1 we know that ,his ,glory is the revelation of ,his ,love1 ,his ,fatherhood2 that when we say that ,he does all things for ,his own glory1 we say that ,he does all things that men may know ,his character as it is1 and 'to know ,him is life eternal4' ',thine is the kingdom1 and the power1 and the glory'3 whatsoever we may have lost and suffered in the past2 whatsoever fiery baptism and strife of arms or of principles we may yet have to go through2 whatsoever shocks of loss and sorrow may strike upon our own hearts2 whatsoever untraversed seas our nation or our race may have to embark upon1 ,one abides1 the same ,one remains ours and is ever with us4 ,we may have to face storm and cloud1 and 'neither sun nor stars may appear'2 we may have to fling out the best anchors we can find1 if haply they may hold on anything1 and may wearily 'wish for the day4' ,but 'the ,lord sitteth upon the flood1' and in the thickest of the night1 when we lift our wearied eyes1 we shall see ,him coming to us across the storm1 and the surges smoothing themselves to rest for ,his pavement1 and the waves subside into their caves at ,his voice4 ',thine is the ,kingdom1 and the power1 and the glory4' ,then the world and we shall be guided right and kept safe1 and whatsoever is true and good shall rule1 and the weak cause shall be the conquering1 and all false fame shall fade like morning mist1 and every honest desire and effort for man's blessedness shall have eternal honour4 ,god is ,king2 ,god is mighty2 ,god's name shall have glory2 then for us there is ,hope invincible in spite of all evil4 ,courage to stand by ,his truth and ,his will1 endless patience and endless charity1 are our fitting robes1 the livery of our ,king4 ,because ,he is our ,father1 ,he will deliver us and our brethren from all evil1 and by ,his all-powerful ,love will found ,his universal kingdom and get the glory due unto ,his name1 the glory of loving and being loved by all ,his children4 ,,ii4 ,the force of the doxology in its place here4 ,it reminds us that the ground of our confidence is in ,god's own character4 ,we do not need to make ourselves worthy to receive4 ,we cannot move ,him1 but ,he is self-moved1 and so we do not need to be afraid4 ,nor is our prayer to be an attempt to bend ,his will4 ,our confidence digs deep down to build on the rock of the ever-living ,god1 whose 'is the ,kingdom1 and the power1 and the glory1 for ever4' ,we flee to ,him for a refuge against ourselves4 ,we bring nothing4 ,we look to ,his own character1 which will always be the same1 and to ,his past1 which is the type and prophecy for all ,his future4 ,he is ,his own reason1 ,his own motive1 ,his own end4 ,when we ground our prayers on ,him1 then we touch ground1 and in whatever weltering sea of trouble we may be buffeted1 we have found the bottom and can stand firm4 ,but the ',amen' which closes the doxology is not the empty form which it has now become4 ,it means not only1 ,so may it be6 but also1 ,so will it be6 ,it is not only the last breathing of desire1 but also the expression of assured expectancy and confidence2 not merely be it so1 but confident expression of assurance that it will be so4 ,how much of our prayer flies off into empty air because there is no expectation in it6 ,how much which has no certainty of being answered in it6 ,how much which is followed by no marking of the future to discern the answer6 ,we should stand praying like some ,grecian statue of an archer1 with hand extended and lips parted and eye following the arrow of our prayer on its flight till it touches the mark4 ,we have a right to be confident that we shall be heard4 ,we should apply the ,amen to all the petitions of the prayer4 ,so it becomes a prophecy1 and the ,christian man is to live in the calm expectation that all the petitions will be accomplished4 ,for the world they will be1 for us they may be4 ,it is for each of us to decide for ourselves whether they will be answered in and for us4 ,the place of the doxology here suggests that all prayer should lead to thankful contemplation of ,god's character4 ,we have seen how the prayer begins with contemplation1 and then passes into supplication4 ,thus all prayer should end as it began4 ,it has a circular motion1 and starting from the highest heavens and coming down to earth1 is thither drawn again and rests at the throne of ,god1 whence it set out1 like the strong ,spirits before ,his throne who veil their faces while they gaze upon the glory1 and then fly forth to help human sorrows and satisfy human hearts1 and then on unwearied pinions winging their way to their first station1 meekly sink their wings of flight1 and veil their faces again with their wings4 ,the rivers that flow through broad lands1 bringing blessing and doing humble service in drinking-cup and domestic vessel1 came in soft rain from heaven1 and though their bright waves are browned with soil and made opaque with many a stain1 yet their work done1 they rest in the great ocean1 and thence are drawn up once more to the clouds of heaven4 ,so with our prayers2 they ought to start from the contemplation of our ,god1 and they ought to return thither again4 ,and as this is the last word of our prayers1 so may we not say that it represents the perpetual form of fellowship with ,god8 ,prayers for bread1 and pardon1 and help1 and deliverance1 are for the wilderness4 ,prayers for the hallowing of ,his name1 and the coming of ,his kingdom1 and the doing of ,his will1 are out of date when they are fulfilled2 but for ever this voice shall rise before ,his throne1 and that last new song1 which shall ring with might as of thunder and sweetness as of many harps from the thousand times ten thousand1 shall be but the expansion and the deepening of the praise of earth4 ,then 'every creature which is in heaven1 and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea1 shall be heard saying1 ,blessing1 and honour1 and glory1 and power1 be unto ,him that sitteth upon the throne1 and unto the ,lamb for ever and ever4' ,so we finish these meditations4 ,i have felt all along how poorly my words served me to say even what ,i saw1 and how poorly my vision saw into the clear depths of the divine prayer4 ,but ,i hope that they may have helped you half as much as they have myself1 to feel more strongly how all-comprehensive it is4 ,i said at the beginning1 and ,i repeat with more emphasis now1 that there is everything in this prayer--,god's relations to man1 man's to ,god and his fellows1 the foundation stones of ,christian theology1 of ,christian morals1 of ,christian society1 of ,christian politics4 ,there is help for the smallest wants and light for daily duties2 there is strength for the hour of death and the day of judgment4 ,there is the revelation of the timeless depths of our ,father's heart2 there is the prophecy of the furthest future for ourselves and our brethren4 ,no man can exhaust it4 ,every age may find in its simple syllables lessons for their new perplexities and duties4 ,it will not be outgrown in heaven4 ,but1 thank ,god1 we do not need to exhaust its meaning in order to use it aright4 ,jesus interprets our prayers1 and many a dumb yearning1 and many a broken sob1 and many a passionate fragment of a cry1 and many an ignorant desire that may appear to us very unlike ,his pattern for all ages1 will be accepted by ,him4 ,he inspires1 presents and answers every prayer offered through ,him to the ,father in heaven4 ,he counts the poorest prayer to be 'after this manner1' if it comes from a heart seeking the ,father1 owning its sin1 longing dimly for deliverance and purity1 and hoping through its tears in the great and loving tenderness of the ,father in heaven who has sent ,his ,son1 that through ,him we might cry ,abba1 ,father4 ,,fasting ',moreover1 when ye fast1 be not1 as the hypocrites1 of a sad countenance3 for they disfigure their faces1 that they may appear unto men to fast4 ,verily ,i say unto you1 ,they have their reward4 #ag4 ,but thou1 when thou fastest1 anoint thine head1 and wash thy face2 #ah4 ,that thou appear not unto men to fast1 but unto thy ,father which is in secret3 and thy ,father1 which seeth in secret1 shall reward thee openly4'--,,matt4 vi4 #af-ah4 ,fasting has gone out of fashion now1 but in ,christ's time it went along with almsgiving and prayers1 as a recognised expression of a religious life4 ,the step from expression to ostentation is a short one1 and the triple repetition here of almost the same words in regard to each of the three corruptions of religion1 witnesses to our ,lord's estimate of their commonness4 ,we are exposed to them just as the ,pharisees of ,his day were4 ,if there is less fasting now than then1 ,christians still need to take care that they do not get up a certain 'sad countenance' for the sake of being seen of men1 and because such is understood to be the proper thing for a religious man4 ,they have to take care1 too1 not to parade the feelings1 of which fasting used to be the expression1 as1 for instance1 a sense of their own sinfulness1 and sorrow for the nation's or the world's sins and sorrows4 ,there are deep and sorrowful emotions in every real ,christian heart1 but the less the world is called in to see them1 the purer and more blessed and purifying they will be4 ,the man who has a sidelong eye to spectators in expressing his ,christian 7or any other7 emotion1 is very near being a hypocrite4 ,expressing emotion with reference to bystanders1 is separated by a very thin line from feigning emotion4 ,the sidelong glance will soon become a fixed gaze1 seeing nothing else1 and the purpose of fasting will slip out of sight4 ,the man who only wishes to attract attention easily succeeds in that shabby aim1 and has his reward1 but misses all the true results1 which are only capable of being realised when he who fasts is thinking of nothing but his own sin and his forgiving ,god4 ,,two ,,kinds ,,of ,,treasure ',lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth1 where moth and rust doth corrupt1 and where thieves break through and steal3 #bj4 ,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven4'--,,matt4 vi4 #ai-bj4 ,the connection with the previous part is twofold4 ,the warning against hypocritical fastings and formalism leads to the warning against worldly-mindedness and avarice4 ,for what worldly-mindedness is greater than that which prostitutes even religious acts to worldly advantage1 and is laying up treasure of men's good opinion on earth even while it shams to be praying to ,god8 ,and there is a close connection which the history of every age has illustrated between formal religious profession and the love of money1 which is the vice of the ,church4 ,again1 the promise of rewarding openly naturally leads on to the positive exhortation to make that reward our great object4 ,the connection with what follows is remarkable4 ,the injunction and prohibition of the text refer to two species of the same genus1 one the vice of avarice1 the other the vice of anxiety4 ,i4 ,the ,two ,treasures4 ,these are--on earth1 all things which a man can possess2--in heaven1 primarily ,god ,himself1 the reward which has been spoken of in previous verses1 viz4 ,god's love and approbation1 a holy character1 and all those spiritual and personal graces1 beauties1 perfections and joys which come to the good man from above4 ,this command and prohibition require of ,christ's disciples-- #a4 ,a rectification of their judgment as to what is the true good of man4 7a7 ,sense and flesh tend to make us think the visible and material the best4 7b7 ,our peculiar position here in a great commercial centre powerfully reinforces this tendency4 7c7 ,the prevailing current of this age is all in the same direction4 ,the growth of luxury1 the increase of wealth1 and set of thought1 threaten us with a period when not only religious thought will fail1 but when all faith1 enthusiasm1 all poetry and philosophy1 the very conception of ,god and duty1 all idealism1 all that is unseen1 will be scouted among men4 ,naturalism does not fulfil its own boast of dealing with facts2 there are more facts than can be seen4 ,so the first thing is to settle it in our minds1 in opposition to our own selves and to prevailing tendencies1 that truth is better than money1 that pure affections and moderate desires and a heart set on ,god are richer wealth than all external possessions4 #b4 ,desire that follows the corrected judgment4 ,it is one thing to know all this1 another to wrench our wishes loose from earth4 #c4 ,a practical life that obeys the impulse of the desire4 ,christ's command and prohibition here do not refer only to a certain course of action1 but to a certain motive and purpose in action1 and to actions drawn from these4 ,if we obey ,christ we shall lead lives obviously different from those which are based upon an estimate which we are to reject2 but the main thing is to live and work with an eye to the eternal1 not the temporal1 results of our doings4 ,we are to administer our lives as ,god does ,his providence1 using the temporal only as means to an end1 the eternal4 ,we are to live to be ,god-like1 to love ,god1 and be loved by ,him4 ,there is here the idea of which we are somewhat too much afraid1 that our life on earth adds to the rewards of blessedness in heaven4 ,the idea of reward is emphatically and often inculcated in ,scripture1 however much a mistaken jealousy for 'the doctrines of ,grace' may be chary of it4 ,we need only recall such words as ',they shall walk with ,me in white1 for they are worthy'2 or1 ',laying up in store for themselves a good foundation'2 or1 ',thou shalt have treasure in heaven4' ,if people would only think of heaven less carnally1 and would regard it as the perfection of holiness1 there would be no difficulty in the notion of reward4 ,men get there what they have made themselves fit for here4 ',their works do follow them4' ,,ii4 ,the foes of the earthly1 which are powerless against the heavenly4 ,the imagery implies a comparatively simple state of society and primitive treasures4 ,moths gnaw rich garments4 ,rust1 or more properly corruption1 would get into a man's barns and vineyards1 hay-crops and fruits4 ,thieves would steal the hoard that he had laid by1 for want of better investment4 ,or to generalise1 corruption1 the natural process of wearing away1 natural enemies proper to each kind of possession1 human agency which takes away all external possessions--these multifarious agents co-operate to render impossible the permanent possession of any 'treasure on earth4' ,on the other hand1 what a man has laid up in heaven1 and what he is partially here1 have no tendency to grow old4 ,men never weary of ,god1 never find ,him failing1 never exhaust truth1 never drink the love of ,god to the dregs1 never find purity palling upon the taste1 ',age cannot wither1 nor custom stale1 their infinite variety4' ',treasure in heaven' has no enemies which destroy it4 ,every earthly possession has its own foes1 every earthly joy has its own destructive opposite2 but nothing touches this treasure in heaven4 ,it has nothing to fear from men4 ,nobody can take it out of a man's soul but himself4 ,the inmost circle of our life is inviolable4 ,it is incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away1 for it all comes from the eternal ,god and our eternal union to ,him4 ,he is our portion for ever4 ,,iii4 ,the madness of fastening the heart down to earth4 ,the heart must be in heaven in order to find its true home4 ,it is unnatural1 contrary to the constitution of the 'heart' that it should be fettered to earth4 ,if it is1 it will be restless and unsatisfied4 ,if it is1 it will be at the mercy of all these enemies4 ,if it is1 what will happen when the man is no longer on earth8 ',what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul8' ,,hearts ,,and ,,treasures ',for where your treasure is1 there will your heart be also4'--,,matt4 vi4 #ba4 ',your treasure' is probably not the same as your neighbour's4 ,it is yours1 whether you possess it or not1 because you love it4 ,for what our ,lord means here by 'treasure' is not merely money1 or material good1 but whatever each man thinks best1 that which he most eagerly strives to attain1 that which he most dreads to lose1 that which1 if he has1 he thinks he will be blessed1 that which1 if he has it not1 he knows he is discontented4 ,now1 if that is the meaning of 'treasure1' then this great saying of nay text is1 as a matter of course1 true4 ,for what in each case makes the treasure is precisely the going out of the heart to grapple it1 and it is just because the heart is there that a thing is the treasure4 ,now1 ,i need not do more than remind you1 ,i suppose1 that in ,scripture 'heart' means a great deal more than it does in our modern usage1 for we employ it as an expression for the affections1 whereas the ,bible takes it as including the whole inner man4 ,for instance1 we read1 ',as a man thinketh in his heart1 so is he'2 and of 'the thoughts and intents of the heart4' ,so then the affections1 as with us1 but also thoughts1 purposes1 volitions1 are all included in the word2 and as one passage of ,scripture says1 ',out of it are the issues of life4' ,it is the central reservoir1 the central personality1 the indivisible unit of the thinking1 willing1 feeling1 loving person which ,i call 'myself4' ,so what ,christ says is that where a man's treasure lies1 not merely his affections will twine round it1 but his whole self will be1 as it were1 implicated and intertwisted with it1 so as that what befalls it will befall him4 ,now1 further1 notice that this saying1 so obviously true1 is introduced by a 'for1' and that it is the broad basis on which rest the obligation and the wisdom of the double counsel which has preceded1 on the one hand1 the warning against choosing perishable and uncertain good for our treasure1 and mixing ourselves up with that1 and on the other the loving counsel to choose for ourselves the wealth which is perpetual1 unprecarious1 and certain4 ,so ,i think we may look at these words from a threefold point of view1 and see in them a mirror that will show us ourselves1 a dissuasive and a persuasive4 ,let us take these three aspects4 ,i4 ,here1 then1 is a mirror that a man may hold up before himself1 and find out something about himself by it4 ,for1 like other general statements of the same sort1 you can turn this saying round about1 and take it the other way1 and not only say1 as the text says1 'where your treasure is1 there will your heart be also1' but1 'where your heart is1 there is your treasure4' ,a man's real god is the thing that he counts best1 and for which he works most earnestly1 and which1 as ,i said1 he most longs to have1 and trembles to think he will lose4 ,that is his god1 and his treasure1 whatever his professions may be4 ,where your heart is1 there is your treasure4 ,now1 of course1 for the larger part of the lives of all of us1 there are certain lines laid down by our circumstances1 our trades1 our various duties1 on which the train of our thoughts and efforts must run4 ,but the question is1 ,when ,i am set free from the constraint of my daily avocations and pressing duties1 and am at liberty to go as ,i like1 where do ,i go8 ,when the weight is taken off the sapling in the nursery garden1 which has been hung on it to turn it into a weeping-tree1 its elastic stem springs to the erect position4 ,where do ,i spring to when the weights are taken off8 ,the mother bird will hover over her nest4 ,where her treasure is1 there is her maternal instinct4 ,the needle follows the drawing of the pole-star2 the sunflower turns to the sun4 ',being let go1 they went to their own company4' ,where do you go8 ,the reins laid upon the horse's neck1 it will trot straight home to its stable2 'the ox knoweth his owner1 and the ass his master's crib1' and our instincts are not less sure than theirs4 ,you go 'home' when you are left to yourselves2 where do you go8 ,we call ourselves ,christians4 ,if our treasure is in ,christ1 our hearts will turn to ,him4 ,and what does that mean8 ',hearts1' as ,i said1 mean thoughts4 ,now1 can you and ,i say1 ',in the multitude of my thoughts within me1 ,thy comforts delight my soul'8 ,does there come stealing into my mind often and often the blessed contemplation of my wealth in ,jesus ,christ8 ,the river of thought brings down1 in its continual flow1 much mire and sand4 ,does it bring any gold8 ,do ,i think about ,christ1 and find it to be my refreshment to do so8 ,an old mystic said1 ',if ,i can tell how often ,i have thought of ,god to-day1 ,i have not thought of ,him often enough4' ',where your treasure is1 there will your thoughts be also4' ,the heart means love4 ,where do my affections turn when ,i am set free8 ,the heart means the will4 ,is my will all saturated with1 and so made pliant by1 the will and commandment of ,jesus ,christ8 ,if ,he is my treasure1 then thoughts1 affection1 obedience will all turn to ,him1 and the current of my being1 whatever may be the surface-ripple--ay1 or the surface-storm--will be ever sliding surely1 though it may be silently1 towards ,himself4 ,ah6 brethren1 if we would be honest with ourselves and look into this mirror1 we should have cause to be ashamed1 some of us1 of our very profession of being ,christians1 and all of us to feel that we have far too much heaped up for ourselves other treasures and forgotten our true wealth1 and we should all have to pray1 ',unite my heart to fear ,thy name4' ,the ,assyrians had a superstition that a demon1 if he saw his own reflection in a mirror1 would fly4 ,i think if some of us professing ,christians saw ourselves1 as the looking-glass of my text might give us to see ourselves1 we should shudderingly depart from that self1 and seek to have a better self formed within us4 ',where your treasure is1 there will your heart be also4' ,,ii4 ,now let me ask you to look at this saying1 in the connection in which our ,lord adduced it1 as being a dissuasive4 ,he applies it to both branches of ,his previous advice4 ,he had just said1 ',lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth1 where moth and rust doth corrupt1 and where thieves break through and steal4' ,these are very primitive methods of depriving men of their treasures1 arguing a comparatively simple state of society4 ,the moth is that which destroys wealth in garments1 which was a great part of ancient ,eastern wealth4 ,rust rather means corrosion1 or corruption1 and applies to the other great kind of primitive wealth1 in food and the stores of the harvest4 ,and the thieves who dig through the mud wall of the house1 and carry away the owners' little hoard of gold and silver1 point also to a primitive condition of society4 ,but whatever may be the special force of these different words1 they suggest to us this1 that all that is here has its own particular and special enemy which wars against its permanence4 ,there are bacteria of all sorts1 every vegetable has its own kind4 ,every growth has to fear the gnawing of some foe4 ,and so every treasure that ,i can gather into my heart1 excepting one1 is threatened by some kind of danger4 ,no man can have lived as long in a great commercial community1 as some of us have done1 without knowing that there are a great many besides professional and so-called thieves in it1 that take away the gold and silver4 ,how many instances ,i can look back upon1 of lords of the exchange and magnates of trade1 who carved their names1 as they thought1 in imperishable marble on the doors of their warehouses1 and then became bankrupt and fugitive1 and were lost sight of4 ,we all know the uncertainty of riches4 ,and are the other kinds of treasure that we cleave to more reliable8 ,have they not their moths and their rusts8 ,is it pleasure8 ,well1 ,i say nothing about the diseases that fill the bones of many a young man who flings himself into dissipation2 but ,i remind you of just this one thing1 that all that pleasure tends to become flat1 stale1 and unprofitable4 ,that which the poet said of his own class1 that it 'begins in gladness1 and thereof cometh in the end despondency and madness1' is true of every delight of sense1 ay6 and of more than sense1 of taste and of intellect4 ,as the ,book of ,proverbs has it1 'the end of that mirth is heaviness4' ,brethren1 the moth and the rust claim as their prey all treasures except one4 ,is it love-pure1 blessed1 soul-filling1 soul-resting as it is8 ,yes1 and on a hundred walls in any city there hangs1 and in a thousand hearts there hangs1 that great picture where the feeble form of ,love is trying to repel from entrance into the rose-covered portal of the home the inevitable and mighty shrouded form of ,death4 ,is it culture8 ',whether there be tongues they shall cease2 whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away4' ,the last illuminator and teacher1 which is ,death1 antiquates and brushes aside1 as of no use in the new conditions1 most of the knowledge which men1 wisely in a measure1 but foolishly if exclusively1 have sought to acquire for themselves here below4 ,and when the moth and the rust come1 and the separating1 bony fingers of the skeleton ,death filch away at last your treasure1 what about you who are wrapped up with it1 implicated in it2 so grown into it1 and it into you1 that to wrench you from it opens your veins1 and you bleed to death8 ,there is a pathetic inscription in one of the rural churches of this country1 in which two parents record the death of their only child1 and add1 ',all our hopes were in this frail bark1 and the shipwreck is total4' ,i have heard of a man that might have been saved from a foundering ship1 but he lashed his money-bags round him1 and he sank along with them4 ',where your treasure is1 there will your heart be also1' pierced by all the wounds1 gnawed by all the moths1 rotted by all the corruption that affects it1 and when the thief1 the last great thief of all1 comes1 you will only have to say1 ',they have taken away my gods1 and what have ,i more8' ,and the answer out of the waste places of an echoing universe will be1 ',nothing6 ,nothing6' ,,iii4 ,now1 lastly1 let me show you the persuasive in my text4 ',where your treasure is1 there will your heart be also1' therefore1 says ,christ1 'lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven1 where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt1 and where thieves do not break through and steal4' ,if my treasure is in heaven it is secure4 ,and oh6 brethren1 we need for our blessedness1 we need for our rest1 we need for our peace and joy1 to know that the thing which we count best shall never be taken away from us1 and we cannot have that certainty in regard to any treasure except the treasure that is in ,god4 ,all outward things which we say we possess are incompletely possessed1 because they remain outside us4 ,however intertwined with them1 we are separate from them1 and we are just so much intertwined with them that the separation from them is agony1 even if it is not death4 ,what we need is to be so incorporated with1 and infused into1 what is our treasure1 that we are quite sure that as long as we last it will last1 and that nothing can rend it from us4 ',i bear all my goods with me1' said the old heathen4 ,we should be able to say more than that4 ,i carry all my good in me1 because my good is ,god1 who is in the heavens1 and though in the heavens1 dwells in the hearts that love ,him4 ,then in all changes1 'life1 or death1 or things present or things to come1 height or depth1 or any other creature1' we can afford to smile on1 and say3 ',you cannot take my wealth from me1 for ,i am in ,god1 and ,god is in me4' ,further1 if our hearts are in heaven1 then heaven will be in our hearts1 and here we shall know the joy and the peace that come from 'sitting in heavenly places in ,christ ,jesus1' even whilst on earth4 ,there is no blessedness1 no stable repose1 no victorious independence of the buffets and blows of life1 except this1 that my heart is lifted above them all1 and1 ,i was going to say1 is inhaled and sucked into the life of ,jesus ,christ4 ,then if my heart is where my treasure is1 and ,he is my treasure1' my life is hid with ,christ in ,god4' ,if my heart is in heaven1 heaven is in my heart4 ,further1 my text is a promise as well as a statement of a present fact4 ,where your treasure now is there will your whole self one day be4 ,a man who has by ,god's grace1 through faith and love and the wise use of things temporal1 chosen ,god his chief good1 and possessed in some degree the good which he has chosen1 even ,jesus ,christ in his heart1 that man bears in himself the pledge and the foretaste of eternal life4 ,so the old psalmist found out1 who lived in a time when that future world was shrouded in far thicker clouds of darkness than it is to us1 for when he had risen to the height of saying1 ',my flesh and my heart faileth1 but ,god is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever1' he immediately sprang to this assurance--an assurance of faith before it was a fact certified by ,revelation--',thou wilt guide me by ,thy counsel1 and afterwards receive me to glory4' ,the possession of ,christ for our treasure1 which possession always follows on our estimating ,him as such1 and desiring to have ,him1 that possession bears in its bosom the germ of the assurance that1 whatever befalls my physical life1 ,i shall not be less immortal than my treasure1 and that where my heart to-day1 by aspiration and desire and faith and love1 has built its nest1 thither ,i shall follow in ,his own time4 ,they that have laid up treasure in heaven will at last be brought to the enjoyment of the treasure that they have laid up1 and to the possession of 'the inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled1 and that fadeth not away4' ,,anxious ,,care ',ye cannot serve ,god and ,mammon4 #be4 ,therefore ,i say unto you4 ,take no thought for your life4'--,matt4 vi4 #bd-be4 ,foresight and foreboding are two very different things4 ,it is not that the one is the exaggeration of the other1 but the one is opposed to the other4 ,the more a man looks forward in the exercise of foresight1 the less he does so in the exercise of foreboding4 ,and the more he is tortured by anxious thoughts about a possible future1 the less clear vision has he of a likely future1 and the less power to influence it4 ,when ,christ here1 therefore1 enjoins the abstinence from thought for our life and for the future1 it is not for the sake of getting away from the pressure of a very unpleasant command that we say1 ,he does not mean to prevent the exercise of wise and provident foresight and preparation for what is to come4 ,when this ,english version of ours was made1 the phrase 'taking thought' meant solicitous anxiety1 and that is the true rendering and proper meaning of the original4 ,the idea is1 therefore1 that here there is forbidden for a ,christian1 not the careful preparation for what is likely to come1 not the foresight of the storm and taking in sail while yet there is time1 but the constant occupation and distraction of the heart with gazing forward1 and fearing and being weakened thereby2 or to come back to words already used1 foresight is commanded1 and1 therefore1 foreboding is forbidden4 ,my object now is to endeavour to gather together by their link of connection1 the whole of those precepts which follow my text to the close of the chapter2 and to try to set before you1 in the order in which they stand1 and in their organic connection with each other1 the reasons which ,christ gives for the absence of anxious care from our minds4 ,i mass them all into three4 ,if you notice1 the whole section1 to the end of the chapter1 is divided into three parts1 by the threefold repetition of the injunction1 ',take no thought4' ',take no thought for your life1 what ye shall eat1 or what ye shall drink2 nor yet for your body1 what ye shall put on4' ,the reason for the command as given in this first section follows3--,is not the life more than meat1 and the body than raiment8' ,the expansion of that thought runs on to the close of the thirtieth verse4 ,then there follows another division or section of the whole1 marked by the repetition of the command1 ',take no thought1'--saying1 ',what shall we eat8 or1 ,what shall we drink8 or1 ,wherewithal shall we be clothed8' ,the reason given for the command in this second section is--'7for after all these things do the ,gentiles seek73 for your heavenly ,father knoweth that ye have need of all these things4 ,but seek ye first the kingdom of ,god4' ,and then follows a third section1 marked by the third repetition of the command1 ',take no thought--for the morrow4' ,the reason given for the command in this third section is--'for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself4' ,now if we try to generalise the lessons that lie in these three great divisions of the section1 we get1 ,i think1 first1--anxious thought is contrary to all the lessons of nature1 which show it to be unnecessary4 ,that is the first1 the longest section4 ,then1 secondly1 anxious thought is contrary to all the lessons of revelation or religion1 which show it to be heathenish4 ,and lastly1 anxious thought is contrary to the whole scheme of ,providence1 which shows it to be futile4 ,you do not need to be anxious4 ,it is wicked to be anxious4 ,it is of no use to be anxious4 ,these are the three points1--anxious care is contrary to the lessons of ,nature2 contrary to the great principles of the ,gospel2 and contrary to the scheme of ,providence4 ,let us try now simply to follow the course of thought in our ,lord's illustration of these three principles4 ,i4 ,the first is the consideration of the teaching of ,nature4 ',take no thought for your life1 what ye shall eat1 or what ye shall drink2 nor yet for your body1 what ye shall put on4 ,is not the life more than meat1 and the body than raiment8' ,and then comes the illustration of the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field4 ,the whole of these verses fall into these general thoughts3 ,you are obliged to trust ,god for your body1 for its structure1 for its form1 for its habitudes1 and for the length of your being2 you are obliged to trust ,him for the foundation--trust ,him for the superstructure4 ,you are obliged to trust ,him1 whether you will or not1 for the greater--trust ,him gladly for the less4 ,you cannot help being dependent4 ,after all your anxiety1 it is only directed to the providing of the things that are needful for the life2 the life itself1 though it is a natural thing1 comes direct from ,god's hand2 and all that you can do1 with all your carking cares1 and laborious days1 and sleepless nights1 is but to adorn a little more beautifully or a little less beautifully1 the allotted span--but to feed a little more delicately or a little less delicately1 the body which ,god has given you4 ,what is the use of being careful for food and raiment1 when down below these necessities there lies the awful question--for the answer to which you have to hang helpless1 in implicit1 powerless dependence upon ,god1--,shall ,i live1 or shall ,i die8 shall ,i have a body instinct with vitality1 or a body crumbling amidst the clods of the valley8 ,after all your work1 your anxiety gets but such a little way down2 like some passing shower of rain1 that only softens an inch of the hard-baked surface of the soil1 and has no power to fructify the seed that lies feet below the reach of its useless moisture4 ,anxious care is foolish2 for far beyond the region within which your anxieties move1 there is the greater region in which there must be entire dependence upon ,god4 ',is not the life more than meat8 ,is not the body more than raiment8' ,you must trust ,him for these2 you may as well trust ,him for all the rest4 ,then1 again1 there comes up this other thought3 ,not only are you compelled to exercise unanxious dependence in regard to a matter which you cannot influence--the life of the body--and that is the greater2 but1 still further1 ,god gives you that4 ,very well3 ,god gives you the greater2 and ,god's great gifts are always inclusive of ,god's little gifts4 ,when ,he bestows a thing1 ,he bestows all the consequences of the thing as well4 ,when ,he gives a life1 ,he swears by the gift1 that ,he will give what is needful to sustain it4 ,god does not stop half way in any of ,his bestowments4 ,he gives royally and liberally1 honestly and sincerely1 logically and completely4 ,when ,he bestows a life1 therefore1 you may be quite sure that ,he is not going to stultify ,his own gift by retaining unbestowed anything that is wanted for its blessing and its power4 ,you have had to trust ,him for the greater2 trust ,him for the less4 ,he has given you the greater--no doubt ,he will give you the less4 ',the life is more than meat1 and the body than raiment4' ',which of you1 by taking thought1 can add one cubit unto his stature8 ,and why take ye thought for raiment8' ,then there is another thought4 ,look at ,god's ways of doing with all ,his creatures4 ,the animate and the inanimate creation are appealed to1 the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field1 the one in reference to food and the other in reference to clothing1 which are the two great wants already spoken of by ,christ in the previous verses4 ,i am not going to linger at all on the exquisite beauty of these illustrations4 ,every sensitive heart and pure eye dwell upon them with delight4 ,the 'fowls of the air1' the lilies of the field1' 'they toil not1 neither do they spin'2 and then1 with what an eye for the beauty of ,god's universe1--',solomon1 in all his glory1 was not arrayed like one of these6' ,now1 what is the force of this consideration8 ,it is this--,there is a specimen1 in an inferior creation1 of the divine care which you can trust1 you men who are 'better than they4' ,and not only that3--,there is an instance1 not only of ,god's giving things that are necessary1 but of ,god's giving more1 lavishing beauty upon the flowers of the field4 ,i do not think that we sufficiently dwell upon the moral and spiritual uses of beauty in ,god's universe4 ,that everywhere ,his loving1 wooing hand should touch the flower into grace1 and deck all barren places with glory and with fairness--what does that reveal to us about ,him8 ,it says to us1 ,he does not give scantily3 it is not the mere measure of what is wanted1 absolutely needed1 to support a bare existence1 that ,god bestows4 ,he 'taketh pleasure in the prosperity of ,his servants4' ,joy1 and love1 and beauty1 belong to ,him2 and the smile upon ,his face that comes from the contemplation of ,his own fairness flung out into ,his glorious creation1 is a prophecy of the gladness that comes into ,his heart from ,his own holiness and more ethereal beauty adorning the spiritual creatures whom ,he has made to flash back ,his likeness4 ,the flowers of the field are so clothed that we may learn the lesson that it is a fair ,spirit1 and a loving ,spirit1 and a bountiful ,spirit1 and a royal ,heart1 that presides over the bestowments of creation1 and allots gifts to men4 ,but notice further1 how much of the force of what ,christ says here depends on the consideration of the inferiority of these creatures who are thus blessed2 and also notice what are the particulars of that inferiority4 ,we read that verse1 ',they sow not1 neither do they reap1 nor gather into barns1' as if it marked out a particular in which their free and untoilsome lives were superior to ours4 ,it is the very opposite4 ,it is part of the characteristics that mark them as lower than we1 that they have not to work for the future4 ,they reap not1 they sow not1 they gather not2--are ye not much better than they8 ,better in this1 amongst other things1 that ,god has given us the privilege of influencing the future by our faithful toil1 by the sweat of our brow and the labour of our hands4 ,these creatures labour not1 and yet they are fed4 ,and the lesson for us is--much more may we1 whom ,god has blessed with the power of work1 and gifted with force to mould the future1 be sure that ,he will bless the exercise of the prerogative by which ,he exalts us above inferior creatures1 and makes us capable of toil4 ,you can influence to-morrow4 ,what you can influence by work1 fret not about1 for you can work4 ,what you cannot influence by work1 fret not about1 for it is vain4 ',they toil not1 neither do they spin4' ,you are lifted above them because ,god has given you hands that can grasp the tool or the pen4 ,man's crown of glory1 as well as man's curse and punishment1 is1 ',in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread4' ,so learn what you have to do with that great power of anticipation4 ,it is meant to be the guide of wise work4 ,it is meant to be the support for far-reaching1 strenuous action4 ,it is meant to elevate us above mere living from hand to mouth2 to ennoble our whole being by leading to and directing toil that is blessed because there is no anxiety in it1 labour that will be successful since it is according to the will of that ,god who has endowed us with the power of putting it forth4 ,then there comes another inferiority4 ',your heavenly ,father feedeth them4' ,they cannot say ',father6' and yet they are fed4 ,you are above them by the prerogative of toil4 ,you are above them by the nearer relation which you sustain to your ,father in heaven4 ,he is their ,maker1 and lavishes ,his goodness upon them3 ,he is your ,father1 and ,he will not forget ,his child4 ,they cannot trust3 you can4 ,they might be anxious1 if they could look forward1 for they know not the hand that feeds them2 but you can turn round1 and recognise the source of all blessings4 ,so1 doubly ought you to be guarded from care by the lesson of that free joyful ,nature that lies round about you1 and to say1 ',i have no fear of famine1 nor of poverty1 nor of want2 for ,he feedeth the ravens when they cry4 ,there is no reason for distrust4 ,shame on me if ,i am anxious1 for every lily of the field blows its beauty1 and every bird of the air carols its song without sorrowful foreboding1 and yet there is no ,father in heaven to them6' ,and the last ,inferiority is this2 ',to-day it is1 and to-morrow it is cast into the oven4' ,their little life is thus blessed and brightened4 ,oh1 how much greater will be the mercies that belong to them who have a longer life upon earth1 and who never die6 ,the lesson is not--,these are the plebeians in ,god's universe1 and you are the aristocracy1 and you may trust ,him2 but it is--,they1 by their inferior place1 have lesser and lower wants1 wants but for a bounded being1 wants that stretch not beyond earthly existence1 and that for a brief span4 ,they are blessed in the present1 for the oven to-morrow saddens not the blossoming to-day4 ,you have nobler necessities and higher longings1 wants that belong to a soul that never dies1 to a nature which may glow with the consciousness that ,god is your ,father1 wants which 'look before and after1' therefore1 you are 'better than they'2 and 'shall ,he not much more clothe you1 ,o ye of little faith8' ,,ii4 ,and now1 in the second place1 there is here another general line of considerations tending to dispel all anxious care--the thought that it is contrary to all the lessons of ,religion1 or ,revelation1 which show it to be heathenish4 ,there are three clauses devoted to the illustration of this thought3 ',after all these things do the ,gentiles seek'2 'your heavenly ,father knoweth that ye have need of all these things'2 'seek ye first the kingdom of ,god1 and ,his righteousness1 and all these things shall be added unto you4' ,the first clause contains the principle1 that solicitude for the future is at bottom heathen worldly-mindedness4 ,the heathen tendency in us all leads to an overestimate of material good1 and it is a question of circumstances whether that shall show itself in heaping up earthly treasures1 or in anxious care4 ,these are the same plant1 only the one is growing in the tropics of sunny prosperity1 and the other in the arctic zone of chill penury4 ,the one is the sin of the worldly-minded rich man1 the other is the sin of the worldly-minded poor man4 ,the character is the same in both1 turned inside out6 ,and1 therefore1 the words1 'ye cannot serve ,god and ,mammon1' stand in this chapter in the centre between our ,lord's warning against laying up treasures on earth1 and ,his warning against being full of cares for earth4 ,he would show us thereby that these two apparently opposite states of mind in reality spring from that one root1 and are equally1 though differently1 'serving ,mammon4' ,we do not sufficiently reflect upon that4 ,we say1 perhaps1 this intense solicitude of ours is a matter of temperament1 or of circumstances4 ,so it may be3 but the ,gospel was sent to help us to cure worldly temperaments1 and to master circumstances4 ,but the reason why we are troubled and careful about the things of this life lies here1 that our hearts have taken an earthly direction1 that we are at bottom heathenish in our lives and in our desires4 ,it is the very characteristic of the ,gentile 7that is to say1 of the heathen7 that earth should bound his horizon4 ,it is the very characteristic of the worldly man that all his anxieties on the one hand1 and all his joys on the other1 should be 'cribbed1 cabined and confined' within the narrow sphere of the visible4 ,when a ,christian is living in the foreboding of some earthly sorrow coming down upon him1 and is feeling as if there would be nothing left if some earthly treasure were swept away1 is that not1 in the very root of it1 idolatry--worldly-mindedness8 ,is it not clean contrary to all our profession that for us 'there is none upon earth that we desire besides ,thee'8 ,anxious care rests upon a basis of heathen worldly-mindedness4 ,anxious care rests upon a basis1 too1 of heathen misunderstanding of the character of ,god4 ',your heavenly ,father knoweth that you have need of all these things4' ,the heathen thought of ,god is that ,he is far removed from our perplexities1 either ignorant of our struggles1 or unsympathising with them4 ,the ,christian has the double armour against anxiety--the name of the ,father1 and the conviction that the ,father's knowledge is co-extensive with the ,father's love4 ,he who calls us ,his children thoroughly understands what ,his children want4 ,and so1 anxiety is contrary to the very name by which we have learned to call ,god1 and to the pledge of pitying care and perfect knowledge of our frame which lies in the words 'our ,father4' ,our ,father is the name of ,god1 and our ,father intensely cares for us1 and lovingly does all things for us4 ,and then1 still further1 ,christ points out here1 not only what is the real root of this solicitous care--something very like worldly-mindedness1 heathen worldly-mindedness2 but ,he points out what is the one counterpoise of it--'seek first the kingdom of ,god4' ,it is of no use only to tell men that they ought to trust1 that the birds of the air might teach them to trust1 that the flowers of the field might preach resignation and confidence to them4 ,it is of no use to attempt to scold them into trust1 by telling them that distrust is heathenish4 ,you must fill the heart with a supreme and transcendent desire after the one supreme object1 and then there will be no room or leisure left for anxious care after the lesser4 ,have inwrought into your being1 ,christian man1 the opposite of that heathen over-regard for earthly things4 ',seek first the kingdom of ,god4' ,let all your spirit be stretching itself out towards that divine and blessed reality1 longing to be a subject of that kingdom1 and a possessor of that righteousness2 and 'the cares that infest the day' will steal away from out of the sacred pavilion of your believing spirit4 ,fill your heart with desires after what is worthy of desire2 and the greater having entered in1 all lesser objects will rank themselves in the right place1 and the 'glory that excelleth' will outshine the seducing brightness of the paltry present4 ,oh6 it is want of love1 it is want of earnest desire1 it is want of firm conviction that ,god1 ,god only1 ,god by ,himself1 is enough for me1 that makes me careful and troubled4 ,and therefore1 if ,i could only attain unto that sublime and calm height of perfect conviction1 that ,he is sufficient for me1 that ,he is with me for ever1--the satisfying object of my desires and the glorious reward of my searchings1--let life and death come as they may1 let riches1 poverty1 health1 sickness1 all the antitheses of human circumstances storm down upon me in quick alternation1 yet in them all ,i shall be content and peaceful4 ,god is beside me1 and ,his presence brings in its train whatsoever things ,i need4 ,you cannot cast out the sin of foreboding thoughts by any power short of the entrance of ,christ and ,his love4 ,the blessings of faith and felt communion leave no room nor leisure for anxiety4 ,,iii4 ,finally1 ,christ here tells us1 that thought for the morrow is contrary to all the scheme of ,providence1 which shows it to be vain4 ',the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself4 ,sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof4' ,i interpret these two clauses as meaning this3 ,to-morrow has anxieties enough of its own1 alter and in spite of all the anxieties about it to-day by which you try to free it from care when it comes4 ,every day--every day will have its evil1 have it to the end4 ,and every day will have evil enough to task all the strength that a man has to cope with it4 ,so that it just comes to this3 ,anxiety1--it is all vain4 ,after all your careful watching for the corner of the heaven where the cloud is to come from1 there will be a cloud1 and it will rise somewhere1 but you never know beforehand from what quarter4 ,the morrow shall have its own anxieties4 ,after all your fortifying of the castle of your life1 there will be some little postern left unguarded1 some little weak place in the wall left uncommanded by a battery2 and there1 where you never looked for him1 the inevitable invader will come in4 ,after all the plunging of the hero in the fabled waters that made him invulnerable1 there was the little spot on the heel1 and the arrow found its way there8 ,there is nothing certain to happen1 says the proverb1 but the unforeseen4 ,to-morrow will have its cares1 spite of anything that anxiety and foreboding can do4 ,it is ,god's law of ,providence that a man shall be disciplined by sorrow2 and to try to escape from that law by any forecasting prudence1 is utterly hopeless1 and madness4 ,and what does your anxiety do8 ,it does not empty to-morrow1 brother1 of its sorrows2 but1 ah6 it empties to-day of its strength4 ,it does not enable you to escape the evil1 it makes you unfit to cope with it when it comes4 ,it does not bless to-morrow1 but it robs to-day4 ,for every day has its own burden4 ,sufficient for each day is the evil which properly belongs to it4 ,do not add to-morrow's to to-day's4 ,do not drag the future into the present4 ,the present has enough to do with its own proper concerns4 ,we have always strength to bear the evil when it comes4 ,we have not strength to bear the foreboding of it4 ',as thy day1 thy strength shall be4' ,in strict proportion to the existing exigencies will be the ,god-given power2 but if you cram and condense to-day's sorrows by experience1 and to-morrow's sorrows by anticipation1 into the narrow round of the one four-and-twenty hours1 there is no promise that 'as that day thy strength shall be4' ,god gives us 7,his name be praised67--,god gives us power to bear all the sorrows of ,his making2 but ,he does not give us power to bear the sorrows of our own making1 which the anticipation of sorrow most assuredly is4 ,then3 contrary to the lessons of ,nature1 contrary to the teachings of ,religion1 contrary to the scheme of ,providence2 weakening your strength1 distracting your mind1 sucking the sunshine out of every landscape1 and casting a shadow over all the beauty--the curse of our lives is that heathenish1 blind1 useless1 faithless1 needless anxiety in which we do indulge4 ,look forward1 my brother1 for ,god has given you that royal and wonderful gift of dwelling in the future1 and bringing all its glories around your present4 ,look forward1 not for life1 but for heaven2 not for food and raiment1 but for the righteousness after which it is blessed to hunger and thirst1 and wherewith it is blessed to be clothed4 ,not for earth1 but for heaven1 let your forecasting gift of prophecy come into play4 ,fill the present with quiet faith1 with patient waiting1 with honest work1 with wise reading of ,god's lessons of nature1 of providence1 and of grace1 all of which say to us1 ,live in ,god's future1 that the present may be bright3 work in the present1 that the future may be certain6 ,they may well look around in expectation1 sunny and unclouded1 of a blessed time to come1 whose hearts are already 'fixed1 trusting in the ,lord4' ,he to whom there are a present ,christ1 and a present ,spirit1 and a present ,father1 and a present forgiveness1 and a present redemption1 may well live expatiating in all the glorious distance of the unknown to come1 sending out 7if ,i may use such a figure7 from his placid heart over all the weltering waters of this lower world1 the peaceful seeking dove1 his meek hope1 that shall come back again from its flight with some palm-branch broken from the trees of ,paradise between its bill4 ,and he that has no such present has a future dark1 chaotic1 a heaving1 destructive ocean2 and over it there goes for ever--black-pinioned1 winging its solitary and hopeless flight--the raven of his anxious thoughts1 which finds no place to rest1 and comes back again to the desolate ark with its foreboding croak of evil in the present and evil in the future4 ,live in ,christ1 'the same yesterday1 and to-day1 and for ever'2 and ,his presence shall make all your past1 present1 and future--memory1 enjoyment1 and hope--to be bright and beautiful1 because all are centred in ,him4 ,,judging1 ,,asking1 ,,and ,,giving ',judge not1 that ye be not judged4 #b4 ,for with what judgment ye judge1 ye shall be judged3 and with what measure ye mete1 it shall be measured to you again4 #c4 ,and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye1 but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye8 #d4 ,or how wilt thou say to thy brother1 ,let me pull out the mote out of thine eye2 and1 behold1 a beam is in thine own eye6 #e4 ,thou hypocrite1 first cast out the beam out of thine own eye2 and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye4 #f4 ,give not that which is holy unto the dogs1 neither cast ye your pearls before swine1 lest they trample them under their feet1 and turn again and rend you4 #g4 ,ask1 and it shall be given you2 seek1 and ye shall find2 knock1 and it shall be opened unto you3 #h4 ,for every one that asketh receiveth2 and he that seeketh findeth2 and to him that knocketh it shall be opened4 #i4 ,or what man is there of you1 whom if his son ask bread1 will he give him a stone8 #aj4 ,or if he ask a fish1 will he give him a serpent8 #aa4 ,if ye then1 being evil1 know how to give good gifts unto your children1 how much more shall your ,father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask ,him8 #ab4 ,therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you1 do ye even so to them3 for this is the law and the prophets4'--,,matt4 vii4 #a-ab4 ,i4 ,how can we help 'judging1' and why should we not 'judge'8 ,the power of seeing into character is to be coveted and cultivated1 and the absence of it makes simpletons1 not saints4 ,quite true3 but seeing into character is not what ,jesus is condemning here4 ,the 'judging' of which ,he speaks sees motes in a brother's eye4 ,that is to say1 it is one-sided1 and fixes on faults1 which it magnifies1 passing by virtues4 ,carrion flies that buzz with a sickening hum of satisfaction over sores1 and prefer corruption to soundness1 are as good judges of meat as such critics are of character4 ,that ,mephistophelean spirit of detraction has wide scope in this day4 ,literature and politics1 as well as social life with its rivalries1 are infested by it1 and it finds its way into the church and threatens us all4 ,the race of fault-finders we have always with us1 blind as moles to beauties and goodness1 but lynx-eyed for failings1 and finding meat and drink in proclaiming them in tones of affected sorrow4 ,how flagrant a breach of the laws of the kingdom this temper implies1 and how grave an evil it is1 though thought little of1 or even admired as cleverness and a mark of a very superior person1 ,christ shows us by this earnest warning1 embedded among ,his fundamental moral teachings4 ,he points out first how certainly that disposition provokes retaliation4 ,who is the ,judge that judges us as we do others8 ,perhaps it is best to say that both the divine and the human estimates are included in the purposely undefined expression4 ,certainly both are included in fact4 ,for a carping spirit of eager fault-finding necessarily tinges people's feelings towards its possessor1 and he cannot complain if the severe tests which he applied to others are used on his own conduct4 ,a cynical critic cannot expect his victims to be profoundly attached to him1 or ready to be lenient to his failings4 ,if he chooses to fight with a tomahawk1 he will be scalped some day1 and the bystanders will not lament profusely4 ,but a more righteous tribunal than that of his victims condemns him4 ,for in ,god's eyes the man who covers not his neighbour's faults with the mantle of charity has not his own blotted out by divine forgiveness4 ,this spirit is always accompanied by ignorance of one's own faults1 which makes him who indulges in it ludicrous4 ,so our ,lord would seem to intend by the figure of the mote and the beam4 ,it takes a great deal of close peering to see a mote2 but the censorious man sees only the mote1 and sees it out of scale4 ,no matter how bright the eye1 though it be clear as a hawk's1 its beauty is of no moment to him4 ,the mote magnified1 and nothing but the mote1 is his object2 and he calls this one-sided exaggeration 'criticism1' and prides himself on the accuracy of his judgment4 ,he makes just the opposite mistake in his estimate of his own faults1 if he sees them at all4 ,we look at our neighbour's errors with a microscope1 and at our own through the wrong end of a telescope4 ,we see neither in their real magnitude1 and the former mistake is sure to lead to the latter4 ,we have two sets of weights and measures3 one for home use1 the other for foreign4 ,every vice has two names2 and we call it by its flattering and minimising one when we commit it1 and by its ugly one when our neighbour does it4 ,everybody can see the hump on his friend's shoulders1 but it takes some effort to see our own4 ,david was angry enough at the man who stole his neighbour's ewe lamb1 but quite unaware that he was guilty of a meaner1 crueller theft4 ,the mote can be seen2 but the beam1 big though it is1 needs to be 'considered4' ,so it often escapes notice1 and will surely do so1 if we are yielding to the temptation of harsh judgment of others4 ,every one may be aware of faults of his own very much bigger than any that he can see in another1 for each of us may fathom the depth of our own sinfulness in motive and unspoken1 unacted thought1 while we can see only the surface acts of others4 ,our ,lord points out1 in verse #d1 a still more subtle form of this harsh judgment1 when it assumes the appearance of solicitude for the improvement of others1 and ,he thus teaches us that all honest desire to help in the moral reformation of our neighbours must be preceded by earnest efforts at mending our own conduct4 ,if we have grave faults of our own undetected and unconquered1 we are incapable either of judging or of helping our brethren4 ,such efforts will be hypocritical1 for they pretend to come from genuine zeal for righteousness and care for another's good1 whereas their real root is simply censorious exaggeration of a neighbour's faults2 they imply that the person affected with such a tender care for another's eyes has his own in good condition4 ,a blind guide is bad enough1 but a blind oculist is a still more ridiculous anomaly4 ,note1 too1 that the result of clearing our own vision is beautifully put as being1 not ability to see1 but ability to cure1 our fellows4 ,it is only the experience of the pain of casting out a darling evil1 and the consciousness of ,god's pitying mercy as given to us1 that makes the eye keen enough1 and the hand steady and gentle enough1 to pull out the mote4 ,it is a delicate operation1 and one which a clumsy operator may make very painful1 and useless1 after all4 ,a rough finger or a harsh spirit makes success impossible4 ,,ii4 ,verse #f comes in singular juxtaposition with the preceding warning against uncharitable judgments4 ,christ's calling men dogs and swine does not sound like obeying ,his own precept4 ,but the very shock which the words give at first hearing is part of their value4 ,there are men whom ,jesus1 for all ,his gentleness1 has to estimate thus4 ,his pitying eyes were not blind to truth4 ,it was no breach of infinite charity in ,him to see facts1 and to give them their right names2 and ,his previous precept does not bid us shut our eyes1 or give up the use of common sense4 ,this verse limits the application of the preceding one1 and inculcates prudence1 tact1 and discernment of character1 as no less essential to ,his servants than the sweet charity1 slow to suspect and sorrowful to expose a brother's fault4 ,the fact that ,his gentle lips used such words may well make us shudder as we think of the deforming of human nature into pure animalism which some men achieve1 and which is possible for all4 ,the inculcation of discretion in the presentation of the truth may easily be exaggerated into a doctrine of reserve which is more ,jesuitical than ,christian4 ,even when guarded and limited1 it may seem scarcely in harmony with the commission to preach the gospel to every creature1 or with the sublime confidence that ,god's word finds something to appeal to in every heart1 and has power to subdue the animal in every man4 ,but the divergence is only apparent4 ,the most expansive zeal is to be guided by prudence1 and the most enthusiastic confidence in the universal power of the gospel does not take leave of common sense4 ,there are people who will certainly be repelled1 and perhaps stirred to furious antagonism to the gospel and its messengers1 if they are not approached with discretion4 ,it is bad to hide the treasure in a napkin2 it is quite as bad to fling it down before some people without preparation4 ,jesus ,himself locked ,his lips before ,herod1 although the curious ruler asked many questions2 and we have sometimes to remember that there are people who 'will not hear the word1' and who must first 'be won without the word4' ,heavy rains run off hard-baked earth4 ,it must first be softened by a gentle drizzle4 ,luther once told this fable3 ',the lion made a great feast1 and he invited all the beasts1 and among the rest1 a sow4 ,when all manner of costly dishes were set before the guests1 the sow asked1 ,have you no bran8 ,even so1 said he1 we preachers set forth the most dainty dishes1--the forgiveness of sins1 and the grace of ,god2 but they turn up their snouts1 and grub for guilders4' ,this precept is one side of the truth4 ,the other is the adaptation of the gospel to all men1 and the obligation on us to preach it to all4 ,we can only tell most men's disposition towards it by offering it to them1 and we are not to be in a hurry to conclude that men are dogs and swine4 ,,iii4 ,it may be a question whether1 in verse #h1 the emphasis is to be laid on 'every one' or on 'that asketh1' or1 in other words1 whether the saying is an assurance that the universal law will be followed in our case1 or a statement of the universal condition without which no receiving is possible1 and1 least of all1 the receiving of the gifts of the kingdom by its subjects4 ,in either case1 this verse gives the reason for the preceding exhortation4 ,then follows the tender illustration in which the dim-sighted love of earthly fathers is taken as a parable of the all-wise tenderness and desire to bestow which move the hand of the giving ,god4 ,there is some resemblance between an ,eastern loaf and a stone1 and some between a fish and a serpent4 ,however imperfect a father's love1 he will neither be cruel enough to cheat his unsuspecting child with what looks like an answer to his wish but is useless or hurtful1 nor foolish enough to make a mistake4 ,all human relationships are in some measure marred by the faults of those who sustain them4 ,what a solemn attestation of universal sinfulness is in these words of ,christ's1 and how calmly ,he separates ,himself by ,his sinlessness from us6 ,i do not know that there is anywhere a stronger scriptural proof of these two truths than this one incidental clause1 'ye1 being evil4' ,i wonder whether the people who pit the ,sermon on the ,mount against evangelical ,christianity are ready to take this part of it into their creeds4 ,it is noteworthy1 also1 that the emphasis is laid1 not on the earthly father's willingness1 but on his knowing how to give good gifts4 ,our ,lord seems to think that ,he need not assure us of the plain truth that of course our ,father in heaven is willing1 just because ,he is our ,father1 to give us all good2 but ,he heartens us with the assurance that ,his love is wisdom1 and that ,he cannot make any mistakes4 ,there are no stones mingled with our bread1 nor any serpents among the fish4 ,he gives good1 and nothing but good4 ,,iv4 ,the great precept which closes the section is not only to be taken as an inference from the immediately preceding context1 but as the summing up of all the duties to our neighbours1 in which ,christ has been laying down the law of the kingdom from ,matthew v4 #ag4 ,this general reference of the 'therefore' is confirmed by the subsequent clause1 'this is the law and the prophets'2 the summing up of the whole past revelation of the divine will1 and therefore in accordance with our ,lord's previous exposition of the relation between ,his new law and that former one4 ,as ,luther puts it in his vigorous1 homely way1 ',with these words ,he now closes ,his instructions given in these three chapters1 and ties it all up in a little bundle4' ,but a connection may also be traced with the preceding paragraph4 ,there our desires were treated as securing ,god's corresponding gifts4 ,here our desires1 when turned to men1 are regarded1 not as securing their corresponding conduct1 but as obliging us to action4 ,by taking our wishes as the rule of our dealings with others1 we shall be like ,god1 who in regard to ,his best gifts takes our wishes as the rule of ,his dealings with us4 ,our desires sent heavenward procure blessings for us2 sent earthward1 they prescribe our blessing of others4 ,that is a startling turn to give to our claims on our fellows4 ,it rests on the principle that every man has equal rights1 therefore we ought not to look for anything from others which we are not prepared to extend to others4 ,a4 should give ,b4 whatever ,a4 thinks ,b4 should give him4 ,our error is in making ourselves our own centre1 and thinking more of our claims on others than of our obligations to them4 ,christ teaches us that these are one4 ,such a principle applied to our lives would wonderfully pull down our expectations and lift up our obligations4 ,it is really but another way of putting the law of loving our neighbours as ourselves4 ,if observed1 it would revolutionise society4 ,nothing short of it is the law of the kingdom1 and the duty of all who call themselves ,christ's subjects4 ,this is the inmost meaning1 says ,jesus1 of the law and the prophets4 ,all former revelations of the divine will in regard to men's relations to men are summed in this4 ,of course1 this does not mean1 as some people would like to make it mean1 that morality is to take the place of religion1 but simply that all the precepts touching conduct to men are gathered up1 for the subjects of the kingdom1 in this one4 ',love worketh no ill to his neighbour3 therefore love is the fulfilling of the law4' ,,our ,,knocking ',ask1 and it shall be given you2 seek1 and ye shall find2 knock1 and it shall be opened unto you4'--,,matt1 vii4 #g4 ,in the letter to the church at ,laodicea1 we read1 ',behold1 ,i stand at the door and knock4' ,the image is there employed to set forth the tenderness and patience of the exalted ,christ1 who condescends to sue for entrance into every human heart1 and comes in with ,his hands full of blessing4 ,now1 it is very striking1 ,i think1 that the same symbol is employed in this text in reference to our duty4 ,there is such a thing as our knocking at some door for entrance and blessing4 ,what is that knocking8 ,the answer which is popularly given1 ,i suppose1 is that all these three injunctions in our text1 ',ask--seek--knock1' are but diverse aspects of the one exhortation to prayerfulness4 ,and that may1 perhaps1 exhaust their meaning2 but ,i am rather disposed to think that it is possible to trace a difference and a climax in them4 ,to ask is obviously to apply to a person who can give1 and that is prayer4 ,to seek is not1 as ,i think1 quite the same thing1 but rather expresses the idea of effort1 the personal effort which ought to accompany and will accompany all real prayer4 ,and to knock possibly adds to the conception of prayer and of effort1 the idea1 as common to both of them1 of a certain persistency and continuity born of earnestness4 ,so that we have here1 as ,i think1 a threefold statement of the conditions under which certain great blessings are given1 and a threefold exhortation as to our ,christian duty4 ,i4 ,in considering these words ,i would first inquire to whom such exhortations are rightly addressed4 ,now1 it is to be remembered that these words occur in that great discourse of our ,lord's which is called the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,and for the right understanding of that great embodiment of ,christian morality1 and of its relations to the whole body of ,christian truth1 it is1 ,i think1 very needful to remember that the ,sermon on the ,mount is addressed to ,christ's disciples1 that it is the promulgation of the laws of the kingdom by the ,king for ,his subjects2 that it presupposes discipleship and entrance into the kingdom1 and has not a word to say about the method of entrance4 ,so that1 though very many of its exhortations are but the republication in nobler form of the common laws of morality which are binding upon all men1 and may be addressed to all men1 the form in which they appear in that ,sermon1 the connection in which they stand1 the height to which they are elevated1 and the motives by which they are enforced1 all limit their application to men who are truly followers and disciples of ,jesus ,christ4 ,and this consideration especially bears on these words of our text4 ,the first exhortation which ,christianity addresses to a man is not 'ask4' ,the first duty that a man has to discharge in regard to ,christ and ,his grace1 and the revelation that is in ,him1 is neither to seek nor to knock1 but it is to take and to open4 ,christ knocks first1 and when ,he knocks we should say1 ',come in1 ,thou blessed of the ,lord4' ,to bid a man pray1 when he should be exhorted to believe1 is to darken the clearness of the divine counsel1 and to narrow the fulness of the divine grace4 ,god does not wait to be asked for ,his mercy and ,his pardon4 ,like the dew on the grass1 ,he 'tarrieth not for man1 nor waiteth for the sons of men4' ,before we call1 ,he answers2 and to say to people1 ',pray6' ',seek6' ',knock6' when the one thing to say is ',take the gifts that ,god sent you before you asked for them1' is folly1 and has often led to a course of painful and profitless struggling1 which was all unnecessary and wide of the mark4 ,it is like telling a man to pray for rain when the reservoirs at his side are full1 and every flower is bending its chalice1 charged with the blessing4 ,it is needless to tell a man to seek for the treasure that is lying there at his side1 and to which he has only to turn his eyes and stretch out his hands4 ,it is folly to exhort a man to beat at a door that is standing wide open4 ,the door of ,god's grace is thus wide open1 and the treasure of ,god's mercy has come down1 and the rain of ,god's forgiving love has dropped upon all of us1 and made the wilderness to rejoice4 ,and so my message to some of you1 dear brethren1 is to say that you have nothing whatever to do1 primarily1 with this text4 ,you have neither to ask1 nor to seek1 nor to knock1 but to listen to ,him1 whose gentle hand knocks at your hearts1 and to open the door and let ,him come in with ,his grace and mercy4 ,,ii4 ,and now1 in the next place1 let me ask you to consider in what region of life these promises are true4 ,they sound at first as if they were dead in the teeth of the facts of life4 ,is there any region of experience in which to ask is to receive1 to seek is to find1 and in which every door flies open at our touch8 ,if there be1 it is not in the ordinary work-a-day world in which you and ,i live1 where we all have to put up with a great many bitter disappointments and refused requests1 where we have all searched long and sorely for some things that we have not found1 and the search has aged and saddened us4 ,it seems to be perfectly certain that the distinct purpose which our ,lord here has in view1 is to assert that the law of ,his ,kingdom is the direct opposite of the law of earthly life1 and that the sad discrepancy between desire and possession1 between wish and fact1 is done away with for ,his followers4 ',be it unto thee even as thou wilt1' is the charter of ,his ,kingdom4 ,now1 dear brethren1 it does not want much wisdom to know that that would be a very questionable blessing indeed1 if it were taken to apply to the outward circumstances of our lives4 ,there are a good many people1 in all ages1 and there are some people in this day1 who set themselves up for very lofty and spiritual ,christians who have made deep discoveries as to the power of prayer1 and who seem to understand by it just exactly this1 that if a man will only pray for what he wishes instead of working for it1 he will get what he wishes4 ,and ,i make bold to say that all forms of so-called higher experience which involve anything like that thought are1 instead of being an exaltation1 a degradation1 of the very idea of ,christian prayer4 ,for the meaning of prayer is not that ,i shall force my will upon ,god1 but that ,i shall bend my will to ,his4 ,there is one region1 and one only1 in which it is true1 absolutely1 unconditionally1 without limitation1 and always1 that what we ask we get1 what we seek we find1 and that the door at which we knock shall be opened unto us2 and that is not the region of outward1 questionable1 and changeful good4 ,why1 the very context of these words shows us that4 ,it dwells upon the discrimination of an earthly father in answering his child's requests2 and says3 'he knows how to give good gifts1' and 'so will your heavenly ,father4' ,and it takes an illustration which we may extend in that same direction when it says1 ',if a child ask a loaf1 will the father give him a stone8 or if he ask for a fish1 will he give him a serpent8' ,we may turn the question and say3 ,if the child ask for a serpent because he fancies that it is a fish1 will his father give him that8 ,or if he cast his eye upon a thing which he imagines to be a loaf when it is only a stone1 will his father let him break his teeth upon that8 ,surely no6 ,he knows how to give good gifts1 and an essential condition of that divine knowledge of how to give good gifts is the knowledge of how to refuse mistaken and foolish wishes4 ,so let us be thankful that ,his divine providence does not spoil ,his children1 and make them1 as all spoiled children are1 a curse and a misery to themselves and to everybody round about them2 but ,he disciplines them by a gracious ',no' as well as by a frank1 glad ',yes1' and often refuses the petition and grants the deeper-lying meaning of the same4 ,therefore1 ,i say that the region in which this great and liberal charter of entire response to our desires has force is simply and only the spiritual region in which the highest good is4 ,you may grow as ,christian men just as fast and just as far as you choose4 ,a fuller knowledge of ,god's truth1 a more entire conformity to ,christ's pattern1 a deeper communion with ,god--they are all possible for every one of us in any measure to which we choose to set our expectations1 and to shape our desires and our actions4 ',open thy mouth wide and ,i will fill it4' ,the stretch of the jaws determines the size of the portion that is put into them2 and ,he ,himself who is the only real limit of ,his gifts1 in ,his endless fulness1 always imparts to you and me just as much of ,himself as we like and wish to take4 ',ye are not straitened in ,me1 ye are straitened in yourselves4' ,and oh6 brethren1 what a solemn light such thoughts as that throw on the low attainments of our average ,christianity6 ,so many of us1 like ,gideon's fleece1 dry in the midst of the dew that comes down from heaven6 ,so many of us in the midst of the blessed sunshine of ,his grace1 standing like deep gorges on a mountain in cold shadow6 ,how much you have lying at hand2 how little of it you take for your own6 ,suppose one of those old ,spanish explorers in the sixteenth century had been led into some of those rich ,mexican treasure-houses1 where all round him were massive bars of gold and gleaming diamonds and precious stones1 and had come out from the abundance with sixpence-worth in ,his palm1 when he might have loaded himself with ingots of pure and priceless metal4 ,that is what some of you do1 when ,jesus ,christ puts the key of ,his storehouse in your hands and says to you1 ',go in and help yourselves1' ,you stop as soon as you are within the threshold4 ,you do little more than take some insignificant corner nibbled off the great solid mass of riches that might belong to you1 and bear that away4 ,the only conclusion is that you do not care much about ,his wealth4 ,dear brethren1 you professing ,christian people that are listening to me1 if life is scant in your veins1 if your faith is1 as it is with many of you1 all but dead1 if your ,christian character is very little better than the character of the people round you1 if your religion does not give you any happiness1 nor do other people much good1 if your love is so cold that it has almost expired1 and your hopes dim1 there is no creature in heaven or earth or hell that is to blame for it but yourselves4 ',ye have not because ye ask not2 ye ask and have not because ye ask amiss4' ,,iii4 ,and that brings me to the last question1 namely1 on what conditions these promises depend4 ',ask1 and it shall be given you2 seek1 and ye shall find2 knock1 and it shall be opened4' ,i said at the beginning of these remarks that ,i traced a difference between these three commands1 and ,i take that difference for granted now as the basis of the few words ,i have to say4 ,the first condition is--desires presented to ,him who can grant them4 ,to ask implies the will of a person that will hear and respond and has the power to bestow4 ,that ,person is ,god in ,christ4 ,go and ask ,him4 ,we all know that prayer is essential1 and so ,i do not need to dwell upon it2 go and ask ,him1 and you will get what you need4 ,do you ever pray1 you professing ,christian people8 ,i do not mean with your mouths1 but with your hearts2 do you ever pray to be made less worldly8 ,do you ever wish to be so8 ,do you ever really desire that your love of this present should be diminished8 ,have you any appetite for righteousness8 ,does it seem to you to be a good thing that you should have less pleasure in the present and more joys in the future8 ,would you like to be a devouter ,christian than you are8 ,i very much question it about many of you4 ,i am not hitting at individuals1 but ,i am speaking about the average type of professing ,christians in this generation4 ,if you desire it you will ask it4 ,is there any place in any of your rooms where there is a little bit of carpet worn white by your knees8 ,or do you pray when you are half asleep at night1 and before you are well awake in the morning1 and scramble through a prayer as the necessary preliminary to going to the work that really interests you1 the work of your trade or business8 ',ask1 and ye shall receive4' ,the second condition is effort4 ',seek1 and ye shall find4' ,there are a great many things in this world that cannot be given to a wish4 ,there are a great many things in the ,kingdom of ,grace that ,jesus ,christ cannot give to a mere wish4 ,there must be my own personal effort if ,i am to secure that which ,i desire4 ,that is the reason why so many prayers seem to go unanswered4 ,think of the thousands of supplications that will go up in churches and chapels to-day for spiritual blessings4 ,how comes it that such an enormous proportion of these prayers will never be answered at all8 ,well1 if a man stand at the butts and shoot his arrow at a target1 and does not care enough for its fate to stand there long enough to see whether it hits the bull's eye1 the probability is that it will never reach its aim4 ,and if men pray1 and pray1 and pray1 in public1 and then come out of their churches and chapels and not only forget all about their prayers but never expect an answer to them1 and do nothing in their lives in accordance therewith1 is there any wonder that they are not answered8 ,men repeat the ,lord's ,prayer every morning1 and ask ,god day by day 'lead us not into temptation1' and then go out into daily life1 and are willing to fling themselves into temptation1 and go through the very thick of the fire of it1 if there is a ten pound note on the other side of the flame4 ,and men ask ,god that ,he will help them to 'grow in grace' and ,christian character1 and seldom do a single thing that they know will promote that growth4 ,all such prayer is vain and unresponded to4 ,with prayer there must go effort4 ,and then1 lastly1 the third condition is continuity or persistence4 ',knock1 and it shall be opened unto you1' ',then there is such a thing as a delay in these answers that you have been speaking about1' you say4 ,no6 there is no delay1 but there is such a thing as the beginning of a long task2 and therefore there is such a thing as the necessity for persistent and continuous perseverance even in the offering of the desires1 which to express is to have satisfied2 and in putting forth of the efforts in which to seek is to find4 '',tis a lifelong task ere the lump be leavened4' ,eternal life is a gift1 but the building of a ,christian character is the result of patient1 continuous1 well-directed efforts to the appropriation and employment of the gift that we have received4 ',forty-and-six years was this temple in building1' they said1 and it was not finished then4 ,it will take more than forty-and-six years to build up in my poor heart1 full of rubbish and of evil1 a temple to the ,holy ,ghost4 ,i need not insist upon the virtue of perseverance2 that is a commonplace written on the head of all copybooks1 but let me remind you that in the ,christian life1 as much as in any other1 that virtue is needful1 and unless a man is content to do as ,abraham ,lincoln said1 ',keep pegging away' at the duties of ,christian life with continual effort1 there is no promise and no possibility that that man shall grow in grace4 ,now1 two last words3 one is1 we want nothing more for the largest and most blessed possession of the true riches and eternal joys of the kingdom than the application to our ,christian life of the very same qualities1 virtues1 excellences1 which we need for the successful prosecution of our daily business4 ,dear brethren1 draw for yourselves the contrast between the eagerness with which you pursue that1 and the tepidity with which you pursue this4 ,you know that effort and perseverance are wanted there1 and you do not grudge them2 they are wanted just as much here4 ,do you put them forth8 ,some of you are all fire in the one place1 and are all frost in the other4 ,you ,christian men and women1 give the kingdom as much as you give the world1 and you will be strong and growing ,christians2 but if you will not1 do not wonder that you are so feeble as you are4 ,and the last remark ,i make is--this great symbol of my text which is used in reference to our ,lord's condescending beseechings for the entrance into our hearts1 and is also used1 as we have seen1 in reference to our own continuity of prayerful effort1 is used in another and very solemn application1 in words of ,his ',many will seek to enter in1 and shall not be able1 when once the ,master of the house is risen up1 and hath shut to the door2 and will begin to stand without and to knock at the door1 saying1 ,lord6 ,lord6 open to us2 and ,he'--,he who said ',knock1 and it shall be opened'--',he shall answer and say to you1 ,i know you not whence ye are4' ,that you may escape that repulse1 oh my friend6 do you open your heart now to the knocking ,christ1 and then1 then1 and not till then1 ',ask6' that you may be filled with the treasures of ,his love1 'seek6' that you may find the rich provision ,he has laid up for us all1 'knock6' that door after door in the many mansions of the ,father's ,house may be opened unto you2 until at last an entrance is ministered abundantly into the everlasting kingdom1 and you go in with the ,king to the eternal feast4 ,,the ,,two ,,paths ',enter ye in at the strait gate3 for wide is the gate1 and broad is the way1 that leadeth to destruction1 and many there be which go in thereat3 #ad4 ,because strait is the gate1 and narrow is the way1 which leadeth unto life1 and few there be that find it4'--,,matt4 vii4 #ac-ad4 ,a frank statement of the hardships and difficulties involved in a course of conduct does not seem a very likely way to induce men to adopt it1 but it often proves so4 ,there is something in human nature which responds to the bracing tonic of the exhortation3 ',by doing thus you will have to face many hardships and many difficulties which you may avoid by leaving it alone2 but do it1 because it is best in the long run1 being right from the beginning4' ,so the story of the martyrs' fires has lighted many a man to the faith for which the martyr was burned4 ,many a youth has been led to take the shilling and enlist by reading accounts of wounds and battles and sufferings4 ,our ,lord will have no soldiers in ,his army on false pretences4 ,they shall know exactly what they have to reckon on if they take service with ,him4 ,and thus1 in the solemn and familiar words of my text1 ,he enjoins each of us to become ,his disciples2 and that not only because--as is sometimes supposed--of the blessing that lies at the end for ,his servants1 but because of the very things on the road to the end which1 at first sight1 seemed difficulties4 ,for you will observe that in my text the exhortation1 ',enter ye in at the strait gate1' is followed by two clauses1 each of which begins with a 'for'2 the one being a description of the road that is to be shunned2 the other1 an account of the path that is to be followed4 ,in each description there are four contrasted particulars3 the gate1 strait or wide2 the road1 narrow or broad2 the travellers1 many or few2 and the ends1 life or destruction4 ,now1 people generally read these words as if our ,lord was saying1 ',though the one path is narrow and rugged and steep and unfrequented1 yet walk on it1 because it leads to life2 and though the other presents the opposite of all these characteristics1 yet avoid it1 because pleasant and popular as it is1 its end is destruction4' ,but that is not what ,he says4 ,all four things are reasons for avoiding the one and following the other2 which1 being turned into plain ,english1 is just this1 that we ought to be ,christian people precisely because there are difficulties and pains and sacrifices in being so1 which we may ignobly shirk if we like4 ,it is not1 ,though the road be narrow it leads to life1 therefore enter it2 but ,because it is narrow1 and leads to life1 therefore blessed are the feet that are set upon it4 ,let us1 then1 look at these four characteristics1 and note how they all enforce the merciful summons which our ,lord is addressing to each of us1 as truly as ,he did to the hearers gathered around ,him on the mountain3 ',enter ye in at the strait gate4' ,i4 ,the gates4 ,the gate is in view here merely as a means of access to the road1 and the metaphor simply comes to this1 that it is more difficult to be a ,christian man than not to be one1 and therefore you ought to be one4 ,now1 what makes a ,christian8 ,we do not need to go further than this ,sermon on the ,mount for answer4 ,the two first of our ,lord's ,beatitudes1 as they are called1 are ',blessed are the poor in spirit1' and ',blessed are they that mourn4' ,these two carry the conditions of entrance on the ,christian life4 ,there must be consciousness of our own emptiness1 weakness1 and need2 there must be penitent recognition of our own ill-desert and lamentation over that4 ,these two things1 the consciousness of emptiness1 and the sorrow for sin1 make--,i was going to say--the two door-posts of the narrow gate through which a man has to press4 ,it is too narrow for any of his dignities or honours4 ,a camel cannot go through the eye of a needle1 not only because of its own bulk1 but because of the burdens which flap on either side of it1 and catch against the jambs4 ,all my self-confidence1 and reputation1 and righteousness1 will be rubbed off when ,i try to press through that narrow aperture4 ,you may find on a lonely moor low1 contracted openings that lead into tortuous passages--the approaches to some of the ancient ',picts' houses1' where a feeble folk dwelt1 and secured themselves from their enemies4 ,the only way to get into them is to go down upon your knees2 and the only way to get into this road--the way of righteousness--is by taking the same attitude4 ,no man can enter unless--like that ,german ,emperor whom a ,pope kept standing in the snow for three days outside the gate of ,canossa--he is stripped of everything1 down to the hair-shirt of penitence4 ,and that is not easy4 ,naaman wanted to be healed as a great man in the court of ,damascus4 ,he had to strip himself of his offices1 and dignities1 and pride1 and to come down to the level of any other leper4 ,you and ,i1 dear brother1 have to go through the same process of stripping ourselves of all the adventitious accretions that have clung to us1 and to know ourselves naked and helpless1 before we can pass through the gate4 ,further1 we have to go in one by one4 ,two cannot pass the turnstile at the same time4 ,we have to enter singly1 as we shall have to pass through the other 'dark gates1 across the wild which no man knows1' at the end of life4 ,because it is strait1 it is a great deal easier to stop outside1 as so many of those to whom ,i speak are doing4 ,for that1 you have nothing to do but to drift and let things drift4 ,no decision nor effort is needed2 no coming out of yourselves4 ,it is all as easy as it is for a wild animal to enter in between the broadly extending palisades that converge as they come nearer the trap1 so that the creature is snared before he knows4 ,the gate is wide3 that is the sure condemnation of it4 ,it is always easy to begin bad and unworthy things1 of all sorts4 ,and there is nothing easier than to keep in the negative position which so many of my audience1 ,i fear me1 are in1 of not being a ,christian4 ,but1 on the other side1 it is not so hard as it looks to go in1 and it is not so easy as it seems to stop out4 ,for there are two men in every man--a better and a worse2 and what pleases the one disgusts the other4 ,the choice which each of us has to make is whether we shall do the things that are easiest to our worst self1 or those that are easiest to our best self4 ,for in either case there will be difficulties2 in either case there will be antagonisms4 ,but it is good for us to make the effort1 apart altogether from the end4 ,if there were no life eternal at the far end of the road which at this end has the narrow gate1 it would contribute to all that is noblest and best in our characters1 and to the repression of all that is ignoble and worst1 that we should take that lowly position which ,christ requires1 and by the heroism of a self-abandoning faith1 fling ourselves into ,his arms4 ,remember1 too1 that the strait gate1 by reason of its very straitness1 is in the noblest sense wide4 ,if there were anything else required of a man than simply self-distrust and reliance on ,jesus ,christ1 then this great ,gospel that ,i am feebly trying to preach would be a more sectional and narrower thing than it is4 ,but its glory is that it requires nothing which any man is unable to bring1 that it has no invitation for sections1 classes1 grades of culture or intelligence or morality1 but that in its great cosmopolitanism and universality it comes to every man2 because it treats all as on one level1 and requires from each only what all can bring--knowledge of themselves as sinners1 and humble trust in ,jesus ,christ as a ,saviour4 ,it is narrow because there is no room for sin or self-righteousness to go in2 it is wide as the world1 and1 like the capacious portals of some vast cathedral1 ample enough to receive without hustling1 and to accommodate without inconvenience1 every soul of man4 ,,ii4 ,notice the contrast of the two roads1 which1 in like manner1 points the exhortation to choose the better4 ,the one is broad2 the other is narrow4 ,which1 being turned into plain ,english1 is just this--that the ,christian course has limitations which do not hamper the godless man2 and that on the path of godlessness or ,christlessness there is a deceptive appearance of freedom and independence which attracts many4 ',narrow is the road4' ,yes1 if you are to be a ,christian1 you must have your whole life concentrated on1 and consecrated to1 one thing2 and1 just as the vagrant rays of sunshine have to be collected into a focus before they burn1 so the wandering manifoldnesses of our aims and purposes have all to be brought to a point1 ',this one thing ,i do1' and whatsoever we do we have to do it as in ,god1 and for ,god1 and by ,god1 and with ,god4 ,therefore the road is narrow because1 being directed to one aim1 it has to exclude great tracts on either side1 in which people that have a less absorbing and lofty purpose wander and expatiate at will4 ,as on some narrow path in ,eastern lands1 with high1 prickly-pear hedges on either side1 and vineyards stretching beyond them1 with luscious grapes in abundance1 a traveller has to keep on the road1 within the prickly fences1 dusty though it may be1 and though his thirsty lips may be cracking4 ,i remember once going to that strange island-fortress off the ,normandy coast1 which stands on an isolated rock in the midst of a wide bay4 ,one narrow causeway leads across the sands4 ,does a traveller complain of having to keep it8 ,it is safety and life1 for on either side stretches the tremulous sand1 on which1 if a foot is planted1 the pedestrian is engulfed4 ,so the narrow way on which we have to journey is a highway cast up1 on which no evil will befall us1 while on each hand away out to the horizon lie the treacherous quicksands4 ,narrowness is sometimes safety4 ,if the road is narrow it is the better guide1 and they who travel along it travel safely4 ,restrictions and limitations are of the essence of all nobleness and virtue4 ',so did not ,i because of the fear of the ,lord4' ,set side by side with that the competing path4 ,wide8 ,yes6 ',do as you like'--that is sufficiently wide4 ,and even where that gospel of the animal has not become the guide to a man1 there are many occupations1 pursuits1 recreations which men who lack the supreme concentration and consecration that come through over mastering love to ,jesus ,christ who has redeemed them1 may legitimately in their own estimation do1 but which no ,christian man should do4 ,but1 as ,i said before about the gates1 it is not so easy as it looks to walk the broad road1 nor so hard as it seems to tread the narrow one4 ,for 'her ways are ways of pleasantness1 and all her paths are peace'2 and1 on the other hand1 licentiousness and liberty are not the same thing1 and true freedom is not to do as you like1 but to like to do as you ought4 ,besides1 the path which looks attractive1 and tempts to the indulgence of many appetites and habits which a ,christian man must rigidly subdue1 does not continue so attractive4 ,earthly pleasures have a strange knack of losing their charm1 and1 at the same time1 increasing their hold1 with familiarity4 ,many a man who has plunged into some kind of dissipation because of the titillation of his senses which he found in it1 discovers that the titillation diminishes and the tyranny grows2 and that when he thought that he had bought a joy1 he has sold himself slave to a master4 ,so1 dear friends1 and especially you young people1 let me beseech you to be suspicious of courses of conduct which come to you with the whisper1 'pleasant1 sweet4' ,if you have two things before you1 one of which is easy and the other hard1 ninety times out of a hundred it will be safe for you to choose the hard one1 and the odd ten times it will be at least as well for you to choose it4 ',thus we travel to the stars4' ,as one of our poets has it1 'the path of duty is the way of glory1' and those that 'scorn delights and live laborious days1' and listen not to the voices that say ',come and enjoy this1' but to the sterner voice that says ',come and bear this'--these will ',find the stubborn thistles bursting ,into glossy purples that outredden ,all voluptuous garden roses4' ,so1 because the road is narrow1 therefore choose it4 ,because the other path is wide1 ,i beseech you to avoid it4 ,,iii4 ,note the travellers4 ,on the one road there are 'few1' on the other1 by comparison1'many4' ,that was true in ,christ's time1 and although the world is better since1 and many feet have trodden the narrow way1 and have found that it leads to life1 yet ,i am afraid it is so still4 ,now1 did you ever think1 or do you believe1 that the fact of a course of conduct1 or of an opinion1 being the conduct or the opinion of a majority1 is pro tanto against it8 ',what everybody says must be true1' says the old proverb1 and ,i do not dispute it4 ,what most people say is1 ,i think1 most often false4 ,and that is true about conduct1 as well as about opinion4 ,it is very unsafe to take the general sense of a community for your direction4 ,it is unsafe in regard to matters of opinion1 it is even more unsafe in regard to matters of conduct4 ,that there are many on a road is no sign that the road is a right one2 but it is rather an argument the other way2 looking at the gregariousness of human nature1 and how much people like to save themselves the trouble of thinking and decision1 and to run in ruts2 just as a cab-driver will get upon the tram-lines when he can1 because his vehicle runs easier there4 ,so the fact that1 if you are going to be ,christ-like ,christians1 you will be in the minority1 is a reason for being such4 ,you young men in warehouses1 and all of you in your different spheres and circles1 do not be afraid of being singular4 ,and remember that ,jesus ,christ1 and one man with ,him1 though it is ,athanasius contra mundum1 are always in the majority4 ,now that is good1 bracing teaching1 apart altogether from ,christianity4 ,but ,i wish to bring it to bear especially in that direction4 ,and so ,i would remind you that after all1 the solitude in which a man may have to walk1 if he sets ,christ before him1 and tries to follow ,him with ,his cross upon his shoulders1 is only an apparent solitude4 ,for1 look1 whose footsteps are these on my path1 not without spots of blood1 where the tender feet have trod upon thorns and briars8 ,there has been ,somebody here before me4 ,who8 ',let him take up his cross and follow ,me4' ,and if we follow ,him1 the solitude will be like that in which the two sad disciples walked on the ,resurrection day1 when a third came and joined ,himself to them4 ,so a second will come to each of us1 if we are alone1 and our hearts will burn within us4 ,nor shall we need to wait till the repose of the evening and the breaking of bread1 before we know that 'it is the ,lord'2 nor1 known and recognised1 will ,he vanish from our sides4 ,dear brethren1 because 'few there be that go in thereat1' and walk thereon1 ,i beseech you to go in through the door of faith1 and to walk in the way of ,christ1 who has left us an ensample that we should follow in ,his steps4 ,if of thee it can be said1 as the great ,puritan poet said of one virgin pure1 that thou '--,wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green1 ,and with those few art eminently seen ,that labour up the hill of heavenly truth1'-- his assurance to her will be applicable to thee1 and '--,thou1 when the ,bridegroom1 with ,his feastful friends1 ,passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night1 ,hast gained thy entrance4' ,,iv4 ,that leads me to the last point--viz4 the contrasted ends of these two paths4 ,christ assumes the right to speak decisively and authoritatively with regard to the ultimate issues of human conduct1 in a way which1 as ,i believe1 marks ,his divinity1 and which no man can venture upon without presumption4 ,of the one path ,he declares without hesitation that it leads to life2 of the other ,he affirms uncompromisingly that it 'leads to destruction4' ,now1 ,i dare not dwell upon these solemn thoughts with any enfeebling expansion by my own words1 but ,i beseech you to lay them to heart--only take the simple remark1 as a commentary and an exposition of the solemn meaning of these issues1 that life does not mean mere continuous existence1 but1 as it generally does upon ,his lips1 means that which alone ,he recognises as being the true life of such a creature as man--viz4 existence in union with ,himself1 the ,source of life2 and that1 conversely1 destruction does not mean merely the cessation of being1 or what we call the destruction of consciousness and the annihilation of a soul1 but that it means the continued consciousness of a soul rent away from ,him in whom alone is life1 and which therefore has made shipwreck of everything1 and has destroyed itself4 ,there are the issues1 then1 before us1 and ,i dare not blur the clear distinction which ,jesus ,christ draws4 ,i listen to ,him1 and accept ,his word1 and ,i press upon you1 dear brethren1 that the main thing about a road is1 after all1 where it leads us2 and ,i ask you to remember that your life-path--as ,i try to remember that mine--is tending to one or other of these two issues4 ,the one path may be1 and is1 rough and steep though its delights are nobler1 more poignant1 and more permanent than any that can be found elsewhere4 ,steadily climbing like some mountain railway1 it reaches at last the short tunnel on the summit level1 and then dashes out into the blinding blaze of a new sunshine4 ,the other goes merrily enough1 at first1 downhill1 but at last it comes to the edge of the abyss1 and there it stops1 but the traveller does not4 ,he goes over2 and nobody can see the darkness into which he falls4 ,dear friends1 ,christ says1 ',i am the ,way4' ,do you go to ,him and cry1 ',see if there be any wicked way in me1 and lead me into the way everlasting4' ,,the ,,two ,,houses ',therefore1 whosoever heareth these sayings of ,mine1 and doeth them1 ,i will liken him unto a wise man1 which built his house upon a rock4444 #be4 ,and every one that heareth these sayings of ,mine1 and doeth them not1 shall be likened unto a foolish man1 which built his house upon the sand4'--,matt4 vii4 #bd1 #be4 ,our ,lord closes the so-called ,sermon on the ,mount1 which is really the ,king's proclamation of the law of ,his ,kingdom1 with three pairs of contrasts1 all meant to sway us to obedience4 ,the first is that of the two ways3 one broad1 and leading down to abysses of destruction2 the other narrow1 and leading up to shining heights of life4 ,the second is that of the two trees1 one good and one bad1 each bearing fruit according to its nature2 by which our ,lord would teach us that conduct is the outcome and revelation of character1 and the test of being a follower of ,his4 ,the third is that of our text1 the two houses on the two foundations1 and their fate before the one storm2 by which our ,lord would teach us that the only foundation on which can be built a life that will stand the blast of final judgment is ,his sayings and ,himself4 ,now1 there are many very important and profound links of connection and relation between these three contrasted pictures1 but ,i only point to one thing here1 and that is that in all of them ,jesus ,christ most decisively divides all ,his hearers--for it is about them that ,he is speaking--into two classes3 either on the broad road or on the narrow1 not a foot in each2 either the good tree or the bad2 either the house on the sand or the house on the rock4 ,such a sharp division is said nowadays to be narrow1 and to be contradicted by the facts of life1 in which the great mass of men are neither very white nor very black1 but a kind of neutral grey4 ,yes1 they are--on the surface4 ,but if you go down to the bottom1 and grasp the life in its inmost principles and essential nature1 ,i fancy that ,jesus ,christ's narrowness is true to fact4 ,at all events1 there it is4 ,now1 following out the imagery of our text1 ,i wish to bring before you the two foundations1 the two houses1 the one storm1 the two endings4 ,i4 ,the two foundations3 ,rock1 ,sand4 ,now1 to build on the ,rock1 ,jesus ,christ ,himself explains to us as being the same thing as to hear and do ,his sayings4 ,the one representation is plain fact1 the other is metaphor which points precisely in the same direction4 ,it is scarcely a digression if ,i pause for a moment1 and point you to the singular and unique attitude which this ,carpenter's ,son of ,nazareth takes up here1 fronting the whole race with that 'whosoever1' and alleging that ,his sayings are an infallible law for conduct1 and that ,he has the right absolutely to command every man1 woman1 and child of the sons and daughters of ,adam4 ,and the strange thing is that the best men have admitted ,his claim1 have recognised that ,he had the right1 and have seen that ,his precepts are the very ideal of human conduct1 and1 if they have ventured to criticise at all1 their criticism has only been that the precepts are too good to be obeyed1 and contemplate an ideal that is unreachable in human society4 ,be that as it may1 there stands the fact that this ,man1 in this ,sermon on the ,mount1 which so many people say has no doctrinal teaching in it1 assumes an attitude which nothing can warrant and nothing explain except the full-toned belief that in ,him we have ,god manifest in the flesh4 ,but what ,i desire to point to now is the significance of this demand that ,he makes1 that we shall take ,his sayings as the foundation of our lives4 ,the metaphor is a very plain one1 by which the principles that underlie or dominate and mould our conduct are regarded as the foundation upon which we build the structure of our lives4 ,but the ,sermon on the ,mount is not all of these 'sayings of ,mine4' ,it is fashionable in certain quarters to-day to isolate these precepts1 and to regard them as being the part of ,christian ,revelation by which men who set little store by theological subtleties1 and reject the mysteries of the ,incarnation and the ,atonement1 may still abide4 ,but ,i would have you notice that it is absurd to isolate this ,sermon on the ,mount1 or to deal with it as if it were the very centre of the ,christian ,revelation4 ,it is nothing of the sort4 ,beautiful as it is1 wonderful as it is as a high ideal of human conduct1 it is a law still1 though it is a perfect law2 and it has all the impotences and all the deficiencies that attach to a law1 if you take it and rend it out of its place1 and insist upon dealing with it as if it stood alone4 ,there is not a word in it that tells you how to keep its precepts4 ,there is no power in it1 or raying from it1 to make a man obey any one of its commandments4 ,it comes radiant and beautiful1 but imperative1 and just because no man keeps it to the full1 its very beauty becomes menacing1 and it stands there over against us1 showing us what we ought to be1 and1 by consequence1 what we are not4 ,and is that all that ,jesus ,christ came into the world to do8 ,god forbid6 ,if ,he had only spoken this ,sermon on the ,mount--which some of you take for the ,alpha and the ,omega of ,christianity as far as you are concerned--,he would not have been different in essence from other teachers1--though high above them in degree1--who speak to us of the shining heights of duty that we are to scale1 but leave us grovelling in the mire4 ,the ,sermon on the ,mount1 with its stringent requirements1 absolutely demands to be completed by other thoughts and other 'sayings of ,mine4' ,and so ,i remind you1 not only that there are other 'sayings of ,mine' to be kept than it1 but also that there is no keeping of it without keeping other sayings first4 ,for the highest of ,christ's commandments is ',believe also in ,me1' and you have to take ,him as your ,redeemer and ,saviour from death before you will ever thoroughly accept ,him as your ,guide and ,pattern for life4 ,we must first draw near to ,him in humble penitence and lowly faith1 and then there comes into our hearts a power which makes it possible and delightsome to keep even the loftiest1 and in other aspects the hardest1 of 'those sayings of ,mine4' ,so1 brethren1 the obedience of which this text speaks is second1 and the building of ourselves on ,jesus ,christ ,himself1 by faith in ,him1 is first4 ,only when we build on ,him as our ,saviour shall we build our lives upon ,him in obedience to ,his commands4 ',behold6 ,i lay in ,zion for a foundation1 a stone1 a tried corner-stone1 a sure foundation1 and he that believeth shall not make haste'2 and long after the prophet said that1 the ,apostle catches up the same thought when he says1 ',other foundation can no man lay than that is laid4 ,let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon4' ,jesus ,christ is the foundation of our lives1 if we have any true life at all4 ,he ought to be the foundation of all our thinking4 ,his word should be the absolute truth1 ,his life the final all-satisfying1 perfect revelation of ,god1 to our hearts4 ',in ,him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge4' ,the facts of ,his ,incarnation1 earthly life1 ,death1 ,resurrection1 ,ascension1 and present ,sovereignty--these facts1 with the truths that are deduced from them1 and the great glimpses which they afford into the heart of ,god and the depths of things1 are the foundations of all true thinking on moral and social and religious questions1 and on not a few other questions besides4 ,christ in ,his ,revelation gives us the ultimate truth on which we have to build4 ,he is also the foundation of all our hope1 the foundation of all our security1 the foundation of all our effort and aspiration4 ,his ,cross goes before the nations and leads them1 ,his ,cross stands by the individual1 and anodynes the sense of guilt1 and breaks the bondage and captivity of sin1 and stirs to all lofty emotions and holy living1 and moves ever in the van like the pillar of cloud and fire1 the ,pattern of our lives and the ,guide of our pilgrimage4 ,it is ,christ ,himself who is the foundation1 and ,his death and sacrifice which are the sure basis of our hope1 safety1 and blessedness2 and it is only because ,he ,himself is the ,foundation1 and what ,he has done for us is the basis of hope and blessedness1 that ,he has the right to come to us and say1 ',take ,my commandments as the foundation on which you build your lives4' ,the ,rock of ,ages cleft for us1 is the ,rock on which we build if we are ,christians2 the other man built his house upon the sand4 ,that is to say1 shifting inclinations1 short-lived appetites1 transitory aims1 varying judgments of men1 the fashions of the day in morality1 the changing judgments of our own consciences--these are the things on which men build1 if they are not building upon ,jesus ,christ4 ,like a vessel that has a raw hand at the helm1 you sometimes head one way1 and then the puff of wind that fills your sails dies down1 or the sails that were flat as a board belly out a little1 or you are caught in some current1 and round goes the bowsprit on another tack altogether4 ,how many of us are pursuing the objects which we pursued five-and-twenty years ago1 if we have numbered so many years8 ,what has become of aims that were everything to us then8 ,we have won some of them1 and they have turned out not half as good as we thought they would be4 ,the hare is never so big when it is in the bag as when it is hurrying across the fields4 ,we have missed some of them1 and we scarcely remember that we once wanted them4 ,we have outlived a great many1 and they lie away behind us1 hull down on the horizon1 and we are making for some other point that1 in like manner1 if we reach it1 will be left behind and be lost4 ,there is nothing that lasts but ,god and ,christ1 and the people that build their lives upon them4 ,i press upon all your hearts that one simple thought--what an absurdity it is for us to choose for our life's object anything that is shorter-lived than ourselves6--and how long-lived you are you know4 ,they tell us that sand makes a very good foundation under certain circumstances4 ,i believe it does1 but what if the water gets in8 ,what about it then8 ,but in regard to all these transitory aims and short-lived purposes on which some of you are building your lives1 there is a certainty that the water will come in some day4 ,so1 friend1 dig deeper down1 even to the ,eternal ,rock4 ,that is the only foundation on which an immortal man or woman like you is wise to build your life4 ,are you doing it8 ,,ii4 ,let me say a word1 in the next place1 about the two houses4 ,the one is built upon the rock4 ,that just means1 of course--and ,i need not enlarge upon that--a life which is based upon1 and shaped after1 the commandments of ,jesus ,christ1 ,his ,pattern and ,example4 ,and that life will stand4 ,now1 of course1 the ideal would be that the whole of ,his sayings should enter into the whole of our lives1 that no commandment of that dear ,lord should be left unobeyed1 and that no action of ours should be unaffected by ,his known will4 ,that is the ideal1 and for us the task of wisdom is daily to draw nearer and nearer to that ideal1 and to bring the whole of our lives more and more under the sway and sanctifying influence of the whole sum of ,christ's precepts4 ,of course1 on the other side1 the life that is built on the sand is the life which is not thus regulated by ,christ's will and known commandments4 ,but ,i desire rather to bring out1 in a word or two1 some of the lessons that may be gathered from this general metaphor of a man's life as a house4 ,and the first that ,i would suggest is this3--,have you ever thought of your life as being a whole1 with a definite moral characteristic stamped upon it8 ,i look upon the men and women that ,i come across in the world1 and ,i cannot help seeing that a great many of them have never got into their heads the idea that their life is a whole4 ,a house8 ,no4 ,a cartload of bricks1 tumbled down at random1 would be a better metaphor4 ,a chain8 ,no6 ,a heap of links not linked4 ,many of you live from hand to mouth4 ,many of you have such unity in your life as comes from the pressure of the external circumstances of your trade or profession4 ,but for anything like the living consciousness that life is a whole1 with a definite moral character for which you are responsible1 it has never dawned upon your mind4 ,and so you go on haphazard1 never bringing reflection to bear upon the trend and drift of your days2 doing what you must do because your occupation is this1 that1 or the other thing2 doing what you incline to do in the matter of recreation2 now and then sporadically1 and for a minute or two1 bringing conscience to bear1 and being very uncomfortable sometimes when you do4 ,but as for recognising the mystic solemnity of all these days of yours in that they are welded together1 and are all tending to one end1 and that each passing moment contributes its infinitesimal share to the awful solemn whole--that has seldom entered your minds1 and for a great many of you it has never had any effect in restraining or stimulating or regulating your conduct4 ,then there is another consideration which this metaphor suggests--viz4 that the house is built up by slow degrees1 brick upon brick1 course by course1 day by day1 and moment by moment4 ,it is slow work1 but certain work4 ',let every man take heed how he buildeth1' and never despise the little things4 ,very small bricks make a large house4 ,then there is another consideration that ,i would suggest1 and that is1 you have to live in the house that you build4 ,your deeds make the house that ,christ is here speaking of4 ,like the chrysalis that spins out of its own entrails the cocoon in which it lies1 so are you spinning1 to vary the metaphor1 what you lodge in1 until you eat your way through it1 and pass into the next stage of being4 ,our deeds seem transient1 but although we are building on the sand we are building for ,eternity1 because1 though the deeds are transient in appearance1 they abide4 ,they abide in memory4 ,some of you know how true that is4 ,black memories haunt some of us1 and there could be for some no worse hell than that ,god should say1 ',son1 remember4' ,you have to live in the house that you build4 ,the deeds abide in habit4 ,they abide in limiting and determining what we can be and do in the future2 and in a hundred other ways that ,i must not touch upon4 ,only1 ,i bring to you this question1 and ,i pray ,god that you may listen to it and answer it3 ,what are you building8 ,a shop8 ,that is a noble ambition1 is it not8 ,a pleasure-house8 ,that is worse4 ,a prison8 ,some of you are rearing for your incarceration a jail where you will be tied and held by the cords of your sins1 and whence you will be unable to break out4 ,or are you building a temple8 ,if you are building on ,christ it is all right4 ,only take heed what you build on that foundation4 ,,iii4 ,now let me say a word1 in the next place1 about the storm4 ,i need not dwell upon the picturesque force of our ,lord's description1 so true to the sudden inundations of ,eastern lands1 and as true to the sudden floods of ,northern countries when the snows melt4 ,the house is attacked on all sides4 ,from above1 the rain comes down to beat on the roof1 the wind rages round the walls1 the flood comes swirling round the eaves from beneath1 and if the house stands upon a cliff1 the polished rock turns the flood off innocuous1 but if it stands upon sand1 the furious rush of waters eats a way beneath and undermines the whole4 ,but you will notice that the description of the storm is repeated in both cases1 and is verbatim the same in each4 ,and the lesson from that is just this--let no ,christian man fancy that he is not going to be judged according to his works1 for he is4 ,the storm that comes1 which ,i take distinctly to mean the final judgment which falls upon all men1 beats against the house that is built upon the rock4 ,for every one of us1 ,christian or not ,christian1 'must all appear before the ,judgment ,seat of ,christ1 that we may receive according to the deeds done in the body4' ,christian people1 do not fancy that the great doctrine of forgiveness of sins and acceptance in the ,beloved1 means that you have not to stand ,his judgment according to your works4 ,according to the other metaphor of the ,apostle1 working out the same idea with some changes in figure1 the ,christian man who builds 'upon the foundation gold1 silver1 precious stones1 wood1 hay1 stubble1' has his 'work tried by fire4' ,so all of us have to face that prospect1 and ,i beseech you to face it wisely4 ,a sensible builder calculates the strain to which his work will be exposed before he begins to put it up4 ,or if he does not there will befall it the same fate that years ago befell that unfortunate ,tay ,bridge1 where1 by reason of girders too feeble1 and piers not solid enough1 and rivets left out where they should have been put in1 one ,december night the whole thing went over into the water below4 ,you have to stand the hurtling black storm4 ,take into account the strain which your building will have to resist1 and build accordingly4 ,,iv4 ,and now1 lastly1 one word about the two endings4 ',it stood'2 'it fell'2 that is all4 ,a life of obedience to ,christ is stable1 a life not based on ,christ vanishes2 and these two statements are true because whatsoever a man does for himself1 apart from ,god in ,christ1 he is sowing to corruption1 and he will reap corruption4 ,as ,i said1 nothing lasts but ,god1 and what is done according to the will of ,god4 ,and when the storm comes1 whether the builder was a ,christian man or not1 all which was not thus built on ,christ will be swept away1 as the flimsy habitation of ,eastern people1 made of bamboos and oiled paper1 are whirled away before the typhoon4 ,all that was not built upon ,christ--and much of you ,christian people's lives is not built on ,christ--will have to go4 ,and what about the builders8 ',if any man's work abide he will receive a reward4' ',their works do follow them4' ',if any man's work is burned1 he himself shall be saved1 yet so as by fire4' ,and if any man has reared a structure of a life ignoring ,jesus ,christ1 and with no connection with ,him1 then house and builder will perish together4 ,jesus ,christ does not speak in my text about the righteousness or the unrighteousness of these two courses of conduct4 ,he does not say1 'a good man does so-and-so1 or a bad man does the other thing1' but he says3 ,a wise man builds his house on the ,rock1 and a foolish man builds his on the sand4 ,to live by faith and obedience is supreme wisdom4 ,every life which is not built upon ,christ is the perfection of folly4 ,,the ,,christ ,,of ,,the ,,sermon ,,on ,,the ,,mount ',and it came to pass1 when ,jesus had ended these sayings1 the people were astonished at ,his doctrine3 #bi4 ,for ,he taught them as one having authority1 and not as the scribes4'--,,matt4 vii4 #bh-bi4 ,it appears1 then1 from these words1 that the first impression made on the masses by the ,sermon on the ,mount was not so much an appreciation of its high morality1 as a feeling of the personal authority with which ,christ spoke4 ,had the scribes1 then1 no authority8 ,they ruled the whole life of the nation with tyrannical power4 ,they sat in ,moses' seat1 and claimed all manner of sway and control4 ,and yet when people listened to ,jesus1 they heard something ringing in ,his voice that they missed in the rabbis4 ,they only set themselves up1 in their highest claims1 as being commentators upon1 and the expositors of1 the ,law4 ,their language was ',moses commanded'2 ',rabbi this said so-and-so2 ,rabbi that said such-and-such4' ,but as even the crowd that listened to ,him detected1 ,jesus ,christ1 in these great laws of ,his kingdom1 adduced no authority but ,his own2 stood forth as a ,legislator1 not as a commentator2 and commanded1 and prohibited1 and repealed1 and promised1 on ,his own bare word4 ,that is a characteristic of all ,christ's teaching2 and1 as we see from my text1 to the apprehension of the first auditors1 it was deeply stamped on the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,i purpose to turn to that ,sermon now1 and try if we can make out the points in it which impressed these people1 who first heard it1 with the sense that they were in the presence of an autocratic ,voice that had a right to speak1 and which did speak1 with absolute and unexampled authority4 ,and ,i do that the more readily because ,i dare say you have all heard people that said ',oh6 ,i do not care about the dogmas of ,christianity2 give me the ,sermon on the ,mount and its sublime morality2 that is ,christianity enough for me4' ,well1 ,i should be disposed to say so pretty nearly too1 if you will take all the ,sermon on the ,mount1 and not go picking and choosing bits out of it4 ,for ,i am sure that if you will take the whole of its teaching you will find yourself next door to1 if not in the very inmost chamber of1 the mysticism of the ,gospel of ,john and the theology of ,paul4 ,i4 ,i ask you1 then1 to note that the ,sermon claims for ,jesus ,christ the authority of supremacy above all former revelation and revealers4 ',think not1' says ,he1 'that ,i am come to destroy the law or the prophets2 ,i am not come to destroy1 but to fulfil4' ,and then ,he goes on1 in five cases1 to illustrate1 in a very remarkable way1 the authority that ,he claimed over the former ,law1 moulding it according to ,his will4 ,now ,i do not propose to do more than suggest1 in a sentence1 two points that ,i think of importance4 ,observe that remarkable form of speech1 ',i am come4' ,may we not fairly say that it implies that ,he existed before birth1 and that ,his appearance among men was the result of ,his own act8 ,does it not imply that ,he was not merely born1 but came1 choosing to be born just as ,he chose to die8 ,in what sense can we understand the ,apostle's view that it was an infinite and stupendous act of condescension in ,christ to 'be found in fashion as a man1' unless we believe that by ,his own will and act ,he came forth from the ,father and entered into the world1 just as by ,his own will and act ,he left the world and went unto the ,father8 ,but ,i do not dwell upon that1 nor upon another very important consideration4 ,why was it that ,jesus ,christ1 at the very beginning of ,his mission1 felt ,himself bound to disclaim any intention of destroying the law or the prophets8 ,must not the people have begun to feel that there was something revolutionary and novel about ,his teaching1 and that it was threatening to disturb what had been consecrated by ages8 ,so that it was needful that ,he should begin ,his career with this disclaimer of the intention of destruction4 ,strange for a divine messenger1 if ,he simply stood as one in the line and sequence of divine revelation1 to begin ,his work by saying1 ',now1 ,i do not mean to annihilate all that is behind ,me6' ,the question arises how anybody should have supposed that ,he did1 and why it should ever have been needful for ,him to say that ,he did not4 ,but ,i pass by all that1 and ask you to think how much lies in these words of our ,lord3 ',i am not come to destroy1 but to fulfil4' ,they imply a claim that ,his life was a complete embodiment of ,god's law4 ,here is a man beginning ,his ministry as a religious teacher1 with the assertion1 stupendous1 and1 upon any other lips but ,his1 insane arrogance1 that ,he had come to do everything which ,god demanded1 and to set forth before the world a living ,pattern of the whole obedience of a human nature to the whole law of ,god4 ,who is ,he that said that8 ,and how do we account for the fact that nineteen centuries have passed1 and1 excepting in the case of here and there a bitter foe whose hostility had robbed him of his common sense1 no lip has ventured to say that ,he claimed too much for ,himself when ,he said1 ',i am come to fulfil the law'2 or that ,he falsely read the facts of ,his own experience and consciousness when ,he declared1 ',i have finished the work which ,thou gavest ,me to do4' ,still further1 here our ,lord claims specifically and expressly to fulfil not only law but prophets4 ,that is to say1 ,he sets ,himself forth as the ,reality which had filled the imaginations and the hearts of a whole nation for centuries2 as the living ,reality which had been meant by all those lofty words of seers and prophets in the past4 ,he declares that all those rapturous forecastings1 all those dim anticipations1 all those triumphant promises1 were not left to swing in vacuo1 or to float about unfulfilled1 but that ,he stood there1 the actual ,realisation of them all2 and in ,him1 wrapped up as in a seed1 the ,kingdom of ,heaven was among men4 ,and still further1 ,he claims not only personal purity and completeness1 and the fulfilment of all prior and prophetic anticipation1 but also ,he claims to have1 and ,he exercises1 the power of moulding1 expanding1 interpreting1 and in some cases brushing aside1 laws which ,he and they alike knew to be the laws of ,god4 ,i do not need to specify in detail the instances which are contained in this ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,but ,i simply ask you to consider the formula with which our ,lord introduces each of ,his references to that subject4 ',ye have heard that it hath been said to them of old time' so-and-so1--and then follows a command of the ,mosaic law2 but ',i say unto you' so-and-so1--and then follows a deepening or a modification or a repeal1 of statutes acknowledged by ,him and ,his hearers to be divine4 ,he certainly claims to speak with the same right and authority as the old ,law did4 ,he as certainly claims to speak with incomparably higher authority than ,moses did1 for the latter never professed to give precepts of his own4 ,he was not the ,lawgiver1 as he is often called1 but only the messenger of the ,lawgiver4 ,but ,christ is ,himself the fountain of the laws of ,his ,kingdom4 ,nor only so1 but ,he puts ,himself without apology or explanation in front of ,moses and asserts power to modify1 to set aside1 or to re-enact with new stringency1 the precepts of the divine law4 ,one supposition alone accounts for ,christ's attitude to law and prophets in this ,sermon1 and that is that the ,eternal ,wisdom and ,personal ,word of ,god1 which at sundry times and in 'divers manners' spake to the old world by ,moses1 itself at last1 in human form and personal guise1 came here on earth and spake to us men4 ,it is the same ,voice that breathed through the prophets of old1 and that spake on the lips of the ,christ of ,nazareth2 the same ,eternal ,word who manifested ,himself in a 'fiery law' on ,sinai1 and in words of no less majesty and of deepened gentleness1 when ,he gathered the people round about ,him1 and said to them1 ',it hath been said to them of old time1 444 but ,i say unto you 444' ,here is the sum and climax of all revelation1 the last word of the divine mind and will and heart1 to the world4 ,moses and ,elias stand beside ,him on the ,mount of ,transfiguration1 witnesses of ,his superiority and servants at ,his feet1 and they vanish into mist and darkness1 and leave there1 erect1 white-robed1 solitary1 the unique figure of the ,one ,lawgiver and the perfect ,revealer of ,god to men4 ,and this is the authority which struck even on the unsusceptible hearts of the listening crowds4 ,,ii4 ,still further1 let me ask you to consider how1 in this same great ,sermon1 ,he claims the authority of ,one who is unique in ,his relation to the ,father4 ,you will find that in it there occurs very frequently the expression1 'your ,father which is in ,heaven'2 or sometimes with the variation1'thy ,father which is in ,heaven1' or1 'which seeth in secret4' ,but you will also find that whilst our ,lord speaks about ',my ,father which is in ,heaven1' ,he never says 'our ,father'2 excepting in the exception which proves the rule when ,he is putting into the lips of ,his disciples the great formula of prayer which we call the ',lord's ,prayer'2 and there speaking as through their consciousness1 and teaching them their lesson1 ,he says ',our ,father1' not as if ,he ,himself were praying1 but as if ,he were telling them how to pray4 ,but when ,he speaks out of ,his own consciousness ,he speaks of ',my ,father' and 'your ,father1' never of 'our ,father4' ,and that corresponds with other phenomena in ,scripture in our ,lord's own language where you find that always ,he draws this broad distinction4 ,he never associates ,himself with us in ,his ,sonship4 ,he ever asserts that ,he is the ,son of ,god4 ,even when ,he wishes to speak with the utmost tenderness1 ,he bids the weeping ,mary hear the message1 ',i go unto ,my ,father and your ,father4' ,this doctrine is thought by many to be one of those which they get rid of by professing the ,christianity of the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,but it is there as plainly as in other parts of ,scripture4 ,if we accept all which it teaches1 we cannot escape from the belief that ,he is the only begotten and well-beloved ,son of the ,father2 and also that through ,him and in ,him we1 too1 may receive the adoption of sons4 ,dear friends1 ,i press this upon you as no mere piece of hard theological doctrine1 but as containing in it the very essentials of all spiritual life for each of us1 that all our spiritual life must come by participation in ,christ1 and that we enter into an altogether new and blessed relation to ,god when1 laying our humble and penitent hands on the head of that dear ,sacrifice that died on the ,cross for as1 we through ,him cease to be children of wrath and become heirs of ,god4 ',to as many as received ,him1 to them gave ,he authority to become the children of ,god1 even to them that believe in ,his name1' but ,his ,sonship stands unique and unapproachable1 though it is the foundation from which flows all the sonship of the whole family in heaven and in earth4 ,moses and the prophets1 teachers and guides1 ,apostles and ,helpers1 they are all but the servants of the family2 this is the ,son through whom we receive the adoption of sons4 ,,iii4 ,we have in this great discourse the authority of ,one who is absolute ,lord and ,master over men4 ',not every one that saith unto me1 ,lord6 ,lord6 shall enter into the ,kingdom of ,heaven4 ,many will say to ,me in that day1 ,lord6 ,lord6 have we not prophesied in ,thy name1 and in ,thy name done many wonderful works8' ',whoso heareth these sayings of ,mine1 and doeth them1 ,i will liken him to a wise man1 which built his house upon a rock4' ,jesus ,christ here comes before the whole race1 and claims an absolute submission4 ,his word is to control1 with authoritative and all-comprehensive scrutiny and power1 every aim of our lives1 and every action4 ,in ,his name we may be strong1 in ,his name we may cast out devils1 in ,his name we may do many wonderful works4 ,if we build upon ,him we build upon a rock2 if we build anywhere else we build upon the sand4 ,strange1 outrageous claims for a man to make6 ',give me the ,sermon on the ,mount1 and keep your doctrinal theology1' say people4 ,but ,i want to know what kind of morality it is that is all traceable up to this--',do as ,i bid you1 ,my will is your law2 ,my smile is your reward2 to obey ,me is perfection4' ,i think that takes you a good long way into 'theology4' ,i think that the ,man who said that--and you all know that ,he said it--must he either a good deal more or a good deal less than a perfect man4 ,if ,he is only that ,he is not that2 for if ,he is only that1 ,he has no business to tell me to obey ,him4 ,he has no business to substitute ,his will for every other law2 and you have no business--and it will be at the peril of your manhood if you do--to take any man1 the ,man ,christ or any other1 as an absolute example and pattern and master4 ,my brethren1 ,christ's claim to absolute obedience rests upon ,his divine nature and on ,his redeeming work4 ,he has delivered us from our enemies1 and therefore ,he commands us4 ,he has given ,himself for us1 and therefore ,he has a right to say1 ',give yourselves to ,me4' ,he is ,god manifest in the flesh1 and therefore absolute power becomes ,his lips1 and utter submission is our dignity4 ,to say to ,him ',lord1 ,lord1' carries us whole universes beyond saying to ,him1 ',rabbi1 ,rabbi4' ,,iv4 ,and now1 lastly1 we have in this great discourse the authority of our ,lord set forth as being the authority of ,him who is to be the ,judge of the world4 ',then will ,i profess unto you ,i never knew you2 depart from ,me1 ye that work iniquity4' ,he1 the meek1 the humble1 who never claimed for ,himself anything except what ,his consciousness compelled ,him to assert1 who desired only that men should know ,him for what ,he was1 because it was their life so to know ,him1 here declares that the whole world is to be judged by ,him1 that ,he has such knowledge of men as will pierce beneath the surface of professions and will be undazzled by the most stupendous miracles1 and beneath the eloquent words of many a preacher and the wonderful works of many a so-called ,christian philanthropist1 will see the hidden rottenness that they never saw1 and1 tearing down the veil1 will reveal men at the last to themselves4 ,that is no human function1 that is no work that belongs to a mere teacher1 pattern1 martyr1 sage1 philosopher1 or saint4 ,that is a divine work2 and the authority of ,him whose final word to each of us will settle beyond appeal our fate1 and reveal beyond cavil our character1 is a divine authority4 ,he has a right to command because ,he is going to judge2 and the lips that declare the law are the lips that will read the sentence4 ,so1 my brethren1 do you take the whole ,christ for yours1 the ,son of ,god1 the crown and end of revelation1 the sinless and the perfect1 who died on the ,cross for our salvation1 and loves and pities1 and is ready to help every one of us2 who1 therefore1 commands us with an absolute authority1 and who one day comes to be our ,judge8 ,if you turn to ,him and ask ,him1 ',art ,thou ,he that should come8' let ,him speak for ,himself1 and ,he will answer you3 ',i that speak unto thee am ,he4' ,when ,he asks each of us1 as ,he does now1 ',whom sayest thou that ,i am8' oh that we may all answer1 with the assent of our understandings1 with the love of our hearts1 with the submission of our wills1 ',thou art the ,christ1 the ,son of the living ,god4' ,,the ,,touch ,,that ,,cleanses ',when ,he was come down from the mountain1 great multitudes followed ,him4 #a4 ,and1 behold1 there came a leper and worshipped ,him1 saying1 ,lord1 if ,thou wilt1 ,thou canst make me clean4 #c4 ,and ,jesus put forth ,his hand1 and touched him1 saying1 ,i will2 he thou clean4 ,and immediately his leprosy was cleansed4 #d4 ,and ,jesus saith unto him1 ,see thou tell no man2 but go thy way1 shew thyself to the priest1 and offer the gift that ,moses commanded1 for a testimony unto them4'--,,matt4 viii4 #ad4 ,,the great collection of ,jesus' sayings1 which we call the ,sermon on the ,mount1 is followed by a similar collection of ,jesus' doings1 which we call miracles4 ,it is significant that ,matthew puts the words first and the works second1 as if to teach us the relative importance of the two4 ,some one has said that miracles are 'the bell rung before the sermon1' but ,matthew thinks that the sermon comes first4 ,he masses together nine miracles 7the raising of ,jairus' daughter and the healing of the woman with the bloody issue being so closely connected that they may be regarded as one7 which are divided into three groups of three each1 and are separated by three sections of more general character1 like three landings in a broad flight of stairs1 or three breaks in a procession 7ch4 viii4 #ah-bb2 ix4 #i-ag1 #ce-ch74 ,the first triplet comprises miracles of bodily healing1 and shows ,jesus as the great physician1 curing leprosy1 palsy1 and fever1 three types of disease which have their analogues in the moral world4 ,the cure of the leper comes first1 apparently not from chronological reasons1 but because leprosy had been made by the ,old ,testament legislation the symbol of sin4 ,the story is found in all the ,synoptic ,gospels1 with slight variations1 which make more impressive their verbal identity in reporting the leper's appeal and the ,lord's answer4 ,a leper had to keep apart from men and was shunned by them1 but this one ventured to mingle with the 'great multitudes' that 'followed' ,jesus1 till he reached ,his side4 ,he must have known something of ,christ to have approached ,him with a flicker of long-absent hope in his heart4 ,no doubt he had heard of some of the earlier miracles2 and no doubt the crowd recoiled from him so that he could easily reach ,jesus4 ,when he got there he worshipped1 or1 as ,luke puts it1 'fell on his face1' and made his appeal4 ,it would be all the more piteous1 because it was spoken in that feeble1 hoarse voice characteristic of leprosy1 and it was in itself most pathetic4 ,the poor creature has won his way to a surprising confidence1 dashed with a yet more surprising diffidence and doubt4 ,he is sure of the power1 but not of the willingness1 of this wonderful healer4 ',thou canst1' does not make him confident1 because it is weakened by ',if ,thou wilt4' ,faith1 desire1 humility1 and submissiveness are beautifully smelted together in the wistful words1 which are all the more prevalent a prayer1 because they do not venture to take the form of prayer4 ,to tell ,jesus that ,his will was all that was needed to heal him was1 as it were1 to throw the responsibility for this continued misery on ,him who could so easily deliver1 if ,he only willed to do it4 ,but the hope which gleamed before his poor eyes was only a gleam1 obscured by his ignorance of ,jesus' disposition towards him4 ,the lowly acquiescence1 with which he leaves ,jesus to decide whether he is to be freed from his horrible1 living death1 is very beautiful1 and speaks of a patient1 disciplined spirit1 as well as of a profound insight into our ,lord's authority4 ,the leper does cling to the hope that ,jesus does will to heal him1 but he will not rebel if he is left shut up in his prison-house4 ,surely in such a blending of trust1 yearning1 and acceptance of that ,will1 whatever it involved1 there was the germ of discipleship4 ,surely there was1 at least1 the beginning of a living union with ,jesus1 which would heal more than the leprosy of the flesh4 ,mark gives the precious addition to the narrative1 of a glimpse into the heart of ,jesus1 when he tells us that1 'moved with compassion1' ,he 'put forth ,his hand and touched him4' ,swift and1 we may almost say1 instinctive was the outgoing of pity from the heart1 which was so pitiful because it was so pure1 and laid on itself every man's sorrow because it carried no burden of its own sin or self-regard4 ,that touch had deep meaning1 but it was not done for the sake of a meaning4 ,it was the spontaneous expression of love1 and revealed the delicate quickness of perception of another's feelings which flows from love only4 ,the leper had almost forgotten what the touch of a hand felt like4 ,he had lived1 ever since his disease was manifest1 apart from others1 had perhaps lost the embraces of wife and children1 had walked alone in crowds1 and had a heart-chilling circle cleared round him everywhere4 ,but now this ,man stretches ,his hand across the dreary gulf1 and lets him feel once more the sweetness of a warm and gentle touch4 ,it was half the cure2 it was the complete clearing away of the last film of the cloud of doubt as to the will of ,jesus4 ,it answered the 'if' by something that spoke louder than any word4 ,and1 though it was not meant for anything but the silent voice of pity and love1 we do not rob it of its beautiful spontaneity when we see1 in the touch of that pure hand on the rotting feculence of leprosy1 a parable of the ,incarnation1 in which ,he lays hold on our flesh of sin and is yet without sin--contracts no defilement by contact1 but by touching cleanses the foulness on which ,he lays ,his white fingers4 ,by that touch ,he proclaimed ,himself the priest1 to whom the ,law gave the office of laying his hand on the leper4 ,but the great word accompanying the touch is majestic in its brevity and absolute claim to absolute power4 ,jesus accepts the leper's lofty conception of ,his omnipotent will1 as ,he always accepted the highest conceptions that any formed of ,his person or authority4 ,the sovereign utterance1 ',i will1' claims possession of the divine prerogative of affecting dead matter by the mere outgoing of ,his volition4 ,not only is it true of ,him that ',he spake and it was done1' but ,he willed and it was done2 and these are the hall-marks of divine power4 ,neither the touch of ,his hand nor the word of ,his lips cleansed the leper1 but simply the exercise of ,his will1 of which word and touch were but audible and visible tokens for sense to grasp4 ,the form of the poor husky croak for help determined the form of the answer1 and the correspondence is marked by all the evangelists as a striking instance of ,christ's loving way of echoing our petitions in ,his replies1 and moulding ,his gifts to match our desires4 ,thunder in heaven wakes echoes on earth1 but more wonderful is it that the thin voice of our supplications1 when we scarcely dare to shape them into prayers1 should wake a voice from the throne1 which1 though it is mighty as 'the voice of many waters' and sweet as that of 'harpers harping with their harps1' deigns to echo our poor cries4 ,the prohibition to speak of the cure till the priests had pronounced it real and complete is more stringent in ,mark1 who also tells how utterly it was disregarded4 ,its reason was obviously the wish to comply with the law1 and also the wish to get the official seal to the cure4 ,jesus did desire the miracle to be known1 but not till it was authoritatively certified by the priest whose business it was to pronounce a sufferer clean4 ,it was for the leper's advantage1 too1 that he should have the official certificate1 since he would not be restored to society without it4 ,one does not wonder that the prohibition was disregarded in the uncontrollable delight and wonder at such an experience4 ,the leper was eloquent1 as we all can be1 when our hearts are engaged1 and his blessing refused to be hid4 ,alas1 how many of us1 who profess to have been cleansed from a worse defilement1 find no such impulse to speak welling up in ourselves6 ,alas1 how superfluous is the injunction to hundreds of ,christ's disciples3 ',see thou say nothing to any man'6 ,,the ,,faith ,,which ,,christ ,,praises ',the centurion answered and said3 ,lord1 ,i am not worthy that ,thou shouldest come under my roof1 but speak the word only1 and my servant shall be healed4 #i4 ,for ,i am a man under authority1 having soldiers under me3 and ,i say to this man1 ,go6 and he goeth2 and to another1 ,come ,i and he cometh2 and to my servant1 ,do this2 and he doeth it4'--,,matt4 viii4 #h-i4 ,this miracle of the healing of the centurion's servant is the second of the great series which ,matthew gives us4 ,it is perhaps not accidental that both the first and the second miracles in his collection point out our ,lord's relation to outcasts from ,israel4 ,the first of them deals with a leper1 the second with the prayer of a heathen4 ,and so they both contribute to the great purpose of ,matthew's ,gospel1 the bringing out of the nature of the kingdom and the glory of the ,king4 ,my object now is to deal with the whole of the incident of which ,i have read the most important part4 ,we have in the story three things3 the man and his faith2 ,christ's eulogium upon the faith1 and declaration of its place in ,his kingdom2 and the answer to the faith4 ,look1 then1 at these three in succession4 ,i4 ,we consider1 first1 the man and his faith4 ,he was a heathen and a ,gentile4 ,the ,herod1 who then ruled over ,galilee1 had a little army1 officered by ,romans1 of whom probably this centurion was one2 the commander1 perhaps1 of some small garrison of a hundred men1 the sixtieth part of a legion1 which was stationed in ,capernaum4 ,if we look at all the features of his character which come out in the story1 we get a very lovable picture of a much more tender heart than might have been supposed to beat under the armour of a mercenary soldier set to overawe a sullen people4 ',he loveth our nation1' say the elders of the ,jews1--not certainly because of their amiability1 but because of the revelation which they possessed4 ,like a great many others in that strange1 restless era when our ,lord came1 this man seems to have become tired of the hollowness of heathenism1 and to have been groping for the light4 ,his military service brought him into contact with ,judaism and its monotheism1 and his heart sprang to that as the thing he had been seeking4 ',he hath built us a synagogue1' thereby expressing his adhesion to1 or at least his lofty estimate of1 the worship which was there carried on4 ,just as1 if an ,english officer in ,india were1 in some little village or other1 to repair a ruined temple1 he would win the hearts of all the people1 because they would think he was coming over to ,brahminism2 so this soldier was felt to be nearer to the ,jews than his official position might have suggested4 ,then1 there was in him a beautiful human kindliness1 which neither the rough military life1 nor that carelessness about a slave--which is one of the worst fruits of slavery1 had been able to sour or destroy4 ,he was tenderly anxious about his servant1 who1 according to ,luke's expression1 was 'dear to him4' ,then we get as the crown of all the beauty of his character1 the lowliness of spirit which the 'little brief authority' in which he 'was dressed' had not puffed up4 ',i am not worthy that ,thou shouldest come under my roof4' ,that lowliness is emphasised in ,luke's version of the story1 which is more detailed and particularly accurate than ,matthew's summary account4 ,by it we learn that he did not venture to come himself1 but sent ,his messengers to ,jesus4 ,if we take ,matthew's version1 there is another lovely trait4 ,he does not ask ,christ to do anything4 ,he simply spreads the necessity before ,him1 in the confidence that ,his pitying love lies so near the surface that it was sure to flow forth1 even at that light touch4 ,he will not prescribe1 he tells the story1 and leaves all to ,him4 ,christ's answer1 ',i will come and heal him1' throbs with the consciousness of power1 and is gentle with tenderness1 quick to interpret unspoken wishes1 and not slow to answer1 unless it is for the wisher's good to be refused4 ,when ,he was asked to go1 because the asker considered that ,his presence was necessary for ,his power to have effect1 ,he refused2 when ,he is not asked to go1 ,he volunteers to do so4 ,he is moved to apparently opposite actions by the same motive1 the good of the petitioner1 whose weak faith ,he strengthens by refusal1 whose strong faith ,he confirms by acquiescence4 ,and that is the law of ,his conduct always1 and you and ,i may trust it absolutely1 ,he may give1 or retain ungiven1 what we desire2 in either case1 ,he will be acting in order that our trust in ,him may be deepened4 ,that brings us to the remarkable and unique conception of our ,lord's manner of working and power to which this centurion gives utterance4 ',i also' 7for the true text of ,matthew has that 'also1' as the ,revised ,version shows71 ',i also am a man under authority1 having soldiers under me1 and ,i say to this man1 ,go1 and he goeth2 to another1 ,come1 and he cometh2 to my servant1 ,do this1 and he doeth it4 ,speak thou with a word only and my servant shall be healed4' ,a centurion was likely to understand the power of a word of command4 ,his whole training had taught him the omnipotence of the uttered will of the authoritative general1 and although he was but an officer over a poor sixtieth part of a legion1 yet in some limited measure the same power lay in him1 and his word could secure unhesitating submission4 ,one good thing about the devilish trade of war is that it teaches the might of authority and the virtue of absolute obedience4 ,and even his profession1 with all its roughness and wickedness1 had taught the centurion this precious lesson1 a jewel that he had found in a dunghill1 the lesson that1 given the authoritative lip1 a word is omnipotent4 ,the commander speaks and the legion goes1 though it be to dash itself to death4 ,so he turns to ,christ4 ,does he mean to parallel or to contrast his subordination and ,christ's position8 ,the 'also1' which1 as ,i remarked1 the ,revised ,version has rightly replaced in the text here1 is in favour of the former supposition1 that he means to parallel ,christ's position with his own4 ,and it is much more natural to suppose that a heathen man1 with little knowledge of ,christ and of the depths of the divine revelation in the past1 should have attained to the conception of ,jesus as possessing a real but subordinate and derived authority1 than to suppose that he had grasped1 at that early stage1 the truth which ,christ's nearest friends took long years to understand1 and which some of them do not understand yet1 viz4 that ,christ possessed as ,his own the power which ,he wielded4 ,but if we take this point of view1 and consider that the centurion's conception falls beneath the lofty ,christian ideal of ,christ's power in the universe1 as it is set forth to us in the ,new ,testament1 even then ,his words set forth a truth4 ,for if we believe on the one hand in the divinity of our ,lord and ,saviour1 we also believe that 'the ,son is subject to the ,father' and listen to ,his own words when ,he says1 ',all power is given unto ,me in heaven and in earth4' ,so that whatever difference there may be between ,his relation to the power which ,he wields and that of a prophet or miracle-worker1 who derives his power from ,him1 this is true1 that ,christ's power1 too1 is a power given to ,him4 ,but the other side is one that ,i desire to emphasise in a few words1 viz4 that the centurion's conception falls short of the truth1 inasmuch as1 if we believe in ,christ's witness to ,himself1 we must believe that the power which acted through ,his word1 dwelt in ,him1 in an altogether different relation to ,his person from that in which an analogous power may have dwelt in any other man4 ',he spake and it was done1 ,he commanded and it stood fast4' ,diseases fled at ,his word4 ',by the breath of ,his mouth ,he slew' these enemies of men4 ,he rebuked the storm1 and the howling of the wind and the dashing of the waves were less loud than ,his calm voice4 ,he flung a word into the depths of the grave1 strangely speaking to1 and yet more strangely heard by1 the dull cold ear of death1 and ,lazarus1 dazzled1 stumbles out into the light4 ,who is this1 that commandeth the waves1 and the seas1 and the sicknesses1 and they obey ,him8 ,my brother1 ,i pray that you and ,i1 in these days of hesitation1 when many a truth is clouded by doubt1 may be able to answer with the full assent and consent of understanding and heart1 'this is ,god manifest in the flesh4' ,and remember that this prerogative of dealing with physical nature1 by the bare forth-putting of ,his word1 is not only a doctrine of ,christianity1 but that more and more physical investigation is coming to the unifying of all forces in one1 and to the resolving of that one into the force of a will1 and that all that will1 as the ,christian scheme teaches us1 is lodged in ,jesus ,christ4 ,his lip speaks1 and it is power4 ,he moves in nature1 in providence1 in history1 in grace1 because in ,him abides now in the form of a man1 that same everlasting ,word which was with the ,father1 and by whom all things were made4 ,the centurion bows before the ,commander1 and the ,christ says1 'as ,captain of the ,lord's host am ,i now come4' ,such1 then1 is the faith of this soldier taught him by the ,legion4 ,,ii4 ,now a word next as to our ,lord's eulogium on his faith4 ,jesus ,christ accepts and endorses the centurion's estimate of ,him1 as ,he always accepts the highest place offered ,him4 ,no one ever proffered to ,jesus ,christ honours that ,he put by4 ,no one ever brought to ,him a trust which ,he said was either excessive or misdirected4 ',speak the word and my servant shall be healed1' said the centurion4 ,contrast ,christ's acceptance of this confidence in his power with ,elijah's ',am ,i a ,god1 to kill and to make alive1 that they send this man to me to recover him of his leprosy8' ,or contrast it with ,peter's ',why look ye so earnestly on us1 as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk8' ,christ takes as ,his due all the honour1 love1 and trust1 which any man can give ,him--either an exorbitant appetite for adulation1 or the manifestation of conscious divinity4 ',and ,he marvelled4' ,twice we read in ,scripture that ,christ wondered--once at this heathen's faith1 so strongly grown1 with so few advantages of culture2 once at ,jewish unbelief1 so feeble and fruitless1 after so much expenditure of patience and care4 ,but passing from that1 notice how much lies in these sad and yet astonished words of ,his3 ',verily ,i say unto you1 ,i have not found so great faith1 no1 not in ,israel4' ,then1 ,he came seeking faith from this people whom ,god had cared for during centuries4 ,the one fruit that ,he desired was trust in ,him4 ,that is what ,he is seeking for in us--not lives of profession1 not orthodoxy of conception1 not even fruits in work1 but before all this1 and productive of all that is good in any of them1 ,he desires to find in our hearts the child's trust that casts itself wholly on ,his ,omnipotent word1 and is sure of an answer4 ,this man's faith was great1 great in the rapidity of its growth1 great in the difficulties which it had overcome1 great in the clearness of its conception1 great in the firmness of its affiance1 great in the humility with which it was accompanied4 ,such a faith ,he seeks as the thirsty traveller seeks grapes in the wilderness1 and when ,he finds it growing in our hearts1 then ,he is satisfied and glad4 ,still further1 there is brought out the dignity of faith as being not only the great desire of ,christ's heart for each of us1 but also as being the one means of admission into the kingdom4 ',i say unto you1 many shall come from the east and the west1 and shall sit down with ,abraham and ,isaac and ,jacob1 in the ,kingdom of ,heaven2 but the children of the ,kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness4' ,strange that ,matthew's1 the ,jewish gospel1 should record that saying4 ,strange that ,luke's1 the universal human gospel1 should omit it4 ,but it was relevant to ,matthew's great purpose to make very plain this truth--which the nation were forgetting1 and which was gall and wormwood to them1--that hereditary descent and outward privileges had no power to open the door of ,christ's ,kingdom to any man1 and that the one thing which had1 was the one thing which the centurion possessed and the ,jews did not1 a simple trust in that divine ,lord4 ,my brethren1 there are many of us who attach precisely the same value as these ,jews did1 in slightly different forms1 to external connection with religion and religious institutions4 ,what blunts the sharpest words that come from pulpits1 and prevents them from getting to hearts and consciences1 is just that pestilent old ,jewish error1 that because men have always had a kind of outward hold on the ,kingdom1 therefore they do not need the teaching that the publicans and the harlots want4 ,my dear friend1 nothing binds a man to ,christ but trust4 ,nothing opens the doors of ,his ,kingdom1 either here on earth or yonder1 but reliance upon ,him4 ,and although you were steeped to the eye-brows in religious privileges1 and high in place in ,his church1 it would avail nothing4 ,the ,kingdom of ,christ is a ,kingdom into which faith1 and faith only1 admits a man4 ,therefore from the furthest corners of the world ,christ's sad prescience saw the ,gentiles flocking1 and the ,jews who trusted in externals1 cast out4 ,i need not dwell on the two halves of the picture here1 the radiant glow of the one1 the tragic darkness of the other4 ,the feast expresses abundance1 joy1 rest1 companionship4 ',they shall come' says ,christ2 then ,he is there1 and sitting at the head of the table2 and the ,master's welcome makes the feast4 ,on the other hand1 that which is without the banqueting hall is dark4 ,that darkness is but the making visible of the nature of the men4 ,hell comes out of a man before it surrounds him4 ,they 'were sometime darkness1' and now they are in the darkness4 ,i say no more about that1 ,i dare not2 but ,i pray you to remember that the lips which said this 'spake that ,he did know'2 and to take heed lest1 speculating and arguing1 and sometimes quarrelling1 about the nature and the duration of future retribution1 we should lose our sense of the awfulness and certainty of the fact4 ,,iii4 ,so one word lastly as to the answer that faith brings4 ',go thy way2 as thou hast believed1 so be it done unto thee4' ,he heals at a distance1 and shapes ,his gift by the man's desire4 ,the form of the vase that is dipped into the sea settles the quantity and the shape of the water that is taken out4 ,there is a wide truth in that1 on which ,i do not now enlarge4 ,the measure of my faith is the measure of my possession of ,christ4 ,he puts the key of the treasure-house into our hands and says1 ',go in1 and take as much as you like'2 and some of us come out with a halfpenny as all that we care to bring away4 ,you are starving1 some of you1 whilst you are sitting in a granary bursting with plenty4 ,suppose a proclamation were made1 ',there will be given away gold to anybody that likes to come4 ,let them bring a purse1 and it will be filled4' ,how large a purse do you think you would like to take8 ,a sack1 ,i should think4 ,christ says that to you2 and you bring a tiny thing like what they keep sovereigns in1 that will scarcely hold a farthing1 with such a narrow throat is it provided1 and so small its interior accommodation4 ',ye have not because ye ask not4' ',open thy mouth wide and ,i will fill it4' ,,swift ,,healing ,,and ,,immediate ,,service ',and when ,jesus was come into ,peter's house1 ,he saw his wife's mother laid1 and sick of a fever4 #ae4 ,and ,he touched her hand1 and the fever left her3 and she arose and ministered unto them4'--,,matt4 viii4 #ad-ae4 ,other accounts give a few additional points4 ,mark3-- ,that the house was that of ,peter and ,andrew4 ,that ,christ went with ,james and ,john4 ,that ,he was told of the sickness4 ,that ,he lifted her up4 ,luke1 physician-like1 diagnoses the fever as 'great4' ,he also tells us that the sick woman's friends besought ,jesus and did not merely 'tell' ,him of her4 ,may we infer that to ,his ear the telling of ,his servants' woes is a prayer for ,his help8 ,he does not mention ,christ's touch1 which ,mark here and elsewhere delights to record1 and which ,matthew also specifies4 ,he fixes attention on the all-powerful word which was the vehicle of ,christ's healing might4 ,both evangelists put this miracle in its chronological order1 from which it appears that it was done on the ,sabbath day1 which explains our verse #af1 'when the even was come4' ,i4 ,the scene of the miracle4 ,the domestic privacy of the great event seems to have struck the evangelists4 ,it stands between the narrative of ,christ's public work in the synagogue1 and the story of the eager crowds who came round the doors4 ,so it gives us a glimpse of the uniformity of that life of blessing as being the same in public and in private4 ,again1 it suggests the characteristic absence of all ostentation in ,his works4 ,we can scarcely suppose this miracle done for the sake of showing ,his divinity4 ,it was pure goodness and sympathy which moved ,him4 ,it occurred in a household of ,his disciples4 ,there1 too1 sorrow will come4 ,but there1 if they tell ,him of it1 ,his help will not be far away4 ,this is one of the few miracles wrought on one of ,his more immediate followers4 ,the ,resurrection of ,lazarus1 so like this in many respects1 is the only other4 ,this scene of the healing ,christ in ,his disciples' household suggests the whole subject of the effect on domestic life of ,christianity1 or more truly of ,christ ,himself4 ,it is scarcely too much to say that the home1 as many of us blessedly know1 is the creation of ,christ4 ,cana of ,galilee--,the household at ,bethany4 ,,ii4 ,the time4 ,after ,his long day's toil--the unwearied mercy4 ,on the ,sabbath--the ,lord of the ,sabbath4 ,,iii4 ,the person4 ,the woman4 ,how ,christianity embodies the true emancipation of women4 ,they are participants in an equal gift1 honoured by admission to equal service4 ,,iv4 ,the effect4 ',she ministered'2 testimony of the completeness of the cure4 ,which completeness is also real in the spiritual region4 ,how the basis of all our service must be ,his healing4 ,ours second1 not first4 ,how the end of ,his healing is our service4 ,we are bound to render it3 ,he desires it4 ,how each one's character and circumstances determine his service4 ,how common duties may be sanctified4 ,he accepts our service whatever it be4 ,the ,sabbath4 ,the services of love come before ritual observance1 in ,jesus and in the cured woman4 ,,the ,,healing ,,christ ',himself took our infirmities1 and bare our sicknesses4'--,,matt4 viii4 #ag4 ,you will remember1 probably1 that in our ,old ,testament translation of these words they are made to refer to man's mental and spiritual evils3 ',he bare our griefs and carried our sorrows4' ,our evangelist takes them to refer1 certainly not exclusively1 but in part1 to men's corporeal evils--'our infirmities' 7bodily weaknesses1 that is7 'and our sicknesses4' ,he was distinctly justified in so doing1 both by the meaning of the original words1 which are perfectly general and capable of either application1 and by the true and deep view of the comprehensiveness of our ,lord's mission and purpose4 ,christ is the antagonist of all the evils that affect man's life1 whether his corporeal or his spiritual2 and no less true is it that1 in ,his deep sympathy1 ',he bare our sicknesses' than that1 in the mystery of ,his atoning death1 ',he was wounded for our transgressions4' ,it is1 therefore1 this point of view of ,christ1 as the ,healer1 which ,i desire to bring before you now4 ,i4 ,first1 ,i ask you to look at the plain facts as to our ,lord's ministry which are contained in these words3--',himself took our infirmities1 and bare our sicknesses4' ,now1 there are two points that ,i desire to emphasise very briefly4 ,one is the prominence in ,christ's life which is given to ,his healing energy4 ,we are accustomed to think of ,his cures as miracles4 ,we are accustomed to think of them in that aspect as evidences of ,his mission1 or as difficulties and stumbling-blocks1 as the case may be4 ,but ,i ask you to put away all such thoughts for a minute1 and think about the miracles simply as being cures4 ,remember how enormous a proportion of our ,lord's time and pains and sympathy and thoughts was directed to that one purpose of healing people of their bodily infirmities4 ,we may almost say that to an outsider ,he would look a great deal liker a man who1 as the ,apostle ,peter painted ,him in one of his earliest addresses1 'went about doing good and healing1' than as a teacher of divine wisdom1 to say nothing of an incarnation of the divine nature4 ,his miracles of healing were certainly the most conspicuous part of ,his life's work4 ,and then1 remember1 that whilst the great proportion of our ,lord's miracles are miracles of healing1 we are sure that the whole of the recorded miraculous works of our ,lord are the smallest fraction of what ,he really did4 ,you remember how there crop up1 here and there1 in the ,gospels1 general resumes of our ,lord's work1 of such a kind as this3--',and ,jesus went about all ,galilee1 teaching in their synagogues1 and preaching the ,gospel of the ,kingdom1 and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people4 ,and they brought unto ,him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments1 and those which were possessed with devils1 and those which were lunatic1 and those that had the palsy and ,he healed them4' ,or1 again3--',and ,jesus departed from thence1 and came nigh unto the sea of ,galilee1 and went up into a mountain1 and sat down there4 ,and great multitudes came unto ,him1 having those that were lame1 blind1 dumb1 maimed1 and many others1 and cast them down at ,jesus' feet1 and ,he healed them4' ,now these are but specimens of the occasional generalisations which we find in the ,gospels1 which warrant us in saying that1 according to the ,new ,testament record1 ,christ's works of healing were to be numbered1 not by tens1 but by hundreds1 and perhaps by thousands4 ,that is the first fact calling for notice4 ,the words of our text suggest a second thought as to the cost at which these cures were wrought4 ',himself took and bare' does not mean only 'took away4' ,it includes that1 as a consequence1 but it points to something before the removal of the sicknesses4 ,it points to the fact that ,christ in some real sense endured the loads which ,he removed4 ,of course1 ,his cross is the highest exemplification of the great law which runs through ,his whole life1 that ,he identifies ,himself with all the evil which ,he takes away1 and is able to take it away only because ,he identifies ,himself with it4 ,but whilst the cross is the highest exemplification of this1 every miracle of mercy which ,he wrought is an illustration of the same principle in its appropriate fashion1 and upon a lower level4 ,and although we cannot say that the physical sufferings which ,he alleviated were physically laid upon ,him1 yet we can say that ,he so identified ,himself with all sufferers by ,his swift sympathy as that ,he bore1 and therefore bore away1 the diseases as well as the sins of the men for whose healing ,he lived1 and for whose redemption ,he died4 ,the proof of this crops up now and then4 ,what did it mean that1 when ,he stood beside one poor sufferer1 before ,he could utter from ,his authoritative lips the divine word of power1 ',ephphatha1 be opened1' the same lips had to shape themselves for the utterance of an altogether human and brotherly sigh8 ,did it not mean that the condition of ,his healing power was sympathy1 that ,he must bring ,himself to feel the burden that ,he will roll away8 ,that sigh proves that ,his cures were the works1 not without cost to the doer1 of a sympathising heart1 and not the mere passionless acts of a miracle-monger4 ,in like manner1 what meant that strange tempest of agitation that swept across the pacific ocean of ,his nature ere ,he stood by the grave of ,lazarus8 ,why that being 'troubled in ,himself' before ,he raised him8 ,wherefore the tears that heralded the restoration of the man to life8 ,they could not be shed for the loss that was so soon to be repaired4 ,they can only have been the emotion and tears of ,one who saw1 as massed in one black whole1 the entire sorrows that affected physical humanity1 and rose in a holy passion of indignation and of sorrow at the sight of that enemy1 ,death1 with whose beginnings ,he had wrestled in many a miracle of restoration1 and whose sceptre ,he was now about to pluck from his bony clutch4 ,therefore ,i say that ,christ the healer bore1 and thereby bore away1 the sicknesses and the infirmities of men4 ,amidst mountains of rubbish and chaff1 the ,rabbis have a grain of wheat in their legend which tells us that ,messias is to come as a leper1 and to be found sitting amongst the lepers at the city's gate2 which is a picturesque and symbolical way of declaring the same truth that ,i am now insisting upon1 the participation by the ,redeemer in all burdens and sorrows of body and of spirit which ,he takes away4 ,,ii4 ,and now with these facts--for ,i take them to be such--for the basis of our thoughts1 let me ask you to turn1 in the second place1 to some plain practical conclusions that come from them4 ,the first of these that ,i would suggest is the lesson as to the proper sweep and sphere of ,christian beneficence4 ,as ,i said in my introductory remarks1 we do not rightly measure the whole circumference of ,christ's work unless we regard it as covering and including all forms of human evil4 ,he is the antagonist of everything that is antagonistic to man--pain1 misery1 sickness1 death itself4 ,all these are excrescences on the divine design1 transient accompaniments of disordered relations between ,god and man4 ,and this great physician of souls fights the disease and does not neglect the symptoms2 deals with the central evil and is not so absorbed with that as to omit from ,his view or ,his treatment the merely superficial manifestations of it4 ,so that if ,christian people1 individually and as ,churches1 are justly exposed1 in any measure1 to the sarcasm which is freely cast upon them1 that they neglect the temporal well-being of men in order to attend exclusively to their spiritual wants1 they have not learned the example of such partial treatment from their ,master2 nor have they taken in the significance and the power of ,his life in its relation to human sorrow4 ,all that makes the heart bleed ,christ comes to take away4 ',all the ills that flesh is heir to1' as well as those which each spirit1 by rebellion1 brings upon itself--are the foes with whom ,christ has left ,his ,church in the world in order to wage incessant warfare4 ,if we ,christians1 oppressed with the sense of the depth and central nature of the evil of man's sin1 have so devoted ourselves to preaching and evangelising1 that we are1 in any measure1 rightly chargeable with neglecting hospitals and infirmaries and other forms of relief for temporal necessities1 just in that proportion have we departed from our ,master's spirit4 ,but ,i do not1 for my part1 much believe1 either in the good faith of the accusers or in the applicability of the charge which men1 who never do anything for the religious improvement of their fellows1 are apt to bring against us4 ,my little experience1 ,i think1 teaches me that the folk who say to us ',do not waste your money on ,bibles and missionaries1 give it to hospitals and schools1' are not usually the people that 'waste their money' on either2 and that the largest portion of all the work that is done in ,england to-day1 for the temporal well-being of men1 comes from the ,christians who also do work for their spiritual well-being4 ,but let us learn the lesson1 if we need it1 from our enemies and our critics2 and see to it that the more we feel the lofty and transcendent importance of carrying ,christ's salvation to men's souls1 the more we endeavour1 likewise1 to live amongst them as ,he did1 the embodiment of pity1 wide-eyed and comprehensive1 for every evil that racks their hearts and every pain that tortures their nerves4 ,as a fact1 hospitals are found within the limits of ,christianity1 and not outside it2 and so far1 ,christendom1 though it is largely professing ,christendom only1 has learned that it follows a ,christ who is the ,saviour of the body and the ,physician of the soul4 ,in the next place1 another practical lesson which ,i would draw from this is1 as to the sole conditions upon which any form of ,christian help can be rendered4 ,the condition for the elevation of men is that the lever which lifts them must have its point below them4 ,that is to say1 you have to go down if you would heave up4 ,you have to go amongst if you would deliver2 you have to make your own1 by a sympathy which you have learned of your ,master1 the sorrows and the sins of humanity1 if you would effectually remedy them4 ,a guinea to an hospital is not your contribution to the ,christ-like relief of human suffering4 ,it wants1 and ,he wants1 your heart1 your sympathy4 ,think for a moment of the universe of anguish that may lie within the narrow limits of one human body--that awful mystery of pain which holds in its red-hot pincers hundreds and thousands of men and women in this city at this moment4 ,try to imagine the mass of bodily agony1 an enormous percentage of which is utterly innocent1 and a still larger percentage of it perfectly remediable1 which at this hour1 whilst we sit here1 is torturing mankind4 ,and oh6 brethren1 do not let any thought of the transcendent importance of ,christ's gospel1 and what it does to men's hearts1 make us careless about these real1 though lesser1 evils which lie beside us1 and which we can remedy and help4 ,only1 remember the condition of help for them all4 ,the newspapers went into raptures some years since1 and wisely1 over a ,roman ,catholic priest who shut himself up in a little island with a colony of lepers4 ,some ,protestant martyrs have done the same before him1 without any chorus of newspaper praise4 ,whoever did it had penetrated to the secret of ,christian help--identification with the evil4 ,if we would take away any misery or sin1 we must act like that doctor who shut himself up in the wards of an hospital1 and kept a diary of the symptoms of his disease1 till the pen dropped from his fingers and the film came over his eyes4 ,are we ready to do anything like that for our brethren8 ,until we are1 we have yet to learn and to practise the pattern which ,he has set1 ',who1 though ,he was rich1 for our sins became poor'3 and who1 'forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood1 ,himself likewise'--in their own fashion of weakness1 and weariness1 and sorrow1 and pain1 and ultimately death--'took part of the same4' ',he bore our sicknesses1' therefore ,he bore them away1 and1 in so doing1 taught us the law of ,christian help4 ,and lastly1 let me not pass from this subject without leaving on your hearts1 dear friends1 the other thought1 of the connection and the relative importance of these two hemispheres of ,christ's work4 ,the sicknesses are symbols of the sins2 the removal of the bodily pain and disease is a prophecy and a visible parable proclaiming the removal of all the harassment and abnormal action that afflict intellect1 will1 or spirit4 ,christ ,himself has taught us to regard ,his miracles of healing as the making visible1 in the outward sphere1 of the analogous miracles of healing in the spiritual realm4 ,and although ,i have been saying a great deal about the preciousness and the sacredness of the curative influences which flow from ,christ1 and deal with outward diseases and evils1 let us not forget that a sound body is of small worth as compared with a sound mind2 that the body is the servant of the spirit1 meant mainly to do its behests1 bring it knowledge1 and express its will2 and that high above1 and pointed to by1 the lower1 though precious work of healing men's sicknesses1 towers that work which we all of us need1 and the robustest of us1 perhaps1 need most1 the healing of our sick souls and their deliverance from death4 ,every one of these manifold miracles which the ,saviour wrought may be taken as parabolical4 ,you and ,i grope in darkness as the blind4 ,you and ,i have ears deaf to hear1 and lips dumb to speak1 the praises and the love and the word of ,god4 ,we are lame in the powers of mind and spirit to run in the way of ,his commandments1 and to walk unfainting in the paths of duty4 ,the fever of hot1 passionate1 foolish desires burns in the veins of us all with its poison4 ,the paralysis of a will that is slothful to good infests and hinders us all4 ,but there comes to us that great hope and promise that ,christ has the ,spirit of the ,lord upon ,him to bring liberty to the captive1 sight to the blind1 hearing to the deaf1 healing to the fevered1 vigour to the palsied1 activity to the lame4 ,only let us set our trust in ,him1 carry our weaknesses to ,him1 acknowledge our sins to ,him1 seek the touch of ,his healing and quickening hand1 and the miracle shall be wrought4 ,the old-fashioned surgery used to believe in the transfusion of blood from a sound to a diseased person1 and the consequent expulsion of disease4 ,that is the fact about our relation to ,christ4 ,put your arm side by side with ,his by simple faith in ,him4 ,come into contact with ,him1 and the blood of ,jesus ,christ1 the 'law of the spirit of life that was in ,him1' will pass into the veins of your spirits1 and make you whole of whatsoever disease you have4 ',then shall the eyes of the blind be opened1 and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped2 then shall the lame man leap as a hart1 and the tongue of the dumb shall sing4' ,and so shall you begin that course of healing and purifying1 which will know no pause nor natural termination until1 redeemed in body1 soul1 and spirit1 you reach the land 'where the inhabitant thereof shall no more say1 ,i am sick1'--'and there shall be no more death1 neither shall there be any more pain4' ,,christ ,,repressing ,,rash ,,discipleship ',and a certain scribe came1 and said unto ,him1 ,master1 ,i will follow ,thee whithersoever ,thou goest4 #bj4 ,and ,jesus saith unto him1 ,the foxes have holes1 and the birds of the air have nests2 but the ,son of ,man hath not where to lay ,his head4'--,,matt4 viii4 #ai-bj4 ,our ,lord was just on the point of leaving ,capernaum for the other side of the lake4 ,his intended departure from the city1 in which ,he had spent so long a time1 and wrought so many miracles1 produced precisely opposite effects on two of the crowd around ,him1 both of whom seem to have been1 in the loose sense of the word1 disciples4 ,one was this scribe1 whom the prospect of losing the ,master from his side1 hurried into a too lightly formed and too confidently expressed undertaking4 ,the other presented exactly the opposite fault4 ,that other man in the crowd1 at the prospect of losing sight of the ,christ1 began to think that there were imperative duties at home which would prevent his following the ,master1 and said1 ',suffer me first to go and bury my father4' ,a sacred obligation1 and one which ,christ would not have desired him to suspend1 unless there had been something more behind it6 ,these two men1 then1 represent the two opposite poles of weakness1 the one too swift1 the other too slow1 to take a decisive step4 ,and ,christ's treatment of them is1 in like manner1 a representation of the two opposite methods which ,he adopts for curing opposite diseases1 and bringing both back to the same state of health4 ,he stimulates the too sluggish1 ,he represses the too willing 7if such a paradox may be allowed74 ,his treatment is at once spur and bridle4 ,to the one man ,he administers a sobering representation of what he is undertaking with so light a heart2 to the other ,he gives the commandment that sounds so stern3 ',leave the highest duty1 if you cannot do it without conflicting with your higher to ,me4' ,and so ,i think that ,matthew's arrangement of this pair of companion pictures is to be preferred to that which we find in ,luke1 who localises the incident in a different part of our ,lord's ministry1 and on a different occasion4 ,i deal now only with the first of these two contrasted pictures1 and consider the lightly-made vow1 and ,christ's sobering treatment of it4 ,i4 ,the too lightly uttered vow4 ,there is a certain almost jaunty air of self-complacence about the man and his facile promise4 ,what he promised was no more than what ,christ requires from each of us1 no more than what ,christ was infinitely glad to have laid at ,his feet4 ,and he promised it with absolute sincerity1 meaning every word that he said1 and believing that he could fulfil it all4 ,what was the fault8 ,there were three3 taking counsel of a transitory feeling2 making a vow with a very slight knowledge of what it meant2 and relying with foolish confidence on his own strength4 ,vows which rest on no firmer foundation than these are sure to sink and topple over into ruin4 ,discipleship which is the result of mere emotion must be evanescent1 for all emotion is so4 ,effervescence cannot last1 and when the cause ceases the effect ceases too4 ,discipleship which enlists in ,christ's army1 in ignorance of the hard marching and fighting which have to be gone through1 will very soon be skulking in the rear or deserting the flag altogether4 ,discipleship which offers faithful following because it relies on its own fervour and force will1 sooner or later1 feel its unthinkingly undertaken obligations too heavy1 and be glad to shake off the yoke which it was so eager to put on4 ,these three things1 singly or combined1 are the explanations1 as they are the causes1 of half the stagnant ,christianity that chokes our churches4 ,men have vowed1 and did not know what they were vowing1 pledging themselves1 in a moment of excitement1 to what after years discover to them to be a hard and uncongenial course of life4 ,they have been carried into the position of professed disciples on the top of a wave of emotion which has long since broken and retreated1 leaving them stranded and motionless in a place where they have no business to be4 ,every community of professing ,christians is weakened1 and its vitality is lowered1 by the presence and influence of members who have said1 ',i will follow ,thee whithersoever ,thou goest1' but whose vow was but a flash in the pan1 and never meant anything4 ,they did not know what they were saying4 ,they had not stopped to think why they were saying it1 still less did they take the advice of the ,master to count their forces before they went into the battle1 and see whether their ten thousand could meet him that would come against them with twenty thousand4 ,i do not suppose that much of our modern religionism is in great danger from too fervid emotion4 ,that1 certainly1 is not the side on which our average ,christianity is defective4 ,no feeling can be too fervid which has been kindled by profound contemplation and hearty acceptance of ,christ's redeeming love4 ,the facts to which sound religious emotion looks1 warrant1 and the work in the ,christian life which it has to do1 needs that it shall be at white-heat1 if it is to be worthy of its object and equal to its tasks4 ,but there very often is emotion which is too fervid for the convictions which are presumed to kindle it1 and which burns itself out quickly because it neither comes from principle nor leads to action4 ,no resolution to follow ,christ can be too enthusiastic1 nor any renunciation for ,his sake too absolute1 to correspond to ,his supreme authority4 ,but there may very easily be brave words much too great for the real determination which is in them4 ,a half-empty bottle makes more noise1 if you shake it1 than a full one4 ,we cannot estimate the hindrances of the ,christian life too lightly2 if we do so knowing them1 and thinking little of them because we think so joyfully of ,christ our helper4 ,but there may very easily be a presumptuous contempt of these1 which is only the result of ignorance and self-confidence1 and will soon be abased into dread of them1 and probably end in desertion of ,him4 ,a sadly large number of professing ,christians may see their own faces in this mirror4 ,how many of us are exactly like this man8 ,long1 long ago we vowed to follow ,christ4 ,have we advanced a yard on the ,christian course since then1 or do we stand very much at the same point as on that far-off day8 ,some of us1 who spent no breath in saying what we were going to do1 but used it in the prayer1 ',draw me1 and ,i will run after ,thee1' have followed the ,captain4 ,some of us have been like clumsy recruits1 who have only been marking time all the while1 one foot up and the other down1 but always in the same place4 ,that is the kind of advance that the lightly formed resolution--formed in ignorance of what it involved1 and in foolish confidence in the resolver's strength--is too apt to lead to4 ,is it not so in all life8 ,no caravan ever starts from a port on the coast to go up-country1 but there is a percentage of deserters in the first week4 ,there are always1 in every good work1 adherents1 easily moved1 pushing themselves into the front1 full of resolves in the beginning1 and then1 when the tug comes1 they drop out of the ranks and leave the quiet ones1 that did not say1 ',i am going to do it1' but thought to themselves1 ',i should uncommonly like to try whether ,i can4' to bear the burden and heat of the march4 ,a sad1 wise1 self-distrustful valour is the temper that wins4 ,let us see to it1 dear brethren1 not that our fervour be less--,i do not know how the fervour of some of you could be less and keep alive at all--but that our principle be more2 not that our resolutions be less noble1 but that they be more deeply engrained4 ,you can light a fire of the chips and paper in an instant1 and the flimsier the material the more quickly it will crackle2 it takes a longer time to get coals in a blaze1 and they will last longer4 ,be your resolves slow to begin and never-ending1' especially when you say1 as we are all bound to say1 ',lord6 ,i will follow ,thee whithersoever ,thou goest4' ,,ii4 ,note our ,lord's treatment of this too lightly uttered vow4 ,it is wonderfully gentle and lenient4 ,he speaks no rebuke4 ,he does not reject the proffered devotion4 ,he does not even say that there was anything defective in it1 but simply answers by a quiet statement of what the vow was pledging the rash utterer to do4 ,christ's words are a douche of cold water to condense the steam which was so noisily escaping1 to turn the vaporous enthusiasm into something more solid1 with the particles nearer each other4 ,his object was not to repel1 but to turn an ignorant1 somewhat bragging vow into a calm1 humble determination1 with a silent ',god helping me' for its foundation4 ,to repel is sometimes the way to attract4 ,jesus ,christ would not have any one coming after ,him on a misunderstanding of where he is going1 or what he will have to do4 ,it shall be all fair and above board1 and the difficulties and sacrifices and necessary restrictions and inconveniences shall all be stated4 ,he does not need to hide from ,his recruits the black side of the war for which ,he seeks to enlist them1 but ,he tells it all to them to begin with1 and then waits--and ,he only knows how longingly ,he waits--for their repeating1 with full knowledge and humble determination1 the vow that sprang so lightly to their lips when they did not understand what they were saying4 ,of course our ,lord's words had literal truth1 and their original intention was to bring clearly before this man the hard fact that following ,jesus meant homelessness4 ,it is as if ,he had said1 ',you are ready to follow ,me wherever ,i go--are you8 ,you will have to go far1 and to be always going4 ,creatures have their burrows and their roosting-places1 but ,i1 the ,lord of creatures1 the ,son of ,man1 whose kingdom prophets proclaimed1 am houseless in ,my own realm1 and ,my followers must share ,my wandering life4 ,are you ready for that8' ,jesus was homeless4 ,he was born in a hired stable1 cradled in a manger1 owed shelter to faithful friends1 was buried in a borrowed grave2 ,he had 'not where to lay ,his head1' living or dying4 ,and ,his servants1 in literal truth1 had to tramp after ,him1 through the length and breadth of the land4 ,and if this man was meaning to follow ,him whithersoever ,he went1 he had not before him a little pleasure-journey across the lake1 to come back again in a day or two1 but he was enlisting for a term of service1 that extended over a life4 ,but then1 beyond that1 there is a deeper lesson here4 ',the ,son of ,man' on our ,lord's lips not only expressed ,his dignity as ,messiah1 but ,his relation to the whole race of men2 and declared that ,he was what we nowadays call ideal manhood4 ,and that is the point1 as ,i take it1 of the contrast between the restful lives of the lower creatures1 who all have a place fitted to them1 where they curl themselves up1 and go to sleep1 and are comfortable1 and the higher life of men1 which is homeless in the deepest sense4 ',the ,son of ,man1' ,he in whom the whole essence of humanity is1 as it were1 concentrated2 and who1 in ,his own person1 presents the very type and perfection of manhood1 cannot but be homeless4 ,ah1 yes ,i man's prerogative is unrest1 and he should recognise it as a blessing4 ,it is the condition of all noble life2 it is the condition of all growth4 ',the foxes have holes1' and the fox's hole fits it1 and therefore the hole of the fox to-day is what it was in the beginning1 and ever shall be4 ,man has no such abode1 therefore he grows4 ,man is blessed with that great 'discourse that looks before and after1' and his thoughts wander through eternity1 and therefore he is capable of endless advance1 and if he is in the path where his ,maker has meant him to be1 sure of endless growth4 ,the more a man gets like a beast1 the more has he of the beast's lot of happy contentment in this world4 ,and the more he gets like a man1 like the ',son of ,man1' the more has he to realise that he is a pilgrim and a sojourner1 as all his fathers were4 ,and so1 dear friends1 because disciples must follow the ,son of ,man who is the ,king1 and whose life is the perfect mirror of manhood1 restless homelessness is our lot1 if we are ,his disciples4 ,ay6 and it is our blessing4 ,it is better to sleep beneath the stars than beneath golden canopies1 and to lay the head upon a stone than upon a lace pillow1 if the ladder is at our side and the face of ,god above it4 ,better be out in the fields1 a homeless stranger with the ,lord1 than huddling together and perfectly comfortable in houses of clay that perish before the moth4 ,do not let us repine2 let us be thankful that we cannot1 if we are ,christ's1 but be strangers here2 for all the bitterness and pain of unrest and homelessness pass away1 and all sweetness and gladness is breathed into them1 when we can say1 ',i am a sojourner and a stranger with ,thee1' and when in our unrest we are 'following the ,lamb whithersoever ,he goeth4' ,,christ ,,stimulating ,,sluggish ,,discipleship ',and another of ,his disciples said unto ,him1 ,lord1 suffer me first to go and bury my father4 #bb4 ,but ,jesus said unto him1 ,follow ,me2 and let the dead bury their dead4'--,,matt4 viii4 #ba-bb4 ,the very first words of these verses1 ',and another of ,his disciples1' show us that the incident recorded in them is only half of a whole4 ,we have already considered the other half1 and supplement our former remarks by a glance at the remaining portion now4 ,the two men1 whose treatment by ,christ is narrated1 are the antipodes of each other4 ,the former is a type of well-meaning1 lightly formed1 and so1 probably1 swiftly abandoned purposes4 ,this man is one of the people who always see something else to be done first1 when any plain duty comes before them4 ,sluggish1 hesitating1 keenly conscious of other possibilities and demands1 he needs precisely the opposite treatment from his light-hearted and light-purposed brother4 ,some plants want putting into a cold house to be checked1 some into a greenhouse to be forwarded4 ,diversity of treatment1 even when it amounts to opposition of treatment1 comes from the same single purpose4 ,and so here the spur is applied1 whilst in the former incident it was the rein that was needed4 ,i4 ,note1 then1 first of all1 this apparently most laudable and reasonable request4 ',lord1 suffer me first to go and bury my father4' ,nature says ',go1' and religion enjoins it1 and everything seems to say that it is the right thing for a man to do4 ,the man was perfectly sincere in his petition1 and perfectly sincere in the implied promise that1 as soon as the funeral was over1 he would come back4 ,he meant it1 out and out4 ,if he had not1 he would have received different treatment2 and if he had not1 he would have ceased to be the valuable example and lesson that he is to us4 ,so we have here a disciple quite sincere1 who believes himself to have already obeyed in spirit and only to be hindered from obeying in outward act by an imperative duty that even a barbarian would know to be imperative4 ,and yet ,jesus ,christ read him better than he read himself2 and by ,his answer lets us see that the tone of mind into which we are all tempted to drop1 and which is the characteristic natural tendency of some of us1 that of being hindered from doing the plain thing that lies before us1 because something else crops up1 which we also think is imperative upon us1 is full of danger1 and may be the cover of a great deal of self-deception2 and1 at any rate1 is not in consonance with ,christ's supreme and pressing and immediate claims4 ,the temper which says1 ',suffer me first to go and bury my father1' is full of danger4 ,one never knows but that1 after he has got his father buried1 there will be something else turning up equally important4 ,there was the will to be read afterwards1 and if he was1 as probably he was1 the eldest son1 he would most likely be the executor4 ,there would be all sorts of affairs to settle up before he might feel that it was his duty to leave everything and follow the ,master4 ,and so it always is4 ',suffer me first1 and when we get to the top of that hill1 there is another one beyond4 ,and so we go on from step to step1 getting ready to do the duties that we know are most imperative upon us1 by sweeping preliminaries out of the way1 and so we go on until our dying day1 when somebody else buries us4 ,like some backwoodsman in the ,american forests who should say to himself1 ',now1 ,i will not sow a grain of wheat until ,i have cleared all the land that belongs to me4 ,i will do that first and then begin to reap1' he would be a great deal wiser if he cleared and sowed a little bit first1 and lived upon it1 and then cleared a little bit more4 ,mark the plain lesson that comes out of this incident1 that the habit1 for it is a habit with some of us1 of putting other pressing duties forward1 before we attend to the highest claims of ,christ1 is full of danger1 because there will be no end to them if we once admit the principle4 ,and this is true not only in regard to ,christianity1 but in regard to everything that is worth doing in this world4 ,whenever some great and noble task presents itself with its solemn call for consecration1 some dwarf of an apparent duty thrusts itself in between and perks up in our faces with its demand1 ',attend to me first1 and then ,i will let you go on to that other4' ,but morally1 this plea1 however sincerely urged1 is more or less unconscious self-deception4 ,the person who says ',suffer me first' is usually hoodwinking conscience1 and covering over1 if not a determination not to do1 at least a reluctance to determine to do1 the postponed duty4 ,and although we may think ourselves quite resolved in spirit1 and only needing the fitting vacant space to show that we are ready to act1 in the majority of cases the man who says ',suffer me first' means1 though he often does not know it1 ',i do not think ,i will do it1 after all1 even then4' ,now there are a great many good people who1 when urged to some of the plain duties of discipleship--such as ,christian work1 ,christian beneficence1 the consecration of themselves to the service of their ,master--have always something else very important1 and of immediate1 pressing urgency1 that has to be done first4 ,and then and then1 ay8 and then1--something else1 and then--something else4 ,and so some of you go on1 and will go on1 unless by ,god's grace you shake off the evil habit1 to the end of your days1 fancying yourselves disciples1 and yet all the while delaying really to follow the ,master until the close4 ,and 'all your yesterdays will be but lighting you1 with unfulfilled purposes1 to dusty death4' ,,ii4 ,now look at the apparently harsh and unreasonable refusal of this reasonable request4 ,it is extremely unlike ,jesus ,christ in substance and in tone4 ,it is unlike ,him to put any barrier in the way of a son's yielding to the impulses of his heart and attending to the last duties to his father4 ,it is extremely unlike ,him to couch ,his refusal in words that sound1 at first hearing1 so harsh and contemptuous1 and that seem to say1 ',let the dead world go as it will2 never you mind it1 do you not go after it at all or care about it4' ,but if we remember that it is ,jesus ,christ1 who came to bring life into the dead world1 who says this1 then1 ,i think1 we shall understand better what ,he means4 ,i do not need to explain1 ,i suppose1 that by the one 'dead' here is meant the physical and natural 'dead1' and by the other the morally and religiously 'dead'2 and that what ,christ says1 in the picturesque way that ,he so often affected in order to bring great truths home in concrete form to sluggish understandings1 is in effect1 ',nay6 ,for the men in the world that are separated from ,god1 and so are dead in their selfhood and their sin1 burying other dead people is appropriate work4 ,but your business1 as living by ,me1 is to carry life1 and let the burying alone1 to be done by the dead people that can do nothing else4' ,now the spirit of our ,lord's answer may be put thus3--,it must always be ,christ first1 and every one else second2 and it must therefore sometimes be ,christ only1 and no one else4 ',let me bury my father and then ,i will come4' ',no1' says ,christ2 'first your duty to ,me'3 first in order and time1 because first in order of importance4 ,and this is ,his habitual tone1 ',he that loveth father or mother more than ,me is not worthy of ,me4' ,did you ever think of what a strange claim that is for a man to make upon others8 ,this ,jesus ,christ comes to you and me1 and to every man1 and says1 ',i demand1 and ,i have a right to demand1 thy supreme affection and thy first obedience4 ,all other relations are subordinate to thy relation to ,me4 ,all other persons ought to be less dear to thee than ,i am4 ,no other duty can be so imperative as the duty of following ,me4' ,what right has ,he to speak thus to us8 ,on what does such a tremendous claim rest8 ,who is it that fronts humanity and says1 ',he that loveth father or mother more than ,me is not worthy of ,me'8 ,he had a right to say it1 because ,he is more than they1 and has done more than they1 because ,he is the ,son of ,god manifest in the flesh1 and because on the ,cross ,he has died for all men4 ,therefore all other claims dwindle and sink into nothingness before ,his4 ,therefore ,his will is supreme1 and our relation to ,him is the dominant fact in our whole moral and religious character4 ,he must be first1 whoever comes second1 and between the first and the second there is a great gulf fixed4 ,remember that this postponing of all other duties1 relationships1 and claims to ,christ's claims and relationships1 and to our duties to ,him1 lifts them up1 and does not lower them2 exalts1 and does not degrade1 the earthly affections4 ,they are nobler and loftier1 being second1 than when perversely1 and1 in the literal sense1 preposterously1 they assume to be first4 ,the little hills in the foreground are never so green and fair as when they are looked at in connection with the great white ,alps that tower behind them2 and all earthly loves and relationships catch a tinge of more ethereal beauty1 and are lifted into a loftier region1 when they are rigidly subordinated to our love to ,him4 ,being second1 they are more than when they bragged that they were first4 ,again1 if it must be ,christ first1 and everybody and everything besides second1 then to carry that out1 it will often have to be ,christ only1 and no one else4 ,there will come in every man's life the need for a sharp decision between conflicting allegiances4 ,life is full of harsh alternatives1 and it is of no use to kick against the pricks4 ,the divine order is ,jesus first and all things second4 ,but we sometimes break that order1 and then it comes to be1 ',very well1 then1 if you cannot keep the lower in their right places1 you must learn to do without them altogether2 and if you will not have ,him first and them second1 you must not have them at all4' ',if thine eye offend thee1 pluck it out1' it would be far better for thee to keep it without offence4 ',if thine hand offend thee1' put it down on the block1 and take the cleaver in the other hand1 and off with it1 it would be better for thee to go into life whole than maimed1 but it is better to go into life maimed1 than to go into destruction whole4 ,the abandonment of the father's bier is second best2 but it is sometimes imperative4 ,when you find a taste1 a pursuit1 a study1 an occupation1 a recreation coming between you and ,jesus ,christ--when you do not know how it is1 but1 somehow or other1 the sky that was blue a minute or two ago has a doleful veil of grey creeping all over it1 be sure that something or other which ought to be under has got topmost1 and you will have to get rid of it in order to come right again4 ,if this man would certainly have come back had ,jesus let him go1 he would have been let go2 but because ,jesus knew that he would not come back1 therefore ,he said1 ',you must deny your natural affection1 because it is coming between you and ,me4' ,so1 dear brethren1 when we find that earthly duties1 pursuits1 occupations of any kind1 affections1 pure and beautiful as in themselves they may be1 are hindering our following the ,master1 then1 if they are things of which we can denude ourselves1 though it be at a distinct sacrifice1 we are bound to do so2 or else we are not loving the ,master more than all besides4 ,let me remind you in closing of the variation in this story which the evangelist ,luke gives us4 ,he interprets ,christ's commandment1 ',follow ,me1' and expands it into 'preach the ,gospel1' which was involved in it4 ,there are many of you who are busily engaged in legitimate occupations1 and devoting yourselves in various degrees to various forms of beneficence touching the secular condition of the people around us4 ,may ,i hint to such1 ',let the dead bury their dead2 preach thou the gospel8' ,a ,christian man's first business is to witness for ,jesus ,christ1 and no amount of diligence in legitimate occupations or in work for the good of others will absolve him from the charge of having turned duties upside down1 if he says1 ',i cannot witness for ,jesus ,christ1 for ,i am so busy about these other things4' ,this command has a special application to us ministers4 ,there are hosts of admirable things that we are tempted to engage in nowadays1 with the enlarged opportunities that we have of influencing men1 socially1 politically1 intellectually1 and it wants rigid concentration for us to keep out of the paths which might hinder our usefulness1 or1 at all events1 dissipate our strength4 ,let us hear that ringing voice ringing always in our ears1 ',preach thou the gospel of the kingdom4' ,,the ,,peace-,,bringer ,,in ,,the ,,natural ,,world ',and when ,he was entered into a ship1 ,his disciples followed ,him4 #bd4 ,and1 behold1 there arose a great tempest in the sea1 insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves2 but ,he was asleep4 #be4 ,and ,his disciples came to ,him1 and awoke ,him1 saying1 ,lord1 save us3 we perish4 #bf4 ,and ,he saith unto them1 ,why are ye fearful1 ,o ye of little faith8 ,then he arose1 and rebuked the winds and the sea1 and there was a great calm4 #bg4 ,but the men marvelled1 saying1 ,what manner of man la this1 that even the winds and the sea obey him6'--,,matt4 viii4 #bc-bg4 ,the second group of miracles in these chapters shows us ,christ as the ,prince of ,peace1 and that in three regions--the material1 the superhuman1 and the moral4 ,he stills the tempest1 casts out demons1 and forgives sins1 thus quieting nature1 spirit1 and conscience4 ,mountain-girdled lakes are exposed to sudden storms from the wind sweeping down the glens4 ,such a one comes roaring down as the little boat1 probably belonging to ,james and ,john1 is labouring across the six or seven miles to the eastern side4 ,matthew describes the boat as it would appear from shore1 as being 'covered' and lost to sight by the breaking waves4 ,mark1 who is ,peter's mouthpiece1 describes the desperate plight as one on board knew it1 and says the boat was 'filling4' ,it must have been a serious gale which frightened a crew who had spent all their lives on the lake4 ,note ,christ's sleep in the storm4 ,his calm slumber is contrasted with the hurly-burly of the tempest and the alarm of the crew4 ,it was the sleep of physical exhaustion after a hard day's work4 ,he was too tired to keep awake1 or to be disturbed by the tumult4 ,his fatigue is a sign of ,his true manhood1 of ,his toil up to the very edge of ,his strength2 a characteristic of ,his life of service1 which we do not make as prominent in our thoughts as we should4 ,it is also a sign of ,his calm conscience and pure heart4 ,jonah slept through the storm because his conscience was stupefied2 but ,christ1 as a tired child laying its head on its mother's lap4 ,that sleep may have a symbolical meaning for us4 ,though ,christ is present1 the storm comes1 and ,he sleeps through it4 ,lazarus dies1 and ,he makes no sign of sympathy4 ,peter lies in prison1 and not till the hammers of the carpenters putting up the gibbet for to-morrow are heard1 does deliverance come4 ,he delays ,his help1 that ,he may try our faith and quicken our prayers4 ,the boat may be covered with the waves1 and ,he sleeps on1 but ,he will wake before it sinks4 ,he sleeps1 but ,he never over-sleeps1 and there are no too-lates with ,him4 ,note next the awaking cry of fear4 ,the broken abruptness of their appeal reveals the urgency of the case in the experienced eyes of these fishermen4 ,their summons is a curious mixture of fear and faith4 ',save us' is the language of faith2 'we perish' is that of fear4 ,that strange blending of opposites is often repeated by us4 ,the office of faith is to suppress fear4 ,but the origin of faith is often in fear1 and we are driven to trust just because we are so much afraid4 ,a faith which does not wholly suppress fear may still be most real2 and the highest faith has ever the consciousness that unless ,christ help1 and that speedily1 we perish4 ,so note next the gentle remonstrance4 ,there is something very majestic in the tranquillity of our ,lord's awaking1 and1 if we follow ,matthew's order1 in ,his addressing ,himself first to the disciples' weakness1 and letting the storm rage on4 ,it can do no harm1 and for the present may blow as it listeth1 while ,he gives the trembling disciples a lesson4 ,observe how lovingly our ,lord meets an imperfect faith4 ,he has no rebuke for their rude awaking of ,him4 ,he does not find fault with them for being 'fearful1' but for being 'so fearful' as to let fear cover faith1 just as the waves were doing the boat4 ,he pityingly recognises the struggle in their souls1 and their possession of some spark of faith which ,he would fain blow into a flame4 ,he shows them and us the reason for overwhelming fear as being a deficiency in faith4 ,and ,he casts all into the form of a question1 thus softening rebuke1 and calming their terrors by the appeal to their common sense4 ,fear is irrational if we can exercise faith4 ,it is mere bravado to say ',i will not be afraid1' for this awful universe is full of occasions for just terror2 but it is the voice of sober reason which says ',i will trust1 and not be afraid4' ,christ answers ,his own question in the act of putting it1--ye are of little faith1 that is why ye are so fearful4 ,note1 next1 the word that calms the storm4 ,christ yields to the cry of an imperfect faith1 and so strengthens it4 ,if ,he did not1 what would become of any of us8 ,he does not quench the dimly burning wick1 but tends it and feeds it with oil--by ,his inward gifts and by ,his answers to prayer--till it burns up clear and smokeless1 a faith without fear4 ,even smoke needs but a higher temperature to flame2 and fear which is mingled with faith needs but a little more heat to be converted into radiance of trust4 ,that is precisely what ,christ does by this miracle4 ,his royal word is all-powerful4 ,we see ,him rising in the stern of the fishing-boat1 and sending ,his voice into the howling darkness1 and wind and waves cower at ,his feet like dogs that know their master4 ,as in the healing of the centurion's servant1 we have the token of divinity in that ,his bare word is able to produce effects in the natural realm4 ,as ,he lay asleep ,he showed the weakness of manhood2 but ,he woke to manifest the power of indwelling divinity4 ,so it is always in ,his life1 where1 side by side with the signs of humiliation and participation in man's weakness1 we ever have tokens of ,his divinity breaking through the veil4 ,all this power is put forth at the cry of timid men4 ,the storm was meant to move to terror2 terror was meant to evoke the miracle--the result was complete and immediate4 ,no after-swell disturbed the placid waters when the wind dropped4 ,there had been 'a great tempest1' and now there was 'a great calm1' as the fishermen floated peacefully to their landing-place beneath the shadow of the hills4 ,the wilder the tempest1 the profounder the subsequent repose4 ,all this is a true symbol of our individual lives1 as well as of the history of the ,church4 ,storms will come1 and ,he may seem to be heedless4 ,he is ever awakened by our cry1 which needs not to be pure faith in order to bring the answer1 but may be strangely intertwined of faith and fear4 ',the ,lord will help 444 and that right early1' and the peace that ,he brings is peace indeed4 ,so it may be with us amid the struggles of life4 ,so may it be with us when the voyage on this storm-tossed sea of time is done6 ',they cry unto the ,lord in their trouble4 ,he maketh the storm a calm1 so that the waves thereof are still4 ,then are they glad because they be quiet2 so ,he bringeth them unto their desired haven4' ,,the ,,peace-,,bringer ,,in ,,the ,,spiritual ,,world ',and when ,he was come to the other side into the country of the ,gergesenes1 there met ,him two possessed with devils1 coming out of the tombs1 exceeding fierce1 so that no man might pass by that way4 #bi4 ,and1 behold1 they cried out1 saying1 ,what have we to do with ,thee1 ,jesus1 thou ,son of ,god8 art ,thou come hither to torment us before the time8 #cj4 ,and there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding4 #ca4 ,so the devils besought ,him1 saying1 ,if ,thou cast us out1 suffer us to go away into the herd of swine4 #cb4 ,and ,he said unto them1 ,go4 ,and when they were come out1 they went into the herd of swine3 and1 behold1 the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea1 and perished in the waters4 #cc4 ,and they that kept them fled1 and went their ways into the city1 and told every thing1 and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils4 #cd4 ,and1 behold1 the whole city came out to meet ,jesus3 and when they saw ,him1 they besought ,him that ,he would depart out of their coasts4'--,,matt4 viii4 #bh-cd4 ,matthew keeps to chronological order in the first and second miracles of the second triplet1 but probably ,his reason for bringing them together was rather similarity in their contents than proximity in their time4 ,for one cannot but feel that the stilling of the storm1 which manifested ,jesus as the ,peace-bringer in the realm of the ,natural1 is fitly followed by the casting out of demons1 which showed ,him as the ,lord of still wider and darker realms1 and the ,peace-bringer to spirits tortured and torn by a mysterious tyranny4 ,his meek power sways all creatures2 ,his 'word runneth very swiftly4' ,winds and seas and demons hearken and obey4 ,cheap ridicule has been plentifully flung at this miracle1 and some defenders of the ,gospels have tried to explain it away1 and have almost apologised for it1 but1 while it raises difficult problems in its details1 the total effect of it is to present a sublime conception of ,jesus and of ,his absolute1 universal authority4 ,the conception is heightened in sublimity when the two adjacent miracles are contemplated in connection4 ,there is singular variation in the readings of the name of the scene of the miracle in the three evangelists4 ,according to the reading of the ,authorised ,version1 ,matthew locates it in the 'country of the ,gergesenes'2 ,mark and ,luke1 in the 'country of the ,gadarenes'2 whereas the ,revised ,version1 following the general consensus of textual critics1 reads ',gadarenes' in ,matthew and ',gerasenes' in ,mark and ,luke4 ,now1 ,gadara is over six miles from the lake1 and the deep gorge of a river lies between1 so that it is out of the question as the scene of the miracle4 ,but the only ,gerasa known1 till lately1 is even more impossible1 for it is far to the east of the lake4 ,but some years since1 ,thomson found ruins bearing the name of ,khersa or ,gersa1 'at the only portion of that coast on which the steep hills come down to the shore' 7,smith1 ,historical ,geography of the ,holy ,land1 p4 #dei74 ,this is probably the site of the miracle1 and may have been included in the territory dependent on ,gadara1 and so have been rightly described as in 'the country of the ,gadarenes4' ,matthew again abbreviates1 omitting many of the most striking and solemn features of the narrative as given by the other two evangelists1 and he also diverges from them in mentioning two demoniacs instead of one4 ,that is not contradiction1 for if there were two1 there was one1 but it is divergence1 due to more accurate information4 ,whether they were meant so or no1 the abbreviations have the striking result that ,jesus speaks but one word1 the permissive ',go1' and that thus ,his simple presence is the potent spell before which the demons cower and flee4 ,they know ,him as 'the ,son of ,god'2 a name which1 on their lips1 must be taken in its full significance4 ,if demoniacal possession is a fact1 there is no difficulty in accounting for the name here given to ,jesus1 nor for the sudden change from the fierce purpose of barring an intruder's path to abject submission4 ,if it is not a fact1 to make a plausible explanation of either circumstance will be a task needing many contortions1 as is seen by the attempts to achieve it4 ,for example1 we are told that the demoniacs were afraid of ,jesus1 because ,he 'was not afraid of them1' and they knew ,him1 because 'men with shattered reason also felt the spell1 while the wise and the strong-minded often used their intellect1 under the force of passion or prejudice1 to resist the force of truth4' ,possibly the last clause goes as far to explain some critics' non-recognition of demoniacal possession as the first does to explain the demoniacs' recognition of ,jesus6 ,to the demonic nature ,christ's coming brought torture1 as the sunbeam1 which gives life to many1 also gives death to ugly creatures that crawl and swarm in the dark4 ,turn up a stone1 and the creeping things hurry out of the penetrating glare so unwelcome4 ',what maketh heaven1 that maketh hell1' and the same presence is life or death1 joy or agony4 ,the dear perception of divine purity and the shuddering recoil of impotent hatred from it are surely of the very essence of the demonic nature1 and every man1 who looks into the depths of his own spirit1 knows that the possibilities of such a state are in him4 ,our ,lord discriminated between healing the sick and casting out demons4 ,he distinguished between forms of disease due to possession and the same diseases when dissociated from it1 as1 for example1 cases of dumbness4 ,his whole attitude1 both in ,his actual dealing with the possessed and in ,his referring to the subject1 gave ,his complete adhesion to the reality of the awful thing4 ,it is vain to say that ,he humoured the delusions of insanity in order to cure them4 ,that theory does not adequately explain any of the facts and does not touch some of them4 ,it is perilous to try to weaken the force of the narrative by saying that the evangelists were under the influence of popular notions 7which are quietly assumed to have been wrong71 and hence that their prepossessions coloured their representations4 ,if the mirror was so distorted1 what reliance can be placed on any part of its reflection of ,jesus8 ,there can be no doubt that the ,gospel narrative asserts and assumes the reality of demoniacal possession1 and if the representation that ,jesus also assumed it is due to the evangelists1 what trust can be reposed in authorities which misrepresent ,him in such a matter8 ,on the other hand1 if they do not misrepresent ,him1 and ,he blundered1 confounding mere insanity with possession by a demon1 what reliance can be reposed in ,him as our ,teacher of the ,unseen ,world8 ,the issues involved are very grave and far-reaching1 and raillery or sarcasm is out of place4 ,but the question is pertinent3 ,by what right do we allege that demoniacal possession is an exploded figment and an impossibility8 ,do we know ourselves or our fellows so thoroughly as to be warranted in denying that deep down in the mysterious 'subliminal consciousness' there is a gate through which spiritual beings may come into contact with human personalities8 ,he would be bold1 to the verge of presumption or somewhat further1 who should take up such a position4 ,and have we any better right to assume that we know so much of the universe as to be sure that there are no evil spirits there1 who can come into contact with human spirits and wield an alien tyranny over them8 ,the ,christian attitude is not that of such far-reaching denial which outruns our knowledge1 but that of calm belief that ,jesus is the head of all principality and power1 and that to ,him all are subject4 ,it is taken for granted that the supposed possession is insanity4 ,but may it not rather be that to-day some of the supposed insanity is possession8 ,be that as it may--and perhaps those who have the widest experience of 'lunatics' would be the least ready to dismiss the possibility1--,jesus recognised the reality that there were souls oppressed by a real personality1 which had settled itself in the house of life1 and none of us has wide and deep enough knowledge to contradict ,him4 ,might it not be better to accept ,his witness in this1 as in other matters beyond our ken1 as true1 and to ponder it8 ,the demons' petition1 according to the ,received ,text1 takes the form1 ',suffer us to go1' while the reading adopted by most modern editors is ',send us4' ,the former reading seems to be taken from ,luke 7viii4 #cb71 while ,mark has ',send' 7not the same word as now read in ,matthew74 ,but ,mark goes on to say1 not that ,jesus sent them1 but that ,he 'suffered them' or 'gave them leave' 7the same word as in ,matthew1 according to the ,received ,text74 ,thus1 ,jesus' part in the transaction is simply permissive1 and the one word which ,he speaks is authoritative indeed in its curtness1 and means simply 'away1' or 'begone4' ,it casts them out but does not send them in4 ,he did not send them into the herd1 but out of the men1 and did not prevent their entrance into the swine4 ,it should further be noted that nothing in the narrative suggests that the destruction of the herd was designed even by the demons1 much less by ,jesus4 ,the maddened brutes rushed straight before them1 not knowing why or where2 the steep slope was in front1 and the sea was at its foot1 and their terrified1 short gallop ended there4 ,the last thing the demons would have done would have been to banish themselves1 as the death of the swine did banish them1 from their new shelter4 ,there is no need1 then1 to invent justifications for ,christ's destroying the herd1 for ,he did not destroy it4 ,no doubt1 keeping swine was a breach of ,jewish law2 no doubt the two demoniacs and the bystanders would be more convinced of the reality of the exorcism by the fate of the swine1 but these apologies are needless4 ,the narrative suggests some affinity between the demoniac and the animal nature1 and though it is easy to ridicule1 it is impossible to disprove1 the suggestion4 ,we know too little about either to do that1 and what we cannot disprove it is somewhat venturesome hardily to deny4 ,there are depths in the one nature1 which we cannot fathom though its possessors are close to us2 the other is removed from our investigation altogether4 ,where we are so utterly ignorant we had better neither affirm nor deny4 ,but we may take a homiletical use out of that apparent affinity1 and recognise that a spirit in rebellion against ,god necessarily gravitates downwards1 and becomes more or less bestialised4 ,no wonder that the swineherds fled1 but1 surely1 it is a wonder that eagerness to be rid of ,jesus was the sole result of the miracle4 ,perhaps the reason was the loss of the swine1 which would bulk largest in their keepers' excited story2 perhaps the reason was a fear that ,he would find out and rebuke other instances of breach of strict ,jewish propriety1 perhaps it was simply the shrinking from any close contact with the heavenly1 or apparently supernatural1 which is so instinctive in us1 and witnesses to a dormant consciousness of discord with ,heaven4 ',depart from me1 for ,i am a sinful man1' is the cry of the roused conscience4 ,and1 alas6 it has power to send away ,him whom we need1 and who comes to us1 just because we are sinful1 and just that ,he may deliver us from our sin4 ,,end ,,of ,,vol4 ,i